Search results for: mass loss
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 6472

Search results for: mass loss

6322 Glacier Dynamics and Mass Fluctuations in Western Himalayas: A Comparative Analysis of Pir-Panjal and Greater Himalayan Ranges in Jhelum Basin, India

Authors: Syed Towseef Ahmad, Fatima Amin, Pritha Acharya, Anil K. Gupta, Pervez Ahmad

Abstract:

Glaciers being the sentinels of climate change, are the most visible evidence of global warming. Given the unavailability of observed field-based data, this study has focussed on the use of geospatial techniques to obtain information about the glaciers of Pir-Panjal (PPJ) and the Great Himalayan Regions of Jhelum Basin (GHR). These glaciers need to be monitored in line with the variations in climatic conditions because they significantly contribute to various sectors in the region. The main aim of this study is to map the glaciers in the two adjacent regions (PPJ and GHR) in the north-western Himalayas with different topographies and compare the changes in various glacial attributes during two different time periods (1990-2020). During the last three decades, both PPJ as well as GHR regions have observed deglaciation of around 36 and 26 percent, respectively. The mean elevation of GHR glaciers has increased from 4312 to 4390 masl, while the same for PPJ glaciers has increased from 4085 to 4124 masl during the observation period. Using accumulation area ratio (AAR) method, mean mass balance of -34.52 and -37.6 cm.w.e was recorded for the glaciers of GHR and PPJ, respectively. The difference in areal and mass loss of glaciers in these regions may be due to (i) the smaller size of PPJ glaciers which are all smaller than 1 km² and are thus more responsive to climate change (ii) Higher mean elevation of GHR glaciers (iii) local variations in climatic variables in these glaciated regions. Time series analysis of climate variables indicates that both the mean maximum and minimum temperatures of Qazigund station (Tmax= 19.2, Tmin= 6.4) are comparatively higher than the Pahalgam station (Tmax= 18.8, Tmin= 3.2). Except for precipitation in Qazigund (Slope= - 0.3 mm a⁻¹), each climatic parameter has shown an increasing trend during these three decades, and with the slope of 0.04 and 0.03°c a⁻¹, the positive trend in Tmin (pahalgam) and Tmax (qazigund) are observed to be statistically significant (p≤0.05).

Keywords: glaciers, climate change, Pir-Panjal, greater Himalayas, mass balance

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6321 The Evaporation Study of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride

Authors: Kirill D. Semavin, Norbert S. Chilingarov, Eugene.V. Skokan

Abstract:

The ionic liquids (ILs) based on imidazolium cation are well known nowadays. The changing anions and substituents in imidazolium ring may lead to different physical and chemical properties of ILs. It is important that such ILs with halogen as anion are characterized by a low thermal stability. The data about thermal stability of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride are ambiguous. In the works of last years, thermal stability of this IL was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis and obtained results are contradictory. Moreover, in the last study, it was shown that the observed temperature of the beginning of decomposition significantly depends on the experimental conditions, for example, the heating rate of the sample. The vapor pressure of this IL is not presented at the literature. In this study, the vapor pressure of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride was obtained by Knudsen effusion mass-spectrometry (KEMS). The samples of [ЕMIm]Cl (purity > 98%) were supplied by Sigma–Aldrich and were additionally dried at dynamic vacuum (T = 60 0C). Preliminary procedures with Il were derived into glove box. The evaporation studies of [ЕMIm]Cl were carried out by KEMS with using original research equipment based on commercial MI1201 magnetic mass spectrometer. The stainless steel effusion cell had an effective evaporation/effusion area ratio of more than 6000. The cell temperature, measured by a Pt/Pt−Rh (10%) thermocouple, was controlled by a Termodat 128K5 device with an accuracy of ±1 K. In first step of this study, the optimal temperature of experiment and heating rate of samples were customized: 449 K and 5 K/min, respectively. In these conditions the sample is decomposed, but the experimental measurements of the vapor pressures are possible. The thermodynamic activity of [ЕMIm]Cl is close to 1 and products of decomposition don’t affect it at firstly 50 hours of experiment. Therefore, it lets to determine the saturated vapor pressure of IL. The electronic ionization mass-spectra shows that the decomposition of [ЕMIm]Cl proceeds with two ways. Nonetheless, the MALDI mass spectra of the starting sample and residue in the cell were similar. It means that the main decomposition products are gaseous under experimental conditions. This result allows us to obtain information about the kinetics of [ЕMIm]Cl decomposition. Thus, the original KEMS-based procedure made it possible to determine the IL vapor pressure under decomposition conditions. Also, the loss of sample mass due to the evaporation was obtained.

