Search results for: in order to escape from the radiation

Authors: Sujay Kotwale, Ramasubba Reddy M.

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Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a non-invasive technique used to study and analyze various heart diseases. Cardiac arrhythmia is a serious heart disease which leads to death of the patients, when left untreated. An early-time detection of cardiac arrhythmia would help the doctors to do proper treatment of the heart. In the past, various algorithms and machine learning (ML) models were used to early-time detection of cardiac arrhythmia, but few of them have achieved better results. In order to improve the performance, this paper implements principal component analysis (PCA) along with XGBoost model. The PCA was implemented to the raw ECG signals which suppress redundancy information and extracted significant features. The obtained significant ECG features were fed into XGBoost model and the performance of the model was evaluated. In order to valid the proposed technique, raw ECG signals obtained from standard MIT-BIH database were employed for the analysis. The result shows that the performance of proposed method is superior to the several state-of-the-arts techniques.

Keywords: cardiac arrhythmia, electrocardiogram, principal component analysis, XGBoost

Procedia PDF Downloads 97

Authors: Panpan Fan, Bo Ming, Niels Anten, Jochem Evers, Yaoyao Li, Shaokun Li, Ruizhi xie

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Nitrogen (N) utilization for crop production under N deficiency conditions is subject to a trade-off between maintaining specific leaf N content (SLN), important for radiation-use efficiency (RUE), versus maintaining leaf area (LA) development, important for light capture. This paper aims to explore how maize deals with this trade-off through responses in SLN, LA and their underlying traits during the vegetative and reproductive growth stages. In a ten-year N fertilization trial in Jilin province, Northeast China, three N fertilizer levels have been maintained: N-deficiency (N0), low N supply (N1), and high N supply (N2). We analyzed data from years 8 and 10 of this experiment for two common hybrids. Under N deficiency, maize plants maintained LA and decreased SLN during vegetative stages, while both LA and SLN decreased comparably during reproductive stages. Canopy-average specific leaf area (SLA) decreased sharply during vegetative stages and slightly during reproductive stages, mainly because senesced leaves in the lower canopy had a higher SLA. In the vegetative stage, maize maintained leaf area at low N by maintaining leaf biomass (albeit hence having N content/mass) and slightly increasing SLA. These responses to N deficiency were stronger in maize hybrid XY335 than in ZD958. We conclude the main strategy of maize to cope with low N is to maintain plant growth, mainly by increasing SLA throughout the plant during early growth. N was too limiting for either strategy to be followed during later growth stages.

Keywords: leaf N content per unit leaf area, N deficiency, specific leaf area, maize strateg

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Authors: R. Oleko, A. Saraceni

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The aim of this research is to provide a rigorous evaluation of the existing academic productivity in relation to value proposition and creation in networked environments. Bibliometrics is a vigorous approach used to structure existing literature in an objective and reliable manner. To that aim, a thorough bibliometric analysis was performed in order to assess the large volume of the information encountered in a structured and reliable manner. A clear distinction between networks and service networks was considered indispensable in order to capture the effects of each network’s type properties on value creation processes. Via the use of bibliometric parameters, this review was able to capture the state-of-the-art in both value proposition and value creation consecutively. The results provide a rigorous assessment of the annual scientific production, the most influential journals, and the leading corresponding author countries. By means of citation analysis, the most frequently cited manuscripts and countries for each network type were identified. Moreover, by means of co-citation analysis, existing collaborative patterns were detected through the creation of reference co-citation networks and country collaboration networks. Co-word analysis was also performed in order to provide an overview of the conceptual structure in both networks and service networks. The acquired results provide a rigorous and systematic assessment of the existing scientific output in networked settings. As such, they positively contribute to a better understanding of the distinct impact of service networks on value proposition and value creation when compared to regular networks. The implications derived can serve as a guide for informed decision-making by practitioners during network formation and provide a structured evaluation that can stand as a basis for future research in the field.

Keywords: bibliometrics, co-citation analysis, networks, service networks, value creation, value proposition

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: Kubra Akbayrak

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In parallel with increasing inclusive practice for pupils with vision impairments, the role of specialist teachers who have specialized in the area of vision impairment has dramatically changed in recent years. This study, therefore, aims to provide a holistic perspective towards the distinctive role of specialist teachers of pupils with vision impairments in different educational settings (including mainstream settings, special school settings, etc.) in Turkey and England. Within the scope of the study, semi-structured interviews have been conducted with 17 specialist teachers in Turkey and 14 specialist teachers in England in order to reveal the perception of specialist teachers regarding their roles in different educational settings as well as their perception towards their pre-service training. As this study is a part of an ongoing PhD research, the qualitative data through semi-structured interviews will be analyzed through using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory as a theoretical framework in order to provide a holistic view regarding the role of specialist teachers particularly in facilitating curriculum access for pupils with vision impairments in England and Turkey. However, the initial findings broadly illustrate that specialist teachers who work in special school settings have different understanding regarding their roles compared to specialist teachers who work in mainstream settings in relation to promoting independence for pupils with vision impairments. The initial findings also imply that specialist teachers in England and Turkey have different perception about their roles in relation to providing specialist advice and guidance for families of pupils. With the completion of the analysis of the study, it is hoped that the findings will provide an insight into the role of specialist teachers in order to provide implication for programmes which prepare specialist teachers of pupils with vision impairments.

