Search results for: biophysical and biochemical techniques

Authors: Sara Muslat Alsahali, Nout Mohammed Alqahtani

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Digital technology has changed the world, and with the increasing number of children accessing the Internet, it has now become an integral part of children's lives from their early years. With the rapid development of digital technology, the risks children face on the internet also evolve from cyberbullying to misuse, sexual exploitation, and abuse of their private information over the Internet. Digital technology, with its advantages and disadvantages, is now a fact of our life. Therefore, knowledge of how to reduce its risks and maximize its benefits will help shape the growth and future of a new generation of digital citizens. This paper will discuss access control techniques that help to create secure cyberspace where children can be safe without depriving them of their rights and freedom to use the internet and preventing them from its benefits. Also, it sheds light on its challenges and problems by classifying the methods of parental controlling into two possibilities asynchronous and synchronous techniques and choosing YouTube as a case study of access control techniques.

Keywords: access control, cyber security, kids, parental monitoring

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Authors: Wannakarn Likitrattanaporn

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The purposes of this investigation were to investigate the effects of applying linguistic principles and teaching techniques in teaching English through experimenting the Adapted English Lessons and to determine the teachers’ opinions as well as students’ opinions towards the Adapted Lessons. The subjects of the study were 5 Thai teachers, who teach English, and 85 Grade 10 mixed-ability students at Triamudom Suksa Pattanakarn Ratchada School, Bangkok, Thailand. The research instruments included the Adapted English Lessons, questionnaires asking teachers’ and students’ opinions towards the Adapted Lessons and the informal interview. The data from the research instruments was collected and analyzed concerning the teachers’ and students’ opinions towards adapting linguistic principles and teaching techniques. Linguistic principles of minimal pair and articulatory phonetics and teaching techniques of mimicry-memorization; vocabulary substitution drills, language pattern drills, reading comprehension exercise, practicing listening, speaking and writing skill and communicative activities; informal talk and free writing are applied. The data was statistically compiled according to an arithmetic percentage. The results showed that the teachers and students have very highly positive opinions towards adapting linguistic principles for teaching and learning phonological accuracy. Teaching techniques provided in the Adapted English Lessons can be used efficiently in the classroom. The teachers and students have positive opinions towards them too.

Keywords: applying linguistic principles and teaching techniques, teachers’ and students’ opinions, teaching English, the adapted English lessons

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Authors: Aydin Azizi, Poorya Ghafoorpoor Yazdi

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This paper presents the review of the studies on the ergonomics, virtual reality, and work measurement (time study) at the industrial workstations because each of these three individual techniques can be used to improve the design of workstations and task position. The objective of this paper is to give an overall literature review that if there is any relation between these three different techniques. Therefore, it is so important to review the scientific studies to find a better and effective way for improving design of workstations. On the other hand, manufacturers found that instead of using one of the approaches, utilizing the combination of these individual techniques are more effective to reduce the cost and production time.

Keywords: ergonomics, time study, virtual reality, workplace

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Authors: Farzad Shidfar, Najmeh Rostami, Ziaodin Mazhari, Fatemeh Hosseini Baharanchi

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Background and Aim: The rate of failure to maintain a reduced weight has been increased. By definition, people who regain about one-third to two-thirds of their lost weight after one year from the end of the dietary treatment and return all the lost weight after 5 years it is called weight regain. This study was performed to find the causes of weight regain and its relationship with biochemical and psychological factors. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed by reviewing the files of people who followed the dietary treatment in 1397-1398.seventy-three persons was in the weight regain group, and seventy-three people were in the weight maintenance group. Psychological factors such as depression, anxiety, quality of life, physical activity, and dietary frequency were assessed through a questionnaire, and biochemical factors such as serum insulin and fasting blood sugar were measured. The mean basal energy in the weight regain group was significantly higher than the weight maintenance group (p = 0.004). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of food intake and inflammatory index of food. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of food intake and inflammatory index of food. Mean serum insulin concentration (p = 0.023), mean fasting blood sugar (p = 0.04) and insulin resistance (p = 0.013) in the weight regain group were higher than the weight maintenance group. The weight maintenance group showed higher insulin sensitivity than the weight regain group (p = 0.005). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of psychological indicators. Conclusion: The only body mass index after one year from the end of the treatment period, insulin sensitivity, serum insulin concentration, fasting blood sugar, insulin resistance, selenium intake, and basal energy expenditure Specific and significant with weight regain. However, the significance of insulin resistance, basal energy expenditure, and body mass index after one year from the end of the treatment period was higher than other variables in the weight regain group.

