Search results for: highly porous scaffolds

Authors: Sunita Singh, Rajani Srivastava

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For natural resource management and in other applications about earth observation revolutionary remote sensing technology plays a significant role. One of such application in monitoring and classification of crop types at spatial and temporal scale, as it provides latest, most precise and cost-effective information. Present study emphasizes the use of three different vegetation indices of Rapid Eye imagery on crop type classification. It also analyzed the effect of each indices on classification accuracy. Rapid Eye imagery is highly demanded and preferred for agricultural and forestry sectors as it has red-edge and NIR bands. The three indices used in this study were: the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI), and the Normalized Difference Red Edge Index (NDRE) and all of these incorporated the Red Edge band. The study area is Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh, India and Radial Basis Function (RBF) kernel was used here for the Support Vector Machines (SVMs) classification. Classification was performed with these three vegetation indices. The contribution of each indices on image classification accuracy was also tested with single band classification. Highest classification accuracy of 85% was obtained using three vegetation indices. The study concluded that NDRE has the highest contribution on classification accuracy compared to the other vegetation indices and the Rapid Eye imagery can get satisfactory results of classification accuracy without original bands.

Keywords: GNDVI, NDRE, NDVI, rapid eye, vegetation indices

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Authors: Yen-Ni Teng, Hsing-Yi Chen, Hsien-An Pan, Yung-Ming Lin, Hany A. Omar, Jui-Hsiang Hung

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Leucine-rich repeats and WD repeat domain containing 1 (LRWD1) is highly expressed in the testes of healthy males. On the other hand, LRWD1 is significantly down-regulated in the testicular tissues of patients with severe spermatogenic defects. In our study, the downregulation of LRWD1 expression by shRNA caused a significant reduction of cell growth and mitosis and a noteworthy increase in the cell microtubule atrophy rate. Here, we used EMBOSS CpG plot analysis to explore the promoter region of LRWD1 gene. We found that CpG islands are located between positions -253 to +5 nucleotides upstream from the LRWD1 transcription start site. Luciferase reporter assay revealed that the hypermethylation of the LRWD1 promoter reduced the transcription activity in cells. In addition, quantitative methylation-specific PCR and immunostaining showed that the methylation inhibitor, 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine, increased LRWD1 promoter activity, LRWD1 mRNA, protein expression and cell viability. Whereas, the methylation activator, S-adenosylmethionine, caused opposite effects. The overexpression of p53 and Nrf2 in NT2/D1 cells increased LRWD1 promoter activity while 5-fluorodeoxyuridine decreased it. In conclusion, this study highlights evidence that the methylation status of LRWD1 promoter is associated with LRWD1 expression. Since the expression level of LRWD1 plays an important role in spermatogenesis, the methylation status of LRWD1 may serve as a novel molecular diagnostic or therapeutic approach in male's infertility.

Keywords: LRWD1, DNA methylation, p53, Nrf2

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Rafiat Bolanle Fasasi-Hammed

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Cassava is an important food crop in rural households of Nigeria. It has a high potential for product diversification, because it can be processed into various products forms for human consumption and can be made into chips for farm animals, and also starch and starch derivatives. However, cassava roots are highly perishable and contain potentially toxic cyanogenic glycosides which necessitate its processing. Therefore, this study was carried out to assess information needs of cassava processors on food safety practices in Oyo State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used in the selection of 110 respondents for this study. Descriptive statistics and chi-square were used to analyze the data collected. Results of this study showed that the mean age of the respondents was 39.4 years, majority (78.7%) of the respondents was married, 51.9% had secondary education; 45.8% of the respondents have spent more than 12 years in cassava processing. The mean income realized was ₦26,347.50/month from cassava processing. Information on cassava processing got to the respondents through friends, family and relations (73.6%) and fellow cassava processors (58.6%). Serious constraints identified were ineffective extension agents (93.9%), food safety regulatory agencies (88.1%) and inadequate processing and storage facilities (67.8%). Chi-square results showed that significant relationship existed between socio-economic characteristics of the respondents (χ2 = 29.80, df = 2,), knowledge level (χ2 = 9.26, df = 4), constraints (χ2 = 13.11, df = 2) and information needs at p < 0.05 level of significance. The study recommends that there should be regular training on improved cassava processing methods for the cassava processors in the study area.

