Search results for: High temperature laser testing

Authors: Basant H. El-Refay, Nabeel T. Faiad

Abstract:

Background: The high prevalence of obesity in Egypt has a great impact on the health care system, economic and social situation. Evidence suggests that even a moderate amount of weight loss can be useful. Aim of the study: To analyze the effects of lower body positive pressure supported treadmill training, conducted with hypocaloric diet, on body composition of obese children. Methods: Thirty children aged between 8 and 14 years, were randomly assigned into two groups: intervention group (15 children) and control group (15 children). All of them were evaluated using body composition analysis through bioelectric impedance. The following parameters were measured before and after the intervention: body mass, body fat mass, muscle mass, body mass index (BMI), percentage of body fat and basal metabolic rate (BMR). The study group exercised with antigravity treadmill three times a week during 2 months, and participated in a hypocaloric diet program. The control group participated in a hypocaloric diet program only. Results: Both groups showed significant reduction in body mass, body fat mass and BMI. Only study group showed significant reduction in percentage of body fat (p = 0.0.043). Changes in muscle mass and BMR didn't reach statistical significance in both groups. No significant differences were observed between groups except for muscle mass (p = 0.049) and BMR (p = 0.042) favoring study group. Conclusion: Both programs proved effective in the reduction of obesity indicators, but lower body positive pressure supported treadmill training was more effective in improving muscle mass and BMR.

Keywords: Children, Hypocaloric diet, Lower body positive pressure supported treadmill, obesity.

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Authors: Mohammed Abaoli, Omer Kara

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The current research has investigated the soil quality status under dryland vegetation of Yabello district, Southern Ethiopia in which we should identify the nature and extent of salinity problem of the area for further research bases. About 48 soil samples were taken from 0-30, 31-60, 61-90 and 91-120 cm soil depths by opening 12 representative soil profile pits at 1.5 m depth. Soil color, texture, bulk density, Soil Organic Carbon (SOC), Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), Na, K, Mg, Ca, CaCO₃, gypsum (CaSO₄), pH, Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR), Exchangeable Sodium Percentage (ESP) were analyzed. The dominant soil texture was silty-clay-loam.  Bulk density varied from 1.1 to 1.31 g/cm³. High SOC content was observed in 0-30 cm. The soil pH ranged from 7.1 to 8.6. The electrical conductivity shows indirect relationship with soil depth while CaCO₃ and CaSO₄ concentrations were observed in a direct relationship with depth. About 41% are non-saline, 38.31% saline, 15.23% saline-sodic and 5.46% sodic soils. Na concentration in saline soils was greater than Ca and Mg in all the soil depths. Ca and Mg contents were higher above 60 cm soil depth in non-saline soils. The concentrations of SO₂^-4 and HCO^-3 were observed to be higher at the most lower depth than upper. SAR value tends to be higher at lower depths in saline and saline-sodic soils, but decreases at lower depth of the non-saline soils. The distribution of ESP above 60 cm depth was in an increasing order in saline and saline-sodic soils. The result of the research has shown the direction to which extent of salinity we should consider for the Commiphora plant species we want to grow on the area. 

Keywords: Commiphora species, dryland vegetation, ecological significance, soil quality, salinity problem.

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Authors: F. Rezaie Moghaddam, T. Rezaie Moghaddam, M. Pasbani Khiavi, M. Ali Ghorbani

Abstract:

Identifying and classifying intersections according to severity is very important for implementation of safety related counter measures and effective models are needed to compare and assess the severity. Highway safety organizations have considered intersection safety among their priorities. In spite of significant advances in highways safety, the large numbers of crashes with high severities still occur in the highways. Investigation of influential factors on crashes enables engineers to carry out calculations in order to reduce crash severity. Previous studies lacked a model capable of simultaneous illustration of the influence of human factors, road, vehicle, weather conditions and traffic features including traffic volume and flow speed on the crash severity. Thus, this paper is aimed at developing the models to illustrate the simultaneous influence of these variables on the crash severity in urban highways. The models represented in this study have been developed using binary Logit Models. SPSS software has been used to calibrate the models. It must be mentioned that backward regression method in SPSS was used to identify the significant variables in the model. Consider to obtained results it can be concluded that the main factor in increasing of crash severity in urban highways are driver age, movement with reverse gear, technical defect of the vehicle, vehicle collision with motorcycle and bicycle, bridge, frontal impact collisions, frontal-lateral collisions and multi-vehicle crashes in urban highways which always increase the crash severity in urban highways.

Keywords: Backward regression, crash severity, speed, urbanhighways.

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Authors: Saeid Khajehmandali, Fattah Mollakarimi, Zohreh Seyf

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There was a high rate of corrosion in Pyrolysis Gasoline Hydrogenation (PGH) unit of Arak Petrochemical Company (ARPC), and it caused some operational problem in this plant. A commercial chemical had been used as anti-corrosion in the depentanizer column overhead in order to control the corrosion rate. Injection of commercial corrosion inhibitor caused some operational problems such as fouling in some heat exchangers. It was proposed to replace this commercial material with another more effective trouble free, and well-known additive by R&D and operation specialists. At first, the system was simulated by commercial simulation software in electrolytic system to specify low pH points inside the plant. After a very comprehensive study of the situation and technical investigations ,ammonia / monoethanol amine solution was proposed as neutralizer or corrosion inhibitor to be injected in a suitable point of the plant. For this purpose, the depentanizer column and its accessories system was simulated again in case of this solution injection. According to the simulation results, injection of new anticorrosion substance has no any side effect on C5 cut product and operating conditions of the column. The corrosion rate will be cotrolled, if the pH remains at the range of 6.5 to 8 . Aactual plant test run was also carried out by injection of ammonia / monoethanol amine solution at the rate of 0.6 Kg/hr and the results of iron content of water samples and corrosion test coupons confirmed the simulation results. Now, ammonia / monoethanol amine solution is injected to a suitable pint inside the plant and corrosion rate has decreased significantly.

