Search results for: blind source separation

Authors: Sonia Ben Hamza, Sabra Habli, Nejla Mahjoub Saïd, Hervé Bournot, Georges Le Palec

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This paper spots light on the effect of a point source pollution on streams, stemming out from intentional release caused by unconscious facts. The consequences of such contamination on ecosystems are very serious. Accordingly, effective tools are highly demanded in this respect, which enable us to come across an accurate progress of pollutant and anticipate different measures to be applied in order to limit the degradation of the environmental surrounding. In this context, we are eager to model a pollutant dispersion of a free surface flow which is ejected by an outfall sewer of an urban sewerage network in coastal water taking into account the influence of climatic parameters on the spread of pollutant. Numerical results showed that pollutant dispersion is merely due to the presence of vortices and turbulence. Hence, it was realized that the pollutant spread in seawater is strongly correlated with climatic conditions in this region.

Keywords: coastal waters, numerical simulation, pollutant dispersion, turbulent flows

Procedia PDF Downloads 506

Authors: Keitumetse Gaesirwe

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This study investigated the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on brand equity. Specific objectives include examining the connections between ethics and philanthropic constructs of CSR and brand loyalty in the telecommunication industry in South Africa. A convenience sampling technique was used, and closed-ended questionnaires were administered to 800 research participants across the nine provinces of South Africa. Data collected from the field was analyzed using inferential statistics (Ordinary Least Squares regression and correlation analysis) as well as descriptive statistics. Findings show positive and significant connections between the constructs of CSR and brand loyalty. The implications of the findings indicate that keeping ethical and philanthropy standards can be a source of competitive advantage and guarantee brand loyalty for telecommunication companies in South Africa.

Keywords: CSR, brand awareness, telecommunication industry, COVID-19, South Africa

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Han Joo Choe, Soon-Ho Kwon, Jung-Joong Lee

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Tin particles of various size and distribution were self-assembled by plasma treating tin film deposited on silicon oxide substrates. Plasma treatment was conducted using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source. A range of ICP power and topographic templated substrates were evaluated to observe changes in particle size and particle distribution. Scanning electron microscopy images of the particles were analyzed using computer software. The evolution of tin film dewetting into particles initiated from the hole nucleation in grain boundaries. Increasing ICP power during plasma treatment produced larger number of particles per area and smaller particle size and particle-size distribution. Topographic templates were also effective in positioning and controlling the size of the particles. By combining the effects of ICP power and topographic templates, particles of similar size and well-ordered distribution were obtained.

Keywords: dewetting, particles, plasma, tin

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: Rohana Pandukabhya Mahaliyanaarachchi, Maheshwari Sangeetha Elapatha, Mohamed Esham, Banagala Chathurika Maduwanthi

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The global climate change has become one of the imperative issues for the smallholder dominated agricultural sector and nature based tourism sector in Sri Lanka. Thus addressing this issue is notably important. The main objective of this study was to investigate the potential of agri-tourism as a sustainable adaptation option to mitigate some of the negative impacts of climate change in small scale agricultural sector in Sri Lanka. The study was carried out in two different climatic zones in Sri Lanka namely Low Country Dry Zone and Up Country Wet Zone. A case study strategy followed by structured and unstructured interviewers through cross-sectional surveys were adapted to collect data. The study revealed that there had been a significant change in the climate in regard to the rainfall patterns in both climatic zones resulting unexpected rains during months and longer drought periods. This results the damages of agricultural production, low yields and subsequently low income. However, to mitigate these adverse effects, farmers have mainly focused on using strategies related to the crops and farming patterns rather than diversifying their business by adopting other entrepreneurial activities like agri-tourism. One of the major precursor for this was due to lesser awareness on the concept of agri-tourism within the farming community. The study revealed that the respondents of both climatic zones do have willingness and potential to adopt agri-tourism. One key important factor identified was that farming or agriculture was the main livelihood of the respondents, which is one of the vital precursor needed to start up an agri-tourism enterprise. Most of the farmers in the Up Country Wet Zone had an inclination to start a farm guest house or a farm home stay whereas the farmers in the Low Country Dry Zone wish to operate farm guest house, farm home stay or farm restaurant. They also have an interest to open up a road side farm product stall to facilitate the direct sales of the farm. Majority of the farmers in both climatic zones showed an interest to initiate an agri-tourism business as a complementary enterprise where they wished to give an equal share to both farming and agri-tourism. Thus this revealed that the farmers have identified agri-tourism as a vital concept and have given the equal importance as given to farming. This shows that most of the farmers have understood agri-tourism as an alternative income source that can mitigate the adverse effects of climatic change. This study emphasizes that agri-tourism as an alternative income source that can mitigate the adverse effects of climatic change on small scale agriculture sector.

