Search results for: Dwell time effect

Authors: Ujwal Kishor Zore, Shankar Balajirao Kausley, Aniruddha Bhalchandra Pandit

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There are some important design parameters of activated sludge process (ASP) for wastewater treatment and they must be optimally defined to have the optimized plant working. To know them, developing a mathematical model is a way out as it is nearly commensurate the real world works. In this study, a mathematical model was developed for ASP, solved under activated sludge model no 1 (ASM 1) conditions and MATLAB tool was used to solve the mathematical equations. For its real-life validation, the developed model was tested for the inputs from the municipal wastewater treatment plant and the results were quite promising. Additionally, the most cardinal assumptions required to design the treatment plant are discussed in this paper. With the need for computerization and digitalization surging in every aspect of engineering, this mathematical model developed might prove to be a boon to many biological wastewater treatment plants as now they can in no time know the design parameters which are required for a particular type of wastewater treatment.

Keywords: waste water treatment, activated sludge process, mathematical modeling, optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Muhammad Nuqman Bin Anuar, Dalila Mat Said

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The integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems in government buildings represents a crucial step toward enhancing energy efficiency and promoting sustainability. However, the adoption of PV systems can introduce challenges in maintaining power quality due to the intermittent nature of solar generation. The effect of a self-consumption photovoltaic system on the power quality characteristics of a Malaysian government building is examined in this study. Total harmonic distortion of current (THDi), total harmonic distortion of voltage (THDv), voltage (Vrms), current (Irms), and power factors are among the important parameters that were examined both before and after the PV system was installed. Power quality data were collected over several weeks by using a power quality analyzer Fluke 1750, and a comparative analysis was conducted to evaluate changes in these parameters. The results show significant fluctuations in the power factor, particularly during periods of high solar generation, with notable variations in THDi across the three phases. These fluctuations highlight the potential interactions between solar generation and load demand, emphasizing the need for harmonic mitigation. Despite these issues, Vrms and THDv remained within acceptable limits, ensuring compliance with power quality standards. This study provides insights into the power quality behaviour of self-consumption PV systems before and after the installation of photovoltaics.

Keywords: power quality, power factor, harmonics, photovoltaic

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Authors: Mohammad Abdel Fattah Mohammad Kewisha

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Microbial deterioration of ancient materials became one of the biggest problems facing the workers in the field of cultural heritage protection because the microbial deterioration of artifacts causes detrimental effects on the aesthetic value of the monuments due to colonization, whether they are made of inorganic materials such as stone or organic like wood, textiles, wall paintings, and paper. So, the early identification of the bacterial strains that caused deterioration is the most important point for the protection of monument objects. The present study focuses on the Bacillus spp. group, which was isolated from some biodeterioration monuments from different areas of Egypt. The investigated objects in this study were made from organic materials (cellulose), paper, textile, and wood. Isolated strains were identified up to the species level biochemically. Eleven bacterial isolates were obtained from collected samples. They were taken from different archaeological objects, four microbicides, cetrimonium bromide, sodium azide, tetraethyl ammonium bromide, and dichloroxylenol, at various concentrations ranging from 25 ppm to 500 ppm. They were screened for their antibacterial activity against the Bacillus spp. isolates, and detection of Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). It was also necessary to indicate the ideal Minimum inhibitory concentration for each strain for the purpose of biotreatment of the infected monuments with less damaging effect on monument materials.

Keywords: microbial deterioration, ancient materials, heritage protection, protection of monuments, biodeteriorative monuments

Procedia PDF Downloads 65

Authors: Yuhua Yang, Yingcheng Li

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As a new form of intercity economic cooperation, innovation enclaves have received much attention from governments and scholars in China, which are of great significance in promoting the flow of innovation elements and advancing regional integration. Utilizing inter-city linkages of innovation enclaves within and beyond the Yangtze River Delta Region, we construct multi-scalar innovation enclave networks in 2018 and 2022, and analyze the evolutionary characteristics and underlying mechanisms of the networks. Overall, we find that: (1) The intercity innovation enclave networks have the characteristics of preferential connection and are gradually forming a clear multi-scale and hierarchical structure, with Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing as the core and other cities as the general nodes; (2) The intercity innovation enclave networks exhibit local clustering dominated by geographical proximity connections, and are becoming more noticeable in the effect of distance decay and functionally polycentric as the spatial scale decreases; (3) The intercity innovation enclave networks are influenced by both functional distance and multidimensional proximity. While the innovation potential differences caused by urban attributes internally drive the formation of innovation enclave cooperation, geographic proximity, technological proximity and institutional proximity externally affect the selection of cooperation partners.

