Search results for: Sayed Mahdi Faghih Imani

Authors: Rehab Mahmoud El Sayed, Toka Fahmy Nasr, Dalia M. Rasmi

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Environmental psychology studies the interaction between the user and the environment. This field is crucial in understanding how the built environment affects human behaviour, moods and feelings. Studying and understanding the aspects and influences of environmental psychology is a crucial key to investigating how the design can influence human behaviour to be environmentally friendly. This is known as pro-environmental behaviour where human actions are sustainable and impacts the environment positively. Accordingly, this paper aims to explore the impact of built environment design on environmental psychology to foster pro-environmental behaviour in university campus open spaces. In order to achieve this, an exploratory research method was conducted where a detailed study of the influences of environmental psychology was done and clarified its elements. Moreover, investigating the impact of design elements on human psychology took place. Besides, an empirical study of the outdoor spaces of the British University in Egypt occurred and a survey for students and staff was distributed. The research concluded that the four main psychological aspects are mostly influenced by the following design elements colours, lighting and thermal comfort respectively. Additionally, focusing on these design elements in the design process will create a sustainable environment. As a consequence, the pro-environmental behaviour of the user will be fostered.

Keywords: environmental psychology, pro-environmental behavior, sustainable environment, psychological influences

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Authors: Kianoosh Samimi, Farhad Estakhr, Mahdi Mahdikhani, Faramaz Moodi

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The self-consolidating concrete (SCC) performance over ordinary concrete is generally related to the ingredients used. The metakaolin can modify various properties of concrete, due to high pozzolanic reactions and also makes a denser microstructure. The objective of this paper is to examine the influence of three types of Portland cement and metakaolin on compressive strength and transport properties of SCC at early ages and up to 90 days. Six concrete mixtures were prepared with three types of different cements and substitution of 15% metakaolin. The results show that the highest value of compressive strength was achieved for Portland Slag Cement (PSC) and without any metakaolin at age of 90 days. Conversely, the lowest level of compressive strength at all ages of conservation was obtained for Pozzolanic Portland Cement (PPC) and containing 15% metakaolin. As can be seen in the results, compressive strength in SCC containing Portland cement type II with metakaolin is higher compared to that relative to SCC without metakaolin from 28 days of age. On the other hand, the samples containing PSC and PPC with metakaolin had a lower compressive strength than the plain samples. Therefore, it can be concluded that metakaolin has a negative effect on the compressive strength of SCC containing PSC and PPC. In addition, results show that metakaolin has enhanced chloride durability of SCCs and reduced capillary water absorption at 28, 90 days.

Keywords: SCC, metakaolin, cement type, compressive strength, chloride diffusion

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Authors: Dean Raiyasmi, Elvi Citraresmana, Sutiono Mahdi

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Language shapes the human mind and its concept toward things. Using image schemas, in nowadays technology, even AI (artificial intelligence) can concept things in response to their creator negativity or positivity. This is reflected inside one of the most selling game around the world in 2012 called Dragon Age Origins. The AI in form of NPC (Non-Playable Character) inside the game reflects on the creator of the game on negativity or positivity toward the lexical concept of mage. Through image schemas, shaping the lexical concept of mage deemed possible and proved the negativity or positivity creator of the game toward mage. This research analyses the cognitive-semantic process of image schema and shaping the concept of ‘mage’ by describing kinds of image schemas exist in the Dragon Age Origin Game. This research is also aimed to analyse kinds of image schemas and describing the image schemas which shaping the concept of ‘mage’ itself. The methodology used in this research is qualitative where participative observation is employed with five stages and documentation. The results shows that there are four image schemas exist in the game and those image schemas shaping the lexical concept of ‘mage’.

Keywords: cognitive semantic, image-schema, conceptual metaphor, video game

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Authors: Maryam Safrai, Tewfik Mahdi

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This article presents the stochastic modeling of the Richelieu River flood in Quebec, Canada, occurred in the spring of 2011. With the aid of the one-dimensional Watershed Modeling System (WMS (v.10.1) and HEC-RAS (v.4.1) as a flood simulator, the delineation of the probabilistic flooded areas was considered. Based on the Monte Carlo method, WMS (v.10.1) delineated the probabilistic flooded areas with corresponding occurrence percentages. Furthermore, results of this one-dimensional model were compared with the results of two-dimensional model (SRH-2D) for the evaluation of efficiency and precision of each applied model. Based on this comparison, computational process in two-dimensional model is longer and more complicated versus brief one-dimensional one. Although, two-dimensional models are more accurate than one-dimensional method, but according to existing modellers, delineation of probabilistic flooded areas based on Monte Carlo method is achievable via one-dimensional modeler. The applied software in this case study greatly responded to verify the research objectives. As a result, flood risk maps of the Richelieu River with the two applied models (1d, 2d) could elucidate the flood risk factors in hydrological, hydraulic, and managerial terms.

