Search results for: Jean Marie Garcia

Authors: Lubica Hikkerova, Jean-Michel Sahut

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This article aims to better understand how a natural park, with a touristic vocation, can benefit from its sustainable development approach to enhance the customer experience. For this aim, we analyze, on the one hand, the interactions between the different stakeholders in this sustainable tourism offer, their ways of cooperating to build this offer and, on the other hand, the perceptions of customers. To serve this purpose, two complementary qualitative methodologies have been conducted. As part of a systemic approach, a first study, through group discussions, was conducted with three categories of participants: (I) customers, (II) representatives of the park, communities, tourism offices and associations and 3-service providers in the park. For the second study, semi-directive interviews were realized with park managers and customers. Two levels of contributions have been found. First, we have demonstrated the value of a systemic approach to understanding sustainable tourism. Then, we developed, in the empirical part, a model of causal loops that allowed us to identify the various factors of the offer that decided potential tourists to visit the park and their impact on customer experience. The complementarity of this approach with semi-directive interviews with all the stakeholders enabled us to issue recommendations to improve the customer experience.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, systematic approach, price, park

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Authors: Yves Monette, Brad Loewen, Louise Pothier

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This study explores the first bog iron ore extraction activities which took place in colonial New France. Archaeological excavations carried on the founding site of Montreal in the last ten years have revealed the remains of Fort Ville-Marie erected in 1642. In a level related to the fort occupation between 1660 and 1680, kilos of scories, a dozen of half-finished iron artefacts and a light yellow clayey ore material have recovered that point to extractive metallurgy activities at the fort. Examples of scories, artefacts and of a possible bog iron ore were submitted to SEM-EDS analysis. The results clearly indicate that iron was extracted from local limonite ores in a bloomery. We discovered that the gangue material could be traced from the ore to the scories. However, some lime silicates and some accessory minerals found in the scories, like barite and celestine for example, were absent from the ore but present in dolomite fragments found in the same archaeological context. The tracing of accessory minerals suggests that the ironmaster introduced a lime flux in the bloomery charge to maximize the separation of the iron ore. Before the introduction of the blast furnace in Western Europe during the first half of the 18th Century, the use of fluxes in iron bloomery was not a common practice.

Keywords: bog iron ore, extractive metallurgy, French colonial America, Montreal, scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

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Authors: Pierre Kancir, Jean-Philippe Diguet, Marc Sevaux

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One of the main difficulties in developing multi-robot systems (MRS) is related to the simulation and testing tools available. Indeed, if the differences between simulations and real robots are too significant, the transition from the simulation to the robot won’t be possible without another long development phase and won’t permit to validate the simulation. Moreover, the testing of different algorithmic solutions or modifications of robots requires a strong knowledge of current tools and a significant development time. Therefore, the availability of tools for MRS, mainly with flying drones, is crucial to enable the industrial emergence of these systems. This research aims to present the most commonly used tools for MRS simulations and their main shortcomings and presents complementary tools to improve the productivity of designers in the development of multi-vehicle solutions focused on a fast learning curve and rapid transition from simulations to real usage. The proposed contributions are based on existing open source tools as Gazebo simulator combined with ROS (Robot Operating System) and the open-source multi-platform autopilot ArduPilot to bring them to a broad audience.

Keywords: ROS, ArduPilot, MRS, simulation, drones, Gazebo

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Authors: Omur Sercan Oral

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In this paper, the individual and social conflicts are examined with a sociological perspective during the social process of Macondo described in the post-modern book of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude. More specifically, the theme of the solitude of individuals who choose to be isolated and who are isolated is studied within the context of the suicide of Emile Durkheim. As a self-reflective product of individuals in the result-based process, both economically and socially founded in the text, solitude reflects the ultimate process of separation from society. In this sense, the various and multiplying layers of the collective codes of Macondo as microcosm and their interactions with the individuals are examined in this paper under the roof of suicide in the sociological concept. The attempts to explain the reasons, shift, and its reflections on individuals are carried out to cross the lines of one discipline. In doing that, the ideas of Durkheim, Foucault, Weber, and Clausewitz, to some extent, are planted explicitly and implicitly throughout the paper.