Keywords: body weight maintenance, weight regain, insulin resistance, insulin sensitivity

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Authors: Fateme Afkhami, Mohsen Ehsanpour, Majid Afkhami, Maryam Ehsanpour

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Normal reference ranges of biochemical parameters are considered important for assessing and monitoring the health status of sea turtles. For this means, serum biochemistry determinations were analyzed in normal adult nesting and foraging hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata). Blood samples were collected in March–April during nesting season and December-November in the foraging season. Plasma biochemistry values, except for creatinine and lipase were significant between the two periods. FBS, cholesterol, triglycerides, ALP (alkaline phosphatase), AST (aspartate aminotransferase), bilirubin, total protein, LDH (lactate dehydrogenase), CK (creatine kinase) and amylase were significantly higher in nesting season than foraging season (P<0.05). On the other hand urea, ALT (alanine aminotransferase) and albumin in the nesting season were significantly lower than foraging season (P<0.05). It was concluded that the nesting E. imbricata showed significant variation in their biochemical profile due to reproductive output. This study has produced working reference intervals useful for hawksbill turtles for future conservation and rehabilitation projects in the Persian Gulf and may be of assistance in similar programs worldwide.

Keywords: plasma biochemistry, nesting, foraging, hawksbill turtles, Persian Gulf

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Authors: Fuad Abdullah Alatawi

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Microbial infections-based diseases are a significant public health issue around the world, mainly when antibiotic-resistant bacterium types evolve. In this research, we explored the anti-bacterial and anti-cancer potency of iron-oxide (Fe₂O₃) nanoparticles prepared from F. macrocarpa fruit extract. The chemical composition of F. macrocarpa fruit extract was used as a reducing and capping agent for nanoparticles’ synthesis was examined by GC-MS/MS analysis. Then, the prepared nanoparticles were confirmed by various biophysical techniques, including X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Vis Spectroscopy, and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDAX), and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). Also, the antioxidant capacity of fruit extract was determined through 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) assays. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity activities of Fe₂O₃ NPs were determined using the (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) (MTT) test on MCF-7 cells. In the antibacterial assay, lethal doses of the Fe₂O₃NPs effectively inhibited the growth of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. The surface damage, ROS production, and protein leakage are the antibacterial mechanisms of Fe₂O₃NPs. Concerning antioxidant activity, the fruit extracts of F. macrocarpa had strong antioxidant properties, which were confirmed by DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, and SOD assays. In addition, the F. microcarpa-derived iron oxide nanomaterials greatly reduced the cell viability of (MCF-7). The GC-MS/MS analysis revealed the presence of 25 main bioactive compounds in the F. microcarpa extract. Overall, the finding of this research revealed that F. microcarpa-derived Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles could be employed as an alternative therapeutic agent to cure microbial infection and breast cancer in humans.

Keywords: ficus microcarpa, iron oxide, antibacterial activity, cytotoxicity

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Authors: Ahmed M. El-Araby, Ibrahim Sabry, Ahmed El-Assal

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The relationships between the industrial facilities, the capacity available for these facilities, and the costs involved are the main factors in deciding the correct selection of a facility layout. In general, an issue of facility layout is considered to be an unstructured problem of decision-making. The objective of this work is to provide a survey that describes the techniques by which a facility planning problem can be solved and also the effect of these techniques on the efficiency of the layout. The multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques can be classified according to the previous researches into three categories which are the use of single MCDM, combining two or more MCDM, and the integration of MCDM with another technique such as genetic algorithms (GA). This paper presents a review of different multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques that have been proposed in the literature to pick the most suitable layout design. These methods are particularly suitable to deal with complex situations, including various criteria and conflicting goals which need to be optimized simultaneously.

Keywords: facility layout, MCDM, GA, literature review

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Authors: Sasan Khademnematolahi, Kevine Kamga Silihe, Katarína Pružinská, Martina Chrastina, Elisabeth Louise Ndjengue Mindang, František Dráfi, Katarína Bauerová

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Background: In ethnomedicine, plant parts and compounds are traditionally utilized to treat many disorders. Azadirachta indica, known as Neem, has been traditionally used in medicinal practices. Neem has various pharmaceutical activities, such as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, due to the content of bioactive compounds like nimbolide, azadirachtin, and gedunin.Through its effect on pathological inflammatory processes, supplementation with it could alleviate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: This research aimed to assess Neem seed oil's impact on rats with adjuvant arthritis. Three doses in monotherapy and two in combination with methotrexate (MTX) have been studied and their effect was compared. Neem p.o. doses of 100, 200, and 300 mg/kg and MTX p.o. doses of 0.3 mg/kg were examined. After clinical parameters assessment, biochemical analysis was performed in plasma. Results: During the acute phase of the experimental arthritis (Day21), levels of MMP-9, MCP-1 and cytokines IL-1beta and IL-17A were measured. The positive results of inflammatory mediators evaluation in plasma encourage additional analysis also in related tissues to prove if Neem seed oil can be used as an adjuvant therapy for RA. Conclusion: In this study, the combination therapy of Neem with MTX was most effective from all therapies investigated.

