Search results for: automatic magnetic dispersive solid-phase extraction

Authors: Tooba Aslam, Efthalia Chatzisymeon

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UV-assisted irradiation technologies are well-established for water and wastewater treatment. UVC treatments are widely used at large-scale, while UVA irradiation has more often been applied in combination with a catalyst (e.g. TiO₂ or FeSO₄) in smaller-scale systems. A technical issue of these systems is the formation of fouling on the quartz sleeves that houses the lamps. This fouling can prevent complete irradiation, therefore reducing the efficiency of the process. This paper investigates the effects of operational parameters, such as the type of wastewater, irradiation source, H₂O₂ addition, and water pH on fouling formation and, ultimately, the treatment of municipal wastewater. Batch experiments have been performed at lab-scale while monitoring water quality parameters including: COD, TS, TSS, TDS, temperature, pH, hardness, alkalinity, turbidity, TOC, UV transmission, UV₂₅₄ absorbance, and metal concentrations. The residence time of the wastewater in the reactor was 5 days in order to observe any fouling formation on the quartz surface. Over this period, it was observed that chemical oxygen demand (COD) decreased by 30% and 59% during photolysis (Ultraviolet A) and photo-catalysis (UVA/Fe/H₂O₂), respectively. Higher fouling formation was observed with iron-rich and phosphorous-rich wastewater. The highest rate of fouling was developed with phosphorous-rich wastewater, followed by the iron-rich wastewater. Photo-catalysis (UVA/Fe/H₂O₂) had better removal efficiency than photolysis (UVA). This was attributed to the Photo-Fenton reaction, which was initiated under these operational conditions. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements of fouling formed on the quartz sleeves showed that particles vary in size, shape, and structure; some have more distinct structures and are generally larger and have less compact structure than the others. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) results showed that the major metals present in the fouling cake were iron, phosphorous, and calcium. In conclusion, iron-rich wastewaters are more suitable for UV-assisted treatment since fouling formation on quartz sleeves can be minimized by the formation of oxidizing agents during treatment, such as hydroxyl radicals.

Keywords: advanced oxidation processes, photo-fenton treatment, photo-catalysis, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Munish Saroch, Amit Saini

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Introduction: Many children with congenital malformation of inner ear have undergone cochlear implant (CI) surgery. The results for cochlear implant surgery in these children are very encouraging and provide a ray of hope for these patients. Objective: The main objective of this presentation is to prove that even in Mondini’s deformity Minimal incision cochlear implantation improves cosmesis, reduces post-operative infection and earliest switch on of device. Methods: We report a case of two-year-old child suffering from Mondini’s deformity who underwent CI with minimal incision cochlear implantation (MICI). MICI has been developed with the aims of reducing the impact of surgery on the patient without any preoperative shaving of hairs. Results: Patient after surgery with MICI showed better looking postauricular scar, low post-operative morbidity in comparison to conventional wider access approach and hence earliest switch on of device (1st post operative day). Conclusion: We are of opinion that MICI is safe and successful in Mondini’s deformity.

Keywords: CI, Cochlear Implant, MICI, Minimal Incision Cochlear Implantation, HL, Hearing Loss, HRCT, High Resolution Computer Tomography, MRI, Magnetic resonance imaging, SCI, Standard cochlear implantation

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Authors: Zafar Mahmood, Surayya Naz, Nazir Shah Khattak

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The degree of freedom relates to our capability to observe or model the energy paths within the system. Higher the number of energy paths being modeled leaves to us a higher degree of freedom, but increasing the time and modeling complexity rendering it useless for today’s world’s need for minimum time to market. Since the number of residuals that can be uniquely isolated are dependent on the number of independent outputs of the system, increasing the number of sensors required. The examples of discrete position sensors that may be used to form an array include limit switches, Hall effect sensors, optical sensors, magnetic sensors, etc. Their mechanical design can usually be tailored to fit in the transitional path of an STME in a variety of mechanical configurations. The case studies into multi-sensor system were carried out and actual data from sensors is used to test this generic framework. It is being investigated, how the proper modeling of limit switches as timing sensors, could lead to unified and neutral residual space while keeping the implementation cost reasonably low.

