Search results for: advanced process control

Authors: Maíra O. Palm, Cintia Marangoni, Ozair Souza, Noeli Sellin

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Wastes from a vegetal extracts industry (cocoa, oak, Guarana and mate) were characterized by particle size, proximate and ultimate analysis, lignocellulosic fractions, high heating value, thermal analysis (Thermogravimetric analysis – TGA, and Differential thermal analysis - DTA) and energy density to evaluate their potential as biomass in the form of briquettes for power generation. All wastes presented adequate particle sizes to briquettes production. The wastes showed high moisture content, requiring previous drying for use as briquettes. Cocoa and oak wastes had the highest volatile matter contents with maximum mass loss at 310 ºC and 450 ºC, respectively. The solvents used in the aroma extraction process influenced in the moisture content of the wastes, which was higher for mate due to water has been used as solvent. All wastes showed an insignificant loss mass after 565 °C, hence resulting in low ash content. High carbon and hydrogen contents and low sulfur and nitrogen contents were observed ensuring a low generation of sulfur and nitrous oxides. Mate and cocoa exhibited the highest carbon and lignin content, and high heating value. The dried wastes had high heating value, from 17.1 MJ/kg to 20.8 MJ/kg. The results indicate the energy potential of wastes for use as fuel in power generation.

Keywords: agro-industrial waste, biomass, briquettes, combustion

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Authors: M. Jerold, V. Sivasubramanian

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This study reports the removal of Malachite Green (MG) from simulated wastewater by using marine macro algae Ulva lactuca. Batch biosorption experiments were carried out to determine the biosorption capacity. The biosorption capacity was found to be maximum at pH 10. The effect of various other operation parameters such as biosorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, contact time and agitation was also investigated. The equilibrium attained at 120 min with 0.1 g/L of biosorbent. The isotherm experimental data fitted well with Langmuir Model with R² value of 0.994. The maximum Langmuir biosorption capacity was found to be 76.92 mg/g. Further, Langmuir separation factor RL value was found to be 0.004. Therefore, the adsorption is favorable. The biosorption kinetics of MG was found to follow pseudo second-order kinetic model. The mechanistic study revealed that the biosorption of malachite onto Ulva lactuca was controlled by film diffusion. The solute transfer in a solid-liquid adsorption process is characterized by the film diffusion and/or particle diffusion. Thermodynamic study shows ΔG° is negative indicates the feasibility and spontaneous nature for the biosorption of malachite green. The biosorbent was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and elemental analysis (CHNS: Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Sulphur). This study showed that Ulva lactuca can be used as promising biosorbent for the removal of MG from wastewater.

Keywords: biosorption, Ulva lactuca, wastewater, malachite green, isotherm, kinetics

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Authors: S. Sharma, U. Batra, S. Kapoor, A. Dua

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In this study, the effects and interactions of reaction time and capping agent assistance during sol-gel synthesis of magnesium substituted hydroxyapatite nanopowder (MgHA) on hydroxyapatite (HA) to β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) ratio, Ca/P ratio and mean crystallite size was examined experimentally as well as through statistical analysis. MgHA nanopowders were synthesized by sol-gel technique at room temperature using aqueous solution of calcium nitrate tetrahydrate, magnesium nitrate hexahydrate and potassium dihydrogen phosphate as starting materials. The reaction time for sol-gel synthesis was varied between 15 to 60 minutes. Two process routes were followed with and without addition of triethanolamine (TEA) in the solutions. The elemental compositions of as-synthesized powders were determined using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy. The functional groups present in the as-synthesized MgHA nanopowders were established through Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The amounts of phases present, Ca/P ratio and mean crystallite sizes of MgHA nanopowders were determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The HA content in biphasic mixture of HA and β-TCP and Ca/P ratio in as-synthesized MgHA nanopowders increased effectively with reaction time of sols (p < 0.0001, two way Anova), however, these were independent of TEA addition (p > 0.15, two way Anova). The MgHA nanopowders synthesized with TEA assistance exhibited 14 nm lower crystallite size (p < 0.018, 2 sample t-test) compared to the powder synthesized without TEA assistance.

Keywords: capping agent, hydroxyapatite, regression analysis, sol-gel, 2- sample t-test, two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)

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Authors: Ghada Badr, Manar Hosny, Nuha Bintayyash, Eman Albilali, Souad Larabi Marie-Sainte

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The median problem is significantly applied to derive the most reasonable rearrangement phylogenetic tree for many species. More specifically, the problem is concerned with finding a permutation that minimizes the sum of distances between itself and a set of three signed permutations. Genomes with equal number of genes but different order can be represented as permutations. In this paper, an algorithm, namely BeamGA median, is proposed that combines a heuristic search approach (local beam) as an initialization step to generate a number of solutions, and then a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is applied in order to refine the solutions, aiming to achieve a better median with the smallest possible reversal distance from the three original permutations. In this approach, any genome rearrangement distance can be applied. In this paper, we use the reversal distance. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed approach was not applied before for solving the median problem. Our approach considers true biological evolution scenario by applying the concept of common intervals during the GA optimization process. This allows us to imitate a true biological behavior and enhance genetic approach time convergence. We were able to handle permutations with a large number of genes, within an acceptable time performance and with same or better accuracy as compared to existing algorithms.

