Search results for: estimation of properties of the model

Authors: Sankenth Jalwad, Satyam, Suteerth Kalkeri, Vidula L. S., Geetha Dayalan

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In today’s cyber landscape, threats are emerging every single day; they are much more advanced and dynamic than in the past within this cyber landscape. This project focuses on Virtual Local Area Networks or VLANs. VLANs provide the compartmentalization of sensitive information and optimal management of traffic but introduce specific vulnerabilities. Attackers also target VLAN configurations for exploitation of some security holes, such as VLAN hopping. The aim is to deal with such security requirements by developing a machine learning-based IDS for the VLAN environment that identifies in real time the patterns and anomalies signifying possible attacks. Apart from the IDS, it also looks at the generation of cyberattack datasets specific to VLANs with the help of Wireshark that will help train the ML model.

Keywords: cybersecurity, machine learning, VLAN networks, DTP, STP

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Authors: Robyn Heitzman

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The traditional method of punitive justice in Brazil has failed to prevent high levels of recidivism. Combined with overcrowding, a lack of resources, and human rights abuses, the conventional prison approach in Brazil is being questioned; one alternative approach is the association of protection and assistance to convicts (APAC) method. Justice -according to the principles of the APAC methodology- is served through education, reformation, and human development. The model has reported relatively low levels of recidivism and has been internationally recognised for its progress. Through qualitative research such as interviews and case studies, this paper explains why, applying the theory of restorative justice, the APAC methodology yields lower rates of recidivism compared to the traditional models of prisons in Brazil. 

Keywords: Brazil, justice, prisons, restorative

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Authors: Miguel Pereira, Lígia Pimentel, Manuela Pintado

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Animal blood is a major by-product of slaughterhouses and still represents a cost and environmental problem in some countries. To be eliminated, blood should be stabilised by cooking and afterwards the slaughterhouses must have to pay for its incineration. In order to reduce the elimination costs and valorise the high protein content the aim of this study was the optimization of hydrolysis conditions, in terms of enzyme ratio and time, in order to obtain hydrolysates with biological activity. Two enzymes were tested in this assay: pepsin and proteases from Cynara cardunculus (cardosins). The latter has the advantage to be largely used in the Portuguese Dairy Industry and has a low price. The screening assays were carried out in a range of time between 0 and 10 h and using a ratio of enzyme/reaction volume between 0 and 5%. The assays were performed at the optimal conditions of pH and temperature for each enzyme: 55 °C at pH 5.2 for cardosins and 37 °C at pH 2.0 for pepsin. After reaction, the hydrolysates were evaluated by FPLC (Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography) and tested for their antioxidant activity by ABTS method. FPLC chromatograms showed different profiles when comparing the enzymatic reactions with the control (no enzyme added). The chromatogram exhibited new peaks with lower MW that were not present in control samples, demonstrating the hydrolysis by both enzymes. Regarding to the antioxidant activity, the best results for both enzymes were obtained using a ratio enzyme/reactional volume of 5% during 5 h of hydrolysis. However, the extension of reaction did not affect significantly the antioxidant activity. This has an industrial relevant aspect in what concerns to the process cost. In conclusion, the enzymatic blood hydrolysis can be a better alternative to the current elimination process allowing to the industry the reuse of an ingredient with biological properties and economic value.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, blood, by-products, enzymatic hydrolysis

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Authors: D. Scarpanti, M. Brondino, M. Pasini

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Background: the present study explores the role of light and restorativeness on work. According with the Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and a Model of Work Environment, the main idea is that some features of environment, i.e., lighting, influences the direct attention, and so, the performance. Restorativeness refers to the presence/absence level of all the characteristics of physical environment that help to regenerate direct attention. Specifically, lighting can affect level of fascination and attention in one hand; and in other hand promotes several biological functions via pineal gland. Different reviews on this topic show controversial results. In order to bring light on this topic, the hypotheses of this study are that lighting can affect the construct of restorativeness and, in the second time, the restorativeness can affect the performance. Method: the participants are 30 workers of a mechatronic company in the North Italy. Every subject answered to a questionnaire valuing their subjective perceptions of environment in a different way: some objective features of environment, like lighting, temperature and air quality; some subjective perceptions of this environment; finally, the participants answered about their perceived performance. The main attention is on the features of light and his components: visual comfort, general preferences and pleasantness; and the dimensions of the construct of restorativeness; fascination, coherence and being away. The construct of performance per se is conceptualized in three level: individual, team membership and organizational membership; and in three different components: proficiency, adaptability, and proactivity, for a total of 9 subcomponents. Findings: path analysis showed that some characteristics of lighting respectively affected the dimension of fascination; and, as expected, the dimension of fascination affected work performance. Conclusions: The present study is a first pilot step of a wide research. These first results can be summarized with the statement that lighting and restorativeness contribute to explain work performance variability: in details perceptions of visual comfort, satisfaction and pleasantness, and fascination respectively. Results related to fascination are particularly interesting because fascination is conceptualized as the opposite of the construct of direct attention. The main idea is, in order to regenerate attentional capacity, it’s necessary to provide a lacking of attention (fascination). The sample size did not permit to test simultaneously the role of the perceived characteristics of light to see how they differently contribute to predict fascination of the work environment. However, the results highlighted the important role that light could have in predicting restorativeness dimensions and probably with a larger sample we could find larger effects also on work performance. Furthermore, longitudinal data will contribute to better analyze the causal model along time. Applicative implications: the present pilot study highlights the relevant role of lighting and perceived restorativeness in the work environment and the importance to focus attention on light features and the restorative characteristics in the design of work environments.