Keywords: flood modeling, HEC-RAS, model comparison, Monte Carlo simulation, probabilistic flooded area, SRH-2D, WMS

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Authors: Samaneh Abolli, Mahdi Ahmadi Nasab, Kamyar Yaghmaeian, Mahmood Alimohammadi

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The quality of drinking water, in addition to the presence of physicochemical parameters, depends on the type and geographical location of water sources. In this study, groundwater quality was investigated by sampling total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), total hardness (TH), Cl, Ca²⁺, and Mg²⁺ parameters in 13 sites, and 40 water samples were sent to the laboratory. Electrometric, titration, and spectrophotometer methods were used. In the next step, the water quality index (WQI) was used to investigate the impact and weight of each parameter in the groundwater. The results showed that only the mean of magnesium ion (40.88 mg/l) was lower than the guidelines of World Health Organization (WHO). Interpreting the WQI based on the WHO guidelines showed that the statuses of 21, 11, and 7 samples were very poor, poor, and average quality, respectively, and one sample had excellent quality. Among the studied parameters, the means of EC (2,087.49 mS/cm) and Cl (1,015.87 mg/l) exceeded the global and national limits. Classifying water quality of TH was very hard (87.5%), hard (7.5%), and moderate (5%), respectively. Based on the geographical distribution, the drinking water index in sites 4 and 11 did not have acceptable quality. Chloride ion was identified as the responsible pollutant and the most important ion for raising the index. The outputs of statistical tests and Spearman correlation had significant and direct correlation (p < 0.05, r > 0.7) between TDS, EC, and chloride, EC and chloride, as well as TH, Ca²⁺, and Mg²⁺.

Keywords: water quality index, groundwater, chloride, GIS, Garmsar

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Authors: Mohkammad Nur Cahyadi, Hepi Hapsari Handayani, Agus Budi Raharjo, Ronny Mardianto, Daud Wahyu Imani, Arizal Bawazir, Luki Adi Triawan

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PDAM (local water company) determines customer charges by considering the customer's building or house. Charges determination significantly affects PDAM income and customer costs because the PDAM applies a subsidy policy for customers classified as small households. Periodic updates are needed so that pricing is in line with the target. A thorough customer survey in Surabaya is needed to update customer building data. However, the survey that has been carried out so far has been by deploying officers to conduct one-by-one surveys for each PDAM customer. Surveys with this method require a lot of effort and cost. For this reason, this research offers a technology called moblie mapping, a mapping method that is more efficient in terms of time and cost. The use of this tool is also quite simple, where the device will be installed in the car so that it can record the surrounding buildings while the car is running. Mobile mapping technology generally uses lidar sensors equipped with GNSS, but this technology requires high costs. In overcoming this problem, this research develops low-cost mobile mapping technology using a webcam camera sensor added to the GNSS and IMU sensors. The camera used has specifications of 3MP with a resolution of 720 and a diagonal field of view of 78⁰. The principle of this invention is to integrate four camera sensors, a GNSS webcam, and GPS to acquire photo data, which is equipped with location data (latitude, longitude) and IMU (roll, pitch, yaw). This device is also equipped with a tripod and a vacuum cleaner to attach to the car's roof so it doesn't fall off while running. The output data from this technology will be analyzed with artificial intelligence to reduce similar data (Cosine Similarity) and then classify building types. Data reduction is used to eliminate similar data and maintain the image that displays the complete house so that it can be processed for later classification of buildings. The AI method used is transfer learning by utilizing a trained model named VGG-16. From the analysis of similarity data, it was found that the data reduction reached 50%. Then georeferencing is done using the Google Maps API to get address information according to the coordinates in the data. After that, geographic join is done to link survey data with customer data already owned by PDAM Surya Sembada Surabaya.

Keywords: mobile mapping, GNSS, IMU, similarity, classification

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Authors: Hesham Abdin, Mohamed Zakaria, Talaat Abd-Elmonaem, Alaa El-Din Sayed Hafez

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Kalman filter algorithm is an estimator known as the workhorse of estimation. It has an important application in missile guidance, especially in lack of accurate data of the target due to noise or uncertainty. In this paper, a Kalman filter is used as a tracking filter in a simulated target-interceptor scenario with noise. It estimates the position, velocity, and acceleration of the target in the presence of noise. These estimations are needed for both proportional navigation and differential geometry guidance laws. A Kalman filter has a good performance at low noise, but a large noise causes considerable errors leads to performance degradation. Therefore, a new technique is required to overcome this defect using tuning factors to tune a Kalman filter to adapt increasing of noise. The values of the tuning factors are between 0.8 and 1.2, they have a specific value for the first half of range and a different value for the second half. they are multiplied by the estimated values. These factors have its optimum values and are altered with the change of the target heading. A genetic algorithm updates these selections to increase the maximum effective range which was previously reduced by noise. The results show that the selected factors have other benefits such as decreasing the minimum effective range that was increased earlier due to noise. In addition to, the selected factors decrease the miss distance for all ranges of this direction of the target, and expand the effective range which leads to increase probability of kill.

