Search results for: complementary common gate

Authors: Ibe Perpetual Nwakaego

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The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), were an integrated project formed to eradicate many unnatural situations the citizens of the third world country may found themselves in. The MDGs, to be a sustainable project for the future depends 100% on the actions of governments, multilateral institutions and civil society. This paper first looks at the political views on the MDGs and relates it to the current electoral situations around the country by underlining the drastic changes over the few months. The second part of the paper presents ICT in tertiary institutions as one of the solutions in terms of the success of the MDGs. ICT is vital in all phases of the educational process and development of the cloud connectivity is an added advantage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for sharing a common data bank for research purposes among UNICEF, RED CROSS, NPS, INEC, NMIC, and WHO. Finally, the paper concludes with areas that need twigging and recommendations for the tertiary institutions committed to delivering an ambitious set of goals. A combination of observation and document materials for data gathering was employed as the methodology for carrying out this research.

Keywords: MDGs, ICT, database, politics

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Authors: Faisal Alshammari, Abdulmajid Addali, Mosab Alrashed, Taihiret Alhashan

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The application of acoustic emission techniques is gaining popularity, as it can monitor the condition of gears and bearings and detect early symptoms of a defect in the form of pitting, wear, and flaking of surfaces. Early detection of these defects is essential as it helps to avoid major failures and the associated catastrophic consequences. Signal processing techniques are required for early defect detection – in this article, a time domain technique called the Energy Index (EI) is used. This article presents an investigation into the Energy Index’s effectiveness to detect early-stage defect initiation and deterioration, and compares it with the common r.m.s. index, Kurtosis, and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test. It is concluded that EI is a more effective technique for monitoring defect initiation and development than other statistical parameters.

Keywords: acoustic emission, signal processing, kurtosis, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test

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Authors: Peter Lindstrom, Caroline Gyberg, Scott Goodwin

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The Swedish police organisation was fundamentally reorganized in 2015 when 21 regional police forces were combined into one national police authority divided in 7 larger police regions, 35 police areas, and some 100 local police districts. A central theme for the reform was that local crime prevention policing should be more unified in the country. In this paper, we review crime prevention strategies in Sweden from a criminological and policing perspective focusing, among other things, on differences between urban and rural areas. In the crime prevention field, words such as 'knowledge- and evidence-based', 'collaboration', and 'strategies' are common. Our objective is to investigate the relationship between theoretical and practical knowledge in local crime prevention work. Our research indicate that an elaborated and strategic connection between theoretical and practical perspectives is important for successful local crime prevention work. Universities may provide a platform such knowledge exchange.

Keywords: crime prevention, police reform, urban and rural areas, criminological and policing perspectives

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Authors: Michael Leontiev, Danil Zhilikov, Dmitry Lobanov, Lenar Klimov, Vyacheslav Chertan, Daniel Bobrov, Vladislav Maslov, Vasilii Vologdin, Ksenia Balabaeva

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Pharmaceutical manufacturing is a complex process, where each stage requires a high level of safety and sterility. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is used for this purpose. Despite all the measures of control, the human factor (improper PPE wearing) causes numerous losses to human health and material property. This research proposes a solid computer vision system for ensuring safety in pharmaceutical laboratories. For this, we have tested a wide range of state-of-the-art object detection methods. Composing previously obtained results in this sphere with our own approach to this problem, we have reached a high accuracy ([email protected]) ranging from 0.77 up to 0.98 in detecting all the elements of a common set of PPE used in pharmaceutical laboratories. Our system is a step towards safe medicine production.

Keywords: sterility and safety in pharmaceutical development, personal protective equipment, computer vision, object detection, monitoring in pharmaceutical development, PPE

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Authors: Sapna Bhargav

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Contemporary fiction is an intricate exercise where novelist acquires the role of a philosopher, a sociologist and a psychologist. The dilemma of fragmented self that a man experiences, is a crucial subject of contemporary fiction. Paul Auster's fiction is exemplary of the merger of Existentialism and Postmodernism, and while both of these movements insist on isolation of the self from all aspects of social affiliation, Auster's unique blend of these concepts presents man in a state which is not just alienated, but stranded in a desolate abyss, rendering even the release of death as questionable. The conundrums of the self is a compulsory consequence of the existentialist alienation that postmodern man is subjected to, and is further accentuated by the fact that existentialist freedom dictates that not only are one's actions not dictated by any form of external entity, but also the onus of one's destiny lies on an individual's own deeds. This paper will analyse Auster's The Brooklyn Follies from an Existentialist perspective, and will attempt to trace the alienation and identity conflicts of the Auster’s characters along with some of the common Austerian themes. An emphasis will be laid on the characters’ endeavour to reconstruct their lost self.