Keywords: lighting, performance, restorativeness, workplace

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Authors: Gajanan M. Sonwane

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Nowadays, the entire pharmaceutical industry is facing the challenge of increasing efficiency and innovation. The major hurdles are the growing cost of research and development and a concurrent stagnating number of new chemical entities (NCEs). Hence, the challenge is to select the most druggable targets and to search the equivalent drug-like compounds, which also possess specific pharmacokinetic and toxicological properties that allow them to be developed as drugs. The present research work includes the studies of developing new anticancer heterocycles by using molecular modeling techniques. The heterocycles synthesized through such methodology are much effective as various physicochemical parameters have been already studied and the structure has been optimized for its best fit in the receptor. Hence, on the basis of the literature survey and considering the need to develop newer anticancer agents, new phenazinamine derivatives were designed by subjecting the nucleus to molecular modeling, viz., GQSAR analysis and docking studies. Simultaneously, these designed derivatives were subjected to in silico prediction of biological activity through PASS studies and then in silico toxicity risk assessment studies. In PASS studies, it was found that all the derivatives exhibited a good spectrum of biological activities confirming its anticancer potential. The toxicity risk assessment studies revealed that all the derivatives obey Lipinski’s rule. Amongst these series, compounds 4c, 5b and 6c were found to possess logP and drug-likeness values comparable with the standard Imatinib (used for anticancer activity studies) and also with the standard drug methotrexate (used for antimitotic activity studies). One of the most notable mutations is the threonine to isoleucine mutation at codon 315 (T315I), which is known to be resistant to all currently available TKI. Enzyme assay planned for confirmation of target selective activity.

Keywords: drug design, tyrosine kinases, anticancer, Phenazinamine

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Authors: Ghaleb Y. Abbasi, Israa Abu Rumman

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This paper modeled sales history archived from 2012 to 2015 bulked in monthly bins for five products for a medical supply company in Jordan. The sales forecasts and extracted consistent patterns in the sales demand history from the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system were used to predict future forecasting and generate sales demand forecasting using time series analysis statistical technique called Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA). This was used to model and estimate realistic sales demand patterns and predict future forecasting to decide the best models for five products. Analysis revealed that the current replenishment system indicated inventory overstocking.

Keywords: ARIMA models, sales demand forecasting, time series, R code

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Authors: Jaroslav Masek, Juraj Camaj, Eva Nedeliakova

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The aim of optimization of store management is not only designing the situation of store management itself including its equipment, technology and operation. In optimization of store management we need to consider also synchronizing of technological, transport, store and service operations throughout the whole process of logistic chain in such a way that a natural flow of material from provider to consumer will be achieved the shortest possible way, in the shortest possible time in requested quality and quantity and with minimum costs. The paper deals with the application of the queuing theory for optimization of warehouse processes. The first part refers to common information about the problematic of warehousing and using mathematical methods for logistics chains optimization. The second part refers to preparing a model of a warehouse within queuing theory. The conclusion of the paper includes two examples of using queuing theory in praxis.

Keywords: queuing theory, logistics system, mathematical methods, warehouse optimization

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Authors: Ekki Kurniawan, Yusuf Nur Jayanto, Erna Sugesti, Efri Suhartono, Agus Ganda Permana, Jaspar Hasudungan, Jangkung Raharjo, Rintis Manfaati

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The purpose of this research is to study the current characteristic of the electrolysis of mineral water to produce hydrogen, alkaline water, and acid water. Alkaline and hydrogen water are believed to have health benefits. Alkaline water containing hydrogen can be an anti-oxidant that captures free radicals, which will increase the immune system. In Indonesia, there are two existing types of alkaline water producing equipment, but the installation is complicated, and the price is relatively expensive. The electrolysis process is slow (6-8 hours) since they are locally made using 311 VDC full bridge rectifier power supply. This paper intends to discuss how to make hydrogen and alkaline water by a simple portable mineral water ionizer. This is an electrolysis device that is easy to carry and able to separate ions of mineral water into acidic and alkaline water. With an electric field, positive ions will be attracted to the cathode, while negative ions will be attracted to the anode. The circuit equivalent can be depicted as RLC transient ciruit. The diode component ensures that the electrolytic current is direct current. Switch S divides the switching times t1, t2, and t3. In the first stage up to t1, the electrolytic current increases exponentially, as does the inductor charging current (L). The molecules in drinking water experience magnetic properties. The direction of the dipole ions, which are random in origin, will regularly flare with the direction of the electric field. In the second stage up to t2, the electrolytic current decreases exponentially, just like the charging current of a capacitor (C). In the 3rd stage, start t3 until it tends to be constant, as is the case with the current flowing through the resistor (R).

