Search results for: physiological functions

Authors: Solene Masloh, Anne Chevrel, Maxime Culot, Leonardo Scapozza, Magali Zeisser-Labouebe

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The limited stability of clinically proven therapeutic antibodies limits their administration by the parenteral route. However, oral administration remains the best alternative as it is the most convenient and less invasive one. Obtaining a targeted treatment based on biologics, which can be orally administered, would, therefore, be an ideal situation to improve patient adherence and compliance. Nevertheless, the delivery of macromolecules through the intestine remains challenging because of their sensitivity to the harsh conditions of the gastrointestinal tract and their low permeability across the intestinal mucosa. To address this challenge, this project aims to demonstrate that targeting receptor-mediated endocytosis followed by transcytosis could maximize the intestinal uptake and transport of large molecules, such as Nanofitins. These affinity proteins of 7 kDa with binding properties similar to antibodies have already demonstrated retained stability in the digestive tract and local efficiency. However, their size does not allow passive diffusion through the intestinal barrier. Nanofitins having a controlled affinity for membrane receptors involved in the transcytosis mechanism used naturally for the transport of large molecules in humans were generated. Proteins were expressed using ribosome display and selected based on affinity to the targeted receptor and other characteristics. Their uptake and transport ex vivo across viable porcine intestines were investigated using an Ussing chambers system. In this paper, we will report the results achieved while addressing the different challenges linked to this study. To validate the ex vivo model, first, we proved the presence of the receptors targeted in humans on the porcine intestine. Then, after the identification of an optimal way of detection of Nanofitins, transport experiments were performed on porcine intestines with viability followed during the time of the experiment. The results, showing that the physiological process of transcytosis is capable of being triggered by the binding of Nanofitins on their target, will be reported here. In conclusion, the results show that Nanofitins can be transported across the intestinal barrier by triggering the receptor-mediated transcytosis and that the ex vivo model is an interesting technique to assess biologics absorption through the intestine.

Keywords: ex-vivo, Nanofitins, oral administration, transcytosis

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Authors: Ishfaq A. Bukhari, Bassem Yousef Sheikh, Abdulrahman Almotrefi, Osama Yousaf, Amer Mahmood

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Olive oil is the primary source of fat in the Mediterranean diet which is associated with a low mortality for cardiovascular disease. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, and has been reported for variety of beneficial cardiovascular effects including blood pressure lowering, anti-platelet, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory effects. Growing number evidences from preclinical and clinical studies have shown that olive oil improves insulin resistance, decrease vessels stiffness and prevent thromboembolism. We evaluated the effects of olive against streptozotocin-induced physiological disorders in the animal models of diabetes and ischemia and reperfusion (I/R)- induced cardiac arrhythmias. Diabetes was induced in male rats with a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg), rats were treated for two months with olive oil (1 ml/kg p.o). Control animals received saline. Blood glucose, body weight were monitored every 14 days. At the end of the treatment rats were sacrificed hearts were isolated for mounting on langedorff’s apparatus. The blood glucose and body weight was not significantly different in the control and olive treated animals. The control diabetic animals exhibited 100% incidence of I/R –induced ventricular fibrillation which was reduced to 0% with olive oil, treatment. The duration of ventricular fibrillation reduced from 98.8± 2.3 (control) to 0 seconds in the olive oil treated group. Diltiazem, a calcium channel blocker (1 µm/L) showed similar results and protected the I/R-induced cardiac disorders. The biochemical analysis of the cardiac tissues showed that diabetes and I/R produce marked pathological changes in the cardiomyocytes including decreased glutathione (GSH) and increased oxidative stress (Malondialdehyde; MDA). Pretreatment of animals with olive oil (1 ml/kg p.o) increased GSH and MDA levels. Olive oil also improved the diabetic-induced histopathological changes in the cardiomyocytes. These finding indicates that olive possesses cardiac protective properties. Further studies are under way in our lab to explore the mechanism of the cardio-protective effect of olive oil.

Keywords: diabeties, ischemia-reperfusion, olive oil, rats heart

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Authors: Muhamad Nugraha

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Economic growth always correlate positively with the magnitude of the unemployment rate. This is caused by labor which one of important variable to keep growth in the real sector of the region. Meanwhile, the economic structure in districts of Jember showed an increase of economic activity began to shift towards the industrial sector and some other economic sectors, so they have an affects to considerations for policy makers to increase economic growth in Jember as an autonomous region in East Java Province. At the fact, SMEs is among the factors driving economic growth in the region. This is shown by the high amount of SMEs. However, employment in the sector grew slightly slowed. It is caused by a lack of productivity in SMEs. Through the analysis of the transformation of economic structure theory, and the theory of Triple Helix using descriptive analytical method Location Quotient and Shift - Share, found that the results of the economic structure in Jember slowly shifting from the agricultural sector to the industrial sector, because it is dominated by trade sector, hotel and restaurant sector. In addition, SMEs is the potential sector of economic growth in Jember. While to maximizing role and functions of the institution's Research and Development Center of SMEs, there are three points to be known, that are Business Landscape, Business Architecture and Value Added.