Keywords: median problem, phylogenetic tree, permutation, genetic algorithm, beam search, genome rearrangement distance

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Authors: Sun Gang

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A variety of functional spaces are distributed on the vast mountain waterfront. Their functional positioning presents a spontaneous form of settlement space, and the construction features show a passive impact on the natural environment. As the precious heritage of inheriting human civilization and promoting historical culture, the traditional settlement space in mountainous areas is also the local expression of landscape pattern pattern gene. Under the impact of rapid urban construction and the stimulation of the transformation of social consumption demand, the original texture, scale and ecology of the traditional mountain settlement space, especially the historical and cultural settlement space, have been affected, and the decline of characteristics hinders the development. This paper selects Anju Ancient Town, the fourth largest ancient city in China, which is located in the city of mountains and waters as the research object, and combines spatial analysis and other methods to study the characteristics and causes of its spatial morphology, analyze the internal logic in its formation and development process, build a genetic analysis map, explore the possibility of settlement inheritance and development, and provide reference for the construction, protection and inheritance of traditional mountain settlements.

Keywords: mountain traditional settlement, historical and cultural settlement space, spatial form, spatial gene

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Authors: Klaudia Gołębiowska

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This article analyzes the actions of Poland's ruling party facing two refugee crises. These crises emerged almost one after the other within a few months. The first concerned irregular migrants from various countries, including the Middle East, seeking to cross the Polish border from the territory of Belarus. The second was caused by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. I aim to show the evolution of the discourse and law towards immigrants and refugees by the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS, ang. Law and Justice), which has been in power in Poland since 2015. The authorities, in power since 2015, have radically changed its anti-immigrant discourse towards the exodus of civilians from Ukraine. Research questions are the following: What were the roots of the refugee crises in Poland in 2021 and 2022? What legal or illegal measures were taken in Poland to deal with the refugee crises? The methods of qualitative source analysis and process tracing. From the first days of the war in Ukraine, not only was aid organised for Ukrainians, but they were also given access to public services and education. All refugees were granted temporary international protection. At the same time, the basic physiological needs of those on the Polish-Belarusian border were ignored. Moreover, illegal pushbacks were used against those coming mainly from the Middle East, pushing them into the territory of Belarus, where they were often subjected to torture and inhumane treatment. The Polish government justified such treatment on the grounds that these people were part of a 'hybrid war' waged by Russia and Belarus using migrants. Only Ukrainians were treated as 'real' refugees in the analyzed crises at the Polish borders.

Keywords: refugee, irregular migrants, hybrid war, migrants

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Authors: David J. Foran, Nhan Do, Samuel Ajjarapu, Wenjin Chen, Tahsin Kurc, Joel H. Saltz

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The large-scale data and computational requirements of investigators throughout the clinical and research communities demand an informatics infrastructure that supports both existing and new investigative and translational projects in a robust, secure environment. In some subspecialties of medicine and research, the capacity to generate data has outpaced the methods and technology used to aggregate, organize, access, and reliably retrieve this information. Leading health care centers now recognize the utility of establishing an enterprise-wide, clinical data warehouse. The primary benefits that can be realized through such efforts include cost savings, efficient tracking of outcomes, advanced clinical decision support, improved prognostic accuracy, and more reliable clinical trials matching. The overarching objective of the work presented here is the development and implementation of a flexible Intelligent Retrieval and Interrogation System (IRIS) that exploits the combined use of computational imaging, genomics, and data-mining capabilities to facilitate clinical assessments and translational research in oncology. The proposed System includes a multi-modal, Clinical & Research Data Warehouse (CRDW) that is tightly integrated with a suite of computational and machine-learning tools to provide insight into the underlying tumor characteristics that are not be apparent by human inspection alone. A key distinguishing feature of the System is a configurable Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) interface that enables it to adapt to different clinical and research data environments. This project is motivated by the growing emphasis on establishing Learning Health Systems in which cyclical hypothesis generation and evidence evaluation become integral to improving the quality of patient care. To facilitate iterative prototyping and optimization of the algorithms and workflows for the System, the team has already implemented a fully functional Warehouse that can reliably aggregate information originating from multiple data sources including EHR’s, Clinical Trial Management Systems, Tumor Registries, Biospecimen Repositories, Radiology PAC systems, Digital Pathology archives, Unstructured Clinical Documents, and Next Generation Sequencing services. The System enables physicians to systematically mine and review the molecular, genomic, image-based, and correlated clinical information about patient tumors individually or as part of large cohorts to identify patterns that may influence treatment decisions and outcomes. The CRDW core system has facilitated peer-reviewed publications and funded projects, including an NIH-sponsored collaboration to enhance the cancer registries in Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, and New York, with machine-learning based classifications and quantitative pathomics, feature sets. The CRDW has also resulted in a collaboration with the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC) at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to develop algorithms and workflows to automate the analysis of lung adenocarcinoma. Those studies showed that combining computational nuclear signatures with traditional WHO criteria through the use of deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) led to improved discrimination among tumor growth patterns. The team has also leveraged the Warehouse to support studies to investigate the potential of utilizing a combination of genomic and computational imaging signatures to characterize prostate cancer. The results of those studies show that integrating image biomarkers with genomic pathway scores is more strongly correlated with disease recurrence than using standard clinical markers.

Keywords: clinical data warehouse, decision support, data-mining, intelligent databases, machine-learning.

