Search results for: creeping control strategy

Authors: Ngawang Tsering

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Traditional Tibetan medicine is primarily focused on promoting health and keeping away diseases from its unique in prescribing specific diet and lifestyle. The prevalence of chronic diseases has been rising day by day and kills a number of people due to the lack of proper nutritional design in modern times. According to traditional Tibetan medicine, chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and arthritis are heavily associated with an unwholesome diet and inappropriate lifestyles. Diet and lifestyles are the two main conditions of diseases and healthy life. The prevalence of chronic diseases is one of the challenges, with massive economic impact and expensive health issues. Though chronic diseases are challenges, it has a solution in the preventive measurements by using proper nutrition design based on traditional Tibetan medicine. Until today, it is hard to evaluate whether traditional Tibetan medicine nutrition strategy could play a major role in preventive measurement as of the lack of current research evidence. However, compared with modern nutrition, it has an exclusive valuable concept, such as a holistic way and diet or nutrition recommendation based on different aspects. Traditional Tibetan medicine is one of the oldest ancient existing medical systems known as Sowa Rigpa (Science of Healing) highlights different aspects of dietetics and nutrition, namely geographical, seasonal, age, personality, emotional, food combination, the process of individual metabolism, potency, and amount of food. This article offers a critical perspective on the preventive measurement against chronic diseases through nutrition design using traditional Tibetan medicine and also needs attention for a deeper understanding of traditional Tibetan medicine in the modern world.

Keywords: traditional Tibetan medicine, nutrition, chronic diseases, preventive measurement, holistic approach, integrative

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Authors: Cihan Cilbircioğlu

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Allium sativum L.(garlic) and Allium. cepa L. (onion) are the most common species of the Allium spp. and are produced at the very high rate all over the world. The yield loss caused by pests is the most important problem in the production of these crops. In the absence of control measures, yield loss would be around 35% on average. The yield loss sometimes depending on the pest species and population density can reach about 100%. Mites and nematodes are the most important pests of them. These pests that cause damage to A. sativum and A. cepa shows a wide range of taxonomic categories. The number of common pest mite and nematode species that cause damage to either A. sativum and A. cepa are over 20 species. In this study, detailed information on morphology, life cycle, management, and symptoms of the economically most important harmful important mite (acari) and nematode species of onion and garlic has been provided through careful survey of corresponding researches in Turkey and given information about new practices and approaches on their controls.

Keywords: onion, garlic, pest, acari, nematoda control methods, Turkey

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Authors: Thapa Sirjana, Clifton R. Emery

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This paper examines the family order and Informal Social Control (ISC) by the extended families as a protective factor against Child Maltreatment. The findings are discussed using the main effects and the interaction effects of family order and informal social control by the extended families. The findings suggest that IPV mothers are associated with child abuse and child neglect. The children are neglected in the home more and physical abuse occurs in the case, if mothers are abused by their husbands. The mother’s difficulties of being abused may lead them to neglect their children. The findings suggest that ‘family order’ is a significant protective factor against child maltreatment. The results suggest that if the family order is neither too high nor too low than that can play a role as a protective factor. Soft type of ISC is significantly associated with child maltreatment. This study suggests that the soft type of ISC by the extended families is a helpful approach to develop child protection in both the countries. This study is analyzed the data collected from Seoul and Kathmandu families and neighborhood study (SKFNS). Random probability cluster sample of married or partnered women in 20 Kathmandu wards and in Seoul 34 dongs were selected using probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling. Overall, the study is to make a comparative study of Korea and Nepal and examine how the cultural differences and similarities associate with the child maltreatment.

Keywords: child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, informal social control and family order Seoul, Kathmandu

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Authors: Morteza Mirhosseini, Amir B. Khoshnevis

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The boundary layer separation and new active flow control of a NACA 0025 airfoil were studied experimentally. This new flow control is sometimes known as a co-flow jet (cfj) airfoil. This paper presents the fluctuating velocity in a wall jet over the co-flow jet airfoil subjected to an adverse pressure gradient and a curved surface. In these results, the fluctuating velocity at the inner part increasing by increased the angle of attack up to 12^o and this has due to the jet energized, while the angle of attack 20^o has different. The airfoil cord based Reynolds number has 10⁵.

Keywords: adverse pressure gradient, fluctuating velocity, wall jet, co-flow jet airfoil

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Authors: Zoubida Mahi

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A successful satellite mission in space requires a reliable attitude and orbit control system to command, control and position the satellite in appropriate orbits. Several sensors are used for attitude control, such as magnetic sensors, earth sensors, horizon sensors, gyroscopes, and solar sensors. The star tracker is the most accurate sensor compared to other sensors, and it is able to offer high-accuracy attitude control without the need for prior attitude information. There are mainly three approaches in star sensor research: digital simulation, hardware in the loop simulation, and field test of star observation. In the digital simulation approach, all of the processes are done in software, including star image simulation. Hence, it is necessary to develop star image simulation software that could simulate real space environments and various star sensor configurations. In this paper, we present a new stellar image simulation tool that is used to test and validate the stellar sensor algorithms; the developed tool allows to simulate of stellar images with several types of noise, such as background noise, gaussian noise, Poisson noise, multiplicative noise, and several scenarios that exist in space such as the presence of the moon, the presence of optical system problem, illumination and false objects. On the other hand, we present in this paper a new star extraction algorithm based on a new centroid calculation method. We compared our algorithm with other star extraction algorithms from the literature, and the results obtained show the star extraction capability of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: star tracker, star simulation, star detection, centroid, noise, scenario