Keywords: proportional navigation, differential geometry, Kalman filter, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Ayman Abd-Elhamed, Sayed Mahmoud

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The present research work investigates the seismic response of reinforced concrete (RC) frame building considering the effect of modeling masonry infill (MI) walls. The seismic behavior of a residential 6-storey RC frame building, considering and ignoring the effect of masonry, is numerically investigated using response spectrum (RS) analysis. The considered herein building is designed as a moment resisting frame (MRF) system following the Egyptian code (EC) requirements. Two developed models in terms of bare frame and infill walls frame are used in the study. Equivalent diagonal strut methodology is used to represent the behavior of infill walls, whilst the well-known software package ETABS is used for implementing all frame models and performing the analysis. The results of the numerical simulations such as base shear, displacements, and internal forces for the bare frame as well as the infill wall frame are presented in a comparative way. The results of the study indicate that the interaction between infill walls and frames significantly change the responses of buildings during earthquakes compared to the results of bare frame building model. Specifically, the seismic analysis of RC bare frame structure leads to underestimation of base shear and consequently damage or even collapse of buildings may occur under strong shaking. On the other hand, considering infill walls significantly decrease the peak floor displacements and drifts in both X and Y-directions.

Keywords: masonry infill, bare frame, response spectrum, seismic response

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Authors: M. S. Gadala, Khaled Ahmed, Elasadig Mahdi

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In this paper, we introduced a gradient-based inverse solver to obtain the missing boundary conditions based on the readings of internal thermocouples. The results show that the method is very sensitive to measurement errors, and becomes unstable when small time steps are used. The artificial neural networks are shown to be capable of capturing the whole thermal history on the run-out table, but are not very effective in restoring the detailed behavior of the boundary conditions. Also, they behave poorly in nonlinear cases and where the boundary condition profile is different. GA and PSO are more effective in finding a detailed representation of the time-varying boundary conditions, as well as in nonlinear cases. However, their convergence takes longer. A variation of the basic PSO, called CRPSO, showed the best performance among the three versions. Also, PSO proved to be effective in handling noisy data, especially when its performance parameters were tuned. An increase in the self-confidence parameter was also found to be effective, as it increased the global search capabilities of the algorithm. RPSO was the most effective variation in dealing with noise, closely followed by CRPSO. The latter variation is recommended for inverse heat conduction problems, as it combines the efficiency and effectiveness required by these problems.

Keywords: inverse analysis, function specification, neural net works, particle swarm, run-out table

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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: Sandeep Pandey, Nimra Habib, Ranjana Singh, Abbas Ali Mahdi

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Leukemia is a malignancy of blood that mainly affects children and young adults; while advancement in the early diagnosis will have the potential to improve the outcome of diseases. A wide range of disease including leukemia shows inflammatory signals in their pathogenesis. In a pilot study conducted in our laboratory, 52 people were screened, of which 26 had leukemia and 26 were free from any kind of malignancy. We performed the estimation of the inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-8 and it was found significantly raised in all the leukemia patients concerning healthy volunteers who participated in the study. Flow cytometry had been performed for the confirmation of leukemia and further genomic, and proteomic, analyses of the sample revealed that IL-8 levels showed a positive correlation in patients with leukemia. The results had shown constitutive secretion of interleukin-8 by leukemia cells. So, our finding demonstrated that IL-8 is considered to have a role in the pathogenesis of leukemia, and quantification of IL-8 levels in leukemia conditions might be more useful and feasible in the clinical setting for the prediction of drug responses where it may represent a putative target for innovative diagnostic toward effective therapeutic approaches. However, further research explorations in this area are needed that include a greater number of patients with all different forms of leukemia, and estimating their IL-8 levels may hold the key for the additional predictive values on the recurrence of leukemia and its prognosis.

