Search results for: high temperature corrosion

Authors: Sarakorn Sukaviriya

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This paper describes the inspection procedure, root cause analysis, the rectification of crack, and how to apply the procedure with other similar plants. During the operation of the steam turbine (620MW), instruments such as speed sensor of steam turbine, the servo valve of main stop valve and electrical wires were malfunction caused by leakage steam from main steam governing valve. Therefore, the power plant decided to shutdown steam turbines for figuring out the cause of leakage steam. Inspection techniques to be applied in this problem were microstructure testing (SEM), pipe stress analysis (FEM) and non-destructive testing. The crack was initially found on main governing valve’s weldment by visual inspection. To analyze more precisely, pipe stress analysis and microstructure testing were applied and results indicated that the crack was intergranular and originated from the weld defect. This weld defect caused the notch with high-stress concentration which created crack and then propagated to steam leakage. The major root cause of this problem was an inappropriate welding process, which created a weld defect. To repair this joint from damage, we used a welding technique by producing refinement of coarse grain HAZ and eliminating stress concentration. After the weldment was completely repaired, other adjacent weldments still had risk. Hence, to prevent any future cracks, non-destructive testing (NDT) shall be applied to all joints in order to ensure that there will be no indication of crack.

Keywords: steam-pipe leakage, steam leakage, weld crack analysis, weld defect

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Authors: Luca Collini, Michele Antolotti, Diego Schiavi

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At present, complex geometries within production time shrinkage, rapidly increasing demand, and high-quality standard requirement make the non-destructive (ND) control of additively manufactured components indispensable means. On the other hand, a technology gap and the lack of standards regulating the methods and the acceptance criteria indicate the NDT of these components a stimulating field to be still fully explored. Up to date, penetrant testing, acoustic wave, tomography, radiography, and semi-automated ultrasound methods have been tested on metal powder based products so far. External defects, distortion, surface porosity, roughness, texture, internal porosity, and inclusions are the typical defects in the focus of testing. Detection of density and layers compactness are also been tried on stainless steels by the ultrasonic scattering method. In this work, the authors want to present and discuss the radiographic and the ultrasound ND testing on additively manufactured Ti₆Al₄V and inconel parts obtained by the selective laser melting (SLM) technology. In order to test the possibilities given by the radiographic method, both X-Rays and γ-Rays are tried on a set of specifically designed specimens realized by the SLM. The specimens contain a family of defectology, which represent the most commonly found, as cracks and lack of fusion. The tests are also applied to real parts of various complexity and thickness. A set of practical indications and of acceptance criteria is finally drawn.

Keywords: non-destructive testing, selective laser melting, radiography, UT method

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Authors: Maryam Amiri, Ali Rajabzade, Gholam Reza Goudarzi, Reza Heidari

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Growth of technology and environmental changes are so fast and therefore, companies and industries have much tendency to do activities of R&D for active participation in the market and achievement to a competitive advantages. Aviation industry and its subdivisions have high level technology and play a special role in economic and social development of countries. So, in the aviation industry for getting new technologies and competing with other countries aviation industry, there is a requirement for capability in R&D. Considering of appropriate R&D strategy is supportive that day technologies of the world can be achieved. Biofuel technology is one of the newest technologies that has allocated discussion of the world in aviation industry to itself. The purpose of this research has been formulation of R&D strategy of biofuel technology in aviation industry of Iran. After reviewing of the theoretical foundations of the methods and R&D strategies, finally we classified R&D strategies in four main categories as follows: internal R&D, collaboration R&D, out sourcing R&D and in-house R&D. After a review of R&D strategies, a model for formulation of R&D strategy with the aim of developing biofuel technology in aviation industry in Iran was offered. With regard to the requirements and aracteristics of industry and technology in the model, we presented an integrated approach to R&D. Based on the techniques of decision making and analyzing of structured expert opinion, 4 R&D strategies for different scenarios and with the aim of developing biofuel technology in aviation industry in Iran were recommended. In this research, based on the common features of the implementation process of R&D, a logical classification of these methods are presented as R&D strategies. Then, R&D strategies and their characteristics was developed according to the experts. In the end, we introduced a model to consider the role of aviation industry and biofuel technology in R&D strategies. And lastly, for conditions and various scenarios of the aviation industry, we have formulated a specific R&D strategy.

Keywords: aviation industry, biofuel technology, R&D, R&D strategy

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Authors: Abdullahi Ibrahim

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The culture of Clarias gariepinus for fish production is becoming increasingly essential as the fish is contributing to the food abundance and nutritional benefit to family health, income generation, and employment opportunities. The effect of feeding frequency was investigated over a period of ten (10) weeks; the experiment was conducted to monitor survival rates, growth performance, and feeding behavior of juvenile catfish. The experimental fish were randomly assigned to five treatment groups; (i.e., with different feeding frequency intervals) of 100 fish each. Each treatment was replicated twice with 50 fish per replicate. All the groups were fed with floating fish feed (blue crown®). The five treatments (feeding frequency) were T1- once a day feeding of night hours only, T2- twice a day feeding time of morning and night hours, T3- trice a day feeding time of morning, evening and night hours, T-4 four times a day feeding of morning, afternoon, evening, and night hours, T-5 five times a day feeding at four hours interval. There were significant differences (p > 0.05) among treatments. Feed intake and weight gain improved significantly (p < 0.05) in T-4 and T-3. The best of the feeding time on weight gain, survival rate, and feed conversion ratio were obtained at three times a day feeding (T-3) compared to other treatments, especially those fed once and five times feeding a regiment. This might be attributed to the high level of dissolve oxygen and less stress. Feeding fish three times a day is therefore recommended for efficient catfish production to maximize profits as the feed represents more than 50% of aquaculture inputs, particularly in intensive farming systems.