Keywords: adaptation, agri-tourism, climate change, small scale agriculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Grzegorz Szaciłowski, Marta Konop, Małgorzata Dymecka, Jakub Ośko

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In 1996, the European Council Directive 96/29/EURATOM pointed phosphate fertilizers to have a potentially negative influence on the environment from the radiation protection point of view. Fertilizers along with irrigation and crop rotation were the milestones that allowed to increase agricultural productivity. Firstly based on natural materials such as compost, manure, fish processing waste, etc., and since the 19th century created synthetically, fertilizers caused a boom in crop yield and helped to propel global food production, especially after World War II. In this work the concentrations of ²¹⁰Po, ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K, and ¹³⁷Cs in selected fertilizers and soil samples were determined. The results were used to calculate the annual addition of natural radionuclides and increment of the external radiation exposure caused by the use of studied fertilizers. Soils intended for different types of crops were sampled in early spring when no vegetation had occurred yet. Analysed fertilizers were those with which the soil was previously fertilized. For gamma radionuclides, a high purity germanium detector GX3520 from Canberra was used. The polonium concentration was determined by radiochemical separation followed by measurement by means of alpha spectrometry. The spectrometer used in this study was equipped with 450 cm² PIPS detector from Canberra. Obtained results showed significant differences in radionuclide composition between phosphate and nitrogenous fertilizers (e.g. the radium equivalent activity for phosphate fertilizer was 207.7 Bq/kg in comparison to <5.6 Bq/kg for nitrogenous fertilizer). The calculated increase of external radiation exposure due to use of phosphate fertilizer ranged between 3.4 and 5.4 nG/h, which represents up to 10% of the polish average outdoor exposure due to terrestrial gamma radiation (45 nGy/h).

Keywords: ²¹⁰Po, alpha spectrometry, exposure, gamma spectrometry, phosphate fertilizer, soil

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Authors: Fabio T. Costa, Sergio E. Moya, Marcelo H. Sousa

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Nanocomposites designed by embedding magnetic nanoparticles into a polymeric matrix stand out as ideal magnetic-hybrid and magneto-responsive materials as sorbents for removal of pollutants in environmental applications. Covalent coupling is often desired for the immobilization of species on these nanocomposites, in order to keep them permanently bounded, not desorbing or leaching over time. Moreover, unwanted adsorbates can be separated by successive washes/magnetic separations, and it is also possible to recover the adsorbate covalently bound to the nanocomposite surface through detaching/cleavage protocols. Thus, in this work, we describe the preparation and characterization of highly-magnetizable chloromethylated polystyrene-based nanocomposite beads for selective covalent coupling in environmental applications. For synthesis optimization, acid resistant core-shelled maghemite (γ-Fe₂O₃) nanoparticles were coated with oleate molecules and directly incorporated into the organic medium during a suspension polymerization process. Moreover, the cross-linking agent ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) was utilized for co-polymerization with the 4-vinyl benzyl chloride (VBC) to increase the resistance of microbeads against leaching. After characterizing samples with XRD, ICP-OES, TGA, optical, SEM and TEM microscopes, a magnetic composite consisting of ~500 nm-sized cross-linked polymeric microspheres embedding ~8 nm γ-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles was verified. This nanocomposite showed large room temperature magnetization (~24 emu/g) due to the high content in maghemite (~45 wt%) and resistance against leaching even in acidic media. Moreover, the presence of superficial chloromethyl groups, probed by FTIR and XPS spectroscopies and confirmed by an amination test can selectively adsorb molecules through the covalent coupling and be used in molecular separations as shown for the selective removal of 4-aminobenzoic acid from a mixture with benzoic acid.

Keywords: nanocomposite, magnetic nanoparticle, covalent separation, pollutant removal

Procedia PDF Downloads 106

Authors: Sánchez Acuña, Juan Camilo, Granados Gómez, Mildred Magaly, Navarrete Rodríguez, Luisa Fernanda

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Nowadays, the main biofuels source production as bioethanol is food crops. This means a high competition between foods and energy production. For this reason, it is necessary to take into account the use of new raw materials friendly to the environment. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the potential of the agro-industrial banana crop residues in the production of bioethanol. A factorial design of 2⁴ was used, the design has variables such as pH, time and concentration of hydrolysis, another variable is the time of fermentation that is of 7 or 15 days. In the hydrolysis phase, the pH is acidic (H₂SO₄) or basic (NaOH), the time is 30 or 15 minutes and the concentration is 0.1 or 0.5 M. It was observed that basic media, low concentrations, fermentation, and higher pretreatment times produced better performance in terms of biofuel obtained.

Keywords: bioethanol, biofuels, banana waste, hydrolysis

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Authors: Phanumas Khumsat, Chalermchai Janmane

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Low-voltage instrumentation amplifier has been proposed for 3-lead electrocardiogram measurement system. The circuit’s interference rejection technique is based upon common-mode feed-forwarding where common-mode currents have cancelled each other at the output nodes. The common-mode current for cancellation is generated by means of common-mode sensing and emitter or source followers with resistors employing only one transistor. Simultaneously this particular transistor also provides common-mode feedback to the patient’s right/left leg to further reduce interference entering the amplifier. The proposed designs have been verified with simulations in 0.18-µm CMOS process operating under 1.0-V supply with CMRR greater than 80dB. Moreover ECG signals have experimentally recorded with the proposed instrumentation amplifiers implemented from discrete BJT (BC547, BC558) and MOSFET (ALD1106, ALD1107) transistors working with 1.5-V supply.

