Search results for: Adverse

Authors: M. E. Shimpi, G. M. Deheri

Abstract:

This article aims to investigate the performance of a magnetic fluid based squeeze film between rotating transversely rough curved porous annular plates incorporating the effect of elastic deformation. The associated stochastically averaged Reynolds type equation is solved to obtain the pressure distribution leading to the calculation of the load carrying capacity. The results suggest that the transverse roughness of the bearing surfaces affects the performance adversely although the bearing systems register a relatively improved performance due to the magnetization. The deformation causes reduced the load carrying capacity while the curvature parameters tend to nominally increase the load carrying capacity. Besides, the adverse effect of porosity, deformation and standard deviation can be minimized to some extent by the positive effect of the magnetization and the curvature parameters in the case of negatively skewed roughness by suitably choosing the rotational inertia and the aspect ratio, which becomes significant when negative variance occurs.

Keywords: Annular plates curved rough surface, deformation, load carrying capacity, rotational inertia, magnetic fluid, squeeze film.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1782

Authors: Gert Van Schalkwyk, Chris Cloete

Abstract:

South Africa is experiencing a massive housing backlog in urban low-cost housing. A backlog in the transfer of low-cost housing units is exacerbated by various impediments and delays that exist in the current legal framework. Structured interviews were conducted with 45 practicing conveyancers and 15 deeds office examiners at the Deeds Office in Pretoria, South Africa. One of the largest, the Deeds Office in Pretoria implements a uniform registration process and can be regarded as representative of other deeds offices in South Africa. It was established that a low percentage of low-cost properties are freely transferable. The main economic impediments are the absence of financing and the affordability or payment of rates and taxes to local government. Encroachment of buildings on neighbouring stands caused by enlargement of existing small units on small stands also cause long-term unresolved legal disputes. In addition, as transfer of properties is dependent on the proper functioning of administrative functions of various government departments, the adverse service delivery of government departments hampers transfer. Addressing the identified problems will contribute to a more sustainable process for the transfer of low-cost housing units in South Africa.

Keywords: Conveyancing, low-cost housing, South Africa, tenure, transfer, titling.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Hashim Mohammed Alhassan, Johnnie Ben-Edigbe

Abstract:

Traffic flow in adverse weather conditions have been investigated in this study for general traffic, week day and week end traffic. The empirical evidence is strong in support of the view that rainfall affects macroscopic traffic flow parameters. Data generated from a basic highway section along J5 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia was synchronized with 161 rain events over a period of three months. This revealed a 4.90%, 6.60% and 11.32% reduction in speed for light rain, moderate rain and heavy rain conditions respectively. The corresponding capacity reductions in the three rainfall regimes are 1.08% for light rain, 6.27% for moderate rain and 29.25% for heavy rain. In the week day traffic, speed drops of 8.1% and 16.05% were observed for light and heavy conditions. The moderate rain condition speed increased by 12.6%. The capacity drops for week day traffic are 4.40% for light rain, 9.77% for moderate rain and 45.90% for heavy rain. The weekend traffic indicated speed difference between the dry condition and the three rainy conditions as 6.70% for light rain, 8.90% for moderate rain and 13.10% for heavy rain. The capacity changes computed for the weekend traffic were 0.20% in light rain, 13.90% in moderate rain and 16.70% in heavy rain. No traffic instabilities were observed throughout the observation period and the capacities reported for each rain condition were below the norain condition capacity. Rainfall has tremendous impact on traffic flow and this may have implications for shock wave propagation.

Keywords: Highway Capacity, Dry condition, Rainfall Intensity, Rainy condition, Traffic Flow Rate.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2025

Authors: Chao. Huo, Roger. Barènes, Jérémie. Gressier, Gilles.Grondin

Abstract:

The parametrical study of Shrouded Contra-rotating Rotor was done in this paper based on 2D axisymmetric simulations. The calculations were made with an actuator disk as double rotor model. It objects to explore and quantify the effects of different shroud geometry parameters mainly using the performance of power loading (PL), which could evaluate the whole propulsion system capability as 5 Newtontotal thrust generationfor hover demand. The numerical results show that:The increase of nozzle radius is desired but limited by the flow separation, its optimal design is around 1.15 times rotor radius, the viscosity effects greatly constraint the influence of nozzle shape, the divergent angle around 10.5° performs best for chosen nozzle length;The parameters of inlet such as leading edge curvature, radius and internal shape do not affect thrust great but play an important role in pressure distribution which could produce most part of shroud thrust, they should be chosen according to the reduction of adverse pressure gradients to reduce the risk of boundary separation.

