Search results for: grade point average

Authors: Mohamed Houas, Maamar Benbachir

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In this paper, under weak assumptions, we study the existence and uniqueness of solutions for a nonlinear fractional boundary value problem. New existence and uniqueness results are established using Banach contraction principle. Other existence results are obtained using scheafer and krasnoselskii's fixed point theorem. At the end, some illustrative examples are presented.

Keywords: caputo derivative, boundary value problem, fixed point theorem, local conditions

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Authors: Liang Zhang, Gang Xu, Yue Wang, Chen Li, Shao Chong Zhou

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Presently, more and more nuclear power plants are facing the issue of life extension. When a nuclear power plant applies for an extension of life, its condition needs to meet the current design standards, which is not fine for all old reactors, typically for seismic design. Seismic-grade equipment in nuclear power plants are now generally placed separately from the non-seismic-grade equipment, but it was not strictly required before. Therefore, it is very important to study whether non-seismic-grade equipment will affect the seismic-grade equipment when dropped down in an earthquake situation, which is related to the safety of nuclear power plants and future life extension applications. This research was based on the cooling water system with the seismic and non-seismic grade equipment installed together, as an example to study whether the non-seismic-grade equipment such as DN50 fire pipes and ventilation pipes arranged above will damage the DN300 pipes and valves arranged below when earthquakes occur. In the study, the simulation was carried out by ANSYS / LY-DYNA, and Johnson-Cook was used as the material model and failure model. For the experiments, the relative positions of objects in the room were restored by 1: 1. In the experiment, the pipes and valves were filled with water with a pressure of 0.785 MPa. The pressure-holding performance of the pipe was used as a criterion for damage. In addition to the pressure-holding performance, the opening torque was considered as well for the valves. The research results show that when the 10-meter-long DN50 pipe was dropped from the position of 8 meters height and the 8-meter-long air pipe dropped from a position of 3.6 meters height, they do not affect the integrity of DN300 pipe below. There is no failure phenomenon in the simulation as well. After the experiment, the pressure drop in two hours for the pipe is less than 0.1%. The main body of the valve does not fail either. The opening torque change after the experiment is less than 0.5%, but the handwheel of the valve may break, which affects the opening actions. In summary, impacts of the upper pipes and ventilation pipes dropdown on the integrity of the DN300 pipes and valves below in a cooling water system of a typical second-generation nuclear power plant under an earthquake was studied. As a result, the functionality of the DN300 pipeline and the valves themselves are not significantly affected, but the handwheel of the valve or similar articles can probably be broken and need to take care.

Keywords: cooling water system, earthquake, integrity, pipe and valve

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Authors: I. Schiller, D. Morsomme, A. Remacle

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Children’s ability to process spoken language develops until the late teenage years. At school, where efficient spoken language processing is key to academic achievement, listening conditions are often unfavorable. High background noise and poor teacher’s voice represent typical sources of interference. It can be assumed that these factors particularly affect primary school children, because their language and literacy skills are still low. While it is generally accepted that background noise and impaired voice impede spoken language processing, there is an increasing need for analyzing impacts within specific linguistic areas. Against this background, the aim of the study was to investigate the effect of speech-shaped noise and imitated dysphonic voice on first-grade primary school children’s speech perception and sentence comprehension. Via headphones, 5 to 6-year-old children, recruited within the French-speaking community of Belgium, listened to and performed a minimal-pair discrimination task and a sentence-picture matching task. Stimuli were randomly presented according to four experimental conditions: (1) normal voice / no noise, (2) normal voice / noise, (3) impaired voice / no noise, and (4) impaired voice / noise. The primary outcome measure was task score. How did performance vary with respect to listening condition? Preliminary results will be presented with respect to speech perception and sentence comprehension and carefully interpreted in the light of past findings. This study helps to support our understanding of children’s language processing skills under adverse conditions. Results shall serve as a starting point for probing new measures to optimize children’s learning environment.

Keywords: impaired voice, sentence comprehension, speech perception, speech-shaped noise, spoken language processing

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Authors: Chernet Mulugeta, Girma Seyoum, Yeshineh Demrew, Kehabtimer Shiferaw

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Background: Obstetric fistula (OF) is a serious medical condition that includes an abnormal opening between the vagina and bladder (vesico-vaginal fistula) or the vagina and rectum (recto-vaginal fistula). It is usually caused by prolonged obstructed labour. Despite its serious health and psychosocial consequences, there is a paucity of evidence regarding the time it takes to heal from OF. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the time to cure from obstetric fistula and its predictors among women admitted to Addis Ababa Hamlin Fistula Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methodology: An institution-based retrospective cohort study was conducted from January 2015 to December 2020 among a randomly selected 434 women with OF in Addis Ababa Hamlin Fistula Hospital. Data was collected using a structured checklist adapted from a similar study. The open data kit (ODK) collected data was exported and analyzed by using STATA (14.2). Kaplan Meir was used to compare the recovery time from OF. To identify the predictors of OF, a Cox regression model was fitted, and an adjusted hazard ratio with a 95% confidence interval was used to estimate the strength of the associations. Results: The average time to recover from obstetric fistula was 3.95 (95% CI: 3.0-4.6) weeks. About ¾ of the women [72.8% (95% CI - 0.65-1.2)] were physically cured of obstetric fistula. Having secondary education and above [AHR=3.52; 95% CI (1.98, 6.25)] compared to no formal education, having a live birth [AHR=1.64; 95% CI (1.22, 2.21)], having an intact bladder [AHR=2.47; 95% CI (1.1, 5.54)] compared to totally destructed, and having a grade 1 fistula [AHR=1.98; 95% CI (1.19, 3.31)] compared to grade 3 were the significant predictors of shorter time to cure from an obstetric fistula. Conclusion and recommendation: Overall, the proportion of women with OF who were not being cured was unacceptably high. The time it takes for them to recover from the fistula was also extended. It connotes us to work on the identified predictors to improve the time to recovery from OF.

