Search results for: fire response performances

Authors: Emery A. Coppola Jr., Suna Cinar, Ferenc Szidarovszky

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Over-pumping of groundwater resources is a serious problem world-wide. In addition to depleting this valuable resource, hydraulically connected sensitive ecological resources like wetlands and surface water bodies are often impacted and even destroyed by over-pumping. Effectively managing groundwater in a way that satisfy human demand while preserving natural resources is a daunting challenge that will only worsen with growing human populations and climate change. As presented in this paper, a numerical flow model developed for a hypothetical but realistic groundwater/surface water system was combined with formal optimization. Response coefficients were used in an optimization management model to maximize groundwater pumping in a complex, multi-layered aquifer system while protecting against groundwater over-draft, streamflow depletion, and wetland impacts. Pumping optimization was performed for different constraint sets that reflect different resource protection preferences, yielding significantly different optimal pumping solutions. A sensitivity analysis on the optimal solutions was performed on select response coefficients to identify differences between wet and dry periods. Stochastic optimization was also performed, where uncertainty associated with changing irrigation demand due to changing weather conditions are accounted for. One of the strengths of this optimization approach is that it can efficiently and accurately identify superior management strategies that minimize risk and adverse environmental impacts associated with groundwater pumping under different hydrologic conditions.

Keywords: numerical groundwater flow modeling, water management optimization, groundwater overdraft, streamflow depletion

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Authors: H. B. Torane, M. C. Kasture, S. S. Prabhudesai, P. B. Sanap, V. N. Palsande, J. J. Palkar

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The present investigation entitled “Response of briquettes application with different coating materials on yield and quality of Cucumber [Cucumis sativus (L.)]” was conducted at Central Experiment Center, Wakawali during kharif season 2013. The field experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design with three replicate. The four coating materials viz., Co – Non coating, C1 – Wax coating, C2 – Jaggary coating, and C3 – Tar coating was applied to Konkan Annapurna Briquette along with three sub treatments of application time i.e B1 – ½ at sowing, B2 - ½ at sowing and ½ at 30 days after sowing and B3 - 1/3 at sowing, 1/3 at 30 days after sowing and 1/3 at 60 days after sowing. It was observed that the application of tar coated Konkan Annapurna Briquettes (KAB) in three times @1/3 quantity of briquettes at sowing time, 1/3 quantity of briquettes at 30 days after sowing and 1/3 quantity of briquettes at 60 days after sowing was found promising to enhancing the cucumber fruit yield, higher vine length, number of fruits vine-1, girth of fruit, length of fruit. It was also observed that the quality of the cucumber fruit increased in terms of ascorbic acid. UB-Godavari forms of briquettes .i.e. are promising source of N, P2O5 and K2O fertilizers as compared to straight fertilizers for enhancing green cucumber fruit yield of Sheetal variety of cucumber in lateritic soil. Amongst the three types of coated briquettes, the tar coated briquettes application was found to be superior for increasing cucumber fruit yield applied in three times @1/3 quantity of briquettes at sowing time, 1/3 quantity of briquettes at 30 days after sowing and 1/3 quantity of briquettes at 60 days after sowing @ 5 briquettes per plant at an interval of 30 days after sowing.

Keywords: briquettes, coating, yield, tar, wax and quality

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Authors: Selma Bouasria, Mahi Abdelkader, Abbès Azzi, Herouz Keltoum

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Ventilation in buildings is a key element to provide high indoor air quality. Its efficiency appears as one of the most important factors in maintaining thermal comfort for occupants of buildings. Personal displacement ventilation is a new ventilation concept that combines the positive features of displacement ventilation with those of task conditioning or personalized ventilation. This work aims to study numerically the supply air flow in a room to optimize a comfortable microclimate for an occupant. The room is heated, and a dummy is designed to simulate the occupant. Two types of configurations were studied. The first consist of a room without windows; and the second one is a local equipped with a window. The influence of the blowing speed and the solar radiation coming from the window on the thermal comfort of the occupant is studied. To conduct this study we used the turbulence models, namely the high Reynolds k-e, the RNG and the SST models. The numerical tool used is based on the finite volume method. The numerical simulation of the supply air flow in a room can predict and provide a significant information about indoor comfort.

Keywords: local, comfort, thermique, ventilation, internal environment

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Authors: Sachin Paul James, Selvasundaram Rajagopal, Muraleedharan Nair, Babu Azariah

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The shot hole borer (SHB), Euwallacea fornicatus (= Xyleborus fornicatus) (Scolytidae: Coleoptera) is one of the major pests of tea in southern India and Sri Lanka. The partially dried cut stem of a jungle plant, Montanoa bipinnatifida (C.Koch) (Compositae: Asteraceae) reported to attract shot hole borer beetles in the field. Collection, isolation, identification and quantification of the emitted volatiles from the partially dried cut stems of M. bipinnatifida using dynamic head space and GC-MS revealed the presence of seven compounds viz. α- pinene, β- phellandrene, β - pinene, D- limonene, trans-caryophyllene, iso- caryophyllene and germacrene– D. Behavioural bioassays using electroantennogram (EAG) and wind tunnel proved that, among these identified compounds only α - pinene, trans-caryophyllene, β – phellandrene and germacrene-D evoked significant behavioral response and maximum response was obtained to a specific blend of these four compounds @ 10:1:0.1:3. Field trapping experiments of this blend conducted in the SHB infested field using multiple funnel traps further proved the efficiency of the blend with a mean trap catch of 176.7 ± 13.1 beetles. Mass trapping studies in the field helped to develop a kairomone trap for the management of SHB in the tea fields of southern India.