Keywords: Durkheim’s concept of suicide, solitude theme in Marquez, collective consciousness, isolation from society, subjectivity

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Authors: Janece Jean A. Polizon, Victor B. Amoroso

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Mt. Hamiguitan Range in Davao Oriental, Mindanao Island, Philippines is the only protected area with pygmy forest and a priority site for protection and conservation. This range harbors different vegetation types such as agroecosystem, dipterocarp forest, montane forest and mossy forest. This study was conducted to determine the diversity of trees and shrubs in different vegetation types of Mt. Hamiguitan Range. Transect walk and 16 sampling plots of 20 x 20 m were established in the different vegetation types. Specimens collected were classified and identified using the Flora Malesiana and type images. Assessment of status was determined based on International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). There were 223 species of trees, 141 genera and 71 families. Of the vegetation types, the pygmy forest obtained a comparatively high diversity value of H=1.348 followed by montane forest with H=1.284. The high species importance value (SIV) of Diospyros philippinensis for trees indicates that these species have an important role in regulating the stability of the ecosystem. The tree profile of the pygmy forest is different due to the ultramafic substrate causing the dwarfness of the trees. These forest types should be given high priority for protection and conservation.

Keywords: diversity, Mt Hamiguitan, vegetation, trees, shrubs

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Authors: Esraa Moustafa, Gaetan Rey, Stephane Lavirotte, Jean-Yves Tigli

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With the development of Internet of Things and Web of Things, computing becomes more pervasive, invisible and present everywhere. In fact, in our environment, we are surrounded by multiple devices that deliver (web) services that meet the needs of the users. However, the mobility of these devices as the users has important repercussions that challenge software design of these applications because the variability of the environment cannot be anticipated at the design time. Thus, it will be interesting to dynamically discover the environment and adapt the application during its execution to the new contextual conditions. We, therefore, propose a model of a context-aware middleware that can address this issue through a monitoring service that is capable of reasoning and observation channels capable of calculating the context during the runtime. The monitoring service evaluates the pre-defined X-Query predicates in the context manager and uses Prolog to deduce the services needed to respond back. An independent Observation Channel for each different predicate is then dynamically generated by the monitoring service depending on the current state of the environment. Each channel sends its result directly to the context manager which consequently calculates the context based on all the predicates’ results while preserving the reactivity of the self-adaptive system.

Keywords: auto-adaptation, context-awareness, middleware, reasoning engine

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Authors: Joy Marie Mora, Mark Daniel De Luna, Tsair-Wang Chung

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Transesterification reaction of soybean oil with methanol was carried out to produce fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) using calcined alkali metal (Na and Li) supported by pumice silica as the solid base catalyst. Pumice silica catalyst was activated by loading alkali metal ions to its surface via an ion-exchange method. Response surface methodology (RSM) in combination with Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to optimize the operating parameters in biodiesel production, namely: reaction temperature, methanol to oil molar ratio, reaction time, and catalyst concentration. Using the optimized sets of parameters, FAME yields using sodium and lithium silicate catalysts were 98.80% and 98.77%, respectively. A pseudo-first order kinetic equation was applied to evaluate the kinetic parameters of the reaction. The prepared catalysts were characterized by several techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) sorptometer, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, the reusability of the catalysts was successfully tested in two subsequent cycles.

Keywords: alkali metal, biodiesel, Box-Behnken design, heterogeneous catalyst, kinetics, optimization, pumice, transesterification

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Authors: Javier Sedano-Cibrián, Julio Manuel de Luis-Ruiz, Rubén Pérez-Álvarez, Raúl Pereda-García, Beatriz Malagón-Picón

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Structural inspection activities are necessary to ensure the correct functioning of infrastructures. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) techniques have become more popular than traditional techniques. Specifically, UAV Photogrammetry allows time and cost savings. The development of this technology has permitted the use of low-cost thermal sensors in UAVs. The representation of 3D thermal models with this type of equipment is in continuous evolution. The direct processing of thermal images usually leads to errors and inaccurate results. A methodology is proposed for the generation of 3D thermal models using dual sensors, which involves the application of visible Red-Blue-Green (RGB) and thermal images in parallel. Hence, the RGB images are used as the basis for the generation of the model geometry, and the thermal images are the source of the surface temperature information that is projected onto the model. Mining/industrial facilities representations that are obtained can be used for inspection activities.

