Search results for: extreme precipitation events

Authors: Amanda R. R. Oliveira, Caio F. F. C. Cunha, Juan C. L. Junior, Amorim H. P. Junior

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Children deaths are traumatic events that most often can be prevented. The technology of prevention and intervention in cases of infant deaths is available at low cost and with solid evidence and favorable results, however, with low access cover. Weight is one of the main factors related to death in the neonatal period, so the newborns of low birth weight are a population at high risk of death in the neonatal period, especially early neonatal period. This paper describes the development of a model based in neural network analysis to predict the mortality risk rating in the early neonatal period for newborns of low birth weight to identify the individuals of this population with increased risk of death. The neural network applied was trained with a set of newborns data obtained from Brazilian health system. The resulting network presented great success rate in identifying newborns with high chances of death, which demonstrates the potential for using this tool in an integrated manner to the health system, in order to direct specific actions for improving prognosis of newborns.

Keywords: low birth weight, neonatal death risk, neural network, newborn

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Authors: Rusnardi Rahmat Putra, Junji Kiyono, Aiko Furukawa

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Several powerful earthquakes have struck Padang during recent years, one of the largest of which was an M 7.6 event that occurred on September 30, 2009 and caused more than 1000 casualties. Following the event, we conducted a 12-site microtremor array investigation to gain a representative determination of the soil condition of subsurface structures in Padang. From the dispersion curve of array observations, the central business district of Padang corresponds to relatively soft soil condition with Vs30 less than 400 m/s. because only one accelerometer existed, we simulated the 2009 Padang earthquake to obtain peak ground acceleration for all sites in Padang city. By considering the damage data of the 2009 Padang earthquake, we produced seismic risk vulnerability estimation of non-engineered houses for rock, medium and soft soil condition. We estimated the loss ratio based on the ground response, seismic hazard of Padang and the existing damaged to non-engineered structure houses due to Padang earthquake in 2009 data for several return periods of earthquake events.

Keywords: profile, Padang earthquake, microtremor array, seismic vulnerability

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Authors: Saleh Alzahrani, Halim Boussabaine

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Many of Public Private Partnership (PPP) are developed based on a public project is to be awarded to a private party within a one contractual framework. PPP project risks typically include the development and construction of a new asset as well as its operation. Certainly the most severe consequences of risks through the construction period are price and time overruns. These events are among the most generally used situation in value for money analysis risks. The sources of risk change during the time in PPP project. In traditional procurement, the public sector usually has to cover all prices suffering from these risks. At least there is plenty to suggest that price suffering is a norm in some of the projects that are delivered under traditional procurement. This paper will find the impact of exogenous risk factors into actual construction price into PPP projects. The paper will present a brief literature review on PPP risk pricing strategies and then using system dynamics (SD) to analyses of the risks associated with the estimated project price. Based on the finding from these analyses a risk pricing association model is presented and discussed. The paper concludes with thoughts for future research.

Keywords: public private partnership (PPP), risk, risk pricing, system dynamics (SD)

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Authors: Muhammad Tayyab Afzal, Muhammad Arslan, Mirza Muhammad Waqar

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One of the key components of the water cycle is evapotranspiration (ET), which represents water consumption by vegetated and non-vegetated surfaces. Conventional techniques for measurements of ET are point based and representative of the local scale only. Satellite remote sensing data with large area coverage and high temporal frequency provide representative measurements of several relevant biophysical parameters required for estimation of ET at regional scales. The objective is of this research is to exploit satellite data in order to estimate evapotranspiration. This study uses Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) model to calculate daily actual evapotranspiration (ETa) in Larkana District, Sindh Pakistan using Landsat TM data for clouds-free days. As there is no flux tower in the study area for direct measurement of latent heat flux or evapotranspiration and sensible heat flux, therefore, the model estimated values of ET were compared with reference evapotranspiration (ETo) computed by FAO-56 Penman Monteith Method using meteorological data. For a country like Pakistan, agriculture by irrigation in the river basins is the largest user of fresh water. For the better assessment and management of irrigation water requirement, the estimation of consumptive use of water for agriculture is very important because it is the main consumer of water. ET is yet an essential issue of water imbalance due to major loss of irrigation water and precipitation on cropland. As large amount of irrigated water is lost through ET, therefore its accurate estimation can be helpful for efficient management of irrigation water. Results of this study can be used to analyse surface conditions, i.e. temperature, energy budgets and relevant characteristics. Through this information we can monitor vegetation health and suitable agricultural conditions and can take controlling steps to increase agriculture production.

Keywords: SEBS, remote sensing, evapotranspiration, ETa

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Bangun F., Crevits B., Bellet T., Banet A., Boy G. A., Katili I.