Keywords: economic growth, SMEs, labor, Research and Development Center of SMEs

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Authors: Chaoge Wang, Xiquan Weng, Yan Meng, Wentao Lin

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Objective: Cold exposure and exercise serve as two physiological stimuli to glycolipid metabolism and insulin sensitivity. So far, it remains to be elucidated whether exercise plus cold exposure can produce an addictive effect on promoting glycolipid metabolism and insulin sensitivity. Methods: 64 SD rats were subjected to high-fat and high-sugar diets for 9-week and sucessfully to establish an obesity model. They were randomly divided into 8 groups: normal control group (NC), normal exercise group (NE), continuous cold control group (CC), continuous cold exercise group (CE), acute clod control group (AC), acute cold exercise group (AE), intermittent cold control group (IC) and intermittent cold exercise group (IE). For continuous cold exposure, the rats stayed in a cold environment all day; for acute cold exposure, the rats were exposed to cold for only 4h before the end of the experiment; for intermittent cold exposure, the rats were exposed to cold for 4h per day. The protocol for treadmill runnings were as follows: 25m/min (speed), 0°C (slope), 30 mins each time, an interval for 10 mins between two runnings, twice/two days, lasting for 5 weeks. Sampling were conducted on the 5th weekend. Blood lipids, free fatty acids, blood glucose (FBG), and serum insulin (FINS) were examined, and the insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR = FBG (mmol/L)×FINS(mIU/L)/22.5) was calculated. SPSS 22.0 was used for statistical analysis of the experimental results, and the ANOVA analysis was performed between groups (p < 0.05 was significant). Results: (1) Compared with the NC group, the FBG of the rats was significantly declined in the NE, CE, AC, AE, and IE groups (p < 0.05), the FINS of the rats was significantly declined in the AE group (p < 0.05), the HOMA-IR of the rats was significantly declined in the NE, CE, AC, AE and IE groups (p < 0.05). Compared with the NE group, the FBG of the rats was significantly declined in the CE, AE, and IE groups (p < 0.05), the FINS and HOMA-IR of the rats were significantly declined in the AE group (p < 0.05). (2) Compared with the NC group, the CHO, TG, LDL-C, and FFA of the rats were significantly declined in CE and IE groups (p < 0.05), the HDL-C of the rats was significantly higher in NE, CC, CE, AE, and IE groups (p < 0.05). Compared with the NE group, the HDL-C of the rats was significantly higher in the CE and IE groups (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Sedentariness or exercise in the acute cold doesn't make sense in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, which led to one-off increases of the body's insulin sensitivity. Exercise in the continuous and intermittent cold can effectively decline the FBG, TC, TG, LDL-C, and FFA levels and increase the HDL-C level and insulin sensitivity in obese rats. These results can impact the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Keywords: cold, exercise, insulin sensitivity, obesity

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Authors: María Teresa Baquero, Ester Higueras

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One of the challenges facing 21st century cities, is their adaptation to the phenomenon of an ageing population. International policies have been developed, such as the "Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities". These cities must recognize the diversity of the elderly population, and facilitate an active, healthy, satisfied aging and promote inclusion. In order to promote active and healthy aging, older people should be encouraged to engage in physical activity, sunbathe, socialize and enjoy the public open spaces in the city. Some studies recognize thermal comfort as one of the factors that most influence the use of public open spaces. However, although some studies have shown vulnerability to thermal extremes and environmental conditions in older people, there is little research on thermal comfort for older adults, because it is usually analyzed based on the characteristics of the ¨average young person¨ without considering the physiological, physical and psychological differences that characterize the elderly. This study analyzes the relationship between the microclimate parameters as air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and sky view factor (SVF) with the personal thermal perception of older adults in three public spaces in Madrid, through a mixed methodology that combines weather measurements with interviews, made during the year 2018. Statistical test like Chi-square, Spearman, and analysis of variance were used to analyze the relationship between preference votes and thermal sensation votes with environmental and personal parameters. The results show that there is a significant correlation between thermal sensation and thermal preference with the measured air temperature, age, level of clothing, the color of clothing, season, time of the day and kind of space while no influence of gender or other environmental variables was detected. These data would contribute to the design of comfortable public spaces that improve the welfare of the elderly contributing to "active and healthy aging" as one of the 21st century challenges cities face.

Keywords: healthy ageing, older adults, outdoor public space, thermal perception

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Authors: Asadullah I. Qazi, Mansoor Ahsan, Zahir Ashraf, Uzair Ahmad

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System identification of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), to acquire its mathematical model, is a significant step in the process of aircraft flight automation. The need for reliable mathematical model is an established requirement for autopilot design, flight simulator development, aircraft performance appraisal, analysis of aircraft modifications, preflight testing of prototype aircraft and investigation of fatigue life and stress distribution etc.  This research is aimed at system identification of a fixed wing UAV by means of specifically designed flight experiment. The purposely designed flight maneuvers were performed on the UAV and aircraft states were recorded during these flights. Acquired data were preprocessed for noise filtering and bias removal followed by parameter estimation of longitudinal dynamics transfer functions using MATLAB system identification toolbox. Black box identification based transfer function models, in response to elevator and throttle inputs, were estimated using least square error   technique. The identification results show a high confidence level and goodness of fit between the estimated model and actual aircraft response.

Keywords: fixed wing UAV, system identification, black box modeling, longitudinal dynamics, least square error

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Authors: Sara Mahesar, Saleem M. Chandio, Hira Soomro

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Nonlinear system of equations in two variables is a system which contains variables of degree greater or equal to two or that comprises of the transcendental functions. Mathematical modeling of numerous physical problems occurs as a system of nonlinear equations. In applied and pure mathematics it is the main dispute to solve a system of nonlinear equations. Numerical techniques mainly used for finding the solution to problems where analytical methods are failed, which leads to the inexact solutions. To find the exact roots or solutions in case of the system of non-linear equations there does not exist any analytical technique. Various methods have been proposed to solve such systems with an improved rate of convergence and accuracy. In this paper, a new scheme is developed for solving system of non-linear equation in two variables. The iterative scheme proposed here is modified form of the conventional Newton’s Method (CN) whose order of convergence is two whereas the order of convergence of the devised technique is three. Furthermore, the detailed error and convergence analysis of the proposed method is also examined. Additionally, various numerical test problems are compared with the results of its counterpart conventional Newton’s Method (CN) which confirms the theoretic consequences of the proposed method.