Keywords: time to recovery, obstetric fistula, predictors, Ethiopia

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Authors: Neslihan Sahin Celik, Ali Eraslan

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Mathematical model and modeling are one of the topics that have been intensively discussed in recent years. In line with the results of the PISA studies, researchers in many countries have begun to question how much students in school-education system are prepared to solve the real-world problems they encounter in their future professional lives. As a result, many mathematics educators have begun to emphasize the importance of new skills and understanding such as constructing, Hypothesizing, Describing, manipulating, predicting, working together for complex and multifaceted problems for success in beyond the school. When students increasingly face this kind of situations in their daily life, it is important to make sure that students have enough experience to work together and interpret mathematical situations that enable them to think in different ways and share their ideas with their peers. Thus, model eliciting activities are one of main tools that help students to gain experiences and the new skills required. This research study was carried on the town center of a big city located in the Black Sea region in Turkey. The participants were eighth-grade students in a middle school. After a six-week preliminary study, three students in an eighth-grade classroom were selected using criterion sampling technique and placed in a focus group. The focus group of three students was videotaped as they worked on a model eliciting activity, the Summer Job Problem. The conversation of the group was transcribed, examined with students’ written work and then qualitatively analyzed through the lens of Blum’s (1996) modeling processing cycle. The study results showed that eighth grade students can successfully work with the model eliciting, develop a model based on the two parameters and review the whole process. On the other hand, they had difficulties to relate parameters to each other and take all parameters into account to establish the model.

Keywords: middle school, modeling, mathematical modeling, summer job problem

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Authors: Yanyue Yuan

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In this paper, the author shares the findings of a pilot study that examines students’ creative expressions and their perceptions of creativity when engaged in project-based learning. The study is based on an elective course that the author co-designed and co-taught with a colleague to sixteen grade six and seven students over the spring semester in 2019. Using the Little Prince story as the main prompt, they facilitated students’ original creation of a storytelling concert that integrated script writing, music production, lyrics, songs, and visual design as a result of both individual and collaborative work. The author will share the specific challenges we met during the project, including learning cultures of the school, class management, teachers' and parents’ attitude, process-oriented versus product-oriented mindset, and facilities and logistical resources. The findings of this pilot study will inform the ongoing research initiative of exploring how we can foster creative learning in public schools in the Chinese context. While K-12 schools of China’s public education system are still dominated by exam-oriented and teacher-centered approaches, the author proposes that expression-based learning can be a starting point for promoting students’ creativity and can serve as experimental efforts to initiate incremental changes within the current education framework. The paper will also touch upon insights gained from collaborations between university and K-12 schools.

Keywords: creativity, expression-based learning, K-12, incremental changes

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Authors: Mohamed H. El-Sheikh, Hoda F. Zahran

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Olive tree (Olea europaea L.) is considered as a Mediterranean tree which belongs to genus Olea that may comprise about 35 species. In fact, the crop requires mild to cool winters with a chilling accumulation from November to February with average temperatures varying between two groups of accumulated chilling hours (h1) of less than 7.2 °C (C1) and other group (h2) of less than 10 °C (C2) for flower bud differentiation. This work aims at studying the impact of chilling accumulation hours on the fruit yield of olive trees in Borg El Arab City, Alexandria Governorate, Egypt as a case study. Trees were aged around 7 years in 2010 and were exposed to chilling accumulation hours of h1, which was average of 280 hours under C1, and average h2 was around 150 hours under C2 the resulted fruit yield was around 0.5 kg/tree. On the hand, trees were aged around 7 years at 2016 showed that when average of h1 was around 390 hours under C1 and average h2 was around 220 hours under C2 then fruit yield was around 10 kg/tree. Increasing of fruit yield proved chilling accumulation effect on olive trees.

Keywords: chilling accumulation, fruit yield, Olea europaea, olive

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Authors: Kyoung Hoon Kim

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The absorption power generation cycle based on the ammonia-water mixture has attracted much attention for efficient recovery of low-grade energy sources. In this paper, a thermodynamic performance analysis is carried out for a Kalina cycle using ammonia-water mixture as a working fluid for efficient conversion of low-temperature heat source in the form of sensible energy. The effects of the source temperature on the system performance are extensively investigated by using the thermodynamic models. The results show that the source temperature as well as the ammonia mass fraction affects greatly on the thermodynamic performance of the cycle.