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This paper seeks the incoherencies in cognitive process during an accident of Powered Two Wheelers (PTW) by understanding the factual sequences of events and causal relations for each case of accident. The principle of this approach is undertaking in-depth investigations on case per case of PTW accidents based on elaborate data acquisitions on accident sites that officially stamped in Police Crash Report (PCRs) 2012 of Medan with criteria, involved at least one PTW and resulted in serious injury and fatalities. The analysis takes into account four modules: accident chronologies, perpetrator, and victims, injury surveillance, vehicles and road infrastructures, comprising of traffic facilities, road geometry, road alignments and weather. The proposal for improvement could have provided a favorable influence on the chain of functional processes and events leading to collision. Decision Aiding Processes (DAP) assists in structuring different entities at different decisional levels, as each of these entities has its own objectives and constraints. The entities (A) are classified into 6 groups of accidents: solo PTW accidents; PTW vs. PTW; PTW vs. pedestrian; PTW vs. motor-trishaw; and PTW vs. other vehicles and consecutive crashes. The entities are also distinguished into 4 decisional levels: level of road users and street systems; operational level (crash-attended police officers or CAPO and road engineers), tactical level (Regional Traffic Police, Department of Transportation, and Department of Public Work), and strategic level (Traffic Police Headquarters (TCPHI)), parliament, Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Public Work). These classifications will lead to conceptualization of Problem Situations (P) and Problem Formulations (I) in DAP context. The DAP concerns the sequences process of the incidents until the time the accident occurs, which can be modelled in terms of five activities of procedural rationality: identification on initial human features (IHF), investigation on proponents attributes (PrAT), on Injury Surveillance (IS), on the interaction between IHF and PrAt and IS (intercorrelation), then unravel the sequences of incidents; filtering and disclosure, which include: what needs to activate, modify or change or remove, what is new and what is priority. These can relate to the activation or modification or new establishment of law. The PrAt encompasses the problems of environmental, road infrastructure, road and traffic facilities, and road geometry. The evaluation model (MP) is generated to bridge P and I since MP is produced by the intercorrelations among IHF, PrAT and IS extracted from the PCRs 2012 of Medan. There are 7 findings of incoherences: lack of knowledge and awareness on the traffic regulations and the risks of accidents, especially when riding between 0 < x < 10 km from house, riding between 22 p.m.–05.30 a.m.; lack of engagements on procurement of IHF Data by CAPO; lack of competency of CAPO on data procurement in accident-sites; no intercorrelation among IHF and PrAt and IS in the database systems of PCRs; lack of maintenance and supervision on the availabilities and the capacities of traffic facilities and road infrastructure; instrumental bias with wash-back impacts towards the TCPHI; technical robustness with wash-back impacts towards the CAPO and TCPHI.

Keywords: decision aiding processes, evaluation model, PTW accidents, police crash reports

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Authors: Jaqueline Maria Ribeiro Vieira

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Different strategies and tools are available at the oil and gas industry for detecting and analyzing tension and possible fractures in borehole walls. Most of these techniques are based on manual observation of the captured borehole images. While this strategy may be possible and convenient with small images and few data, it may become difficult and suitable to errors when big databases of images must be treated. While the patterns may differ among the image area, depending on many characteristics (drilling strategy, rock components, rock strength, etc.). Previously we developed and proposed a novel strategy capable of detecting patterns at borehole images that may point to regions that have tension and breakout characteristics, based on segmented images. In this work we propose the inclusion of data-mining classification strategies in order to create a knowledge database of the segmented curves. These classifiers allow that, after some time using and manually pointing parts of borehole images that correspond to tension regions and breakout areas, the system will indicate and suggest automatically new candidate regions, with higher accuracy. We suggest the use of different classifiers methods, in order to achieve different knowledge data set configurations.

Keywords: image segmentation, oil well visualization, classifiers, data-mining, visual computer

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Authors: Muheddin Hamza, Entisar Etter

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This study is a part of investigating the possibility of blending two crude oils obtained from Libyan oil fields, namely crude oil (A) and crude oil (B) with different ratios, prior to blending the crude oils have to be compatible in order to avoid phase out and precipitation of asphaltene from the bulk of crude. The physical properties of both crudes such as density, viscosity, pour point and sulphur content were measured according to (ASTM) method. To examine the stability of both crudes and their blends, the oil compatibility model using microscopic, colloidal instability index (CII) using SARA analysis and asphaltene stabilization test using Turbiscan tests were conducted in the Libyan Petroleum Institute laboratories. Compatibility tests were carried out with both crude oils, the insolubility number (IN), and the solubility blending number (SBN), for both crude oils and their blends were calculated. The criteria for compatibility of any blend is that the volume average solubility blending number (SBN) is greater than the insolubility number (IN) of any component in the blend, the results indicated that both crudes were compatible. To support the results of compatibility tests the SARA analysis was done for the fractional determination of (saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes) content. From this result, the colloidal Instability index (CII) and resin to asphaltenes ratio (R/A) were calculated for crudes and their blends. The results show that crude oil (B) which has higher (R/A) and lower (CII) is more stable than crude oil (A) and as the ratio of crude (B) increases in the blend the (CII) and (R/A) were improved, and the blends becomes more stable. Asphaltene stabilization test was also conducted for the crudes and their blends using Turbiscan MA200 according to the standard test method ASTM D7061-04, the Turbiscan shows that the crude (B) is more stable than crude (A) which shows a fair tendency. The (CII) and (R/A) were compared with the solubility number (SBN) for each crude and the blends along with Turbiscan results. The solubility blending number (SBN) of the crudes and their blends show that the crudes are compatible, also by comparing (R/A) and (SBN) values of the blends, it can be seen that they are complements of each other. All the experimental results show that the blends of both crudes are more stability.

