Search results for: physiologically active substances

Authors: Hossein Keshavarz, Alejandro Ramirez-Serrano

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Energy efficiency and locomotion speed are two key parameters for legged robots, thus finding ways to improve them are important. This paper proposes a locomotion framework to analyze the energy usage and speed of quadruped robots via a Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimization process. For this, a quadruped robot platform with joint redundancy in its hind legs that we believe will help multi-legged robots improve their speed and energy consumption is used. ContinuO, the quadruped robot of interest, has 14 active degrees of freedom (DoFs), including three DoFs for each front leg, and unlike previously developed quadruped robots, four DoFs for each hind leg. ContinuO aims to realize a cost-effective quadruped robot for real-world scenarios with high-speeds and the ability to overcome large obstructions. The proposed framework is used to locomote the robot and analyze its energy consumed at diverse stride lengths and locomotion speeds. The analysis is performed by comparing the obtained results in two modes, with and without the joint redundancy on the robot’s hind legs.

Keywords: Genetic algorithm optimization, locomotion path planning, quadruped robots, redundant legs.

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Authors: Ahmet Kivanc Kutluca, Semahat Ozdemir

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Urban disaster risks and vulnerabilities are great problems for Turkey. The annual loss of life and property through disaster in the world-s major metropolitan areas is increasing. Urban concentrations of the poor and less-informed in environmentally fragile locations suffer the impact of disaster disproportionately. Gecekondu (squatter) developments will compound the inherent risks associated with high-density environments, in appropriate technologies, and inadequate infrastructure. On the other hand, there are many geological disadvantages such as sitting on top of active tectonic plate boundaries, and why having avalanche, flood, and landslide and drought prone areas in Turkey. However, this natural formation is inevitable; the only way to survive in such a harsh geography is to be aware of importance of these natural events and to take political and physical measures. The main aim of this research is to bring up the magnitude of natural hazard risks in Izmir built-up zone, not being taken into consideration adequately. Because the dimensions of the peril are not taken seriously enough, the natural hazard risks, which are commonly well known, are not considered important or they are being forgotten after some time passes. Within this research, the magnitude of natural hazard risks for Izmir is being presented in the scope of concrete and local researches over Izmir risky areas.

Keywords: Earthquake, Flood, Landslide, Natural Hazard Planning.

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Authors: Paolo Pilloni, Fabrizio Mulas, Salvatore Carta

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Nowadays, several research studies point up that an active lifestyle is essential for physical and mental health benefits. Mobile phones have greatly influenced people’s habits and attitudes also in the way they exercise. Our research work is mainly focused on investigating how to exploit mobile technologies to favour people’s exertion experience. To this end, we developed an exertion framework users can exploit through a real world mobile application, called EverywhereSport Run (EWRun), designed to act as a virtual personal trainer to support runners during their trainings. In this work, inspired by both previous findings in the field of interaction design for people with visual impairments, feedback gathered from real users of our framework, and positive results obtained from two experimentations, we present some new interaction facilities we designed to enhance the interaction experience during a training. The positive obtained results helped us to derive some interaction design recommendations we believe will be a valid support for designers of future mobile systems conceived to be used in circumstances where there are limited possibilities of interaction.

Keywords: Human Computer Interaction, Interaction Design Guidelines, Persuasive Mobile Technologies for Sport and Health.

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Authors: Thomas Bryan, Veton Kepuska, Ivica Kostanic

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A simple adaptive voice activity detector (VAD) is implemented using Gabor and gammatone atomic decomposition of speech for high Gaussian noise environments. Matching pursuit is used for atomic decomposition, and is shown to achieve optimal speech detection capability at high data compression rates for low signal to noise ratios. The most active dictionary elements found by matching pursuit are used for the signal reconstruction so that the algorithm adapts to the individual speakers dominant time-frequency characteristics. Speech has a high peak to average ratio enabling matching pursuit greedy heuristic of highest inner products to isolate high energy speech components in high noise environments. Gabor and gammatone atoms are both investigated with identical logarithmically spaced center frequencies, and similar bandwidths. The algorithm performs equally well for both Gabor and gammatone atoms with no significant statistical differences. The algorithm achieves 70% accuracy at a 0 dB SNR, 90% accuracy at a 5 dB SNR and 98% accuracy at a 20dB SNR using 30d B SNR as a reference for voice activity.

Keywords: Atomic Decomposition, Gabor, Gammatone, Matching Pursuit, Voice Activity Detection.