Keywords: electrocardiogram, common-mode feedback, common-mode feedforward, communication engineering

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Authors: S. Shahzadi, J. Rizk

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This paper describes the pulse width modulated control of a three phase, 4 polar DC brushless motor. To implement this practically the Atmel’s AVR ATmega 328 microcontroller embedded on an Arduino Eleven board is utilized. The microcontroller programming is done in an open source Arduino IDE development environment. The programming logic effectively manipulated a six MOSFET bridge which was used to energize the stator windings as per control requirements. The results obtained showed accurate, precise and efficient pulse width modulated operation. Another advantage offered by this pulse width modulated control was the efficient speed control of the motor. By varying the time intervals between successive commutations, faster energizing of the stator windings was possible thereby leading to quicker rotor alignment with these energized phases and faster revolutions.

Keywords: brushless DC motors, commutation, MOSFET, PWM

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Authors: Habib Gorine, Rabia Saleh

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Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks are the special type of wireless networks which share common security requirements with other networks such as confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and availability, which need to be addressed in order to secure data transfer through the network. Their routing protocols are vulnerable to various malicious attacks which could have a devastating consequence on data security. In this paper, three types of attacks such as selfish, gray hole, and black hole attacks have been applied to the two most important routing protocols in MANET named dynamic source routing and ad-hoc on demand distance vector in order to analyse and compare the impact of these attacks on the Network performance in terms of throughput, average delay, packet loss, and consumption of energy using NS2 simulator.

Keywords: MANET, wireless networks, routing protocols, malicious attacks, wireless networks simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 316

Authors: Chayaporn Kaensar

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Recently, Job Recommender Systems have gained much attention in industries since they solve the problem of information overload on the recruiting website. Therefore, we proposed Extended Personalized Job System that has the capability of providing the appropriate jobs for job seeker and recommending some suitable information for them using Data Mining Techniques and Dynamic User Profile. On the other hands, company can also interact to the system for publishing and updating job information. This system have emerged and supported various platforms such as web application and android mobile application. In this paper, User profiles, Implicit User Action, User Feedback, and Clustering Techniques in WEKA libraries have gained attention and implemented for this application. In additions, open source tools like Yii Web Application Framework, Bootstrap Front End Framework and Android Mobile Technology were also applied.

Keywords: recommendation, user profile, data mining, web and mobile technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 312

Authors: Marcin Sowa

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The paper discusses the subinterval-based numerical method for fractional derivative computations. It is now referred to by its acronym – SubIval. The basis of the method is briefly recalled. The ability of the method to be applied in time stepping solvers is discussed. The possibility of implementing a time step size adaptive solver is also mentioned. The solver is tested on a transient circuit example. In order to display the accuracy of the solver – the results have been compared with those obtained by means of a semi-analytical method called gcdAlpha. The time step size adaptive solver applying SubIval has been proven to be very accurate as the results are very close to the referential solution. The solver is currently able to solve FDE (fractional differential equations) with various derivative orders for each equation and any type of source time functions.

Keywords: numerical method, SubIval, fractional calculus, numerical solver, circuit analysis

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Authors: Faisal Zaman, Ya Ping Wong, Boon Yian Ng

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Point cloud source data for surface reconstruction is usually contaminated with noise and outliers. To overcome this, we present a novel approach using modified kernel density estimation (KDE) technique with bilateral filtering to remove noisy points and outliers. First we present a method for estimating optimal bandwidth of multivariate KDE using particle swarm optimization technique which ensures the robust performance of density estimation. Then we use mean-shift algorithm to find the local maxima of the density estimation which gives the centroid of the clusters. Then we compute the distance of a certain point from the centroid. Points belong to outliers then removed by automatic thresholding scheme which yields an accurate and economical point surface. The experimental results show that our approach comparably robust and efficient.

Keywords: point preprocessing, outlier removal, surface reconstruction, kernel density estimation

Procedia PDF Downloads 339

Authors: Abdelhak-Djamel Seriai, Selim Kebir, Allaoua Chaoui

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During the last decades, object oriented program- ming has been massively used to build large-scale systems. However, evolution and maintenance of such systems become a laborious task because of the lack of object oriented programming to offer a precise view of the functional building blocks of the system. This lack is caused by the fine granularity of classes and objects. In this paper, we use a post object-oriented technology namely software components, to propose an approach based on the identification of the functional building blocks of an object oriented system by analyzing its source code. These functional blocks are specified as software components and the result is a multi-layer component based software architecture.