Keywords: low-cost limit sensors, fault diagnostics, Single Throw Mechanical Equipment (STME), parameter estimation, parity-space

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Authors: Hanaa A. Al-Gaoudi, Hassan Ebeid

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The research investigates the materials and processes used in the manufacturing of an Egyptian polychrome cartonnage mummy mask with the aim of dating this object and establishing trade patterns of certain materials that were used and available at the time of ancient Egypt. This anonymous-source object was held in the basement storage of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (EMC) and has never been on display. Furthermore, there is no information available regarding its owner, provenance, date, and even the time of its possession by the museum. Moreover, the object is in a very poor condition where almost two-thirds of the mask was bent and has never received any previous conservation treatment. This research has utilized well-established multi-analytical methods to identify the considerable diversity of materials that have been used in the manufacturing of this object. These methods include Computed Tomography Scan (CT scan) to acquire detailed pictures of the inside physical structure and condition of the bended layers. Dino-Lite portable digital microscope, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDX), and the non-invasive imaging technique of multispectral imaging (MSI) to obtain information about the physical characteristics and condition of the painted layers and to examine the microstructure of the materials. Portable XRF Spectrometer (PXRF) and X-Ray powder diffraction (XRD) to identify mineral phases and the bulk element composition in the gilded layer, ground, and pigments; Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) to identify organic compounds and their molecular characterization; accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS 14C) to date the object. Preliminary results suggest that there are no human remains inside the object, and the textile support is linen fibres with tabby weave 1/1 and these fibres are in a very bad condition. Several pigments have been identified, such as Egyptian blue, Magnetite, Egyptian green frit, Hematite, Calcite, and Cinnabar; moreover, the gilded layers are pure gold and the binding media in the pigments is Arabic gum and animal glue in the textile support layer.

Keywords: analytical methods, Egyptian museum, mummy mask, pigments, textile

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Authors: Hui Wei, Zheng Dong

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Object recognition has long been a challenging task in computer vision. Yet the human brain, with the ability to rapidly and accurately recognize visual stimuli, manages this task effortlessly. In the past decades, advances in neuroscience have revealed some neural mechanisms underlying visual processing. In this paper, we present a novel model inspired by the visual pathway in primate brains. This multi-layer neural network model imitates the hierarchical convergent processing mechanism in the visual pathway. We show that local image features generated by this model exhibit robust discrimination and even better generalization ability compared with some existing image descriptors. We also demonstrate the application of this model in an object recognition task on image data sets. The result provides strong support for the potential of this model.

Keywords: biological model, feature extraction, multi-layer neural network, object recognition

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Authors: Andrés Quiroz, Emilio Hormazabal, Ana Mutis, Fernando Ortega, Manuel Chacón-Fuentes, Leonardo Parra

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Red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) is an important forage species in temperate regions of the world. The main limitation of this species worldwide is a lack of persistence related to the high mortality of plants due to a complex of biotic and abiotic factors, determining a life span of two or three seasons. Because of the importance of red clover in Chile, a red clover breeding program was started at INIA Carillanca Research Center in 1989, with the main objective of improving the survival of plants, forage yield, and persistence. The main selection criteria for selecting new varieties have been based on agronomical parameters and biotic factors. The main biotic factor associated with red clover mortality in Chile is Hylastinus obscurus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Both larval and adults feed on the roots, causing weakening and subsequent death of clover plants. Pesticides have not been successful for controlling infestations of this root borer. Therefore, alternative strategies for controlling this pest are a high priority for red clover producers. Currently, the role of semiochemical in the interaction between H. obscurus and red clover plants has been widely studied for our group. Specifically, from the red clover foliage has been identified limonene is eliciting repellency from the root borer. Limonene is generated in the plant from two independent biosynthetic pathways, the mevalonic acid, and deoxyxylulose pathway. Mevalonate pathway enzymes are localized in the cytosol, whereas the deoxyxylulose phosphate pathway enzymes are found in plastids. In summary, limonene can be determinated by enzymatic bioassay using GPP as substrate and by limonene synthase expression. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to study genetic variation of limonene in material provided by INIA´s Red Clover breeding program. Protein extraction was carried out homogenizing 250 mg of leave tissue and suspended in 6 mL of extraction buffer (PEG 1500, PVP-30, 20 mM MgCl2 and antioxidants) and stirred on ice for 20 min. After centrifugation, aliquots of 2.5 mL were desalted on PD-10 columns, resulting in a final volume of 3.5 mL. Protein determination was performed according to Bradford with BSA as a standard. Monoterpene synthase assays were performed with 50 µL of protein extracts transferred into gas-tight 2 mL crimp seal vials after addition of 4 µL MgCl₂ and 41 µL assay buffer. The assay was started by adding 5 µL of a GPP solution. The mixture was incubated for 30 min at 40 °C. Biosynthesized limonene was quantified in a GC equipped with a chiral column and using synthetic R and S-limonene standards. The enzymatic the production of R and S-limonene from different Superqueli-Carillanca genotypes is shown in this work. Preliminary results showed significant differences in limonene content among the genotypes analyzed. These results constitute an important base for selecting genotypes with a high content of this repellent monoterpene towards H. obscurus.

