Search results for: networked model predictive control

Authors: R. Fernandez-Saavedra, M. B. Gomez-Mancebo, D. Gomez-Briceno

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The gradual corrosion of PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) feedwater, condensate and drain systems results in the inevitable liberation of corrosion products, principally metallic oxides, to the secondary circuit. In addition, other contaminants and impurities are introduced into the makeup water, auxiliary feedwater and by condenser leaks. All these compounds circulating in the secondary flow can eventually be transported to steam generators and be transformed into deposits on their surfaces. Deposits that accumulate on the tube sheet are known as sludge piles and when they consolidate and harden become into hard sludge. Hard sludge is especially detrimental because it favors tube deformation or denting at the top of tube sheet and further stress corrosion cracking (SCC). These failures affect the efficiency of nuclear power plants. In a recent work, a model for the formation and consolidation of hard sludge has been formulated, highlighting the influence of aluminum and silicon compounds in the initial formation of hard sludge. In this work, an experimental study has been performed in order to get a deeper understanding of the behavior of Al and Si species in hard sludge formation and consolidation. For this purpose, the key components of hard sludge (magnetite, aluminum and/or silicon sources) have been isothermally autoclaved in representative secondary circuit conditions during one week, and the resulting products have been chemically and structurally characterized by XRF and XRD techniques, respectively.

Keywords: consolidation, hard sludge, secondary circuit, steam generator

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Authors: Samaneh Poormohammadi, Farid Golkar, Vahideh Khatibi Sarabi

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Climate change and consecutive droughts have increased the importance of using rainwater harvesting methods. One of the methods of rainwater harvesting and, in other words, the management of atmospheric water resources is the use of weather modification technologies. Weather modification (also known as weather control) is the act of intentionally manipulating or altering the weather. The most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding, which increases rain or snow, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water supply. Cloud seeding operations in Iran have been married since 1999 in central Iran with the aim of harvesting rainwater and reducing the effects of drought. In this research, we analyze the results of cloud seeding operations in the Simindashtplain in northern Iran. Rainwater harvesting with the help of cloud seeding technology has been evaluated through its effects on surface water and underground water. For this purpose, two different methods have been used to estimate runoff. The first method is the US Soil Conservation Service (SCS) curve number method. Another method, known as the reasoning method, has also been used. In order to determine the infiltration rate of underground water, the balance reports of the comprehensive water plan of the country have been used. In this regard, the study areas located in the target area of each province have been extracted by drawing maps of the influence coefficients of each area in the GIS software. It should be mentioned that the infiltration coefficients were taken from the balance sheet reports of the country's comprehensive water plan. Then, based on the area of each study area, the weighted average of the infiltration coefficient of the study areas located in the target area of each province is considered as the infiltration coefficient of that province. Results show that the amount of water extracted from the rain with the help of cloud seeding projects in Simindasht is as follows: an increase in runoff 63.9 million cubic meters (with SCS equation) or 51.2 million cubic meters (with logical equation) and an increase in ground water resources: 40.5 million cubic meters.

Keywords: rainwater harvesting, ground water, atmospheric water resources, weather modification, cloud seeding

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Authors: Zdzislaw Kaminski, Zbigniew Czyz

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The paper discusses the results of the research into a wind turbine with a vertical axis of rotation which was performed with the open return wind tunnel, Gunt HM 170, at the laboratory of the Department of Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics and Propulsion Aviation Systems of Lublin University of Technology. Wind tunnel experiments are a necessary step to construct any new type of wind turbine, to validate design assumptions and numerical results. This research focused on the rotor with the blades capable of modifying their working surfaces, i.e. absorbing wind kinetic energy. The operation of this rotor is based on adjusting angular aperture α of the top and bottom parts of the blades mounted on an axis. If this angle α increases, the working surface which absorbs wind kinetic energy also increases. The study was performed on scaled and geometrically similar models with the criteria of similarity relevant for the type of research preserved. The rotors with varied angular apertures of their blades were printed for the research with a powder 3D printer, ZPrinter® 450. This paper presents the research results for the selected flow speed of 6.5 m/s for the three angular apertures of the rotor blades, i.e. 30°, 60°, 90° at varied speeds. The test stand enables the turbine rotor to be braked to achieve the required speed and airflow speed and torque to be recorded. Accordingly, the torque and power as a function of airflow were plotted. The rotor with its adjustable blades enables turbine power to be adjusted within a wide range of wind speeds. A variable angular aperture of blade working surfaces α in a wind turbine enables us to control the speed of the turbine and consequently its output power. Reducing the angular aperture of working surfaces results in reduced speed, and if a special current generator applied, electrical output power is reduced, too. Speed adjusted by changing angle α enables the maximum load acting on rotor blades to be controlled. The solution under study is a kind of safety against a damage of a turbine due to possible high wind speed.

Keywords: drive torque, renewable energy, power, wind turbine, wind tunnel

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Authors: V. Golubeva, O. Vakhnina, I. Konopkina, N. Gerasimova, N. Taturina, K. Zhogova