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Authors: H. Feza Carlak, N. G. Gencer

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To increase the temperature contrast in thermal images, the characteristics of the electrical conductivity and thermal imaging modalities can be combined. In this experimental study, it is objected to observe whether the temperature contrast created by the tumor tissue can be improved just due to the current application within medical safety limits. Various thermal breast phantoms are developed to simulate the female breast tissue. In vitro experiments are implemented using a thermal infrared camera in a controlled manner. Since experiments are implemented in vitro, there is no metabolic heat generation and blood perfusion. Only the effects and results of the electrical stimulation are investigated. Experimental study is implemented with two-dimensional models. Temperature contrasts due to the tumor tissues are obtained. Cancerous tissue is determined using the difference and ratio of healthy and tumor images. 1 cm diameter single tumor tissue causes almost 40 °mC temperature contrast on the thermal-breast phantom. Electrode artifacts are reduced by taking the difference and ratio of background (healthy) and tumor images. Ratio of healthy and tumor images show that temperature contrast is increased by the current application.

Keywords: Medical diagnostic imaging, breast phantom, active thermography, breast cancer detection.

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Authors: Yuxuan Huang, Weixin Qian, Hongfang Ma, Haitao Zhang, Weiyong Ying

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Light olefins are important building blocks for chemical industry. Direct conversion of syngas to light olefins has been investigated for decades. Meanwhile, the limit for light olefins selectivity described by Anderson-Schulz-Flory (ASF) distribution model is still a great challenge to conventional Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The emerging strategy called oxide-zeolite concept (OX-ZEO) is a promising way to get rid of this limit. ZnCrO_x was prepared by co-precipitation method and (NH₄)₂CO₃ was used as precipitant. SAPO-34 was prepared by hydrothermal synthesis, and Tetraethylammonium hydroxide (TEAOH) was used as template, while silica sol, pseudo-boehmite, and phosphoric acid were Al, Si and P source, respectively. The bifunctional catalyst was prepared by mechanical mixing of ZnCrO_x and SAPO-34. Catalytic reactions were carried out under H₂/CO=2, 380 ℃, 1 MPa and 6000 mL·g_cat^-1·h^-1 in a fixed-bed reactor with a quartz lining. Catalysts were characterized by XRD, N₂ adsorption-desorption, NH₃-TPD, H₂-TPR, and CO-TPD. The addition of Al as structure promoter enhances CO conversion and selectivity to light olefins. Zn/Cr ratio, which decides the active component content and chemisorption property of the catalyst, influences CO conversion and selectivity to light olefins at the same time. C_2-4⁼ distribution of 86% among hydrocarbons at CO conversion of 14% was reached when Zn/Cr=1.5.

Keywords: Light olefins, OX-ZEO, syngas, ZnCrOx.

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Authors: Abdellatif Kasbi, Abderrafii Rahali

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During the recent years, much interest has been devoted to fractional order control that has appeared as a very eligible control approach for the systems experiencing parametric uncertainty and outer disturbances. The main purpose of this paper is to design and evaluate the performance of a fractional order proportional integral (FOPI) controller applied to control prototype variable speed wind generation system (WGS) that uses a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). In this paper, the DFIG-machine is controlled according to the stator field-oriented control (FOC) strategy, which makes it possible to regulate separately the reactive and active powers exchanged between the WGS and the grid. The considered system is modeled and simulated using MATLAB-Simulink, and the performance of FOPI controller applied to the back-to-back power converter control of DFIG based grid connected variable speed wind turbine are evaluated and compared to the ones obtained with a conventional PI controller.

Keywords: Design, fractional order PI controller, wind generation system, doubly fed induction generator, wind turbine, field-oriented control.

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Authors: M. Y. Ismail, M. Inam

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This paper presents the design and analysis of Liquid Crystal (LC) based tunable reflectarray antenna with slot embedded patch element configurations within X-band frequency range. The slots are shown to modify the surface current distribution on the patch element of reflectarray which causes the resonant patch element to provide different resonant frequencies depending on the slot dimensions. The simulated results are supported and verified by waveguide scattering parameter measurements of different reflectarray unit cells. Different rectangular slots on patch element have been fabricated and a change in resonant frequency from 10.46GHz to 8.78GHz has been demonstrated as the width of the rectangular slot is varied from 0.2W to 0.6W. The rectangular slot in the center of the patch element has also been utilized for the frequency tunable reflectarray antenna design based on K-15 Nematic LC. For the active reflectarray antenna design, a frequency tunability of 1.2% from 10GHz to 9.88GHz has been demonstrated with a dynamic phase range of 103° provided by the measured scattering parameter results. Time consumed by liquid crystals for reconfiguration, which is one of the drawback of LC based design, has also been disused in this paper.

