Search results for: Benjamin Davies

Authors: J. E. Oti, J. M. Kinuthia, R. Robinson, P. Davies

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This work reports the potential of using Palm Kernel (PK) ash and shell as a partial substitute for Portland Cement (PC) and coarse aggregate in the development of mortar and concrete. PK ash and shell are agro-waste materials from palm oil mills, the disposal of PK ash and shell is an environmental problem of concern. The PK ash has pozzolanic properties that enables it as a partial replacement for cement and also plays an important role in the strength and durability of concrete, its use in concrete will alleviate the increasing challenges of scarcity and high cost of cement. In order to investigate the PC replacement potential of PK ash, three types of PK ash were produced at varying temperature (350-750 degrees) and they were used to replace up to 50% PC. The PK shell was used to replace up to 100% coarse aggregate in order to study its aggregate replacement potential. The testing programme included material characterisation, the determination of compressive strength, tensile splitting strength and chemical durability in aggressive sulfate-bearing exposure conditions. The 90 day compressive results showed a significant strength gain (up to 26.2 N/mm2). The Portland cement and conventional coarse aggregate has significantly higher influence in the strength gain compared to the equivalent PK ash and PK shell. The chemical durability results demonstrated that after a prolonged period of exposure, significant strength losses in all the concretes were observed. This phenomenon is explained, due to lower change in concrete morphology and inhibition of reaction species and the final disruption of the aggregate cement paste matrix.

Keywords: sustainability, concrete, mortar, palm kernel shell, compressive strength, consistency

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Authors: Benjamin Bobbia, Matthias Picard

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In recent years active learning methodologies based on the representativity of the data seems more promising to limit overfitting. The presented query methodology for regression using the Wasserstein distance measuring the representativity of our labelled dataset compared to the global distribution. In this work a crucial use of GroupSort Neural Networks is made therewith to draw a double advantage. The Wasserstein distance can be exactly expressed in terms of such neural networks. Moreover, one can provide explicit bounds for their size and depth together with rates of convergence. However, heterogeneity of the dataset is also considered by weighting the Wasserstein distance with the error of approximation at the previous step of active learning. Such an approach leads to a reduction of overfitting and high prediction performance after few steps of query. After having detailed the methodology and algorithm, an empirical study is presented in order to investigate the range of our hyperparameters. The performances of this method are compared, in terms of numbers of query needed, with other classical and recent query methods on several UCI datasets.

Keywords: active learning, Lipschitz regularization, neural networks, optimal transport, regression

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Authors: Davies Obaromi, Qin Yongsong, James Ndege, Azeez Adeboye, Akinwumi Odeyemi

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The basic model usually used in disease mapping, is the Besag, York and Mollie (BYM) model and which combines the spatially structured and spatially unstructured priors as random effects. Bayesian Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) model is a disease mapping method that is commonly used for smoothening the relative risk of any disease as used in the Besag, York and Mollie (BYM) model. This model (CAR), which is also usually assigned as a prior to one of the spatial random effects in the BYM model, successfully uses information from adjacent sites to improve estimates for individual sites. To our knowledge, there are some unrealistic or counter-intuitive consequences on the posterior covariance matrix of the CAR prior for the spatial random effects. In the conventional BYM (Besag, York and Mollie) model, the spatially structured and the unstructured random components cannot be seen independently, and which challenges the prior definitions for the hyperparameters of the two random effects. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to construct and utilize an extended Bayesian spatial CAR model for studying tuberculosis patterns in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, and then compare for flexibility with some existing CAR models. The results of the study revealed the flexibility and robustness of this alternative extended CAR to the commonly used CAR models by comparison, using the deviance information criteria. The extended Bayesian spatial CAR model is proved to be a useful and robust tool for disease modeling and as a prior for the structured spatial random effects because of the inclusion of an extra hyperparameter.

Keywords: Besag2, CAR models, disease mapping, INLA, spatial models

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Authors: Benjamin Poku

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Purpose: The purpose of the research is to conduct systematic reviews and synthesis of existing knowledge that addresses the growing incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases across the world and its impact on public health in relation to communicable diseases. Principal results: A careful compilation and summary of 15-20 peer-reviewed publications from reputable databases such as PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and other peer-reviewed journals indicate that the Global pandemic of Chronic diseases (such as diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.) have become a greater public health burden in proportion as compared to communicable diseases. Significant conclusions: Given the complexity of the situation, efforts and strategies to mitigate the negative effect of the Global Pandemic on chronic diseases within the global community must include not only urgent and binding commitment of all stakeholders but also a multi-sectorial long-term approach to increase the public health educational approach to meet the increasing world population of over 8 billion people and also the aging population as well to meet the complex challenges of chronic diseases.

