Search results for: Spread Spectrum

Authors: Alessandro Balbo, Gianvito Colucci, Matteo Nicoli, Laura Savoldi

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Hydrogen is expected to become a game changer in the energy transition, especially enabling sector coupling possibilities and the decarbonization of hard-to-abate end-uses. The Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan identifies hydrogen as one of the key elements of the ecologic transition to meet international decarbonization objectives, also including it in several pilot projects for the early development in Italy. This matches the European energy strategy, which aims to make hydrogen a leading energy carrier of the future, setting ambitious goals to be accomplished by 2030. The huge efforts needed to achieve the announced targets require to carefully investigate of their feasibility in terms of economic expenditures and technical aspects. In order to quantitatively assess the hydrogen potential within the Italian context and the feasibility of the planned investments and projects, this work uses the TEMOA-Italy energy system model to study pathways to meet the strict objectives above cited. The possible hydrogen development has been studied both in the supply-side and demand-side of the energy system, also including storage options and distribution chains. The assessment comprehends alternative hydrogen production technologies involved in a competition market, reflecting the several possible investments declined by the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan to boost the development and spread of this infrastructure, including the sector coupling potential with natural gas through the currently existing infrastructure and CO2 capture for the production of synfuels. On the other hand, the hydrogen end-uses phase covers a wide range of consumption alternatives, from fuel-cell vehicles, for which both road and non-road transport categories are considered, to steel, and chemical industries uses and cogeneration for residential and commercial buildings. The model includes both high and low TRL technologies in order to provide a consistent outcome for the future decades as it does for the present day, and since it is developed through the use of an open-source code instance and database, transparency and accessibility are fully granted.

Keywords: decarbonization, energy system optimization models, hydrogen, open-source modeling, TEMOA

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Authors: Piyush Hajela

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The significance of public spaces is on a rise in Indian cities as a strong interaction space across cultures and community. It is a pertinent gathering space for people across age and gender, where the face keeps changing with time. A public space is directly related to the social dimension, people, comfort, safety, and security, that, it proposes to provide, as inherent qualities. The presence of these and other dimensions of space, together with related equitable environments, impart certain quality to a public space. The higher the optimum contents of these dimensions, the better the quality of public space. Public is represented by PEOPLE through society and community, and space is created by dimensions. Society contains children, women and the elderly, community is composed of social, and religious groups. These behave differently in a different setting and call for varied quality of spaces, created and generated. Public spaces are spread across a city and have more or less established their existence and prominence in a social set up. While few of them are created others are discovered by the people themselves in their constant search for desirable interactive public spaces. These are the most sought after gathering spaces that have the quality of promoting social interaction, providing free accessibility, provide desirable scale etc. The emergence of public space dates back to the times when people started forming communities, display cultures and traditions publicly, gathered for religious observations and celebrations, and address the society. Traditional cities and societies in India were feudal and orthodox in their nature and yet had public spaces. When the gathering of people at one point in a city became more frequent the point became more accessible and occupied. Baras (large courts, Chowks (public squares) and Maidans (large grounds) became well-known gathering spaces in the towns and cities. As the population grew such points grew in number, each becoming a public space in itself and with a different and definite social character. The author aims at studying the various dimensions of public spaces with which a public space has power to hold people for a significant period of time. The human senses here are note referred to as taste, sight, hearing, touch or smell, but how human senses collectively respond to when stationed in a given public space. The collectives may reflect in dimensions like comfort, safety, environment, freedom etc. Various levels of similar other responses would be studied through interviews, observations and other scientific methods for both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Keywords: society, interaction, people, accessibility, comfort, enclosure

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Authors: Divya Kanchibhotla

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Of all the major health threats to emerge, none has challenged the very foundation of public health so profoundly as the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCD). Encouraging a holistic health approach encompasses the community’s well-being. Competent public health grounded with holistic health approach can lay a better foundation in the modern world. Yoga has been increasingly explored as an adjunct therapy to major disorders. This study explores the efficacy of Yoga as a tool for public health. A survey was administered to 5500 adults, and 300 teens were selected from 25 states of India. The study explored the differences in health, happiness, and sustainable living between Yoga-practitioners and Non-yoga practitioners. The study also explored the practice and habits of yoga practitioners (frequency, place, reasons to practice) and Health, Happiness, and Sustainable Living. The subjects were grouped based on age, education, experience in yoga (years of practice), and occupational background. The study population comprised of 54% males and 46% females. Majority of the respondents (59%) were from 18 to 30 years age group. The study indicated that 96.4% of the total respondents have heard of Yoga. However, only 46.8% of the total study population practice yoga (YP) and the rest 53.2% were non-practitioners (NP). From a perspective of how Yoga and health, 72.7% yoga practitioners asserted a peaceful and happy life, 71.9% yoga practitioners felt satisfaction in life, and 70.2 % yoga practitioners had satisfactory health. 61.9% of yoga practitioners report being vegetarian, not eating junk food, and not drinking alcohol than 38.1% Non-Practitioners population. 47% of yoga practitioners found themselves to be more sensitive to the environment compared to only 40% of non-practitioners. India has been witnessing an unprecedented rise in the NCDs, accounting for 61% deaths. The importance of yoga as an adjunct therapy for various disorders and diseases is gaining momentum across the globe. There are various studies on yoga that have indicated benefits of yoga as a unique holistic approach towards lifestyle and a consistent, complementary solution that could be adopted for long-term viability for a well being. The comprehensive study is the first of its kind that takes a holistic look at the prevalence of Yoga for public health in India. Our study is unique and stands out as it is detailed in its outlook with extensive coverage of almost the whole country (surveying 25 out of 29 states) and contemplates on the benefits to an individual at the grass-root level – physical, mental and social outlook. The insights from the study will enable the health care systems and grassroots organizations to make the holistic practice of Yoga accessible to spread sustainable living for a healthy community.

Keywords: non-communicable disease (NCD), sustainable development goal (SDG 3), public health, healthy living

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Authors: Yusarina Mat-Isa, Zuraidah Mohd-Sanusi, Mohd-Nizal Haniff, Paul A. Barnes

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In view that money laundering has become eminent for banking institutions, it is an obligation for the banking institutions to adopt a risk-based approach as the integral component of the accepted policies on anti-money laundering. In doing so, those involved with the banking operations are the most critical group of personnel as these are the people who deal with the day-to-day operations of the banking institutions and are obligated to form a judgement on the level of impending risk. This requirement is extended to all relevant banking institutions staff, such as tellers and customer account representatives for them to identify suspicious customers and escalate it to the relevant authorities. Banking institutions staffs, however, face enormous challenges in identifying and distinguishing money launderers from other legitimate customers seeking genuine banking transactions. Banking institutions staffs are mostly educated and trained with the business objective in mind to serve the customers and are not trained to be “detectives with a detective’s power of observation”. Despite increasing awareness as well as trainings conducted for the banking institutions staff, their competency in assessing money laundering risk is still insufficient. Several gaps have prompted this study including the lack of behavioural perspectives in the assessment of money laundering risk in the banking institutions. Utilizing experimental approach, respondents are randomly assigned within a controlled setting with manipulated situations upon which judgement of the respondents is solicited based on various observations related to the situations. The study suggests that it is imperative that informed judgement is exercised in arriving at the decision to proceed with the banking services required by the customers. Judgement forms a basis of opinion for the banking institution staff to decide if the customers posed money laundering risk. Failure to exercise good judgement could results in losses and absorption of unnecessary risk into the banking institutions. Although the banking institutions are exposed with choices of automated solutions in assessing money laundering risk, the human factor in assessing the risk is indispensable. Individual staff in the banking institutions is the first line of defence who are responsible for screening the impending risk of any customer soliciting for banking services. At the end of the spectrum, the individual role involvement on the subject of money laundering risk assessment is not a substitute for automated solutions as human judgement is inimitable.