Keywords: Liquid crystal, tunable reflectarray, frequency tunability, dynamic phase range.

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Authors: S. H. Mohades Kasaei, S. M. Mohades Kasaei, S. A. Mohades Kasaei, M. Taheri, M. Rahimi, H. Vahiddastgerdi, M. Saeidinezhad

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Omni directional mobile robots have been popularly employed in several applications especially in soccer player robots considered in Robocup competitions. However, Omni directional navigation system, Omni-vision system and solenoid kicking mechanism in such mobile robots have not ever been combined. This situation brings the idea of a robot with no head direction into existence, a comprehensive Omni directional mobile robot. Such a robot can respond more quickly and it would be capable for more sophisticated behaviors with multi-sensor data fusion algorithm for global localization base on the data fusion. This paper has tried to focus on the research improvements in the mechanical, electrical and software design of the robots of team ADRO Iran. The main improvements are the world model, the new strategy framework, mechanical structure, Omni-vision sensor for object detection, robot path planning, active ball handling mechanism and the new kicker design, , and other subjects related to mobile robot

Keywords: Mobile robot, Machine vision, Omni directional movement, Autonomous Systems, Robot path planning, Object Localization.

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Authors: Banaja Mohanty, Prakash Kumar Hota

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This paper represents performance of particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm based integral (I) controller and proportional-integral controller (PI) for interconnected hydro-thermal automatic generation control (AGC) with generation rate constraint (GRC) and Thyristor controlled phase shifter (TCPS) in series with tie line. The control strategy of TCPS provides active control of system frequency. Conventional objective function integral square error (ISE) and another objective function considering square of derivative of change in frequencies of both areas and change in tie line power are considered. The aim of designing the objective function is to suppress oscillation in frequency deviations and change in tie line power oscillation. The controller parameters are searched by PSO algorithm by minimising the objective functions. The dynamic performance of the controllers I and PI, for both the objective functions, are compared with conventionally optimized I controller.

Keywords: Automatic generation control (AGC), Generation rate constraint (GRC), Thyristor control phase shifter (TCPS), Particle swarm optimization (PSO).

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Authors: Vakhtang Geladze, Nana Bolashvili, Tamazi Karalashvili, Nino Machavariani, Vajha Neidze, Nana Kvirkvelia, Tamar Chichinadze

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Deficiency of fresh water is a vital global problem today. It must be taken into consideration that in the nearest future fresh water crisis will become even more acute owing to the global climate warming and fast desertification processes in the world. Georgia has signed the association agreement with Euro Union last year where the priority spheres of cooperation are the management of water resources, development of trans-boundary approach to the problem and active participation in the “Euro Union water initiative” component of “the East Europe, Caucasus and the Central Asia”. Fresh water resources are the main natural wealth of Georgia. According to the average water layer height, Georgia is behind such European countries only as Norway, Switzerland and Austria. The annual average water provision of Georgia is 4-8 times higher than in its neighbor countries Armenia and Azerbaijan. Despite abundant water resources in Georgia, there is considerable discrepancy between their volume and use in some regions because of the uneven territorial distribution. In the East Georgia, water supply of the territory and population is four times less than in the West Georgia.

Keywords: GIS, sociological survey, water consumption, water resources.

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Authors: M. Zarei, A. Roozegar, R. Kazemzadeh, J.M. Kauffmann

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This paper describes an efficient and practical method for economic dispatch problem in one and two area electrical power systems with considering the constraint of the tie transmission line capacity constraint. Direct search method (DSM) is used with some equality and inequality constraints of the production units with any kind of fuel cost function. By this method, it is possible to use several inequality constraints without having difficulty for complex cost functions or in the case of unavailability of the cost function derivative. To minimize the number of total iterations in searching, process multi-level convergence is incorporated in the DSM. Enhanced direct search method (EDSM) for two area power system will be investigated. The initial calculation step size that causes less iterations and then less calculation time is presented. Effect of the transmission tie line capacity, between areas, on economic dispatch problem and on total generation cost will be studied; line compensation and active power with reactive power dispatch are proposed to overcome the high generation costs for this multi-area system.

