Search results for: factorial experimental design method

Authors: B. G. Ayantunji, B. Musa, H. Mai-Unguwa, L. A. Sunmonu, A. S. Adewumi, L. Sa'ad, A. Kado

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For achieving reliable and efficient communication system, both terrestrial and satellite communication, surface refractivity is critical in planning and design of radio links. This study analyzed the impact of atmospheric parameters on Ultra High Frequency (UHF) signal strength over Gusau, North West, Nigeria. The analysis exploited meteorological data measured simultaneously with UHF signal strength for the month of June 2017 using a Davis Vantage Pro2 automatic weather station and UHF signal strength measuring devices respectively. The instruments were situated at the premise of Federal University, Gusau (6° 78' N, 12° 13' E). The refractivity values were computed using ITU-R model. The result shows that the refractivity value attained the highest value of 366.28 at 2200hr and a minimum value of 350.66 at 2100hr local time. The correlation between signal strength and refractivity is 0.350; Humidity is 0.532 and a negative correlation of -0.515 for temperature.

Keywords: refractivity, UHF (ultra high frequency) signal strength, free space, automatic weather station

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Authors: Nadia Belu, Laurenţiu Mihai Ionescu, Agnieszka Misztal

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The automotive industry is one of the most important industries in the world that concerns not only the economy, but also the world culture. In the present financial and economic context, this field faces new challenges posed by the current crisis, companies must maintain product quality, deliver on time and at a competitive price in order to achieve customer satisfaction. Two of the most recommended techniques of quality management by specific standards of the automotive industry, in the product development, are Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Control Plan. FMEA is a methodology for risk management and quality improvement aimed at identifying potential causes of failure of products and processes, their quantification by risk assessment, ranking of the problems identified according to their importance, to the determination and implementation of corrective actions related. The companies use Control Plans realized using the results from FMEA to evaluate a process or product for strengths and weaknesses and to prevent problems before they occur. The Control Plans represent written descriptions of the systems used to control and minimize product and process variation. In addition Control Plans specify the process monitoring and control methods (for example Special Controls) used to control Special Characteristics. In this paper we propose a computer-aided solution with Genetic Algorithms in order to reduce the drafting of reports: FMEA analysis and Control Plan required in the manufacture of the product launch and improved knowledge development teams for future projects. The solution allows to the design team to introduce data entry required to FMEA. The actual analysis is performed using Genetic Algorithms to find optimum between RPN risk factor and cost of production. A feature of Genetic Algorithms is that they are used as a means of finding solutions for multi criteria optimization problems. In our case, along with three specific FMEA risk factors is considered and reduce production cost. Analysis tool will generate final reports for all FMEA processes. The data obtained in FMEA reports are automatically integrated with other entered parameters in Control Plan. Implementation of the solution is in the form of an application running in an intranet on two servers: one containing analysis and plan generation engine and the other containing the database where the initial parameters and results are stored. The results can then be used as starting solutions in the synthesis of other projects. The solution was applied to welding processes, laser cutting and bending to manufacture chassis for buses. Advantages of the solution are efficient elaboration of documents in the current project by automatically generating reports FMEA and Control Plan using multiple criteria optimization of production and build a solid knowledge base for future projects. The solution which we propose is a cheap alternative to other solutions on the market using Open Source tools in implementation.

Keywords: automotive industry, FMEA, control plan, automotive technology

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Authors: Gangmin Li, Fan Yang

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Personalized recommendation is crucial for any recommendation system. One of the techniques for personalized recommendation is to identify the intention. Traditional user intention identification uses the user’s selection when facing multiple items. This modeling relies primarily on historical behaviour data resulting in challenges such as the cold start, unintended choice, and failure to capture intention when items are new. Motivated by recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, we present an approach for user intention identification by embracing LLMs with Chain-of-Thought (CoT) prompting. We use the initial user profile as input to LLMs and design a collection of prompts to align the LLM's response through various recommendation tasks encompassing rating prediction, search and browse history, user clarification, etc. Our tests on real-world datasets demonstrate the improvements in recommendation by explicit user intention identification and, with that intention, merged into a user model.

Keywords: personalized recommendation, generative user modelling, user intention identification, large language models, chain-of-thought prompting

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Authors: André C. Silva, Izabela L. A. Moraes, Elenice M. S. Silva, Carlos M. Silva Filho

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In Brazil, most soils are acidic and low in essential nutrients required for the growth and development of plants, making fertilizers essential for agriculture. As the biggest producer of soy in the world and a major producer of coffee, sugar cane and citrus fruits, Brazil is a large consumer of phosphate. Brazilian’s phosphate ores are predominantly from igneous rocks showing a complex mineralogy, associated with carbonites and oxides, typically iron, silicon and barium. The adopted industrial concentration circuit for this type of ore is a mix between magnetic separation (both low and high field) to remove the magnetic fraction and a froth flotation circuit composed by a reverse flotation of apatite (barite’s flotation) followed by direct flotation circuit (rougher, cleaner and scavenger circuit). Since the 70’s fatty acids obtained from vegetable oils are widely used as lower-cost collectors in apatite froth flotation. This is a very effective approach to the apatite family of minerals, being that this type of collector is both selective and efficient (high recovery). This paper presents Jatropha curcas L. oil (JCO) as a renewable and sustainable source of fatty acids with high selectivity in froth flotation of apatite. JCO is considerably rich in fatty acids such as linoleic, oleic and palmitic acid. The experimental campaign involved 216 tests using a modified Hallimond tube and two different minerals (apatite and quartz). In order to be used as a collector, the oil was saponified. The results found were compared with the synthetic collector, Fotigam 5806 produced by Clariant, which is composed mainly by soy oil. JCO showed the highest selectivity for apatite flotation with cold saponification at pH 8 and concentration of 2.5 mg/L. In this case, the mineral recovery was around 95%.