Keywords: economic enclave, intercity cooperation, proximity, yangtze river delta region

Procedia PDF Downloads 30

Authors: N. Singh, G. K. Darbha

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Since the last decade, a wave of research has begun to study the prevalence and impact of ever-increasing plastic pollution in the environment. The wide application and ubiquitous distribution of plastic have become a global concern due to its persistent nature. The disposal of plastics has emerged as one of the major challenges for waste management landfills. Microplastics (MPs) have found its existence in almost every environment, from the high altitude mountain lake to the deep sea sediments, polar icebergs, coral reefs, estuaries, beaches, and river, etc. Microplastics are fragments of plastics with size less than 5 mm. Microplastics can be classified as primary microplastics and secondary microplastics. Primary microplastics includes purposefully introduced microplastics into the end products for consumers (microbeads used in facial cleansers, personal care product, etc.), pellets (used in manufacturing industries) or fibres (from textile industries) which finally enters into the environment. Secondary microplastics are formed by disintegration of larger fragments under the exposure of sunlight, mechanical abrasive forces by rain, waves, wind and/or water. A number of factors affect the quantity of microplastic present in freshwater environments. In addition to physical forces, human population density proximal to the water body, proximity to urban centres, water residence time, and size of the water body also affects plastic properties. With time, other complex processes in nature such as physical, chemical and biological break down plastics by interfering with its structural integrity. Several studies demonstrate that microplastics found in wastewater sludge being used as manure for agricultural fields, thus having the tendency to alter the soil environment condition influencing the microbial population as well. Inadequate data are available on the fate and transport of microplastics under varying environmental conditions that are required to supplement important information for further research. In addition, microplastics have the tendency to absorb heavy metals and hydrophobic organic contaminants such as PAHs and PCBs from its surroundings and thus acting as carriers for these contaminants in the environment system. In this study, three kinds of microplastics (polyethylene, polypropylene and expanded polystyrene) of different densities were chosen. Plastic samples were placed in sand with different aqueous media (distilled water, surface water, groundwater and marine water). It was incubated at varying temperatures (25, 35 and 40 °C) and agitation levels (rpm). The results show that the number of plastic fragments enhanced with increase in temperature and agitation speed. Moreover, the rate of disintegration of expanded polystyrene is high compared to other plastics. These results demonstrate that temperature, salinity, and mechanical abrasion plays a major role in degradation of plastics. Since weathered microplastics are more harmful as compared to the virgin microplastics, long-term studies involving other environmental factors are needed to have a better understanding of degradation of plastics.

Keywords: environmental contamination, fragmentation, microplastics, temperature, weathering

Procedia PDF Downloads 178

Authors: Preshanthan Moodley, E. B. Gueguim-Kana

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The objective of this study was to develop a method to pretreat sugarcane leaf waste using microwave-assisted (MA) inorganic salt. The effects of process parameters of salt concentration, microwave power intensity and pretreatment time on reducing sugar yield from enzymatically hydrolysed sugarcane leaf waste were investigated. Pretreatment models based on MA-NaCl, MA-ZnCl2 and MA-FeCl3 were developed. Maximum reducing sugar yield of 0.406 g/g was obtained with 2 M FeCl3 at 700W for 3.5 min. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared analysis (FTIR) showed major changes in lignocellulosic structure after MA-FeCl3 pretreatment with 71.5 % hemicellulose solubilization. This pretreatment was further assessed on sorghum leaves and Napier grass under optimal MA-FeCl3 conditions. A 2 fold and 3.1-fold increase in sugar yield respectively were observed compared to previous reports. This pretreatment was highly effective for enhancing enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass.

Keywords: acid, pretreatment, salt, sugarcane leaves

Procedia PDF Downloads 457

Authors: Seong-Ho Ha, Young-Ok Yoon, Shae K. Kim

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Oxide layer of normal Al-Mg alloy can be characterized by upper MgO and lower MgAl2O4 spinel. The formation of the MgO outmost layer occurs by the surface segregation of Mg in the initial oxidation. After then, the oxidation is proceeded with the formation of MgA12O4 spinel beneath the MgO. Growth of the oxide layer is accelerated by constant formation of MgA12O4 spinel. On the other hand, the oxidation resistance of Al-Mg alloys can be significantly improved simply by Mg+Al2Ca master alloy use as the Mg alloying element and such an improvement is attributed to the CaO/MgO mixed layer. Al-Mg alloy containing Al2Ca shows CaO as the upper layer and MgO as the lower one without MgA12O4 spinel. Such a dense oxide film acts as a protective layer. However, the CaO/MgO scale has the outmost MgO, partly, after a long time exposure to a harsh oxidation condition. The aim of this study is to investigate the inter-filling behaviour of CaO and MgO mixed layer in oxidation resistance mechanism of Al-Mg alloys containing Al2Ca. The process of outmost MgO layer formation will be clarified.

