Search results for: line parameters

Authors: Michael Salib, Samer Ezeldin, Ahmed Waly

Abstract:

There are numerous challenges and problems facing the construction industry in several countries in the Middle East, as a result of numerous economic and political effects. As an example in Egypt, several construction companies have shut down and left the market since 2016. The closure of these companies occurred, as they did not respond with the suitable techniques and strategies that will enable them to survive during this economic turmoil period. A research is conducted in order to identify adequate strategies to be implemented by the Egyptian contractors that could allow them survive and keep competing during such economic hardship period. Two different techniques were used in order to identify these startegies. First, a deep research were conducted on the companies located in countries that suffered similar economic harship to identify the strategies they used in order to survive. Second, interviews were conducted with experts in the construction field in order to list the effective strategies they used that allowed them to survive. Moreover, at the end of each interview, the experts were asked to rate the applicability of the previously identified strategies used in the foreign countries, then the efficiency of each strategy if used in Egypt. A framework model is developed in order to assist the construction companies in choosing the suitable techniques to their company size, through identifying the top ranked strategies and techniques that should be adopted by the company based on the parameters given to the model. In order to verify this framework, the financial statements of two leading companies in the Egyptian construction market were studied. The first Contractor has applied nearly all the top ranked strategies identified in this paper, while the other contractor has applied only few of the identified top ranked strategies. Finally, another expert interviews were conducted in order to validate the framework. These experts were asked to test the model and rate through a questionnaire its applicability and effectiveness.

Keywords: construction management, economic hardship, recession, survive

Procedia PDF Downloads 104

Authors: S. Gowri, K. Narayanasamy, R. Krishnamurthy

Abstract:

Plasma spraying, from the point of value engineering, is considered as a cost-effective technique to deposit high performance ceramic coatings on ferrous substrates for use in the aero,automobile,electronics and semiconductor industries. High-performance ceramics such as Alumina, Zirconia, and titania-based ceramics have become a key part of turbine blades,automotive cylinder liners,microelectronic and semiconductor components due to their ability to insulate and distribute heat. However, as the industries continue to advance, improved methods are needed to increase both the flexibility and speed of ceramic processing in these applications. The ceramics mentioned were individually coated on structural steel substrate with NiCr bond coat of 50-70 micron thickness with the final thickness in the range of 150 to 200 microns. Optimal spray parameters were selected based on bond strength and porosity. The 'optimal' processed specimens were super finished by lapping using diamond and green SiC abrasives. Interesting results could be observed as follows: The green SiC could improve the surface finish of lapped surfaces almost as that by diamond in case of alumina and titania based ceramics but the diamond abrasives could improve the surface finish of PSZ better than that by green SiC. The conventional random scratches could be absent in alumina and titania ceramics but in PS those marks were found to be less. However, the flatness accuracy could be improved unto 60 to 85%. The surface finish and geometrical accuracy were measured and modeled. The abrasives in the midrange of their particle size could improve the surface quality faster and better than the particles of size in low and high ranges. From the experimental investigations after lapping process, the optimal lapping time, abrasive size, lapping pressure etc could be evaluated.

Keywords: atmospheric plasma spraying, ceramics, lapping, surface qulaity, optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 394

Authors: Mthiyane Pretty, Mitsui Toshiake, Nagano Hirohiko, Aycan Murat

Abstract:

Among the most significant greenhouse gases released from rice fields are methane and carbon dioxide. The primary focus of this research was to quantify CH₄ and CO₂ gas using different 4 rice cultivars, two water regimes, and a recording of soil moisture and temperature. In this study, we hypothesized that paddy field soils may directly affect soil enzymatic activities and physicochemical properties in the rhizosphere soil of paddy fields and subsequently indirectly affect the activity, abundance, diversity, and community composition of methanogens, ultimately affecting CH₄ flux. The experiment was laid out in the randomized block design with two treatments and three replications for each genotype. In two treatments, paddy fields and artificial soil were used. 35 days after planting (DAP), continuous flooding irrigation, Alternate wetting, and drying (AWD) were applied during the vegetative stage. The highest recorded measurements of soil and environmental parameters were soil moisture at 76%, soil temperature at 28.3℃, Bulk EC at 0.99 ds/m, and pore water EC at 1,25, using HydraGO portable soil sensor system. Gas samples were carried out once on a weekly basis at 09:00 am and 12: 00 pm to obtain the mean GHG flux. Gas Chromatography (GC, Shimadzu, GC-2010, Japan) was used for the analysis of CH4 and CO₂. The treatments with paddy field soil had a 1.3℃ higher temperature than artificial soil. The overall changes in Bulk EC were not significant across the treatment. The CH₄ emission patterns were observed in all rice genotypes, although they were less in treatments with AWD with artificial soil. This shows that AWD creates oxic conditions in the rice soil. CO₂ was also quantified, but it was in minute quantities, as rice plants were using CO₂ for photosynthesis. The highest tillering number was 7, and the lowest was 3 in cultivars grown. The rice varieties to be used for breeding are Norin 24, with showed a high number of tillers with less CH₄.

Keywords: greenhouse gases, methane, morphological characterization, alternating wetting and drying

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: Ali Albadri

Abstract:

The logistics equation has never been used or studied in scientific fields outside the field of ecology. It has never been used to understand the behavior of a dynamic system of mechanical machines, like an escalator. We have studied the compatibility of the logistic map against real measurements from an escalator. This study has proven that there is good compatibility between the logistics equation and the experimental measurements. It has discovered the potential of a relationship between the fractal dimension and the non-linearity parameter, R, in the logistics equation. The fractal dimension increases as the R parameter (non-linear parameter) increases. It implies that the fractal dimension increases as the phase of the life span of the machine move from the steady/stable phase to the periodic double phase to a chaotic phase. The fractal dimension and the parameter R can be used as a tool to verify and check the health of machines. We have come up with a theory that there are three areas of behaviors, which they can be classified during the life span of a machine, a steady/stable stage, a periodic double stage, and a chaotic stage. The level of attention to the machine differs depending on the stage that the machine is in. The rate of faults in a machine increases as the machine moves through these three stages. During the double period and the chaotic stages, the number of faults starts to increase and become less predictable. The rate of predictability improves as our monitoring of the changes in the fractal dimension and the parameter R improves. The principles and foundations of our theory in this work have and will have a profound impact on the design of systems, on the way of operation of systems, and on the maintenance schedules of the systems. The systems can be mechanical, electrical, or electronic. The discussed methodology in this paper will give businesses the chance to be more careful at the design stage and planning for maintenance to control costs. The findings in this paper can be implied and used to correlate the three stages of a mechanical system to more in-depth mechanical parameters like wear and fatigue life.