Keywords: aerial thermography, data processing, drone, low-cost, point cloud

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Authors: Peña A. Roland R., Lozano P. Jean P.

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The waterflooding process is an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method that appears tremendously successful. This paper shows the importance of the role of the numerical modelling of waterflooding and how to provide a better description of the fluid flow during this process. The mathematical model is based on the mass conservation equations for the oil and water phases. Rock compressibility and capillary pressure equations are coupled to the mathematical model. For discretizing and linearizing the partial differential equations, we used the Finite Volume technique and the Newton-Raphson method, respectively. The results of three scenarios for waterflooding in porous media are shown. The first scenario was estimating the water saturation in the media without rock compressibility and without capillary pressure. The second scenario was estimating the front of the water considering the rock compressibility and capillary pressure. The third case is to compare different fronts of water saturation for three fluids viscosity ratios without and with rock compressibility and without and with capillary pressure. Results of the simulation indicate that the rock compressibility and the capillary pressure produce changes in the pressure profile and saturation profile during the displacement of the oil for the water.

Keywords: capillary pressure, numerical simulation, rock compressibility, two-phase flow

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Authors: A. Mondaca, E. Mendoza, D. Jackson-Maldonado, A. García-Obregón

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Deaf signers usually show lower scores in Auditory Working Memory (AWM) tasks and higher scores in Visual Working Memory (VWM) tasks than their hearing pairs. Further, Working Memory has been correlated with reading abilities and vocabulary in Deaf and Hearing individuals. The aim of the present study is to compare the performance of Mexican Deaf signers and hearing adults in VWM, reading and Vocabulary tasks and observe if the latter are correlated to the former. 15 Mexican Deaf signers were assessed using the Corsi block test for VWM, four different subtests of PROLEC (Batería de Evaluación de los Procesos Lectores) for reading abilities, and the LexTale in its Spanish version for vocabulary. T-tests show significant differences between groups for VWM and Vocabulary but not for all the PROLEC subtests. A significant Pearson correlation was found between VWM and Vocabulary but not between VWM and reading abilities. This work is part of a larger research study and results are not yet conclusive. A discussion about the use of PROLEC as a tool to explore reading abilities in a Deaf population is included.

Keywords: deaf signers, visual working memory, reading, Mexican sign language

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Authors: Edwin Forero-Garcia, Jaime Vitola, Brayan Cardenas, Johan Casagua

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This research article presents the integration of electronic and computer systems, which developed an ultrasonic signal processing system that performs the capture, adaptation, and analog-digital conversion to later carry out its processing and visualization. The capture and adaptation of the signal were carried out from the design and implementation of an analog electronic system distributed in stages: 1. Coupling of impedances; 2. Analog filter; 3. Signal amplifier. After the signal conditioning was carried out, the ultrasonic information was digitized using a digital microcontroller to carry out its respective processing. The digital processing of the signals was carried out in MATLAB software for the elaboration of A-Scan, B and D-Scan types of ultrasonic images. Then, advanced processing was performed using the SAFT technique to improve the resolution of the Scan-B-type images. Thus, the information from the ultrasonic images was displayed in a user interface developed in .Net with Visual Studio. For the validation of the system, ultrasonic signals were acquired, and in this way, the non-invasive inspection of the structures was carried out and thus able to identify the existing pathologies in them.