Keywords: alienation, existentialism, identity, postmodernism, self

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Authors: Maria de Fátima Lambert

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Following previous studies about Writing and Seeing, this paper focuses on the aesthetic assumptions within the concept of Winter Journey (Voyage d’Hiver/Winterreise) both in Georges Perec’s Saga and the Oulipo Group vis-à-vis with the creations by William Kentridge and Michael Borremans. The aesthetic and artistic connections are widespread. Nevertheless, we can identify common poetical principles shared by these different authors, not only according to the notion of ekphrasis, but also following the procedures of contemporary creation in literature and visual arts. The analysis of the ongoing process of the French writers as individuals and as group and the visual artists’ acting might contribute for another crossed definition of contemporary conception. The same title/theme was a challenge and a goal for them. Let’s wonder how deep the concept encouraged them and which symbolic upbringings were directing their poetical achievements. The idea of an inner journey became the main point, and got “over” and “across” a shared path worth to be followed. The authors were chosen due to the resilient contents of their visual and written images, and looking for the reasons that might had driven their conceptual basis to be. In Pérec’s “Winter Journey” as for the following fictions by Jacques Roubaud, Hervé le Tellier, Jacques Jouet and Hugo Vernier (that emerges from Perec’s fiction and becomes a real author) powerful aesthetic and enigmatic reflections grow connected with a poetic (and aesthetic) understanding of Walkscapes. They might be assumed as ironic fictions and poetical drifts. Outstanding from different logics, the overwhelming impact of Winterreise Lied by Schubert after Wilhelm Müller’s poems is a major reference in present authorship creations. Both Perec and Oulipo’s author’s texts are powerfully ekphrastic, although we should not forget they follow goals, frameworks and identities. When acting as a reader, they induce powerful imageries - cinematic or cinematographic - that flow in our minds. It was well-matched with William Kentridge animated video Winter Journey (2014) and the creations (sharing the same title) of Michael Borremans (2014) for the KlaraFestival, Bozar, Cité de la musique, in Belgium. Both were taken by the foremost Schubert’s Winterreise. Several metaphors fulfil new Winter Journeys (or Travels) that were achieved in contemporary art and literature, as it once succeeded in the 19^th century. Maybe the contemporary authors and artists were compelled by the consciousness of nothingness, although outstanding different aesthetics and ontological sources. The unbearable knowledge of the road’s end, and also the urge of fulfilling the void might be a common element to all of them. As Schopenhauer once wrote, after all, Art is the only human subjective power that we can call upon in life. These newer aesthetic meanings, released from these winter journeys are surely open to wider approaches that might happen in other poetic makings to be.

Keywords: Aesthetic, voyage D’Hiver, George Perec & Oulipo, William Kentridge & Michael Borreman, Schubert's Winterreise

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Authors: Yusuf Seedat

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The necessity to understand global financial markets has increased following the unfortunate spread of the recent financial crisis around the world. Financial markets are considered to be complex systems consisting of highly volatile move-ments whose indexes fluctuate without any clear pattern. Analytic methods of stock prices have been proposed in which financial markets are modeled using common network analysis tools and methods. It has been found that two key components of social network analysis are relevant to modeling financial markets, allowing us to forecast accurate predictions of stock prices within the financial market. Financial markets have a number of interacting components, leading to complex behavioral patterns. This paper describes a social network approach to analyzing financial markets as a viable approach to studying the way complex stock markets function. We also look at how social network analysis techniques and metrics are used to gauge an understanding of the evolution of financial markets as well as how community detection can be used to qualify and quantify in-fluence within a network.

Keywords: network analysis, social networks, financial markets, stocks, nodes, edges, complex networks

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Authors: Naima Mohammadi

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The present paper critically reports on the emergency of Iranian international students in a large public university in Italy. Although the most sizeable diaspora of Iranians dates back to the 1979 revolution, a huge wave of Iranian female students travelled abroad after the Iranian Green Movement (2009) due to the intensification of gender discrimination and Islamization. To explore the experience of Iranian female students at an Italian public university, two complementary methods were adopted: a focus group and individual interviews. Focus groups yield detailed collective conversations and provide researchers with an opportunity to observe the interaction between participants, rather than between participant and researcher, which generates data. Semi-structured interviews allow participants to share their stories in their own words and speak about personal experiences and opinions. Research participants were invited to participate through a public call in a Telegram group of Iranian students. Theoretical and purposive sampling was applied to select participants. All participants were assured that full anonymity would be ensured and they consented to take part in the research. A two-hour focus group was held in English with participants in the presence and some online. They were asked to share their motivations for studying in Italy and talk about their experiences both within and outside the university context. Each of these interviews lasted from 45 to 60 minutes and was mostly carried out online and in Farsi. The focus group consisted of 8 Iranian female post-graduate students. In analyzing the data a blended approach was adopted, with a combination of deductive and inductive coding. According to research findings, although 9/11 was the beginning of the West’s challenges against Muslims, the nuclear threats of Islamic regimes promoted the toughest international sanctions against Iranians as a nation across the world. Accordingly, carrying an Iranian identity contributes to social, political, and economic exclusion. Research findings show that geopolitical factors such as international sanctions and Islamophobia, and a lack of reciprocity in terms of recognition, have created a sense of stigmatization for veiled and unveiled Iranian female students who are the largest groups of ‘non-European Muslim international students’ enrolled in Italian universities. Participants addressed how their nationality has devalued their public image and negatively impacted their self-confidence and self-realization in academia. They highlighted the experience of an unwelcoming atmosphere by different groups of people and institutes, such as receiving marked students’ badges, rejected bank account requests, failed visa processes, secondary security screening selection, and hyper-visibility of veiled students. This study corroborates the need for institutions to pay attention to geopolitical factors and religious diversity in student recruitment and provide support mechanisms and access to basic rights. Accordingly, it is suggested that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have a social and moral responsibility towards the discrimination and both social and academic exclusion of Iranian students.