Keywords: logistcs map, bifurcation map, fractal dimension, logistics equation

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: Alessandra Swiny, Michalis Georgiou, Yiorgos Hadjichristou

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the questions raised through the work of Unit 5: ‘In/Out of crisis, emergent and adaptive’; an architectural research-based studio at the University of Nicosia. It focusses on sustainable architectural and urban explorations tackling with the ever growing crises in its various types, phases and locations. ‘Great crisis situations’ are seen as ‘great chances’ that trigger investigations for further development and evolution of the built environment in an ultimate sustainable approach. The crisis is taken as an opportunity to rethink the urban and architectural directions as new forces for inventions leading to emergent and adaptive built environments. The Unit 5’s identity and environment facilitates the students to respond optimistically, alternatively and creatively towards the global current crisis. Mark Wigley’s notion that “crises are ultimately productive” and “They force invention” intrigued and defined the premises of the Unit. ‘Weather and nature are coauthors of the built environment’ Jonathan Hill states in his ‘weather architecture’ discourse. The weather is constantly changing and new environments, the subnatures are created which derived from the human activities David Gissen explains. The above set of premises triggered innovative responses by the Unit’s students. They thoroughly investigated the various kinds of crisis and their causes in relation to their various types of Terrains. The tools used for the research and investigation were chosen in contradictive pairs to generate further crisis situations: The re-used/salvaged competed with the new, the handmade rivalling with the fabrication, the analogue juxtaposed with digital. Students were asked to delve into state of art technologies in order to propose sustainable emergent and adaptive architectures and Urbanities, having though always in mind that the human and the social aspects of the community should be the core of the investigation. The resulting unprecedented spatial conditions and atmospheres of the emergent new ways of living are deemed to be the ultimate aim of the investigation. Students explored a variety of sites and crisis conditions such as: The vague terrain of the Green Line in Nicosia, the lost footprints of the sinking Venice, the endangered Australian coral reefs, the earthquake torn town of Crevalcore, and the decaying concrete urbanscape of Athens. Among other projects, ‘the plume project’ proposes a cloud-like, floating and almost dream-like living environment with unprecedented spatial conditions to the inhabitants of the coal mine of Centralia, USA, not just to enable them to survive but even to prosper in this unbearable environment due to the process of the captured plumes of smoke and heat. Existing water wells inspire inversed vertical structures creating a new living underground network, protecting the nomads from catastrophic sand storms in the Araoune of Mali. “Inverted utopia: Lost things in the sand”, weaves a series of tea-houses and a library holding lost artifacts and transcripts into a complex underground labyrinth by the utilization of the sand solidification technology. Within this methodology, crisis is seen as a mechanism for allowing an emergence of new and fascinating ultimate sustainable future cultures and cities.

Keywords: adaptive built environments, crisis as opportunity, emergent urbanities, forces for inventions

Procedia PDF Downloads 409

Authors: S. Serhal, Y. Melinge, D. Rangeard, F. Hage Chehadeh

Abstract:

Filling of estuaries is an international problem that can cause economic and environmental damage. This work aims the study of the rheological structuring mechanisms of natural sedimentary liquid-solid mixture in estuaries in order to better understand their filling. The estuary of the Rance river, located in Brittany, France is particularly targeted by the study. The aim is to provide answers on the rheological behavior of natural sediments by detecting structural factors influencing the rheological parameters. So we can better understand the fillings estuarine areas and especially consider sustainable solutions of ‘cleansing’ of these areas. The sediments were collected from the trap of Lyvet in Rance estuary. This trap was created by the association COEUR (Comité Opérationnel des Elus et Usagers de la Rance) in 1996 in order to facilitate the cleansing of the estuary. It creates a privileged area for the deposition of sediments and consequently makes the cleansing of the estuary easier. We began our work with a preliminary study to establish the trend of the rheological behavior of the suspensions and to specify the dormant phase which precedes the beginning of the biochemical reactivity of the suspensions. Then we highlight the visco-plastic character at younger age using the Kinexus rheometer, plate-plate geometry. This rheological behavior of suspensions is represented by the Bingham model using dynamic yield stress and viscosity which can be a function of volume fraction, granular extent, and chemical reactivity. The evolution of the viscosity as a function of the solid volume fraction is modeled by the Krieger-Dougherty model. On the other hand, the analysis of the dynamic yield stress showed a fairly functional link with the solid volume fraction.

Keywords: estuaries, rheological behavior, sediments, Kinexus rheometer, Bingham model, viscosity, yield stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Rezvan Hosseinian

Abstract:

Aim: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic connective tissue disease with the clinical hallmark of skin thickening and tethering. The correlation of musculoskeletal features with other parameters should be considered in SSc patients. Methods: We reviewed the records of all patients who had more than one visit and standard anteroposterior radiography of hand. We used univariate analysis, and factors with p<0.05 were included in logistic regression to find out dependent factors. Results: Overall, 180 SSc patients were enrolled in our study, 161 (89.4%) of whom were women. The median age (IQR) was 47.0 years (16), and 52% had a diffuse subtype of the disease. In multivariate analysis, tendon friction rubs (TFRs) were associated with the presence of calcinosis, muscle tenderness, and flexion contracture (FC) on physical examination (p<0.05). Arthritis showed no differences in the two subtypes of the disease (p=0.98), and in multivariate analysis, there were no correlations between radiographic arthritis and serological and clinical features. The radiographic results indicated that disease duration correlated with joint erosion, acro-osteolysis, resorption of the distal ulna, calcinosis and radiologic FC (p< 0.05). Acro-osteolysis was more frequent in the dcSSc subtype, TFRs, and anti-TOPO I antibody. Radiologic FC showed an association with skin score, calcinosis and haematocrit <30% (p<0.05). Joint flexion on radiography was associated with disease duration, modified Rodnan skin score, calcinosis, and low hematocrit (P<0.01). Conclusion: Disease duration was a main dependent factor for developing joint erosion, acro-osteolysis, bone resorption, calcinosis, and flexion contracture on hand radiography. Acro-osteolysis presented in the severe form of the disease. Acro-osteolysis was the only dependent variable associated with bone demineralization.