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Authors: Patricia Kermeci

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Policies related to the reduction of both carbon dioxide and energy consumption within the residential sector have contributed towards a growing number of energy-efficient houses being built in several countries. Many of these energy-efficient houses rely on the construction of very well insulated and highly airtight structures, ventilated mechanically. Although energy-efficient houses are indeed more energy efficient than conventional houses, concerns have been raised over the quality of their indoor air and, consequently, the possible adverse health and wellbeing effects for their occupants. Using a longitudinal study design over three different weather seasons (winter, spring and summer), this study has investigated the indoor climate and indoor air quality of different rooms (bedroom, living room and kitchen) in five energy-efficient houses and four conventional houses in the UK. Occupants have kept diaries of their activities during the studied periods and interviews have been conducted to investigate possible behavioural explanations for the findings. Data has been compared with reviews of epidemiological, toxicological and other health related published literature to reveals three main findings. First, it shows that the indoor environment quality of energy-efficient houses cannot be treated as a holistic entity as different rooms presented dissimilar indoor climate and indoor air quality. Thus, such differences might contribute to the health and wellbeing of occupants in different ways. Second, the results show that the indoor environment quality of energy-efficient houses can vary following changes in weather season, leaving occupants at a lower or higher risk of adverse health and wellbeing effects during different weather seasons. Third, one cannot assume that even identical energy-efficient houses provide a similar indoor environment quality. Fourth, the findings reveal that the practices and behaviours of the occupants of energy-efficient houses likely determine whether they enjoy a healthier indoor environment when compared with their control houses. In conclusion, it has been considered vital to understand occupants’ practices and behaviours in order to explain the ways they might contribute to the indoor climate and indoor air quality in energy-efficient houses.

Keywords: energy-efficient house, health and wellbeing, indoor environment, indoor air quality

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Authors: Omvati Verma, Shyamashrre Roy

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A field experiment was conducted with three basal nitrogen levels (90, 120 and 150 kg N/ha) and five foliar application of urea (absolute control, water spray, 3% urea spray at anthesis, 7 and 14 days after anthesis) at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, U.S. Nagar (Uttarakhand) during rabi season in a factorial randomized block design with three replications. Results revealed that nitrogen application of 150 kg/ha produced the highest seed yield, straw and biological yield and it was significantly superior to 90 kg N/ha and was at par with 120 kg N/ha. The number of tillers increased significantly with increase in nitrogen doses up to 150 kg N/ha. Spike length, number of grains per spike, grain weight per spike and thousand seed weight showed significantly higher values with 120 kg N/ha than 90 kg N/ha and were at par with that of 150 kg N/ha. Also, plant height showed similar trend. Leaf area index and chlorophyll content showed significant increase with an increase in nitrogen levels at different stages. In the case of foliar spray treatments, urea spray at anthesis showed highest value for yield and yield attributes. In case of spike length and thousand seed weight, it was similar with the urea spray at 7 and 14 days after anthesis, but for rest of the yield attributes, it was significantly higher than rest of the treatments. Among seed quality parameters protein and sedimentation value showed significant increase due to increase in nitrogen rates whereas, starch and hectolitre weight had a decreasing trend. Wet gluten content was not influenced by nitrogen levels. Foliar urea spray at anthesis resulted in highest value of protein and hectolitre weight whereas, urea spray at 7 days after anthesis showed highest value of sedimentation value and wet gluten content.

Keywords: foliar application, nitrogenous fertilizer, seed quality, yield

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Authors: Shubham Sharma, Sandra Barkauskaite, Brendan Duffy, Swarna Jaiswal, Amit K. Jaiswal

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Food packaging protects food from temperature, light, and humidity; preserves food and guarantees the safety and the integrity of the food. Advancement in packaging research leads to development of active packaging system with numerous properties such as oxygen scavengers, carbon-dioxide generating systems, antimicrobial active packaging, moisture control packaging, ethylene scavengers etc. In the active packaging, several additives such as essential oils, polyphenols etc. are incorporated into packaging film or within the packaging material to achieve the desired properties. This study investigates the effect on the structural, thermal and functional properties of different poly(lactide) – poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA-PBAT) blend films incorporated with clove essential oil. The PLA-PBAT films were prepared by a solution casting method and then characterized based on their optical, mechanical properties, surface hydrophobicity, chemical composition, antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and E. coli, and inhibition of biofilm formation of E. coli. Results showed that, the developed packaging film containing clove oil has significant UV-blocking property (80%). However, incorporation of clove oil resulted in reduced transparency and tensile strength of the film as the concentration of clove oil increased. The surface hydrophobicity of packaging film was improved with the increasing concentration of essential oil. Similarly, thickness of the clove oil containing films increased from 36.71 µm to 106.67 µm as the concentration increases. The antimicrobial activity and biofilm inhibition study showed that the clove-incorporated PLA-PBAT composite film was effective against tested bacteria E. coli and S. aureus. This study showed that the PLA-PBAT – Clove oil composite film has significant antimicrobial and UV-blocking properties and can be used as an active food packaging film.