Keywords: adjuvant, neem, methotrexate, arthritis

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Authors: S. Junaid S. Qazi, Denice C. Bay, Raymond Chew, Raymond J. Turner

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EmrE, a member of the small multidrug resistance protein family in bacteria is considered to be the archetypical member of its family. It confers host resistance to a wide variety of quaternary cation compounds (QCCs) driven by proton motive force. Generally, purification yield is a challenge in all membrane proteins because of the difficulties in their expression, isolation and solubilization. EmrE is extremely hydrophobic which make the purification yield challenging. We have purified EmrE protein using two different approaches: organic solvent membrane extraction and hexahistidine (his6) tagged Ni-affinity chromatographic methods. We have characterized changes present between ligand affinity of untagged and his6-tagged EmrE proteins in similar membrane mimetic environments using biophysical experimental techniques. Purified proteins were solubilized in a buffer containing n-dodecyl-β-D-maltopyranoside (DDM) and the conformations in the proteins were explored in the presence of four QCCs, methyl viologen (MV), ethidium bromide (EB), cetylpyridinium chloride (CTP) and tetraphenyl phosphonium (TPP). SDS-Tricine PAGE and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis revealed that the addition of QCCs did not induce higher multimeric forms of either proteins at all QCC:EmrE molar ratios examined under the solubilization conditions applied. QCC binding curves obtained from the Trp fluorescence quenching spectra, gave the values of dissociation constant (Kd) and maximum specific one-site binding (Bmax). Lower Bmax values to QCCs for his6-tagged EmrE shows that the binding sites remained unoccupied. This lower saturation suggests that the his6-tagged versions provide a conformation that prevents saturated binding. Our data demonstrate that tagging an integral membrane protein can significantly influence the protein.

Keywords: small multidrug resistance (SMR) protein, EmrE, integral membrane protein folding, quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC), quaternary cation compounds (QCC), nickel affinity chromatography, hexahistidine (His6) tag

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Authors: Andrew Tan Hwee Chye, Yeo Zhen Ning

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This study aims to meta-analyse clinical studies comparing femoral tunnel position (FTP), femoral tunnel length (FTL) and graft bending angle (GBA) of single-bundle Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstruction using Transtibial (TT), Anteromedial (AM) and Outside-in (OI) techniques. A meta-analysis comparing the FTP, FTL and GBA of single-bundle ACL reconstruction utilising the TT, AM and OI was performed. Prospective Comparative Studies (PCS) and Retrospective Comparative Studies (RCS) from PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase were included. A total of 17 studies were included in this study. TT had the longest FTL, when compared to AM (Mean difference = 7.38, 95% CI: 3.76 to 11.00, P < 0.001) and OI (Mean difference = 9.47, 95% CI: 4.89 to 14.05, P < 0.001). In the deep-to-shallow direction, the OI resulted in a significantly deeper femoral tunnel as compared to the TT (Mean difference = 4.36, 95% CI: 1.39 to 7.33, P = 0.004) (Figure 6B). The AM technique also contributed to a significantly lower tunnel position as compared to the OI technique (Mean difference = 2.34, 95% CI: 0.76 to 3.92, P = 0.004). There were no significant differences in the graft bending angle between TT, AM and OI techniques. AM and OI techniques provide a more anatomical position as compared to the TT. Although FTL in the TT is longer than the AM and OI, all three techniques exceed the critical length of 25mm. There are no differences in the GBA between the three techniques.

Keywords: femoral tunnel position, femoral tunnel length, anterior cruciate ligament, transtibial, graft bending angle, anteromedial, outside-in

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Authors: Shunsuke Miyoshi, Yasuyuki Nogami, Takuya Kusaka, Nariyoshi Yamai

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Elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP) is one of problems on which the security of pairing-based cryptography is based. This paper considers Pollard's rho method to evaluate the security of ECDLP on Barreto-Naehrig (BN) curve that is an efficient pairing-friendly curve. Some techniques are proposed to make the rho method efficient. Especially, the group structure on BN curve, distinguished point method, and Montgomery trick are well-known techniques. This paper applies these techniques and shows its optimization. According to the experimental results for which a large-scale parallel system with MySQL is applied, 94-bit ECDLP was solved about 28 hours by parallelizing 71 computers.