Keywords: ionic liquids, Knudsen effusion mass spectrometry, thermal stability, vapor pressure

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6320 Mutations in the GJB2 Gene Are the Cause of an Important Number of Non-Syndromic Deafness Cases

Authors: Habib Onsori, Somayeh Akrami, Mohammad Rahmati

Abstract:

Deafness is the most common sensory disorder with the frequency of 1/1000 in many populations. Mutations in the GJB2 (CX26) gene at the DFNB1 locus on chromosome 13q12 are associated with congenital hearing loss. Approximately 80% of congenital hearing loss cases are recessively inherited and 15% dominantly inherited. Mutations of the GJB2 gene, encoding gap junction protein Connexin 26 (Cx26), are the most common cause of hereditary congenital hearing loss in many countries. This report presents two cases of different mutations from Iranian patients with bilateral hearing loss. DNA studies were performed for the GJB2 gene by PCR and sequencing methods. In one of them, direct sequencing of the gene showed a heterozygous T→C transition at nucleotide 604 resulting in a cysteine to arginine amino acid substitution at codon 202 (C202R) in the fourth extracellular domain (TM4) of the protein. The analyses indicate that the C202R mutation appeared de novo in the proband with a possible dominant effect (GenBank: KF 638275). In the other one, DNA sequencing revealed a compound heterozygous mutation (35delG, 363delC) in the Cx26 gene that is strongly associated with congenital non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL). So screening the mutations for hearing loss individuals referring to genetics counseling centers before marriage and or pregnancy is recommended.

Keywords: CX26, deafness, GJB2, mutation

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6319 Relationship Between Muscle Mass and Insulin Resistance in Cirrhotic Patients with Hepatitis B

Authors: Eyüp S. Akbas, Betul Ayaz, Beyza S. Haksever, Sema Basat

Abstract:

We aimed to evaluate the relationship between insulin resistance, muscle mass and muscle strength in patients with Hepatitis B virus-related cirrhosis. In our study, there were 65 patients with hepatitis B virus-related cirrhosis in Child A and B group and 65 healthy control individual. Control group was chosen between patients who admitted to the internal medicine clinic and had no pathological values in a routine examination. Muscle mass index was calculated with bioimpedance analysis for both groups to determine muscle strength and muscle mass. Handgrip strength, arm, and calf circumference were measured. In both groups, HOMA-IR was calculated to determine insulin resistance. Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) value was detected 3,47±3,80 in the study group and 1,83±1,20 in control group. There were significant differences between the two groups in arm circumference, fasting insulin, fasting glucose, HOMA-IR, High-density lipoprotein (HDL) and total cholesterol parameters. The correlation coefficient between muscle mass and insulin resistance was statistically insignificant, especially in the study group. In healthy individuals group and all the groups, there wasn’t a correlation between muscle mass and insulin resistance. The upper limit for HOMA-IR was determined as 3,2. In control group, %78,9 of individuals were in HOMA-IR ( < 3.2) group and %21,1 of them were in ( ≥ 3,2) group. In study group, %68,3 of individuals were in HOMA-IR ( < 3,2) group and %31.7 were in HOMA-IR ( ≥ 3,2) group. In our study, we did not find a relationship between muscle mass and insulin resistance in patients with liver cirrhosis. In the study group, we detected a positive relationship between muscle mass, handgrip strength, and calf circumference. We did not find a relationship between insulin resistance and handgrip strength in our study.

Keywords: cirrhosis, hepatitis B, Insulin resistance, muscle mass

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6318 Algorithm Research on Traffic Sign Detection Based on Improved EfficientDet

Authors: Ma Lei-Lei, Zhou You

Abstract:

Aiming at the problems of low detection accuracy of deep learning algorithm in traffic sign detection, this paper proposes improved EfficientDet based traffic sign detection algorithm. Multi-head self-attention is introduced in the minimum resolution layer of the backbone of EfficientDet to achieve effective aggregation of local and global depth information, and this study proposes an improved feature fusion pyramid with increased vertical cross-layer connections, which improves the performance of the model while introducing a small amount of complexity, the Balanced L1 Loss is introduced to replace the original regression loss function Smooth L1 Loss, which solves the problem of balance in the loss function. Experimental results show, the algorithm proposed in this study is suitable for the task of traffic sign detection. Compared with other models, the improved EfficientDet has the best detection accuracy. Although the test speed is not completely dominant, it still meets the real-time requirement.

Keywords: convolutional neural network, transformer, feature pyramid networks, loss function

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6317 Behavior Loss Aversion Experimental Laboratory of Financial Investments

Authors: Jihene Jebeniani

Abstract:

We proposed an approach combining both the techniques of experimental economy and the flexibility of discrete choice models in order to test the loss aversion. Our main objective was to test the loss aversion of the Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT). We developed an experimental laboratory in the context of the financial investments that aimed to analyze the attitude towards the risk of the investors. The study uses the lotteries and is basing on econometric modeling. The estimated model was the ordered probit.