Keywords: current electrolysis, mineral water, ions, alkaline and acid waters, inductor, capacitor, resistor

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Authors: K. Geetha Ramesh, A. Ramachandraiah

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In an internal building space, daylight becomes a powerful source of illumination. The challenge therefore, is to develop means of utilizing both direct and diffuse natural light in buildings while maintaining and improving occupant's visual comfort, particularly at greater distances from the windows throwing daylight. The geometrical features of windows in a building have significant effect in providing daylight. The main goal of this research is to develop an innovative window geometry, which will effectively provide the daylight component adequately together with internal reflected component(IRC) and also the external reflected component(ERC), if any. This involves exploration of a light redirecting system using fractal geometry for windows, in order to penetrate and distribute daylight more uniformly to greater depths, minimizing heat gain and glare, and also to reduce building energy use substantially. Of late the creation of fractal geometrical window and the occurrence of daylight illuminance due to such windows is becoming an interesting study. The amount of daylight can change significantly based on the window geometry and sky conditions. This leads to the (i) exploration of various fractal patterns suitable for window designs, and (ii) quantification of the effect of chosen fractal window based on the relationship between the fractal pattern, size, orientation and glazing properties for optimizing daylighting. There are a lot of natural lighting applications able to predict the behaviour of a light in a room through a traditional opening - a regular window. The conventional prediction methodology involves the evaluation of the daylight factor, the internal reflected component and the external reflected component. Having evaluated the daylight illuminance level for a conventional window, the technical performance of a fractal window for an optimal daylighting is to be studied and compared with that of a regular window. The methodologies involved are highlighted in this paper.

Keywords: daylighting, fractal geometry, fractal window, optimization

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Authors: Maha Jazouli

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Suicide is one of the most important causes of death in the prison environment, both in Canada and internationally. Rates of attempts of suicide and self-harm have been on the rise in recent years, with hangings being the most frequent method resorted to. The objective of this article is to propose a method to automatically detect in real time suicidal behaviors. We present a gesture recognition system that consists of three modules: model-based movement tracking, feature extraction, and gesture recognition using machine learning algorithms (MLA). Our proposed system gives us satisfactory results. This smart video surveillance system can help assist staff responsible for the safety and health of inmates by alerting them when suicidal behavior is detected, which helps reduce mortality rates and save lives.

Keywords: suicide detection, Kinect azure, RGB-D camera, SVM, machine learning, gesture recognition

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Authors: Mejri Achref

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This paper proposes an energy management strategy for an electrical hybrid vehicle which is composed of a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell and a supercapacitor storage device. In this paper, the mathematical model for the proposed power train, comprising the PEM Fuel Cell, supercapacitor, boost converter, inverter, and vehicular structure, was modeled in MATLAB/Simulink. The proposed algorithm is evaluated for the Highway Fuel Economy Test (HWFET) driving cycle. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed energy management strategy in reduction of hydrogen consumption.

Keywords: proton exchange membrane fuel cell, hybrid vehicle, hydrogen consumption, energy management strategy

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Authors: Nihar Ranjan, Derrick Watkins, Dev P. Arya

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Current methods in the study of antibiotic activity of ribosome targeted antibiotics are dependent on cell based bacterial inhibition assays or various forms of ribosomal binding assays. These assays are typically independent of each other and little direct correlation between the ribosomal binding and bacterial inhibition is established with the complementary assay. We have developed novel high-throughput capable assays for ribosome targeted drug discovery. One such assay examines the compounds ability to bind to a model ribosomal RNA A-site. We have also coupled this assay to other functional orthogonal assays. Such analysis can provide valuable understanding of the relationships between two complementary drug screening methods and could be used as standard analysis to correlate the affinity of a compound for its target and the effect the compound has on a cell.

Keywords: bacterial resistance, aminoglycosides, screening, drugs

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Authors: Aishrith Rao

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Human activity recognition is an important aspect of video analytics, and many approaches have been recommended to enable action recognition. In this approach, the model is used to identify the action of the multiple people in the frame and classify them accordingly. A few approaches use RNNs and 3D CNNs, which are computationally expensive and cannot be trained with the small datasets which are currently available. Multi-person action recognition has been performed in order to understand the positions and action of people present in the video frame. The size of the video frame can be adjusted as a hyper-parameter depending on the hardware resources available. OpenPose has been used to calculate pose estimate using CNN to produce heap-maps, one of which provides skeleton features, which are basically joint features. The features are then extracted, and a classification algorithm can be applied to classify the action.

Keywords: human activity recognition, computer vision, pose estimates, convolutional neural networks

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Authors: Fortune Chibuike Onyia, Femi Ogundeji Ayodele

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The design of a drainage system at the permanent site of Federal Polytechnic Oko in Anambra State is critical for mitigating flooding, managing surface runoff, and ensuring environmental sustainability. The design process employed a comprehensive analysis involving topographical surveys, hydraulic modeling, and the assessment of local soil types to ensure stability and efficient water conveyance. Proper slope gradients were considered to maintain adequate flow velocities and avoid sediment deposition, which could hinder long-term performance. From the result, the channel size estimated was 0.199m by 0.0199m and 0.0199m². This study proposed a channel size of 1.4m depth by 0.5m width and 0.7m², optimized to accommodate the anticipated peak flow resulting from heavy rainfall and storm-water events. This sizing is based on hydrological data, which takes into account rainfall intensity, runoff coefficients, and catchment area characteristics. The objective is to effectively convey storm-water while preventing overflow, erosion, and subsequent damage to infrastructure and properties. This sustainable approach incorporates provisions for maintenance and aligns with urban drainage standards to enhance durability and reliability. Implementing this drainage system will mitigate flood risks, safeguard campus facilities, improve overall water management, and contribute to the development of resilient infrastructure at Federal Polytechnic Oko.