Keywords: asphaltene, crude oil, compatibility, oil blends, resin, SARA

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Authors: Shirin Aghanajafizadeh

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Nest site selection of Crested Lark was investigated in Boroyeh wildlife sanctuary of Harat during spring 2014. Habitat variables such as number of plant species, soil texture, distance to the nearest water resources, farms and roads were compared in the species presence plots with absence ones. Our analysis showed that the average number of Zygophyllum atriplicoidesand, Artemisia sieberi were higher while fine-textured soil percent cover (with very little and gravel) was lower in species presence plots than control plots. We resulted that the most affecting factor in the species nest site selection is the number of Z .atriplicoides and soil texture. Z. atriplicoides and A. sieberi can provide cover for nests and chickens against predators and environmental harsh events such as sunshine and wind. The stability of built nest forces the birds to select sites with not fine-textured soil. Some of the nests were detected in Alfalfa farms that can be related to its cover producing capability.

Keywords: habitat selection, Yazd Province, presence and absence plots, habitat variables

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: Laid Fekih

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Background: Depression affects people in all communities across the world and in all aspects of their lives. Its spread varies from one country to another, can happen at any age and get rid of it is not easy. There is no clear policy in Algeria's higher education institutions to detect and treat these disorders or pay particular attention to those at risk. Identifying the prevalence of depression among Algerian students, its correlation with different variables, and studying gender differences in the light of a range of variables is necessary to develop an appropriate plan to raise the level of hope and love of life among students. Method: Random samples of 1500 University of Tlemcen students (967 girls and 533 boys), aged 19 to 24 years completed a self-administered questionnaire that included Beck's Depression Inventory ®-II (BDI®-II), (School Health Promotion: The Mood part), Other questions included in this survey focused on demographic characteristics including gender, age and year of study, academic performance (Annual Average Score (0-20) AAS), were examined. Results: The rate of depression (moderate, severe and extreme) varied from 03% to 13% among university students in Tlemcen University. There was no difference in the rates of depression in male and female students, which means that male and female students do have similar rates of depression. The rate of depression in the first-year of the study shows a higher score relative to students of other years. Depression has a negative relationship with academic performance, which means that depressed students have many difficulties in academic tasks at university. Conclusion: Depression among university students is an important center of interest in the world, not only because of the ease with which they can be followed, or the difficulties encountered during their studies and their technical courses but for the link between the level of depression and the quality of care of mental health services, especially if many students with mood and emotional problems don't meet the criteria for psychotherapy.

Keywords: depression, epidemiology, university students, academic performance

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Authors: Okafor E. Ijeoma, Isimi C. Yetunde, Okoh E. Judith, Kunle O. Olobayo, Emeje O. Martins

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Starch has gained interest as a renewable and environmentally compatible polymer due to the increase in its use. However, starch by itself could not be satisfactorily applied in industrial processes due to some inherent disadvantages such as its hydrophilic character, poor mechanical properties, its inability to withstand processing conditions such as extreme temperatures, diverse pH, high shear rate, freeze-thaw variation and dimensional stability. The range of physical properties of parent starch can be enlarged by chemical modification which invariably enhances their use in a number of applications found in industrial processes and food manufacture. In this study, Manihot esculentus starch was subjected to modification by oxidation. Fourier Transmittance Infra- Red (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies were used to confirm the synthesis while Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X- Ray Diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the new polymer. DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate) free radical assay was used to determine the antioxidant property of the oxidized starch. Our results show that the modification had no significant effect on the foaming capacity as well as on the emulsion capacity. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that oxidation did not alter the predominantly circular-shaped starch granules, while the X-ray pattern of both starch, native and modified were similar. FTIR results revealed a new band at 3007 and 3283cm-1. Differential scanning calorimetry returned two new endothermic peaks in the oxidized starch with an improved gelation capacity and increased enthalpy of gelatinization. The IC50 of oxidized starch was notably higher than that of the reference standard, ascorbic acid.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, DPPH, M. esculentus, oxidation, starch

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Authors: Marco Antonio Lara De la Calleja, María Catalina Ovando Chico, Eduardo Lopez Ruiz

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Community empowerment has been proved to be a key element in the solution of the food security problem. As a result of a conceptual analysis, it was found that agricultural production, economic development and governance, are the traditional basis of food security models. Although the literature points to social inclusion as an important factor for food security, no model has considered it as the basis of it. The aim of this research is to identify different dimensions that make an integral model for food security, with emphasis on community empowerment. A diagnosis was made in the study community (Tatoxcac, Zacapoaxtla, Puebla), to know the aspects that impact the level of food insecurity. With a statistical sample integrated by 200 families, the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA) was applied, finding that: in households composed by adults and children, have moderated food insecurity, (ELCSA scale has three levels, low, moderated and high); that result is produced mainly by the economic income capacity and the diversity of the diet on its food. With that being said, a model was developed to promote food security through five dimensions: 1. Regional context of the community; 2. Structure and system of local food; 3. Health and nutrition; 4. Information and technology access; and 5. Self-awareness and empowerment. The specific actions on each axis of the model, allowed a systemic approach needed to attend food security in the community, through the empowerment of society. It is concluded that the self-awareness of local communities is an area of extreme importance, which must be taken into account for participatory schemes to improve food security. In the long term, the model requires the integrated participation of different actors, such as government, companies and universities, to solve something such vital as food security.

