Search results for: advanced transport management systems

Authors: John Adeboye Oyeboade, Pius Olatunji Olaojo, Kuburay Folashade Yusuf, John Oluwaseye Adebayo

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Web-based Information Resources (WBIR) are increasingly becoming essential tools for students to accomplish academic tasks. Preliminary observation revealed that many polytechnic libraries in Southwestern Nigeria do not subscribe or renew subscriptions to WBIR academic databases, and students use free-based electronic resources. Hence, this study was carried out to investigate socioeconomic status and use of WBIR by public polytechnic students in Southwestern Nigeria. Six public polytechnics out of the 16 offerings of Higher National Diploma (HND) programs were selected by stratified random sampling to reflect federal and state polytechnics. A proportionate size sampling technique was used to select 1,463 HND students. The instruments used were Socioeconomic status (SeS) (α=0.81) and WBIR used for Academic Tasks (α=0.98) scales. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s product-moment correlation at a 0.05 level of significance. Students’ SeS ( =79.10) was moderate. Online reference sources ( =3.97), Web 2.0 ( =3.50), and social media ( =3.00) were regularly used WBIR. WBIR use ( =53.34) was moderate. The students used WBIR for project writing ( =3.46) and class assignments ( =3.42). The Students’ SeS (r=0.59) had significant relationships with WBIR use. Socioeconomic status directly influenced the use of WBIR for academic tasks. Management of polytechnics should provide WBIR subscriptions for students’ use in the polytechnic e-libraries.

Keywords: public polytechnic students, polytechnic libraries, socioeconomic status, Web-based information resources

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Authors: Eric Gismondi, Aurelie Bigot-Clivot

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Endocrine disruptors (EDCs) are well known to disrupt the development and the reproduction of exposed organisms. Although this point has been studied in vertebrate models, the limited knowledge of the endocrine system of invertebrates makes the evaluation of EDCs effects difficult. However, invertebrates represent the major part of aquatic ecosystems, such as amphipods Gammaridea, which are crucial for their functioning (e.g., litter degradation, food resource). Moreover, gammarids are hosts of parasites such as vertically-transmitted microsporidia (microsporidia VT), which could be confounding factors in assessment of EDC effects. Indeed, some microsporidia VT could have endocrine effects by their own present in the host since it was observed for example, a feminization of juvenile males, which become phenotypic females. This work evaluated the impact of ethinylestradiol (EE₂, estrogenic), cyproterone acetate (CPA, anti-androgenic), 4-hydroxytamoxifen (4HT, anti-estrogenic) and 17α-methyltestosterone (17MT - androgenic), on the 20-hydroxyecdysone concentration (i.e. 20HE - molt process) and the vitellogenin gene expression (i.e. reproduction) in the freshwater amphipod Gammarus pulex, after a 96h laboratory exposure. In addition, the presence of microsporidia VT was verified in order to analyze the effect of this confounding factor. Results of this study shown that, although endocrine systems of invertebrates and vertebrates are different, EDCs proved in vertebrates could also affect biological functions hormonally controlled in invertebrates. Indeed, the molt process of crustaceans was disrupted in the first stage (i.e. 20-HE concentration) and therefore, could affect, at the long term, the population dynamic. In addition, it was observed that G. pulex was differently impacted according to the gender and parasitism, which underline the importance to take into account these confounding factors to better evaluate the EDCs impact on invertebrate populations.

Keywords: endocrine disruption, gammarus sp., molt, parasitism

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Authors: W. H. Zheng, J. Li, F. J. Hong

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Thin liquid film evaporation in ultrathin nanoporous membranes, which reduce the viscous resistance while still maintaining high capillary pressure and efficient liquid delivery, is a promising thermal management approach for high-power electronic devices cooling. Given the challenges and technical limitations of experimental studies for accurate interface temperature sensing, complex manufacturing process, and short duration of membranes, a dimensionless lattice Boltzmann method capable of restoring thermophysical properties of working fluid is particularly derived. The evaporation of R134a to its pure vapour ambient in nanoporous membranes with the pore diameter of 80nm, thickness of 472nm, and three porosities of 0.25, 0.33 and 0.5 are numerically simulated. The numerical results indicate that the highest heat transfer coefficient is about 1740kW/m²·K; the highest heat flux is about 1.49kW/cm² with only about the wall superheat of 8.59K in the case of porosity equals to 0.5. The dissipated heat flux scaled with porosity because of the increasing effective evaporative area. Additionally, the self-regulation of the shape and curvature of the meniscus under different operating conditions is also observed. This work shows a promising approach to forecast the membrane performance for different geometry and working fluids.

