Search results for: space vision

Authors: Zonglin Yang, Tatsuya Akiyama, Kerry S. Williamson, Michael J. Franklin, Thiruvarangan Ramaraj

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Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that forms surface-associated microbial communities (biofilms) on artificial implant devices and on human tissue. Biofilm infections are difficult to treat with antibiotics, in part, because the bacteria in biofilms are physiologically heterogeneous. One measure of biological heterogeneity in a population of cells is to quantify the cellular concentrations of ribosomes, which can be probed with fluorescently labeled nucleic acids. The fluorescent signal intensity following fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis correlates to the cellular level of ribosomes. The goals here are to provide computationally and statistically robust approaches to automatically quantify cellular heterogeneity in biofilms from a large library of epifluorescent microscopy FISH images. In this work, the initial steps were developed toward these goals by developing an automated biofilm detection approach for use with FISH images. The approach allows rapid identification of biofilm regions from FISH images that are counterstained with fluorescent dyes. This methodology provides advances over other computational methods, allowing subtraction of spurious signals and non-biological fluorescent substrata. This method will be a robust and user-friendly approach which will enable users to semi-automatically detect biofilm boundaries and extract intensity values from fluorescent images for quantitative analysis of biofilm heterogeneity.

Keywords: image informatics, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, biofilm, FISH, computer vision, data visualization

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Authors: A. A. M. A. S. S. Perera, L. A. Ranasinghe, T. K. H. Nimeshika, D. M. Dhanushka Dissanayake, Namalie Walgampaya

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Nowadays, skin fungal diseases are mostly found in people of tropical countries like Sri Lanka. A skin fungal disease is a particular kind of illness caused by fungus. These diseases have various dangerous effects on the skin and keep on spreading over time. It becomes important to identify these diseases at their initial stage to control it from spreading. This paper presents an automated skin fungal disease identification system implemented to speed up the diagnosis process by identifying skin fungal infections in digital images. An image of the diseased skin lesion is acquired and a comprehensive computer vision and image processing scheme is used to process the image for the disease identification. This includes colour analysis using RGB and HSV colour models, texture classification using Grey Level Run Length Matrix, Grey Level Co-Occurrence Matrix and Local Binary Pattern, Object detection, Shape Identification and many more. This paper presents the approach and its outcome for identification of four most common skin fungal infections, namely, Tinea Corporis, Sporotrichosis, Malassezia and Onychomycosis. The main intention of this research is to provide an automated skin fungal disease identification system that increase the diagnostic quality, shorten the time-to-diagnosis and improve the efficiency of detection and successful treatment for skin fungal diseases.

Keywords: Circularity Index, Grey Level Run Length Matrix, Grey Level Co-Occurrence Matrix, Local Binary Pattern, Object detection, Ring Detection, Shape Identification

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Authors: L. Parisi

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Kinematic data wisely correlate vector quantities in space to scalar parameters in time to assess the degree of symmetry between the intact limb and the amputated limb with respect to a normal model derived from the gait of control group participants. Furthermore, these particular data allow a doctor to preliminarily evaluate the usefulness of a certain rehabilitation therapy. Kinetic curves allow the analysis of ground reaction forces (GRFs) to assess the appropriateness of human motion. Electromyography (EMG) allows the analysis of the fundamental lower limb force contributions to quantify the level of gait asymmetry. However, the use of this technological tool is expensive and requires patient’s hospitalization. This research work suggests overcoming the above limitations by applying artificial neural networks.

Keywords: kinetics, kinematics, cyclograms, neural networks, transtibial amputation

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Authors: Soo-yeon Seo, Seol-ki Kim, Su-jin Jung

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In the construction of a building, it is necessary to minimize construction period and secure enough work space for stacking of materials during the construction especially in city area. In this manner, various top-down construction methods have been developed and widely used in Korea. This paper investigates the stress variation of underground structure of a building constructed by using SPS (Strut as Permanent System) known as a top-down method in Korea through an analytical approach. Various types of earth pressure distribution related to ground condition were considered in the structural analysis of an example structure at each step of the excavation. From the analysis, the most high member force acting on beams was found when the ground type was medium sandy soil and a stress concentration was found in corner area.

Keywords: construction of building, top-down construction method, earth pressure distribution, member force, stress concentration

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Authors: A. Ramachandra Reddy, V. Murugan, Prema Kumari