Keywords: community empowerment, food security, model, systemic approach

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Authors: Kehinde Adeyeye Adelabu

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Computer applications has completely revolutionized the way of life of people which does not exclude the field of sport education. There are computer technologies which help to enhance teaching in every field of education. Invention of computers has done great to the field of education. This study was therefore carried out to examine the effects and merits of computer operations in Human Kinetics Education and Sports. The study was able to identify the component of computer, uses of computer in Human Kinetics education (sports), computer applications in some branches of human kinetics education. A qualitative research method was employed by the author in gathering experts’ views and used to analyze the effects and merits of computer applications in the field of human kinetics education. No experiment was performed in the cause of carrying out the study. The source of information for the study was text-books, journal, articles, past project reports, internet i.e. Google search engine. Computer has significantly helped to improve Education (Human Kinetic), it has complemented the basic physical fitness testing and gave a more scientific basis to the testing. The use of the software and packages has made cost projections, database applications, inventory control, management of events, word processing, electronic mailing and record keeping easier than the pasts.

Keywords: application, computer operation, education, human kinetics

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Authors: Yeidy Sorani Montenegro Camacho, Samir Bensaid, Nunzio Russo, Debora Fino

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LiFeO2 nano-powders were prepared via solution combustion synthesis (SCS) method and were used as carbon gasification catalyst in a reduced atmosphere. The gasification of soot with CO2 and H2O in the presence of CO and H2 (syngas atmosphere) were also investigated under atmospheric conditions using a fixed-bed micro-reactor placed in an electric, PID-regulated oven. The catalytic bed was composed of 150 mg of inert silica, 45 mg of carbon (Printex-U) and 5 mg of catalyst. The bed was prepared by ball milling the mixture at 240 rpm for 15 min to get an intimate contact between the catalyst and soot. A Gas Hourly Space Velocity (GHSV) of 38.000 h-1 was used for the tests campaign. The furnace was heated up to the desired temperature, a flow of 120 mL/min was sent into the system and at the same time the concentrations of CO, CO2 and H2 were recorded at the reactor outlet using an EMERSON X-STREAM XEGP analyzer. Catalytic and non-catalytic soot gasification reactions were studied in a temperature range of 120°C – 850°C with a heating rate of 5 °C/min (non-isothermal case) and at 650°C for 40 minutes (isothermal case). Experimental results show that the gasification of soot with H2O and CO2 are inhibited by the H2 and CO, respectively. The soot conversion at 650°C decreases from 70.2% to 31.6% when the CO is present in the feed. Besides, the soot conversion was 73.1% and 48.6% for H2O-soot and H2O-H2-soot gasification reactions, respectively. Also, it was observed that the carbon gasification in mixed atmosphere, i.e., when simultaneous carbon gasification with CO2 and steam take place, with H2 and CO as co-reagents; the gasification reaction is strongly inhibited by CO and H2, as well has been observed in single atmospheres for the isothermal and non-isothermal reactions. Further, it has been observed that when CO2 and H2O react with carbon at the same time, there is a passive cooperation of steam and carbon dioxide in the gasification reaction, this means that the two gases operate on separate active sites without influencing each other. Finally, despite the extreme reduced operating conditions, it has been demonstrated that the 32.9% of the initial carbon was gasified using LiFeO2-catalyst, while in the non-catalytic case only 8% of the soot was gasified at 650°C.

Keywords: soot gasification, nanostructured catalyst, reducing environment, syngas

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Authors: F. Ghazalnaz Sharifonnasabi, Iman Makhdoom

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Breast cancer is a serious health concern that affects many people around the world. According to a study published in the Breast journal, the global burden of breast cancer is expected to increase significantly over the next few decades. The number of deaths from breast cancer has been increasing over the years, but the age-standardized mortality rate has decreased in some countries. It’s important to be aware of the risk factors for breast cancer and to get regular check- ups to catch it early if it does occur. Machin learning techniques have been used to aid in the early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. These techniques, that have been shown to be effective in predicting and diagnosing the disease, have become a research hotspot. In this study, we consider two deep learning approaches including: Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). We also considered the five-machine learning algorithm titled: Decision Tree (C4.5), Naïve Bayesian (NB), Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) Algorithm and XGBoost (eXtreme Gradient Boosting) on the Breast Cancer Wisconsin Diagnostic dataset. We have carried out the process of evaluating and comparing classifiers involving selecting appropriate metrics to evaluate classifier performance and selecting an appropriate tool to quantify this performance. The main purpose of the study is predicting and diagnosis breast cancer, applying the mentioned algorithms and also discovering of the most effective with respect to confusion matrix, accuracy and precision. It is realized that CNN outperformed all other classifiers and achieved the highest accuracy (0.982456). The work is implemented in the Anaconda environment based on Python programing language.