Keywords: acquisition, signal processing, ultrasound, SAFT, HMI

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Authors: Yu. I. Pigolkin, M. A. Garcia Corro

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Age determination of unknown dead bodies in forensic personal identification is a complicated process which involves the application of numerous methods and techniques. Skeletal remains are less exposed to influences of environmental factors. In order to enhance the accuracy of forensic age estimation additional properties of bones correlating with age are required to be revealed. Material and Methods: Dimensional examination of the sella turcica was carried out on cadavers with the cranium opened by a circular vibrating saw. The sample consisted of a total of 90 Russian subjects, ranging in age from two months and 87 years. Results: The tendency of dimensional variations throughout life was detected. There were no observed gender differences in the morphometry of the sella turcica. The shared use of the sella turcica depth and length values revealed the possibility to categorize an examined sample in a certain age period. Conclusions: Based on the results of existing methods of age determination, the morphometry of the sella turcica can be an additional characteristic, amplifying the received values, and accordingly, increasing the accuracy of forensic biological age diagnosis.

Keywords: age–related changes in bone structures, forensic personal identification, sella turcica morphometry, body identification

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Authors: Camila da Silva, Simone Belorte de Andrade, Vitor Augusto dos Santos Garcia, Vladimir Ferreira Cabral, J. Vladimir Oliveira Lúcio Cardozo-Filho

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In the present study, the non-catalytic transesterification of soybean oil in continuous mode using supercritical ethanol were investigated. Experiments were performed in a packed-bed tubular reactor (PBTR) and variable studied were reaction temperature (523 K to 598 K), pressure (10 MPa to 20 MPa), oil to ethanol molar ratio (1:10 to 1:40) and water concentration (0 wt% to 10 wt% in ethanol). Results showed that ethyl esters yields obtained in the PBTR were higher (> 20 wt%) than those verified in a tubular reactor (TR), due to improved mass transfer conditions attained in the PBTR. Results demonstrated that temperature, pressure, oil to ethanol molar ratio and water concentration had a positive effect on fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) production in the experimental range investigated, with appreciable reaction yields (90 wt%) achieved at 598 K, 20 MPa, oil to ethanol molar ratio of 1:40 and 10 wt% of water concentration.

Keywords: packed bed reactor, ethyl esters, continuous process, catalyst-free process

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Authors: Ludovic Favre, Thibaut M. Schafer, Jean-Luc Robyr, Elena-Lavinia Niederhäuser

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This paper presents an optimization method based on genetic algorithm for the energy management inside buildings developed in the frame of the project Smart Living Lab (SLL) in Fribourg (Switzerland). This algorithm optimizes the interaction between renewable energy production, storage systems and energy consumers. In comparison with standard algorithms, the innovative aspect of this project is the extension of the smart regulation over three simultaneous criteria: the energy self-consumption, the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions and operating costs. The genetic algorithm approach was chosen due to the large quantity of optimization variables and the non-linearity of the optimization function. The optimization process includes also real time data of the building as well as weather forecast and users habits. This information is used by a physical model of the building energy resources to predict the future energy production and needs, to select the best energetic strategy, to combine production or storage of energy in order to guarantee the demand of electrical and thermal energy. The principle of operation of the algorithm as well as typical output example of the algorithm is presented.

Keywords: building's energy, control system, energy management, energy storage, genetic optimization algorithm, greenhouse gases, modelling, renewable energy

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Authors: Sharmila Pradhan, Ralf Lach, George Michler, Jean Mark Saiter, Rameshwar Adhikari

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Ethylene/1-octene copolymer was modified incorporating three types of nanofillers differed in their dimensionality in order to investigate the effect of filler dimensionality on mechanical properties, for instance, tensile strength, microhardness etc. The samples were prepared by melt mixing followed by compression moldings. The microstructure of the novel material was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) method and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Other important properties such as melting, crystallizing and thermal stability were also investigated via differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). The FTIR and XRD results showed that the composites were formed by physical mixing. The TEM result supported the homogeneous dispersion of nanofillers in the matrix. The mechanical characterization performed by tensile testing showed that the composites with 1D nanofiller effectively reinforced the polymer. TGA results revealed that the thermal stability of pure EOC is marginally improved by the addition of nanofillers. Likewise, melting and crystallizing properties of the composites are not much different from that of pure.