Keywords: Pollard's rho method, BN curve, Montgomery multiplication

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Authors: Ayman El Behiry, Rasha Nabil Zahran, Reda Tarabees, Eman Marzouk, Musaad Al-Dubaib

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Mastitis is one of the most economic disease affecting dairy cows worldwide. Its classic diagnosis using bacterial culture and biochemical findings is a difficult and prolonged method. In this research, using of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) permitted identification of different microorganisms with high accuracy and rapidity (only 24 hours for microbial growth and analysis). During the application of MALDI-TOF MS, one hundred twenty strains of Staphylococcus and Streptococcus species isolated from milk of cows affected by clinical and subclinical mastitis were identified, and the results were compared with those obtained by traditional methods as API and VITEK 2 Systems. 37 of totality 39 strains (~95%) of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were exactly detected by MALDI TOF MS and then confirmed by a nuc-based PCR technique, whereas accurate identification was observed in 100% (50 isolates) of the coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) and Streptococcus agalactiae (31 isolates). In brief, our results demonstrated that MALDI-TOF MS is a fast and truthful technique which has the capability to replace conventional identification of several bacterial strains usually isolated in clinical laboratories of microbiology.

Keywords: identification, mastitis pathogens, mass spectral, phenotypical

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Authors: Aayush Bhisikar, Neha Rajas, Aditya Bhingare, Samarth Bhandare, Amruta Amrurkar

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Orange peels are currently thrown away as garbage in India after orange fruits' edible components are consumed. However, the nation depends on important essential oils for usage in companies that produce goods, including food, beverages, cosmetics, and medicines. This study was conducted to show how to effectively use it. By using various extraction techniques, orange peel is used in the creation of essential oils. Stream distillation, water distillation, and solvent extraction were the techniques taken into consideration in this paper. Due to its relative prevalence among the extraction techniques, Design Expert 7.0 was used to plan an experimental run for solvent extraction. Oil was examined to ascertain its physical and chemical characteristics after extraction. It was determined from the outcomes that the orange peels.

Keywords: orange peels, extraction, essential oil, distillation

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Authors: Neha Rajas, Aayush Bhisikar, Samarth Bhandare, Aditya Bhingare, Amruta Amrutkar

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Orange peels are currently thrown away as garbage in India after orange fruits' edible components are consumed. However, the nation depends on important essential oils for usage in companies that produce goods, including food, beverages, cosmetics, and medicines. This study was conducted to show how to effectively use it. By using various extraction techniques, orange peel is used in the creation of essential oils. Stream distillation, water distillation, and solvent extraction were the techniques taken into consideration in this paper. Due to its relative prevalence among the extraction techniques, Design Expert 7.0 was used to plan an experimental run for solvent extraction. Oil was examined to ascertain its physical and chemical characteristics after extraction. It was determined from the outcomes that the orange peels.

Keywords: orange peels, extraction, distillation, essential oil

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Authors: Martha Ndeley, John Ikome

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In this paper, we expand the scope of constraint-directed techniques to deal with the case of transportation schedule with capacity restrictions where the scheduling problem includes alternative activities. That is, not only does the scheduling problem consist of determining when an activity is to be executed, but also determining which set of alternative activities is to be executed at all level of transportation from input to output. Such problems encompass both alternative resource problems and alternative process plan problems. We formulate a constraint-based representation of alternative activities to model problems containing such choices. We then extend existing constraint-directed scheduling heuristic commitment techniques and propagators to reason directly about the fact that an activity does not necessarily have to exist in a final transportation schedule without being completed. Tentative results show that an algorithm using a novel texture-based heuristic commitment technique propagators achieves the best overall performance of the techniques tested.

Keywords: production, transportation, scheduling, integrated

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Authors: Naga Velamakuri, Jyothi K. Reddy

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Quality must be designed into a product and not inspected has become the main motto of all the companies globally. Due to the rapidly increasing technology in the past few decades, the nature of demands from the consumers has become more sophisticated. To sustain this global revolution of innovation in production systems, companies have to take steps to accommodate this technology growth. In this process of understanding the customers' expectations, all the firms globally take steps to deliver a perfect output. Most of these techniques also concentrate on the consistent development and optimization of the product to exceed the expectations. Quality Function Deployment(QFD) and Modular Function Deployment(MFD) are such techniques which rely on the voice of the customer and help deliver the needs. In this paper, Quality Function Deployment and Modular Function Deployment techniques which help in converting the quantitative descriptions to qualitative outcomes are discussed. The area of interest would be to understand the scope of each of the techniques and the application range in product development when these are applied together to any problem. The research question would be mainly aimed at comprehending the limitations using modularity in product development.