Keywords: high heat flux, ultrathin nanoporous membrane, thin film evaporation, lattice Boltzmann method

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Authors: Rajinikanth Siddalingam, Poonguzhali Subramanian

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The present study aims to prepare and evaluate the self-nano emulsifying drug delivery (SNEDDS) system to enhance the dissolution rate of a poorly soluble drug dutasteride. The formulation was prepared using capryol PGMC, Cremophor EL, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) 400 as oil, surfactant and co-surfactant, respectively. The pseudo-ternary phase diagrams with presence and absence of drug were plotted to find out the nano emulsification range and also to evaluate the effect of dutasteride on the emulsification behavior of the phases. Prepared SNEDDS formulations were evaluated for its particle size distribution, nano emulsifying properties, robustness to dilution, self-emulsification time, turbidity measurement, drug content and in-vitro dissolution. The optimized formulations are further evaluated for heating cooling cycle, centrifugation studies, freeze-thaw cycling, particle size distribution and zeta potential were carried out to confirm the stability of the formed SNEDDS formulations. The particle size, zeta potential and polydispersity index of the optimized formulation found to be 35.45 nm, -15.45 and 0.19, respectively. The in vitro results are revealed that the prepared formulation enhanced the dissolution rate of dutasteride significantly as compared with pure drug. The in vivo studies in was conducted using rats and the results are revealed that SNEDDS formulation has enhanced the bioavailability of dutasteride drug significantly as compared with raw drug. Based the results, it was concluded that the dutasteride-loaded SNEDDS shows potential to enhance the dissolution of dutasteride, thus improving the bioavailability and therapeutic effects.

Keywords: self-emulsifying drug delivery system, dutasteride, enhancement of bioavailability, dissolution enhancement

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Authors: Dorota Miroslaw-Swiatek, Mateusz Grygoruk, Sylwia Szporak

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We applied a two-dimensional surface water flow model with irregular wet boundaries. In this model, flow equations are in the form of a 2-D, non-linear diffusion equations which allows to account spatial variations in flow resistance and topography. Calculation domain to simulate the flow pattern in the floodplain is congruent with a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) grid. The rate and direction of sheet flow in wetlands is affected by vegetation type and density, therefore the developed model take into account spatial distribution vegetation resistance to the water flow. The model was tested in a part of the Biebrza Valley, of an outstanding heterogeneity in the elevation and flow resistance distributions due to various ecohydrological conditions and management measures. In our approach we used the highest-possible quality of the DEM in order to obtain hydraulic slopes and vegetation distribution parameters for the modelling. The DEM was created from the cloud of points measured in the LiDAR technology. The LiDAR reflects both the land surface as well as all objects on top of it such as vegetation. Depending on the density of vegetation cover the ability of laser penetration is variable. Therefore to obtain accurate land surface model the “vegetation effect” was corrected using data collected in the field (mostly the vegetation height) and satellite imagery such as Ikonos (to distinguish different vegetation types of the floodplain and represent them spatially). Model simulation was performed for the spring thaw flood in 2009.

Keywords: floodplain flow, Biebrza valley, model simulation, 2D surface flow model

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Authors: M. Shahzad Kamal, Abdullah S. Sultan, Usamah A. Al-Mubaiyedh, Ibnelwaleed A. Hussein

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Oil recovery from reservoirs using conventional oil recovery techniques like water flooding is less than 20%. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques are applied to recover additional oil. Surfactant-polymer flooding is a promising EOR technique used to recover residual oil from reservoirs. Water soluble polymers are used to increase the viscosity of displacing fluids. Surfactants increase the capillary number by reducing the interfacial tension between oil and displacing fluid. Hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) is widely used in polymer flooding applications due to its low cost and other desirable properties. HPAM works well in low-temperature and low salinity-environment. In the presence of salts HPAM viscosity decrease due to charge screening effect and it can precipitate at high temperatures in the presence of salts. Various strategies have been adopted to extend the application of water soluble polymers to high-temperature high-salinity (HTHS) reservoir. These include addition of monomers to acrylamide chain that can protect it against thermal hydrolysis. In this work, rheological properties of various water soluble polymers were investigated to find out suitable polymer and surfactant-polymer systems for HTHS reservoirs. Polymer concentration ranged from 0.1 to 1 % (w/v). Effect of temperature, salinity and polymer concentration was investigated using both steady shear and dynamic measurements. Acrylamido tertiary butyl sulfonate based copolymer showed better performance under HTHS conditions compared to HPAM. Moreover, thermoviscosifying polymer showed excellent rheological properties and increase in the viscosity was observed with increase temperature. This property is highly desirable for EOR application.

Keywords: rheology, polyacrylamide, salinity, enhanced oil recovery, polymer flooding

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Authors: Kolawole Taiwo Olabode

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This is a comparative study of ICTs adoption and use in selected manufacturing industries in for development. This study was carried out 2004 and was repeated 2013 (nine years after) using the same selected manufacturing industries to assess the level, improvement and extent ICT facilities used in these companies. The theory of modernization was explored to explain some developmental issues in this study. The same semi-structured questionnaire and IDI were used to elicit data on the subject matter. About 24.9% of the total workers (1,247) were sampled for this study using quota sampling technique. SPSS was used to analysis the quantitative data. The qualitative data was used to buttress the quantitative data. Findings indicated that Seven-Up Bottling Company and Frigoglass Glass Industry still remained Intensive ICT Users while only Niger Match Nigeria Limited still remained Non-Intensive ICT User while unfortunately, Askar Paint Nigeria Limited has gone liquidated. It is also important to discover that only the Intensive ICT users improved on relevant ICT facilities. The existing problems of ICT adoption and used in these companies remained the same in Niger Match Limited. The study concluded that for a society to be developed, management and government at all levels must do all things necessary to ensure that all existing organisations must be ICT compliance for workers and organisational performance and to enhance nation’s development in order to compete with other companies for global standard or recognition.