Keywords: catfish, floating fish feed, dissolve oxygen, juvenile

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Authors: Felipe A. Guth, Shane Ward, Kevin McDonnell

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The assessment of disease levels in crop fields is an important and time-consuming task that generally relies on expert knowledge of trained individuals. Image classification in agriculture problems historically has been based on classical machine learning strategies that make use of hand-engineered features in the top of a classification algorithm. This approach tends to not produce results with high accuracy and generalization to the classes classified by the system when the nature of the elements has a significant variability. The advent of deep convolutional neural networks has revolutionized the field of machine learning, especially in computer vision tasks. These networks have great resourcefulness of learning and have been applied successfully to image classification and object detection tasks in the last years. The objective of this work was to propose a new method based on deep learning convolutional neural networks towards the task of disease level monitoring. Common RGB images of winter wheat were obtained during a growing season. Five categories of disease levels presence were produced, in collaboration with agronomists, for the algorithm classification. Disease level tasks performed by experts provided ground truth data for the disease score of the same winter wheat plots were RGB images were acquired. The system had an overall accuracy of 84% on the discrimination of the disease level classes.

Keywords: crop disease assessment, deep learning, precision agriculture, residual neural networks

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Authors: Hala Alshamlan, Ghada Badr, Yousef Alohali

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Cancer is one of the dreadful diseases, which causes considerable death rate in humans. DNA microarray-based gene expression profiling has been emerged as an efficient technique for cancer classification, as well as for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment purposes. In recent years, a DNA microarray technique has gained more attraction in both scientific and in industrial fields. It is important to determine the informative genes that cause cancer to improve early cancer diagnosis and to give effective chemotherapy treatment. In order to gain deep insight into the cancer classification problem, it is necessary to take a closer look at the proposed gene selection methods. We believe that they should be an integral preprocessing step for cancer classification. Furthermore, finding an accurate gene selection method is a very significant issue in a cancer classification area because it reduces the dimensionality of microarray dataset and selects informative genes. In this paper, we classify and review the state-of-art gene selection methods. We proceed by evaluating the performance of each gene selection approach based on their classification accuracy and number of informative genes. In our evaluation, we will use four benchmark microarray datasets for the cancer diagnosis (leukemia, colon, lung, and prostate). In addition, we compare the performance of gene selection method to investigate the effective gene selection method that has the ability to identify a small set of marker genes, and ensure high cancer classification accuracy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to compare gene selection approaches for cancer classification using microarray gene expression profile.

Keywords: gene selection, feature selection, cancer classification, microarray, gene expression profile

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Authors: Kamran Siddique, Hiroyuki Asada, Yoshifumi Ogami

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The use of Micro Gas Turbine (MGT) as the engine in Unmanned Aerobic Vehicles (UAVs) and power source in Robotics is widespread these days. Research has been conducted in the past decade or so to improve the performance of different components of MGT. This type of engine has interrelated components which have non-linear characteristics. Therefore, the overall engine performance depends on the individual engine element’s performance. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is one of the simulation method tools used to analyze or even optimize MGT system performance. In this study, the compressor of the MGT is designed, and performance optimization is being done using CFD. Performance of the micro compressor is improved in order to increase the overall performance of MGT. A high value of pressure ratio is to be achieved by studying the effect of change of different operating parameters like mass flow rate and revolutions per minute (RPM) and aerodynamical and geometrical parameters on the pressure ratio of the compressor. Two types of compressor designs are considered in this study; 3D centrifugal and ‘planar’ designs. For a 10 mm impeller, the planar model is the simplest compressor model with the ease in manufacturability. On the other hand, 3D centrifugal model, although more efficient, is very difficult to manufacture using current microfabrication resources. Therefore, the planar model is the best-suited model for a micro compressor. So. a planar micro compressor has been designed that has a good pressure ratio, and it is easy to manufacture using current microfabrication technologies. Future work is to fabricate the compressor to get experimental results and validate the theoretical model.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, microfabrication, MEMS, unmanned aerobic vehicles

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Authors: Alireza Gholipour, Mergen H. Ghayesh, Anthony Zander, Stephen J. Nicholls, Peter J. Psaltis

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A three-dimensional numerical model of an atherosclerotic coronary ‎artery is developed for the determination of high-risk situation and ‎hence heart attack prediction. Employing the finite element method ‎‎(FEM) using ANSYS, fluid-structure interaction (FSI) model of the ‎artery is constructed to determine the shear stress distribution as well ‎as the von Mises stress field. A flexible model for an atherosclerotic ‎coronary artery conveying pulsatile blood is developed incorporating ‎three-dimensionality, artery’s tapered shape via a linear function for ‎artery wall distribution, motion of the artery, blood viscosity via the ‎non-Newtonian flow theory, blood pulsation via use of one-period ‎heartbeat, hyperelasticity via the Mooney-Rivlin model, viscoelasticity ‎via the Prony series shear relaxation scheme, and micro-calcification ‎inside the plaque. The material properties used to relate the stress field ‎to the strain field have been extracted from clinical data from previous ‎in-vitro studies. The determined stress fields has potential to be used as ‎a predictive tool for plaque rupture and dissection.‎ The results show that stress concentration due to micro-calcification ‎increases the von Mises stress significantly; chance of developing a ‎crack inside the plaque increases. Moreover, the blood pulsation varies ‎the stress distribution substantially for some cases.‎

Keywords: atherosclerosis, fluid-structure interaction‎, coronary arteries‎, pulsatile flow