Keywords: disease subsets, hand radiography, joint erosion, sclerosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 54

Authors: Vera Marcantonio, Marcello De Falco, Mauro Capocelli, Álvaro Amado-Fierro, Teresa A. Centeno, Enrico Bocci

Abstract:

Concerns about energy security, energy prices, and climate change led scientific research towards sustainable solutions to fossil fuel as renewable energy sources coupled with hydrogen as an energy vector and carbon capture and conversion technologies. Among the technologies investigated in the last decades, biomass gasification acquired great interest owing to the possibility of obtaining low-cost and CO₂ negative emission hydrogen production from a large variety of everywhere available organic wastes. Upstream and downstream treatment were then studied in order to maximize hydrogen yield, reduce the content of organic and inorganic contaminants under the admissible levels for the technologies which are coupled with, capture, and convert carbon dioxide. However, studies which analyse a whole process made of all those technologies are still missing. In order to fill this lack, the present paper investigated the coexistence of hydrothermal carbonization (HTC), sorption enhance gasification (SEG), hot gas cleaning (HGC), and CO₂ conversion by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor for H₂ production from biomass waste by means of Aspen Plus software. The proposed model aimed to identify and optimise the performance of the plant by varying operating parameters (such as temperature, CaO/biomass ratio, separation efficiency, etc.). The carbon footprint of the global plant is 2.3 kg CO₂/kg H₂, lower than the latest limit value imposed by the European Commission to consider hydrogen as “clean”, that was set to 3 kg CO₂/kg H₂. The hydrogen yield referred to the whole plant is 250 gH₂/kgBIOMASS.

Keywords: biomass gasification, hydrogen, aspen plus, sorption enhance gasification

Procedia PDF Downloads 43

Authors: Nasrin Azarbani

Abstract:

Aim: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic connective tissue disease with the clinical hallmark of skin thickening and tethering. Correlation of musculoskeletal features with other parameters should be considered in SSc patients. Methods: We reviewed the records of all patients who had more than one visit and standard anteroposterior radiography of hand. We used univariate analysis, and factors with p<0.05 were included in logistic regression to find out dependent factors. Results: Overall, 180 SSc patients were enrolled in our study, 161 (89.4%) of whom were women. Median age (IQR) was 47.0 years (16), and 52% had diffuse subtype of the disease. In multivariate analysis, tendon friction rubs (TFRs) was associated with the presence of calcinosis, muscle tenderness, and flexion contracture (FC) on physical examination (p<0.05). Arthritis showed no differences in the two subtypes of the disease (p=0.98), and in multivariate analysis, there were no correlations between radiographic arthritis and serological and clinical features. The radiographic results indicated that disease duration correlated with joint erosion, acro-osteolysis, resorption of distal ulna, calcinosis and radiologic FC (p< 0.05). Acro-osteolysis was more frequent in the dcSSc subtype, TFRs, and anti-TOPO I antibody. Radiologic FC showed an association with skin score, calcinosis and haematocrit <30% (p<0.05). Joint flexion on radiography was associated with disease duration, modified Rodnan skin score, calcinosis, and low haematocrit (P<0.01). Conclusion: Disease duration was a main dependent factor for developing joint erosion, acro-osteolysis, bone resorption, calcinosis, and flexion contracture on hand radiography. Acro-osteolysis presented in the severe form of the disease. Acro-osteolysis was the only dependent variable associated with bone demineralization.

Keywords: sclerosis, disease subsets, joint erosion, musculoskeletal

Procedia PDF Downloads 41

Authors: Paulinus W. Ihuah, Iyenemi Ibimina Kakulu, Victor A. Akujuru

Abstract:

The development of the residential property is very expensive in Nigeria, especially as it is observed in Port Harcourt, although it is also investment costly in the other cities of Nigeria. The costly development nature incidentally reasons to the high deficits in residential property availability and affordability for the low-income people. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to provide sustainable accommodation design, which should improve residential property expensiveness and shortages for the low-income people. This is achieved through investigation of the tangible requirements and needs of the end-user of the property (low-income people), which thereafter would enhance sustainable and affordable residential property accommodation design for the end-users. Both the quantitative and qualitative instruments of data collection were utilised. The quantitative instrument via questionnaires was designed to examine the real needs and r requirement of the low-income people. However, the qualitative instrument via structured interview was espoused for the gathering of professionals’ opinions on the three predicted sustainable accommodation design alternatives. The analysis employed content analysis parameters, which offered a sustainable accommodation design and designed alternatives minimises costs and environmental impacts whereas exploiting the social satisfaction in residential accommodation developments. The finding underscores that sustainable accommodation design and development is practicable in Nigeria, so that cost of residential accommodation provided through this system is cheap to the low-income people. Further, erection of multi-storey residential accommodation units such as bedsit structure by utilising the concrete frame structure and building the internal and external walls with hollow concrete blocks within areas 60-130 square meters is encouraged. This paper philosophy indicates that by using sustainable accommodation design practices in Nigeria, improvements in the costs and shortages of residential accommodation can be attained for low-income people. However, policies support the government cannot be overemphasised for proper implementation of the suggested scheme.

Keywords: sustainable accommodation, housing design, residential property, low-income people

Procedia PDF Downloads 242

Authors: N. V. Kazmiruk, Y. R. Nartsissov

Abstract:

Phosphate activated glutaminase (GA, E.C. 3.5.1.2) plays a key role in glutamine/glutamate homeostasis in mammalian brain, catalyzing the hydrolytic deamidation of glutamine to glutamate and ammonium ions. GA is mainly localized in mitochondria, where it has the catalytically active form on the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) and the other soluble form, which is supposed to be dormant. At present time, the exact localization of the membrane glutaminase active site remains a controversial and an unresolved issue. The first hypothesis called c-side localization suggests that the catalytic site of GA faces the inter-membrane space and products of the deamidation reaction have immediate access to cytosolic metabolism. According to the alternative m-side localization hypothesis, GA orients to the matrix, making glutamate and ammonium available for the tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolism in mitochondria directly. In our study, we used a multi-compartment kinetic approach to simulate metabolism of glutamate and glutamine in the astrocytic cytosol and mitochondria. We used physiologically important ratio between the concentrations of glutamine inside the matrix of mitochondria [Glnₘᵢₜ] and glutamine in the cytosol [Glncyt] as a marker for precise functioning of the system. Since this ratio directly depends on the mitochondrial glutamine carrier (MGC) flow parameters, key observation was to investigate the dependence of the [Glnmit]/[Glncyt] ratio on the maximal velocity of MGC at different initial concentrations of mitochondrial glutamate. Another important task was to observe the similar dependence at different inhibition constants of the soluble GA. The simulation results confirmed the experimental c-side localization hypothesis, in which the glutaminase active site faces the outer surface of the IMM. Moreover, in the case of such localization of the enzyme, a 3-fold decrease in ammonium production was predicted.