Keywords: information, needs, cassava, Oyo State, processing

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Authors: Isabelle Barrett

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Natural watercourses provide a range of vital ecosystem services, notably freshwater provision. They also offer highly heterogeneous habitat which supports an extreme diversity of aquatic life. Exploitation of rivers, changing land use and flood prevention measures have led to habitat degradation and subsequent biodiversity loss; indeed, freshwater species currently face a disproportionate rate of extinction compared to their terrestrial and marine counterparts. Large woody debris (LWD) encompasses the trees, large branches and logs which fall into watercourses, and is responsible for important habitat characteristics. Historically, natural LWD has been removed from streams under the assumption that it is not aesthetically pleasing and is thus ecologically unfavourable, despite extensive evidence contradicting this. Restoration efforts aim to replace lost LWD in order to reinstate habitat heterogeneity. This paper aims to assess the current state of such restoration schemes for improving fluvial ecological health in the UK. A detailed review of the scientific literature was conducted alongside a meta-analysis of 25 UK-based projects involving LWD restoration. Projects were chosen for which sufficient information was attainable for analysis, covering a broad range of budgets and scales. The most effective strategies for river restoration encompass ecological success, stakeholder engagement and scientific advancement, however few projects surveyed showed sensitivity to all three; for example, only 32% of projects stated biological aims. Focus tended to be on stakeholder engagement and public approval, since this is often a key funding driver. Consequently, there is a tendency to focus on the aesthetic outcomes of a project, however physical habitat restoration does not necessarily lead to direct biodiversity increases. This highlights the significance of rivers as highly heterogeneous environments with multiple interlinked processes, and emphasises a need for a stronger scientific presence in project planning. Poor scientific rigour means monitoring is often lacking, with varying, if any, definitions of success which are rarely pre-determined. A tendency to overlook negative or neutral results was apparent, with unjustified focus often put on qualitative results. The temporal scale of monitoring is typically inadequate to facilitate scientific conclusions, with only 20% of projects surveyed reporting any pre-restoration monitoring. Furthermore, monitoring is often limited to a few variables, with biotic monitoring often fish-focussed. Due to their longer life cycles and dispersal capability, fish are usually poor indicators of environmental change, making it difficult to attribute any changes in ecological health to restoration efforts. Although the potential impact of LWD restoration may be positive, this method of restoration could simply be making short-term, small-scale improvements; without addressing the underlying symptoms of degradation, for example water quality, the issue cannot be fully resolved. Promotion of standardised monitoring for LWD projects could help establish a deeper understanding of the ecology surrounding the practice, supporting movement towards adaptive management in which scientific evidence feeds back to practitioners, enabling the design of more efficient projects with greater ecological success. By highlighting LWD, this study hopes to address the difficulties faced within river management, and emphasise the need for a more holistic international and inter-institutional approach to tackling problems associated with degradation.

Keywords: biological monitoring, ecological health, large woody debris, river management, river restoration

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Authors: Andrea Ghermandi

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Constructed wetlands have long been recognized as sources of ancillary benefits such as support for recreational activities. To date, there is a lack of quantitative understanding of the extent and welfare impact of such benefits. Here, it is shown how geotagged, passively crowdsourced data from online social networks (e.g., Flickr and Panoramio) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques can: (1) be used to infer annual recreational visits to 273 engineered wetlands worldwide; and (2) be integrated with non-market economic valuation techniques (e.g., travel cost method) to infer the monetary value of recreation in these systems. Counts of social media photo-user-days are highly correlated with the number of observed visits in 62 engineered wetlands worldwide (Pearson’s r = 0.811; p-value < 0.001). The estimated, mean willingness to pay for access to 115 wetlands ranges between $5.3 and $374. In 50% of the investigated wetlands providing polishing treatment to advanced municipal wastewater, the present value of such benefits exceeds that of the capital, operation and maintenance costs (lifetime = 45 years; discount rate = 6%), indicating that such systems are sources of net societal benefits even before factoring in benefits derived from water quality improvement and storage. Based on the above results, it is argued that recreational benefits should be taken into account in the design and management of constructed wetlands, as well as when such green infrastructure systems are compared with conventional wastewater treatment solutions.

Keywords: constructed wetlands, cultural ecosystem services, ecological engineering, social media

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Authors: Desislav Andreev, Veselin Stanev

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Linux operating system continues to gain popularity with every passed year. This is due to its open-source license and a great number of distributions, covering users’ needs. At first glance it seems that Linux can be integrated in every type of systems – it is already present in personal computers, smartphones and even in some embedded systems like Raspberry Pi. However, Linux still does not meet the performance and security requirements to run effectively on a real-time system. Real-time systems are very time-restricted – their processes have to execute and finish at strict time intervals. The Completely Fair Scheduler present in Linux does not have such scheduling capabilities and it is not able to ensure that critical-time processes will execute on time. One of the ways to solve this problem is implementing an Adaptive Partition Scheduler solution similar to that present in QNX Neutrino operating system. This type of scheduling divides the CPU in multiple adaptive partitions where each partition holds a percentage of CPU usage called budget, which allows optimal usage of the CPU resources and also provides protection against cyber attacks such as Denial of Service. This approach will also benefit systems, where functional safety is highly demanded, such as the instrumental clusters in the Automotive industry. The purpose of this paper is to present a concept of Adaptive Partition Scheduler designed for Linux-based operating systems.

Keywords: adaptive partitions, Linux kernel modules, real-time systems, scheduling

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Authors: G. Nyongombe, Guy L. Kabongo, B. M. Mothudi, M. S. Dhlamini

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A series of Transition Metals Oxides (TMOs) doped graphene were synthesized and successfully used as supercapacitor electrode materials. The as-synthesized materials exhibited exceptional electrochemical properties owing to the combined properties of its constituents; high surface area and good conductivity were achieved. Several analytical characterization techniques were employed to investigate the morphology, crystal structure atomic arrangement and elemental chemical state in the materials for which scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were conducted, respectively. Moreover, the electrochemical properties of the as-synthesized materials were examined by performing cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. Furthermore, the effect of doping concentration on the interlayer distance of the graphene materials and the charge transfer resistance are investigated and correlated to the exceptional current density which was multiplied by a factor of ~80 after TMOs doping in graphene. Finally, the resulting high capacitance obtained confirms the contribution of grapheme exceptional electronic conductivity and large surface area on the electrode materials. Such good-performing electrode materials are highly promising for supercapacitors and other energy storage devices.