Keywords: ammonia-water mixture, Kalina cycle, low-grade heat source, source temperature

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Authors: Fariba Dortaj, H. Bashir Nejad, Akram Dortaj,

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Investigate the Effectiveness of Mindfulness Education on Emotional, Psychological, and Social Well-being in 12th grade students in Tehran city is the aim of present study. The research method is semi-experimental with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population of the study includes all 12th grade students of the 12th district of Tehran city in the academic year of 2017 to 2018. From the mentioned population, 60 students had earned low scores in three dimensions of Subjective Well-Being Questionnaire of Keyes and Magyar-Moe (2003) by using random sampling method and they were selected and randomly assigned into 2 experimental and control groups. Then experimental groups were received a Mindfulness protocol in 8 sessions during 2 hours. After completion of the sessions, all subjects were re-evaluated. Data were analyzed by using multivariate analysis of covariance. The findings of this study showed that in the emotional well-being aspect with the components of positive emotional affection (P < 0.025, F = 17/80) and negative emotions (P <0.025, F = 5/41), in the psychological well-being of the components Self-esteem (P < 0.008, F = 25.26), life goal (P < 0.008, F = 38.19), environmental domination (P <0.008, F=82.82), relationships with others (P < 0.008, F = 19.12), personal development with (P < 0.008, F = 87.38), and in the social well-being aspect, the correlation coefficients with (P<0.01, F=12/21), admission and acceptability with (P <0.01, F =18.09) and realism with (P <0.01, F = 11.30), there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups and it can be said that the education of mindfulness affects the improvement of components of psychological, social and emotional well-being in students.

Keywords: mindfulness, emotional well-being, psychological well-being, social well-being

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Authors: Faroogh Khakzad, Marzieh Dehghani, Elahe Hejazi

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The present study investigates the effect of teaching a Thinking and Research lesson by cooperative and traditional methods on the creativity of sixth-grade students in Piranshahr province. The statistical society includes all the sixth-grade students of Piranshahr province. The sample of this studytable was selected by available sampling from among male elementary schools of Piranshahr. They were randomly assigned into two groups of cooperative teaching method and traditional teaching method. The design of the study is quasi-experimental with a control group. In this study, to assess students’ creativity, Abedi’s creativity questionnaire was used. Based on Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, the reliability of the factor flow was 0.74, innovation was 0.61, flexibility was 0.63, and expansion was 0.68. To analyze the data, t-test, univariate and multivariate covariance analysis were used for evaluation of the difference of means and the pretest and posttest scores. The findings of the research showed that cooperative teaching method does not significantly increase creativity (p > 0.05). Moreover, cooperative teaching method was found to have significant effect on flow factor (p < 0.05), but in innovation and expansion factors no significant effect was observed (p < 0.05).

Keywords: cooperative teaching method, traditional teaching method, creativity, flow, innovation, flexibility, expansion, thinking and research lesson

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Authors: Naila Tallas Mahajna, Jamal Al Khateeb

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This study examined the level of social communication problems, social anxiety, and mood problems among children with ASD (age 6-13 years) enrolled in special classes (n=46) and regular classes (n=36) from teachers' perspective in the schools of a part of Palestine. Teachers responded to three questionnaires - social communication problems, social anxiety and mood problems- that were used to answer the research questions. Results: social communication problems, social anxiety and mood problems were of medium rates for students with ASD enrolled in reguler and special classes. No significant differences in the level of social communication problems could be attributed to class type (Regular, Special) or the grade level-(1st – 3rd, 4th - 6th). There were significant differences in social anxiety levels that could be attributed to grade level in favor of the 4th - 6th grades but there were no significant differences according to class type (Regular, Special). There were statistically significant differences in mood problems levels that could be attributed to the class type in favor of special classes, but no differences were found according to grade level. There was a direct significant relationship between communication problems, social anxiety, and mood problems. Conclusion: social communication problems may be an important risk factor for the development of social anxiety and mood problems among students with ASD.

Keywords: social communication problems, social anxiety, mood problems, autism spectrum disorders

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Authors: Hosam Alzahrani, Martin Mackey, Emmanuel Stamatakis, Marina B. Pinheiro, Manuela Wicks, Debra Shirley

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Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of incidental (non-structured) physical activity interventions compared with other commonly prescribed interventions for the management of people with low back pain (LBP). Methods: We performed a systematic review with meta-analyses of eligible randomized controlled trials obtained by searching Medline, Scopus, CINAHL, EMBASE, and CENTRAL. This review considered trials investigating the effect of incidental physical activity interventions compared to other interventions in people aged 18 years or over, diagnosed with non-specific LBP. Analyses were conducted separately for short-term (≤3 months), intermediate-term (> 3 and < 12 months), and long-term (≥ 12 months), for each outcome. The analyses were conducted using the weighted mean difference (WMD). The overall quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE system. Meta-analyses were only performed for pain and disability outcomes as there was insufficient data on the other outcomes. Results: For pain, the pooled results did not show any significant effects between the incidental physical activity intervention and other interventions at any time point. For disability, incidental physical activity was not statistically more effective than other interventions at short-term; however, the pooled results favored incidental physical activity at intermediate-term (WMD= -6.05, 95% CI: -10.39 to -1.71, p=0.006) and long-term (WMD= -6.40 95% CI: -11.68 to -1.12, p=0.02) follow-ups among participants with chronic LBP. The overall quality of evidence was rated “moderate quality” based on the GRADE system. Conclusion: The incidental physical activity intervention provided intermediate and long disability relief for people with chronic LBP, although this improvement was small and not likely to be clinically important.

