Search results for: hedging ability

Authors: Nor Wahiza Abdul Wahat, Nor Haniza Abdul Wahat, Siti Noormi Alias, Mohamad Sazali Shaari

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This study prepares the groundwork for the development of a strategic model and instrument for workplace inclusivity for deaf and hard-of-hearing employees in Malaysia. In the past, scholars have discussed inclusivity of workplaces to the extent to which employees feel they are significantly part of the organizational processes. Such processes include access to information, connectedness to colleagues and team members as well as their ability to participate in and influence decision-making processes. A qualitative study was conducted to explore on experiences of employed deaf and hard-of-hearing employees in a few Malaysian organizations. Data were collected from two focus group discussions involving male and female deaf and hard of hearing employees. Three in-depth interviews were also conducted with employer representatives. Generated themes highlighted individual, and team approaches towards crafting workplace inclusivity for deaf and hard of hearing employees in Malaysia. The adaptiveness of deaf and hard-of-hearing employees and social inclusion by colleagues were among the emerged sub-themes. This study allowed the researchers to further develop workplace inclusivity instruments and models for the benefit of deaf and hard of hearing Malaysian employees, as well as their employers.

Keywords: deaf, hard of hearing, workplace inclusivity, disabilities

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: Ehsan A. Yahia, Ayman E. El-Sharkawey, Magda M. Bayoumi

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Background: Wound dressings perform a crucial role in cutaneous wound management due to their ability to protect wounds and promote dermal and epidermal tissue regeneration. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of using hydrogel/nano silver-based dressing vs. traditional dressing on diabetic foot wound healing. Methods: Sixty patients with type-2 diabetes hospitalized for diabetic foot wound treatment were recruited from selected Surgical departments. A prospective randomized control study was carried. Results: The results showed that the percentage of a reduction rate of the ulcer by the third week of the treatment in the hydrogel/nano silver-based dressing group was higher (15.11%) than in the traditional wound dressing group (33.44%). Moreover, the mean ulcer size "sq mm" in the hydrogel/nano silver-based dressing group recognized a faster healing rate (15.11±7.89) and considerably lesser in comparison to the traditional in the third week (21.65±8.4). Conclusion: The hydrogel/nanosilver-based dressing showed better results than traditional dressing in managing diabetic ulcer foot.

Keywords: diabetes, wound care, diabetic foot, wound dressing, hydrogel nanosilver

Procedia PDF Downloads 113

Authors: V. Pourmostaghimi, M. Zadshakoyan

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Efficiency and productivity of the finish hard turning can be enhanced impressively by utilizing accurate predictive models for cutting tool wear. However, the ability of genetic programming in presenting an accurate analytical model is a notable characteristic which makes it more applicable than other predictive modeling methods. In this paper, the genetic equation for modeling of tool flank wear is developed with the use of the experimentally measured flank wear values and genetic programming during finish turning of hardened AISI D2. Series of tests were conducted over a range of cutting parameters and the values of tool flank wear were measured. On the basis of obtained results, genetic model presenting connection between cutting parameters and tool flank wear were extracted. The accuracy of the genetically obtained model was assessed by using two statistical measures, which were root mean square error (RMSE) and coefficient of determination (R²). Evaluation results revealed that presented genetic model predicted flank wear over the study area accurately (R² = 0.9902 and RMSE = 0.0102). These results allow concluding that the proposed genetic equation corresponds well with experimental data and can be implemented in real industrial applications.

Keywords: cutting parameters, flank wear, genetic programming, hard turning

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Ajibade T., Omotesho O. A., Ayinde O. E, Ajibade E. T., Muhammad-Lawal A.

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This study was carried out to examine the extent and magnitude of food security amongst farming rural households in Nigeria. Data used for this study was collected from a total of two hundred and forty rural farming households using a two-stage random sampling technique. The main tools of analysis for this study include descriptive statistics and a constructed food security index using the identification and aggregation procedure. The headcount ratio in this study reveals that 71% of individuals in the study area were food secure with an average per capita calorie and protein availability of 4,213.92kcal and 99.98g respectively. The aggregated household daily calorie availability and daily protein availability per capita were 3,634.57kcal and 84.08g respectively which happens to be above the food security line of 2,470kcal and 65g used in this study. The food insecure households fell short of the minimum daily per capita calorie and protein requirement by 2.1% and 24.9%. The study revealed that the area is food insecure due to unequal distribution of the available food amongst the sampled population. The study recommends that the households should empower themselves financially in order to enhance their ability to afford the food during both on and off seasons. Also, processing and storage of farm produce should be enhanced in order to improve on availability throughout the year.