Keywords: banking institutions, experimental approach, money laundering, risk assessment

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Authors: Basma Hassabo, Sarah Ahmed, Aisha Hameed

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Aims and Objectives: To determine the incidence of maternal mortality amongst pregnant women with sickle cell disease (SCD) in the United Kingdom and to determine exact cause of death in these women. Background: SCD is caused by the ‘sickle’ gene and is characterized by episodes of severe bone pain and other complications like acute chest syndrome, chronic pulmonary hypertension, stroke, retinopathy, chronic renal failure, hepato-splenic crises, avascular bone necrosis, sepsis and leg ulcers. SCD is a continual cause of maternal mortality and fetal complications, and it comprises 1.5% of all Direct and Indirect deaths in the UK. Sepsis following premature rupture of membranes with ascending infection, post-partum infection and pre-labour overwhelming septic shock is one of its leading causes of death. Over the last fifty years of maternal mortality reports in UK, between 1 to 4 pregnant women died in each triennium. Material and Method: This is a retrospective study that involves pregnant women who died from SCD complications in the UK between 1952-2012. Data were collected from the UK Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Death and its causes between 1952–2012. Prior to 1985, exact cause of death in this cohort was not recorded. Results: 33 deaths reported between 1964 and 1984. 17 deaths were reported due to sickle cell disease between 1985 and 2012. Five women in this group died of sickle cell crisis, one woman had liver sequestration crisis, two women died of venous thromboembolism, two had myocardial fibrosis and three died of sepsis. Remaining women died of amniotic fluid embolism, SUDEP, myocardial ischemia and intracranial haemorrhage. Conclusion: The leading causes of death in sickle cell sick pregnant women are sickle cell crises, sepsis, venous thrombosis and thromboembolism. Prenatal care for women with SCD should be managed by a multidisciplinary team that includes an obstetrician, nutritionist, primary care physician, and haematologist. In every sick Sickle Cell woman Sickle Cell crises should be on the top of the list of differential diagnosis. Aggressive treatment of complications with low threshold to commence broad-spectrum antibiotics and LMWH contribute to better outcomes.

Keywords: incidence, maternal mortality, sickle cell disease (SCD), uk

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Authors: Mawong R., Bussracumpakorn C.

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Millions of young people around the world have been affected by COVID-19 to their psychological and social effects. Millennials’ stresses have been shaped by a few global issues, including climate change, political instability, and financial crisis. In particular, the spread of COVID-19 has become laying psychological and socioeconomic scars on them. When end-of-life planning turns into more widely discussed, the stigma and taboos around this issue are greatly lessened. End-of-life planning is defined as a future life plan, such as financial, legacy, funeral, and memorial planning. This plan would help millennials to discover the value and meaning of life. This study explores the attitudes of Thai Millennials toward end-of-life planning as a new normal awareness of life in order to initiate an innovative service concept to fit with their value and meaning. The study conducts an in-depth interview with 12 potential participants who have awareness or action on the plan. The framework of the customer journey map is used to analyze the responses to examine trigger points, barriers, beliefs, and expectations. The findings pointed to a service concept that is suggested for a new end-of-life planning service that is suited to Thai Millennials in 4 different groups, which are 1. Social -Conscious as a socially aware who to donate time and riches to make the world and society a better place, their end-of-life planning value is inspired by the social impact of giving something or some action that they will be able to do after life or during life which provides a variety of choice based on their preference to give to society, 2. Life Fulfillment who make a life goal for themselves and attempt to achieve it before the time comes to their value will be to inspire life value with a customized plan and provide guidance to suggest, 3. Prevention of the After-Death Effect who want to plan to avoid the effects of their death as patriarch, head of the family, and anchor of someone, so they want to have a plan that brings confidence and feel relief while they are still alive and they want to find some reliable service that they can leave the death will or asset, and 4. No Guilty Planning who plan for when they wish to be worry-free as a self-responsible they want to have the plan which is easy to understand and easy to access. The overall finding of the study is to understand the new service concept of end-of-life planning which to improve knowledge of significant life worth rather than death planning, encouraging people to reassess their lives in a positive way, leading to higher self-esteem and intrinsic motivation for this generation in this time of global crisis.

Keywords: design management, end-of-life planning, millennial generation, service design solution

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Authors: Ashraf Samir Hakim, Randa Mohamed Alarousy

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The consumption of food contaminated with molds (microscopic filamentous fungi) and their toxic metabolites results in the development of food-borne mycotoxicosis. The spores of molds are ubiquitously spread in the environment and can be detected everywhere. Ochratoxin A is a potentially carcinogenic fungal toxin found in a variety of food commodities , not only is considered the most abundant and hence the most commonly detected member but also is the most toxic one.Ochratoxin A is the most abundant and hence the most commonly detected member, but is also the most toxic of the three. A very limited research works concerning foods of porcine origin in Egypt were obtained in spite of presence a considerable swine population and consumers. In this study, the quality of various ready-to-eat local and imported pork meat and meat byproducts sold in Egyptian markets as well as edible organs as liver and kidney were assessed for the presence of various molds and their toxins as a raw material. Mycological analysis was conducted on (n=110) samples which included pig livers n=10 and kidneys n=10 from the Basateen slaughter house; local n=70 and 20 imported processed pork meat byproducts.The isolates were identified using traditional mycological and biochemical tests while, Ochratoxin A levels were quantitatively analyzed using the high performance liquid. Results of conventional mycological tests for detecting the presence of fungal growth (yeasts or molds) were negative, while the results of mycotoxins concentrations were be greatly above the permiceable limits or "tolerable weekly intake" (TWI) of ochratoxin A established by EFSA in 2006 in local pork and pork byproducts while the imported samples showed a very slightly increasing.Since ochratoxin A is stable and generally resistant to heat and processing, control of ochratoxin A contamination lies in the control of the growth of the toxin-producing fungi. Effective prevention of ochratoxin A contamination therefore depends on good farming and agricultural practices. Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) including methods to reduce fungal infection and growth during harvest, storage, transport and processing provide the primary line of defense against contamination with ochratoxin A. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of mycological assessment, especially the mycotoxins in pork byproducts in Egypt.

Keywords: Egyptian markets, mycotoxicosis, ochratoxin A, pork meat, pork by-products

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Authors: Hugo Reis, Isabel Rabiais