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Residual solvents in Pharmaceutical samples are monitored using gas chromatography with headspace (GC-HS). Based on current regulatory and compendial requirements, measuring the residual solvents are mandatory for all release testing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). Generally, isopropyl alcohol is used as the residual solvent in proline and tryptophan; methanol in cysteine monohydrate hydrochloride, glycine, methionine and serine; ethanol in glycine and lysine monohydrate; acetic acid in methionine. In order to have a single method for determining these residual solvents (isopropyl alcohol, ethanol, methanol and acetic acid) in all these 7 amino acids a sensitive and simple method was developed by using gas chromatography headspace technique with flame ionization detection. During development, no reproducibility, retention time variation and bad peak shape of acetic acid peaks were identified due to the reaction of acetic acid with the stationary phase (cyanopropyl dimethyl polysiloxane phase) of column and dissociation of acetic acid with water (if diluent) while applying temperature gradient. Therefore, dimethyl sulfoxide was used as diluent to avoid these issues. But most the methods published for acetic acid quantification by GC-HS uses derivatisation technique to protect acetic acid. As per compendia, risk-based approach was selected as appropriate to determine the degree and extent of the validation process to assure the fitness of the procedure. Therefore, Total error concept was selected to validate the analytical procedure. An accuracy profile of ±40% was selected for lower level (quantitation limit level) and for other levels ±30% with 95% confidence interval (risk profile 5%). The method was developed using DB-Waxetr column manufactured by Agilent contains 530 µm internal diameter, thickness: 2.0 µm, and length: 30 m. A constant flow of 6.0 mL/min. with constant make up mode of Helium gas was selected as a carrier gas. The present method is simple, rapid, and accurate, which is suitable for rapid analysis of isopropyl alcohol, ethanol, methanol and acetic acid in amino acids. The range of the method for isopropyl alcohol is 50ppm to 200ppm, ethanol is 50ppm to 3000ppm, methanol is 50ppm to 400ppm and acetic acid 100ppm to 400ppm, which covers the specification limits provided in European pharmacopeia. The accuracy profile and risk profile generated as part of validation were found to be satisfactory. Therefore, this method can be used for testing of residual solvents in amino acids drug substances.

Keywords: amino acid, head space, gas chromatography, total error

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Authors: Abhishek Sharma, Arnab Banerjee

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The research is intended to study the solar electric propulsion (SEP) technology for planetary missions. The main benefits of using solar electric propulsion for such missions are shorter flight times, more frequent target accessibility and the use of a smaller launch vehicle than that required by a comparable chemical propulsion mission. Energized by electric power from on-board solar arrays, the electrically propelled system uses 10 times less propellant than conventional chemical propulsion system, yet the reduced fuel mass can provide vigorous power which is capable of propelling robotic and crewed missions beyond the Lower Earth Orbit (LEO). The various thrusters used in the SEP are gridded ion thrusters and the Hall Effect thrusters. The research is solely aimed to study the ion thrusters and investigate the complications related to it and what can be done to overcome the glitches. The ion thrusters are used because they are found to have a total lower propellant requirement and have substantially longer time. In the ion thrusters, the anode pushes or directs the incoming electrons from the cathode. But the anode is not maintained at a very high potential which leads to divergence. Divergence leads to the charges interacting against the surface of the thruster. Just as the charges ionize the xenon gases, they are capable of ionizing the surfaces and over time destroy the surface and hence contaminate it. Hence the lifetime of thruster gets limited. So a solution to this problem is using substances which are not easy to ionize as the surface material. Another approach can be to increase the potential of anode so that the electrons don’t deviate much or reduce the length of thruster such that the positive anode is more effective. The aim is to work on these aspects as to how constriction of the deviation of charges can be done by keeping the input power constant and hence increase the lifetime of the thruster. Predominantly ring cusp magnets are used in the ion thrusters. However, the study is also intended to observe the effect of using solenoid for producing micro-solenoidal magnetic field apart from using the ring cusp magnetic field which are used in the discharge chamber for prevention of interaction of electrons with the ionization walls. Another foremost area of interest is what are the ways by which power can be provided to the Solar Electric Propulsion Vehicle for lowering and boosting the orbit of the spacecraft and also provide substantial amount of power to the solenoid for producing stronger magnetic fields. This can be successfully achieved by using the concept of Electro-dynamic tether which will serve as a power source for powering both the vehicle and the solenoids in the ion thruster and hence eliminating the need for carrying extra propellant on the spacecraft which will reduce the weight and hence reduce the cost of space propulsion.

Keywords: electro-dynamic tether, ion thruster, lifetime of thruster, solar electric propulsion vehicle

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Authors: A. Al Hinai, H. Jayasuriya, H. Kotagama

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Most Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with oil-based economy like Oman are looking for other potential revenue generation options as the crude oil price is regularly fluctuating due to changing geopolitical environment. Oman has advantage of possessing world-heritage nature tourism hotspots around the country and the government is making investments and strategies to uplift the tourism industry following Oman Vision 2040 strategies. Oman’s agriculture is not significantly contributing to the economy, but possesses specific and diversified arid cropping systems. Oman has modern farms; nevertheless some of the agricultural production activities are done with cultural practices and styles that would be attractive to tourists. The aim of this paper is to investigate the potentials for promoting agritourism industry in Oman; recognize potential sites, commodities and activities, and predict potential revenue generation as a projection from that of the tourism sector. Moreover, the study enables to foresee possible auxiliary advantages of agritourism such as, empowerment of women and youth, enhancement in the value-addition industry for agricultural produce through technology transfer and capacity building, and producing export quality products. Agritourism could increase employability, empowerment of women and youth, improve value-addition industry and export-oriented agribusiness. These efforts including provision of necessary technology-transfer and capacity-building should be rendered by the collaboration of academic institutions, relevant ministries and other public and private sector stakeholders.

