Search results for: pedestrian safety

Authors: G. B. M. Carvalho, V. A. C. Vale, E. T. L. Cöuras Ford

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With the aim of increasing the levels of comfort and security structures, the study of dynamic loads on buildings has been one of the focuses in the area of control engineering, civil engineering and architecture. Thus, this work presents a study based on simulation of the dynamics of buildings in the form of portico subjected to wind action, besides presenting an action of passive control, using for this the dynamics of the structure, consequently representing a system appropriated on environmental issues. These control systems are named the dynamic vibration absorbers.

Keywords: Dynamic vibration absorber, structure, comfort, safety, wind behavior, structure.

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Authors: M. Nassereddine, A. Hellany, M. Nagrial, J. Rizk

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The demand on High voltage (HV) infrastructures is growing due to the corresponding growth in industries and population. Many areas are being developed and therefore require additional electrical power to comply with the demand. Substation upgrade is one of the rapid solutions to ensure the continuous supply of power to customers. This upgrade requires civil modifications to structures and fences. The civil work requires excavation and steel works that may create unsafe touch conditions. This paper presents a brief theoretical overview of the touch voltage inside and around substations and uses CDEGS software to simulate a case study.

Keywords: Earth safety, High Voltage, AC interference, Earthing Design.

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

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

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

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Authors: Mozhgan Aliakbari, Sara Moridpour

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In recent years, much attention has been given to truck drivers’ fatigue management. Long working hours negatively influence truck drivers’ physiology, health, and safety. However, there is little empirical research in the heavy vehicle transport sector in Australia to identify the influence of working hours’ management on drivers’ fatigue and consequently, on the risk of crashes and injuries. There is no national legislation regulating the number of hours or kilometres travelled by truck drivers. Consequently, it is almost impossible to define a standard number of hours or kilometres for truck drivers in a safety management system. This paper reviews the existing studies concerning safe system interventions such as tachographs in relation to fatigue caused by long working hours. This paper also reviews the literature to identify the influence of frequency of rest breaks on the reduction of work-related road transport accidents involving trucks. A framework is presented to manage truck drivers’ fatigue, which may result in the reduction of injuries and fatalities involving heavy vehicles.

Keywords: Fatigue, time management, trucks, traffic safety.

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Authors: Jung-Min Yun, Jong-Hyun Baek, Byoung Ky Kang, Peom Park

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In this study, workplace environmental monitoring systems were established using USN(Ubiquitous Sensor Networks) and LabVIEW. Although existing direct sampling methods enable finding accurate values as of the time points of measurement, those methods are disadvantageous in that continuous management and supervision are difficult and costs for are high when those methods are used. Therefore, the efficiency and reliability of workplace management by supervisors are relatively low when those methods are used. In this study, systems were established so that information on workplace environmental factors such as temperatures, humidity and noises is measured and transmitted to the PC in real time to enable supervisors to monitor workplaces through LabVIEW on the PC. When any accidents have occurred in workplaces, supervisors can immediately respond through the monitoring system and this system enables integrated workplace management and the prevention of safety accidents. By introducing these monitoring systems, safety accidents due to harmful environmental factors in workplaces can be prevented and these monitoring systems will be also helpful in finding out the correlation between safety accidents and occupational diseases by comparing and linking databases established by this monitoring system with existing statistical data.

Keywords: Ubiquitous Sensor Nework, LabVIEW, Environment Monitoring.

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Authors: Archana Panchapakesan Iyer, Taha Abdullah Kumosani

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Many high-risk pathogens that cause disease in humans are transmitted through various food items. Food-borne disease constitutes a major public health problem. Assessment of the quality and safety of foods is important in human health. Rapid and easy detection of pathogenic organisms will facilitate precautionary measures to maintain healthy food. The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a handy tool for rapid detection of low numbers of bacteria. We have designed gene specific primers for most common food borne pathogens such as Staphylococci, Salmonella and E.coli. Bacteria were isolated from food samples of various food outlets and identified using gene specific PCRs. We identified Staphylococci, Salmonella and E.coli O157 using gene specific primers by rapid and direct PCR technique in various food samples. This study helps us in getting a complete picture of the various pathogens that threaten to cause and spread food borne diseases and it would also enable establishment of a routine procedure and methodology for rapid identification of food borne bacteria using the rapid technique of direct PCR. This study will also enable us to judge the efficiency of present food safety steps taken by food manufacturers and exporters.