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The main purpose of the present study is to understand the nurse’s responsibility in preventing the septic shock in an oncological patient with febrile neutropenia submitted to chemotherapy. In order to do it, an integrative review of literature has been conducted. In the research done in many databases, it was concluded that only 7 out of 5202 articles compiled the entire inclusion standard present in the strict protocol of research, being this made up by all different methodologies. On the research done in the 7 articles it has resulted 8 text macro-units associated to different nursing interventions: ‘Health Education’; ‘Prophylactic Therapy Administration’; ‘Scales Utilization’; ‘Patient Evaluation’; ‘Environment Control’; ‘Performance of Diagnostic Auxiliary Exams’; ‘Protocol Enforcement/Procedure Guidelines’; ‘Antibiotic Therapy Administration’. Concerning the prevalence/result’s division there can be identified many conclusions: the macro-units ‘Patient Evaluation’, ‘Performance of Diagnostic Auxiliary Exams’, and ‘Antibiotic Therapy Administration’ present themselves to be the most prevalent in the research – 6 in 7 occurrences (approximately 85.7%). Next, the macro-unit ‘Protocol Enforcement/Procedure Guidelines’ presents itself as an important expression unit – being part of 5 out of the 7 analyzed studies (approximately 71.4%). The macro-unit ‘Health Education’, seems to be in the same way, an important expression unit – 4 out of the 7 (or approximately 57%). The macro-unit ‘Scales Utilization’, represents a minor part in the research done – it’s in only 2 out of the 7 cases (approximately 28.6%). On the other hand, the macro-units ‘Prophylactic Therapy Administration’ and ‘Environment Control’ are the two categories with fewer results in the research - 1 out of the 7 cases, the same as approximately 14.3% of the research results. Every research done to the macro-unit ‘Antibiotic Therapy Administration’ agreed to refer that the intervention should be strictly done, in a period of time less than one hour after diagnosing the fever, with the purpose of controlling the quick spread of infection – minimizing its seriousness. Identifying these interventions contributes, concluding that, to adopt strategies in order to prevent the phenomenon that represents a daily scenario responsible for the cost´s increase in health institutions, being at the same time responsible for the high morbidity rates and mortality increase associated with this specific group of patients.

Keywords: febrile neutropenia, oncology nursing, patient, septic shock

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Authors: Farhan J. M. Al-Behadili, Vineeta Bilgi, Miyuki Taniguchi, Junxi Li, Wei Xu

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Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) is one of the most destructive pests of fruits and vegetables. Medfly originated from Africa and spread in many countries, and is currently an endemic pest in Western Australia. Medfly has been recorded from over 300 plant species including fruits, vegetables, nuts and its main hosts include blueberries, citrus, stone fruit, pome fruits, peppers, tomatoes, and figs. Global trade of fruits and other farm fresh products are suffering from the damages of this pest, which prompted towards the need to develop more effective ways to control these pests. The available quarantine treatment technologies mainly include chemical treatment (e.g., fumigation) and non-chemical treatments (e.g., cold, heat and irradiation). In recent years, with the loss of several chemicals, it has become even more important to rely on non-chemical postharvest control technologies (i.e., heat, cold and irradiation) to control fruit flies. Cold treatment is one of the most potential trends of focus in postharvest treatment because it is free of chemical residues, mitigates or kills the pest population, increases the strength of the fruits, and prolongs storage time. It can also be applied to fruits after packing and ‘in transit’ during lengthy transport by sea during their exports. However, limited systematic study on cold treatment of Medfly stages in artificial diets was reported, which is critical to provide a scientific basis to compare with previous research in plant products and design an effective cold treatment suitable for exported plant products. The overall purpose of this study was to evaluate and understand Medfly responses to cold treatments. Medfly stages were tested. The long-term goal was to optimize current postharvest treatments and develop more environmentally-friendly, cost-effective, and efficient treatments for controlling Medfly. Cold treatment with different exposure times is studied to evaluate cold eradication treatment of Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), that reared on carrot diet. Mortality is important aspect was studied in this study. On the other hand, study effects of exposure time on mortality means of medfly stages.

Keywords: cold treatment, fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, carrot diet, temperature effects

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Authors: Amandeep Kaur, Ns Atri, Munruchi Kaur

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Mushrooms have shaped our environment in ways that we are only beginning to understand. The weather patterns, topography, flora and fauna of Punjab state in India create favorable growing conditions for thousands of species of mushrooms, but the complete region was unexplored when it comes to coprophilous mushrooms growing on herbivorous dung. Coprophilous mushrooms are the most specialized fungi ecologically, which germinate and grow directly on different types of animal dung or on manured soil. In the present work, the diversity of coprophilous mushrooms' of Family Psathyrellaceae of the order Agaricales is explored, their relationship to the human world is sketched out, and their supreme significance to life on this planet is revealed. During the investigation, different dung localities from 16 districts of Punjab state have been explored for the collection of material. The macroscopic features of the collected mushrooms were documented on the Field key. The hand cut sections of the various parts of carpophore, such as pileus, gills, stipe and the basidiospores details, were studied microscopically under different magnification. Various authentic publications were consulted for the identification of the investigated taxa. The classification, authentic names and synonyms of the investigated taxa are as per the latest version of Dictionary of Fungi and the MycoBank. The present work deals with the taxonomy of 81 collections belonging to 39 species spread over 05 coprophilous genera, namely Psathyrella, Panaeolus, Parasola, Coprinopsis, and Coprinellus of family Psathyrellaceae. In the text, the investigated taxa have been arranged as they appear in the key to the genera and species investigated. In this work, have been thoroughly examined for their macroscopic, microscopic, ecological, and chemical reaction details. The authors dig deeper to give indication of their ecology and the dung type where they can be obtained. Each taxon is accompanied by a detailed listing of its prominent features and an illustration with habitat photographs and line drawings of morphological and anatomical features. Taxa are organized as per their status in the keys, which allow easy recognition. All the taxa are compared with similar taxa. The study has shown that dung is an important substrate which serves as a favorable niche for the growth of a variety of mushrooms. This paper shows an insight what short-lived coprophilous mushrooms can teach us about sustaining life on earth!

Keywords: abundance, basidiomycota, biodiversity, seasonal availability, systematics

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Authors: Jigg Pelayo, Ricardo Villar, Einstine Opiso

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The rampant and unintended spread of urban areas resulted in increasing artificial component features in the land cover types of the countryside and bringing forth the urban heat island (UHI). This paved the way to wide range of negative influences on the human health and environment which commonly relates to air pollution, drought, higher energy demand, and water shortage. Land cover type also plays a relevant role in the process of understanding the interaction between ground surfaces with the local temperature. At the moment, the depiction of the land surface temperature (LST) at city/municipality scale particularly in certain areas of Misamis Oriental, Philippines is inadequate as support to efficient mitigations and adaptations of the surface urban heat island (SUHI). Thus, this study purposely attempts to provide application on the Landsat 8 satellite data and low density Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) products in mapping out quality automated LST model and crop-level land cover classification in a local scale, through theoretical and algorithm based approach utilizing the principle of data analysis subjected to multi-dimensional image object model. The paper also aims to explore the relationship between the derived LST and land cover classification. The results of the presented model showed the ability of comprehensive data analysis and GIS functionalities with the integration of object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach on automating complex maps production processes with considerable efficiency and high accuracy. The findings may potentially lead to expanded investigation of temporal dynamics of land surface UHI. It is worthwhile to note that the environmental significance of these interactions through combined application of remote sensing, geographic information tools, mathematical morphology and data analysis can provide microclimate perception, awareness and improved decision-making for land use planning and characterization at local and neighborhood scale. As a result, it can aid in facilitating problem identification, support mitigations and adaptations more efficiently.