Keywords: quality function deployment, modular function deployment, house of quality, methodology

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Authors: J. Zekri, N. Souilah, W. Abdelaziz, D. Alatou

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Our study shall focus on the ability of trees cork oak that showed vis-à-vis sensitivity to climate change, including late spring frosts. The combination of these factors resulted in damage alarmed, therefore forest ecosystems weakened trees that can affect their ability to support other abiotic and biotic stresses, For this we tested its tolerance to thermal variations and cold weather conditions by estimating some stress markers (quantification of proteins, RNA, soluble sugars) that are quantified to evaluate the cold tolerance of seedlings. Sowing of cork oak (Quercus suber L.) is grown in controlled conditions at 25° C ± 2° C in long days 16h. These seedlings are transferred at low temperatures between 5° C and -6° C for a period of 3 hours. Biochemical analyzes were performed in the various organs of the cork oak seedlings. Cool temperatures induced a significant accumulation of proline in different organs of seedlings and the optimum concentrations were observed in the roots with very high concentrations (4 times larger than those of the control). The accumulation of soluble sugars is significantly in stems and roots at 0° C. Protein concentrations are very high in leaves of both growth and high waves in rod at -4° C to -2° C. Tolerance cork oak seems to be at the thermal limit of -2°C. The concentration of these metabolites in the various organs showed the ability oak cork hardening during the winter.

Keywords: climate change, thermal change, semi-aride, biochemical markers, heat stress

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Authors: Zeba Mahmood

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The modern business organizations are adopting technological advancement to achieve competitive edge and satisfy their consumer. The development in the field of Information technology systems has changed the way of conducting business today. Business operations today rely more on the data they obtained and this data is continuously increasing in volume. The data stored in different locations is difficult to find and use without the effective implementation of Data mining and Knowledge management techniques. Organizations who smartly identify, obtain and then convert data in useful formats for their decision making and operational improvements create additional value for their customers and enhance their operational capabilities. Marketers and Customer relationship departments of firm use Data mining techniques to make relevant decisions, this paper emphasizes on the identification of different data mining and Knowledge management techniques that are applied to different business industries. The challenges and issues of execution of these techniques are also discussed and critically analyzed in this paper.

Keywords: knowledge, knowledge management, knowledge discovery in databases, business, operational, information, data mining

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Authors: S. H. Atef, N. H. Mahmoud, S. Abdrahman, A. Fattoh

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Background: The aim of the study is to assess the diagnostic value of fibrotest and hyaluronic acid in discriminate between insignificant and significant fibrosis. Also, to find out if these parameters could replace liver biopsy which is currently used for selection of chronic hepatitis C patients eligible for antiviral therapy. Study design: This study was conducted on 52 patients with HCV RNA detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) who had undergone liver biopsy and attending the internal medicine clinic at Ain Shams University Hospital. Liver fibrosis was evaluated according to the METAVIR scoring system on a scale of F0 to F4. Biochemical markers assessed were: alpha-2 macroglobulin (α2-MG), apolipoprotein A1 (Apo-A1), haptoglobin, gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), total bilirubin (TB) and hyaluronic acid (HA). The fibrotest score was computed after adjusting for age and gender. Predictive values and ROC curves were used to assess the accuracy of fibrotest and HA results. Results: For fibrotest, the observed area under curve for the discrimination between minimal or no fibrosis (F0-F1) and significant fibrosis (F2-F4) was 0.6736 for cutoff value 0.19 with sensitivity of 84.2% and specificity of 85.7%. For HA, the sensitivity was 89.5% and specificity was 85.7% and area under curve was 0.540 at the best cutoff value 71 mg/dL. Multi-use of both parameters, HA at 71 mg/dL with fibrotest score at 0.22 give a sensitivity 89.5%, specificity 100 and efficacy 92.3% (AUC 0.895). Conclusion: The use of both fibrotest score and HA could be as alternative to biopsy in most patients with chronic hepaitis C putting in consideration some limitations of the proposed markers in evaluating liver fibrosis.