Keywords: food borne pathogens, PCR, food safety, rapiddetection.

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Authors: Krzysztof J. Czarnocki, F. Silveira, E. Czarnocka, K. Szaniawska

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Research background: Problems related to the occupational health and decreasing level of safety occur commonly in the construction industry. Important factor in the occupational safety in construction industry is scaffold use. All scaffolds used in construction, renovation, and demolition shall be erected, dismantled and maintained in accordance with safety procedure. Increasing demand for new construction projects unfortunately still is linked to high level of occupational accidents. Therefore, it is crucial to implement concrete actions while dealing with scaffolds and risk assessment in construction industry, the way on doing assessment and liability of assessment is critical for both construction workers and regulatory framework. Unfortunately, professionals, who tend to rely heavily on their own experience and knowledge when taking decisions regarding risk assessment, may show lack of reliability in checking the results of decisions taken. Purpose of the article: The aim was to indicate crucial parameters that could be modeling with Risk Assessment Model (RAM) use for improving both building enterprise productivity and/or developing potential and safety climate. The developed RAM could be a benefit for predicting high-risk construction activities and thus preventing accidents occurred based on a set of historical accident data. Methodology/Methods: A RAM has been developed for assessing risk levels as various construction process stages with various work trades impacting different spheres of enterprise activity. This project includes research carried out by teams of researchers on over 60 construction sites in Poland and Portugal, under which over 450 individual research cycles were carried out. The conducted research trials included variable conditions of employee exposure to harmful physical and chemical factors, variable levels of stress of employees and differences in behaviors and habits of staff. Genetic modeling tool has been used for developing the RAM. Findings and value added: Common types of trades, accidents, and accident causes have been explored, in addition to suitable risk assessment methods and criteria. We have found that the initial worker stress level is more direct predictor for developing the unsafe chain leading to the accident rather than the workload, or concentration of harmful factors at the workplace or even training frequency and management involvement.

Keywords: Civil engineering, occupational health, productivity, safety climate.

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Authors: Mannan Mridha, Mohammad S. Islam

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Innovative medical technologies offer more effective medical care, with less risk to patient and healthcare personnel. Medical technology and devices when properly used provide better data, precise monitoring and less invasive treatments and can be more targeted and often less costly. The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) equipped with patient monitoring, respiratory and cardiac support, pain management, emergency resuscitation and life support devices is particularly prone to medical errors for various reasons. Many people in the developing countries now wonder whether their visit to hospital might harm rather than help them. This is because; clinicians in the developing countries are required to maintain an increasing workload with limited resources and absence of well-functioning safety system. A team of experts from the medical, biomedical and clinical engineering in Sweden and Bangladesh have worked together to study the incidents, adverse events at the ICU in Bangladesh. The study included both public and private hospitals to provide a better understanding for physical structure, organization and practice in operating processes of care, and the occurrence of adverse outcomes the errors, risks and accidents related to medical devices at the ICU, and to develop a ICT based support system in order to reduce hazards and errors and thus improve the quality of performance, care and cost effectiveness at the ICU. Concrete recommendations and guidelines have been made for preparing appropriate ICT related tools and methods for improving the routine for use of medical devices, reporting and analyzing of the incidents at the ICU in order to reduce the number of undetected and unsolved incidents and thus improve the patient safety.

Keywords: Accidents reporting system, patient car and safety, safe medical devices.

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Authors: Lai Xuejiang, Huang Li, Yang Yi

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To study the potential hazards of the sudden emergency relief of flare stack, the thermal radiation and noise calculation of flare stack is carried out by using Flaresim program 2.0. Thermal radiation and noise analysis should be considered as the sudden emergency relief takes place. According to the Flaresim software simulation results, the thermal radiation and noise meet the requirement.

Keywords: Flare stack, thermal radiation, noise, safety assessment.

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Authors: Meftah Ali

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This article aims to analyze the static stability and pseudostatic slope by using different methods such as: Bishop method, Junbu, Ordinary, Morgenstern-price and GLE. The two dimensional modeling of slope stability under various loading as: the earthquake effect, the water level and road mobile charges. The results show that the slope is stable in the static case without water, but in other cases, the slope lost its stability and give unstable. The calculation of safety factor is to evaluate the stability of the slope using the limit equilibrium method despite the difference between the results obtained by these methods that do not rely on the same assumptions. In the end, the results of this study illuminate well the influence of the action of water, moving loads and the earthquake on the stability of the slope.

