Search results for: evidence based practice

Authors: Arpita Saha, Apoorv Jain, Satish Chandra, Indrajit Ghosh

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Level of service at a signal controlled intersection is directly measured from the delay. Similarly, saturation flow rate is a fundamental parameter to measure the intersection capacity. The present study calculates vehicle arrival rate, departure rate, and queue length for every five seconds interval in each cycle. Based on the queue lengths, the total delay of the cycle has been calculated using Simpson’s 1/3rd rule. Saturation flow has been estimated in terms of veh/hr of green/lane for every five seconds interval of the green period until at least three vehicles are left to cross the stop line. Vehicle composition shows an immense effect on total delay and saturation flow rate. The increase in two-wheeler proportion increases the saturation flow rate and reduces the total delay per vehicle significantly. Additionally, an increase in the heavy vehicle proportion reduces the saturation flow rate and increases the total delay for each vehicle.

Keywords: delay, saturation flow, signalised intersection, vehicle composition

Procedia PDF Downloads 448

Authors: Erion Luga, Aksel Seitllari, Kemal Pervanqe

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This study investigates the relation between physical and mechanical properties of concrete paving stones using neuro-fuzzy approach. For this purpose 200 samples of concrete paving stones were selected randomly from different sources. The first phase included the determination of physical properties of the samples such as water absorption capacity, porosity and unit weight. After that the indirect tensile strength test and compressive strength test of the samples were performed. İn the second phase, adaptive neuro-fuzzy approach was employed to simulate nonlinear mapping between the above mentioned physical properties and mechanical properties of paving stones. The neuro-fuzzy models uses Sugeno type fuzzy inference system. The models parameters were adapted using hybrid learning algorithm and input space was fuzzyfied by considering grid partitioning. It is concluded based on the observed data and the estimated data through ANFIS models that neuro-fuzzy system exhibits a satisfactory performance.

Keywords: paving stones, physical properties, mechanical properties, ANFIS

Procedia PDF Downloads 319

Authors: Assal E. Haddad

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Food waste samples from Irbid were collected from 5 different sources for 12 weeks to characterize their composition in terms of four food categories; rice, meat, fruits and vegetables, and bread. Average food type compositions were 39% rice, 6% meat, 34% fruits and vegetables, and 23% bread. Methane yield was also measured for all food types and was found to be 362, 499, 352, and 375 mL/g VS for rice, meat, fruits and vegetables, and bread, respectively. A representative food waste sample was created to test the actual methane yield and compare it to calculated one. Actual methane yield (414 mL/g VS) was greater than the calculated value (377 mL/g VS) based on food type proportions and their specific methane yield. This study emphasizes the effect of the types of food and their proportions in food waste on the final biogas production. Findings in this study provide representative methane emission factors for Irbid’s food waste, which represent as high as 68% of total Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Irbid, and also indicate the energy and economic value within the solid waste stream in Irbid.

Keywords: food waste, solid waste management, anaerobic digestion, methane yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Sutharsini Jesuthasan, N. Umakanth

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Presently the impact of electronic word of mouth on consumer’s purchasing intentions very popular one for a long time period. Even though now this E-WOM got a new evolution through social media. Before this new concept, general people were able to speak with any people on the internet. But likely social media enable people to talk with colleagues, friends and other people on the internet. Meanwhile, this new path way of E-WOM might be more powerful in terms of confusing purchase intention. And negative side of E-WOM very important in this competitive era. So, this study elaborates the negative E-WOM within the context of social media such as face book. And especially this study identifies the influence of negative E-WOM in social media on consumer’s purchase intention. Virtual snowball sampling method was used by researcher to identify the hidden population. Finally, spss 20.0 also used for data analysis purpose. And conclusion and recommendations are given based on the findings. And this research also will support to both parties such as researcher and participants.

Keywords: word of mouth, social media, purchase intention, electronic word of mouth

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Anuphan Suttimarn, Natcha Wattanaprapa, Suwaree Yordchim

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The aim of this study is to develop the online journal system using a web application to manage the journal service of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University in order to improve the journal management of the university. The main structures of the system process consist of 1. journal content management system 2. membership system of the journal and 3. online submission or review process. The investigators developed the system based on a web application using open source OJS software and phpMyAdmin to manage a research database. The system test showed that this online system 'Online Journal System (OJS)' could shorten the time in the period of submission article to journal and helped in managing a journal procedure efficiently and accurately. The quality evaluation of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat online journal system (SSRUOJS) undertaken by experts and researchers in 5 aspects; design, usability, security, reducing time, and accuracy showed the highest average value (X=4.30) on the aspect of reducing time. Meanwhile, the system efficiency evaluation was on an excellent level (X=4.13).