Keywords: froth flotation, jatropha curcas, microflotation, selectivity

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Authors: Maryam Shayan

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Chemical Process Simulation (CPS) software has been generally utilized by chemical (process) designers to outline, test, advance, and coordinate process plants. It is relied upon that modern scientists to bring these same critical thinking advantages to the outline and operation of industrial ecosystems can utilize CPS. This paper gives modern environment researchers and experts with a prologue to CPS and a review of compound designing configuration standards. The paper highlights late research demonstrating that CPS can be utilized to model modern industrial ecosystems, and talks about the advantages of utilizing CPS to address a portion of the specialized difficulties confronting organizations partaking in an industrial ecosystem. CPS can be utilized to (i) quantitatively assess and analyze the potential ecological and monetary advantages of material and vitality linkages; (ii) unravel general plan, retrofit, or operational issues; (iii) help to distinguish complex and frequently irrational arrangements; and (iv) assess imagine a scenario in which situations. CPS ought to be a valuable expansion to the mechanical environment tool stash.

Keywords: chemical process simulation (CPS), process plants, industrial ecosystems, compound designing

Procedia PDF Downloads 275

Authors: N. V. Kazmiruk, Y. R. Nartsissov

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Phosphate activated glutaminase (GA, E.C. 3.5.1.2) plays a key role in glutamine/glutamate homeostasis in mammalian brain, catalyzing the hydrolytic deamidation of glutamine to glutamate and ammonium ions. GA is mainly localized in mitochondria, where it has the catalytically active form on the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) and the other soluble form, which is supposed to be dormant. At present time, the exact localization of the membrane glutaminase active site remains a controversial and an unresolved issue. The first hypothesis called c-side localization suggests that the catalytic site of GA faces the inter-membrane space and products of the deamidation reaction have immediate access to cytosolic metabolism. According to the alternative m-side localization hypothesis, GA orients to the matrix, making glutamate and ammonium available for the tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolism in mitochondria directly. In our study, we used a multi-compartment kinetic approach to simulate metabolism of glutamate and glutamine in the astrocytic cytosol and mitochondria. We used physiologically important ratio between the concentrations of glutamine inside the matrix of mitochondria [Glnₘᵢₜ] and glutamine in the cytosol [Glncyt] as a marker for precise functioning of the system. Since this ratio directly depends on the mitochondrial glutamine carrier (MGC) flow parameters, key observation was to investigate the dependence of the [Glnmit]/[Glncyt] ratio on the maximal velocity of MGC at different initial concentrations of mitochondrial glutamate. Another important task was to observe the similar dependence at different inhibition constants of the soluble GA. The simulation results confirmed the experimental c-side localization hypothesis, in which the glutaminase active site faces the outer surface of the IMM. Moreover, in the case of such localization of the enzyme, a 3-fold decrease in ammonium production was predicted.

Keywords: glutamate metabolism, glutaminase, kinetic approach, mitochondrial membrane, multi-compartment modeling

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Authors: Gül Çevik

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This paper summarizes the work conducted to assess the root cause of the failure of a medium commercial vehicle leaf spring failed in service. Macro- and micro-fractographic analyses by scanning electron microscope as well as material verification tests were conducted in order to understand the failure mechanisms and root cause of the failure. Findings from the fractographic analyses indicated that failure mechanism is fatigue. Crack initiation was identified to have occurred from a point on the top surface near to the front face and to the left side. Two other crack initiation points were also observed, however, these cracks did not propagate. The propagation mode of the fatigue crack revealed that the cyclic loads resulting in crack initiation and propagation were unidirectional bending. Fractographic analyses have also showed that the root cause of the fatigue crack initiation and propagation was loading the part above design stress. Material properties of the part were also verified by chemical composition analysis, microstructural analysis by optical microscopy and hardness tests.

Keywords: leaf spring, failure analysis, fatigue, fractography

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Fadwa Alaskar, Fang-Chieh Chou, Carlos Flores, Xiao-Yun Lu, Alexandre M. Bayen

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This article proposes a perception model for enhancing the accuracy and stability of car-following control of a longitudinally automated truck. We applied a fusion-based tracking algorithm on measurements of a single preceding vehicle needed for car-following control. This algorithm fuses two types of data, radar and LiDAR data, to obtain more accurate and robust longitudinal perception of the subject vehicle in various weather conditions. The filter’s resulting signals are fed to the gap control algorithm at every tracking loop composed by a high-level gap control and lower acceleration tracking system. Several highway tests have been performed with two trucks. The tests show accurate and fast tracking of the target, which impacts on the gap control loop positively. The experiments also show the fulfilment of control design requirements, such as fast speed variations tracking and robust time gap following.