Keywords: T-ALL, IL-8, leukemia pathogenesis, cancer therapeutics

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Authors: Mohammad H. Ruhipour, Mahdi Goharrokhi, Mahsa Ghasemi, Artadokht Ostadsarayi

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In this paper, we are aiming to study the consequences of chlorine gas leak in direct chlorine gas injection compared to using bleach (sodium hypochlorite), studying the negative effects both on the environment and individuals. This study was performed in the cooling towers of a natural fractioning unit of Bandar-e-IMAM petrochemical plant. Considering that chlorine gas is highly toxic and based on the health regulation, its release into the surrounding environment can be very dangerous for people and even fatal for individuals. We studied performing quantitative studies in the worst cases of event incidence. In addition, studying alternative methods with a lower risk was also on the agenda to select the least likely possible option causing an accident. In this paper chlorine gas release consequences have been evaluated by using PHAST software. Reaching to 10 ppm of chlorine gas concentration was basis of hazardous area determination. The results show that the full chlorine gas line rupture scenario in Pasquill category F, were worst case, and many people could be harmed around cooling towers area because of chlorine gas inhalation.

Keywords: chlorine gas, consequence modeling, cooling towers, direct chlorination, risk assessment, system failure

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Authors: Peri Harish Kumar, Sai Sharan Dwarka, Tajbinder Singh Bains, Suneet John Joseph, Chaitanya Kiran, Sambhu Dutta, Sarah Makram, Mohamed Sayed Zaazouee, Alaa Ahmed Elshanbary

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Objective: To identify cancer and non-cancer causes of death in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients over different time periods after diagnosis and to compare the mortality risk of each cause in HCC patients with the general population. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, data of 67,637 HCC patients from 1975 to 2016 were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. We investigated the association between different causes of death and the following variables: age, race, tumor stage at diagnosis, and treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy); each according to the periods of <1 year, 1-5 years, 5-10 years, and >10 years following the diagnosis. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for cancer and non-cancer deaths in each of the mentioned periods following diagnosis. Results: Data of 67,637 patients, of whom 50,571 patients died during the follow-up period, were analyzed. Most deaths were due to HCC itself (35,535, 70.3%), followed by other cancers (3,983, 7.9%). Common causes of non-cancer mortality included infectious and parasitic diseases including HIV (2,823 patients, SMR=105.68, 95% CI: 101.82-109.65), chronic liver disease (2,719 patients, SMR=76.56, 95% CI: 73.71,79.5), and heart diseases (1,265 patients, SMR=2.26, 95% CI: 2.14-2.39), with higher mortality risk in HCC patients than in the general population. Conclusion: Cancers stand for most deaths in patients with HCC. Besides, infectious, and parasitic diseases including HIV represent the commonest non-cancer cause of mortality.

Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, seer, causes of death, mortality

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Authors: Mahdi Biabanaki

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Religion is present in all human societies and has been for tens of thousands of years. What is noteworthy is that although religious traditions vary in different societies, there are considerable similarities in their religious beliefs. In all human cultures, for example, there is a widespread belief in the afterlife. Cognitive science of Religion (CSR), an emerging branch of cognitive science, searches for the root of these widespread similarities and the widespread prevalence of beliefs such as beliefs in the afterlife in common mental structures among humans. Accordingly, the cognitive architecture of the human mind has evolved to produce such beliefs automatically and non-reflectively. For CSR researchers, belief in the afterlife is an intuitive belief resulting from the functioning of mental tools. Our purpose in this article is to extract and evaluate the cognitive explanations presented in the CSR field for explaining beliefs in the afterlife. Our research shows that there are two basic theories in this area of CSR, namely "intuitive dualism" and "simulation constraint" theory. We show that these two theories face four major challenges and limitations in explaining belief in the afterlife: inability to provide a causal explanation, inability to explain cultural/religious differences in afterlife belief, the lack of distinction between the natural and the rational foundations of belief in the afterlife and disregarding the supernatural foundations of the afterlife belief.

Keywords: afterlife, cognitive science of religion, intuitive dualism, simulation constraint

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Authors: Mahdi Jalili

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Functional connectivity in the human brain can be represented as a network using electroencephalography (EEG) signals. Network representation of EEG time series can be an efficient vehicle to understand the underlying mechanisms of brain function. Brain functional networks – whose nodes are brain regions and edges correspond to functional links between them – are characterized by neurobiologically meaningful graph theory metrics. This study investigates the degree to which graph theory metrics are sex dependent. To this end, EEGs from 24 healthy female subjects and 21 healthy male subjects were recorded in eyes-closed resting state conditions. The connectivity matrices were extracted using correlation analysis and were further binarized to obtain binary functional networks. Global and local efficiency measures – as graph theory metrics– were computed for the extracted networks. We found that male brains have a significantly greater global efficiency (i.e., global communicability of the network) across all frequency bands for a wide range of cost values in both hemispheres. Furthermore, for a range of cost values, female brains showed significantly greater right-hemispheric local efficiency (i.e., local connectivity) than male brains.