Keywords: head space, limonene enzymatic determination, red clover, Hylastinus obscurus

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Authors: Grange Sylvain, Plancher Ronan, Reurink Guustav, Croisille Pierre, Edouard Pascal

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The primary objective of this study was to analyze the potential correlation between the pain experienced at the time of a hamstring muscle injury and the volume of the lesion measured on MRI. The secondary objectives were to analyze a correlation between this pain and the lesion grade as well as the affected hamstring muscle. We performed a retrospective analysis of the data collected in a prospective, multicenter, non-interventional cohort study (HAMMER). Patients with suspected hamstring muscle injury had an MRI after the injury and at the same time were evaluated for their pain intensity experienced at the time of the injury with a Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) from 0 to 10. A total of 61 patients were included in the present analysis. MRIs were performed in an average of less than 8 days. There was a significant correlation between pain and the injury volume (r=0.287; p=0.025). There was no significant correlation between the pain and the lesion grade (p>0.05), nor between the pain and affected hamstring muscle (p>0.05). Pain at the time of injury appeared to be correlated with the volume of muscle affected. These results confirm the value of a clinical approach in the initial evaluation of hamstring injuries to better select patients eligible for further imaging.

Keywords: hamstring muscle injury, MRI, volume lesion, pain

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Authors: Hussein Alahmer, Amr Ahmed

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Liver cancer is one of the common diseases that cause the death. Early detection is important to diagnose and reduce the incidence of death. Improvements in medical imaging and image processing techniques have significantly enhanced interpretation of medical images. Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems based on these techniques play a vital role in the early detection of liver disease and hence reduce liver cancer death rate.  This paper presents an automated CAD system consists of three stages; firstly, automatic liver segmentation and lesion’s detection. Secondly, extracting features. Finally, classifying liver lesions into benign and malignant by using the novel contrasting feature-difference approach. Several types of intensity, texture features are extracted from both; the lesion area and its surrounding normal liver tissue. The difference between the features of both areas is then used as the new lesion descriptors. Machine learning classifiers are then trained on the new descriptors to automatically classify liver lesions into benign or malignant. The experimental results show promising improvements. Moreover, the proposed approach can overcome the problems of varying ranges of intensity and textures between patients, demographics, and imaging devices and settings.

Keywords: CAD system, difference of feature, fuzzy c means, lesion detection, liver segmentation

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Authors: Omer Cahana, Maya Herman, Ofer Levi

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a long medical scan that stems from a long acquisition time. This length is mainly due to the traditional sampling theorem, which defines a lower boundary for sampling. However, it is still possible to accelerate the scan by using a different approach, such as compress sensing (CS) or parallel imaging (PI). These two complementary methods can be combined to achieve a faster scan with high-fidelity imaging. In order to achieve that, two properties have to exist: i) the signal must be sparse under a known transform domain, ii) the sampling method must be incoherent. In addition, a nonlinear reconstruction algorithm needs to be applied to recover the signal. While the rapid advance in the deep learning (DL) field, which has demonstrated tremendous successes in various computer vision task’s, the field of MRI reconstruction is still in an early stage. In this paper, we present an extension of the state-of-the-art model in MRI reconstruction -VarNet. We utilize VarNet by using dilated convolution in different scales, which extends the receptive field to capture more contextual information. Moreover, we simplified the sensitivity map estimation (SME), for it holds many unnecessary layers for this task. Those improvements have shown significant decreases in computation costs as well as higher accuracy.

Keywords: MRI, deep learning, variational network, computer vision, compress sensing

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Authors: Reza Dehghani Bidgoli

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Although Artemisia species are one of the most important medicinal plants, there are a few reports on chemistry or activity of their essential oils because of low amounts of the oils in this genus. In this study, chemical composition of essential oils leaves and stems of Artemisia sieberi and Artemisia aucheri growing wild in Kashan rangelands, central Iran, have been analyzed using GC–MS technique. Analysis revealed 50 identified compounds, representing 96.55% of the oil and 23 identified compounds representing 97.83% of the oil on Artemisia sieberi and Artemisia aucheri respectively. The yield of essential oil extraction is very higher than those of previous reports. In both plants α-thujene is the main component in both of them, with an extra value, 74.42%, in aucheri species. Several compounds (some with significant compositions), were found in these varieties of Artemisia which are not recorded in previous literature. Antioxidant activities of the essential oils were evaluated for the first time in this research work using β-carotene/linoleic acid assay and found to be surprisingly attributed directly to α-pinene contents in them.