Keywords: flood mitigation, drainage system, sustainable design, environmental management

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Authors: Dragan Ribarić

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We employ the so-called problem-dependent linked interpolation concept to develop two cubic 4-node quadrilateral Mindlin plate finite elements with 12 external degrees of freedom. In the problem-independent linked interpolation, the interpolation functions are independent of any problem material parameters and the rotation fields are not expressed in terms of the nodal displacement parameters. On the contrary, in the problem-dependent linked interpolation, the interpolation functions depend on the material parameters and the rotation fields are expressed in terms of the nodal displacement parameters. Two cubic 4-node quadrilateral plate elements are presented, named Q4-U3 and Q4-U3R5. The first one is modelled with one displacement and two rotation degrees of freedom in every of the four element nodes and the second element has five additional internal degrees of freedom to get polynomial completeness of the cubic form and which can be statically condensed within the element. Both elements are able to pass the constant-bending patch test exactly as well as the non-zero constant-shear patch test on the oriented regular mesh geometry in the case of cylindrical bending. In any mesh shape, the elements have the correct rank and only the three eigenvalues, corresponding to the solid body motions are zero. There are no additional spurious zero modes responsible for instability of the finite element models. In comparison with the problem-independent cubic linked interpolation implemented in Q9-U3, the nine-node plate element, significantly less degrees of freedom are employed in the model while retaining the interpolation conformity between adjacent elements. The presented elements are also compared to the existing problem-independent quadratic linked-interpolation element Q4-U2 and to the other known elements that also use the quadratic or the cubic linked interpolation, by testing them on several benchmark examples. Simple functional upgrading from the quadratic to the cubic linked interpolation, implemented in Q4-U3 element, showed no significant improvement compared to the quadratic linked form of the Q4-U2 element. Only when the additional bubble terms are incorporated in the displacement and rotation function fields, which complete the full cubic linked interpolation form, qualitative improvement is fulfilled in the Q4-U3R5 element. Nevertheless, the locking problem exists even for the both presented elements, like in all pure displacement elements when applied to very thin plates modelled by coarse meshes. But good and even slightly better performance can be noticed for the Q4-U3R5 element when compared with elements from the literature, if the model meshes are moderately dense and the plate thickness not extremely thin. In some cases, it is comparable to or even better than Q9-U3 element which has as many as 12 more external degrees of freedom. A significant improvement can be noticed in particular when modeling very skew plates and models with singularities in the stress fields as well as circular plates with distorted meshes.

Keywords: Mindlin plate theory, problem-independent linked interpolation, problem-dependent interpolation, quadrilateral displacement-based plate finite elements

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Authors: Merav Meiron-Goren, Orna Braun-Lewensohn, Tal Litvak-Hirsh

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In recent years, there has been an increasing tendency towards separation and divorce in relationships. Nevertheless, many couples in a first marriage do not anticipate this as a probable possibility and do not make any preparation for it. Same sex couples establishing a family encounter a much more complicated situation than do heterosexual couples. Although there is a trend towards legal recognition of same sex marriage, many countries, including Israel, do not recognize it. The absence of legal recognition or the existence of partial recognition creates complexity for these couples. They have to fight for their right to establish a family, like the recognition of the biological child of a woman, as a child of her woman spouse too, or the option of surrogacy for a male couple who want children, and more. The lack of legal recognition is burden on the lives of these couples. In the absence of clear norms regarding the conduct of the family unit, the couples must define for themselves the family structure, and deal with everyday dilemmas that lack institutional solutions. This may increase the friction between the two couple members, and it is one of the factors that make it difficult for them to maintain the relationship. This complexity exists, perhaps even more so, in separation. The end of relationship is often accompanied by a deep crisis, causing pain and stress. In most cases, there are also other conflicts that must be settled. These are more complicated when rights are in doubt or do not exist at all. Complex issues for separating same sex couples may include matters of property, recognition of parenthood, and care and support for the children. The significance of the study is based on the fact that same sex relationships are becoming more and more widespread, and are an integral part of the society. Even so, there is still an absence of research focusing on such relationships and their ending. The objective of the study is to research the perceptions of same sex couples regarding the possibility of separation, preparing for it, conflict management and resolving disputes through the separation process. It is also important to understand the point of view of couples that have gone through separation, how they coped with the emotional and practical difficulties involved in the separation process. The doctoral research will use a qualitative research method in a phenomenological approach, based on semi-structured in-depth interviews. The interviewees will be divided into three groups- at the beginning of a relationship, during the separation crisis and after separation, with a time perspective, with about 10 couples from each group. The main theoretical model serving as the basis of the study will be the Lazarus and Folkman theory of coping with stress. This model deals with the coping process, including cognitive appraisal of an experience as stressful, appraisal of the coping resources, and using strategies of coping. The strategies are divided into two main groups, emotion-focused forms of coping and problem-focused forms of coping.

Keywords: conflict management, coping, legal recognition, same-sex relationship, separation

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Authors: Aimen Batool Bint-E-Rashid, Huma Irfan

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This research aims to investigate the role of social media (Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) in our daily lives and its implication on our everyday routine in the form of stressors. The study has been validated by a social media survey with 150 social media users belonging to various age groups. The study explores how social media can make an individual anti-social in his or her life offline. To explain the phenomenon, we have proposed and evaluated a model based on social media usage and stressors including burnout and social overload. Results, through correlation and regression tests, have revealed that with increase in social media usage, social overload and burnout also increases. Evidence for the fact that excessive social media usage causes social overload and burnout has been provided in the study.