Keywords: Slope stability, pseudo static, safety factor, limit equilibrium.

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Authors: Benjamin Gorry

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Safety Critical hard Real-Time Systems are ever present in the avionics industry. The Model Driven Architecture (MDA) offers different levels of model abstraction and generation. This paper discusses our concerns relating to model development and generation when using the MDA approach in the avionics industry. These concerns are based on our experience when looking into adopting the MDA as part of avionics systems development. We place emphasis on transformations between model types and discuss possible benefits of adopting an MDA approach as part of the software development life cycle.

Keywords: Model Driven Architecture, Real-Time AvionicsApplications.

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Authors: M. Nassereddine, J. Rizk, G. Nasserddine

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Performing High Voltage (HV) tasks with a multi craft work force create a special set of safety circumstances. This paper aims to present vital information relating to when it is acceptable to use a single or a two-layer soil structure. Also it discusses the implication of the high voltage infrastructure on the earth grid and the safety of this implication under a single or a two-layer soil structure. A multiple case study is investigated to show the importance of using the right soil resistivity structure during the earthing system design.

Keywords: Earth Grid, EPR, High Voltage, Soil Resistivity Structure, Step Voltage, Touch Voltage.

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Authors: Vanessa de Cillos Silva, Fabrício José Piacente, Sônia Maria De Stefano Piedade, Valter Arthur

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The increasing concern in relation to safety and hygiene of food consumption makes it so that food conservation is studied. Food radiation is a technique used for conservation, but many consumers associate this technique with dangers such as environmental contamination and development of diseases. This research had the objective of evaluating the acceptance of radiated products by the consumer market in the city of Piracicaba/SP-Brasil. The methodology adopted was the application of a questionnaire in the city’s supermarkets. After the application, the data was tabulated and analyzed. It was observed that the majority of interviewees would not eat irradiated food. The unfamiliarity and questions about the safety of irradiated food were the main causes of your rejection.

Keywords: Irradiation, market acceptance, questionnaire, storage.

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Authors: Viriyavudh Sim, WooYoung Jung

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Window system in high rise building is occasionally subjected to an excessive wind intensity, particularly during typhoon. The failure of window system did not affect overall safety of structural performance; however, it could endanger the safety of the residents. In this paper, comparison of fragility curves for window system of two residential buildings was studied. The probability of failure for individual window was determined with Monte Carlo Simulation method. Then, lognormal cumulative distribution function was used to represent the fragility. The results showed that windows located on the edge of leeward wall were more susceptible to wind load and the probability of failure for each window panel increased at higher floors.

Keywords: Wind fragility, window system, high rise building.

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Authors: Abdussamad Ismail, Dong-Sheng Jeng

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A self-evolution algorithm for optimizing neural networks using a combination of PSO and JPSO is proposed. The algorithm optimizes both the network topology and parameters simultaneously with the aim of achieving desired accuracy with less complicated networks. The performance of the proposed approach is compared with conventional back-propagation networks using several synthetic functions, with better results in the case of the former. The proposed algorithm is also implemented on slope stability problem to estimate the critical factor of safety. Based on the results obtained, the proposed self evolving network produced a better estimate of critical safety factor in comparison to conventional BPN network.

Keywords: Neural networks, Topology evolution, Particle swarm optimization.

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Authors: D. S. Gomes, A. T. Silva

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Analysis of the uncertainty quantification related to nuclear safety margins applied to the nuclear reactor is an important concept to prevent future radioactive accidents. The nuclear fuel performance code may involve the tolerance level determined by traditional deterministic models producing acceptable results at burn cycles under 62 GWd/MTU. The behavior of nuclear fuel can simulate applying a series of material properties under irradiation and physics models to calculate the safety limits. In this study, theoretical predictions of nuclear fuel failure under transient conditions investigate extended radiation cycles at 75 GWd/MTU, considering the behavior of fuel rods in light-water reactors under reactivity accident conditions. The fuel pellet can melt due to the quick increase of reactivity during a transient. Large power excursions in the reactor are the subject of interest bringing to a treatment that is known as the Fuchs-Hansen model. The point kinetic neutron equations show similar characteristics of non-linear differential equations. In this investigation, the multivariate logistic regression is employed to a probabilistic forecast of fuel failure. A comparison of computational simulation and experimental results was acceptable. The experiments carried out use the pre-irradiated fuels rods subjected to a rapid energy pulse which exhibits the same behavior during a nuclear accident. The propagation of uncertainty utilizes the Wilk's formulation. The variables chosen as essential to failure prediction were the fuel burnup, the applied peak power, the pulse width, the oxidation layer thickness, and the cladding type.