Keywords: Al-Mg alloy, Al2Ca, oxidation, MgO

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: Wenxin Mei, Jinhua Sun, Qingsong Wang

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The volume expansion of lithium-ion batteries is mainly induced by intercalation induced stress within the negative electrode, resulting in capacity degradation and even battery failure. Stress generation due to lithium intercalation into graphite particles is investigated based on an electrochemical-mechanical model in this work. The two-dimensional model presented is fully coupled, inclusive of the impacts of intercalation-induced stress, stress-induced intercalation, to evaluate the lithium concentration, stress generation, and displacement intra and inter-particle. The results show that the distribution of lithium concentration and stress exhibits an analogous pattern, which reflects the relation between lithium diffusion and stress. The results of inter-particle stress indicate that larger Von-Mises stress is displayed where the two particles are in contact with each other, and deformation at the edge of particles is also observed, predicting fracture. Additionally, the maximum inter-particle stress at the end of lithium intercalation is nearly ten times the intraparticle stress. And the maximum inter-particle displacement is increased by 24% compared to the single-particle. Finally, the effect of graphite particle arrangement on inter-particle stress is studied. It is found that inter-particle stress with tighter arrangement exhibits lower stress. This work can provide guidance for predicting the intra and inter-particle stress to take measures to avoid cracking of electrode material.

Keywords: electrochemical-mechanical model, graphite particle, lithium concentration, lithium ion battery, stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 203

Authors: Farhia Hassan Mohamed

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This study examined the macroeconomic factors that affect the inflation Rate in Somalia using quarterly time series data from 1991q1 to 2017q4 retired from World Development Indicators and SESRIC. It employed the vector error correction model (VECM) and Granger Causality method to measure the long-run and short-run causality of the GDP, inflation exchange rate, and unemployment. The study confirmed that there is one cointegration equation between GDP, exchange rate, inflation, and unemployment in Somalia. However, the VECM model's result indicates a long-run relationship among variables. The VEC Granger causality/Block Exogeneity Wald test result confirmed that all covariates are statistically significant at 5% and are Granger's cause of inflation in the short term. Finally, the impulse response result showed that inflation responds negatively to the shocks from the exchange rate and unemployment rate and positively to GDP and itself. Drawing from the empirical findings, the study makes several policy recommendations for both the monetary and Government sides.

Keywords: CPI, OP, exchange rate, inflation ADF, Johansen, PP, VECM, impulse, ECT

Procedia PDF Downloads 53

Authors: D. Reich, R. Stark

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To provide reliable and valid findings when evaluating innovative in-car devices in the automotive context highly realistic driving environments are recommended. Nowadays, in-car devices are mostly evaluated due to driving simulator studies followed by real car driving experiments. Driving simulators are characterized by high internal validity, but weak regarding ecological validity. Real car driving experiments are ecologically valid, but difficult to standardize, more time-robbing and costly. One economizing suggestion is to implement more immersive driving environments when applying driving simulator studies. This paper presents research comparing non-immersive standard PC conditions with mobile and highly immersive Oculus Rift conditions while performing the Lane Change Task (LCT). Subjective data with twenty participants show advantages regarding presence and immersion experience when performing the LCT with the Oculus Rift, but affect adversely cognitive workload and simulator sickness, compared to non-immersive PC condition.