Keywords: electroantennogram, kairomone trap, Montanoa bipinnatifida, tea shot hole borer

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Authors: Mary Banke Iyabo Omoniyi

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Children in the developing countries have complex social, economic, political and environmental contexts that create a wide range of challenges for school children to surmount as they journey through school from childhood to adolescent. Many of these children have little or no personal resources and social support to confront these challenges. This study employed a descriptive research design of survey type to investigate the psychological sense of school membership and coping skills as they relate to the multidimensional life satisfaction of the school children. The sample consists of 835 school children with the age range of 7-11 years who were randomly selected from twenty schools in Ondo state, Nigeria. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire consisting of 4 sections A, B, C and D. Section A contained items on the children’s bio-data (Age, School, father’s and mother’s educational qualifications), section B is the Multidimensional Children Life Satisfaction Questionnaire (MCLSQ) with a 20 item Likert type scale. The response format range from Never= 1 to Almost always =4. The (MCLSQ) was designed to provide profile of children satisfaction with important domains of (school, family and friends). Section C is the Psychological Sense of School Membership Questionnaire (PSSMQ) with 18 items having response format ranging from Not at true=1 to completely true=5. While section D is the Self-Report Coping Questionnaire (SRCQ) which has 16 items with response ranging from Never =1 to Always=5. The instrument has a test-retest reliability coefficient of r = 0.87 while the sectional reliabilities for MCLSQ, PSSMQ and SRCQ are 0.86, 0.92 and 0.89 respectively. The results indicated that self-report coping skill was significantly correlated with multidimensional life satisfaction (r=592;p<0.05). However, the correlation between multidimensional life satisfaction and psychological sense of school membership was not significant (r=0.038;p>0.05). The regression analysis indicated that the contribution of mother’s education and father’s education to psychological sense of school member of the children were 0.923, Adjusted R2 is 0.440 and 0.730 and Adjusted R2 is 0.446. The results also indicate that contribution of gender to psychological sense of school for male and female has R= 0.782, Adjusted R2 = 0.478 and R = 0.998, Adjusted R2 i= 0.932 respectively. In conclusion, mother’s education qualification was found to contribute more to children psychological sense of membership and multidimensional life satisfaction than father’s. The girl child was also found to have more sense of belonging to the school setting than boy child. The counselling implications and recommendations among others were geared towards positive emotional gender sensitivity with regards to the male folk. Education stakeholders are also encouraged to make the school environment more conducive and gender friendly.

Keywords: multidimensional life satisfaction, psychological sense of school, coping skills, counselling implications

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Authors: Karim Kootahi, Seyed Abolhasan Naeini

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The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), which represents the relationship between suction and water content (or degree of saturation), is an important property of unsaturated soils. The conventional method for determining SWCC is through specialized testing procedures. Since these procedures require specialized unsaturated soil testing apparatus and lengthy testing programs, several index properties-based correlations have been developed for estimating the SWCC of fine-grained soils. There are, however, considerable inconsistencies among the published correlations and there is no validation study on the predictive ability of existing correlations. In the present study, all existing index properties-based correlations are evaluated using a high quality worldwide database. The performances of existing correlations are assessed both graphically and quantitatively using statistical measures. The results of the validation indicate that most of the existing correlations provide unacceptable estimates of degree of saturation but the most recent model appears to be promising.

Keywords: SWCC, correlations, index properties, validation

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Authors: Sonia Sassi, Mostapha Tarfaoui, Hamza Benyahia

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Composite materials are increasingly being used as a substitute for metallic materials in many technological applications like aeronautics, aerospace, marine and civil engineering applications. For composite materials, the thermomechanical response evolves with the strain rate. The energy balance equation for anisotropic, elastic materials includes heat source terms that govern the conversion of some of the kinetic work into heat. The remainder contributes to the stored energy creating the damage process in the composite material. In this paper, we investigate the bulk thermomechanical behavior of adhesively-bonded composite assemblies to quantitatively asses the temperature rise which accompanies adiabatic deformations. In particular, adhesively bonded joints in glass/vinylester composite material are subjected to in-plane dynamic loads under a range of strain rates. Dynamic thermomechanical behavior of this material is investigated using compression Split Hopkinson Pressure Bars (SHPB) coupled with a high speed infrared camera and a high speed camera to measure in real time the dynamic behavior, the damage kinetic and the temperature variation in the material. The interest of using high speed IR camera is in order to view in real time the evolution of heat dissipation in the material when damage occurs. But, this technique does not produce thermal values in correlation with the stress-strain curves of composite material because of its high time response in comparison with the dynamic test time. For this reason, the authors revisit the application of specific thermocouples placed on the surface of the material to ensure the real thermal measurements under dynamic loading using small thermocouples. Experiments with dynamically loaded material show that the thermocouples record temperatures values with a short typical rise time as a result of the conversion of kinetic work into heat during compression test. This results show that small thermocouples can be used to provide an important complement to other noncontact techniques such as the high speed infrared camera. Significant temperature rise was observed in in-plane compression tests especially under high strain rates. During the tests, it has been noticed that sudden temperature rise occur when macroscopic damage occur. This rise in temperature is linked to the rate of damage. The more serve the damage is, a higher localized temperature is detected. This shows the strong relationship between the occurrence of damage and induced heat dissipation. For the case of the in plane tests, the damage takes place more abruptly as the strain rate is increased. The difference observed in the obtained thermomechanical response in plane compression is explained only by the difference in the damage process being active during the compression tests. In this study, we highlighted the dependence of the thermomechanical response on the strain rate of bonded specimens. The effect of heat dissipation of this material cannot hence be ignored and should be taken into account when defining damage models during impact loading.