Keywords: software comprehension, software component, object oriented, software architecture, reverse engineering

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Authors: A. Benatiallah, D. Benatiallah, A. Harrouz, F. Abaidi, S. Mansouri

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Photovoltaic system is established as a reliable and economical source of electricity in rural and Sahara areas, especially in developing countries where the population is dispersed, has low consumption of energy and the grid power is not extended to these areas due to viability and financial problems. The production of energy by the photovoltaic system fluctuates and depend on meteorological conditions. Wind is a very important and often neglected parameter in the behavior of the solar module. The electric performances of a solar module to the silicon are very appreciable to the blows; in the present work, we have studied the behavior of multi-crystal solar module according to the density of dust, and the principals electric feature of the solar module. An evaluation permits to affirm that a solar module under the effect of sand will collect a lower flux to the normal conditions.

Keywords: solar modulen pv, dust effect, experimental, performances

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Authors: P. Naderi, M. N. Ouarzazi, S. C. Hirata, H. Ben Hamed, H. Beji

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The stability of mixed convection in a Newtonian fluid medium heated from below and cooled from above, also known as the Poiseuille-Rayleigh-Bénard problem, has been extensively investigated in the past decades. To our knowledge, mixed convection in porous media has received much less attention in the published literature. The present paper extends the mixed convection problem in porous media for the case of a viscoelastic fluid flow owing to its numerous environmental and industrial applications such as the extrusion of polymer fluids, solidification of liquid crystals, suspension solutions and petroleum activities. Without a superimposed through-flow, the natural convection problem of a viscoelastic fluid in a saturated porous medium has already been treated. The effects of the viscoelastic properties of the fluid on the linear and nonlinear dynamics of the thermoconvective instabilities have also been treated in this work. Consequently, the elasticity of the fluid can lead either to a Hopf bifurcation, giving rise to oscillatory structures in the strongly elastic regime, or to a stationary bifurcation in the weakly elastic regime. The objective of this work is to examine the influence of the main horizontal flow on the linear and characteristics of these two types of instabilities. Under the Boussinesq approximation and Darcy's law extended to a viscoelastic fluid, a temporal stability approach shows that the conditions for the appearance of longitudinal rolls are identical to those found in the absence of through-flow. For the general three-dimensional (3D) perturbations, a Squire transformation allows the deduction of the complex frequencies associated with the 3D problem using those obtained by solving the two-dimensional one. The numerical resolution of the eigenvalue problem concludes that the through-flow has a destabilizing effect and selects a convective configuration organized in purely transversal rolls which oscillate in time and propagate in the direction of the main flow. In addition, by using the mathematical formalism of absolute and convective instabilities, we study the nature of unstable three-dimensional disturbances. It is shown that for a non-vanishing through-flow, general three-dimensional instabilities are convectively unstable which means that in the absence of a continuous noise source these instabilities are drifted outside the porous medium, and no long-term pattern is observed. In contrast, purely transversal rolls may exhibit a transition to absolute instability regime and therefore affect the porous medium everywhere including in the absence of a noise source. The absolute instability threshold, the frequency and the wave number associated with purely transversal rolls are determined as a function of the Péclet number and the viscoelastic parameters. Results are discussed and compared to those obtained from laboratory experiments in the case of Newtonian fluids.

Keywords: instability, mixed convection, porous media, and viscoelastic fluid

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Authors: Mario Kubek, Herwig Unger

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Due to the large amount of information in the World Wide Web (WWW, web) and the lengthy and usually linearly ordered result lists of web search engines that do not indicate semantic relationships between their entries, the search for topically similar and related documents can become a tedious task. Especially, the process of formulating queries with proper terms representing specific information needs requires much effort from the user. This problem gets even bigger when the user's knowledge on a subject and its technical terms is not sufficient enough to do so. This article presents the new and interactive search application DocAnalyser that addresses this problem by enabling users to find similar and related web documents based on automatic query formulation and state-of-the-art search word extraction. Additionally, this tool can be used to track topics across semantically connected web documents

Keywords: DocAnalyser, interactive web search, search word extraction, query formulation, source topic detection, topic tracking