Keywords: object tracking, perception, sensor fusion, adaptive cruise control, cooperative adaptive cruise control

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Authors: Trang Huyen Nguyen, Thien Tri Huynh

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The objectives of this paper were to determine demographics of readers at Hochiminh city (HCMC), study reading motivation which affected citizens to read sports newspapers and measure readers’ satisfaction on issues related sports newspapers. Subjects of this survey were HCMC’s citizens. After collecting data, there were 568 useful feedbacks (the rate of response was 94.7%). The data analysis in the study included descriptive statistics and inferred statistics by SPSS 16.0 program for the research questions. The majority of respondents were male, from 24 to 32 years old, got the first degree and earned monthly from $US 150 to 300. Moreover, they were government officials and read newspaper from 11 to 20 times per month, bought newspapers by themselves. Finding information to predict results of sports matches was the highest motive affected readers; and the diversity information was the most pleasure that readers felt about sports newspapers. According to research findings, the board of editors could use the worthy information to make a strategic plan for newspaper on contents as well as design to meet the increasing demands of readers.

Keywords: motivation, satisfaction, readers, sports newspapers

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Authors: Dessie Tegegne Tibebu, Kirsi Mononen, Ari Pappinen

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In areas with forest management, agricultural, and industrial activity, sediments and biomass are accumulated in lakes through drainage system, which might be a cause for biodiversity loss and health problems. One possible solution can be utilization of lake bottom biomass and sediments for biogas production. The main objective of this study was to investigate the potentials of lake bottom materials for production of biogas by anaerobic digestion and to study the effect of pretreatment methods for feed materials on biogas yield. In order to study the potentials of biogas production lake bottom materials were collected from two sites, Likokanta and Kutunjärvi lake. Lake bottom materials were mixed with straw-horse manure to produce biogas in a laboratory scale reactor. The results indicated that highest yields of biogas values were observed when feeds were composed of 50% lake bottom materials with 50% straw horse manure mixture-while with above 50% lake bottom materials in the feed biogas production decreased. CH4 content from Likokanta lake materials with straw-horse manure and Kutunjärvi lake materials with straw-horse manure were similar values when feed consisted of 50% lake bottom materials with 50% straw horse manure mixtures. However, feeds with lake bottom materials above 50%, the CH4 concentration started to decrease, impairing gas process. Pretreatment applied on Kutunjärvi lake materials showed a slight negative effect on the biogas production and lowest CH4 concentration throughout the experiment. The average CH4 production (ml g-1 VS) from pretreated Kutunjärvi lake materials with straw horse manure (208.9 ml g-1 VS) and untreated Kutunjärvi lake materials with straw horse manure (182.2 ml g-1 VS) were markedly higher than from Likokanta lake materials with straw horse manure (157.8 ml g-1 VS). According to the experimental results, utilization of 100% lake bottom materials for biogas production is likely to be impaired negatively. In the future, further analyses to improve the biogas yields, assessment of costs and benefits is needed before utilizing lake bottom materials for the production of biogas.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biogas, lake bottom materials, sediments, pretreatment

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Authors: Tianfang Zhang, Luxi He, Zhengbin He, Songlin Yi

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Moso bamboo is a common non-wood forest resource in Asia that is widely used in construction, furniture, and other fields. Influenced by the heterogeneous structure and various hygroscopic groups of bamboo, the deformation occurs as moisture absorption and desorption when the environment temperature and humidity conditions change. Thermal modification is a well-established commercial technology for improving the dimensional stability of bamboo. However, the higher energy consumption and carbon emissions limit its further development. Previous studies have indicated that inorganic salt-assisted thermal modification could lead to significant reductions in moisture absorption and energy consumption. Represented by metal chlorides, it could show Lewis acid properties when dissolved in water, generating metal ion ligand complexes. In addition, ultrasonic treatment, as an efficient and environmentally friendly physical treatment method, improved the accessibility of pretreatment chemical impregnation agents and intensified mass and heat transfer during reactions. To save energy and reduce deformation, this study elucidates the influence of zinc chloride-ultrasonic treatment on the physicochemical properties of heat-treated bamboo, and the details of the bamboo deformation mechanism with Lewis acid are explained. Three sets of parameters (inorganic salt concentration, ultrasonic frequency and heat treatment temperature) were designed, and an optimized process was proposed to clarify this scientific question, that is: 5% (w/w) zinc chloride solution, 40 kHz ultrasonic waves and heat treatment at 160 °C. The samples were characterized by different means to analyze changes in their macroscopic features, pore structure, chemical structure and chemical composition. The results suggested that the maximum weight loss rate was reduced by at least 19.75%. The maximum thermal degradation peak of hemicellulose was significantly shifted forward. The hygroscopicity was reduced by 10.15%, the relative crystallinity was increased by 4.4%, the surface contact angle was increased by 25.2%, and the color change was increased by 23.60 in the optimal condition. From the electron microscope observation, the treated surface became rougher, and cracks appeared in some weaker areas, accelerating starch loss and removing granular attachments around the pits. By ion diffusion, zinc ions diffused into hemicellulose and a partial amorphous region of cellulose. Parts of the cell wall structure were subjected to swelling and degradation, leading to the broken state of parenchyma cells. From the Raman spectrum, compared to conventional thermal modifications, hemicellulose thermal degradation and lignin migration is promoted by Lewis acid under dilute acid-thermal condition. As shown in this work, the combined Lewis acid and ultrasonic pretreatment as an environmentally friendly, safe, and efficient physic-chemical combined pretreatment method improved the dimensional stability of Moso bamboo and lowered the thermal degradation conditions. This method has great potential for development in the field of bamboo heat treatment, and it might provide some guidance for making dark bamboo flooring.