Keywords: Corrosion, Pyrolysis Gasoline, Simulation, Corrosion test copoun.

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Authors: L. Moussaoui, L. Rahmani

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This paper deals with the direct torque control (DTC) of the induction motor. This type of control allows decoupling control between the flux and the torque without the need for a transformation of coordinates. However, as with other hysteresis-based systems, the classical DTC scheme represents a high ripple, in both the electromagnetic torque and the stator flux and a distortion in the stator current. As well, it suffers from variable switching frequency. To solve these problems various modifications, in conventional DTC scheme, have been made during the last decade. Indeed the DTC based on space vector modulation (SVM) has proved to generate very low ripples in torque and flux with constant switching frequency. It also shows almost the same dynamic performances as the classical DTC system. On the other hand, fuzzy logic is considered as an interesting alternative approach for its advantages: Analysis close to the exigencies of user, ability of nonlinear systems control, best dynamic performances and inherent quality of robustness.

Therefore, two fuzzy direct torque control approaches, for the induction motor fed by SVM-voltage source inverter, are proposed in this paper. By using these two approaches of DTC, the advantages of fuzzy logic control, space vector modulation, and direct torque control method are combined. The performances of these DTC schemes are evaluated through digital simulation using Matlab/Simulink platform and fuzzy logic tools. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness and the superiority of the proposed Fuzzy DTC-SVM schemes in comparison to the classical DTC.

Keywords: Direct torque control, Fuzzy logic control, Induction motor, Switching frequency, Space vector modulation, Torque and flux ripples.

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Authors: Mai Miyabe, Taku Fukushima, Takashi Yoshino, Aguri Shigeno

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The need for multilingual communication in Japan has increased due to an increase in the number of foreigners in the country. When people communicate in their nonnative language, the differences in language prevent mutual understanding among the communicating individuals. In the medical field, communication between the hospital staff and patients is a serious problem. Currently, medical translators accompany patients to medical care facilities, and the demand for medical translators is increasing. However, medical translators cannot necessarily provide support, especially in cases in which round-the-clock support is required or in case of emergencies. The medical field has high expectations from information technology. Hence, a system that supports accurate multilingual communication is required. Despite recent advances in machine translation technology, it is very difficult to obtain highly accurate translations. We have developed a support system called M3 for multilingual medical reception. M3 provides support functions that aid foreign patients in the following respects: conversation, questionnaires, reception procedures, and hospital navigation; it also has a Q&A function. Users can operate M3 using a touch screen and receive text-based support. In addition, M3 uses accurate translation tools called parallel texts to facilitate reliable communication through conversations between the hospital staff and the patients. However, if there is no parallel text that expresses what users want to communicate, the users cannot communicate. In this study, we have developed a circulating support environment for multilingual medical communication using parallel texts. The proposed environment can circulate necessary parallel texts through the following procedure: (1) a user provides feedback about the necessary parallel texts, following which (2) these parallel texts are created and evaluated.

Keywords: multilingual medical communication, parallel texts.

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Authors: D. Hilton

Abstract:

An analysis of the Australian Diabetes Screening Study estimated undiagnosed diabetes mellitus [DM] prevalence in a high risk general practice based cohort. DM prevalence varied from 9.4% to 18.1% depending upon the diagnostic criteria utilised with age being a highly significant risk factor. Utilising the gold standard oral glucose tolerance test, the prevalence of DM was 22-23% in those aged >= 70 years and <15% in those aged 40-59 years. Opportunistic screening in Australian general practice potentially can identify many persons with undiagnosed type 2 DM. An Australian Bureau of Statistics document published three years ago, reported the highest rate of DM in men aged 65-74 years [19%] whereas the rate for women was highest in those over 75 years [13%]. If you consider that the Australian Bureau of Statistics report in 2007 found that 13% of the population was over 65 years of age and that this will increase to 23-25% by 2056 with a further projected increase to 25-28% by 2101, obviously this information has to be factored into the equation when age related diabetes prevalence predictions are calculated. This 10-15% proportional increase of elderly persons within the population demographics has dramatic implications for the estimated number of elderly persons with DM in these age groupings. Computational methodology showing the age related demographic changes reported in these official statistical documents will be done showing estimates for 2056 and 2101 for different age groups. This has relevance for future diabetes prevalence rates and shows that along with many countries worldwide Australia is facing an increasing pandemic. In contrast Japan is expected to have a decrease in the next twenty years in the number of persons with diabetes.

Keywords: Epidemiological methods, aging, prevalence.

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Authors: H. A. Al-Kahtani, A. A. Abou Arab, M. Asif

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Animal fats (camel, sheep, goat, rabbit and chicken) and vegetable oils (corn, sunflower, palm oil and olive oil) were substituted with different proportions (1, 5, 10 and 20%) of lard. Fatty acid composition in TG and 2-MG were determined using lipase hydrolysis and gas chromatography before and after adulteration. Results indicated that, genuine lard had a high proportion (60.97%) of the total palmitic acid at 2-MG. However, it was 8.70%, 16.40%, 11.38%, 10.57%, 29.97 and 8.97% for camel, beef, sheep, goat, rabbit and chicken, respectively. It could be noticed also the position-2-MG is mostly occupied by unsaturated fatty acids among all tested fats except lard. Vegetable oils (corn, sunflower, palm oil and olive oil) revealed that the levels of palmitic acid esterifies at 2-MG position was 6.84, 1.43, 9.86 and 1.70%, respectively. It could be observed also the studied oils had a higher level of unsaturated fatty acids in the same position, compared with animal fats under investigation. Moreover, palmitic acid esterifies at 2-MG and PAEF increased gradually as the substituted levels increased among all tested fat and oil samples. Statistical analysis showed that the PAEF correlated well with lard level. The detection of lard in some commercial processed foods (5 French fries, 4 Butter fats, 5 processed meat and 6 candy samples) was carried out. Results revealed that 2 samples of French fries and 4 samples of processed meat contained lard due to their higher PAEF, while butter fat and candy were free of lard.