Keywords: burnout, emotional exhaustion, fatigue, stressors, social networking, social media, social overload

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Authors: Shreya Borthakur, Adhar Sharma

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The North-east states of India are well known for their age-old practice of preparing alcoholic beer from rice and millet. They do so in a traditional way by sprinkling starter cake (inoculum) on cooked rice or millet after which the fermentation starts and eventually, forms the beer. This starter cake has a rich composition of different microbes and medicinal herbs along with the powdered rice dough or maize dough with rice bran. The starter cake microbial composition has an important role in determining the microbial succession and metabolic secretions as the fermentation proceeds from the early to its late stage, thus, giving the beer a unique aroma, taste, and other sensory properties of traditionally prepared beer. Here, We have worked on identifying and characterizing the microbial community in the starter cakes prepared by the Monpa and Galo tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. A total of 18 microbial strains have been isolated from the starter cake of Monpa tribe, while 10 microbial isolates in that of Galo tribe. A metagenomic approach was applied to enumerate the cultural and non-cultural microbes present in the starter cakes prepared by the Monpa and Galo tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. The findings of the mini-project lays foundation to understand the role of microbes present in the starter cake in the beer’s fermentation process and will aide in future research on re-formulating the starter cakes to prevent the early spoilage of the ready to consume beer as the traditional rice beer has a short shelf-life. The paper concludes with the way forward being controlled CRISPR-Cas9.

Keywords: fermentation, traditional beer, microbial succession, preservation, CRISPR-Cas, food microbiology

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Authors: Rajinikanth Siddalingam, Poonguzhali Subramanian

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The present study aims to prepare and evaluate the self-nano emulsifying drug delivery (SNEDDS) system to enhance the dissolution rate of a poorly soluble drug dutasteride. The formulation was prepared using capryol PGMC, Cremophor EL, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) 400 as oil, surfactant and co-surfactant, respectively. The pseudo-ternary phase diagrams with presence and absence of drug were plotted to find out the nano emulsification range and also to evaluate the effect of dutasteride on the emulsification behavior of the phases. Prepared SNEDDS formulations were evaluated for its particle size distribution, nano emulsifying properties, robustness to dilution, self-emulsification time, turbidity measurement, drug content and in-vitro dissolution. The optimized formulations are further evaluated for heating cooling cycle, centrifugation studies, freeze-thaw cycling, particle size distribution and zeta potential were carried out to confirm the stability of the formed SNEDDS formulations. The particle size, zeta potential and polydispersity index of the optimized formulation found to be 35.45 nm, -15.45 and 0.19, respectively. The in vitro results are revealed that the prepared formulation enhanced the dissolution rate of dutasteride significantly as compared with pure drug. The in vivo studies in was conducted using rats and the results are revealed that SNEDDS formulation has enhanced the bioavailability of dutasteride drug significantly as compared with raw drug. Based the results, it was concluded that the dutasteride-loaded SNEDDS shows potential to enhance the dissolution of dutasteride, thus improving the bioavailability and therapeutic effects.

Keywords: self-emulsifying drug delivery system, dutasteride, enhancement of bioavailability, dissolution enhancement

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Authors: Heather E. Ewart, Keith Jensen, Rebecca N. Cliffe

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Fragmentation and changes in the structural composition of tropical forests – as a result of intensifying anthropogenic disturbance – are increasing pressures on local biodiversity. Species with low dispersal abilities have some of the highest extinction risks in response to environmental change, as even small-scale environmental variation can substantially impact their space use and energetic balance. Understanding the implications of forest disturbance is therefore essential, ultimately allowing for more effective and targeted conservation initiatives. Here, the impact of different levels of forest disturbance on the space use, energetics, movement and behavior of 18 brown-throated sloths (Bradypus variegatus) were assessed in the South Caribbean of Costa Rica. A multi-scale framework was used to measure forest disturbance, including large-scale (landscape-level classifications) and fine-scale (within and surrounding individual home ranges) forest composition. Three landscape-level classifications were identified: primary forests (undisturbed), secondary forests (some disturbance, regenerating) and urban forests (high levels of disturbance and fragmentation). Finer-scale forest composition was determined using measurements of habitat structure and quality within and surrounding individual home ranges for each sloth (home range estimates were calculated using autocorrelated kernel density estimation [AKDE]). Measurements of forest quality included tree connectivity, density, diameter and height, species richness, and percentage of canopy cover. To determine space use, energetics, movement and behavior, six sloths in urban forests, seven sloths in secondary forests and five sloths in primary forests were tracked using a combination of Very High Frequency (VHF) radio transmitters and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology over an average period of 120 days. All sloths were also fitted with micro data-loggers (containing tri-axial accelerometers and pressure loggers) for an average of 30 days to allow for behavior-specific movement analyses (data analysis ongoing for data-loggers and primary forest sloths). Data-loggers included determination of activity budgets, circadian rhythms of activity and energy expenditure (using the vector of the dynamic body acceleration [VeDBA] as a proxy). Analyses to date indicate that home range size significantly increased with the level of forest disturbance. Female sloths inhabiting secondary forests averaged 0.67-hectare home ranges, while female sloths inhabiting urban forests averaged 1.93-hectare home ranges (estimates are represented by median values to account for the individual variation in home range size in sloths). Likewise, home range estimates for male sloths were 2.35 hectares in secondary forests and 4.83 in urban forests. Sloths in urban forests also used nearly double (median = 22.5) the number of trees as sloths in the secondary forest (median = 12). These preliminary data indicate that forest disturbance likely heightens the energetic requirements of sloths, a species already critically limited by low dispersal ability and rates of energy acquisition. Energetic and behavioral analyses from the data-loggers will be considered in the context of fine-scale forest composition measurements (i.e., habitat quality and structure) and are expected to reflect the observed home range and movement constraints. The implications of these results are far-reaching, presenting an opportunity to define a critical index of habitat connectivity for low dispersal species such as sloths.