Keywords: Axisymmetric simulation, parametrical design, power loading, Shrouded Contra-Rotating Rotor.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1823

Authors: Sidhartha Panda, Narayana Prasad Padhy

Abstract:

This paper presents a systematic procedure for modelling and simulation of a power system installed with a power system stabilizer (PSS) and a flexible ac transmission system (FACTS)-based controller. For the design purpose, the model of example power system which is a single-machine infinite-bus power system installed with the proposed controllers is developed in MATLAB/SIMULINK. In the developed model synchronous generator is represented by model 1.1. which includes both the generator main field winding and the damper winding in q-axis so as to evaluate the impact of PSS and FACTS-based controller on power system stability. The model can be can be used for teaching the power system stability phenomena, and also for research works especially to develop generator controllers using advanced technologies. Further, to avoid adverse interactions, PSS and FACTS-based controller are simultaneously designed employing genetic algorithm (GA). The non-linear simulation results are presented for the example power system under various disturbance conditions to validate the effectiveness of the proposed modelling and simultaneous design approach.

Keywords: Genetic algorithm, modelling and simulation, MATLAB/SIMULINK, power system stabilizer, thyristor controlledseries compensator, simultaneous design, power system stability.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3107

Authors: Muhammd Usman Sardar, Mazhar Hussain Baloch, Muhammad Shahbaz Ahmad, Zahir Javed Paracha

Abstract:

Shortfall of electrical energy in Pakistan is a challenge adversely affecting its industrial output and social growth. As elsewhere, Pakistan derives its electrical energy from a number of conventional sources. The exhaustion of petroleum and conventional resources, the rising costs coupled with extremely adverse climatic effects are taking its toll especially on the under-developed countries like Pakistan. As alternate, renewable energy sources like hydropower, solar, wind, even bio-energy and a mix of some or all of them could provide a credible alternative to the conventional energy resources that would not only be cleaner but sustainable as well. As a model, solar energy-based power grid for the near future has been attempted to offset the energy shortfalls as a mix with our existing sustainable natural energy resources. An assessment of solar energy potential for electricity generation is being presented for fulfilling the energy demands with higher level of reliability and sustainability. This model is based on the premise that solar energy potential of Pakistan is not only reliable but also sustainable. This research estimates the present & future approaching renewable energy resource specially the impact of solar energy based power grid for mitigating energy shortage in Pakistan.

Keywords: Powergrid network, solar photovoltaic (SPV) setups, solar power generation, solar energy technology (SET).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3368

Authors: A. Abdullah, A. Bakshwain, A. Aslam

Abstract:

Livestock is one of the fastest-growing sectors in agriculture. If carefully managed, have potential opportunities for economic growth, food sovereignty and food security. In this study we mainly analyse and compare long-term i.e. for year 2030 climate variability impact on predicted productivity of meat i.e. beef, mutton and poultry for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia w.r.t three factors i.e. i) climatic-change vulnerability ii) CO2 fertilization and iii) water scarcity and compare the results with two countries of the region i.e. Iraq and Yemen. We do the analysis using data from diverse sources, which was extracted, transformed and integrated before usage. The collective impact of the three factors had an overall negative effect on the production of meat for all the three countries, with adverse impact on Iraq. High similarity was found between CO2 fertilization (effecting animal fodder) and water scarcity i.e. higher than that between production of beef and mutton for the three countries considered. Overall, the three factors do not seem to be favorable for the three Middle-East countries considered. This points to possibility of a vegetarian year 2030 based on dependency on indigenous livestock population.

Keywords: Prediction, animal-source foods, pastures, CO2 fertilization, climatic-change vulnerability, water scarcity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2275

Authors: Mandana Kariminejad, Ali Ghaffari

Abstract:

Today, the treatment of cancer, in a relatively short period, with minimum adverse effects is a great concern for oncologists. In this paper, based on a recently used mathematical model for cancer, a guideline has been proposed for the amount and duration of drug doses for cancer treatment by immunotherapy. Dynamically speaking, the mathematical ordinary differential equation (ODE) model of cancer has different equilibrium points; one of them is unstable, which is called the no tumor equilibrium point. In this paper, based on the number of tumor cells an intelligent soft computing controller (a combination of fuzzy logic controller and genetic algorithm), decides regarding the amount and duration of drug doses, to eliminate the tumor cells and stabilize the unstable point in a relatively short time. Two different immunotherapy approaches; active and adoptive, have been studied and presented. It is shown that the rate of decay of tumor cells is faster and the doses of drug are lower in comparison with the result of some other literatures. It is also shown that the period of treatment and the doses of drug in adoptive immunotherapy are significantly less than the active method. A recommendation to oncologists has also been presented.