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To improve chemical current sources, the ion-conducting electrolytes based on Li halides (LiCl-KCl, LiCl-LiBr-KBr, LiCl-LiBr-LiF) are developed. It is necessary to have chemical analytical methods for determination of halides to control the electrolytes technology. The methods of classical analytical chemistry are of interest, as they are characterized by high accuracy. Using these methods is a difficult task because halides have similar chemical properties. The objective of this work is to develop a titrimetric method for determining the content of bromides, chlorides, and fluorides in their joint presence in an ion-conducting electrolyte. In accordance with the developed method of analysis to determine fluorides, electrolyte sample is dissolved in diluted HCl acid; fluorides are titrated by La(NO₃)₃ solution with potentiometric indication of equivalence point, fluoride ion-selective electrode is used as sensor. Chlorides and bromides do not form a hardly soluble compound with La and do not interfere in result of analysis. To determine the bromides, the sample is dissolved in a diluted H₂SO₄ acid. The bromides are oxidized with a solution of KIO₃ to Br₂, which is removed from the reaction zone by boiling. Excess of KIO₃ is titrated by iodometric method. The content of bromides is calculated from the amount of KIO₃ spent on Br₂ oxidation. Chlorides and fluorides are not oxidized by KIO₃ and do not interfere in result of analysis. To determine the chlorides, the sample is dissolved in diluted HNO₃ acid and the total content of chlorides and bromides is determined by method of visual mercurometric titration with diphenylcarbazone indicator. Fluorides do not form a hardly soluble compound with mercury and do not interfere with determination. The content of chlorides is calculated taking into account the content of bromides in the sample of electrolyte. The validation of the developed analytical method was evaluated by analyzing internal reference material with known chlorides, bromides and fluorides content. The analytical method allows to determine chlorides, bromides and fluorides in case of their joint presence in ion-conducting electrolyte within the range and with relative total error (δ): for bromides from 60.0 to 65.0 %, δ = ± 2.1 %; for chlorides from 8.0 to 15.0 %, δ = ± 3.6 %; for fluorides from 5.0 to 8.0%, ± 1.5% . The analytical method allows to analyze electrolytes and mixtures that contain chlorides, bromides, fluorides of alkali metals and their mixtures (K, Na, Li).

Keywords: bromides, chlorides, fluorides, ion-conducting electrolyte

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Authors: Sylvain Chardon, Timotéo Payre, Hugo Grardel, Yann Quentel, Mathieu Thomachot, Gérald Aigouy, Frank Claeyssen

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With the increasing digitalization of society, access to data has become vital and strategic for individuals and nations. In this context, the number of satellite constellation projects is growing drastically worldwide and is a next-generation challenge of the New Space industry. So far, existing satellite constellations have been using radio frequencies (RF) for satellite-to-ground communications, inter-satellite communications, and feeder link communication. However, RF has several limitations, such as limited bandwidth and low protection level. To address these limitations, space optical communication will be the new trend, addressing both very high-speed and secured encrypted communication. Fast Steering Mirrors (FSM) are key components used in optical communication as well as space imagery and for a large field of functions such as Point Ahead Mechanisms (PAM), Raster Scanning, Beam Steering Mirrors (BSM), Fine Pointing Mechanisms (FPM) and Line of Sight stabilization (LOS). The main challenges of space FSM development for optical communication are to propose both a technology and a supply chain relevant for high quantities New Space approach, which requires secured connectivity for high-speed internet, Earth planet observation and monitoring, and mobility applications. CTEC proposes a mini-FSM technology offering a stroke of +/-6 mrad and a resonant frequency of 1700 Hz, with a mass of 50 gr. This FSM mechanism is a good candidate for giant constellations and all applications on board NanoSats and CubeSats, featuring a very high level of miniaturization and optimized for New Space high quantities cost efficiency. The use of piezo actuators offers a high resonance frequency for optimal control, with almost zero power consumption in step and stay pointing, and with very high-reliability figures > 0,995 demonstrated over years of recurrent manufacturing for Optronics applications at CTEC.

Keywords: fast steering mirror, feeder link, line of sight stabilization, optical communication, pointing ahead mechanism, raster scan

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Authors: Abdullahi Jibrin, Aishetu Abdulkadir

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The development of allometric models is crucial to accurate forest biomass/carbon stock assessment. The aim of this study was to develop a set of biomass prediction models that will enable the determination of total tree aboveground biomass for savannah woodland area in Niger State, Nigeria. Based on the data collected through biometric measurements of 1816 trees and destructive sampling of 36 trees, five species specific and one site specific models were developed. The sample size was distributed equally between the five most dominant species in the study site (Vitellaria paradoxa, Irvingia gabonensis, Parkia biglobosa, Anogeissus leiocarpus, Pterocarpus erinaceous). Firstly, the equations were developed for five individual species. Secondly these five species were mixed and were used to develop an allometric equation of mixed species. Overall, there was a strong positive relationship between total tree biomass and the stem diameter. The coefficient of determination (R2 values) ranging from 0.93 to 0.99 P < 0.001 were realised for the models; with considerable low standard error of the estimates (SEE) which confirms that the total tree above ground biomass has a significant relationship with the dbh. The F-test value for the biomass prediction models were also significant at p < 0.001 which indicates that the biomass prediction models are valid. This study recommends that for improved biomass estimates in the study site, the site specific biomass models should preferably be used instead of using generic models.

Keywords: allometriy, biomass, carbon stock , model, regression equation, woodland, inventory

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Authors: Bourhim Mohammad Redouane, Cheto Said, Qaddoury Ahmed, Hirich Abdelaziz, Ghoulam Cherki

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Several abiotic stresses cause disruptions in the properties of agricultural soils and hence their loss worldwide. Among these abiotic stresses, Salinity to which most crops were exposed caused an important reduction in their productivity. Therefore, in order to deal with this challenging problem, we rely on cultivating alternative plants that can tolerate the adverse salinity stress, such as quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). Although even it was qualified as tolerant to Salinity, the quinoa’s performance could be negatively affected under high salinity levels. Thus, our study aims to assess the effects of the application of soil amendments to improve quinoa tolerance levels under high Salinity. Thus, three quinoa varieties (Puno, ICBA-Q5, and Titicaca) were grown on agricultural soil under a greenhouse with five amendments; Biochar “Bc,” compost “Cp,” black soldier insect frass “If,” cow manure “Fb” and phosphogypsum “Pg.” Two controls without amendment were adopted consisting of the salinized negative one “T(-)” and the non-salinized positive one “T(+).” After 20 days from sowing, the plants were irrigated with a saline solution of 16 dS/m prepared with NaCl for a period of 60 days. Then plant tolerance was assessed based on agrophysiological parameters. The results showed that salinity stress negatively affected the quinoa plants for all the analyzed agrophysiological parameters in the three varieties compared to their corresponding controls “T(+).” However, most of these parameters were significantly enhanced by the application of soil amendments compared to their negative controls “T(-).” For instance, the biomass was improved by 91.8% and 69.4%, respectively, for Puno and Titicaca varieties amended with “Bc.” The total nitrogen amount was increased by 220% for Titicaca and ICBA-Q5 plants cultivated in the soil amended with “If.” One of the most important improvements was noted for potassium content in Titicaca amended with “Pg,” which was six times higher compared to the negative control. Besides, the plants of Puno amended with “Cp” showed an improvement of 75.9% for the stomatal conductance and 58.5% for nitrate reductase activity. Nevertheless, the pronounced varietal difference was registered between Puno and Titicaca, presenting the highest performances mainly for the soil amended with “If,” “Bc,” and “Pg.”