Keywords: farming household, food security, identification and aggregation, food security index

Procedia PDF Downloads 291

Authors: Aman Ullah

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The use of renewable resources in supplementing and/or replacing traditional petrochemical products, through green chemistry, is becoming the focus of research. The utilization of oils can play a primitive role towards sustainable development due to their large scale availability, built-in-functionality, biodegradability and no net CO2 production. Microwaves, being clean, green and environmentally friendly, are emerging as an alternative source for product development. Solvent free conversion of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME's) derived from canola oil and waste cooking oil under microwave irradiation demonstrated dramatically enhanced rates. The microwave-assisted reactions lead to the most valuable terminal olefins with enhanced yields, purities and dramatic shortening of reaction times. Various monomers/chemicals were prepared in high yield in very short time. The complete conversions were observed at temperatures as low as 40 ºC within less than five minutes. The products were characterized by GC-MS, GC-FID and NMR. The monomers were separated and polymerized into different polymers including biopolyesthers, biopolyesters, biopolyamides and biopolyolefins. The polymers were characterized in details for their structural, thermal, mechanical and viscoelastic properties. The ability for complete conversion of oils under solvent free conditions and synthesis of different biopolymers is undoubtedly an attractive concept from both an academic and an industrial point of view.

Keywords: monomers, biopolymers, green chemistry, bioplastics, biomaterials

Procedia PDF Downloads 105

Authors: Reza Pourjafar, Morteza Sohrabi-Gilani, Mostafa Jamshidi Avanaki, Malek Mohammad Ranjbar

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Cementitious composites like concrete, are the most widely used materials in civil infrastructures. Numerous investigations on fiber’s effect on the properties of cement-based composites have been conducted in the last few decades. The use of fibers such as carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in these materials is an ongoing field and needs further researches and studies. Excellent mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers have motivated the development of advanced nanocomposites with outstanding and multifunctional properties. In this study, the electrical resistance of CNF reinforced cement mortar was examined. Three different dosages of CNF were used, and the resistances were compared to plain cement mortar. One of the biggest challenges in this study is dispersing CNF particles in the mortar mixture. Therefore, polycarboxylate superplasticizer and ultrasonication of the mixture have been selected for the purpose of dispersing CNFs in the cement matrix. The obtained results indicated that the electrical resistance of the CNF reinforced mortar samples decreases with increasing CNF content, which would be the first step towards examining strain and damage monitoring ability of cementitious composites containing CNF for structural health monitoring purposes.

Keywords: carbon nanofiber, cement and concrete, CNF reinforced mortar, smart mater, strain monitoring, structural health monitoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Jia-Ming Kok, Javaan Chahl

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An optimisation method using both global and local optimisation is implemented to determine the flapping profile which will produce the most lift for an experimental wing-actuation system. The optimisation method is tested using a numerical quasi-steady analysis. Results of an optimised flapping profile show a 20% increase in lift generated as compared to flapping profiles obtained by high speed cinematography of a Sympetrum frequens dragonfly. Initial optimisation procedures showed 3166 objective function evaluations. The global optimisation parameters - initial sample size and stage one sample size, were altered to reduce the number of function evaluations. Altering the stage one sample size had no significant effect. It was found that reducing the initial sample size to 400 would allow a reduction in computational effort to approximately 1500 function evaluations without compromising the global solvers ability to locate potential minima. To further reduce the optimisation effort required, we increase the local solver’s convergence tolerance criterion. An increase in the tolerance from 0.02N to 0.05N decreased the number of function evaluations by another 20%. However, this potentially reduces the maximum obtainable lift by up to 0.025N.

Keywords: flapping wing, optimisation, quasi-steady model, dragonfly

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Seyed Abolhasan Naeini, Mohammad Hossein Zade, E. Izadi, M. Hossein Zade

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The different seismic behavior of liquid storage tanks rather than conventional structures makes their responses more complicated. Uplifting and excessive settlement due to liquid sloshing are the most frequent damages in cylindrical liquid tanks after shell bucking failure modes. As a matter of fact, uses of liquid storage tanks because of the simple construction on compact layer of soil as a foundation are very conventional, but in some cases need to retrofit are essential. The tank seismic behavior can be improved by modifying dynamic characteristic of tank with verifying seismic loads as well as retrofitting and improving base ground. This paper focuses on a typical steel tank on loose, medium and stiff sandy soil and describes an evaluation of displacement of the tank before and after retrofitting. The Abaqus program was selected for its ability to include shell and structural steel elements, soil-structure interaction, and geometrical nonlinearities and contact type elements. The result shows considerable decreasing in settlement and uplifting in the case of retrofitted tank. Also, by increasing shear strength parameter of soil, the performance of the liquid storage tank under the case of seismic load increased.