Keywords: Tumor, immunotherapy, fuzzy controller, Genetic algorithm, mathematical model.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1006

Authors: Kasra Afsahi, Maryam Soheilifar, Nazanin Vahed, Omid Seyed Esmaeili, S. Hossein Hosseini

Abstract:

The most common cause of shoulder pain occurs when rotator cuff tendons become trapped under the bony area in the shoulder. This pilot study was performed to evaluate the feasibility of Virtual Reality based rehabilitation of shoulder impingement syndrome in athletes. Three consecutive patients with subacromial impingement syndrome were enrolled. The participants were rehabilitated for 5 times a week for 4 weeks, 20 sessions in total (with duration of each session being 60 minutes). In addition to the conventional rehabilitation program, a 10-minute game-based virtual reality exercise was administered. Primary outcome measures were range of motion evaluated with goniometer, pain sensation, disability intensity using ‘The Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire’, muscle strength using ‘dynamometer’; pain threshold with 'algometer' and level of satisfaction. There were significant improvements in the range of motion, pain sensation, disability, pain threshold and muscle strength compared to basis (P < 0.05). There were no major adverse effects. This study showed the usefulness of VR therapy as an adjunct to conventional physiotherapy in improving function in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome.

Keywords: Shoulder impingement syndrome, VR therapy, feasibility, rehabilitation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 311

Authors: Nkechi Neboh, Josiah Adeyemo, Abimbola Enitan, Oludayo Olugbara

Abstract:

Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) have been used widely through evolution theory to discover acceptable solutions that corresponds to challenges such as natural resources management. EAs are also used to solve varied problems in the real world. EAs have been rapidly identified for its ease in handling multiple objective problems. Reservoir operations is a vital and researchable area which has been studied in the last few decades due to the limited nature of water resources that is found mostly in the semi-arid regions of the world. The state of some developing economy that depends on electricity for overall development through hydropower production, a renewable form of energy, is appalling due to water scarcity. This paper presents a review of the applications of evolutionary algorithms to reservoir operation for hydropower production. This review includes the discussion on areas such as genetic algorithm, differential evolution, and reservoir operation. It also identified the research gaps discovered in these areas. The results of this study will be an eye opener for researchers and decision makers to think deeply of the adverse effect of water scarcity and drought towards economic development of a nation. Hence, it becomes imperative to identify evolutionary algorithms that can address this issue which can hamper effective hydropower generation.

Keywords: Evolutionary algorithms, genetic algorithm, hydropower, multi-objective, reservoir operations.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2730

Authors: S. Onder, Z. Kocbeker

Abstract:

The impact of noise upon live quality has become an important aspect to make both urban and environmental policythroughout Europe and in Turkey. Concern over the quality of urban environments, including noise levels and declining quality of green space, is over the past decade with increasing emphasis on designing livable and sustainable communities. According to the World Health Organization, noise pollution is the third most hazardous environmental type of pollution which proceeded by only air (gas emission) and water pollution. The research carried out in two phases, the first stage of the research noise and plant types providing the suction of noise was evaluated through literature study and at the second stage, definite types (Juniperus horizontalis L., Spirea vanhouetti Briot., Cotoneaster dammerii C.K., Berberis thunbergii D.C., Pyracantha coccinea M. etc.) were selected for the city of Konya. Trials were conducted on the highway of Konya. The biggest value of noise reduction was 6.3 dB(A), 4.9 dB(A), 6.2 dB(A) value with compared to the control which includes the group that formed by the bushes at the distance of 7m, 11m, 20m from the source and 5m, 9m, 20m of plant width, respectively. In this paper, definitions regarding to noise and its sources were made and the precautions were taken against to noise that mentioned earlier with the adverse effects of noise. Plantation design approaches and suggestions concerning to the diversity to be used, which are peculiar to roadside, were developed to discuss the role and the function of plant material to reduce the noise of the traffic.

Keywords: Bushes, noise, road, Konya

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5766

Authors: Anukriti Kumar, Tanmay Singh, Dinesh Kumar Vishwakarma

Abstract:

Traffic control has been one of the most common and irritating problems since the time automobiles have hit the roads. Problems like traffic congestion have led to a significant time burden around the world and one significant solution to these problems can be the proper implementation of the Intelligent Transport System (ITS). It involves the integration of various tools like smart sensors, artificial intelligence, position technologies and mobile data services to manage traffic flow, reduce congestion and enhance driver's ability to avoid accidents during adverse weather. Road and traffic signs’ recognition is an emerging field of research in ITS. Classification problem of traffic signs needs to be solved as it is a major step in our journey towards building semi-autonomous/autonomous driving systems. The purpose of this work focuses on implementing an approach to solve the problem of traffic sign classification by developing a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classifier using the GTSRB (German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark) dataset. Rather than using hand-crafted features, our model addresses the concern of exploding huge parameters and data method augmentations. Our model achieved an accuracy of around 97.6% which is comparable to various state-of-the-art architectures.