Keywords: adhesively-bonded composite joints, damage, dynamic compression tests, energy balance, heat dissipation, SHPB, thermomechanical behavior

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Authors: Azeddine Ghodbane, David Bensoussan, Maher Hammami

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An innovative approach for controlling unstable and invertible systems has demonstrated superior performance compared to conventional controllers. It has been successfully applied to a levitation system and drone control. Simulations have yielded satisfactory performances when applied to a satellite antenna controller. This design method, based on sensitivity analysis, has also been extended to handle multivariable unstable and invertible systems that exhibit dominant diagonal characteristics at high frequencies, enabling decentralized control. Furthermore, this control method has been expanded to the realm of adaptive control. In this study, we introduce an alternative adaptive architecture that enhances both time and frequency performance, helpfully mitigating the effects of disturbances from the input plant and external disturbances affecting the output. To facilitate superior performance in both the time and frequency domains, we have developed user-friendly interactive design methods using the GeoGebra platform.

Keywords: control theory, decentralized control, sensitivity theory, input-output stability theory, robust multivariable feedback control design

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Authors: Tamila Dilaverova

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In our era of globalization, the unhindered intercultural communication represents an essential element of development. To be proficient in a language one needs to get acquainted with cultural and national peculiarities of the language of native speakers. Cultural peculiarities are explicitly reflected in the nation’s cultural heritage, monuments, literary works, tales, even in clothes. A specific role in the evaluation of cultural performances, establishment, broadcasting, and preservation of behavior norms belongs to the folk texts, among which the fables occupy one of the most important places. A fable, as a genre has existed since ancient times. Fables are universal because they are absolutely appropriate for any century and for any society. Even in the era of the internet, fables turned out to be actual. Internet offers a wide range of re-made fables. Generally, they are new interpretations of Aesop’s fables, but in some cases they are original. These fables became the subject of our research because they contain some modern slangs and jargons and their language is not that much literary. But, besides the changes in the language, there are some changes in the fields of their occupation, everyday activities and the ways of moneymaking. Because of the numerous changes, these new fables can be called 'anti-fables.' Anti-fables are the very new kinds of fables, that can be absolutely suitable for internet generation and perfectly reflects modern reality. All these changes are the reflections of thoughts and actions of new generation and these anti-fables can become a new internet literary genre.

Keywords: intercultural, fable, language, internet

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Authors: Jamel Miri, Bechir Nsiri, Ridha Bouallegue

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Ultra WidBand-IR physical layer technology has seen a great development during the last decade which makes it a promising candidate for short range wireless communications, as they bring considerable benefits in terms of connectivity and mobility. However, like all wireless communication they suffer from vulnerabilities in terms of security because of the open nature of the radio channel. To face these attacks, distance bounding protocols are the most popular counter measures. In this paper, we presented a protocol based on distance bounding to thread the most popular attacks: Distance Fraud, Mafia Fraud and Terrorist fraud. In our work, we study the way to adapt the best secure distance bounding protocols to mapping code of ultra-wideband (TH-UWB) radios. Indeed, to ameliorate the performances of the protocol in terms of security communication in TH-UWB, we combine the modified protocol to ultra-wideband impulse radio technology (IR-UWB). The security and the different merits of the protocols are analyzed.

Keywords: distance bounding, mapping code ultrawideband, terrorist fraud, physical layer technology

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Authors: Anahita Izadyar, My Ni Van, Kayleigh Amber Rodriguez, Ilwoo Seok, Elizabeth E. Hood

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Using a recombinant enzyme derived from corn and a simple modification, we fabricated a facile, fast, and cost-beneficial biosensor to measure glucose. The Nafion/ Plant Produced Mn Peroxidase (PPMP)– glucose oxidase (GOx)- Bovine serum albumin (BSA) /Au electrode showed an excellent amperometric response to detect glucose. This biosensor is capable of responding to a wide range of glucose—20.0 µM−15.0 mM and has a lower detection limit (LOD) of 2.90µM. The reproducibility response using six electrodes is also very substantial and indicates the high capability of this biosensor to detect a wide range of 3.10±0.19µM to 13.2±1.8 mM glucose concentration. Selectivity of this electrode was investigated in an optimized experimental solution contains 10% diet green tea with citrus containing ascorbic acid (AA), and citric acid (CA) in a wide concentration of glucose at 0.02 to 14.0mM with an LOD of 3.10µM. Reproducibility was also investigated using 4 electrodes in this sample and shows notable results in the wide concentration range of 3.35±0.45µM to of 13.0 ± 0.81 mM. We also used other voltammetry methods to evaluate this biosensor. We applied linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and this technique shows a wide range of 0.10−15.0 mM to detect glucose with a lower detection limit of 19.5µM. The performance and strength of this enzyme biosensor were the simplicity, wide linear ranges, sensitivities, selectivity, and low limits of detection. We expect that the modified biosensor has the potential for monitoring various biofluids.

