Search results for: Internal Rate of Return

Authors: Sanjeeva Balasuriya

Abstract:

A phenomenological model for species spreading which incorporates the Allee effect, a species- maximum attainable growth rate, collective dispersal rate and dispersal adaptability is presented. This builds on a well-established reaction-diffusion model for spatial spreading of invading organisms. The model is phrased in terms of the “hostility" (which quantifies the Allee threshold in relation to environmental sustainability) and dispersal adaptability (which measures how a species is able to adapt its migratory response to environmental conditions). The species- invading/retreating speed and the sharpness of the invading boundary are explicitly characterised in terms of the fundamental parameters, and analysed in detail.

Keywords: Allee effect, dispersal, migration speed, diffusion, invasion.

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Authors: Alaa Y. Ali, Natalie P. Holmes, John Holdsworth, Warwick Belcher, Paul Dastoor, Xiaojing Zhou

Abstract:

Multi-layered graphene has been produced under low temperature chemical vapour deposition (CVD) growth conditions by utilizing an organic solvent and polymer film source. Poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) was dissolved in chlorobenzene solvent and used as a drop-cast film carbon source on a quartz slide. A source temperature (T_source) of 180 °C provided sufficient carbon to grow graphene, as identified by Raman spectroscopy, on clean copper foil catalytic surfaces.  Systematic variation of hydrogen gas (H₂) flow rate from 25 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm) to 100 sccm and CVD temperature (T_growth) from 400 to 800 °C, yielded graphene films of varying quality as characterized by Raman spectroscopy. The optimal graphene growth parameters were found to occur with a hydrogen flow rate of 75 sccm sweeping the 180 °C source carbon past the Cu foil at 600 °C for 1 min. The deposition at 600 °C with a H₂ flow rate of 75 sccm yielded a 2D band peak with ~53.4 cm^-1 FWHM and a relative intensity ratio of the G to 2D bands (I_G/I_2D) of 0.21. This recipe fabricated a few layers of good quality graphene.

Keywords: Graphene, chemical vapour deposition, carbon source, low temperature growth.

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Authors: Young-Kyun Kim, Tae-Gu Lee, Jin-Huek Hur, Sung-Jae Moon, Jae-Heon Lee

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In this paper, three dimensional flow characteristic was presented by a revision of an impeller of an axial turbo fan for improving the airflow rate and the static pressure. TO consider an incompressible steady three-dimensional flow, the RANS equations are used as the governing equations, and the standard k-ε turbulence model is chosen. The pitch angles of 44°, 54°, 59°, and 64° are implemented for the numerical model. The numerical results show that airflow rates of each pitch angle are 1,175 CMH, 1,270 CMH, 1,340 CMH, and 800 CMH, respectively. The difference of the static pressure at impeller inlet and outlet are 120 Pa, 214 Pa, 242 Pa, and 60 Pa according to respective pitch angles. It means that the 59° of the impeller pitch angle is optimal to improve the airflow rate and the static pressure.

Keywords: Axial turbo fan, Impeller, Blade, Pitch angle.

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Authors: M. Chafi, S. Akazdam, C. Asrir, L. Sebbahi, B. Gourich, N. Barka, M. Essahli

Abstract:

Fixed bed adsorption has become a frequently used industrial application in wastewater treatment processes. Various low cost adsorbents have been studied for their applicability in treatment of different types of effluents. In this work, the intention of the study was to explore the efficacy and feasibility for azo dye, Acid Orange 7 (AO7) adsorption onto fixed bed column of NaOH Treated eggshell (TES). The effect of various parameters like flow rate, initial dye concentration, and bed height were exploited in this study. The studies confirmed that the breakthrough curves were dependent on flow rate, initial dye concentration solution of AO7 and bed depth. The Thomas, Yoon–Nelson, and Adams and Bohart models were analysed to evaluate the column adsorption performance. The adsorption capacity, rate constant and correlation coefficient associated to each model for column adsorption was calculated and mentioned. The column experimental data were fitted well with Thomas model with coefficients of correlation R2 ≥0.93 at different conditions but the Yoon–Nelson, BDST and Bohart–Adams model (R2=0.911), predicted poor performance of fixed-bed column. The (TES) was shown to be suitable adsorbent for adsorption of AO7 using fixed-bed adsorption column.