Keywords: Iranian diaspora, female students, recognition theory, inclusive university

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Authors: Jude Inwumoh, Adam P. R. Taylor, Kosala Gunawardane

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Modular multilevel converters (MMC) exhibit a highly scalable and modular characteristic with good voltage/power expansion, fault tolerance capability, low output harmonic content, good redundancy, and a flexible front-end configuration. Fault detection, location, and isolation, as well as maintaining fault ride-through (FRT), are major challenges to MMC reliability and power supply sustainability. Different papers have been reviewed to seek the best MMC configuration with fault capability. DC faults are the most common fault, while the probability that AC fault occurs in a modular multilevel converter (MCC) is low; though, AC faults consequence are severe. This paper reviews several MMC topologies and modulation techniques in tackling faults. These fault control strategies are compared based on cost, complexity, controllability, and power loss. A meshed network of half-bridge (HB) MMC topology was optimal in rendering fault ride through than any other MMC topologies but only when combined with DC circuit breakers (CBS), AC CBS, and fault current limiters (FCL).

Keywords: MMC-HVDC, DC faults, fault current limiters, control scheme

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Authors: M. Samadzadeh Mahabadi, J. Shanbehzadeh

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This paper presents a hybrid digital image-watermarking scheme, which is robust against varieties of attacks and geometric distortions. The image content is represented by important feature points obtained by an image-texture-based adaptive Harris corner detector. These feature points are extracted from LL2 of 2-D discrete wavelet transform which are obtained by using the Harris-Laplacian detector. We calculate the Fourier transform of circular regions around these points. The amplitude of this transform is rotation invariant. The experimental results demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method against the geometric distortions and various common image processing operations such as JPEG compression, colour reduction, Gaussian filtering, median filtering, and rotation.

Keywords: digital watermarking, geometric distortions, geometrical attack, Harris Laplace, important feature points, rotation, scale invariant feature

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Authors: Jeff A. Tysinger, Dawn P. Tysinger

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The aim of this paper is to theoretically apply Bowen’s understanding of triangulation and triads to school psychology intern supervision so that it can assist in the conceptualization of the dynamics of intern supervision and provide some key methods to address common issues. The school psychology internship is the capstone experience for the school psychologist in training. It involves three key participants whose relationships will determine the success of the internship.  To understand the potential effect, Bowen’s family systems theory can be applied to the supervision relationship. He describes a way to resolve stress between two people by triangulating or binging in a third person. He applies this to a nuclear family, but school psychology intern supervision requires the marriage of an intern, field supervisor, and university supervisor; thus, setting all up for possible triangulation. The consequences of triangulation can apply to standards and requirements, direct supervision, and intern evaluation. Strategies from family systems theory to decrease the negative impact of supervision triangulation.

Keywords: family systems theory, intern supervision, school psychology training, triangulation

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Authors: Lamin B Ceesay, Cecilia Rossignoli