Keywords: curriculum access, pupils with vision impairments, specialist teachers, special education

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Yung-Chih Kuo, Yung-I Lou

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Cationic solid lipid nanoparticles (CSLNs) with anti-melanotransferrin (AMT) and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) were used to carry antimitotic doxorubicin (Dox) across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treatment. Dox-loaded CSLNs were prepared in microemulsion, grafted covalently with AMT and ApoE, and applied to human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs), human astrocytes, and U87MG cells. Experimental results revealed that an increase in the weight percentage of stearyl amine (SA) from 0% to 20% increased the size of AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs. In addition, an increase in the stirring rate from 150 rpm to 450 rpm decreased the size of AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs. An increase in the weight percentage of SA from 0% to 20% enhanced the zeta potential of AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs. Moreover, an increase in the stirring rate from 150 rpm to 450 rpm reduced the zeta potential of AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs. AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs exhibited a spheroid-like geometry, a minor irregular boundary deviating from spheroid, and a somewhat distorted surface with a few zigzags and sharp angles. The encapsulation efficiency of Dox in CSLNs decreased with increasing weight percentage of Dox and the order in the encapsulation efficiency of Dox was 10% SA > 20% SA > 0% SA. However, the reverse order was true for the release rate of Dox, suggesting that AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs containing 10% SA had better-sustained release characteristics. An increase in the concentration of AMT from 2.5 to 7.5 μg/mL slightly decreased the grafting efficiency of AMT and an increase in that from 7.5 to 10 μg/mL significantly decreased the grafting efficiency. Furthermore, an increase in the concentration of ApoE from 2.5 to 5 μg/mL slightly reduced the grafting efficiency of ApoE and an increase in that from 5 to 10 μg/mL significantly reduced the grafting efficiency. Also, AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs at 10 μg/mL of ApoE could slightly reduce the transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) and increase the permeability of propidium iodide (PI). An incorporation of 10 μg/mL of ApoE could reduce the TEER and increase the permeability of PI. AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs at 10 μg/mL of AMT and 5-10 μg/mL of ApoE could significantly enhance the permeability of Dox across the BBB. AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs did not induce serious cytotoxicity to HBMECs. The viability of HBMECs was in the following order: AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs = AMT-Dox-CSLNs = Dox-CSLNs > Dox. The order in the efficacy of inhibiting U87MG cells was AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs > AMT-Dox-CSLNs > Dox-CSLNs > Dox. A surface modification of AMT and ApoE could promote the delivery of AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs to cross the BBB via melanotransferrin and low density lipoprotein receptor. Thus, AMT-ApoE-Dox-CSLNs have appropriate physicochemical properties and can be a potential colloidal delivery system for brain tumor chemotherapy.

Keywords: anti-melanotransferrin, apolipoprotein E, cationic catanionic solid lipid nanoparticle, doxorubicin, U87MG cells

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: J. H. O. Nascimento, F. R. Oliveira, K. K. O. S. Silva, J. Neves, V. Teixeira, J. Carneiro

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These the aliphatic polyesters such as Polylactic Acid (PLA) in the form of fibers, nanofibers or plastic films, generally possess chemically inert surfaces, free porosity, and surface free energy (ΔG) lesser than 32 mN/m. It is therefore considered a low surface energy material, consequently has a low work of adhesion. For this reason, the products manufactured using these polymers are often subjected to surface treatments in order to change its physic-chemical surface, improving their wettability and the Work of Adhesion (WA). Plasma Radio Frequency low pressure (RF) treatment was performed in order to improve the Work of Adhesion (WA) on PLA fibers. Different parameters, such as, power, ratio of working gas (Argon/Oxygen) and treatment time were used to optimize the plasma conditions to modify the PLA surface properties. With plasma treatment, a significant increase in the work of adhesion on PLA fiber surface was observed. The analysis performed by XPS showed an increase in polar functional groups and the SEM and AFM image revealed a considerable increase in roughness.

Keywords: RF plasma, surface modification, PLA fabric, atomic force macroscopic, Nanotechnology

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Authors: K. Khlifi, A. Haddouk, M. Hlaili, H. Mechergui

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The present paper provides a detailed analysis of prior methods and approaches for non-linear load identification in residential buildings. The main goal of this analysis is to decipher the distorted signals and to estimate the harmonics influence on power systems. We have performed an analytical study of non-linear loads behavior in the residential environment. Simulations have been performed in order to evaluate the distorted rate of the current and follow his behavior. To complete this work, an instrumental platform has been realized to carry out practical tests on single-phase non-linear loads which illustrate the current consumption of some domestic appliances supplied with single-phase sinusoidal voltage. These non-linear loads have been processed and tracked in order to limit their influence on the power grid and to reduce the Joule effect losses. As a result, the study has allowed to identify responsible circuits of harmonic pollution.