Keywords: chenopodium quinoa, salinity, soil amendments, growth, nutrients, nitrate reductase

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Authors: Kun Xu, Yuan Xu, Jia Qiao

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The document detection plays an important role in optical character recognition and text analysis. Because the traditional detection methods have weak generalization ability, and deep neural network has complex structure and large number of parameters, which cannot be well applied in mobile devices, this paper proposes a lightweight Document Corner Detection Network (DCDNet). DCDNet is a two-stage architecture. The first stage with Encoder-Decoder structure adopts depthwise separable convolution to greatly reduce the network parameters. After introducing the Feature Attention Union (FAU) module, the second stage enhances the feature information of spatial and channel dim and adaptively adjusts the size of receptive field to enhance the feature expression ability of the model. Aiming at solving the problem of the large difference in the number of pixel distribution between corner and non-corner, Weighted Binary Cross Entropy Loss (WBCE Loss) is proposed to define corner detection problem as a classification problem to make the training process more efficient. In order to make up for the lack of Dataset of document corner detection, a Dataset containing 6620 images named Document Corner Detection Dataset (DCDD) is made. Experimental results show that the proposed method can obtain fast, stable and accurate detection results on DCDD.

Keywords: document detection, corner detection, attention mechanism, lightweight

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Authors: Bhavita S. Dave, Chandresh H. Solanki, Atul K. Desai

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Soils of Greater Himalayas mostly pertain to Leh & Ladakh, Lahaul & Sppiti, & high reaches to Uttarakhand. The moisture regime is aridic. The arid zone starts from Baralacha pass in Lahaul and covers the entire Spiti valley in the district of Lahaul & Spiti, Himachal Pradesh of India. Here, the present study is an attempt to determine the suction value of soil collected from the arid zone of Spiti valley for different freezing-thawing cycles considering the climate ranges of Spiti valley. Suction is the basic and most important parameter which influences the behavior of unsaturated soil. It is essential to determine the suction value of unsaturated soil before other tests like shear test, and permeability. Basically, it is the negative pore water pressure in partially saturated soil measured in terms of the height of the water column. The filter paper method has been used for the study as an economical approach to evaluate suction. It is the only method from which both contact and non-contact suction can be deduced. In this study, soil specimens were subjected to 0, 1, 3, & 5 freezing-thawing (F-T) cycles for different degrees of saturation to have a wide range of suction, and soil freezing characteristic curves (SFCC) were formulated for all F-T cycles. The result data collected from the experiments have shown best-fitted values using Fredlund & Xing model for each SFCC.

Keywords: suction, arid region soil, soil freezing characteristic curve, freezing-thawing cycle

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Authors: Szu-Hua Wang, Yi-Wen Chen

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Urban ecosystems are complex coupled human-environment systems. They contain abundant natural resources for producing natural assets and attract urban assets to consume natural resources for urban development. Urban ecosystems provide several ecosystem services, including provisioning services, regulating services, cultural services, and supporting services. Rapid global climate change makes urban ecosystems and their ecosystem services encountering various natural disasters. Lots of natural disasters have occurred around the world under the constant changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the past two decades. In Taiwan, hydrological disasters have been paid more attention due to the potential high sensitivity of Taiwan’s cities to climate change, and it impacts. However, climate change not only causes extreme weather events directly but also affects the interactions among human, ecosystem services and their dynamic feedback processes indirectly. Therefore, this study adopts a systematic method, solar energy synthesis, based on the concept of the eco-energy analysis. The Taipei area, the most densely populated area in Taiwan, is selected as the study area. The changes of ecosystem services between 2015 and Typhoon Soudelor have been compared in order to investigate the impacts of extreme precipitation events on ecosystem services. The results show that the forest areas are the largest contributions of energy to ecosystem services in the Taipei area generally. Different soil textures of different subsystem have various upper limits of water contents or substances. The major contribution of ecosystem services of the study area is natural hazard regulation provided by the surface water resources areas. During the period of Typhoon Soudelor, the freshwater supply in the forest areas had become the main contribution. Erosion control services were the main ecosystem service affected by Typhoon Soudelor. The second and third main ecosystem services were hydrologic regulation and food supply. Due to the interactions among ecosystem services, fresh water supply, water purification, and waste treatment had been affected severely.