Keywords: physical activity, incidental, low back pain, systematic review, meta-analysis

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Authors: Ioannis Panagiotopoulos, Efstathios Kastritis, Anastasia Katinioti, Georgios Efthymiadis, Argyrios Doumas, Maria Koutelou

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Introduction: Transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) is a rare but serious infiltrative disease. Myocardial scintigraphy with DPD has emerged as the most effective, non-invasive, highly sensitive, and highly specific diagnostic method for cardiac ATTR amyloidosis. However, there are cases in which additional laboratory investigations reveal AL amyloidosis or other diseases despite a positive DPD scintigraphy. We describe the experience from the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center and the monitoring center for infiltrative myocardial diseases of the cardiology clinic at AHEPA. Materials and Methods: All patients with clinical suspicion of cardiac or extracardiac amyloidosis undergo a myocardial scintigraphy scan with Tc-99m DPD. In this way, over 500 patients have been examined. Further diagnostic approach based on clinical and imaging findings includes laboratory investigation and invasive techniques (e.g., biopsy). Results: Out of 76 patients in total with positive myocardial scintigraphy Grade 2 or 3 according to the Perugini scale, 8 were proven to suffer from AL Amyloidosis during the investigation of paraproteinemia. Among these patients, 3 showed Grade 3 uptake, while the rest were graded as Grade 2, or 2 to 3. Additionally, one patient presented diffuse and unusual radiopharmaceutical uptake in soft tissues throughout the body without cardiac involvement. These findings raised suspicions, leading to the analysis of κ and λ light chains in the serum, as well as immunostaining of proteins in the serum and urine of these specific patients. The final diagnosis was AL amyloidosis. Conclusion: The value of DPD scintigraphy in the diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis from transthyretin is undisputed. However, positive myocardial scintigraphy with DPD should not automatically lead to the diagnosis of ATTR amyloidosis. Laboratory differentiation between ATTR and AL amyloidosis is crucial, as both prognosis and therapeutic strategy are dramatically altered. Laboratory exclusion of paraproteinemia is a necessary and essential step in the diagnostic algorithm of ATTR amyloidosis for all positive myocardial scintigraphy with diphosphonate tracers since >20% of patients with Grade 3 and 2 uptake may conceal AL amyloidosis.

Keywords: AL amyloidosis, amyloidosis, ATTR, myocardial scintigraphy, Tc-99m DPD

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Authors: Zeynep Aytaç, Nuri Yücel

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Today, as the need for high efficiency and fuel-efficient engines have increased, centrifugal compressor designs are expected to be high-efficient and have high-pressure ratios than ever. The present study represents a design methodology of centrifugal compressor placed in a mini jet engine for the design and off-design points with the utilization of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and compares the performance characteristics at the mentioned two points. Although the compressor is expected to provide the required specifications at the design point, it is known that it is important for the design to deliver the required parameters at the off-design point also as it will not operate at the design point always. It was observed that the obtained mass flow rate, pressure ratio, and efficiency values are within the limits of the design specifications for the design and off-design points. Despite having different design inputs for the mentioned two points, they reveal similar flow characteristics in the general frame.

Keywords: centrifugal compressor, computational fluid dynamics, design point, off-design point

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Authors: Ching-Yi Yiu, Hui-Chen Hsu

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Objectives: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a big global health problem in the world. Despite the development of diagnosis and treatment, the overall survival of HNC is still low. The well recognition of the interaction of the host immune system and cancer cells has led to realizing the processes of tumor initiation, progression and metastasis. Many systemic inflammatory responses have been shown to play a crucial role in cancer progression. The pre and post-treatment nutritional and immunological status of HNC patients is a reliable prognostic indicator of tumor outcomes and survivors. Methods: Between July 2020 to June 2022, We have enrolled 60 HNC patients, including 59 males and 1 female, in Chi Mei Medical Center, Liouying, Taiwan. The age distribution was from 37 to 81 years old (y/o), with a mean age of 57.6 y/o. We evaluated the pre-and post-treatment nutritional and immunological status of these HNC patients with body weight, body weight loss, body mass index (BMI), whole blood count including hemoglobin (Hb), lymphocyte, neutrophil and platelet counts, biochemistry including prealbumin, albumin, c-reactive protein (CRP), with the time period of before treatment, post-treatment 3 and 6 months. We calculated the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) to assess how these biomarkers influence the outcomes of HNC patients. Results: We have carcinoma of the hypopharynx in 21 cases with 35％, carcinoma of the larynx in 9 cases, carcinoma of the tonsil and tongue every 6 cases, carcinoma soft palate and tongue base every 5 cases, carcinoma of buccal mucosa, retromolar trigone and mouth floor every 2 cases, carcinoma of the hard palate and low lip each 1 case. There were stage I 15 cases, stage II 13 cases, stage III 6 cases, stage IVA 10 cases, and stage IVB 16 cases. All patients have received surgery, chemoradiation therapy or combined therapy. We have wound infection in 6 cases, 2 cases of pharyngocutaneous fistula, flap necrosis in 2 cases, and mortality in 6 cases. In the wound infection group, the average BMI is 20.4 kg/m2; the average Hb is 12.9 g/dL, the average albumin is 3.5 g/dL, the average NLR is 6.78, and the average PLR is 243.5. In the PC fistula and flap necrosis group, the average BMI is 21.65 kg/m2; the average Hb is 11.7 g/dL, the average albumin is 3.15 g/dL, average NLR is 13.28, average PLR is 418.84. In the mortality group, the average BMI is 22.3 kg/m2; the average Hb is 13.58 g/dL, the average albumin is 3.77 g/dL, the average NLR is 6.06, and the average PLR is 275.5. Conclusion: HNC is a big challenging public health problem worldwide, especially in the high prevalence of betel nut consumption area Taiwan. Besides the definite risk factors of smoking, drinking and betel nut related, the other biomarkers may play significant prognosticators in the HNC outcomes. We concluded that the average BMI is less than 22 kg/m2, the average Hb is low than 12.0 g/dL, the average albumin is low than 3.3 g/dL, the average NLR is low than 3, and the average PLR is more than 170, the surgical complications and mortality will be increased, and the prognosis is poor in HNC patients.

Keywords: nutritional, immunological, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, paltelet-to-lymphocyte ratio.