Keywords: Lard, adulteration, PAEF, goat, triglycerides.

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Authors: Franklin Nantui Mabe, Samuel A. Donkoh, Seidu Al-Hassan

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Rice yields among agro-ecological zones are heterogeneous. Farmers, researchers and policy makers are making frantic efforts to bridge rice yield gaps between agro-ecological zones through the promotion of improved agricultural technologies (IATs). Farmers are also modifying these IATs and blending them with indigenous farming practices (IFPs) to form farmer innovation systems (FISs). Also, different metafrontier models have been used in estimating productivity performances and their drivers. This study used the two-step stochastic metafrontier model to estimate the productivity performances of rice farmers and their determining factors in GSZ, FSTZ and CSZ. The study used both primary and secondary data. Farmers in CSZ are the most technically efficient. Technical inefficiencies of farmers are negatively influenced by age, sex, household size, education years, extension visits, contract farming, access to improved seeds, access to irrigation, high rainfall amount, less lodging of rice, and well-coordinated and synergized adoption of technologies. Albeit farmers in CSZ are doing well in terms of rice yield, they still have the highest potential of increasing rice yield since they had the lowest TGR. It is recommended that government through the ministry of food and agriculture, development partners and individual private companies promote the adoption of IATs as well as educate farmers on how to coordinate and synergize the adoption of the whole package. Contract farming concept and agricultural extension intensification should be vigorously pursued to the latter.

Keywords: Efficiency, farmer innovation systems, improved agricultural technologies, two-step stochastic metafrontier approach.

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Authors: K. N. Kiran, S. Anish

Abstract:

It is well known that secondary flow loses account about one third of the total loss in any axial turbine. Modern gas turbine height is smaller and have longer chord length, which might lead to increase in secondary flow. In order to improve the efficiency of the turbine, it is important to understand the behavior of secondary flow and device mechanisms to curtail these losses. The objective of the present work is to understand the effect of a stream wise end-wall fence on the aerodynamics of a linear turbine cascade. The study is carried out computationally by using commercial software ANSYS CFX. The effect of end-wall on the flow field are calculated based on RANS simulation by using SST transition turbulence model. Durham cascade which is similar to high-pressure axial flow turbine for simulation is used. The aim of fencing in blade passage is to get the maximum benefit from flow deviation and destroying the passage vortex in terms of loss reduction. It is observed that, for the present analysis, fence in the blade passage helps reducing the strength of horseshoe vortex and is capable of restraining the flow along the blade passage. Fence in the blade passage helps in reducing the under turning by 7⁰ in comparison with base case. Fence on end-wall is effective in preventing the movement of pressure side leg of horseshoe vortex and helps in breaking the passage vortex. Computations are carried for different fence height whose curvature is different from the blade camber. The optimum fence geometry and location reduces the loss coefficient by 15.6% in comparison with base case.

Keywords: Boundary layer fence, horseshoe vortex, linear cascade, passage vortex, secondary flow.

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Authors: Leila Mohammadi

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This paper presents the impact of persuasive communication implemented by fertility clinics websites, and how this information influences women at their decision-making for undertaking this procedure. The influential factors for women decisions to do social egg freezing (SEF) are analyzed from a framing theory perspective, with a specific focus on the impact of persuasive information on women’s decision making. This study follows a quantitative approach. A two-phase survey has been conducted to examine the interest rate to undertake SEF. In the first phase, a questionnaire was available during a month (May 2015) to women to answer whether or not they knew enough information of this process, with a total of 230 answers. The second phase took place in the two last weeks of July 2015. All the respondents were invited to a seminars called ‘All about egg freezing’ and afretwards they were requested to answer the second questionnaire. After the seminar, in which they were given an extensive amount of information about egg freezing, a total of 115 women replied the questionnaire. The collected data during this process were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Most of the respondents changed their opinion in the second questionaire which was after receiving information. Although in the first questionnaire their self-evaluation of having knowledge about this process and the implemented technologies was very high, they realized that they still need to access more information from different sources in order to be able to make a decision. The study reached the conclusion that persuasive and framed information by clinics would affect the decisions of these women. Despite the reasons women have to do egg freezing and their motivations behind it, providing people necessary information and unprejudiced data about this process (such as its positive and negative aspects, requirements, suppositions, possibilities and consequences) would help them to make a more precise and reasonable decision about what they are buying.

Keywords: Decision making, fertility clinics, framing theory, persuasive information, social egg freezing.