Keywords: pandemic, chronic disease, public health, health challenges

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Authors: Leveque Benjamin, Rabaud Suzanne, Anest Hugo, Catalan Caroline, Neveux Guillaume

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Human products consumption is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. However, few pertinent ecological indicators regarding product life cycle impact on species and ecosystems have been built. Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies are well under way to conceive standardized methods to assess this impact, by taking already partially into account three of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment pressures (land use, pollutions, climate change). Coupling LCA and ecological data and methods is an emerging challenge to develop a product biodiversity footprint. This approach was tested on three case studies from food processing, textile, and cosmetic industries. It allowed first to improve the environmental relevance of the Potential Disappeared Fraction of species, end-point indicator typically used in life cycle analysis methods, and second to introduce new indicators on overexploitation and invasive species. This type of footprint is a major step in helping companies to identify their impacts on biodiversity and to propose potential improvements.

Keywords: biodiversity, companies, footprint, life cycle assessment, products

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Authors: Benjamin Aina Peter, Amos Wale Ogunsola

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In this paper, a mathematical model of malaria transmission was presented with the effect of seasonal shift, due to global fluctuation in temperature, on the increase of conveyor of the infectious disease, which probably alters the region transmission potential of malaria. A deterministic compartmental model was proposed and analyzed qualitatively. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches of the model were considered. The next-generation matrix is employed to determine the basic reproduction number of the model. Equilibrium points of the model were determined and analyzed. The numerical simulation is carried out using Excel Micro Software to validate and support the qualitative results. From the analysis of the result, the optimal temperature for the transmission of malaria is between and . The result also shows that an increase in temperature due to seasonal shift gives rise to the development of parasites which consequently leads to an increase in the widespread of malaria transmission in Kampala. It is also seen from the results that an increase in temperature leads to an increase in the number of infectious human hosts and mosquitoes.

Keywords: seasonal variation, indoor residual spray, efficacy of spray, temperature-dependent model

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Authors: Benjamin Morse, Michaela Zint, Jennifer Carman

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This study proposes a behavioral model in which ecotourists’ level of observational learning shapes their subsequent environmentally responsible behavioral intentions through ecotourism participation. Unlike past studies that have focused on individual attributes such as attitudes, locus of control, personal responsibility, knowledge, skills or effect, this present study explores select social attributes as potential antecedents to environmentally responsible behaviors. A total of 207 completed questionnaires were obtained from ecotourists in Korea and path analyses were conducted to explore the degree in which the hypothesized model directly and indirectly explained ecotourists’ environmentally responsible behavioral intentions. Results suggest that observational learning and its associated predictors (i.e., engagement, observation, reproduction and reinforcement) are key determinants of ecotourists environmentally responsible behavioral intentions. The application of observational learning proved to be informative, and has a number of implications for improving ecotourism programs. Our model also lays out a theoretical framework for future research.

Keywords: ecotourism, observational learning, environmentally responsible behavior, social learning theory

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Authors: Benjamin Orimolade, Emily Draper

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The interest in all solid electrochromic devices (ECD) is ongoing. This is because these devices offer realistic applications of electrochromic materials in products such as sensors, windows and energy storage devices. The use of quasi-solid (gel) electrolytes for the construction of these ECDs is attractive because of their ease of preparation, availability, low cost, improved electrochromic performance, good ionic conductivity and prevention of leakages in ECDs. Herein, we developed a gel electrolyte consisting of polyacrylamide modified with succinonitrile for an ECD containing leucine-modified naphthalene diimide (NDI-L) as electrochromic material. The amount of succinonitrile in the gel was optimized, and the structure, surface morphology, and ionic conductivity of the electrolytes were assessed using microscopic techniques and electrochemical methods. The ECD fabricated with the gel electrolyte displayed good electrochromic performance with a fast switching response of up to 10 s and outstanding stability. These results add significant insight into understanding the inter- and intra-molecular interaction in succinonitrile gel electrolytes and provide a typical practicable high-performance gel electrolyte material for solid electrochromic devices.

Keywords: electrochromic device, gel electrolytes, naphthalene diimide, succinonitrile

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Authors: Khamael M. Abualnaja, Lidija Šiller, Benjamin R. Horrocks

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Alkylated silicon nanocrystals (C11-SiNCs) were prepared successfully by galvanostatic etching of p-Si(100) wafers followed by a thermal hydrosilation reaction of 1-undecene in refluxing toluene in order to extract C11-SiNCs from porous silicon. Erbium trichloride was added to alkylated SiNCs using a simple mixing chemical route. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first investigation on mixing SiNCs with erbium ions (III) by this chemical method. The chemical characterization of C11-SiNCs and their mixtures with Er3+ (Er/C11-SiNCs) were carried out using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The optical properties of C11-SiNCs and their mixtures with Er3+ were investigated using Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL). The erbium-mixed alkylated SiNCs shows an orange PL emission peak at around 595 nm that originates from radiative recombination of Si. Er/C11-SiNCs mixture also exhibits a weak PL emission peak at 1536 nm that originates from the intra-4f transition in erbium ions (Er3+). The PL peak of Si in Er/C11-SiNCs mixture is increased in the intensity up to three times as compared to pure C11-SiNCs. The collected data suggest that this chemical mixing route leads instead to a transfer of energy from erbium ions to alkylated SiNCs.