Keywords: steel tank, soil-structure, sandy soil, seismic load

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Authors: Kartika Marta Budiana

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Low competence in speaking for the students of Non English native speakers have been crucial so far for the teachers in language teaching in Indonesia. This study attempts to explore the effect of video using in teaching speaking onstudents of non-native English speakers at STIE Perbanas Surabaya. This includes investigate the students` attitudes toward the video used in classroom. This is a quantitative research that is an experimental one based on analyses derived the concepts of from teaching speaking and the use of video. There are two classes observed, the experimental and the control one. The experimental consist of 28 students and the control class consists of 25 students. Before the treatment given, both of the group is given the pre-test to check their ability level. Then, after the treatment is given, the post-test is given to the both groups. Then, the students were given treatment how to conduct a meeting that they learnt from a video of business English. The post test was held after they undergone a treatment. The instruments to get the data are the oral test and questionnaire. The data of this study is students` score and from the tests` score it can be seen there is a positive significant difference in the experimental group. The t-test to test hypothesize also shows that it is accepted which said that there is an improvement on the students` speaking competence achievement. In conclusion, the video effects on the significant difference on the students speaking competence achievement.

Keywords: video, teaching, speaking, Indonesia

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Authors: Cleiton Pons Ferreira, Diana Francisca Adamatti

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Advancements in computers technology have allowed to obtain information for research in biology and neuroscience. In order to transform the data from these surveys, networks have long been used to represent important biological processes, changing the use of this tools from purely illustrative and didactic to more analytic, even including interaction analysis and hypothesis formulation. Many studies have involved this application, but not directly for interpretation of data obtained from brain functions, asking for new perspectives of development in neuroinformatics using existent models of tools already disseminated by the bioinformatics. This study includes an analysis of neurological data through electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, using the Cytoscape, an open source software tool for visualizing complex networks in biological databases. The data were obtained from a comparative case study developed in a research from the University of Rio Grande (FURG), using the EEG signals from a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) with 32 eletrodes prepared in the brain of a blind and a sighted individuals during the execution of an activity that stimulated the spatial ability. This study intends to present results that lead to better ways for use and adapt techniques that support the data treatment of brain signals for elevate the understanding and learning in neuroscience.

Keywords: neuroinformatics, bioinformatics, network tools, brain mapping

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Authors: Sarah Nasr, Maha M. A. Nasra, Ossama Y. Abdallah

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The present work aimed to prepare Silymarin loaded MCM-41 type mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) and to assess the system’s solubility enhancement ability on the pharmacodynamic performance of Silymarin as a hepatoprotective agent. MSNs prepared by soft-templating technique, were loaded with Silymarin, characterized for particle size, zeta potential, surface properties, DSC and XRPD. DSC and specific surface area data confirmed deposition of Silymarin in an amorphous state in MSNs’ pores. In-vitro drug dissolution testing displayed enhanced dissolution rate of Silymarin upon loading on MSNs. High dose Acetaminophen was then used to inflict hepatic injury upon albino male Wistar rats simultaneously receiving either free Silymarin, Silymarin loaded MSNs or blank MSNs. Plasma AST, ALT, albumin and total protein and liver homogenate content of TBARs or LDH as measures of antioxidant drug action were assessed for all animal groups. Results showed a significant superiority of Silymarin loaded MSNs to free drug in almost all parameters. Meanwhile prolonged administration of blank MSNs had no evident toxicity on rats.

Keywords: mesoporous silica nanoparticles, safety, solubility enhancement, silymarin

Procedia PDF Downloads 332

Authors: Mostafa Dastori, Sirus Mohammadi

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While plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) potentially have the capability to fulfill the energy storage needs of the electric grid, the degradation on the battery during this operation makes it less preferable by the auto manufacturers and consumers. On the other hand, the on-board chargers can also supply energy storage system applications such as reactive power compensation, voltage regulation, and power factor correction without the need of engaging the battery with the grid and thereby preserving its lifetime. It presents the design motives of single-phase on-board chargers in detail and makes a classification of the chargers based on their future vehicle-to-grid usage. The pros and cons of each different ac–dc topology are discussed to shed light on their suit- ability for reactive power support. This paper also presents and analyzes the differences between charging-only operation and capacitive reactive power operation that results in increased demand from the dc-link capacitor (more charge/discharge cycles and in- creased second harmonic ripple current). Moreover, battery state of charge is spared from losses during reactive power operation, but converter output power must be limited below its rated power rating to have the same stress on the dc-link capacitor.