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Authors: A. A. M. Azoddein, Y. Nuratri, A. B. Bustary, F. A. M. Azli, S. C. Sayuti

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Pseudomonas putida is a potential strain in biological treatment to remove mercury contained in the effluent of petrochemical industry due to its mercury reductase enzyme that able to reduce ionic mercury to elementary mercury. Freeze-dried P. putida allows easy, inexpensive shipping, handling and high stability of the product. This study was aimed to freeze dry P. putida cells with addition of lyoprotectant. Lyoprotectant was added into the cells suspension prior to freezing. Dried P. putida obtained was then mixed with synthetic mercury. Viability of recovery P. putida after freeze dry was significantly influenced by the type of lyoprotectant. Among the lyoprotectants, tween 80/ sucrose was found to be the best lyoprotectant. Sucrose able to recover more than 78% (6.2E+09 CFU/ml) of the original cells (7.90E+09CFU/ml) after freeze dry and able to retain 5.40E+05 viable cells after 4 weeks storage in 4oC without vacuum. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) pre-treated freeze dry cells and broth pre-treated freeze dry cells after freeze-dry recovered more than 64% (5.0 E+09CFU/ml) and >0.1% (5.60E+07CFU/ml). Freeze-dried P. putida cells in PEG and broth cannot survive after 4 weeks storage. Freeze dry also does not really change the pattern of growth P. putida but extension of lag time was found 1 hour after 3 weeks of storage. Additional time was required for freeze-dried P. putida cells to recover before introduce freeze-dried cells to more complicated condition such as mercury solution. The maximum mercury reduction of PEG pre-treated freeze-dried cells after freeze dry and after storage 3 weeks was 56.78% and 17.91%. The maximum of mercury reduction of tween 80/sucrose pre-treated freeze-dried cells after freeze dry and after storage 3 weeks were 26.35% and 25.03%. Freeze dried P. putida was found to have lower mercury reduction compare to the fresh P. putida that has been growth in agar. Result from this study may be beneficial and useful as initial reference before commercialize freeze-dried P. putida.

Keywords: Pseudomonas putida, freeze-dry, PEG, Tween80/Sucrose, mercury, cell viability.

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Authors: Prakash Singh

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Many schools throughout the world are facing constant pressure to cope with the violence and drug abuse of learners who show little or no respect for acceptable and desirable social norms. These delinquent learners tend to harbour feelings of being beyond reproach because they strongly believe that it is well within their rights to engage in violent and destructive behaviour. Knives, guns, and other weapons appear to be more readily used by them on the school premises than before. It is known that learners smoke, drink alcohol, and use drugs during school hours, hence, their ability to concentrate, work, and learn, is affected. They become violent and display disruptive behaviour in their classrooms as well as on the school premises, and this atrocious behaviour makes it possible for drug dealers and gangsters to gain access onto the school premises. The primary purpose of this exploratory quantitative study was therefore to establish how tobephobia (TBP), caused by school violence and drug abuse, affects teaching and learning in schools. The findings of this study affirmed that poor discipline resulted in producing poor quality education. Most of the teachers in this study agreed that educating learners who consumed alcohol and other drugs on the school premises resulted in them suffering from TBP. These learners are frequently abusive and disrespectful, and resort to violence to seek attention. As a result, teachers feel extremely demotivated and suffer from high levels of anxiety and stress. The word TBP will surely be regarded as a blessing by many teachers throughout the world because finally, there is a word that will make people sit up and listen to their problems that cause real fear and anxiety in schools.

Keywords: Aims and objectives of quality education, Debilitating effects of tobephobia, Fear of failure associated with education, learners’ violent behaviour and drug abuse.

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Authors: V. H. Mankar, T. S. Das, S. K. Sarkar

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In this paper, we have proposed a novel blind watermarking architecture towards its hardware implementation in VLSI. In order to facilitate this hardware realization, cellular automata (CA) concept is introduced. The CA has been already accepted as an attractive structure for VLSI implementation because of its modularity, parallelism, high performance and reliability. The hardware realizable multiresolution spread spectrum watermarking techniques are very few in numbers in spite of their best ever resiliency against signal impairments. This is because of the computational cost and complexity associated with their different filter banks and lifting techniques. The concept of cellular automata theory in order to form a new transform domain technique i.e. Cellular Automata Transform (CAT) have been incorporated. Since CA provides spreading sequences having very low cross-correlation properties, the CA based pseudorandom sequence generator is considered in the present work. Considering the watermarking technique as a digital communication process, an error control coding (ECC) must be incorporated in the data hiding schemes. Besides the hardware implementation of entire CA based data hiding technique, the individual blocks of the algorithm using CA provide the best result than that of some other methods irrespective of the hardware and software technique. The Cellular Automata Transform, CA based PN sequence generator, and CA ECC are the requisite blocks that are developed not only to meet the reliable hardware requirements but also for the basic spread spectrum watermarking features. The proposed algorithm shows statistical invisibility and resiliency against various common signal-processing operations. This algorithmic design utilizes the existing allocated bandwidth in the data transmission channel in a more efficient manner.

Keywords: Cellular automata, watermarking, error control coding, PN sequence, VLSI.

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Authors: Naeem Ullah Khan, Kalsoom Khan

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No state can be progressive and prosperous in which a large number of people is deprived of their basic economic rights and freedoms. In the contemporary world of globalization, the right to development has gained a momentum force in the domain of International Development Law (IDL) and has integrated into the National Legal System (NLS) of the major developed states. The international experts on human rights argued that the right to development (RTD) is called a third-generation human right which tends to enhance the welfare and prosperity of individuals, and thus, it is a right to a process whose outcomes are human rights despite the controversy on the implications of RTD. In the Pakistan legal system, the RTD has not been expressly stated in the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973. However, there are some implied constitutional provisions which reflect the concept of RTD. The jurisprudence on RTD is still an evolving paradigm in the contextual perspective of Pakistan, and the superior court of diverse jurisdiction acts as a catalyst regarding the protection and enforcement of RTD in the interest of the public at large. However, the case law explores the positive inclination of the courts in Pakistan on RTD be incorporated as an express provision in the chapters of fundamental rights; in this scenario, the high court’s of Pakistan under Article 199 and the supreme court of Pakistan under Article 184(3) have exercised jurisdiction on the enforcement of RTD. This paper inter-alia examines the national dimensions of RTD from the standpoint of state practice in Pakistan and it analyzes the experience of judiciary in the protection and enforcement of RTD. Moreover, the paper highlights the social and cultural challenges to Pakistan in the implementation of RTD and possible solution to improve the conditions of human rights in Pakistan. This paper will also highlight the steps taken by Pakistan regarding the awareness, incorporation, and propagation of RTD at the national level.