Keywords: Multiclass classification, convolution neural network, OpenCV, Data Augmentation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 740

Authors: Kyekyung Kim, Sangseung Kang, Suyoung Chi, Jaehong Kim

Abstract:

In recent years, IT convergence technology has been developed to get creative solution by combining robotics or sports science technology. Object detection and recognition have mainly applied to sports science field that has processed by recognizing face and by tracking human body. But object detection and recognition using vision sensor is challenge task in real world because of illumination. In this paper, object detection and recognition using vision sensor applied to sports simulator has been introduced. Face recognition has been processed to identify user and to update automatically a person athletic recording. Human body has tracked to offer a most accurate way of riding horse simulator. Combined image processing has been processed to reduce illumination adverse affect because illumination has caused low performance in detection and recognition in real world application filed. Face has recognized using standard face graph and human body has tracked using pose model, which has composed of feature nodes generated diverse face and pose images. Face recognition using Gabor wavelet and pose recognition using pose graph is robust to real application. We have simulated using ETRI database, which has constructed on horse riding simulator.

Keywords: Horse riding simulator, Object detection, Object recognition, User identification, Pose recognition.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2031

Authors: Mohammad Koushafar, Amir Hossein Khoshgoftarmanesh

Abstract:

Due to water shortage, application of saline water for irrigation is an urgent in agriculture. In this study the effect of calcium and potassium application as additive in saline root media for reduce salinity adverse effects was investigated on tomato growth in a hydroponic system with unequal distribution of salts in the root media, which was divided in to two equal parts containing full Johnson nutrient solution and 40 mMNaCl solution, alone or in combination with KCl (6 mM), CaCl2 (4 mM), K+Ca (3+2 mM) or half-strength Johnson nutrient solution. The root splits were exchanged every 7 days. Results showed that addition of calcium, calcium-potassium and nutrition elements equivalent to half the concentration of Johnson formula to the saline-half of culture media minimized the reduction in plant growth caused by NaCl, although addition of potassium to culture media wasn’t effective. The greatest concentration of sodium was observed at the shoot of treatments which had smallest growth. According to the results of this study, in case of dynamic and non-uniform distribution of salts in the root media, by addition of additive to the saline solution, it would be possible to use of saline water with no significant growth reduction.

Keywords: Calcium, Hydroponic, Local salinity, Potassium, Saline water, Tomato.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2240

Authors: R. K. D. G. Kaluarachchi

Abstract:

The generation of solid waste and its effective management are debated topics in Sri Lanka as well as in the global environment. It was estimated that the most of the waste generated in global was originated from construction and demolition of buildings. Thus, the proportion of construction waste in solid waste generation cannot be underestimated. The construction waste, which is the by-product generated and removed from work sites is collected in direct and indirect processes. Hence, the objectives of this research are to identify the proportion of construction waste which can be reused and identify the methods to reduce the waste generation without reducing the quality of the process. A 6-storey building construction site was selected for this research. The site was divided into six zones depending on the process. Ten waste materials were identified by considering the adverse effects on safety and health of people and the economic value of them. The generated construction waste in each zone was recorded per week for a period of five months. The data revealed that sand, cement, wood used for form work and rusted steel rods were the generated waste which has higher economic value in all zones. Structured interviews were conducted to gather information on how the materials are categorized as waste and the capability of reducing, reusing and recycling the waste. It was identified that waste is generated in following processes; ineffective storage of material for a longer time and improper handling of material during the work process. Further, the alteration of scheduled activities of construction work also yielded more waste. Finally, a proper management of construction waste is suggested to reduce and reuse waste.

Keywords: Construction waste, effective management, reduce, reuse.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1189

Authors: Asad Islam, Khalid Parvez

Abstract:

Compressor fans in modern aircraft engines are of considerate importance, as they provide majority of thrust required by the aircraft. Their challenging environment is frequently subjected to non-uniform inflow conditions. These conditions could be either due to the flight operating requirements such as take-off and landing, wake interference from aircraft fuselage or cross-flow wind conditions. So, in highly maneuverable flights regimes of fighter aircrafts affects the overall performance of an engine. Since the flow in compressor of an aircraft application is highly sensitive because of adverse pressure gradient due to different flow orientations of the aircraft. Therefore, it is prone to unstable operations. This paper presents the study that focuses on axial compressor response to inlet flow orientations for the range of angles as 0 to 15 degrees. For this purpose, NASA Rotor-37 was taken and CFD mesh was developed. The compressor characteristics map was generated for the design conditions of pressure ratio of 2.106 with the rotor operating at rotational velocity of 17188.7 rpm using CFD simulating environment of ANSYS-CFX®. The grid study was done to see the effects of mesh upon computational solution. Then, the mesh giving the best results, (when validated with the available experimental NASA’s results); was used for further distortion analysis. The flow in the inlet nozzle was given angle orientations ranging from 0 to 15 degrees. The CFD results are analyzed and discussed with respect to stall margin and flow separations due to induced distortions.