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Authors: Alexandre Faure, Yoko Mizokami, éRic Dinet

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These recent years, the potential of light in assisting visually impaired people in their indoor mobility has been demonstrated by different studies. Implementing smart lighting systems for selective visual enhancement, especially designed for low-vision people, is an approach that breaks with the existing visual aids. The appearance of the surface of an object is significantly influenced by the lighting conditions and the constituent materials of the objects. Appearance of objects may appear to be different from expectation. Therefore, lighting conditions lead to an important part of accurate material recognition. The main objective of this work was to investigate the effect of the spatial distribution of light on object identification in the context of low vision. The purpose was to determine whether and what specific lighting approaches should be preferred for visually impaired people. A psychophysical experiment was designed to study the ability of individuals to identify the smallest cube of a pair under different lighting diffusion conditions. Participants were divided into two distinct groups: a reference group of observers with normal or corrected-to-normal visual acuity and a test group, in which observers were required to wear visual impairment simulation glasses. All participants were presented with pairs of cubes in a "miniature room" and were instructed to estimate the relative size of the two cubes. The miniature room replicates real-life settings, adorned with decorations and separated from external light sources by black curtains. The correlated color temperature was set to 6000 K, and the horizontal illuminance at the object level at approximately 240 lux. The objects presented for comparison consisted of 11 white cubes and 11 black cubes of different sizes manufactured with a 3D printer. Participants were seated 60 cm away from the objects. Two different levels of light diffuseness were implemented. After receiving instructions, participants were asked to judge whether the two presented cubes were the same size or if one was smaller. They provided one of five possible answers: "Left one is smaller," "Left one is smaller but unsure," "Same size," "Right one is smaller," or "Right one is smaller but unsure.". The method of constant stimuli was used, presenting stimulus pairs in a random order to prevent learning and expectation biases. Each pair consisted of a comparison stimulus and a reference cube. A psychometric function was constructed to link stimulus value with the frequency of correct detection, aiming to determine the 50% correct detection threshold. Collected data were analyzed through graphs illustrating participants' responses to stimuli, with accuracy increasing as the size difference between cubes grew. Statistical analyses, including 2-way ANOVA tests, showed that light diffuseness had no significant impact on the difference threshold, whereas object color had a significant influence in low vision scenarios. The first results and trends derived from this pilot experiment clearly and strongly suggest that future investigations could explore extreme diffusion conditions to comprehensively assess the impact of diffusion on object identification. For example, the first findings related to light diffuseness may be attributed to the range of manipulation, emphasizing the need to explore how other lighting-related factors interact with diffuseness.

Keywords: Lighting, Low Vision, Visual Aid, Object Identification, Psychophysical Experiment

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Authors: Dragana Gnjatovic

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Assessment is a burning topic in education policy and practice due to measurement-driven neoliberal agendas of quality and standardisation of assessment practice through high stakes standardised testing systems that are now influencing early childhood education. This paper presents a collaborative, arts-informed action research project which places children at the centre of their learning, with assessment as an integral part of play-based learning processes. It aims to challenge traditional approaches to assessment that are often teacher-led and decontextualised from the processes of learning through exploring approaches where children's voices are central, and their creative arts expressions are used to assess learning and development. The theoretical framework draws on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and Freire's critical pedagogy, which indicate the importance of socially constructed reality where knowledge is the result of collaboration between children and adults. This reality perceives children as competent agents of their own learning processes. An interpretive-constructivist and critical-transformative paradigm underpin collaborative action research in a three to five-year-old setting, where creative methods like storytelling, play, drama, drawing are used to assess children's learning. As data collection and analysis are still in process, this paper will present the methodology and some data vignettes, with the aim of stimulating discussion about innovation in assessment and contribution of the collaborative enquiry in the field of Early Childhood Education and Care.

Keywords: assessment for learning, creative methodologies, collaborative action research, early childhood education and care

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Authors: Ting Wang, Pierre Marle, Vera I. Slaveykova, Kristin Schirmer, Wei Liu

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Metal-based nanoparticles (NPs) are considered detrimental to aquatic organisms due to their potential accumulation. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying these effects and their species-specificity. Here, we used stable silver (Ag) NPs (20 nm, from 10 to 500 μg/L) with a low dissolution rate (≤2.4%) to study the bioaccumulation and biological impacts in two freshwater gastropods: Lymnaea stagnalis and Planorbarius corneus. No mortality was detected during the experiments. Ag bioaccumulation showed a dose-related increase with an enhanced concentration in both species after 7d exposure. L. stagnalis displayed a higher accumulation for AgNPs than P. corneus (e.g., up to 18- and 15-fold in hepatopancreas and hemolymph, respectively), which could be due to the more active L. stagnalis having greater contact with suspended AgNPs. Furthermore, the hepatopancreas and stomach were preferred organs for bioaccumulation compared to the kidney, mantle and foot. Regarding biological responses, the hemolymph rather than hepatopancreas appeared more susceptible to oxidative stress elicited by AgNPs, as shown by significantly increasing lipid peroxidation (i.e., formation of malondialdehyde). Neurotoxicity was detected in L. stagnalis when exposed to high concentrations (500 μg/L). Comparison with impacts elicited by dissolved Ag revealed that the effects observed on AgNPs exposure were mainly attributable to NPs. These results highlighted the relationship between the physiological traits, bioaccumulation, and toxicity responses of these two species to AgNPs and demonstrated the necessity of species-specificity considerations when assessing the toxicity of NPs.