Keywords: agritourism, nature-based tourism, potentials, revenue generation, value addition

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Authors: Issam Ben Jami

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Information retrieval in digital libraries is very important because most famous historical documents occupy a significant value. The word spotting in historical documents is a very difficult notion, because automatic recognition of such documents is naturally cursive, it represents a wide variability in the level scale and translation words in the same documents. We first present a system for the automatic recognition, based on the extraction of interest points words from the image model. The extraction phase of the key points is chosen from the representation of the image as a synthetic description of the shape recognition in a multidimensional space. As a result, we use advanced methods that can find and describe interesting points invariant to scale, rotation and lighting which are linked to local configurations of pixels. We test this approach on documents of the 15th century. Our experiments give important results.

Keywords: feature matching, historical documents, pattern recognition, word spotting

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Authors: Egor E. Nuzhin, Nikolay V. Brilliantov

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We propose an approach for addressing Reinforcement Learning (RL) problems. It combines the ideas of umbrella sampling, borrowed from Monte Carlo technique of computational physics and chemistry, with optimal control methods, and is realized on the base of neural networks. This results in a powerful algorithm, designed to solve hard RL problems – the problems, with long-time delayed reward, state-traps sticking and a lack of terminal states. It outperforms the prominent algorithms, such as PPO, RND, iLQR and VI, which are among the most efficient for the hard problems. The new algorithm deals with a continuous ensemble of agents and expected return, that includes the ensemble entropy. This results in a quick and efficient search of the optimal policy in terms of ”exploration-exploitation trade-off” in the state-action space.

Keywords: umbrella sampling, reinforcement learning, policy gradient, dynamic programming

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Authors: Gautier Girard, Marion Martiny, Sebastien Mercier, Mohamad Jrad, Mohamed-Slim Bahi, Laurent Bodin, Francois Lechleiter, David Nevo, Sophie Dareys

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Reliability of electronic devices has always been of highest interest for Aero-MIL and space applications. In any electronic device, Printed Circuit Board (PCB), providing interconnection between components, is a key for reliability. During the last decades, PCB technologies evolved to sustain and/or fulfill increased original equipment manufacturers requirements and specifications, higher densities and better performances, faster time to market and longer lifetime, newer material and mixed buildups. From the very beginning of the PCB industry up to recently, qualification, experiments and trials, and errors were the most popular methods to assess system (PCB) reliability. Nowadays OEM, PCB manufacturers and scientists are working together in a close relationship in order to develop predictive models for PCB reliability and lifetime. To achieve that goal, it is fundamental to characterize precisely base materials (laminates, electrolytic copper, …), in order to understand failure mechanisms and simulate PCB aging under environmental constraints by means of finite element method for example. The laminates are woven composites and have thus an orthotropic behaviour. The in-plane properties can be measured by combining classical uniaxial testing and digital image correlation. Nevertheless, the out-of-plane properties cannot be evaluated due to the thickness of the laminate (a few hundred of microns). It has to be noted that the knowledge of the out-of-plane properties is fundamental to investigate the lifetime of high density printed circuit boards. A homogenization method combining analytical and numerical approaches has been developed in order to obtain the complete elastic orthotropic behaviour of a woven composite from its precise 3D internal structure and its experimentally measured in-plane elastic properties. Since the mechanical properties of the resin surrounding the fibres are unknown, an inverse method is proposed to estimate it. The methodology has been applied to one laminate used in hyperfrequency spatial applications in order to get its elastic orthotropic behaviour at different temperatures in the range [-55°C; +125°C]. Next; numerical simulations of a plated through hole in a double sided PCB are performed. Results show the major importance of the out-of-plane properties and the temperature dependency of these properties on the lifetime of a printed circuit board. Acknowledgements—The support of the French ANR agency through the Labcom program ANR-14-LAB7-0003-01, support of CNES, Thales Alenia Space and Cimulec is acknowledged.

Keywords: homogenization, orthotropic behaviour, printed circuit board, woven composites

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Authors: Razi Khalafi

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Myocardial Infarction (MI) or acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow stops to part of the heart causing damage to the heart muscle. An ECG can often show evidence of a previous heart attack or one that's in progress. The patterns on the ECG may indicate which part of your heart has been damaged, as well as the extent of the damage. In chaos theory, the correlation dimension is a measure of the dimensionality of the space occupied by a set of random points, often referred to as a type of fractal dimension. In this research by considering ECG signal as a random walk we work on forecasting the oncoming heart attack by analysing the ECG signals using the correlation dimension. In order to test the model a set of ECG signals for patients before and after heart attack was used and the strength of model for forecasting the behaviour of these signals were checked. Results show this methodology can forecast the ECG and accordingly heart attack with high accuracy.