Keywords: Globalization, Pakistan, RTD, third-generation right.

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Authors: Mohammad Saeri, Noor Rizkiyah, Kambang Vetrani Asie, Titin Apung Atikah

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The study aims to assess efficient specific-location soybean farming technology assembly by assisting the farmers in applying the suggested technology. Superimposed trial was conducted to know NPK fertilizer effect toward soybean growth and yield and soybean improved variety test for the dissemination of improved variety. The assessment was conducted at the farmers group of Sumber Rejeki, Kepulungan Village, Gempol Sub-district, Pasuruan Regency as the soybean central at Pasuruan area. The number of farmers involved in the study was 38 people with 25 ha soybean area. This study was held from July to October 2012.  The recommended technology package agreed at the socialization time and used in this research were: using Argomulyo variety seeds of 40 kg/ha, planting by drilling, planting by distance of 40x10 cm, deciding the seeds amount of 2-3 seeds per hole, and giving fertilization based on recommendation of East Java AIAT of 50 kg Urea, 100 kg SP-36 and 50 kg KCl.  Farmers around the research location were used as control group. Assessment on soybean farming system was considered effective because it could increase the production up to 38%. The farming analysis showed that the result collaborator farmers gained were positively higher than non-collaborator farmers with RC ratio of 2.03 and 1.54, respectively. Argomulyo variety has the prospect to be developed due to the high yield of about 2 tons/ha and the larger seeds. The NPK fertilization test at the soybean plants showed that the fertilization had minor effect on the yield.

Keywords: Farming system, soybean, variety, location specific farming.

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Authors: Sanjeev Sharma, Suman Lata

Abstract:

With the availability of diverse printed, electronic literature and web sites on medical and health related information, it is impossible for the medical professional to get the information he seeks in the shortest possible time. For all these problems information literacy is the only solution. Thus, information literacy is recognized as an important aspect of medical education. In the present study, an attempt has been made to know the information literacy skills of the faculty and students at medical colleges of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh. The scope of the study was confined to the 12 selected medical colleges of three States (Haryana, Punjab, and Chandigarh). The findings of the study were based on the data collected through 1018 questionnaires filled by the respondents of the medical colleges. It was found that Online Medical Websites (such as WebMD, eMedicine and Mayo Clinic etc.) were frequently used by 63.43% of the respondents of Chandigarh which is slightly more than Haryana (61%) and Punjab (55.65%). As well, 30.86% of the respondents of Chandigarh, 27.41% of Haryana and 27.05% of Punjab were familiar with the controlled vocabulary tool; 25.14% respondents of Chandigarh, 23.80% of Punjab, 23.17% of Haryana were familiar with the Boolean operators; 33.05% of the respondents of Punjab, 28.19% of Haryana and 25.14% of Chandigarh were familiar with the use and importance of the keywords while searching an electronic database; and 51.43% of the respondents of Chandigarh, 44.52% of Punjab and 36.29% of Haryana were able to make effective use of the retrieved information. For accessing information in electronic format, 47.74% of the respondents rated their skills high, while the majority of respondents (76.13%) were unfamiliar with the basic search technique i.e. Boolean operator used for searching information in an online database. On the basis of the findings, it was suggested that a comprehensive training program based on medical professionals information needs should be organized frequently. Furthermore, it was also suggested that information literacy may be included as a subject in the health science curriculum so as to make the medical professionals information literate and independent lifelong learners.

Keywords: Information, information literacy, medical colleges, medical professionals.

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Authors: C. Barreto Carvalho, C. da Motta, J. Pinto-Gouveia, E. B. Peixoto

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Auditory hallucinations among the most invalidating and distressing experiences reported by patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, leading to feelings of powerlessness and helplessness towards their illness. In more severe cases, these auditory hallucinations can take the form of commanding voices, which are often related to high suicidality rates in these patients. Several authors propose that the meanings attributed to the hallucinatory experience, rather than characteristics like form and content, can be determinant in patients’ reactions to hallucinatory activity, particularly in the case of voice-hearing experiences. In this study, 48 patients diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia presenting auditory hallucinations were studied. Multiple regression analyses were computed to study the influence of several developmental aspects, such as family and social dynamics, bullying, depression, and sociocognitive variables on the auditory hallucinations, on patients’ attributions and relationships with their voices, and on the resulting invalidation of hallucinatory experience. Overall, results showed how relationships with voices can mirror several aspects of interpersonal relationship with others, and how self-schemas, depression and actual social relationships help shaping the voice-hearing experience. Early experiences of victimization and submission help predict the attributions of omnipotence of the voices, and increased hostility from parents seems to increase the malevolence of the voices, suggesting that socio-cognitive factors can significantly contribute to the etiology and maintenance of auditory hallucinations. The understanding of the characteristics of auditory hallucinations and the relationships patients established with their voices can allow the development of more promising therapeutic interventions that can be more effective in decreasing invalidation caused by this devastating mental illness.

Keywords: Auditory hallucinations, beliefs, life events, schizophrenia.