Keywords: online journal system, Journal management, Information system development, OJS

Procedia PDF Downloads 161

Authors: Janya Sainui

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As a rapid growth of digital videos and data communications, video summarization that provides a shorter version of the video for fast video browsing and retrieval is necessary. Key frame extraction is one of the mechanisms to generate video summary. In general, the extracted key frames should both represent the entire video content and contain minimum redundancy. However, most of the existing approaches heuristically select key frames; hence, the selected key frames may not be the most different frames and/or not cover the entire content of a video. In this paper, we propose a method of video summarization which provides the reasonable objective functions for selecting key frames. In particular, we apply a statistical dependency measure called quadratic mutual informaion as our objective functions for maximizing the coverage of the entire video content as well as minimizing the redundancy among selected key frames. The proposed key frame extraction algorithm finds key frames as an optimization problem. Through experiments, we demonstrate the success of the proposed video summarization approach that produces video summary with better coverage of the entire video content while less redundancy among key frames comparing to the state-of-the-art approaches.

Keywords: video summarization, key frame extraction, dependency measure, quadratic mutual information

Procedia PDF Downloads 255

Authors: Amol Parikh

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The goal of this study is to understand the most preferred ways to spend time at an airport while waiting for a flight to board. Survey was done on 1639 people of the United States of America. In the overall data, it was found that majority people always preferred spending time doing something in their mobile phone. Second most preferred option was reading something, followed by wanting a companion to talk to or to eat/drink. Least preferred option was to eat/drink alone. Overall data was then filtered based on age, gender, income and urban density groups. Percentage of people wanting to use a mobile phone was highest in the age group of 18-24. People aged 45 and above chose reading as the most preferred option. In any of the ranges of income, gender or urban density using mobile phone was the most preferred option. Conclusion of this study is that introducing a mobile app to search for a companion at an airport to do like minded activity would get noticed by majority travelers and would be a business idea worth trying as wanting a companion to talk or eat/drink with is not the least preferred option.

Keywords: waiting for a flight, airport, mobile phone, companion

Procedia PDF Downloads 272

Authors: Roman Kalvin, Saba Arif, Anam Nadeem, Burhan Ali Ghumman, Juntakan Taweekun

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Bicycles are important parts of the transportation industry. In the current world, use of sprocket is very high on bicycles these days. Sprocket and chains are important parts of the transmission of power in the bicycle. However, transmission of power is highly dependent on sprocket design. In conventional bicycles, sprockets are made up of mild steel which undergoes wear and tears with the passage of time due to high pressures applied on it. In the current research, a new sprocket is designed by changing its structure and material to carbon fiber from mild steel. The existing sprocket of a bicycle is compared with the new and modified sprocket design. However, new design has structural and material changes as well. According to the results, in carbon fiber, sprocket deformation is 0.091 mm while sprocket stress value is 371.13N/mm². Also, comparison based analysis is done by physical testing and software analysis. There is 8.1% variation in software and experimental results of steel. Additionally, the difference between both methods comes 8 to 9%. This improved design can be used in future for more durability and long run timings for bicycles.

Keywords: sprocket, mild steel, drafting, stress, deformation

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Authors: Adi A. Maaita, Hamza A. A. Al Sewadi

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One of the crucial parameters of digital cryptographic systems is the selection of the keys used and their distribution. The randomness of the keys has a strong impact on the system’s security strength being difficult to be predicted, guessed, reproduced or discovered by a cryptanalyst. Therefore, adequate key randomness generation is still sought for the benefit of stronger cryptosystems. This paper suggests an algorithm designed to generate and test pseudo random number sequences intended for cryptographic applications. This algorithm is based on mathematically manipulating a publically agreed upon information between sender and receiver over a public channel. This information is used as a seed for performing some mathematical functions in order to generate a sequence of pseudorandom numbers that will be used for encryption/decryption purposes. This manipulation involves permutations and substitutions that fulfills Shannon’s principle of “confusion and diffusion”. ASCII code characters wereutilized in the generation process instead of using bit strings initially, which adds more flexibility in testing different seed values. Finally, the obtained results would indicate sound difficulty of guessing keys by attackers.

Keywords: cryptosystems, information security agreement, key distribution, random numbers

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Authors: Alex Elentukh

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The paper is based on data collected from final exams administered during five years of teaching the graduate course in software engineering. The visualization instrument with four distinct personas has been used to improve the effectiveness of each class. The study offers a plethora of clues toward students' behavioral preferences. Diversity among students (professional background, physical proximity) is too significant to assume a single face of a learner. This is particularly true for a body of online graduate students in computer science. Conclusions of the study (each learner is unique, and each class is unique) are extrapolated to demystify the notion of an 'average software engineer.' An immediate direction for an educator is to ensure a course applies to a wide audience of very different individuals. On the other hand, a student should be clear about his/her abilities and preferences - to follow the most effective learning path.