Keywords: copolymer, differential scanning calorimetry, nanofiller, tensile strength

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Authors: V. Pérez-Herranz, M. Pinel, E. M. Ortega, M. García-Gabaldón

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In the present work, Electrochemical Impedance Spectrocopy (EIS) is applied to study the transport of different metal cations through a cation-exchange membrane. This technique enables the identification of the ionic-transport characteristics and to distinguish between different transport mechanisms occurring at different current density ranges. The impedance spectra are dependent on the applied dc current density, on the type of cation and on the concentration. When the applied dc current density increases, the diameter of the impedance spectra loops increases because all the components of membrane system resistance increase. The diameter of the impedance plots decreases in the order of Na(I), Ni(II) and Cr(III) due to the increased interactions between the negatively charged sulfonic groups of the membrane and the cations with greater charge. Nyquist plots are shifted towards lower values of the real impedance, and its diameter decreases with the increase of concentration due to the decrease of the solution resistance.

Keywords: ion-exchange membranes, Electrochemical Impedance Spectrocopy, multivalent metal cations, membrane system

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Authors: Ana Carolina Hecht, Noelia Enriz, Mariana Garcia Palacios

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The South American anthropology has been recently focused to research with children in different contexts. In our researches with children from indigenous communities in the lowlands and highlands of South America (Qom and Mbyá), we especially considered social categories that define the different ways of being a boy and a girl. In this way, we built an approach to disrupt monolithic models of childhood. The aim of this paper is to tackle the first stage of life, demarcated from their nominal references and from the upbringing and formative experiences in which children participate. So, we will focus on the network of social relations in the period of childhood, making especial focus on language develops, religion, schooling and games. The crossing of our different thematic interests allows us to consider the complexity of knowledge and skills that come into play during the development of children. Methodologically, this text is based on an ethnographic approach, with frequent visits and periods of cohabitation, for more than a decade with Mbyá and Qom people, who lives within indigenous communities in the provinces of Chaco, Buenos Aires and Misiones, in Argentina. We made participant observation and interviews with children and their families, with the objective to include children's voices in our researches about the whole community.

Keywords: chidhood, indigenous people, schooling, upbringing

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Authors: Jaime Carpio-García, Elena Blanco-Fernández, Javier González-Fernández, Daniel Castro-Fresno

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Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) are more often used in order to prevent floods, water treatment, fight against pollution, urban heat island effect, and global warming in applications like green roofs, permeable pavements, and others. Furthermore, geosynthetics are also worldwide used as a part of drainage systems in road construction. Geotextiles are an essential part of both, and one of the main geotextile properties in those applications is permeability, whose behavior is not well established along its service life. In this paper, clogging reduction design factors for an estimated service life of 25 years are experimentally obtained for five different geotextiles used in SUDS and roads combined with two different soils and with two pollutants, motor oil, and lime, in order to evaluate chemical clogging, too. The effect of characteristic opening size and other characteristics of the geosynthetics are also discussed in order to give civil engineers, together with the clogging reduction factors, a better long-time design of geotextiles used in their SUDS and roads.

Keywords: geotextiles, drainage, clogging, reduction factor

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Authors: Iván García-Magariño, Javier Bravo-Agapito, Marta López-Fernández

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Online judges have proven their utility in partial auto-evaluation of programming short exercises in the last decades. UnitJudge online judge has the advantage of facilitating the evaluation of separate units to provide more segregate and meaningful feedback to students in complex exercises and practices. This paper discusses the use of UnitUdge in advanced Java object-oriented programming exercises and web development practices. This later usage has been proposed by means of the Selenium Java library and classes to provide the web address. Consequently, UnitJudge is an online judge system that can be applied in several subjects, and therefore, many other students would take advantage of self-testing their exercises. This paper presents the experiments with a Java programming exercise for learning Java object-oriented classes with a generic type. Considering 10 students who voluntarily used UnitJudge, 80% successfully learned this concept, passing the judge exercise with correct results.

