Search results for: target specificity

Authors: Ashfaque Hossain Khan, Brian Thomson, Ratan Debnath, Abhishek Motayed, Mulpuri V. Rao

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Though the efforts had been made, the problem of cross-sensitivity for a single metal oxide-based sensor can’t be fully eliminated. In this work, a sensor array has been designed and fabricated comprising of platinum (Pt), copper (Cu), and silver (Ag) decorated TiO2 and ZnO functionalized GaN nanowires using industry-standard top-down fabrication approach. The metal/metal-oxide combinations within the array have been determined from prior molecular simulation study using first principle calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). The gas responses were obtained for both single and mixture of NO2, SO2, ethanol, and H2 in the presence of H2O and O2 gases under UV light at room temperature. Each gas leaves a unique response footprint across the array sensors by which precise discrimination of cross-sensitive gases has been achieved. An unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA) technique has been implemented on the array response. Results indicate that each gas forms a distinct cluster in the score plot for all the target gases and their mixtures, indicating a clear separation among them. In addition, the developed array device consumes very low power because of ultra-violet (UV) assisted sensing as compared to commercially available metal-oxide sensors. The nanowire sensor array, in combination with PCA, is a potential approach for precise real-time gas monitoring applications.

Keywords: cross-sensitivity, gas sensor, principle component analysis (PCA), sensor array

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: M. Leonora D. Guerrero

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The study attempted to uncover the most and least frequent phonological variation evident in the speech patterns of grade 1 teachers in select public elementary schools in the Philippines. It also determined the lectal description of the participants based on Tayao’s consonant charts for American and Philippine English. Descriptive method was utilized. A total of 24 grade 1 teachers participated in the study. The instrument used was word list. Each column in the word list is represented by words with the target consonant phonemes: labiodental fricatives f/ and /v/ and lingua-alveolar fricative /z/. These phonemes were in the initial, medial, and final positions, respectively. Findings of the study revealed that the most frequent variation happened when the participants read words with /z/ in the final position while the least frequent variation happened when the participants read words with /z/ in the initial position. The study likewise proved that the grade 1 teachers exhibited the segmental features of both the mesolect and basilect. Based on these results, it is suggested that teachers of English in the Philippines must aspire to manifest the features of the mesolect, if not, the acrolect since it is expected of the academicians not to be displaying the phonological features of the acrolects since this variety is only used by the 'uneducated.' This is especially so with grade 1 teachers who are often mimicked by their students who classify their speech as the 'standard.'

Keywords: consonant phonemes, lectal description, Philippine English, phonological variation

Procedia PDF Downloads 216

Authors: Shital Suresh Borse, Vijayalaxmi Kadroli

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E-commerce industries nowadays implement the latest AI, ML Techniques to improve their own performance and prediction accuracy. This helps to gain a huge profit from the online market. Ant Colony Optimization, Genetic algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization, Neural Network & GWO help many e-commerce industries for up-gradation of their predictive performance. These algorithms are providing optimum results in various applications, such as stock price prediction, prediction of drug-target interaction & user ratings of similar products in e-commerce sites, etc. In this study, customer reviews will play an important role in prediction analysis. People showing much interest in buying a lot of services& products suggested by other customers. This ultimately increases net profit. In this work, a convolution neural network (CNN) is proposed which further is useful to optimize the prediction accuracy of an e-commerce website. This method shows that CNN is used to optimize hyperparameters of GWO algorithm using an appropriate coding scheme. Accurate model results are verified by comparing them to PSO results whose hyperparameters have been optimized by CNN in Amazon's customer review dataset. Here, experimental outcome proves that this proposed system using the GWO algorithm achieves superior execution in terms of accuracy, precision, recovery, etc. in prediction analysis compared to the existing systems.

Keywords: prediction analysis, e-commerce, machine learning, grey wolf optimization, particle swarm optimization, CNN

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Kuan-Jen Lai, Fang-Yi Lin, Shang-Rong Huang, Yun-Zheng Zeng, Po-Chieh Hsu, Jay Wu

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The normalized glandular dose (DgN) estimates the energy deposition of mammography in clinical practice. The Monte Carlo simulations frequently use uniformly mixed phantom for calculating the conversion factor. However, breast tissues are not uniformly distributed, leading to errors of conversion factor estimation. This study constructed a three-layer phantom to estimated more accurate of normalized glandular dose. In this study, MCNP code (Monte Carlo N-Particles code) was used to create the geometric structure. We simulated three types of target/filter combinations (Mo/Mo, Mo/Rh, Rh/Rh), six voltages (25 ~ 35 kVp), six HVL parameters and nine breast phantom thicknesses (2 ~ 10 cm) for the three-layer mammographic phantom. The conversion factor for 25%, 50% and 75% glandularity was calculated. The error of conversion factors compared with the results of the American College of Radiology (ACR) was within 6%. For Rh/Rh, the difference was within 9%. The difference between the 50% average glandularity and the uniform phantom was 7.1% ~ -6.7% for the Mo/Mo combination, voltage of 27 kVp, half value layer of 0.34 mmAl, and breast thickness of 4 cm. According to the simulation results, the regression analysis found that the three-layer mammographic phantom at 0% ~ 100% glandularity can be used to accurately calculate the conversion factors. The difference in glandular tissue distribution leads to errors of conversion factor calculation. The three-layer mammographic phantom can provide accurate estimates of glandular dose in clinical practice.