Keywords: K.3.2 computer and information science education, learner profiling, adaptive learning, software engineering

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Authors: Sumachaya Harnsukworapanich, Tetsuo Ichimori

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The apportionment method is used by many countries, to calculate the distribution of seats in political bodies. For example, this method is used in the United States (U.S.) to distribute house seats proportionally based on the population of the electoral district. Famous apportionment methods include the divisor methods called the Adams Method, Dean Method, Hill Method, Jefferson Method and Webster Method. Sometimes the results from the implementation of these divisor methods are unfair and include errors. Therefore, it is important to examine the optimization of this method by using a bias measurement to figure out precise and fair results. In this research we investigate the bias of divisor methods in the U.S. Houses of Representatives toward large and small states by applying the Stolarsky Mean Method. We compare the bias of the apportionment method by using two famous bias measurements: The Balinski and Young measurement and the Ernst measurement. Both measurements have a formula for large and small states. The Third measurement however, which was created by the researchers, did not factor in the element of large and small states into the formula. All three measurements are compared and the results show that our measurement produces similar results to the other two famous measurements.

Keywords: apportionment, bias, divisor, fair, measurement

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Monica Arnaudo, Monika Topel, Bjorn Laumert

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Within the Swedish context, the current trend of relatively low electricity prices promotes the electrification of the energy infrastructure. The residential heating sector takes part in this transition by proposing a switch from a centralized district heating system towards a distributed heat pumps-based setting. When it comes to urban environments, two issues arise. The first, seen from an electricity-sector perspective, is related to the fact that existing networks are limited with regards to their installed capacities. Additional electric loads, such as heat pumps, can cause severe overloads on crucial network elements. The second, seen from a heating-sector perspective, has to do with the fact that the indoor comfort conditions can become difficult to handle when the operation of the heat pumps is limited by a risk of overloading on the distribution grid. Furthermore, the uncertainty of the electricity market prices in the future introduces an additional variable. This study aims at assessing the extent to which distributed heat pumps can penetrate an existing heat energy network while respecting the technical limitations of the electricity grid and the thermal comfort levels in the buildings. In order to account for the multi-disciplinary nature of this research question, a cosimulation modeling approach was adopted. In this way, each energy technology is modeled in its customized simulation environment. As part of the cosimulation methodology: a steady-state power flow analysis in pandapower was used for modeling the electrical distribution grid, a thermal balance model of a reference building was implemented in EnergyPlus to account for space heating and a fluid-cycle model of a heat pump was implemented in JModelica to account for the actual heating technology. With the models set in place, different scenarios based on forecasted electricity market prices were developed both for present and future conditions of Hammarby Sjöstad, a neighborhood located in the south-east of Stockholm (Sweden). For each scenario, the technical and the comfort conditions were assessed. Additionally, the average cost of heat generation was estimated in terms of levelized cost of heat. This indicator enables a techno-economic comparison study among the different scenarios. In order to evaluate the levelized cost of heat, a yearly performance simulation of the energy infrastructure was implemented. The scenarios related to the current electricity prices show that distributed heat pumps can replace the district heating system by covering up to 30% of the heating demand. By lowering of 2°C, the minimum accepted indoor temperature of the apartments, this level of penetration can increase up to 40%. Within the future scenarios, if the electricity prices will increase, as most likely expected within the next decade, the penetration of distributed heat pumps can be limited to 15%. In terms of levelized cost of heat, a residential heat pump technology becomes competitive only within a scenario of decreasing electricity prices. In this case, a district heating system is characterized by an average cost of heat generation 7% higher compared to a distributed heat pumps option.

Keywords: cosimulation, distributed heat pumps, district heating, electrical distribution grid, integrated energy systems

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Tovondahiniriko Fanjirindratovo, Olga Ramiarinjanahary, Paulisimone Rasoavonjy

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The sunshine duration, which is the sum of all the moments when the solar beam radiation is up to a minimal value, is an important parameter for climatology, tourism, agriculture and solar energy. Its measure is usually given by a pyrheliometer installed on a two-axis solar tracker. Due to the high cost of this device and the availability of global radiation on a horizontal surface, on the other hand, several studies have been done to make a correlation between global radiation and sunshine duration. Most of these studies are fitted for the northern hemisphere using a pyrheliometric database. The aim of the present work is to list and assess all the existing methods and apply them to Reunion Island, a tropical region in the southern hemisphere. Using a database of ten years, global, diffuse and beam radiation for a horizontal surface are employed in order to evaluate the uncertainty of existing algorithms for a tropical region. The methodology is based on indirect comparison because the solar beam radiation is not measured but calculated by the beam radiation on a horizontal surface and the sun elevation angle.