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Authors: Bernardo Cortez, Florian Peter, Thomas Lausenhammer, Paulo Oliveira

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Designing missiles’ autopilot controllers have been a complex task, given the extensive flight envelope and the nonlinear flight dynamics. A solution that can excel both in nominal performance and in robustness to uncertainties is still to be found. While Control Theory often debouches into parameters’ scheduling procedures, Reinforcement Learning has presented interesting results in ever more complex tasks, going from videogames to robotic tasks with continuous action domains. However, it still lacks clearer insights on how to find adequate reward functions and exploration strategies. To the best of our knowledge, this work is a pioneer in proposing Reinforcement Learning as a framework for flight control. In fact, it aims at training a model-free agent that can control the longitudinal non-linear flight dynamics of a missile, achieving the target performance and robustness to uncertainties. To that end, under TRPO’s methodology, the collected experience is augmented according to HER, stored in a replay buffer and sampled according to its significance. Not only does this work enhance the concept of prioritized experience replay into BPER, but it also reformulates HER, activating them both only when the training progress converges to suboptimal policies, in what is proposed as the SER methodology. The results show that it is possible both to achieve the target performance and to improve the agent’s robustness to uncertainties (with low damage on nominal performance) by further training it in non-nominal environments, therefore validating the proposed approach and encouraging future research in this field.

Keywords: Reinforcement Learning, flight control, HER, missile autopilot, TRPO

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Authors: Josiane N. Muller, Allan K. R. Galardo, Tatiane A. Barbosa, Evan P. Ferro, Wellington M. Dos Santos, Ana Paula S. A. Correa, Edinaldo C. Rego, Jose B. P. Lima

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The susceptibility status of an insect population to any larvicide depends on several factors such includes genetic constitution, environmental conditions and others. The mosquito Aedes aegypti is the primary vector of three important viral diseases, Zika, Dengue, and Chikungunya. The frequent outbreaks of those diseases in different parts of Brazil demonstrate the importance of testing the susceptibility of vectors in different environments. Since the control of this mosquito leads to the control of disease, alternatives for vector control that value the different Brazilian environmental conditions are needed for effective actions. The aim of this study was to evaluate a new commercial formulation of Bacillus thuringiensis israelenses (DengueTech: Brazilian innovative technology) in the Brazilian Legal Amazon considering the climate conditions. Semi-field tests were conducted in the Institute of Scientific and Technological Research of the State of Amapa in two different environments, one in a shaded area and the other exposed to sunlight. The mosquito larvae were exposed to larvicide concentration and a control; each group was tested in three containers of 40 liters each. To assess persistence 50 third instar larvae of Aedes aegypti laboratory lineages (Rockefeller) and 50 larvae of Aedes aegypti collected in the municipality of Macapa, Brazil’s Amapa state, were added weekly and after 24 hours the mortality was assessed. In total 16 tests were performed, where 12 were done with replacement of water (1/5 of the volume, three times per week). The effectiveness of the product was determined through mortality of ≥ 80%, as recommend by the World Health Organization. The results demonstrated that high-water temperatures (26-35 °C) on the containers influenced the residual time of the product, where the maximum effect achieved was 21 days in the shaded area; and no effectiveness of 60 days was found in any of the tests, as expected according to the larvicide company. The test with and without water replacement did not present significant differences in the mortality rate. Considering the different environments and climate, these results stimulate the need to test larvicide and its effectiveness in specific environmental settings in order to identify the parameters required for better results. Thus, we see the importance of semi-field researches considering the local climate conditions for a successful control of Aedes aegypti.

Keywords: Aedes aegypti, bioassay, larvicida, vector control

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Authors: İlknur Gökşin, Sultan Ayaz Alkaya

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Objective: Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) include the deliberate stretching and relaxation of the major muscle groups of the human body. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of PMR applied in women on the postpartum depression and general comfort level. Methods: The study population of this quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test and control group consisted of primipara women who had vaginal delivery in the obstetric service of a university hospital. The experimental and control groups consisted of 35 women each. The data were collected by questionnaire, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the General Comfort Questionnaire (GCQ). The women were matched according to their age and education level and divided into the experimental and control groups by simple random selection. Postpartum depression risk and general comfort was evaluated at the 2nd and 5th days, 10th and 15th days, fourth week and eighth week after birth. The experimental group was visited at home and PMR was applied. After the first visit, women were asked to apply PMR regularly three times a week for eight weeks. During the application, the researcher called the participants twice a week to follow up the continuity of the application. No intervention was performed in the control group. For data analysis, descriptive statistics such as number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, significance test of difference between two means and ANOVA were used. Approval of the ethics committee and permission of the institution were obtained for the study. Results: There were no significant differences between the women in the experimental and control groups in terms of age, education status and employment status (p>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of EPDS pre-test, 1st, 2nd and 3rd follow-up mean scores (p>0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between EPDS pre-test and 3rd follow-up scores of the experimental group (p<0.05), whereas there was no such difference in the control group (p>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of mean GCQ pre-test scores (p>0.05), whereas in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd follow-ups there was a statistically significant difference between the mean GCQ scores (p<0.05). It was found that there was a significant increase in the GCQ physical, psychospiritual and sociocultural comfort sub-scales, relief and relaxation levels of the experimental group between the pre-test and 3rd follow-ups scores (p<0.05). And, a significant decrease was found between pre-test and 3rd follow-up GCQ psychospiritual, environmental and sociocultural comfort sub-scale, relief, relaxation and superiority levels (p<0.05). Conclusion: Progressive muscle relaxation was effective on reducing the postpartum depression risk and increasing general comfort. It is recommended to provide progressive muscle relaxation training to women in the postpartum period as well as ensuring the continuity of this practice.