Keywords: plant-produced manganese peroxidase, enzyme-based biosensors, glucose, modified gold electrode, glucose oxidase

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Authors: A. Gopala Krishna, M. Lakshmi Chaitanya, V. Kalyana Manohar

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In the existent analysis, laser micro machining (LMM) of Silicon carbide (SiCp) reinforced Aluminum 7075 Metal Matrix Composite (Al7075/SiCp MMC) was studied. While machining, Because of the intense heat generated, A layer gets formed on the work piece surface which is called recast layer and this layer is detrimental to the surface quality of the component. The recast layer needs to be as small as possible for precise applications. Therefore, The height of recast layer and the depth of groove which are conflicting in nature were considered as the significant manufacturing criteria, Which determines the pursuit of a machining process obtained in LMM of Al7075/10%SiCp composite. The present work formulates the depth of groove and height of recast layer in relation to the machining parameters using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and correspondingly, The formulated mathematical models were put to use for optimization. Since the effect of machining parameters on the depth of groove and height of recast layer was contradictory, The problem was explicated as a multi objective optimization problem. Moreover, An evolutionary Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) was employed to optimize the model established by RSM. Subsequently this algorithm was also adapted to achieve the Pareto optimal set of solutions that provide a detailed illustration for making the optimal solutions. Eventually experiments were conducted to affirm the results obtained from RSM and NSGA-II.

Keywords: Laser Micro Machining (LMM), depth of groove, Height of recast layer, Response Surface Methodology (RSM), non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm

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Authors: M. R. Akshaya, Veena Rao

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Pet population in India is increasing phenomenally owing to the changes in urban lifestyle with increasing number of single professionals, single parents, delayed parenthood etc. The animal companionship as a means of reducing stress levels, deriving emotional support, and unconditional love provided by dogs are a few reasons attributed for increasing pet ownership. The consequence is the booming of the pet care products and dog care centers catering to the different requirements of rearing the pets. Dog care centers quite popular in tier 1 metros of India cater to the requirement of the dog owners providing space for the dogs in absence of the owner. However, it is often reported that the absence of the owner leads to destructive and exploratory behavior issues; the main being the anxiety disorders. In the above context, it becomes imperative for a designer to design dog boarding centers that help in reducing the separation anxiety in dogs keeping in mind the different interior design parameters. An exploratory research with focus group discussion is employed involving a group of dog owners, behaviorists, proprietors of day care as well as boarding centers, and veterinarians to understand their perception on the significance of different interior parameters of color, texture, ventilation, aroma therapy and acoustics as a means of reducing the stress levels in dogs sent to the boarding centers. The data collected is organized as thematic networks thus enabling the listing of the interior design parameters that needs to be considered in designing dog boarding centers. 

Keywords: behavioral response, design parameters, dog boarding centers, interior environment

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Authors: Daya Weerasinghe

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Parental expectations often differ to that of their children and the influence and involvement of parents, at home, may affect the student performance in the classroom. This paper presents results from a survey of Asian and European background secondary school mathematics students (N=128) in Melbourne, Australia. Student responses to survey questions were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis, followed by t-tests and ANOVA. The aim of the analysis was to identify similarities and differences in parental expectations in relation to ethnicity, gender, and the year level of the students. The notable findings from the analysis showed no significant difference (at 0.05 level) in parental expectations and student performance, in relation to ethnicity or gender. Conversely, there was a significant difference in both parental expectations and student performance between year 7 and year 12 students. Further, whilst there was a significant difference in parental expectations between year 7 and year 11 students, the students’ performances were not significantly different. The results suggest further research may be needed to understand the parental expectations and student performance between the lower and upper secondary school mathematics students.

Keywords: ethnic background, gender, parental expectations, student performance, year level

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Authors: Young-Cheol Choi, Sung-Won Yoo, Bong Chun Lee, Byoungsun Park, Sang-Hwa Jung

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Cracks in concrete commonly provide the passages of ingresses of aggressive and harmful ions into concrete inside and thus reduce the durability of concrete members. In order to solve this problem, self-healing concrete based on mineral admixture has become a major issue. Self-healing materials are those which have the ability of autonomously repairing some damages or small cracks in concrete structures. Concrete has an inherent healing potential, called natural healing, which can take place in ordinary concrete elements but its power is limited and is not predictable. The main mechanism of self-healing in cracked concrete is the continued hydration of unreacted binder and the crystallization of calcium carbonate. Some mineral admixtures have been found to promote the self-healing of cementitious materials. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of mineral admixture on the self-healing performances of high strength concrete. The potential capability of self-healing of cementitious materials was evaluated using isothermal conduction calorimeter. The self-healing efficiencies were studied by means of water flow tests on cracked concrete specimens. The results show a different healing behaviour depending on presence of the crystalline admixture.

Keywords: mineral admixture, self-healing, water flow test, crystallization

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Authors: Trunal Bhujangrao, Catherine Froustey, Fernando Veiga, Philippe Darnis, Franck Girot Mata

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The understanding of the material behavior under shear loading has great importance for a researcher in manufacturing processes like cutting, machining, milling, turning, friction stir welding, etc. where the material experiences large deformation at high temperature. For such material behavior analysis, hot shear tests provide a useful means to investigate the evolution of the microstructure at a wide range of temperature and to improve the material behavior model. Shear tests can be performed by direct shear loading (e.g. torsion of thin-walled tubular samples), or appropriate specimen design to convert a tensile or compressive load into shear (e.g. simple shear tests). The simple shear tests are straightforward and designed to obtained very large deformation. However, many of these shear tests are concerned only with the elastic response of the material. It is becoming increasingly important to capture a plastic response of the material. Plastic deformation is significantly more complex and is known to depend more heavily on the strain rate, temperature, deformation, etc. Besides, there is not enough work is done on high-temperature shear loading, because of geometrical instability occurred during the plastic deformation. The aim of this study is to design a new shear tensile specimen geometry to convert the tensile load into dominant shear loading under plastic deformation. Design of the specimen geometry is based on FEM. The material used in this paper is AA7075 alloy, tested quasi statically under elevated temperature. Finally, the microstructural changes taking place during