Keywords: ecosystem, extreme precipitation events, ecosystem services, solar energy synthesis

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Authors: Chaitanya R. Mali, V. Vinod, Ashwin W. Patwardhan

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Design of long vertical steam generator (SG) tubes in nuclear power plant involves an understanding of different aspects of flow boiling phenomenon such as flow instabilities, flow regimes, dry out, critical heat flux, pressure drop, etc. The knowledge of the prediction of local thermal hydraulic characteristics is necessary to understand these aspects. For this purpose, the methodology has been developed which covers all the flow boiling regimes to model full range flow boiling phenomenon. In this methodology, the vertical tube is divided into four sections based on vapor fraction value at the end of each section. Different modeling strategies have been applied to the different sections of the vertical tube. Computational fluid dynamics simulations have been performed on a vertical SG tube of 0.0126 m inner diameter and 23 m length. The thermal hydraulic parameters such as vapor fraction, liquid temperature, heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop, heat flux distribution have been analyzed for different designed heat duties (1.1 MW (20%) to 3.3 MW (60%)) and flow conditions (10 % to 80 %). The sensitivity of different boiling parameters such as bubble departure diameter, nucleation site density, bubble departure frequency on the thermal hydraulic parameters was also studied. Flow instability has been observed at 20 % designed heat duty and 20 % flow conditions.

Keywords: thermal hydraulics, boiling, vapor fraction, sensitivity

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Authors: Mehrshad Khosraviani, Faramarz Abbaspour Leyl Abadi

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The fundamental component of the computer network of modern information society will be considered. These networks are connected to the network of the internet generally. Due to the fact that the primary purpose of the Internet is not designed for, in recent decades, none of these networks in many of the attacks has been very important. Today, for the provision of security, different security tools and systems, including intrusion detection systems are used in the network. A common diagnosis system based on artificial immunity, the designer, the Adhasaz Foundation has been evaluated. The idea of using artificial safety methods in the diagnosis of abnormalities in computer networks it has been stimulated in the direction of their specificity, there are safety systems are similar to the common needs of m, that is non-diagnostic. For example, such methods can be used to detect any abnormalities, a variety of attacks, being memory, learning ability, and Khodtnzimi method of artificial immune algorithm pointed out. Diagnosis of the common system of education offered in this paper using only the normal samples is required for network and any additional data about the type of attacks is not. In the proposed system of positive selection and negative selection processes, selection of samples to create a distinction between the colony of normal attack is used. Copa real data collection on the evaluation of ij indicates the proposed system in the false alarm rate is often low compared to other ir methods and the detection rate is in the variations.

Keywords: artificial immune system, abnormality detection, intrusion detection, computer networks

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Authors: Monique de Ritter, Annemieke Roobeek

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This study takes a holistic multi-layered systems approach on entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainability. Concretely we looked how mission driven entrepreneurs (level 1) employ new business models and launch innovative products and/or ideas in their enterprises, which are (level 2) operating in entrepreneurial ecosystems (level 3), and how these in turn may generate higher level sustainable change (level 4). We employed a qualitative grounded research approach in which our aim is to contribute to theory. Fourteen in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with mission driven entrepreneurs in the Netherlands in which their individual drives, business models, and ecosystems were discussed. Interview transcripts were systematically coded and analysed and the ecosystems were visually mapped. Most important patterns include 1) entrepreneurs have a clear sustainable mission and regard this mission as de raison d’être of their enterprise; 2) entrepreneurs employ new business models with a focus on collaboration for innovation; the business model supports or enhances the sustainable mission of the enterprise, 3) entrepreneurs collaborate in ecosystems in which a) they also regard suppliers as partners for innovation and clients as ambassadors for the sustainable mission, b) would like to improve their relationships with financial institutions as they are in the entrepreneurs’ perspective often lagging behind with their innovative ideas and models, c) they collaborate for knowledge and innovation with several parties, d) personal informal connections are very important, and e) in which the higher sustainable mission is not a point of competition but of collaboration.

Keywords: sustainability, entrepreneurship, innovation, ecosystem, business models

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Authors: Maatouk Khoukhi

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Nowadays the reduction of the energy consumed by buildings to achieve mainly the thermal comfort for the occupants represent the main concern for architects and building designers. The common and traditional solution to achieve this target is the design of a highly insulated envelope and reduce the opening and the transparent elements such windows. However, this will lead to the artificial lighting system to consume more energy to compensate the lack of natural lighting coming through the glazed parts of the building envelope. Therefore, a good balance between sufficient daylight and control thermal heat through the building envelope should be considered for energy saving purpose. To achieve a better indoor environment the windows size and spacing including the interior finishing and the location of the partition must be assessed accurately. Daylighting is the controlled admission of natural light into space through windows and transparent elements of the building envelope which helps create a visually stimulating and productive environment for building occupants. The main concern is not to provide enough daylight to an occupied space, but how to achieve this without any undesirable side effect. Indeed, the glare is a major problem in glazed façade buildings, and this could be reduced by using tinted windows. The main target of this research is to investigate the daylight adequacy of functional needs in old Omani Forts and how they have been designed and built to avoid glare and overheating with the appropriate window-to-floor ratio. Because more windows do not automatically result in more daylighting but that is natural light has been controlled and distributed properly throughout the space. Spaces from different Omani and Portuguese Forts under the same climate conditions are considered in order to compare the daylight illuminance levels and examine the similarities and differences in visual attributes between them. The result of this study indicates that lighting preference is not universal and people from different geographical locations are adapted to certain illuminance levels. Therefore, the standards could not be generalized for the entire world. This would be useful to practitioners who are designing to effectively address the diversity of user’s lighting levels preferences in our globally connected society.

Keywords: day lighting, energy, forts, thermal comfort

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Authors: Priyadharshini Ahrumugam

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Cooperative groups through much research have been recognized to churn remarkable achievements instead of solitary or individualistic efforts. Based on Johnson and Johnson’s model of cooperative learning, the five key components of cooperation are positive interdependence, face-to-face promotive interaction, individual accountability, social skills and group processing. In 2011, the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) introduced the Holistic Student Development policy with the aim to develop morally sound individuals equipped with lifelong learning skills. The Community Service project was included in the improvement initiative. The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship of team-based learning in facilitating particularly students’ positive interdependence and face-to-face promotive interaction. The research methods involve in-depth interviews with the team leaders and selected team members, and a content analysis of the undergraduate students’ reflective journals. A significant positive relationship was found between students’ progressive outlook towards teamwork and the highlighted two components. The key findings show that students have gained in their individual learning and work results through teamwork and interaction with other students. The inclusion of Community Service as a MOHE subject resonates with cooperative learning methods that enhances supportive relationships and develops students’ social skills together with their professional skills.