Keywords: Economic dispatch, Power System Operation, Direct Search Method, Transmission Capacity Constraint.

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Authors: A. Pashkevich, A. Klimchik, D. Chablat

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The paper focuses on the enhanced stiffness modeling of robotic manipulators by taking into account influence of the external force/torque acting upon the end point. It implements the virtual joint technique that describes the compliance of manipulator elements by a set of localized six-dimensional springs separated by rigid links and perfect joints. In contrast to the conventional formulation, which is valid for the unloaded mode and small displacements, the proposed approach implicitly assumes that the loading leads to the non-negligible changes of the manipulator posture and corresponding amendment of the Jacobian. The developed numerical technique allows computing the static equilibrium and relevant force/torque reaction of the manipulator for any given displacement of the end-effector. This enables designer detecting essentially nonlinear effects in elastic behavior of manipulator, similar to the buckling of beam elements. It is also proposed the linearization procedure that is based on the inversion of the dedicated matrix composed of the stiffness parameters of the virtual springs and the Jacobians/Hessians of the active and passive joints. The developed technique is illustrated by an application example that deals with the stiffness analysis of a parallel manipulator of the Orthoglide family

Keywords: Robotic manipulators, Stiffness model, Loaded mode, Nonlinear effects, Buckling, Orthoglide manipulator

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Authors: Mete Kazaz

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Despite the internet, which is one of the mass media that has become quite common in recent years, the relationship of Advertisement with Television and Cinema, which have always drawn attention of researchers as basic media and where visual use is in the foreground, have also become the subject of various studies. Based on the assumption that the known fundamental effects of advertisements on consumers are closely related to the creative process of advertisements as well as the nature and characteristics of the medium where they are used, these basic mass media (Television and Cinema) and the consumer motivations of the advertisements they broadcast have become a focus of study. Given that the viewers of the mass media in question have shifted from a passive position to a more active one especially in recent years and approach contents of advertisements, as they do all contents, in a more critical and “pitiless" manner, it is possible to say that individuals make more use of advertisements than in the past and combine their individual goals with the goals of the advertisements. This study, which aims at finding out what the goals of these new individual advertisement use are, how they are shaped by the distinct characteristics of Television and Cinema, where visuality takes precedence as basic mass media, and what kind of places they occupy in the minds of consumers, has determined consumers- motivations as: “Entertainment", “Escapism", “Play", “Monitoring/Discovery", “Opposite Sex" and “Aspirations and Role Models". This study intends to reveal the differences or similarities among the needs and hence the gratifications of viewers who consume advertisements on Television or at the Cinema, which are two basic media where visuality is prioritized.

Keywords: Cinema, Television, Viewers of Advertisements.

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Authors: A. S. Soğancı

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Expansive soils are often encountered in many parts of the world, especially in arid and semi-arid fields. Such kind of soils, generally including active clay minerals in low water content, enlarge in volume by absorbing the water through the surface and cause a great harm to the light structures such as channel coating, roads and airports. The expansive soils were encountered on the path of Apa-Hotamış conveyance channel belonging to the State Hydraulic Works in the region of Konya. In the research done in this area, it is predicted that the soil has a swollen nature and the soil should be filled with proper granular equipments by digging the ground to 50-60 cm. In this study, for purpose of helping the other research to be done in the same area, it is thought that instead of replacing swollen soil with the granular soil, by stabilizing it with polypropylene fiber and using it its original place decreases effect of swelling percent, in this way the cost will be decreased. Therefore, laboratory tests were conducted to study the effects of polypropylene fiber on swelling characteristics of expansive soil. Test results indicated that inclusion of fiber reduced swell percent of expansive soil. As the fiber content increased, the unconfined compressive strength was increased. Finally, it can be said that stabilization of expansive soils with polypropylene fiber is an effective method.

Keywords: Expansive soils, polypropylene fiber, stabilization, swelling percent.