Keywords: ICT, intensive ICT-users, entrepreneurial, manufacturing industries, industries and development

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Authors: Ilaria Lucrezia Amerise

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The statistical modelling of precipitation data for a given portion of territory is fundamental for the monitoring of climatic conditions and for Hydrogeological Management Plans (HMP). This modelling is rendered particularly complex by the changes taking place in the frequency and intensity of precipitation, presumably to be attributed to the global climate change. This paper applies the Wakeby distribution (with 5 parameters) as a theoretical reference model. The number and the quality of the parameters indicate that this distribution may be the appropriate choice for the interpolations of the hydrological variables and, moreover, the Wakeby is particularly suitable for describing phenomena producing heavy tails. The proposed estimation methods for determining the value of the Wakeby parameters are the same as those used for density functions with heavy tails. The commonly used procedure is the classic method of moments weighed with probabilities (probability weighted moments, PWM) although this has often shown difficulty of convergence, or rather, convergence to a configuration of inappropriate parameters. In this paper, we analyze the problem of the likelihood estimation of a random variable expressed through its quantile function. The method of maximum likelihood, in this case, is more demanding than in the situations of more usual estimation. The reasons for this lie, in the sampling and asymptotic properties of the estimators of maximum likelihood which improve the estimates obtained with indications of their variability and, therefore, their accuracy and reliability. These features are highly appreciated in contexts where poor decisions, attributable to an inefficient or incomplete information base, can cause serious damages.

Keywords: generalized extreme values, likelihood estimation, precipitation data, Wakeby distribution

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Authors: Manjula Weerasekera, Chris Sissons, Lisa Wong, Sally Anderson, Ann Holmes, Richard Cannon

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The aim of this study was to characterize bacterial population and yeasts in saliva by Polymerase chain reaction followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and measure yeast levels by culture. PCR-DGGE was performed to identify oral bacteria and yeasts in 24 saliva samples. DNA was extracted and used to generate DNA amplicons of the V2–V3 hypervariable region of the bacterial 16S rDNA gene using PCR. Further universal primers targeting the large subunit rDNA gene (25S-28S) of fungi were used to amplify yeasts present in human saliva. Resulting PCR products were subjected to denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis using Universal mutation detection system. DGGE bands were extracted and sequenced using Sanger method. A potential relationship was evaluated between groups of bacteria identified by cluster analysis of DGGE fingerprints with the yeast levels and with their diversity. Significant interpersonal variation of salivary microbiome was observed. Cluster and principal component analysis of the bacterial DGGE patterns yielded three significant major clusters, and outliers. Seventeen of the 24 (71%) saliva samples were yeast positive going up to 10³ cfu/mL. Predominately, C. albicans, and six other species of yeast were detected. The presence, amount and species of yeast showed no clear relationship to the bacterial clusters. Microbial community in saliva showed a significant variation between individuals. A lack of association between yeasts and the bacterial fingerprints in saliva suggests the significant ecological person-specific independence in highly complex oral biofilm systems under normal oral conditions.

Keywords: bacteria, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, oral biofilm, yeasts

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Authors: Mukadder Baran, Mustafa Sözbilir

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the applicabillity of the Context- and Problem-Based Learning (CPBL) in general chemistry course to the subject of “Thermodynamics” but also the influence of CPBL on students’ achievement, retention of knowledge, their interest, attitudes, motivation and problem-solving skills. The study group included 13 freshman students who were selected with the sampling method appropriate to the purpose among those taking the course of General Chemistry within the Program of Medical Laboratory Techniques at Hakkari University. The application was carried out in the Spring Term of the academic year of 2012-2013. As the data collection tool, Lesson Observation form were used. In the light of the observations held, it was revealed that CPBL increased the students’ intragroup and intergroup communication skills as well as their self-confidence and developed their skills in time management, presentation, reporting, and technology use; and that they were able to relate chemistry to daily life. Depending on these findings, it could be suggested that the area of use of CPBL be widened; that seminars related to constructive methods be organized for teachers. In this way, it is believed that students will not be passive in the group any longer. In addition, it was concluded that in order to avoid the negative effects of the socio-cultural structure on the education system, research should be conducted in places where there is socio-cultural obstacles, and appropriate solutions should be suggested and put into practice.

Keywords: chemistry, education, science, context-based learning

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Authors: Xiaoping Zhang, Fengying Yan

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The implementation of the 'Urban Design Management Measures' requires that the master urban design should aim at creating a livable urban space. However, to our best knowledge, the existing researches and practices of master urban design not only focus less on the livable space but also face a number of problems such as paying more attention to the image of the city, ignoring the people-oriented and lacking dynamic continuity. In order to make the master urban design can better guide the construction of city. Firstly, the paper proposes the livable city hierarchy system to meet the needs of different groups of people and then constructs the framework of livable goal-oriented master urban design based on the theory of livable content and the ideological origin of people-oriented. Secondly, the paper takes the master urban design practice of Zibo as a sample and puts forward the design strategy of strengthening the pattern, improve the quality of space, shape the feature, and establish a series of action plans based on the strategy of urban space development. Finally, the paper explores the method system of livable goal-oriented master urban design from the aspects of safety pattern, morphology pattern, neighborhood scale, open space, street space, public interface, style feature, public participation and action plans.