Keywords: immersion, oculus rift, presence, situation awareness

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: V. Krishna, Shashikumar

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Edible Bananas (Musa spp.) are the major staple food for rural and urban consumers in India and an important source of rural income. The cultivar Musa paradisiaca cv. Karibale Monthan is an endemic cultivar of Malnad region of Karnataka and used as a glomolueroprotective neutraceutical to solve kidney problems. The protocol for mass multiplication of plantlets for this indigenous banana cultivar Karibale Monthan has not yet been standardized so far. In the present study, an attempt has been made to develop high frequency in vitro regeneration protocol and evaluation of morphoagronomic characteristics in the farmyard. The high frequency shoot initiation (93.33 %) was recorded at the synergetic effect of BAP (2 to 8mg/L), TDZ (0.1 to 1.2mg/L) and coconut water (0.1 to 1.2ml/L). It was optimized at the concentration 5 mg/l BAP, 0.5 mg/l TDZ and 0.5 ml/l coconut water with 15.90 ± 1.66 frequency of shoots per propagule. Supplementation of 1.0 mg/l IBA induces 5.33 ± 1.21 numbers of roots with a mean root length of 7.50 ± 1.87 roots. 99% of plantlets with distinct roots and shoots were successfully acclimatized in the green house and transferred to the field to evaluate the agro-morphological variations. The micropropagated plants showed significantly higher morphometric values for height of the plant (16.80±2.17), number of leaves (12.40±1.14), length of the bunch (56.20±2.17), weight of the bunch (13.60±1.14), number of hands in a bunch (11.40±1.14) and girth of the pseudostem (49.80±1.48) when compared with in vivo plants.

Keywords: banana cv. Karibale Monthan, neutraceutical, high-frequency regeneration, morphometric evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 292

Authors: Ali Siami, Masoud Asayesh, Asghar Najafi, Amirhosein Hamedanian

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There are so many noise sources in power generation units that these sources can produce high-level sound noise. Therefore, sound noise reduction methods can assist these industries, especially in these days that laws related to environmental issues become more strict. In a typical power plant, so many machines and devices with high-level sound noise are arranged beside of each others. Therefore, the sound source identification and reducing the noise level can be very vital. In this paper, the procedure for designing, manufacturing and testing of a silencer-muffler used for a power plant steam vent is mentioned. This unit is placed near the residential area and so it is very important to reduce the noise emission. For this purpose, in the first step, measurements have done to identify the sound source and the frequency content of noise. The overall level of noise was so high and it was more than 120dB. Then, the appropriate noise control device is designed according to the measurement results and operational conditions. In the next step, the designed silencer-muffler has been manufactured and installed on the steam discharge of the ejector. For validation of the silencer-muffler effect, the acoustic test was done again in operating mode. Finally, the measurement results before and after the installation are compared. The results have confirmed a considerable reduction in noise level resultant of using silencer-muffler in the designed frequency range.

Keywords: silencer-muffler, sound noise control, sound measurement, steam ejector

Procedia PDF Downloads 390

Authors: Vinod Kumar, Surjit Angra

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The objective of this theoretical study is to develop simple design formulas for the prediction of minimum film thickness and maximum mean film temperature rise in lightly loaded high-speed rolling/sliding lubricated elliptical contacts incorporating starvation effect. Herein, the reported numerical analysis focuses on thermoelastohydrodynamically lubricated rolling/sliding elliptical contacts, considering the Newtonian rheology of lubricant for wide range of operating parameters, namely load characterized by Hertzian pressure (PH = 0.01 GPa to 0.10 GPa), rolling speed (>10 m/s), slip parameter (S varies up to 1.0), and ellipticity ratio (k = 1 to 5). Starvation is simulated by systematically reducing the inlet supply. This analysis reveals that influences of load, rolling speed, and level of starvation are significant on the minimum film thickness. However, the maximum mean film temperature rise is strongly influenced by slip in addition to load, rolling speed, and level of starvation. In the presence of starvation, reduction in minimum film thickness and increase in maximum mean film temperature are observed. Based on the results of this study, empirical relations are developed for the prediction of dimensionless minimum film thickness and dimensionless maximum mean film temperature rise at the contacts in terms of various operating parameters.

Keywords: starvation, lubrication, elliptical contact, traction, minimum film thickness

Procedia PDF Downloads 394

Authors: Xiaohui Zhao, Shahan Mafuz

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Context-aware technologies provide system applications with the awareness of environmental conditions, customer behaviour, object movements, etc. Further, with such capability system applications can be smart to adapt intelligently their responses to the changing conditions. Concerning business operations, this promises businesses that their business processes can run more intelligently, adaptively and flexibly, and thereby either improve customer experience, enhance reliability of service delivery, or lower operational cost, to make the business more competitive and sustainable. Aiming at realizing such context-aware business process management, this paper firstly explores its potential benefit and then identifies some gaps between the current business process management support and the expected. In addition, some preliminary solutions are also discussed with context definition, rule-based process execution, run-time process evolution, etc. A framework is also presented to give a conceptual architecture of context-aware business process management system to guide system implementation.