Keywords: Moso bamboo, Lewis acid, ultrasound, heat treatment

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Authors: Yuvraj Singh Dangi, Kamta Prasad Namdeo, Surendra Bodhake

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The purpose of this research was to develop and evaluate mucoadhesive films for buccal administration of itraconazole using film-forming and mucoashesive polymers. Buccal films of chitosan bearing Itraconazole were prepared by solvent casting technique. The films have been evaluated in terms of film weight, thickness, density, surface pH, FTIR, X-ray diffraction analysis, bioadhesion, swelling properties, and in vitro drug release studies. It was found that film formulations of 2 cm2 size having weight in the range of 204 ± 0.76 to 223 ± 2.09 mg and film thickness were in the range of 0.44 ± 0.11 to 0.57 ± 0.19 mm. Density of the films was found to be 0.102 to 0.126 g/ml. Drug content was found to be uniform in the range of 8.23 ± 0.07 to 8.73 ± 0.09 mg/cm2 for formulation A1 to A4. Maximum bioadhesion force was recorded for HPMC buccal films (A2) i.e. 0.57 ± 0.47 as compared to other films. In vitro residence time was in range of 1.7 ± 0.12 to 7.65 ± 0.15 h. The drug release studies show that formulations follow non-fickian diffusion. These mucoadhesive formulations could offer many advantages in comparison to traditional treatments.

Keywords: biovariability, buccal patches, itraconazole, Mucoadhesion

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Authors: L. S. Chathurika

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Early prediction of student performance is an important factor to be gained academic excellence. Whatever the study stream in secondary education, students lay the foundation for higher studies during the first year of their degree or diploma program in Sri Lanka. The information technology (IT) field has certain improvements in the education domain by selecting specialization areas to show the talents and skills of students. These specializations can be software engineering, network administration, database administration, multimedia design, etc. After completing the first-year, students attempt to select the best path by considering numerous factors. The purpose of this experiment is to predict the best study path using machine learning algorithms. Five classification algorithms: decision tree, support vector machine, artificial neural network, Naïve Bayes, and logistic regression are selected and tested. The support vector machine obtained the highest accuracy, 82.4%. Then affecting features are recognized to select the best study path.

Keywords: algorithm, classification, evaluation, features, testing, training

Procedia PDF Downloads 116

Authors: Olalekan Olaluwoye, Joanne Williams, Elizabeth Hoban

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Background: Modern contraceptives are effective in preventing unwanted pregnancies and therefore the potential to reduce abortion rates. There is a need for information about how rates of contraceptive use and abortion vary across Cambodia and the relationship between the prevalence of modern contraception use and abortion rates. This study compares the use of contraception and abortion among female garment factory workers in rural and urban areas of Cambodia. Method: Cross-sectional surveys were conducted with 1701 women working in eleven garment factories in rural and urban areas of Cambodia. Sexual and reproductive health data were collected using Audio-Assisted Survey Interviews and analysed using STATA 14 software. Findings: Over 70% of the respondents were less than 30 years of age across both rural and urban settings and over 50% have only primary education, thus the study population was largely young women with limited education. A significantly higher proportion of the rural women earned over $200 in the previous month compared with their urban counterparts. The majority of the urban women (51.5%) were married, while single women (46.9%) made up the largest group working in the rural factories. A significantly larger proportion of women in the rural areas (83.9%) were sexually active compared to the urban women (50.9%). More women from the rural areas (41.4%) had been pregnant at some time compared with the urban population (37.7%). The use of any contraceptive method among sexually active women was significantly higher in the rural areas (80.1%) compared to the urban areas (65.7%) with p-value=0.000. However, among those women who used contraception, the prevalence of modern contraception use was slightly higher in the urban population (68.8% urban, 63.4% rural, p-value=0.1). For women who had a history of pregnancy the abortion prevalence was higher among rural women (43.8%) compared to their urban counterparts (37.7%). Regression analysis showed that after adjustment for the demographic variables (age, relationship status, income, education) only age and relationship status had a significant influence on the use of modern contraception.Single females who were sexually active and older women, who had potentially completed their families, were more likely to choose modern contraception. Conclusion: Although overall the use of contraception was higher among rural women, the use of modern contraception was higher among urban women.This finding may partly explain the higher rates of abortion among women in the rural areas as traditional contraception methods have higher failure rates and are more likely to result in an unplanned pregnancy.Despite the regional variation, the high rates of abortion across the country suggest there is a need for improve education on family planning among female garment factory workers in Cambodia.