Keywords: livable, master urban design, public participation, zibo city

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Authors: B. F. Dada, B. S. Ewulo, M. A. Awodun, S. O. Ajayi

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Aggregate soil carbon distribution and stock in the soil in the form of a carbon pool is important for soil fertility and sequestration. The amount of carbon pool and other nutrients statues of the soil are to benefit plants, animal and the environment in the long run. This study was carried out at Akure North and South Local Government; the study area is one of the 18 Local Government Areas of Ondo State in the Southwest geo-political zone of Nigeria. The sites were divided into Map Grids and geo-referenced with Global Positioning System (GPS). Horizons were designated and morphological description carried out on the field. Pedons were characterized and classified according to USDA soil taxonomy. The local government area shares boundaries with; Ikere Local Government (LG) in the North, Ise Orun LG in the northwest, Ifedore LG in the northeast Akure South LG in the East, Ose LG in the South East, and Owo LG in the South. SOC-pool at Federal College of Agriculture topsoil horizon A2 is significantly higher than all horizons, 67.83 th⁻¹. The chemical properties of the pedons have shown that the soil is very strongly acidic to neutral reaction (4.68 – 6.73). The nutrients status of the soil topsoil A1 and A2 generally indicates that the soils have a low potential for retaining plant nutrients, and therefore call for adequate soil management.

Keywords: soil organic carbon (SOC), horizon, pedon, Akure

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Authors: Pawamana Ramachandra, Jitesh Gupta, Saranga P. Pogula

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In verification of high volume and complex packet processing IPs, finer control of flow management aspects (for example, rate, bits/sec etc.) per flow class (or a virtual channel or a software thread) is needed. When any Software/Universal Verification Methodology (UVM) thread arbitration is left to the simulator (e.g., Verilog Compiler Simulator (VCS) or Incisive Enterprise Simulator core simulation engine (NCSIM)), it is hard to predict its pattern of resulting distribution of bandwidth by the simulator thread arbitration. In many cases, the patterns desired in a test scenario may not be accomplished as the simulator might give a different distribution than what was required. This can lead to missing multiple traffic scenarios, specifically deadlock and starvation related. We invented a component (namely Flow Manager Verification IP) to be intervening between the application (test case) and the protocol VIP (with UVM sequencer) to control the bandwidth per thread/virtual channel/flow. The Flow Manager has knobs visible to the UVM sequence/test to configure the required distribution of rate per thread/virtual channel/flow. This works seamlessly and produces rate stimuli to further harness the Design Under Test (DUT) with asymmetric inputs compared to the programmed bandwidth/Quality of Service (QoS) distributions in the Design Under Test.

Keywords: flow manager, UVM sequencer, rated traffic generation, quality of service

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Authors: Lei Zhang

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The carbon cycle greatly influences global change, and the land cover changes contribute to the status and rate of the carbon budget in ecosystems. This paper proposes a land cover classification system for mapping land cover, the national ecological environment assessment, and estimating carbon storage in ecosystems. The classification system consists of basic land cover classes at levels Ⅰ and Ⅱ and auxiliary features at level III. The basic 38 classes characterizing land cover features are derived from 19 criteria referring to composition, structure, pattern, phenology, etc. The basic classes reflect the status of carbon storage in ecosystems. The auxiliary classes at level III complement the attributes of higher levels by 9 criteria. The 5 environmental criteria of temperature, moisture, landform, aspect and slope mainly reflect the potential and intensity of carbon storage in ecosystems. The disturbance of vegetation succession caused by land use type influences the vegetation carbon budget. The other 3 vegetation cover criteria, growth period, and species characteristics further refine the vegetation types. The hierarchical structure of the land cover map (the classes of levels Ⅰ and Ⅱ) is independent of the products of level III, which is helpful for land cover product management and applications. The classification system has been adopted in the Chinese national land cover database for the carbon budget in ecosystems at a 30 m scale.

Keywords: classification system, land cover, ecosystem, carbon storage, object based

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Authors: Soroosh Torabi, Brad Berron, Ren Xu, Christine Trinkle

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Microfluidics integrated with 3D cell culture is a powerful technology to mimic cellular environment, and can be used to study cell activities such as proliferation, migration and response to drugs. This technology has gained more attention in cancer studies over the past years, and many organ-on-a-chip systems have been developed to study cancer cell behaviors in an ex-vivo tumor microenvironment. However, there are still some barriers to adoption which include low throughput, complexity in 3D cell culture integration and limitations on non-optical analysis of cells. In this study, a user-friendly microfluidic multi-well plate was developed to mimic the in vivo tumor microenvironment. The microfluidic platform feeds multiple 3D cell culture sites at the same time which enhances the throughput of the system. The platform uses hydrophobic Cassie-Baxter surfaces created by microchannels to enable convenient loading of hydrogel/cell suspensions into the device, while providing barrier free placement of the hydrogel and cells adjacent to the fluidic path. The microchannels support convective flow and diffusion of nutrients to the cells and a removable lid is used to enable further chemical and physiological analysis on the cells. Different breast cancer cell lines were cultured in the device and then monitored to characterize nutrient delivery to the cells as well as cell invasion and proliferation. In addition, the drug response of breast cancer cell lines cultured in the device was compared to the response in xenograft models to the same drugs to analyze relevance of this platform for use in future drug-response studies.