Keywords: distortion rate, harmonic analysis, harmonic pollution, non-linear load, power factor

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Sahar Heidary, Ramin Ghasemi Shayan

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The overall goal Monte Carlo N-atom radioactivity transference PC program (MCNP4C) was done for the regeneration of x-ray groups in diagnostic radiology and mammography. The electrons were transported till they slow down and stopover in the target. Both bremsstrahlung and characteristic x-ray creation were measured in this study. In this issue, the x-ray spectra forecast by several computational models recycled in the diagnostic radiology and mammography energy kind have been calculated by appraisal with dignified spectra and their outcome on the scheming of absorbed dose and effective dose (ED) told to the adult ORNL hermaphroditic phantom quantified. This comprises practical models (TASMIP and MASMIP), semi-practical models (X-rayb&m, X-raytbc, XCOMP, IPEM, Tucker et al., and Blough et al.), and Monte Carlo modeling (EGS4, ITS3.0, and MCNP4C). Images got consuming synchrotron radiation (SR) and both screen-film and the CR system were related with images of the similar trials attained with digital mammography equipment. In sight of the worthy feature of the effects gained, the CR system was used in two mammographic inspections with SR. For separately mammography unit, the capability acquiesced bilateral mediolateral oblique (MLO) and craniocaudal(CC) mammograms attained in a woman with fatty breasts and a woman with dense breasts. Referees planned the common groups and definite absences that managed to a choice to miscarry the part that formed the scientific imaginings.

Keywords: mammography, monte carlo, effective dose, radiology

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Authors: Ekkehard Fehling, Paul Capewell

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In recent years, the importance of masonry glued by polyurethane adhesive has increased. In 2021, the Institute of Structural Engineering of the University of Kassel was commissioned to carry out quasi-static in-plane shear tests on prefabricated brick masonry panel systems with 2K PUR adhesive in order to investigate the load-bearing behavior during earthquakes. In addition to the usual measurement of deformations using displacement transducers, all tests were documented using an optical measuring system (“GOM”), which was used to determine the surface strains and deformations of the test walls. To compare the results with conventional mortar walls, additional reference tests were carried out on test specimens with thin-bed mortar joints. This article summarizes the results of the test program and provides a comparison between the load-bearing behavior of masonry bonded with polyurethane adhesive and thin bed mortar in order to enable realistic non-linear modeling.

Keywords: masonry, shear tests, in-plane, polyurethane adhesive

Procedia PDF Downloads 55

Authors: Mohamed Fadzlee Sulaiman, Mohd Zabri Adil Talib, Aswami Fadillah Mohd Ariffin

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Each individual organization has their own mechanism to build up cyber defense capability in protecting their information infrastructures from data breaches and cyber espionage. But, we can not deny the possibility of failing to detect and stop cyber attacks especially for those targeting credential information and intellectual property (IP). In this paper, we would like to share the modern approach of effective digital forensic methodology in order to identify the artifacts in tracing the trails of evidence while mitigating the infection from the target machine/s. This proposed approach will suit the digital forensic investigation to be conducted while resuming the business critical operation after mitigating the infection and minimizing the risk from the identified attack to transpire. Therefore, traditional digital forensics methodology has to be improvised to be proactive which not only focusing to discover the root caused and the threat actor but to develop the relevant mitigation plan in order to prevent from the same attack.

Keywords: digital forensic, detection, eradication, targeted attack, malware

Procedia PDF Downloads 259

Authors: Abhishek Agarwal, Manoj Sarda, Juhi Kaushik, Vatsal Sanjay, Arup Kumar Das

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Propagation of fire through a non-air conditioned railway compartment is studied by virtue of numerical simulations. Simultaneous computational fire dynamics equations, such as Navier-Stokes, lumped species continuity, overall mass and energy conservation, and heat transfer are solved using finite volume based (for radiation) and finite difference based (for all other equations) solver, Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). A single coupe with an eight berth occupancy is used to establish the numerical model, followed by the selection of a three coupe system as the fundamental unit of the locomotive compartment. Heat Release Rate Per Unit Area (HRRPUA) of the initial fire is varied to consider a wide range of compartmental fires. Parameters, such as air inlet velocity relative to the locomotive at the windows, the level of interaction with the ambiance and closure of middle berth are studied through a wide range of numerical simulations. Almost all the loss of lives and properties due to fire breakout can be attributed to the direct or indirect exposure to flames or to the inhalation of toxic gases and resultant suffocation due to smoke and soot. Therefore, the temporal stature of fire and smoke are reported for each of the considered cases which can be used in the present or extended form to develop guidelines to be followed in case of a fire breakout.

Keywords: fire dynamics, flame propagation, locomotive fire, soot flow pattern, non-air-conditioned coaches

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Clarinda Vitorino Nhangumbe, Ercília Sousa

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Weather derivatives are financial products used to cover non catastrophic weather events with a weather index as the underlying asset. The rainfall weather derivative pricing model is modeled based in the assumption that the rainfall dynamics follows Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, and the partial differential equation approach is used to derive the convection-diffusion two dimensional time dependent partial differential equation, where the spatial variables are the rainfall index and rainfall depth. To compute the approximation solutions of the partial differential equation, the appropriate boundary conditions are suggested, and an explicit numerical method is proposed in order to deal efficiently with the different choices of the coefficients involved in the equation. Being an explicit numerical method, it will be conditionally stable, then the stability region of the numerical method and the order of convergence are discussed. The model is tested for real precipitation data.