Keywords: essential oil, artemisia aucheri, artemisia sieberi, α-thujene, antioxidant activity

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Authors: Nelson Nenuwe

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The behavior of interacting electrons in one dimension was studied by calculating correlation functions and critical exponents at zero and external magnetic fields for arbitrary band filling. The technique employed in this study is based on the conformal field theory (CFT). The charge and spin degrees of freedom are separated, and described by two independent conformal theories. A detailed comparison of the t-J model with the repulsive Hubbard model was then undertaken with emphasis on their Tomonaga-Luttinger (TL) liquid properties. Near half-filling the exponents of the t-J model take the values of the strong-correlation limit of the Hubbard model, and in the low-density limit the exponents are those of a non-interacting system. The critical exponents obtained in this study belong to the repulsive TL liquid (conducting phase) and attractive TL liquid (superconducting phase). The theoretical results from this study find applications in one-dimensional organic conductors (TTF-TCNQ), organic superconductors (Bechgaard salts) and carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs, DWCNTs and MWCNTs). For instance, the critical exponent at from this study is consistent with the experimental result from optical and photoemission evidence of TL liquid in one-dimensional metallic Bechgaard salt- (TMTSF)2PF6.

Keywords: critical exponents, conformal field theory, Hubbard model, t-J model

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Authors: Harpreet Singh

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Finding relevant information on the World Wide Web is becoming highly challenging day by day. Web usage mining is used for the extraction of relevant and useful knowledge, such as user behaviour patterns, from web access log records. Web access log records all the requests for individual files that the users have requested from the website. Web usage mining is important for Customer Relationship Management (CRM), as it can ensure customer satisfaction as far as the interaction between the customer and the organization is concerned. Web usage mining is helpful in improving website structure or design as per the user’s requirement by analyzing the access log file of a website through a log analyzer tool. The focus of this paper is to enhance the accessibility and usability of a guitar selling web site by analyzing their access log through Deep Log Analyzer tool. The results show that the maximum number of users is from the United States and that they use Opera 9.8 web browser and the Windows XP operating system.

Keywords: web usage mining, web mining, log file, data mining, deep log analyzer

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Authors: Oyindamola Kayode, Sarah George, Roberto Borrageiro, Mike Shirran

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A phenomenon identified by our industrial partner has experienced sag on AA3104 can body stock (CBS) transfer bar during transportation of the slab from the breakdown mill to the finishing mill. Excessive sag results in bottom scuffing of the slab onto the roller table, resulting in surface defects on the final product. It has been found that increasing the strain rate on the breakdown mill final pass results in a slab resistant to sag. The creep response for materials hot deformed at different Zener–Holloman parameter values needs to be evaluated experimentally to gain better understanding of the operating mechanism. This study investigates this identified phenomenon through laboratory simulation of the breakdown mill conditions for various strain rates by utilizing the Gleeble at UCT Centre for Materials Engineering. The experiment will determine the creep response for a range of conditions as well as quantifying the associated material microstructure (sub-grain size, grain structure etc). The experimental matrices were determined based on experimental conditions approximate to industrial hot breakdown rolling and carried out on the Gleeble 3800 at the Centre for Materials Engineering, University of Cape Town. Plane strain compression samples were used for this series of tests at an applied load that allow for better contact and exaggerated creep displacement. A tantalum barrier layer was used for increased conductivity and decreased risk of anvil welding. One set of tests with no in-situ hold time was performed, where the samples were quenched after deformation. The samples were retained for microstructure analysis of the micrographs from the light microscopy (LM), quantitative data and images from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), sub-grain size and grain structure from electron back scattered diffraction (EBSD).

Keywords: aluminium alloy, can-body stock, hot rolling, creep response, Zener-Hollomon parameter

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Authors: Francesca Scalisi, Cesare Sposito

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The building construction industry consumes a large amount of resources and energy, both during construction (embodied energy) and during the operational phase (operating energy). This paper presents a review of the literature on low carbon and low embodied energy materials in buildings. The embodied energy comprises the energy consumed during the extraction, processing, transportation, construction, and demolition of building materials. While designing a nearly zero energy building, it is necessary to choose and use materials, components, and technologies that allow to reduce the consumption of energy and also to reduce the emissions in the atmosphere during all the Life Cycle Assessment phases. The appropriate choice of building materials can contribute decisively to reduce the energy consumption of the building sector. The increasing worries for the environmental impact of construction materials are witnessed by a lot of studies. The mentioned worries have brought again the attention towards natural materials. The use of more sustainable construction materials and construction techniques represent a major contribution to the eco-efficiency of the construction industry and thus to a more sustainable development.