Keywords: energy density, graphene, supercapacitors, TMOs

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Authors: María de los Ángeles Crespo López, Carmen García García

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The highly competitive nature of today's globalised marketplace requires that brands and stores develop effective commercial strategies to ensure their economic survival. Maintaining the loyalty of existing customers constitutes one key strategy that yields the best results. Although the relationship between consumers' self-congruity and their manifestations of loyalty towards a store has been investigated, the role of store personality in this relationship remains unclear. In this study, multiple parallel mediation analysis was used to examine the effect of Store Personality on the relationship between Self-Congruity of consumers and their Manifestations of Loyalty. For this purpose, 457 Spanish consumers of the Fnac store completed three self-report questionnaires assessing Store Personality, Self-Congruity, and Store Loyalty. The data were analyzed using the SPSS macro PROCESS. The results revealed that three dimensions of Store Personality, namely Exciting, Close and Competent Store, positively and significantly mediated the relationship between Self-Congruity and Manifestations of Loyalty. The indirect effect of Competent Store was the greatest. This means that a consumer with higher levels of Self-Congruity with the store will exhibit more Manifestations of Loyalty when the store is perceived as Exciting, Close or Competent. These findings suggest that more attention should be paid to the perceived personality of stores for the development of effective marketing strategies to maintain or increase consumers' manifestations of loyalty towards stores.

Keywords: multiple parallel mediation, PROCESS, self-congruence, store loyalty, store personality

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Authors: Bunakiye R. Japheth, Ogude U. Cyril

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Since the process of transforming user requirements to modeling constructs are not very well supported by domain-specific frameworks, it became necessary to integrate domain requirements with the specific architectures to achieve an integrated customizable solutions space via artifact orientation. Domain-specific modeling language specifications of model-driven engineering technologies focus more on requirements within a particular domain, which can be tailored to aid the domain expert in expressing domain concepts effectively. Modeling processes through domain-specific language formalisms are highly volatile due to dependencies on domain concepts or used process models. A capable solution is given by artifact orientation that stresses on the results rather than expressing a strict dependence on complicated platforms for model creation and development. Based on this premise, domain-specific methods for producing artifacts without having to take into account the complexity and variability of platforms for model definitions can be integrated to support customizable development. In this paper, we discuss methods for the integration capabilities and necessities within a common structure and semantics that contribute a metamodel for artifact-orientation, which leads to a reusable software layer with concrete syntax capable of determining design intents from domain expert. These concepts forming the language formalism are established from models explained within the oil and gas pipelines industry.

Keywords: control process, metrics of engineering, structured abstraction, semantic model

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Authors: Mohd Fadzil Mohd Idris, Aida Nasirah Abdullah, Kalthom Husain, Hanipah Hussin

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Online campaigns reflect all the advantages; namely speed, low cost, accessibility, customization, interactivity, and persuasive ability over other media channels. Normally via websites, expensive campaigns could be done not only faster and cheaper, but also successfully. Web interactivity seems to be highly beneficial to ENGOs in advocating environmental campaigns and trigger interaction. This paper looks into the environmental online campaigns through websites of the environmental NGOs in Malaysia (MENGO); particularly on how is web interactivity structured and employed by the selected the MENGO to conduct campaigns on important issues and encourage dialogue among the audience. In this study, a quantitative method for website content analysis was conducted to investigate the availability of the coded units and to determine on which level(s) the units were placed. Twelve (12) interactivity features were coded, including the placement of units of analysis for interactivity category as units of analysis until the fourth level (Level 0-Level 3). The result demonstrates how the MENGO do not effectively structure and employ the web interactivity to conduct campaigns on important issues and encourage dialogue among the audience. It is suggested that the MENGO should redevelop the interactive website in order to effectively advocate environmental campaigns on important issues and encourage dialogue among the audience.

Keywords: environmental NGOs (ENGO), Malaysia environmental NGOs (MENGO), internet, website, online campaigns, web interactivity

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Authors: Ahmed K. Sharaby, Ahmed S. El-Gendy

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Phenolic compounds (PCs) exist in the wastewater effluents of some industries such as oil refinery, pharmaceutical and cosmetics. Phenolic compounds are extremely hazardous pollutants that can cause severe problems to the aquatic life and human beings if disposed of without treatment. One of the most efficient treatment methods of PCs is photocatalytic degradation. The current work studies the performance of composite nanomaterial of titanium dioxide with magnetite as a photo-catalyst in the degradation of PCs. The current work aims at optimizing the synthesized photocatalyst dosage and contact time as part of the operational parameters at different initial concentrations of PCs and pH values in the wastewater. The study was performed in a lab-scale batch reactor under fixed conditions of light intensity and aeration rate. The initial concentrations of PCs and the pH values were in the range of (10-200 mg/l) and (3-9), respectively. Results of the study indicate that the dosage of the catalyst and contact time for total mineralization is proportional to the initial concentrations of PCs, while the optimum pH conditions for highly efficient degradation is at pH 3. Exceeding the concentration levels of the catalyst beyond certain limits leads to the decrease in the degradation efficiency due to the dissipation of light. The performance of the catalyst for degradation was also investigated in comparison to the pure TiO2 Degussa (P-25). The dosage required for the synthesized catalyst for photocatalytic degradation was approximately 1.5 times that needed from the pure titania.