Keywords: conventional Newton’s method, modified Newton’s method, order of convergence, system of nonlinear equations

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Authors: Chandan Deep Singh, Jaimal Singh Khamba, Harleen Kaur

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Eminence, charge, deliverance, modernism, and awareness underlie most manufacturing strategic plan today. Firms have traditionally pursued the above tasks through the implementation of advanced technologies and manufacturing practices, such as Reverse Engineering, Value Engineering, worker empowerment, etc. Recent developments in industry suggest the materialization of another route to manufacturing brilliance, that is, there is an increasing focus by industry regulators and professional bodies on the need to stimulate innovation in a broad range of manufacturing competencies. By ‘competencies’ we mean the methods, equipment and expertise that can be developed as a leading capability in one market sector or application and have real potential to be applied successfully across other sectors or applications as well. Further, competencies are the ability to apply or use a set of related knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform 'critical work functions' or tasks in a defined work setting. Competencies often serve as the basis for skill standards that specify the level of knowledge, skills, and abilities required for success in the workplace as well as potential measurement criteria for assessing competency attainment. The present research is so designed to come up to the level of the expectations of the industrialists, policy makers, designers of the competencies, specially, the manufacturing competencies upon which the whole strategic success of the industry depends.

Keywords: manufacturing competency, strategic success, manufacturing excellence, competitive strategy

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Authors: Clara Theresia, Hardianto Iridiastadi

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Drowsiness is one of the main factors that contribute to the occurrence of accidents, particularly in the transportation sector. While the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive functions have been reported, the exact relationships remain a critical issue. This study aimed at quantifying the effects of extreme sleep deprivation on vigilance, fatigue, and performance during simulated train driving. A total of 12 participants were asked to drive a train simulator continuously for 4 hours, either in a sleep deprived condition (2-hr of sleep) or normal (8-hr of sleep) condition. Dependent variables obtained during the task included Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) parameters, degree of fatigue (assessed via Visual Analogue Scale/VAS) and sleepiness (reported using Karolinska Sleepiness Scale/KSS), and driving performance (the number of speed limit violations). Findings from this study demonstrated substantial decrements in vigilance in the sleep-deprived condition. This condition also resulted in 75% increase in speed violation and a two-fold increase in the degree of fatigue and sleepiness. Extreme sleep deprivation was clearly associated with substantially poorer response. The exact effects, however, were dependent upon the types of responses.

Keywords: cognitive function, psychomotor vigilance task, sleep deprivation, train simulator

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Authors: Pi-Lan Yang

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It is controversial which type of gloss condition (i.e., gloss language or gloss position) is more effective in second or foreign language (L2) vocabulary learning. The present study compared the performance on learning ten English words in the conditions of L2 English reading with no glosses and with glosses of Chinese equivalents/translations and L2 English definitions at the side of a page and at an attached sheet for low-intermediate Chinese-speaking learners of English, who were technology university students in Taiwan. It is found first that the performances on the immediate posttest and the delayed posttest were overall better in the gloss condition than those in the no-gloss condition. Next, it is found that the glosses of Chinese translations were more effective and sustainable than those of L2 English definitions. Finally, the effects of L2 English glosses at the side of a page were observed to be less sustainable than those at an attached sheet. In addition, an opinion questionnaire used also showed a preference for the glosses of Chinese translations in L2 English reading. These results would be discussed in terms of automated lexical access, sentence processing mechanisms, and the trade-off nature of storage and processing functions in working memory system, proposed by the capacity theory of language comprehension.

Keywords: glosses of Chinese equivalents/translations, glosses of L2 English definitions, L2 vocabulary learning, L2 English reading

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Authors: Belkacem Soundes, Guezouli Larbi

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This paper presents a robust and accurate method for text detection and localization over lecture videos. Frame regions are classified into text or background based on visual feature analysis. However, lecture video shows significant degradation mainly related to acquisition conditions, camera motion and environmental changes resulting in low quality videos. Hence, affecting feature extraction and description efficiency. Moreover, traditional text detection methods cannot be directly applied to lecture videos. Therefore, robust feature extraction methods dedicated to this specific video genre are required for robust and accurate text detection and extraction. Method consists of a three-step process: Slide region detection and segmentation; Feature extraction and non-text filtering. For robust and effective features extraction moment functions are used. Two distinct types of moments are used: orthogonal and non-orthogonal. For orthogonal Zernike Moments, both Pseudo Zernike moments are used, whereas for non-orthogonal ones Hu moments are used. Expressivity and description efficiency are given and discussed. Proposed approach shows that in general, orthogonal moments show high accuracy in comparison to the non-orthogonal one. Pseudo Zernike moments are more effective than Zernike with better computation time.