Keywords: risk aversion, behavioral finance, experimental economic, lotteries, cumulative prospect theory

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6316 Treatment of Low-Grade Iron Ore Using Two Stage Wet High-Intensity Magnetic Separation Technique

Authors: Moses C. Siame, Kazutoshi Haga, Atsushi Shibayama

Abstract:

This study investigates the removal of silica, alumina and phosphorus as impurities from Sanje iron ore using wet high-intensity magnetic separation (WHIMS). Sanje iron ore contains low-grade hematite ore found in Nampundwe area of Zambia from which iron is to be used as the feed in the steelmaking process. The chemical composition analysis using X-ray Florence spectrometer showed that Sanje low-grade ore contains 48.90 mass% of hematite (Fe2O3) with 34.18 mass% as an iron grade. The ore also contains silica (SiO2) and alumina (Al2O3) of 31.10 mass% and 7.65 mass% respectively. The mineralogical analysis using X-ray diffraction spectrometer showed hematite and silica as the major mineral components of the ore while magnetite and alumina exist as minor mineral components. Mineral particle distribution analysis was done using scanning electron microscope with an X-ray energy dispersion spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and images showed that the average mineral size distribution of alumina-silicate gangue particles is in order of 100 μm and exists as iron-bearing interlocked particles. Magnetic separation was done using series L model 4 Magnetic Separator. The effect of various magnetic separation parameters such as magnetic flux density, particle size, and pulp density of the feed was studied during magnetic separation experiments. The ore with average particle size of 25 µm and pulp density of 2.5% was concentrated using pulp flow of 7 L/min. The results showed that 10 T was optimal magnetic flux density which enhanced the recovery of 93.08% of iron with 53.22 mass% grade. The gangue mineral particles containing 12 mass% silica and 3.94 mass% alumna remained in the concentrate, therefore the concentrate was further treated in the second stage WHIMS using the same parameters from the first stage. The second stage process recovered 83.41% of iron with 67.07 mass% grade. Silica was reduced to 2.14 mass% and alumina to 1.30 mass%. Accordingly, phosphorus was also reduced to 0.02 mass%. Therefore, the two stage magnetic separation process was established using these results.

Keywords: Sanje iron ore, magnetic separation, silica, alumina, recovery

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6315 Experimental Investigation of On-Body Channel Modelling at 2.45 GHz

Authors: Hasliza A. Rahim, Fareq Malek, Nur A. M. Affendi, Azuwa Ali, Norshafinash Saudin, Latifah Mohamed

Abstract:

This paper presents the experimental investigation of on-body channel fading at 2.45 GHz considering two effects of the user body movement; stationary and mobile. A pair of body-worn antennas was utilized in this measurement campaign. A statistical analysis was performed by comparing the measured on-body path loss to five well-known distributions; lognormal, normal, Nakagami, Weibull and Rayleigh. The results showed that the average path loss of moving arm varied higher than the path loss in sitting position for upper-arm-to-left-chest link, up to 3.5 dB. The analysis also concluded that the Nakagami distribution provided the best fit for most of on-body static link path loss in standing still and sitting position, while the arm movement can be best described by log-normal distribution.

Keywords: on-body channel communications, fading characteristics, statistical model, body movement

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6314 The Analysis of Loss-of-Excitation Algorithm for Synchronous Generators

Authors: Pavle Dakić, Dimitrije Kotur, Zoran Stojanović

Abstract:

This paper presents the results of the study in which the excitation system fault of synchronous generator is simulated. In a case of excitation system fault (loss of field), distance relay is used to prevent further damage. Loss-of-field relay calculates complex impedance using measured voltage and current at the generator terminals. In order to obtain phasors from sampled measured values, discrete Fourier transform is used. All simulations are conducted using Matlab and Simulink software package. The analysis is conducted on the two machine system which supplies equivalent load. While simulating loss of excitation on one generator in different conditions (at idle operation, weakly loaded, and fully loaded), diagrams of active power, reactive power, and measured impedance are analyzed and monitored. Moreover, in the simulations, the effect of generator load on relay tripping time is investigated. In conclusion, the performed tests confirm that the fault in the excitation system can be detected by measuring the impedance.

Keywords: loss-of-excitation, synchronous generator, distance protection, Fourier transformation

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6313 Distribution of Maximum Loss of Fractional Brownian Motion with Drift

Authors: Ceren Vardar Acar, Mine Caglar

Abstract:

In finance, the price of a volatile asset can be modeled using fractional Brownian motion (fBm) with Hurst parameter H>1/2. The Black-Scholes model for the values of returns of an asset using fBm is given as, 〖Y_t=Y_0 e^((r+μ)t+σB)〗_t^H, 0≤t≤T where Y_0 is the initial value, r is constant interest rate, μ is constant drift and σ is constant diffusion coefficient of fBm, which is denoted by B_t^H where t≥0. Black-Scholes model can be constructed with some Markov processes such as Brownian motion. The advantage of modeling with fBm to Markov processes is its capability of exposing the dependence between returns. The real life data for a volatile asset display long-range dependence property. For this reason, using fBm is a more realistic model compared to Markov processes. Investors would be interested in any kind of information on the risk in order to manage it or hedge it. The maximum possible loss is one way to measure highest possible risk. Therefore, it is an important variable for investors. In our study, we give some theoretical bounds on the distribution of maximum possible loss of fBm. We provide both asymptotical and strong estimates for the tail probability of maximum loss of standard fBm and fBm with drift and diffusion coefficients. In the investment point of view, these results explain, how large values of possible loss behave and its bounds.