Keywords: energy storage system, battery unit, cost, optimal sizing, plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), smart grid

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Authors: Ibrahim Ercan, Mustafa Arikan

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In recent years, alternative dispute resolution methods have attracted the attention of many country’s legislators. Instead of solving the disputes by litigation, putting the end to a dispute by parties themselves is more important for the preservation of social peace. Therefore, alternative dispute resolution methods (ADR) have been discussed more intensively in Turkey as well as the whole world. After these discussions, Mediation Act was adopted on 07.06.2012 and entered into force on 21.06.2013. According to the Mediation Act, it is only possible to mediate issues arising from the private law. Also, it is not compulsory to go to mediation in Turkish law, it is optional. Therefore, the parties are completely free to choose mediation method in dispute resolution. Mediators need to be a lawyer with experience in five years. Therefore, it is not possible to be a mediator who is not lawyers. Beyond five years of experience, getting education and success in exams about especially body language and psychology is also very important to be a mediator. If the parties compromise as a result of mediation, a document is issued. This document will also have the ability to exercising availability under certain circumstances. Thus, the parties will not need to apply to the court again. On the contrary, they will find the opportunity to execute this document, so they can regain their debts. However, the Mediation Act has entered into force in a period of nearly two years of history; it is possible to say that the interest in mediation is not at the expected level. Therefore, making mediation mandatory for some disputes has been discussed recently. At this point, once the mediation becomes mandatory and good results follows it, this institution will be able to find a serious interest in Turkey. Otherwise, if the results will not be satisfying, the mediation method will be removed.

Keywords: alternative dispute resolution methods, mediation act, mediation, mediator, mediation in Turkey

Procedia PDF Downloads 365

Authors: M. H. Mehrabi, S. S. Ghodsi, Zainah Ibrahim, Meldi Suhatril

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Standard routes for upgrading existing buildings to improve their seismic response can be expensive in terms of both time and cost due to the modifications required to the foundations. As a result, interest has grown in the installation of viscoelastic dampers (VEDs) in mid and high-rise buildings. Details of a low-cost viscoelastic passive control device, the rotary rubber braced damper (RRBD), are presented in this paper. This design has the added benefits of being lightweight and simple to install. Experimental methods and finite element modeling were used to assess the performance of the proposed VED design and its effect on building response during earthquakes. The analyses took into account the behaviors of non-linear materials and large deformations. The results indicate that the proposed RRBD provides high levels of energy absorption, ensuring the stable cyclical response of buildings in all scenarios considered. In addition, time history analysis was employed in this study to evaluate the RRBD’s ability to control the displacements and accelerations experienced by steel frame structures. It was demonstrated that the device responds well even at low displacements, highlighting its suitability for use in seismic events of varying severity.

Keywords: dynamic response, passive control, performance test, seismic protection

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Authors: Sheena Christabel Pravin, M. Palanivelan

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Speech disfluencies are common in spontaneous speech. The primary purpose of this study was to distinguish linguistic disfluencies from stuttering disfluencies in bilingual Tamil–English (TE) speaking children. The secondary purpose was to determine whether their disfluencies are mediated by native language dominance and/or on an early onset of developmental stuttering at childhood. A detailed study was carried out to identify the prosodic and acoustic features that uniquely represent the disfluent regions of speech. This paper focuses on statistical modeling of repetitions, prolongations, pauses and interjections in the speech corpus encompassing bilingual spontaneous utterances from school going children – English and Tamil. Two classifiers including Hidden Markov Models (HMM) and the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), which is a class of feed-forward artificial neural network, were compared in the classification of disfluencies. The results of the classifiers document the patterns of disfluency in spontaneous speech samples of school-aged children to distinguish between Children Who Stutter (CWS) and Children with Language Impairment CLI). The ability of the models in classifying the disfluencies was measured in terms of F-measure, Recall, and Precision.