Keywords: text detection, text localization, lecture videos, pseudo zernike moments

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Authors: Jay N. Vyas, Sachin Daxini

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Numerical simulation techniques are widely used now in product development and testing instead of expensive, time-consuming and sometimes dangerous laboratory experiments. Numerous numerical methods are available for performing simulation of physical problems of different engineering fields. Grid based methods, like Finite Element Method, are extensively used in performing various kinds of static, dynamic, structural and non-structural analysis during product development phase. Drawbacks of grid based methods in terms of discontinuous secondary field variable, dealing fracture mechanics and large deformation problems led to development of a relatively a new class of numerical simulation techniques in last few years, which are popular as Meshless methods or Meshfree Methods. Meshless Methods are expected to be more adaptive and flexible than Finite Element Method because domain descretization in Meshless Method requires only nodes. Present paper introduces Meshless Methods and differentiates it with Finite Element Method in terms of following aspects: Shape functions used, role of weight function, techniques to impose essential boundary conditions, integration techniques for discrete system equations, convergence rate, accuracy of solution and computational effort. Capabilities, benefits and limitations of Meshless Methods are discussed and concluded at the end of paper.

Keywords: numerical simulation, Grid-based methods, Finite Element Method, Meshless Methods

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Authors: Griaznova Svetlana, Umedov Mekhroz

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The current healthcare facilities trend is the creation of multidisciplinary large-scale centers to provide the maximum possible services in one place, minimizing the number of possible instances in the path of patient treatment. The multifunctional medical centers are mainly designed in urban infrastructure for good accessibility. However, many functions and connections define the building shape, often make it inharmonious, that greatly destroys the city's appearance. The purpose of the research is to scientifically substantiate the factors influencing the shaping, the formation of architectural solutions principles, the formation of recommendations and principles for the multifunctional medical centers' design. The result of the research is the elaboration of architectural and planning solutions principles and the determination of factors affecting the multifunctional healthcare facilities shaping. Research method: Study and generalization of international experience in scientific research, literature, standards, teaching aids, and design materials on the topic of research. An integrated approach to the study of existing international experience of multidisciplinary medical centers. Elaboration of graphical analysis and diagrams based on the system analysis of the processed information. Identification of methods and principles of functional zoning of nuclear medicine centers.

Keywords: health care, multifunctionality, form, medical center, hospital, PET, CT scan

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Authors: Pallab Datta, Jyotirmoy Chatterjee, Santanu Dhara

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Over the past few years, phosphorous containing polymers have received widespread attention for applications such as high performance optical fibers, flame retardant materials, drug delivery and tissue engineering. Being pentavalent, phosphorous can exist in different chemical environments in these polymers which increase their versatility. In human biochemistry, phosphorous based compounds exert their functions both in soluble and insoluble form occurring as inorganic or as organophosphorous compounds. Specifically in case of biomacromolecules, phosphates are critical for functions of DNA, ATP, phosphoproteins, phospholipids, phosphoglycans and several coenzymes. Inspired by the role of phosphorous in functional biomacromolecules, design and synthesis of biomimetic materials are thus carried out by several authors to study macromolecular function or as substitutes in clinical tissue regeneration conditions. In addition, many regulatory signals of the body are controlled by phoshphorylation of key proteins present either in form of growth factors or matrix-bound scaffold proteins. This inspires works on synthesis of phospho-peptidomimetic amino acids for understanding key signaling pathways and this is extended to obtain molecules with potentially useful biological properties. Apart from above applications, phosphate groups bound to polymer backbones have also been demonstrated to improve function of osteoblast cells and augment performance of bone grafts. Despite the advantages of phosphate grafting, however, there is limited understanding on effect of degree of phosphorylation on macromolecular physicochemical and/or biological properties. Such investigations are necessary to effectively translate knowledge of macromolecular biochemistry into relevant clinical products since they directly influence processability of these polymers into suitable scaffold structures and control subsequent biological response. Amongst various techniques for fabrication of biomimetic scaffolds, nanofibrous scaffolds fabricated by electrospinning technique offer some special advantages in resembling the attributes of natural extracellular matrix. Understanding changes in physico-chemical properties of polymers as function of phosphorylation is therefore going to be crucial in development of nanofiber scaffolds based on phosphorylated polymers. The aim of the present work is to investigate the effect of phosphorous grafting on the electrospinning behavior of polymers with aim to obtain biomaterials for bone regeneration applications. For this purpose, phosphorylated derivatives of two polymers of widely different electrospinning behaviors were selected as starting materials. Poly(vinyl alcohol) is a conveniently electrospinnable polymer at different conditions and concentrations. On the other hand, electrospinning of chitosan backbone based polymers have been viewed as a critical challenge. The phosphorylated derivatives of these polymers were synthesized, characterized and electrospinning behavior of various solutions containing these derivatives was compared with electrospinning of pure poly (vinyl alcohol). In PVA, phosphorylation adversely impacted electrospinnability while in NMPC, higher phosphate content widened concentration range for nanofiber formation. Culture of MG-63 cells on electrospun nanofibers, revealed that degree of phosphate modification of a polymer significantly improves cell adhesion or osteoblast function of cultured cells. It is concluded that improvement of cell response parameters of nanofiber scaffolds can be attained as a function of controlled degree of phosphate grafting in polymeric biomaterials with implications for bone tissue engineering applications.

Keywords: bone regeneration, chitosan, electrospinning, phosphorylation

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Authors: Galal H. Senussi, Muamar Benisa, Sanja Vasin

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In our business field today, one of the most important issues for any enterprises is cost minimization and profit maximization. Second issue is how to develop a strong and capable model that is able to give us desired forecasting of these two issues. Many researches deal with these issues using different methods. In this study, we developed a model for multi-criteria production program optimization, integrated with Artificial Neural Network. The prediction of the production cost and profit per unit of a product, dealing with two obverse functions at same time can be extremely difficult, especially if there is a great amount of conflict information about production parameters. Feed-Forward Neural Networks are suitable for generalization, which means that the network will generate a proper output as a result to input it has never seen. Therefore, with small set of examples the network will adjust its weight coefficients so the input will generate a proper output. This essential characteristic is of the most important abilities enabling this network to be used in variety of problems spreading from engineering to finance etc. From our results as we will see later, Feed-Forward Neural Networks has a strong ability and capability to map inputs into desired outputs.