Keywords: general comfort, postpartum depression, postpartum period, progressive muscle relaxation

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Authors: Anand Choudhary

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Following the global economic crisis in 2008, businesses and more especially the big multinational conglomerates were increasingly viewed by the people world over as one of the major causes of the economic problems faced by millions globally, in terms of job loss and lifetime savings being wiped out as banks and pension funds went bankrupt and people stared at an insecure financial future. This caused a lot of resentment in the public against big businesses and fueled several protest movements by the people such as “Occupy Wall Street” in different parts of the world. This forced the big businesses to respond to the challenge by adopting more people-centric policies and initiatives for local communities in societies where they operate as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR), in order to regain their social acceptance among the people whilst earning their ‘social license to operate’. The current paper studies many of such large MNCs across the United States of America, India and South Africa, which changed the way they did business earlier, following the global economic crisis in 2008, by incorporating capacity building initiatives for local communities as part of their CSR strategy and explores whether it has contributed to improving their financial performance. It is a conceptual research paper using secondary source data. The findings reveal that there is a positive correlation between the companies’ corporate social performance and corporate financial performance. In addition, the findings also bring to light that the MNCs examined as part of the current paper have improved their image in the eyes of their stakeholders following the change in their CSR strategy and initiatives.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility (CSR), Corporate Social Performance (CSP), Corporate Financial Performance (CFP), local communities

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Authors: Bo-wen Zhu, Bin Wu, Feng Chen

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It has become a common measure among governments to support green development of enterprises through Green Credit policies. In China, the Central Bank of China and other authorities even put forward corresponding assessment requirements for proportion of green credit in commercial banks. Policy changes might raise concerns about commercial banks turning a blind eye to greenwashing behavior by enterprises. The lack of effective regulation may lead to a diffusion of such behavior, and eventually result in the phenomenon of “bad money driving out good money”, which could dampen the incentive effect of Green Credit policies. This paper employs a complex network model based on an evolutionary game analysis framework involving enterprises, banks, and regulatory authorities to investigate inhibitory effect of the Green Credit regulation on enterprises’ greenwashing behavior, banks’ opportunistic and collusive behaviors. The findings are as follows: (1) Banking opportunism rises with Green Credit evaluation criteria and requirements for the proportion of credit balance. Restrictive regulation against violating banks is necessary as there is an increasing trend of banks adopting opportunistic strategy. (2) Raising penalties and probability of regulatory inspections can effectively suppress banks’ opportunistic behavior, however, it cannot entirely eradicate the opportunistic behavior on the bank side. (3) Although maintaining a certain inspection probability can inhibit enterprises from adopting greenwashing behavior, enterprises choose a catering production strategy instead. (4) One-time rewards from local government have limited effects on the equilibrium state and diffusion trend of bank regulatory decision-making.

Keywords: green credit, greenwashing behavior, regulation, diffusion effect

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Authors: Mohd. Ashik Shahrier, Hiromi Wada

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Prenatal ethanol exposure has potential to induce difficulties in the social behavior of rats and can alter pup-dam communication suggesting that deficits in pups could result in altered dam behavior, which in turn could result in more aberrant behavior in the pup. Ultrasonic vocalization (USV) is a sensitive tool for investigating social behavior between rat pups and their dam. Rat pups produce USVs on separation from their dam. This signals the dam to locate her pups and retrieve them back to the nest. In this study, it was predicted that prenatal ethanol exposure cause alterations on the acoustic characteristics of USVs in rat pups. Thirteen pregnant rats were purchased and randomly assigned into three groups: high-ethanol (n = 4), low-ethanol (n = 5), and control (n = 4) groups. Laboratory ethanol (purity = 99.5%) was dissolved in tap water and administered to the high- and low-ethanol groups as drinking water from gestational days (GD) 8-20. Ethanol-containing water was administered to the animals in three stages by gradually increasing the concentration between GDs 8–20. From GDs 8–10, 10% and 5%, from GDs 11–13, 20% and 10%, and from GDs 14–20, 30% and 15% ethanol-containing water (v/v) was administered to the high- and low-ethanol groups, respectively. Tap water without ethanol was given to the control group throughout the experiment. The day of birth of the pups was designated as postnatal day (PND) 0. On PND 4, each litter was culled to four male and four female pups. For the present study, two male and two female pups were randomly sampled from each litter as subjects. Thus, eight male and eight female pups from the high-ethanol and control groups and another 10 male and 10 female pups from the low-ethanol group, were sampled. An ultrasonic microphone and the Sonotrack system version 2.4.0 (Metris, Hoofddorp, The Netherlands) were used to record and analyze USVs of the pups. On postnatal days 4, 8, 12 and 16, the resultant pups were individually isolated from their dams and littermates, and USVs were recorded for 5 min in a sound-proof box. Pups in the high-ethanol group produced greater number of USVs compared with that in both low-ethanol and control groups on PND 12. Rat pups in the high-ethanol group also produced higher mean, minimum, and maximum fundamental frequencies of USVs compared with that in both low-ethanol and control groups. Male pups in the high-ethanol group had higher USV amplitudes than in those in low-ethanol and control groups on PND 12. These results suggest that pups in the high-ethanol group relatively experienced more negative emotionality due to the ethanol-induced neuronal activation in the core limbic system and tegmental structures and accordingly, produced altered USVs as distress calls.