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Authors: Rania Alshikhe, Vinita Jindal

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Digital innovation has played a crucial role in managing smart transportation. For this, big trajectory data collected from traveling vehicles, such as taxis through installed global positioning system (GPS)-enabled devices can be utilized. It offers an unprecedented opportunity to trace the movements of vehicles in fine spatiotemporal granularity. This paper aims to explore big trajectory data to measure the travel efficiency of road networks using the proposed statistical travel efficiency measure (STEM) across an entire city. Further, it identifies the cause of low travel efficiency by proposed least square approximation network-based causality exploration (LANCE). Finally, the resulting data analysis reveals the causes of low travel efficiency, along with the road segments that need to be optimized to improve the traffic conditions and thus minimize the average travel time from given point A to point B in the road network. Obtained results show that our proposed approach outperforms the baseline algorithms for measuring the travel efficiency of the road network.

Keywords: GPS trajectory, road network, taxi trips, digital map, big data, STEM, LANCE

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Authors: Shanti Faridah Salleh, Azzahrah Anuar, Hamimah Ujir, Rohana Sapawi, Wan Hashim Wan Ibrahim, Noraziah Abdul Wahab, Majina Sulaiman, Raudhah Ahmadi, Al-Khalid Othman, Johari Abdullah

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Integrated Cumulative Grade Point Average or iCGPA is an evaluation and reporting system that represents a comprehensive development of students’ achievement in their academic programs. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS has started its implementation of iCGPA in 2016. iCGPA is driven by the Outcome-Based Education (OBE) system that has been long integrated into the higher education in Malaysia. iCGPA is not only a tool to enhance the OBE concept through constructive alignment but it is also an integrated mechanism to assist various stakeholders in making decisions or planning for program improvement. The outcome of this integrated system is the reporting of students’ academic performance in terms of cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (attitude) of which the students acquire throughout the duration of their study. The iCGPA reporting illustrates the attainment of student’s attribute in the eight domains of learning outcomes listed in the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF). This paper discusses on the implementation of iCGPA in UNIMAS on the policy and strategy to direct the whole university to implement the iCGPA. The steps and challenges in integrating the exsting Outcome-Based Education and utilising iCGPA as a tool to quantify the students’ achievement are also highlighted in this paper. Finally, the ACADEMIA system, which is a dedicated centralised program ensure the implementation of iCGPA is a success has been developed. This paper discusses the structure and the analysis of ACADEMIA program and concludes the analysis made on the improvement made on the implementation of constructive alignment in all 40 programs involves in iCGPA implementation.

Keywords: constructive alignment, holistic graduates, mapping of assessment, programme outcome

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Authors: Nikhil V. Nayak, P. P. Revankar, M. B. Gorawar

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Wind energy has been shown to be one of the most viable sources of renewable energy. With current technology, the low cost of wind energy is competitive with more conventional sources of energy such as coal. Most airfoil blades available for commercial grade wind turbines incorporate a straight span-wise profile and airfoil shaped cross sections. This paper is aimed at studying and designing a wind-solar hybrid system for light load application. The tools like qblade and solidworks are used to model and analyze the wind turbine system, the material used for the blade and hub is balsa wood and the tower a lattice type. The expected power output is 100 W for an average wind speed of 4.5 m/s.

Keywords: renewable energy, hybrid, airfoil blades, wind speeds, make-in-india, camber, QBlade, solidworks, balsa wood

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Authors: Sathyaseelan Subramaniam, Jacqueline Bober, Jennifer Chao, Shahriar Zehtabchi

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Background: Emergency physicians frequently evaluate skin and soft tissue infections in order to differentiate abscess from cellulitis. This helps determine which patients will benefit from incision and drainage. Our objective was to determine the operating characteristics of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) compared to clinical examination in identifying abscesses in emergency department (ED) patients with features of skin and soft tissue infections. Methods: We performed a comprehensive search in the following databases: Medline, Web of Science, EMBASE, CINAHL and Cochrane Library. Trials were included if they compared the operating characteristics of POCUS with clinical examination in identifying skin and soft tissue abscesses. Trials that included patients with oropharyngeal abscesses or that requiring abscess drainage in the operating room were excluded. The presence of an abscess was determined by pus drainage. No pus seen on incision or resolution of symptoms without pus drainage at follow up, determined the absence of an abscess. Quality of included trials was assessed using GRADE criteria. Operating characteristics of POCUS are reported as sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood (LR+) and negative likelihood (LR-) ratios and the respective 95% confidence intervals (CI). Summary measures were calculated by generating a hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic model (HSROC). Results: Out of 3203 references identified, 5 observational studies with 615 patients in aggregate were included (2 adults and 3 pediatrics). We rated the quality of 3 trials as low and 2 as very low. The operating characteristics of POCUS and clinical examination in identifying soft tissue abscesses are presented in the table. The HSROC for POCUS revealed a sensitivity of 96% (95% CI = 89-98%), specificity of 79% (95% CI = 71-86), LR+ of 4.6 (95% CI = 3.2-6.8), and LR- of 0.06 (95% CI = 0.02-0.2). Conclusion: Existing evidence indicates that POCUS is useful in identifying abscesses in ED patients with skin or soft tissue infections.