Keywords: bi-lingual, children who stutter, children with language impairment, hidden markov models, multi-layer perceptron, linguistic disfluencies, stuttering disfluencies

Procedia PDF Downloads 217

Authors: Manasvi Pinnaka, Brianna Chrisman

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Cystic fibrosis patients often develop lung infections that range anywhere in severity from mild to life-threatening due to the presence of thick and sticky mucus that fills their airways. Since many of these infections are chronic, they not only affect a patient’s ability to breathe but also increase the chances of mortality by respiratory failure. With a publicly available dataset of DNA sequences from bacterial species in the lung microbiome of cystic fibrosis patients, the correlations between different microbial species in the lung and the extent of deterioration of lung function were investigated. 16S sequencing technologies were used to determine the microbiome composition of the samples in the dataset. For the statistical analyses, referencing helped distinguish between taxonomies, and the proportions of certain taxa relative to another were determined. It was found that the Fusobacterium, Actinomyces, and Leptotrichia microbial types all had a positive correlation with the FEV1 score, indicating the potential displacement of these species by pathogens as the disease progresses. However, the dominant pathogens themselves, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, did not have statistically significant negative correlations with the FEV1 score as described by past literature. Examining the lung microbiology of cystic fibrosis patients can help with the prediction of the current condition of lung function, with the potential to guide doctors when designing personalized treatment plans for patients.

Keywords: bacterial infections, cystic fibrosis, lung microbiome, 16S sequencing

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Daruliza Kernain, Shaharum Shamsuddin, See Too Wei Cun

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CTCF is a unique, highly conserved and ubiquitously expressed 11 zinc finger (ZF) transcriptional factor with multiple target sites. It is able to bind to various target sequences to perform different regulatory roles including promoter activation or repression, creating hormone-responsive gene silencing element, and functional block of enhancer-promoter interactions. The binding of CTCF to the essential binding site is through the combination of different ZF domain. On the other hand, BORIS for brother of the regulator of imprinted sites, which expressed only in the testis and certain cancer cell line is homology to CTCF 11 ZF domains. Since both transcriptional factors share the same ZF domains hence there is a possibility for both to bind to the same target sequences. In this study, the interaction of these two proteins to multi-functional Y-box DNA/RNA-binding factor, YB-1 was determined. The protein-protein interaction between CTCF/YB-1 and BORIS/YB-1 were discovered by Co-immuno-precipitation (CO-IP) technique through reciprocal experiment from RGBM total cell lysate. The results showed that both CTCF and BORIS were able to interact with YB-1 in Glioma RGBM cell line. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first findings demonstrating the ability of BORIS and YB-1 to form a complex in vivo.

Keywords: immunoprecipitation, CTCF/BORIS/YB-1, transcription factor, molecular medicine

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Authors: Luís Antonio de Almeida Rodriguez, José Maria Parente de Oliveira, Ednelson Oliveira

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In the last two decades, the world’s aviation authorities have made several attempts to create consensus about a global and accepted approach for applying semantics to web services registry descriptions. This problem has led communities to face a fat and disorganized infrastructure to describe aeronautical web services. It is usual for developers to implement ad-hoc connections among consumers and providers and manually create non-standardized service compositions, which need some particular approach to compose and semantically discover a desired web service. Current practices are not precise and tend to focus on lightweight specifications of some parts of the OWL-S and embed them into syntactic descriptions (SOAP artifacts and OWL language). It is necessary to have the ability to manage the use of both technologies. This paper presents an implementation of the ontology OWL-S that describes a Brazilian Aeronautical Web Service Registry, which makes it able to publish, advertise, make multi-criteria semantic discovery aligned with the ideas of the System Wide Information Management (SWIM) Program, and invoke web services within the Air Traffic Management context. The proposal’s best finding is a generic approach to describe semantic web services. The paper also presents a set of functional requirements to guide the ontology development and to compare them to the results to validate the implementation of the OWL-S Ontology.

Keywords: aeronautical web services, OWL-S, semantic web services discovery, ontologies

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Alyaa M. Younes, Nermine Harraz, Mohammad H. Elwany

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Lithium ion batteries are currently used for many applications including satellites, electric vehicles and mobile electronics. Their ability to store relatively large amount of energy in a limited space make them most appropriate for critical applications. Evaluation of the life of these batteries and their reliability becomes crucial to the systems they support. Reliability of Li-Ion batteries has been mainly considered based on its lifetime. However, another important factor that can be considered critical in many applications such as in electric vehicles is the cycle duration. The present work presents the results of an experimental investigation on the degradation behavior of a Laptop Li-ion battery (type TKV2V) and the effect of applied load on the battery cycle time. The reliability was evaluated using an accelerated life test. Least squares linear regression with median rank estimation was used to estimate the Weibull distribution parameters needed for the reliability functions estimation. The probability density function, failure rate and reliability function under each of the applied loads were evaluated and compared. An inverse power model is introduced that can predict cycle time at any stress level given.