Keywords: nanotoxicity, freshwater gastropods, species-specificity, metals, physiological traits

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Authors: O. B. Urhibo, D. Imhonopi, T. George

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The global rate of decline in entrepreneurial activities, and the prevalence in Africa, especially Nigeria, is more worrisome. In recent times, these problems, such as the lack of accessibility and utilization of financial incentives needed to promote entrepreneurial activities, have led to a decrease in entrepreneurial activities. The causes of the decline have been evaluated from a different perspective and have further confirmed the relevance and need for the sustainability of the Fashion industry. With the increasing rate of unemployment and poverty in Nigeria and the literature gap in the social context, this study investigated the patterns of sustainable financial incentives utilisation among fashion design entrepreneurs in Nigeria through a qualitative approach. The Eastern part of Nigeria was considered in this study because of the high rate of market activity for textile and clothing firms. Specifically, Delta state was considered in this study. A purposive sampling technique was used to select key informants consisting of twelve (12) executives of the associations (i.e., Fashion Designer & Exhibitors Association, Delta Fashion Designers, and Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria for the interview sessions. Four themes emanate from the thematic analysis -lack of sufficient collateral, difficulties and duration of loan application processes, unacceptable business proposal/plan, and the absence of audited financial accounts were found to be the patterns of sustainable financial incentives utilisation among fashion design entrepreneurs in Nigeria. The promotion of sustainable patterns and supports has been suggested to reduce the challenges of sustainable financial incentives utilisation among fashion design entrepreneurs.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, fashion design, financial incentives, patterns, sustainability, utilisation

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Authors: Yun-na Wu, Zhen Wang

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Due to the economic downturn and the deterioration of the living environment, the development of residential buildings as high energy consuming building is gradually changing from “extensive” to green building in China. So, the evaluation system of green building is continuously improved, but the current evaluation work has the following problems: (1) There are differences in the cost of the actual investment and the purchasing power of residents, also construction target of green residential building is single and lacks multi-objective performance development. (2) Green building evaluation lacks regional characteristics and cannot reflect the different regional residents demand. (3) In the process of determining the criteria weight, the experts’ judgment matrix is difficult to meet the requirement of consistency. Therefore, to solve those problems, questionnaires which are about the green residential building for Ningxia area are distributed, and the results of questionnaires can feedback the purchasing power of residents and the acceptance of the green building cost. Secondly, combined with the geographical features of Ningxia minority areas, the evaluation criteria system of green residential building is constructed. Finally, using the improved group AHP method and the grey clustering method, the criteria weight is determined, and a real case is evaluated, which is located in Xing Qing district, Ningxia. A conclusion can be obtained that the professional evaluation for this project and good social recognition is basically the same.

Keywords: evaluation, green residential building, grey clustering method, group AHP

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Authors: Natia Tabatadze

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The research aim is to study the physical - mechanical characteristics of structural materials, in particular, hydraulic concrete in the surface active environment and receiving of high strength concrete, low-deformable, resistant to aggressive environment concrete due application of nano technologies. The obtained concrete with additives will by possible to apply in hydraulic structures. We used cement (compressive strength R28=39,42 mPa), sand (0- 5 mm), gravel (5-10 mm, 10-20 mm), admixture CHRYSO® Fuge B 1,5% dosage of cement. CHRYSO® Fuge B renders mortar and concrete highly resistant to capillary action and reduces, or even eliminates infiltration of water under pressure. The fine particles that CHRYSO® Fuge B contains combine with the lime in the cement to form water repellent particles. These obstruct the capillary action within concrete. CHRYSO® Fuge B does not significantly modify the characteristics of the fresh concrete and mortar, nor the compressive strength. As result of research, the alkali-silica reaction was improved (relative elongation 0,122 % of admixture instead of 0,126 % of basic concrete after 14 days). The aggressive environment impact on the strength of heavy concrete, fabricated on the basis of the hydraulic admixture with the penetrating waterproof additives also was improved (strength on compression R28=47,5 mPa of admixture instead of R28=35,8 mPa), as well as the mass water absorption (W=3,37 % of admixture instead of W=1,41 %), volume water absorption (W=1,41 % of admixture instead of W=0,59 %), water tightness (R14=37,9 mPa instead R14=28,7 mPa) and water-resistance (B=18 instead B=12). The basic parameters of concrete with admixture was improved in comparison with basic concrete.

Keywords: structural materials, hydraulic concrete, low-deformable, water absorption for mass, water absorption for volume

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Authors: Josiane Yaguibou, Ngoy Kishimba, Issiaka v. Coulibaly, Sabrina Pestilli, Falinirina Razanalison, Hantanirina Andremanisa

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Background: In recent years, Madagascar has faced a significant reduction in donors’ financial resources for the purchase of contraceptive products to meet the family planning needs of the population. In order to ensure the sustainability of the family planning program in the current context, UNFPA Madagascar engaged in a series of initiatives with the ultimate scope of identifying sustainable financing mechanisms for the program. Program intervention: UNFPA Madagascar established a strict collaboration with USAID to engage in a series of joint advocacy and resource mobilization activities with the government. The following initiatives were conducted: (i) Organization of a high-level Round Table to engage the government; (ii) Support to the government in renewing the FP2030 Commitments; (iii) Signature of the Country Compact 2022-2024; (iv) Allocation of government funds in 2022 and 2023 of over 829,222 USD; (v) Obtaining a Matching Fund of 1.5 million USD from UNFPA to encourage the government to allocate resources for the purchase of contraceptive products. Program Implications: The collaboration and the joint advocacy made it possible to (i) have budgetary allocations from the government to purchase products in 2022 and 2023 with a significant reduction in financing gaps; (ii) to convince the government to seek additional financing from partners such as the World Bank which granted more than 8 million USD for the purchase of products; (iii) reduce stock shortages from more than 30% to 15%.