Keywords: Monte Carlo simulation, mammography, normalized glandular dose, glandularity

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: Zunnu Raen Akhtar

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Cotton Leaf Curl Disease (CLCuD) is from Gemini virus and is transmitted through whiteflies in cotton. Transgenic cotton containing Antisense Coat Protein (ACP) has been found to show better results against CLCuD in cotton. In current research, Antisense Coat Protein was inserted in cotton plants to observe resistance developed in the cotton plants against CLCuD. T1 generation of plants were observed for its expression in plants. Tests were carried out to observe the expression of Antisense Coat Protein using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique and by southern blotting. Whiteflies showing positive Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) were reared and released in bioassay on ACP expressing cotton plants under laboratory as well as confined semi-field conditions. Results confirmed the expression of AC protein in PCR and southern blotting. Further laboratory results showed that cotton plants expressing AC protein showed rare incidence of CLCuD infection as compared to control. In the confined semi-field, similar results were observed in AC protein expressing cotton as compared to control. These results explicitly show that ACP can help to tackle the CLCuD issue in the future and further studies on biochemical processes involved in these plants and effects of ACP induction on non-target organisms should also be studied for eco-system.

Keywords: cotton, white flies, antisense coat protein, CLCV

Procedia PDF Downloads 185

Authors: Zubair Ahmad

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Drawing from social exchange theory, this study proposes to explore the association between corporate social responsibility as external CSR and Internal CSR with employees' green behavior. Furthermore, the author also analyzed the moderating role of organizational trust among the aforementioned associations. The target respondents for this descriptive study were employees working hotel industry of Pakistan. An online questionnaire link was sent to hotel managers and is requested to share the questionnaire link with employees. The respondents for this study were selected through the convenience sampling technique. The collected data from participants is analyzed through AMOS and SPSS. The findings show that both internal corporate social responsibility and external corporate social responsibility exert a positive and significant influence on employees' green behavior. Thus it is concluded that the key driver behind the green behavior of hotel employees is the social setting of their workplace. Findings also revealed that organizational trust plays a positive role in enhancing the green behavior of hotel employees. This study extends the literature on corporate social responsibility by exploring the boundary role of organizational trust between internal and external corporate social responsibility and employees' green behavior in hotels. Moreover, CSR activities should be performed for attaining a competitive edge and maintaining a balance between progress and sustainability of the environment.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, internal corporate social responsibility, external corporate social responsibility, social exchange theory, employee green behavior, organizational trust

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Authors: Carlos H. Cuadra

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Seismic isolation can be used as a retrofit method for historical buildings with the advantage that minimum intervention on super-structure is required. However, selection of isolation devices depends on weight and stiffness of upper structure. In this study, two buildings are considered for analyses to evaluate the applicability of this retrofitting methodology. Both buildings are located at Akita prefecture in the north part of Japan. One building is a wooden structure that corresponds to the old council meeting hall of Noshiro city. The second building is a brick masonry structure that was used as house of a foreign mining engineer and it is located at Ani town. Ambient vibration measurements were performed on both buildings to estimate their dynamic characteristics. Then, target period of vibration of isolated systems is selected as 3 seconds is selected to estimate required stiffness of isolation devices. For wooden structure, which is a light construction, it was found that natural rubber isolators in combination with friction bearings are suitable for seismic isolation. In case of masonry building elastomeric isolator can be used for its seismic isolation. Lumped mass systems are used for seismic response analysis and it is verified in both cases that seismic isolation can be used as retrofitting method of historical construction. However, in the case of the light building, most of the weight corresponds to the reinforced concrete slab that is required to install isolation devices.

Keywords: historical building, finite element method, masonry structure, seismic isolation, wooden structure

Procedia PDF Downloads 157

Authors: Sunarti Sinaga, Hsueh-Jung Lu, Jia-Rong Lin

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Blue mackerel (Scomber australasicus) is a crucial target species for Taiwan coastal fisheries and has maintained its status as the highest-produced species. Timely measurement of spawning status is crucial for determining the correct management strategy for this species. The objective of this study was to determine size at maturity, fecundity, batch fecundity, and spawning frequency on the basis of samples collected from Nan-Fang-Ao fishing port in Yilan during the spawning season from 2017 to 2019. Histological sections indicated that the blue mackerel are multiple spawners. A higher percentage of female fish spawned at the peak of the gonadosomatic index. The 50% sizes at maturity were 32.02, 32.13, and 29.64 cm. Mean total fecundity (batch fecundity) was 165 (103), 229 (96), and 210 (68) oocytes per ovary-free weight (g) for 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively; fecundity was determined through observation of postovulatory follicles (POFs). The spawning frequencies (spawning fraction) in 2017, 2018, and 2019 were 3–10 days (0.13), 4–14 days (0.08), and 4–12 days (0.08), respectively. The spawning frequencies determined through the 3 estimated methods, namely the sums of (a) hydrated and Day 0 POFs; (b) Day 1+ POFs, and (c) all data combined, were 1 spawning event per 8, 10, and 9 days, respectively. The reproduction of the blue mackerel was greater in 2017 than it was in 2018 or 2019, as indicated by the higher batch fecundity and shorter spawning seasons. Environmental factors should also be considered as a major factor influencing successful reproduction and the spawning season.

Keywords: scomber australasicus, spawning frequency, batch fecundity, fecundity

Procedia PDF Downloads 106

Authors: Zunaidah Ab Hasan, Azhana Othman, Abd Halim Mohd Noor, Nor Shahrina Mohd Rafien

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Zakat is a portion of wealth contributed from financially able Muslims to be distributed to predetermine recipients; main among them are the poor and the needy. Distribution of the zakat fund is given with the objective to lift the recipients from poverty. Due to the multidimensional and multifaceted nature of poverty, it is imperative that the causes of poverty are properly identified for assistance given by zakat authorities reached the intended target. Despite, various studies undertaken to identify the poor correctly, there are reports of the poor not receiving the adequate assistance required from zakat. Thus, this study examines the determinants of poverty among applicants for zakat assistance distributed by the State Islamic Religious Council in Malacca (SIRCM). Malacca is a state in Malaysia. The respondents were based on the list of names of new zakat applicants for the month of April and May 2014 provided by SIRCM. A binary logistic regression was estimated based on this data with either zakat applications is rejected or accepted as the dependent variable and set of demographic variables and health as the explanatory variables. Overall, the logistic model successfully predicted factors of acceptance of zakat applications. Three independent variables namely gender, age; size of households and health significantly explain the likelihood of a successful zakat application. Among others, the finding suggests the importance of focusing on providing education opportunity in helping the poor.