Keywords: online judges, programming skills, computer science education, auto-evaluation

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Authors: Tamara Thompson

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This presentation will address the vocality of American soprano Sibyl Sanderson (1865–1903) in Massenet’s Manon and Esclarmonde as discernible from documentary sources such as vocal treatises, annotated scores, and correspondence. These sources will then be compared and contrasted with Sanderson’s reception in French press. Sanderson sang Manon in 1888, which Massenet revised for her. She then created the role of Esclarmonde for the 1889 l'Exposition Universelle in Paris. The soprano appeared as the Byzantine Empress more than 100 times in the nine months following the premiere, which secured her fame and an international operatic career frought with controversy and criticism as well as adulation. Before her débuts as Manon and Esclarmonde, Sanderson received musical training in California and Paris from multiple teachers with varied and opposing methods. There will be an exploration of the ways in which the disparate pedagogic influences such as those taught by Giovanni Sbriglia and Jean de Reszké may have guided Sanderson’s vocal strategies, and possibly caused or promoted the severe vocal pathologies she battled in subsequent years. In addition, there is interrogation of the vocal writing and revisions made to the titular roles for Sanderson in order to assess how these factors may have affected her technique and vocal health.

Keywords: French, nineteenth-century, opera, pedagogy, vocality

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Authors: Amar Boukerrou, Ouerdia Belhadj, Dalila Hammiche, Jean Francois Gerard, Jannick Rumeau

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The main goal of this study is the investigation of alfa fiber content, treated with alkali treatment, on the thermal and mechanical properties of epoxy-amine matrix-based composites. The fibers were treated with 5% of sodium hydroxide solution and varied between 10% to 30% weight fractions. The tensile, flexural, and hardness tests are carried out to investigate the mechanical properties of composites. The results show those composites’ mechanical properties are higher than the neat epoxy-amine. It was noticed that the alkali treatment is more effective in the case of the tensile and flexural modulus than the tensile and flexural strength. The decline of both the tensile and flexural behavior of all composites with the increasing of the filler content was due probably to the random dispersion of the fibers in the epoxy resin The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) was employed to analyze the chemical structure of epoxy resin before and after curing with amine hardener. FTIR and DSC analysis confirmed that epoxy resin was completely cured with amine hardener at room temperature. SEM analysis has highlighted the microstructure of epoxy matrix and its composites.

Keywords: alfa fiber, epoxy resin, alkali treatment, mechanical properties

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Authors: António J. R. Neves, Rui Garcia, Paulo Dias, Alina Trifan

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With the aging of the world population and the continuous growth in technology, service robots are more and more explored nowadays as alternatives to healthcare givers or personal assistants for the elderly or disabled people. Any service robot should be capable of interacting with the human companion, receive commands, navigate through the environment, either known or unknown, and recognize objects. This paper proposes an approach for object recognition based on the use of depth information and color images for a service robot. We present a study on two of the most used methods for object detection, where 3D data is used to detect the position of objects to classify that are found on horizontal surfaces. Since most of the objects of interest accessible for service robots are on these surfaces, the proposed 3D segmentation reduces the processing time and simplifies the scene for object recognition. The first approach for object recognition is based on color histograms, while the second is based on the use of the SIFT and SURF feature descriptors. We present comparative experimental results obtained with a real service robot.

Keywords: object detection, feature, descriptors, SIFT, SURF, depth images, service robots

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Authors: Ramón Aparicio-García, Gustavo Juárez Gracia, Jesús Álvarez Cedillo

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A research line of the computer science that involve the study of the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), which search to recognize and interpret the user intent by the storage and the subsequent analysis of the electrical signals of the brain, for using them in the control of electronic devices. On the other hand, the affective computing research applies the human emotions in the HCI process helping to reduce the user frustration. This paper shows the results obtained during the hardware and software development of a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) capable of recognizing the human emotions through the association of the brain electrical activity patterns. The hardware involves the sensing stage and analogical-digital conversion. The interface software involves algorithms for pre-processing of the signal in time and frequency analysis and the classification of patterns associated with the electrical brain activity. The methods used for the analysis and classification of the signal have been tested separately, by using a database that is accessible to the public, besides to a comparison among classifiers in order to know the best performing.