Keywords: LiDAR, OBIA, remote sensing, local scale

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Authors: J. Tirano, H. Zea, C. Luhrs

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It is well known that titanium dioxide is a semiconductor with several applications in photocatalytic process. Its band gap makes it very interesting in the photoelectrodes manufacturing used in photoelectrochemical cells for hydrogen production, a clean and environmentally friendly fuel. The synthesis of 1D titanium dioxide nanostructures, such as nanotubes, makes possible to produce more efficient photoelectrodes for solar energy to hydrogen conversion. In essence, this is because it increases the charge transport rate, decreasing recombination options. However, its principal constraint is to be mainly sensitive to UV range, which represents a very low percentage of solar radiation that reaches earth's surface. One of the alternatives to modifying the TiO2’s band gap and improving its photoactivity under visible light irradiation is to dope the nanotubes with transition metals. This option requires fabricating efficient nanostructured photoelectrodes with controlled morphology and specific properties able to offer a suitable surface area for metallic doping. Hence, currently one of the central challenges in photoelectrochemical cells is the construction of nanomaterials with a proper band position for driving the reaction while absorbing energy over the VIS spectrum. This research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of Nidoped TiO2 nanotubes for improving its photocatalytic activity in solar energy conversion applications. Initially, titanium dioxide nanotubes (TNTs) with controlled morphology were synthesized by two-step potentiostatic anodization of titanium foil. The anodization was carried out at room temperature in an electrolyte composed of ammonium fluoride, deionized water and ethylene glycol. Consequent thermal annealing of as-prepared TNTs was conducted in the air between 450 °C - 550 °C. Afterwards, the nanotubes were superficially modified by nickel deposition. Morphology and crystalline phase of the samples were carried out by SEM, EDS and XRD analysis before and after nickel deposition. Determining the photoelectrochemical performance of photoelectrodes is based on typical electrochemical characterization techniques. Also, the morphological characterization associated electrochemical behavior analysis were discussed to establish the effect of nickel nanoparticles modification on the TiO2 nanotubes. The methodology proposed in this research allows using other transition metal for nanotube surface modification.

Keywords: dimensionally stable electrode, nickel nanoparticles, photo-electrode, TiO₂ nanotubes

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Authors: Pawel Albrycht, Monika Ksiezopolska-Gocalska, Robert Holyst

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Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is a technique of growing importance not only in purely scientific research related to analytical chemistry. It finds more and more applications in broadly understood testing - medical, forensic, pharmaceutical, food - and everywhere works perfectly, on one condition that SERS substrates used for testing give adequate enhancement, repeatability, and homogeneity of SERS signal. This is a problem that has existed since the invention of this technique. Some laboratories use as SERS amplifiers colloids with silver or gold nanoparticles, others form rough silver or gold surfaces, but results are generally either weak or unrepeatable. Furthermore, these structures are very often highly specific - they amplify the signal only of a small group of compounds. It means that they work with some kinds of analytes but only with those which were used at a developer’s laboratory. When it comes to research on different compounds, completely new SERS 'substrates' are required. That underlay our decision to develop universal substrates for the SERS spectroscopy. Generally, each compound has different affinity for both silver and gold, which have the best SERS properties, and that's what depends on what signal we get in the SERS spectrum. Our task was to create the platform that gives a characteristic 'fingerprint' of the largest number of compounds with very high repeatability - even at the expense of the intensity of the enhancement factor (EF) (possibility to repeat research results is of the uttermost importance). As specified above SERS substrates are offered by SERSitive company. Applied method is based on cyclic potentiodynamic electrodeposition of silver or silver-gold nanoparticles on the conductive surface of ITO-coated glass at controlled temperature of the reaction solution. Silver nanoparticles are supplied in the form of silver nitrate (AgNO₃, 10 mM), gold nanoparticles are derived from tetrachloroauric acid (10 mM) while sodium sulfite (Na₂O₃, 5 mM) is used as a reductor. To limit and standardize the size of the SERS surface on which nanoparticles are deposited, photolithography is used. We secure the desired ITO-coated glass surface, and then etch the unprotected ITO layer which prevents nanoparticles from settling at these sites. On the prepared surface, we carry out the process described above, obtaining SERS surface with nanoparticles of sizes 50-400 nm. The SERSitive platforms present highly sensitivity (EF = 10⁵-10⁶), homogeneity and repeatability (70-80%).

Keywords: electrodeposition, nanoparticles, Raman spectroscopy, SERS, SERSitive, SERS platforms, SERS substrates

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Authors: Meng Miao, Jeongwoo Han, Cam Nguyen

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Ultra-wideband (UWB) time-domain impulse communication and radar systems use ultra-short duration pulses in the sub-nanosecond regime, instead of continuous sinusoidal waves, to transmit information. The pulse directly generates a very wide-band instantaneous signal with various duty cycles depending on specific usages. In UWB systems, the total transmitted power is spread over an extremely wide range of frequencies; the power spectral density is extremely low. This effectively results in extremely small interference to other radio signals while maintains excellent immunity to interference from these signals. UWB devices can therefore work within frequencies already allocated for other radio services, thus helping to maximize this dwindling resource. Therefore, impulse UWB technique is attractive for realizing high-data-rate, short-range communications, ground penetrating radar (GPR), and military radar with relatively low emission power levels. UWB antennas are the key element dictating the transmitted and received pulse shape and amplitude in both time and frequency domain. They should have good impulse response with minimal distortion. To facilitate integration with transmitters and receivers employing microwave integrated circuits, UWB antennas enabling direct integration are preferred. We present the development of two UWB antennas operating from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz and 0.3-6 GHz for UWB systems that provide direct integration with microwave integrated circuits. The operation of these antennas is based on the principle of wave propagation on a non-uniform transmission line. Time-domain EM simulation is conducted to optimize the antenna structures to minimize reflections occurring at the open-end transition. Calculated and measured results of these UWB antennas are presented in both frequency and time domains. The antennas have good time-domain responses. They can transmit and receive pulses effectively with minimum distortion, little ringing, and small reflection, clearly demonstrating the signal fidelity of the antennas in reproducing the waveform of UWB signals which is critical for UWB sensors and communication systems. Good performance together with seamless microwave integrated-circuit integration makes these antennas good candidates not only for UWB applications but also for integration with printed-circuit UWB transmitters and receivers.

Keywords: antennas, ultra-wideband, UWB, UWB communication systems, UWB radar systems

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Authors: Martha Lilia Del Rio Duque, Michelle Bonatti, Katharina Loehr, Marcos Lana, Tatiana Rodriguez, Stefan Sieber

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Nowadays, most agricultural practices can reduce the ability of ecosystems to provide goods and services. To enhance environmentally friendly food production and to maximize social and economic benefits, sustainable land use systems (SLUS) are one of the most critical strategies increasingly/strongly promoted by donors organizations, international agencies, and policymakers. This process involves the question of how SLUS can be scaled out also large-scale landscapes and not merely isolated experiments. As SLUS are context-specific strategies, diffusion and replication of successful SLUS in Colombia required the identification of main factors that facilitate this scaling out process. We applied a case study approach to investigate the scaling out process of SLUS in cocoa and livestock sector within peacebuilding territories in Colombia, specifically, in Cesar and Caqueta region. These two regions are contrasting, but both have a current trend of increasing land degradation. Presently in Colombia, Caqueta is one of the most deforested departments, and Cesar has some most degraded soils. Following a qualitative research approach, 19 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups were conducted with agroforestry experts in both regions to analyze (1) what does it mean a sustainable land use system in Cocoa/Livestock, specifically in Caqueta or Cesar and (2) to identify the key elements at the level of the following dimensions: biophysical, economic and profitability, market, social, policy and institutions that can explain how and why SLUS are replicated and spread among more producers. The Interviews were coded and analyzed using MAXQDA to identify, analyze and report patterns (themes) within data. As the results show, key themes, among which: premium market, solid regional markets and price stability, water availability and management, generational renewal, land use knowledge and diversification, producer organization and certifications are crucial to understand how the SLUS can have an impact across large-scale landscapes and how the scaling out process can be set up best in order to be successful across different contexts. The analysis further reveals which key factors might affect SLUS efficiency.