Keywords: embodied energy, embodied carbon, life cycle assessment, architecture, sustainability, material construction

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Authors: Abdelkader Basli, Jean-Claude Delaunay, Eric Pedrot, Jean-Michel Mérillon, Jean-Pierre Monti, Khodir Madani, Mohamed Chibane, Tristan Richard

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The antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Origanum glandulosum collected in Algeria have been studied. Extract was prepared from aerial part of endemic Algerian oregano. The produced extract has been characterized in terms of total phenols (using Folin method), total flavonoid, antioxidant activities (using the DPPH radical scavenging method and ORAC assay) and microbial activity against four bacteria: Streptococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae one yeast: Candida albicans and one fungi: Aspergillus niger. The results pointed the antioxidant activities of the extract of O. glandulosum and antimicrobial activities against all bacteria and C. Candida, but no effect on A. niger. High performance liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (LC-NMR) were used to separate and identify the major compounds present in the oregano extract. Rosmarinic acid, globoidnan A and B, lithospermic acid B and three flavonoids were identified.

Keywords: origanum glandulosum, antioxidant, microbial activity, polyphenol, LC-MS, LC-NMR

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Authors: W. T. Asheber, L. Chyi-Yeu

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An intelligent robot arm is expected to recognize the desired object, grasp it with appropriate force without dropping or damaging it, and also manipulate and deliver the object to the desired destination safely. This paper presents an intelligent multi-finger robot arm gripper design along with vision, proximity, and tactile sensor for efficient grasping and manipulation tasks. The generic design of the gripper makes it convenient for improved parts manipulation, multi-tasking and ease for components assembly. The proposed design emulates the human’s hand fingers structure using linkages and direct drive through power screw like transmission. The actuation and transmission mechanism is designed in such a way that it has non-back-drivable capability, which makes the fingers hold their position when even unpowered. The structural elements are optimized for a finest performance in motion and force transmissivity of the gripper fingers. The actuation mechanisms is designed specially to drive each finger and also rotate two of the fingers about the palm to form appropriate configuration to grasp various size and shape objects. The gripper has an automatic tool set fixture incorporated into its palm, which will reduce time wastage and do assembling in one go. It is equipped with camera-in-hand integrated into its palm; subsequently an image based visual-servoing control scheme is employed.

Keywords: gripper, intelligent gripper, transmissivity, vision sensor

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Authors: Randa Boukhris, Alima Damak, Dorra Sellami

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Fingervein biometric authentication is one of the most popular and accurate technologies. However, low cost embedded solution is still an open problem. In this paper, a real-time implementation of fingervein recognition process embedded in Raspberry-Pi has been proposed. The use of Raspberry-Pi reduces overall system cost and size while allowing an easy user interface. Implementation of a target technology has guided to opt some specific parallel and simple processing algorithms. In the proposed system, we use four structural directional kernel elements for filtering finger vein images. Then, a Top-Hat and Bottom-Hat kernel filters are used to enhance the visibility and the appearance of venous images. For feature extraction step, a simple Local Directional Code (LDC) descriptor is applied. The proposed system presents an Error Equal Rate (EER) and Identification Rate (IR), respectively, equal to 0.02 and 98%. Furthermore, experimental results show that real-time operations have good performance.

Keywords: biometric, Bottom-Hat, Fingervein, LDC, Rasberry-Pi, ROI, Top-Hat

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Authors: Massra M. Sabeima, Myriam lamolle, Mohamedade Farouk Nanne

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Adapting the learning resources of an e-learning system to the characteristics of the learners is an important aspect to consider when designing an adaptive e-learning system. However, this adaptation is not a simple process; it requires the extraction, analysis, and modeling of user information. This implies a good representation of the user's profile, which is the backbone of the adaptation process. Moreover, during the e-learning process, collaboration with similar users (same geographic province or knowledge context) is important. Productive collaboration motivates users to continue or not abandon the course and increases the assimilation of learning objects. The contribution of this work is the following: we propose an adaptive e-learning semantic platform to recommend learning resources to learners, using ontology to model the user profile and the course content, furthermore an implementation of a multi-agent system able to progressively generate the learning graph (taking into account the user's progress, and the changes that occur) for each user during the learning process, and to synchronize the users who collaborate on a learning object.

Keywords: adaptative learning, collaboration, multi-agent, ontology

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Authors: María Magdalena Méndez-González, Miguel García Rocha, Carlos Manuel Yermo De la Cruz