Keywords: EEG, brain, functional networks, network science, graph theory

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Authors: Gehan El-Sayed Sharaf El-Deen

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In this study, super paramagnetic iron-oxide nano- materials (SPMIN) were investigated for removal of toxic heavy metals from aqueous solution. The magnetic nanoparticles of 12 nm were synthesized using a co-precipitation method and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Batch experiments carried out to investigate the influence of different parameters such as contact time, initial concentration of metal ions, the dosage of SPMIN, desorption,pH value of solutions. The adsorption process was found to be highly pH dependent, which made the nanoparticles selectively adsorb these three metals from wastewater. Maximum sorption for all the studies cations obtained at the first half hour and reached equilibrium at one hour. The adsorption data of heavy metals studied were well fitted with the Langmuir isotherm and the equilibrium data show the percent removal of Ni2+, Zn2+ and Cd2+ were 96.5%, 80% and 75%, respectively. Desorption studies in acidic medium indicate that Zn2+, Ni2+ and Cd2+ were removed by 89%, 2% and 18% from the first cycle. Regeneration studies indicated that SPMIN nanoparticles undergoing successive adsorption–desorption processes for Zn2+ ions retained original metal removal capacity. The results revealed that the most prominent advantage of the prepared SPMIN adsorbent consisted in their separation convenience compared to the other adsorbents and SPMIN has high efficiency for removal the investigated metals from aqueous solution.

Keywords: heavy metals, magnetic nanoparticles, removal efficiency, Batch technique

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Authors: Mohammed A. Alfayyadh, Halla A. AlAbdulhadi, Mahdi H. Almubarak

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Purpose: Eales’ disease is an idiopathic vasculitis that affects the peripheral retina. It is characterized by recurrent vitreous hemorrhage as a complication of retinal neovascularization. It is more prevalent in India and affects young males. Here we present a patient with neovascular glaucoma as a rare first presentation of Eales’ disease. Observations: This is a 24-year-old Indian gentleman, who complained of a sudden decrease in vision in the left eye over less than 24 hours, along with frontal headache and eye pain for the last three weeks. Ocular examination revealed peripheral retinal ischemia in the right eye, very high intraocular pressure, rubeosis iridis, vitreous hemorrhage and extensive retinal ischemia in the left eye, vascular sheathing and neovascularization in both eyes. Purified protein derivative skin test was positive. The patient was managed with anti-glaucoma, intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor and laser photocoagulation. Systemic steroids and anti-tuberculous therapy were also initiated. Conclusions: Neovascular glaucoma is an infrequent complication of Eales’ disease. However, the lack of early detection of the disease in the early stages might lead to such serious complication.

Keywords: case report, Eales’ disease, mycobacterium tuberculosis, neovascular glaucoma

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Authors: El Sayed A. Sharara, A. Tsuji, K. Terada

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Call centers have been expanding and they have influence on activation in various markets increasingly. A call center’s work is known as one of the most demanding and stressful jobs. In this paper, we propose the fatigue detection system in order to detect burnout of call center agents in the case of a neck pain and upper back pain. Our proposed system is based on the computer vision technique combined skin color detection with the Viola-Jones object detector. To recognize the gesture of hand poses caused by stress sign, the YCbCr color space is used to detect the skin color region including face and hand poses around the area related to neck ache and upper back pain. A cascade of clarifiers by Viola-Jones is used for face recognition to extract from the skin color region. The detection of hand poses is given by the evaluation of neck pain and upper back pain by using skin color detection and face recognition method. The system performance is evaluated using two groups of dataset created in the laboratory to simulate call center environment. Our call center agent burnout detection system has been implemented by using a web camera and has been processed by MATLAB. From the experimental results, our system achieved 96.3% for upper back pain detection and 94.2% for neck pain detection.

Keywords: call center agents, fatigue, skin color detection, face recognition

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Authors: Maha Mohamed Hady Ali, M. A. El-Sayed

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Camel (Camelus dromedarius) is very important animal in many arid and semi-arid zones of tropical and subtropical regions as it serves as dual purpose providing meat and milk for human and as draft animal. Camel, like other animal must receive all essential nutrients despite the hostile environment. A study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional status of some micro-minerals of camel under Egyptian environmental condition. Forty five blood samples were collected from apparently healthy male camels with an average age between 2-6 years at the slaughter house in Cairo province, Egypt. The animals were fed mainly on berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum) or concentrate with straw before slaughtering. The collected serum and feedstuff samples were subjected to copper, iron, selenium and zinc analysis using Atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The data showed variation in the level of copper, iron, selenium and zinc in the serum of the dromedary camel as well as in the feedstuffs. Furthermore, the results indicated that the micro- minerals status of feeds may not always reflected as such in camel blood suggesting some role of bioavailability. The main reason for the lack of such reflection seems to be the wide diversity exists in the surrounding environment (forages and plants) as well as the bioavailability of such minerals. Since the requirement of micro-minerals have not been established for camel, more researches must be focused on this topic.