Keywords: photoluminescence, silicon nanocrystals, erbium, Raman spectroscopy

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Authors: Amie Smith, Jodi-Lyn Benjamin

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In 2020, there are currently four generations in the nursing workforce: The Veterans, Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y (Gen Y). Understanding each generation and their growing needs will equip the workforce for when the Boomers prepare for retirement, with majority of nursing leadership positions to be potentially replaced with Gen Y nurses. In SA Medical Imaging(SAMI), at Flinders Medical Centre (FMC), it has been proven that despite challenges in succession planning, Gen Y nurse leaders are able to overcome these obstacles and provide the leadership necessary to meet the changing needs in healthcare and across organisations. Changing the culture in radiology nursing has been seen as an obstacle due to the historical nursing practices and resistance to adapt to current/future practice. As radiology advances so does the role of the nurse in imaging, this has required resilience and strong support through leadership as we change and develop the culture to keep up with the evolution of technology and standard of patient care. As a result of supporting Gen Y nurses in leadership roles, SAMI, FMC has seen a positive change in culture by creating a healthy work environment which has allowed Gen Y nurses to make long lasting contributions to the nursing profession.

Keywords: changing culture, Generation Y, radiology, nursing, leadership

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Authors: Benjamin Anabaraonye, Okafor Joachim Chukwuma, Olamire James

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The impacts of climate change are greatly felt on Nigeria’s agricultural sector which in turn affects the economy of the nation. There is an urgent need to educate farmers and fishermen in rural areas in Nigeria on climate change adaptation and mitigation for sustainable development. Through our literature and participant observation, it has been discovered that many farmers and fishermen in rural areas in Nigeria have little or no knowledge about climate change adaptation and mitigation. This paper seeks to draw the attention of policy makers in government, private sectors, non-governmental organizations and interested individuals to the need to seek for innovative ways of educating farmers and fishermen in rural areas about climate change adaptation and mitigation for global sustainability. This study also explores the effective methods of bridging the communication gaps through efficient information dissemination, intensive awareness outreach, use of climate change poems and blogs, innovative loan scheme to farmers and fishermen, etc. to help ensure that farmers and fishermen in rural areas in Nigeria are adequately educated about climate change adaptation and mitigation for global sustainability.

Keywords: agriculture, climate change, farmers, fishermen

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Authors: Tahani Farah, Hanène Souli, Jean-Marie Fleureau, Guillaume Kermouche, Jean-Jacques Fry, Benjamin Girard, Denis Aelbrecht

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In this work, the bio-clogging of two soils with different granulometries is presented. The durability of the clogging is also studied under cycles of hydraulic head and under cycles of desaturation- restauration. The studied materials present continuous grain size distributions. The first one corresponding to the "material 1", presents grain sizes between 0.4 and 4 mm. The second material called "material 2" is composed of grains with size varying between 1 and 10 mm. The results show that clogging occurs very quickly after the injection of nutrition and an outlet flow near to 0 is observed. The critical hydraulic head is equal to 0.76 for "material 1", and 0.076 for "material 2". The durability tests show a good resistance to unclogging under cycles of hydraulic head and desaturation-restauration for the "material 1". Indeed, the flow after the cycles is very low. In contrast, "material 2", shows a very bad resistance, especially under the hydraulic head cycles. The resistance under the cycles of desaturation-resaturation is better but an important increase of the flow is observed. The difference of behavior is due to the granulometry of the materials. Indeed, the large grain size contributes to the reduction of the efficiency of the bio-clogging treatment in this material.

Keywords: bio-clogging, granulometry, permeability, nutrition

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Authors: Ibrahim Alsendid, Rob Sturman, Benjamin Sharp

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In this paper, we consider a family of 2-dimensional nonlinear area-preserving transformations on the torus. A single parameter η varies between 0 and 1, taking the transformation from a hyperbolic toral automorphism to the “Cerbelli-Giona” map, a system known to exhibit multifractal properties. Here we study the multifractal properties of the family of maps. We apply a box-counting method by defining a grid of boxes Bi(δ), where i is the index and δ is the size of the boxes, to quantify the distribution of stable and unstable manifolds of the map. When the parameter is in the range 0.51< η <0.58 and 0.68< η <1 the map is ergodic; i.e., the unstable and stable manifolds eventually cover the whole torus, although not in a uniform distribution. For accurate numerical results, we require correspondingly accurate construction of the stable and unstable manifolds. Here we use the piecewise linearity of the map to achieve this, by computing the endpoints of line segments that define the global stable and unstable manifolds. This allows the generalized fractal dimension Dq, and spectrum of dimensions f(α), to be computed with accuracy. Finally, the intersection of the unstable and stable manifold of the map will be investigated and compared with the distribution of periodic points of the system.