Keywords: abscess, point-of-care ultrasound, pocus, skin and soft tissue infection

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Authors: Allyson Augusta Shrikhande, Alexa Rains, Tayyaba Ahmed, Marjorie Mamsaang, Rakhi Vyas, Janaki Natarajan, Erika Moody, Christian Reutter, Kimberlee Leishear, Yogita Tailor, Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, Lora Liu, Neha James, Rosemarie Filart

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Characterized by consistent difficulty getting and keeping an erection firm enough for intercourse, Erectile Dysfunction may affect up to 15% of adult men. Although awareness and access to treatment have improved in recent years, many patients do not actively seek diagnosis or treatment due to the stigma surrounding this condition. Patients who do seek treatment are often dissatisfied by the efficacy of the medication. The condition inhibits patients’ quality of life by worsening mental health and relationships. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of an outpatient neuromuscular treatment protocol in treating the symptoms of Chronic Pelvic Pain and Erectile Dysfunction, improving pain and function. 56 patients ages 20-79 presented to an outpatient clinic for treatment of pelvic pain and Erectile Dysfunction symptoms. These symptoms had persisted for an average of 4 years. All patients underwent external ultrasound-guided hydro-dissection technique targeted at pelvic peripheral nerves in combination with pelvic floor musculature trigger-point injections. To measure the effects of this treatment, a five question Erectile Dysfunction questionnaire was completed by each patient at their first visit to a clinic and three months after treatment began. Answers were summed for a total score of 5-25, with a higher score indicating optimal function. The average score before treatment was 14.125 (SD 5.411) (a=0.05; CI 12.708-15.542), which increased by 18% to an average of 16.625 (SD 6.423) (a=0.05; CI 14.943-18.307) after treatment (P=0.0004). Secondary outcome variables included a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to measure pelvic pain intensity and the Functional Pelvic Pain Scale (FPPS) to measure function across multiple areas. VAS scores reduced by 51% after three months. Before treatment, the mean VAS score was 5.87, and the posttreatment mean VAS score was 2.89. Pelvic pain functionality improved by 34% after three months. Pretreatment FPPS scores averaged at 7.48, decreasing to 4.91 after treatment. These results indicate that this unique treatment was very effective at relieving pain and increasing function for patients with Erectile Dysfunction.

Keywords: chronic pelvic pain, erectile dysfunction, nonsurgical, outpatient, trigger point injections

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Authors: Mananya Meenakorn

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The purpose of this research is to study the relationship customer perception and brand value of cosmetics in the view of customers in Thailand. The research is quantitative research using the survey method by questionnaire. Data were collected from female cosmetics consumer that residents in Bangkok, aged between 25-55 years. Researchers have determined the size of the sample by using Taro Yamane technic a total of 400 people. The study found the Shiseido cosmetics brand image always come with the new products innovation is in the height level. The average was 3.812, second is Shiseido brand has used innovation to produce the product for 3.792. And brand Shiseido looks luxury with an average of 3.707 respectively. In additional in terms of Lancôme cosmetic brand found the brand image is luxury at the height levels for 4.170 average. The seductive glamor is considered in the moderate with an average of 3.822 respectively.

Keywords: brand image, international fashion dress, values, working women

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Authors: Vangmayee. V. Subban, Somashekara H. S, Shwetha Prabhu, Jayashree S. Bhat

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Introduction and Need: Phonological processing is critical in learning to read alphabetical and non-alphabetical languages. However, its role in learning to read Kannada an alphasyllabary is equivocal. The literature has focused on the developmental role of phonological awareness on reading. To the best of authors knowledge, the role of phonological memory and phonological naming has not been addressed in alphasyllabary Kannada language. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the comprehensive role of the phonological processing skills in Kannada on word decoding skills during the early years of schooling. Aim and Objectives: The present study aimed to explore the phonological processing abilities and their role in learning to decode pseudowords in children learning to read the Kannada language during initial years of formal schooling between 5.6 to 8.6 years. Method: In this cross sectional study, 60 typically developing Kannada speaking children, 20 each from Grade I, Grade II, and Grade III between the age range of 5.6 to 6.6 years, 6.7 to 7.6 years and 7.7 to 8.6 years respectively were selected from Kannada medium schools. Phonological processing abilities were assessed using an assessment tool specifically developed to address the objectives of the present research. The assessment tool was content validated by subject experts and had good inter and intra-subject reliability. Phonological awareness was assessed at syllable level using syllable segmentation, blending, and syllable stripping at initial, medial and final position. Phonological memory was assessed using pseudoword repetition task and phonological naming was assessed using rapid automatized naming of objects. Both phonological awareneness and phonological memory measures were scored for the accuracy of the response, whereas Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) was scored for total naming speed. Results: The mean scores comparison using one-way ANOVA revealed a significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) between the groups on all the measures of phonological awareness, pseudoword repetition, rapid automatized naming, and pseudoword reading. Subsequent post-hoc grade wise comparison using Bonferroni test revealed significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) between each of the grades for all the tasks except (p ≥ 0.05) for syllable blending, syllable stripping, and pseudoword repetition between Grade II and Grade III. The Pearson correlations revealed a highly significant positive correlation (p=0.000) between all the variables except phonological naming which had significant negative correlations. However, the correlation co-efficient was higher for phonological awareness measures compared to others. Hence, phonological awareness was chosen a first independent variable to enter in the hierarchical regression equation followed by rapid automatized naming and finally, pseudoword repetition. The regression analysis revealed syllable awareness as a single most significant predictor of pseudoword reading by explaining the unique variance of 74% and there was no significant change in R² when RAN and pseudoword repetition were added subsequently to the regression equation. Conclusion: Present study concluded that syllable awareness matures completely by Grade II, whereas the phonological memory and phonological naming continue to develop beyond Grade III. Amongst phonological processing skills, phonological awareness, especially syllable awareness is crucial for word decoding than phonological memory and naming during initial years of schooling.