Keywords: Adsorption models, acid orange 7, bed depth, breakthrough, dye adsorption, fixed-bed column, treated eggshell.

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Authors: D. Wrzecionkowska

Abstract:

Mass media campaigns against obesity are often designed to impact large audiences. This usually means that their audience is defined based on general demographic characteristics like age, gender, occupation etc., not taking into account psychographics like behavior, motivations, wants, etc. Using psychographics, as the base for the audience segmentation, is a common practice in case of successful campaigns, as it allows developing more relevant messages. It also serves a purpose of identifying key segments, those that generate the best return on investment. For a health campaign, that would be segments that have the best chance of being converted into healthy lifestyle at the lowest cost. This paper presents the limitations of the demographic targeting, based on the findings from the reception study of IMSS (Mexican Social Security Institute) antiobesity TV commercials and proposes mothers as the first level of segmentation, in the process of identifying the key segment for these campaigns.

Keywords: Anti-obesity campaigns, mothers, segmentation, targeting.

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Authors: Saeid Haghjoo, Ebrahim Reyhani, Fahimeh Kolahdouz

Abstract:

The present study aimed to evaluate the understanding of the students in Tehran universities (Iran) about the numerical representation of the average rate of change based on the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO). In the present descriptive-survey research, the statistical population included undergraduate students (basic sciences and engineering) in the universities of Tehran. The samples were 604 students selected by random multi-stage clustering. The measurement tool was a task whose face and content validity was confirmed by math and mathematics education professors. Using Cronbach's Alpha criterion, the reliability coefficient of the task was obtained 0.95, which verified its reliability. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (chi-squared and independent t-tests) under SPSS-24 software. According to the SOLO model in the prestructural, unistructural, and multistructural levels, basic science students had a higher percentage of understanding than that of engineering students, although the outcome was inverse at the relational level. However, there was no significant difference in the average understanding of both groups. The results indicated that students failed to have a proper understanding of the numerical representation of the average rate of change, in addition to missconceptions when using physics formulas in solving the problem. In addition, multiple solutions were derived along with their dominant methods during the qualitative analysis. The current research proposed to focus on the context problems with approximate calculations and numerical representation, using software and connection common relations between math and physics in the teaching process of teachers and professors.

Keywords: Average rate of change, context problems, derivative, numerical representation, SOLO taxonomy.

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Authors: B. Fahimnia, L.H.S. Luong, B. Motevallian, R. M. Marian, M. M. Esmaeil

Abstract:

Product Lead Time (PLT) is the period of time from receiving a customer's order to delivering the final product. PLT is an indicator of the manufacturing controllability, efficiency and performance. Due to the explosion in the rate of technological innovations and the rapid changes in the nature of manufacturing processes, manufacturing firms can bring the new products to market quicker only if they can reduce their PLT and speed up the rate at which they can design, plan, control, and manufacture. Although there is a substantial body of research on manufacturing relating to cost and quality issues, there is no much specific research conducted in relation to the formulation of PLT, despite its significance and importance. This paper analyzes and formulates PLT which can be used as a guideline for achieving the shorter PLT. Further more this paper identifies the causes of delay and factors that contributes to the increased product lead-time.

Keywords: Manufacturing Control, Manufacturing Lead Time, Manufacturing Planning, Product Design, and Product Lead Time.

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Authors: G. L. C. Yap

Abstract:

Modelling realized volatility with high-frequency returns is popular as it is an unbiased and efficient estimator of return volatility. A computationally simple model is fitting the logarithms of the realized volatilities with a fractionally integrated long-memory Gaussian process. The Gaussianity assumption simplifies the parameter estimation using the Whittle approximation. Nonetheless, this assumption may not be met in the finite samples and there may be a need to normalize the financial series. Based on the empirical indices S&P500 and DAX, this paper examines the performance of the linear volatility model pre-treated with normalization compared to its existing counterpart. The empirical results show that by including normalization as a pre-treatment procedure, the forecast performance outperforms the existing model in terms of statistical and economic evaluations.

Keywords: Long-memory, Gaussian process, Whittle estimator, normalization, volatility, value-at-risk.