Keywords: UNFPA, USAID, collaboration, contraceptives

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Authors: Chungkham Sarojnalini, Wahengbam Sarjubala Devi

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Antioxidant properties and nutritive values of raw and cooked Pool barb, Puntius sophore (Hamilton-Buchanan) of Eastern Himalayas, India were determined. Antioxidant activity of the methanol extract of the raw, steamed, fried and curried Pool barb was evaluated by using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging assay. In DPPH scavenging assay the IC50 value of the raw, steamed, fried and curried Pool barb was 1.66 microgram/ml, 16.09 microgram/ml, 8.99 microgram/ml, 0.59 microgram/ml whereas the IC50 of the reference ascorbic acid was 46.66 microgram/ml. This results shows that the fish have high antioxidant activity. Protein content was found highest in raw (20.50±0.08%) and lowest in curried (18.66±0.13%). Moisture content in raw, fried and curried was 76.35±0.09, 46.27±0.14 and 57.46±0.24 respectively. Lipid content was recorded 2.46±0.14% in raw and 21.76±0.10% in curried. Ash content varies from 12.57±0.11 to 22.53±0.07%. The total aminoacids were varied from 36.79±0.02 and 288.43±0.12 mg/100 g. Eleven essential mineral elements were found abundant in all the samples. The samples had a considerable amount of Fe ranging from 152.17 to 320.39 milligram/100 gram, Ca 902.06 to 1356.02 milligram/100 gram, Zn 91.07 to 138.14 milligram/100 gram, K 193.25 to 261.56 milligram/100 gram, Mg 225.06 to 229.10 milligram/100 gram. Ni was not detected in the curried fish. The Mg and K contents were significantly decreased in frying method; however the Fe, Cu, Ca, Co and Mn content were increased significantly in all the cooked samples. The Mg and Na contents were significantly increased in curried sample and the Cr content was decreased significantly (p<0.05) in all the cooked samples.

Keywords: antioxidant property, pool barb, minerals, aminoacids, proximate composition, cooking methods

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Authors: Vincent Alexander, Rizkita Esyanti

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Leaves of Stevia rebaudiana contain steviol glycoside which mainly comprise of stevioside, a natural sweetener compound that is 100-300 times sweeter than sucrose. Current cultivation method of Stevia rebaudiana in Indonesia has yet to reach its optimum efficiency and productivity to produce stevioside as a safe sugar substitute sweetener for people with diabetes. An alternative method that is not limited by environmental factor is in vitro temporary immersion system (TIS) culture method using recipient for automated immersion (RITA^®) bioreactor. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of red LED light induction towards shoot growth and stevioside accumulation in TIS RITA^® bioreactor system, as an endeavour to increase the secondary metabolite synthesis. The result showed that the stevioside accumulation in TIS RITA^® bioreactor system induced with red LED light for one hour during night was higher than that in TIS RITA^® bioreactor system without red LED light induction, i.e. 71.04 ± 5.36 μg/g and 42.92 ± 5.40 μg/g respectively. Biomass growth rate reached as high as 0.072 ± 0.015/day for red LED light induced TIS RITA^® bioreactor system, whereas TIS RITA^® bioreactor system without induction was only 0.046 ± 0.003/day. Productivity of Stevia rebaudiana shoots induced with red LED light was 0.065 g/L medium/day, whilst shoots without any induction was 0.041 g/L medium/day. Sucrose, salt, and inorganic consumption in both bioreactor media increased as biomass increased. It can be concluded that Stevia rebaudiana shoot in TIS RITA^® bioreactor induced with red LED light produces biomass and accumulates higher stevioside concentration, in comparison to bioreactor without any light induction.

Keywords: LED, Stevia rebaudiana, Stevioside, TIS RITA

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Authors: Lukman Thalib, Luis Furuya-Kanamori, Rachel Walker, Brigid Gillespie, Suhail Doi

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Background and objectives: There are many topical treatments available for Pressure Injury (PI) treatment, yet there is a lack of evidence with regards to the most effective treatment. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of various topical treatments and identify the best treatment choice(s) for PI healing. Methods: Network meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials that compared the two or more of the following dressing groups: basic, foam, active, hydroactive, and other wound dressings. The outcome complete healing following treatment and the generalised pair-wise modelling framework was used to generate mixed treatment effects against hydroactive wound dressing, currently the standard of treatment for PIs. All treatments were then ranked by their point estimates. Main Results: 40 studies (1,757 participants) comparing 5 dressing groups were included in the analysis. All dressings groups ranked better than basic (i.e. saline gauze or similar inert dressing). The foam (RR 1.18; 95%CI 0.95-1.48) and active wound dressing (RR 1.16; 95%CI 0.92-1.47) ranked better than hydroactive wound dressing in terms of healing of PIs when the latter was used as the reference group. Conclusion & Recommendations: There was considerable uncertainty around the estimates, yet, the use of hydroactive wound dressings appear to perform better than basic dressings. Foam and active wound dressing groups show promise and need further investigation. High-quality research on clinical effectiveness of the topical treatments are warranted to identify if foam and active wound dressings do provide advantages over hydroactive dressings.