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Authors: Umut Tuğlu Karslı

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Istanbul-Karakoy Port, field of this study, has lost its former significance in time due to the transformation of urban functions. Today, activities for regeneration of this region continue in two forms and scales. First of these activities is the "planned transformation projects," which also includes “Galataport project”, and the second one is "spontaneous transformation," which consists of individual interventions. Galataport project that based on the idea of arranging the area specifically for tourists was prepared in 2005 and became a topic of tremendous public debate. On the other hand, the "spontaneous transformation" that is observed in Karakoy District starts in 2004 with the foundation of “Istanbul Modern Museum” which allowed the cultural integration of old naval warehouses of the port to the daily life. Following this adaptive reuse intervention, the district started to accommodate numerous art galleries, studios, caféworkshops and design stores. In this context, this paper first examines regeneration studies in obsolete port regions, analyzes the planned and ongoing socio-spatial transformations in the specific case of Karakoy and performs a critical review of the sustainability of the proposals on how to reinstate the district in the active life of Istanbul.

Keywords: Port Cities, Socio-Spatial Transformation, Urban Regeneration, Urban Revitalization.

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Authors: Hanife Genç

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The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), is an economically important and endemic pest in olive (Oleae europae) orchards in Turkey. The aim of this study was to determine olive fruit fly infestation in different olive cultivars in the laboratory. Olive fly infested fruits were collected in Çanakkale province to establish wild fly population. After having reproductive olive fly colonies, 14 olive cultivars were tested in the controlled laboratory conditions, at 23±2 °C, 65% RH and 16:8 h (light: dark) photoperiod. The olive samples from 14 different olive cultivars were collected in October 2015, in Campus of Dardanos, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. Observations were carried out detecting some biological parameters such as the number of oviposition stings, active infestation, total infestation, the number of pupae and the adult emergence. The results indicated that oviposition stings were not associated with pupal yield. A few pupae were found within olive fruits which were not able to exit. Screening of the varieties suggested that less susceptible cultivar to olive fruit fly attacks was Arbequin while Gemlik-2M 2/3 showed significant susceptibility. Ovipositional preference of olive fly females and the success of larval development in different olive varieties are crucial for establishing new olive orchards to prevent high olive fruit fly infestation.

Keywords: Infestation, olive fruit fly, olive cultivars, oviposition sting.

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Authors: Dorota Kobus-Ostrowska

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Work for everyone, especially for person with disability is a condition in independence; it secures basic needs and develops manual and intellectual capabilities. The work is a source of income, and it builds and strengthens of self-esteem and competence. The purpose of this article is to identify work as an important factor in everyone’s life, despite Polish disabled persons rarely having the chance to undertake a job. In order to achieve this purpose, two methods were used: comparative and qualitative. The theoretical part of this article is based on studies of a wide range of Polish and foreign literature devoted to the issue of the occupational development of people with disabilities. The article was also enriched with the institutional and legal analysis types of support for people with disabilities in Poland. Currently, a Polish person with disability who wants to enter or return to the labor market is under a special protection. Those entities employing workers with disabilities may obtain a subsidy for the salary of a person with disabilities. Unfortunately, people with disability in Poland rarely participate in the workforce. The factors that contribute to this include the difficulty in obtaining work, the uncertainty of keeping it, and the low salary offered. Despite that domestic and foreign literature highlight the important role of disabled people as a workforce, very few people with disability in Poland are economically active.

Keywords: Disabled person, work, employer, rehabilitation.

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Authors: Titin Andri Wihastuti, Djanggan Sargowo

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NFκB is a transcription factor regulating many function of the vessel wall. In the normal condition , NFκB is revealed diffuse cytoplasmic expressionsuggesting that the system is inactive. The presence of activation NFκB provide a potential pathway for the rapid transcriptional of a variety of genes encoding cytokines, growth factors, adhesion molecules and procoagulatory factors. It is likely to play an important role in chronic inflamatory disease involved atherosclerosis. There are many stimuli with the potential to active NFκB, including hyperlipidemia. We used 24 mice which was divided in 6 groups. The HFD given by et libitum procedure during 2, 4, and 6 months. The parameters in this study were the amount of NFKB activation ,H2O2 as ROS and VCAM-1 as a product of NFKB activation. H2O2 colorimetryc assay performed directly using Anti Rat H2O2 ELISA Kit. The NFKB and VCAM-1 detection obtained from aorta mice, measured by ELISA kit and imunohistochemistry. There was a significant difference activation of H2O2, NFKB and VCAM-1 level at induce HFD after 2, 4 and 6 months. It suggest that HFD induce ROS formation and increase the activation of NFKB as one of atherosclerosis marker that caused by hyperlipidemia as classical atheroschlerosis risk factor.