Keywords: emotionality, ethanol, maternal separation, ultrasonic vocalization

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Authors: Temesgen Kassa Getahun, Gezahegn Mamo, Beksisa Urge

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A cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2019 to May 2020 with the aim of determining the seroprevalence of brucellosis in dairy cows and their owners in the central highland of Oromia, Ethiopia. A total of 352 blood samples from dairy cattle, 149 from animal owners, and 17 from farm workers were collected and initially screened using the Rose Bengal Plate test and confirmed by the Complement Fixation test. Overall seroprevalence was 0.6% (95% CI: 0.0016–0.0209) in bovines and 1.2% (95% CI: 0.0032–0.0427) in humans. Market-based stock replacement (OR=16.55, p=0.002), breeding by artificial insemination (OR=7.58, p=0.05), and parturition pen (OR = 11.511, p=0.027) were found to be significantly associated with the seropositivity for Brucella infection in dairy cattle. Human housing (OR=1.8, p=0.002), contact with an aborted fetus (OR=21.19, p=0.017), drinking raw milk from non-aborted (OR=24.99, p=0.012), aborted (OR=5.72, p=0.019) and retained fetal membrane (OR=4.22, p=0.029) cows had a significant influence on human brucellosis. A structured interview question was administered to 284 respondents. Accordingly, most respondents had no knowledge of brucellosis (93.3%), and in contrast, 90% of them consumed raw milk. In conclusion, the present seroprevalence study revealed that brucellosis was low among dairy cattle and exposed individuals in the study areas. However, since there were no control strategies implemented in the study areas, there is a potential risk of transmission of brucellosis in dairy cattle and the exposed human population in the study areas. Implementation of a test and slaughter strategy with compensation to farmers is recommended, while in the case of human brucellosis, continuous social training and implementing one health approach framework must be applied.

Keywords: abortion, bovine brucellosis, human brucellosis, risk factors, seroprevalence

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Authors: Esam El Gohary

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— The companies’ ability to survive and compete in the fierce competition is determined by its competitiveness level. With the spread of information technology use and appearance of online shopping, it became crucial for companies to adopt e-commerce system to increase its competitiveness. This paper was conducted with the purpose of determine how increasing the service value through e-commerce factors (competitive strategy, ICT infrastructures, logistics, security, human resources and innovation) can enhance companies' competitiveness. The problem of this paper is summarized in the absence of the thorough awareness of e-commerce benefits for business owners and customers, as well as how to reduce the intangibility attributes of e-commerce. For this purpose this paper describes the e-commerce in Egypt and its success factors (infrastructures, legal and regulatory environment, human resources and innovation), as well as displays the barriers of such factor, to investigate the significant of these factors on increasing service value and enhance companies' competitiveness. This paper revealed that e-commerce companies have many opportunities to enhance its competitiveness in Egypt, which is enhanced by several factors. The most important factors are “strong ICT infrastructure, qualified and skilled human resources, in addition to the distinctive logistics that distinguish Egypt due to its location, strong legal and regulatory environment and Innovation, as well as the competitive strategy. As well as, companies encounter several threats such as; the lack of infrastructures and logistics in rural areas, the absence of the inclusive understanding and awareness of e-commerce, fear from e-payment transactions and fraud, the ambiguity and burdensome of customs. Through the research findings several recommendations were introduced to both government and companies to overcome threats and exploit opportunities to improve performance and enhance companies' competitiveness.

Keywords: e-commerce competitiveness, e-commerce factors, e-commerce in Egypt, information technology

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Authors: Halil Demir, Ersin Polat

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This study, in which crispy salad plants was cultivated between the two rows of tomato, was conducted in Spring 2007 in a research glasshouse at Akdeniz University. Crispy salad (Lactuca sativa var. crispa cv. Bohemia) plants were intercropped with tomato (Solanum lycopersicon cv. Selin F1) plants as the main crop. Tomato seedlings were planted according to double line plantation system with 100 cm large spacing, 50 cm narrow spacing and 50 cm within row plant spacing. In both control and intercropping applications, each plot was 9.75 m2 according to plantation distances and there were 26 plants per each plot for tomato. Crispy salad seedlings were planted with 30 cm spacing as one row in the middle of tomato plants and with 30x30 spacing as two rows between plants rows. Moreover, salad seedlings were transplanted between tomato plants above the tomato rows that were planted in two rows with intervals of 50 cm and also with 25x25 cm spacing as the third row in the middle of tomato rows. While tomato plants were growing during the research, fruit width and height were measured periodically with 15 days in the tomato fruits of the third cluster from the formation of fruit to fruit ripening. According to results, while there were no differences between cropping systems in terms of fruit width, the highest fruit height was found in Control trial in the first measurement. In the second measurement while the highest fruit width was determined with 64.39 mm in Control, there were no differences between cropping systems. In the third measurement, the highest fruit width and height were obtained from Control with 68.47 mm and 55.52 mm, respectively. As a conclusion the trial, which crispy salad seedlings were planted with 30x30 cm spacing as two rows between tomato plants rows, was determined as a best intercropping application.