Keywords: maximum drawdown, maximum loss, fractional brownian motion, large deviation, Gaussian process

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6312 Modeling Drying and Pyrolysis of Moist Wood Particles at Slow Heating Rates

Authors: Avdhesh K. Sharma

Abstract:

Formulation for drying and pyrolysis process in packed beds at slow heating rates is presented. Drying of biomass particles bed is described by mass diffusion equation and local moisture-vapour-equilibrium relations. In gasifiers, volatilization rate during pyrolysis of biomass is modeled by using apparent kinetic rate expression, while product compositions at slow heating rates is modeled using empirical fitted mass ratios (i.e., CO/CO2, ME/CO2, H2O/CO2) in terms of pyrolysis temperature. The drying module is validated fairly with available chemical kinetics scheme and found that the testing zone in gasifier bed constituted of relatively smaller particles having high airflow with high isothermal temperature expedite the drying process. Further, volatile releases more quickly within the shorter zone height at high temperatures (isothermal). Both, moisture loss and volatile release profiles are found to be sensitive to temperature, although the influence of initial moisture content on volatile release profile is not so sensitive.

Keywords: modeling downdraft gasifier, drying, pyrolysis, moist woody biomass

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6311 Beyond Taguchi’s Concept of the Quality Loss Function

Authors: Atul Dev, Pankaj Jha

Abstract:

Dr. Genichi Taguchi looked at quality in a broader term and gave an excellent definition of quality in terms of loss to society. However the scope of this definition is limited to the losses imparted by a poor quality product to the customer only and are considered during the useful life of the product and further in a certain situation this loss can even be zero. In this paper, it has been proposed that the scope of quality of a product shall be further enhanced by considering the losses imparted by a poor quality product to society at large, due to associated environmental and safety related factors, over the complete life cycle of the product. Moreover, though these losses can be further minimized with the use of techno-safety interventions, the net losses to society however can never be made zero. This paper proposes an entirely new approach towards defining product quality and is based on Taguchi’s definition of quality.

Keywords: existing concept, goal post philosophy, life cycle, proposed concept, quality loss function

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6310 A Simple Heat and Mass Transfer Model for Salt Gradient Solar Ponds

Authors: Safwan Kanan, Jonathan Dewsbury, Gregory Lane-Serff

Abstract:

A salinity gradient solar pond is a free energy source system for collecting, converting and storing solar energy as heat. In this paper, the principles of solar pond are explained. A mathematical model is developed to describe and simulate heat and mass transfer behavior of salinity gradient solar pond. Matlab codes are programmed to solve the one dimensional finite difference method for heat and mass transfer equations. Temperature profiles and concentration distributions are calculated. The numerical results are validated with experimental data and the results are found to be in good agreement.

Keywords: finite difference method, salt-gradient solar-pond, solar energy, transient heat and mass transfer

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6309 Thermal Effects on Wellbore Stability and Fluid Loss in High-Temperature Geothermal Drilling

Authors: Mubarek Alpkiray, Tan Nguyen, Arild Saasen

Abstract:

Geothermal drilling operations contain numerous challenges that are encountered to increase the well cost and nonproductive time. Fluid loss is one of the most undesirable troublesome that can cause well abandonment in geothermal drilling. Lost circulation can be seen due to natural fractures, high mud weight, and extremely high formation temperatures. This challenge may cause wellbore stability problems and lead to expensive drilling operations. Wellbore stability is the main domain that should be considered to mitigate or prevent fluid loss into the formation. This paper describes the causes of fluid loss in the Pamukoren geothermal field in Turkey. A geomechanics approach integration and assessment is applied to help the understanding of fluid loss problems. In geothermal drillings, geomechanics is primarily based on rock properties, in-situ stress characterization, the temperature of the rock, determination of stresses around the wellbore, and rock failure criteria. Since a high-temperature difference between the wellbore wall and drilling fluid is presented, temperature distribution through the wellbore is estimated and implemented to the wellbore stability approach. This study reviewed geothermal drilling data to analyze temperature estimation along the wellbore, the cause of fluid loss and stored electric capacity of the reservoir. Our observation demonstrates the geomechanical approach's significant role in understanding safe drilling operations on high-temperature wells. Fluid loss is encountered due to thermal stress effects around the borehole. This paper provides a wellbore stability analysis for a geothermal drilling operation to discuss the causes of lost circulation resulting in nonproductive time and cost.

Keywords: geothermal wells, drilling, wellbore stresses, drilling fluid loss, thermal stress

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6308 Investigation into Varied Inspection Utilization for Mass Customization

Authors: Trishen Naidoo, Anthony Walker, Shaniel Davrajh, Glen Bright

Abstract:

An investigation into on-line inspection was performed where research is focused on the use of varied inspection (as opposed to 100% inspection) for mass customization (MC). Manufacturers need new methods for quality control in mass customization, and these methods need to address some of the old problems such as over-inspection and bottlenecking. Due to the risks of varied inspection, many manufacturers do not implement it and rather opt for sampling methods. However, there are many advantages of varied inspection and can have applications in mass customization. A control system incorporating fuzzy logic (FL) control is used to perform the variations in inspection usage in a simulated environment. The proposed system can have a key impact in appraisal costs reduction and possibly work-in-process reduction in high variety environments.