Keywords: abortion, Cambodia, contraception, garment factory

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Authors: Fatemeh Zare, Kaveh Bazrafkan, Alireza Bolhari

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Quality of life is one of the most recent issues in today's architectural world. It has numerous criteria and has diverse aspects in different nation's cultures. Social sustainability, on the other hand, is frequently a positive attitude which is manifested by integration of human beings and equity of access to fundamental amenities; for instance, transportation, hygienic systems, equal education facilities, etc. This paper demonstrates that achieving desired quality of life is through assurance of sustainable society. Choosing a sustainable approach in every day's life becomes a practical manner and solution for human life. By assuming that an architect is someone who designs people's life by his/her projects, scrutinizing the relationship between quality of life and architectural buildings would reveal hidden criteria through Datascapes technique. This would be enriched when considering this relationship with everyone's basic needs in the society. One the most impressive needs are the particular demands of physically challenged people which are directly examined and discussed.

Keywords: sustainable design, social sustainability, disabled people, datascapes technique

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Authors: Yu Wang, Xibang Chen, Maolin Zhai, Jing Peng, Jiuqiang Li

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Poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) functionalized magnetic graphene oxide (GO) composite was synthesized through a two-step process. Magnetic Fe₃O₄/GO was first prepared by a facile hydrothermal method. A radiation-induced grafting technique was used to graft PAA to Fe₃O₄/GO to obtain the Fe₃O₄/GO-g-PAA subsequently. The characteristics results of FTIR, Raman, XRD, SEM, TEM, and VSM showed that Fe₃O₄/GO-g-PAA was successfully prepared. The Fe₃O₄/GO-g-PAA composites were used as sorbents for the removal of Pb(II) ions, and the maximum adsorption capacity for Pb(II) was 176.92 mg/g.

Keywords: Fe₃O₄, graphene oxide, magnetic, Pb(II) removal, radiation-induced

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Authors: Francielle A. Vargas, Thiago A. S. Pardo

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According to the standard philosophical definition, lying is saying something that you believe to be false with the intent to deceive. For deception detection, the FBI trains its agents in a technique named statement analysis, which attempts to detect deception based on parts of speech (i.e., linguistics style). This method is employed in interrogations, where the suspects are first asked to make a written statement. In this poster, we model false statements using linguistics style. In order to achieve this, we methodically analyze linguistic features in a corpus of fake news in the Portuguese language. The results show that they present substantial lexical, syntactic and semantic variations, as well as punctuation and emotion distinctions.

Keywords: deception detection, linguistics style, computational linguistics, natural language processing

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Authors: Huijun Wu

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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive negative shocks across countries. Various research institutes have worked assiduously to develop vaccines to help fight the pandemic, but misinformation from the media has spurred public outcry in several countries not to take jabs. This study leverages massive data [i.e., responses from more than 140,000 people sampled from 144 countries] extracted from the Gallup World Poll’s Wellcome Global Monitor, to analyze and assess how the media contributes to inadequate dissemination of basic scientific knowledge on the vaccines and spread of distrust in central governments as predictors of vaccine hesitancy. The results show that all three predictors are statistically significant at a 5% level and that appropriate design and dissemination of basic scientific knowledge on the vaccines and spread of justified reasons to trust governments would help mitigate vaccine hesitancy. The implication of the results is that the media needs to consider such predictors hitherto ignored.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy, media and communication, basic scientific knowledge, distrust in central governments

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Authors: Keyvan Ramin

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The geometric nonlinearity of Off-Diagonal Bracing System (ODBS) could be a complementary system to covering and extending the nonlinearity of reinforced concrete material. Finite element modeling is performed for flexural frame, x-braced frame and the ODBS braced frame system at the initial phase. Then the different models are investigated along various analyses. According to the experimental results of flexural and x-braced frame, the verification is done. Analytical assessments are performed in according to three-dimensional finite element modeling. Non-linear static analysis is considered to obtain performance level and seismic behavior, and then the response modification factors calculated from each model’s pushover curve. In the next phase, the evaluation of cracks observed in the finite element models, especially for RC members of all three systems is performed. The finite element assessment is performed on engendered cracks in ODBS braced frame for various time steps. The nonlinear dynamic time history analysis accomplished in different stories models for three records of Elcentro, Naghan, and Tabas earthquake accelerograms. Dynamic analysis is performed after scaling accelerogram on each type of flexural frame, x-braced frame and ODBS braced frame one by one. The base-point on RC frame is considered to investigate proportional displacement under each record. Hysteresis curves are assessed along continuing this study. The equivalent viscous damping for ODBS system is estimated in according to references. Results in each section show the ODBS system has an acceptable seismic behavior and their conclusions have been converged when the ODBS system is utilized in reinforced concrete frame.

Keywords: FEM, seismic behaviour, pushover analysis, geometric nonlinearity, time history analysis, equivalent viscous damping, passive control, crack investigation, hysteresis curve

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Authors: M. M. El-Awad

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The availability of computers and educational software nowadays helps engineering students acquire better understanding of engineering principles and their applications. With these facilities, students can perform sensitivity and optimisation analyses which were not possible in the past by using slide-rules and hand calculators. Standard textbooks in engineering thermodynamics also use software such as Engineering Equation Solver (EES) and Interactive Thermodynamics (IT) for solving calculation-intensive and design problems. Unfortunately, engineering students in most developing countries do not have access to such applications which are protected by intellectual-property rights. This paper shows how Microsoft ExcelTM and VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), which are normally distributed with personal computers and laptops, can be used as an alternative modelling platform for thermodynamic analyses and optimisation. The paper describes the VBA user-defined-functions developed for determining the refrigerants properties with Excel. For illustration, the combination is used to model and optimise the intermediate temperature for a propane/iso-butane cascade refrigeration system.