Keywords: crispy salad, glasshouse, intercropping, tomato

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Authors: Merhawit Fisseha Gebremariam, Yohannes Yebabe Tesfay

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This study focuses on the formulation of a sustainable, effective, and efficient supply chain strategy framework that will enable Ethiopian privatized firms. The study examined the role of privatization in productive sourcing, production, and delivery to Ethiopian firm’s performances. To analyze our hypothesis, the authors applied the concepts of Key Performance Indicator (KPI), strategic outsourcing, purchasing portfolio analysis, and Porter's marketing analysis. The authors selected ten privatized companies and compared their financial, market expansion, and sustainability performances. The Chi-Square Test showed that at the 5% level of significance, privatization and outsourcing activities can assist the business performances of Ethiopian firms in terms of product promotion and new market expansion. At the 5% level of significance, the independent t-test result showed that firms that were privatized by Ethiopian investors showed stronger financial performance than those that were privatized by foreign investors. Furthermore, it is better if Ethiopian firms apply both cost leadership and differentiated strategy to enhance thriving in their business area. Ethiopian firms need to implement the supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model for an exclusive framework that supports communication links the supply chain partners, and enhances productivity. The government of Ethiopia should be aware that the privatization of firms by Ethiopian investors will strengthen the economy. Otherwise, the privatization process will be risky for the country, and therefore, the government of Ethiopia should stop doing those activities.

Keywords: correlation analysis, market strategies, KPIs, privatization, risk and Ethiopia

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Authors: Alireza Nejadmohammad Namaghi

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Investigators have reported that mulches increase production potential in arid and semi arid lands. Mulches are covering materials that are used on soil surface for efficiency irrigation, erosion control, weed control, evaporation decrease and improvement of water perpetration. Our aim and local situation determine the kind of material that we can use. In this research we used different mulches including chemical mulch (M1), Aquasorb polymer, manure mulch (M2), Residue mulch (M3) and polyethylene mulch (M4), with control treatment (M0), without usage of mulch, on germination, biomass dry matter and cottonseed yield (Varamin variety) in Kashan area. Randomized complete block (RCB) design have measured the cotton yield with 3 replications for measuring the biomass dry matter and 4 replication in tow irrigation periods as 7 and 14 days. Germination percentage for M0, M1, M2, M3 and M4 treatment were receptivity 64, 65, 76, 57 and 72% Biomass dry matter average for M0, M1, M2, M3 and M4 treatment were receptivity 276, 306, 426, 403 and 476 gram per plot. M4 treatment (polyethylene Mulch) had the most effect, M2 and M3 had no significant as well as M0 and M1. Total yield average with respect to 7 days irrigation for M0, M1, M2, M3 and M4 treatment were receptivity 700, 725, 857, 1057 and 1273 gram per plot. Dunken ne multiple showed no significant different among M0, M1, M2, and M3, but M4 ahs the most effect on yield. Total yield average with respect to 14 days irrigation for M0, M1, M2, M3 and M4 treatment were receptivity 535, 507, 690, 957 and 1047 gram per plot. These were significant difference between all treatments and control treatment. Results showed that used different mulches with water decrease in dry situation can increase the yield significantly.

Keywords: mulch, cotton, arid land management, irrigation systems

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Authors: T. M. Tawfik, M. A. Badr, E. Y. El-Kady, O. E. Abdellatif

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Electric power shortage is a serious problem in remote rural communities in Egypt. Over the past few years, electrification of remote communities including efficient on-site energy resources utilization has achieved high progress. Remote communities usually fed from diesel generator (DG) networks because they need reliable energy and cheap fresh water. The main objective of this paper is to design an optimal economic power supply from hybrid standalone energy system (HSES) as alternative energy source. It covers energy requirements for reverse osmosis desalination unit (DU) located in National Research Centre farm in Noubarya, Egypt. The proposed system consists of PV panels, Wind Turbines (WT), Batteries, and DG as a backup for supplying DU load of 105.6 KWh/day rated power with 6.6 kW peak load operating 16 hours a day. Optimization of HSES objective is selecting the suitable size of each of the system components and control strategy that provide reliable, efficient, and cost-effective system using net present cost (NPC) as a criterion. The harmonization of different energy sources, energy storage, and load requirements are a difficult and challenging task. Thus, the performance of various available configurations is investigated economically and technically using iHOGA software that is based on genetic algorithm (GA). The achieved optimum configuration is further modified through optimizing the energy extracted from renewable sources. Effective minimization of energy charging the battery ensures that most of the generated energy directly supplies the demand, increasing the utilization of the generated energy.

Keywords: energy management, hybrid system, renewable energy, remote area, optimization

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Authors: Anyi Katherine Garzon Robles, Luis Carlos Gomez Florez

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Since the advent of the Internet, the use of Information Technologies (IT) has increased exponentially. The field of informatics and telecommunications has put on the table countless possibilities for the development of different socio-economic activities, promoting a change of social paradigm and the emergence of the so-called information and knowledge society. For more than a decade, the Colombian government has been working on the incorporation of IT into the public sector through an e-government strategy. However, to date, many technological gaps has not yet been identified in the country to our knowledge, especially in rural areas and far from large cities, where factors such as low investment and the expansion of the armed conflict have led to economic and technological stagnation. This paper presents the research results obtained from the execution of a research project, which was approach from a qualitative approach and a methodological design of a participatory action research type. This design consists of nine fundamental stages divided into four work cycles. For which different strategies for data collection and analysis were established. From which, a methodology was obtained for the identification of technological gaps and the measurement of the level of technological acceptance in the rural sector, based on the TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) model, as a previous activity to the development of IT solutions framed in the e-government strategy in Colombia. The result of this research work represents a contribution from academia for the improvement of the country's technological development and a guide for the proper planning of IT solutions aimed at promoting a close relationship between government and citizens.