Keywords: finite differences method, ornstein-uhlenbeck process, partial differential equations approach, rainfall derivatives

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Authors: Ionel Zagan, Vasile Gheorghita Gaitan

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The development of CPUs and of real-time systems based on them made it possible to use time at increasingly low resolutions. Together with the scheduling methods and algorithms, time organizing has been improved so as to respond positively to the need for optimization and to the way in which the CPU is used. This presentation contains both a detailed theoretical description and the results obtained from research on improving the performances of the nMPRA (Multi Pipeline Register Architecture) processor by implementing specific functions in hardware. The proposed CPU architecture has been developed, simulated and validated by using the FPGA Virtex-7 circuit, via a SoC project. Although the nMPRA processor hardware structure with five pipeline stages is very complex, the present paper presents and analyzes the tests dedicated to the implementation of the CPU and of the memory on-chip for instructions and data. In order to practically implement and test the entire SoC project, various tests have been performed. These tests have been performed in order to verify the drivers for peripherals and the boot module named Bootloader.

Keywords: hardware scheduler, nMPRA processor, real-time systems, scheduling methods

Procedia PDF Downloads 258

Authors: Simiso Fisokuhle Nyandeni

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The environment is one of the major components of intergenerational equity under sustainability; however, this component has been facing a lot of issues/crises, which include those that are caused by natural systems due to the actions of humans. Although some of those environmental issues may occur from natural causes, however, climate change effects have shown to increase rapidly due to human behavior, which led to the increase in greenhouse emissions and the over-exploitation of natural resources that maintain an ecological balance in our environment. Based on the recent projections, the growing population tends to outstrip the environmental resources, and as a result, the rapid depletion of natural resources that maintain ecological balance within the environment has resulted in such environmental issues. This paper has adopted desktop analysis to address the main objective, which seeks to address the effects of population dynamics on environmental issues and what needs to be done to maintain the ecological balance between the growing population and the limited resources that are available; thus, the collective data sources were used to justify the literature in order to get adequate results to influence the potential findings. The major findings postulate that there is an ecological imbalance between limited resources available and the growing population; as a result, the environment is taking action against humanity through climate change impacts. Hence findings further outline that in order to prevent such impacts, there should be drastic interventions by the governments (all stakeholders should be involved in decision-making; Governmental or non-governmental institutions, scientists, researchers, etc.) around the world to maintain this ecological balance and also to prioritize the adaptation measures. Therefore, this paper seeks to examine the implications of population dynamics on the environmental issues and what needs to be done in order to maintain this ecological balance between the growing population and environmental resources; hence, this review will be based on the climate change context.

Keywords: population dynamics, climate change, environment, sustainability

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Authors: Egor Stadnichuk

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Relativistic runaway electron avalanches (RREA) are a widely accepted source of thunderstorm gamma-radiation. In regions with huge electric field strength, RREA can multiply via relativistic feedback. The relativistic feedback is caused both by positron production and by runaway electron bremsstrahlung gamma-rays reversal. In complex multilayer thunderstorm electric field structures, an additional reactor feedback mechanism appears due to gamma-ray exchange between separate strong electric field regions with different electric field directions. The study of this reactor mechanism in conjunction with the relativistic feedback with Monte Carlo simulations or by direct solution of the kinetic Boltzmann equation requires a significant amount of computational time. In this work, a theoretical approach to study feedback mechanisms in RREA physics is developed. It is based on the matrix of feedback operators construction. With the feedback matrix, the problem of the dynamics of avalanches in complex electric structures is reduced to the problem of finding eigenvectors and eigenvalues. A method of matrix elements calculation is proposed. The proposed concept was used to study the dynamics of RREAs in multilayer thunderclouds.

Keywords: terrestrial Gamma-ray flashes, thunderstorm ground enhancement, relativistic runaway electron avalanches, gamma-rays, high-energy atmospheric physics, TGF, TGE, thunderstorm, relativistic feedback, reactor feedback, reactor model

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: B. Adebayo, A. A. Adebayo

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Adequate power generation and supply are enormous challenges confronting Nigeria state today. This is a powerful mechanism that drives industrial development and socio-economy of any nation. The present level of power generation and supply have become national embarrassment to both government and the citizens of Nigeria, where over 60% of the population have no access to electricity. This paper is set to review the abundant clean energy alternative sources available in abundance that are capable of boosting power generation. The clean energy sources waiting to be exploited include: nuclear, solar and wind energy. The environmental benefits of these sources of power generation are identified. Nuclear energy is a powerful clean energy source. However, Africa accounted for 20% of known recoverable reserve and uranium produces heat of 500,000 MJ/kg. Moreover, Nigeria receives average daily solar radiation of over 5.249 kWh/m2/day. Researchers have shown that wind speed and power flux densities varied from 1.5 – 4.1 m/s and 5.7 – 22.5 W/m2 respectively. It is a fact that the cost of doing business in Nigeria is very high, leading to winding up of the multi-national companies and then led to increase unemployment level. More importantly, readily available vast quantity of energy will reduce cost of running industries. Hence, more industries will come on board, goods, services, and more job creation will be achieved. This clean source of power generation is devoid of production of green house gases, elimination of environmental pollution, and reduced waste disposal. Then Nigerians will live in harmony with the environment.