Keywords: heart attack, ECG, random walk, correlation dimension, forecasting

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Authors: Karen de Andrade

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Literature is generally understood as an aesthetic creation, an artistic object that relates to the history and sociocultural paradigms of a given era. Moreover, through it, we can dwell on the deepest reflections on the human condition. It can also be used to propagate projects of domination, as Edward Said points out in his book Culture and Imperialism, connecting narrative, history and land conquest. Having said that, the aim of this paper is to analyse how Wole Soyinka elaborated his main theoretical work, Myth, Literature and African World, a collection of essays published in 1976, by comparing the philosophical, ideological and aesthetic practices of African, diasporic and European writers from the point of view of the Yoruba tradition, to which he belongs. Moreover, Soyinka believes that (literary) art has an important function in the formation of a people, in the construction of its political identity and in cultural regeneration, especially after the independence. The author's critical endeavour is that of attempting to construct a past. For him, the "African World" is not a mere allegory of the continent, and to understand it in this way would be to perpetuate a colonialist vision that would deny the subjectivities that cross black cultures, history and bodies. For him, comparative literature can be used not to "equate" local African texts with the European canon; but rather to recognise that they have aesthetic value and socio-cultural importance. Looking at the local, the particular and specific to each culture is, according to Soyinka, appropriate for dealing with African cultures, as opposed to abstractions of dialectical materialism or capitalist nationalism. In view of this, in his essays, the author creates a possibility for artistic and social reflection beyond the logic of Western politics.

Keywords: comparative literature, African Literature, Literary Theory, Yoruba Mythology, Wole Soyinka, Afrodiaspora

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Authors: Hussein Altartouri

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In this paper the kinematic and kinetic models of an omnidirectional holonomic mobile robot is presented. The kinematic and kinetic models form the OmniDrive model. Therefore, a mathematical model for the robot equipped with three- omnidirectional wheels is derived. This model which takes into consideration the kinematics and kinetics of the robot, is developed to state space representation. Relative analysis of the velocities and displacements is used for the kinematics of the robot. Lagrange’s approach is considered in this study for deriving the equation of motion. The drive train and the mechanical assembly only of the Festo Robotino® is considered in this model. Mainly the model is developed for motion control. Furthermore, the model can be used for simulation purposes in different virtual environments not only Robotino® View. Further use of the model is in the mechatronics research fields with the aim of teaching and learning the advanced control theories.

Keywords: mobile robot, omni-direction wheel, mathematical model, holonomic mobile robot

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Authors: Valery A. Aurov, Maria D. Bausheva, Elena V. Uliyanova

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The problems of sustainability of contemporary high-rise buildings now demand an altogether new approach, which corresponds with the laws of dialectics. We should imply the principle “going from mega-object to the so called mezzo-object.” So the scientists have arrived at the conclusion that a contemporary “skyscraper” must not increase in height but develop horizontal space axes which unite a complex of high-rise buildings into a single composition. This is necessary both for safety issues and increasing skyscrapers’ functioning qualities. As a result, architects single out a quality unit in a dominating group of high-rise constructions and make a conclusion about the influence of visual fields on the designing parameters of this group.

Keywords: design, high-rise buildings, skyscrapers, sustainability, visual fields, dominating group, regulations, design recommendations

Procedia PDF Downloads 371

Authors: Dewi Liesnoor Setyowati, Puji Hardati, Tri Marhaeni Puji Astuti, Muhammad Amin

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Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES) is a university with a vision of conservation. The impact of the UNNES conservation is the existence of a positive response from the community for the effort of greening the campus and the planting of conservation value in the academic community. But in reality,  energy consumption in UNNES campus tends to increase. The objectives of the study were to analyze the energy consumption in the campus area, to analyze the absorption of emissions by trees and the awareness of UNNES citizens in reducing emissions. Research focuses on energy consumption, carbon emissions, and awareness of citizens in reducing emissions. Research subjects in this study are UNNES citizens (lecturers, students and employees). The research area covers 6 faculties and one administrative center building. Data collection is done by observation, interview and documentation. The research used a quantitative descriptive method to analyze the data. The number of trees in UNNES is 10,264. Total emission on campus UNNES is 7.862.281.56 kg/year, the tree absorption is 6,289,250.38 kg/year. In UNNES campus area there are still 1,575,031.18 kg/year of emissions, not yet absorbed by trees. There are only two areas of the faculty whose trees are capable of absorbing emissions. The awareness of UNNES citizens in reducing energy consumption is seen in change the habit of: using energy-saving equipment (65%); reduce energy consumption per unit (68%); do energy literacy for UNNES citizens (74%). UNNES leaders always provide motivation to the citizens of UNNES, to reduce and change patterns of energy consumption.