Keywords: business process adaptation, business process evolution, business process modelling, and context awareness

Procedia PDF Downloads 419

Authors: Qian Jin

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Museums have been using interactive technology to spark visitor interest and improve understanding. These technologies can play a crucial role in helping visitors understand more about an exhibition site by using multimedia to provide information. Google Arts and Culture and Smartify are two very successful digital heritage products. They used mobile augmented reality to visualise the museum's 3D models and heritage images but did not include 3D models of the collection and audio information. In this research, service-oriented mobile augmented reality application was developed for users to access collections from multiple museums(including V and A, the British Museum, and British Library). The third-party API (Application Programming Interface) is requested to collect metadata (including images, 3D models, videos, and text) of three museums' collections. The acquired content is then visualized in AR environments. This product will help users who cannot visit the museum offline due to various reasons (inconvenience of transportation, physical disability, time schedule).

Keywords: digital heritage, argument reality, museum, flutter, ARcore

Procedia PDF Downloads 83

Authors: Songul Kurucay, Mustafa Acarer, Harun Sepet

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Static strain aging occurs when metallic materials are subjected to deformation and then heat treated at low temperatures such as 150-200oC. Static strain aging occurs in BCC metals and results and increasing in yield and tensile strength and decreasing ductility due to carbon and/or nitrogen atoms locking dislocations. The locked dislocations increase yield and tensile strength. In this study, static strain aging behaviors of ferritic and austenitic stainless steel were investigated. Ferritic stainless steel was prestained at %5, %10 and %15 and then aged at 150oC and 200oC for 30 minutes. Austenitic stainless steel was also prestained at %20 and %30 and then heat treated at 200, 400 and 600oC for 30 minutes. After the heat treatment, the tensile test was performed to determine the effect of prestain and heat treatment on the steels. Hardness measurements and detailed microstructure characterization were also done. While AISI 430 ferritic stainless steel sample which was prestained at 15% and aged at 200oC, showed the highest increasing in the yield strength, AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel which was prestained at 30% and aged at 600oC, has the highest yield strength. Microstructure photographs also support the mechanical test results.

Keywords: austenitic stainless steel, ferritic stainless steel, static strain aging, tensile strength

Procedia PDF Downloads 442

Authors: Zasha Romero, Roberto Trevino, Lin Wang, Elizabeth Alanis, Jesus Cuellar

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Background: There is a strong relationship between low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and high adiposity levels. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of the Bienestar/Neema Coordinated School Health Program (BN CSHP) on the CRF of preschool children. Methods: This is a randomized cluster trial conducted in preschools of two school districts located along the Texas-Mexico border. Of 48 eligible schools, 28 were randomly selected (intervention, n=14; control, n=14). Family demographics and household health characteristics were collected from parents. CRF, as measured by the Progressive Anaerobic Capacity Endurance Run (PACER) fitness test, was collected from the children. A generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) was used to analyze the data. Results: Family demographics, household health characteristics, and children’s weight, obesity prevalence, and sedentary activity were similar among both treatment groups. After adjusting for covariates, the number of laps run by children in the control group increased by 23% (CI: -5% to 60%) per each data collection period compared with 53% (CI: 7% to 119%) in the intervention group. Conclusions: Children in the BN CSHP, compared to those in the control group, had a significantly higher increase in their CRF. This finding is important because of the health benefits of CRF in children.

Keywords: coordinated school health program, cardiorespiratory fitness, obesity, border health, preschool, physical education, movement

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Kanpop Saion, Sakreya Chitwong

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Control of superheated steam temperature in the steam generation is essential for the efficiency safety and increment age of the boiler. Conventional cascade PID temperature control in the super heater is known to be efficient to compensate disturbance. However, the complex of thermal power plant due to nonlinearity, load disturbance and time delay of steam of superheater system is bigger than other control systems. The cascade loop with feed forward steam temperature control with energy balance compensator using thermodynamic model has been used for the compensation the complex structure of superheater. In order to improve the performance of steam temperature control. The experiment is implemented for 100% load steady and load changing state. The cascade with feed forward with energy balance steam temperature control has stabilized the system as well.

Keywords: cascade with feed forward, boiler, superheated steam temperature control, enthalpy balance

Procedia PDF Downloads 310

Authors: Hamza A. Ali, Adnan H. M. Al-Helali

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Generally, a watermark is information that identifies the ownership of multimedia (text, image, audio or video files). It is achieved by introducing modifications into these files that are imperceptible to the human senses but easily recoverable by a computer program. These modifications are done according to a secret key in a descriptive model that would be either in the time domain or frequency domain or both. This paper presents a procedure for watermarking by mixing amplitude modulation with frequency transformation histogram; namely a specific value is used to modulate the intensity component Y of the YIQ components of the carrier image. This scheme is referred to as histogram embedding technique (HET). Results comparison with those of other techniques such as discrete wavelet transform (DWT), discrete cosine transform (DCT) and singular value decomposition (SVD) have shown an enhance efficiency in terms of ease and performance. It has manifested a good degree of robustness against various environment effects such as resizing, rotation and different kinds of noise. This method would prove very useful technique for copyright protection and ownership judgment.