Keywords: appraisal costs, fuzzy logic, quality control, work-in-process

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6307 Explication of the Relationship between Historical Trauma, Culture Loss, and Native American Youth Suicide: A Review of Related Literature

Authors: Julie A. LaRose

Abstract:

Native American youth, ages 10-24, have the highest rate of suicide in the United States. The hopelessness experienced by the native American youth is linked to psychosocial reasons more than biological or intrapsychic reasons. Two significant social determinants of health that diminish their hope include historical trauma and cultural loss. Intergenerational grief is caused by historical trauma from hundreds of years of colonization, broken treaties, and forced migration, leading to land, resources, and sovereignty loss. Forced acculturation through boarding schools that native children were required to attend led to the loss of traditions and culture. The result is hopelessness. This paper reviewed peer-reviewed research literature, government reports, non-government organizations reports, and video and written publications by Native Americans. Building hope through healing historical trauma and embracing cultural traditions may reduce suicide rates among Native American youth.

Keywords: culture loss, historical trauma, Native American, suicide, suicide rates

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6306 Numerical Investigation and Optimization of the Effect of Number of Blade and Blade Type on the Suction Pressure and Outlet Mass Flow Rate of a Centrifugal Fan

Authors: Ogan Karabas, Suleyman Yigit

Abstract:

Number of blade and blade type of centrifugal fans are the most decisive factor on the field of application, noise level, suction pressure and outlet mass flow rate. Nowadays, in order to determine these effects on centrifugal fans, numerical studies are carried out in addition to experimental studies. In this study, it is aimed to numerically investigate the changes of suction pressure and outlet mass flow rate values of a centrifugal fan according to the number of blade and blade type. Centrifugal fans of the same size with forward, backward and straight blade type were analyzed by using a simulation program and compared with each other. This analysis was carried out under steady state condition by selecting k-Ɛ turbulence model and air is assumed incompressible. Then, 16, 32 and 48 blade centrifugal fans were again analyzed by using same simulation program, and the optimum number of blades was determined for the suction pressure and the outlet mass flow rate. According to the results of the analysis, it was obtained that the suction pressure in the 32 blade fan was twice the value obtained in the 16 blade fan. In addition, the outlet mass flow rate increased by 45% with the increase in the number of blade from 16 to 32. There is no significant change observed on the suction pressure and outlet mass flow rate when the number of blades increased from 32 to 48. In the light of the analysis results, the optimum blade number was determined as 32.

Keywords: blade type, centrifugal fan, cfd, outlet mass flow rate, suction pressure

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6305 Study Concerning the Energy-to-Mass Ratio in Pneumatic Muscles

Authors: Tudor Deaconescu, Andrea Deaconescu

Abstract:

The utilization of pneumatic muscles in the actuation of industrial systems is still in its early stages, hence studies on the constructive solutions which include an assessment of their functional performance with a focus on one of the most important characteristics-energy efficiency are required. A quality indicator that adequately reflects the energy efficiency of an actuator is the energy-to-mass ratio. This ratio is computed in the paper for various types and sizes of pneumatic muscles manufactured by Festo, and is subsequently compared to the similar ratios determined for two categories of pneumatic cylinders.

Keywords: pneumatic cylinders, pneumatic muscles, energy-to-mass ratio, muscle stroke

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6304 Tranexamic Acid in Prevention of Postpartum Haemorrhage in Elective Cesarean Section

Authors: Ajay Agrawal, Pravin Shah, Shailaja Chhetri, Pappu Rijal

Abstract:

Background and Objectives: Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is a common and occasionally life-threatening complication of labour. Cesarean section (CS) is associated with more blood loss than vaginal delivery. There is a trend for increasing CS rates in both developed and developing countries. This could increase the risk of morbidity and mortality, especially among anemic women. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of preoperative administration of Intravenous Tranexamic Acid (TA) on blood loss during and after elective CS delivery. Materials and Methods: It is a prospective, randomized controlled study. 160 eligible pregnant women of 37 or more POG planned for CS were randomized into two groups either to receive 10ml(1gm) of tranexamic acid intravenously or 10ml of normal saline. Blood loss was measured during and for 24 hours after operation. Results: The mean estimated blood loss was significantly lower in women treated with TA compared with women in the placebo group (392.13 ml ± 10.06 versus 498.69 ml ± 15.87, respectively; p < 0.001). The mean difference in pre-operative and post-operative hemoglobin levels was statistically significant in the tranexamic acid group than in the control group (0.31 ± 0.18 versus 0.79 ± 0.23, respectively; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Pre-operative use of tranexamic acid is associated with reduced blood loss during and after elective cesarean section. In a developing country like ours where PPH is a major threat to the life of the mothers, it seems to be a promising option.