Keywords: AA7075 alloy, dynamic recrystallization, edge effect, large strain, shear tensile test

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Authors: Mukta Singh, Ratan Kumar Saha, Himadri Saha, Paramveer Singh

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The present study evaluated the effect of sub-lethal doses of antifungal drug miconazole nitrate (MCZ) on immunological responses including immune-related gene expression and its role as a prophylactic drug against S. parasitica in Labeo rohita fingerlings. Fish were fed with sub lethal doses of MCZ i.e., T1- 6.30 mg MCZ kgBW⁻¹, T2- 12.61 mg MCZ kgBW⁻¹ and T3- 25.22 mg MCZ kgBW⁻¹ and sampling was done at different time intervals for 240 h. Immunological parameters viz. lysozyme activity, oxygen radical production and plasma anti-protease activity showed significant enhancement (p < 0.05) in fish fed with T2 and T3 doses. Significant reduction in plasma protein content was observed in all the dietary groups as compared to control. Expression of immune-relevant genes like TLR-22 and β2-M showed significantly higher expression at six h and 24 h of sampling in both liver and head-kidney. However, these genes showed a down-regulation after 120 h of sampling in both the tissues. Preventive efficacy study showed that single dose of MCZ provides protection against oomycetes up to the fourth day of infection. Significantly higher mortality was observed in control diet-fed fish as compared to fish fed with MCZ medicated diet. Thus, from the study, it can be concluded that the MCZ can act as a potent antifungal agent for preventing oomycetes infection as well as to enhance the immune response.

Keywords: antifungal, immune gene, immunological, miconazole nitrate, prophylactic

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Authors: Emilie Gout, Mathias Monnot, Olivier Boutin, Pierre Vanloot, Philippe Moulin

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Water is a precious resource. Treating industrial wastewater remains a considerable technical challenge of our century. The effluent considered for this study is landfill leachate treated by reverse osmosis (RO). Nowadays, in most developed countries, sanitary landfilling is the main method to deal with municipal solid waste. Rainwater percolates through solid waste, generating leachates mostly comprised of organic and inorganic matter. Whilst leachate ages, its composition varies, becoming more and more bio-refractory. RO is already used for landfill leachates as it generates good quality permeate. However, its mains drawback is the production of highly polluted concentrates that cannot be discharged in the environment or reused, which is an important industrial issue. It is against this background that the study of coupling RO with wet air oxidation (WAO) was set to intensify and optimize processes to meet current regulations for water discharge in the environment. WAO is widely studied for effluents containing bio-refractory compounds. Oxidation consists of a destruction reaction capable of mineralizing the recalcitrant organic fraction of pollution into carbon dioxide and water when complete. WAO process in subcritical conditions requires a high-energy consumption, but it can be autothermic in a certain range of chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations (10-100 g.L⁻¹). Appropriate COD concentrations are reached in landfill leachate RO concentrates. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to report the performances of mineralization during WAO on RO concentrates. The coupling of RO/WAO has shown promising results in previous works on both synthetic and real effluents in terms of organic carbon (TOC) reduction by WAO and retention by RO. Non-catalytic WAO with air as oxidizer was performed in a lab-scale stirred autoclave (1 L) on landfill leachates RO concentrates collected in different seasons in a sanitary landfill in southern France. The yield of WAO depends on operating parameters such as total pressure, temperature, and time. Compositions of the effluent are also important aspects for process intensification. An experimental design methodology was used to minimize the number of experiments whilst finding the operating conditions achieving the best pollution reduction. The simulation led to a set of 18 experiments, and the responses to highlight process efficiency are pH, conductivity, turbidity, COD, TOC, and inorganic carbon. A 70% oxygen excess was chosen for all the experiments. First experiments showed that COD and TOC abatements of at least 70% were obtained after 90 min at 300°C and 20 MPa, which attested the possibility to treat RO leachate concentrates with WAO. In order to meet French regulations and validate process intensification with industrial effluents, some continuous experiments in a bubble column are foreseen, and some further analyses will be performed, such as biological oxygen demand and study of gas composition. Meanwhile, other industrial effluents are treated to compare RO-WAO performances. These effluents, coming from pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and tertiary wastewater industries, present different specific pollutants that will provide a better comprehension of the hybrid process and prove the intensification and feasibility of the process at an industrial scale. Acknowledgments: This work has been supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR) for the Project TEMPO under the reference number ANR-19-CE04-0002-01.