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Authors: N. Tshiongo , R K.K. Mbaya , K Maweja, L.C. Tshabalala

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Slag sample from copper smelting operation in a water jacket furnace from DRC plant was used. The study intends to determine the effect of cooling in the extraction of base metals. The cooling methods investigated were water quenching, air cooling and furnace cooling. The latter cooling ways were compared to the original as received slag. It was observed that, the cooling rate of the slag affected the leaching of base metals as it changed the phase distribution in the slag and the base metals distribution within the phases. It was also found that fast cooling of slag prevented crystallization and produced an amorphous phase that encloses the base metals. The amorphous slags from the slag dumps were more leachable in acidic medium (HNO3) which leached 46%Cu, 95% Co, 85% Zn, 92% Pb and 79% Fe with no selectivity at pH0, than in basic medium (NH4OH). The leachability was vice versa for the modified slags by quenching in water which leached 89%Cu with a high selectivity as metal extractions are less than 1% for Co, Zn, Pb and Fe at ambient temperature and pH12. For the crystallized slags, leaching of base metals increased with the increase of temperature from ambient temperature to 60°C and decreased at the higher temperature of 80°C due to the evaporation of the ammonia solution used for basic leaching, the total amounts of base metals that were leached in slow cooled slags were very low compared to the quenched slag samples.

Keywords: copper slag, leaching, amorphous, cooling rate

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Authors: Oshmita Dey, Debjani Chakraborty

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In this paper, a single period inventory model with resalable returns has been analyzed in an imprecise and uncertain mixed environment. Demand has been introduced as a fuzzy random variable. In this model, a single order is placed before the start of the selling season. The customer, for a full refund, may return purchased products within a certain time interval. Returned products are resalable, provided they arrive back before the end of the selling season and are found to be undamaged. Products remaining at the end of the season are salvaged. All demands not met directly are lost. The probabilities that a sold product is returned and that a returned product is resalable, both imprecise in a real situation, have been assumed to be fuzzy in nature.

Keywords: Fuzzy random variable, Modified graded meanintegration, Internet mail order, Inventory.

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Authors: Zuzana Crhová, Marie Paseková

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This contribution aims to compare legislation adjusting the course of insolvency proceedings in France, Germany and Slovakia. On the basis of an investigation of the legislative adjustment of this problem, an attempt is made to ascertain in the given countries the extent to which the outcome of the entire proceedings is influenced by legislation and to determine the fundamental moments that influence costs, recovery rate and the duration of proceedings. A comparative analysis was utilized in order to achieve the set goal. The results of the survey could be used to improve legislation so as to lead in the best and most expedient way to a departure from the market of those subjects that are for economic reasons unable to continue with their activities whilst burdening the entire process with the lowest possible costs, which would lead to a high level of satisfaction for creditors. 

Keywords: Costs, Insolvency Proceeding, Recovery Rate, Time.

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Authors: Chinnaiah Madduri, Raghu V. Prakash

Abstract:

This paper presents the results of corrosion fatigue crack growth behaviour of a Ni-Cr-Mn steel commonly used in marine applications. The effect of mechanical variables such as frequency and load ratio on fatigue crack growth rate at various stages has been studied using compact tension (C(T)) specimens along the rolling direction of steel plate under 3.5% saturated NaCl aqueous environment. The significance of crack closure on corrosion fatigue, and the validity of Elber-s empirical linear crack closure model with the ASTM compliance offset method have been examined. Fatigue crack growth rate is higher and threshold stress intensities are lower in aqueous environment compared to the lab air conditions. It is also observed that the crack growth rate increases at lower frequencies. The higher stress ratio promotes the crack growth. The effect of oxidization and corrosion pit formation is very less as the stress ratio is increased. It is observed that as stress ratios are increased, the Elber-s crack closure model agrees well with the crack closure estimated by the ASTM compliance offset method for tests conducted at 5Hz frequency compared to tests conducted at 1Hz in corrosive environment.

Keywords: Corrosion fatigue, oxide induced crack closure, Elber's crack closure, ASTM compliance offset method.