Keywords: blood loss, cesarean section, postpartum hemorrhage, tranexamic acid

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6303 Development and Usability Assessment of a Connected Resistance Exercise Band Application for Strength-Monitoring

Authors: J. A. Batsis, G. G. Boateng, L. M. Seo, C. L. Petersen, K. L. Fortuna, E. V. Wechsler, R. J. Peterson, S. B. Cook, D. Pidgeon, R. S. Dokko, R. J. Halter, D. F. Kotz

Abstract:

Resistance exercise bands are a core component of any physical activity strengthening program. Strength training can mitigate the development of sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass or strength and function with aging. Yet, the adherence of such behavioral exercise strategies in a home-based setting are fraught with issues of monitoring and compliance. Our group developed a Bluetooth-enabled resistance exercise band capable of transmitting data to an open-source platform. In this work, we developed an application to capture this information in real-time, and conducted three usability studies in two mixed-aged groups of participants (n=6 each) and a group of older adults with obesity participating in a weight-loss intervention (n=20). The system was favorable, acceptable and provided iterative information that could assist in future deployment on ubiquitous platforms. Our formative work provides the foundation to deliver home-based monitoring interventions in a high-risk, older adult population.

Keywords: application, mHealth, older adult, resistance exercise band, sarcopenia

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6302 ‘Undressed Star’, Sexual Scenes and Discourses in Mass Media: Exploring 1980s Taiwan Female Film Stars’ Onscreen Erotic Acting

Authors: Xinchen Zhu

Abstract:

In the history of Chinese-language film, female stars’ acting is connected with issues of national ideology, consumerism, and sexual politics. In the 1980s, Taiwan entered a period of ‘soft authoritarianism’ in which the economy prospered politics became more democratic, and mass culture became more diverse. Film censorship was more flexible and sexual scenes were increasingly shown on screen. Female stars’ bodies were eroticized and commercialized through sexual and nude scenes and, by challenging conservative film censorship and social taboos, became the focus of mass media. This article will explore how discourses in mass media constructed the erotic images of female stars and, conversely, impacted film censorship, filmmakers and film actresses in 1980s’ Taiwan. This article will regard the eroticized female film stars’ acting as a ‘field’ of internal interaction and continuous reproduction, where the ideology of male dominance and voices of female film stars conflict with each other. Based on textual analysis of female stars’ sexual acting and the debate in mass media, the argument is that the eroticized female bodies were gazed upon on and off the screen. In the discourses of mass media, the artistry of actresses’ erotic acting was not only ignored, devalued and delegitimized, these stars were also labelled as ‘undressed star’ or ‘nude star’ and construed as victims of the film industry. However, the female stars were able to speak through mass media platforms, emphasizing their efforts in erotic acting and highlighting modern female subjectivity.

Keywords: sexual scenes, Taiwan female stars, erotic acting, discourses in mass media, female subjectivity

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6301 Body Composition Evaluation among High Intensity and Long Term Walking Distance Participants

Authors: Priscila Vitorino, Jeeziane Rezende, Edison Pereira, Adrielly Silva, Weimar Barroso

Abstract:

Body composition insight during physical activity is relevant to follow up sports income since it can be important and actuate in velocity, resistance, potency, and has an effect on force and agility. The purpose of this study was to identify anthropometric profile, evaluate and correlate body mass index and bioimpedance behavior during the days of Caminhada Ecológica de Goiás - Brasil. A longitudinal study was performed with 25 male participants, with an average age of 45.6±9.1 years. All patients were actives. Body composition was evaluated by body mass index (BMI) measurement and bioimpedance procedures. Both were collected 20 days before walking beginning (A0) and in the four days along the same (A1, A2, A3 e A4). Data were collected in the end of each walking day at athletes accommodations. Final distance during walking route was 308 km in five days, with an average of 62km/day and 7,6 km/hour, and an average temperature of 30°C. Data are represented with mean and standard deviation. ANOVA (Bonferroni pos test) was used to compare frequent measurements between the days. Pearson's correlation test was used to correlate BMI with lean mass, fat mass, and water. BMI decreased from A0 to A1, A2 and A3 (p < 0,01) and increased on A4 (p < 0,01). No changes were observed concerning fat percentage (p=0,60), lean mass (p=0,10) and body water composition (p=0,09). A positive and moderate correlation between BMI and fat percentage was observed; an inverse and moderate correlation between BMI, lean mass and body water composition occurred. Total body mass increased during high intensity and long term walking distance. However, the values of body fat, lean mass and water were maintained.