Keywords: Carpentras method, data fitting, global radiation, sunshine duration, Slob and Monna algorithm, step algorithm

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Authors: Akshaya P., Priyanjali Prabhkaran

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The paper examines the formulation of strategies to develop a comprehensive model of city level water utility management to addressing urban sanitation issues. The water is prime life sustaining natural resources and nature’s gifts to all living beings on the earth multiple urban sanitation issues are addressed in the supply of water in a city. Many of these urban sanitation issues are linked to population expansion and economic inequity. Increased usage of water and the development caused water scarcity. The lack of water supply results increases the chance of unhygienic situations in the cities. In this study, the urban sanitation issues are identified with respect to water supply and utility management. The study compared based on their best practices and initiatives. From this, best practices and initiatives identify suitable sustainable measures to address water supply issues in the city level. The paper concludes with the listed provision that should be considered suitable measures for water supply and utility management in city level to address the urban sanitation issues.

Keywords: water, benchmarking water supply, water supply networks, water supply management

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Authors: Rahul Agarwal, Ashutosh Singh

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Colorectal cancer (CRC) also refers as bowel cancer or colon cancer. It involves the development of abnormal growth of cells in colon or rectum part of the body. This work leads to the development of a miRNA database in colorectal cancer. We named this database- miCoRe. This database comprises of all validated colon-rectal cancer miRNAs information from various published literature with an effectual knowledge based information retrieval system. miRNAs have been collected from various published literature reports. MySQL is used for main-framework of miCoRe while the front-end was developed in PHP script. The aim of developing miCoRe is to create a comprehensive central repository of colorectal carcinoma miRNAs with all germane information of miRNAs and their target genes. The current version of miCoRe consists of 238 miRNAs which are known to be implicated in malignancy of CRC. Alongside with miRNA information, miCoRe also contains the information related to the target genes of these miRNA. miCoRe furnishes the information about the mechanism of incidence and progression of the disease, which would further help the researchers to look for colorectal specific miRNAs therapies and CRC specific targeted drug designing. Moreover, it will also help in development of biomarkers for the better and early detection of CRC and will help in better clinical management of the disease.

Keywords: colorectal cancer, database, miCoRe, miRNAs

Procedia PDF Downloads 259

Authors: Jan Van Uden

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The paper reviews classical agency-theory and its contributions to the analysis of complex business negotiations and gives an approach for the modification of the basic agency-model in order to examine the negotiation specific dimensions of agency-problems. By illustrating fundamental potentials for the modification of agency-theory in context of business negotiations the paper highlights recent empirical research that investigates agent-based negotiations and inter-team constellations. A general theoretical analysis of complex negotiation would be based on a two-level approach. First, the modification of the basic agency-model in order to illustrate the organizational context of business negotiations (i.e., multi-agent issues, common-agencies, multi-period models and the concept of bounded rationality). Second, the application of the modified agency-model on complex business negotiations to identify agency-problems and relating areas of risk in the negotiation process. The paper is placed on the first level of analysis – the modification. The method builds on the one hand on insights from behavior decision research (BRD) and on the other hand on findings from agency-theory as normative directives to the modification of the basic model. Through neoclassical assumptions concerning the fundamental aspects of agency-relationships in business negotiations (i.e., asymmetric information, self-interest, risk preferences and conflict of interests), agency-theory helps to draw solutions on stated worst-case-scenarios taken from the daily negotiation routine. As agency-theory is the only universal approach able to identify trade-offs between certain aspects of economic cooperation, insights obtained provide a deeper understanding of the forces that shape business negotiation complexity. The need for a modification of the basic model is illustrated by highlighting selected issues of business negotiations from agency-theory perspective: Negotiation Teams require a multi-agent approach under the condition that often decision-makers as superior-agents are part of the team. The diversity of competences and decision-making authority is a phenomenon that overrides the assumptions of classical agency-theory and varies greatly in context of certain forms of business negotiations. Further, the basic model is bound to dyadic relationships preceded by the delegation of decision-making authority and builds on a contractual created (vertical) hierarchy. As a result, horizontal dynamics within the negotiation team playing an important role for negotiation success are therefore not considered in the investigation of agency-problems. Also, the trade-off between short-term relationships within the negotiation sphere and the long-term relationships of the corporate sphere calls for a multi-period perspective taking into account the sphere-specific governance-mechanisms already established (i.e., reward and monitoring systems). Within the analysis, the implementation of bounded rationality is closely related to findings from BRD to assess the impact of negotiation behavior on underlying principal-agent-relationships. As empirical findings show, the disclosure and reservation of information to the agent affect his negotiation behavior as well as final negotiation outcomes. Last, in context of business negotiations, asymmetric information is often intended by decision-makers acting as superior-agents or principals which calls for a bilateral risk-approach to agency-relations.