Keywords: project profitability, multi-objective optimization, genetic algorithm, Pareto set, neural networks

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Authors: Radyah Ivan, Khanferyan Roman

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Milk and dairy products are an important component of a balanced diet. Dairy products represent a heterogeneous food group of solid, semi-solid and liquid, fermented or non-fermented foods, each differing in nutrients such as fat and micronutrient content. Deficiency of milk and dairy products contributes a impact on the main health parameters of the various age groups of the population. The goal of this study was to analyze of the frequency of the consumption of milk and various groups of dairy products by students and its association with their body mass index (BMI), body composition and other physiological parameters. 388 full-time students of the Medical Institute of RUDN University (185 male and 203 female, average age was 20.4+2.2 and 21.9+1.7 y.o., respectively) took part in the cross-sectional study. Anthropometric measurements, estimation of BMI and body composition were analyzed by bioelectrical impedance analysis. The frequency of consumption of the milk and various groups of dairy products was studied using a modified questionnaire on the frequency of consumption of products. Due to the questionnaire data on the frequency of consumption of the diary products, it have been demonstrated that only 11% of respondents consume milk daily, 5% - cottage cheese, 4% and 1% - fermented natural and with fillers milk products, respectively, hard cheese -4%. The study demonstrated that about 16% of the respondents did not consume milk at all over the past month, about one third - cottage cheese, 22% - natural sour-milk products and 18% - sour-milk products with various fillers. hard cheeses and pickled cheeses didn’t consume 9% and 26% of respondents, respectively. We demonstrated the gender differences in the characteristics of consumer preferences were revealed. Thus female students are less likely to use cream, sour cream, soft cheese, milk comparing to male students. Among female students the prevalence of persons with overweight was higher (25%) than among male students (19%). A modest inverse relationship was demonstrated between daily milk intake, BMI, body composition parameters and diary products consumption (r=-0.61 and r=-0.65). The study showed daily insufficient milk and dairy products consumption by students and due to this it have been demonstrated the relationship between the low and rare consumption of diary products and main parameters of indicators of physical activity and health indicators.

Keywords: frequency of consumption, milk, dairy products, physical development, nutrition, body mass index.

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Authors: Kwame Amoah

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has the prospect of transforming project management, significantly improving efficiency and accuracy. By automating specific tasks with defined guidelines, AI can assist project managers in making better decisions and allocating resources efficiently, with possible risk mitigation. This study explores how AI is already impacting project management and likely future AI's impact on the field. The AI's reaction has been a divided opinion; while others picture it as a destroyer of jobs, some welcome it as an innovation advocate. Both sides agree that AI will be disruptive and revolutionize PM's functions. If current research is to go by, AI or some form will replace one-third of all learning graduate PM jobs by as early as 2030. A recent survey indicates AI spending will reach $97.9 billion by the end of 2023. Considering such a profound impact, the project management profession will also see a paradigm shift driven by AI. The study examines what the project management profession will look like in the next 5-10 years after this technological disruption. The research methods incorporate existing literature, develop trend analysis, and conduct structured interviews with project management stakeholders from North America to gauge the trend. PM professionals can harness the power of AI, ensuring a smooth transition and positive outcomes. AI adoption will maximize benefits, minimize adverse consequences, and uphold ethical standards, leading to improved project performance.

Keywords: project management, disruptive teacnologies, project management function, AL applications, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Pawan Kumar, Dhananjoy Shaw

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Heart rate variability (HRV) is the physiological phenomenon of variation in the time interval between heartbeats and is alterable with fitness, age and different medical conditions including withdrawal/retirement from games/sports. Objectives of the study were to develop (a) percentile norms of heart rate variability (HRV) variables derived from time domain analysis of the Indian sportspersons withdrawn from competitive games/sports pertaining to sympathetic and parasympathetic activity (b) percentile norms of heart rate variability (HRV) variables derived from frequency domain analysis of the Indian sportspersons withdrawn from competitive games/sports pertaining to sympathetic and parasympathetic activity. The study was conducted on 430 males. Ages of the sample ranged from 30 to 35 years of same socio-economic status. Date was collected using ECG polygraphs. Data were processed and extracted using frequency domain analysis and time domain analysis. Collected data were computed with percentile from one to hundred. The finding showed that the percentile norms of heart rate variability (HRV) variables derived from time domain analysis of the Indian sportspersons withdrawn from competitive games/sports pertaining to sympathetic and parasympathetic activity namely, NN50 count (ranged from 1 to 189 score as percentile range). pNN50 count (ranged from .24 to 60.80 score as percentile range). SDNN (ranged from 17.34 to 167.29 score as percentile range). SDSD (ranged from 11.14 to 120.46 score as percentile range). RMMSD (ranged from 11.19 to 120.24 score as percentile range) and SDANN (ranged from 4.02 to 88.75 score as percentile range). The percentile norms of heart rate variability (HRV) variables derived from frequency domain analysis of the Indian sportspersons withdrawn from competitive games/sports pertaining to sympathetic and parasympathetic activity namely Low Frequency (Normalized Power) ranged from 20.68 to 90.49 score as percentile range. High Frequency (Normalized Power) ranged from 14.37 to 81.60 score as percentile range. LF/ HF ratio(ranged from 0.26 to 9.52 score as percentile range). LF (Absolute Power) ranged from 146.79 to 5669.33 score as percentile range. HF (Absolute Power) ranged from 102.85 to 10735.71 score as percentile range and Total Power (Absolute Power) ranged from 471.45 to 25879.23 score as percentile range. Conclusion: The analysis documented percentile norms for time domain analysis and frequency domain analysis for versatile use and evaluation.