Keywords: biodiversity conservation, forest disturbance, movement ecology, sloths

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Authors: Vinay Kumar Vanjakula, Frank Adam

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The generation of electricity through wind power is one of the leading renewable energy generation methods. Due to abundant higher wind speeds far away from shore, the construction of offshore wind turbines began in the last decades. However, the installation of offshore foundation-based (monopiles) wind turbines in deep waters are often associated with technical and financial challenges. To overcome such challenges, the concept of floating wind turbines is expanded as the basis of the oil and gas industry. For such a floating system, stabilization in harsh conditions is a challenging task. For that, a robust heavy-weight gravity anchor is needed. Transportation of such anchor requires a heavy vessel that increases the cost. To lower the cost, the gravity anchor is designed with ballast chambers that allow the anchor to float while towing and filled with water when lowering to the planned seabed location. The presence of such a large structure may influence the flow field around it. The changes in the flow field include, formation of vortices, turbulence generation, waves or currents flow breaking and pressure differentials around the seabed sediment. These changes influence the installation process. Also, after installation and under operating conditions, the flow around the anchor may allow the local seabed sediment to be carried off and results in Scour (erosion). These are a threat to the structure's stability. In recent decades, rapid developments of research work and the knowledge of scouring on fixed structures (bridges and monopiles) in rivers and oceans have been carried out, and very limited research work on scouring around a bluff-shaped gravity anchor. The objective of this study involves the application of different numerical models to simulate the anchor towing under waves and calm water conditions. Anchor lowering involves the investigation of anchor movements at certain water depths under wave/current. The motions of anchor drift, heave, and pitch is of special focus. The further study involves anchor scour, where the anchor is installed in the seabed; the flow of underwater current around the anchor induces vortices mainly at the front and corners that develop soil erosion. The study of scouring on a submerged gravity anchor is an interesting research question since the flow not only passes around the anchor but also over the structure that forms different flow vortices. The achieved results and the numerical model will be a basis for the development of other designs and concepts for marine structures. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical model will build in OpenFOAM and other similar software.

Keywords: anchor lowering, anchor towing, gravity anchor, computational fluid dynamics, scour

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Authors: Normah Sulaiman, Yong Zhi Kang, Nor Hayati Hussain, Abdul Rehman Khalid

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Segara Ninda owned by Din Ku Meh, the governor of the province Satul, a Malay man with a big role liaising with Thailand. This mansion is part of the legacy he left behind among other properties in George Town, Penang, besides his family. The island’s geographical location is strategic which has benefitted it through important trade routes for Europe, Middle, East, India, and China in the past. Due to this reasoning, various architectural styles were introduced in Penang; Late Straits Eclectic style is one of the forms of the Colonial Architectural style widely spread as vernacular shophouses in George Town. Segara Ninda is located among the mixture of nouveau-riche, historical and heritage sites at the most important street; Penang Road, which dated back to the late 18th century. This paper examines the strait eclectic style that Segara Ninda encompasses. Acknowledging the mixture of colonial architecture in Georgetown, we argue that the mansion faces challenging issues in conservation processes to be vindicated. This is reflected by analysing the spatial layout, visual elements quality, and its activity through interviews with the occupants of the mansion. The focus will be on the understanding of building form, features, and functions; respecting the architectural spaces and their activity. The methodology applied is to promote our understanding of the mix of culture that the mansion holds through documentation, observation and measuring exercises. This offers a positional interpretation of the mix of culture that the mansion holds. This conservation effort will further contribute exposure to the public and recognize it in the society as its essence is a deficiency character to the existing built environment.