Keywords: business negotiations, agency-theory, negotiation analysis, interteam negotiations

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Authors: Angel Mabudusha

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The impression created by the high volume of foreign nationals being deported by the South African Home Affairs and the police departments is that all undocumented foreign nationals insist on staying in South Africa and voluntary repatriation is open for every person. However, those foreign nationals whose request for deportation has been rejected are often not reported on especially their everyday survival as undocumented immigrant women and their encounter with the police on the street. As a result, this paper aims at exploring the everyday experiences of these women on the street and on why the number of undocumented immigrant women in this country will remain a challenge to the police department. The research was conducted in two cities in South Africa, namely: Johannesburg and Pretoria where the police, the undocumented immigrant women, the human rights lawyers and NGO officials were interviewed on this matter. Based on the idea that voluntary repatriation is open for every immigrant, this study has found that some women’ request for voluntary repatriation remain a dream that never came true. Furthermore, this article proposes more humanitarian ways of dealing with undocumented immigrant women.

Keywords: repatriation, refugee status, undocumented foreign nationals, humanitarian

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Authors: J. Santos, A. Gomes, G. Goncalves

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Organizations have increased the debate on the importance of symbolic aspects need to humanize, based on trust. A strong connection with the cultural guidance is key to determine the success of any company since it guarantees its recognition and increased productivity. This way, the quality of an organization relies essentially on its collaborators; on the way, they feel the company as their own. The changes imposed on public institutions try to fit some management practices of the private sector, to the public organizations. Currently, all efforts are aimed to increase competitiveness and promoting a better organizational performance, which leads to an increased the importance of human assets in organizations. A particular interest is the internal marketing since it has a relevant role in the development of employees. This research aimed to describe and identify how internal marketing contributes to explain organizational commitment. A quantitative analysis was done with a sample of 600 workers from public organizations, collected through a questionnaire composed of two scales that allowed the analysis of each of the constructs. The results show explanatory contribution of internal marketing practices on affective and normative commitment, through written information. By the results, workers are committed to the organizations.

Keywords: internal marketing, organizational commitment, public institutions, Portuguese

Procedia PDF Downloads 230

Authors: Jifang Tao, Fei Gao, Hong Cai, Yuan Jin Zheng, Yuan Dong Gu

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Photoacoustic technology is used to measure effect absorption of a light by means of acoustic detection, which provides a high sensitive, low-cross response, cost-effective solution for gas molecular detection. In this paper, we proposed an integrated photoacoustic sensor for Indoor-air quality (IAQ) monitoring. The sensor consists of an acoustically resonant cavity, a high silicon acoustic transducer chip, and a low-cost light source. The light is modulated at the resonant frequency of the cavity to create an enhanced periodic heating and result in an amplified acoustic pressure wave. The pressure is readout by a novel acoustic transducer with low noise. Based on this photoacoustic sensor, typical indoor gases, including CO2, CO, O2, and H2O have been successfully detected, and their concentration are also evaluated with very high accuracy. It has wide potential applications in IAQ monitoring for agriculture, food industry, and ventilation control systems used in public places, such as schools, hospitals and airports.

Keywords: indoor-air quality (IAQ) monitoring, photoacoustic gas sensor, cavity enhancement, integrated gas sensor

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Ghaani, Michele Catti

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The reduction of CoO/Fe₂O₃ oxides supported on carbon xerogels was studied to elucidate the effect of nano-size distribution of the catalyst in carbon matrices. Resorcinol formaldehyde xerogels were synthesized, impregnated with iron and cobalt nitrates, and subsequently heated to obtain the oxides. The mechanism of oxide reduction to metal was investigated by in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction in dynamic, non-isothermal conditions. Kinetic profiles of the reactions were obtained by plotting the diffraction intensities of selected Bragg peaks vs. temperature. The extracted Temperature-Programmed-Reduction (TPR) diagrams were analyzed by appropriate kinetic models, leading to best results with the Avrami-Erofeev model for all reduction reactions considered. The activation energies for the two-step reduction of iron oxide were 65 and 37 kJmol⁻¹, respectively. The average value for the reduction of CoO to Co was found to be around 21 kJ mol⁻¹. Such results may contribute to develop efficient and inexpensive non-noble metal-based catalysts in element form, e.g., Fe, Co, via heterogenization of metal complexes on mesoporous supports.