Keywords: aerobic exercise, body composition, metabolism, sports

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6300 Puereria mirifica Replacement Improves Skeletal Muscle Performance Associated with Increasing Parvalbumin Levels in Ovariectomized Rat

Authors: Uraporn Vongvatcharanon, Kochakorn Sukjan, Wandee Udomuksorn, Ekkasit Kumarnsit, Surapong Vongvatcharanon

Abstract:

Sarcopenia is a loss of muscle mass, and strength frequently found in menopause. Estrogen replacement has been shown to improve such a loss of muscle functions. However, there is an increased risk of cancer that has to be considered because of the estrogen replacement therapy. Thus, phytoestrogen supplementation has been suggested as an alternative therapy. Pueraria mirifica (PM) is a plant in the family Leguminosae, that is known to be phytoestrogen-rich and has been traditionally used for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. It contains isoflavones and other compounds such as miroestrol and its derivatives. Parvalbumin (PV) is a calcium binding protein and functions as a relaxing factor in fast twitch muscle fibers. A decrease of the PV level results in a reduction of the speed of the twitch relaxation. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of an ethanolic extract from Pueraria mirifica on the estrogen levels, skeletal muscle functions and PV levels in the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and gastrocnemius of ovariectomized rats. Twelve-week old female Wistar rats (200-250 g) were divided into 6 groups: SHAM (un-ovariectomized rats, that received double distilled water), PM-0 (ovariectomized rats, OVX, receiving double distilled water), E (OVX, receiving an estradiol benzoate dose of 0.04 mg/kg), PM-50 (OVX receiving PM 50 mg/kg), PM-500 (OVX receiving PM 500 mg/kg), PM-1000 (OVX receiving PM 1000 mg/kg) all for 90 days. The PM-0 group had estrogen levels, uterus weights, muscle mass, myofiber cross-section areas, peak tension, fatigue resistance, speed of relaxation and parvalbumin levels of both EDL and gastrocnemius that were significantly reduced compared to those of the SHAM group (p<0.05). Also the α and β estrogen receptor immunoreactivities and the parvalbumin immunoreactivities of both EDL and gastrocnemius were decreased in the PM-0 group. In contrast the E, PM-50, PM-500 and PM-1000 group had estrogen levels, uterus weights, muscle mass, myofiber cross-section areas, peak tension, fatigue resistance, speed of relaxation of both EDL and gastrocnemius that were significantly increased compared with PM-0 group (p<0.05). In addition, the α and β estrogen receptor immunoreactivities and parvalbumin immunoreactivity of both the EDL and gastrocnemius were increased in the E, PM-50, PM-500 and PM-1000 group. In addition the extract of Pueraria mirifica replacement group at 50 and 500 mg/kg had significantly increased parvalbumin levels in the EDL muscle but in the gastrocnemius, only the dose of 500 mg/kg increased the parvalbumin levels (p<0.05). These results have demonstrated that the use of the Pueraria mirifica extract as a replacement therapy for estrogen produced estrogenic activity that was similar to that produced by the estradiol benzoate replacement. It seems that the phytoestrogens could bind with the estrogen receptors and stimulate the transcriptional activity to synthesise muscle protein that caused an increase in muscle mass and parvalbumin levels. Thus, muscle synthesis may restore parvalbumin levels resulting in an enhanced relaxation efficiency that would lead to a shortened latent period before the next contraction.

Keywords: Puereria mirifica, Parvalbumin, estrogen, ovariectomized rats

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6299 Auditory Function in MP3 Users and Association with Hidden Hearing Loss

Authors: Nana Saralidze, Nino Sharashenidze, Zurab Kevanishvili

Abstract:

Hidden hearing loss may occur in humans exposed to prolonged high-level sound. It is the loss of ability to hear high-level background noise while having normal hearing in quiet. We compared the hearing of people who regularly listen 3 hours and more to personal music players and those who do not. Forty participants aged 18-30 years were divided into two groups: regular users of music players and people who had never used them. And the third group – elders aged 50-55 years, had 15 participants. Pure-tone audiometry (125-16000 Hz), auditory brainstem response (ABR) (70dB SPL), and ability to identify speech in noise (4-talker babble with a 65-dB signal-to-noise ratio at 80 dB) were measured in all participants. All participants had normal pure-tone audiometry (all thresholds < 25 dB HL). A significant difference between groups was observed in that regular users of personal audio systems correctly identified 53% of words, whereas the non-users identified 74% and the elder group – 63%. This contributes evidence supporting the presence of a hidden hearing loss in humans and demonstrates that speech-in-noise audiometry is an effective method and can be considered as the GOLD standard for detecting hidden hearing loss.

Keywords: mp3 player, hidden hearing loss, speech audiometry, pure tone audiometry

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6298 Adaptive Few-Shot Deep Metric Learning

Authors: Wentian Shi, Daming Shi, Maysam Orouskhani, Feng Tian

Abstract:

Whereas currently the most prevalent deep learning methods require a large amount of data for training, few-shot learning tries to learn a model from limited data without extensive retraining. In this paper, we present a loss function based on triplet loss for solving few-shot problem using metric based learning. Instead of setting the margin distance in triplet loss as a constant number empirically, we propose an adaptive margin distance strategy to obtain the appropriate margin distance automatically. We implement the strategy in the deep siamese network for deep metric embedding, by utilizing an optimization approach by penalizing the worst case and rewarding the best. Our experiments on image recognition and co-segmentation model demonstrate that using our proposed triplet loss with adaptive margin distance can significantly improve the performance.