Keywords: Discrete-time dynamical systems, Fractal geometry, Multifractal behaviour of the Perturbed map, Multifractal of Dynamical systems

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Authors: Benjamin O. Opawale, Anthony K. Onifade, Ayodele O. Ogundare

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The phytochemical and antimicrobial activities of stem bark extracts (cold water, ethanol and acetone) of Lovoa trichiliodes and Trichilia heudelotii were investigated using standard methods. The percentage yield of the extracts ranged from 3.90 to 6.53% and 9.63 to 10.20% respectively for the plant materials. Phytochemical screening of the plant materials revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, tannins, phlobatanins, phenols, anthraquinones and glycosides. Terpenes, cardenolides and flavonoids were absent in the two plants. All the extracts remarkably inhibited the growth of Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhii, Aspergillus flavus, Candida albicans and Candida glabrata. The mean diameter of the zone of inhibition exhibited by the extracts was between 8.00 and 22.33mm while the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was between 2.5 and 200mg/ml. However, the cold water extracts of L. trichiliodes stem bark exhibited no inhibitory activity against the organisms. The results of this investigation confirmed the folkloric uses of these plants for the treatment of various infectious diseases.

Keywords: antimicrobial, infectious diseases, phytochemical, T. heudelotii

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Authors: Sajjad Esmaeili, Robert Krause, Lukas Gerlich, Alireza Mohammadian Kia, Benjamin Uhlig

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This investigation aims to develop the feasible and qualitative process parameters for the thin films fabrication into ultra-large through-silicon-vias (TSVs) as vertical interconnections. The focus of the study is on TSV metallization and its challenges employing new materials for the purpose of rapid signal propagation in the microsystems technology. Cobalt metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (Co-MOCVD) process enables manufacturing an adhesive and excellent conformal ultra-thin film all the way through TSVs in comparison with the conventional non-conformal physical vapor deposition (PVD) process of copper (Cu) seed layer. Therefore, this process provides a Cu seed-free layer which is capable of direct Cu electrochemical deposition (Cu-ECD) on top of it. The main challenge of this metallization module is to achieve the proper alternative seed layer with less roughness, sheet resistance and granular organic contamination (e.g. carbon) which intensify the Co corrosion under the influence of Cu electrolyte.

Keywords: Cobalt MOCVD, direct Cu electrochemical deposition (ECD), metallization technology, through-silicon-via (TSV)

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Authors: Maman Ali M. Moustapha, Qian Yu, Benjamin Adjei Danquah

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This paper investigates the dynamic interaction between renewable energy consumption (REC) and economic growth using dataset from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) from 2002 to 2016. For this study the Autoregressive Distributed Lag- Bounds test approach (ARDL) was used to examine the long run relationship between real gross domestic product and REC, while VECM based on Granger causality has been used to examine the direction of Granger causality. Our empirical findings indicate that REC has significant and positive impact on real gross domestic product. In addition, we found that REC and the percentage of access to electricity had unidirectional Granger causality to economic growth while carbon dioxide emission has bidirectional Granger causality to economic growth. Our findings indicate also that 1 per cent increase in the REC leads to an increase in Real GDP by 0.009 in long run. Thus, REC can be a means to ensure sustainable economic growth in the ECOWAS sub-region. However, it is necessary to increase further support and investments on renewable energy production in order to speed up sustainable economic development throughout the region

Keywords: Economic Growth, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Energy

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Authors: Benjamin Bae, Mahdy Elhusseiny, Sherif El-Halaby

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This study investigates the relationship between some cultural factors and the level of dividend payouts of banks in a number of Muslim countries. We examine whether cultural factors play any role in determining dividend payout policy in banks. The results suggest that banks in high masculinity countries tend to pay higher dividends than low masculinity countries. The results also show that banks in high uncertainty avoidance (UA) countries tend to pay lower dividends than high UA countries. Additionally, the results of this study indicate that banks in high long-term orientation (LTO) countries tend to pay lower dividends than low LTO countries. However, two other cultural factors of power distance (PD) and individualism do not have any incremental explanatory power on the dividend payouts. Overall, this research adds to our understanding of the bank’s dividend payout policies. First, evidence on the relationship between the cultural factors and bank’s level of dividend payouts should be useful to investors. Second, the findings of this study provide financial statement users with useful information about the bank’s dividend payout levels. Third, in general, it also adds to the accounting and finance literature on dividends.

Keywords: cultural factor, dividend payout, Hofstede index, bank industry

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Authors: Naeim Akbari Shahkhosravi, Reza Kakavand, Helen M. S. Davies, Amin Komeili

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Equine locomotion and performance are significantly affected by hoof health. One of the most critical diseases of the hoof is laminitis, which can lead to horse lameness in a severe condition. This disease exhibits the mechanical properties degradation of the laminar junction tissue within the hoof. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the biomechanics of the hoof, focusing specifically on excessive and cumulatively accumulated stresses within the laminar junction tissue. For this aim, the current study generated a novel equine hoof Finite Element (FE) model under dynamic physiological loading conditions and employing a hyperelastic material model. Associated tissues of the equine hoof were segmented from computed tomography scans of an equine forelimb, including the navicular bone, third phalanx, sole, frog, laminar junction, digital cushion, and medial- dorsal- lateral wall areas. The inner tissues were connected based on the hoof anatomy, and the hoof was under a dynamic loading over cyclic strides at the trot. The strain distribution on the hoof wall of the model was compared with the published in vivo strain measurements to validate the model. Then the validated model was used to study the development of laminitis. The ultimate stress tolerated by the laminar junction before rupture was considered as a stress threshold. The tissue damage was simulated through iterative reduction of the tissue’s mechanical properties in the presence of excessive maximum principal stresses. The findings of this investigation revealed how damage initiates from the medial and lateral sides of the tissue and propagates through the hoof dorsal area.