Keywords: non-isothermal kinetics, carbon aerogel, in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction, reduction mechanisms

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Authors: Tsungming Wu

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The present paper investigates the use of linking adverbials between native male speakers and female speakers in their presentation. From previous studies, overuse of linking adverbials may be an indicator of the low proficiency level in English. In this study, female speakers are found to use more linking adverbials in general. However, the overuse of linking adverbials found in female speakers’ speeches does not imply female speakers’ lower English proficiency, but imply different approaches that male and female speakers adopt in dealing with their presentation tasks. Female speakers are found to be more interactional, leading to their more uses of interactive devices in the presenting process. On the other hand, male speakers take different approaches in dealing with their tasks. Male speakers try to be authoritative and amicable at the same time, resulting in the uses of both interactive devices and distancing devices in their speeches. The paper specifically presents and compares the use of the linking adverbial items, actually and so, in male speakers’ and female speakers’ speeches.

Keywords: LAs, linking adverbial, low proficiency, overuse

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Authors: Dharamvir Mangal

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Supply chain management has increasingly become an inevitable challenge to most companies to continuously survive and prosper in the global chain-based competitive environment. The current challenges of the Indian automotive world, their implications on supply chain are summarized and analyzed in this paper. In this competitive era of ‘LPG’ i.e. Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization, modern marketing systems, introduction of products with short life cycles, and the discriminating expectations of customers have enforced business enterprises to invest in and focus attention on their Supply Chains (SCs) in order to meet out the level of customer’s satisfaction and to survive in the competitive market. In fact, many of trends in the auto industry are reinforcing the need to redefine supply chain strategies layouts, and operations etc. Many manufacturing operations are designed to maximize throughput and lower costs with modest considerations for the crash on inventory levels and distribution capabilities. To improve profitability and efficiency, automotive players are seeking ways to achieve operational excellence, reduce operating cost and enhance customer service through efficient supply chain management.

Keywords: automotive industry, supply chain, challenges, market potential

Procedia PDF Downloads 318

Authors: Majed Al Otaibi, Melissa Lessard-Beaudoin, Amel Loudghi, Raphael Chouinard-Watkins, Melanie Plourde, Frederic Calon, C. Alexandre Castellano, Stephen Cunnane, Helene Payette, Pierrette Gaudreau, Denis Gris, Rona K. Graham

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Introduction: Alzheimer disease (AD) is a chronic disorder that affects millions of individuals worldwide. Symptoms include memory dysfunction, and also alterations in attention, planning, language and overall cognitive function. Olfactory dysfunction is a common symptom of several neurological disorders including AD. Studying the mechanisms underlying the olfactory dysfunction may therefore lead to the discovery of potential biomarkers and/or treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Objectives: To determine if olfactory dysfunction predicts future cognitive impairment in the aging population and to characterize the olfactory system in a murine model expressing a genetic factor of AD. Method: For the human study, quantitative olfactory tests (UPSIT and OMT) have been done on 93 subjects (aged 80 to 94 years) from the Quebec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Successful Aging (NuAge) cohort accepting to participate in the ORCA secondary study. The telephone Modified Mini Mental State examination (t-MMSE) was used to assess cognition levels, and an olfactory self-report was also collected. In a separate cohort, olfactory cortical volume was calculated using MRI results from healthy old adults (n=25) and patients with AD (n=18) using the AAL single-subject atlas and performed with the PNEURO tool (PMOD 3.7). For the murine study, we are using Western blotting, RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Result: Human Study: Based on the self-report, 81% of the participants claimed to not suffer from any problem with olfaction. However, based on the UPSIT, 94% of those subjects showed a poor olfactory performance and different forms of microsmia. Moreover, the results confirm that olfactory function declines with age. We also detected a significant decrease in olfactory cortical volume in AD individuals compared to controls. Murine study: Preliminary data demonstrate there is a significant decrease in expression levels of the proform of caspase-3 and the caspase substrate STK3, in the olfactory bulb of mice expressing human APOE4 compared with controls. In addition, there is a significant decrease in the expression level of the caspase-9 proform and caspase-8 active fragment. Analysis of the mature neuron marker, NeuN, shows decreased expression levels of both isoforms. The data also suggest that Iba-1 immunostaining is increased in the olfactory bulb of APOE4 mice compared to wild type mice. Conclusions: The activation of caspase-3 may be the cause of the decreased levels of STK3 through caspase cleavage and may play role in the inflammation observed. In the clinical study, our results suggest that seniors are unaware of their olfactory function status and therefore it is not sufficient to measure olfaction using the self-report in the elderly. Studying olfactory function and cognitive performance in the aging population will help to discover biomarkers in the early stage of the AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, APOE4, cognition, caspase, brain atrophy, neurodegenerative, olfactory dysfunction