Keywords: phonological awareness, phonological memory, phonological naming, phonological processing, pseudo-word decoding

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Authors: Fatima Bouazza, Khadija Khedid, Lamiae Amallah, Aziz Mouhaddach, Basma Boukour, Jihane Ennadir, Rachida Hassikou

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In order to combine milk and its derived products conservation and flavoring, Moroccans often used aromatic and medicinal plants. These plant extracts are endowed with several nutritive and therapeutic properties. This study constitutes a first national assessment of physico-chemical quality of sheep’s milk from moroccan Sardi breed and the evaluation of the antibacterial effect of three medicinal plants extracts: Aloe barbadensis Miller, Thymus satureioides and Mentha pulegium on flora isolated from this sheep's milk. 100 milk samples were collected in four regions of Morocco. The bacteria isolated were identified by classical and molecular methods (16S rRNA sequencing) and tested, according to the disk method, for their sensitivity to several antibiotics. The physico-chemical analyzes of sheep’s milk concerned the pH, titratable acidity, density, dry extract, freezing point and contents of: fat, proteins, lactose and calcium. The essential oils (EOs) of T. satureioides and M .pulegium were extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC / MS, while the Aloe vera leaf pulp was analyzed by the methods of Harborne and HPLC. A total number of 125 bacteria have been identified. Significant resistance to chemical antibiotics has been noted in LABs. The average temperature value of milk is around 57.15 °C, the pH is 6.56, the titratable acidity is around 3.4 ° D, the density is 1.035g / cm³ , the total dry extract is around 169.5g / l, the ash (9.8g / l), the freezing point (- 0.556 °C) while the average fat content is 67.85g / l . The samples richest in fat belong to the region of Settat, cradle of the Sardi breed, with a maximum average value of 74.4g / l. The average protein is 56g / l, lactose (39.92g / l), and calcium (1.855g / l). Analysis of the major components of EOs revealed the dominance of borneol in the case of T. satureioides and of pulegone in M. pulegium. Aloe vera gel contains alkaloids, flavonoids, catechic tannins, saponins and 1.60 µg / ml of aloin. The plant extracts have a bactericidal effect on E. coli, Klebsiellaoxytoca and Staphylococci and bacteriostatic effect on LABs of technological interest (Lactobacillus). As a result of this study, it is believed that the consumption of sardi sheep’s milk would be of nutritional benefit. Its richness in fat and proteins predisposes it for biotechnological development in the manufacture of cheese and yogurt. Also, the use of aromatic and medicinal plants, as natural additives would be of great benefit to flavor and maintain its quality.

Keywords: sheep’s milk, lactic flora, antimicrobial power, aloe barbadensis miller, thymus satureioides, mentha pulegium

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Authors: C. Han, H. Kim, S. Park

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The purpose of the present study is to analyze the effect of surface roughness on fatigue life of SCM440 steel. Two groups of specimens were made from SCM440 steel with and without surface polished after forging process and resulted in different values of surface roughness. The difference of the surface roughness between two groups was clearly distinguished even to the naked eye. Surface roughness of both groups of the specimens was quantitatively measured by a roughness measuring device, Talysurf series2 (Taylor-Hobson Co., USA). Average roughness (Ra) and maximum roughness depth (Rmax) values were obtained by scanning 45 mm with a speed of 0.25 mm/s. Fatigue tests were conducted using a three-point bending method with a cyclic sinusoidal profile of 5 Hz, stress ratio of R = 0.1 and reference life for fatigue limit of 1 × 106 cycles. Ra and Rmax without surface polished were 10.497 ± 1.721 μm and 87.936 ± 16.210 μm, respectively while those values with surface polished were much smaller (ongoing measurements). Fatigue lives of the surface-polished specimens achieved approximately 1 × 106 cycles under the maximum stress of 900 MPa, which was 10 times longer than those of the surface-untreated specimens with an average roughness of 10.082 μm. The results showed that an increase in surface roughness values led to a decrease in fatigue lives.

Keywords: surface roughness, fatigue test, fatigue life, SCM440 steel

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Authors: Sudipta Ghorai, Ossama Salem

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Pavement maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation (MRR) processes may have considerable environmental impacts due to traffic disruptions associated with work zones. The simulation models in use to predict the emission of work zones were mostly static emission factor models (SEFD). SEFD calculates emissions based on average operation conditions e.g. average speed and type of vehicles. Although these models produce accurate results for large-scale planning studies, they are not suitable for analyzing driving conditions at the micro level such as acceleration, deceleration, idling, cruising, and queuing in a work zone. The purpose of this study is to prepare a comprehensive work zone environmental assessment (WEA) framework to calculate the emissions caused due to disrupted traffic; by integrating traffic microsimulation tools with emission models. This will help highway officials to assess the benefits of accelerated construction and opt for the most suitable TMP not only economically but also from an environmental point of view.