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Calcium phosphate (Ca5(PO4)3(X)) is widely used in orthopedic applications and is widely used as powder and granules. However, their presence in bone is in the form of nanometric needles 60 nm in length with a non-stoichiometric phase of apatite contains CO3-2, Na+, OH-, F-, and other ions in a matrix of collagen fibers. The crystal size, morphology control and interaction with cells are essential for the development of nanotechnology. The structural results of calcium phosphate, synthesized by chemical precipitation with crystal size of 22.85 nm are presented in this paper. The calcium phosphate powders were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), infrared spectroscopy and FT-IR transmission electron microscopy. Network parameters, atomic positions, the indexing of the planes and the calculation of FWHM (full width at half maximum) were obtained. The crystal size was also calculated using the Scherer equation d (hkl) = cλ/βcosѲ. Where c is a constant related to the shape of the crystal, the wavelength of the radiation used for a copper anode is 1.54060Å, Ѳ is the Bragg diffraction angle, and β is the width average peak height of greater intensity. Diffraction pattern corresponding to the calcium phosphate called hydroxyapatite phase of a hexagonal crystal system was obtained. It belongs to the space group P63m with lattice parameters a = 9.4394 Å and c = 6.8861 Å. The most intense peak is obtained 2Ѳ = 31.55 (FWHM = 0.4798), with a preferred orientation in 121. The intensity difference between the experimental data and the calculated values is attributable to the temperature at which the sintering was performed. The intensity of the highest peak is at angle 2Ѳ = 32.11. The structure of calcium phosphate obtained was a hexagonal configuration. The intensity changes in the peaks of the diffraction pattern, in the lattice parameters at the corners, indicating the possible presence of a dopant. That each calcium atom is surrounded by a tetrahedron of oxygen and hydrogen was observed by infrared spectra. The unit cell pattern corresponds to hydroxyapatite and transmission electron microscopic crystal morphology corresponding to the hexagonal phase with a preferential growth along the c-plane was obtained.

Keywords: structure, nanoparticles, calcium phosphate, metallurgical and materials engineering

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Authors: Mohammad Al- Rawi, Ahmad Al- Jumaily

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This paper investigates the effect of developing arterial blockage at the abdominal aorta on the blood pressure waveform at an externally accessible location suitable for invasive measurements such as the brachial and the femoral arteries. Arterial blockages are created surgically within the abdominal aorta of healthy Wistar rats to create narrowing resemblance conditions. Blood pressure waveforms are measured using a catheter inserted into the right femoral artery. Measurements are taken at the baseline healthy condition as well as at four different severities (20%, 50%, 80% and 100%) of arterial blockage. In vivo and in vitro measurements of the lumen diameter and wall thickness are taken using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and microscopic techniques, respectively. These data are used to validate a 3D computational fluid dynamics model (CFD) which is developed to generalize the outcomes of this work and to determine the arterial stress and strain under the blockage conditions. This work indicates that an arterial blockage in excess of 20% of the lumen diameter significantly influences the pulse wave and reduces the systolic blood pressure at the right femoral artery. High wall shear stress and low circumferential strain are also generated at the blockage site.

Keywords: arterial blockage, pulse wave, atherosclerosis, CFD

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Authors: Swathi M. Vanniarajan

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Reading research suggests that online contextual vocabulary comprehension while reading is an interactive and integrative process. One’s success in it depends on a variety of factors including the amount and the nature of available linguistic and nonlinguistic cues, his/her analytical and integrative skills, schema memory (content familiarity), and processing speed characterized along the continuum of controlled to automatic processing. The experiment reported here, conducted with 30 native speakers as one group and 30 nonnative speakers as another group (all graduate students), hypothesized that while working on (24) tasks which required them to comprehend an unfamiliar word in real time without backtracking, due to the differences in the nature of their respective reading processes, the nonnative subjects would be less able to construct the meanings of the unknown words by integrating the multiple but sufficient contextual cues provided in the text but the native subjects would be able to. The results indicated that there were significant inter-group as well as intra-group differences in terms of the quality of definitions given. However, when given additional time, while the nonnative speakers could significantly improve the quality of their definitions, the native speakers in general would not, suggesting that all things being equal, time is a significant factor for success in nonnative vocabulary and reading comprehension processes and that accuracy precedes automaticity in the development of nonnative reading processes also.

Keywords: reading, second language processing, vocabulary comprehension

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Authors: Rohita Gupta, G. S. Brah, R. Verma, C. S. Mukhopadhayay

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Although chicken strains show differences in susceptibility to a number of diseases, the underlying immunological basis is yet to be elucidated. In the present study, heterophils were subjected to LPS stimulation and total RNA extraction, further differential gene expression was studied in broiler, layer and indigenous Aseel strain by Real Time RT-PCR at different time periods before and after induction. The expression of the 14 AvBDs and chTLR 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 15 and 21 was detectable in heterophils. The expression level of most of the AvBDs significantly increased (P<0.05) 3 hours post in vitro lipopolysaccharide challenge. Higher expression level and stronger activation of most AvBDs, NFkB-1 and IRF-3 in heterophils was observed with the stimulation of LPS in layer compared to broiler, and in Aseel compared to both layer and broiler. This investigation will allow more refined interpretation of immuno-genetic basis of the variable disease resistance/susceptibility in divergent stock of chicken including indigenous breed. Moreover, this study will be helpful in formulation of strategy for isolation of antimicrobial peptides from heterophils.