Keywords: logistic regression, zakat distribution, status of zakat applications, poverty, education

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Samanta Tiague, Igor Michel Gachig

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The practice of inclusive education within general education classrooms is becoming more prevalent in Cameroon. In this context, quality Education is an important driver of the development agenda in this era of global sustainable development. This requires that the Cameroon’s educational system be strategically restructured to provide every citizen with the needed quality education for sustainable development. This study thus examined the need for the restructuring of the Cameroon educational system towards inclusive education as a target of the Sustainable Development Goal #4 (Ensure Quality Education), from a critical disability theory perspective. Special focus was on the education of children with visual impairment in the early childhood classroom. This study is suggesting a model design of responsive and contextual inclusive education policies, and the provision of quality human, material and financial educational resources to support the improvement of curriculums and inclusive instructional strategies. This paper is therefore designed as a basic starting point for early childhood educators with limited to no experience in working with students having visual impairments. Ultimately, this work represents a contribution to early childhood educators toward understanding visual impairment challenges and innovative practices to approach accessibility in a meaningful way to students in Cameroon. This is important to achieve quality education due to the peculiar nature of the educational needs of children with visual impairment, toward attainment of the global sustainable development agenda.

Keywords: early childhood educators, inclusive education, sustainable development, visual impairment

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Florence A. Undiyaundeye, Aniashie Akpanke

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Early identification of developmental disorders in infants and toddlers is critical for the well being of children. It is also an integral function of the primary care medical provider and the early care given in the home or crèche. This paper is focused at providing information on special need infants and toddlers and strategies to support them in developmental concern to cope with the challenges in and out of the classroom and to interact with their peers without stigmatization and inferiority complex. The target children are from birth through three years of age. There is a strong recommendation for developmental surveillance to be incorporated at every well child preventive care program in training and practical stage of formal school settings. The paper posits that any concerns raised during surveillance should be promptly addressed with standardized developmental screening by appropriate health service providers. In addition screening tests should be administered regularly at age 9+, 19+ and 30 months of these infants. The paper also establishes that the early identification of these developmental challenges of the infants and toddlers should lead to further developmental and medical evaluation, diagnosis and treatment, including early developmental school intervention, control and teaching and learning integration and inclusion for proper career build up. Children diagnosed with developmental disorders should be identified as children with special needs so that management is initiated and its underlying etiology may also drive a range of treatment of the child, to parents. Conselling and school integration as applicable to the child’s specific need and care for sustenance in societal functioning.

Keywords: care, special need, support, infants and toddlers, management and developmental disorders

Procedia PDF Downloads 388

Authors: Hernan D. Mejia, Gilberto B. Gaitan, Mauricio A. Franco

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420 steel is normally used in the manufacture of dental and surgical instrumentation, as well as parts in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries, among others, where they must withstand heavy loads and often be in contact with corrosive environments, which leads to wear and deterioration of these steels in relatively short times. In the case of medical applications, the instruments made of this steel also suffer wear and corrosion during the repetitive sterilization processes due to the relatively low achievable hardness of just 50 HRC and its hardly acceptable resistance to corrosion. In order to improve the wear resistance of 420 steel, TiAlN coatings were deposited, increasing the aluminum content in the alloy by varying the power applied to the aluminum target of 900, 1100, and 1300 W. Evaluations using XRD, Micro Raman, XPS, AFM, SEM, and TEM showed a columnar growth crystal structure with an average thickness of 2 microns and consisting of the TiN and TiAlN phases, whose roughness and grain size decrease with a higher Al content. The AlN phase also appears in the sample deposited at 1300W. The hardness, determined by nanoindentation, initially increases with the aluminum content from 9.7 GPa to 17.1 GPa, but then decreases to 15.4 GPa for the sample with the highest aluminum content due to the appearance of hexagonal AlN and a decrease of harder TiN and TiAlN phases. It was observed that the wear coefficient had a contrary behavior, which took values of 2.7; 1.7 and 6.6x10⁻⁶ mm³/N.m, respectively. All the coated samples significantly improved the wear resistance of the uncoated 420 steel.

Keywords: hard coatings, magnetron sputtering, TiAlN coatings, surgical instruments, wear resistance

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Vishal D. Bharud, B. J. Patil, S. S. Dahiwale, V. N. Bhoraskar, S. D. Dhole

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Photon induced average reaction cross section of ¹¹¹Cd (γ, γ`) ¹¹¹ᵐCd reaction was experimentally determined for the bremsstrahlung energy spectrum of 6 MeV by utilizing the activation and offline γ-ray spectrometric techniques. The 6 MeV electron accelerator Racetrack Microtron of Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune was used for the experimental work. The bremsstrahlung spectrum generated by bombarding 6 MeV electrons on lead target was theoretically estimated by FLUKA code. Bremsstrahlung radiation can have energies exceeding the threshold of the particle emission, which is normally above 6 MeV. Photons of energies below the particle emission threshold undergo absorption into discrete energy levels, with possibility of exciting nuclei to excited state including metastable state. The ¹¹¹Cd (γ, γ`) ¹¹¹ᵐCd reaction cross sections were calculated at different energies of bombarding Photon by using the TALYS 1.8 computer code with a default parameter. The focus of the present work was to study the (γ,γ’) reaction for exciting ¹¹¹Cd nuclei to metastable states which have threshold energy below 3 MeV. The flux weighted average cross section was obtained from the theoretical values of TALYS 1.8 and TENDL 2017 and is found to be in good agreement with the present experimental cross section.