Keywords: Angle, ANSYS-CFX®, axial compressor, Bladegen®, CFD, distortions.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1965

Authors: B. Karakas, S. Lakestani, C. Guler, B. Guciz Dogan, S. Acar Vaizoglu, A. Taner, B. Sekerel, R. Tıpırdamaz, G. Gullu

Abstract:

Particulate matter (PM) in ambient air is responsible for adverse health effects in adults and children. Relatively little is known about the concentrations, sources and health effects of PM in indoor air. A monitoring study was conducted in Ankara by three campaigns in order to measure PM levels in indoor and outdoor environments to identify and quantify associations between sources and concentrations. Approximately 82 homes (1st campaign for 42, 2nd campaign for 12, and 3rd campaign for 28), three rooms (living room, baby-s room and living room used as a baby-s room) and outdoor ambient at each home were sampled with Grimm Environmental Dust Monitoring (EDM) 107, during different seasonal periods of 2011 and 2012. In this study, the relationship between indoor and outdoor PM levels for particulate matter less than 10 micrometer (.m) (PM10), particulate matter less than 2.5.m (PM2.5) and particulate matter less than 1.0.m (PM1) were investigated. The mean concentration of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1.0 at living room used as baby-s room is higher than living and baby-s room (or bedroom) for three sampling campaigns. It is concluded that the household activities and environmental conditions are very important for PM concentrations in the indoor environments during the sampling periods. The amount of smokers, being near a main street and/or construction activities increased the PM concentration. This study is based on the assessment the relationship between indoor and outdoor PM levels and the household activities and environmental conditions

Keywords: Indoor air quality, particulate matter (PM), PM10, PM2.5, PM1.0.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3187

Authors: Ruchi Vyas, Sanjay Singh, Rashmi Sisodia

Abstract:

Chlorophytum borivillianum root extract (CBE) was chosen as a reducing agent to fabricate silver nanoparticles with the aim of studying its radioprotective efficacy. The formation of synthesized nanoparticles was characterized by UV–visible analysis (UV–vis), Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Scanning electron microscope (SEM). TEM analysis showed particles size in the range of 20-30 nm. For this study, Swiss albino mice were selected from inbred colony and were divided into 4 groups: group I- control (irradiated-6 Gy), group II- normal (vehicle treated), group III- plant extract alone and group IV- CB-AgNPs (dose of 50 mg/kg body wt./day) administered orally for 7 consecutive days before irradiation to serve as experimental. CB-AgNPs pretreatment rendered significant increase in body weight and testes weight at various post irradiation intervals in comparison to irradiated group. Supplementation of CB-AgNPs reversed the adverse effects of gamma radiation on biochemical parameters as it notably ameliorated the elevation in lipid peroxidation and decline in glutathione concentration in testes. These observations indicate the radio-protective potential of CB-AgNPs in testicular constituents against gamma irradiation in mice.

Keywords: Chlorophytum borivillianum, gamma radiation, radioprotective, silver nanoparticles.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 869

Authors: K. Rusnakova, D. Gerych, M. Stehlik

Abstract:

Postural stability is a complex process involving actions of biomechanical, motor, sensory and central nervous system components. Numerous joint systems, muscles involved, the complexity of sporting movements and situations require perfect coordination of the body's movement patterns. To adapt to a constantly changing situation in such a dynamic environment as physical performance, optimal input of information from visual, vestibular and somatosensory sensors are needed. Combat soldiers are required to perform physically and mentally demanding tasks in adverse conditions, and poor postural stability has been identified as a risk factor for lower extremity musculoskeletal injury. The aim of this study is to investigate whether some personality traits are related to the performance of static postural stability among soldiers of combat troops. NEO personality inventory (NEO-PI-R) was used to identify personality traits and the Nintendo Wii Balance Board was used to assess static postural stability of soldiers. Postural stability performance was assessed by changes in center of pressure (CoP) and center of gravity (CoG). A posturographic test was performed for 60 s with eyes opened during quiet upright standing. The results showed that facets of neuroticism and conscientiousness personality traits were significantly correlated with measured parameters of CoP and CoG. This study can help for better understanding the relationship between personality traits and static postural stability. The results can be used to optimize the training process at the individual level.

Keywords: Neuroticism, conscientiousness, postural stability, combat troops.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 451

Authors: Anders S. Kristensen, Dewan Ahsan, Saqib Mehmood, Shakeel Ahmed

Abstract:

Traffic accidents are a result of the convergence of hazards, malfunctioning of vehicles and human negligence that have adverse economic and health impacts and effects. Unfortunately, avoiding them completely is very difficult, but with quick response to rescue and first aid, the mortality rate of inflicted persons can be reduced significantly. Smart and innovative technologies can play a pivotal role to respond faster to traffic crash emergencies comparing conventional means of transportation. For instance, Rescue Emergency Drone (RED) can provide faster and real-time crash site risk assessment to emergency medical services, thereby helping them to quickly and accurately assess a situation, dispatch the right equipment and assist bystanders to treat inflicted person properly. To conduct a research in this regard, the case of a traffic roundabout that is prone to frequent traffic accidents on the outskirts of Esbjerg, a town located on western coast of Denmark is hypothetically considered. Along with manual calculations, Emergency Disaster Management Simulation (EDMSIM) has been used to verify the response time of RED from a fire station of the town to the presumed crash site. The results of the study demonstrate the robustness of RED into emergency services to help save lives. 