Keywords: industrial, optimization, phenolic compounds, photocatalysis, wastewater

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Authors: N. Gigauri, V. Kukhalashvili, A. Surmava, L. Intskirveli, L. Gverdtsiteli

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Tbilisi, a large city of the South Caucasus, is a junction point connecting Asia and Europe, Russia and republics of the Asia Minor. Over the last years, its atmosphere has been experienced an increasing anthropogenic load. Numerical modeling method is used for study of Tbilisi atmospheric air pollution. By means of 3D non-linear non-steady numerical model a peculiarity of city atmosphere pollution is investigated during background western light air. Dust concentration spatial and time changes are determined. There are identified the zones of high, average and less pollution, dust accumulation areas, transfer directions etc. By numerical modeling, there is shown that the process of air pollution by the dust proceeds in four stages, and they depend on the intensity of motor traffic, the micro-relief of the city, and the location of city mains. In the interval of time 06:00-09:00 the intensive growth, 09:00-15:00 a constancy or weak decrease, 18:00-21:00 an increase, and from 21:00 to 06:00 a reduction of the dust concentrations take place. The highly polluted areas are located in the vicinity of the city center and at some peripherical territories of the city, where the maximum dust concentration at 9PM is equal to 2 maximum allowable concentrations. The similar investigations conducted in case of various meteorological situations will enable us to compile the map of background urban pollution and to elaborate practical measures for ambient air protection.

Keywords: air pollution, dust, numerical modeling, urban

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Rajesh Kumar Ulaganathan, Yi-Ying Lu, Chia-Jung Kuo, Srinivasa Reddy Tamalampudi, Raman Sankar, Fang Cheng Chou, Yit-Tsong Chen

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In this paper, we report the optoelectronic properties of multi-layered GeS nanosheets (~28 nm thick)-based field-effect transistors (called GeS-FETs). The multi-layered GeS-FETs exhibit remarkably high photoresponsivity of Rλ ~ 206 AW-1 under illumination of 1.5 µW/cm2 at  = 633 nm, Vg = 0 V, and Vds = 10 V. The obtained Rλ ~ 206 AW-1 is excellent as compared with a GeS nanoribbon-based and the other family members of group IV-VI-based photodetectors in the two-dimensional (2D) realm, such as GeSe and SnS2. The gate-dependent photoresponsivity of GeS-FETs was further measured to be able to reach Rλ ~ 655 AW-1 operated at Vg = -80 V. Moreover, the multi-layered GeS photodetector holds high external quantum efficiency (EQE ~ 4.0 × 104 %) and specific detectivity (D* ~ 2.35 × 1013 Jones). The measured D* is comparable to those of the advanced commercial Si- and InGaAs-based photodiodes. The GeS photodetector also shows an excellent long-term photoswitching stability with a response time of ~7 ms over a long period of operation (>1 h). These extraordinary properties of high photocurrent generation, broad spectral range, fast response, and long-term stability make the GeS-FET photodetector a highly qualified candidate for future optoelectronic applications.

Keywords: germanium sulfide, photodetector, photoresponsivity, external quantum efficiency, specific detectivity

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Authors: M. Golam Rabbi

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Theme of wildlife crime is unique in Bangladesh. In earlier of 2010, wildlife crime was not designated as a crime, unlike other offenses. Forest Department and other enforcement agencies were not in full swing to find out the organized crime scene at that time and recorded few cases along with forest crime. However, after the establishment of Wildlife Crime Control Unitin 2012a, total of 374 offenses have been detected with 566 offenders and 37,039 wildlife and trophies were seized till November 2016. Most offenses seem to be committed outside the forests where the presence of the forest staff is minimal. Total detection percentage of offenses is not known, but offenders are not identified in 60% of detected cases (UDOR). Only 20% cases are decided by the courts even after eight years, conviction rate of the total disposal is 70.65%. Mostly six months imprisonment and BDT 5000 fine seems to be the modal penalty. The monetary value of wildlife crime in the country is approximate $0.72M per year and the maximum value counted for reptiles around $0.45M especially for high-level trafficking of geckos and turtles. The most common seizures of wildlife are birds (mynas, munias, parakeets, lorikeets, water birds, etc.) which have domestic demand for pet. Some other wildlife like turtles, lizards and small mammals are also on the list. Venison and migratory waterbirds often seized which has a large quantity demand for consuming at aristocratic level.Due to porous border and weak enforcement in border region poachers use the way for trafficking of geckos, turtles, and tortoises, snakes, venom, tiger and body parts, spotted deerskin, pangolinetc. Those have very high demand in East Asian countries for so-called medicinal purposes. The recent survey also demonstrates new route for illegal trade and trafficking for instance, after poaching of tiger and deer from the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove track of the planet to Thailand through the Bay of Bengal, sharks fins and ray fish through Chittagong seaport and directly by sea routes to Myanmar and Thailand. However, a good number of records of offense demonstrate the transition route from India to South and South East Asian countries. Star tortoises and Hamilton’s turtles are smuggled in from India which mostly seized at Benapole border of Jessore and Hazrat Shah Jajal International Airport of Dhaka, in very large numbers for transmission to East Asian countries. Most of the cases of wildlife trade routes leading to China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Myanmar. Most surprisingly African ivory was seized in Bangladesh recently, which was meant to be trafficked to the South-East Asia. However; forest department is working to fight against wildlife poaching, illegal trade and trafficking in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies. The department needs a clear mandate and to build technical capabilities for identifying, seizing and holding specimens. The department also needs to step out of the forests and must develop the capacity to surveillance and patrol all sensitive locations across the country.