Keywords: horse hoof, laminitis, finite element model, continuous damage

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Authors: María José Núñez-Ruiz, Luis Álvarez-González, Cristian Olivares-Rodriguez, Benjamin Lazo-Letelier

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This paper begins with some concept of formative assessment and the relationship with learning objective: contents objectives, processes objectives, and metacognitive objectives. Two methodologies are describes Evidence-Based teaching and Question Drive Instruction. To do formative assessments in larges classes a Classroom Response System (CRS) is needed. But most of CRS use only Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ), True/False question, or text entry; however, this is insufficient to formative assessment. To do that a new CRS, call FAMA was developed. FAMA support six types of questions: Choice, Order, Inline choice, Text entry, Associated, and Slider. An experiment participated in 149 students from four engineering careers. For results, Kendall's Range Correlation Analysis and descriptive analysis was done. In conclusion, there is a strong relation between contents question, process questions (ask in formative assessment without a score) and metacognitive questions, asked in summative assessment. As future work, the lecturer can do personalized teaching, because knows the behavior of all students in each formative assessment

Keywords: Python language, formative assessment, classroom response systems, evidence-Based teaching, question drive instruction

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Authors: Patrick Strefford, Michael Davies, Masahiko Iguchi

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in 2015 to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. Sustainable tourism is firmly positioned in these Goals, since tourism has significant potential to contribute to inclusive and sustainable economic growth, as well as to promote sustainable use of natural capital. Recognizing this, the new quasi-democratic government of Myanmar has embraced Sustainable Tourism as a core component of its economic reforms and opening up of the country. However, it is also highly likely that the Democrats within the government also support Sustainable Tourism as a potential contributor to the democratization of the country. This paper outlines how the government of Myanmar has understood the concept of Sustainable Tourism, and how it intends to implement and facilitate Sustainable Tourism. This paper, therefore, focuses primarily on the institutional frameworks that have been put in place, a specific one being the Inlay Lake Destination Management Plan, which is one of the four priority destinations identified by the government. The plan aims to improve local infrastructure, manage the local environment and develop local human resources. Importantly, the Plan also includes the establishment of a Destination Management Organization (DMO) to implement and manage Inlay Lake as a Sustainable Tourism destination. This research aims to investigate, for example, the equality in both input to the DMO and benefits accrued to the various stakeholders. How such equality can be ensured and how this can be reliably quantified will be crucial to ultimately evaluating the success of any such plans to implement Sustainable Tourism in Myanmar in the coming years. However, this research paper concludes that while the establishment of the DMO is a positive development, there are considerable institutional, economic and cultural factors that severely limit the ability of the DMO to function as an agent of sustainable tourism implementation.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, myanmar, country in transition, destination management organizations

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Authors: Mahdi Almaky, Reda Hassanin, Benjamin Horrocks, Andrew Houlton

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DNA-templated poly(N-substituted pyrrole)bipyridinium nanowires were synthesised at room temperature using the chemical oxidation method. The resulting CPs/DNA hybrids have been characterised using electronic and vibrational spectroscopic methods especially Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and FTIR spectroscpy. The nanowires morphology was characterised using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The electrical properties of the prepared nanowires were characterised using Electrostatic Force Microscopy (EFM), and measured using conductive AFM (c-AFM) and two terminal I/V technique, where the temperature dependence of the conductivity was probed. The conductivities of the prepared CPs/DNA nanowires are generally lower than PPy/DNA nanowires showingthe large effect on N-alkylation in decreasing the conductivity of the polymer, butthese are higher than the conductivity of their corresponding bulk films.This enhancement in conductivity could be attributed to the ordering of the polymer chains on DNA during the templating process. The prepared CPs/DNA nanowires were used as templates for the growth of copper nanowires at room temperature using aqueous solution of Cu(NO3)2as a source of Cu2+ and ascorbic acid as reducing agent. AFM images showed that these nanowires were uniform and continuous compared to copper nanowires prepared using the templating method directly onto DNA. Electrical characterization of the nanowires by c AFM revealed slight improvement in conductivity of these nanowires (Cu-CPs/DNA) compared to CPs/DNA nanowires before metallisation.