Keywords: active packaging, clove oil, poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate), poly(lactide)

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Authors: Eni Rahmi, Rasmi Rikmasari, Taufik Soemarsongko

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Background: One of the bad habits that requires a treatment and viewed as a risk factor of the temporomandibular disorder is bruxism. Bruxism defined as an awake and/or asleep parafunctional activities include grinding, gnashing, bracing or clenching of the teeth. In particular circumstances such as an increased frequency of episode, duration and the intensity of masseter contractions, caused phenomenon with pathological consequences, i.e., mandibular remodeling. The remodeling in mandibular angle was associated with the masseter and pterygoid medial muscles attachment which in its insertion area. The aim of this study was to compare the mandibular remodeling between bruxers and non-bruxers with ramus height, gonial angle and bigonial width as parameters, and to identify correlation among those parameters in bruxers, using panoramic radiographic. Methods: This study was conducted on 35 bruxers (10 phasic bruxism patients, 6 tonic bruxism patients, and 19 mixed bruxism patients) and 20 non-bruxers as control group. The data were obtained by using questionary, clinical examination, and radiographic measurement. Panoramic radiograph measurement was done using soft CBCT EPX Impla (E-Woo Korea). The data was analyzed by using Paired T-Test to see differences between parameters in both group and Pearson Correlation Test to evaluate correlation among parameters. Result: There was significant differences between bruxers and non-bruxers in ramus heights (p=0,04), bigonial widths (p=0,001), and gonial angles(p=0,015). The bruxers showed increased ramus heights and bigonial widths, in other hand, the gonial angles decreased. This study also found that there was highly correlation among ramus height, gonial angles, and bigonial widths. Conclusion: the bone remodeling occurred on inferior and posterior border of mandibular angle in bruxism patient, indicated by the form and size differences between bruxers (phasic bruxism, tonic bruxism, and mixed bruxism) with non-bruxers, which shown by panoramic radiograph.

Keywords: bruxism, ramus height, gonial angle, bigonial width

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Authors: Sunghyoun Lee, Byeongkee Yu, Chanjung Lee, Yeongtaek Lim

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Oyster mushrooms are one of the ingredients that Koreans prefer. The oyster mushroom cultivation house has multiple layers in order to increase the mushroom production per unit area. However, the growing shelves in the house act as obstacles and hinder the circulation of the interior air, which leads to the difference of cultivation environment between the upper part and lower part of the growing shelves. Due to this difference of environments, growth distinction occurs according to the area of the growing shelves. It is known that minute air circulation around the mushroom cap facilitates the metabolism of mushrooms and improves its quality. This study has utilized the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program, that is, FLUENT R16, in order to analyze the improvement of the internal environment uniformity of the oyster mushroom cultivation house. The analyzed factors are velocity distribution, temperature distribution, and humidity distribution. In order to maintain the internal environment uniformity of the oyster mushroom cultivation house, it appeared that installing circulation fan at the upper part of the working passage towards the ceiling is effective. When all the environmental control equipment – unit cooler, inlet fan, outlet fan, air circulation fan, and humidifier - operated simultaneously, the RMS figure on the growing shelves appeared as follows: velocity 28.23%, temperature 30.47%, humidity 7.88%. However, when only unit cooler and air circulation fan operated, the RMS figure on the growing shelves appeared as follows: velocity 22.28%, temperature 0.87%, humidity 0.82%. Therefore, in order to maintain the internal environment uniformity of the mushroom cultivation house, reducing the overall operating time of inlet fan, outlet fan, and humidifier is needed, and managing the internal environment with unit cooler and air circulation fan appropriately is essential.

Keywords: air circulation fan, computational fluid dynamics, multi-layered shelves cultivation, oyster mushroom cultivation house

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Authors: Getachew Belay, Getachew Kahsu, Brhane Berhe, Kebede Tesfay, Fitsum Mardu, Nigus Shishay, Hadush Negash, Aster Tsegaye

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Background: Malaria kills million people around the world, and it is still a serious public health problem in Ethiopia. Over the past years, the disease has been consistently reported as leading cause of outpatient visits, hospitalization and death in health facilities across the country. This study assessed malaria trend in Humera Town Kahsay Abera Hospital Tigrai region, Northern Ethiopia. Method: A Health facility retrospective cross sectional study was conducted in Kahsay Abera General Hospital from January 2011 to December 2019. Data of Malaria cases were reviewed from Health Management Information System with the help of experts in the office. The nine year data were extracted and analyzed using Excel by excluding those which lack demographic data. Result: A total of 36,604 smear positive malaria cases were confirmed in last nine years in the study area. Plasmodim falcifarum was the most prevalent reported species. Higher number of malaria cases were reported during October season.Males were more infected by the disese (63.1%) than females and males aged 15 years and above were the most iffected ones. The percentage proportion of P.falcifarum and P.vivax were 61.6% to 38.4%, respectively. There was a decreasing trend over the nine years following the peak in 2013. Conclusion: Malaria smear positivity, with highest cases being recorded in October, was declined over the nine years after peaking in 2013. Males aged 15 years and above were more affected, and P falciparum was the predominat species. Strengtheing the prevention and control activities is warranted in the study area.

Keywords: trend, malaria, kahsay abera general hospital, tigray, ethiopia

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Authors: Ma Lanting, S. Eguilior, A. Hurtado, Juan F. Llamas Borrajo

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Horizontal hydraulic fracturing is a technology to increase natural gas flow and improve productivity in the low permeability formation. During this drilling operation tons of flowback and produced water which contains many organic compounds return to the surface with a potential risk of influencing the surrounding environment and human health. A mathematical model is urgently needed to represent organic compounds in water transportation process behavior and the concentration change with time throughout the hydraulic fracturing operation life cycle. A comprehensive model combined Organic Matter Transport Dynamic Model with Two-Compartment First-order Model Constant (TFRC) Model has been established to quantify the organic compounds concentration. This algorithm model is composed of two transportation parts based on time factor. For the fast part, the curve fitting technique is applied using flowback water data from the Marcellus shale gas site fracturing and the coefficients of determination (R2) from all analyzed compounds demonstrate a high experimental feasibility of this numerical model. Furthermore, along a decade of drilling the concentration ratio curves have been estimated by the slow part of this model. The result shows that the larger value of Koc in chemicals, the later maximum concentration in water will reach, as well as all the maximum concentrations percentage would reach up to 90% of initial concentration from shale formation within a long sufficient period.