Keywords: affective computing, interface, brain, intelligent interaction

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Authors: Ramiro Gustavo Ramirez Camacho, Waldir De Oliveira, Eraldo Cruz Dos Santos, Edna Raimunda Da Silva, Tania Marie Arispe Angulo, Carlos Eduardo Alves Da Costa, Tânia Cristina Alves Dos Reis

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It presents a preliminary design methodology of an axial fan based on the lift wing theory and the potential vortex hypothesis. The literature considers a study of acoustic and engineering expertise to model a fan with low noise. Axial fans with inadequate intake geometry, often suffer poor condition of the flow at the entrance, varying from velocity profiles spatially asymmetric to swirl floating with respect to time, this produces random forces acting on the blades. This produces broadband gust noise which in most cases triggers the tonal noise. The analysis of the axial flow fan will be conducted for the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations and models of turbulence in steady and transitory (RANS - URANS) 3-D, in order to find an efficient aerodynamic design, with low noise and suitable for industrial installation. Therefore, the process will require the use of computational optimization methods, aerodynamic design methodologies, and numerical methods as CFD- Computational Fluid Dynamics. The objective is the development of the methodology of the construction axial fan, provide of design the geometry of the blade, and evaluate aerodynamic performance

Keywords: Axial fan design, CFD, Preliminary Design, Optimization

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Authors: Santiranjan Shannigrahi, Mohit Sharma, Ivan Tan Chee Kiang, Yong Anna Marie

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Polymer-ceramics composites are gaining importance due to their high specific strength, corrosion resistance, and high mechanical properties, as well as low cost. As a result, polymer composites are suitable for various industrial applications, like automobiles, aerospace, and biomedical areas. The present work comprises the development of polymer-ceramic composite films and is tested for the harsh environment including weatherability and UV barrier property. The polymer composite films are kept in weather chamber for a fixed period of time followed by tested for their physical, mechanical and chemical properties. The composite films are fabricated using compounding followed by hot pressing. UV-visible spectroscopy results reveal that the pure polymer polyethylene (PE) films are transparent in the visible range and do not absorb UV. However, polymer ceramic composite films start absorbing UV completely even at very low filler loading amount of 5 wt.%. The changes in tensile properties of the various composite films before and after UV illuminations for 40 hrs at 60 degC are analyzed. The tensile strength of neat PE film has been observed 8% reduction, whereas the remarkable increase in tensile strength has been observed (18% improvement for 10 wt. % filled composites films). The UV exposure leads to strengthen the crosslinking among PE polymer chains in the filled composite films, which contributes towards the incremented tensile strength properties.

Keywords: polymer ceramic composite, processing, harsh environment, mechanical properties

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Authors: Rasha Saad, Jean Frederic Weber, Fatimah Bebe, Sadia Sultan

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The goal of study was to screen the effects of candesartan and four endophytic fungi for their potential in microbial biotransformation. In this experiment, four types of unidentified fungi with the codes of TH2L1, TH2R10, TH1P35 and TH1S46 were used in screening process by MECFUS (Microtiter plate, Elicitors, Combination, Freeze-drying, UHPLC, Statistical analysis) protocol. The experiment was carried out by using 96-well microtiter plate (MTP) with different media and elicitors. Various media with two concentrations of Potato Dextrose Broth (PDB) and elicitors used were to induce the production of secondary metabolites from the fungi as well as the biotransformation of the drug compound. After incubation, cultures were extracted by freeze drying method and finally analyzed by ultra-High performance Liquid Chromatography (uHPLC). The extracts analyzed by uHPLC followed by LC/Ms, demonstrated the presence of biotransformation products from the drug compound and elicitation of the secondary metabolism from the fungi by the occurrence of the additional peaks. From the four fungi, TH1S46 showed highly potential produced secondary metabolites as well as the biotransformation of candesartan. For other fungi, they responded when candesartan was introduced. Moreover, the additional peaks produced in uHPLC need to be further investigation by using LC-MS or NMR.