Keywords: community service, cooperative learning, positive interdependence, teamwork

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Authors: Brian Fleischli, Shani Robins

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In recent years, the implementation of wisdom skills, including emotional intelligence, mindfulness, empathy, compassion, gratitude, realism (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy), and humility, within K-12 educational settings has demonstrated significant benefits in reducing stress, anxiety, anger, and conflict among students. This study summarizes the findings of research conducted over several years, showcasing the positive outcomes associated with teaching these skills to elementary and high school students. Additionally, this overview includes an updated synthesis of current literature concerning the application and effectiveness of training these skill sets in K-12 schools. The research outcomes highlight substantial improvements in student well-being and behavior. Demonstrated with treatment group students exhibiting notable reductions in anger, anxiety, depression, and disruptive behaviors compared to control groups. For instance, fourth-grade students showed enhanced empathy, responsibility, and attention, particularly benefiting those with lower initial scores on these measures. Specific interaction effects suggest that older students and males particularly benefit from these interventions, showcasing the nuanced impact of wisdom skill training across different demographics. Furthermore, this presentation emphasizes the critical role of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs in addressing the multifaceted challenges faced by children and adolescents, including mental health issues, academic performance, and social behaviors. The integration of wisdom skills into school curricula not only fosters individual growth and emotional regulation but also enhances overall school climate and academic achievement. In conclusion, the findings contribute to the growing body of empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of teaching wisdom skills in educational settings. The success of these interventions underscores the potential for widespread implementation of evidence-based programs to promote emotional well-being and academic success among students nationwide.

Keywords: wisdom skills, CBT, cognitive behavioral training, mindfulness, empathy, anxiety

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Authors: Qingjin Liu, Jinpeng Niu, Kangjia Chen, Jiao Li, Huafu Chen, Wei Liao

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Functional connectomics is essential in cognitive science and neuropsychiatry, offering insights into the brain's complex network structures and dynamic interactions. Although neuroimaging has uncovered functional connectivity issues in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) patients, the dynamic shifts in connectome topology and their link to gene expression are yet to be fully understood. To explore the differences in dynamic connectome topology between MDD patients and healthy individuals, we conducted an extensive analysis of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 434 participants (226 MDD patients and 208 controls). We used multilayer network models to evaluate brain module dynamics and examined the association between whole-brain gene expression and dynamic module variability in MDD using publicly available transcriptomic data. Our findings revealed that compared to healthy individuals, MDD patients showed lower global mean values and higher standard deviations, indicating unstable patterns and increased regional differentiation. Notably, MDD patients exhibited more frequent module switching, primarily within the executive control network (ECN), particularly in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right fronto-insular regions, whereas the default mode network (DMN), including the superior frontal gyrus, temporal lobe, and right medial prefrontal cortex, displayed lower variability. These brain dynamics predicted the severity of depressive symptoms. Analyzing human brain gene expression data, we found that the spatial distribution of MDD-related gene expression correlated with dynamic module differences. Cell type-specific gene analyses identified oligodendrocytes (OPCs) as major contributors to the transcriptional relationships underlying module variability in MDD. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive description of altered brain module dynamics in MDD patients linked to depressive symptom severity and changes in whole-brain gene expression profiles.

Keywords: major depressive disorder, module dynamics, magnetic resonance imaging, transcriptomic

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Authors: Amna Shoaib, Sidrah Hanif, Rashid Mehmood

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Current research work was carried out to check influence of farmyard manure (FYM) in Lycopersicon esculentum L. against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FO) in copper polluted soil. Silt-loam soil naturally enriched with 70 ppm of Cu was inoculated with 1 x 106 spore suspensions of FO and incorporated with 0%, 1%, 1.5% or 2% FYM. The multilateral interaction of host-pathogen-metal-organic amendment was assessed in terms of morphology, growth, yield, physiology, biochemistry and metal uptake in tomato plant after 30 and 60 days of sowing. When soil was inoculated with FO, plant growth and biomass were significantly increased during vegetative stage, while declining during flowering stage with substantial increase in productivity over control. Infected plants exhibited late wilting and disease severity was found on 26-50% of plant during reproductive stage. Incorporation of up to 1% FYM suppressed disease severity, improved plant growth and biomass, while it decreased yield. Rest of manure doses was found ineffective in suppressing disease. Content of total chlorophyll, sugar and protein were significantly declined in FO inoculated plants and incorporation of FYM caused significant reduction or no influence on sugar and chlorophyll content, and no pronounced difference among different FYM doses were observed. On the other hand, proline, peroxidase, catalase and nitrate reductase activity were found to be increased in infected plants and incorporation of 1-2% FYM further enhanced the activity of these enzymes. Tomato plant uptake of 30-40% of copper naturally present in the soil and incorporation of 1-2% FYM markedly decreased plant uptake of metal by 15-30%, while increased Cu retention in soil. Present study concludes that lower dose (1%) of FYM could be used to manage disease, increase growth and biomass, while being ineffective for yield and productivity in Cu-polluted soil. Altered physiology/biochemistry of plant in response to any treatment could be served as basis for resistant against pathogen and metal homeostasis in plants.