Keywords: model, shale gas, concentration, organic compounds

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Authors: Sujit Kumar Sinha, R. Chattopadhyay

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In the course of processing phases and use, fibres, yarns, or fabrics are subjected to a variety of stresses and strains, which cause the development of internal stresses. Given an opportunity, these inherent stresses try to bring back the structure to the original state. As an example, a twisted yarn always shows a tendency to untwist whenever its one end is made free. If the yarn is not held under tension, it may form snarls due to the presence of excessive torque. The running performance of such yarn or thread may, therefore, get negatively affected by it, as a snarl may not pass through the knitting or sewing needle smoothly, leading to an end break. A fabric shows a tendency to form wrinkles whenever squeezed. It may also shrink when brought to a relaxed state. In order to improve performance (i.e., dimensional stability or appearance), stabilization of the structure is needed. The stabilization can be attained through the release of internal stresses, which can be brought about by the process of annealing and/or other finishing treatments. When a fabric is subjected to heat, a change in the properties of the fibers, yarns, and fabric is expected. The degree to which the properties are affected would depend upon the condition of heat treatment and on the properties & structure of fibres, yarns, and fabric. In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate the effect of annealing treatment on the properties of polyester cotton yarns with varying sheath structures.

Keywords: friction spun yarn, annealing, tenacity, structural integrity, decay

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Authors: H. Abu-Ali, A. Nabok, T. Smith

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Aptamers are single-strand of DNA or RNA nucleotides sequence which is designed in vitro using selection process known as SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) were developed for the selective detection of many toxic materials. In this work, we have developed an electrochemical biosensor for highly selective and sensitive detection of Hg2+ and Pb2+ using a specific aptamer probe (SAP) labelled with ferrocene (or methylene blue) in (5′) end and the thiol group at its (3′) termini, respectively. The SAP has a specific coil structure that matching with G-G for Pb2+ and T-T for Hg2+ interaction binding nucleotides ions, respectively. Aptamers were immobilized onto surface of screen-printed gold electrodes via SH groups; then the cyclic voltammograms were recorded in binding buffer with the addition of the above metal salts in different concentrations. The resulted values of anode current increase upon binding heavy metal ions to aptamers and analyte due to the presence of electrochemically active probe, i.e. ferrocene or methylene blue group. The correlation between the anodic current values and the concentrations of Hg2+ and Pb2+ ions has been established in this work. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of using a specific DNA aptamers for electrochemical detection of heavy metals. Each increase in concentration of 0.1 μM results in an increase in the anode current value by simple DC electrochemical test i.e (Cyclic Voltammetry), thus providing an easy way of determining Hg2+ and Pb2+concentration.

Keywords: aptamer, based, biosensor, DNA, electrochemical, highly, specific

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Authors: Juhanita Jiman

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Malaysia is a unique country with multifaceted society; rich with its beautiful cultural values. It has been a long assimilation process for Malaysia to emerge its national identity. Malaysian government has been working hard for centuries to keep its people together in harmony. Cultural identity is identified to be ‘container’ that brings Malaysians together. The uniqueness of Malaysian cultures can actually be exploited for the benefit of the nation. However, this unique culture is somehow being threatened by those imported foreign values. If not closely monitored, these foreign influences can bring more damages than good. This paper aims to study elements in Upin and Ipin animation series and investigate how this series could help to educate local children with good moral and behaviour without being too serious and sententious. Upin and Ipin is chosen as a study to investigate the effectiveness of animation as a media of communication to promote positive values amongst pre-school children. Purposive sampling method was employed to determine the sample of studies hence pre-school children from Putrajaya Presint 9(2) school were chosen to take part in this study. The findings of this study demonstrate positive suggestions on how animation programmes being shown on TV can play significant roles in children social development and inculcate good moral behaviour as well as social skills among children and people around them.

Keywords: animation characters, children informal education, foreign influences, moral values

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Authors: Lubna Eljabu, Mohammad Etemad, Stan Matwin

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Port authorities have many challenges in congested ports to allocate their resources to provide a safe and secure loading/ unloading procedure for cargo vessels. Selecting a destination port is the decision of a vessel master based on many factors such as weather, wavelength and changes of priorities. Having access to a tool which leverages AIS messages to monitor vessel’s movements and accurately predict their next destination port promotes an effective resource allocation process for port authorities. In this research, we propose a method, namely, Reference Route of Trajectory (RRoT) to assist port authorities in predicting inflow and outflow traffic in their local environment by monitoring Automatic Identification System (AIS) messages. Our RRoT method creates a reference route based on historical AIS messages. It utilizes some of the best trajectory similarity measure to identify the destination of a vessel using their recent movement. We evaluated five different similarity measures such as Discrete Fr´echet Distance (DFD), Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), Partial Curve Mapping (PCM), Area between two curves (Area) and Curve length (CL). Our experiments show that our method identifies the destination port with an accuracy of 98.97% and an fmeasure of 99.08% using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) similarity measure.