Keywords: breast cancer, multi-layer perceptron, Naïve Bayesian, SVM, decision tree, convolutional neural network, XGBoost, KNN

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Authors: S. Al-Fadala, J. Chakkamalayath, S. Al-Bahar, A. Al-Aibani, S. Ahmed

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Globally, the use of pozzolan in blended cement is gaining great interest due to the desirable effect of pozzolan from the environmental and energy conservation standpoint and the technical benefits they provide to the performance of cement. The deterioration of concrete structures in the marine environment and extreme climates demand the use of pozzolana cement in concrete construction in the Gulf region. Also, natural sources of cement clinker materials are limited in the Gulf region, and cement industry imports the raw materials for the production of Portland cement, resulting in an increase in the greenhouse gas effect due to the CO₂ emissions generated from transportation. Even though the Gulf region has vast deposits of natural pozzolana, it is not explored properly for the production of high performance concrete. Hence, an optimum use of regionally available natural pozzolana for the production of blended cement can result in sustainable construction. This paper investigates the effect of incorporating natural pozzolan sourced from the Gulf region on the performance of blended cement in terms of heat evolution and strength development. For this purpose, a locally produced Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and pozzolan-incorporated blended cements containing different amounts of natural pozzolan (volcanic ash) were prepared on laboratory scale. The strength development and heat evolution were measured and quantified. Promising results of strength development were obtained for blends with the percentages of Volcanic Ash (VA) replacement varying from 10 to 30%. Results showed that the heat of hydration decreased with increase in percentage of replacement of OPC with VA, indicating increased retardation in hydration due to the addition of VA. This property could be used in mass concreting in which a reduction in heat of hydration is required to reduce cracking in concrete, especially in hot weather concreting.

Keywords: blended cement, hot weather, hydration, volcanic ash

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Authors: Deretha Bester

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This article explores the recent military coups in Mali (August 2020) and Burkina Faso (January 2022), utilizing qualitative case study analyses to examine the pre-coup domestic contextual conditions that precipitated the events. By framing the research through the conceptual lens of state fragility, the research identifies key political, economic, and societal factors that converge to create an environment conducive for coups to occur. From the analyses, the study discusses several patterns that emerged, all revealing the significance of the core functions of governance. Through an in-depth exploration that brings the state back into the coup debate, the study provides rich insights into the complex dynamics of military intervention in political affairs, highlighting the urgency of understanding the underlying domestic factors that can lead to radical political changes. By illuminating these intricate dynamics, the article seeks to provide detailed insights needed to fully understand the challenges moulding the region's political terrain.

Keywords: governance failures, military coups, political dynamics, Sahel region, state fragility

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Authors: Xiangchun Wang, Lihui Zheng, Maozong Gan, Peng Zhang, Tong Wu, An Chang

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The deep coal measure tight gas reservoir in Sulige is usually reformed by fracturing, because the reservoir thickness is small, the water layers can be easily communicated during fracturing, which will lead to water production of gas wells and lower production of gas wells. Therefore, it is necessary to control water during fracturing in deep coal measure tight gas reservoir. Using fuzzy-ball fluid to control water fracturing can not only increase the output but also reduce the water output. The fuzzy-ball fluid was prepared indoors to carry out evaluation experiments. The fuzzy ball fluid was mixed in equal volume with the pre-fluid and formation water to test its compatibility. The core displacement device was used to test the gas and water breaking through the matrix and fractured cores blocked by fuzzy-ball fluid. The breakthrough pressure of the plunger tests its water blocking performance. The experimental results show that there is no precipitation after the fuzzy-ball fluid is mixed with the pad fluid and the formation water, respectively. The breakthrough pressure gradients of gas and water after the fuzzy-ball fluid plugged the cracks were 0.02MPa/cm and 0.04MPa/cm, respectively, and the breakthrough pressure gradients of gas and water after the matrix was plugged were 0.03MPa/cm and 0.2MPa/cm, respectively, which meet the requirements of field operation. Two wells A and B in the Sulige Gas Field were used on site to implement water control fracturing. After the pre-fluid was injected into the two wells, 50m3 of fuzzy-ball fluid was pumped to plug the water. The construction went smoothly. After water control and fracturing, the average daily output in 161 days was increased by 13.71% and 6.99% compared with that of adjacent wells in the same layer. The adjacent wells were bubbled for 3 times and 63 times respectively, while there was no effusion in A and B construction wells. The results show that fuzzy-ball fluid is a water plugging material suitable for water control fracturing in tight gas wells, and its water control mechanism can also provide a new idea for the development of water control fracturing materials.

Keywords: coal seam, deep layer, fracking, fuzzy-ball fluid, reservoir reconstruction

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Authors: Shimeles Terefe Mengistue, Paola Marziani, Ascensióndel Olmo, Jaime Perea, Mirjana Pović

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The theory that rotating accretion disks are responsible for the broad emission-line profiles in quasars is frequently put forth; however, the presence of accretion disk (AD) in active galactic nuclei (AGN) had limited and indirect observational support. In order to evaluate the extent to which the AD is a source of the broad Balmer lines and high ionization UV lines in radio-loud (RL) AGN, we focused on an extremely jetted RL quasar, 3C 47 that clearly shows a double peaked profile. This work presents its optical spectra and UV observations from the HST/FOS covering the rest-frame spectral range from 2000 to 7000 \AA. The fit of the low ionization lines, Hbeta, Halpha and MgII2800 show profiles that are in very good agreement with a relativistic Keplerian AD model. The profile of the prototypical high ionization lines can also be modeled by the contribution of the AD, with additional components due to outflows and emissions from the innermost part of the narrow line regions (NLRs). A prominent fit of the resulting double peaked profiles were found and very important disk parameters of the disk have been determined using the Hbeta, Halpha and MgII2800 lines: the inner and outer radii (both in units of G/mbh, where mbh is the supermassive black hole), an inclination to the line of sight, the emissivity index and the local broadening parameter. In addition, the accretion parameters, /mbh and /lledd are also determined. This work indicates that the line profile of 3C 47 shows the most convincing direct evidence for the presence of a rotating AD in AGN and the broad, double-peaked profiles originate from this AD that surrounds an /mbh.