Keywords: Bangladesh forest department, Sundarban, tiger, wildlife crime, wildlife trafficking

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Authors: Vathna Suy, Ki-Il Song

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In order to store highly pressurized gas such as an isothermal compressed air energy storage, Lined Rock Caverns (LRC) are constructed underground and supported by layers of concrete, steel and rock masses. This study aims to numerically investigate the performance of rock masses which serve as a support of Lined Rock Cavern subjected to high cyclic pressure loadings. FLAC3D finite different software is used for the simulation since the software can effectively model the behavior of concrete lining and steel plate with its built-in structural elements. Cyclic pressure loadings are applied onto the inner surface of the cavern which then transmitted to concrete, steel and eventually to the surrounding rock masses. Changes of stress and strain are constantly monitored throughout all the process of loading operations. The results at various monitoring locations are then extracted and analyzed to assess the response of the rock masses, specifically on its ability to absorb energy during loadings induced by the changes of cyclic pressure loadings inside the cavern. By analyzing the obtained data of stress-strain relation and taking into account the behavior of materials under the effect of strain-dependency, conclusions on the performance of rock masses subjected to high cyclic loading conditions are drawn.

Keywords: cyclic loading, FLAC3D, lined rock cavern (LRC), strain-dependency

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Authors: Kelechi Emmanuel, Kyaw Thein Aung, William Burch

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Introduction: Although rewarding in more ways than one, rural medicine can be challenging. The factors that lead to the challenges experienced in rural medicine include but are not limited to scarcity of resources, poor patient education inadequately trained professionals. This is the first single center study done on the challenges of and ways to improve diagnosis in rural medicine. Materials and Methods: Questionnaires were given to providers in a single hospital in rural Tennessee USA. In which providers were asked the question ‘In the past six months, what measures have you taken to improve your diagnostic accuracy given limited resources. Results: The questionnaire was passed to ten physicians working in a two hundred and twentyfive hospital bed. Physicians who participated included physicians in hospital medicine, emergency medicine, surgery, cardiology and gastroenterology. The study found that improved physical examination skills, access to specialist especially via telemedicine and affiliation to centers with more experienced professionals improved diagnosis and overall patient outcome in rural medicine. Conclusion: From this single center study, there is evidence to show that in addition to honing physical examination skills and having access to immediate results of testing done; hospital collaborations and access to highly trained specialist via telemedicine does improve diagnosis in rural medicine.

Keywords: rural medicine, diagnostic accuracy, diagnosis, telemedicine

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Authors: Mohamed Noureldin, Jinkoo Kim

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The sensitivity of the seismic response parameters to the uncertain modeling variables of pile-founded fixed steel jacket platforms are investigated using tornado diagram, first-order second-moment, and static pushover analysis techniques. The effects of both aleatory and epistemic uncertainty on seismic response parameters have been investigated for an existing offshore platform. The sources of uncertainty considered in the present study are categorized into three different categories: the uncertainties associated with the soil-pile modeling parameters in clay soil, the platform jacket structure modeling parameters, and the uncertainties related to ground motion excitations. It has been found that the variability in parameters such as yield strength or pile bearing capacity has almost no effect on the seismic response parameters considered, whereas the global structural response is highly affected by the ground motion uncertainty. Also, some uncertainty in soil-pile property such as soil-pile friction capacity has a significant impact on the response parameters and should be carefully modeled. Based on the results, it is highlighted that which uncertain parameters should be considered carefully and which can be assumed with reasonable engineering judgment during the early structural design stage of fixed steel jacket platforms.

Keywords: fixed jacket offshore platform, pile-soil structure interaction, sensitivity analysis

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Authors: Maha Salah Abdullah Ismail, Mahmoud M. Alsagheir, Mohammed Salah Abd Allah

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Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by permeability pulmonary edema and refractory hypoxemia. Lung-protective ventilation is still the key of better outcome in ARDS. Prone position reduces the trans-pulmonary pressure gradient, recruiting collapsed regions of the lung without increasing airway pressure or hyperinflation. Prone ventilation showed improved oxygenation and improved outcomes in severe hypoxemic patients with ARDS. This study evaluates the effect of prone positioning on mechanically ventilated patients with ARDS. A quasi-experimental design was carried out at Critical Care Units, on 60 patients. Two tools were utilized to collect data; Socio demographic, medical and clinical outcomes data sheet. Results of the present study indicated that prone position improves oxygenation in patients with severe respiratory distress syndrome. The study recommended that use prone position in patients with severe ARDS, as early as possible and for long sessions. Also, replication of this study on larger probability sample at the different geographical location is highly recommended.

Keywords: acute respiratory distress syndrome, critical care, mechanical ventilation, prone position

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Authors: Fiona Lourenco, William Allen

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Dentofacial deformities are primarily surgically treated via orthognathic surgery. Health-related quality of life is concerned with aspects of quality of life that relate specifically to an individual’s health. Design and Setting: Retrospective analysis of patients who had orthognathic surgery from January 2018 - December 2022 at the trust using the previously validated Orthognathic Quality of Life questionnaire (OQoL). Materials and Methods: 32 Patient questionnaires (which included pre-operative and post-operative separate sections) were obtained via telephone survey. The data was analysed using the two-tailed paired t-test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: The change in perception post-surgery was highly significant (both tests resulted in p<0.001 for overall analysis as well as for each domain). Overall, a 74% improvement in QoL was seen following orthognathic surgery. Reports of improvement in each domain were as follows: 71% in the social aspect of the deformity domain, 76% in facial aesthetics, 60% in function, and 57% improvement in awareness of facial deformity. Conclusion: The assessment of QoL is becoming progressively imperative in clinical research. The above data shows that orthognathic surgery has a significant improvement in the QoL of patients post-operatively. The results demonstrate improvement in all domains, with perceptions in facial aesthetics seeing the highest change post-operatively.