Keywords: glutamate metabolism, glutaminase, kinetic approach, mitochondrial membrane, multi-compartment modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: Kristina Jansen, Maximilian Lennartz, Patrick Lebok, Guido Sauter, Ronald Simon, David Dum, Stefan Steurer

Abstract:

DOG1 (Discovered on GIST1) is a voltage-gated calcium-activated chloride and bicarbonate channel that is highly expressed in interstitial cells of Cajal and in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) derived from Cajal cells. To systematically determine in what tumor entities and normal tissue types DOG1 may be further expressed, a tissue microarray (TMA) containing 15,965 samples from 121 different tumor types and subtypes as well as 608 samples of 76 different normal tissue types were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. DOG1 immunostaining was found in 67 tumor types, including GIST (95.7%), esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (31.9%), pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (33.6%), adenocarcinoma of the Papilla Vateri (20%), squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva (15.8%) and the oral cavity (15.3%), mucinous ovarian cancer (15.3%), esophageal adenocarcinoma (12.5%), endometrioid endometrial cancer (12.1%), neuroendocrine carcinoma of the colon (11.1%) and diffuse gastric adenocarcinoma (11%). Low level-DOG1 immunostaining was seen in 17 additional tumor entities. DOG1 expression was unrelated to histopathological parameters of tumor aggressiveness and/or patient prognosis in cancers of the breast (n=1,002), urinary bladder (975), ovary (469), endometrium (173), stomach (233), and thyroid gland (512). High DOG1 expression was linked to estrogen receptor expression in breast cancer (p<0.0001) and the absence of HPV infection in squamous cell carcinomas (p=0.0008). In conclusion, our data identify several tumor entities that can show DOG1 expression levels at similar levels as in GIST. Although DOG1 is tightly linked to a diagnosis of GIST in spindle cell tumors, the differential diagnosis is much broader in DOG1 positive epithelioid neoplasms.

Keywords: biomarker, DOG1, immunohistochemistry, tissue microarray

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Zahra Ashraf

Abstract:

Flax and pumpkin seeds are a rich source of unsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants and fiber, known to have anti-atherogenic properties. Hypercholesterolemia is a state characterized by the elevated level of cholesterol in the blood. This research was designed to study the effect of flax and pumpkin seeds powder mixture on hypercholesterolemia and body weight. Rat’s species were selected as human representative. Thirty male albino rats were divided into three groups: a control group, a CD-chol group (control diet+cholesterol) fed with 1.5% cholesterol and FP-chol group (flaxseed and pumpkin seed powder+ cholesterol) fed with 1.5% cholesterol. Flax and pumpkin seed powder mixed at proportion of (5/1) (omega-3 and omega-6). Blood samples were collected to examine lipid profile and body weight was also measured. Thus the data was subjected to analysis of variance. In CD-chol group, body weight, total cholesterol TC, triacylglycerides TG in plasma, plasma LDL-C, ratio significantly increased with a decrease in plasma HDL (good cholesterol). In FP-chol group lipid parameters and body weights were decreased significantly with an increase in HDL and decrease in LDL (bad cholesterol). The mean values of body weight, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein and high density lipoproteins in FP-chol group were 240.66±11.35g, 59.60±2.20mg/dl, 50.20±1.79 mg/dl, 36.20±1.62mg/dl, 36.40±2.20 mg/dl, respectively. Flaxseed and pumpkin seeds powder mixture showed reduction in body weight, serum cholesterol, low density lipoprotein and triglycerides. While significant increase was shown in high density lipoproteins when given to hypercholesterolemic rats. Our results suggested that flax and pumpkin seed mixture has hypocholesterolemic effects which were probably mediated by polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6) present in seed mixture.

Keywords: hypercolesterolemia, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, cardiovascular diseases

Procedia PDF Downloads 398

Authors: Yanling Li, Linying Ji, Zita Oravecz, Timothy R. Brick, Michael D. Hunter, Sy-Miin Chow

Abstract:

Assessing several individuals intensively over time yields intensive longitudinal data (ILD). Even though ILD provide rich information, they also bring other data analytic challenges. One of these is the increased occurrence of missingness with increased study length, possibly under non-ignorable missingness scenarios. Multiple imputation (MI) handles missing data by creating several imputed data sets, and pooling the estimation results across imputed data sets to yield final estimates for inferential purposes. In this article, we introduce dynr.mi(), a function in the R package, Dynamic Modeling in R (dynr). The package dynr provides a suite of fast and accessible functions for estimating and visualizing the results from fitting linear and nonlinear dynamic systems models in discrete as well as continuous time. By integrating the estimation functions in dynr and the MI procedures available from the R package, Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations (MICE), the dynr.mi() routine is designed to handle possibly non-ignorable missingness in the dependent variables and/or covariates in a user-specified dynamic systems model via MI, with convergence diagnostic check. We utilized dynr.mi() to examine, in the context of a vector autoregressive model, the relationships among individuals’ ambulatory physiological measures, and self-report affect valence and arousal. The results from MI were compared to those from listwise deletion of entries with missingness in the covariates. When we determined the number of iterations based on the convergence diagnostics available from dynr.mi(), differences in the statistical significance of the covariate parameters were observed between the listwise deletion and MI approaches. These results underscore the importance of considering diagnostic information in the implementation of MI procedures.

Keywords: dynamic modeling, missing data, mobility, multiple imputation

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Hossein Tavallali, Mohammad Ali Karimi, Gohar Deilamy-Rad

Abstract:

In this study, a new type of alumina-coated magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4/Al2O3 NPs) with sodium dodecyl sulfate- 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (SDS-PAN) as a new sorbent solid phase extraction (SPE) has been successfully synthesized and applied for preconcentration and separation of Cd and Pb in environmental samples. Compared with conventional SPE methods, the advantages of this new magnetic Mixed Hemimicelles Solid-Phase Extraction Procedure (MMHSPE) still include easy preparation and regeneration of sorbents, short times of sample pretreatment, high extraction yields, and high breakthrough volumes. It shows great analytical potential in preconcentration of Cd and Pb compounds from large volume water samples. Due to the high surface area of these new sorbents and the excellent adsorption capacity after surface modification by SDS-PAN, satisfactory concentration factor and extraction recoveries can be produced with only 0.05 g Fe3O4/Al2O3 NPs. The metals were eluted with 3mL HNO3 2 mol L-1 directly and detected with the detection system Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FAAS). Various influencing parameters on the separation and preconcentration of trace metals, such as the amount of PAN, pH value, sample volume, standing time, desorption solvent and maximal extraction volume, amount of sorbent and concentration of eluent, were studied. The detection limits of this method for Cd and Pb were 0.3 and 0.7 ng mL−1 and the R.S.D.s were 3.4 and 2.8% (C = 28.00 ng mL-1, n = 6), respectively. The preconcentration factor of the modified nanoparticles was 166.6. The proposed method has been applied to the determination of these metal ions at trace levels in soil, river, tap, mineral, spring and wastewater samples with satisfactory results.