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Inter-organizational collaboration is a growing phenomenon in both research and practice. The partnership between organizations enables firms to leverage external resources, experiences, and technology that lie with other firms. This collaborative practice is a source of improved business model performance, technological advancement, and increased competitive advantage for firms. However, the competitive intents, and even diverse institutional logics of firms, make inter-firm innovation-based partnership even more complex, and its governance more challenging. The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic review of research linking the inter-organizational relationship of firms with their innovation practice and specify the different project management issues and gaps addressed in previous research. To do this, we employed a systematic review of the literature on inter-organizational innovation using two complementary scholarly databases - ScienceDirect and Web of Science (WoS). Article scoping relies on the combination of keywords based on similar terms used in the literature:(1) inter-organizational relationship, (2) business network, (3) inter-firm project, and (4) innovation network. These searches were conducted in the title, abstract, and keywords of conceptual and empirical research papers done in English. Our search covers between 2010 to 2019. We applied several exclusion criteria including Papers published outside the years under the review, papers in a language other than English, papers neither listed in WoS nor ScienceDirect and papers that are not sharply related to the inter-organizational innovation-based partnership were removed. After all relevant search criteria were applied, a final list of 84 papers constitutes the data for this review. Our review revealed an increasing evolution of inter-organizational relationship research during the period under the review. The descriptive analysis of papers according to Journal outlets finds that International Journal of Project Management (IJPM), Journal of Industrial Marketing, Journal of Business Research (JBR), etc. are the leading journal outlets for research in the inter-organizational innovation project. The review also finds that Qualitative methods and quantitative approaches respectively are the leading research methods adopted by scholars in the field. However, literature review and conceptual papers constitute the least in the field. During the content analysis of the selected papers, we read the content of each paper and found that the selected papers try to address one of the three phenomena in inter-organizational innovation research: (1) project antecedents; (2) project management and (3) project performance outcomes. We found that these categories are not mutually exclusive, but rather interdependent. This categorization also helped us to organize the fragmented literature in the field. While a significant percentage of the literature discussed project management issues, we found fewer extant literature on project antecedents and performance. As a result of this, we organized the future research agenda addressed in several papers by linking them with the under-researched themes in the field, thus providing great potential to advance future research agenda especially, in the under-researched themes in the field. Finally, our paper reveals that research on inter-organizational innovation project is generally fragmented which hinders a better understanding of the field. Thus, this paper contributes to the understanding of the field by organizing and discussing the extant literature to advance the theory and application of inter-organizational relationship.

Keywords: inter-organizational relationship, inter-firm collaboration, innovation projects, project management, systematic review

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Authors: Nikhil Yadav, Shubham Verma

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Gas lift is a common technique used to optimize oil production in wells. Prosper software is a powerful tool for modeling and optimizing gas lift systems in oil wells. This review paper examines the effectiveness of Prosper software in optimizing gas lift systems in oil-producing wells. The literature review identified several studies that demonstrated the use of Prosper software to adjust injection rate, depth, and valve characteristics to optimize gas lift system performance. The results showed that Prosper software can significantly improve production rates and reduce operating costs in oil-producing wells. However, the accuracy of the model depends on the accuracy of the input data, and the cost of Prosper software can be high. Therefore, further research is needed to improve the accuracy of the model and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of using Prosper software in gas lift system optimization

Keywords: gas lift, prosper software, injection rate, operating costs, oil-producing wells

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Authors: Mohammed S. Alqahtani, Paulo J. Bartolo

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External fixation is a common technique for the treatment and stabilization of bone fractures. Different designs have been proposed by companies and research groups, but all of them present limitations such as high weight, not comfortable to use, and not customized to individual patients. This paper proposes a lightweight customized external fixator, overcoming some of these limitations. External fixators are designed using a set of techniques such as medical imaging, CAD modelling, finite element analysis, and full factorial design of experiments. Key design parameters are discussed, and the optimal set of parameters is used to design the final external fixator. Numerical simulations are used to validate design concepts. Results present an optimal external fixation design with weight reduction of 13% without compromising its stiffness and structural integrity. External fixators are also designed to be additively manufactured, allowing to develop a strategy for personalization.

Keywords: computer-aided design modelling, external fixation, finite element analysis, full factorial, personalization

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Authors: Sun-Ki Hong, Nam-HeeByeon, Jung-Seop Lee, Tae-Sam Kang

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For Common R or R-L load to apply arbitrary voltage, the bridge traditional inverters don’t have any difficulties by PWM method. However for driving some piezoelectric actuator, arbitrary voltage not a pulse but a steady voltage should be applied. Piezoelectric load is considered as R-C load and its voltage does not decrease even though the applied voltage decreases. Therefore it needs some special inverter with circuit that can discharge the capacitive energy. Especially for unidirectional arbitrary voltage driving like as sine wave, it becomes more difficult problem. In this paper, a charge and discharge circuit for unidirectional arbitrary voltage driving for piezoelectric actuator is proposed. The circuit has charging and discharging switches for increasing and decreasing output voltage. With the proposed simple circuit, the load voltage can have any unidirectional level with tens of bandwidth because the load voltage can be adjusted by switching the charging and discharging switch appropriately. The appropriateness is proved from the simulation of the proposed circuit.