Keywords: bremsstrahlung, cross section, FLUKA, TALYS-1.8

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: Kamran Siddique, Hiroyuki Asada, Yoshifumi Ogami

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Micro gas turbine (MGT) nowadays has a wide variety of applications from drones to hybrid electric vehicles. As microfabrication technology getting better, the size of MGT is getting smaller. Overall performance of MGT is dependent on the individual components. Each component’s performance is dependent and interrelated with another component. Therefore, careful consideration needs to be given to each and every individual component of MGT. In this study, the focus is on improving the performance of the compressor in order to improve the overall performance of MGT. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is being performed using the software FLUENT to analyze the design of a micro compressor. Operating parameters like mass flow rate and RPM, and design parameters like inner blade angle (IBA), outer blade angle (OBA), blade thickness and number of blades are varied to study its effect on the performance of the compressor. Pressure ratio is used as a tool to measure the performance of the compressor. Higher the pressure ratio, better the design is. In the study, target mass flow rate is 0.2 g/s and RPM to be less than or equal to 900,000. So far, a pressure ratio of above 3 has been achieved at 0.2 g/s mass flow rate with 5 rotor blades, 0.36 mm blade thickness, 94.25 degrees OBA and 10.46 degrees IBA. The design in this study differs from a regular centrifugal compressor used in conventional gas turbines such that compressor is designed keeping in mind ease of manufacturability. So, this study proposes a compressor design which has a good pressure ratio, and at the same time, it is easy to manufacture using current microfabrication technologies.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, FLUENT microfabrication, RPM

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Emiljan Karma

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One of the major problems of the present is young people who are not concerned with employment, education, or training (NEETs). Unfortunately, this group of people in Albania is a considerable part of working-age people, and despite the measures taken, they remain a major problem. NEETs in Albania are very heterogeneous. This is since youth unemployment and inactivity rate are at a very high level (Albania has the highest NEET rate among EU candidates/potential candidates’ countries and EU countries); the high level of NEET rate in Albania means that government agencies responsible for labour market regulation and other social actors interested in the phenomenon (representatives of employees, representatives of employers, non-governmental organizations, etc.) did not effectively materialize the policies in the field of youth employment promotion. The National Agency for Employment and Skills (NAES) delivers measures specifically designed to target unemployed youth, being the key stakeholder in the implementation of employment policies and skills development in Albania. In the context of identifying and assisting NEETs, this role becomes even stronger. The experience of different EU countries (e.g., Youth Guarantee) indicates that there are different policy-making structures and various outreach mechanisms for constraining the youth NEET phenomenon. The purpose of this research is to highlight: (1) The identification of NEETs feature in Albania; (2) The identification of tailored and efficient outreach mechanisms to assist vulnerable NEETs; (3) The fundamental importance of stakeholders’ partnership at central and regional level.

Keywords: labor market, NEETs, non-registered NEETs, unemployment

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Nor Kalsum M. Isa, Mohd Yazid M. Yunos, Anuar Alias, Mazdi Marzuki, Kamarul Ismail, Mohd H. Ibrahim

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Green building is an emerging concept with the ultimate target to achieve sustainable development by integrating sustainability goals and principles into project development. Basically, a green building is a building that is designed, constructed and operated to boost environmental, economic, health and productivity performance over conventional buildings. The buildings have been proven to be successful in contributing towards sustainability and project success. The purpose of this study was to determine the benefits of sustainability application in building projects, looking towards project success from the perspective of Malaysian key project stakeholders. The study also aimed to explore the establishment of sustainability goals in the green building projects in Malaysia. The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Concept of Sustainability was used as the foundation theoretical framework. Surveys, interviews and multiple case study methods were employed. A sample of 188 Malaysian building project stakeholders was selected for questionnaire surveys, and 15 stakeholders from three award-winning green building projects in Malaysia were involved in the interviews. The study found that the majority of the respondents were less aware that the sustainability integration in the building project can significantly affect cost reduction, schedule effectiveness and stakeholders’ satisfaction with the performance of buildings as at the same level as the quality performance. Of the four sustainability goals, the environmental aspect was given more priority than others in the development of the green building projects.

Keywords: green building, sustainability, project stakeholders, Malaysia

Procedia PDF Downloads 566

Authors: Sonam Kumari

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Tuberculosis is the deadliest disease worldwide. Millions of people lose their lives every year due to this disease. It has turned lethal due to the erratic nature of its causative organism, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Mtb tends to enter into an inactive, dormant state and emerge to replicating state upon encountering favorable conditions. The mechanism by which Mtb switches from the dormant state to the replicative form is still poorly characterized. Proteome studies have given us an insight into the role of certain proteins in giving stupendous virulence to Mtb, but numerous dotsremain unconnected and unaccounted. The WhiB family of proteins is one such protein that is associated with developmental processes in actinomycetes. Mtb has seven such proteins (WhiB1 to WhiB7). WhiB proteins are transcriptional regulators; they regulate various essential genes of Mtbby binding to their promoter DNA. Biophysical parameters of the effect of DNA binding on WhiB proteins has not yet been appropriately characterized. Interaction with DNA induces conformational changes in the WhiB proteins, confirmed by steady-state fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy. ITC has deduced thermodynamic parameters and the binding affinity of the interaction. Since these transcription factors are highly unstable in vitro, their stability and solubility were enhanced by the co-expression of molecular chaperones. The present study findings help determine the conditions under which the WhiB proteins interact with their interacting partner and the factors that influence their binding affinity. This is crucial in understanding their role in regulating gene expression in Mtbandin targeting WhiB proteins as a drug target to cure TB.