Keywords: spatial temporal data mining, trajectory mining, trajectory similarity, resource optimization

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Authors: Elona Saliaj

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The registration of real estate in Albania after the 90's has been a long process in time and with high cost for the country. Passing the registration system from a centralized system to a free market private system, it’s accompanied by legal uncertainties that have led to economic instability. The reforms that have been undertaken in terms of property rights have been numerous and continuous throughout the years. But despite the reforms, the system of registration of real estate, has failed to be standards requirements established by the European Union. The completion of initial registration of real estate, legal treatment of previous owners or legalization of illegal constructions remain among the main problems that prevent the development of the country in its economic sector. The performance of the registration of real estate system and dealing with issues that have appeared in the Court of First Instance, the civil section of the Albanian constitute the core of handling this analysis. This paper presents a detailed analysis on the registration system that is chosen to be applied in our country for real estate. In its content it is also determined the institution that administrates these properties, the management technique and the law that determinate its functionality. The strategy is determined for creating a modern and functional registration system and for the country remains a challenge to achieve. Identifying practical problems and providing their solutions are also the focus of reference in order to improve and modernize this important system to a state law that aims to become a member of the European Union.

Keywords: real estates registration system, comparative aspects, cadastral area, property certificate, legal reform

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Authors: Targba Aondowase

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Undocumented migration along Nigeria’s boarder with Cameroon, Chad and Niger is a key issue in tackling the human security challenges in the region as the security situation cannot be contained without proper boarder control. The paper adopts migration systems theory which asserts that migration alters the social, cultural, economic, and institutional conditions at both the sending and receiving ends to explain the influence of unregistered migrants on institutional changes as it affects the security situation in Northern Nigeria. It was found that undocumented migration is majorly influenced by poverty, illegal trade, wars and asylum. The study also discovers that Nigerian boarders are porous with over 250 footpaths that link directly to Cameroon, Chad and Niger, making the proliferation of small arms and light weapons a transnational organized crime in the region. These porous borders are unmanned by security operatives with limited government presence in the boarder communities. The study also found that undocumented immigrants are easily integrated into the northern communities due to common religious beliefs and race where they carry out normal and civic functions without obstruction. The paper concluded that the level of undocumented migration in Northern Nigeria is high due to unmanned and porous borders. The paper therefore recommended that the security agencies should be strengthened through adequate funding, innovative technology, sound policies and proficient processes that will help protect the country’s borders. The National Populations Commission and the National Identity Management Commission should be strengthened to have a good data base of the country’s citizens and there should be international cooperation between the neighbouring countries to tackle illegal migration and illegal trade along the borders. The findings and recommendations of this paper will serve as a guide towards curtailing the impact of undocumented migration on human security in Northern Nigeria.

Keywords: human security, impact, migration, undocumented

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Authors: Amany Mohamed, Alaa Balbaa, Magdoline Mishel

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Background: Pain in the neck or scapular region is one of the most frequent symptoms in cervical radiculopathy, which is commonly caused by degenerative process in the spine. Purpose: To determine the effect of scapular stabilization exercises in the treatment of chronic neck pain regarding pain and disability and limitation in the range of motion. Patients and Methods: Thirty male and female patients with chronic neck pain were involved. Aged between 30-50 years old. They were randomly assigned into two groups. In group (A), patients received physical therapy program in the form of infrared, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), Stretching and cervical stabilization exercises. In group (B), patients received scapular stabilization exercises in addition to the same physical therapy program. Treatment was given 3 times a week for 4 weeks. Range of motion of the cervical spine, range of motion of the scapula, neck pain and disability were assessed before and after treatment. Results: There was significant improvement in both groups (A and B) in cervical range of motion, pain and disability. Group (B) showed more significant improvement than group (A) in cervical range of motion and pain and disability. There was no significant improvement in both groups in scapular range of motion. Conclusion: Scapular stabilization exercises should be used as an integral part in the rehabilitation program

Keywords: Neck pain, neck stabilization exercise, scapular stabilization exercise, chronic neck pain

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Authors: Mbah Fidelix Njong, Sabi Emile Forkwa

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Social cognition is an aspect of social psychology that focuses on how people process, store and apply information about others and social situations. It lay emphasis on how cognitive processes play in our social interactions. In this article, we try to show how culture can influence our ways of thinking about others, how we feel and interact with the world around us. Social cognitive processes involve perceiving people and how we learn about the people around us. It concerns the mental processes of remembering, thinking and attending to other people with different cultural backgrounds and how we attend to certain information about the world. Especially in an educational setting, students’ learning processes are most often than not influenced by their cultural background. We can also talk of social schemas. That’s people’s mental representation of social patterns and norms. This involves information about the societal role and the expectations of individuals within a group. These cognitive processes can also be influence by culture. There are important cultural differences in social cognition. In any social situation, two individuals may have different interpretations. Each person brings in a unique background of experiences, knowledge, social influence, feelings and cultural variations. Cultural differences can also affect how people interpret social situations. The same social behavior in one cultural setting might have completely different meaning and interpretation if observed or applied in another culture. However, as people interpret behaviors and bring out meaning from the interpretations, they act based on their beliefs about situations they are confronted with. This helps to reinforce and reproduce the cultural norms that influence their social cognition.