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Authors: Esteban Morales Murillo, Ephraim Mokgothu

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This paper presents the findings of a study conducted to investigate the wall thinning in a piping system carrying a mix of hydrocarbons in a petrochemical plant. A detailed investigation including optical inspection and several characterisation techniques such as optical microscopy, SEM/EDX, and XRF/C-S analyses was conducted. The examinations revealed that the wall thinning in the piping system was a result of high-temperature H2/H2S corrosion caused by a susceptible material for this mechanism and operating parameters and effluent concentrations beyond the prescribed limits. The sulfide layers found to testify to the large amounts of H2S that led to material degradation. Deposit analysis revealed that it consisted primarily of carbon, oxygen, iron, chromium and sulfur. Metallographic examinations revealed that the attack initiated from the internal surface and that spheroidization of carbides did occur. The article discusses in detail the contribution failure factors on the Couper-Gorman H2/H2S curves to draw conclusions. Recommendations based on the above findings are also discussed.

Keywords: corrosion, Couper-Gorman, high-temperature corrosion, sulfidation, wall thinning, piping system

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Authors: Mohammad Mahdi Kioumarsi

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In this paper, using the response surface method (RSM), tornado diagram method and non-linear finite element analysis, the effect of four parameters on residual bending capacity of a corroded RC beam was investigated. The parameters considered are amount of localised cross section reduction, ratio of pit distance on adjacent bars to rebar distance, concrete compressive strength, and rebar tensile strength. The focus is on the influence on the bending ultimate limit state. Based on the obtained results, the effects of the ratio of pit distance to rebar distance (Lp⁄Lr) and the ratio of the localised cross section reduction to the original area of the rebar (Apit⁄A0) were found significant. The interference of localised corrosion on adjacent reinforcement bars reduces the bending capacity of under-reinforced concrete beam. Using the sensitivity analysis could lead to recognize uncertainty parameters, which have the most influences on the performance of the structure.

Keywords: localised corrosion, concrete beam, sensitivity analyses, ultimate capacity

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Authors: Anocha Kimkong

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This research paper, based on demographic variables, is aimed to study the behaviour of bookkeeping for household accounts of residents living in urban communities in Dusit District, Bangkok and to investigate factors that affected the behavior of bookkeeping. By use of non proportional stratified sampling technique of probability sampling, the research had a total of 247 samples. The systematic sampling technique was also utilized by selecting one household out of every 3 households. The demographic findings reported female respondents as the majority with an average age between 26-35 years old, having married status and having children. The respondents earn a living by selling, with an average income per month of between 5,001-15,000 Baht. Most of the families rent a house and each family have approximately 3-4 members. Furthermore, most of the household respondents used to be trained to do bookkeeping for household accounts. In addition, the factors in affecting the residents’ behaviour of doing household account bookkeeping included a dislike of numbers, inaccuracy of recording, availability of accounting counselors in the communities, people’s participation in trainings arranged by outside organizations.

Keywords: household account, bookkeeping, urban community, demographic variables

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Authors: Zahra Mohagheghian, Fatema Agharebparast

Abstract:

Professional ethic is a subject that has been an issue today, so most of the businesses, including the teaching profession, understand the need and importance of it. So they need to develop a code of professional ethics for their own. In this regard, this study seeks to answer the question, with respect to the integrity of the Qur'an (Nahl / 89), is it possible to contemplate the divine teachers conduct to extract the divine pattern for teaching and training? In the code of conduct for divine teachers what are the most important moral obligations and duties of the teaching professionals? The results of this study show that the teaching of Khidr, according to the Quran’s verses, Abundant and subtle hints emphasized that it can be as comprehensive and divine pattern used in teaching and in the drafting of the charter of professional ethics of teachers used it. Also, the results show that in there have been many ethical principles in prophet Khidr’s teaching pattern.The most important ethical principles include: Student assessment, using objective and not subjective examples, assessment during teaching, flexibility, and others. According to each of these principles can help teachers achieve their educational goals and lead human being in their path toward spiritual evaluation.

Keywords: professional ethics, teaching-learning process, teacher, student, Quran

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Authors: Shantosa Yudha Siswanto, Julianto Arief Ismail, Rachmat Harryanto

Abstract:

The research was conducted with the aim to know the effect of slope steepness on organic carbon and soil erodibility as erosion factor. This research was conducted from September to December 2011 in the Raharja and Cinanjung Village, Tanjungsari, Sumedang District, West Java, Indonesia. The study was carried out using physiographic free survey method, which is a survey based on land physiographic appearance. Soil sampling was carried out into transect on the similarity slope without calculating the point of observation range. Soil sampling was carried onto three classes of slope as follows: 8–15%, 15–25% and 25–40%. Each was consisted of three slope position i.e. top slope, middle slope and down slope and four samples of soil were taken from each of them, hence it resulted in 36 points of observation. The results of this study indicate that gradient of slope have some significant contribution in every sample. Middle slope with gradient 26-40% has the highest potential erosion occurrence. It has organic C content (0.84%) and the highest erodibility value (0.1092).