Keywords: active galactic nuclei, quasars, emission lines, Double-peaked, supermassive black hole

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Authors: Jiri Barta

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At the present time, awareness, education, computer simulation and information systems protection are very serious and relevant topics. The article deals with perspectives and possibilities of implementation of emergence or natural hazard threats into the system which is developed for communication among members of crisis management staffs. The Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute with its System of Integrated Warning Service resents the largest usable base of information. National information systems are connected to foreign systems, especially to flooding emergency systems of neighboring countries, systems of European Union and international organizations where the Czech Republic is a member. Use of outputs of particular information systems and computer simulations on a single communication interface of information system for communication among members of crisis management staff and setting the site interoperability in the net will lead to time savings in decision-making processes in solving extraordinary events and crisis situations. Faster managing of an extraordinary event or a crisis situation will bring positive effects and minimize the impact of negative effects on the environment.

Keywords: computer simulation, communication, continuity, critical infrastructure, information systems, safety

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Authors: Khaled M. Khader, Mamdouh I. Elimy

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Reducing energy consumption became the major concern for all countries of the world during the recent decades. In general, power saving is currently the nominal goal of most industrial countries. It is well known that fossil fuels are the main pillar of development of world countries. Unfortunately, the increased rate of fossil fuel consumption will lead to serious problems caused by an expected depletion of fuels. Moreover, dangerous gases and vapors emission lead to severe environmental problems during fuel burning. Consequently, most engineering sectors especially the mechanical sectors are looking for improving any machine accompanied by reducing its energy consumption. Crank-Rocker planar mechanism is the most applied in mechanical systems. Besides, it is one of the most significant parts of the machines for obtaining the oscillatory motion. The transmission angle of this mechanism can be considered as an optimum value when its extreme values are equally varied around 90°. In addition, the transmission angle plays an important role in decreasing the required driving power and improving the dynamic properties of the mechanism. Hence, appropriate selection of mechanism links lengthens, which assures optimum transmission angle leads to decreasing the driving power. Moreover, mechanism's links manufactured from composite materials afford link's lightweight, which decreases the required driving torque. Furthermore, wear and corrosion problems can be treated through using composite links instead of using metal ones. This paper is dealing with improving the performance of crank-rocker mechanism using composite links due to their flexural elastic modulus values and stiffness in addition to high damping of composite materials.

Keywords: Composite Material, Crank-Rocker Mechanism, Transmission angle, Design techniques, Power Saving

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Authors: Chhabi Paudel

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The food and nutrition security of the people of the mountain of Karnali province of Nepal is dependent on traditional crop biodiversity. The altitude range of the study area is 1800 meters to 2700 meters above sea level. The climate is temperate to alpine. Farmers are adopting subsistent oriented diversified farming systems and selected crop species, cultivars, and local production systems by their own long adaptation mechanism. The major crop species are finger millet, proso millet, foxtail millet, potato, barley, wheat, mountain rice, buckwheat, Amaranths, medicinal plants, and many vegetable species. The genetic and varietal diversity of those underutilized indigenous crops is also very high, which has sustained farming even in uneven climatic events. Biodiversity provides production synergy, inputs, and other agro-ecological services for self-sustainability. But increase in human population and urban accessibility are seen as threats to biodiversity conservation. So integrated conservation measures are suggested, including agro-tourism and other monetary benefits to the farmers who conserve the local biodiversity.

Keywords: crop biodiversity, climate change, in-situ conservation, resilience, sustainability, agrotourism

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Authors: Anjali Kanagali, Astha Sinha

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Climate change is the greatest threat being faced by mankind in the 21st century. It no longer is merely an environmental, scientific or economic issue but is a humanitarian issue as well. Paris Agreement put great pressure on the businesses to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change. However, the already increased climate variability and extreme weather are aggravating emergency humanitarian needs. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if efficient policy changes are not made in time to combat the climate change issues, the situation will deteriorate with an estimated global temperature rise of 4 degrees. The existing international network of Humanitarian system is not adequately structured to handle the projected natural disasters and climate change crisis. The 2030 Agenda which embraces the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) discussed the relationship between the climate change and humanitarian assistance. The Humanitarian law aims to protect, amongst other things, ‘internally displaced persons’ which includes people displaced due to natural hazard related disasters engulfing the hazards of climate change. ‘Legal protection’ of displaced people to protect their rights is becoming a pressing need in such times. In this paper, attempts will be made to analyze the causes of the displacement, identify areas where the effect of the climate change is most likely to occur and to examine the character of forced displacement triggering population movement. We shall discuss the pressure on the Humanitarian system and assistance due to climate change issues and the need for vesting powers to the local communities or local government players to deal with the climate changes. We shall also discuss the possibility of setting up a new framework where non-state actors could be set up for climate change impact and its governance.