Keywords: thermodynamic optimisation, engineering education, excel, VBA, cascade refrigeration system

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Authors: C. Romero, R. Ortega, P. Sánchez-Camacho, P. Aguilar, V. Segur, J. Ruiz, G. Gutiérrez

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Introduction: Breast cancer is a leading cause of death in CLM. (2.8% of all deaths in women and 13,8% of deaths from tumors in womens). It is the most tumor incidence in CLM region with 26.1% from all tumours, except nonmelanoma skin (Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, Volume X, IARC). Cancer registries are a good information source to estimate cancer incidence, however the data are usually available with a lag which makes difficult their use for health managers. By contrast, mortality and survival statistics have less delay. In order to serve for resource planning and responding to this problem, a method is presented to estimate the incidence of mortality and survival data. Objectives: To estimate the incidence of breast cancer by age group in CLM in the period 1991-2013. Comparing the data obtained from the model with current incidence data. Sources: Annual number of women by single ages (National Statistics Institute). Annual number of deaths by all causes and breast cancer. (Mortality Registry CLM). The Breast cancer relative survival probability. (EUROCARE, Spanish registries data). Methods: A Weibull Parametric survival model from EUROCARE data is obtained. From the model of survival, the population and population data, Mortality and Incidence Analysis MODel (MIAMOD) regression model is obtained to estimate the incidence of cancer by age (1991-2013). Results: The resulting model is: Ix,t = Logit [const + age1*x + age2*x2 + coh1*(t – x) + coh2*(t-x)2] Where: Ix,t is the incidence at age x in the period (year) t; the value of the parameter estimates is: const (constant term in the model) = -7.03; age1 = 3.31; age2 = -1.10; coh1 = 0.61 and coh2 = -0.12. It is estimated that in 1991 were diagnosed in CLM 662 cases of breast cancer (81.51 per 100,000 women). An estimated 1,152 cases (112.41 per 100,000 women) were diagnosed in 2013, representing an increase of 40.7% in gross incidence rate (1.9% per year). The annual average increases in incidence by age were: 2.07% in women aged 25-44 years, 1.01% (45-54 years), 1.11% (55-64 years) and 1.24% (65-74 years). Cancer registries in Spain that send data to IARC declared 2003-2007 the average annual incidence rate of 98.6 cases per 100,000 women. Our model can obtain an incidence of 100.7 cases per 100,000 women. Conclusions: A sharp and steady increase in the incidence of breast cancer in the period 1991-2013 is observed. The increase was seen in all age groups considered, although it seems more pronounced in young women (25-44 years). With this method you can get a good estimation of the incidence.

Keywords: breast cancer, incidence, cancer registries, castilla-la mancha

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Authors: Alexandra Roy

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Building on literature on cognitive matching and social categorization and using the correspondence testing method, we test the interaction effect of person characteristics (Gender with physical attractiveness) and job context (client contact, industry status, coworker contact). As expected, while findings show a strong impact of gender with beauty on hiring chances, job context characteristics have also a significant overall effect of this hiring outcome. Moreover, the rate of positive responses varies according some of the recruiter’s characteristics. Results are robust to various sensitivity checks. Implications of the results, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: correspondence testing, discrimination, hiring, physical attractiveness

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Authors: Petr Sifta, Vaclav Bittner, Martin Kysela, Matej Kolar

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The purpose of the research described in this work is to answer how to measure the rheologic (viscoelastic) properties tendo–deformational characteristics of soft tissue. The method would also resemble muscle palpation examination as it is known in clinical practice. For this purpose, an instrument with the working name “myotonometer” has been used. At present, there is lack of objective methods for assessing the muscle tone by viscous and elastic properties of soft tissue. That is why we decided to focus on creating or finding quantitative and qualitative methodology capable of specifying muscle tone.

Keywords: rheologic properties, tendo–deformational characteristics, viscosity, elasticity, hypertonus

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Authors: Melanie Ostermann, Eivind Birkeland, Ying Xue, Alexander Sauter, Mihaela R. Cimpan