Keywords: camel, copper, egypt, feed stuff, iron, selenium, zinc

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Authors: Fatemeh Aghamohammadzadeh, Mahdi Asghari Ozma

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SARS-CoV-2 was transmitted from animals to humans in China and through air transport to almost all world countries, including Iran, creating the first pandemic of the 21st century. The virus was spread through droplets from sneezing, coughing, loud talking, and exhalation of sick and asymptomatic people, even during incubation. It was transmitted from human to human directly by inhalation of viruses in droplets or indirectly through contact with infected surfaces, resulting in the death of a significant number of patients, especially the elderly and those with underlying diseases. The virus is more likely to be transmitted in places with high population densities. The chain of transmission of infection can be broken by observing the following: risk perception, reduced travel, complete quarantine in a particular area, home quarantine, social distancing, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), prevention of gatherings, cleaning and disinfection of public utilities and busy places, identifying, isolating and treating infected people, tracking calls, continuing health education, following health principles by people, especially in poor areas, and washing their hands frequently with soap and water or disinfecting them with 70% ethanol.

Keywords: COVID-19, transmission, population density, home quarantine, social distancing

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Authors: Atieh Andakhshideh, S. Maleki, Sayed Sadegh Marashi

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In this paper, the interlaminar stresses of generally laminated piezoelectric plates are presented. The electromechanical coupling effect of the piezoelectric plate is considered and the governing equations and boundary conditions are derived using the principle of minimum total potential energy. The solution procedure is a three-dimensional multi-term extended Kantorovich method (3DMTEKM). The objective of this paper is to accurately study coupling influence on the edge effects of piezolaminated plates with finite dimensions, arbitrary lamination lay-ups and under uniform axial strain. These results can provide a benchmark for checking the accuracy of the other numerical method or two-dimensional laminate theories. To verify the accuracy of the 3DMTEKM, first examples are simplified to special cases such as cross-ply or symmetric laminations and are compared with other analytical solutions available in the literature. Excellent agreement is achieved in validation test and other numerical results are presented for general cases. Numerical examples indicate the singular behavior of interlaminar normal/shear stresses and electric field strength components near the edges of the piezolaminated plates. The coupling influence on the free edge effect with respect to lamination lay-ups of piezoelectric plate is studied in several examples.

Keywords: electromechanical coupling, generally laminated piezoelectric plates, Kantorovich method, edge effect, interlaminar stresses

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Authors: Mahdi Motahari, Mojtaba Farzaneh, Ebrahim Sepidbar

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Tracking of moving and flying targets is one of the most important issues in image processing topic. Estimating of trajectory of desired object in short-term and long-term scale is more important than tracking of moving and flying targets. In this paper, a new way of identifying and estimating of future trajectory of a moving ball in long-term scale is estimated by using synthesis and interaction of image processing algorithms including noise removal and image segmentation, Kalman filter algorithm in order to estimating of trajectory of ball in football game in short-term scale and intelligent adaptive neuro-fuzzy algorithm based on time series of traverse distance. The proposed system attain more than 96% identify accuracy by using aforesaid methods and relaying on aforesaid algorithms and data base video in format of synthesis and interaction. Although the present method has high precision, it is time consuming. By comparing this method with other methods we realize the accuracy and efficiency of that.

Keywords: tracking, signal processing, moving targets and flying, artificial intelligent systems, estimating of trajectory, Kalman filter

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Authors: Ahmad Shanei, Mohammad Mahdi Shanei

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When a liquid is irradiated with high intensities (> 1 W) and low frequencies (≤ 1 MHz) ultrasound, acoustic cavitation occurs. Acoustic cavitation generates free radicals from the breakdown of water and other molecules. The existence of particles in liquid provide nucleation sites for cavitation bubbles and lead to decrease the ultrasonic intensity threshold needed for cavitation onset. The study was designed to measure hydroxyl radicals in terephthalic acid solutions containing 30 nm gold nanoparticles in a near field of a 1 MHz sonotherapy probe. The effect of ultrasound irradiation parameters containing mode of sonication and ultrasound intensity in hydroxyl radicals production have been investigated by the spectrofluorometry method. Recorded fluorescence signal in terephthalic acid solution containing gold nanoparticles was higher than the terephthalic acid solution without gold nanoparticles. Also, the results showed that any increase in intensity of the sonication would be associated with an increase in the fluorescence intensity. Acoustic cavitation in the presence of gold nanoparticles has been introduced as a way for improving therapeutic effects on the tumors. Also, the terephthalic acid dosimetry is suitable for detecting and quantifying free hydroxyl radicals as a criterion of cavitation production over a range of condition in medical ultrasound fields.