Keywords: Alumina-coated magnetite nanoparticles, Magnetic Mixed Hemimicell Solid-Phase Extraction, Cd and Pb, soil sample

Procedia PDF Downloads 294

Authors: Donatella Giuliani

Abstract:

In this research, we propose an unsupervised grayscale image segmentation method based on a combination of the Firefly Algorithm and the Gaussian Mixture Model. Firstly, the Firefly Algorithm has been applied in a histogram-based research of cluster means. The Firefly Algorithm is a stochastic global optimization technique, centered on the flashing characteristics of fireflies. In this context it has been performed to determine the number of clusters and the related cluster means in a histogram-based segmentation approach. Successively these means are used in the initialization step for the parameter estimation of a Gaussian Mixture Model. The parametric probability density function of a Gaussian Mixture Model is represented as a weighted sum of Gaussian component densities, whose parameters are evaluated applying the iterative Expectation-Maximization technique. The coefficients of the linear super-position of Gaussians can be thought as prior probabilities of each component. Applying the Bayes rule, the posterior probabilities of the grayscale intensities have been evaluated, therefore their maxima are used to assign each pixel to the clusters, according to their gray-level values. The proposed approach appears fairly solid and reliable when applied even to complex grayscale images. The validation has been performed by using different standard measures, more precisely: the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), the Structural Content (SC), the Normalized Correlation Coefficient (NK) and the Davies-Bouldin (DB) index. The achieved results have strongly confirmed the robustness of this gray scale segmentation method based on a metaheuristic algorithm. Another noteworthy advantage of this methodology is due to the use of maxima of responsibilities for the pixel assignment that implies a consistent reduction of the computational costs.

Keywords: clustering images, firefly algorithm, Gaussian mixture model, meta heuristic algorithm, image segmentation

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: P. Karthick, K. Mahesh

Abstract:

Video has become an increasingly significant component of our digital everyday contact. With the advancement of greater contents and shows of the resolution, its significant volume poses serious obstacles to the objective of receiving, distributing, compressing, and revealing video content of high quality. In this paper, we propose the primary beginning to complete a deep video compression model that jointly upgrades all video compression components. The video compression method involves splitting the video into frames, comparing the images using convolutional neural networks (CNN) to remove duplicates, repeating the single image instead of the duplicate images by recognizing and detecting minute changes using generative adversarial network (GAN) and recorded with long short-term memory (LSTM). Instead of the complete image, the small changes generated using GAN are substituted, which helps in frame level compression. Pixel wise comparison is performed using K-nearest neighbours (KNN) over the frame, clustered with K-means, and singular value decomposition (SVD) is applied for each and every frame in the video for all three color channels [Red, Green, Blue] to decrease the dimension of the utility matrix [R, G, B] by extracting its latent factors. Video frames are packed with parameters with the aid of a codec and converted to video format, and the results are compared with the original video. Repeated experiments on several videos with different sizes, duration, frames per second (FPS), and quality results demonstrate a significant resampling rate. On average, the result produced had approximately a 10% deviation in quality and more than 50% in size when compared with the original video.

Keywords: video compression, K-means clustering, convolutional neural network, generative adversarial network, singular value decomposition, pixel visualization, stochastic gradient descent, frame per second extraction, RGB channel extraction, self-detection and deciding system

Procedia PDF Downloads 161

Authors: Muhammad Anjum Aqueel, Muhammad Jaffar Hussain, Abu Bakar Muhammad Raza

Abstract:

Diaeretiella rapae (M’Intosh) attack most of the aphid species. However, it is specialized in feeding on crucifer aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae. Biological potential of parasitoid is its density-dependency due to sharing of limited resources in few cases. The present study was carried out to check the biotic potential of D. rapae at its different densities (1, 2, 4, 8 and 10 pairs) on fixed number of B. brassicae (100 in number) as a host. The present study was performed under laboratory conditions (25 ± 2 ºC temperature and 65-70 % R.H.). Different biological parameters for parasitoid (e.g. percent parasitism, adult emergence, adult longevity and per pair parasitism) were evaluated to check its biotic potential. The present findings showed that maximum parasitism (43.09 % ± 0.63) was observed in highest density (10 pairs) and minimum parasitism (16.59 % ± 1.28) in lowest density (1 pair) of the parasitoid. Maximum adult emergence (80.31 % ± 1.33) was observed in highest density (10 pairs) and minimum parasitism (45.99 % ± 1.27) in lowest density (1 pair) of the parasitoid. In the case of adult longevity, highest (8.2 days ± 0.38) and lowest (6 days ± 0.32) longevity were observed in lowest (1 pair) and highest (10 pairs) densities of parasitoids respectively. However, per pair parasitism rate decreased with the increase in parasitoid densities due to intra-specific competition, developed between the parasitoids for parasitism. The positive but close relationship was observed between percent parasitism and adult emergence. The increase in parasitoid densities increased the percent parasitism and adult emergence of the parasitoid. So, we conclude that an inter-specific competition negatively affected the efficacy of parasitoids and may reduce the fitness of the emerging parasitoid.

Keywords: Diaeretiella rapae, Parasitoid densities, Percent parasitism, adult emergence

Procedia PDF Downloads 204

Authors: Sherman Ho, Ahmed Cherif Megri

Abstract:

Headers play a critical role in conveying steam to regulate heating system temperatures. While various materials like steel grades 91 and 92 have been traditionally used for pipes, this research proposes the use of a robust and innovative material, INCONEL Alloy 740H. Boilers in power plant configurations are exposed to cycling conditions due to factors such as daily, seasonal, and yearly variations in weather. These cycling conditions can lead to the deterioration of headers, which are vital components with intricate geometries. Header failures result in substantial financial losses from repair costs and power plant shutdowns, along with significant public inconveniences such as the loss of heating and hot water. To address this issue and seek solutions, a mechanical analysis, as well as a structural analysis, are recommended. Transient analysis to predict heat transfer conditions is of paramount importance, as the direction of heat transfer within the header walls and the passing steam can vary based on the location of interest, load, and operating conditions. The geometry and material of the header are also crucial design factors, and the choice of pipe material depends on its usage. In this context, the heat transfer coefficient plays a vital role in header design and analysis. This research employs ANSYS Fluent, a numerical simulation program, to understand header behavior, predict heat transfer, and analyze mechanical phenomena within the header. Transient simulations are conducted to investigate parameters like heat transfer coefficient, pressure loss coefficients, and heat flux, with the results used to optimize header design.