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Authors: Muhammad Aqil, Ichiro Kita, Moses Macalinao

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Reliable water level forecasts are particularly important for warning against dangerous flood and inundation. The current study aims at investigating the suitability of the adaptive network based fuzzy inference system for continuous water level modeling. A hybrid learning algorithm, which combines the least square method and the back propagation algorithm, is used to identify the parameters of the network. For this study, water levels data are available for a hydrological year of 2002 with a sampling interval of 1-hour. The number of antecedent water level that should be included in the input variables is determined by two statistical methods, i.e. autocorrelation function and partial autocorrelation function between the variables. Forecasting was done for 1-hour until 12-hour ahead in order to compare the models generalization at higher horizons. The results demonstrate that the adaptive networkbased fuzzy inference system model can be applied successfully and provide high accuracy and reliability for river water level estimation. In general, the adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system provides accurate and reliable water level prediction for 1-hour ahead where the MAPE=1.15% and correlation=0.98 was achieved. Up to 12-hour ahead prediction, the model still shows relatively good performance where the error of prediction resulted was less than 9.65%. The information gathered from the preliminary results provide a useful guidance or reference for flood early warning system design in which the magnitude and the timing of a potential extreme flood are indicated.

Keywords: Neural Network, Fuzzy, River, Forecasting

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Authors: Shilpy Sharma

Abstract:

As the web continues to grow exponentially, the idea of crawling the entire web on a regular basis becomes less and less feasible, so the need to include information on specific domain, domain-specific search engines was proposed. As more information becomes available on the World Wide Web, it becomes more difficult to provide effective search tools for information access. Today, people access web information through two main kinds of search interfaces: Browsers (clicking and following hyperlinks) and Query Engines (queries in the form of a set of keywords showing the topic of interest) [2]. Better support is needed for expressing one's information need and returning high quality search results by web search tools. There appears to be a need for systems that do reasoning under uncertainty and are flexible enough to recover from the contradictions, inconsistencies, and irregularities that such reasoning involves. In a multi-view problem, the features of the domain can be partitioned into disjoint subsets (views) that are sufficient to learn the target concept. Semi-supervised, multi-view algorithms, which reduce the amount of labeled data required for learning, rely on the assumptions that the views are compatible and uncorrelated. This paper describes the use of semi-structured machine learning approach with Active learning for the “Domain Specific Search Engines". A domain-specific search engine is “An information access system that allows access to all the information on the web that is relevant to a particular domain. The proposed work shows that with the help of this approach relevant data can be extracted with the minimum queries fired by the user. It requires small number of labeled data and pool of unlabelled data on which the learning algorithm is applied to extract the required data.

Keywords: Search engines; machine learning, Informationretrieval, Active logic.

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Authors: Raad Nari, Maura Moriaty, Maha T. Barakat

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Introduction: Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are a new class of oral anti-diabetic drugs with a unique mechanism of action. They are used to improve glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes by enhancing urinary glucose excretion. In the UAE, there has been certainly an increased use of these medications. As with any new medication, there are safety considerations related to their use in patients with type two diabetes. A retrospective study was conducted at the three main centres of the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre. Methodology: All patients in electronic database (Diamond) from October 2014 to October 2017 were included with a minimum of six months usage of sodium glucose co-transporter inhibitors that comprise canagliflozin, dapagliflozin and empagliflozin. There were 15 paired sample biochemical and clinical correlations. The analysis was done at the start of the study, three months and six months apart. SPSS version 24 was used for this study. Conclusion: This study of sodium glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors used showed significant reductions in weight, glycated haemoglobin A1C, systolic and diastolic blood pressures. As the case with systematic reviews, there were similar changes in liver enzymes, raised total cholesterol, low density lipopoptein and high density lipoprotein. There was slight improvement in estimated glomerular filtration rate too. Our analysis also showed that they increased in the incidence of urinary tract symptoms and incidence of urinary tract infections.

Keywords: SGLT2 inhibitors dapagliflozin empagliflozin canagliflozin, adverse effects, amputation diabetic ketoacidosis DKA, urinary tract infection.

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Authors: Omowunmi E. Isafiade, Isaac O. Osunmakinde, Antoine B. Bagula

Abstract:

Robots- visual perception is a field that is gaining increasing attention from researchers. This is partly due to emerging trends in the commercial availability of 3D scanning systems or devices that produce a high information accuracy level for a variety of applications. In the history of mining, the mortality rate of mine workers has been alarming and robots exhibit a great deal of potentials to tackle safety issues in mines. However, an effective vision system is crucial to safe autonomous navigation in underground terrains. This work investigates robots- perception in underground terrains (mines and tunnels) using statistical region merging (SRM) model. SRM reconstructs the main structural components of an imagery by a simple but effective statistical analysis. An investigation is conducted on different regions of the mine, such as the shaft, stope and gallery, using publicly available mine frames, with a stream of locally captured mine images. An investigation is also conducted on a stream of underground tunnel image frames, using the XBOX Kinect 3D sensors. The Kinect sensors produce streams of red, green and blue (RGB) and depth images of 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per second. Integrating the depth information to drivability gives a strong cue to the analysis, which detects 3D results augmenting drivable and non-drivable regions in 2D. The results of the 2D and 3D experiment with different terrains, mines and tunnels, together with the qualitative and quantitative evaluation, reveal that a good drivable region can be detected in dynamic underground terrains.

Keywords: Drivable Region Detection, Kinect Sensor, Robots' Perception, SRM, Underground Terrains.

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Authors: Benazeer Md. Shahzada, Verelst Jan, Van Grembergen Wim, Mannaert Herwig

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This article is an extension and a practical application approach of Wheeler-s NEBIC theory (Net Enabled Business Innovation Cycle). NEBIC theory is a new approach in IS research and can be used for dynamic environment related to new technology. Firms can follow the market changes rapidly with support of the IT resources. Flexible firms adapt their market strategies, and respond more quickly to customers changing behaviors. When every leading firm in an industry has access to the same IT resources, the way that these IT resources are managed will determine the competitive advantages or disadvantages of firm. From Dynamic Capabilities Perspective and from newly introduced NEBIC theory by Wheeler, we know that only IT resources cannot deliver customer value but good configuration of those resources can guarantee customer value by choosing the right emerging technology, grasping the right economic opportunities through business innovation and growth. We found evidences in literature that SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) is a promising emerging technology which can deliver the desired economic opportunity through modularity, flexibility and loose-coupling. SOA can also help firms to connect in network which can open a new window of opportunity to collaborate in innovation and right kind of outsourcing. There are many articles and research reports indicates that failure rate in outsourcing is very high but at the same time research indicates that successful outsourcing projects adds tangible and intangible benefits to the service consumer. Business executives and policy makers in the west should not afraid of outsourcing but they should choose the right strategy through the use of emerging technology to significantly reduce the failure rate in outsourcing.