Keywords: templating, copper nanowires, polymer/DNA hybrid, chemical oxidation method

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Authors: Franziska Moser, Martin Trautz, Anna-Lena Beger, Manuel Löwer, Jörg Feldhusen, Jürgen Prell, Alexandra Wormit, Björn Usadel, Christoph Kämpfer, Thomas-Benjamin Seiler, Henner Hollert

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The demand for bio-based materials and components in architecture has increased in recent years due to society’s heightened environmental awareness. Nowadays, most components are being developed via a substitution approach, which aims at replacing conventional components with natural alternatives who are then being processed, shaped and manufactured to fit the desired application. This contribution introduces a novel approach to the development of bio-based products that decreases resource consumption and increases recyclability. In this approach, natural organisms like plants or trees are not being used in a processed form, but grow into a near net shape before then being harvested and utilized as building components. By minimizing the conventional production steps, the amount of resources used in manufacturing decreases whereas the recyclability increases. This paper presents the approach of technical product harvesting, explains the theoretical basis as well as the matching process of product requirements and biological properties, and shows first results of the growth manipulation studies.

Keywords: design with nature, eco manufacturing, sustainable construction materials, technical product harvesting

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Authors: Bryony Davies

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Many cell and tissue culture practices ignore the effects of gravity on cell biology, and little is known about how cell components may move in response to gravitational forces. Starfish oocytes provide an excellent model for interrogating the movement of cell components due to their unusually large size, ease of handling, and high transparency. Chromosomes from starfish oocytes can be visualised by microinjection of the histone-H2B-mCherry plasmid into the oocytes. The movement of the chromosomes can then be tracked by live-cell fluorescence microscopy. The results from experiments using these methods suggest that there is a replicable downward movement of centrally located chromosomes at a median velocity of 0.39 μm/min. Chromosomes nearer the nuclear boundary showed more restricted movement. Chromosome density and shape could also be altered by microinjection of restriction enzymes, primarily Alu1, before imaging. This was found to alter the speed of chromosome movement, with chromosomes from Alu1-injected nuclei showing a median downward velocity of 0.60 μm/min. Overall, these results suggest that there is a non-negligible movement of chromosomes in response to gravitational forces and that this movement can be altered by enzyme activity. Future directions based on these results could interrogate if this observed downward movement extends to other cell components and to other cell types. Additionally, it may be important to understand whether gravitational orientation and vertical positioning of cell components alter cell behaviour. The findings here may have implications for current cell culture practices, which do not replicate cell orientations or external forces experienced in vivo. It is possible that a failure to account for gravitational forces in 2D cell culture alters experimental results and the accuracy of conclusions drawn from them. Understanding possible behavioural changes in cells due to the effects of gravity would therefore be beneficial.

Keywords: starfish, oocytes, live-cell imaging, microinjection, chromosome dynamics

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Authors: Haithem Elderrat, Huw Davies, Emmanuel Brousseau

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Elastomeric polymer foam has been used widely in the automotive industry, especially for isolating unwanted vibrations. Such material is able to absorb unwanted vibration due to its combination of elastic and viscous properties. However, the ‘creep effect’, poor stress distribution and susceptibility to high temperatures are the main disadvantages of such a system. In this study, improvements in the performance of elastomeric foam as a vibration isolator were investigated using the concept of Foam Filled Fluid (FFFluid). In FFFluid devices, the foam takes the form of capsule shapes, and is mixed with viscous fluid, while the mixture is contained in a closed vessel. When the FFFluid isolator is affected by vibrations, energy is absorbed, due to the elastic strain of the foam. As the foam is compressed, there is also movement of the fluid, which contributes to further energy absorption as the fluid shears. Also, and dependent on the design adopted, the packaging could also attenuate vibration through energy absorption via friction and/or elastic strain. The present study focuses on the advantages of the FFFluid concept over the dry polymeric foam in the role of vibration isolation. This comparative study between the performance of dry foam and the FFFluid was made according to experimental procedures. The paper concludes by evaluating the performance of the FFFluid isolator in the suspension system of a light vehicle. One outcome of this research is that the FFFluid may preferable over elastomer isolators in certain applications, as it enables a reduction in the effects of high temperatures and of ‘creep effects’, thereby increasing the reliability and load distribution. The stiffness coefficient of the system has increased about 60% by using an FFFluid sample. The technology represented by the FFFluid is therefore considered by this research suitable for application in the suspension system of a light vehicle.

Keywords: FFFluid, dry foam, anti-vibration devices, elastomeric polymer foam

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Authors: Davies Obaromi, Qin Yongsong, James Ndege

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To interpolate scattered or regularly distributed data, there are imprecise or exact methods. However, there are some of these methods that could be used for interpolating data in a regular grid and others in an irregular grid. In spatial epidemiology, it is important to examine how a disease prevalence rates are distributed in space, and how they relate with each other within a defined distance and direction. In this study, for the geographic and graphic representation of the disease prevalence, linear and biharmonic spline methods were implemented in MATLAB, and used to identify, localize and compare for smoothing in the distribution patterns of tuberculosis (TB) in Eastern Cape Province. The aim of this study is to produce a more “smooth” graphical disease map for TB prevalence patterns by a 3-D curve fitting techniques, especially the biharmonic splines that can suppress noise easily, by seeking a least-squares fit rather than exact interpolation. The datasets are represented generally as a 3D or XYZ triplets, where X and Y are the spatial coordinates and Z is the variable of interest and in this case, TB counts in the province. This smoothing spline is a method of fitting a smooth curve to a set of noisy observations using a spline function, and it has also become the conventional method for its high precision, simplicity and flexibility. Surface and contour plots are produced for the TB prevalence at the provincial level for 2012 – 2015. From the results, the general outlook of all the fittings showed a systematic pattern in the distribution of TB cases in the province and this is consistent with some spatial statistical analyses carried out in the province. This new method is rarely used in disease mapping applications, but it has a superior advantage to be assessed at subjective locations rather than only on a rectangular grid as seen in most traditional GIS methods of geospatial analyses.