Keywords: E-government, knowledge society, level of technological acceptance, technological gaps, technology acceptance model

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Authors: Suliman Al Balawi

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Food waste is a significant problem in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). About SR13 billion worth of food is wasted per year in the KSA. From moral, social, and economic perspectives, it is essential to reduce the wastage of food. Although studies have identified the amount of food waste in the KSA, there is a lack of research on why people in the KSA waste food; thus, it is difficult to design efficient intervention programs to reduce food waste. This research investigates the key factors that influence the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. A food waste behavior model is proposed in this study that has moral disengagement at the center of the model. Following a literature survey, it is hypothesised that religiosity, hedonic value, frugality, and trait cynicism are the antecedents of moral disengagement that are likely to impact the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. The study further posits that an intervention strategy in the form of a social marketing campaign that focuses on lowering the level of moral disengagement could reduce the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. This study will apply a pre-test/post-test experimental design (control group). A random sampling method will be used to select participants from the (employees of a chosen firm) in the KSA. The social marketing campaign will be run for six months through the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of the Company, and to analyse the experimental data, structural equation modeling (SEM) will be used. The outcomes of the study will demonstrate the effectiveness of a social marketing campaign for improving the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA and will ultimately lay the foundation for designing efficient intervention programs in the future. This study will contribute to the knowledge on food waste behavior by testing a newly proposed food waste behavior model in the KSA.

Keywords: food waste, social marketing, Saudi Arabia, moral disengagement

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Authors: Damanhur Munardi, Muhammad Hafiz, Dina Nurmalita Sari, Syarifah Ridani Alifa

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Purpose: This research aims to analyze the Benefits, Opportunity, Cost, and Risk aspects of applying the Green Finance concept and to obtain the right Green Finance financing strategy to be implemented within a long-term and short-term strategic framework.Methodology: This research method uses a qualitative-descriptive analysis approach. The analysis technique uses Analytical Network Process (ANP) with a BOCR network structure approach.Findings: The research results show that the most priority long-term strategic alternative based on the long-term BOCR analysis is increasing awareness among the public and industry by 52% and the importance of coordination between related institutions by 50%. Meanwhile, the most priority short-term strategic alternatives are the importance of coordination between related institutions 29%, increasing awareness among the public and industry 28%, the banking industry proactively funding environmentally friendly companies and technology 23%, the existence of Green Finance POS (Standard Operating Procedures) 20%.Implications: This research can be used as a reference for regulators and policymakers in making strategic decisions that can increase green finance financing. The novelty of this research is identifying problems that occur in green finance financing in Aceh province by analyzing opinions from experts in related fields and financial regulators in Aceh to create a strategy that can be implemented to increase green finance financing in Aceh province through BPD in Aceh, namely Bank Aceh.

Keywords: green financing, banking, sharia, islamic

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Authors: Ken Munro

Abstract:

Cruise ships are possibly the most complex collection of systems it is possible to find in one physical, moving location. Propulsion, navigation, power generation and more, combined with a hotel, restaurant, casino, theatre etc, with safety and fire control systems to boot. That complexity creates huge challenges with keeping OT and IT systems apart. Ships engines are often remotely managed, network segregation is often defeated through troubleshooting when at sea. This session will refer to multiple entertaining and informative tales of taking control of ships, including accessing a ships Azipods via a game simulator for passengers. Fortunately, genuine attacks against vessels are very rare, but the effects and impacts to world trade are becoming increasingly obvious.

Keywords: maritime security, cybersecurity, OT, IT, networks

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Authors: Hu Ding, Kai Liu, Guoan Tang

Abstract:

The Chinese Loess Plateau suffers from serious gully erosion induced by natural and human causes. Gully features detection including gully-affected area and its two dimension parameters (length, width, area et al.), is a significant task not only for researchers but also for policy-makers. This study aims at gully-affected area detection in three catchments of Chinese Loess Plateau, which were selected in Changwu, Ansai, and Suide by using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The methodology includes a sequence of UAV data generation, image segmentation, feature calculation and selection, and random forest classification. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the influences of segmentation strategy and feature selection. Results showed that vertical and horizontal root-mean-square errors were below 0.5 and 0.2 m, respectively, which were ideal for the Loess Plateau region. The segmentation strategy adopted in this paper, which considers the topographic information, and optimal parameter combination can improve the segmentation results. Besides, the overall extraction accuracy in Changwu, Ansai, and Suide achieved was 84.62%, 86.46%, and 93.06%, respectively, which indicated that the proposed method for detecting gully-affected area is more objective and effective than traditional methods. This study demonstrated that UAV can bridge the gap between field measurement and satellite-based remote sensing, obtaining a balance in resolution and efficiency for catchment-scale gully erosion research.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), object-analysis image analysis, gully erosion, gully-affected area, Loess Plateau, random forest

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Authors: Mengxia Jin, Yongqiang Chen, Wenqian Wang, Yu Wang

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The complexity and specificity of construction projects have made common opportunism phenomenon, and contractual governance for opportunism has been a topic of considerable ongoing research. Based on TCE, the research distinguishes control and coordination as different functions of the contract to investigate their complexity separately. And in a nuanced way, the dimensionality of contractual control is examined. Through the analysis of motivation and capability of strong or weak form opportunism, the framework focuses on the relationship between the complexity of above contractual dimensions and different types of opportunistic behavior and attempts to verify the possible explanatory mechanism. The explanatory power of the research model is evaluated in the light of empirical evidence from questionnaires. We collect data from Chinese companies in the construction industry, and the data collection is still in progress. The findings will speak to the debate surrounding the effects of contract complexity on opportunistic behavior. This nuanced research will derive implications for research on the role of contractual mechanisms in dealing with inter-organizational opportunism and offer suggestions for curbing contract parties’ opportunistic behavior in construction projects.