Keywords: power, generation, energy, mix, clean, industrial

Procedia PDF Downloads 295

Authors: Aisha Liaquat Ali, Ghulam Sarwar Gachal, Muhammad Yusuf Sheikh

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The squirrel commonly known as ‘Gulhari’ belongs to the order Rodentia, family sciuridea, its sub-species inhabit tropical to sub tropical regions of Asia. The core aim of the present study is to investigate the taxonomy of squirrel in District Jamshoro. Sampling was obtained for the taxonomic identification from various adjoining areas of District Jamshoro by non random method. During present study a total number of 107 specimens were collected from July 2018 to December 2018, specimens were collected from District Jamshoro it was observed that the prevalence of the sub-species Funambulus tristriatus numarius (23.3%), Funambulus pennant tulescens (23.3%) was high while Funambulus tristriatus tristriatus ((20.5%), Funambulus palmarun brodie (18.6%) and the minimum prevalence Funambulus palmaruns palmaruns (14.1%). In the present research, it is established that the climate factors, altitude has principal importance in the poor density of squirrel.

Keywords: Jamshoro District Pakistan, squirrel, taxonomy, prevalence

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Authors: Hsiaoping Wu

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With the wide use of Internet, learners are exposed to the wider world. This exposure permits learners to discover new information and combine a variety of media in order to reach in-depth and broader understanding of their literacy and the world. Many paper-based teaching, learning and assessment modalities can be transferred to a digital platform. This study examines the use of e-portfolios for ESL (English as a second language) pre-service teacher. The data were collected by reviewing 100 E-portfolio from 2013 to 2015 in order to synthesize meaningful information about e-portfolios for ESL pre-service teachers. Participants were generalists, bilingual and ESL pre-service teachers. The studies were coded into two main categories: learning gains, including assessment, and technical skills. The findings showed that using e-portfolios enhanced and developed ESL pre-service teachers’ teaching and assessment skills. Also, the E-portfolio also developed the pre-service teachers’ technical stills to prepare a comprehensible portfolio to present who they are. Finally, the study and presentation suggested e-portfolios for ecological issues and educational purposes.

Keywords: assessment, e-portfolio, pre-service teacher, reflection

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Authors: Arunkumar Thirugnanasambantham, Velraj Ramalingam

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An experimental attempt has been made to study the effect of system integration by two different concentrator assisted desalting systems. The compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) and compound conical concentrator (CCC) are used in this research work. Two solar desalination systems, the single slope solar still (SSSS) and pyramid solar still (PSS), have been integrated with a CCC and compound parabolic concentrator-concentric circular tubular solar still (CPC-CCTSS). To study the effect of system integration, a thick cloth prevents the entry of sunlight into the solar still top. Additionally, the concentrator assisted desalting systems are equipped with phase change material (PCM) for enhancement. In CCC-SSSS, PCM has been filled inside copper balls and placed on the SSSS basin. The PCM is loaded in the specially designed circular trough of the tubular solar still. Here, the used concentrators and distillers are not the same. Two methodologies are followed here to produce the fresh water even while the distillers are blocked from the sunlight. They are (1) thermosyphon effect in CCC-SSSS and (2) waste heat recovery from CPC-CCTSS. The results showed that the productivity of CCC-SSSS, CCC-SSSS with PCM and CCC-SSSS (PCM) top cover shaded were found as 2680 ml / m² / day, 3240 ml / m² / day, and 1646 ml / m² / day. Similarly, the productivity of the CPC-CCTSS-PSS, CPC-CCTSS (PCM)-PSS and CPC-CCTSS (PCM)-PSS top cover shaded were found as 7160 ml / m² / day, 7346 ml / m² / day, and ml / m² / day. The productivity of the CCC-SSSS and CPC-CCTSS-PSS is examined, and conclusions are drawn such as the solar radiation blocked distillers productivity did not drop to zero.

Keywords: compound conical concentrator, compound parabolic concentrator, desalination, system integration

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: Aadhya Kaul, Gautam Manocha, Preeti Nagrath

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Our environment comprises of a wide variety of plants that are similar to each other and sometimes the similarity between the plants makes the identification process tedious thus increasing the workload of the botanist all over the world. Now all the botanists cannot be accessible all the time for such laborious plant identification; therefore, there is an urge for a quick classification model. Also, along with the identification of the plants, it is also necessary to classify the plant as healthy or not as for a good lifestyle, humans require good food and this food comes from healthy plants. A large number of techniques have been applied to classify the plants as healthy or diseased in order to provide the solution. This paper proposes one such method known as anomaly detection using autoencoders using a set of collections of leaves. In this method, an autoencoder model is built using Keras and then the reconstruction of the original images of the leaves is done and the threshold loss is found in order to classify the plant leaves as healthy or diseased. A dataset of plant leaves is considered to judge the reconstructed performance by convolutional autoencoders and the average accuracy obtained is 71.55% for the purpose.