Keywords: linear, biharmonic splines, tuberculosis, South Africa

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Authors: Sa`ad M. Ismail, Hung-Hsun Yen, Christina M. Murray, Helen M. S. Davies

Abstract:

The lumbosacral junction (where the 7th lumbar vertebra (L7) articulates with the sacrum) is a clinically important area in the dog. The 7th lumbar vertebra (L7) is normally shorter than other lumbar vertebrae, and it has been reported that variations in the L7 length may be associated with other abnormal anatomical findings. These variations included the reduction or absence of the portion of the median sacral crest. In this study, 53 greyhound cadavers were placed in right lateral recumbency, and two lateral radiographs were taken of the lumbosacral region for each greyhound. The length of the 6th lumbar (L6) vertebra and L7 were measured using radiographic measurement software and was defined to be the mean of three lines drawn from the caudal to the cranial edge of the L6 and L7 vertebrae (a dorsal, middle, and ventral line) between specific landmarks. Sacrocaudal fusion was found in 41.5% of the greyhounds. The mean values of the length of L6, L7, and the ratio of the L6/L7 length of the greyhounds with sacrocaudal fusion were all greater than those with standard sacrums (three sacral vertebrae). There was a significant difference (P < 0.05) in the mean values of the length of L7 between the greyhounds without sacrocaudal fusion (mean = 29.64, SD ± 2.07) and those with sacrocaudal fusion (mean = 30.86, SD ± 1.80), but, there was no significant difference in the mean value of the length of the L6 measurement. Among different types of sacrocaudal fusion, the longest L7 was found in greyhounds with sacrum type D, intermediate length in those with sacrum type B, and the shortest was found in those with sacrums type C, and the mean values of the ratio of the L6/L7 were 1.11 (SD ± 0.043), 1.15, (SD ± 0.025), and 1.15 (SD ± 0.011) for the types B, C, and D respectively. No significant differences in the mean values of the length of L6 or L7 were found among the different types of sacrocaudal fusion. The occurrence of sacrocaudal fusion might affect direct anatomically connected structures such as the L7. The variation in the length of L7 between greyhounds with sacrocaudal fusion and those without may reflect the possible sequences of the process of fusion. Variations in the length of the L7 vertebra in greyhounds may be associated with the occurrence of sacrocaudal fusion. The variation in the vertebral length may affect the alignment and biomechanical properties of the sacrum and may alter the loading. We concluded that any variations in the sacrum anatomical features might change the function of the sacrum or the surrounding anatomical structures.

Keywords: biomechanics, Greyhound, sacrocaudal fusion, locomotion, 6th Lumbar (L6) Vertebra, 7th Lumbar (L7) Vertebra, ratio of the L6/L7 length

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Authors: S. M. Ismail, H-H Yen, C. M. Murray, H. M. S. Davies

Abstract:

A recent study reported a 33% incidence of complete sacrocaudal fusion in greyhounds compared to a 3% incidence in other dogs. In the dog, the median sacral crest is formed by the fusion of sacral spinous processes. Separation of the 1st spinous process from the median crest of the sacrum in the dog has been reported as a diagnostic tool of type one lumbosacral transitional vertebra (LTV). LTV is a congenital spinal anomaly, which includes either sacralization of the caudal lumbar part or lumbarization of the most cranial sacral segment of the spine. In this study, the absence or reduction of fusion (presence of separation) between the 1st and 2ndspinous processes of the median sacral crest has been identified in association with sacrocaudal fusion in the greyhound, without any feature of LTV. In order to provide quantitative data on the absence or reduction of fusion in the median sacral crest between the 1st and 2nd sacral spinous processes, in association with sacrocaudal fusion. 204 dog sacrums free of any pathological changes (192 greyhound, 9 beagles and 3 labradors) were grouped based on the occurrence and types of fusion and the presence, absence, or reduction in the median sacral crest between the 1st and 2nd sacral spinous processes., Sacrums were described and classified as follows: F: Complete fusion (crest is present), N: Absence (fusion is absent), and R: Short crest (fusion reduced but not absent (reduction). The incidence of sacrocaudal fusion in the 204 sacrums: 57% of the sacrums were standard (3 vertebrae) and 43% were fused (4 vertebrae). Type of sacrum had a significant (p < .05) association with the absence and reduction of fusion between the 1st and 2nd sacral spinous processes of the median sacral crest. In the 108 greyhounds with standard sacrums (3 vertebrae) the percentages of F, N and R were 45% 23% and 23% respectively, while in the 84 fused (4 vertebrae) sacrums, the percentages of F, N and R were 3%, 87% and 10% respectively and these percentages were significantly different between standard (3 vertebrae) and fused (4 vertebrae) sacrums (p < .05). This indicates that absence of spinous process fusion in the median sacral crest was found in a large percentage of the greyhounds in this study and was found to be particularly prevalent in those with sacrocaudal fusion – therefore in this breed, at least, absence of sacral spinous process fusion may be unlikely to be associated with LTV.