Keywords: few-shot learning, triplet network, adaptive margin, deep learning

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6297 Proprietary Blend Synthetic Rubber as Loss Circulation Material in Drilling Operation

Authors: Zatil Afifah Omar, Siti Nur Izati Azmi, Kathi Swaran, Navin Kumar

Abstract:

Lost circulation has always been one of the greatest problems faced by drilling companies during drilling operations due to excessive drilling Fluids losses. Loss of circulation leads to Huge cost and non-productive time. The objective of this study is to evaluate the sealing efficiency of a proprietary blend of synthetic rubber as loss circulation material in comparison with a conventional product such as calcium carbonate, graphite, cellulosic, and nutshells. Sand Bed Tester with a different proprietary blend of synthetic rubber compositions has been used to determine the effectiveness of the LCM in preventing drilling fluids losses in a lab scale. Test results show the proprietary blend of synthetic rubber have good bridging properties and sealing Off fractures of various sizes. The finish product is environmentally friendly with lower production lead time and lower production cost compared to current conventional loss circulation materials used in current drilling operations.

Keywords: loss circulation materials, drilling operation, sealing efficiency, LCM

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6296 Robust Control Design and Analysis Using SCILAB for a Mass-Spring-Damper System

Authors: Yoonsoo Kim

Abstract:

This paper introduces an open-source software package SCILAB, an alternative of MATLAB, which can be used for robust control design and analysis of a typical mass-spring-damper (MSD) system. Using the previously published ideas in this popular mechanical system is considered to provide another example of usefulness of SCILAB for advanced control design.

Keywords: robust control, SCILAB, mass-spring-damper (MSD), popular mechanical systems

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6295 SCNet: A Vehicle Color Classification Network Based on Spatial Cluster Loss and Channel Attention Mechanism

Authors: Fei Gao, Xinyang Dong, Yisu Ge, Shufang Lu, Libo Weng

Abstract:

Vehicle color recognition plays an important role in traffic accident investigation. However, due to the influence of illumination, weather, and noise, vehicle color recognition still faces challenges. In this paper, a vehicle color classification network based on spatial cluster loss and channel attention mechanism (SCNet) is proposed for vehicle color recognition. A channel attention module is applied to extract the features of vehicle color representative regions and reduce the weight of nonrepresentative color regions in the channel. The proposed loss function, called spatial clustering loss (SC-loss), consists of two channel-specific components, such as a concentration component and a diversity component. The concentration component forces all feature channels belonging to the same class to be concentrated through the channel cluster. The diversity components impose additional constraints on the channels through the mean distance coefficient, making them mutually exclusive in spatial dimensions. In the comparison experiments, the proposed method can achieve state-of-the-art performance on the public datasets, VCD, and VeRi, which are 96.1% and 96.2%, respectively. In addition, the ablation experiment further proves that SC-loss can effectively improve the accuracy of vehicle color recognition.

Keywords: feature extraction, convolutional neural networks, intelligent transportation, vehicle color recognition

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6294 Mixtures of Length-Biased Weibull Distributions for Loss Severity Modelling

Authors: Taehan Bae

Abstract:

In this paper, a class of length-biased Weibull mixtures is presented to model loss severity data. The proposed model generalizes the Erlang mixtures with the common scale parameter, and it shares many important modelling features, such as flexibility to fit various data distribution shapes and weak-denseness in the class of positive continuous distributions, with the Erlang mixtures. We show that the asymptotic tail estimate of the length-biased Weibull mixture is Weibull-type, which makes the model effective to fit loss severity data with heavy-tailed observations. A method of statistical estimation is discussed with applications on real catastrophic loss data sets.

Keywords: Erlang mixture, length-biased distribution, transformed gamma distribution, asymptotic tail estimate, EM algorithm, expectation-maximization algorithm

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6293 Influence of Channel Depth on the Performance of Wavy Fin Absorber Solar Air Heater

Authors: Abhishek Priyam, Prabha Chand

Abstract:

Channel depth is an important design parameter to be fixed in designing a solar air heater. In this paper, a mathematical model has been developed to study the influence of channel duct on the thermal performance of solar air heaters. The channel depth has been varied from 1.5 cm to 3.5 cm for the mass flow range 0.01 to 0.11 kg/s. Based on first law of thermodynamics, the channel depth of 1.5 cm shows better thermal performance for all the mass flow range. Also, better thermohydraulic performance has been found up to 0.05 kg/s, and beyond this, thermohydraulic efficiency starts decreasing. It has been seen that, with the increase in the mass flow rate, the difference between thermal and thermohydraulic efficiency increases because of the increase in pressure drop. At lower mass flow rate, 0.01 kg/s, the thermal and thermohydraulic efficiencies for respective channel depth remain the same.

Keywords: channel depth, thermal efficiency, wavy fin, thermohydraulic efficiency

Procedia PDF Downloads 336