Keywords: DC-DC converter, analog output voltage, sinusoidal drive, piezoelectric load, discharging circuit

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Authors: Hanna Mamo Ergando

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Climate change is already having a severe influence on agriculture, affecting crop yields, the nutritional content of main grains, and livestock productivity. Significant adaptation investments will be necessary to sustain existing yields and enhance production and food quality to fulfill demand. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) provides numerous potentials in this regard, combining a focus on enhancing agricultural output and incomes while also strengthening resilience and responding to climate change. To improve agriculture production and productivity, the Ethiopian government has adopted and implemented a series of strategies, including the recent agricultural cluster farming that is practiced as an effort to change, improve, and transform subsistence farming to modern, productive, market-oriented, and climate-smart approach through farmers production cluster. Besides, greater attention and focus have been given to wheat production and productivity by the government, and wheat is the major crop grown in cluster farming. Therefore, the objective of this assessment was to examine various opportunities and challenges farmers face in a cluster farming system. A qualitative research approach was used to generate primary and secondary data. Respondents were chosen using the purposeful sampling technique. Accordingly, experts from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute, the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute, and the Ethiopian Environment Protection Authority were interviewed. The assessment result revealed that farming in clusters is an economically viable technique for sustaining small, resource-limited, and socially disadvantaged farmers' agricultural businesses. The method assists farmers in consolidating their products and delivering them in bulk to save on transportation costs while increasing income. Smallholders' negotiating power has improved as a result of cluster membership, as has knowledge and information spillover. The key challenges, on the other hand, were identified as a lack of timely provision of modern inputs, insufficient access to credit services, conflict of interest in crop selection, and a lack of output market for agro-processing firms. Furthermore, farmers in the cluster farming approach grow wheat year after year without crop rotation or diversification techniques. Mono-cropping has disadvantages because it raises the likelihood of disease and insect outbreaks. This practice may result in long-term consequences, including soil degradation, reduced biodiversity, and economic risk for farmers. Therefore, the government must devote more resources to addressing the issue of environmental sustainability. Farmers' access to complementary services that promote production and marketing efficiencies through infrastructure and institutional services has to be improved. In general, the assessment begins with some hint that leads to a deeper study into the efficiency of the strategy implementation, upholding existing policy, and scaling up good practices in a sustainable and environmentally viable manner.

Keywords: cluster farming, smallholder farmers, wheat, challenges, opportunities

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Authors: Encarnación Álvarez, Rosa M. García-Fernández, Juan F. Muñoz

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Estimation of a proportion has many applications in economics and social studies. A common application is the estimation of the low income proportion, which gives the proportion of people classified as poor into a population. In this paper, we present this poverty indicator and propose to use the logistic regression estimator for the problem of estimating the low income proportion. Various sampling designs are presented. Assuming a real data set obtained from the European Survey on Income and Living Conditions, Monte Carlo simulation studies are carried out to analyze the empirical performance of the logistic regression estimator under the various sampling designs considered in this paper. Results derived from Monte Carlo simulation studies indicate that the logistic regression estimator can be more accurate than the customary estimator under the various sampling designs considered in this paper. The stratified sampling design can also provide more accurate results.

Keywords: poverty line, risk of poverty, auxiliary variable, ratio method

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Authors: Marta Polec

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The paper outlines the problem of street performances in Poland in context of humanistic management studies. The Author perceives activity of street performers of various art and entertainment actions as a phenomenon of informal organizing, self-management and cultural entrepreneurship in urban sphere. What has to be highlighted, performative street art is not currently being an interest of scientific research as often as visual street art. That is why the Author indicates the need of including new approaches of humanistic and social disciplines, especially different management paradigms, in examining various aspects of the activity of street performers. The paper shows the results of ethnographic study based on anthropological interviews, participant observation non-participant observation, shadowing, field notes, audiovisual documentation and text analysis. The fieldwork was performed since 2014 in the old towns and major areas of several the most popular touristic Polish cities, mainly in Gdansk, Cracow, Lublin, Warsaw, and Wroclaw. The research group included street artists of various kinds of performative arts. The investigation was prepared within the ‘Ethnography of the informal organization of street artists in Poland’ project, as a part of Diamond Grant programme (the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland). The first conclusion of the study is that street shows form a way of artistic self-realization and unusual promotion of creative activity in public space. As street performance helps to make some extra money and even earning a living in general, it seems to constitute a new profession. Street performers as a specific environment usually know each other and in many ways cooperate informally to carry on their shows successfully. Secondly, this activity brings plenty benefits for the local communities. Street shows attract inhabitants and tourists quite often by appealing to intangible cultural heritage and memorializing it. They also pose a space for discussing current social issues. Moreover, they disseminate relatively inexpensive public access to culture, but also state an example of social courage of choosing unconventional occupation. Finally, currently being used terms of street performers/street artists/buskers in different languages, as instance as in Polish, are still fluent and undefined. As a consequence, it brings implications for existing common knowledge about street performers, for example in establishing and implementing public policies. It impedes solving many ethical and social dilemmas concerning the question of performances in public sphere, which in some cases seem to be related to, as: children’s work, beggars’ practices or question of harmony of public space. The main aim of this study was to expose street performances as yet undefined profession, including different possibilities of interacting with the audience, based on providing impressions, experiences and memories. Although the issue seems to be current and common, in indicated context there is a lack of equal and unified approach of managing urban sphere, which in practice differs both in informal rules and official policies concerning street performances not only in cities in Poland, but also generally in Europe.