Procedia PDF Downloads 389

Authors: Reena Aggarwal, Neha Kestwal

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The Himalayan Nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) has been used for centuries as fibre and food source by Himalayan communities. Himalayan Nettle is a natural cellulosic fibre that can be handled in the same way as other cellulosic fibres. The Uttarakhand Bamboo and Fibre Development Board based in Uttarakhand, India is working extensively with the nettle fibre to explore the potential of nettle for textile production in the region. The fiber is a potential resource for rural enterprise development for some high altitude pockets of the state and traditionally the plant fibre is used for making domestic products like ropes and sacks. Himalayan Nettle is an unconventional natural fiber with functional characteristics of shrink resistance, degree of pathogen and fire resistance and can blend nicely with other fibres. Most importantly, they generate mainly organic wastes and leave residues that are 100% biodegradable. The fabrics may potentially be reused or re-manufactured and can also be used as a source of cellulose feedstock for regenerated cellulosic products. Being naturally bio- degradable, the fibre can be composted if required. Though a lot of research activities and training are directed towards fibre extraction and processing techniques in different craft clusters villagers of different clusters of Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Bageshwar of Uttarakhand like retting and Degumming process, very little is been done to analyse the crucial properties of nettle fiber like shrinkage and wash fastness. These properties are very crucial to obtain desired quality of fibre for further processing of yarn making and weaving and in developing these fibers into fine saleable products. This research therefore is focused towards various on-field experiments which were focused on shrinkage properties conducted on cotton, nettle and cotton/nettle blended yarn samples. The objective of the study was to analyze the scope of the blended fiber for developing into wearable fabrics. For the study, after conducting the initial fiber length and fineness testing, cotton and nettle fibers were mixed in 60:40 ratio and five varieties of yarns were spun in open end spinning mill having yarn count of 3s, 5s, 6s, 7s and 8s. Samples of 100% Nettle 100% cotton fibers in 8s count were also developed for the study. All the six varieties of yarns were tested with shrinkage test and results were critically analyzed as per ASTM method D2259. It was observed that 100% Nettle has a least shrinkage of 3.36% while pure cotton has shrinkage approx. 13.6%. Yarns made of 100% Cotton exhibits four times more shrinkage than 100% Nettle. The results also show that cotton and Nettle blended yarn exhibit lower shrinkage than 100% cotton yarn. It was thus concluded that as the ratio of nettle increases in the samples, the shrinkage decreases in the samples. These results are very crucial for Uttarakhand people who want to commercially exploit the abundant nettle fiber for generating sustainable employment.

Keywords: Himalayan nettle, sustainable, shrinkage, blending

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Authors: Ahmed Khalil, Elhamy Tarabees, Svetlana Kovacikova

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The Red Sea Mountains have been famous for their ore deposits since ancient times. Also, petrographic analysis and previous potential field surveys indicated large unexplored accumulations of ore minerals in the area. Therefore, the main goal of the presented study is to contribute to the discovery of hitherto unknown ore mineral deposits in the Red Sea region. To achieve this goal, we used two geophysical techniques: land magnetic survey and magnetotelluric data. A high-resolution land magnetic survey has been acquired using two proton magnetometers, one instrument used as a base station for the diurnal correction and the other used to measure the magnetic field along the study area. Two hundred eighty land magnetic stations were measured over a mesh-like area with a 500m spacing interval. The necessary reductions concerning daily variation, regional gradient and time observation were applied. Then, the total intensity anomaly map was constructed and transformed into the reduced magnetic pole (RTP). The magnetic interpretation was carried out using the analytical signal as well as regional–residual separation is carried out using the power spectrum. Also, the tilt derivative method (TDR) technique is applied to delineate the structure and hidden anomalies. Data analysis has been performed using trend analysis and Euler deconvolution. The results indicate that magnetic contacts are not the dominant geological feature of the study area. The magnetotleruric survey consisted of two profiles with a total of 8 broadband measurement points with a duration of about 24 hours crossing a wadi um Gheig approximately 50 km south of El Quseir. Collected data have been inverted to the electrical resistivity model using the 3D modular 3D inversion technique ModEM. The model revealed a non-conductive body in its central part, probably corresponding to a dolerite dyke, with which possible ore mineralization could be related.

Keywords: magnetic survey, magnetotelluric, mineralization, 3d modeling

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Authors: Mohsine Khazrouni

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The present study is an attempt to highlight the importance of adaptation in translation. To convey the message, the translator needs to take into account not only the text but also extra-linguistic factors such as the target audience. The present paper claims that adaptation is an unavoidable translation strategy when dealing with texts that are heavy with religious and cultural themes. The translation task becomes even more challenging when dealing with children’s literature as the audience are children whose comprehension, experience and world knowledge are limited. The study uses the Arabic translation of the short story ‘Christmas Every Day’ as a case study. The short story will be translated, and the pragmatic problems involved will be discussed. The focus will be on the issue of adaptation. i.e., the source text should be adapted to the target language audience`s social and cultural environment.

Keywords: pragmatic adaptation, Arabic translation, children's literature, equivalence

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Authors: Benito Minjarez, Jesse Haramati, Yury Rodriguez-Yanez, Florencio Recendiz-Hurtado, Juan-Pedro Luna-Arias, Salvador Mena-Munguia