Keywords: social cognition, social schema, cultural influence, psychology

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Authors: Mahmoud Ahmed Farrag, Ali Zain Elabdeen Heikal, Mohamed Shawky Ahmed, Ahmed Osama Amer

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Crowd-sourced data refers to data that is collected and shared by a large number of individuals or organizations, often through the use of digital technologies such as mobile devices and social media. The shortage in crash data collection in developing countries makes it difficult to fully understand and address road safety issues in these regions. In developing countries, crowd-sourced data can be a valuable tool for improving road safety, particularly in urban areas where the majority of road crashes occur. This study is -to our best knowledge- the first to develop safety performance functions using crowd-sourced data by adopting a negative binomial structure model and the Full Bayes model to investigate traffic safety for urban road networks and provide insights into the impact of roadway characteristics. Furthermore, as a part of the safety management process, network screening has been undergone through applying two different methods to rank the most hazardous road segments: PCR method (adopted in the Highway Capacity Manual HCM) as well as a graphical method using GIS tools to compare and validate. Lastly, recommendations were suggested for policymakers to ensure safer roads.

Keywords: crowdsourced data, road crashes, safety performance functions, Full Bayes models, network screening

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Authors: Ayalkibet Mekonnen, Adane Abebe

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In hydrological cycle there are many water-related human interventions that modify the natural systems. Rainwater harvesting is one such intervention that involves harnessing of water in the upstream. Water harvesting used in upstream prevents water runoff on downstream mainly disturbance on biodiversity and ecosystems. The main objectives of the study are to assess the effects of water harvesting technologies on downstream water availability in the Woreda. To address the above problem, SWAT model, cost-benefit ratio and optimal control approach was used to analyse the hydrological and socioeconomic impact and tradeoffs on water availability of the community, respectively. The downstream impacts of increasing water consumption in the upstream rain-fed areas of the Bilate and Shala Catchment are simulated using the semi-distributed SWAT model. The two land use scenarios tested at sub basin levels (1) conventional land use represents the current land use practice (Agri-CON) and (2) in-field rainwater harvesting (IRWH), improving soil water availability through rainwater harvesting land use scenario. The simulated water balance results showed that the highest peak mean monthly direct flow obtained from Agri-CON land use (127.1 m3/ha), followed by Agri-IRWH land use (11.5 mm) and LULC 2005 (90.1 m3/ha). The Agri-IRWH scenario reduced direct flow by 10% compared to Agri-CON and more groundwater flow contributed by Agri-IRWH (190 m3/ha) than Agri-CON (125 m3/ha). The overall result suggests that the water yield of the Woreda may not be negatively affected by the Agri-IRWH land use scenario. The technology in the Woreda benefited positively having an average benefit cost ratio of 4.2. Water harvesting for domestic use was not optimal that the value of the water per demand harvested was less than the amount of water needed. Storage tanks, series of check dams, gravel filled dams are an alternative solutions for water harvesting.

Keywords: water harvesting, SWAT model, land use scenario, Agri-CON, Agri-IRWH, trade off, benefit cost ratio

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Authors: Rouhallah Bagheri, Morteza Mahmoudi, Hadi Moheb-Alizadeh

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This paper aims at developing a multi-objective model for supplier selection and order allocation problem in stochastic environment, where purchasing cost, percentage of delivered items with delay and percentage of rejected items provided by each supplier are supposed to be stochastic parameters following any arbitrary probability distribution. In this regard, dependent chance programming is used which maximizes probability of the event that total purchasing cost, total delivered items with delay and total rejected items are less than or equal to pre-determined values given by decision maker. The abovementioned stochastic multi-objective programming problem is then transformed into a stochastic single objective programming problem using minimum deviation method. In the next step, the further problem is solved applying a genetic algorithm, which performs a simulation process in order to calculate the stochastic objective function as its fitness function. Finally, the impact of stochastic parameters on the given solution is examined via a sensitivity analysis exploiting coefficient of variation. The results show that whatever stochastic parameters have greater coefficients of variation, the value of the objective function in the stochastic single objective programming problem is deteriorated.

Keywords: supplier selection, order allocation, dependent chance programming, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Andres Calderon

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In order to avoid detection and punishment, cartels have recruited the help of third parties to organize, execute and disguise the anticompetitive practices cartel members have agreed upon. These third parties may take the form of consultancy firms, guilds or professional advisors that do not perform an economic activity in the market where the collusion takes place. This paper takes a look into how national competition authorities and national legislators have dealt with the emergence of the cartels’ facilitators in Latin America. Following the practice of other jurisdictions such as United States (Toys R' Us, Apple), European Union (AC Treuhand), United Kingdom (Replica Kits, Hasbro) and Spain (Urban, Snap-On), some countries (e.g. Argentina, Chile) in Latin America have started to conduct investigations and find antitrust liability in cartels’ facilitators for helping others to violate their national competition laws. Some countries (e.g. Peru and Colombia) have also amended their legislation to amplify the subjective scope of application in order to include cartels’ facilitators. The Latin American case is one of special relevance because public officials are often prone to promote or indulge agreements between competitors in sectors of political interest. A broad definition of cartels’ facilitator, consequently, could lead to the prosecution of punishment of public officials that may hinder the competitive process.