Keywords: humanitarian assistance to climate change, humanitarian crisis, internally displaced person, legal framework for climate migrants, non-state actors

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Authors: Deretha Bester

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This research employs a theoretical framework to investigate the interplay between factors that lead from predatory governance and predatory rule to military coups, utilizing the frustration-aggression theory as its guiding lens. It adopts a case-oriented approach and employs thematic analysis to examine the socio-economic, governance, and political environment that precipitated the August 2020 Malian military coup. Presenting seven key themes, it reveals how predatory rule and its manifestation in the Malian context was a critical factor in paving the way for the military coup. The study provides critical reflections into the historical, regional, and political dynamics reshaping Africa’s changing political landscape. It presents a conceptual model to comprehend how predatory governance fosters conditions favorable for military coups. Insights from the Malian case study offer valuable perspectives for analyzing events in comparable contexts. This understanding is crucial for grasping the precursors and impact of predatory rule and popular frustrations in contexts where military coups emerge.

Keywords: predatory rule, military coups, socio-political analysis, frustration-aggression theory, Mali

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Authors: Andi Intan Purnamasari, Supriyadi, Sulbadana, Aminuddin Kasim

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Law functions as social control. Providing arrangements not only for legal certainty, but also in the scope of justice and expediency. The three values ​​achieved by law essentially function to bring comfort to each individual in carrying out daily activities. However, it is undeniable that global conditions have changed the orientation of people's lifestyles. Some people want to ensure their existence in the digital world which is popularly known as the metaverse. Some countries even project their city to be a metaverse city. The order of life is no longer limited to the real space, but also to the cyber world. Not infrequently, legal events that occur in the cyber world also force the law to position its position and even prevent crime in cyberspace. Through this research, conceptually it provides a view of the legal position in crime prevention in the Metaverse world. when the law acts to regulate the situation in the virtual world, of course some people will feel disturbed, this is due to the thought that the virtual world is a world in which an avatar can do things that cannot be done in the real world, or can be called a world without boundaries. Therefore, when the law is present to provide boundaries, of course the concept of the virtual world itself becomes no longer a cyber world that is not limited by space and time, it becomes a new order of life. approach, approach, approach, approach, and approach will certainly be the method used in this research.

Keywords: crime, cyber, metaverse, law

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Authors: Soumya Chaturvedi

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Ever since India opened its doors for the world economy to enter, there has not been a single instance of recoil. A consequence of this move by the government of India resulted in India evolving as a consumer-driven market and in order to survive in this era of extreme competition, the corporate houses have employed every possible means to reach out and hit onto the sentiments of the consumers. The most obvious way to ensure a strong perseverance towards the specific product or brand is through celebrity endorsements. In a country like India, whose film industry accounts for the largest sales and output, it is indeed appalling to acknowledge the fact that it lacks an effective mechanism of protection of the commercial exploitation of celebrities’ attributes under the ambit of law. The western half of the globe has very well accepted and recognized the rights of the celebrities to decide upon the quantum of commercial exploitation of their own attributes and earn profit out of the same. However, the eastern half seems to be a little reluctant in accepting and enforcing these views per se. A celebrity has a right to publicity over the traits of his personality which involves voice, autographs, reputation, and style, so on and so forth as it is these attributes that are responsible for huge trade profits concerning the products to which such traits are attributed to. This clearly involves the right of the celebrity to benefit himself by commercially exploiting the same and refraining the unauthorized gain to third parties. The market is making it nearly impossible to proceed further with such weak laws considering the escalating rate of celebrity endorsements in the nation. This paper discusses the lacunae in law per se to identify a right as such by a celebrity over his traits that are potentially under the circle of commercial exploitation and the need of a definite legislation that would ensure a change in the paradigm of the Courts in India. Also, it discusses the only remedy available currently for violation, which is, a suit for passing off by Indian Courts under Trademark and Copyright laws and a comparison of the same with the mechanisms adopted by the legal systems across the globe.

Keywords: celebrity, rights, intellectual property, trademark, copyrights

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Authors: Umashankar Morya, Somnath Basu

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Metalloids like arsenic are often present as contaminants in industrial effluents. Removal of the same is essential before the safe discharge of the wastewater into the environment. Otherwise, these pollutants tend to percolate into aquifers over a period of time and contaminate drinking water sources. Several adsorbents, including metal powders, carbon nanotubes and zeolites, are being used for this purpose, with varying degrees of success. However, most of these solutions are not only costly but also not always readily available. This restricts their use, especially among financially weaker communities. Slag generated globally from primary steelmaking operations exceeds 200 billion kg every year. Some of it is utilized for applications like road construction, filler in reinforced concrete, railway track ballast and recycled into iron ore agglomeration processes. However, these usually involve low-value addition, and a significant amount of the slag still ends up in a landfill. However, there is a strong possibility that the constituents in the steelmaking slag may immobilize metalloid contaminants present in wastewater through a combination of adsorption and precipitation of insoluble product(s). Preliminary experiments have already indicated that exposure to basic oxygen steelmaking slag does reduce pollutant concentration in wastewater. In addition, the slag is relatively inexpensive and available in large quantities and in several countries across the world. Investigations on the mechanism of interactions at the water-solid interfaces have been in progress for some time. However, at the same time, there are concerns about the possibility of leaching of metal ions from the slag particles in concentrations greater than what exists in the water bodies where the “treated” wastewater would eventually be discharged. The effect of such leached ions on the aquatic flora and fauna is yet uncertain. This has prompted the present investigation, which focuses on the leaching of metal ions from steelmaking slag particles in contact with wastewater, and the influence of these ions on the removal of contaminant species. Experiments were carried out to quantify the leaching behavior of different ionic species upon exposure of the slag particles to simulated wastewater, both with and without specific metalloid contaminants.