Keywords: dentofacial, oral, facial asymmetry, orthognathic surgery, quality of life

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Authors: Xi-Wen Xiao, Tzy-Rong Lin, Chien-Hao Liu

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Ventilated acoustic metamaterials have attracted considerable research attention due to their low-frequency absorptions and efficient fluid ventilations. In this research, a wideband acoustic metamaterial with auditory filtering ability and efficient ventilation capacity were proposed. In contrast to a conventional Fano-like resonator, a Fano-like resonator composed of a resonant unit and two nonresonant units with a large opening area of 68% for fluid passages was developed. In addition, the coupling mechanism to improve the narrow bandwidths of conventional Fano-resonance-based meta-materials was included. With a suitable design, the output sound waves of the resonant and nonresonant states were out of phase to achieve sound absorptions in the far fields. Therefore, three-element and five-element coupled Fano-like metamaterials were designed and simulated with the help of the finite element software to obtain the filtering fractional bandwidths of 42.5% and 61.8%, respectively. The proposed approach can be extended to multiple coupled resonators for obtaining ultra-wide bandwidths and can be implemented with 3D printing for practical applications. The research results are expected to be beneficial for sound filtering or noise reductions in duct applications and limited-volume spaces.

Keywords: fano resonance, noise reduction, resonant coupling, sound filtering, ventilated acoustic metamaterial

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Authors: Yusuf Hesham Mohamed

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Introduction: Three-dimensional printing technology includes multiple procedures that fabricate three-dimensional objects through consecutively layering two-dimensional cross-sections on top of each other. 3D bioprinting is a promising field of 3D printing, which fabricates tissues and organs by accurately controlling the proper arrangement of diverse biological components. 3D bioprinting uses software and prints biological materials and their supporting components layer-by-layer on a substrate or in a tissue culture plate to produce complex live tissues and organs. 3D food printing is an emerging field of 3D bioprinting in which the 3D printed products are food products that are cheap, require less effort to produce, and have more desirable traits. The Aim of the Study is the development of an affordable 3D bioprinter by altering a locally made CNC instrument with an open-source platform to suit the 3D bio-printer purposes. Later, we went through applying the prototype in several applications regarding food technology and drug testing, including the organ-On-Chip. Materials and Methods: An off-the-shelf 3D printer was modified by designing and fabricating the syringe unit, which was designed on the basis of the Milli-fluidics system. Sodium alginate and gelatin hydrogels were prepared, followed by leaf cell suspension preparation from narrow sections of Fragaria’s viable leaves. The desired 3D structure was modeled, and 3D printing preparations took place. Cell-free and cell-laden hydrogels were printed at room temperature under sterile conditions. Post printing curing process was performed. The printed structure was further studied. Results: Positive results have been achieved using the altered 3D bioprinter where a 3D hydrogel construct of two layers made of the combination of sodium alginate to gelatin (15%: 0.5%) has been printed. DLP 3D printer was used to design the syringe component with a transparent PLA-Pro resin for the creation of a microfluidics system having two channels altered to the double extruder. The hydrogel extruder’s design was based on peristaltic pumps, which utilized a stepper motor. The design and fabrication were made using DIY-3D printed parts. Hard plastic PLA was the material utilized for printing. SEM was used to carry out the porous 3D construct imaging. Multiple physical and chemical tests were performed in order to ensure that the cell line was suitable for hosting. Fragaria plant was developed by suspending Fragaria’s cells from its leaves using the 3D bioprinter. Conclusion: 3D bioprinting is considered to be an emerging scientific field that can facilitate and improve many scientific tests and studies. Thus, having a 3D bioprinter in labs is considered to be an essential requirement. 3D bioprinters are very expensive; however, the fabrication of a 3D printer into a 3D bioprinter can lower the cost of the bioprinter. The 3D bioprinter implemented made use of peristaltic pumps instead of syringe-based pumps in order to extend the ability to print multiple types of materials and cells.

Keywords: scaffold, eco on chip, 3D bioprinter, DLP printer

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Authors: Khaldi Youcef

Abstract:

This investigation seeks to inquire into the effectiveness of using authentic videos for grammar teaching purposes. In this investigation, an English animated situation, Hercules, was used as a type of authentic multimedia to teach a particular grammatical structure, namely conditional sentences. This study also aims at investigating the EFL learners’ attitudes toward grammar learning after being exposed to such an authentic video. To reach that purpose, 56 EFL learners were required ultimately to respond to a questionnaire with an aim to reveal their attitudes towards grammar as a language entity and as a subject for being learned. Then, as a second stage of the investigation, the EFL learners were divided into a control group and an experimental group with 28 learners in each. The first group was taught grammar -conditional sentences- using a deductive-inductive approach, while the second group was exposed to an authentic video to learn conditional sentences. There was a post-lesson stage that included a questionnaire to be answered by learners of each group. The aim of this stage is to capture any change in learners' attitudes shown in the pre-lesson questionnaire. The findings of the first stage revealed learners' negative attitudes towards grammar learning. And the third stage results showed the effectiveness of authentic videos in entirely turning learners' attitudes toward grammar learning to be significantly positive. Also, the utility of authentic videos in highly motivating EFL learners can be deduced. The findings of this survey asserted the need for incorporation and integration of authentic videos in EFL classrooms as they resulted in rising effectively learners’ awareness of grammar and looking at it from a communicative perspective.