Keywords: Automated external defibrillator, medical emergency, fire and rescue services, response time, unmanned aerial system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1692

Authors: Kadry M. Sadek, Tarek K. Abouzed, Mousa A. Ayoub

Abstract:

The presence of endocrine-disrupting compounds, such as bisphenol A (BPA), in the environment can cause serious health problems. However, there are controversial opinions. This study investigated the reproductive, metabolic, oxidative and immunologic-disrupting effects of bisphenol A in male rabbits. Rabbits were divided into five groups. The first four rabbit groups were administered oral BPA (1, 10, 50, or 100 mg/kg/day) for ten weeks. The fifth group was administered corn oil as the vehicle. BPA significantly decreased serum testosterone, estradiol and the free androgen index (FAI) and significantly increased sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) compared with the placebo group. The higher doses of BPA showed a significant decrease in follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). A significant increase in blood glucose levels was identified in the BPA groups. The non-significant difference in insulin levels is a novel finding. The cumulative testicular toxicity of BPA was clearly demonstrated by the dose-dependent decrease in absolute testes weight, primary measures of semen quality and a significant increase in testicular malonaldehyde (MDA). Moreover, BPA significantly decreased total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and significantly increased immunoglobulin G (IgG) at the highest concentration. Our results suggest that BPA, especially at higher doses, is associated with many adverse effects on metabolism, oxidative stress, immunity, sperm quality and markers of androgenic action.

Keywords: Bisphenol A, oxidative stress, rabbits, semen quality, steroidogenesis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2640

Authors: Abimbola Motunrayo Folami, Ibironke Titilayo Enitan, Feroz Mohomed Swalaha

Abstract:

Water is a vital resource that is important in ensuring the growth and development of any country. To sustain the basic human needs and the demands for agriculture, industry, conservational and ecosystem, enough quality and quantity water is needed. Contamination of water resources is now a global and public health concern. Hence, this study assessed the water quality of Ndawuse River by measuring the physicochemical parameters and heavy metals concentrations of the river using standard methods. In total, 16 surface water samples were obtained from five locations along the river, from upstream to downstream as well as samples from the dumpsite. The results obtained were compared with the standard limits set by both the World Health Organization and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency for domestic purposes. The results of the measured parameters indicated that biological oxygen demand (85.88 mg/L), turbidity (44.51 NTU), Iron (0.014 - 3.511 mg /L) and chromium (0.078 - 0.14 mg /L) were all above the standard limits. The results further showed that the quality of surface water is being significantly affected by human activities around the Ndawuse River which could pose an adverse health risk to several communities that rely on this river as their primary source of water. Therefore, there is a need for strict enforcement of environmental laws to protect the aquatic ecosystem and to avoid long term cumulative exposure risk that heavy metals may pose on human health.

Keywords: Abuja, contaminants, heavy metals, Ndawuse River, Nigeria, surface water.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 547

Authors: Y. Yılmaz, C. Ünal, A. Dursun

Abstract:

Distribution channels play significant role for hotels. Direct and indirect selling options of hotel rooms have been increased especially with the help of new technologies, i.e. hotel’s own web sites and online booking sites. Although these options emerged as tools for diversifying the distribution channels, vast number of hotels -mostly resort hotels- is still heavily dependent upon international tour operators when selling their products. On the other hand, hotel sector is so vulnerable against crises. Economic, political or any other crisis can affect hotels very badly and so it is critical to have the right balance of distribution channel to avoid the adverse impacts of a crisis. In this study, it is aimed to search the impacts of a general crisis on the selling prices of hotels which have different weights of distribution channels. The study was done in Turkey where various crises occurred in 2015 and 2016 which had great negative impacts on Turkish tourism and led enormous occupancy rate and selling price reductions. 112 upscale resort hotel in Antalya, which is the most popular tourism destination of Turkey, joined to the research. According to the results, hotels with high dependency to international tour operators are more forced to reduce their room prices in crisis time compared to the ones which use their own web sites more. It was also found that the decline in room prices is limited for hotels which are working with national tour operators and travel agencies in crisis time.