Keywords: CFD, header, power plant, heat transfer coefficient, simulation using experimental data

Procedia PDF Downloads 32

Authors: Nesreddine Djafar Henni, Akram Khelaifia, Salah Guettala, Rachid Chebili

Abstract:

Reinforced concrete shear walls and vertical plate-like elements play a pivotal role in efficiently managing a building's response to seismic forces. This study investigates how the performance of reinforced concrete buildings equipped with shear walls featuring different shear wall-to-frame stiffness ratios aligns with the requirements stipulated in the Algerian seismic code RPA99v2003, particularly in high-seismicity regions. Seven distinct 3D finite element models are developed and evaluated through nonlinear static analysis. Engineering Demand Parameters (EDPs) such as lateral displacement, inter-story drift ratio, shear force, and bending moment along the building height are analyzed. The findings reveal two predominant categories of induced responses: force-based and displacement-based EDPs. Furthermore, as the shear wall-to-frame ratio increases, there is a concurrent increase in force-based EDPs and a decrease in displacement-based ones. Examining the distribution of shear walls from both force and displacement perspectives, model G with the highest stiffness ratio, concentrating stiffness at the building's center, intensifies induced forces. This configuration necessitates additional reinforcements, leading to a conservative design approach. Conversely, model C, with the lowest stiffness ratio, distributes stiffness towards the periphery, resulting in minimized induced shear forces and bending moments, representing an optimal scenario with maximal performance and minimal strength requirements.

Keywords: dual RC buildings, RC shear walls, modeling, static nonlinear pushover analysis, optimization, seismic performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 21

Authors: Kyriaki Hatziagapiou, Konstantinos Bethanis, Olti Nikola, Elias Christoforides, Eleni Koniari, Eleni Kakouri, George Lambrou, Christina Kanaka-Gantenbein

Abstract:

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remains a serious health challenge, as current therapeutic modalities continue to yield unsatisfactory results, with the average survival rarely exceeding 1-2 years. Natural compounds still provide some of the most promising approaches for discovering new drugs. The non-psychotropic cannabidiol (CBD) deriving from Cannabis sativa L. provides such promise. CBD is endowed with anticancer, antioxidant, and genoprotective properties as established in vitro and in in vivo experiments. CBD’s selectivity towards cancer cells and its safe profile suggest its usage in cancer therapies. However, the bioavailability of oral CBD is low due to poor aqueous solubility, erratic gastrointestinal absorption, and significant first-pass metabolism, hampering its therapeutic potential and resulting in a variable pharmacokinetic profile. In this context, CBD can take great advantage of nanomedicine-based formulation strategies. Cyclodextrins (CDs) are cyclic oligosaccharides used in the pharmaceutical industry to incorporate apolar molecules inside their hydrophobic cavity, increasing their stability, water solubility, and bioavailability or decreasing their side effects. CBD-inclusion complexes with CDs could be a good strategy to improve its properties, like solubility and stability to harness its full therapeutic potential. The current research aims to study the potential cytotoxic effect of CBD and CBD-CDs complexes CBD-RMβCD (randomly methylated β-cyclodextrin) and CBD-HPβCD (hydroxypropyl-b-CD) on the A172 glioblastoma cell line. CBD is diluted in 10% DMSO, and CBD/CDs solutions are prepared by mixing solid CBD, solid CDs, and dH2O. For the biological assays, A172 cells are incubated at a range of concentrations of CBD, CBD-RMβCD and CBD-HPβCD, RMβCD, and HPβCD (0,03125-4 mg/ml) at 24, 48, and 72 hours. Analysis of cell viability after incubation with the compounds is performed with Alamar Blue viability assay. CBD’s dilution to DMSO 10% was inadequate, as crystals are observed; thus cytotoxicity experiments are not assessed. CBD’s solubility is enhanced in the presence of both CDs. CBD/CDs exert significant cytotoxicity in a dose and time-dependent manner (p < 0.005 for exposed cells to any concentration at 48, 72, and 96 hours versus cells not exposed); as their concentration and time of exposure increases, the reduction of resazurin to resofurin decreases, indicating a reduction in cell viability. The cytotoxic effect is more pronounced in cells exposed to CBD-HPβCD for all concentrations and time-points. RMβCD and HPβCD at the highest concentration of 4 mg/ml also exerted antitumor action per se since manifesting cell growth inhibition. The results of our study could afford the basis of research regarding the use of natural products and their inclusion complexes as anticancer agents and the shift to targeted therapy with higher efficacy and limited toxicity. Acknowledgments: The research is partly funded by ΙΚΥ (State Scholarships Foundation) – Post-doc Scholarships-Partnership Agreement 2014-2020.

Keywords: cannabidiol, cyclodextrins, glioblastoma, hydroxypropyl-b-Cyclodextrin, randomly-methylated-β-cyclodextrin

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Mohamed Boullouz, Mohamed Louay Metougui

Abstract:

Accurate modeling of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, crop growth, soil productivity, and biochemical processes is crucial considering escalating global concerns about climate change and the urgent need to improve agricultural sustainability. The application of the denitrification-disintegration (DNDC) model in the context of Morocco's unique agro-climate is thoroughly investigated in this study. Our main research hypothesis is that the DNDC model offers an effective and powerful tool for precisely simulating a wide range of significant parameters, including greenhouse gas emissions, crop growth, yield potential, and complex soil biogeochemical processes, all consistent with the intricate features of environmental Moroccan agriculture. In order to verify these hypotheses, a vast amount of field data covering Morocco's various agricultural regions and encompassing a range of soil types, climatic factors, and crop varieties had to be gathered. These experimental data sets will serve as the foundation for careful model calibration and subsequent validation, ensuring the accuracy of simulation results. In conclusion, the prospective research findings add to the global conversation on climate-resilient agricultural practices while encouraging the promotion of sustainable agricultural models in Morocco. A policy architect's and an agricultural actor's ability to make informed decisions that not only advance food security but also environmental stability may be strengthened by the impending recognition of the DNDC model as a potent simulation tool tailored to Moroccan conditions.