Keywords: acoustic cavitation, gold nanoparticle, chemical dosimetry, terephthalic acid

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Authors: Khwaja Naweed Seddiqi, Zabihullah Mahdi, Shigeo Honma

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Recently increasing oil production from petroleum reservoirs is one of the most important issues in the global energy sector. So, in this paper, the recovery of oil by the waterflooding technique from petroleum reservoir are considered. To investigate the aforementioned phenomena, the relative permeability of two immiscible fluids in sand is measured in the laboratory based on the steady-state method. Two sorts of oils, kerosene and heavy oil, and water are pumped simultaneously into a vertical sand column with different pumping ratio. From the change in fractional discharge measured at the outlet, a method for determining the relative permeability is developed focusing on the displacement mechanism in sand. Then, displacement mechanism of two immiscible fluids in the sand is investigated under the Buckley-Leveret frontal displacement theory and laboratory experiment. Two sorts of experiments, one is the displacement of pore water by oil, the other is the displacement of pore oil by water, are carried out. It is revealed that the relative permeability curves display tolerably different shape owing to the properties of oils, and produce different amount of residual oils and irreducible water saturation.

Keywords: petroleum reservoir engineering, relative permeability, two-phase flow, immiscible displacement in porous media, steady-state method, waterflooding

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Authors: Abdoon A.S., El Ashkar E.A., Kandil O.M., Wael H. Eisa, Shaban A.M., Khaled H.M., El Ashkar M.R., El Shaer M., Hussein H., Shaalan A.H., El Sayed M.

Abstract:

Cancer is a major obstacle to human health and development worldwide. Conventional strategies for cancer intervention include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Recently, plasmon photothermal therapy (PPTT) was introduced as a promising treatment for the management of cancer and several non-cancerous diseases that are generally characterized by overgrowth of abnormal cells. The present work was conducted to evaluate the cytotoxic efficacy and toxicity of gold nanorods (AuNRs) in dogs and cats suffering from spontaneous mammary gland. AuNRs was injected intratumoral (IT, n=10, dose of 75 p.p.m/kg body weight) or by using spray method after surgical removal of cancer tissue (n=2) in dogs and cats. Then exposed to laser light after 60 min. Treated animals were observed every 2 days and the morphological changes in tumor size and shape were recorded. Blood samples were collected before and after treatment for checking CBC, liver and kidney functions. Results revealed that AuNRs successfully treat mammary gland tumor in dogs and cats (adenocarcinoma type 1 to IV). AuNRs induced sloughing of carcinogenic tissue within 5 to 15 days. AuNRs have no toxic effect on blood profile and the toxicity studies still under evaluation. Conclusion, AuNRs can be used for treatment of mammary gland carcinoma in dogs and cats.

Keywords: pet animals, mammary gland tumor, AuNRs, photothermal therapy, toxicity studies

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Mehdi Rahimi-Nasrabadi, Seied Mahdi Pourmortazavi

Abstract:

Taguchi robust design as a statistical method was applied for optimization of the process parameters in order to tunable, simple and fast synthesis of europium (III) tungstate nanoparticles. Europium (III) tungstate nanoparticles were synthesized by a chemical precipitation reaction involving direct addition of europium ion aqueous solution to the tungstate reagent solved in aqueous media. Effects of some synthesis procedure variables i.e., europium and tungstate concentrations, flow rate of cation reagent addition, and temperature of reaction reactor on the particle size of europium (III) tungstate nanoparticles were studied experimentally in order to tune particle size of europium (III) tungstate. Analysis of variance shows the importance of controlling tungstate concentration, cation feeding flow rate and temperature for preparation of europium (III) tungstate nanoparticles by the proposed chemical precipitation reaction. Finally, europium (III) tungstate nanoparticles were synthesized at the optimum conditions of the proposed method and the morphology and chemical composition of the prepared nano-material were characterized by means of X-Ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, and fluorescence.

Keywords: europium (III) tungstate, nano-material, particle size control, procedure optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 351

Authors: Matthew Kostawich, Mohammed Elmorsy, Mohamed Sayed Sifat, Shoukry Shams, Mahmoud Elsaadany

Abstract:

6G communication systems represent the nominal future extension of current wireless technology, where its impact is extended to touch upon all human activities, including medical, security, and entertainment applications. As a result, human needs are allocated among the highest priority aspects of the system design and requirements. 6G communications is expected to replace all the current video conferencing with interactive virtual reality meetings involving high data-rate transmission merged with massive distributed computing resources. In addition, the current expansion of IoT applications must be mitigated with significant network changes to provide a reasonable Quality of Service (QoS). This directly implies a high demand for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) through mobile computing modules in future wireless communication systems. This article proposes the utilization of a Printed Ridge Gap Waveguide (PRGW) to host the wearable nodes. To the best of our knowledge, we propose for the first time a physical layer analysis within the context of a complete architecture. A thorough study is provided on the impact of the distortion of the guiding structure on the overall system performance. The proposed structure shows small latency and small losses, highlighting its compatibility with future applications.