Keywords: convolutional autoencoder, anomaly detection, web application, FLASK

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Authors: Manpreet Kaur

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The effect of external and internal exposure in outdoor and indoor environment can be significantly gauged by natural radionuclides. Therefore, it is a consequential to approximate the level of radionuclide contents in soil samples of any area and the risks associated with it. Rate of radon emerging from soil is also one of the prominent parameters for the assessment of radon levels in environmental. In present study, natural radionuclide contents viz. ²³²Th, ²³⁸U and ⁴⁰K and radon/thoron exhalation rates were evaluated operating thallium doped sodium iodide gamma radiation detector and advanced Smart Rn Duo technique in the soil samples from 30 villages of Jammu district, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Radon flux rate was also measured by using surface chamber technique. Results obtained with two different methods were compared to investigate the cause of emanation factor in the soil profile. The radon mass exhalation rate in the soil samples has been found varying from 15 ± 0.4 to 38 ± 0.8 mBq kg⁻¹ h⁻¹ while thoron surface exhalation rate has been found varying from 90 ± 22 to 4880 ± 280 Bq m⁻² h⁻¹. The mean value of radium equivalent activity (99 ± 27 Bq kg⁻¹) was appeared to be well within the admissible limit of 370 Bq kg⁻¹ suggested by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2009) report. The values of various parameters related to radiological hazards were also calculated and all parameters have been found to be well below the safe limits given by various organizations. The outcomes pointed out that region was protected from danger as per health risks effects associated with these radionuclide contents is concerned.

Keywords: absorbed dose rate, exhalation rate, human health, radionuclide

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Authors: Kaouther Bergaui, Nafaa Reguigui, Charles Gary

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Characterization and the applications of deuterium-deuterium (DD) neutron generator developed by Adelphie technology and acquired by the National Centre of Nuclear Science and Technology (NCNST) were presented in this work. We study the performance of the neutron generator in terms of neutron yield, production efficiency, and the ionic current as a function of the acceleration voltage at various RF powers. We provide the design and optimization of the PGNAA chamber and thus give insight into the capabilities of the planned PGNAA facility. Additional non-destructive techniques were studied employing the DD neutron generator, such as PGNAA and neutron radiography: The PGNAA is used for determining the concentration of 10B in Si and SiO2 matrices by using a germanium detector HPGe and the results obtained are compared with PGNAA system using a Sodium Iodide detector (NaI (Tl)); Neutron radiography facility was tested and simulated, using a camera device CCD and simulated by the Monte Carlo code; and the explosive detection system (EDS) also simulated using the Monte Carlo code. The study allows us to show that the new models of DD neutron generators are feasible and that superior-quality neutron beams could be produced and used for various applications. The feasibility of Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for cancer treatment using a neutron generator was assessed by optimizing Beam Shaping Assembly (BSA) on a phantom using Monte-Carlo (MCNP6) simulations.

Keywords: neutron generator deuterium-deuterium, Monte Carlo method, radiation, neutron flux, neutron activation analysis, born, neutron radiography, explosive detection, BNCT

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: Mohd Hasni Chumiran

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The rapid growth of global industrialism over the past few decades has led to various environmental issues and ecological instability, all due to human activity. In order to solve this global issue, the manufacturers alike have begun to embrace the use of ecodesign products. However, when considering a specific field, multiple questions have been raised and industrial designers (the practising designer's R&D group) have been unable to define the ecological cycle methodology. In this paper, we investigate the validation of problematic in the creation of ecodesign products with the 'reduce, reuse and recycle' (3R’s) method, which is an untested product design theory. The aim of this research is to address the 3R’s method can be extracted in order to transmit an ecological form of ecodesign, specifically among Malaysian furniture manufacturers. By operating the Descriptive Study I (DS-I) phase: Design Research Methodology (DRM), the research has applied two research approaches by the methodological triangulation tradition. To achieve the result, this validation of descriptive structure (design theory) shall be matched with the research hypothesis along the use of research questions.

Keywords: design research methodology, ecodesign, ecological form, industrial design

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Authors: Tahereh Yavari, Sara Norozi Far

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The aim of this study was to compare psychological well-being, hope, and health concerns in leukemia patients before and after receiving stem cells. The statistical population of the present study was made up of leukemia patients in Tehran, and the research sample was among the patients referred to the Bone Marrow Transplant Center of Shariati Hospital in Tehran, and they were placed in two experimental and control groups (15 people in each group), which were selected by purposive sampling method. In order to collect the data for the research, three psychological well-being questionnaires were used by Riff (2002), Schneider's Hope Scale (SHS), and Schneider's Health Concern Questionnaire (HCQ). In order to analyze the data in this research, according to the "pre-test-post-test design with a control group," covariance analysis was used. Based on the research findings, it was concluded that receiving stem cells increases hope and psychological well-being in leukemia patients and significantly reduces health concerns.