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During the last decades, the world has experienced a rapid industrialization and an expanding economy favoring a demographic boom. As a consequence, countries around the world have focused on developing new strategies related to the production of different farm products in order to meet future demands. Consequently, different strategies have been developed seeking to improve the major food products for both humans and livestock. Corn, after wheat and rice, is the third most important crop globally and is the primary food source for both humans and livestock in many regions around the globe. In addition, maize (Zea mays) is an important source of protein accounting for up to 60% of the daily human protein supply. Generally, many of the cereal grains have proteins with relatively low nutritional value, when they are compared with proteins from meat. In the case of corn, much of the protein is found in the endosperm (75 to 85%) and is deficient in two essential amino acids, lysine, and tryptophan. This deficiency results in an imbalance of amino acids and low protein content; normal maize varieties have less than half of the recommended amino acids for human nutrition. In addition, studies have shown that this deficiency has been associated with symptoms of growth impairment, anemia, hypoproteinemia, and fatty liver. Due to the fact that most of the presently available maize varieties do not contain the quality and quantity of proteins necessary for a balanced diet, different countries have focused on the research of quality protein maize (QPM). Researchers have characterized QPM noting that these varieties may contain between 70 to 100% more residues of the amino acids essential for animal and human nutrition, lysine, and tryptophan, than common corn. Several countries in Africa, Latin America, as well as China, have incorporated QPM in their agricultural development plan. Large parts of these countries have chosen a specific QPM variety based on their local needs and climate. Reviews have described the breeding methods of maize and have revealed the lack of studies on genetic and proteomic diversity of proteins in QPM varieties, and their genetic relationships with normal maize varieties. Therefore, molecular marker identification using tools such as mass spectrometry may accelerate the selection of plants that carry the desired proteins with high lysine and tryptophan concentration. To date, QPM maize lines have played a very important role in alleviating the malnutrition, and better characterization of these lines would provide a valuable nutritional enhancement for use in the resource-poor regions of the world. Thus, the objectives of this study were to identify proteins in QPM maize in comparison with a common maize line as a control.

Keywords: corn, mass spectrometry, QPM, tryptophan

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Authors: E. Farg, M. M. El-Sharkawy, M. S. Mostafa, S. M. Arafat

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Mapping water stress provides important baseline data for sustainable agriculture. Recent developments in the new Sentinel-1 data which allow the acquisition of high resolution images and varied polarization capabilities. This study was conducted to detect and quantify vegetation water content from canopy backscatter for extracting spatial information to encourage drought mapping activities throughout new reclaimed sandy soils in western Nile delta, Egypt. The performance of radar imagery in agriculture strongly depends on the sensor polarization capability. The dual mode capabilities of Sentinel-1 improve the ability to detect water stress and the backscatter from the structure components improves the identification and separation of vegetation types with various canopy structures from other features. The fieldwork data allowed identifying of water stress zones based on land cover structure; those classes were used for producing harmonious water stress map. The used analysis techniques and results show high capability of active sensors data in water stress mapping and monitoring especially when integrated with multi-spectral medium resolution images. Also sub soil drip irrigation systems cropped areas have lower drought and water stress than center pivot sprinkler irrigation systems. That refers to high level of evaporation from soil surface in initial growth stages. Results show that high relationship between vegetation indices such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index NDVI the observed radar backscattering. In addition to observational evidence showed that the radar backscatter is highly sensitive to vegetation water stress, and essentially potential to monitor and detect vegetative cover drought.

Keywords: canopy backscatter, drought, polarization, NDVI

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Yassine Jamoussi, Ameni Youssfi, Henda Ben Ghezala

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With the growing interest in social networking, the interaction of social actors evolved to a source of knowledge in which it becomes possible to perform context aware-reasoning. The information extraction from social networking especially Twitter and Facebook is one of the problems in this area. To extract text from social networking, we need several lexical features and large scale word clustering. We attempt to expand existing tokenizer and to develop our own tagger in order to support the incorrect words currently in existence in Facebook and Twitter. Our goal in this work is to benefit from the lexical features developed for Twitter and online conversational text in previous works, and to develop an extraction model for constructing a huge knowledge based on actions

Keywords: social networking, information extraction, part-of-speech tagging, natural language processing

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Authors: Sudha Summarwar, Sudesh Agarwal, Deepali Lall, Nalini Kataria, Jyotsana Pandey

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Assessment of antioxidant status is an effective tool to appraise the presence of oxidative stress. A combination of assays can be used to evaluate the antioxidant status like serum catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and monoamine oxidase (MAO). In human medicine pregnancy is known to be associated with oxidative stress. Oxidative stress produces harmful effects to the developing foetus. Several metabolic changes occur in the maternal body to meet the demand of energy of developing foetus. Due to these changes susceptibility of maternal body increases to oxidative stress. There is paucity of research work on this aspect in nondescript goats. Therefore, the present study was intended to appraise the oxidative stress in pregnant and non-pregnant non-descript goat. Blood samples were collected for serum separation in otherwise healthy pregnant and non-pregnant nondescript goats. Mean values of serum CAT, SOD and MAO were found on a higher side (p≤0.05) with serum SOD values showing a rise of 2.5 times higher than the control healthy value. Correlations among all the three parameters were found to be highly significant (p≤0.01) especially greatest in youngest group of pregnant animals. Illustration of result enlightened the veracity of bumped up production of free radicals in pregnant animals. Technical savoir-faire of oxidative stress supervision is essential for upholding of health status of foetus. The upshot of present study undoubtedly implied the development of oxidative stress in pregnant goats on the basis of altered antioxidant status. These findings conclude that initially the oxidative stress due to pregnancy is critically combated by the intricate defensive mechanism of natural antioxidant system of the body. It appears that this imbalance between oxidant and antioxidant must be checked in time to prevent cellular damage by regularly appraising the antioxidant status through laboratory methods.