Keywords: High Fat Diet, NFKB, H2O2, atherosclerosis

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Authors: B. Gopal, Pannala Krishna Murthy, G. N. Sreenivas

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The increasing demand of electric power is giving an emphasis on the need for the maximum utilization of renewable energy sources. On the other hand maintaining power quality to satisfaction of utility is an essential requirement. In this paper the design aspects of a Unified Power Quality Conditioner integrated with photovoltaic system in a distributed generation is presented. The proposed system consist of series inverter, shunt inverter are connected back to back on the dc side and share a common dc-link capacitor with Distributed Generation through a boost converter. The primary task of UPQC is to minimize grid voltage and load current disturbances along with reactive and harmonic power compensation. In addition to primary tasks of UPQC, other functionalities such as compensation of voltage interruption and active power transfer to the load and grid in both islanding and interconnected mode have been addressed. The simulation model is design in MATLAB/ Simulation environment and the results are in good agreement with the published work.

Keywords: Distributed Generation(DG), Interconnected mode, Islanding mode, Maximum power point tracking (MPPT), Power Quality (PQ), Unified power quality conditioner (UPQC), Photovoltaic array (PV).

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Authors: Hasan Basri Jumin, Abdur Rahman, M. Nur, Ernita, Tati Maharani

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The swamp land contains high levels of iron and aluminum, as well as a low pH. Calcium and magnesium present in the rice husk ash can mitigate plant poisoning, thereby enhancing plant growth and fertility. Two main factors were considered in the study: The dosage of rice husk, and the rhizobium inoculant dosage, which was varied at 0.0 g/kg seed, 4.0 g/kg seed, 8.0 g/kg seed, and 12.0 g/kg seed. The plants were cultivated under controlled lighting conditions with a photoperiod of 11.45 to 12.15 hours. The combination of rhizobium inoculant and rice husk ash has demonstrated an interacting effect on the production of fresh weight in long bean pods. The mean relative growth rate, net assimilation rate, and pod fresh weight are increased by a combination of husk rice ash and rhizobium inoculant. Rice husk ash enhances nitrogen availability in the soil, even in cases of poor nutritional conditions. Rhizobium plays an active role in nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere, as it enhances both intercellular and symbiotic nitrogen capabilities in long beans. The combination of rice husk ash and rhizobium can effectively contribute to thriving soil conditions.

Keywords: Aluminum, calcium, fixation, iron, nitrogen.

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Authors: S. Alfalah, J. Falah, T. Alfalah, M. Elfalah, O. Falah

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The field of education is an ever-evolving area constantly enriched by newly discovered techniques provided by active research in all areas of technologies. The recent years have witnessed the introduction of a number of promising technologies and applications to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Virtual Reality (VR) applications are considered one of the evolving methods that have contributed to enhancing education in many fields. VR creates an artificial environment, using computer hardware and software, which is similar to the real world. This simulation provides a solution to improve the delivery of materials, which facilitates the teaching process by providing a useful aid to instructors, and enhances the learning experience by providing a beneficial learning aid. In order to assure future utilization of such systems, students’ perceptions were examined toward utilizing VR as an educational tool in the Faculty of Information Technology (IT) in The University of Jordan. A questionnaire was administered to IT undergraduates investigating students’ opinions about the potential opportunities that VR technology could offer and its implications as learning and teaching aid. The results confirmed the end users’ willingness to adopt VR systems as a learning aid. The result of this research forms a solid base for investing in a VR system for IT education.

Keywords: Education, information, technology, virtual reality.

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Authors: F. Ruiz-Fuster

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Arnold’s redefinition of human motives can sustain a psychology of education which emphasizes the beauty of knowledge and the exercise of intellectual functions. Thus, education instead of focusing on skills and learning by doing would be centered on ‘the widest reaches of the human spirit’. One way to attain it is by developing children’s inherent interest. Arnold takes into account the fact that the desire to know is the inherent interest which leads students to explore and learn. She also emphasizes the need of exercising human functions as thinking, judging and reasoning. According to Arnold, the influence of psychological theories of motivation in education has derived in considering that all learning and school tasks should derive from children’s needs and impulses. The desire to know and the curiosity have not been considered as basic and active as any instinctive drive or basic need, so there has been an attempt to justify and understand how biological drives guide student’s learning. However, understanding motives and motivation not as a drive, an instinct or an impulse guided by our basic needs, but as a want that leads to action can help to understand, from a psychological perspective, how teachers can motivate students to learn, strengthening their desire and interest to reason and discover the whole new world of knowledge.