Keywords: Net work Meta Analysis, Pressure Injury, Dresssing, Pressure Ulcer

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Authors: Elaine Marta Pereira Aaltonen

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Effective school leadership materialised in educational settings through the high standard professional performance of senior and middle leaders, has increasingly become an education policy priority around the world due to a wide recognition that schools need knowledgeable, skilled, and committed leaders, along with great teachers, in order to ensure outstanding education at all levels of schooling. The scope of this paper is the work of middle leaders, whose direct influence on teachers and classroom teaching, thus, on student learning outcomes, is a key component for successful school systems. It particularly aims at sharing some of the findings obtained through an academic study recently carried out by the same researcher, which was focused on enhancing understanding about aspects related to the professional performance of educational middle leaders, applied to the context of the lower elementary school division of a private mainstream school located in Brazil. The master´s dissertation findings included identifying the roles performed by a team of educational middle leaders throughout the year of 2021, as well as gaining insights on their perceptions about the roles performed, both through an electronic questionnaire and individual face-to-face interviews. Not only the roles of the middle leaders who participated in the research have been identified through the qualitative case study undertaken, but additional research finding lying within the sphere of the categorisation of such roles, based upon coherent domains of practice, has possibly been made. Hence, the main purpose of this paper is to outline the findings concerning the current roles played by educational middle leaders.

Keywords: roles, middle leaders, educational leadership, school leadership, and management

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Authors: B.S. Roopa

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Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of concomitant use of GPDs in patients treated with NSAIDs and GPDs in recommended dose and frequency as prophylaxis. And also to know the association between risk factors and prescription of GPDs in patients treated with NSAIDs. Methods: Study was a prospective, observational, cross-sectional survey. Data from patients with prescription of NSAIDs at the out-patient departments of secondary care Hospital, Nilgiris, India were collected in a specially designed proforma for a period of 45 days. Analysis using χ2 tests for discrete variables. Factors that might be associated with prescription of GPD with NSIADs were assessed in multiple logistic regression models. Results: Three hundred and three patients were included in this study, and the rate of GPD prescription was 89.1%. Most of the patients received H2-receptor antagonist, and, to a lesser degree, antacid and proton pump inhibitor. Patients with history of GI ulcer/bleeding were much more likely to be co-prescribed GPD than those who had no history of GI disorders .Compared with patients who were managed in general outpatient clinic, those managed in Secondary care hospital in Nilgrisis, India were more likely to receive GPD. Conclusions: The prescription rate of GPD with NSAIDs is high. Patients were prescribed with H2RA with dose of 150mg twice daily, which are not effective in reducing the risk of NSAIDs induced gastric ulcer. Only the frequency of NSAIDs prescription was considered significant determinant for the co-prescription with GPAs in patients who are < 65 years and ≥ 65 years old.

Keywords: gastro protective agents, non steridol anti inlfammatory agents

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Authors: Ashim Sattar, Ajanta Goswami, Anil V. Kulkarni

Abstract:

Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) highly contributes to mountain hazards in the Himalaya. Over the past decade, high altitude lakes in the Himalaya has been showing notable growth in their size and number. The key reason is rapid retreat of its glacier front. Hydrodynamic modeling GLOF using shallow water equations (SWE) would result in understanding its impact in the downstream region. The present study incorporates remote sensing based ice thickness modeling to determine the future extent of the Dhauliganga Lake to map the over deepening extent around the highest lake in the Dhauliganga basin. The maximum future volume of the lake calculated using area-volume scaling is used to model a GLOF event. The GLOF hydrograph is routed along the channel using one dimensional and two dimensional model to understand the flood wave propagation till it reaches the 1st hydropower station located 72 km downstream of the lake. The present extent of the lake calculated using SENTINEL 2 images is 0.13 km². The maximum future extent of the lake, mapped by investigating the glacier bed has a calculated scaled volume of 3.48 x 106 m³. The GLOF modeling releasing the future volume of the lake resulted in a breach hydrograph with a peak flood of 4995 m³/s at just downstream of the lake. Hydraulic routing

Keywords: GLOF, glacial lake outburst floods, mountain hazard, Central Himalaya, future projection

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Authors: G. Espriú-Pérez, F. A. Vargas-Oviedo, I. Zenteno-Aguirrezábal, M. D. Moya-Bencomo

Abstract:

One of the injuries with a higher incidence among university-level athletes in the North of Mexico is presented in the knee. This injury generates absenteeism in training and competitions for at least 8 weeks. There is no active quantitative methodology, or protocol, that directly contributes to the clinical evaluation performed by the medical personnel at the prevalence of knee injuries. The main objective is to contribute with a quantitative tool that allows further development of preventive and corrective measures to these injuries. The study analyzed 55 athletes for 6 weeks, belonging to the disciplines of basketball, volleyball, soccer and swimming. Using a motion capture system (Nexus®, Vicon®), a three-dimensional analysis was developed that allows the measurement of the range of movement of the joint. To focus on the performance of the lower limb, eleven different movements were chosen from the Functional Performance Test, Functional Movement Screen, and the Cincinnati Jump Test. The research identifies the profile of the natural movement of a healthy knee, with the use of medical guidance, and its differences between each sport. The data recovered by the single-leg crossover hop managed to differentiate the type of knee movement among athletes. A maximum difference of 60° of offset was found in the adduction movement between male and female athletes of the same discipline. The research also seeks to serve as a guideline for the implementation of protocols that help identify the recovery level of such injuries.