Keywords: antioxidant, oxidative stress, pregnancy, serum catalase

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Authors: Urvi Panwar, Kanchan Mishra, Kanjaksha Ghosh, ShankerLal Kothari

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Background: Day-by-day the increasing prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases have become a global issue to manage them by medical sciences. The adult neural stem cells are rare and require an invasive and painful procedure to obtain it from central nervous system. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) therapies have shown remarkable application in treatment of various cell injuries and cell loss. MSCs can be derived from various sources like adult tissues, human bone marrow, umbilical cord blood and cord tissue. MSCs have similar proliferation and differentiation capability, but the human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) are proved to be more beneficial with respect to cell procurement, differentiation to other cells, preservation, and transplantation. Material and method: Human umbilical cord is easily obtainable and non-controversial comparative to bone marrow and other adult tissues. The umbilical cord can be collected after delivery of baby, and its tissue can be cultured using explant culture method. Cell culture medium such as DMEMF12+10% FBS and DMEMF12+Neural growth factors (bFGF, human noggin, B27) with antibiotics (Streptomycin/Gentamycin) were used to culture and differentiate mesenchymal stem cells into neural cells, respectively. The characterisations of MSCs were done with Flow Cytometer for surface markers CD90, CD73 and CD105 and colony forming unit assay. The differentiated various neural cells will be characterised by fluorescence markers for neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes; quantitative PCR for genes Nestin and NeuroD1 and Western blotting technique for gap43 protein. Result and discussion: The high quality and number of MSCs were isolated from human umbilical cord via explant culture method. The obtained MSCs were differentiated into neural cells like neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The differentiated neural cells can be used to treat neural injuries and neural cell loss by delivering cells by non-invasive administration via cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or blood. Moreover, the MSCs can also be directly delivered to different injured sites where they differentiate into neural cells. Therefore, human umbilical cord is demonstrated to be an inexpensive and easily available source for MSCs. Moreover, the hUCMSCs can be a potential source for neural cell therapies and neural cell regeneration for neural cell injuries and neural cell loss. This new way of research will be helpful to treat and manage neural cell damages and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer and Parkinson. Still the study has a long way to go but it is a promising approach for many neural disorders for which at present no satisfactory management is available.

Keywords: bone marrow, cell therapy, explant culture method, flow cytometer, human umbilical cord, mesenchymal stem cells, neurodegenerative diseases, neuroprotective, regeneration

Procedia PDF Downloads 201

Authors: John Farr Rothrock

Abstract:

Although migraine traditionally has been assumed to convey a relative decrease in libido, sexual activity and sexual performance, recent data have suggested that the female migraine population is far from homogenous in this regard. We sought to determine the levels of libido, sexual activity and sexual performance in the female migraine patient population both generally and according to clinical phenotype. In this single-blind study, a consecutive series of sexually active new female patients ages 25-55 initially presenting to a university-based headache clinic and having a >1 year history of migraine were asked to complete anonymously a survey assessing their sexual histories generally and as they related to their headache disorder and the 19-item Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). To serve as 2 separate control groups, 100 sexually active females with no history of migraine and 100 female migraineurs from the general (non-clinic) population but matched for age, marital status, educational background and socioeconomic status completed a similar survey. Over a period of 3 months, 188 consecutive migraine patients were invited to participate. Twenty declined, and 28 of the remaining 160 potential subjects failed to meet the inclusion criterion utilized for “sexually active” (ie, heterosexual intercourse at a frequency of > once per month in each of the preceding 6 months). In all groups younger age (p<.005), higher educational level attained (p<.05) and higher socioeconomic status (p<.025) correlated with a higher monthly frequency of intercourse and a higher likelihood of intercourse resulting in orgasm. Relative to the 100 control subjects with no history of migraine, the two migraine groups (total n=232) reported a lower monthly frequency of intercourse and recorded a lower FSFI score (both p<.025), but the contribution to this difference came primarily from the chronic migraine (CM) subgroup (n=92). Patients with low frequency episodic migraine (LFEM) and mid frequency episodic migraine (MFEM) reported a higher FSFI score, higher monthly frequency of intercourse, higher likelihood of intercourse resulting in orgasm and higher likelihood of multiple active sex partners than controls. All migraine subgroups reported a decreased likelihood of engaging in intercourse during an active migraine attack, but relative to the CM subgroup (8/92=9%), a higher proportion of patients in the LFEM (12/49=25%), MFEM (14/67=21%) and high frequency episodic migraine (HFEM: 6/14=43%) subgroups reported utilizing intercourse - and orgasm specifically - as a means of potentially terminating a migraine attack. In the clinic vs no-clinic groups there were no significant differences in the dependent variables assessed. Research subjects with LFEM and MFEM may report a level of libido, frequency of intercourse and likelihood of orgasm-associated intercourse that exceeds what is reported by age-matched controls free of migraine. Many patients with LFEM, MFEM and HFEM appear to utilize intercourse/orgasm as a means to potentially terminate an acute migraine attack.