Keywords: differential expression, heterophils, cytokines, defensin, TLR

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Authors: Rungnapa Chantra

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As health care rapidly changes, the nursing profession is also evolving to improve quality of care while maintaining competency in their practice. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors of disaster nurse competencies and investigate the predictable variables in disaster nurse competencies in Suratthani Province, Thailand. The sample consisted of 305 nurses who were recruited by simple random sampling. The development questionnaires from ICN Framework and research contains Pre/Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery/Rehabilitation Competencies (α=0.87). The data were analyzed using Principle Components Extraction and Orthogonal Rotation with Varimax Method. The findings were as follows; four significant factors of disaster nurse competencies in Suratthani Province, Thailand were identified. These factors were described by 62 variables that accounted for 50.01% of the total variance. The results of this study could be for agencies that are responsible for the development of nursing competencies and should be aware of the development of knowledge and skills in disaster management.

Keywords: disaster nursing competency of nurses, nursing informatics, health science, medical

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Authors: Bandari Shankar, Yohannes Yirga

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In this paper, the problem of heat and mass transfer in unsteady MHD boundary-layer flow of nanofluids over stretching sheet with a non uniform heat source/sink is considered. The unsteadiness in the flow and temperature is caused by the time-dependent stretching velocity and surface temperature. The unsteady boundary layer equations are transformed to a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations and solved numerically using Keller box method. The velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles were obtained and utilized to compute the skin-friction coefficient, local Nusselt number, and local Sherwood number for different values of the governing parameters viz. solid volume fraction parameter, unsteadiness parameter, magnetic field parameter, Schmidt number, space-dependent and temperature-dependent parameters for heat source/sink. A comparison of the numerical results of the present study with previously published data revealed an excellent agreement

Keywords: unsteady, heat and mass transfer, manetohydrodynamics, nanofluid, non-uniform heat source/sink, stretching sheet

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Authors: H. Niranjan, S. Sivasankaran

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Heat and mass transfer near a steady stagnation point boundary layer flow of viscous incompressible fluid through porous media investigates along a vertical plate is thoroughly studied under the presence of magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) effects. The fluid flow is steady, laminar, incompressible and in two-dimensional. The nonlinear differential coupled parabolic partial differential equations of continuity, momentum, energy and specie diffusion are converted into the non-similar boundary layer equations using similarity transformation, which are then solved numerically using the Runge-Kutta method along with shooting method. The effects of the conjugate heat transfer parameter, the porous medium parameter, the permeability parameter, the mixed convection parameter, the magnetic parameter, and the thermal radiation on the velocity and temperature profiles as well as on the local skin friction and local heat transfer are presented and analyzed. The validity of the methodology and analysis is checked by comparing the results obtained for some specific cases with those available in the literature. The various parameters on local skin friction, heat and mass transfer rates are presented in tabular form.

Keywords: MHD, porous medium, slip, convective boundary condition, stagnation point

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Authors: Salima Smiti, Ines Gasmi, Makram Soui

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Credit risk is the most important issue for financial institutions. Its assessment becomes an important task used to predict defaulter customers and classify customers as good or bad payers. To this objective, numerous techniques have been applied for credit risk assessment. However, to our knowledge, several evaluation techniques are black-box models such as neural networks, SVM, etc. They generate applicants’ classes without any explanation. In this paper, we propose to assess credit risk using rules classification method. Our output is a set of rules which describe and explain the decision. To this end, we will compare seven classification algorithms (JRip, Decision Table, OneR, ZeroR, Fuzzy Rule, PART and Genetic programming (GP)) where the goal is to find the best rules satisfying many criteria: accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. The obtained results confirm the efficiency of the GP algorithm for German and Australian datasets compared to other rule-based techniques to predict the credit risk.

Keywords: credit risk assessment, classification algorithms, data mining, rule extraction

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Authors: Suhadiyana Hanapi, Alhassan Salami Tijani, W. A. N Wan Mohamed

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In this paper, a prototype PEM fuel cell vehicle integrated with a 1 kW air-blowing proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack as a main power sources has been developed for a lightweight cruising vehicle. The test vehicle is equipped with a PEM fuel cell system that provides electric power to a brushed DC motor. This vehicle was designed to compete with industrial lightweight vehicle with the target of consuming least amount of energy and high performance. Individual variations in driving style have a significant impact on vehicle energy efficiency and it is well established from the literature. The primary aim of this study was to assesses the power and fuel consumption of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle operating at three difference driving technique (i.e. 25 km/h constant speed, 22-28 km/h speed range, 20-30 km/h speed range). The goal is to develop the best driving strategy to maximize performance and minimize fuel consumption for the vehicle system. The relationship between power demand and hydrogen consumption has also been discussed. All the techniques can be evaluated and compared on broadly similar terms. Automatic intelligent controller for driving prototype fuel cell vehicle on different obstacle while maintaining all systems at maximum efficiency was used. The result showed that 25 km/h constant speed was identified for optimal driving with less fuel consumption.