Keywords: slag, water, metalloid, heavy metal, wastewater

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Authors: Abrar Hussain Qureshi

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Vocabulary has been highlighted as a key indicator in any foreign language learning program, especially English as a foreign language (EFL). It is often considered a potential tool in foreign language curriculum, and its deficiency impedes successful communication in the target language. The knowledge of the lexicon is very significant in getting communicative competence and performance. Nouns constitute a considerable bulk of English vocabulary. Rather, they are the bones of the English language and are the main semantic carrier in spoken and written discourse. As nouns dominate the bulk of the English lexicon, their role becomes all the more potential. The undertaken research is a systematic effort in this regard to work out a list of highly frequent list of Pakistani English nouns for the EFL learners at the secondary level. It will encourage autonomy for the EFL learners as well as will save their time. The corpus used for the research has been developed locally from leading English newspapers of Pakistan. Wordsmith Tools has been used to process the research data and to retrieve word list of frequent Pakistani English nouns. The retrieved list of core Pakistani English nouns is supposed to be useful for English language learners at the secondary level as it covers a wide range of speech events.

Keywords: corpus, EFL, frequency list, nouns

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Authors: Abeer A. Aljohani

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COVID-19 virus spread has been one of the extreme pandemics across the globe. It is also referred to as coronavirus, which is a contagious disease that continuously mutates into numerous variants. Currently, the B.1.1.529 variant labeled as omicron is detected in South Africa. The huge spread of COVID-19 disease has affected several lives and has surged exceptional pressure on the healthcare systems worldwide. Also, everyday life and the global economy have been at stake. This research aims to predict COVID-19 disease in its initial stage to reduce the death count. Machine learning (ML) is nowadays used in almost every area. Numerous COVID-19 cases have produced a huge burden on the hospitals as well as health workers. To reduce this burden, this paper predicts COVID-19 disease is based on the symptoms and medical history of the patient. This research presents a unique architecture for COVID-19 detection using ML techniques integrated with feature dimensionality reduction. This paper uses a standard UCI dataset for predicting COVID-19 disease. This dataset comprises symptoms of 5434 patients. This paper also compares several supervised ML techniques to the presented architecture. The architecture has also utilized 10-fold cross validation process for generalization and the principal component analysis (PCA) technique for feature reduction. Standard parameters are used to evaluate the proposed architecture including F1-Score, precision, accuracy, recall, receiver operating characteristic (ROC), and area under curve (AUC). The results depict that decision tree, random forest, and neural networks outperform all other state-of-the-art ML techniques. This achieved result can help effectively in identifying COVID-19 infection cases.

Keywords: supervised machine learning, COVID-19 prediction, healthcare analytics, random forest, neural network

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Authors: Anna Amato

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Every child needs communication. If spoken language is not or not fully available due to congenital or acquired limitations, those affected need appropriate ways. These can be found in many possibilities of Augmentative and Alternative Communications (AAC). In the communication promotion of severely impaired children, who can use their own body communication forms only to a limited extent for the differentiated understanding, computers with eye control play an essential role. It takes some time to understand the individual forms of communication of the child. Children who depend on the AAC need competent support to learn to communicate in a motivated way in their everyday life. The aim of the present parents' survey (n = 4), which was evaluated descriptively, is to demonstrate the development of communicative abilities as well as the motivation to use complex communication aids with eye control by patients with atypical Rett Syndrome. An increase in communication skills, well-being, self-reliance, and self-esteem, an improvement in social participation, as well as a reduction in anger and screaming events, were noted. The complex visual communication tools were available daily for 3 out of 4 patients with atypical Rett Syndrome. It raises research questions regarding speech understanding and the ability to drive eye control technology in a larger group of atypical Rett Syndrome patients.

Keywords: augmentative and alternative communications, AAC, atypical Rett-syndrome, children, development

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Authors: Valerio D’Andrea

Abstract:

The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment, located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of INFN, searches for 0νββ of 76Ge. Germanium diodes enriched to ∼ 86 % in the double beta emitter 76Ge(enrGe) are exposed being both source and detectors of 0νββ decay. Neutrinoless double beta decay is considered a powerful probe to address still open issues in the neutrino sector of the (beyond) Standard Model of particle Physics. Since 2013, just after the completion of the first part of its experimental program (Phase I), the GERDA setup has been upgraded to perform its next step in the 0νββ searches (Phase II). Phase II aims to reach a sensitivity to the 0νββ decay half-life larger than 1026 yr in about 3 years of physics data taking. This exposing a detector mass of about 35 kg of enrGe and with a background index of about 10^−3 cts/(keV·kg·yr). One of the main new implementations is the liquid argon scintillation light read-out, to veto those events that only partially deposit their energy both in Ge and in the surrounding LAr. In this paper, the GERDA Phase II expected goals, the upgrade work and few selected features from the 2015 commissioning and 2016 calibration runs will be presented. The main Phase I achievements will be also reviewed.

Keywords: gerda, double beta decay, LNGS, germanium

Procedia PDF Downloads 356