Keywords: informal, organizing, street performance, urban sphere

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Authors: Payam Najafi, Behnam Ebrahimi, Hamid Montazerolghaem, Safoura Akbari-Alavijeh, Rasoul Tarkesh Esfahani

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The combination of work and study has been recently gained lots of attention due to the crucial demand of industries to skillfully trained youth. Nevertheless, the distance between university and industry makes this combination challenging. According to the OECD (2012), in most countries, there is a limited link between students’ field of study and their area of work while studying. On the other hand, high unemployment rates among the specialized workforce, which is common in developing countries, highlights the need to strengthen this relationship. Innovative Center of Isfahan Chamber of Commerce has defined a project called 'POUYESH', which helps students to find related work opportunities to their field of study as well as supporting industries to supply their needed workforce. The present research is sought to explore the effect of the running project as a model of combining work and study on the university-industry linkage.

Keywords: work and study, university-industry linkage, POUYESH project, field of study

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Authors: Irena Kostovska, Katerina Tosheska Trajkovska, Svetlana Cekovska, Julijana Brezovska Kavrakova, Hristina Ampova, Sonja Topuzovska, Ognen Kostovski, Goce Spasovski, Danica Labudovic

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Background: Proteinuria is an important feature of secondary nephropathies. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of proteinuria plays an important role in determining the types of proteinuria (glomerular, tubular and mixed), in the diagnosis and prognosis of secondary nephropathies. The damage of the glomerular basement membrane is responsible for a proteinuria characterized by the presence of large amounts of protein with high molecular weights such as albumin (69 kilo Daltons-kD), transferrin (78 kD) and immunoglobulin G (150 kD). An insufficiency of proximal tubular function is the cause of a proteinuria characterized by the presence of proteins with low molecular weight (LMW), such as retinol binding protein (21 kD) and α1-microglobulin (31 kD). In some renal diseases, a mixed glomerular and tubular proteinuria is frequently seen. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) is the most widely used method of analyzing urine proteins for clinical purposes. The main aim of the study is to determine the type of proteinuria in the most common secondary nephropathies such as diabetic, hypertensive nephropathy and preeclampsia. Material and methods: In this study were included 90 subjects: subjects with diabetic nephropathy (n=30), subjects with hypertensive nephropahty (n=30) and pregnant women with preeclampsia (n=30). We divided all subjects according to UM/CR into three subgroups: macroalbuminuric (UM/CR >300 mg/g), microalbuminuric (UM/CR 30-300 mg/g) and normolabuminuric (UM/CR<30 mg/g). In all subjects, we measured microalbumin and creatinine in urine with standard biochemical methods. Separation of urinary proteins was performed by SDS-PAGE, in several stages: linear gel preparation (4-22%), treatment of urinary samples before their application on the gel, electrophoresis, gel fixation, coloring with Coomassie blue, and identification of the separated protein fractions based on standards with exactly known molecular weight. Results: According to urinary microalbumin/creatinin ratio in group of subject with diabetic nephropathy, nine patients were macroalbuminuric, while 21 subject were microalbuminuric. In group of subjects with hypertensive nephropathy, we found macroalbuminuria (n=4), microalbuminuria (n=20) and normoalbuminuria (n=6). All pregnant women with preeclampsia were macroalbuminuric. Electrophoretic separation of urinary proteins showed that in macroalbuminric patients with diabetic nephropathy 56% have mixed proteinuria, 22% have glomerular proteinuria and 22% have tubular proteinuria. In subgroup of subjects with diabetic nephropathy and microalbuminuria, 52% have glomerular proteinuria, 8% have tubular proteinuria, and 40% of subjects have normal electrophoretic findings. All patients with maroalbuminuria and hypertensive nephropathy have mixed proteinuria. In subgroup of patients with microalbuminuria and hypertensive nephropathy, we found: 32% with mixed proteinuria, 27% with normal findings, 23% with tubular, and 18% with glomerular proteinuria. In all normoalbuminruic patiens with hypertensive nephropathy, we detected normal electrophoretic findings. In group of subjects pregnant women with preeclampsia, we found: 81% with mixed proteinuria, 13% with glomerular, and 8% with tubular proteinuria. Conclusion: By SDS PAGE method, we detected that in patients with secondary nephropathies the most common type of proteinuria is mixed proteinuria, indicating both loss of glomerular permeability and tubular function. We can conclude that SDS PAGE is high sensitive method for detection of renal impairment in patients with secondary nephropathies.

Keywords: diabetic nephropathy, preeclampsia, hypertensive nephropathy, SDS PAGE

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Authors: Rahmad Wisnu Wardana, Eakachai Warinsiriruk, Sutep Joy-A-Ka

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Selecting the most suitable welding process usually depends on experiences or common application in similar companies. However, this approach generally ignores many criteria that can be affecting the suitable welding process selection. Therefore, knowledge automation through knowledge-based systems will significantly improve the decision-making process. The aims of this research propose integrated data envelopment analysis (DEA) and fuzzy credibility constrained programming approach for identifying the best welding process for stainless steel storage tank in the food and beverage industry. The proposed approach uses fuzzy concept and credibility measure to deal with uncertain data from experts' judgment. Furthermore, 12 parameters are used to determine the most appropriate welding processes among six competitive welding processes.