Keywords: Academic motivation, interests, desire to know, educational psychology, intellectual functions.

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Authors: J. Salaenoi, A. Thongpan, M. Mingmuang

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The activities of alkaline phosphatase and Ca2+ATPase in mud crab (Scylla serrata) collected from a soft-shell crab farm in Chantaburi Province, Thailand, in several stages of molting cycle were observed. The results showed that the activity of alkaline phosphatase in gill after molting was highly significant (p<0.05) comparing to those at intermolt and premolt stages. The activity profiles of alkaline phosphatase in integument and haemolymph were similar showing a decrease from intermolt to 2- week premolt stage and increased during 2-day premolt to 6-h postmolt stage before dropping at 7-day postmolt stage, while this enzyme in the gill was quite low at intermolt and premolt stages. For Ca2+ATPase, the activity profiles in gill and integument corresponded to the molting variation, especially the activities increased during 5-7 day postmolt stage were at highly significant levels (p<0.05) comparing to those at premolt and early postmolt stages. The highest activity of Ca2+ATPase in haemolymph was found at 2-week premolt stage (p<0.05). Changes in alkaline phosphatase and Ca2+ATPase activities over the molting cycle clearly indicated their active functions on calcification.

Keywords: Scylla serrata, molting cycle, alkaline phosphatase, Ca2+ATPase

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Authors: Kamel Hashem, Ibrahim Arman

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Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in mathematical education is a very active field of research and innovation, where learning is understood to be meaningful and grasping multiple linked representation rather than rote memorization, a great amount of literature offering a wide range of theories, learning approaches, methodologies and interpretations, are generally stressing the potentialities for teaching and learning using ICT. Despite the utilization of new learning approaches with ICT, students experience difficulties in learning concepts relevant to understanding mathematics, much remains unclear about the relationship between the computer environment, the activities it might support, and the knowledge that might emerge from such activities. Many questions that might arise in this regard: to what extent does the use of ICT help students in the process of understanding and solving tasks or problems? Is it possible to identify what aspects or features of students' mathematical learning can be enhanced by the use of technology? This paper will highlight the interest of the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into the teaching and learning of mathematics (quadratic functions), it aims to investigate the effect of four instructional methods on students- mathematical understanding and problem solving. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used to report about 43 students in middle school. Results showed that mathematical thinking and problem solving evolves as students engage with ICT activities and learn cooperatively.

Keywords: Dynamic Geometry Software, Information and Communication Technologies, Visualization, Mathematical Education.

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Authors: Fernando Augusto Ullmann Tobe, Moacyr Amaral Domingues, Figueiredo, Stephany Rie Yamamoto Gushiken

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The purpose of this paper is to present the process of elaborating the layout of an assembly line of a welding industry using the principles of lean manufacturing as the main driver. The objective of this paper is relevant since the current layout of the assembly line causes non-productive times for operators, being related to the lean waste of unnecessary movements. The methodology used for the project development was Project-based Learning (PBL), which is an active way of learning focused on real problems. The process of selecting the methodology for layout planning was developed considering three criteria to evaluate the most relevant one for this paper's goal. As a result of this evaluation, Systematic Layout Planning was selected, and three steps were added to it – Value Stream Mapping for the current situation and after layout changed and the definition of lean tools and layout type. This inclusion was to consider lean manufacturing in the layout redesign of the industry. The layout change resulted in an increase in the value-adding time of operations carried out in the sector, reduction in movement times between previous and final assemblies, and in cost savings regarding the man-hour value of the employees, which can be invested in productive hours instead of movement times.

Keywords: Assembly line, layout, lean manufacturing, systematic layout planning.

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Authors: Mekhaldi Abdelkader, Bouznad Ahcen, Djibaoui Rachid, Hamoum Hakim

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This study presents an attempt to evaluate the antioxidant potential and antimicrobial activity of methanolic extract, and essential oils prepared from the leaves of sage (Salvia officinalis L.). The content of polyphenol in the methanolic extracts from the leaves of Salvia officinalis was determined spectrophotometrically, calculated as gallic acid and catechin equivalent. The essential oils and methanol extract were also subjected to screenings for the evaluation of their antioxidant activities using 2, 2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) test. While the plant essential oils showed only weak antioxidant activities, its methanol extract was considerably active in DPPH (IC50 = 37.29 μg/ml) test. Appreciable total polyphenol content (31.25 mg/g) was also detected for the plant methanol extract as gallic acid equivalent in the Folin–Ciocalteu test. The plant was also screened for its antimicrobial activity and good to moderate inhibitions were recorded for its essential oils, and methanol extracts against most of the tested microorganisms. The present investigation revealed that this plant had rich source of antioxidant properties. It is for this reason that sage has found increasing application in food formulations.