Keywords: agroforestry, cocoa sector, Colombia, livestock sector, sustainable land use system

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Authors: Vipin Kumar Verma, Neeta Sehgal, Om Prakash

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Cyprinus carpio has a wide spread occurrence in the lakes and rivers of Europe and Asia. Heavy losses in natural environment due to anthropogenic activities, including pollution as well as pathogenic diseases have landed this fish in IUCN red list of vulnerable species. The significance of a suitable diet in preserving the health status of fish is widely recognized. In present study, artificial feed supplemented with leaves of two weed plants, Eichhornia crassipes and Ricinus communis were evaluated for their role on the fish immune system. To achieve this objective fish were acclimatized to laboratory conditions (25 ± 1 °C; 12 L: 12D) for 10 days prior to start of experiment and divided into 4 groups: non-challenged (negative control= A), challenged [positive control (B) and experimental (C & D)]. Group A, B were fed with non-supplemented feed while group C & D were fed with feed supplemented with 5% Eichhornia crassipes and 5% Ricinus communis respectively. Supplemented feeds were evaluated for their effect on growth, health, immune system and disease resistance in fish when challenged with Vibrio harveyi. Fingerlings of C. carpio (weight, 2.0±0.5 g) were exposed with fresh overnight culture of V. harveyi through bath immunization (concentration 2 Χ 105) for 2 hours on 10 days interval for 40 days. The growth was monitored through increase in their relative weight. The rate of mortality due to bacterial infection as well as due to effect of feed was recorded accordingly. Immune response of fish was analyzed through differential leucocyte count, percentage phagocytosis and phagocytic index. The effect of V. harveyi on fish organs were examined through histo-pathological examination of internal organs like spleen, liver and kidney. The change in the immune response was also observed through gene expression analysis. The antioxidant potential of plant extracts was measured through DPPH and FRAP assay and amount of total phenols and flavonoids were calculates through biochemical analysis. The chemical composition of plant’s methanol extracts was determined by GC-MS analysis, which showed presence of various secondary metabolites and other compounds. Investigation revealed immuno-modulatory effect of plants, when supplemented with the artificial feed of fish.

Keywords: immuno-modulation, gc-ms, Cyprinus carpio, Eichhornia crassipes, Ricinus communis

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Authors: Elisabeth Unterfrauner, Christian Voigt

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Since the foundation of the first Fab Lab by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about 17 years ago, the Maker movement has spread globally with the foundation of maker spaces and Fab Labs worldwide. In these workshops, citizens have access to digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printers and laser cutters to develop and test their own ideas and prototypes, which makes it an attractive place for start-up companies. Know-How is shared not only in the physical space but also online in diverse communities. According to the Horizon report, the Maker movement, however, will also have an impact on educational settings in the following years. The European project ‘DOIT - Entrepreneurial skills for young social innovators in an open digital world’ has incorporated key elements of making to develop an early entrepreneurial education program for children between the age of six and 16. The Maker pedagogy builds on constructive learning approaches, learning by doing principles, learning in collaborative and interdisciplinary teams and learning through trial and error where mistakes are acknowledged as learning opportunities. The DOIT program consists of seven consecutive elements. It starts with a motivation phase where students get motivated by envisioning the scope of their possibilities. The second step is about Co-design: Students are asked to collect and select potential ideas for innovations. In the Co-creation phase students gather in teams and develop first prototypes of their ideas. In the iteration phase, the prototype is continuously improved and in the next step, in the reflection phase, feedback on the prototypes is exchanged between the teams. In the last two steps, scaling and reaching out, the robustness of the prototype is tested with a bigger group of users outside of the educational setting and finally students will share their projects with a wider public. The DOIT program involves 1,000 children in two pilot phases at 11 pilot sites in ten different European countries. The comprehensive evaluation design is based on a mixed method approach with a theoretical backbone on Lackeus’ model of entrepreneurship education, which distinguishes between entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial knowledge. A pre-post-test with quantitative measures as well as qualitative data from interviews with facilitators, students and workshop protocols will reveal the effectiveness of the program. The evaluation results will be presented at the conference.

Keywords: early entrepreneurial education, Fab Lab, maker education, Maker movement

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Authors: Sanaa Riaz

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Spirits occupy a world that simultaneously dwells between the divine and the earthly binary while speaking to all forces of nature, marginality, and extremity in between. This paper examines the conceptualizations, interactions with, and experience of spiritual beings in relation to the concept of self and social agency, defined as a continuum of cooperation leaving those involved with an enhanced or diminished perception of self-agency. To do justice to the diverse mythological and popular interpretations of spirit entities, ethnographic examples from Africa, in particular, will be used. An examination of the nature and role of spirits in Africa allows one to understand the ways in which colonial influences brought by Catholicism and Islam added to the pre-colonial repertoire and syncretic imaginations of spirits. A comprehensive framework to analyze spirits requires situating them as a cognitive configuration of humans to communicate with other humans and forces of nature to receive knowledge about the normative in social roles, conduct, and action. Understanding spirits also requires a rethinking of the concept of self as not one encapsulated in the individual but one representing positionalities in collective negotiations, adversity, and alliances. To use the postmodern understanding of identity as a far from a coherent collection of selves fluidly moving between and dialoguing with gravitational and contradictory social forces, benevolent and maleficent spirit forces represent how people make sense of their origin, physiological and ecological changes, subsistence, and political environment and social relations. A discussion on spirits requires examining the rituals and mediational forces and their performance that allow participants to tackle adversity, voicelessness and continue to work safely and morally for the collective good. Moreover, it is important to see the conceptualization of spirits in unison with sorcery and spirit possession, central to voodoo practices, also because they speak volumes about the experiences of slavery and marginalization. This paper has two motives: It presents a critical literature review of ethnographic accounts of spirit entities in African spiritual experiences to examine the ways in which spirits become mediums through which the self is conceptualized and asserted. Second, the paper highlights the ways in which spirits become a medium to represent political and sociocultural ambiguities and desires along a spectrum of social agencies, including joint agency, vicarious agency, and interfered agency.

Keywords: spirits, social agency, self, ethnographic case studies

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Authors: Yao Cheng, Weihua Zhang

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Although the measured vibration signal contains rich information on machine health conditions, the white noise interferences and the discrete harmonic coming from blade, shaft and mash make the fault diagnosis of rolling element bearings difficult. In order to overcome the interferences of useless signals, a new fault diagnosis method combining Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) and Multipoint Optimal Minimum Entropy Deconvolution (MOMED) is proposed for the fault diagnosis of high-speed train bearings. Firstly, the CEEMDAN technique is applied to adaptively decompose the raw vibration signal into a series of finite intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) and a residue. Compared with Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD), the CEEMDAN can provide an exact reconstruction of the original signal and a better spectral separation of the modes, which improves the accuracy of fault diagnosis. An effective sensitivity index based on the Pearson's correlation coefficients between IMFs and raw signal is adopted to select sensitive IMFs that contain bearing fault information. The composite signal of the sensitive IMFs is applied to further analysis of fault identification. Next, for propose of identifying the fault information precisely, the MOMED is utilized to enhance the periodic impulses in composite signal. As a non-iterative method, the MOMED has better deconvolution performance than the classical deconvolution methods such Minimum Entropy Deconvolution (MED) and Maximum Correlated Kurtosis Deconvolution (MCKD). Third, the envelope spectrum analysis is applied to detect the existence of bearing fault. The simulated bearing fault signals with white noise and discrete harmonic interferences are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Finally, the superiorities of the proposed method are further demonstrated by high-speed train bearing fault datasets measured from test rig. The analysis results indicate that the proposed method has strong practicability.