Keywords: accelerated life test, inverse power law, lithium-ion battery, reliability evaluation, Weibull distribution

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Authors: Elham Ahmadi, Mehrdad Ravanshad, Joyce Fingeroth, Mazyar Ziyaeyan, Rajesh Panigrahi, Jun Xie, Gao Guangping

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B-cell proliferative disorders often occur among persons that are T-cell compromised. These disorders are primarily EBV+ and can first present with a focal lesion. Direct introduction of oncolytic viruses into localized tumors provides theoretical advantages over chemotherapy and immunotherapy by reducing systemic toxicity, to which the immunocompromised host is most vulnerable. Widely studied as a vehicle for gene therapy, AAV has only rarely been applied to treat cancer. As a prelude to development of a therapeutic vehicle, we assessed the ability of 15 distinct recombinant AAV serotypes (rAAV1, rAAV2, rAAV3b, rAAV4, rAAV5, rAAV6, rAAV6.2, rAAV6TM, rAAV7, rAAV8, rAAVrh8, rAAV9, rAAVrh10, rAAV39, rAAV43) bearing eGFP to infect human B-cell tumor lines compared with primary B-cells in vitro. Enhanced infection of tumor lines by AAV 6.2 was demonstrated by flow cytometry. EBV superinfection of EBV negative B-cell tumor lines increased susceptibility to AAV6.2 infection. As proof of concept, AAV6.2 bearing HSV-1 thymidine kinase in place of eGFP eliminated tumor cells upon exposure to ganciclovir.

Keywords: AAV, gene therapy, lymphoma, malignancy, tropism

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Authors: Uriel Martinez-Hernandez, Luke W. Boorman, Hamideh Kerdegari, Tony J. Prescott

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In this paper, we present architecture for the study of telepresence, immersion and human-robot interaction. The architecture is built around a wearable interface, developed here, that provides the human with visual, audio and tactile feedback from a remote location. We have chosen to interface the system with the iCub humanoid robot, as it mimics many human sensory modalities, such as vision, with gaze control and tactile feedback. This allows for a straightforward integration of multiple sensory modalities, but also offers a more complete immersion experience for the human. These systems are integrated, controlled and synchronised by an architecture developed for telepresence and human-robot interaction. Our wearable interface allows human participants to observe and explore a remote location, while also being able to communicate verbally with humans located in the remote environment. Our approach has been tested from local, domestic and business venues, using wired, wireless and Internet based connections. This has involved the implementation of data compression to maintain data quality to improve the immersion experience. Initial testing has shown the wearable interface to be robust. The system will endow humans with the ability to explore and interact with other humans at remote locations using multiple sensing modalities.

Keywords: telepresence, telerobotics, human-robot interaction, virtual reality

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Authors: Faisal O. Al-Otaibi, Arthur T. Tucker, Richard M. Langford, Stuart Ratcliffe, Atholl Johnston, Terry D. Lee, Kenneth B. Kirby, Chandan A. Alam

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The Transdermal Delivery System (TDS®) is a proprietary liquid formulation that can be applied to intact skin via a metered pump spray to facilitate drug delivery to the circulation. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of the TDS preparation to deliver diazepam systemically, and to characterize the pharmacokinetic profile of the drug in healthy adult subjects. We conducted a randomized, single-dose, two-period, crossover phase I (pharmacokinetic) comparative study in twelve healthy volunteers. All volunteers received both 10 mg TDS-diazepam topically to the upper chest and 10 mg of the rectal diazepam preparation (Diastat®, 10 mg diazepam gel), with a minimum washout of 14 days between dosing episodes. Both formulations were well tolerated in all volunteers. Following topical application of TDS-diazepam, the mean AUC0-72h was 1241 ng/mL.h and the Cmax 34 ng/mL. The values for rectal Diastat were 4109 ng/mL.h and 300 ng/mL respectively. This proof of concept study demonstrates that the TDS preparation successfully delivered diazepam systemically to adults. As expected, the concentration of diazepam following the TDS application was lower and not bioequivalent to rectal gel. Future development of this unique system is required.

Keywords: transdermal delivery system, diazepam, seizure, bioequivalence, pharmacokinetic

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Authors: Najla M. Salkho, Vinod Paul, Pierre Kawak, Rute F. Vitor, Ana M. Martin, Nahid Awad, Mohammad Al Sayah, Ghaleb A. Husseini

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Liposomes are popular lipid bilayer nanoparticles that are highly efficient in encapsulating both hydrophilic and hydrophobic therapeutic drugs. Liposomes promote a low risk controlled release of the drug avoiding the side effects of the conventional chemotherapy. One of the great potentials of liposomes is the ability to attach a wide range of ligands to their surface producing ligand-mediated active targeting of cancer tumour with limited adverse off-target effects. Ultrasound can also aid in the controlled and specified release of the drug from the liposomes by breaking it apart and releasing the drug in the specific location where the ultrasound is applied. Our research focuses on the synthesis of PEGylated liposomes (contain poly-ethylene glycol) encapsulated with the model drug calcein and studying the effect of low frequency ultrasound applied at different power densities on calcein release. In addition, moieties are attached to the surface of the liposomes for specific targeting of the cancerous cells which over-express the receptors of these moieties, ultrasound is then applied and the release results are compared with the moiety free liposomes. The results showed that attaching these moieties to the surface of the PEGylated liposomes not only enhance their active targeting but also stimulate calcein release from these liposomes.