Keywords: multimedia, authentic videos, negative attitudes, grammar learning, EFL learners

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Authors: Musarat Ishaq, Tara Karnezis, Ramin Shayan

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Lipedema, a poorly understood chronic disease of adipose hyper-deposition, is often mistaken for obesity and causes significant impairment to mobility and quality-of-life. To identify molecular mechanisms underpinning lipedema, we employed comprehensive omics-based comparative analyses of whole tissue, adipocyte precursors (adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs)), and adipocytes from patients with or without lipedema. Transcriptional profiling revealed significant differences in lipedema tissue, adipocytes, and ADSCs, with altered levels of mRNAs involved inproliferation and cell adhesion. One highly up-regulated gene in lipedema adipose tissue, adipocytes and ADSCs, ZIC4, encodes Zinc Finger Protein ZIC 4, a class of transcription factor which may be involved in regulating metabolism and adipogenesis. ZIC4 inhibition impaired the adipogenesis of ADSCs into mature adipocytes. Epigenetic regulation study revealed overexpression of ZIC4 is involved in decreased promoter DNA methylation and subsequent decrease in adipogenesis. These epigenetic modifications can alter adipocytes microenvironment and adipocytes differentiation. Our study show that epigenetic events regulate the ability of ADSCs to commit and differentiate into mature adipocytes by modulating ZIC4.

Keywords: lipedema, adipose-derived stem cells, adipose tisue, adipocytes, zinc finger protein, epigenetic

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Authors: H. Al-Jabli

Abstract:

Using the freeze-melting process for the disposing of high saline brines was the aim of the paper by confirming the performance estimation of the treatment system. A laboratory bench scale freezing technique test unit was designed, constructed, and tested at Doha Research Plant (DRP) in Kuwait. The principal unit operations that have been considered for the laboratory study are: ice crystallization, separation, washing, and melting. The applied process is characterized as “the secondary-refrigerant indirect freezing”, which is utilizing normal freezing concept. The high saline brine was used as definite feed water, i.e. average TDS of 250,000 ppm. Kuwait desalination plants were carried out in the experimental study to measure the performance of the proposed treatment system. Experimental analysis shows that the freeze-melting process is capable of dropping the TDS of the feed water from 249,482 ppm to 56,880 ppm of the freeze-melting process in the two-phase’s course, whereas overall recovery results of the salt passage and salt rejection are 31.11%, 19.05%, and 80.95%, correspondingly. Therefore, the freeze-melting process is encouraging for the proposed application, as it shows on the results, which approves the process capability of reducing a major amount of the dissolved salts of the high saline brine with reasonable sensible recovery. This process might be reasonable with other brine disposal processes.

Keywords: high saline brine, freeze-melting process, ice crystallization, brine disposal process

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Authors: Xi Wang, Xiaoming Tao, Raymond C. H. So

Abstract:

As one of the convenient and noninvasive sensing approaches, the automatic limb girth measurement has been applied to detect intention behind human motion from muscle deformation. The sensing validity has been elaborated by preliminary researches but still need more fundamental study, especially on kinetic contraction modes. Based on the novel fabric strain sensors, a soft and smart limb girth measurement system was developed by the authors’ group, which can measure the limb girth in-motion. Experiments were carried out on elbow isometric flexion and elbow isokinetic flexion (biceps’ isokinetic contractions) of 90°/s, 60°/s, and 120°/s for 10 subjects (2 canoeists and 8 ordinary people). After removal of natural circumferential increments due to elbow position, the joint torque is found not uniformly sensitive to the limb circumferential strains, but declining as elbow joint angle rises, regardless of the angular speed. Moreover, the maximum joint torque was found as an exponential function of the joint’s angular speed. This research highly contributes to the application of the automatic limb girth measuring during kinetic contractions, and it is useful to predict the contraction level of voluntary skeletal muscles.

Keywords: fabric strain sensor, muscle deformation, isokinetic contraction, joint torque, limb girth strain

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Authors: George Adomako Kumi

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The response of structural members, when subjected to various forms of non-proportional loading, plays a major role in the overall stability and integrity of a structure. This research seeks to present the outcome of a finite element investigation conducted by the use of finite element programming software ABAQUS to validate the experimental results of elastic and inelastic behavior and strength of beam-columns subjected to axial loading, biaxial bending, and torsion under ambient temperature conditions. The application of the rigorous and highly complicated ABAQUS finite element software will seek to account for material, non-linear geometry, deformations, and, more specifically, the contact behavior between the beam-columns and support surfaces. Comparisons of the three-dimensional model with the results of actual tests conducted and results from a solution algorithm developed through the use of the finite difference method will be established in order to authenticate the veracity of the developed model. The results of this research will seek to provide structural engineers with much-needed knowledge about the behavior of steel beam columns and their response to various non-proportional loading conditions under ambient temperature conditions.