Keywords: eclectic, heritage, spatial organization, culture

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Authors: Soumya Dutta

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This research paper aims at investigating the impact of emotional intelligence and cognitive intelligence on radio presenter’s performance in the All India Radio, Kolkata (India’s public service broadcaster). The ancient concept of productivity is the ratio of what is produced to what is required to produce it. But, father of modern management Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) defined productivity of knowledge work and knowledge workers in a new form. In the other hand, the concept of Emotional Intelligence (EI) originated back in 1920’s when Thorndike (1920) for the first time proposed the emotional intelligence into three dimensions, i.e., abstract intelligence, mechanical intelligence, and social intelligence. The contribution of Salovey and Mayer (1990) is substantive, as they proposed a model for emotional intelligence by defining EI as part of the social intelligence, which takes measures the ability of an individual to regulate his/her personal and other’s emotions and feeling. Cognitive intelligence illustrates the specialization of general intelligence in the domain of cognition in ways that possess experience and learning about cognitive processes such as memory. The outcomes of past research on emotional intelligence show that emotional intelligence has a positive effect on social- mental factors of human resource; positive effects of emotional intelligence on leaders and followers in terms of performance, results, work, satisfaction; emotional intelligence has a positive and significant relationship with the teachers' job performance. In this paper, we made a conceptual framework based on theories of emotional intelligence proposed by Salovey and Mayer (1989-1990) and a compensatory model of emotional intelligence, cognitive intelligence, and job performance proposed by Stephen Cote and Christopher T. H. Miners (2006). For investigating the impact of emotional intelligence and cognitive intelligence on radio presenter’s performance, sample size consists 59 radio presenters (considering gender, academic qualification, instructional mood, age group, etc.) from All India Radio, Kolkata station. Questionnaires prepared based on cognitive (henceforth called C based and represented by C1, C2,.., C5) as well as emotional intelligence (henceforth called E based and represented by E1, E2,., E20). These were sent to around 59 respondents (Presenters) for getting their responses. Performance score was collected from the report of program executive of All India Radio, Kolkata. The linear regression has been carried out using all the E-based and C-based variables as the predictor variables. The possible problem of autocorrelation has been tested by having the Durbinson-Watson (DW) Statistic. Values of this statistic, almost within the range of 1.80-2.20, indicate the absence of any significant problem of autocorrelation. The possible problem of multicollinearity has been tested by having the Variable Inflation Factor (VIF) value. Values of this statistic, around within 2, indicates the absence of any significant problem of multicollinearity. It is inferred that the performance scores can be statistically regressed linearly on the E-based and C-based scores, which can explain 74.50% of the variations in the performance.

Keywords: cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence, performance, productivity

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Authors: Eman Merza, Stephen Pearson, Glen Lichtwark, Peter Malliaras

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The Achilles tendon (AT) exhibits volume changes related to fluid flow under acute load which may be linked to changes in stiffness. Fluid flow provides a mechanical signal for cellular activity and may be one mechanism that facilitates tendon adaptation. This study aimed to investigate whether isometric intervention involving a high level of load duration and intensity could maximize the immediate reduction in AT volume and stiffness compared to interventions involving a lower level of load duration and intensity. Sixteen healthy participants (12 males, 4 females; age= 24.4 ± 9.4 years; body mass= 70.9 ± 16.1 kg; height= 1.7 ± 0.1 m) performed three isometric interventions of varying levels of load duration (2 s and 8 s) and intensity (35% and 75% maximal voluntary isometric contraction) over a 3 week period. Freehand 3D ultrasound was used to measure free AT volume (at rest) and length (at 35%, 55%, and 75% of maximum plantarflexion force) pre- and post-interventions. The slope of the force-elongation curve over these force levels represented individual stiffness (N/mm). Large reductions in free AT volume and stiffness resulted in response to long-duration high-intensity loading whilst less reduction was produced with a lower load intensity. In contrast, no change in free AT volume and a small increase in AT stiffness occurred with lower load duration. These findings suggest that the applied load on the AT must be heavy and sustained for a long duration to maximize immediate volume reduction, which might be an acute response that enables optimal long-term tendon adaptation via mechanotransduction pathways.

Keywords: Achilles tendon, volume, stiffness, free tendon, 3d ultrasound

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Authors: Maxim Kravchenko

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The paper looks into the structure and contents of the concept of empire in the social consciousness of modern Americans. To construct the model of this socially and politically relevant concept we have conducted an experiment with respondents born and living in the USA. Empire is seen as a historic notion describing such entities as the British empire, the Russian empire, the Ottoman empire and others. It seems that the democratic regime adopted by most countries worldwide is incompatible with imperial status of a country. Yet there are countries which tend to dominate in the contemporary world and though they are not routinely referred to as empires, in many respects they are reminiscent of historical empires. Thus, the central hypothesis of the study is that the concept of empire is cultivated in some states through the intermediary of the mass media though it undergoes a certain transformation to meet the expectations of a democratic society. The transformation implies that certain components which were historically embedded in its structure are drawn to the margins of the hierarchical structure of the concept whereas other components tend to become central to the concept. This process can be referred to as restructuration of the concept of empire. To verify this hypothesis we have conducted a study which falls into two stages. First we looked into the definition of empire featured in dictionaries, the dominant conceptual components of empire are: importance, territory/lands, recognition, independence, authority/power, supreme/absolute. However, the analysis of 100 articles from American newspapers chosen at random revealed that authors rarely use the word «empire» in its basic meaning (7%). More often «empire» is used when speaking about countries, which no longer exist or when speaking about some corporations (like Apple or Google). At the second stage of the study we conducted an associative experiment with the citizens of the USA aged 19 to 45. The purpose of the experiment was to find out the dominant components of the concept of empire and to construct the model of the transformed concept. The experiment stipulated that respondents should give the first association, which crosses their mind, on reading such stimulus phrases as “strong military”, “strong economy” and others. The list of stimuli features various words and phrases associated with empire including the words representing the dominant components of the concept of empire. Then the associations provided by the respondents were classified into thematic clusters. For instance, the associations to the stimulus “strong military” were compartmentalized into three groups: 1) a country with strong military forces (North Korea, the USA, Russia, China); 2) negative impression of strong military (war, anarchy, conflict); 3) positive impression of strong military (peace, safety, responsibility). The experiment findings suggest that the concept of empire is currently undergoing a transformation which brings about a number of changes. Among them predominance of positively assessed components of the concept; emergence of two poles in the structure of the concept, that is “hero” vs. “enemy”; marginalization of any negatively assessed components.