Keywords: RMSSD, Percentile, SDANN, HF, LF

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Authors: Davaanyam Surenjav, Chinzolboo Dandarbaatar, Ganbold Batkhuyag

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Primate city induced rapid urbanization has been become one of the main challenges in sustainable development in Mongolia like other developing countries since transition to market economy in 1990. According due to statistical yearbook, population number of Ulaanbaatar city has increased from 0.5 million to 1.5 million for last 30 years and contains now almost half (47%) of total Mongolian population. Rural-Ulaanbaatar and local Cities-Ulaanbaatar city migration leads to social issues like uncontrolled urbanization, income inequality, poverty, overwork of public service, economic over cost for redevelopment and limitation of transport and environmental degradation including air, noise, water and soil pollution. Most thresholds of all of the sustainable urban development main and sub-indicators over exceeded from safety level to unsafety level in Ulaanbaatar. So, there is an urgent need to remove migration pull factors including some administrative and high education functions from Ulaanbaatar city to its satellite cities or secondary cities. Moreover, urban smart transport system and green and renewable energy technologies should be introduced to urban development master plan of Ulaanbaatar city.

Keywords: challenge for sustainable urban development, migration factors, primate city , urban safety thresholds

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Authors: Zhiwen Pan, Jesus Pacheco, Salim Hariri, Yiqiang Chen, Bozhi Liu

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The Internet of Things (IoT) will lead to the development of advanced Smart Home services that are pervasive, cost-effective, and can be accessed by home occupants from anywhere and at any time. However, advanced smart home applications will introduce grand security challenges due to the increase in the attack surface. Current approaches do not handle cybersecurity from a holistic point of view; hence, a systematic cybersecurity mechanism needs to be adopted when designing smart home applications. In this paper, we present a generic intrusion detection methodology to detect and mitigate the anomaly behaviors happened in Smart Home Systems (SHS). By utilizing our Smart Home Context Data Structure, the heterogeneous information and services acquired from SHS are mapped in context attributes which can describe the context of smart home operation precisely and accurately. Runtime models for describing usage patterns of home assets are developed based on characterization functions. A threat-aware action management methodology, used to efficiently mitigate anomaly behaviors, is proposed at the end. Our preliminary experimental results show that our methodology can be used to detect and mitigate known and unknown threats, as well as to protect SHS premises and services.

Keywords: Internet of Things, network security, context awareness, intrusion detection

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Authors: Toumi Farah, Charallah Salima

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In the Algerian Sahara, goat farming is predominant, and it’s associated with other types of breeding, particularly camel and sheep; it also constitutes a significant proportion of breeding exclusively goat. This Saharan goat is a small ruminant with a black dress with white’s spots, hanging ears, and a coat more or less long. It is known for its hardiness and resistance to adverse conditions of arid zones and its perfect ecophysiological adaptation to harsh environmental conditions. However, pregnancy alterations, particularly abortion, degrade its productivity and cause economic losses, having both direct and indirect effects on animal production, like the costs of veterinary interventions and the reconstitution of livestock. The purpose of this work is to study the histological aspect of the liver of goats’ aborted living under nomadic herds in the region of Béni-Abbès (30° 7' N, 2° 10 'O). The organs were collected in physiological serum, rinsed, and then fixed with formaldehyde (37°, diluted at 10%). After that, these samples were processed for a topographic study. The morphometric study of the liver was performed by using an image analysis and processing software "Image J"; the various measurements obtained are intended to specify the supposed stage of development according to the body weight. The histological structure of the liver shows that the hepatic parenchyma consists of vascular conjunctive spaces surrounded by Glisson’s capsule. The sinusoids and hepatic portal vein are full of red blood cells, representing sinusoidal congestion and a thrombosed vein. At high magnification, the blood vessels show the presence of vascular thrombosis and haemorrhage in some areas of the hepatic parenchyma. Morphometric analysis shows that the number of liver parenchymal cells and the diameter of liver vessels vary according to the stage of development. The results obtained will provide details of the anatomical and cellular elements that can be used in the diagnosis of early or late abortion and late embryonic death. It would be interesting to find, by immunohistochemistry, some inflammatory markers useful for monitoring the progress of pregnancy and bioindicators of fetomaternal distress.

Keywords: aborting goat, arid zone, liver, histopathology

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Authors: Cleiton Pons Ferreira, Diana Francisca Adamatti

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Advancements in computers technology have allowed to obtain information for research in biology and neuroscience. In order to transform the data from these surveys, networks have long been used to represent important biological processes, changing the use of this tools from purely illustrative and didactic to more analytic, even including interaction analysis and hypothesis formulation. Many studies have involved this application, but not directly for interpretation of data obtained from brain functions, asking for new perspectives of development in neuroinformatics using existent models of tools already disseminated by the bioinformatics. This study includes an analysis of neurological data through electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, using the Cytoscape, an open source software tool for visualizing complex networks in biological databases. The data were obtained from a comparative case study developed in a research from the University of Rio Grande (FURG), using the EEG signals from a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) with 32 eletrodes prepared in the brain of a blind and a sighted individuals during the execution of an activity that stimulated the spatial ability. This study intends to present results that lead to better ways for use and adapt techniques that support the data treatment of brain signals for elevate the understanding and learning in neuroscience.