Keywords: microfluidics, multi-well 3d cell culture, tumor microenvironment, tumor-on-a-chip

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Authors: Neslihan Cetin

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In this study, we will aim to analyze how the period of the state of emergency in Turkey lead to gaps in law and the formation of areas in which there was a complete lack of supervision. The state of emergency that was proclaimed following the coup attempt of July 15, 2016, continued until July 18, 2018, that is to say, 2 years, without taking into account whether the initial circumstances persisted. As part of this work, we claim that the state of emergency provided the executive power with important tools for governing, which it took constant use. We can highlight how the concern for security at the center of the basic considerations of the people in a city was exploited as a foundation by the military power in Turkey to interfere in the political, legal, and social spheres. The constitutions of 1924, 1961, and 1982 entrusted the army with the role of protector of the integrity of the state. This became an instrument at the hands of the military to legitimize their interventions in the name of public security. Its interventions in the political field are indeed politically motivated. The constitution, the legislative, and regulatory systems are modified and monopolized by the military power that dominates the legislative, regulatory, and judicial power, leading to a state of exception. With the political convulsions over a decade, the government was able to usurp the instrument called the state of exception. In particular, the decree-laws of the state of emergency, which the executive makes frequent and generally abusive use, became instruments in the hands of the government to take measures that it wishes to escape from the rules and the pre-established control mechanisms. Thus the struggle against the political opposition becomes more unbalanced and destructive. To this must also be added the ineffectiveness of ex-post controls and domestic remedies. This research allows us to stress how a legal concept, such as ‘the state of emergency’ can be politically exploited to make it a legal weapon that continues to produce victims.

Keywords: constitutional law, state of emergency, rule of law, instrumentalization of law

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Authors: Kalyani Mer

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Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is one of the most efficient and commonly used oxidants in in-situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) of organic contaminants. In the present study, we investigated the activation of H₂O₂ by heavy metal (nickel and lead metal ions) loaded biochar for phenol degradation in an aqueous solution (concentration = 100 mg/L). It was found that H₂O₂ can be effectively activated by biochar, which produces hydroxyl (•OH) radicals owing to an increase in the formation of persistent free radicals (PFRs) on biochar surface. Ultrasound treated (30s duration) biochar, chemically activated by 30% phosphoric acid and functionalized by diethanolamine (DEA) was used for the adsorption of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions. It was found that modified biochar could remove almost 60% of nickel in eight hours; however, for lead, the removal efficiency reached up to 95% for the same time duration. The heavy metal loaded biochar was further used for the degradation of phenol in the absence and presence of H₂O₂ (20 mM), within 4 hours of reaction time. The removal efficiency values for phenol in the presence of H₂O₂ were 80.3% and 61.9%, respectively, by modified biochar loaded with nickel and lead metal ions. These results suggested that the biochar loaded with nickel exhibits a better removal capacity towards phenol than the lead loaded biochar when used in H₂O₂ based oxidation systems. Meanwhile, control experiments were set in the absence of any activating biochar, and the removal efficiency was found to be 19.1% when only H₂O₂ was added in the reaction solution. Overall, the proposed approach serves a dual purpose of using biochar for heavy metal ion removal and treatment of organic contaminants by further using the metal loaded biochar for H₂O₂ activation in ISCO processes.

Keywords: biochar, ultrasound, heavy metals, in-situ chemical oxidation, chemical activation

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Authors: C. A. Anser Pasha

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In this paper, a new Vehicular Speed Detection Camera System that is applicable as an alternative to traditional radars with the same accuracy or even better is presented. The real-time measurement and analysis of various traffic parameters such as speed and number of vehicles are increasingly required in traffic control and management. Image processing techniques are now considered as an attractive and flexible method for automatic analysis and data collections in traffic engineering. Various algorithms based on image processing techniques have been applied to detect multiple vehicles and track them. The SDCS processes can be divided into three successive phases; the first phase is Objects detection phase, which uses a hybrid algorithm based on combining an adaptive background subtraction technique with a three-frame differencing algorithm which ratifies the major drawback of using only adaptive background subtraction. The second phase is Objects tracking, which consists of three successive operations - object segmentation, object labeling, and object center extraction. Objects tracking operation takes into consideration the different possible scenarios of the moving object like simple tracking, the object has left the scene, the object has entered the scene, object crossed by another object, and object leaves and another one enters the scene. The third phase is speed calculation phase, which is calculated from the number of frames consumed by the object to pass by the scene.

Keywords: radar, image processing, detection, tracking, segmentation

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Authors: Ming-Hong Chen

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In the study, the mechanical and financial feasibility for the compressed air energy storage (CAES) system in the porous media reservoir in Taiwan is evaluated. In 2035, Taiwan aims to install 16.7 GW of wind power and 40 GW of photovoltaic (PV) capacity. However, renewable energy sources often generate more electricity than needed, particularly during winter. Consequently, Taiwan requires long-term, large-scale energy storage systems to ensure the security and stability of its power grid. Currently, the primary large-scale energy storage options are Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) and Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES). Taiwan has not ventured into CAES-related technologies due to geological and cost constraints. However, with the imperative of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, there's a substantial need for the development of a considerable amount of renewable energy. PHS has matured, boasting an overall installed capacity of 4.68 GW. CAES, presenting a similar scale and power generation duration to PHS, is now under consideration. Taiwan's geological composition, being a porous medium unlike salt caves, introduces flow field resistance affecting gas injection and extraction. This study employs a program analysis model to establish the system performance analysis capabilities of CAES. The finite volume model is then used to assess the impact of porous media, and the findings are fed back into the system performance analysis for correction. Subsequently, the financial implications are calculated and compared with existing literature. For Taiwan, the strategic development of CAES technology is crucial, not only for meeting energy needs but also for decentralizing energy allocation, a feature of great significance in regions lacking alternative natural resources.