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Authors: Shaneil Taylor

Abstract:

Gender-based violence is a reflection of the inequalities that are associated within a society between the men and women that affects the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims. There are various determinants that contribute to the health risk of young women who have experienced sexual violence, in countries that have a high prevalence rate for HIV. For instance, in South Africa, where the highest prevalence rate for HIV is among young women, their susceptibility to the virus has been increased by sexual violence and cultural inequalities. Therefore, this study is a review of literature that explores how gender-based violence increases the possibility for HIV/AIDS among young women in South Africa.

Keywords: Gender based violence, HIV/AIDS transmission, young women, Risky sexual behavior.

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Authors: Yasmin Binti Othman Mydin, Mohd. Fadzillah Abdul Razak

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Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy is the first cognitive behavior therapy which was introduced by Albert Ellis. This is a systematic and structured psychotherapy which is effective in treating various psychological problems. A patient, 25 years old male, experienced intense fear and situational panic attack to return to his faculty and to face his class-mates after a long absence (2 years). This social anxiety disorder was a major factor that impeded the progress of his study. He was treated with the use of behavioural technique such as relaxation breathing technique and cognitive techniques such as imagery, cognitive restructuring, rationalization technique and systematic desensitization. The patient reported positive improvement in the anxiety disorder, able to progress well in studies and lead a better quality of life as a student.

Keywords: Anxiety, behaviour, cognitive, therapy

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Authors: YasirSalih, AamirSaeed Malik, Wazirahbt.Md-Esa

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In the recent years, high dynamic range imaging has gain popularity with the advancement in digital photography. In this contribution we present a subjective evaluation of various tone production and tone mapping techniques by a number of participants. Firstly, standard HDR images were used and the participants were asked to rate them based on a given rating scheme. After that, the participant was asked to rate HDR image generated using linear and nonlinear combination approach of multiple exposure images. The experimental results showed that linearly generated HDR images have better visualization than the nonlinear combined ones. In addition, Reinhard et al. and the exponential tone mapping operators have shown better results compared to logarithmic and the Garrett et al. tone mapping operators.

Keywords: tone mapping, high dynamic range, low dynamic range, bits per pixel.

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Authors: Mohamed Shawki Elamir, Heinrich Gotzig, Raoul Zoellner, Patrick Maeder

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In this work, a methodology is presented for identifying the optimal digitization parameters for the analog signal of ultrasonic sensors. These digitization parameters are the resolution of the analog to digital conversion and the sampling rate. This is accomplished though the derivation of characteristic curves based on Fano inequality and the calculation of the mutual information content over a given dataset. The mutual information is calculated between the examples in the dataset and the corresponding variation in the feature that needs to be estimated. The optimal parameters are identified in a manner that ensures optimal estimation performance while preventing inefficiency in using unnecessarily powerful analog to digital converters.

Keywords: Analog to digital conversion, digitization, sampling rate, ultrasonic sensors.

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Authors: Iracema Machado de Aragão Gomes, Íkaro Daniel Carvalho Barreto, Suzana Leitão Russo

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Policies that support entrepreneurship are keys to the generation of new business. In Brazil, seed capital, installation of technology parks, programs and zero interest financing, economic subsidy as Program First Innovative Company (PRIME) are examples of incentive policies. For the implementation of PRIME, in particular the Brazilian Innovation Agency (FINEP) decentralized operationalization so that business incubators could select innovative projects. This paper analyzes the program PRIME Business Incubator Center of the State of Sergipe (CISE) after calculating the mean and standard deviation of the grades obtained by companies in the factors of innovation, market potential, financial return economic, market strategy and staff and application of the Mann-Whitney test.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, innovation, technology parks, business incubators.

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Authors: Maliheh Raji, Hossein Abolghasemi, Jaber Safdari, Ali Kargari

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Samarium as a rare-earth element is playing a growing important role in high technology. Traditional methods for extraction of rare earth metals such as ion exchange and solvent extraction have disadvantages of high investment and high energy consumption. Emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) as an improved solvent extraction technique is an effective transport method for separation of various compounds from aqueous solutions. In this work, the extraction of samarium from aqueous solutions by ELM was investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). The organic membrane phase of the ELM was a nanofluid consisted of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), Span80 as surfactant, Cyanex 272 as mobile carrier, and kerosene as base fluid. 1 M nitric acid solution was used as internal aqueous phase. The effects of the important process parameters on samarium extraction were investigated, and the values of these parameters were optimized using the Central Composition Design (CCD) of RSM. These parameters were the concentration of MWCNT in nanofluid, the carrier concentration, and the volume ratio of organic membrane phase to internal phase (Roi). The three-dimensional (3D) response surfaces of samarium extraction efficiency were obtained to visualize the individual and interactive effects of the process variables. A regression model for % extraction was developed, and its adequacy was evaluated. The result shows that % extraction improves by using MWCNT nanofluid in organic membrane phase and extraction efficiency of 98.92% can be achieved under the optimum conditions. In addition, demulsification was successfully performed and the recycled membrane phase was proved to be effective in the optimum condition.