Keywords: neuroinformatics, bioinformatics, network tools, brain mapping

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Authors: Menelik Tilahun Alemu

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Customs administrations are now increasingly regarded as the key border agencies responsible for all transactions related to issues arising from the border crossings of goods and people. Raising revenue has traditionally been high on the agenda of governments, represented by the Ministry of Finance (MOF), because of the critical importance of import duties as a source of budget revenue for many developing countries. Most of these functions are undertaken in close cooperation with other national agencies. Due to the need to make structural reforms that consider the nature of business activities in the world and the needs of consumers, the institution was previously divided into the Ministry of Revenue and the Customs Commission. Accordingly, the Ministry of Revenue is primarily responsible for administering and collecting local taxes, while the Customs Commission is responsible for administering customs matters; It supports exports and collects revenue from it. The National Import and Export Trade Service System is working to make the world more transparent and standardized and adapt to the current situation by formulating various guidelines, rules and procedures to provide a clear, simple, predictable and accessible service to customers. As a result, the commission will be able to streamline the business process by enabling Paperless customer service to support the service delivery technology and eliminate the customer iteration without having to incur unnecessary costs and inconveniences.

Keywords: business, consumers, adapt, transparent

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Authors: Azhar Jabareen, Mahmoud Huleihel

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BRCA-1 is a multifunctional tumor suppressor, whose expression is activated by the estrogen (E2)-liganded ERα receptor. The activated ERα is a transcriptional factor which activates various genes either by direct binding to the DNA at E2-responsive elements (EREs) and indirectly associated with a range of alternative non-ERE elements. Interference with BRCA-1 expression and/or functions leads to high risk of breast or/and ovarian cancer. Our lab investigated the involvement of Human T-cell leukemia Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1) in breast cancer, since HTLV-1 Tax was found to strongly inhibit BRCA-1 expression. In addition, long exposure of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), which is one of the stress-inducing agents activated the HTLV-1 promoter. So here the involvement of TPA in breast cancer had been examined by testing the effect of TPA on BRCA-1 and ERE expression. The results showed that TPA activated both BRCA-1 and ERE expression. In the 12 hours TPA activated the tow promoters more than others time, and after 24 hours the level of the tow promoters was decreased. Tax inhibited BRCA-1 expression but did not succeed to inhibit the effect of TPA. Then the activation of the two promoters was not through ERα pathway because TPA had no effect on ERα binding to the two promoters of the BRCA-1 and ERE. Also, the activation was not via nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway because when the inhibitory of NF-κB had been added to the TPA, it still activated the tow promoters. However, it seems that 53BP1 may be involved in TPA activation of these promoters because ectopic high expression of 53BP1 significantly reduced the TPA activity. In addition, in the presence of Bisindolylmaleimide-I (BI)- the inhibitor of Protein Kinase C (PKC)- there was no activation for the two promoters, so the PKC is agonized BRCA-1 and ERE activation.

Keywords: BRCA-1, ERE, HTLV-1, TPA

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Authors: Chengcao Sun, Shujun Li, Cuili Yang, Yongyong Xi, Liang Wang, Feng Zhang, Dejia Li

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Recently, the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) NEAT1 has been identified as an oncogenic gene in multiple cancer types and elevated expression of NEAT1 was tightly linked to tumorigenesis and cancer progression. However, the molecular basis for this observation has not been characterized in progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In our studies, we identified NEAT1 was highly expressed in NSCLC patients and was a novel regulator of NSCLC progression. Patients whose tumors had high NEAT1 expression had a shorter overall survival than patients whose tumors had low NEAT1 expression. Further, NEAT1 significantly accelerates NSCLC cell growth and metastasis in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Additionally, by using bioinformatics study and RNA pull down combined with luciferase reporter assays, we demonstrated that NEAT1 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for has-miR-377-3p, antagonized its functions and led to the de-repression of its endogenous targets E2F3, which was a core oncogene in promoting NSCLC progression. Taken together, these observations imply that the NEAT1 modulated the expression of E2F3 gene by acting as a competing endogenous RNA, which may build up the missing link between the regulatory miRNA network and NSCLC progression.

Keywords: long non-coding RNA NEAT1, hsa-miRNA-377-3p, E2F3, non-small cell lung cancer, tumorigenesis

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Authors: Itumeleng Phage

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Students’ comprehension of graphs may be affected by the characteristics of the discipline in which the graph is used, the type of the task as well as the background of the students who are the readers or interpreters of the graph. This research study investigated these aspects of the graph comprehension of 152 first-year undergraduate physics students by comparing their responses to corresponding tasks in the mathematics and physics disciplines. The discipline characteristics were analysed for four task-related constructs namely coordinates, representations, area and slope. Students’ responses to corresponding visual decoding and judgement tasks set in mathematics and kinematics contexts were statistically compared. The effects of the participants’ gender, year of school completion and study course were determined as reader characteristics. The results of the empirical study indicated that participants generally transferred their mathematics knowledge on coordinates and representation of straight line graphs to the physics contexts, but not in the cases of parabolic and hyperbolic functions or area under graphs. Insufficient understanding of the slope concept contributed to weak performances on this construct in both mathematics and physics contexts. Discipline characteristics seem to play a vital role in students’ understanding, while reader characteristics had insignificant to medium effects on their responses.