Keywords: watermarking, ownership, copyright protection, steganography, information hiding, authentication

Procedia PDF Downloads 372

Authors: Madiha Tariq, Hena Rabbani

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Recently, cavity-optomechanics becomes an extensive research field that has manipulated the mechanical effects of light for coupling of the optical field with other physical objects specifically with regards to dynamical localization. We investigate the dynamical localization (both in momentum and position space) for a vibrational mirror in a Fabry-Pérot cavity driven by a single mode optical field and a transverse probe field. The weak probe field phenomenon results in classical chaos in phase space and spatio temporal dynamics in position |ψ(x)²| and momentum space |ψ(p)²| versus time show quantum localization in both momentum and position space. Also, we discuss the parametric dependencies of dynamical localization for a designated set of parameters to be experimentally feasible. Our work opens an avenue to manipulate the other optical phenomena and applicability of proposed work can be prolonged to turn-able laser sources in the future.

Keywords: dynamical localization, cavity optomechanics, Hamiltonian chaos, probe field

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: O. J. Sharaibi, O. T. Ogundipe, O. A. Magbagbeola, M. I. Kazeem, A. J. Afolayan, M. T. Yakubu

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Hyperprolactinemia is a condition of elevated levels of serum prolactin in humans. It is one of the major causes of female infertility because, excess prolactin inhibits gonadotropin secretion. When gonadotropin is low, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) secretions are low and so, do not stimulate gamete production and gonadal steroid synthesis. The aim of this study is to identify and investigate indigenous medicinal plants that can be used in the treatment of hyperprolactinemia. Based on the frequency of mentioning during the ethnobotanical survey, Nymphaea lotus L. was selected for studies. The prolactin-lowering potential of aqueous extract of N. lotus and its effects on other female reproductive hormones in comparison with bromocritptine was evaluated by inducing hyperprolactinemia with metoclopramide at a dose of 5 mg/kg body weight of the animals for 21 days and then administered various doses of aqueous extract of N. lotus for another 21 days. Aqueous extract of N. lotus at 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight significantly reduced the serum prolactin levels in female Wistar rats by 40.06, 52.60 and 61.92 % respectively. The extract at 200 mg/kg body weight had higher prolactin-lowering effect (61.92%) than bromocriptine (53.53%). Aqueous extract of N. lotus significantly increased (p < 0.05) the serum concentrations of FSH, LH and progesterone while estradiol concentrations were reduced. This study shows that Nymphaea lotus is a medicinal plant that can be used in the treatment of hyperprolactinemia.

Keywords: hyperprolactinemia, infertility, metoclopramide, Nymphaea lotus

Procedia PDF Downloads 292

Authors: Richard Levy, Peter Dawson

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Ft. Conger, located in the Canadian Arctic was one of the most remote 19th-century scientific stations. Established in 1881 on Ellesmere Island, a wood framed structure established a permanent base from which to conduct scientific research. Under the charge of Lt. Greely, Ft. Conger was one of 14 expeditions conducted during the First International Polar Year (FIPY). Our research project “From Science to Survival: Using Virtual Exhibits to Communicate the Significance of Polar Heritage Sites in the Canadian Arctic” focused on the creation of a virtual museum website dedicated to one of the most important polar heritage site in the Canadian Arctic. This website was developed under a grant from Virtual Museum of Canada and enables visitors to explore the fort’s site from 1875 to the present, http://fortconger.org. Heritage sites are often viewed as static places. A goal of this project was to present the change that occurred over time as each new group of explorers adapted the site to their needs. The site was first visited by British explorer George Nares in 1875 – 76. Only later did the United States government select this site for the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (1881-84) with research to be conducted under the FIPY (1882 – 83). Still later Robert Peary and Matthew Henson attempted to reach the North Pole from Ft. Conger in 1899, 1905 and 1908. A central focus of this research is on the virtual reconstruction of the Ft. Conger. In the summer of 2010, a Zoller+Fröhlich Imager 5006i and Minolta Vivid 910 laser scanner were used to scan terrain and artifacts. Once the scanning was completed, the point clouds were registered and edited to form the basis of a virtual reconstruction. A goal of this project has been to allow visitors to step back in time and explore the interior of these buildings with all of its artifacts. Links to text, historic documents, animations, panorama images, computer games and virtual labs provide explanations of how science was conducted during the 19th century. A major feature of this virtual world is the timeline. Visitors to the website can begin to explore the site when George Nares, in his ship the HMS Discovery, appeared in the harbor in 1875. With the emergence of Lt Greely’s expedition in 1881, we can track the progress made in establishing a scientific outpost. Still later in 1901, with Peary’s presence, the site is transformed again, with the huts having been built from materials salvaged from Greely’s main building. Still later in 2010, we can visit the site during its present state of deterioration and learn about the laser scanning technology which was used to document the site. The Science and Survival at Fort Conger project represents one of the first attempts to use virtual worlds to communicate the historical and scientific significance of polar heritage sites where opportunities for first-hand visitor experiences are not possible because of remote location.