Keywords: mycobacterium tuberculosis, TB, whiB proteins, ITC

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: Feng Yin

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Clouds are inevitable contaminants in optical satellite imagery, and prevent the satellite imaging systems from acquiring clear view of the earth surface. The presence of clouds in satellite imagery bring negative influences for remote sensing land resources investigation. As a consequence, detecting the locations of clouds in satellite imagery is an essential preprocessing step, and further remove the existing clouds is crucial for the application of imagery. In this paper, a multi-temporal based satellite imagery cloud detection and removal method is proposed, which will be used for large-scale land resource investigation. The proposed method is mainly composed of four steps. First, cloud masks are generated for cloud contaminated images by single temporal cloud detection based on multiple spectral features. Then, a cloud-free reference image of target areas is synthesized by weighted averaging time-series images in which cloud pixels are ignored. Thirdly, the refined cloud detection results are acquired by multi-temporal analysis based on the reference image. Finally, detected clouds are removed via multi-temporal linear regression. The results of a case application in Hubei province indicate that the proposed multi-temporal cloud detection and removal method is effective and promising for large-scale land resource investigation.

Keywords: cloud detection, cloud remove, multi-temporal imagery, land resources investigation

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: L. Raczynski, P. Moskal, P. Kowalski, W. Wislicki, T. Bednarski, P. Bialas, E. Czerwinski, A. Gajos, L. Kaplon, A. Kochanowski, G. Korcyl, J. Kowal, T. Kozik, W. Krzemien, E. Kubicz, Sz. Niedzwiecki, M. Palka, Z. Rudy, O. Rundel, P. Salabura, N.G. Sharma, M. Silarski, A. Slomski, J. Smyrski, A. Strzelecki, A. Wieczorek, M. Zielinski, N. Zon

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The J-PET scanner, which allows for single bed imaging of the whole human body, is currently under development at the Jagiellonian University. The J-PET detector improves the TOF resolution due to the use of fast plastic scintillators. Since registration of the waveform of signals with duration times of few nanoseconds is not feasible, a novel front-end electronics allowing for sampling in a voltage domain at four thresholds was developed. To take fully advantage of these fast signals a novel scheme of recovery of the waveform of the signal, based on ideas from the Tikhonov regularization (TR) and Compressive Sensing methods, is presented. The prior distribution of sparse representation is evaluated based on the linear transformation of the training set of waveform of the signals by using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) decomposition. Beside the advantage of including the additional information from training signals, a further benefit of the TR approach is that the problem of signal recovery has an optimal solution which can be determined explicitly. Moreover, from the Bayes theory the properties of regularized solution, especially its covariance matrix, may be easily derived. This step is crucial to introduce and prove the formula for calculations of the signal recovery error. It has been proven that an average recovery error is approximately inversely proportional to the number of samples at voltage levels. The method is tested using signals registered by means of the single detection module of the J-PET detector built out from the 30 cm long BC-420 plastic scintillator strip. It is demonstrated that the experimental and theoretical functions describing the recovery errors in the J-PET scenario are largely consistent. The specificity and limitations of the signal recovery method in this application are discussed. It is shown that the PCA basis offers high level of information compression and an accurate recovery with just eight samples, from four voltage levels, for each signal waveform. Moreover, it is demonstrated that using the recovered waveform of the signals, instead of samples at four voltage levels alone, improves the spatial resolution of the hit position reconstruction. The experiment shows that spatial resolution evaluated based on information from four voltage levels, without a recovery of the waveform of the signal, is equal to 1.05 cm. After the application of an information from four voltage levels to the recovery of the signal waveform, the spatial resolution is improved to 0.94 cm. Moreover, the obtained result is only slightly worse than the one evaluated using the original raw-signal. The spatial resolution calculated under these conditions is equal to 0.93 cm. It is very important information since, limiting the number of threshold levels in the electronic devices to four, leads to significant reduction of the overall cost of the scanner. The developed recovery scheme is general and may be incorporated in any other investigation where a prior knowledge about the signals of interest may be utilized.

Keywords: plastic scintillators, positron emission tomography, statistical analysis, tikhonov regularization

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Authors: Lukumba Phiri, Simon Tembo, Kumbuso Joshua Nyoni

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In Zambia recent initiatives by various power operators like ZESCO, CEC, and consumers like the mines to upgrade power systems into smart grids target an even tighter integration with information technologies to enable the integration of renewable energy sources, local and bulk generation, and demand response. Thus, for the reliable operation of smart grids, its information infrastructure must be secure and reliable in the face of both failures and cyberattacks. Due to the nature of the systems, ICS/SCADA cybersecurity and governance face additional challenges compared to the corporate networks, and critical systems may be left exposed. There exist control frameworks internationally such as the NIST framework, however, there are generic and do not meet the domain-specific needs of the SCADA systems. Zambia is also lagging in cybersecurity awareness and adoption, therefore there is a concern about securing ICS controlling key infrastructure critical to the Zambian economy as there are few known facts about the true posture. In this paper, we introduce a stochastic Edged-based Anomaly Detection for SCADA systems (SEADS) framework for threat modeling and risk assessment. SEADS enables the calculation of steady-steady probabilities that are further applied to establish metrics like system availability, maintainability, and reliability.

Keywords: anomaly, availability, detection, edge, maintainability, reliability, stochastic

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Jia Xue, Frederica G. Lamar, Siyu Lin, Jennifer G. Lamori, Samendra Sherchan

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Brackish water samples from Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana were assessed for the presence of pathogenic amoeba Naegleria fowleri, which causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). In our study, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) methods were used to determine N. fowleri, E. coli, and Enterococcus in water collected from Lake Pontchartrain. A total of 158 water samples were analyzed over the 10-month sampling period. Statistically significant positive correlation between water temperature and N. fowleri concentration was observed. N. fowleri target sequence was detected at 35.4% (56/158) of the water samples from ten sites around the Lake ranged from 11.6 GC/100 ml water to 457.8 GC/100 ml water. A single factor (ANOVA) analysis shows the average concentration of N. fowleri in summer (119.8 GC/100 ml) was significantly higher than in winter (58.6 GC/100 ml) (p < 0.01). Statistically significant positive correlations were found between N. fowleri and qPCR E. coli results and N. fowleri and colilert E. coli (culture method), respectively. A weak positive correlation between E. coli and Enterococcus was observed from both qPCR (r = 0.27, p < 0.05) and culture based method (r = 0.52, p < 0.05). Meanwhile, significant positive correlation between qPCR and culture based methods for E. coli (r = 0.30, p < 0.05) and Enterococcus concentration was observed (r = 0.26, p < 0.05), respectively. Future research is needed to determine whether sediment is a source of N. fowleri found in the water column.