Keywords: welding process selection, data envelopment analysis, fuzzy credibility constrained programming, storage tank

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Authors: Zain Khan, Steve Ahn, Kathy Monypenny, James Fink

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In Australian public hospitals, there were approximately 34,000 reported inpatient falls between 2015 to 2016. The gold standard for diagnosing intracranial injury is non-contrast enhanced brain computed tomography (CTB). Over a three-month timeframe, a total of one hundred and eighty (180) falls were documented between the hours of 4pm and 8am at a large metro hospital. Only three (3) of these scans demonstrated a positive intra-cranial finding. The rationale for scanning varied. The common indications included a fall with head strike, the presence of blood thinning medication, loss of consciousness, reduced Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), vomiting and new neurological findings. There are several validated tools to aid in decision-making around ordering CTB scans in the acute setting, but no such accepted tool exists for the inpatient space. With further data collection, spanning a greater length of time and through involving multiple centres, work can be done towards generating such a tool that can be utilized for inpatient falls.

Keywords: computed tomography, falls, inpatient, intracranial hemorrhage

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Authors: Anjela Koblischka-Veneva, Michael R. Koblischka

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To increase the flux pinning performance of bulk YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO or Y-123) superconductors, it is common to employ secondary phase particles, either Y2BaCuO5 (Y-211) particles created during the growth of the samples or additionally added (nano)particles of various types, embedded in the superconducting Y-123 matrix. As the crystallographic parameters of all the particles indicate a misfit to Y-123, there will be residual strain within the Y-123 matrix around such particles. With a dedicated analysis of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) data obtained on various bulk, Y-123 superconductor samples, the strain distribution around such embedded secondary phase particles can be revealed. The results obtained are presented in form of Kernel Average Misorientation (KAM) mappings. Around large Y-211 particles, the strain can be so large that YBCO subgrains are formed. Therefore, it is essential to properly control the particle size as well as their distribution within the bulk sample to obtain the best performance. The impact of the strain distribution on the flux pinning properties is discussed.

Keywords: Bulk superconductors, EBSD, Strain, YBa2Cu3Oy

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Authors: Ukpaka Paschal

Abstract:

Margret Boden argues that a creative product is one that is new, surprising, and valuable as a result of the combination, exploration, or transformation involved in producing it. Boden uses examples of artificial intelligence systems that fit all of these criteria and argues that real creativity involves autonomy, intentionality, valuation, emotion, and consciousness. This paper provides an analysis of all these elements in order to try to understand whether they are sufficient to account for creativity, especially human creativity. This paper focuses on Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), which is a class of artificial intelligence algorithms that are said to have disproved the common perception that creativity is something that only humans possess. This paper will then argue that Boden’s listed properties of creativity, which capture the creativity exhibited by GANs, are not sufficient to account for human creativity, and this paper will further identify “first-person phenomenological experience” as an essential property of human creativity. The rationale behind the proposed essential property is that if creativity involves comprehending our experience of the world around us into a form of self-expression, then our experience of the world really matters with regard to creativity.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, creativity, GANs, first-person experience

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Authors: Marin Neio Demirci, Jan Mei Soon, Carol A. Wallace

Abstract:

Muslims follow the religion of Islam and the food they eat should be Halal, meaning lawful or permissible. Muslims are allowed to eat halal and wholesome food that has been provided for them. However, some of the main prohibitions are swine flesh, blood, carrion, animals not slaughtered according to Islamic laws and alcoholic drinks. At present Halal assurance is in a complicated state, with various Halal standards differing from each other without gaining mutual acceptance. The world is starting to understand the need for an influential globally accepted standard that would open doors to global markets and gain consumer confidence. This paper discusses issues mainly related to food safety in Halal assurance. The aim was to discover and describe the approach to food safety requirements in Halal food provision and how this is incorporated in the Halal assurance systems. The position of food safety regulation within Halal requirements or Halal standards’ requirements for food safety is still unclear. This review also considers whether current Halal standards include criteria in common with internationally accepted food hygiene standards and emphasizes the potential of using the HACCP system for Halal assurance.