Keywords: active targeting, liposomes, moieties, ultrasound

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Authors: Y. K. Leong, J. C. W. Lan, H. S. Loh, P. L. Show

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Being biodegradable, non-toxic, renewable and have similar or better properties as commercial plastics, polyhydroxy alkanoates (PHAs) can be a potential game changer in the polymer industry. PHAs are the biodegradable polymer produced by bacteria, which are in interest as a sustainable alternative to petrochemical-derived plastics; however, its commercial value has significantly limited by high production and recovery cost of PHA. Aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) offers different chemical and physical environments, which contains about 80-90% water delivers an excellent environment for partitioning of cells, cell organelles and biologically active substances. Extractive bioconversion via ATPS allows the integration of PHA upstream fermentation and downstream purification process, which reduces production steps and time, thus lead to cost reduction. The ability of Ralstonia eutropha to grow under different ATPS conditions was investigated for its potential to be used in a bioconversion system. Changes in tie-line length (TLL) and a volume ratio (Vr) were shown to have an effect on PHA partition coefficient. High PHA recovery yield of 65% with a relatively high purity of 73% was obtained in PEG 6000/Sodium sulphate system with 42.6 wt/wt % TLL and 1.25 Vr. Extractive bioconversion via ATPS is an attractive approach for the combination of PHA production and recovery process.

Keywords: aqueous two-phase system, extractive bioconversion, polyhydroxy alkanoates, purification

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Authors: Ali Ait Si Mhamed, Rita Kasa, Hans Vossensteyn

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Kazakhstan is the eight largest country on the globe, in terms of the territory, it is rich in natural resources and is developing dynamically. Kazakhstan strives to become one of the top 30 global economies by 2050. This goal preconditions intensive reforms in all sectors of economy, including higher education. This paper focuses on the higher education funding reforms that take place in Kazakhstan and their alignment with the strategic goals of national development. Currently, the government funds higher education costs for only a limited number of students while the majority of students pay full cost covering tuition fees. Only students with high examination scores at the end of the secondary education are eligible to be admitted to publically funded study places in higher education. While this merit-based higher education funding model is overall well-received in the country, there is also a discourse calling to change the existing approach of higher education funding. This paper draws on interviews with national policy makers and leadership at institutions of higher education in Kazakhstan collected during 2016. It seeks to answer a question about how well the current higher education funding mechanism is aligned with the strategic development goals in higher education. The paper discusses how stakeholders see the fit between the current higher education funding mechanism and the ability of higher education institutions to achieve the aims of national strategic development.

Keywords: higher education reform, higher education funding, higher education policy, Kazakhstan

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Authors: Xiao-lei Wang

Abstract:

The Novel Concept Combination (NCC) refers to the unique ability of multilingual children to creatively merge and integrate different linguistic and cultural elements to form innovative and original concepts. Children raised with more than one language often exhibit this skill in their daily communication, such as creating innovative metaphors that enrich their communication, showcasing their creativity in conveying the essence of their messages. This paper explores NCC abilities in multilingual children by focusing on two male trilingual siblings exposed to Chinese, French, and English from birth. The siblings were observed for 19 years in their daily context. Seventy-six hours of video-recorded data were used for this study (38 hours for each participant). A coding scheme developed by Wang et al. was employed to code the recorded data. The results suggest that these multilingual siblings proportionally increased their NCC skills over the years, emerging at age 3 and peaking at age 15. The characteristic of their NCC lies in their capacity to not merely replicate linguistic elements of different languages but to recreate, reshape, and reconstruct novel ideas in communication, enriching their interactions. The paper also addresses the educational implications for educators and parents, emphasizing the importance of valuing these novel ideas in everyday environments to encourage NCC development. This, in turn, contributes to cognitive and social development.