Keywords: migraine, female, libido, sexual activity, phenotype

Procedia PDF Downloads 73

Authors: Jyun-Hao Liao, Chien-Ju Chen, Chia-Jui Yu, Meng Chyi Wu, Chia-Ching Wu

Abstract:

In this letter, we reported the fabrication of InGaAs micro-photodiode sensor array with the rapid thermal diffusion (RTD) technique. The spin-on dopant source Zn was used to form the p-type region in InP layer. Through the RTD technique, the InP/InGaAs heterostructure was formed. We improved our fabrication on the p-i-n photodiode to micro size which pixel is 7.8um, and the pitch is 12.8um. The proper SiNx was deposited to form the passivation layer. The leakage current of single pixel decrease to 3.3pA at -5V, and 35fA at -10mV. The leakage current densities of each voltage are 21uA/cm² at -5V and 0.223uA/cm² at -10mV. As we focus on the wavelength from 0.9um to 1.7um, the optimized Si/Al₂O₃ bilayers are deposited to form the AR-coating.

Keywords: InGaAs, micro sensor array, p-i-n photodiode, rapid thermal diffusion, Zn diffusion

Procedia PDF Downloads 313

Authors: Rajkumar Ghosh

Abstract:

The present study focuses on conducting a socio-economic assessment of groundwater contamination by arsenic and iron and explores the feasibility of rainwater harvesting (RWH) as an alternative water source in the Amdanga Block of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India. The region is plagued by severe groundwater contamination, primarily due to excessive concentrations of arsenic and iron, which pose significant health risks to the local population. The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative analysis of water samples collected from different locations within the Amdanga Block and socio-economic surveys conducted among the affected communities. The results reveal alarmingly high levels of arsenic and iron contamination in the groundwater, surpassing the World Health Organization (WHO) and Indian government's permissible limits. This contamination significantly impacts the health and well-being of the local population, leading to a range of health issues such as skin The water samples are analyzed for arsenic and iron levels, while the surveys gather data on water usage patterns, health conditions, and socio-economic factors. lesions, respiratory disorders, and gastrointestinal problems. Furthermore, the socio-economic assessment highlights the vulnerability of the affected communities due to limited access to safe drinking water. The findings reveal the adverse socio-economic implications, including increased medical expenditures, reduced productivity, and compromised educational opportunities. To address these challenges, the study explores the feasibility of rainwater harvesting as an alternative source of clean water. RWH systems have the potential to mitigate groundwater contamination by providing a sustainable and independent water supply. The assessment includes evaluating the rainwater availability, analyzing the infrastructure requirements, and estimating the potential benefits and challenges associated with RWH implementation in the study area. The findings of this study contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the socio-economic impact of groundwater contamination by arsenic and iron, emphasizing the urgency to address this critical issue in the Amdanga Block. The feasibility assessment of rainwater harvesting serves as a practical solution to ensure a safe and sustainable water supply, reducing the dependency on contaminated groundwater sources. The study's results can inform policymakers, researchers, and local stakeholders in implementing effective mitigation measures and promoting the adoption of rainwater harvesting as a viable alternative in similar arsenic and iron-contaminated regions.

Keywords: contamination, rainwater harvesting, groundwater, sustainable water supply

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: G. Çelik Gül, F. Kurtuluş

Abstract:

Colemanite is the most common borate mineral, and the main source of the boron required by plants, human, and earth. Transition metals exhibit optical and physical properties such as; non-linear optical character, structural diversity, thermal stability, long cycle life and luminescent radiation. The doping of colemanite with a transition metal, bring it very interesting and attractive properties which make them applicable in industry. Iron doped calcium borate was synthesized by conventional solid state method at 1200 °C for 12 h with a systematic pathway. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive analyze (SEM/EDS) were used to characterize structural and morphological properties. Also, thermal properties were recorded by thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA). 

Keywords: colemanite, conventional synthesis, powder x-ray diffraction, borates

Procedia PDF Downloads 328

Authors: Fares Hedayatit, Arnauld Joly, Panagiotis Papadimitriou

Abstract:

Many machine learning tasks such as text annotation usually require training over very big datasets, e.g., millions of web documents, that can be represented in a sparse input space. State-of the-art tree-based ensemble algorithms cannot scale to such datasets, since they include operations whose running time is a function of the input space size rather than a function of the non-zero input elements. In this paper, we propose an efficient splitting algorithm to leverage input sparsity within decision tree methods. Our algorithm improves training time over sparse datasets by more than two orders of magnitude and it has been incorporated in the current version of scikit-learn.org, the most popular open source Python machine learning library.

Keywords: big data, sparsely representable data, tree-based models, scalable learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 259