Keywords: hybrid process, landfill leachates, process intensification, reverse osmosis, wet air oxidation

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Authors: Youjeong Hwang

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Purpose: Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) promotes B-cell development, immunoglobulin formation, and interleukin-6 (IL-6) production, then regulate the immune response and inflammation. As IGF-I and their receptor also exist in the periodontal tissue, they may affect the immune response caused by periodontal pathogens in aggressive periodontitis (AgP) patients. The function of IGF is regulated by IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs), and IGFBP-3 is known to most abundant in plasma. The aim of the present study was to assess the concentration of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 in plasma and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) in AgP patients and to find out their association. Methods: Nine patients with AgP (test group) and nine healthy subjects (control group) were included in this study. None of the subjects had a history of systemic disease, smoking or steroids medication. GCF samples were collected by microcapillary pipettes and plasma samples were obtained by venipuncture. Probing pocket depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL) and bleeding on probing (BOP) were recorded. Samples were assayed for IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels using ELISA. Results: Mean IGF-I level in GCF was higher in the test group than control. Mean IGF-I level in plasma and IGFBP-3 level in GCF and plasma in control group were higher than that of the test group. However, there was no statistical significance (p > 0.05). The mean level of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 in GCF was lower than those in plasma. Mean IGF-I level in plasma showed a negative correlation with PD and CAL (p < 0.05) in both groups. The levels of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 in GCF seemed to be negatively correlated with BOP in the test group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The difference in the level of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 between AgP and healthy subjects was not significant. Further studies that explain the mechanism of the protective role of IGF-I with more samples are needed.

Keywords: aggressive periodontitis, pathogenesis, insulin-like growth factor, insulin-like growth factor binding protein

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Authors: N. Allouache, O. Rahli

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Solar radiation is by far the largest and the most world’s abundant, clean, and permanent energy source. In recent years, many promising technologies have been developed to harness the sun's energy. These technologies help in environmental protection, economizing energy, and sustainable development, which are the major issues of the world. One of these important technologies is the solar refrigerating machines that make use of either absorption or adsorption technologies. In this present work, the adsorbent bed is modelized and optimized using different working pairs, such as zeolite-water, silica gel-water, activated carbon-ammonia, calcium chlorid-ammonia, activated carbon fiber- methanol and activated carbon AC35-methanol. The results show that the enhancement of the heat and mass transfer depends on the properties of the working pair; the performances of the adsorption cycle are essentially influenced by the choice of the adsorbent-adsorbate pair. The system can operate successfully for optimal parameters such as the evaporator, condenser, and generating temperatures. The activated carbon is the best adsorbent due to its high surface area and micropore volume.

Keywords: adsorbent bed, heat and mass transfer, numerical analysis, working pairs

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Authors: Caroline Kim

Abstract:

Scholars have long disputed the relationship between the origins of language and human behavior. Historically, behaviorist psychologist B. F. Skinner argued that language is one instance of the general stimulus-response phenomenon that characterizes the essence of human behavior. Another, more recent approach argues, by contrast, that language is an innate cognitive faculty and does not arise from behavior, which might develop and reinforce linguistic facility but is not its source. Pinker, among others, proposes that linguistic defects arise from damage to the brain, both congenital and acquired in life. Much of his argument is based on case studies in which damage to the Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas of the brain results in loss of the ability to produce coherent grammatical expressions when speaking or writing; though affected speakers often utter quite fluent streams of sentences, the words articulated lack discernible semantic content. Pinker concludes on this basis that language is an innate component of specific, classically language-correlated regions of the human brain. Taking a notorious 1970s case of linguistic maladaptation, this paper queries the dominant materialist paradigm of language-correlated regions. Susan “Genie” Wiley was physically isolated from language interaction in her home and beaten by her father when she attempted to make any sort of sound. Though without any measurable resulting damage to the brain, Wiley was never able to develop the level of linguistic facility normally achieved in adulthood. Having received a negative reinforcement of language acquisition from her father and lacking the usual language acquisition period, in adulthood Wiley was able to develop language only at a quite limited level in later life. From a contemporary behaviorist perspective, this case confirms the possibility of language deficiency without brain pathology. Wiley’s potential language-determining areas in the brain were intact, and she was exposed to language later in her life, but she was unable to achieve the normal level of communication skills, deterring socialization. This phenomenon and others like it in the case limited literature on linguistic maladaptation pose serious clinical, scientific, and indeed philosophical difficulties for both of the major competing theories of language acquisition, innateness, and linguistic stimulus-response. The implications of such cases for future research in language acquisition are explored, with a particular emphasis on the interaction of innate capacity and stimulus-based development in early childhood.

Keywords: behaviorism, innateness hypothesis, language, Susan "Genie" Wiley

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Authors: Tomas Menard

Abstract:

The synthesis of output-feedback control law has been investigated by many researchers since the last century. While many results exist for the case of Linear Time Invariant systems whose measurements are continuously available, nowadays, control laws are usually implemented on micro-controller, then the measurements are discrete-time by nature. This fact has to be taken into account explicitly in order to obtain a satisfactory behavior of the closed-loop system. One considers here a general class of systems corresponding to an observability normal form and which is subject to uncertainties in the dynamics and sampling of the output. Indeed, in practice, the modeling of the system is never perfect, this results in unknown uncertainties in the dynamics of the model. We propose here an output feedback algorithm which is based on a linear state feedback and a continuous-discrete time observer. The main feature of the proposed control law is that only discrete-time measurements of the output are needed. Furthermore, it is formally proven that the state of the closed loop system exponentially converges toward the origin despite the unknown uncertainties. Finally, the performances of this control scheme are illustrated with simulations.