Keywords: Cincinnati jump test, functional movement screen, functional performance test, knee, motion capture system

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Authors: Ying Sun, Yuxuan Lei

Abstract:

Based on the analysis of the current situation of Nantong's comprehensive transportation system, the interactive relationship between the transportation system and the economy and society is clarified, and then the development strategy for the planning and implementation of the "three ports in one" comprehensive transportation system of ocean, land, and airport is proposed for this round of territorial spatial planning. The research findings are as follows: (1) The comprehensive transportation network system of Nantong City is beginning to take shape, but the lack of a unified and complete system planning makes it difficult to establish a "multi-port integration" pattern with transportation hubs. (2) At the Yangtze River Delta level and Nantong City level, a connected transport node integrating ocean, land, and airport should be built in the transportation construction planning to effectively meet the guidance of the overall territorial space planning of Nantong City. (3) Nantong's comprehensive transportation system and economic society have experienced three interactive development relations in different stages: mutual promotion, geographical separation, and high-level driving. Therefore, the current planning of Nantong's comprehensive transportation system needs to be optimized. The four levels of Nantong city, Shanghai metropolitan area, Yangtze River Delta, and each district, county, and city should be comprehensively considered, and the four development strategies of accelerating construction, dislocation development, active docking, and innovative implementation should be adopted.

Keywords: master plan for territorial space, Integrated transportation system, Nantong, sea, land and air, "Three ports in one"

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Authors: Myrto Vlazaki

Abstract:

Tetanus is a non-transmissible, preventable bacterial disease with high mortality. In the U.K., the demographic group systematically accounting for a large proportion of the infections notified to the authorities over the years have been the elderly (> 60 years old). The 2009 seroepidemiological study for tetanus in England reports a gender-age interaction for the +70, with males having significantly higher anti-tetanus antibody levels than females. A systematic review of the literature was carried out to characterise: I. the seroepidemiology of tetanus in economically developed countries with similar immunisation schemes to the U.K., introduced in the 1960’s. II. the factors leading to differential vaccine uptake between males and females in 1910-1945 (corresponding to ages of 60-95 in 2005). III. the immune response elicited by anti-tetanus immunisation in males and females IV. the value of catch-up immunisation in the elderly Similar age- and gender- differences in anti-tetanus antibody levels are noted in other countries. Gender differences in immune responses elicited by vaccination are not consistent with the finding that elder females are less well protected against tetanus compared to their male counterparts. Attention is drawn to the selective anti-tetanus immunisation scheme introduced in the U.K. in 1938, specific to the World War II conscripts. The age-specific immunity gap observed amongst the +70 could be explained as the by-product of that early scheme targetting mostly males. Introducing anti-tetanus vaccination in the +70 in the U.K. could help bridge the immunity gap between males and females and reduce the overall tetanus susceptibility of this age group.

Keywords: elderly, immunisation, gender-specific differences, seroepidemiology, tetanus, World War II

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: Yvette Reisinger

Abstract:

Relatively little is known about the Arab travel market, especially the outbound travel market from Arab countries in the Middle East. The Kuwaiti travel market is the smallest yet fastest growing in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The Kuwaiti travel market represents a great potential for the international tourism industry. Kuwaiti nationals have a very high spending power due to the Kuwaiti dinar being the highest-valued currency unit in the world. Although Europe, North America, and Asia/Pacific try to attract the Arab tourist market the number of Kuwaiti travellers attracted to these destinations is very low. The success in attracting the Kuwaiti travel market to Western countries must be guided by an analysis of the factors that affect its travel decisions. The objective of the study is to identify major factors that influence Kuwaiti nationals’ intentions to travel to Western countries. A model is developed and empirically tested on a sample of 343 Kuwaiti nationals. A series of regression analyses are run to determine the effects of different factors on Kuwaiti’s travel decisions. A Herman’s single factor test and Durbin-Watson test are used to assess the validity of the regression model. Analysis is controlled for socio-demographics. The results show that the Muslim friendly amenities and destination cognitive image exert significant effects on Kuwaiti nationals’ intentions to travel to Western countries. The study provides a better understanding of the factors that attract Kuwaiti tourists to Western countries. By knowing what encourages Kuwaitis to travel to Western countries marketers can plan and promote these countries accordingly. The study provides a foundation of future empirical research into the Kuwaiti/Arab travel market.

Keywords: Kuwaiti travel market, travel decisions, Western countries

Procedia PDF Downloads 178

Authors: Disha Batra

Abstract:

The Industrial Revolution 4.0 is quite different, and a paradigm shift is underway in the media industry. With the advent of automated journalism and social media platforms, newspaper organizations have changed the way news was gathered and reported. The emergence of the fourth industrial revolution in the early 21st century has made the newspapers to adapt the changing technologies to remain relevant. This paper investigates the content of Indian business-papers in the era of the fourth industrial revolution and how these organizations have emerged in the time of convergence. The study is the content analyses of the top three Indian business dailies as per IRS (Indian Readership Survey) 2017 over a decade. The parametric analysis of the different parameters (source of information, use of illustrations, advertisements, layout, and framing, etc.) have been done in order to come across with the distinct adaptations and modifications by these dailies. The paper significantly dwells upon the thematic analysis of these newspapers in order to explore and find out the coverage given to various sub-themes of EBF (economic, business, and financial) journalism. Further, this study reveals the effect of high-speed algorithm-based trading, the aftermath of the fourth industrial revolution on the creative and investigative aspect of delivering financial stories by these respective newspapers. The study indicates a change heading towards an ongoing paradigm shift in the business newspaper industry with an adequate change in the source of information gathering along with the subtle increase in the coverage of financial news stories over the time.

Keywords: business-papers, business news, financial news, industrial revolution 4.0.