Keywords: compressed-air energy storage, efficiency, porous media, financial feasibility

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Authors: Julie Ann L. Gadin, Andrearose C. Igano, Carl Joseph S. Ignacio, Christopher C. Bacungan

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Corn production has become an important and pervasive industry in the Visayas for many years. Its role as a substitute commodity to rice heightens demand for health-particular consumers. Unfortunately, the corn industry is confronted with several challenges, such as weak institutions. Considering these issues, the paper examined the factors that influence corn production in the three administrative regions in the Visayas, namely, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Eastern Visayas. The data used was retrieved from a variety of publicly available data sources such as the Philippine Statistics Authority, the Department of Agriculture, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, and the International Disaster Database. Utilizing a dataset from 2002 to 2019, the indicators were tested using three multiple linear regression (MLR) models. Results showed that the land area harvested (p=0.02), and the value of corn production (p=0.00) are statistically significant variables that influence corn production in the Visayas. Given these findings, it is suggested that the policy of forest conversion and sustainable land management should be effective in enabling farmworkers to obtain land to grow corn crops, especially in rural regions. Furthermore, the Biofuels Act of 2006, the Livestock Industry Restructuring and Rationalization Act, and supported policy, Senate Bill No. 225, or an Act Establishing the Philippine Corn Research Institute and Appropriating Funds, should be enforced inclusively in order to improve the demand for the corn-allied industries which may lead to an increase in the value and volume of corn production in the Visayas.

Keywords: corn, industry, production, MLR, Visayas

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Authors: Fahad Y. Al-dawish

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The current trend by a large number of organizations and individuals to use cloud computing. Many consider it a significant shift in the field of computing. Cloud computing are distributed and parallel systems consisting of a collection of interconnected physical and virtual machines. With increasing request and profit of cloud computing infrastructure, diverse computing processes can be executed on cloud environment. Many organizations and individuals around the world depend on the cloud computing environments infrastructure to carry their applications, platform, and infrastructure. One of the major and essential issues in this environment related to allocating incoming tasks to suitable virtual machine (cloud task scheduling). Cloud task scheduling is classified as optimization problem, and there are several meta-heuristic algorithms have been anticipated to solve and optimize this problem. Good task scheduler should execute its scheduling technique on altering environment and the types of incoming task set. In this research project a cloud task scheduling methodology based on ant colony optimization ACO algorithm, we call it ACO-TS Ant Colony Optimization for Task Scheduling has been proposed and compared with different scheduling algorithms (Random, First Come First Serve FCFS, and Fastest Processor to the Largest Task First FPLTF). Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is random optimization search method that will be used for assigning incoming tasks to available virtual machines VMs. The main role of proposed algorithm is to minimizing the makespan of certain tasks set and maximizing resource utilization by balance the load among virtual machines. The proposed scheduling algorithm was evaluated by using Cloudsim toolkit framework. Finally after analyzing and evaluating the performance of experimental results we find that the proposed algorithm ACO-TS perform better than Random, FCFS, and FPLTF algorithms in each of the makespaan and resource utilization.

Keywords: cloud Task scheduling, ant colony optimization (ACO), cloudsim, cloud computing

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Authors: Pavel Shcherban, Viktoria Ivanova, Alexander Neprokin, Vladislav Golovanov

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Currently, LLC «Lukoil-Kaliningradmorneft» is implementing a comprehensive program for the development of offshore fields of the Kaliningrad region. This is largely associated with the depletion of the resource base of land in the region, as well as the positive results of geological investigation surrounding the Baltic Sea area and the data on the volume of hydrocarbon recovery from a single offshore field are working on the Kaliningrad region – D-6 «Kravtsovskoye».The article analyzes the main stages of the LLC «Lukoil-Kaliningradmorneft»’s development program for the development of the hydrocarbon resources of the region's shelf and suggests an optimization algorithm that allows managing a multi-criteria process of development of shelf deposits. The algorithm is formed on the basis of the problem of sequential decision making, which is a section of dynamic programming. Application of the algorithm during the consolidation of the initial data, the elaboration of project documentation, the further exploration and development of offshore fields will allow to optimize the complex of technical and technological solutions and increase the economic efficiency of the field development project implemented by LLC «Lukoil-Kaliningradmorneft».

Keywords: offshore fields of hydrocarbons of the Baltic Sea, development of offshore oil and gas fields, optimization of the field development scheme, solution of multicriteria tasks in oil and gas complex, quality management in oil and gas complex

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Authors: Mekonen G., Sileshi M., Melkamu M.