Keywords: greenhouse gas emissions, DNDC model, sustainable agriculture, Moroccan cropping systems

Procedia PDF Downloads 35

Authors: Morteza Taherinezhad, Ahmad Reza Rabbani, Morteza Asemani, Rudy Swennen

Abstract:

Oil-oil correlation is one of the most important issues in geochemical studies that enables to classify oils genetically. Oil-oil correlation is generally estimated based on non-polar fractions of crude oil (e.g., saturate and aromatic compounds). Despite several advantages, the drawback of using these compounds is their susceptibility of being affected by secondary processes. The polar fraction of crude oil (e.g., asphaltenes) has similar characteristics to kerogen, and this structural similarity is preserved during migration, thermal maturation, biodegradation, and water washing. Therefore, these structural characteristics can be considered as a useful correlation parameter, and it can be concluded that asphaltenes from different reservoirs with the same genetic signatures have a similar origin. Hence in this contribution, an integrated study by using both non-polar and polar fractions of oil was performed to use the merits of both fractions. Therefore, five oil samples from oil fields in the Persian Gulf were studied. Structural characteristics of extracted asphaltenes were investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Graphs based on aliphatic and aromatic compounds (predominant compounds in asphaltenes structure) and sulphoxide and carbonyl functional groups (which are representatives of sulphur and oxygen abundance in asphaltenes) were used for comparison of asphaltenes structures in different samples. Non-polar fractions were analyzed by GC-MS. The study of asphaltenes showed the studied oil samples comprise two oil families with distinct genetic characteristics. The first oil family consists of Salman and Reshadat oil samples, and the second oil family consists of Resalat, Siri E, and Siri D oil samples. To validate our results, biomarker parameters were employed, and this approach completely confirmed previous results. Based on biomarker analyses, both oil families have a marine source rock, whereby marl and carbonate source rocks are the source rock for the first and the second oil family, respectively.

Keywords: biomarker, non-polar fraction, oil-oil correlation, petroleum geochemistry, polar fraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Hubert Feiglstorfer

Abstract:

Due to its location in a transition zone from the Pannonian to the pre-Alpine region, the east of Austria shows a small-scale diversity in the regional development of certain vernacular building techniques. In this article the relationship between natural building material resources, topography and climate will be examined. Besides environmental preconditions, social and economic historical factors have developed different construction techniques within certain regions in the Weinviertel and Burgenland, the two eastern federal states of Austria. But even within these regions, varying building techniques were found, due to the locally different use of raw materials like wood, stone, clay, lime, or organic fibres. Within these small-scale regions, building traditions were adapted over the course of time due to changes in the use of the building material, for example from wood to brick or from wood to earth. The processing of the raw materials varies from region to region, for example as rammed earth, cob, log, or brick construction. Environmental preconditions cross national borders. For that reason, developments in the neighbouring countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia are included in this analysis. As an outcome of this research a map was drawn which shows the interrelation between locally available building materials, topography, climate and local building techniques? As a result of this study, which covers the last 300 years, one can see how the local population used natural resources very sensitively adapted to local environmental preconditions. In the case of clay, for example, changes of proportions of lime and particular minerals cause structural changes that differ from region to region. Based on material analyses in the field of clay mineralogy, on ethnographic research, literature and archive research, explanations for certain local structural developments will be given for the first time over the region of East Austria.

Keywords: European crafts, material culture, architectural history, earthen architecture, earth building history

Procedia PDF Downloads 200

Authors: Satpal Yadav, Ashish Phulkar, Krishna K. Sahu

Abstract:

Aim: The research aims at doing a 3 Dimension biomechanical analysis in the shot put techniques of International throwers to evaluate the performance. Research Method: The researcher adopted the descriptive method and the data was subjected to calculate by using Pearson’s product moment correlation for the correlation of the biomechanical parameters with the performance of shot put throw. In all the analyses, the 5% critical level (p ≤ 0.05) was considered to indicate statistical significance. Research Sample: Eight (N=08) international shot putters using rotational/glide technique in male category was selected as subjects for the study. The researcher used the following methods and tools to obtain reliable measurements the instrument which was used for the purpose of present study namely the tesscorn slow-motion camera, specialized motion analyzer software, 7.260 kg Shot Put (for a male shot-putter) and steel tape. All measurement pertaining to the biomechanical variables was taken by the principal investigator so that data collected for the present study was considered reliable. Results: The finding of the study showed that negative significant relationship between the angular velocity right shoulder, acceleration distance at pre flight (-0.70), (-0.72) respectively were obtained, the angular displacement of knee, angular velocity right shoulder and acceleration distance at flight (0.81), (0.75) and (0.71) respectively were obtained, the angular velocity right shoulder and acceleration distance at transition phase (0.77), (0.79) respectively were obtained and angular displacement of knee, angular velocity right shoulder, release velocity shot, angle of release, height of release, projected distance and measured distance as the values (0.76), (0.77), (-0.83), (-0.79), (-0.77), (0.99) and (1.00) were found higher than the tabulated value at 0.05 level of significance. On the other hand, there exists an insignificant relationship between the performance of shot put and acceleration distance [m], angular displacement shot, C.G at release and horizontal release distance on the technique of shot put.

Keywords: biomechanics, analysis, shot put, international throwers

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Bency Ann Massinello, Nancy Day, Janet Fellini

Abstract:

Background: The use of an appropriate mode of communication among the multidisciplinary care team members regarding coordination of care is an extremely complicated yet important patient safety initiative. Effective communication among the team members(nursing staff, medical staff, respiratory therapists, rehabilitation therapists, patient-family services team…) become essential to develop a culture of trust and collaboration to deliver the highest quality care to patients are their families. The inpatient post-acute pediatrics, where children and their caregivers come for continuity of care, is no exceptions to the increasing use of text messages as a means to communication among clinicians. One such platform is the Vocera Communications (Vocera Smart Mobile App called Vocera Edge) allows the teams to use the application and share sensitive patient information through an encrypted platform using IOS company provided shared and assigned mobile devices. Objective: This paper discusses the quality initiative of implementing the transition from Vocera Smartbage to Vocera Edge Mobile App, technology advantage, use case expansion, and lessons learned about a secure alternative modality that allows sending and receiving secure text messages in a pediatric post-acute setting using an IOS device. This implementation process included all direct care staff, ancillary teams, and administrative teams on the clinical units. Methods: Our institution launched this transition from voice prompted hands-free Vocera Smartbage to Vocera Edge mobile based app for secure care team texting using a big bang approach during the first PDSA cycle. The pre and post implementation data was gathered using a qualitative survey of about 500 multidisciplinary team members to determine the ease of use of the application and its efficiency in care coordination. The technology was further expanded in its use by implementing clinical alerts and alarms notification using middleware integration with patient monitoring (Masimo) and life safety (Nurse call) systems. Additional use of the smart mobile iPhone use include pushing out apps like Lexicomp and Up to Date to have it readily available for users for evident-based practice in medication and disease management. Results: Successful implementation of the communication system in a shared and assigned model with all of the multidisciplinary teams in our pediatric post-acute setting. In just a 3-monthperiod post implementation, we noticed a 14% increase from 7,993 messages in 6 days in December 2020 to 9,116messages in March 2021. This confirmed that all clinical and non-clinical teams were using this mode of communication for coordinating the care for their patients. System generated data analytics used in addition to the pre and post implementation staff survey for process evaluation. Conclusion: A secure texting option using a mobile device is a safe and efficient mode for care team communication and collaboration using technology in real time. This allows for the settings like post-acute pediatric care areas to be in line with the widespread use of mobile apps and technology in our mainstream healthcare.