Keywords: beam-columns, axial loading, biaxial bending, torsion, ABAQUS, finite difference method

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Authors: Raisibe V. Mathabatha, Phatu W. Mashela, Nehemiah M. Mokgalong

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Occasional incidence of phytotoxicity in Nemarioc-BL and Nemafric-AL phytonematicides to crops raises credibility challenges that could negate their registration as commercial products. Responses of plants to phytonematicides are characterized by the existence of stimulation, neutral and inhibition phases, with the mid-point of the former being referred to as the Mean Concentration Stimulation Point (MSCP = Dm + Rh/2). The objective of this study was to determine the MCSP and the overall sensitivity (∑k) of Nemarioc-AL and Nemafric-BL phytonematicides to rough lemon seedling rootstocks using the Curve-fitting Allelochemical Response Dosage (CARD) computer-based model. Two parallel greenhouse experiments were initiated, with seven dilutions of each phytonematicide arranged in a randomised complete block design, replicated nine times. Six-month-old rough lemon seedlings were transplanted into 20-cm-diameter plastic pots, filled with steam-pasteurised river sand (300°C for 3 h) and Hygromix-T growing mixture. Treatments at 0, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 164% dilutions were applied weekly at 300 ml/plant. At 84 days after the treatments, analysis of variance-significant plant variables was subjected to the CARD model to generate appropriate biological indices. Computed MCSP values for Nemarioc-AL and Nemafric-BL phytonematicides on rough lemon were 29 and 38%, respectively, whereas ∑k values were 1 and 0, respectively. At the applied concentrations, rough lemon seedlings were highly sensitive to Nemarioc-AL and Nemafric-BL phytonematicides.

Keywords: crude extracts, cucurbitacins, effective microbes, fruit extracts

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Authors: Subhashini Chaturvedi

Abstract:

The New World Order of the 21st century which is largely lead by Global Technological Leadership, and a workforce of United Nations coming together in the wake of our planet's future. The objective of this study is to understand the approach taken to implement sustainable use of resources and adequate architectural interventions. The framework of global policies in terms of sustainability has to be checked whether they commensurate and do justice to various nations with highly variable resource availability and development index. The method used to analyse the subject is a study of linkage between Age, Development, and exertion of the land, which attribute to the history of nations worldwide. The study also questions whether the use of term Sustainability is even ethical to be suggested in under developed or developing nations. Evolving through examples of American Imperialism to steady decline of Indian state of Punjab over last few decades, shows how sustainability has acted like scoop taken from a whole container in case of developed societies whereas it has acted like scratching the bottom of an empty container in case of embryonic societies where needs for sustenance are still far fed. The result comes out in favour of more innovative and rational implementation of architecture, sustainability and urban planning in context to indigenous space of a society and its statistics. The bridge to reduce the gap of fiscal deficit in resource premises can be consolidated by balancing on a global level majorly and this research paper is in the pursuance of the same idea.

Keywords: developing nations, economy, holistic development, innovation, logical approach, statistics, USA

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Authors: Lynn Lehmann, Dinorah Leyva, Ana Lazic, Stefan Duhr, Philipp Baaske

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Characterization of biomolecular interactions, such as protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid or protein-small molecule, provides critical insights into cellular processes and is essential for the development of drug diagnostics and therapeutics. Here we present a novel, label-free, and tether-free technology to analyze picomolar to millimolar affinities of biomolecular interactions by Microscale Thermophoresis (MST). The entropy of the hydration shell surrounding molecules determines thermophoretic movement. MST exploits this principle by measuring interactions using optically generated temperature gradients. MST detects changes in the size, charge and hydration shell of molecules and measures biomolecule interactions under close-to-native conditions: immobilization-free and in bioliquids of choice, including cell lysates and blood serum. Thus, MST measures interactions under close-to-native conditions, and without laborious sample purification. We demonstrate how MST determines the picomolar affinities of antibody::antigen interactions, and protein::protein interactions measured from directly from cell lysates. MST assays are highly adaptable to fit to the diverse requirements of different and complex biomolecules. NanoTemper´s unique technology is ideal for studies requiring flexibility and sensitivity at the experimental scale, making MST suitable for basic research investigations and pharmaceutical applications.

Keywords: biochemistry, biophysics, molecular interactions, quantitative techniques

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Authors: Arpita Saha, Satish Chandra, Indrajit Ghosh

Abstract:

Delay implicates the time loss of a traveler while crossing an intersection. Efficiency of traffic operation at signalized intersections is assessed in terms of delay caused to an individual vehicle. Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) method and Webster’s method are the most widely used in India for delay estimation purpose. However, in India, traffic is highly heterogeneous in nature with extremely poor lane discipline. Therefore, to explore best delay estimation technique for Indian condition, a comparison was made. In this study, seven signalized intersections from three different cities where chosen. Data was collected for both during morning and evening peak hours. Only under saturated cycles were considered for this study. Delay was estimated based on the field data. With the help of Simpson’s 1/3 rd rule, delay of under saturated cycles was estimated by measuring the area under the curve of queue length and cycle time. Moreover, the field observed delay was compared with the delay estimated using HCM, Webster, Probabilistic, Taylor’s expansion and Regression methods. The drawbacks of the existing delay estimation methods to be use in Indian heterogeneous traffic conditions were figured out, and best method was proposed. It was observed that direct estimation of delay using field measured data is more accurate than existing conventional and modified methods.

Keywords: delay estimation technique, field delay, heterogeneous traffic, signalised intersection

Procedia PDF Downloads 296