Keywords: brackish water, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus, Naegleria fowleri, primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), qPCR

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Authors: Muhammad Nooraiman bin Noorashid, Mohd Sharizuan bin Mohd Omar, Mohd Zabri Adil bin Talib, Aswami Fadillah bin Mohd Ariffin

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Nowadays cryptocurrency has become a global phenomenon known to most people. People using this alternative digital money to do a transaction in many ways (e.g. Used for online shopping, wealth management, and fundraising). However, this digital asset also widely used in criminal activities since its use decentralized control as opposed to centralized electronic money and central banking systems and this makes a user, who used this currency invisible. The high-value exchange of these digital currencies also has been a target to criminal activities. The cryptocurrency crimes have become a challenge for the law enforcement to analyze and to proof the evidence as criminal devices. In this paper, our focus is more on bitcoin cryptocurrency and the possible artifacts that can be obtained from the different type of digital wallet, which is software and browser-based application. The process memory and physical hard disk are examined with the aims of identifying and recovering potential digital evidence. The stage of data acquisition divided by three states which are the initial creation of the wallet, transaction that consists transfer and receiving a coin and the last state is after the wallet is being deleted. Findings from this study suggest that both data from software and browser type of wallet process memory is a valuable source of evidence, and many of the artifacts found in process memory are also available from the application and wallet files on the client computer storage.

Keywords: cryptocurrency, bitcoin, digital wallet, digital forensics

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Authors: Yasamiyan Alolaywi

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The sources of second language acquisition vary and depend on a learner’s preferences and choices; however, undoubtedly, the most effective methods provide authentic language input. This current study explores the effectiveness of watching movies as a means of English language acquisition. It explores university students’ views on the impact of this method in improving English language skills. The participants in this study were 74 students (25 males and 49 females) from the Department of English Language and Translation at Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. Data for this research were collected from questionnaires and individual interviews with several selected students. The findings of this study showed that many students watch movies frequently and for various purposes, the most important of which is entertainment. The students also admitted that movies help them acquire a great deal of vocabulary and develop their listening and writing skills. Also, the participants believed that exposure to a target language by native speakers helps enhance language fluency and proficiency. The students learn not only linguistic aspects from films but also other aspects, such as culture, lifestyle, and ways of thinking, in addition to learning other languages such as Spanish. In light of these results, some recommendations are proposed, such as verifying the feasibility of integrating media into a foreign language classroom. While this study covers aspects of the relationship between watching movies and English language acquisition, knowledge gaps remain that need to be filled by further research, such as on incorporating media into the educational process and how movie subtitles can improve learners’ language skills.

Keywords: language acquisition, English movies, EFL learners, perceptions

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Authors: A. Delimitsou, C. Gouedard, E. Konstanta, A. Koletis, S. Patera, E. Manou, K. Spaho, S. Murray

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Background: There remains a lack of International Standard Control Reference materials for Next Generation Sequencing-based approaches or device calibration. We have designed and validated dsDNA biomimetic reference materials for targeted such approaches incorporating proprietary motifs (patent pending) for device/test calibration. They enable internal single-sample calibration, alleviating sample comparisons to pooled historical population-based data assembly or statistical modelling approaches. We have validated such an approach for BRCA Copy Number Variation analytics using iQRS™-CNVSUITE versus Mixed Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification. Methods: Standard BRCA Copy Number Variation analysis was compared between mixed ligation-dependent probe amplification and next generation sequencing using a cohort of 198 breast/ovarian cancer patients. Next generation sequencing based copy number variation analysis of samples spiked with iQRS™ dsDNA biomimetics were analysed using proprietary CNVSUITE software. Mixed ligation-dependent probe amplification analyses were performed on an ABI-3130 Sequencer and analysed with Coffalyser software. Results: Concordance of BRCA – copy number variation events for mixed ligation-dependent probe amplification and CNVSUITE indicated an overall sensitivity of 99.88% and specificity of 100% for iQRS™-CNVSUITE. The negative predictive value of iQRS-CNVSUITE™ for BRCA was 100%, allowing for accurate exclusion of any event. The positive predictive value was 99.88%, with no discrepancy between mixed ligation-dependent probe amplification and iQRS™-CNVSUITE. For device calibration purposes, precision was 100%, spiking of patient DNA demonstrated linearity to 1% (±2.5%) and range from 100 copies. Traditional training was supplemented by predefining the calibrator to sample cut-off (lock-down) for amplicon gain or loss based upon a relative ratio threshold, following training of iQRS™-CNVSUITE using spiked iQRS™ calibrator and control mocks. BRCA copy number variation analysis using iQRS™-CNVSUITE™ was successfully validated and ISO15189 accredited and now enters CE-IVD performance evaluation. Conclusions: The inclusion of a reference control competitor (iQRS™ dsDNA mimetic) to next generation sequencing-based sequencing offers a more robust sample-independent approach for the assessment of copy number variation events compared to mixed ligation-dependent probe amplification. The approach simplifies data analyses, improves independent sample data analyses, and allows for direct comparison to an internal reference control for sample-specific quantification. Our iQRS™ biomimetic reference materials allow for single sample copy number variation analytics and further decentralisation of diagnostics to single patient sample assessment.