Keywords: Absorptive capacity, Dynamic Capability, Netenabled business innovation cycle, Service oriented architecture.

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Authors: Mohanchur Sakar, K.K.Shukla, K.S.Dasgupta

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This paper attempts to establish the fact that Multi State Network Classification is essential for performance enhancement of Transport protocols over Satellite based Networks. A model to classify Multi State network condition taking into consideration both congestion and channel error is evolved. In order to arrive at such a model an analysis of the impact of congestion and channel error on RTT values has been carried out using ns2. The analysis results are also reported in the paper. The inference drawn from this analysis is used to develop a novel statistical RTT based model for multi state network classification. An Adaptive Multi State Proactive Transport Protocol consisting of Proactive Slow Start, State based Error Recovery, Timeout Action and Proactive Reduction is proposed which uses the multi state network state classification model. This paper also confirms through detail simulation and analysis that a prior knowledge about the overall characteristics of the network helps in enhancing the performance of the protocol over satellite channel which is significantly affected due to channel noise and congestion. The necessary augmentation of ns2 simulator is done for simulating the multi state network classification logic. This simulation has been used in detail evaluation of the protocol under varied levels of congestion and channel noise. The performance enhancement of this protocol with reference to established protocols namely TCP SACK and Vegas has been discussed. The results as discussed in this paper clearly reveal that the proposed protocol always outperforms its peers and show a significant improvement in very high error conditions as envisaged in the design of the protocol.

Keywords: GEO, ns2, Proactive TCP, SACK, Vegas

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Authors: Hossein Mohammadzadeh, Mojtaba Heydarizad

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Among various water resources, the surface water has a dominant role in providing water supply in the arid and semi-arid region of Iran. Andarokh-Kardeh basin is located in 50 km from Mashhad city - the second biggest city of Iran (NE of Iran), draining by Kardeh river which provides a significant portion of potable and irrigation water needs for Mashhad. The stable isotopes (¹⁸O, ²H,¹³C-DIC, and ¹³C-DOC), as reliable and precious water fingerprints, have been measured in Kardeh river (Kharket, Mareshk, Jong, All and Kardeh stations) and in Kardeh dam reservoirs (at five different sites S1 to S5) during March to June 2011 and June 2012. On δ¹⁸O vs. δ²H diagram, the river samples were plotted between Global and Eastern Mediterranean Meteoric Water lines (GMWL and EMMWL) which demonstrate that various moisture sources are providing humidity for precipitation events in this area. The enriched δ¹⁸O and δ²H values (-6.5 ‰ and -44.5 ‰ VSMOW) of Kardeh dam reservoir are compared to Kardeh river (-8.6‰and-54.4‰), and its deviation from Mashhad meteoric water line (MMWL- δ²H=7.16δ¹⁸O+11.22) is due to evaporation from the open surface water body. The enriched value of δ ¹³C-DIC and high amount of DIC values (-7.9 ‰ VPDB and 57.23 ppm) in the river and Kardeh dam reservoir (-7.3 ‰ VPDB and 55.53 ppm) is due to dissolution of Mozdooran Carbonate Formation lithology (Jm1 to Jm3 units) (contains enriched δ¹³C DIC values of 9.2‰ to 27.7‰ VPDB) in the region. Because of the domination of C3 vegetations in Andarokh_Kardeh basin, the δ¹³C-DOC isotope of the river (-28.4‰ VPDB) and dam reservoir (-32.3‰ VPDB) demonstrate depleted values. Higher DOC concentration in dam reservoir (2.57 ppm) compared to the river (0.72 ppm) is due to more biologogical activities and organic matters in dam reservoir.

Keywords: Dam reservoir, Iran, Kardeh river, Khorasan razavi, Stable isotopes.

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Authors: D. Boecker, R. Breves, F. Herth, Z. Zhang, C. Bulitta

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Pathogen-carrying aerosol particles are recognized as important infection carriers like those in the current Corona pandemic. This infection route is often underestimated yet represents the infection route that has been least systematically countered to date. Particularly, the transmission indoors is of the highest concern but current indoor safety measures (e.g.: distancing, masks, filters) provide only limited protection. Inhalation of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) containing aerosols may become an alternate route to attack the incubating microbes in-situ and so potentially lead to a reduction of symptoms of already infected individuals. We investigated a facility-wide air-disinfection concept utilizing the potential of vaporized HOCl to become a disinfecting agent for populated indoor atmospheres. Aerosolized bacterial microbes were used as surrogates for a viral contamination, particularly the enveloped coronavirus. For the room air purification tests we aerosolized bacterial suspensions into lab chambers preloaded with vaporized HOCl solutions. Concentration of ‘free active chlorine’ in the test chamber atmosphere was determined with a special gas sensor system (Draeger AG, Lübeck, Germany) controlling the amount of vaporized HOCl via an aerosolis® device (oji Europe GmbH, Nauen, Germany). We could confirm the disinfecting power of HOCl in suspensions and determined the high efficacy of vaporized HOCl to disinfect atmospheres of populated indoor places at safe and non-irritant levels.

Keywords: Hypochlorous acid, HOCl, indoor air cleaning, infection control, microbial air burden, protective atmosphere.