Keywords: Cyanex 272, emulsion liquid membrane, multiwalled carbon nanotubes, nanofluid, response surface methodology, Samarium.

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Authors: Paulo Rocha

Abstract:

Once in touch with the Criminal Justice System, offenders with mental disorder tend to return to custody more often than nondisordered individuals, which suggests they have not been receiving appropriate treatment in prison. In this scenario, diverting individuals into care as early as possible in their trajectory seems to be the appropriate approach to rehabilitate mentally unwell offenders and alleviate overcrowded prisons. This paper builds on an ethnographic research investigating the challenges encountered by practitioners working to divert offenders into care while attempting to establish cross-boundary interactions with professionals in the Criminal Justice System and Mental Health Services in the UK. Drawing upon the findings of the study, this paper suggests the development of adequate tools to enable liaison between agencies which ultimately results in successful interventions.

Keywords: Criminogenic needs, interagency collaboration, liaison and diversion, recidivism.

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Authors: Kibaek Kim, Dongjin Jung, Jinik Jang, Jechang Jeong

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In this paper, we proposed a method to reduce quantization error. In order to reduce quantization error, low pass filtering is applied on neighboring samples of current block in H.264/AVC. However, it has a weak point that low pass filtering is performed regardless of prediction direction. Since it doesn-t consider prediction direction, it may not reduce quantization error effectively. Proposed method considers prediction direction for low pass filtering and uses a threshold condition for reducing flag bit. We compare our experimental result with conventional method in H.264/AVC and we can achieve the average bit-rate reduction of 1.534% by applying the proposed method. Bit-rate reduction between 0.580% and 3.567% are shown for experimental results.

Keywords: Coding efficiency, H.264/AVC, Intra prediction, Low pass filter

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Authors: B. Gechbaia, K. Goletiani, G. Gabedava, N. Mikeltadze

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At this stage, Georgia is a country which is actively involved in the European integration process, for which the primary priority is effective integration in the European education system. The modern Georgian higher education system is the process of establishing a new sociocultural reality, whose main priorities are determined by the Quality System as a continuous cycle of planning, implementation, checking and acting. Obviously, in this situation, the issue of management of education institutions comes out in the foreground, since the proper planning and implementation of personnel management processes is one of the main determinants of the company's performance. At the same time, one of the most important factors is the psychological comfort of the personnel, ensuring their protection and efficiency of stress management policy.

The purpose of this research is to determine how intensely the relationship is between the psychological comfort of the personnel and the efficiency of the quality system in the institution as the quality assurance mechanisms of educational institutions affect the stability of personnel, prevention and management of the stressful situation. The research was carried out within the framework of the Internal Grant Project «The Role of Organizational Culture in the Process of Settlement of Management of Stress and Conflict, Georgian Reality and European Experience » of the Batumi Navigation Teaching University, based on the analysis of the survey results of target groups. The small-scale research conducted by us has revealed that the introduction of quality assurance system and its active implementation increased the quality of management of Georgian educational institutions, increased the level of universal engagement in internal and external processes and as a result, it has improved the quality of education as well as social and psychological comfort indicators of the society.

Keywords: Quality assurance, effective management, stability of personnel, psychological comfort, stress management.