Keywords: validation, diagnostics, oncology, copy number variation, reference material, calibration

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Authors: Giulia Colonna, Jocelyn Hoye, Bart de Laat, Gelsina Stanley, Jose Key, Alaaddin Ibrahimy, Sule Tinaz, Evan D. Morris

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Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease and affects approximately 1% of the world’s population. Increasing evidence suggests that aerobic physical exercise can be beneficial in mitigating both motor and non-motor symptoms of the disease. In a recent pilot study of the role of exercise on PD, we sought to confirm exercise intensity by monitoring heart rate (HR). For this purpose, we asked participants to wear a chest strap heart rate monitor (Polar Electro Oy, Kempele). The device sometimes proved uncomfortable. Looking forward to larger clinical trials, it would be convenient to employ a more comfortable and user friendly device. The Fitbit Charge 4 (Fitbit Inc) is a potentially comfortable, user-friendly solution since it is a wrist-worn heart rate monitor. Polar H10 has been used in large trials, and for our purposes, we treated it as the gold standard for the beat-to-beat period (R-R interval) assessment. In previous literature, it has been shown that Fitbit Charge 4 has comparable accuracy to Polar H10 in healthy subjects. It has yet to be determined if the Fitbit is as accurate as the Polar H10 in subjects with PD or in clinical populations, generally. Goal: To compare the Fitbit Charge 4 to the Polar H10 for monitoring HR in PD subjects engaging in an intensive exercise program. Methods: A total of 596 exercise sessions from 11 subjects (6 males) were collected simultaneously by both devices. Subjects with early-stage PD (Hoehn & Yahr <=2) were enrolled in a 6 months exercise training program designed for PD patients. Subjects participated in 3 one-hour exercise sessions per week. They wore both Fitbit and Polar H10 during each session. Sessions included rest, warm-up, intensive exercise, and cool-down periods. We calculated the bias in the HR via Fitbit under rest (5min) and intensive exercise (20min) by comparing the mean HR during each of the periods to the respective means measured by the Polar (HRFitbit – HRPolar). We also measured the sensitivity and specificity of Fitbit for detecting HRs that exceed the threshold for intensive exercise, defined as 70% of an individual’s theoretical maximum HR. Different types of correlation between the two devices were investigated. Results: The mean bias was 1.68 bpm at rest and 6.29 bpm during high intensity exercise, with an overestimation by Fitbit in both conditions. The mean bias of Fitbit across both rest and intensive exercise periods was 3.98 bpm. The sensitivity of the device in identifying high intensity exercise sessions was 97.14 %. The correlation between the two devices was non-linear, suggesting a saturation tendency of Fitbit to saturate at high values of HR. Conclusion: The performance of Fitbit Charge 4 is comparable to Polar H10 for assessing exercise intensity in a cohort of PD subjects. The device should be considered a reasonable replacement for the more cumbersome chest strap technology in future similar studies of clinical populations.

Keywords: fitbit, heart rate measurements, parkinson’s disease, wrist-wearable devices

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Authors: Okanta Andrew, Richmond Kweku Frempong

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As mobile networks are upgraded with technologies like WAP, GPRS and UMTS to deliver next-generation multimedia services, so are the banks and other financial institutions also getting ready to unleash the financial products on the mobile platform to meet growing demand for mobile based application services. Hence, the onset of Unstructured Supplementary Services (USSD) Banking which would make banking services available at anywhere, anytime through a string of interactive SMS sessions between a mobile device and an application server of a service provider. The aim of this studies was to find out whether the public will accept the sim banking service when it is implemented. Our target group includes: Working class. E. g. Businessmen/women, office workers, fishermen, market women, teachers etc. Nonworking class. E. g. Students (Tertiary, Senior High School), housewives. etc. The survey was in the form of a questionnaire and a verbal interview (video) which was to investigate their idea about the current banking system and the yet to be introduced sim banking concept. Meanwhile, some challenges accompanied the progression of data gathering because some populace showed reluctance in freeing their information. One other suggestion was that government should put measures against foremost challenges obstructing sim banking in Ghana counter to computers hackers. Government and individual have a key role to undertake to give suitable support to facelift the sim banking industry in the country. It was also suggested that Government put strong regulations on the use of sim banking products and services to streamline all the activities and also create awareness of the need for sim banking and emphasize its relevance in the aspect of national GDP.

Keywords: banking, mobile banking, SIM banking, mobile banking in Ghana

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Authors: Shabnam Alizadeh, Hatice Dumanoglu

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Plant tissue culture is a substantial plant propagation technique for mass clonal production throughout the year, regardless of time in fruit species. However, the rooting achievement must be enhanced in the difficult-to-root genotypes. Classical auxin applications in clonal propagation of these genotypes are inadequate to solve the rooting problem. Nanoparticles having different physical and chemical properties from bulk material could enhance the rooting success of controlled release of these substances when loaded with auxin due to their ability to reach the active substance up to the target cells as a carrier system.The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles loaded with indole-3-acetic acid (IAA-nZnO) and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA-nZnO) on in vitro rooting of microcuttings in a difficult-to-root apple genotype (Malus domestica Borkh.). Rooting treatments consisted of IBA or IAA at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 mg/L; nZnO, IAA-nZnO and IBA-nZnO at doses of 0.0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 mg/L were used. All components were added to the Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium at strength ½ with 2% sucrose and 0.7% agar before autoclaving. In the study, no rooting occurred in control and nZnO applications. Especially, 1.0 mg/L and 2.0 mg/L IBA-nZnO nanoparticle applications (containing 0.5 mg/L and 0.9 mg/L IBA), respectively with rooting rates of 40.3% and 70.4%, rooting levels of 2.0±0.4 and 2.3±0.4, 2.6±0.7 and 2.5±0.6 average root numbers and 20.4±1.6 mm and 20.2±3.4 mm average root lengths put forward as effective applications.