Keywords: associative experiment, conceptual components, empire, restructurasation of the concept

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Authors: Karim Matter, Heba Fayed, Ahmed Abd-Elaziz, Moustafa Hussein

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Due to the exponential growth of mobile devices and wireless services, a huge demand for radiofrequency has increased. The presence of several frequencies causes interference between cells, which must be minimized to get the lower Bit Error Rate (BER). For this reason, it is of great interest to use visible light communication (VLC). This paper suggests a VLC system that decreases the BER by applying a new LED distribution with a hexagonal shape using a Frequency Reuse (FR) concept to mitigate the interference between the reused frequencies inside the hexagonal shape. The BER is measured in two scenarios, Line of Sight (LoS) and Non-Line of Sight (Non-LoS), for each technique that we used. The recommended values of BER in the proposed model for Soft Frequency Reuse (SFR) in the case of Los at 4, 8, and 10 dB signal to noise ratio (SNR), are 3.6×10⁻⁶, 6.03×10⁻¹³, and 2.66×10⁻¹⁸, respectively.

Keywords: visible light communication (VLC), field of view (FoV), hexagonal array, frequency reuse

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Authors: Pascal Mwenge, Jefrey Pilusa, Tumisang Seodigeng

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The current study investigated the effect of catalyst ratio and methanol to oil ratio on biodiesel production by using central composite design. Biodiesel was produced by transesterification using sodium hydroxide as a homogeneous catalyst, a laboratory scale reactor consisting of flat bottom flask mounts with a reflux condenser and a heating plate was used to produce biodiesel. Key parameters, including, time, temperature and mixing rate were kept constant at 60 minutes, 60 ^oC and 600 RPM, respectively. From the results obtained, it was observed that the biodiesel yield depends on catalyst ratio and methanol to oil ratio. The highest yield of 50.65% was obtained at catalyst ratio of 0.5 wt.% and methanol to oil mole ratio 10.5. The analysis of variances of biodiesel yield showed the R Squared value of 0.8387. A quadratic mathematical model was developed to predict the biodiesel yield in the specified parameters ranges.

Keywords: ANOVA, biodiesel, catalyst, CCD, transesterification

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Authors: Aziz Soubai

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The primary issue is that English as foreign language learners don’t use English outside the classroom. The only little exposure is inside the classroom, and that’s not enough to make them good language learners! Edmodo, like the other Learning Management Systems, can be used to encourage students to collaborate with each other and with global classrooms on projects where English is used- Some examples of collaboration with different schools will be mentioned and how the Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR) model and its stages can be applied in the activities, especially for teachers who are hesitant to introduce technology or don’t have a lot of technical knowledge. There will also be some focus on Edmodo groups and on how flipped and blended learning can be used as an extension for classroom time and to help the teacher address language problems and improve students’ language skills, especially writing, reading and communication. It is also equally important to use Edmodo badges and certificates for motivating and engaging learners and gamifying the lesson.

Keywords: EFL learners, language classroom-learning management system, edmodo, SAMR, language skills

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Authors: Srikrishna Pramanik, Sree Chithra, Saurabh Rai, Sameeksha Agrawal, Debanggana Shil, Saptarshi Mukherjee

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The understanding of interactions between organic chromophores and biologically useful luminescent noble metal nanoclusters (NCs) leading to an energy transfer process that has applications in light-harvesting materials is still in its nascent stage. This work describes a photoluminescent supramolecular assembly, made in two stages, employing an energy transfer process between silver (Ag) NCs as the donor and a host-guest system as the acceptor that can find potential applications in diverse fields. Initially, we explored the host-guest chemistry between a cationic guest, Ethidium Bromide and the anionic host Cucurbit[8]uril using spectroscopic and calorimetric techniques to decipher their interaction mechanism in modulating photophysical properties of the chromophore. Next, we synthesized a series of blue-emitting AgNCs using different templates such as protein, peptides, and cyclodextrin. The as-prepared AgNCs were characterized by various spectroscopic techniques. We have established that these AgNCs can be employed as donors in the FRET process with the above acceptor for FRET-based emission color tuning. Our in-depth studies revealed that surface ligands play a key role in modulating FRET efficiency. Overall, by employing a non-covalent strategy, we have tried to develop FRET pairs using blue-emitting NCs and a host-guest complex, which could find potential applications in constructing advanced white light-emitting, anti-counterfeiting materials, and developing biosensors.

Keywords: absorption spectroscopy, cavities, energy transfer, fluorescence, fluorescence resonance energy transfer

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Authors: Bernd Kiefer, Abraham Gebru Tesfay, Dietrich Klakow

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The motivation of our work is to detect different terrain types traversed by a robot based on acoustic data from the robot-terrain interaction. Different acoustic features and classifiers were investigated, such as Mel-frequency cepstral coefficient and Gamma-tone frequency cepstral coefficient for the feature extraction, and Gaussian mixture model and Feed forward neural network for the classification. We analyze the system’s performance by comparing our proposed techniques with some other features surveyed from distinct related works. We achieve precision and recall values between 87% and 100% per class, and an average accuracy at 95.2%. We also study the effect of varying audio chunk size in the application phase of the models and find only a mild impact on performance.

Keywords: acoustic features, autonomous robots, feature extraction, terrain classification

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