Keywords: dynamical systems, output feedback control law, sampling, uncertain systems

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Authors: Eden G. Mariquit, Winarto Kurniawan, Masahiro Miyauchi, Hirofumi Hinode

Abstract:

This research studied the effect of adding surfactant to the titanium dioxide (TiO2) sol-gel solution that was used to immobilize TiO2 on glass substrates by dip coating technique using TiO2 sol-gel solution mixed with different types of surfactants. After dipping into the TiO2 sol, the films were calcined and produced pure anatase crystal phase. The thickness of the thin film was varied by repeating the dip and calcine cycle. The prepared films were characterized using FE-SEM, TG-DTA, and XRD, and its photocatalytic performances were tested on degradation of an organic dye, methylene blue. Aside from its phocatalytic performance, the photo-induced hydrophilicity of thin TiO2 films surface was also studied. Characterization results showed that the addition of surfactant gave rise to characteristic patterns on the surface of the TiO2 thin film which also affects the photocatalytic activity. The addition of CTAB to the TiO2 dipping solution had a negative effect because the calcination temperature was not high enough to burn all the surfactants off. As for the surface wettability, the addition of surfactant also affected the induced surface hydrophilicity of the TiO2 films when irradiated under UV light.

Keywords: photocatalysis, surface hydrophilicity, TiO2 thin films, surfactant

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Authors: E. Bennion, A. Acharya, S. Barnes, D. Ferrell, S. Luckett-Cole, G. Mower, J. Nelson, Y. Nguyen

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Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the validity of a firearm injury query in the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics syndromic surveillance system. Syndromic surveillance data are used at the Utah Department of Health for early detection of and rapid response to unusually high rates of violence and injury, among other health outcomes. The query of interest was defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and used chief complaint and discharge diagnosis codes to capture initial emergency department encounters for firearm injury of all intents. Design: Two epidemiologists manually reviewed electronic health records of emergency department visits captured by the query from April-May 2020, compared results, and sent conflicting determinations to two arbiters. Results: Of the 85 unique records captured, 67 were deemed probable, 19 were ruled out, and two were undetermined, resulting in a positive predictive value of 75.3%. Common reasons for false positives included non-initial encounters and misleading keywords. Conclusion: Improving the validity of syndromic surveillance data would better inform outbreak response decisions made by state and local health departments. The firearm injury definition could be refined to exclude non-initial encounters by negating words such as “last month,” “last week,” and “aftercare”; and to exclude non-firearm injury by negating words such as “pellet gun,” “air gun,” “nail gun,” “bullet bike,” and “exit wound” when a firearm is not mentioned.

Keywords: evaluation, health information system, firearm injury, syndromic surveillance

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Authors: A. Sebti Bouzid, S. Igoud, L. Aoudjit, H. Lebik

Abstract:

Mathematical modeling and numerical simulation have emerged over the past two decades as one of the key tools for design and optimize performances of physical and chemical processes intended to water disinfection. Water photolysis is an efficient and economical technique to reduce bacterial contamination. It exploits the germicidal effect of solar ultraviolet irradiation to inactivate pathogenic microorganisms. The design of photo-reactor operating in continuous disinfection system, required tacking in account the hydrodynamic behavior of water in the reactor. Since the kinetic of disinfection depends on irradiation intensity distribution, coupling the hydrodynamic and solar radiation distribution is of crucial importance. In this work we propose a numerical simulation study for hydrodynamic and solar irradiation distribution in a tubular photo-reactor. We have used the Computational Fluid Dynamic code Fluent under the assumption of three-dimensional incompressible flow in unsteady turbulent regimes. The results of simulation concerned radiation, temperature and velocity fields are discussed and the effect of inclination angle of reactor relative to the horizontal is investigated.

Keywords: solar water disinfection, hydrodynamic modeling, solar irradiation modeling, CFD Fluent

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Authors: Neeti Rustagi, Naveen Dutt, Arvind Sinha, Mahaveer S. Rhodha, Pankaja R. Raghav

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Background: Pre-hospital trauma care services are in developing stage in fast-urbanizing cities of India including Jodhpur. Training of health professionals in providing necessary pre-hospital trauma care is an essential step in decreasing accident related morbidity and mortality. The current study explores the response of a medical graduate toward helping an accident victim in a pre-hospital setting before patient can be transferred to definitive trauma facility. Methodology: This study examines the perceived competence in predicting response to an accident victim by medical graduates in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Participants completed measures of attitude, normative influence and perceived behavior control toward providing pre-hospital care to an accident victim. Likert scale was used to measure the participant responses. Preliminary and descriptive analysis were used using SPSS 21.0. Internal consistency of the responses received was measured using Cronbach’s alpha. Results: Almost all medical graduates agreed that road accidents are common in their area (male: 92%; female: 78%). More male medical graduates (28%) reported helping an accident victim as compared to female physicians (9%) in the previous three months. Majority of study participants (96%) reported that providing immediate care to an accident victim is essential to save the life of an individual. Experience of helping an accident victim was considered unpleasant by the majority of female participants (70%) as compared to male participants (36%). A large number of participants believed that their friends (80%) and colleagues (96%) would appreciate them helping an accident victim in a pre-hospital setting. A large number of participants also believed that they possess the necessary skills and competencies (80%) towards helping a roadside accident victim in the pre-hospital care environment. Perceived competence of helping a roadside accident victim until they are transferred to a health facility was reported by less than half of the participants (male: 56%; female: 43%). Conclusion: Medical graduates have necessary attitude, competencies, and intention of helping a roadside accident victim. The societal response towards helping a road side accident victim is also supportive. In spite of positive determinants, a large proportion of medical graduates have perceived lack of competence in helping a roadside accident victim. This is essential to explore further as providing pre-hospital care to a roadside accident victim is an essential step in establishing the continuum of care to an accident victim especially in countries where pre-hospital services are in developing phase.