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Authors: Jia-Rong Yeh, Ai-Hsien Li, Jiann-Shing Shieh, Yen-An Su, Chi-Yu Yang

Abstract:

In this paper, an automatic detecting algorithm for QRS complex detecting was applied for analyzing ECG recordings and five criteria for dangerous arrhythmia diagnosing are applied for a protocol type of automatic arrhythmia diagnosing system. The automatic detecting algorithm applied in this paper detected the distribution of QRS complexes in ECG recordings and related information, such as heart rate and RR interval. In this investigation, twenty sampled ECG recordings of patients with different pathologic conditions were collected for off-line analysis. A combinative application of four digital filters for bettering ECG signals and promoting detecting rate for QRS complex was proposed as pre-processing. Both of hardware filters and digital filters were applied to eliminate different types of noises mixed with ECG recordings. Then, an automatic detecting algorithm of QRS complex was applied for verifying the distribution of QRS complex. Finally, the quantitative clinic criteria for diagnosing arrhythmia were programmed in a practical application for automatic arrhythmia diagnosing as a post-processor. The results of diagnoses by automatic dangerous arrhythmia diagnosing were compared with the results of off-line diagnoses by experienced clinic physicians. The results of comparison showed the application of automatic dangerous arrhythmia diagnosis performed a matching rate of 95% compared with an experienced physician-s diagnoses.

Keywords: Signal processing, electrocardiography (ECG), QRS complex, arrhythmia.

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Authors: Yong Zhao, Jian He, Cheng Zhang

Abstract:

Cardiovascular disease resulting from hypertension poses a significant threat to human health, and early detection of hypertension can potentially save numerous lives. Traditional methods for detecting hypertension require specialized equipment and are often incapable of capturing continuous blood pressure fluctuations. To address this issue, this study starts by analyzing the principle of heart rate variability (HRV) and introduces the utilization of sliding window and power spectral density (PSD) techniques to analyze both temporal and frequency domain features of HRV. Subsequently, a hypertension prediction network that relies on HRV is proposed, combining Resnet, attention mechanisms, and a multi-layer perceptron. The network leverages a modified ResNet18 to extract frequency domain features, while employing an attention mechanism to integrate temporal domain features, thus enabling auxiliary hypertension prediction through the multi-layer perceptron. The proposed network is trained and tested using the publicly available SHAREE dataset from PhysioNet. The results demonstrate that the network achieves a high prediction accuracy of 92.06% for hypertension, surpassing traditional models such as K Near Neighbor (KNN), Bayes, Logistic regression, and traditional Convolutional Neural Network (CNN).

Keywords: Feature extraction, heart rate variability, hypertension, residual networks.

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Authors: Enkelejda Koka, Denard Veshi

Abstract:

Since 2011, in the name of ‘humanitarianism’ and deaths in the Mediterranean Sea, the legal and political justification delivered by Greece to manage the refugee crisis is pre-emptive interception. Although part of the EU, Greece adopted its own strategy. These practices have also created high risks for migrants generally resulting in non-rescue episodes and push-back practices having lethal consequences to the life of the irregular migrant. Thus, this article provides an analysis of the Greek ‘compassionate border work’ policy, a practice known as push-back. It is argued that these push-back practices violate international obligations, notably the ‘right to life’, the ‘duty to search and rescue’, the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the principle of non-refoulement.

Keywords: Greece, migrants, push-back policy, violation of international law.

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Authors: Amina M. Bishr, Ahmed B. Magdub, Abdul-Baset R. Abuzweda

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A major challenge in camel productivity is the high mortality rate of camel calves in the early stage due to the lack of colostrums. This study investigates the time required for the calves to obtain the optimum amount of the immunoglobulin (IgG). Eleven pregnant female camels (Camelus Dromedarus) were selected randomly and variant in age and gestation. After delivery, 7 calves were obtained and used for this investigation. Colostrum samples were collected from mothers immediately after parturition. Blood samples were obtained from the calves as follow: 0 day (before suckling), 24, 48, 72, 96, 120 and 144 hours, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks post suckling. Blood serum and colostrums whey were separated and used to determine IgG concentration, total protein and concentration of Cortisol and Thyroxin. The results showed high levels of IgG in camel colostrums (328.8 ± 4.5 mg / ml). The IgG concentration in serum of calves was the highest within 1st 24 h after suckling (140.75 mg /ml), and then declined gradually reached lower level at 144 h (41.97 mg / ml). The average turnover rate (t 1/2) of serum IgG in the all cases was 3.22 days. The turnover of ranged from 2.56 days for calves have values of IgG more than average and 7.7 days for those with values below average. In spite of very high levels of thyroxin in sera of new born the results showed no correlation between cortisol and thyroxin with IgG levels.