Keywords: Marketing channels, crisis, hotel, international tour operators, online travel agencies.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 809

Authors: Kurniawan D. Irianto, Demetres D. Kouvatsos

Abstract:

The growth of wireless devices affects the availability of limited frequencies or spectrum bands as it has been known that spectrum bands are a natural resource that cannot be added. Meanwhile, the licensed frequencies are idle most of the time. Cognitive radio is one of the solutions to solve those problems. Cognitive radio is a promising technology that allows the unlicensed users known as secondary users (SUs) to access licensed bands without making interference to licensed users or primary users (PUs). As cloud computing has become popular in recent years, cognitive radio networks (CRNs) can be integrated with cloud platform. One of the important issues in CRNs is security. It becomes a problem since CRNs use radio frequencies as a medium for transmitting and CRNs share the same issues with wireless communication systems. Another critical issue in CRNs is performance. Security has adverse effect to performance and there are trade-offs between them. The goal of this paper is to investigate the performance related to security trade-off in CRNs with supporting cloud platforms. Furthermore, Queuing Network Models with preemptive resume and preemptive repeat identical priority are applied in this project to measure the impact of security to performance in CRNs with or without cloud platform. The generalized exponential (GE) type distribution is used to reflect the bursty inter-arrival and service times at the servers. The results show that the best performance is obtained when security is disabled and cloud platform is enabled.

Keywords: Cloud Platforms, Cognitive Radio Networks, GEtype Distribution, Performance Vs Security.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2466

Authors: M.Aasif Shahzad, N.Mukhtar, M.Sarwar

Abstract:

Dietary macro and micro nutrients in their respective proportion and fractions present a practical potential tool to fabricate milk constituents since cells of lactating mammary glands obtain about 80 % of milk synthesis nutrients from blood, reflecting the existence of an isotonic equilibrium between blood and milk. Diverting milk biosynthetic activities through manipulation of nutrients towards producing milk not only keeping in view its significance as natural food but also as food item which prevents or dilutes the adverse effects of some diseases (like cardiovascular problem by saturated milk fat intake) has been area of interest in the last decade. Nutritional modification / supplementation has been reported to enhance conjugated linoleic acid, fatty acid type and concentration, essential fatty acid concentration, vitamin B12& C, Se, Cu, I and Fe which are involved to counter the health threats to human well being. Synchronizing dietary nutrients aimed to modify rumen dynamics towards synthesis of nutrients or their precursors to make their drive towards formulated milk constituents presents a practical option. Formulating dietary constituents to design milk constituents will let the farmers, consumers and investors know about the real potential and profit margins associated with this enterprise. This article briefly recapitulates the ways and means to modify milk constituents keeping an eye on human health and well being issues, which allows milk to serve more than a food item.

Keywords: Nutritional modification, fabricating milk composition, human health.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1875

Authors: Roshafima R. Ali, W. A. Wan Abdul Rahman, Rafiziana M. Kasmani, N. Ibrahim

Abstract:

This current research focused on development of degradable starch based packaging film with enhanced mechanical properties. A series of low density polyethylene (LDPE)/tapioca starch compounds with various tapioca starch contents were prepared by twin screw extrusion with the addition of maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene as compatibilizer. Palm cooking oil was used as processing aid to ease the blown film process, thus, degradable film can be processed via conventional blown film machine. Studies on their characteristics, mechanical properties and biodegradation were carried out by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and optical properties, tensile test and exposure to fungi environment respectively. The presence of high starch contents had an adverse effect on the tensile properties of LDPE/tapioca starch blends. However, the addition of compatibilizer to the blends improved the interfacial adhesion between the two materials, hence, improved the tensile properties of the films. High content of starch amount also was found to increase the rate of biodegradability of LDPE/tapioca starch films. It can be proved by exposure of the film to fungi environment. A growth of microbes colony can be seen on the surface of LDPE/tapioca starch film indicates that the granular starch present on the surface of the polymer film is attacked by microorganisms, until most of it is assimilated as a carbon source.

Keywords: Degradable polymer, starch based biofilms, blown film extrusion, green food packaging.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5171

Authors: S. R. Shamili, C. Natarajan, J. Karthikeyan

Abstract:

Rapid growth of world population and widespread urbanization has remarkably increased the development of the construction industry which caused a huge demand for sand and gravels. Environmental problems occur when the rate of extraction of sand, gravels, and other materials exceeds the rate of generation of natural resources; therefore, an alternative source is essential to replace the materials used in concrete. Now-a-days, electronic products have become an integral part of daily life which provides more comfort, security, and ease of exchange of information. These electronic waste (E-Waste) materials have serious human health concerns and require extreme care in its disposal to avoid any adverse impacts. Disposal or dumping of these E-Wastes also causes major issues because it is highly complex to handle and often contains highly toxic chemicals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, beryllium, brominates flame retardants (BFRs), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and phosphorus compounds. Hence, E-Waste can be incorporated in concrete to make a sustainable environment. This paper deals with the composition, preparation, properties, classification of E-Waste. All these processes avoid dumping to landfills whilst conserving natural aggregate resources, and providing a better environmental option. This paper also provides a detailed literature review on the behaviour of concrete with incorporation of E-Wastes. Many research shows the strong possibility of using E-Waste as a substitute of aggregates eventually it reduces the use of natural aggregates in concrete.