Keywords: prehospital care, perceived behavior, perceived competence, medical graduates

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Authors: Lukman Oyelami

Abstract:

Studies have identified trade as a veritable tool for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. However, contrary to the overwhelming pieces of evidence of the Asian tiger as a success story of beneficial trade, many African countries still experience poverty unabatedly despite active engagement in trade. Consequently, this study seeks to investigate the contributory effect of technological innovation on total export performance and specifically manufacturing exports of African countries. This is with a view to exploring manufacturing exports as a viable option for diversification. To achieve the empirical investigation this study, require Systems Generalized Method of Moments (sys-GMM) estimation technique was adopted based on the econometric realities inherent in the data utilized. However, the static technique of panel estimation of the Fixed Effects (FE) model was utilized for baseline analysis and robustness check. The conclusion from this study is that innovation generally impacts export performance of African countries positively, however, manufacturing export shows more sensitivity to innovation than total export. And, this provides a clear pathway for export diversification for many African countries that run a resource-based economy.

Keywords: innovation, export, GMM, Africa

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Authors: Valeria T. Dilcheva, Svetlozara L. Petkova, Ivelin Vladov

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Trichinellosis is a food-borne parasitic disease caused by nematodes of the genus Trichinella which are zoonotic parasites with cosmopolitan distribution and major socio-economic importance. Human infection is acquired through consumption of undercooked meat from domestic or wild animal. Penetration of Trichinella larvae into striated skeletal muscle cells results in ultrastructural and metabolic changes. Migration of larvae causes the typical symptoms and signs of the disease. The severity of the symptoms depends on the number of ingested Trichinella larvae and the immune response of the host. Eosinophilia is present, with few exceptions, in most cases of human trichinellosis, inasmuch as it is the earliest and most important host response. Even in human asymptomatic cases, increases in eosinophilia of up to 15% have been observed. Eosinophilia appears at an early stage of infection between the second and fifth weeks of infection. By 2005 it was considered that only two species of Trichinella genus were found in the country. After routine trichinelloscopy procedure disseminated single muscle larvae in samples of wild boars and badger were PCR-identified as T. pseudospiralis. The study aimed to observed hematological changes occurring during experimentally induced infection with Trichinella spiralis, T. britovi and T. pseudospiralis in mice. We performed hematological blood profile, tracking 15 blood indicators. In statistical analysis made by Two-way ANOVA, there were significant differences of HGB, MCHC, PLT, Lymph%, Gran% in all three types of trichinellosis compared to control animals. Capsule-forming T. spiralis showed statistically significant differences in HGB, MCHC, Lymph% and PLT compared to the other two species. Non capsule-forming T. pseudospiralis showed statistically significant differences in Lymph%, Gran% relative to the control and in Gran% relative to T. spiralis. It appears rather substantial the process of capsule formation for prolonged immune response and retention of high content of percentage of lymphocytes(Lymph%) and low of granulocyte(Gran%) in T. pseudospiralis, which is contrary to studies for T. spiralis and eosinophilia. Studies and analyzes of some specific blood profile parameters can provide additional data in favor of early diagnosis and adequate treatment as well as provide a better understanding of acute and chronic trichinosis.

Keywords: hematological test, T. britovi, T. spiralis, T. pseudospiralis

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Authors: Ali Serhat Ersoyoğlu, Kevser Dincer, Salih Yayla, Derya Saygılı

Abstract:

In this study, performance of membrane was experimentally investigated. A solution having 1,5 gr Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ)+ 10 mL methanol was prepared. This solution was taken out and filled into a spinning syringe. 6 grill-shaped wires having the sizes of 2x2 cm2’were cladded with YSZ + methanol solution by using the spinning method. After coating, the grill-shaped wires were left to dry. The dry wires were then weighed on a precision scale to determine the amount of coating imposed. The grill-shaped wires were mounted on the anode side of the PEM fuel cell membrane. Effects of the coating on the wires on current, power and resistance performances in the PEM fuel cells were determined experimentally and compared for every case. The highest current occurred at the 1st second on current #1, while the lowest current occurred at the 1171th second on current #6. The highest resistance was recorded at the 1171th second on resistance # 6, the lowest occurred at the 1st second on resistance # 1, whereas the highest power took place at the 1st second on power #1, the lowest power appeared at the 1171th second on power #5.

Keywords: membrane, electro-spinning method, Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia, fuel cells

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Authors: Woo-Tai Jung, Sung-Yong Choi, Young-Hwan Park

Abstract:

The composite pavement system considered in this paper is composed of a functional surface layer, a fiber reinforced asphalt middle layer and a fiber reinforced lean concrete base layer. The mix design of the fiber reinforced lean concrete corresponds to the mix composition of conventional lean concrete but reinforced by fibers. The quasi-absence of research on the durability or long-term performances (fatigue, creep, etc.) of such mix design stresses the necessity to evaluate experimentally the long-term characteristics of this layer composition. This study tests the creep characteristics as one of the long-term characteristics of the fiber reinforced lean concrete layer for composite pavement using a new creep device. The test results reveal that the lean concrete mixed with fiber reinforcement and fly ash develops smaller creep than the conventional lean concrete. The results of the application of the CEB-FIP prediction equation indicate that a modified creep prediction equation should be developed to fit with the new mix design of the layer.

Keywords: creep, lean concrete, pavement, fiber reinforced concrete, base

Procedia PDF Downloads 522