Keywords: bearing, complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise, fault diagnosis, multipoint optimal minimum entropy deconvolution

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Authors: Mehdi Heydari Sanglaji

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The dramatic events of the 11 September, and their tragic repercussions, catapulted issues of the political violence in and from the ‘Muslim world’ onto the political discourse, be it in patriotic speeches of campaigning politicians or the TV and news punditry. Depending on what end of the political spectrum the politician/pundit pledges fealty to, the overall analyses of political violence in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) tends towards two overarching categories: on the Right, the diagnosis has unanimously been, ‘they must hate our freedom.’ On the Left, however, there is the contention that the West has to be counted as the primary cause of such rage, for the years of plundering of lives and resources, through colonialism, the Cold War, coups, etc. All these analyses are premised on at least two presuppositions: the violence in and from the WANA region a) is always reactionary, in the sense that it happens only in response to something the West is or does; and b) must always already be condemned, as it is essentially immoral and wrong. It is the aim of this paper to challenge such viewpoints. Through a rigorous study of the historical discourses on political violence in the Leftist organizations active in Algeria and Lebanon, we claim there is a myriad of diverse reasons and justifications presented for advocating political violence in these countries that defy facile categorization. Inspecting such rhetoric for inciting political violence in Leftist discourses, and how some of these reasonings have percolated into other movements in the region (e.g., Islamist ones), will reveal a wealth of indigenous discourses on the subject that has been largely neglected by the Western Media punditry and even by the academia. The indigenous discourses on political violence, much of which overlaps with emancipatory projects in the region, partly follow grammar and logic, which may be different from those developed in the West, even by its more critical theories. Understanding so different epistemology of violence, and the diverse contexts in which political violence might be justifiable in the mind of ‘the other,’ necessitates a historical, materialist, and genealogical study of the discourse already in practice in the WANA region. In that regard, both critical terrorism studies and critical discourse analysis provide exemplary tools of analysis. Capitalizing on such tools, this project will focus on unearthing a history of thought that renders moot the reduction of all instances of violence in the region to an Islamic culture or imperialism/colonialism. The main argument in our research is that by studying the indigenous discourses on political violence, we will be far more equipped in understanding the reasons and the possible solutions for acts of terrorism in and from the region.

Keywords: political violence, terrorism, leftist organizations, West Asia/North Africa

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Authors: Attila Kiss, Erzsébet Némedi, Zoltán Naár

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As natural prebiotic (non-digestible) carbohydrates stimulate the growth of colon microflora and contribute to maintain the health of the host, analytical studies aiming at revealing the chemical behavior of these beneficial food components came to the forefront of interest. Food processing (especially baking) may lead to a significant conversion of the parent compounds, hence it is of utmost importance to characterize the transformation patterns and the plausible decomposition products formed by thermal degradation. The relevance of this work is confirmed by the wide-spread use of these carbohydrates (fructo-oligosaccharides, cyclodextrins, raffinose and resistant starch) in the food industry. More and more functional foodstuffs are being developed based on prebiotics as bioactive components. 12 different types of oligosaccharides have been investigated in order to reveal their thermal degradation characteristics. Different carbohydrate derivatives (D-fructose and D-glucose oligomers and polymers) have been exposed to elevated temperatures (150 °C 170 °C, 190 °C, 210 °C, and 220 °C) for 10 min. An advanced HPLC method was developed and used to identify the decomposition products of carbohydrates formed as a consequence of thermal treatment. Gradient elution was applied with binary solvent elution (acetonitrile, water) through amine based carbohydrate column. Evaporative light scattering (ELS) proved to be suitable for the reliable detection of the UV/VIS inactive carbohydrate degradation products. These experimental conditions and applied advanced techniques made it possible to survey all the formed intermediers. Change in oligomer distribution was established in cases of all studied prebiotics throughout the thermal treatments. The obtained results indicate increased extent of chain degradation of the carbohydrate moiety at elevated temperatures. Prevalence of oligomers with shorter chain length and even the formation of monomer sugars (D-glucose and D-fructose) might be observed at higher temperatures. Unique oligomer distributions, which have not been described previously are revealed in the case of each studied, specific carbohydrate, which might result in various prebiotic activities. Resistant starches exhibited high stability when being thermal treated. The degradation process has been modeled by a plausible reaction mechanism, in which proton catalyzed degradation and chain cleavage take place.

Keywords: prebiotics, thermal degradation, fructo-oligosaccharide, HPLC, ELS detection

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: Francisco J. García-de-Quirós, Gianmarco Radice

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When considering small robots working in a cooperative community for Moon surface exploration, navigation and inter-nodes communication aspects become a critical issue for the mission success. For this approach to succeed, it is necessary however to deploy the required infrastructure for the robotic community to achieve efficient self-localization as well as relative positioning and communications between nodes. In this paper, an exploration mission concept in which two cooperative robotic systems co-exist is presented. This paradigm hinges on a community of reference agents that provide support in terms of communication and navigation to a second agent community tasked with exploration goals. The work focuses on the role of the agent community in charge of the overall support and, more specifically, will focus on the positioning and navigation methods implemented in RF microwave bands, which are combined with the communication services. An analysis of the different methods for range and position calculation are presented, as well as the main limiting factors for precision and resolution, such as phase and frequency noise in RF reference carriers and drift mechanisms such as thermal drift and random walk. The effects of carrier frequency instability due to phase noise are categorized in different contributing bands, and the impact of these spectrum regions are considered both in terms of the absolute position and the relative speed. A mission scenario is finally proposed, and key metrics in terms of mass and power consumption for the required payload hardware are also assessed. For this purpose, an application case involving an RF communication network in UHF Band is described, in coexistence with a communications network used for the single agents to communicate within the both the exploring agents as well as the community and with the mission support agents. The proposed approach implements a substantial improvement in planetary navigation since it provides self-localization capabilities for robotic agents characterized by very low mass, volume and power budgets, thus enabling precise navigation capabilities to agents of reduced dimensions. Furthermore, a common and shared localization radiofrequency infrastructure enables new interaction mechanisms such as spatial arrangement of agents over the area of interest for distributed sensing.

Keywords: cooperative robotics, localization, robot navigation, surface exploration

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: Vimal Kumar Dewangan, T. S. Sampath Kumar, Mukesh Doble, Viju Daniel Varghese

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The apatite-based, i.e., calcium-deficient hydroxyapatite (CDHAp) bone cement is well-known potential bone graft/substitute in orthopaedics due to its similar chemical composition with natural bone minerals. Therefore, an easy approach was attempted to fabricate the apatite-based (CDHAp) bone cement with improved injectability, bioresorbability, and macroporosity. In this study, the desired bone cement was developed by mixing the solid phase (consisting of wet chemically synthesized nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite and commercially available (synthetic) tricalcium phosphate) and the liquid phase (consisting of cement binding accelerator with few biopolymers in a dilute acidic solution) along with a liquid porogen as polysorbate or a solid porogen as mannitol (for comparison) in an optimized liquid-to-powder ratio. The fabricated cement sets within clinically preferred setting time (≤20 minutes) are better injectable (>70%) and also stable at ~7.3-7.4 (physiological pH). The CDHAp phased bone cement was resulted by immersing the fabricated after-set cement in phosphate buffer solution and other similar artificial body fluids and incubated at physiological conditions for seven days, confirmed through the X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy analyses. The so-formed synthetic apatite-based bone cement holds the acceptable compressive strength (within the range of trabecular bone) with average interconnected pores size falls in a macropores range (~50-200μm) inside the cement, verified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mercury intrusion porosimetry and micro-CT analysis techniques. Also, it is biodegradable (degrades ~19-22% within 10-12 weeks) when incubated in artificial body fluids under physiological conditions. The biocompatibility study of the bone cement, when incubated with MG63 cells, shows a significant increase in the cell viability after 3rd day of incubation compared with the control, and the cells were well-attached and spread completely on the surface of the bone cement, confirmed through SEM and fluorescence microscopy analyses. With this all, we can conclude that the developed synthetic macroporous apatite-based bone cement may have the potential to become promising material used as a trabecular bone substitute.