Keywords: energy consumption, carbon emission absorption, emission reduction, energy literation

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: Nuray Uçar, Mervin Ölmez, Özge Alptoğa, Nilgün K. Yavuz, Ayşen Önen

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In recent years, research on continuous graphene oxide fibers has been intensified. Therefore, many factors of production stages are being studied. In this study, the effect of exfoliation time and presence of activated carbon particle (ACP) on graphene oxide fiber’s properties has been analyzed. It has been seen that cross-sectional appearance of sample with ACP is harsh and porous because of ACP. The addition of ACP did not change the electrical conductivity. However, ACP results in an enormous decrease of mechanical properties. Longer exfoliation time results to higher crystallinity degree, C/O ratio and less d space between layers. The breaking strength and electrical conductivity of sample with less exfoliation time is some higher than sample with high exfoliation time.

Keywords: activated carbon, coagulation by wet spinning, exfoliation, graphene oxide fiber

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Authors: Zhongfei Cai, Hui He, Changsheng Li

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This paper studied in the automatic repeat request (ARQ) transmission technique in Mars detection telecommunications system. An ARQ method applied to proximity-1 space link protocol was proposed by this paper. In order to ensure the efficiency of data reliable transmission, this ARQ method combined these different ARQ maneuvers characteristics. Considering the Mars detection communication environments, this paper analyzed the characteristics of the saturation throughput rate, packet dropping probability, average delay and energy efficiency with different ARQ algorithms. Combined thus results with the theories of ARQ transmission technique, an ARQ transmission project in Mars detection telecommunications system was established. The simulation results showed that this algorithm had excellent saturation throughput rate and energy efficiency with low complexity.

Keywords: ARQ, mars, CCSDS, proximity-1, deepspace

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Authors: Lai Wenfang

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Tthis study will describe how to use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to build the user-oriented platform for integrated archival service. The platform will be launched in 2020 by the National Archives Administration (NAA) in Taiwan. With the progression of information communication technology (ICT) the NAA has built many systems to provide archival service. In order to cope with new challenges, such as new ICT, artificial intelligence or blockchain etc. the NAA will try to use the natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) skill to build a training model and propose suggestions based on the data sent to the platform. NAA expects the platform not only can automatically inform the sending agencies’ staffs which records catalogues are against the transfer or destroy rules, but also can use the model to find the details hidden in the catalogues and suggest NAA’s staff whether the records should be or not to be, to shorten the auditing time. The platform keeps all the users’ browse trails; so that the platform can predict what kinds of archives user could be interested and recommend the search terms by visualization, moreover, inform them the new coming archives. In addition, according to the Archives Act, the NAA’s staff must spend a lot of time to mark or remove the personal data, classified data, etc. before archives provided. To upgrade the archives access service process, the platform will use some text recognition pattern to black out automatically, the staff only need to adjust the error and upload the correct one, when the platform has learned the accuracy will be getting higher. In short, the purpose of the platform is to deduct the government digital transformation and implement the vision of a service-oriented smart government.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, natural language processing, machine learning, visualization

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Authors: Arpita Banerjee

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We now live in a world where half of the human population is city dwellers. The migration of people from rural to urban areas is rising continuously. But, the promise of a greater wage and better quality of life cannot keep up with the pace of migration. The rate of urbanization is much higher in developing countries. The UN predicts that 95 percent of this urban expansion will take place in the developing world in the next few decades. The population in the urban settlements of the developing nations is soaring, and megacities like Mumbai, Dhaka, Jakarta, Karachi, Manila, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, and Kinshasa are crammed with people, a majority of whom are migrants. Rural-urban migration has taken a new shape with the rising number of smaller cities. Apart from the increase in non-agricultural economic activities, growing demand for resources and energy, an increase in wastes and pollution, and a greater ecological footprint, there is another significant characteristic of the current wave of urbanization. This paper analyses that important marker of urbanization. It is the invisibility of production sites. The growing urban space ensures that the producers, the production sites, or the process stay beyond urban visibility. In cities and towns, living is majorly about earning money in either the informal service and small scale manufacturing sectors (a major part of which is food preparation), or the formal service sector. In the cases of both the informal service and small scale manufacturing or the formal service sector, commodity creation cannot be seen. The urban space happens to be the marketplace, where nature and its services, along with the non-urban labour, cannot be seen unless it is sold in the market. Hence, the consumers are now increasingly becoming disengaged from the producers. This paper compares the rate of increase in the size of and employment in the informal sector and/or that of the formal sector of some selected urban areas of India. Also, a comparison over the years of the aforementioned characteristics is presented in this paper, in order to find out how the anonymity of the producers to the urban consumers have grown as urbanization has risen. This paper also analyses the change in the transport cost of goods into the cities and towns of India and supports that claim made here that the invisibility of production is a crucial marker of modern-day urban-centric economic development. Such urbanization has an important ecological impact. The invisibility of the production site saves the urban consumer society from dealing with the ethical and ecological aspects of the production process. Once the real sector production is driven out of the cities and towns, the invisible ethical and ecological impacts of the growing urban consumption frees the consumers from associating themselves with any responsibility towards those impacts.