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Background: New reliable and robust techniques to assess biological effects of nanomaterials (NMs) in vitro are needed to speed up safety analysis and to identify key physicochemical parameters of NMs, which are responsible for their acute cytotoxicity. The central aim of this study was to validate and evaluate the applicability and reliability of an impedance-based flow cytometry (IFC) technique for the high-throughput screening of NMs. Methods: Eight inorganic NMs from the European Commission Joint Research Centre Repository were used: NM-302 and NM-300k (Ag: 200 nm rods and 16.7 nm spheres, respectively), NM-200 and NM- 203 (SiO₂: 18.3 nm and 24.7 nm amorphous, respectively), NM-100 and NM-101 (TiO₂: 100 nm and 6 nm anatase, respectively), and NM-110 and NM-111 (ZnO: 147 nm and 141 nm, respectively). The aim was to assess the biological effects of these materials on human monoblastoid (U937) cells. Dispersions of NMs were prepared as described in the NANOGENOTOX dispersion protocol and cells were exposed to NMs at relevant concentrations (2, 10, 20, 50, and 100 µg/mL) for 24 hrs. The change in electrical impedance was measured at 0.5, 2, 6, and 12 MHz using the IFC AmphaZ30 (Amphasys AG, Switzerland). A traditional toxicity assay, Trypan Blue Dye Exclusion assay, and dark-field microscopy were used to validate the IFC method. Results: Spherical Ag particles (NM-300K) showed the highest toxic effect on U937 cells followed by ZnO (NM-111 ≥ NM-110) particles. Silica particles were moderate to non-toxic at all used concentrations under these conditions. A higher toxic effect was seen with smaller sized TiO2 particles (NM-101) compared to their larger analogues (NM-100). No interferences between the IFC and the used NMs were seen. Uptake and internalization of NMs were observed after 24 hours exposure, confirming actual NM-cell interactions. Conclusion: Results collected with the IFC demonstrate the applicability of this method for rapid nanotoxicity assessment, which proved to be less prone to nano-related interference issues compared to some traditional toxicity assays. Furthermore, this label-free and novel technique shows good potential for up-scaling in directions of an automated high-throughput screening and for future NM toxicity assessment. This work was supported by the EC FP7 NANoREG (Grant Agreement NMP4-LA-2013-310584), the Research Council of Norway, project NorNANoREG (239199/O70), the EuroNanoMed II 'GEMN' project (246672), and the UH-Nett Vest project.

Keywords: cytotoxicity, high-throughput, impedance, nanomaterials

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Authors: Soni T. L.

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Sustainable environmental stress is a major concern which needs immediate attention. This paper is an attempt to present participatory action research for sustainable agriculture. Being first and best culture, agriculture protects and improves the natural environment, the social and economic conditions of people, and safeguards the health and welfare of all groups. During course of time agriculture turned to agribusiness, then the values are not safeguarded. Moreover, in today’s busy life many are not taking efforts to take part in agriculture production. Then children are not getting the opportunity to understand agriculture and farming practices. So student initiatives are vital to make them aware. Here the programmes structured by the researcher come under the auspicious of National Service Scheme, a student-centered educational programme, organized by Ministry of Youth Affairs, Government of India. The twin objectives of the study are to examine the role of student initiatives for sustainable agriculture and the role of participatory action research in student initiatives. SWOT analysis is made to study strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. The Methodology adopted is Participatory Action Research. The method is participatory in a sense there is collaboration through participation. The method is action, there is lab land experiences which is real. The method is research that there is documented lessons and creation of new knowledge. Plan of action cover measures adopted and strategies taken i.e., bhavana – kalpana – yojana – sadhana. Through the team effort, the team was successful in converting more than 10 hectares of barren land into cultivable land within and outside the campus. Team efforts of students saved a huge amount of labour cost and produced a huge quantity of organic output and the team was also successful in creating 1000 rain pits in the premises of College for rainwater harvesting. The findings include conveyance of the Message: Food Production is superior to Food donation. Moreover, the study fostered good work ethic and social responsibility among students. Students undertake innovative programmes underlying social and environmental issues and participants got increased opportunities to interact with local and less privileged and acquired increased awareness about real-life experiences which make them confident to interact with people and it resulted in the strengthening of social capital- cooperation, team spirit, social commitment among students. Participants promoted sustainable domestic efforts and ultimately environmental protection is ensured. Finally, there is recognition to the team, institution and the researcher at the university level, state level and at the national level. The learned lessons are, if the approach is good, the response is good and success generates success. Participatory action research is empowering experience for practitioners, focusing the combined time, energy and creativity of a committed group we should lead so many programmes which makes the institution centre of excellence. Authorities should take necessary steps for the Inclusion of community development activities in the curriculum. Action research is problem, client and action centered. So, we must adapt and adopt, coordinates and correlates measures which preserve and conserve the environment.

Keywords: participatory action research, student initiatives, sustainable development, sustainability

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Authors: Natthawut Arin

Abstract:

In forensic contexts, competency to stand trial assessments are the most common referrals. The defendants may attempt to endorse psychopathology symptoms and feign incompetent. Coaching, which can be teaching them test-taking strategies to avoid detection of psychopathological symptoms feigning. Recently, the Symptom Validity Testings (SVTs) were created to detect feigning. Moreover, the works of the literature showed that the effects of coaching on SVTs may be more robust to the effects of coaching. Thai Symptom Validity Test (SVT-Th) was designed as SVTs which demonstrated adequate psychometric properties and ability to classify between feigners and honest responders. Thus, the current study to examine the utility as the robustness of SVT-Th in the detection of feigned psychopathology. Participants consisted of 120 were recruited from undergraduate courses in psychology, randomly assigned to one of three groups. The SVT-Th was administered to those three scenario-experimental groups: (a) Uncoached group were asked to respond honestly (n=40), (b) Symptom-coached without warning group were asked to feign psychiatric symptoms to gain incompetency to stand trial (n=40), while (c) Test-coached with warning group were asked to feign psychiatric symptoms to avoid test detection but being incompetency to stand trial (n=40). Group differences were analyzed using one-way ANOVAs. The result revealed an uncoached group (M = 4.23, SD.= 5.20) had significantly lower SVT-Th mean scores than those both coached groups (M =185.00, SD.= 72.88 and M = 132.10, SD.= 54.06, respectively). Classification rates were calculated to determine the classification accuracy. Result indicated that SVT-Th had overall classification accuracy rates of 96.67% with acceptable of 95% sensitivity and 100% specificity rates. Overall, the results of the present study indicate that the SVT-Th yielded high adequate indices of accuracy and these findings suggest that the SVT-Th is robustness against coaching.