Keywords: psychological well-being, hope, health concerns, blood cancer, stem cells

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Authors: S. Ali, M. Baccar

Abstract:

In this work, numerical simulations were carried out using a specific CFD code in order to study the performance of an innovative Scraped Surface Heat Exchanger (SSHE) with helical ribbons for Bingham fluids (threshold fluids). The resolution of three-dimensional form of the conservation equations (continuity, momentum and energy equations) was carried out basing on the finite volume method (FVM). After studying the effect of dimensionless numbers (axial Reynolds, rotational Reynolds and Oldroyd numbers) on the hydrodynamic and thermal behaviors within SSHE, a parametric study was developed, by varying the width of the helical ribbon, the clearance between the stator wall and the tip of the ribbon and the number of turns of the helical ribbon, in order to improve the heat transfer inside the exchanger. The effect of these geometrical numbers on the hydrodynamic and thermal behaviors was discussed.

Keywords: heat transfer, helical ribbons, hydrodynamic behavior, parametric study, SSHE, thermal behavior

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Authors: A. Brigitte Coles

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In order to be successful in a campaign against terror and maintain a favorable world order, we must recognize the effects of priming, framing, and agenda setting on the public sphere, and address how terrorist organizations are able to manipulate language and symbols to shift public opinion and increase recruitment success. Because of their unprecedented activity in the region and foreign recruitment success, this study specifically addresses how the Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) manipulates the public sphere to amplify support and increase western recruitment. By following a grounded theory methodology and coding triangulated data from IS propaganda, a model for the process of terrorist recruitment has emerged, concerning both environments and personalities susceptible to recruitment, and the steps by which an extremist can be created. This has resulted in the ability to reverse engineer a method by which counter recruitment operations can be facilitated in an effort to lessen the vulnerability of areas and individuals, as well as create dissent among current extremists.

Keywords: countering violent extremism, counter-terrorism, recruitment, overton window

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Authors: Javed Iqbal

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Filling of Xiangjiaba Reservoir Lake in Southwest China triggered and re-activated numerous landslides due to water fluctuation. In order to understand the relationship between reservoirs and slope instability, a typical reservoir landslide (Dasha landslide) at right bank of Jinsha River was selected as a case study for in-depth investigations. The detailed field investigations were carried out in order to identify the landslide with respect to its surroundings and to find out the slip-surface. Boreholes were drilled in order to find out the subsurface lithology and the depth of failure of Dasha landslide. The in-situ geotechnical tests were performed, and the soil samples from exposed slip surface were retrieved for geotechnical laboratory analysis. Finally, stability analysis was done using 3D strength reduction method under different conditions of reservoir water level fluctuations and rainfall conditions. The in-depth investigations show that the Dasha landslide is a bedding rockslide which was once activated in 1986. The topography of Dasha landslide is relatively flat, while the back scarp and local terrain are relatively steep. The landslide area is about 29 × 104 m², and the maximum thickness of the landslide deposits revealed by drilling is about 40 m with the average thickness being about 20 m, and the volume is thus estimated being about 580 × 10⁴ m³. Bedrock in the landslide area is composed of Suining Formation of Jurassic age. The main rock type is silty mudstone with sandstone, and bedding orientation is 300~310° ∠ 7~22°. The factor of safety (FOS) of Dasha landslide obtained by 3D strength reduction cannot meet the minimum safety requirement under the working condition of reservoir level fluctuation as designed, with effect of rainfall and rapid drawdown.

Keywords: Dasha landslide, Xiangjiaba reservoir, strength reduction method, bedding rockslide

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Authors: Pedro Llanos, Diego García

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Spaceflight is considered the last frontier in terms of science, technology, and engineering. But it is also the next frontier in terms of human physiology and performance. After more than 200,000 years humans have evolved under earth’s gravity and atmospheric conditions, spaceflight poses environmental stresses for which human physiology is not adapted. Hypoxia, accelerations, and radiation are among such stressors, our research involves suborbital flights aiming to develop effective countermeasures in order to assure sustainable human space presence. The physiologic baseline of spaceflight participants is subject to great variability driven by age, gender, fitness, and metabolic reserve. The objective of the present study is to characterize different physiologic variables in a population of STEM practitioners during an aerobatic flight. Cardiovascular and pulmonary responses were determined in Science Astronaut Candidates (SACs) during unusual attitude aerobatic flight indoctrination. Physiologic data recordings from 20 subjects participating in high-G flight training were analyzed. These recordings were registered by wearable sensor-vest that monitored electrocardiographic tracings (ECGs), signs of dysrhythmias or other electric disturbances during all the flight. The same cardiovascular parameters were also collected approximately 10 min pre-flight, during each high-G/unusual attitude maneuver and 10 min after the flights. The ratio (pre-flight/in-flight/post-flight) of the cardiovascular responses was calculated for comparison of inter-individual differences. The resulting tracings depicting the cardiovascular responses of the subjects were compared against the G-loads (Gs) during the aerobatic flights to analyze cardiovascular variability aspects and fluid/pressure shifts due to the high Gs. In-flight ECG revealed cardiac variability patterns associated with rapid Gs onset in terms of reduced heart rate (HR) and some scattered dysrhythmic patterns (15% premature ventricular contractions-type) that were considered as triggered physiological responses to high-G/unusual attitude training and some were considered as instrument artifact. Variation events were observed in subjects during the +Gz and –Gz maneuvers and these may be due to preload and afterload, sudden shift. Our data reveal that aerobatic flight influenced the breathing rate of the subject, due in part by the various levels of energy expenditure due to the increased use of muscle work during these aerobatic maneuvers. Noteworthy was the high heterogeneity in the different physiological responses among a relatively small group of SACs exposed to similar aerobatic flights with similar Gs exposures. The cardiovascular responses clearly demonstrated that SACs were subjected to significant flight stress. Routine ECG monitoring during high-G/unusual attitude flight training is recommended to capture pathology underlying dangerous dysrhythmias in suborbital flight safety. More research is currently being conducted to further facilitate the development of robust medical screening, medical risk assessment approaches, and suborbital flight training in the context of the evolving commercial human suborbital spaceflight industry. A more mature and integrative medical assessment method is required to understand the physiology state and response variability among highly diverse populations of prospective suborbital flight participants.