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Recharge estimation is important for the assessment and management of groundwater resources effectively. This study applied the soil moisture balance and Baseflow separation methods to estimate groundwater recharge in the Fetam Catchment. It is one of the major catchments understudied from the different catchments in the upper Blue Nile River basin. Surface water has been subjected to high seasonal variation; due to this, groundwater is a primary option for drinking water supply to the community. This research has been conducted to estimate groundwater recharge by using fifteen years of River flow data for the Baseflow separation and ten years of daily meteorological data for the daily soil moisture balance recharge estimating method. The recharge rate by the two methods is 170.5 and 244.9mm/year daily soil moisture and baseflow separation method, respectively, and the average recharge is 207.7mm/year. The average value of annual recharge in the catchment is almost equal to the average recharge in the country, which is 200mm/year. So, each method has its own limitations, and taking the average value is preferable rather than taking a single value. Baseflow provides overestimated result compared to the average of the two, and soil moisture balance is the list estimator. The recharge estimation in the area also should be done by other recharge estimation methods.

Keywords: groundwater, recharge, baseflow separation, soil moisture balance, Fetam catchment

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Authors: L. Heidari, M. Jalili Ghazizade

Abstract:

In recent years, different petrochemical complexes have been established to produce aromatic compounds. Among them, Nouri Petrochemical Complex (NPC) is the largest producer of aromatic raw materials in the world, and is located in south of Iran. Environmental concerns have been raised in this region due to generation of different types of solid waste generated in the process of aromatics production, and subsequently, industrial waste characterization has been thoroughly considered. The aim of this study is qualitative and quantitative characterization of industrial waste generated in the aromatics production process and determination of the best method for industrial waste management. For this purpose, all generated industrial waste during the production process was determined using a checklist. Four main industrial wastes were identified as follows: spent industrial soil, spent catalyst, spent molecular sieves and spent N-formyl morpholine (NFM) solvent. The amount of heavy metals and organic compounds in these wastes were further measured in order to identify the nature and toxicity of such a dangerous compound. Then industrial wastes were classified based on lab analysis results as well as using different international lists of hazardous waste identification such as EPA, UNEP and Basel Convention. Finally, the best method of waste disposal is selected based on environmental, economic and technical aspects. 

Keywords: aromatic compounds, industrial soil, molecular sieve, normal formyl morpholine solvent

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Authors: Asad Iqbal, Feixiang Zan, Xiaoming Liu, Guang-Hao Chen

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Water, food, and energy nexus is a vital subject to achieve sustainable development goals worldwide. Wastewater (WW) and food waste (FW) from municipal sources are primary contributors to their respective wastage sum from a country. Along with the loss of these invaluable natural resources, their treatment systems also consume a lot of abiotic energy and resources input with a perceptible contribution to global warming. Hence, the global paradigm has evolved from simple pollution mitigation to a resource recovery system (RRS). In this study, the prospects of six alternative FW treatment scenarios are quantitatively evaluated for Hong Kong in terms of energy use and greenhouse emissions (GHEs) potential, using life cycle assessment (LCA). Considered scenarios included: aerobic composting, anaerobic digestion (AD), combine AD and composting (ADC), co-disposal, and treatment with wastewater (CoD-WW), incineration, and conventional landfilling as base-case. Results revealed that in terms of GHEs saving, all-new scenarios performed significantly better than conventional landfilling, with ADC scenario as best-case and incineration, AD alone, CoD-WW ranked as second, third, and fourth best respectively. Whereas, composting was the worst-case scenario in terms of energy balance, while incineration ranked best and AD alone, ADC, and CoD-WW ranked as second, third, and fourth best, respectively. However, these results are highly sensitive to boundary settings, e.g., the inclusion of the impact of biogenic carbon emissions and waste collection and transportation, and several other influential parameters. The study provides valuable insights and policy guidelines for the decision-makers locally and a generic modelling template for environmental impact assessment.

Keywords: food waste, resource recovery, greenhouse emissions, energy balance

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Authors: D. Amaranatha Reddy

Abstract:

Highly efficient and stable co-catalysts materials is of great important for boosting photo charge carrier’s separation, transportation efficiency, and accelerating the catalytic reactive sites of semiconductor photocatalysts. As a result, it is of decisive importance to fabricate low price noble metal free co-catalysts with high catalytic reactivity, but it remains very challenging. Considering this challenge here, dual metal organic frame work derived N-Doped Fe3C nanocages have been rationally designed and decorated with ultrathin ZnIn2S4 nanosheets for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen generation. The fabrication strategy precisely integrates co-catalyst nanocages with ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor nanosheets by providing tightly interconnected nano-junctions and helps to suppress the charge carrier’s recombination rate. Furthermore, constructed highly porous hybrid structures expose ample active sites for catalytic reduction reactions and harvest visible light more effectively by light scattering. As a result, fabricated nanostructures exhibit superior solar driven hydrogen evolution rate (9600 µmol/g/h) with an apparent quantum efficiency of 3.6 %, which is relatively higher than the Pt noble metal co-catalyst systems and earlier reported ZnIn2S4 based nanohybrids. We believe that the present work promotes the application of sulfide based nanostructures in solar driven hydrogen production.