Keywords: fibrotest, liver fibrosis, HCV RNA, biochemical markers

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Authors: Safwat Mohamed, Rasha Metawi, Hadeel Khalil, Hussein Kamal

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This paper discusses and reveals the manufacturing techniques of the leather scale armour of Tutankhamun. This armour was in critical condition and went under many conservation procedures as it suffered from some serious deterioration aspects including fragmentation. In addition, its original shape was lost, the leather scales were found scattered in the box and separated from the linen basis, and hence its outlines were blurred and incomprehensible. In view of this, the leather scale armour of Tutankhamun was desperate for urgent conservation and reconstruction interventions. Documentation measures were done before conservation. Several re-treatable conservation procedures were applied seeking for stabilizing the armour and reaching sustainable condition. The conservation treatments included many investigations and analyses that helped in revealing materials and techniques of making the armour. The leather scale armour of Tutankhamun consisted of leather scales attached to a linen support. This linen support consisted of several layers. Howard Carter assumed that the linen support consisted of 6 layers. The undertaken conservation treatments helped in revealing the actual number of layers of the linen support as well as in reaching the most sustainable condition. This paper views the importance of the conservation procedures, which were recently carried out on Tutankhamun’s leather scale armour, in identifying and revealing all materials and techniques used in its manufacturing. The collected data about manufacturing techniques were used in making a replica of the leather scale armour with the same methods and materials.

Keywords: leather scales armours, conservation, manufacturing techniques, Tutankhamun, producing a replica

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Authors: Sirilak Areerachakul

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Water quality has initiated serious management efforts in many countries. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models are developed as forecasting tools in predicting water quality trend based on historical data. This study endeavors to automatically classify water quality. The water quality classes are evaluated using 6 factor indices. These factors are pH value (pH), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Nitrate Nitrogen (NO3N), Ammonia Nitrogen (NH3N) and Total Coliform (T-Coliform). The methodology involves applying data mining techniques using multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network models. The data consisted of 11 sites of Saen Saep canal in Bangkok, Thailand. The data is obtained from the Department of Drainage and Sewerage Bangkok Metropolitan Administration during 2007-2011. The results of multilayer perceptron neural network exhibit a high accuracy multilayer perception rate at 94.23% in classifying the water quality of Saen Saep canal in Bangkok. Subsequently, this encouraging result could be combined with GIS data improves the classification accuracy significantly.

Keywords: artificial neural network, geographic information system, water quality, computer science

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Authors: Vita Strazdina, Aleksandrs Jemeljanovs, Vita Sterna

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Not all proteins have the same nutritional value, since protein quality strongly depends on its amino acid composition and digestibility. The meat of game animals could be a high protein source because of its well-balanced essential amino acids composition. Investigations about biochemical composition of game meat such as wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and beaver (Castor fiber) are not very much. Therefore, the aim of the investigation was evaluate protein composition of game meat hunted in Latvia. The biochemical analysis, evaluation of connective tissue and essential amino acids in meat samples were done, the amino acids score were calculate. Results of analysis showed that protein content 20.88-22.05% of all types of meat samples is not different statistically. The content of connective tissue from 1.3% in roe deer till 1.5% in beaver meat allowed classified game animal as high quality meat. The sum of essential amino acids in game meat samples were determined 7.05–8.26g100g-1. Roe deer meat has highest protein content and lowest content of connective tissues among game meat hunted in Latvia. Concluded that amino acid score for limiting amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine is high and shows high biological value of game meat.

Keywords: dietic product, game meat, amino acids, scores

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Authors: Barbara Magallona

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Given the observations between students who were active participants in a dialogue with their teacher and students who simply answered the teacher’s questions, the researcher will investigate the relationship between student-teacher dialogue in the classroom and the development of higher level thinking skills with an emphasis on the questioning techniques used by the teacher. The study posits the main question: What is the relationship between teachers’ questioning techniques and the development of students’ higher level thinking skills in a literature class (or in literature classes) in Xavier? The following are the study’s sub-questions: a) What types of questions do literature teachers at Xavier School ask? b) What types of responses do literature students at Xavier School give to teachers' questions? c) To what extent is the development of students' higher level thinking skills shown in teacher-student classroom dialogues in Xavier School's literature classroom? Since questioning techniques and student responses in the literature classroom form the core of this paper and in order to evaluate them, the study uses Andersen and Krathwohl’s revision of Harold Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Teun van Dijk’s discourse-cognition-society triangle will be used as a theoretical framework to design and to guide the classroom interaction.