Keywords: Auxin, Malus, nanotechnology, zinc oxide nanoparticles

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Junie B. Billones, Maria Constancia O. Carrillo, Voltaire G. Organo, Stephani Joy Y. Macalino, Inno A. Emnacen, Jamie Bernadette A. Sy

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One of the major interferences in the Philippines’ tuberculosis control program is the widespread prevalence of Mtb strains that are resistant to known drugs, such as the MDR-TB (Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis) and XDR-TB (Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis). Therefore, there is a pressing need to search for novel Mtb drug targets in order to be able to combat these drug resistant strains. The enzyme 7,8-diaminopelargonic acid aminotransferase enzyme, or more commonly known as BioA, is one such ideal target, as it is known that humans do not possess this enzyme. BioA primarily plays a key role in Mtb’s lipid biosynthesis pathway; more specifically in the synthesis of the enzyme cofactor biotin. In this study, structure-based pharmacophore screening, docking, and ADMET evaluation of compounds obtained from the DrugBank chemical database were performed against the MtbBioA enzyme. Results of the screening, docking, ADMET, and TOPKAT calculations revealed that out of the 6,516 compounds in the library, only 7 compounds indicated more favorable binding energies as compared to the enzyme’s known inhibitor, amiclenomycin (ACM), as well as good solubility and toxicity properties. Moreover, out of these 7 compounds, Molecule 6 exhibited the best solubility and toxicity properties. In the future, these lead compounds may then be subjected to bioactivity assays in vitro or in vivo for further evaluation of its therapeutic efficacy.

Keywords: 7, 8-diaminopelargonic acid aminotransferase, BioA, pharmacophore, molecular docking, ADMET, TOPKAT

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Authors: Natalia V. Minaeva, Natalia A. Zorina, Marina N. Khorobrikh, Philipp S. Sherstnev, Tatiana V. Krivokorytova, Alexander S. Luchinin, Maksim S. Minaev, Igor V. Paramonov

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Background. Over the last few decades, the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) and the World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) have been actively working to ensure the safety of the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) donation process. Registration of adverse events that may occur during the donation period and establishing a relationship between donation and side effects are included in the WMDA international standards. The level of blood serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is an early marker of myocardial stress. Due to the high analytical sensitivity and specificity, laboratory assessment of NT-proBNP makes it possible to objectively diagnose myocardial dysfunction. It is well known that the main stimulus for proBNP synthesis and secretion from atrial and ventricular cardiac myocytes is myocyte stretch and increasement of myocardial extensibility and pressure in the heart chambers. Аim. The aim of the study was to assess the dynamic changes in the levels of blood serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide of unrelated donors at various stages of hematopoietic stem cell mobilization. Materials. We have examined 133 unrelated donors, including 92 men and 41 women, that have been included into the study. The NT-proBNP levels were measured before the start of mobilization, then on the day of apheresis, and after the donation of allogeneic HSC. The relationship between NT-proBNP levels and body mass index (BMI), ferritin, hemoglobin, and white blood cells (WBC) levels was assessed on the day of apheresis. The median age of donors was 34 years. Mobilization of HSCs was managed with filgrastim administration at a dose of 10 μg/kg daily for 4-5 days. The first leukocytapheresis was performed on day 4 from the start of filgrastim administration. Quantitative values of the blood serum NT-proBNP level are presented as a median (Me), first and third quartiles (Q1-Q3). Comparative analysis was carried out using the t-test and correlation analysis as well by Spearman method. Results. The baseline blood serum NT-proBNP levels in all 133 donors were within the reference values (<125 pg/ml) and equaled 21,6 (10,0; 43,3) pg/ml. At the same time, the level of NT-proBNP in women was significantly higher than that of men. On the day of the HSC apheresis, a significant increase of blood serum NT-proBNP levels was detected and equald 131,2 (72,6; 165,3) pg/ml (p<0,001), with higher rates in female donors. A statistically significant weak inverse correleation was established between the level of NT-proBNP and the BMI of donors (-0.18, p = 0,03), as well as the level of hemoglobin (-0.33, p <0,001), and ferritin levels (-0.19, p = 0,03). No relationship has been established between the magnitude of WBC levels achieved as a result of the mobilization of HSC on the day of leukocytapheresis. A day after the apheresis, the blood serum NT-proBNP levels still exceeded the reference values, but there was a decreasing tendency. Conclusion. An increase of the blood serum NT-proBNP level in unrelated donors during the mobilization of HSC was established. Future studies should clarify the reason for this phenomenon, as well as its effects on donors' long-term health.

Keywords: unrelated donors, mobilization, hematopoietic stem cells, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide

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Authors: Zsuzsanna Schnell, Francesca Ervas

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Background: Our study aims to explore the differences in the use and applicability of irony across cultures. We examined a group of students predominantly from individualistic- and from collectivistic cultures in their use and understanding of the social goals of irony in discourse. Method: We tested 24 subjects with 14 irony tasks based on a scenario with an ironic target sentence. On the basis of their judgments, conclusions were drawn about the interpersonal effects of irony in different cultures: namely, individualistic and collectivistic. Statistical analysis revealed quantitative differences in the judgments of humorous effect and rudeness, if irony will avoid or, rather, trigger conflict between the speakers, and the interpersonal effect of irony if it targeted performance, vs. behavior vs. the situation. Results: Findings confirm that collectivistic cultures strive for harmony at the group level, prioritizing status, and often find irony to be impolite and rude, also threatening the Face, i.e. their social self, whereas individualistic cultures see irony as having the opposite social purpose in communication; blunting remarks, adding humor and thus friendlier, funnier and even as a tool to avoid conflicts. Discussion and conclusions: Results revealed that there are significant differences in collectivistic vs individualistic cultures concerning the accepted and appropriate use of irony. In fact, in collectivistic cultures where gender equality is questionable, the use of irony may also be questionable: it may even be prohibited with opposite-sex individuals. Such cultural norms give significantly different communication patterns and, importantly, frameworks for interpretation in our everyday lives.

Keywords: irony, social cognition, cross-cultural pragmatics, social goals

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