Keywords: kinematics graph, discipline characteristics, constructs, coordinates, representations, area and slope

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Authors: Apirak Sombat, Teerapol Saleewong, Poom Kumam, Parin Chaipunya, Wiyada Kumam, Anantachai Padcharoen, Yeol Je Cho, Thana Sutthibutpong

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This research is aimed to study a two-step iteration process defined over a finite family of σ-asymptotically quasi-nonexpansive nonself-mappings. The strong convergence is guaranteed under the framework of Banach spaces with some additional structural properties including strict and uniform convexity, reflexivity, and smoothness assumptions. With similar projection technique for nonself-mapping in Hilbert spaces, we hereby use the generalized projection to construct a point within the corresponding domain. Moreover, we have to introduce the use of duality mapping and its inverse to overcome the unavailability of duality representation that is exploit by Hilbert space theorists. We then apply our results for σ-asymptotically quasi-nonexpansive nonself-mappings to solve for ideal efficiency of vector optimization problems composed of finitely many objective functions. We also showed that the obtained solution from our process is the closest to the origin. Moreover, we also give an illustrative numerical example to support our results.

Keywords: asymptotically quasi-nonexpansive nonself-mapping, strong convergence, fixed point, uniformly convex and uniformly smooth Banach space

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Authors: Alyaa M. Younes, Nermine Harraz, Mohammad H. Elwany

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Lithium ion batteries are currently used for many applications including satellites, electric vehicles and mobile electronics. Their ability to store relatively large amount of energy in a limited space make them most appropriate for critical applications. Evaluation of the life of these batteries and their reliability becomes crucial to the systems they support. Reliability of Li-Ion batteries has been mainly considered based on its lifetime. However, another important factor that can be considered critical in many applications such as in electric vehicles is the cycle duration. The present work presents the results of an experimental investigation on the degradation behavior of a Laptop Li-ion battery (type TKV2V) and the effect of applied load on the battery cycle time. The reliability was evaluated using an accelerated life test. Least squares linear regression with median rank estimation was used to estimate the Weibull distribution parameters needed for the reliability functions estimation. The probability density function, failure rate and reliability function under each of the applied loads were evaluated and compared. An inverse power model is introduced that can predict cycle time at any stress level given.

Keywords: accelerated life test, inverse power law, lithium-ion battery, reliability evaluation, Weibull distribution

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Authors: Sarah Iaquinta, Christophe Blanquart, Elena Ishow, Sylvain Freour, Frederic Jacquemin, Shahram Khazaie

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Nanoparticles have recently emerged as a possible cancer treatment tool. Several formulations have been used to enhance the uptake of these nanoparticles by cancer cells and avoid their immediate clearance when administrated in vivo. Most of the previous studies focus on the investigation of the influence of the mechanical properties of the cell membrane and the particle. However, these studies do not account for the variation of adhesion and tension during the wrapping of the nanoparticle by the membrane. These couplings should be considered since the cell adapts to the interaction with the nanoparticle by, e.g., increasing the number of interactions (consequently leading to an increase of the cell membrane/nanoparticle adhesion) and by reorganizing its cytoskeleton, leading to the releasing of the tension of the cell membrane. The main contribution of this work is the proposal of a novel model for representing the cellular uptake of rigid circular nanoparticles based on an energetic model tailored to take into account the adaptation of the nanoparticle/cell membrane adhesion and of the membrane stress during wrapping. Several coupling models using sigmoidal functions are considered and compared. The study calculations revealed that the results considering constant parameters underestimated the final wrapping degree of the particle by up to 50%.

Keywords: adhesion, cellular adaptation, cellular uptake, mechanical properties, tension

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Authors: E. Ormeno, C. Gutigny, J. Ruffault, J. Madrigal, M. Guijarro, C. Lecareux, C. Ballini

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Mediterranean plant species feature numerous metabolic and morpho-physiological responses crucial to survive under both, typical Mediterranean drought conditions and future aggravated drought expected by climate change. Whether these adaptive responses will, in turn, increase the ecosystem perturbation in terms of fire hazard, is an issue that needs to be addressed. The aim of this study was to test whether recurrent and aggravated drought in the Mediterranean area favors the accumulation of waxes in leaf litter, with an eventual increase of litter flammability. The study was conducted in 2017 in a garrigue in Southern France dominated by Quercus coccifera, where two drought treatments were used: a treatment with recurrent aggravated drought consisting of ten rain exclusion structures which withdraw part of the annual precipitation since January 2012, and a natural drought treatment where Q. coccifera stands are free of such structures and thus grow under natural precipitation. Waxes were extracted with organic solvent and analyzed by GC-MS and litter flammability was assessed through measurements of the ignition delay, flame residence time and flame intensity (flame height) using an epiradiator as well as the heat of combustion using an oxygen bomb calorimeter. Results show that after 5 years of rain restriction, wax content in the cuticle of leaf litter increases significantly compared to shrubs growing under natural precipitation, in accordance with the theoretical knowledge which expects increases of cuticle waxes in green leaves in order to limit water evapotranspiration. Wax concentrations were also linearly and positively correlated to litter flammability, a correlation that lies on the high flammability own to the long-chain alkanes (C25-C31) found in leaf litter waxes. This innovative investigation shows that climate change is likely to favor ecosystem fire hazard through accumulation of highly flammable waxes in litter. It also adds valuable information about the types of metabolites that are associated with increasing litter flammability, since so far, within the leaf metabolic profile, only terpene-like compounds had been related to plant flammability.

Keywords: cuticular waxes, drought, flammability, litter

Procedia PDF Downloads 161