Keywords: nursing informatics, mobile secure texting, multidisciplinary communication, pediatrics post acute care

Procedia PDF Downloads 173

Authors: Jaypalsinh Parmar, Pintu Nakrani, Bhaumik Shah

Abstract:

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is elevation data of the virtual grid on the ground. DEM can be used in application in GIS such as hydrological modelling, flood forecasting, morphometrical analysis and surveying etc.. For morphometrical analysis the stream flow network plays a very important role. DEM lacks accuracy and cannot match field data as it should for accurate results of morphometrical analysis. The present study focuses on comparing the Agree method and the conventional Shortest path method for finding out morphometric parameters in the flat region of the Lower Tapi Basin which is located in the western India. For the present study, open source SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission with 1 arc resolution) and toposheets issued by Survey of India (SOI) were used to determine the morphometric linear aspect such as stream order, number of stream, stream length, bifurcation ratio, mean stream length, mean bifurcation ratio, stream length ratio, length of overland flow, constant of channel maintenance and aerial aspect such as drainage density, stream frequency, drainage texture, form factor, circularity ratio, elongation ratio, shape factor and relief aspect such as relief ratio, gradient ratio and basin relief for 53 catchments of Lower Tapi Basin. Stream network was digitized from the available toposheets. Agree DEM was created by using the SRTM and stream network from the toposheets. The results obtained were used to demonstrate a comparison between the two methods in the flat areas.

Keywords: agree method, morphometric analysis, lower Tapi basin, shortest path method

Procedia PDF Downloads 209

Authors: Lynn Mcquarrie, Charlotte Enns

Abstract:

The goal of this project was to develop a visually-based, signed language phonological awareness training program and to pilot the intervention with signing deaf children (ages 6 -10 years/ grades 1 - 4) who were beginning readers to assess the effects of systematic explicit American Sign Language (ASL) phonological instruction on both ASL vocabulary and English print vocabulary learning. Growing evidence that signing learners utilize visually-based signed language phonological knowledge (homologous to the sound-based phonological level of spoken language processing) when reading underscore the critical need for further research on the innovation of reading instructional practices for visual language learners. Multiple single-case studies using a multiple probe design across content (i.e., sign and print targets incorporating specific ASL phonological parameters – handshapes) was implemented to examine if a functional relationship existed between instruction and acquisition of these skills. The results indicated that for all cases, representing a variety of language abilities, the visually-based phonological teaching approach was exceptionally powerful in helping children to build their sign and print vocabularies. Although intervention/teaching studies have been essential in testing hypotheses about spoken language phonological processes supporting non-deaf children’s reading development, there are no parallel intervention/teaching studies exploring hypotheses about signed language phonological processes in supporting deaf children’s reading development. This study begins to provide the needed evidence to pursue innovative teaching strategies that incorporate the strengths of visual learners.

Keywords: American sign language phonological awareness, dual language strategies, vocabulary learning, word reading

Procedia PDF Downloads 293

Authors: A. Rifa’i, Y. Takeshita, M. Komatsu

Abstract:

After Yogyakarta earthquake in 2006, the main problem that occurred in the first yard of Prambanan Temple is ponding area that occurred after rainfall. Soil characterization needs to be determined by conducting several processes, especially permeability coefficient (k) in both saturated and unsaturated conditions to solve this problem. More accurate and efficient field testing procedure is required to obtain permeability data that present the field condition. One of the field permeability test equipment is Constant Discharge procedure to determine the permeability coefficient. Necessary adjustments of the Constant Discharge procedure are needed to be determined especially the value of geometric factor (F) to improve the corresponding value of permeability coefficient. The value of k will be correlated with the value of volumetric water content (θ) of an unsaturated condition until saturated condition. The principle procedure of Constant Discharge model provides a constant flow in permeameter tube that flows into the ground until the water level in the tube becomes constant. Constant water level in the tube is highly dependent on the tube dimension. Every tube dimension has a shape factor called the geometric factor that affects the result of the test. Geometric factor value is defined as the characteristic of shape and radius of the tube. This research has modified the geometric factor parameters by using empty material tube method so that the geometric factor will change. Saturation level is monitored by using soil moisture sensor. The field test results were compared with the results of laboratory tests to validate the results of the test. Field and laboratory test results of empty tube material method have an average difference of 3.33 x 10^-4 cm/sec. The test results showed that modified geometric factor provides more accurate data. The improved methods of constant discharge procedure provide more relevant results.

Keywords: constant discharge, geometric factor, permeability coefficient, unsaturated soils

Procedia PDF Downloads 265

Authors: Ella Sèdé Maforikan

Abstract:

Sustained water management requires quantitative information and the knowledge of spatiotemporal dynamics of hydrological system within the basin. This can be achieved through the research. Several studies have investigated both surface water and groundwater in Beterou catchment. However, there are few published papers on the application of the SWAT modeling in Beterou catchment. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of SWAT to simulate the water balance within the watershed. The inputs data consist of digital elevation model, land use maps, soil map, climatic data and discharge records. The model was calibrated and validated using the Sequential Uncertainty Fitting (SUFI2) approach. The calibrated started from 1989 to 2006 with four years warming up period (1985-1988); and validation was from 2007 to 2020. The goodness of the model was assessed using five indices, i.e., Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), the ratio of the root means square error to the standard deviation of measured data (RSR), percent bias (PBIAS), the coefficient of determination (R²), and Kling Gupta efficiency (KGE). Results showed that SWAT model successfully simulated river flow in Beterou catchment with NSE = 0.79, R2 = 0.80 and KGE= 0.83 for the calibration process against validation process that provides NSE = 0.78, R2 = 0.78 and KGE= 0.85 using site-based streamflow data. The relative error (PBIAS) ranges from -12.2% to 3.1%. The parameters runoff curve number (CN2), Moist Bulk Density (SOL_BD), Base Flow Alpha Factor (ALPHA_BF), and the available water capacity of the soil layer (SOL_AWC) were the most sensitive parameter. The study provides further research with uncertainty analysis and recommendations for model improvement and provision of an efficient means to improve rainfall and discharges measurement data.

Keywords: watershed, water balance, SWAT modeling, Beterou

Procedia PDF Downloads 29