Keywords: 3D imaging, multimedia, virtual reality, arctic

Procedia PDF Downloads 421

Authors: M. Najafi, S. Bab, F. Rahimi Dehgolan

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The motion of an axially moving beam with rotating prismatic joint with a tip mass on the end is analyzed to investigate the nonlinear vibration and dynamic stability of the beam. The beam is moving with a harmonic axially and rotating velocity about a constant mean velocity. A time-dependent partial differential equation and boundary conditions with the aid of the Hamilton principle are derived to describe the beam lateral deflection. After the partial differential equation is discretized by the Galerkin method, the method of multiple scales is applied to obtain analytical solutions. Frequency response curves are plotted for the super harmonic resonances of the first and the second modes. The effects of non-linear term and mean velocity are investigated on the steady state response of the axially moving beam. The results are validated with numerical simulations.

Keywords: super harmonic resonances, non-linear vibration, axially moving beam, Galerkin method

Procedia PDF Downloads 397

Authors: Fatima Chaudhary, Rehan Ul Haq

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Spatial and anthropogenic factors influencing nest-site selection in birds need to be identified for effective conservative practices. Environmental attributes such as food availability, predator density, previous reproductive success, etc., provide information regarding the site's quality. An artificial nest box experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of various factors on nest-site selection, as it is hard to assess the natural cavities. The experiment was conducted whereby half of the boxes were filled with old nest material. Artificial nest boxes created with different materials and different sizes and colors were installed at different heights. A total of 14 out of 60 nest boxes were occupied and four of them faced predation. The birds explored a total of 32 out of 60 nests, whereas anthropogenic factors destroyed 25 out of 60 nests. Birds chose empty nest boxes at higher rates however, there was no obvious avoidance of sites having high ectoparasites load due to old nest material. It is also possible that the preference towards the artificial nest boxes may differ from year to year because of several climatic factors and the age of old nest material affecting the parasite's survival. These variables may fluctuate from one season to another. Considering these factors, nest-site selection experiments concerning the effectiveness of artificial nest boxes should be carried out over several successive seasons. This topic may stimulate further studies, which could lead to a fully understanding the birds' evolutionary ecology. Precise information on these factors influencing nest-site selection can be essential from an economic point of view as well.

Keywords: artificial nesting, nest box, old nest material, birds

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Yehuda Roth

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In quantum theory, a system’s time evolution is predictable unless an observer performs measurement, as the measurement process can randomize the system. This randomness appears when the measuring device does not accurately describe the measured item, i.e., when the states characterizing the measuring device appear as a superposition of those being measured. When such a mismatch occurs, the measured data randomly collapse into a single eigenstate of the measuring device. This scenario resembles the interpretation process in which the observer does not experience an objective reality but interprets it based on preliminary descriptions initially ingrained into his/her mind. This distinction is the motivation for the present study in which the collapse scenario is regarded as part of the interpretation process of the observer. By adopting the formalism of the quantum theory, we present a complete mathematical approach that describes the interpretation process. We demonstrate this process by applying the proposed interpretation formalism to the ambiguous image "My wife and mother-in-law" to identify whether a woman in the picture is young or old.

Keywords: quantum-like interpretation, ambiguous image, determination, quantum-like collapse, classified representation

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: Md Shohidul Islam, Jongmyon Kim, Ui-pil Chong

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Medical image is an integral part of e-health care and e-diagnosis system. Medical image watermarking is widely used to protect patients’ information from malicious alteration and manipulation. The watermarked medical images are transmitted over the internet among patients, primary and referred physicians. The images are highly prone to corruption in the wireless transmission medium due to various noises, deflection, and refractions. Distortion in the received images leads to faulty watermark detection and inappropriate disease diagnosis. To address the issue, this paper utilizes error correction code (ECC) with (8, 4) Hamming code in an existing watermarking system. In addition, we implement the high complex ECC on a graphics processing units (GPU) to accelerate and support real-time requirement. Experimental results show that GPU achieves considerable speedup over the sequential CPU implementation, while maintaining 100% ECC efficiency.