Keywords: slope steepness, erosion, erodibility, erosion factor

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Authors: Farid Gaci, Zoubir Nemouchi

Abstract:

A numerical study of laminar and turbulent fluid flows in 90° bend of square section was carried out. Three-dimensional meshes, based on hexahedral cells, were generated. The QUICK scheme was employed to discretize the convective term in the transport equations. The SIMPLE algorithm was adopted to treat the velocity-pressure coupling. The flow structure obtained showed interesting features such as recirculation zones and counter-rotating pairs of vortices. The performance of three different turbulence models was evaluated: the standard k- ω model, the SST k-ω model and the Reynolds Stress Model (RSM). Overall, it was found that, the multi-equation model performed better than the two equation models. In fact, the existence of four pairs of counter rotating cells, in the straight duct upstream of the bend, were predicted by the RSM closure but not by the standard eddy viscosity model nor the SST k-ω model. The analysis of the results led to a better understanding of the induced three dimensional secondary flows and the behavior of the local pressure coefficient and the friction coefficient.

Keywords: curved duct, counter-rotating cells, secondary flow, laminar, turbulent

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Authors: Maryam Mohammad Hadi, Heather Nesbitt, Hamzah Masood, Hashim Ahmed, Mark Emberton, John Callan, Alexander MacRobert, Anthony McHale, Nikolitsa Nomikou

Abstract:

Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) utilises ultrasound in combination with sensitizers, such as porphyrins, for the production of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the confined ablation of tumours. Ultrasound can be applied locally, and the acoustic waves, at frequencies between 0.5-2 MHz, are transmitted efficiently through tissue. SDT does not require highly toxic agents, and the cytotoxic effect only occurs upon ultrasound exposure at the site of the lesion. Therefore, this approach is not associated with adverse side effects. Further highlighting the benefits of SDT, no cancer cell population has shown resistance to therapy-triggered ROS production or their cytotoxic effects. This is particularly important, given the as yet unresolved issues of radiation and chemo-resistance, to the authors’ best knowledge. Another potential future benefit of this approach – considering its non-thermal mechanism of action – is its possible role as an adjuvant to immunotherapy. Substantial pre-clinical studies have demonstrated the efficacy and targeting capability of this therapeutic approach. However, SDT has yet to be fully characterised and appropriately exploited for the treatment of cancer. In this study, a formulation based on multistimulus-responsive sensitizer-containing nanoparticles that can accumulate in advanced prostate tumours and increase the therapeutic efficacy of SDT has been developed. The formulation is based on a polyglutamate-tyrosine (PGATyr) co-polymer carrying hematoporphyrin. The efficacy of SDT in this study was demonstrated using prostate cancer as the translational exemplar. The formulation was designed to respond to the microenvironment of advanced prostate tumours, such as the overexpression of the proteolytic enzymes, cathepsin-B and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), that can degrade the nanoparticles, reduce their size, improving both diffusions throughout the tumour mass and cellular uptake. The therapeutic modality was initially tested in vitro using LNCaP and PC3 cells as target cell lines. The SDT efficacy was also examined in vivo, using male SCID mice bearing LNCaP subcutaneous tumours. We have demonstrated that the PGATyr co-polymer is digested by cathepsin B and that digestion of the formulation by cathepsin-B, at tumour-mimicking conditions (acidic pH), leads to decreased nanoparticle size and subsequent increased cellular uptake. Sonodynamic treatment, at both normoxic and hypoxic conditions, demonstrated ultrasound-induced cytotoxic effects only for the nanoparticle-treated prostate cancer cells, while the toxicity of the formulation in the absence of ultrasound was minimal. Our in vivo studies in immunodeficient mice, using the hematoporphyrin-containing PGATyr nanoparticles for SDT, showed a 50% decrease in LNCaP tumour volumes within 24h, following IV administration of a single dose. No adverse effects were recorded, and body weight was stable. The results described in this study clearly demonstrate the promise of SDT to revolutionize cancer treatment. It emphasizes the potential of this therapeutic modality as a fist line treatment or in combination treatment for the elimination or downstaging of difficult to treat cancers, such as prostate, pancreatic, and advanced colorectal cancer.

Keywords: sonodynamic therapy, nanoparticles, tumour ablation, ultrasound

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