Keywords: contractual complexity, contractual control, contractual coordinatio, opportunistic behavior

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Authors: Emine Aydin, Duygu Gocmen

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In this study, pumpkin flours (PFs) were used to replace wheat flour in cookie formulation at three different levels (10%, 20% and 30% w/w). For this purpose PFs produced by two different applications (with or without metabisulfite pre-treatment) and then dried in freeze dryer. Control sample included no PFs. The total phenolic contents of the cookies supplemented with PFs were higher than that of control and gradually increased in total phenolic contents of cookies with increasing PF supplementation levels. Phenolic content makes also significant contribution on nutritional excellence of the developed cookies. Pre-treatment with metabisulfite (MS) had a positive effect on free, bound and total phenolics of cookies which are supplemented with various levels of MS-PF. This is due to a protective effect of metabisulfite pretreatment for phenolic compounds in the pumpkin flour. Phenolic antioxidants may act and absorb in a different way in humans and thus their antioxidant and health effects will be changed accordingly. In the present study phenolics’ bioavailability of cookies was investigated in order to assess PF as sources of accessible phenolics. The content of bioaccessible phenolics and phenolic bioaccessibility of cookies supplemented with PFs had higher than those of control sample. Cookies enriched with 30% MS-PF had the highest bioaccessible phenolics (597.86 mg GAE 100g-1) and phenolic bioaccessibility (41.71%). MS application in PF production caused a significant increase in phenolic bioaccessibility of cookies. According to all assay (ABTS, CUPRAC, FRAP and DPPH), antioxidant activities of cookies with PFs higher than that of control cookie. It was also observed that the cookies supplemented with MS-PF had significantly higher antioxidant activities than those of cookies including PF. In presented study, antioxidative bioaccessibilities of cookies were also determined. The cookies with PFs had significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher antioxidative bioaccessibilities than control ones. Increasing PFs levels enhanced antioxidative bioaccessibilities of cookies. As a result, PFs addition improved the nutritional and functional properties of cookie by causing increase in antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, bioaccessible phenolics and phenolic bioaccessibilities.

Keywords: phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, dietary fiber, pumpkin, freeze drying, cookie

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Authors: Hsin-Yu Lin, Ching-Hsia Hung

Abstract:

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by a complete or partial obstruction of the upper airway during sleep. The vulnerable sites of upper airway collapses are consequences of sleep state-dependent reductions in tone in specific pharyngeal dilators. Clinical examinations reveal multilevel collapses of the upper airway among the patients with OSA. Therefore, an anatomically-based oropharyngeal rehabilitation should comprise a multilevel approach, including retropalatal, retroglossal, hypopharyngeal, temporomandibular, and facial levels, all of which involve different muscle groups and contribute to multifunctional interaction and coordination, such as swallowing, breathing, and phonation. The purpose of the study was to exam the effects of this rehabilitation program with a multilevel approach. In this study, fifteen subjects with newly diagnosed moderate or severe OSA (Apnea-Hypopnea-Index≥15) were randomized into an intervention group and control group. The intervention group (N=8) underwent a 12-week-intervention of a hospital-based rehabilitation program, while the control group (N=7) was kept on the waiting list. The 12-week-intervention comprised an anatomically based multilevel approach. The primary outcome was Polysomnography (PSG) data, and the secondary outcome was oropharyngeal and respiratory muscle function. In the intervention group, Apnea-Hypopnea-Index significantly improved (46.96±19.45 versus 32.78±10.78 events/h, p=0.017) compared with control group (35.77±17.49 versus 42.96±17.32 events/h, p=0.043). While the control group remained no change, the intervention group demonstrated other PSG outcomes significantly improvement, including arousal index (46.04±18.9 versus 32.98±8.35/h, p=0.035), mean SpO2 (92.88±2.1 versus 94.13±1.46%, p=0.039). Besides, the intervention group demonstrated significant improvement in oropharyngeal and respiratory muscle function compared to the control group. This anatomically-based oropharyngeal rehabilitation with a multilevel approach can be proven as a non-invasive therapy for patients with OSA.

Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea, upper airway, oropharyngeal rehabilitation, multilevel approach

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Authors: Sanjay Kumar, Lillie Dewan

Abstract:

The study of complex dynamic systems has advanced through various scientific approaches with the help of computer modeling. The common design trends in aerospace system design can be applied to quadcopter design. A quadcopter is a nonlinear, under-actuated system with complex aerodynamics parameters and creates challenges that demand new, robust, and effective control approaches. The flight control stability can be improved by planning and tracking the trajectory and reducing the effect of sensors and the operational environment. This paper presents a modern design Simmechanics visual modeling approach for a mechanical model of a quadcopter with three degrees of freedom. The Simmechanics model, considering inertia, mass, and geometric properties of a dynamic system, produces multiple translation and rotation maneuvers. The proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) controller is integrated with the Simmechanics model to follow a predefined quadcopter rotational trajectory for a fixed time interval. The results presented are satisfying. The simulation of the quadcopter control performed operations successfully.