Keywords: g force, aerobatic maneuvers, suborbital flight, hypoxia, commercial astronauts

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Authors: George Zhou, Yunchan Chen, Candace Chien

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Kidney replacement therapy is the current standard of care for end-stage renal diseases. In-center or home hemodialysis remains an integral component of the therapeutic regimen. Arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) make up the vascular circuit through which blood is filtered and returned. Naturally, AVF patency determines whether adequate clearance and filtration can be achieved and directly influences clinical outcomes. Our aim was to build a deep learning model for automated AVF stenosis screening based on the sound of blood flow through the AVF. A total of 311 patients with AVF were enrolled in this study. Blood flow sounds were collected using a digital stethoscope. For each patient, blood flow sounds were collected at 6 different locations along the patient’s AVF. The 6 locations are artery, anastomosis, distal vein, middle vein, proximal vein, and venous arch. A total of 1866 sounds were collected. The blood flow sounds are labeled as “patent” (normal) or “stenotic” (abnormal). The labels are validated from concurrent ultrasound. Our dataset included 1527 “patent” and 339 “stenotic” sounds. We show that blood flow sounds vary significantly along the AVF. For example, the blood flow sound is loudest at the anastomosis site and softest at the cephalic arch. Contextualizing the sound with location metadata significantly improves classification performance. How to encode and incorporate categorical metadata is an active area of research1. Herein, we study ordinal (i.e., integer) encoding schemes. The numerical representation is concatenated to the flattened feature vector. We train a vision transformer (ViT) on spectrogram image representations of the sound and demonstrate that using scalar multiples of our integer encodings improves classification performance. Models are evaluated using a 10-fold cross-validation procedure. The baseline performance of our ViT without any location metadata achieves an AuROC and AuPRC of 0.68 ± 0.05 and 0.28 ± 0.09, respectively. Using the following encodings of Artery:0; Arch: 1; Proximal: 2; Middle: 3; Distal 4: Anastomosis: 5, the ViT achieves an AuROC and AuPRC of 0.69 ± 0.06 and 0.30 ± 0.10, respectively. Using the following encodings of Artery:0; Arch: 10; Proximal: 20; Middle: 30; Distal 40: Anastomosis: 50, the ViT achieves an AuROC and AuPRC of 0.74 ± 0.06 and 0.38 ± 0.10, respectively. Using the following encodings of Artery:0; Arch: 100; Proximal: 200; Middle: 300; Distal 400: Anastomosis: 500, the ViT achieves an AuROC and AuPRC of 0.78 ± 0.06 and 0.43 ± 0.11. respectively. Interestingly, we see that using increasing scalar multiples of our integer encoding scheme (i.e., encoding “venous arch” as 1,10,100) results in progressively improved performance. In theory, the integer values do not matter since we are optimizing the same loss function; the model can learn to increase or decrease the weights associated with location encodings and converge on the same solution. However, in the setting of limited data and computation resources, increasing the importance at initialization either leads to faster convergence or helps the model escape a local minimum.

Keywords: arteriovenous fistula, blood flow sounds, metadata encoding, deep learning

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Authors: Kulwinder Singh Mann, Manmohan Singh Heer, Asha Rani

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The safe storage of radioactive materials has become an important issue. Nuclear engineering necessitates the safe handling of radioactive materials emitting high energy gamma-rays. Hazards involved in handling radioactive materials insist suitable shielded enclosures. With overgrowing use of nuclear energy for meeting the increasing demand of power, there is a need to investigate the shielding behavior of cost effective shielded enclosure (CESE) made from clay-bricks (CB) and fire-bricks (FB). In comparison to the lead-bricks (conventional-shielding), the CESE are the preferred choice in nuclear waste management. The objective behind the present investigation is to evaluate the double layered transmission exposure buildup factors (DLEBF) for gamma-rays for CESE in energy range 0.5-3MeV. For necessary computations of shielding parameters, using existing huge data regarding gamma-rays interaction parameters of all periodic table elements, two computer programs (GRIC-toolkit and BUF-toolkit) have been designed. It has been found that two-layered slabs show effective shielding for gamma-rays in orientation CB followed by FB than the reverse. It has been concluded that the arrangement, FB followed by CB reduces the leakage of scattered gamma-rays from the radioactive source.

Keywords: buildup factor, clay bricks, fire bricks, nuclear wastage management, radiation protective double layered slabs

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