Keywords: Lycopersicon esculentum, copper, Fusarium wilt, farm yard manure

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Authors: Elena M. Kopteva, Pavlina Jaluvkova, Zdenek Stuchlik

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In spite of the numerous attempts to close the discussion about the influence of cosmological expansion on local gravitationally bounded systems, this question arises in literature again and again and remains still far from its final resolution. Here one of the main problems is the problem of obtaining a physically adequate model of strongly gravitating object immersed in non-static cosmological background. Such objects are usually called ‘cosmological’ black holes and are of great interest in wide set of cosmological and astrophysical areas. In this work the set of new exact solutions of the Einstein equations is derived for the flat space that generalizes the known Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi solution for the case of nonzero pressure. The solutions obtained are pretending to describe the black hole immersed in nonstatic cosmological background and give a possibility to investigate the hot problems concerning the effects of the cosmological expansion in gravitationally bounded systems, the structure formation in the early universe, black hole thermodynamics and other related problems. It is shown that each of the solutions obtained contains either the Reissner-Nordstrom or the Schwarzschild black hole in the central region of the space. It is demonstrated that the approach of the mass function use in solving of the Einstein equations allows clear physical interpretation of the resulting solutions, that is of much benefit to any their concrete application.

Keywords: exact solutions of the Einstein equations, cosmological black holes, generalized Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi solutions, nonzero pressure

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Authors: Dipanshu Sur, Ratnabali Chakravorty, Rimi Pal, Siddhartha Chatterjee, Joyshree Chaterjee, Amal Mallik

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Background: Women with polycystic ovary disease (PCOD) frequently suffer from metabolic disturbances. PCOD is a common ovulatory disorder in young women, which affects 5-10% of the population and results in infertility due to anovulation. Importantly, aromatase in ovarian granulosa and luteinized granulosa cells plays an important role for women of reproductive age. Generation and metabolism of androgen is directly related to aromatase activity. The E2/T ratio provides important information about aromatase activity because conversion of androgens to estrogens is mediated by CYP19, suggesting that the E2/T ratio may be a direct marker of aromatase activity. The nature of the interaction between ovarian aromatase activity and PCOD in women has been controversial, and the impact of weight gain on aromatase activity as well as E2 levels is unknown. Aim: The objective of this study was to investigate the association and relation between aromatase activity and levels of body mass index (BMI) from a reproductive hormone perspective in a group of women with or without PCOD. Methods: We designed a cohort study which included 200 individuals. It enrolled 100 cases of PCOD based on 2006 Rotterdam criteria and 100 ovulatory normal- non PCOD, healthy, age-matched controls. Plasma sex hormones viz. estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH) were measured by ELISA on the second day of the menstrual cycle, together with BMI and E2/T were calculated. Aromatase activity in PCOD patients with different BMI, T and E2 levels were compared. Results: PCOD patients showed significantly increased levels of BMI, E2 (P=0.004), T and LH, while their E2/T (P= <0.001), FSH and FSH/LH values were decreased compared with the control group. Higher E2 levels correlated with a relatively enhanced E2/T as well as T and LH levels but reduced BMI, FSH and FSH/LH levels in women with PCOD. Hyperandrogenic PCOD patients had increased E2 levels but their aromatase activity was markedly inhibited independent of their BMI values. Conclusions: We found a significant decrease of ovarian aromatase activity in women with PCOD as compared to controls. Our study showed that ovarian aromatase activity in PCOD was decreased which was independent of BMI. Enhancing aromatase activity may become an optimized strategy for developing therapies for PCOD women, especially those with obesity.

Keywords: aromatase activity, polycystic ovary disease, obesity, body mass index

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Authors: Mai Kaneda, Sarah Feeney

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This study examined the association between adult attachment security and career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE) among college students in the United States. Previous studies show that attachment security is associated with levels of CDMSE among college students. Given that a majority of studies examining career development variables have used parental attachment measures, this study adds to understanding of this phenomenon by utilizing a broader measure of attachment. The participants included 269 college students (76% female) between the ages of 19-29. An anonymous survey was distributed online via social media as well as in hard copy format in classrooms. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the relationship between anxious and avoidant attachment and CDMSE. Results revealed anxious attachment was a significant predictor of CDMSE (B = -.13, p = .01), such that greater anxiety in attachment was associated with lower levels of CDMSE. When accounting for anxious attachment, avoidant attachment was no longer significant as a predictor of CDMSE (B = -.12, p = .10). The variance in college CDMSE explained by the model was 7%, F(2,267) = 9.51, p < .001. Results for anxious attachment are consistent with existing literature that finds insecure attachment to be related to lower levels of CDMSE, however the non-significant results for avoidant attachment as a predictor of CDMSE suggest not all types of attachment insecurity are equally related to CDMSE. Future research is needed to explore the nature of the relationship between different dimensions of attachment insecurity and CDMSE.

Keywords: attachment, career decision-making, college students, self-efficacy

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Authors: Kalpana Gupta

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Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are infections that are spread primarily through sexual contact. In our daily practice, we see gonorrhea, chancroid, syphilis, and chlamydial infections that can be cured, as well as HIV, genital herpes, HPV, and hepatitis B infections that cannot be cured but can be managed with available treatments. Many people in India are infected with Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and the figures are quite high because of a lack of awareness and communication, as well as a taboo against these diseases. Numerous taboos and associated stigma shape patients’ lives and have a significant impact on health care policies, medical research, and current issues in medical ethics. Current statistics emphasize the importance of delivering sex education to this important demographic promptly. The long-standing tradition of girls marrying very young, especially in rural areas, and often too much older men, causes a slew of STIs. Stigma and HIV have a cyclical relationship; people who experience stigma and discrimination are marginalized and made more vulnerable to HIV/STDs, while those living with HIV are more vulnerable to stigma and discrimination. As urban pressures have grown, so have slums - and they have fast become ideal breeding grounds for STDs. In developed countries, strict laws have been enacted requiring people suffering from STDs to seek immediate treatment as well as contact the health department. Unfortunately, because of the stigma associated with the disease, patients in India are reluctant to reveal the source of infection. With various schemes, India is attempting to promote sex education and awareness. For example, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare developed the National Adolescent Health Programme (also known as the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram) in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Whereas, National AIDS Control Organisation was set up so that every person living with HIV has access to quality care and is treated with dignity and breaking all taboos. It becomes clear that research and healthcare policies will not be effective in assisting patients with STDs unless these "nonscientific" elements are taken into account.