Keywords: Antibacterial, Antioxidant, Flavonoid, Polyphenol, Salvia officinalis.

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Authors: Aditi Shukla, Ambarish S. Vidyarthi, Subir Samanta

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The worldwide prevalence of H3N2 influenza virus and its increasing resistance to the existing drugs necessitates for the development of an improved/better targeting anti-influenza drug. H3N2 influenza neuraminidase is one of the two membrane-bound proteins belonging to group-2 neuraminidases. It acts as key player involved in viral pathogenicity and hence, is an important target of anti-influenza drugs. Oseltamivir is one of the potent drugs targeting this neuraminidase. In the present work, we have taken subtype N2 neuraminidase as the receptor and probable analogs of oseltamivir as drug molecules to study the protein-drug interaction in anticipation of finding efficient modified candidate compound. Oseltamivir analogs were made by modifying the functional groups using Marvin Sketch software and were docked using Schrodinger-s Glide. Oseltamivir analog 10 was detected to have significant energy value (16% less compared to Oseltamivir) and could be the probable lead molecule. It infers that some of the modified compounds can interact in a novel manner with increased hydrogen bonding at the active site of neuraminidase and it might be better than the original drug. Further work can be carried out such as enzymatic inhibition studies; synthesis and crystallizing the drug-target complex to analyze the interactions biologically.

Keywords: H3N2 Influenza, Neuraminidase, Oseltamiviranalogs, structure based drug designing

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Authors: Zeineb Deymi-Gheriani

Abstract:

In the last two decades, one can clearly observe a boom of interest for e-learning and web-supported programs. However, one can also notice that many of these programs focus on the accumulation and delivery of content generally as a business industry with no much concern for theoretical underpinnings. The existing research, at least in online English language teaching (ELT), has demonstrated a lack of an effective online teaching pedagogy anchored in a well-defined theoretical framework. Hence, this paper comes as an attempt to present constructivism as one of the theoretical bases for the design of an effective online language teaching pedagogy which is at the same time technologically intelligent and theoretically informed to help envision how education can best take advantage of the information and communication technology (ICT) tools. The present paper discusses the key principles underlying constructivism, its implications for online language teaching design, as well as its limitations that should be avoided in the e-learning instructional design. Although the paper is theoretical in nature, essentially based on an extensive literature survey on constructivism, it does have practical illustrations from an action research conducted by the author both as an e-tutor of English using Moodle online educational platform at the Virtual University of Tunis (VUT) from 2007 up to 2010 and as a face-to-face (F2F) English teaching practitioner in the Professional Certificate of English Language Teaching Training (PCELT) at AMIDEAST, Tunisia (April-May, 2013).

Keywords: Active learning, constructivism, experiential learning, Piaget, Vygotsky.

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Authors: Juliana A. Fracarolli, Adilson M. Enes, Inácio M. Dal Fabbro, Silvestre Rodrigues

Abstract:

The dynamic speckle or biospeckle is an interference phenomenon generated at the reflection of a coherent light by an active surface or even by a particulate or living body surface. The above mentioned phenomenon gave scientific support to a method named biospeckle which has been employed to study seed viability, biological activity, tissue senescence, tissue water content, fruit bruising, etc. Since the above mentioned method is not invasive and yields numerical values, it can be considered for possible automation associated to several processes, including selection and sorting. Based on these preliminary considerations, this research work proposed to study the interaction of a laser beam with vegetative samples by measuring the incident light intensity and the transmitted light beam intensity at several vegetative slabs of varying thickness. Tests were carried on fifteen slices of apple tissue divided into three thickness groups, i.e., 4 mm, 5 mm, 18 mm and 22 mm. A diode laser beam of 10mW and 632 nm wavelength and a Samsung digital camera were employed to carry the tests. Outgoing images were analyzed by comparing the gray gradient of a fixed image column of each image to obtain a laser penetration scale into the tissue, according to the slice thickness.

Keywords: Fruit, laser, laser transmission, vegetative tissue.

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