Keywords: discourse analysis, literature classroom, questioning techniques, secondary education

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Authors: Arsalan Memon

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There are many challenges that a caregiver faces in average everyday life. One such challenge is coping with the stress and negative emotions of caregiving. The Stoics (i.e. Lucius Annaeus Seneca [4 B.C.E. - 65 C.E.], Epictetus [50-135 C.E.], and Marcus Aurelius [121-180 C.E.]) have provided coping techniques that are useful for dealing with stress and negative emotions. This paper lists and explains some of the fundamental coping techniques provided by the Stoics. For instance, some Stoic coping techniques thus follow (the list is far from exhaustive): a) mindfulness: to the best of your ability, constantly being aware of your thoughts, habits, desires, norms, memories, likes/dislikes, beliefs, values, and of everything outside of you in the world (b) constantly adjusting one’s expectations in accordance with reality, c) memento mori: constantly reminding oneself that death is inevitable and that death is not to be seen as evil, and d) praemeditatio malorum: constantly detaching oneself from everything that is so dear to one so that the least amount of suffering follows from the loss, damage, or ceasing to be of such entities. All coping techniques will be extracted from the following original texts by the Stoics: Seneca’s Letters to Lucilius, Epictetus’ Discourses and the Encheiridion, and Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. One major finding is that the usefulness of each Stoic coping technique can be empirically tested by anyone in the sense of applying it one’s own life especially when one is facing real-life challenges. Another major finding is that all of the Stoic coping techniques are predicated upon, and follow from, one fundamental principle: constantly differentiate what is and what is not in one’s control. After differentiating it, one should constantly habituate oneself in not controlling things that are beyond one’s control. For example, the following things are beyond one’s control (all things being equal): death, certain illnesses, being born in a particular socio-economic family, etc. The conclusion is that if one habituates oneself by practicing to the best of one’s ability both the fundamental Stoic principle and the Stoic coping techniques, then such a habitual practice can eventually decrease the stress and negative emotions that one experiences by being a caregiver.

Keywords: care-giving, coping techniques, negative emotions, stoicism, stress

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Authors: Olawuyi Sikiru Owolabi

Abstract:

A research was carried out to assess the biochemical effects of crude oil contaminated cat fish on selected rat kidney function tests. Thirty-six (36) albino rats (rattus novergicus) were grouped into six (6) of (6) in each group. The rats in group one served as control and they were placed on feed formulated with catfish cultured in borehole water while those ones from group 2 to group 6 were placed on feed formulated with catfish exposed to various concentrations of crude oil (0.1%,0.25%,0.5%,0.75% and 1% respectively).The results obtained showed that there was a significant increase in serum concentration of creatinine, Urea, sodium and potassium ions in the kidney of experimental rats when compared with the control. This may be interpreted to mean possible adverse effects on the kidney. Several studies have been done especially on the biological effects of crude oil in fish. These include Direct Lethal Toxicity, Sub-Lethal disruption of physiological and behavioral activities, interference with feeding and reproduction, direct coating or tainting of fish, effect of entry of hydrocarbons into the food web as well as alteration of biological habitat. The present study attempts to assess the effects of crude oil contaminated diet on rat kidney by carrying out some kidney function tests like determination of serum sodium and potassium ions by flame photometry method, determination of serum urea and determination of serum creatinine.

Keywords: crude oil, serum urea, creatinine, wistar rats

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Authors: Agarana Michael C., Akinlabi Esther T., Pule Kholopane

Abstract:

Innovation in manufacturing process technologies and associated product design affects the prospects for manufacturing today and in near future. In this study some theoretical methods, useful as tools in advanced manufacturing, are considered. In particular, some basic Mathematical, Operational Research, Heuristic, and Statistical techniques are discussed. These techniques/methods are very handy in many areas of advanced manufacturing processes, including process planning optimization, modelling and analysis. Generally the production rate requires the application of Mathematical methods. The Emerging Trends Processes in Advanced Manufacturing can be enhanced by using Mathematical Modelling and Optimization techniques.