Keywords: ecological impact of urbanization, informal sector, invisibility of production, urbanization

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Authors: Arman S. Kussainov, Altynbek K. Beisekov

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This work focuses on building an efficient universal procedure to construct a single density of states from the multiple pieces of data provided by the parallel implementation of the Wang Landau Monte Carlo based algorithm. The Ising and Pott models were used as the examples of the two-dimensional spin lattices to construct their densities of states. Sampled energy space was distributed between the individual walkers with certain overlaps. This was made to include the latest development of the algorithm as the density of states replica exchange technique. Several factors of immediate importance for the seamless stitching process have being considered. These include but not limited to the speed and universality of the initial parallel algorithm implementation as well as the data post-processing to produce the expected smooth density of states.

Keywords: density of states, Monte Carlo, parallel algorithm, Wang Landau algorithm

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Authors: Iryna Shevchenko

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The science of mathematics was originated at the order of count of objects and subsequently for the measurement of size and quality of objects using the logical or abstract means. The laws of mathematics are based on the study of absolute values. The number 0 or "nothing" is the purely logical (as the opposite to absolute) value as the "nothing" should always assume the space for the something that had existed there; otherwise the "something" would never come to existence. In this work we are going to prove that the number "0" is the abstract (logical) and not an absolute number and it has the absolute value of “∞” (infinity). Therefore, the number "0" might not stand in the row of numbers that symbolically represents the absolute values, as it would be the mathematically incorrect. The symbolical value of number "0" in the row of numbers could be represented with symbol "∞" (infinity). As a result, we have the mathematical row of numbers: epsilon, ...4, 3, 2, 1, ∞. As the conclusions of the theory of number “0” we presented the statements: multiplication and division by fractions of numbers is illegal operation and the mathematical division by number “0” is allowed.

Keywords: illegal operation of division and multiplication by fractions of number, infinity, mathematical row of numbers, theory of number “0”

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Authors: Fradreck Jockonia Mujuru

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The effects of landmine residues from the Zimbabwean liberation war are persisting. Landmines are violently maiming and killing people and animals, causing certain areas inaccessible for agriculture and habitation, instilling fear, and even inducing forced migration. A significant gap in landmines literature is that they are mainly treated as a humanitarian issue and less scholarly. This paper engaged in theorising landmines using postcolonial literature as an epistemology. The results exhibit three issues. One, postcolonial literature provides a timeframe, a process, a space, and an attitude towards modernity on the inquiry of landmines. Two, landmines are understood in the context of war and were further decolonised to pick unique principles studied. Lastly, some of the unique principles found in landmines after decolonising are their ability to provide surveillance, repression and violent fate to all who cross the set boundaries. Therefore, theorising landmines can also be pushed further to be understood through repression. This article concluded that landmines can be theorised outside mainstream International Relations theories using postcolonial literature.

Keywords: landmines, postcolonial, repression, security, violence

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Authors: Olga V. Korotkaya

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This article is devoted to an important problem of calculation of deflected mode of the combustion chamber and the nozzle end of a new liquid-propellant rocket cruise engine. A special attention is given to the methodology of calculation. Three operating modes are considered. The analysis has been conducted in ANSYS software. The methods of conducted research are mathematical modelling, substructure method, cyclic symmetry, and finite element method. The calculation has been carried out to order of S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation «Energia». The main results are practical. Proposed methodology and created models would be able to use for a wide range of strength problems.

Keywords: combustion chamber, cyclic symmetry, finite element method, liquid-propellant rocket engine, nozzle end, substructure

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Authors: Rachna Agarwal, R. Naveen, Darpan Thakre, Rohit Shahi, Maryam Abbasi, Upendra Rathore, Latika Gupta

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Aim: Retinal changes are the window to systemic vasculature. Therefore, we explored retinal changes in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) as a surrogate for vascular health. Methods: Adult and juvenile IIM patients visiting a tertiary care centre in 2021 satisfying the International Myositis Classification Criteria were enrolled for detailed ophthalmic examination in comparison with healthy controls (HC). Patients with conditions that precluded thorough posterior chamber examination were excluded. Scale variables are expressed as median (IQR). Multivariate analysis (binary logistic regression-BLR) was conducted, adjusting for age, gender, and comorbidities besides factors significant in univariate analysis. Results: 43 patients with IIM [31 females; age 36 (23-45) years; disease duration 5.5 (2-12) months] were enrolled for participation. DM (44%) was the most common diagnosis. IIM patients exhibited frequent attenuation of retinal vessels (32.6% vs. 4.3%, p <0.001), AV nicking (14% vs. 2.2%, p=0.053), and vascular tortuosity (18.6% vs. 2.2%, p=0.012), besides decreased visual acuity (53.5% vs. 10.9%, p<0.001) and immature cataracts (34.9% vs. 2.2%, p<0.001). Attenuation of vessels [OR 10.9 (1.7-71), p=0.004] emerged as significantly different from HC after adjusting for covariates in BLR. Notably, adults with IIM were more predisposed to retinal abnormalities [21 (57%) vs. 1 (16%), p=0.068], especially attenuation of vessels [14(38%) vs. 0(0), p=0.067] than jIIM. However, no difference was found in retinal features amongst the subtypes of adult IIM, nor did they correlate with MDAAT, MDI, or HAQ-DI. Conclusion: Retinal microvasculopathy and diminution of vision occur in nearly one-third to half of the patients with IIM. Microvasculopathy occurs across subtypes of IIM, and more so in adults, calling for further investigation as a surrogate for damage assessment and potentially even systemic vascular health.