Keywords: certification, GHP, HACCP, Halal standard

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Authors: Fatiha Kaïd Berrahal, Nassima Kaïd, Djihad Affaf Selt

Abstract:

The present paper is a comparative analysis of the Algerian writer Assia Djebar’s women of Algiers in Their Apartment (1982) and the Anglo-Egyptian Ahdaf Soueif’s The Map of Love (1999) foregrounded on the female protagonists’ painfully common colonial and patriarchal experiences, though in different geographical regions of North Africa. This study raises questions pertaining, first, to the emerging contemporary genre “Historiographic meta-fiction” in which the novels examined could be inscribed, then, the interplay of colonial history and personal memory that impinges on the development of the identity of the post-colonial female subject. As the novels alternate between the historical and the autobiographical, we currently seek to understand how it is pertinent and pressing for women to excavate the lost and occluded stories of the past for the adjustment of their present personal identities, which are undoubtedly an important part of the identity of a nation.

Keywords: postcolonial feminism, islamic feminism, memory, histoirographic metafiction

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Authors: Ndivhuho Tshikovhi

Abstract:

The debate about indigenous people throughout the world has been necessitated by different circumstances that indigenous communities continue to suffer. Indigenous people of the world suffer chronic diseases, poor education, high unemployment and slow economic developments. This paper contributes to the continuous debate by studying the common elements of indigenous entrepreneur of the world and that of the South African indigenous entrepreneur. The research objective of this paper is to understand what constitute an indigenous status in the South African context as opposed to the indigenous people of the world. Furthermore, the study will explore the indigenous status through their entrepreneurial engagements. The paper will adopt a secondary data research method, by utilising the literature on indigenous entrepreneurship practice and theory of indigenous entrepreneurship. The implications of this paper is to bring about an African indigenous entrepreneurship debate rooted from the correct circumstances rather than generalised definitions. Recommendations for future research will be outlined, together with further readings on circumstantial evidence that necessitate indigenous entrepreneurs status in South Africa.

Keywords: indigenous entrepreneur, indigenous, entrepreneurship, indigenous people, entrepreneurship development

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Authors: Mohammad Kousara, Françoise Dumas, Rama Ibrahim, Joëlle Dubois, Joël Raingeaud

Abstract:

Suberosanes are a small group of marine natural sesquiterpenes discovered since 1996 by Boyd, Sheu and Qi from three gorgonians. Their skeleton was previously found in quadranes produced by the terrestrial fungus Aspergillus terreus. Up to date, eleven suberosanes are described from which (-)-suberosanone and (-)-suberosenol A are reaching the picomolar cytotoxicity level on human solid tumors cell lines. Due to their impressive cytotoxic properties and their limited availability, we undertook an asymmetric synthesis of the most active members of this family in order to get insight into their absolute configurations and their biological properties. The challenge of their synthesis is the regio- and stereoselective elaboration of the compact bridged tricyclic skeleton with up to five all adjacent asymmetric centers, including a central quaternary carbon one. Our strategy is based on an aza-ene-synthesis key step which is regio-and stereo-controlled by the choice of a chiral amine enantiomer. it approach is concise and flexible, the enantiopur ABC tricyclic intermediate that have been synthesized being the common precursor of suberosanes.

Keywords: suberosanes, asymmetric synthesis, sesquiterpenes, quadranes

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Authors: Antoni Ivanov, Nikolay Dandanov, Nicole Christoff, Vladimir Poulkov

Abstract:

Spectrum underutilization has made cognitive radio a promising technology both for current and future telecommunications. This is due to the ability to exploit the unused spectrum in the bands dedicated to other wireless communication systems, and thus, increase their occupancy. The essential function, which allows the cognitive radio device to perceive the occupancy of the spectrum, is spectrum sensing. In this paper, the performance of modern adaptations of the four most widely used spectrum sensing techniques namely, energy detection (ED), cyclostationary feature detection (CSFD), matched filter (MF) and eigenvalues-based detection (EBD) is compared. The implementation has been accomplished through the PlutoSDR hardware platform and the GNU Radio software package in very low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) conditions. The optimal detection performance of the examined methods in a realistic implementation-oriented model is found for the common relevant parameters (number of observed samples, sensing time and required probability of false alarm).

Keywords: cognitive radio, dynamic spectrum access, GNU Radio, spectrum sensing

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Authors: Valentina Futoryanova, Hugh Hunt

Abstract:

One of the common failure modes of the diesel engine turbochargers is high cycle fatigue of the turbine wheel blades. Mistuning of the blades due to the casting process is believed to contribute to the failure mode. Laser vibrometer is used to characterize mistuning for a population of turbine wheels through the analysis of the blade response to piezo speaker induced noise. The turbine wheel design under investigation is radial and is typically used in 6-12 L diesel engine applications. Amplitudes and resonance frequencies are reviewed and summarized. The study also includes test results for a paddle wheel that represents a perfectly tuned system and acts as a reference. Mass spring model is developed for the paddle wheel and the model suitability is tested against the actual data. Randomization is applied to the stiffness matrix to model the mistuning effect in the turbine wheels. Experimental data is shown to have good agreement with the model.

Keywords: vibration, radial turbines, mistuning, turbine blades, modal analysis, periodic structures, finite element

Procedia PDF Downloads 434