Keywords: prototype fuel cell electric vehicles, energy efficient, control/driving technique, fuel economy

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Authors: Eman M. Sarhan, Doaa A. Ghareeb, Gabriella Ortore, Amr A. Amara, Mohamed M. El-Sayed

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Drug salting and nanoparticle-based drug delivery formulations are considered to be an effective means for rendering the hydrophobic drugs’ nano-scale dispersion in aqueous media, and thus circumventing the pitfalls of their poor solubility as well as enhancing their membrane permeability. The current study aims to increase the bioavailability of quaternary ammonium berberine through acid salting and biodegradable bovine serum albumin (BSA)-based nanoparticulate drug formulation. Berberine hydroxide (BBR-OH) that was chemically synthesized by alkalization of the commercially available berberine hydrochloride (BBR-HCl) was then acidified to get Di-berberine sulfate (BBR)₂SO₄. The purified crystals were spectrally characterized. The desolvation technique was optimized for the preparation of size-controlled BSA-BBR-HCl, BSA-BBR-OH, and BSA-(BBR)₂SO₄ nanoparticles. Particle size, zeta potential, drug release, encapsulation efficiency, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), tandem MS-MS spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning and transmitting electron microscopic examination (SEM, TEM), in vitro bioactivity, and in silico drug-polymer interaction were determined. BSA (PDB ID; 4OR0) protonation state at different pH values was predicted using Amber12 molecular dynamic simulation. Then blind docking was performed using Lamarkian genetic algorithm (LGA) through AutoDock4.2 software. Results proved the purity and the size-controlled synthesis of berberine-BSA-nanoparticles. The possible binding poses, hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions of berberine on BSA at different pH values were predicted. Antioxidant, anti-hemolytic, and cell differentiated ability of tested drugs and their nano-formulations were evaluated. Thus, drug salting and the potentially effective albumin berberine nanoparticle formulations can be successfully developed using a well-optimized desolvation technique and exhibiting better in vitro cellular bioavailability.

Keywords: berberine, BSA, BBR-OH, BBR-HCl, BSA-BBR-HCl, BSA-BBR-OH, (BBR)₂SO₄, BSA-(BBR)₂SO₄, FTIR, AutoDock4.2 Software, Lamarkian genetic algorithm, SEM, TEM, EDX

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Authors: Joseph Wolff, Jeffrey Eilbott

Abstract:

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a spectrum of social disorders characterized by deficits in social communication, verbal ability, and interaction that can vary in severity. In recent years, researchers have used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to help detect how neural patterns in individuals with ASD differ from those of neurotypical (NT) controls for classification purposes. This study analyzed the classification of ASD within males and females using functional MRI data. Functional connectivity (FC) correlations among brain regions were used as feature inputs for machine learning algorithms. Analysis was performed on 558 cases from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) I dataset. When trained specifically on females, the algorithm underperformed in classifying the ASD subset of our testing population. Although the subject size was relatively smaller in the female group, the manual matching of both male and female training groups helps explain the algorithm’s bias, indicating the altered sex abnormalities in functional brain networks compared to typically developing peers. These results highlight the importance of taking sex into account when considering how generalizations of findings on males with ASD apply to females.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, machine learning, neuroimaging, sex differences

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Authors: Imad H. Hameed, Mohammad A. Jebor, Ammera J. Omer

Abstract:

The aim of this research is to study the mitochonderial coding region by using the Sanger sequencing technique and establish the degree of variation characteristic of a fragment. FTA® Technology (FTA™ paper DNA extraction) utilized to extract DNA. Portion of coding region encompassing positions 11719 –12384 amplified in accordance with the Anderson reference sequence. PCR products purified by EZ-10 spin column then sequenced and Detected by using the ABI 3730xL DNA Analyzer. Five new polymorphic positions 11741, 11756, 11878, 11887 and 12133 are described may be suitable sources for identification purpose in future. The calculated value D= 0.95 and RMP=0.048 of the genetic diversity should be understood as high in the context of coding function of the analysed DNA fragment. The relatively high gene diversity and a relatively low random match probability were observed in Iraq population. The obtained data can be used to identify the variable nucleotide positions characterized by frequent occurrence which is most promising for various identifications.

Keywords: coding region, Iraq, mitochondrial DNA, polymorphic positions, sanger technique

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