Keywords: idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, vascular health, retinal microvasculopathy, arterial attenuation

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Authors: Parminder Kaur Heer, Alexei Lapkin

Abstract:

Due to global challenges of increased competition and demand for more sustainable products/processes, there is a rising pressure on the industry to develop innovative processes. Through Process Intensification (PI) the existing and new processes may be able to attain higher efficiency. However, very few PI options are generally considered. This is because processes are typically analysed at a unit operation level, thus limiting the search space for potential process options. PI performed at more detailed levels of a process can increase the size of the search space. The different levels at which PI can be achieved is unit operations, functional and phenomena level. Physical/chemical phenomena form the lowest level of aggregation and thus, are expected to give the highest impact because all the intensification options can be described by their enhancement. The objective of the current work is thus, generation of numerous process alternatives based on phenomena, and development of their corresponding computer aided models. The methodology comprises: a) automated generation of process options, and b) automated generation of process models. The process under investigation is disintegrated into functions viz. reaction, separation etc., and these functions are further broken down into the phenomena required to perform them. E.g., separation may be performed via vapour-liquid or liquid-liquid equilibrium. A list of phenomena for the process is formed and new phenomena, which can overcome the difficulties/drawbacks of the current process or can enhance the effectiveness of the process, are added to the list. For instance, catalyst separation issue can be handled by using solid catalysts; the corresponding phenomena are identified and added. The phenomena are then combined to generate all possible combinations. However, not all combinations make sense and, hence, screening is carried out to discard the combinations that are meaningless. For example, phase change phenomena need the co-presence of the energy transfer phenomena. Feasible combinations of phenomena are then assigned to the functions they execute. A combination may accomplish a single or multiple functions, i.e. it might perform reaction or reaction with separation. The combinations are then allotted to the functions needed for the process. This creates a series of options for carrying out each function. Combination of these options for different functions in the process leads to the generation of superstructure of process options. These process options, which are formed by a list of phenomena for each function, are passed to the model generation algorithm in the form of binaries (1, 0). The algorithm gathers the active phenomena and couples them to generate the model. A series of models is generated for the functions, which are combined to get the process model. The most promising process options are then chosen subjected to a performance criterion, for example purity of product, or via a multi-objective Pareto optimisation. The methodology was applied to a two-step process and the best route was determined based on the higher product yield. The current methodology can identify, produce and evaluate process intensification options from which the optimal process can be determined. It can be applied to any chemical/biochemical process because of its generic nature.

Keywords: Phenomena, Process intensification, Process models , Process options

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Authors: Tatsiana Haiden

Abstract:

The role of the translator in the publishing process has been underestimated for centuries. Any translation is produced in a certain socio-political context by agents with different background, interests, and opinions, i.e., no translation is neutral. Any translation goes beyond the text; it is not only an interlingual transfer of signs but a social phenomenon. The case study shows how Jewish social networks influence publishing translations and aims to explain the unexpected success of the Jewish publishing house in pre-Anschluss Austria. The research shows that translators play a central role (‘Translator’s visibility’ - Pym, ‘Activist turn’ - Wolf, ‘Translator studies’ - Chesterman) in choosing what has to be translated and establishing communication between the author and the publisher. The concept of Translationskultur of Prunc is being historized and applied to the publishing house for the first time by analyzing business correspondence between the main actors of translation (publisher-translator-author). The translation studies project has become interdisciplinary –it encompasses sociology (concepts of Bourdieu’s ‘Field theory’ are used) and history. The historical research method Histoire croiseé is being used to avoid subjectivity and to introduce a new ‘translator-oriented’ vision in translation studies instead of the author-oriented one. In the course of the archival research, it was established that Jewish background plays an essential role in the destiny of the translators and the publishing house, so the Jewish studies have been added to the project. The study goes beyond the Austrian translational culture; it can be used as an example of dealing with publishing houses policies, publishing translations, and translator studies.

Keywords: history of translation, Jewish studies, publishing translations, translation sociology, translator studies, translators as actors

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Authors: Rodrigo S. Piera, Jailson Sales Ara´ujo, Gabriela B. Lemos, Matthew B. Weiss, John B. DeBrota, Gabriel H. Aguilar, Jacques L. Pienaar

Abstract:

The Born rule was historically viewed as an independent axiom of quantum mechanics until Gleason derived it in 1957 by assuming the Hilbert space structure of quantum measurements [1]. In subsequent decades there have been diverse proposals to derive the Born rule starting from even more basic assumptions [2]. In this work, we demonstrate that a simple reinforcement-learning algorithm, having no pre-programmed assumptions about quantum theory, will nevertheless converge to a behaviour pattern that accords with the Born rule, when tasked with predicting the output of a quantum optical implementation of a symmetric informationally-complete measurement (SIC). Our findings support a hypothesis due to QBism (the subjective Bayesian approach to quantum theory), which states that the Born rule can be thought of as a normative rule for making decisions in a quantum world [3].