Keywords: calcium deficient hydroxyapatite, synthetic apatite-based bone cement, injectability, macroporosity, trabecular bone substitute

Procedia PDF Downloads 72

Authors: A. S. V. Carvalho, J. Luis, L. S. O. Pires, J. M. Oliveira

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Additive manufacturing technologies (AM) experienced a remarkable growth in the latest years due to the development and diffusion of a wide range of three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques. Nowadays we can find techniques available for non-industrial users, like fused filament fabrication, but techniques like 3D printing, polyjet, selective laser sintering and stereolithography are mainly spread in the industry. Robocasting (R3D) shows a great potential due to its ability to shape materials with a wide range of viscosity. Industrial porcelain compositions showing different rheological behaviour can be prepared and used as candidate materials to be processed by R3D. The use of this AM technique in industry is very residual. In this work, a specific porcelain composition with suitable rheological properties will be processed by R3D, and a systematic study of the printing parameters tuning will be shown. The porcelain composition was formulated based on an industrial spray dried porcelain powder. The powder particle size and morphology was analysed. The powders were mixed with water and an organic binder on a ball mill at 200 rpm/min for 24 hours. The batch viscosity was adjusted by the addition of an acid solution and mixed again. The paste density, viscosity, zeta potential, particle size distribution and pH were determined. In a R3D system, different speed and pressure settings were studied to access their impact on the fabrication of porcelain models. These models were dried at 80 °C, during 24 hours and sintered in air at 1350 °C for 2 hours. The stability of the models, its walls and surface quality were studied and their physical properties were accessed. The microstructure and layer adhesion were observed by SEM. The studied processing parameters have a high impact on the models quality. Moreover, they have a high impact on the stacking of the filaments. The adequate tuning of the parameters has a huge influence on the final properties of the porcelain models. This work contributes to a better assimilation of AM technologies in ceramic industry. Acknowledgments: The RoboCer3D project – project of additive rapid manufacturing through 3D printing ceramic material (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-003350) financed by Compete 2020, PT 2020, European Regional Development Fund – FEDER through the International and Competitive Operational Program (POCI) under the PT2020 partnership agreement.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, porcelain, robocasting, R3D

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Aarti Agarwal, Ajmal Khan

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Background and Objective: Breathing difficulty is most distressing symptom for the patient and their caregivers providing palliative care to individuals with advanced malignancy. It needs to be tackled effectively and sometimes preemptively to provide relief from respiratory obstruction. Interventional procedures like tracheal stenting are becoming increasingly popular as a part of palliation for respiratory symptoms. We present a case of esophageal tumor earlier stented by Gastroenterologist to maintain esophageal patency, but the tumor outgrew to produce tracheal infiltration and thereby causing airway obstruction. Method and Result: 62-year-old man presented with unresectable Carcinoma oesophagus with inability to swallow. A metallic stent was placed by the gastroenterologist, to maintain esophageal patency and enable patient to swallow. Two months later, the patient returned to hospital in emergency with respiratory distress. CT neck and thorax revealed tumor infiltration through posterior tracheal wall. Lower extent of the tumor was till 1 cm above the carina. Airway stenting with Tracheo bronchial stent with Y configuration was planned under general anaesthesia with airway blocks. Superior Laryngeal Nerve Block, Glossopharyngeal block and Trans tracheal infiltration of local anaesthetics were performed. The patient was sedated with Fentanyl, Midazolam and propofol infusion but was breathing spontaneously. Once the rigid bronchoscope was placed inside trachea, breathing was supported with oxygen and sevoflurane. Initially, the trachea was cleared of tumor by coring. After creating space, tracheal stent was positioned and deployed. After stent placement patient was awakened, suctioned and nebulized. His respiratory stridor relieved instantaneously and was shifted to recovery. Conclusion: Airway blocks help in decreasing the incidence and severity of coughing during airway instrumentation thereby help in proper stent placement. They also reduce the requirement of general anaesthetics and hasten the post stenting recovery. Airway stent provided immediate relief to patient from symptoms of respiratory difficulty. Decision for early tracheal stenting may be taken for a select group of patients with high propensity for local spread, thereby avoiding respiratory complications and providing better quality of life in patients with inoperable malignancy.

Keywords: tracheal stent, respiratory difficulty, esophageal tumor, anaesthetic management

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Authors: Yi-Chun Huang, Kuan-Yun Chen, Chuang-Hung Lin

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Urban Green Belt and Blue is a part of the city landscape, it is an important constituent element of the urban environment and appearance. The Hsinchu East Gate Moat is situated in the center of the city, which not only has a wealth of historical and cultural resources, but also combines the Green Belt and the Blue Belt qualities at the same time. The Moat runs more than a thousand meters through the vital Green Belt and the Blue Belt in downtown, and each section is presented in different qualities of moat from south to north. The water area and the green belt of surroundings are presented linear and banded spread. The water body and the rich diverse river banks form an urban green belt of rich layers. The watercourse with green belt design lets users have connections with blue belts in different ways; therefore, the integration of Hsinchu East Gate and moat have become one of the unique urban landscapes in Taiwan. The study is based on the fact-finding case of Hsinchu East Gate Moat where situated in northern Taiwan, to research the impact between the SVF variation of the city and spatial sequence of Urban Green Belt and Blue landscape and visual analysis by constituent cross-section, and then comparing the influence of different leaf area index – the variable ecological factors to the degree of enclosure. We proceed to survey the landscape design of open space, to measure existing structural features of the plant canopy which contain the height of plants and branches, the crown diameter, breast-height diameter through access to diagram of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and on-the-spot actual measurement. The north and south districts of blue green belt areas are divided 20 meters into a unit from East Gate Roundabout as the epicenter, and to set up a survey points to measure the SVF above the survey points; then we proceed to quantitative analysis from the data to calculate open landscape degree of enclosure. The results can be reference for the composition of future river landscape and the practical operation for dynamic space planning of blue and green belt landscape.

Keywords: sky view factor, degree of enclosure, spatial sequence, leaf area indices

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Authors: Tomoya Oshiro, Hiroko Ono

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Japan's aging population is increasing due to the decrease in birthrate. It causes various problems like the decrease in the gross domestic product of the country. The reason is why the local government of Japan has been on the way to a sustainable city recently. Then it is essential to get control of an urban structure to make the compact city successful. There are many kinds of paper about the compact city; however, the paper about a compact city of the island-type city is less. The purpose of this study is to clarify difference of urban structure between an island-type and a general city type. The method which has conducted in this research has two steps. First of all, by using evaluation indexes in the handbook, we evaluated the urban structures among each same -population-class cities from 50,000 to 100,000 people. Next, to clear the difference about the urban structure and feature between island-type and general-type cities compare the radar chart which is composed with each evaluation indexes of urban structure. Moreover, in order to clarify the relationship between evaluation indexes and the place of residence by using GIS software to show up population density on the map. As a result of this research, the management of local government and the local economy in evaluation indexes are indicated to be negative point in comparison of island-type cities with general cities. However, evaluation indexes of safety/security and low-carbon/energy are proved to be positive point. The research to find the difference features of the island-type of urban structure proves that the management of local government or the local economy is negative point in these island-type cities. In addition, the public transportation coverage in Miyako Island, Sado Island, and Amakusa Island show low value compare with other islands and average value. Relationship between evaluation indexes of an urban structure and the place of residence prove that the place of residence is related to public transportation coverage. If the place of residence is spread out, the public transportation coverage will be decreased. The results of this research reveal that the finances in island-type cities are negative point compare to general cities. This problem is caused by declining population. In addition, the place of residence is related to the public transportation coverage. Even though, it needs a much money to increase the public transportation coverage. It is possibly to cause other problems furthermore the aspect of finance is influenced by that as well. The conclusion in this research suggests that it is important for creating the compact city in island-type cities that we first need to address solving the problems about the management of local government and the local economy.