Keywords: accelerated construction, pavement MRR, traffic microsimulation, congestion, emissions

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Authors: Gary Pattemore, Michael Edgar, Andrew Job, Marina Auad, Kathryn Job

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As critical commodities become more scarce, significant time and resources have been used to better understand complicated ore bodies and extract their full potential. These challenging ore bodies provide several pain points for geologists and engineers to overcome, poor handling of these issues flows downs stream to the processing plant affecting throughput rates and recovery. Many open cut mines utilise blast hole drilling to extract additional information to feed back into the modelling process. This method requires samples to be collected during or after blast hole drilling. Samples are then sent for assay with turnaround times varying from 1 to 12 days. This method is time consuming, costly, requires human exposure on the bench and collects elemental data only. To address this challenge, research has been undertaken to utilise hyperspectral imaging across a broad spectrum to scan samples, collars or take down hole measurements for minerals and moisture content and grade abundances. Automation of this process using unmanned vehicles and on-board processing reduces human in pit exposure to ensure ongoing safety. On-board processing allows data to be integrated into modelling workflows with immediacy. The preliminary results demonstrate numerous direct and indirect benefits from this new technology, including rapid and accurate grade estimates, moisture content and mineralogy. These benefits allow for faster geo modelling updates, better informed mine scheduling and improved downstream blending and processing practices. The paper presents recommendations for implementation of the technology in open cut mining environments.

Keywords: grade control, hyperspectral scanning, artificial intelligence, autonomous mining, machine learning

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Authors: Amin Amani, Masomeh Reihany Shirvan, Mahla Nabizadeh Mashizi, Mohadese Khoshtinat, Mohammad Elyas Ansarinia

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The purpose of this study is the relationship between a healthy lifestyle and risky behavior in physical education students of Bojnourd schools. The study sample consisted of teenagers studying in second and third grade of Bojnourd's high schools. According to level sampling, 604 students studying in the second grade, and 600 students studying in third grade were tested from physical education schools in Bojnourd. For sample selection, populations were divided into 4 area including north, East, West and South. Then according to the number of students of each area, sample size of each level was determined. Two questionnaires were used to collect data in this study which were consisted of three parts: The demographic data, Iranian teenagers' risk taking (IARS) and prevention methods with emphasize on the importance of family role were examined. The Central and dispersion indices, such as standard deviation, multiple variance analysis, and multivariate regression analysis were used. Results showed that the observed F is significant (P ≤ 0.01) and 21% of variance related to risky behavior is explained by the lack of awareness. Given the significance of the regression, the coefficients of risky behavior in teenagers in prediction equation showed that each of teenagers' risky behavior can have an impact on healthy lifestyle.

Keywords: healthy lifestyle, high-risk behavior, students, physical education

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Authors: Jie Yang, Qifu Cheng, Yafang Liu, Zhijie Gu

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Controlled emissions of effluent from nuclear power plants are an important means of ensuring environmental safety. In order to fully grasp the actual discharge level of nuclear power plant in China's nuclear power plant in the pressurized water reactor and heavy water reactor, it will use the global average nuclear power plant effluent discharge as a reference to the standard analysis of China's nuclear power plant environmental discharge status. The results show that the average normalized emission of liquid tritium in PWR nuclear power plants in China is slightly higher than the global average value, and the other nuclides emissions are lower than the global average values.

Keywords: radioactive effluent, HWR, PWR, nuclear power plant

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Authors: Shan-Yu Hsu, Hsin-Shu Huang

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The main purpose of this teaching research is to design an interdisciplinary team-assisted teaching method for trainees and interns and review the effectiveness of this teaching method on trainees' understanding of peritoneal dialysis. The teaching research object is the fifth and sixth-grade trainees in a medical center's medical school. The teaching methods include media teaching, demonstration of technical operation, face-to-face communication with patients, special case discussions, and field visits to the peritoneal dialysis room. Evaluate learning effectiveness before, after, and verbally. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS paired-sample t-test to analyze whether there is a difference in peritoneal dialysis professional cognition before and after teaching intervention. Descriptive statistics show that the average score of the previous test is 74.44, the standard deviation is 9.34, the average score of the post-test is 95.56, and the standard deviation is 5.06. The results of the t-test of the paired samples are shown as p-value = 0.006, showing the peritoneal dialysis professional cognitive test. Significant differences were observed before and after. The interdisciplinary team-assisted teaching method helps trainees and interns to improve their professional awareness of peritoneal dialysis. At the same time, trainee physicians have positive feedback on the inter-professional team-assisted teaching method. This teaching research finds that the clinical ability development education of trainees and interns can provide cross-professional team-assisted teaching methods to assist clinical teaching guidance.

Keywords: monitor quality, patient safety, health promotion objective, cross-professional team-assisted teaching methods

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Authors: Popoola M. Oyenola

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Concrete plays the important role and a huge percentage of concrete is being utilized in every construction practices. Natural river sand is one of the major ingredients of concrete, is becoming expensive due to excessive cost of accessibility from sources. Also large scale depletion of sources creates environmental problems. Therefore, there is a need of economic alternative materials. Quarry dust is a waste obtained during quarrying process. It has been rampantly used in different construction practices and could be used as an effective fine aggregate instead of river sand. Partial and total replacement of fine aggregate in conventional concrete with quarry dust has been empirically conducted with the view to examining primarily the compressive strength of the resulting composite and possible total utilization of quarry dust as fine aggregate in the production of medium grade concrete. The results of the study showed that its specific gravity, porosity and water absorption showed satisfactory performance. The percentage replacement of natural river sand with quarry dust for a designed strength of 25N/mm2 varied at intervals of 10% up to a maximum value of 100%. A total of 132 cubes of 150 x 150 x 150mm were cast and tested at 7, 14 and 28 days of hydration. Compressive strength increases with curing age in all the mixes. Compressive strength decreases with increase in percentage of quarry dust. Generally the compressive strength of concrete incorporating quarry dust attained strength of 22.47 N/mm2 after 28 days which makes it a suitable aggregate for the production medium grade concrete.

Keywords: quarry dust, concrete, aggregates, compressive strength

Procedia PDF Downloads 243