Keywords: nonlinear system, quadcopter model, simscape modelling, proportional-integral-derivative controller

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: Daniel Mueller, Melanie Breitbach, Stefan Cornelius, Sarah Pakulla-Dickel, Margaretha Koenig, Anke Prochnow, Mario Scherer

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The European STR standard set (ESS) of loci as well as the new expanded CODIS core loci set as recommended by the CODIS Core Loci Working Group, has led to a higher standardization and harmonization in STR analysis across borders. Various multiplex PCRs assays have since been developed for the analysis of these 17 ESS or 23 CODIS expansion STR markers that all meet high technical demands. However, forensic analysts are often faced with difficult STR results and the questions thereupon. What is the reason that no peaks are visible in the electropherogram? Did the PCR fail? Was the DNA concentration too low? QIAGEN’s newest Investigator STR kits contain a novel Quality Sensor (QS) that acts as internal performance control and gives useful information for evaluating the amplification efficiency of the PCR. QS indicates if the reaction has worked in general and furthermore allows discriminating between the presence of inhibitors or DNA degradation as a cause for the typical ski slope effect observed in STR profiles of such challenging samples. This information can be used to choose the most appropriate rework strategy.Based on the latest PCR chemistry called FRM 2.0, QIAGEN now provides the next technological generation for STR analysis, the Investigator ESSplex SE QS and Investigator 24plex QS Kits. The new PCR chemistry ensures robust and fast PCR amplification with improved inhibitor resistance and easy handling for a manual or automated setup. The short cycling time of 60 min reduces the duration of the total PCR analysis to make a whole workflow analysis in one day more likely. To facilitate the interpretation of STR results a smart primer design was applied for best possible marker distribution, highest concordance rates and a robust gender typing.

Keywords: PCR, QIAGEN, quality sensor, STR

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Authors: Ahmad Rasyadan Arshad, A. Rahman A. Jamal, N. Mohamed Ibrahim, Nor Azian Abdul Murad

Abstract:

Introduction: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex and asymptomatic disease where patients are usually diagnosed at late stage where about 70% of the dopaminergic neurons are lost. Therefore, identification of molecular biomarkers is crucial for early diagnosis of PD. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a short nucleotide non-coding small RNA which regulates the gene expression in post-translational process. The involvement of these miRNAs in neurodegenerative diseases includes maintenance of neuronal development, necrosis, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress. Thus, miRNA could be a potential biomarkers for diagnosis of PD. Objective: This study aim to identify the miRNA involved in Late Onset PD (LOPD) and Early Onset PD (EOPD) compared to the controls. Methods: This is a case-control study involved PD patients in the Chancellor Tunku Muhriz Hospital at the UKM Medical Centre. miRNA samples were extracted using miRNeasy serum/plasma kit from Qiagen. The quality of miRNA extracted was determined using Agilent RNA 6000 Nano kit in the Bioanalyzer. miRNA expression was performed using GeneChip miRNA 4.0 chip from Affymetrix. Microarray was performed in EOPD (n= 7), LOPD (n=9) and healthy control (n=11). Expression Console and Transcriptomic Analyses Console were used to analyze the microarray data. Result: miR-129-5p was significantly downregulated in EOPD compared to LOPD with -4.2 fold change (p = <0.050. miR-301a-3p was upregulated in EOPD compared to healthy control (fold = 10.3, p = <0.05). In LOPD versus healthy control, miR-486-3p (fold = 15.28, p = <0.05), miR-29c-3p (fold = 12.21, p = <0.05) and miR-301a-3p (fold = 10.01, p =< 0.05) were upregulated. Conclusion: Several miRNA have been identified to be differentially expressed in EOPD compared to LOPD and PD versus control. These miRNAs could serve as the potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of PD. However, these miRNAs need to be validated in a larger sample size.

Keywords: early onset PD, late onset PD, microRNA (miRNA), microarray

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Authors: Ehsan Ahmadifar, Mohammad Ali Yousefi, Zahra Roohi

Abstract:

In this study, the effects of different levels of Ergosan (control group (0), 2, 4 and 6 gr Ergosan per Kg diet) as a nutritional supplement were investigated on growth indices and stress in Zebrafish for 3 months. Larvae (4-day-old after hatching) were fed with experimental diet from the beginning of feeding until adult (adolescence) (average weight: 69.3 g, length: 5.1 cm). Different levels of Ergosan had no significant effect on rate survival (P < 0.05). The results showed that diet containing 6 gr Ergosan significantly caused the best FCR in Zebrafish (P < 0.05). By increasing the Ergosan diet, specific growth rate increased. Body weight gain and condition factor had significant differences (P < 0.05) as the highest and the lowest were observed in treatment 3 gr of Ergosan and control, respectively. The results showed that fish fed with experimental diet, had the highest resistance to environmental stresses compared to control, and the test temperature, oxygen, salinity and alkalinity samples containing 6 gr/kg, was significantly more resistance compared to the other treatments (P < 0.05). Overall, to achieve high resistance to environmental stress and increase final biomass using 6 gr/kg Ergosan in diet fish Zebrafish.

Keywords: Ergosan, stress, growth performance, Danio rerio

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: Aamir Mubashar, Ibrahim Fiaz

Abstract:

This research presents a three-dimensional finite element modelling strategy to simulate damage in a quasi-static three-point bending analysis of woven twill 2/2 type carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite on a micro-meso level using cohesive zone modelling technique. A meso scale finite element model comprised of a number of plies was developed in the commercial finite element code Abaqus/explicit. The interfaces between the plies were explicitly modelled using cohesive zone elements to allow for debonding by crack initiation and propagation. Load-deflection response of the CRFP within the quasi-static range was obtained and compared with the data existing in the literature. This provided validation of the model at the global scale. The outputs resulting from the global model were then used to develop a simulation model capturing the micro-meso scale material features. The sub-model consisted of a refined mesh representative volume element (RVE) modelled in texgen software, which was later embedded with cohesive elements in the finite element software environment. The results obtained from the developed strategy were successful in predicting the overall load-deflection response and the damage in global and sub-model at the flexure limit of the specimen. Detailed analysis of the effects of the micro-scale features was carried out.

Keywords: woven composites, multi-scale modelling, cohesive zone, finite element model

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