Keywords: sustainable city, comparative analysis, geographic information system, urban structure

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Authors: Angelica Corcoran, Fredrik Lind, Pavleta Knutsson, Henrik Thunman

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Solid waste volumes are at current predominately deposited on landfill. Furthermore, the impending climate change requires new solutions for a sustainable future energy mix. Currently, solid waste is globally utilized to small extent as fuel during combustion for heat and power production. Due to its variable composition and size, solid waste is considered difficult to combust and requires a technology with high fuel flexibility. One of the commercial technologies used for combustion of such difficult fuels is circulating fluidized beds (CFB). In a CFB boiler, fine particles of a solid material are used as 'bed material', which is accelerated by the incoming combustion air that causes the bed material to fluidize. The chosen bed material has conventionally been silica sand with the main purpose of being a heat carrier, as it transfers heat released by the combustion to the heat-transfer surfaces. However, the release of volatile compounds occurs rapidly in comparison with the lateral mixing in the combustion chamber. To ensure complete combustion a surplus of air is introduced, which decreases the total efficiency of the boiler. In recent years, the concept of partly or entirely replacing the silica sand with an oxygen carrier as bed material has been developed. By introducing an oxygen carrier to the combustion chamber, combustion can be spread out both temporally and spatially in the boiler. Specifically, the oxygen carrier can take up oxygen from the combustion air where it is in abundance and release it to combustible gases where oxygen is in deficit. The concept is referred to as oxygen carrier aided combustion (OCAC) where the natural ore ilmenite (FeTiO3) has been the oxygen carrier used. The authors have validated the oxygen buffering ability of ilmenite during combustion of biomass in Chalmers 12-MWth CFB boiler in previous publications. Furthermore, the concept has been demonstrated on full industrial scale during combustion of municipal solid waste (MSW) in E.ON’s 75 MWth CFB boiler. The experimental campaigns have showed increased mass transfer of oxygen inside the boiler when combustion both biomass and MSW. As a result, a higher degree of burnout is achieved inside the combustion chamber and the plant can be operated at a lower surplus of air. Moreover, the buffer of oxygen provided by the oxygen carrier makes the system less sensitive to disruptions in operation. In conclusion, combusting difficult fuels with OCAC results in higher operation stability and an increase in boiler efficiency.

Keywords: OCAC, ilmenite, combustion, CFB

Procedia PDF Downloads 227

Authors: Linghua Kong, Xinxia Chen, Mika Gissler, Catharina Lavebratt

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Background: Prenatal exposure to preeclampsia has been associated with an increased risk of offspring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and intellectual disability. However, little is known about the association between prenatal exposure to severe preeclampsia and neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in offspring. Objective: This study aimed to assess the risk of maternal preeclampsia combined with perinatal problems, specifically low birth weight and prematurity, on offspring neuropsychiatric disorders. Methods: All singleton live births in Finland between 1996 and 2014 (n=1 012 723) were followed up in nation-wide registries until 2018. Main exposures included pre-eclampsia, small for gestational age, and delivery before 34 gestational weeks. Offspring neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders (ICD-10 codes) were examined as outcomes variables. Offspring birth year, sex, maternal age at delivery, parity, marital status at birth, mother's country of birth, maternal smoking, maternal gestational diabetes, maternal use of psychotropic medication during pregnancy, and maternal systemic inflammatory diseases were used as covariates. Risks for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders were estimated using Cox proportional hazards modeling. Results: Of the 1 012 723 offspring, 25 901 (2.6%) were exposed to preeclampsia, and 93 281 (9.2%) were diagnosed with a neuropsychiatric disorder. Compared to births unexposed to preeclampsia, small for gestational age or delivery before 34 gestational weeks, those exposed to preeclampsia only had a 21% increase in the likelihood of any neuropsychiatric disorders after adjusting for potential confounding (adjusted HR=1.21, 95% CI: 1.15-1.26), while exposure to preeclampsia combined with small for gestational age or delivery before 34 gestational weeks had a more than twofold increased risk of having a child with neuropsychiatric disorders (adjusted HR=2.16, 95% CI: 2.02-2.32). The adjusted HR for neuropsychiatric disorders in offspring with small for gestational age or delivery before 34 gestational weeks only was 1.79 (95% CI: 1.73-1.83). In addition, the risk estimate in offspring exposed to both preeclampsia and perinatal problems was greater than those only exposed to preeclampsia for having personality disorders (adjusted HR=1.66; 95% CI: 1.07-2.57), intellectual disabilities (adjusted HR=3.47; 95% CI: 2.86-4.22), specific developmental disorders (adjusted HR=2.91; 95% CI: 2.69-3.15), ASD (adjusted HR=1.75; 95% CI: 1.42-2.17), ADHD and conduct disorders (adjusted HR=2.00; 95%CI: 1.76-2.27), and other behavioral and emotional disorders (adjusted HR=2.09; 95% CI: 1.84-2.37). Conclusion: In utero exposure to severe preeclampsia increased the risk of several neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in offspring. Our findings are relevant to women with hypertensive disorders with regard to pregnancy consultation and management and may yield effective clues for the prevention of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in childhood.

Keywords: low birth weight, neurodevelopmental disorders, preeclampsia, prematurity, psychiatric disorders

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Jennifer Gallup, Joel Bocanegra, Greg Callan, Abigail Vaughn

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Students with disabilities (SWD) engaged in a distance summer program delivered over multiple virtual mediums that used gaming principles to teach and practice self-regulated learning (SRL) through the process of exploring possible jobs. Gaming quests were developed to explore jobs and teach transition skills. Students completed specially designed quests that taught and reinforced SRL and problem-solving through individual, group, and teacher-led experiences. SRL skills learned were reinforced through guided job explorations over the context of MinecraftEDU, zoom with experts in the career, collaborations with a team over Marco Polo, and Zoom. The quests were developed and laid out on an accessible web page, with active learning opportunities and feedback conducted within multiple virtual mediums including MinecraftEDU. Gaming mediums actively engage players in role-playing, problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. Gaming has been used as a medium for education since the inception of formal education. Games, and specifically board games, are pre-historic, meaning we had board games before we had written language. Today, games are widely used in education, often as a reinforcer for behavior or for rewards for work completion. Games are not often used as a direct method of instruction and assessment; however, the inclusion of games as an assessment tool and as a form of instruction increases student engagement and participation. Games naturally include collaboration, problem-solving, and communication. Therefore, our summer program was developed using gaming principles and MinecraftEDU. This manuscript describes a virtual learning summer program called Virtual Academy New and Exciting Transitions (VAN) that was redesigned from a face-to-face setting to a completely online setting with a focus on SWD aged 14-21. The focus of VAN was to address transition planning needs such as problem-solving skills, self-regulation, interviewing, job exploration, and communication for transition-aged youth diagnosed with various disabilities (e.g., learning disabilities, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder).

Keywords: autism, disabilities, transition, summer program, gaming, simulations

Procedia PDF Downloads 61