Keywords: multilingual children, novel concept combination, multilingual creativity, linguistic richness

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Authors: Sue-Yi Chen, Wei-Chun Hsu, Jon-Yiew Gan

Abstract:

Si-based double-junction tandem solar cells have become a popular research topic because of the advantages of low manufacturing cost and high energy conversion efficiency. However, there is no set of calculations to select the appropriate top cell materials. Therefore, this paper will propose a simple but practical selection method. First of all, we calculate the S-Q limit and explain the reasons for developing tandem solar cells. Secondly, we calculate the theoretical energy conversion efficiency of the double-junction tandem solar cells while combining the commercial monocrystalline Si and materials' practical efficiency to consider the actual situation. Finally, we conservatively conclude that if considering 75% performance of the theoretical energy conversion efficiency of the top cell, the suitable bandgap energy range will fall between 1.38eV to 2.5eV. Besides, we also briefly describe some improvements of several proper materials, CZTS, CdSe, Cu2O, ZnTe, and CdS, hoping that future research can select and manufacture high-efficiency Si-based tandem solar cells based on this paper successfully. Most importantly, our calculation method is not limited to silicon solely. If other materials’ performances match or surpass silicon's ability in the future, researchers can also apply this set of deduction processes.

Keywords: high-efficiency solar cells, material selection, Si-based double-junction solar cells, Tandem solar cells, photovoltaics.

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Authors: Reyhaneh Soltanshah, Hamid R. Zarandi

Abstract:

In order to be more efficient in industries that are related to computer systems, software testing is necessary despite spending time and money. In the embedded system software test, complete knowledge of the embedded system architecture is necessary to avoid significant costs and damages. Software tests increase the price of the final product. The aim of this article is to provide a method to reduce time and cost in tests based on program structure. First, a complete review of eleven white box test methods based on ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 2015 and 2021 versions has been done. The proposed algorithm is designed using two versions of the 29119 standards, and some white-box testing methods that are expensive or have little coverage have been removed. On each of the functions, white box test methods were applied according to the 29119 standard and then the proposed algorithm was implemented on the functions. To speed up the implementation of the proposed method, the Unity framework has been used with some changes. Unity framework can be used in embedded software testing due to its open source and ability to implement white box test methods. The test items obtained from these two approaches were evaluated using a mathematical ratio, which in various software mining reduced between 50% and 80% of the test cost and reached the desired result with the minimum number of test items.

Keywords: embedded software, reduce costs, software testing, white-box testing

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Authors: Changchun Liang, Xiaodong Zhang, Xin Liu, Pengfei Sun

Abstract:

Space intelligent robotic systems are expected to play an increasingly important role in the future. The robotic on-orbital service, whose key is the tracking and capturing technology, becomes research hot in recent years. In this paper, the authors propose a vision servo control system for target capturing. Robotic manipulator will be an intelligent robotic system with large-scale movement, functional agility, and autonomous ability, and it can be operated by astronauts in the space station or be controlled by the ground operator in the remote operation mode. To realize the autonomous movement and capture mission of SRM, a kind of autonomous programming strategy based on multi-camera vision fusion is designed and the selection principle of object visual position and orientation measurement information is defined for the better precision. Distributed control system hierarchy is designed and reliability is considering to guarantee the abilities of control system. At last, a ground experiment system is set up based on the concept of robotic control system. With that, the autonomous target capturing experiments are conducted. The experiment results validate the proposed algorithm, and demonstrates that the control system can fulfill the needs of function, real-time and reliability.

Keywords: control system, on-orbital service, space robot, vision servo

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Authors: S. Abed, S. O’Neill

Abstract:

This research explored ward nurses’ views about the characteristics of effective nurse leaders in the context of Iraq as a developing country, where the delivery of health care continues to face disruption and change. It is well established that the provision of modern health care requires effective nurse leaders, but in countries such as Iraq the lack of effective nurse leaders is noted as a major challenge. In a descriptive quantitative study, a survey questionnaire was administered to 210 ward nurses working in two public hospitals in a major city in the north of Iraq. The participating nurses were of the opinion that the effectiveness of their nurse leaders was evident in their ability to demonstrate: good clinical knowledge, effective communication and managerial skills. They also viewed their leaders as needing to hold high-level nursing qualifications, though this was not necessarily the case in practice. Additionally, they viewed nurse leaders’ personal qualities as important, which included politeness, ethical behaviour, and trustworthiness. When considered against the issues raised in interviews with a smaller group (20) of senior nurse leaders, representative of the various occupational levels, implications identify the need for professional development that focuses on how the underpinning competencies relate to leadership and how transformational leadership is evidenced in practice.

Keywords: health care, nurse education, nursing in Iraq, nurse leadership

Procedia PDF Downloads 275