Keywords: incompetency to stand trial, coaching, robustness, classification accuracy

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Authors: Lydia Chan, Islam Shyha, Dale Dreyer, John Hamilton, Phil Hackney

Abstract:

Nickel-based superalloys are generally known to be difficult to cut due to their strength, low thermal conductivity, and high work hardening tendency. Superalloy such as alloy 625 is often used in the oil and gas industry as a surfacing material to provide wear and corrosion resistance to components. The material is typically applied onto a metallic substrate through weld overlay cladding, an arc welding technique. Cladded surfaces are always rugged and carry a tough skin; this creates further difficulties to the machining process. The present work utilised design of experiment to optimise the internal cylindrical rough turning for weld overlay surfaces. An L27 orthogonal array was used to assess effects of the four selected key process variables: cutting insert, depth of cut, feed rate, and cutting speed. The optimal cutting conditions were determined based on productivity and the level of tool wear.

Keywords: cylindrical turning, nickel superalloy, turning of overlay, weld overlay

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Authors: Lahaina U. Dilangalen

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Using descriptive-experimental research methods, this study aimed to identify the main resources of water, assessed the water quality, sanitation and hygiene practices, and extent of implementation. Complete enumeration was done in 28 elementary public schools of Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipality. Questionnaires were given to the school advisers. Water samples were obtained from the same schools and were submitted to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Region XII for microbial analysis, specifically the presence of fecal coliform bacteria. Four water resources such as hand pump, faucet, deep well and spring were found being used in the 28 schools. Of water resources, the only treated was from the faucet. Most of the schools used the water for drinking and washing. Two schools strongly agreed, nine schools agreed and seventeen schools disagreed that they implemented DepEd Order no.56 s. 2009. In addition, two schools strongly agreed and twenty six agreed that they implemented DepEd Order No. 65 s. 2009. Five schools had water supply that were safe to drink while sixteen schools had water supply that were not safe to drink due to high fecal coliform count and did not undergo chemical treatment. The only safe for drinking were water resources that came from faucet because they were chemically treated. Seven out of 28 schools did not have water supply due to their location in mountainous areas. More than half of the schools did not comply with the DepEd Order No. 56 s. 2009 due to the lack of funds and support from the PTA and LGU. It is recommended that the Department of Education must have an urgent assessment of implementing both DepEd Orders No.56 and 65, to assure that the schoolchildren be protected from water and sanitation related ailments. Also, all water resources that are not treated must be used for washing only. Ideally, all the water resources must be treated to assure the safety of all school constituents. Moreover, the school administrators and teachers in the municipality must be provided copies of the results of this study for reference in implementing the said programs.

Keywords: assessment, drinking water, fecal coliform, groundwater

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Authors: Sabry Shaaban, Tom McNamara, Sarah Hudson

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This paper investigates the benefits of deliberately unbalancing both operation time means (MTs) and unreliability (failure and repair rates) for non-automated production lines.The lines were simulated with various line lengths, buffer capacities, degrees of imbalance and patterns of MT and unreliability imbalance. Data on two performance measures, namely throughput (TR) and average buffer level (ABL) were gathered, analyzed and compared to a balanced line counterpart. A number of conclusions were made with respect to the ranking of configurations, as well as to the relationships among the independent design parameters and the dependent variables. It was found that the best configurations are a balanced line arrangement and a monotone decreasing MT order, coupled with either a decreasing or a bowl unreliability configuration, with the first generally resulting in a reduced TR and the second leading to a lower ABL than those of a balanced line.

Keywords: unreliable production lines, unequal mean operation times, unbalanced failure and repair rates, throughput, average buffer level

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Authors: Xiyue Wen

Abstract:

With the rapid development of the city, old communities in the city are facing a series of problems. On one hand, aging facilities, obsolete spatial patterns, aging populations arouse in the aging of the community. On the other hand, public space is reduced and is taking up by cars parking or facilities setting, which lead to the collapse of traditional life in the old communities. That is to say, modern amenities haven’t helped to reform the old community, but have leading to tedious and inefficient, when it is not accommodated in the traditional space. Exploring a way is imminent to the east the contradiction between modern living facilities and spatial patterns of traditional. We select a typical site-GeDa Community in Xi’an, built in 70-80s，and carry out a concept calling 'Raising Landscape', which enables a convenient and efficient space for parking, as well as a high-quality yard for activities. In addition, the design implements low cost, simple construction, resident participation, so that it can be spread in the same texture of urban space.

Keywords: old communities, renewal strategy, raising landscape, public space, parking space

Procedia PDF Downloads 473