Keywords: mathematical modelling, optimization, emerging trends, advanced manufacturing

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Authors: Young-Ran Song, Byeong-Uk Lim, Sang-Ho Baik

Abstract:

This study was initiated in order to develop a method for soy sauce fermentation at low salt concentrations without decreasing quality. Soy sauce was fermented with the fermentation starter (meju) and different salt contents (8-14%, w/v) by inoculating two strains or not, in which Torulaspora delbrueckii and Pichia guilliermondii strains having different abilities to induce sterilizing effects or enhance flavor production were used. As the results, there were microbial and biochemical differences among prepared soy sauce. First, Staphylococcus and Enterococcus spp. in addition to Bacillus genus that is the most important bacteria in Korean fermented soy product were detected by salt reduction. However, application of yeast starters can inhibit the undesirable bacterial growth. Moreover, PCA bi-plots of major principal components on various biochemical parameters (final pH, total acidity, soluble sugar, reducing sugar, ethanol and 32 volatile flavor compounds) were drawn to demonstrate the physicochemical differences and similarities among the samples. It was confirmed that the soy sauce samples produced with different salt concentrations were clearly different since salt reduction induced low contents of acids, alcohols and esters with higher acidity. However despite low salt concentration, combining two different yeasts appeared to have similar characteristics to the high salt-fermented soy sauce with elevated concentrations of ethanol, some alcohols, and most ketones, hence resulted in a balance of more complex and richer flavors with a flavor profile pattern identical to that of high-salt.

Keywords: Soy sauce, low salt, fermentation, yeast.

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Authors: Dimitrios Triantakonstantis, Demetris Stathakis

Abstract:

Urban areas have been expanded throughout the globe. Monitoring and modeling urban growth have become a necessity for a sustainable urban planning and decision making. Urban prediction models are important tools for analyzing the causes and consequences of urban land use dynamics. The objective of this research paper is to analyze and model the urban change, which has been occurred from 1990 to 2000 using CORINE land cover maps. The model was developed using drivers of urban changes (such as road distance, slope, etc.) under an Artificial Neural Network modeling approach. Validation was achieved using a prediction map for 2006 which was compared with a real map of Urban Atlas of 2006. The accuracy produced a Kappa index of agreement of 0,639 and a value of Cramer's V of 0,648. These encouraging results indicate the importance of the developed urban growth prediction model which using a set of available common biophysical drivers could serve as a management tool for the assessment of urban change.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, CORINE, urban atlas, urban growth prediction

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Authors: A. M. John-Otumu, M. M. Rahman, O. C. Nwokonkwo, M. C. Onuoha

Abstract:

Online social media networks have long served as a primary arena for group conversations, gossip, text-based information sharing and distribution. The use of natural language processing techniques for text classification and unbiased decision-making has not been far-fetched. Proper classification of this textual information in a given context has also been very difficult. As a result, we decided to conduct a systematic review of previous literature on sentiment classification and AI-based techniques that have been used in order to gain a better understanding of the process of designing and developing a robust and more accurate sentiment classifier that can correctly classify social media textual information of a given context between hate speech and inverted compliments with a high level of accuracy by assessing different artificial intelligence techniques. We evaluated over 250 articles from digital sources like ScienceDirect, ACM, Google Scholar, and IEEE Xplore and whittled down the number of research to 31. Findings revealed that Deep learning approaches such as CNN, RNN, BERT, and LSTM outperformed various machine learning techniques in terms of performance accuracy. A large dataset is also necessary for developing a robust sentiment classifier and can be obtained from places like Twitter, movie reviews, Kaggle, SST, and SemEval Task4. Hybrid Deep Learning techniques like CNN+LSTM, CNN+GRU, CNN+BERT outperformed single Deep Learning techniques and machine learning techniques. Python programming language outperformed Java programming language in terms of sentiment analyzer development due to its simplicity and AI-based library functionalities. Based on some of the important findings from this study, we made a recommendation for future research.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, natural language processing, sentiment analysis, social network, text

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Authors: Ahmad H. Abdelgwad, Galal E. Nadim, Tarek M. Said, Amr M. Gody

Abstract:

The prime objective of this manuscript is to provide intensive review of the techniques used for permittivity measurements. The measurement techniques, relevant for any desired application, rely on the nature of the measured dielectric material, both electrically and physically, the degree of accuracy required, and the frequency of interest. Regardless of the way that distinctive sorts of instruments can be utilized, measuring devices that provide reliable determinations of the required electrical properties including the obscure material in the frequency range of interest can be considered. The challenge in making precise dielectric property or permittivity measurements is in designing of the material specimen holder for those measurements (RF and MW frequency ranges) and adequately modeling the circuit for reliable computation of the permittivity from the electrical measurements. If the RF circuit parameters such as the impedance or admittance are estimated appropriately at a certain frequency, the material’s permittivity at this frequency can be estimated by the equations which relate the way in which the dielectric properties of the material affect on the parameters of the circuit.

Keywords: dielectric permittivity, free space measurement, waveguide techniques, coaxial probe, cavity resonator

Procedia PDF Downloads 347