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Authors: S. Huber, B. Schnalzer, B. Alcalde, S. Hanke, L. Mpaltadoros, T. G. Stavropoulos, S. Nikolopoulos, I. Kompatsiaris, L. Pérez-Breva, V. Rodrigo-Casares, J. Fons-Martínez, J. de Bruin

Abstract:

Developing new medicine and health solutions and improving patient health currently rely on the successful execution of clinical trials, which generate relevant safety and efficacy data. For their success, recruitment and retention of participants are some of the most challenging aspects of protocol adherence. Main barriers include: i) lack of awareness of clinical trials; ii) long distance from the clinical site; iii) the burden on participants, including the duration and number of clinical visits, and iv) high dropout rate. Most of these aspects could be addressed with a new paradigm, namely the Remote Decentralized Clinical Trials (RDCTs). Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted additional advantages and challenges for RDCTs in practice, allowing participants to join trials from home and not depending on site visits, etc. Nevertheless, RDCTs should follow the process and the quality assurance of conventional clinical trials, which involve several processes. For each part of the trial, the Building Blocks, existing software and technologies were assessed through a systematic search. The technology needed to perform RDCTs is widely available and validated but is yet segmented and developed in silos, as different software solutions address different parts of the trial and at various levels. The current paper is analyzing the availability of technology to perform RDCTs, identifying gaps and providing an overview of Basic Building Blocks and functionalities that need to be covered to support the described processes.

Keywords: architectures and frameworks for health informatics systems, clinical trials, information and communications technology, remote decentralized clinical trials, technology availability

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Authors: Denise Levy

Abstract:

Nuclear technology is part of our everyday life and its beneficial applications help to improve the quality of our lives. Nevertheless, in Brazil, most often the media and social networks tend to associate radiation to nuclear weapons and major accidents, and there is still great misunderstanding about the peaceful applications of nuclear science. The Educational Portal Radioatividades (Radioactivities) is a corporate social responsibility initiative that takes advantage of the growing impact of Internet to offer high quality scientific information for teachers and students throughout Brazil. This web-based initiative focusses on the positive applications of nuclear technology, presenting the several contributions of ionizing radiation in different contexts, such as nuclear medicine, agriculture techniques, food safety and electric power generation, proving nuclear technology as part of modern life and a must to improve the quality of our lifestyle. This educational project aims to contribute for democratization of scientific education and social inclusion, approaching society to scientific knowledge, promoting critical thinking and inspiring further reflections. The website offers a wide variety of ludic activities such as curiosities, interactive exercises and short courses. Moreover, teachers are offered free web-based material with full instructions to be developed in class. Since year 2013, the project has been developed and improved according to a comprehensive study about the realistic scenario of ICTs infrastructure in Brazilian schools and in full compliance with the best e-learning national and international recommendations.

Keywords: Information and communication technologies, nuclear technology, science communication, society and education.

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Authors: D. Kliaugaitė, J. K, Staniškis

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In this study tree types of multilayer gas barrier plastic packaging films were compared using life cycle assessment as a tool for resource efficient and environmentally low-impact materials selection. The first type of multilayer packaging film (PET-AlOx/LDPE) consists of polyethylene terephthalate with barrier layer AlOx (PET-AlOx) and low density polyethylene (LDPE). The second type of polymer film (PET/PE-EVOH-PE) is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and co-extrusion film PE-EVOH-PE as barrier layer. And the third one type of multilayer packaging film (PET-PVOH/LDPE) is formed from polyethylene terephthalate with barrier layer PVOH (PET-PVOH) and low density polyethylene (LDPE).

All of analyzed packaging has significant impact to resource depletion, because of raw materials extraction and energy use and production of different kind of plastics. Nevertheless the impact generated during life cycle of functional unit of II type of packaging (PET/PE-EVOH-PE) was about 25% lower than impact generated by I type (PET-AlOx/LDPE) and III type (PET-PVOH/LDPE) of packaging.

Result revealed that the contribution of different gas barrier type to the overall environmental problem of packaging is not significant. The impact are mostly generated by using energy and materials during raw material extraction and production of different plastic materials as plastic polymers material as PE, LDPE and PET, but not gas barrier materials as AlOx, PVOH and EVOH.

The LCA results could be useful in different decision-making processes, for selecting resource efficient and environmentally low-impact materials.

Keywords: Polymer packaging, life cycle assessment, resource efficiency.

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Authors: Abhinandan Singh Gill

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Paper mill sludge is one of the major economic and environmental problems for paper and board industry, million tonnes quantity of sludge is produced in the world. It is essential to dispose these wastes safely without affecting health of human being, environment, fertile land; sources of water bodies, economy as it adversely affect the strength, durability and other properties of building materials based on them. Moreover, in developing countries like India where there is low availability of non-renewable resources and large need of building material like cement therefore it is essential to develop eco-efficient utilization of paper sludge. Primarily in functional terms paper sludge comprises of cellulose fibers, calcium carbonate, china clay, low silica, residual chemical bonds with water. The material is sticky and full of moisture content which is hard to dry. The manufacturing of paper usually produce loads of solid waste. These paper fibers are recycled in paper mills to limited number of times till they become weak to produce high quality paper. Thereafter, these left out small and weak pieces called as low quality paper fibers are detached out to become paper sludge. The material is by-product of de-inking and re-pulping of paper. This hypo sludge includes all kinds of inks, dyes, coating etc inscribed on the paper. This paper presents an overview of the published work on the use of hypo sludge in M25 concrete formulations as a supplementary cementitious material exploring its properties such as compressive strength, splitting and parameters like modulus of elasticity, density, applications and most importantly investigation of low cost concrete by using hypo sludge are presented.

Keywords: Concrete, sludge waste, hypo sludge, supplementary cementitious material.

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