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Authors: Merih Şimşek, Recep Keşli, Özgül Çetinkaya, Cengiz Demir, Adem Aslan

Abstract:

Bacteremia is a clinical entity with high morbidity and mortality rates when immediate diagnose, or treatment cannot be achieved. Microorganisms which can cause sepsis or bacteremia are easily isolated from blood cultures. Fifty-five positive blood cultures were included in this study. Microorganisms in 55 blood cultures were isolated by conventional microbiological methods; afterwards, microorganisms were defined in terms of the phenotypic aspects by the Vitek-2 system. The same microorganisms in all blood culture samples were defined in terms of genotypic aspects again by Multiplex-PCR DNA Low-Density Microarray System. At the end of the identification process, the DNA microarray system’s success in identification was evaluated based on the Vitek-2 system. The Vitek-2 system and DNA Microarray system were able to identify the same microorganisms in 53 samples; on the other hand, different microorganisms were identified in the 2 blood cultures by DNA Microarray system. The microorganisms identified by Vitek-2 system were found to be identical to 96.4 % of microorganisms identified by DNA Microarrays system. In addition to bacteria identified by Vitek-2, the presence of a second bacterium has been detected in 5 blood cultures by the DNA Microarray system. It was identified 18 of 55 positive blood culture as E.coli strains with both Vitek 2 and DNA microarray systems. The same identification numbers were found 6 and 8 for Acinetobacter baumanii, 10 and 10 for K.pneumoniae, 5 and 5 for S.aureus, 7 and 11 for Enterococcus spp, 5 and 5 for P.aeruginosa, 2 and 2 for C.albicans respectively. According to these results, DNA Microarray system requires both a technical device and experienced staff support; besides, it requires more expensive kits than Vitek-2. However, this method should be used in conjunction with conventional microbiological methods. Thus, large microbiology laboratories will produce faster, more sensitive and more successful results in the identification of cultured microorganisms.

Keywords: microarray, Vitek-2, blood culture, bacteremia

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Zeineb Ben Salem, Wissem Frikha, Mounir Bouassida

Abstract:

Liquefaction has been responsible for tremendous amounts of damage in historical earthquakes around the world. The installation of stone columns is widely adopted to prevent liquefaction. Stone columns provide a drainage path, and due to their high permeability, allow for the quick dissipation of earthquake generated excess pore water pressure. Several excess pore pressure generation models in silty sand have been developed and calibrated based on the results of shaking table and centrifuge tests focusing on the effect of silt content on liquefaction resistance. In this paper, the generation and dissipation of excess pore pressure variation of reinforced silty sand by stone columns during liquefaction are analyzedwith different silt content based on test results. In addition, the installation effect of stone columns is investigated. This effect is described by a decrease in horizontal permeability within a disturbed zone around the column. Obtained results show that reduced soil permeability and a larger disturbed zone around the stone column increases the generation of excess pore pressure during the cyclic loading and decreases the dissipation rate after cyclic loading. On the other hand, beneficial effects of silt content were observed in the form of a decrease in excess pore water pressure.

Keywords: stone column, liquefaction, excess pore pressure, silt content, disturbed zone, reduced permeability

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: Khamael M. Abualnaja, Lidija Šiller, Ben R. Horrocks

Abstract:

Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of Silicon nano crystals (SiNCs) were obtained using two different laser excitations: 488 nm and 514.5 nm. Silver nano particles were used as plasmonics metal nano particles due to a robust SERS effect that observed when they mixed with SiNCs. SiNCs have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It is found that the SiNCs are crystalline with an average diameter of 65 nm and FCC lattice. Silver nano particles (AgNPs) of two different sizes were synthesized using photo chemical reduction of AgNO3 with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The synthesized AgNPs have a polycrystalline structure with an average particle diameter of 100 nm and 30 nm, respectively. A significant enhancement in the SERS intensity was observed for AgNPs100/SiNCs and AgNPs30/SiNCs mixtures increasing up to 9 and 3 times respectively using 488 nm intensity; whereas the intensity of the SERS signal increased up to 7 and 2 times respectively, using 514.5 nm excitation source. The enhancement in SERS intensities occurs as a result of the coupling between the excitation laser light and the plasmon bands of AgNPs; thus this intense field at AgNPs surface couples strongly to SiNCs. The results provide good consensus between the wavelength of the laser excitation source and surface plasmon resonance absorption band of silver nano particles consider to be an important requirement in SERS experiments.

Keywords: silicon nanocrystals (SiNCs), silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), surface enhanced raman spectroscopy (SERS)

Procedia PDF Downloads 323

Authors: Jihye Hwang, Eun Hwa Choi, Su Youn Baek, Bia Park, Gyeongmin Kim, Chorong Shin, Joon Ha Lee, Jae-Sam Hwang, Ui Wook Hwang

Abstract:

White-spotted flower chafers are widely distributed in Asian countries and traditionally used for the treatment of chronic fatigue, blood circulation, and paralysis in the oriental medicine field. The evolution and development of insect wings and metamorphosis remain under-discovered subjects in arthropod evolutionary researches. Gene expression abundance analyses along with developmental stages based on the large-scale RNA-seq data are also still rarely done. Here we report the de novo assembly of a Protestia brevitarsis seulensis transcriptome along four different developmental stages (egg, larva, pupa, and adult) to explore its development and evolution of wings and metamorphosis. The de novo transcriptome assembly consists of 23,551 high-quality transcripts and is approximately 96.7% complete. Out of 8,545 transcripts, 5,183 correspond to the possible orthologs with Drosophila melanogaster. As a result, we could found 265 genes related to wing development and 19 genes related to metamorphosis. The comparison of transcript expression abundance with different developmental stages revealed developmental stage-specific transcripts especially working at the stage of wing development and metamorphosis of P. b. seulensis. This transcriptome quantification along the developmental stages may provide some meaningful clues to elucidate the genetic modulation mechanism of wing development and metamorphosis obtained during the insect evolution.

Keywords: white-spotted flower chafers, transcriptomics, RNA-seq, network biology, wing development, metamorphosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 216