Keywords: sexually transmitted diseases, sexually transmitted infections, taboo, stigma, HIV/STDs, sex education and awareness, treatment, quality care, medications, healthcare policies

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Authors: Sunit Kumar Sahoo, Prakash Chandra Senapati

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The main drawback to design drug delivery systems with BCS class II drugs is their low bioavailabilty due to their inherent low permeability characteristics. So the present investigation aspire to develop a self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) of BCS class II anti HIV drug efavirenz (EFZ) using mixtures of non-ionic surfactant mixtures with the main objective to improve the oral bioavailability of said drug. Results obtained from solubility studies of EFZ in various expients utilized for construction of the pseudo ternary phase diagram containing surfactant mixtures. Surfactants in 1:1 combination are used with different co-surfactants in different ratio to delineate the area of monophasic region of the pseudo ternary phase diagram. The formulations which offered positive results in different thermodynamic stability studies were considered for percentage transmittance and turbidity analysis. The various characterization studies like the TEM analysis of post diluted SNEDDS formulations r confirmed the size in nanometric range (below 50 nm) and FT-IR studies confirmed the intactness of the drug the in the preconcentrate. The in vitro dissolution profile of SNEDDS showed that 80% drug was released within 30 min in case of optimized SNEDDS while it was approximately 18.3 % in the case of plain drug powder.. The Pharmacokinetic study using rat model revealed a 2.63 fold increase in AUC (0-∞) in comparison to plain EFZ suspension. The designed delivery system illustrated the confidence in creating a formulation of EFZ with enhanced bioavailability for better HIV treatment.

Keywords: efavirenz, self-nanoemulsifying, surfactant mixture, bioavailability

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Authors: Hung-Yu Lin

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Background: Parts of researchers assert that external hyperactivity behaviors of ADHD children interfere with their abilities to perform internal cognitive tasks; however, there are still other researchers hold the opposite viewpoint, the external high level of activity may serve as the role of improving internal executive function.Objectives: Thisstudy explored the effects of external motor behavior of ADHD on internal visual attentional performance. Methods: A randomized, two-period crossover design was used in this study, a total of 80 children (aged 6-12) were recruited in this study. 40participants have received ADHD diagnosis, and others are children with typically developing. These children were measured through the visual edition of TOVA (The Test of Variables of Attention) when they wore actigraphy, their testing behavior and movement data werecollected through closely observation and the actigraphies under different research conditions. Result: According to the research result, the author found (1) Higherfrequencyof movement under attentional testing condition was found in children with ADHD, comparing to children with typically developing, and (2) Higher frequency of foot movement showed better attentional performance of the visual attentional test in children with ADHD. However, these results were not showed in children with typically developing. Conclusions: The findings support the functional working memory model, which advocated that a positive relation between gross motor activity and attentional performance within the context of attentive behavior in children with ADHD.

Keywords: ADHD, movement, visual attention, children

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Authors: J. Vasauskaite

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From the perspective of Lithuanian furniture enterprises, the role of energy efficiency is significant as it leads to direct economic benefits, increased competitiveness and higher productivity. There are various possible improvements in energy efficiency in industry: changes in the production process, investment in R&D, implementation of energy-saving technologies or energy management systems. The research aims to contribute the understanding of energy efficiency importance in industry by presenting possible improvements of energy use in different manufacturing process of enterprises. The evaluation methodology included quantitative and qualitative research methods: the comparative and statistical analysis of primary and secondary sources of information. This paper provides the detailed analysis of the energy efficiency development opportunities and challenges in Lithuanian furniture industry. The results of the study show the importance of technological innovations, energy efficiency policies and environmental management strategies in developing energy efficiency within the wood and furniture industry. The analysis of energy efficiency development in Lithuanian furniture industry showed that the industrial activities are influenced by various internal and external factors such as increasing flows of products, human resources and overall management decisions; dynamic growth and increasing competition; emerging need for environmental information. In the light of these factors, Lithuanian furniture industry has undergone significant changes – restructuring, technological advances and business model innovations, allowing it to be more export-oriented and focus on upgrading quality, design and innovation.

Keywords: energy efficiency, energy policy, furniture industry, technological innovation

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Authors: Huda Ahmed Al Taisan

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This paper investigates a phonological phenomenon, which exhibits variation ‘alternation’ in terms of the uvular consonants [q] and [ʁ] in Hasawi Arabic. This dialect is spoken in Alahsa city, which is located in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. To the best of our knowledge, no such research has systematically studied this phenomenon in Hasawi Arabic dialect. This paper is significant because it fills the gap in the literature about this alternation phenomenon in this understudied dialect. A large amount of the data is extracted from several interviews the author has conducted with 10 participants, native speakers of the dialect, and complemented by additional forms from social media. The latter method of collecting the data adds to the significance of the research. The analysis of the data is carried out in Harmonic Serialism Optimality Theory (HS-OT), a version of the Optimality Theoretic (OT) framework, which holds that linguistic forms are the outcome of the interaction among violable universal constraints, and in the recent development of OT into a model that accounts for linguistic variation in harmonic derivational steps. This alternation process is assumed to be phonologically unconditioned and in free variation in other varieties of Arabic dialects in the area. The goal of this paper is to investigate whether this phenomenon is in free variation or governed, what governs this alternation between [q] and [ʁ] and whether the alternation is phonological or other linguistic constraints are in action. The results show that the [q] and [ʁ] alternation is not free and it occurs due to different assimilation processes. Positional, segmental sequence and vowel adjacency factors are in action in Hasawi Arabic.