Keywords: Camel, cortisol, IgG, thyroxin, turn-over rate.

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Authors: Kumaresh Selvakumar, Man Young Kim

Abstract:

Wet scrubbers have found widespread use in cleaning contaminated gas streams because of their ability to remove particulates and based on the applications of scrubbing of marine engine exhaust gases by spraying sea-water. In order to examine the flow characteristics inside the scrubber, the model is designated with flow properties of hot air and water sprayer. The flow dynamics of evaporation of hot air by the injection of water droplets is the key factor considered in this paper. The flow behavior inside the scrubber was investigated from the previous works and to sum up the evaporation rate with respect to the concentration of water droplets are predicted to bring out the competent modelling. The numerical analysis using CFD facilitates in understanding the problem better and empathies the behavior of the model over its entire operating envelope.

Keywords: Concentration of water droplets, Evaporation rate, Scrubber, Water sprayer.

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Authors: Bhupeshwaran Mani, S. Radha, A. Jawahar, A. Sivasubramanian

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Here, we study the characteristic feature of conventional (ON-OFF keying) and soliton based transmission system. We consider 20Gbps transmission system implemented with Conventional Single Mode Fiber (C-SMF) to examine the role of Gaussian pulse which is the characteristic of conventional propagation and Hyperbolic-secant pulse which is the characteristic of soliton propagation in it. We note the influence of these pulses with respect to different dispersion lengths and soliton period in conventional and soliton system respectively and evaluate the system performance in terms of Quality factor. From the analysis, we could prove that the soliton pulse has the consistent performance even for long distance without dispersion compensation than the conventional system as it is robust to dispersion. For the length of transmission of 200Km, soliton system yielded Q of 33.958 while the conventional system totally exhausted with Q=0.

Keywords: Soliton, dispersion length, Soliton period, Return-tozero (RZ), Q-factor.

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Authors: Mohammad Javadi, A. Golshani, Amir Mahdi Ghasemi, Morteza Anbarsooz, M. Moghiman

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Observations show that power plant efficiency decreases in hot summer days. Water droplet injection in air condensers is suggested in order to decrease the inlet air temperature. Nozzle arrangement, injected water flow rate and droplets diameter effects on evaporation rate and the resulting air temperature are investigated using numerical simulation. Decreasing the diameter of injected droplets and increasing the number of injecting nozzles, decreases the outlet air temperature. Also a more uniform air temperature can be obtained using more injecting nozzles. Numerical results are in good agreement with analytical results.

Keywords: Power, air condenser, evaporation, droplet injection.

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Authors: Gabofetswe Malema, Michael Liebelt

Abstract:

LDPC codes could be used in magnetic storage devices because of their better decoding performance compared to other error correction codes. However, their hardware implementation results in large and complex decoders. This one of the main obstacles the decoders to be incorporated in magnetic storage devices. We construct small high girth and rate 2 columnweight codes from cage graphs. Though these codes have low performance compared to higher column weight codes, they are easier to implement. The ease of implementation makes them more suitable for applications such as magnetic recording. Cages are the smallest known regular distance graphs, which give us the smallest known column-weight 2 codes given the size, girth and rate of the code.

Keywords: Structured LDPC codes, cage graphs.

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Authors: Arash Karimipour, M. Afrand, M. M. Bazofti

Abstract:

The periodic mixed convection of a water-copper nanofluid inside a rectangular cavity with aspect ratio of 3 is investigated numerically. The temperature of the bottom wall of the cavity is assumed greater than the temperature of the top lid which oscillates horizontally with the velocity defined as u = u0 sin (ω t). The effects of Richardson number, Ri, and volume fraction of nanoparticles on the flow and thermal behavior of the nanofluid are investigated. Velocity and temperature profiles, streamlines and isotherms are presented. It is observed that when Ri < 1, heat transfer rate is much greater than when Ri > 1. The higher value of Ri corresponds to a lower value of the amplitude of the oscillation of Num in the steady periodic state. Moreover, increasing the volume fraction of the nanoparticles increases the heat transfer rate.

Keywords: Nanofluid, Top lid oscillation, Mixed convection, Volume fraction

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