Keywords: Disposal, electronic waste, landfill, toxic chemicals.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2767

Authors: N. Sridee, S. Boonanuntanasarn

Abstract:

Oxyleotris marmorata is considered as undomesticated fish, and its culture occasionally faces a problem of food deprivation. The present study aims to evaluate alteration of hematological indices, blood chemical associated with liver function during 4 weeks of fasting. A non-linear relationships between fasting days and hematological parameters (red blood cell number; y = - 0.002x2 + 0.041x + 1.249; R2=0.915, P<0.05, hemoglobin; y = - 0.002x2 + 0.030x + 3.470; R2=0.460, P>0.05), mean corpuscular volume; y = -0.180x2 + 2.183x + 149.61; R2=0.732, P>0.05, mean corpuscular hemoglobin; y = -0.041x2 + 0.862x + 29.864; R2=0.818, P>0.05 and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; y = - 0.044x2 + 0.711x + 21.580; R2=0.730, P>0.05) were demonstrated. Significant change in hematocrit (Ht) during fasting period was observed. Ht elevated sharply increase at the first weeks of fasting period. Higher Ht also was detected during week 2-4 of fasting time. The significant reduction of hepatosomatic index was observed (y = - 0.007x2 - 0.096x + 1.414; R2=0.968, P<0.05). Moreover, alteration of enzyme associated with liver function was evaluated during 4 weeks of fasting (alkalin phosphatase; y = -0.026x2 - 0.935x + 12.188; R2=0.737, P>0.05, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase; y = 0.005x2 – 0.201x2 + 1.297x + 33.256; R2=1, P<0.01, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase; y = 0.007x2 – 0.274x2 + 2.277x + 25.257; R2=0.807, P>0.05). Taken together, prolonged fasting has deleterious effects on hematological indices, liver mass and enzyme associated in liver function. The marked adverse effects occurred after the first week of fasting state.

Keywords: food deprivation, Oxyleotris marmorata, hematology, alkaline phosphatase, SGOT, SGPT

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1905

Authors: Arie Pujiwati, Kengo Nakamura, Noriaki Watanabe, Takeshi Komai

Abstract:

Coal mining is well known to cause considerable environmental impacts, including trace element contamination of soil. This study aimed to assess the trace element (As, Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sb, and Zn) contamination of soil in the vicinity of coal mining activities, using the case study of Asam-asam River basin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia, and to assess the human health risk, incorporating total and bioavailable (water-leachable and acid-leachable) concentrations. The results show the enrichment of As and Co in soil, surpassing the background soil value. Contamination was evaluated based on the index of geo-accumulation, I_geo and the pollution index, PI. I_geo values showed that the soil was generally uncontaminated (I_geo ≤ 0), except for elevated As and Co. Mean PI for Ni and Cu indicated slight contamination. Regarding the assessment of health risks, the Hazard Index, HI showed adverse risks (HI > 1) for Ni, Co, and As. Further, Ni and As were found to pose unacceptable carcinogenic risk (risk > 1.10^-5). Farming, settlement, and plantation were found to present greater risk than coal mines. These results show that coal mining activity in the study area contaminates the soils by particular elements and may pose potential human health risk in its surrounding area. This study is important for setting appropriate countermeasure actions and improving basic coal mining management in Indonesia.

Keywords: Coal mine, risk, soil, trace elements.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1125

Authors: Atul Khurana, Rajul Rastogi, Hans-Joachim Gamperl

Abstract:

The pharmaceutical companies are getting more inclined towards patient support programs (PSPs) which assist patients and/or healthcare professionals (HCPs) in more desirable disease management and cost-effective treatment. The utmost objective of these programs is patient care. The PSPs may include financial assistance to patients, medicine compliance programs, access to HCPs via phone or online chat centers, etc. The PSP has a crucial role in terms of customer acquisition and retention strategies. During the conduct of these programs, Marketing Authorisation Holder (MAH) may receive information related to concerned medicinal products, which is usually reported by patients or involved HCPs. This information may include suspected adverse reaction(s) during/after administration of medicinal products. Hence, the MAH should design PSP to comply with regulatory reporting requirements and avoid non-compliance during PV inspection. The emergence of wireless health devices is lowering the burden on patients to manually incorporate safety data, and building a significant option for patients to observe major swings in reference to drug safety. Therefore, to enhance the adoption of these programs, MAH not only needs to aware patients about advantages of the program, but also recognizes the importance of time of patients and commitments made in a constructive manner. It is indispensable that strengthening the public health is considered as the topmost priority in such programs, and the MAH is compliant to Pharmacovigilance (PV) requirements along with regulatory obligations.

Keywords: Drug safety, good pharmacovigilance practice, patient support program, pharmacovigilance.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2535