Keywords: greyhound, median sacral crest, sacrocaudal fusion, sacral spinous process

Procedia PDF Downloads 411

Authors: Vidhya R

Abstract:

The claim of feminists that women are made and not born is neither to set women on par with men nor to discriminate one from the other, but to establish and reiterate the fact that both the sexes have to understand, recognize and appreciate each other’s ability and responsibility thus to contribute to the peaceful co-existence of both, leading to the creation of a better and brave new world, which is neither patriarchal nor matriarchal. But history has repeatedly recorded the relegation of women to the secondary position consummated through the highly biased cultural, ritualistic and customary practices across the globe. In Africa, bracing herself against many odds through generations, the African woman who has been facing multiple jeopardy promulgated by racial, cultural, economic and gender discrimination has slowly started moving from the margins towards the center. The African woman was able to undertake the journey from the margins to the center bravely only because of her grit, grace, courage, confidence, and spirituality. This journey has resulted in the metamorphosis of the African woman’s psyche. Economic independence fortified with education has empowered the African woman. The various stages of metamorphosis are well delineated in the works of the contemporary Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The objective of this research paper is to study the above said metamorphosis, the female protagonists undergo in Adichie’s novels. The approaches on which the study is based on are the Africana Womanist theory propounded by Clenora Hudson –Weems and African feminism of Carole Boyce Davies. The findings of this study lead towards establishing the proposition that the emergence and evolution of the Nigerian woman has resulted in the birth of a new breed of women – the Emphatic Female, manifested in the power packed portrayal of the female protagonists of Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Keywords: Africana womanism, African feminism, chimamanda ngozi adichie, metamorphosis, the emphatic female

Procedia PDF Downloads 307

Authors: Numair A. Siddiqui, Usman Muhammad, Manoj J. Mathew, Ramkumar M., Benjamin Sautter, Muhammad A. K. El-Ghali, David Menier, Shiqi Zhang

Abstract:

The sedimentological parameterization of shallow-marine siliciclastic reservoirs in terms of reservoir quality and heterogeneity from outcrop study can help improve the subsurface reservoir prediction. An architectural analysis has documented variations in sandstone geometry and rock properties within shallow-marine sandstone exposed in the Miocene Sandakan Formation of Sabah, Borneo. This study demonstrates reservoir sandstone quality assessment for subsurface rock evaluation, from well-exposed successions of the Sandakan Formation, Borneo, with which applicable analogues can be identified. The analyses were based on traditional conventional field investigation of outcrops, grain-size and petrographic studies of hand specimens of different sandstone facies and gamma-ray and permeability measurements. On the bases of these evaluations, the studied sandstone was grouped into three qualitative reservoir rock classes; high (Ø=18.10 – 43.60%; k=1265.20 – 5986.25 mD), moderate (Ø=17.60 – 37%; k=21.36 – 568 mD) and low quality (Ø=3.4 – 15.7%; k=3.21 – 201.30 mD) for visualization and prediction of subsurface reservoir quality. These results provided analogy for shallow marine sandstone reservoir complexity that can be utilized in the evaluation of reservoir quality of regional and subsurface analogues.

Keywords: architecture and sedimentology, subsurface rock evaluation, reservoir quality, borneo

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Taylor Kolody, Farkhund Iqbal, Rabia Batool, Benjamin Fung, Mohammed Hussaeni, Saiqa Aleem

Abstract:

The rising threat of climate change has led to an increase in public awareness and care about our collective and individual environmental impact. A key component of this impact is our use of cars and other polluting forms of transportation, but it is often difficult for an individual to know how severe this impact is. While there are applications that offer this feedback, they require manual entry of what transportation mode was used for a given trip, which can be burdensome. In order to alleviate this shortcoming, a data from the 2016 TRIPlab datasets has been used to train a variety of machine learning models to automatically recognize the mode of transportation. The accuracy of 89.6% is achieved using single deep neural network model with Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) architecture applied directly to trip data points over 4 primary classes, namely walking, public transit, car, and bike. These results are comparable in accuracy to results achieved by others using ensemble methods and require far less computation when classifying new trips. The lack of trip context data, e.g., bus routes, bike paths, etc., and the need for only a single set of weights make this an appropriate methodology for applications hoping to reach a broad demographic and have responsive feedback.

Keywords: classification, gated recurrent unit, recurrent neural network, transportation

Procedia PDF Downloads 93