Keywords: anticompetitive practices, cartel, collusion, competition, facilitator, hub and spoke

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Authors: Hanadi Mubarak AL-Mubaraki, Michael Busler

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Innovation is the process of making changes, differences, and novelties in the products and services, adding values and business practices to create economic and social benefit. The purpose of this paper is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of innovation programs in developed and developing countries. We used a mixed-methods approach, quantitative as survey and qualitative as a multi-case study to examine innovation best practices in developed and developing countries. In addition, four case studies of innovation organisations based on the best practices and successful implementation in the developed and developing countries are selected for examination. The research findings provide guidance, suggestions, and recommendations for future implementation in developed and developing countries for practitioners such as policy makers, governments, funded organizations, and strategic institutions. In conclusion, innovation programs are vital tools for economic growth, knowledge, and technology transfer based on the several indicators such as creativity, entrepreneurship, role of government, role of university, strategic focus, new products, survival rate, job creation, start-up companies, and number of patents. The authors aim to conduct future research which will include a comparative study of innovation case studies between developed and developing countries for policy implications worldwide. The originality of this study makes a contribution to the current literature about the innovation best practice in developed and developing countries.

Keywords: economic development, entrepreneurship, innovation program, developed countries

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Authors: Aderet Pantierer, Shmuel Pantierer, Atif Saeed, Amir Elzawawy

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In recent years, air travel has seen volatile growth. Due to this growth, the maximization of efficiency and space utilization has been a major issue for aircraft manufacturers. Elongation of the wingspan of aircraft has resulted in increased lift; and, thereby, efficiency. However, increasing the wingspan of aircraft has been detrimental to the manufacturing process and has led to airport congestion and required airport reconfiguration to accommodate the extended wingspans of aircraft. This project outlines differing wing configurations of a commercial aircraft and the effects on the aerodynamic loads produced. Multiple wing configurations are analyzed using Finite Element Models. These models are then validated by testing one wing configuration in a wind tunnel under laminar flow and turbulent flow conditions. The wing configurations to be tested include high and low wing aircraft, as well as various combinations of the two, including a unique model hereon referred to as an infinity wing. The infinity wing configuration consists of both a high and low wing, with the two wings connected by a vertical airfoil. This project seeks to determine if a wing configuration consisting of multiple airfoils produces more lift than the standard wing configurations and is able to provide a solution to manufacturing limitations as well as airport congestion. If the analysis confirms the hypothesis, a trade study will be performed to determine if and when an arrangement of multiple wings would be cost-effective.

Keywords: aerodynamics, aircraft design, aircraft efficiency, wing configuration, wing design

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Authors: N. Seemuang, T. McLeay, T. Slatter

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Worn tools have a direct effect on the surface finish and part accuracy. Tool condition monitoring systems have been developed over a long period and used to avoid a loss of productivity resulting from using a worn tool. However, the majority of tool monitoring research has applied expensive sensing systems not suitable for production. In this work, the cutting sound in turning machine was studied using microphone. Machining trials using seven cutting conditions were conducted until the observable flank wear width (FWW) on the main cutting edge exceeded 0.4 mm. The cutting inserts were removed from the tool holder and the flank wear width was measured optically. A microphone with built-in preamplifier was used to record the machining sound of EN24 steel being face turned by a CNC lathe in a wet cutting condition using constant surface speed control. The sound was sampled at 50 kS/s and all sound signals recorded from microphone were transformed into the frequency domain by FFT in order to establish the frequency content in the audio signature that could be then used for tool condition monitoring. The extracted feature from audio signal was compared to the flank wear progression on the cutting inserts. The spectrogram reveals a promising feature, named as ‘spindle noise’, which emits from the main spindle motor of turning machine. The spindle noise frequency was detected at 5.86 kHz of regardless of cutting conditions used on this particular CNC lathe. Varying cutting speed and feed rate have an influence on the magnitude of power spectrum of spindle noise. The magnitude of spindle noise frequency alters in conjunction with the tool wear progression. The magnitude increases significantly in the transition state between steady-state wear and severe wear. This could be used as a warning signal to prepare for tool replacement or adapt cutting parameters to extend tool life.

Keywords: tool wear, flank wear, condition monitoring, spindle noise

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Authors: Vathsala Kaluarachchi, Oshani Wimalarathna, Charith Vandebona, Gayani Chandrarathna, Lakmal Rupasinghe, Windhya Rankothge

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It is the fundamental function of a monitoring system to allow users to collect and process data. A worldwide threat, the corona outbreak has wreaked havoc in Sri Lanka, and the situation has gotten out of hand. Since the epidemic, the Sri Lankan government has been unable to establish a systematic system for monitoring corona patients and providing emergency care in the event of an outbreak. Most patients have been held at home because of the high number of patients reported in the nation, but they do not yet have access to a functioning medical system. It has resulted in an increase in the number of patients who have been left untreated because of a lack of medical care. The absence of competent medical monitoring is the biggest cause of mortality for many people nowadays, according to our survey. As a result, a smartphone app for analyzing the patient's state and determining whether they should be hospitalized will be developed. Using the data supplied, we are aiming to send an alarm letter or SMS to the hospital once the system recognizes them. Since we know what those patients need and when they need it, we will put up a desktop program at the hospital to monitor their progress. Deep learning, image processing and application development, natural language processing, and blockchain management are some of the components of the research solution. The purpose of this research paper is to introduce a mechanism to connect hospitals and patients even when they are physically apart. Further data security and user-friendliness are enhanced through blockchain and NLP.

Keywords: blockchain, deep learning, NLP, monitoring system

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