Keywords: photocatalysis, water splitting, hydrogen fuel production, solar-driven hydrogen

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Authors: Sundip Charmode, Simmi Mehra, Sudhir Kushwaha, Shalom Philip, Pratik Amrutiya, Ranjna Jangal

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Introduction: Quadrangular space syndrome involves compression of the axillary nerve and posterior circumflex humeral artery and its management in few cases, requires surgical decompression. The current study reviews the surgical approaches used in the decompression of neurovascular structures and presents our reflections and recommendations. Methods: Four human cadavers, in the Department of Anatomy were used for dissection of the Axillae and the Scapular region by the senior residents of the Department of Anatomy and Department of Orthopedics, who dissected quadrangular space in the eight upper limbs, using anterior and posterior surgical approaches. Observations: Posterior approach to identify the quadrangular space and secure its contents was recognized as the easier and much quicker method by both the Anatomy and Orthopedic residents, but it may result in increased postoperative morbidity. Whereas the anterior (Delto-pectoral) approach involves more skill but reduces postoperative morbidity. Conclusions: Anterior (Delto-pectoral) approach with suggested modifications can prove as an effective method in surgical decompression of quadrangular space syndrome. The authors suggest more cadaveric studies to facilitate anatomists and surgeons with the opportunities to practice and evaluate older and newer surgical approaches.

Keywords: surgical approach, anatomical approach, decompression, axillary nerve, quadrangular space

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Authors: Mohamed Abdelrahman Abdalla

Abstract:

Apart from their function in producing CSF, the brain ventricles have been recognized as the mere remnant of the embryological neural tube with no clear role. The lack of proper definition of the function of the brain ventricles and the central spinal canal has made it difficult to ascertain the pathophysiology of its different disease conditions or to treat them. This study aims to review the simple physics that could explain the basic function of the CNS ventricular system and to suggest new ways of approaching its pathology. There are probably more physical factors to consider than only the pressure. Monro-Killie hypothesis focuses on volume and subsequently pressure to direct our surgical management in different disease conditions. However, the enlarged volume of the ventricles in normal pressure hydrocephalus does not move any blood or brain outside the skull. Also, in idiopathic intracranial hypertension, the very high intracranial pressure rarely causes brain herniation. On this note, the continuum of the intracranial cavity with the spinal canal makes it a whole unit and hence the defect in the theory. In this study, adding different factors to the equation like brain and CSF density and positions of the brain in space, in addition to the volume and pressure, aims to identify how the ventricles are important in the CNS homeostasis. In addition, increasing the variables that we analyze to treat different CSF pathological conditions should increase our understanding and hence accuracy of treatment of such conditions.

Keywords: communicating hydrocephalus, functions of the ventricles, idiopathic intracranial hypertension physics of CSF

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Authors: Julia DeVoy, Olivia Berlin

Abstract:

The United States exports over 1.6 billion pounds of post-consumer textiles every year, primarily to countries in the Global South. These textiles make their way to landfills and open-air dumps where they decompose, contaminating water systems and releasing harmful greenhouse gases. Through this inequitable system of waste disposal, countries with less political and economic power are coerced into accepting the environmental and health consequences of over-consumption in the Global North. Thus, the global trade of post-consumer textile waste represents a serious issue of environmental justice and a public health hazard. Our research located, characterizes, and quantifies the environmental and human health risks that occur when post-consumer textiles are left to decompose in landfills and open-air dumps in the Global South. In our work, we make use of United Nations International Trade Statistics data to map the global distribution of post-consumer textiles exported from the United States. Next, we present our landfill simulating reactor designed to measure toxicity of leachate resulting from the decomposition of textiles in developing countries and to quantify the related greenhouse gas emissions. This design makes use of low-cost and sustainable materials to promote frugal innovation and make landfill reactors more accessible. Finally, we describe how the data generated from these tools can be leveraged to inform individual consumer behaviors, local policies around textile waste disposal, and global advocacy efforts to mitigate the environmental harms caused by textile waste.

Keywords: sustainability, textile design, public health, built environment

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Authors: Nasibeh Mohammadpour, Ali Rajabzadeh, Adel Azar, Hamid Zargham Borujeni,

Abstract:

Generally, various industries development depends on their stakeholders and beneficiaries supports. One of the most important stakeholders in tourism industry ( which has become one of the most important lucrative and employment-generating activities at the international level these days) are host communities in tourist destination which are affected and effect on this industry development. Recognizing host community and its segmentations can be important to get their support for future decisions and policy making. In order to identify these segments, in this study, clustering of the residents has been done by using some tools that are designed to encounter human complexities and have ability to model and generalize complex systems without any needs for the initial clusters’ seeds like classic methods. Neural networks can help to meet these expectations. The research have been planned to design neural networks-based mathematical model for clustering the host community effectively according to multi criteria, and identifies differences among segments. In order to achieve this goal, the residents’ segmentation has been done by demographic characteristics, their attitude towards the tourism development, the level of satisfaction and the type of their support in this field. The applied method is self-organized neural networks and the results have compared with K-means. As the results show, the use of Self- Organized Map (SOM) method provides much better results by considering the Cophenetic correlation and between clusters variance coefficients. Based on these criteria, the host community is divided into five sections with unique and distinctive features, which are in the best condition (in comparison other modes) according to Cophenetic correlation coefficient of 0.8769 and between clusters variance of 0.1412.

Keywords: Artificial Nural Network, Clustering , Resident, SOM, Tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 140