Keywords: medical image watermarking, e-health system, error correction, Hamming code, GPU

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Authors: Geoff Skinner, Ilung Pranata

Abstract:

The advancement of ICT innovations provides us with a comfortable and convenient modern lifestyle. However, this modern easy lifestyle is proving to have some serious health consequences. Such technological advancements that have dramatically increased ones time in front of screens have been a contributing factor to increasing rates of obesity. In particular the youth obesity issue has gained more and more attention from researchers and health institutions around the world. Although technology innovations may lead to a sedate modern life, they also have a potential to solve the obesity issue in children. This paper provides a review of the issues in child obesity and the potential of active video games to mitigate these issues. Additionally, the paper also discusses the key requirements to develop an active video game that hopes to help combat child obesity through motivating youth to exergame. A framework is introduced to meet the requirements, from which a prototype was implemented. Discussion of the simulation and testing that were performed to verify the attainment of objectives is also detailed.

Keywords: e-video games, exergaming, health informatics, human computer interaction

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Authors: Assaad Ghazouani

Abstract:

Tunisia is ranked among the countries with low energy diversification, but this configuration makes the country too dependent on fossil fuel exporting countries and therefore extremely sensitive to any oil crises, many measures to diversify electricity production must be taken in making use of other forms of renewable and nuclear energy. One of the solutions required to escape this dependence is the liberalization of the electricity industry which can lead to an improvement of supply, energy diversification, and reducing some of the negative effects of the trade balance. This paper examines the issue of renewable electricity and economic growth in Tunisia consumption. The main objective is to study and analyze the causal link between renewable energy consumption and economic growth in Tunisia over the period 1980-2010. To examine the relationship in the short and in the long terms, we used a multidimensional approach to cointegration based on recent advances in time series econometrics (test Zivot - Andrews, Test of Cointegration Johannsen, Granger causality test, error correction model (ECM)).

Keywords: renewable electricity, economic growth, VECM, cointegration, Tunisia

Procedia PDF Downloads 546

Authors: Deepak Kumar, Debasish Deb, Reena Mamgain

Abstract:

Radar signal processing requires high number crunching capability. Most often this is achieved using multiprocessor platform. Though multiprocessor platform provides the capability of meeting the real time computational challenges, the architecture of the same along with mapping of the algorithm on the architecture plays a vital role in efficiently using the platform. Towards this, along with standard performance metrics, few additional metrics are defined which helps in evaluating the multiprocessor platform along with the algorithm mapping. A generic multiprocessor architecture can not suit all the processing requirements. Depending on the system requirement and type of algorithms used, the most suitable architecture for the given problem is decided. In the paper, we study different architectures and quantify the different performance metrics which enables comparison of different architectures for their merit. We also carried out case study of different architectures and their efficiency depending on parallelism exploited on algorithm or data or both.

Keywords: radar signal processing, multiprocessor architecture, efficiency, load imbalance, buffer requirement, pipeline, parallel, hybrid, cluster of processors (COPs)

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Authors: Robert Pintaric, Joze Matela, Stefan Pintaric, Stanka Vadnjal

Abstract:

Introduction: This work is aimed to represent the use of the OPTI-JET CS MD1 MR prototype for application of neutral electrolyzed oxidizing water (NEOW) in magnetic resonance rooms. Material and Methods: We produced and used OPTI-JET CS MD1 MR aerosolisator whereby was performed aerosolization. The presence of microorganisms before and after the aerosolisation was recorded with the help of cyclone air sampling. Colony formed units (CFU) was counted. Results: The number of microorganisms in magnetic resonance 3T room was low as expected. Nevertheless, a possible CFU reduction of 87% was recorded. Conclusions: The research has shown that the use of EOW for the air and hard surface disinfection can considerably reduce the presence of microorganisms and consequently the possibility of hospital infections. It has also demonstrated that the use of OPTI-JET CS MD1 MR is very good. With this research, we started new guidelines for aerosolization in magnetic resonance rooms. Future work: We predict that presented technique works very good but we must focus also on time capacity sensors, and new appropriate toxicological studies.

Keywords: biocide, electrolyzed oxidizing water (EOW), disinfection, microorganisms, OPTI-JET CS MD1MR

Procedia PDF Downloads 394