Keywords: biotransformation, candesartan, endophytes, secondary metabolites

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Authors: Kayla Marie Sarte

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This study sought to describe mother tongue-based classes in the light of classroom interactional discourse using the Sinclair and Coulthard model. It specifically identified the exchanges, grouped into Teaching and Boundary types; moves, coded as Opening, Answering and Feedback; and the occurrence of the 13 acts (Bid, Cue, Nominate, Reply, React, Acknowledge, Clue, Accept, Evaluate, Loop, Comment, Starter, Conclusion, Aside and Silent Stress) in the classroom, and determined what these reveal about the teaching and learning processes in the MTB classroom. Being a qualitative study, using the Single Collective Case Within-Site (embedded) design, varied data collection procedures such as non-participant observations, audio-recordings and transcription of MTB classes, and semi-structured interviews were utilized. The results revealed the presence of all the codes in the model (except for the silent stress) which also implied that the Hiligaynon mother tongue-based class was eclectic, cultural and communicative, and had a healthy, analytical and focused environment which aligned with the aims of MTB-MLE, and affirmed the purported benefits of mother tongue teaching. Through the study, gaps in the mother tongue teaching and learning were also identified which involved the difficulty of children in memorizing Hiligaynon terms expressed in English in their homes and in the communities.

Keywords: discourse analysis, language teaching and learning, mother tongue-based education, multilingualism

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Authors: Dalvin D. Hill, Hector M. Castro Garcia

Abstract:

A growing number of individuals utilize wearable devices on a daily basis. The usage and functionality of these wearable devices vary from user to user. One popular usage of said devices is to track health-related activities that are typically stored on a device’s memory or uploaded to an account in the cloud; based on the current trend, the data accumulated from the wearable device are stored in a standalone location. In many of these cases, this health related datum is not a factor when considering the holistic view of a user’s health lifestyle or record. This health-related data generated from wearable and Internet of Things (IoT) devices can serve as empirical information to a medical provider, as the standalone data can add value to the holistic health record of a patient. This paper proposes a solution to incorporate the data gathered from these wearable and IoT devices, with that a patient’s Personal Health Record (PHR) stored within the confines of a Health Information Exchange (HIE).

Keywords: electronic health record, health information exchanges, internet of things, personal health records, wearable devices, wearables

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Lis Tamayo-Rivera, Anette Lopez-Sierra, Diana Salvador-Garcia, Joel E. Valdivieso-Villegas, María del Pilar Gutiérrez-Amador, Ariadna Sánchez-Castillo.

Abstract:

Due to fast progress in communication systems development, garnets are an attractive material due to their unique optical and magnetic properties. The band gap energy (Eg) of Yttrium- Iron Garnet (Y3Fe5O12, YIG) is a key parameter to determine its potential technological applications; however, band gap values can be strongly influenced by the synthesis route and processing method. Electronic features of polycrystalline Yttrium-Iron Garnet samples were obtained through optical diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Optical characterization of polycrystalline YIG samples allowed to observe a clear difference in the amplitude and position of the high and low reflectivity bands around the fundamental absorption energy edge, thus, a review of different criteria to estimate Eg by Tauc plot method is also discussed. The differences observed in the optical properties agree with differences in the structural and microstructural characteristics.

Keywords: diffuse reflectance, energy gap, polycrystal, tauc plot, yttrium-iron garnet

Procedia PDF Downloads 45

Authors: Jorge Martinez-Garcia, Ingrid Stelzner, Joerg Stelzner, Damian Gwerder, Philipp Schuetz

Abstract:

Tree-ring analysis is an important part of the quality assessment and the dating of (archaeological) wood samples. It provides quantitative data about the whole anatomical ring structure, which can be used, for example, to measure the impact of the fluctuating environment on the tree growth, for the dendrochronological analysis of archaeological wooden artefacts and to estimate the wood mechanical properties. Despite advances in computer vision and edge recognition algorithms, detection and counting of annual rings are still limited to 2D datasets and performed in most cases manually, which is a time consuming, tedious task and depends strongly on the operator’s experience. This work presents an image processing approach to detect the whole 3D tree-ring structure directly from X-ray computed tomography imaging data. The approach relies on a modified Canny edge detection algorithm, which captures fully connected tree-ring edges throughout the measured image stack and is validated on X-ray computed tomography data taken from six wood species.

Keywords: ring recognition, edge detection, X-ray computed tomography, dendrochronology

Procedia PDF Downloads 189