Keywords: ridge gap waveguide, edge computing module, 6G, multimedia IoT applications

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Authors: Mahdi Taghipour Masoumi, Ali Abdi Kordani, Mahmoud Nazirizad

Abstract:

Geosynthetics utilization plays an important role in the construction of highways with no additive layers, such as asphalt concrete or cement concrete, or in a subgrade layer which affects the bearing capacity of unbounded layers. This laboratory experimental study was carried out to evaluate changes in the load bearing capacity of reinforced soil with these materials in highway roadbed with regard to geotextile properties. California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test samples were prepared with two types of soil: Clayey and sandy containing non-reinforced and reinforced soil. The samples comprised three types of geotextiles with different characteristics (150, 200, 300 g/m²) and depths (H= 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 mm), and were grouped into two forms, one-layered and two-layered, based on the sample materials in order to perform defined tests. The results showed that the soil bearing characteristics increased when one layer of geotextile was used in clayey and sandy samples reinforced by geotextile. However, the bearing capacity of the soil, in the presence of a geotextile layer material with depth of more than 30 mm, had no remarkable effect. Furthermore, when the two-layered geotextile was applied in material samples, although it increased the soil resistance, it also showed that through the addition of a number or weights of geotextile into samples, the natural composition of the soil changed and the results are unreliable.

Keywords: reinforced soil, geosynthetics, geotextile, transportation capacity, CBR experiments

Procedia PDF Downloads 255

Authors: Fatemeh Soltani, Simindokht Shirvani Arani, Ali Bahrami Samani, Mahdi Sadeghi, Kamal Yavari

Abstract:

Cerium-141 [T1/2 = 32.501 days, Eβ (max) = 0.580 (29.8%) and 0.435(70.2%) MeV, Eγ=145.44 (48.2%) keV] possesses radionuclidic properties suitable for use in palliative therapy of bone metastases. 141Ce also has gamma energy of 145.44 keV, which resembles that of 99mTc. Therefore, the energy window is adjustable on the Tc-99m energy because of imaging studies. 141Ce can be produced through a relatively easy route that involves thermal neutron bombardment on natural CeO2 in medium flux research reactors (4–5×1013 neutrons/cm2•s). The requirement for an enriched target does not arise. Ethylenediamine tetramethylene phosphonic acid (EDTMP) was synthesized and radiolabeled with 141Ce. Complexation parameters were optimized to achieve maximum yields (>99%). The radiochemical purity of 141Ce-EDTMP was evaluated by radio-thin layer chromatography. The stability of the prepared formulation was monitored for one week at room temperature, and results showed that the preparation was stable during this period (>99%). Biodistribution studies of the complexes carried out in wild-type rats exhibited significant bone uptake with rapid clearance from blood. The properties of produced 141Ce-EDTMP suggest applying a new efficient bone pain palliative therapeutic agent to overcome metastatic bone pains.

Keywords: bone pain palliative, cerium-141, EDTMP, radiopharmaceutical

Procedia PDF Downloads 457

Authors: Marju Ben Sayed, Shigeko Haruyama

Abstract:

Among all kinds of natural disaster, the flood is a common feature in rapidly urbanizing Dhaka city. In this research, assessment of flood risk of Dhaka metropolitan area has been investigated by using an integrated approach of GIS, remote sensing and socio-economic data. The purpose of the study is to measure the flooding risk concerning with the flood protection embankment in big flooding events (1988, 1998 and 2004) and urbanization of Dhaka metropolitan zone. In this research, we considered the Dhaka city into two parts; East Dhaka (outside the flood protection embankment) and West Dhaka (inside the flood protection embankment). Using statistical data, we explored the socio-economic status of the study area population by comparing the density of population, land price and income level. We have drawn the cross section profile of the flood protection embankment into three different points for realizing the flooding risk in the study area, especially in the big flooding year (1988, 1998 and 2004). According to the physical condition of the study area, the land use/land cover map has been classified into five classes. Comparing with each land cover unit, historical weather station data and the socio-economic data, the flooding risk has been evaluated. Moreover, we compared between DEM data and each land cover units to find out the relationship with flood. It is expected that, this study could contribute to effective flood forecasting, relief and emergency management for a future flood event in Dhaka city.

Keywords: land use, land cover change, socio-economic, Dhaka city, GIS, flood

Procedia PDF Downloads 255