Keywords: quantum Bayesianism, quantum theory, quantum information, quantum measurement

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Authors: Belkacem Benadda, Adil Benabdellah, Boutheyna Souna

Abstract:

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an unprecedented creation. Electronics objects are now able to interact, share, respond and adapt to their environment on a much larger basis. Actual spread of these modern means of connectivity and solutions with high data volume exchange are affecting our ways of life. Accommodation is becoming an intelligent living space, not only suited to the people circumstances and desires, but also to systems constraints to make daily life simpler, cheaper, increase possibilities and achieve a higher level of services and luxury. In this paper we are as Internet access, teleworking, consumption monitoring, information search, etc.). This paper addresses the design and integration of a smart home, it also purposes an IoT solution that allows smart power consumption based on measurements from power-grid and deep learning analysis.

Keywords: array sensors, IoT, power grid, FPGA, embedded

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Authors: Zhang Tianping, Jia Yanhui, Li Juan, Yang Le, Yang Hao, Yang Wei, Sun Xiaojing, Shi Kai, Li Xingda, Sun Yunkui

Abstract:

Lanzhou Institute of Physics (LIP) is the major supplier of electric propulsion subsystems for Chinese satellite platforms. The development statuses of these electric propulsion subsystems were summarized including the LIPS-200 ion electric propulsion subsystem (IEPS) for DFH-3B platform, the LIPS-300 IEPS for DFH-5 and DFH-4SP platform, the LIPS-200+ IEPS for DFH-4E platform and near-earth asteroid exploration spacecraft, the LIPS-100 IEPS for small satellite platform, the LHT-100 hall electric propulsion subsystem (HEPS) for flight test on XY-2 satellite, the LHT-140 HEPS for large LEO spacecraft, the LIPS-400 IEPS for deep space exploration mission and other EPS for other Chinese spacecraft.

Keywords: ion electric propulsion, hall electric propulsion, satellite platform, LIP

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Authors: Constantinos S. Mammas, Andreas Lazaris, Adamantia S. Mamma-Graham, Georgia Kostopanagiotou, Chryssa Lemonidou, John Mantas, Eustratios Patsouris

Abstract:

The process to build a better safety culture, methods of error analysis, and preventive measures, starts with an understanding of the effects when human factors engineering refer to remote microscopic diagnosis in surgery and specially in organ transplantation for the evaluation of the grafts. Α high percentage of solid organs arrive at the recipient hospitals and are considered as injured or improper for transplantation in the UK. Digital microscopy adds information on a microscopic level about the grafts (G) in Organ Transplant (OT), and may lead to a change in their management. Such a method will reduce the possibility that a diseased G will arrive at the recipient hospital for implantation. Aim: The aim of this study is to analyze the ergonomics of digital microscopy (DM) based on virtual slides, on telemedicine systems (TS) for tele-pathological evaluation (TPE) of the grafts (G) in organ transplantation (OT). Material and Methods: By experimental simulation, the ergonomics of DM for microscopic TPE of renal graft (RG), liver graft (LG) and pancreatic graft (PG) tissues is analyzed. In fact, this corresponded to the ergonomics of digital microscopy for TPE in OT by applying virtual slide (VS) system for graft tissue image capture, for remote diagnoses of possible microscopic inflammatory and/or neoplastic lesions. Experimentation included the development of an OTE-TS similar experimental telemedicine system (Exp.-TS) for simulating the integrated VS based microscopic TPE of RG, LG and PG Simulation of DM on TS based TPE performed by 2 specialists on a total of 238 human renal graft (RG), 172 liver graft (LG) and 108 pancreatic graft (PG) tissues digital microscopic images for inflammatory and neoplastic lesions on four electronic spaces of the four used TS. Results: Statistical analysis of specialist‘s answers about the ability to accurately diagnose the diseased RG, LG and PG tissues on the electronic space among four TS (A,B,C,D) showed that DM on TS for TPE in OT is elaborated perfectly on the ES of a desktop, followed by the ES of the applied Exp.-TS. Tablet and mobile-phone ES seem significantly risky for the application of DM in OT (p<.001). Conclusion: To make the largest reduction in errors and adverse events referring to the quality of the grafts, it will take application of human factors engineering to procurement, design, audit, and awareness-raising activities. Consequently, it will take an investment in new training, people, and other changes to management activities for DM in OT. The simulating VS based TPE with DM of RG, LG and PG tissues after retrieval, seem feasible and reliable and dependable on the size of the electronic space of the applied TS, for remote prevention of diseased grafts from being retrieved and/or sent to the recipient hospital and for post-grafting and pre-transplant planning.

Keywords: digital microscopy, organ transplantation, tele-pathology, virtual slides

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