Keywords: harmonic serialism, Hasawi, uvular, variation

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Authors: Magdalena Blachnio, Viktor Bogatyrov, Mariia Galaburda, Anna Derylo-Marczewska

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Agricultural waste materials from traditional oil mill and after extraction of natural raw materials in supercritical conditions were used for the preparation of carbon nanomaterials (activated carbons) by two various methods. Chemical activation using acetic acid and physical activation with a gaseous agent (carbon dioxide) were chosen as mild and environmentally friendly ones. The effect of influential factors: type of raw material, temperature and activation agent on the porous structure characteristics of the materials was discussed by using N₂ adsorption/desorption isotherms at 77 K. Furthermore scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to examine the physicochemical properties of the obtained sorbents. Selection of a raw material and an optimization of the conditions of the synthesis process, allowed to obtain the cheap sorbents with a targeted distribution of pores enabling effective adsorption of the model organic pollutants carried out in the multicomponent systems. Adsorption behavior (capacity and rate) of the chosen activated carbons was estimated by utilizing Crystal violet (CV), 4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (4-CPA), 2.4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2.4-D) as the adsorbates. Both rate and adsorption capacity of the organics on the sorbents evidenced that the activated carbons could be effectively used in sewage treatment plants. The mechanisms of organics adsorption were studied and correlated with activated carbons properties.

Keywords: activated carbon, adsorption equilibrium, adsorption kinetics, organics adsorption

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Authors: Yongjun Ahn, Sung Gyu Choi, Seung-Yeop Kwak

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Selective removal of free fatty acid (FFA) and chlorophyll in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is necessary to enhance the thermal stability in the condition of the deep frying. In this work, we demonstrated improving the thermal stability of EVOO by selective removal of free fatty acid and chlorophyll using (3-Aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTMS) functionalized mesoporous silica with controlled pore size. The adsorption kinetics of free fatty acid and chlorophyll into the mesoporous silica were quantitatively analyzed by Freundlich and Langmuir model. The highest chlorophyll adsorption efficiency was shown in the pore size at 5 nm, suggesting that the interaction between the silica and the chlorophyll could be optimized at this point. The amino-functionalized mesoporous silica showed drastically improved removal efficiency of FFA than the bare silica. Moreover, beneficial compounds like tocopherol and phenolic compounds maintained even after adsorptive removal. Extra virgin olive oil treated by aminopropyl-functionalized silica had a smoke point high enough to be used as commercial frying oil. Based on these results, it is expected to attract the considerable amount of interest toward facile adsorptive refining process of EVOO using pore size controlled and amino-functionalized mesoporous silica.

Keywords: mesoporous silica, extra virgin olive oil, selective adsorption, thermal stability

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Authors: Alireza Derambakhsh

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The reason for this study was to inspect undergraduate interior design student state of mind toward destitution, vagrancy, and group administration. An auxiliary intention was to figure out whether introduction to plan ventures for the individuals who have encountered hardship would change student convictions. All first year recruits (n = 18), sophomore (n = 26), junior (n = 17), and senior (n = 25) interior design undergraduate students at a public university completed a questionnaire in light of a few current scales. Amid the semester, the sophomores dealt with assignments that were intended to provide exposure to different socio-economic groups. Students finished three projects. Initially, the outline of a makeshift destitute asylum. Second, a re-model of a childcare focus office and gathering region that gives administrations to low-salary families, and third, the outline of a low-wage, private home. In these ventures, students were obliged to direct broad data assembling so they could better comprehend the issues connected with destitution. Toward the end of the semester, the sophomores finished the survey again and were asked extra inquiries in regards to the class and projects. Students’ sentiments towards the poor were more individualistic when contrasted with the white collar class, yet when the working class correlation was uprooted, some of their mentality gave a more unpredictable comprehension of destitution and vagrancy. The semester-long intercession fundamentally moved students' understanding that underscored auxiliary and multifaceted reason.

Keywords: interior design, destitution, vagrancy, group administration

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Authors: B. A. Alwahaby

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Background: The number of Total Knee Replacement (TKR) and Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction (ACLR) performed every year is increasing. The main aim of physiotherapy early recovery rehabilitation after these surgeries is to control pain and edema and regain Range of Motion (ROM) and physical activity. All of these outcomes need to be managed by safe and effective modalities. Kinesiotaping (KT) is an elastic non-invasive therapeutic tape that has become recognised in different physiotherapy situation as injury prevention, rehabilitation, and performance enhancement and been used with different conditions. However, there is still clinical doubt regarding the effectiveness of KT due to inconclusive supporting evidence. The aim of this systematic review is to collate all the available evidence on the effectiveness of KT in the early rehabilitation of ACLR and TKR patients and analyse whether the use of KT combined with standard rehabilitation would facilitate recovery of postoperative outcome than standard rehabilitation alone. Methodology: A systematic review was conducted. Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, AMED PEDro, CINAHL, and Web of Science databases were searched. Each study was assessed for inclusion and methodological quality appraisal was undertaken by two reviewers using the JBI critical appraisal tools. The studies were then synthesised qualitatively due to heterogeneity between studies. Results: Five moderate to low quality RCTs were located. All five studies demonstrated statistically significant improvements in pain, swelling, ROM, and functional outcomes (p < 0.05). Between group comparison, KT combined with standardised rehabilitation were shown to be significantly more effective than standardised rehabilitation alone for pain and swelling (p < 0.05). However, there were inconstant findings for ROM, and no statistically significant differences reported between groups for functional outcomes (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Research in the area is generally low quality; however, there is consistent evidence to support the use of KT combined with standardised post-operative rehabilitation for reducing pain and swelling. There is also some evidence that KT may be effective in combination with standardised rehabilitation to regain knee extension ROM faster than standardised rehabilitation alone, but further primary research is required to confirm this.

Keywords: anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, ACLR, kinesio taping, KT, postoperative, total knee replacement, TKR

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