Keywords: Logistic regression, reactivity-initiated accident, safety margins, uncertainty propagation.

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Authors: Mohammad Javad Mollakazemi, Farhad Asadi

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In this paper a real-time obstacle avoidance approach for both autonomous and non-autonomous dynamical systems (DS) is presented. In this approach the original dynamics of the controller which allow us to determine safety margin can be modulated. Different common types of DS increase the robot’s reactiveness in the face of uncertainty in the localization of the obstacle especially when robot moves very fast in changeable complex environments. The method is validated by simulation and influence of different autonomous and non-autonomous DS such as important characteristics of limit cycles and unstable DS. Furthermore, the position of different obstacles in complex environment is explained. Finally, the verification of avoidance trajectories is described through different parameters such as safety factor.

Keywords: Limit cycles, Nonlinear dynamical system, Real time obstacle avoidance.

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Authors: Y. Chiang, J. R. Wang, J. H. Yang, Y. S. Tseng, C. Shih, S. W. Chen

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Kuosheng nuclear power plant (NPP) is a BWR/6 plant in Taiwan. There is more concern for the safety of Spent Fuel Pools (SFPs) in Taiwan after Fukushima event. In order to estimate the safety of Kuosheng NPP SFP, by using MELCOR2.1 and SNAP, the safety analysis of Kuosheng NPP SFP was performed combined with the mitigation strategy of NEI 06-12 report. There were several steps in this research. First, the Kuosheng NPP SFP models were established by MELCOR2.1/SNAP. Second, the Station Blackout (SBO) analysis of Kuosheng SFP was done by TRACE and MELCOR under the cooling system failure condition. The results showed that the calculations of MELCOR and TRACE were very similar in this case. Second, the mitigation strategy analysis was done with the MELCOR model by following the NEI 06-12 report. The results showed the effectiveness of NEI 06-12 strategy in Kuosheng NPP SFP. Finally, a sensitivity study of SFP quenching was done to check the differences of different water injection time and the phenomena during the quenching. The results showed that if the cladding temperature was over 1600 K, the water injection may have chance to cause the accident more severe with more hydrogen generation. It was because of the oxidation heat and the “Breakaway” effect of the zirconium-water reaction. An animation model built by SNAP was also shown in this study.

Keywords: MELCOR, SNAP, spent fuel pool, quenching.

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Authors: Andrew Cummings, Rhianne Boag, Sarah Bryson, Gordon Turner

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Packages designed for transport of radioactive material must satisfy rigorous safety regulations specified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Higher Activity Waste (HAW) transport packages have to maintain containment of their contents during normal and accident conditions of transport (NCT and ACT). To ensure containment criteria is satisfied these packages are required to be leak-tight in all transport conditions to meet allowable activity release rates. Package design safety reports are the safety cases that provide the claims, evidence and arguments to demonstrate that packages meet the regulations and once approved by the competent authority (in the UK this is the Office for Nuclear Regulation) a licence to transport radioactive material is issued for the package(s). The standard approach to demonstrating containment in the RWM transport safety case is set out in BS EN ISO 12807. In this document a method for measuring a leak rate from the package is explained by way of a small interspace test volume situated between two O-ring seals on the underside of the package lid. The interspace volume is pressurised and a pressure drop measured. A small interspace test volume makes the method more sensitive enabling the measurement of smaller leak rates. By ascertaining the activity of the contents, identifying a releasable fraction of material and by treating that fraction of material as a gas, allowable leak rates for NCT and ACT are calculated. The adherence to basic safety principles in ISO12807 is very pessimistic and current practice in the demonstration of transport safety, which is accepted by the UK regulator. It is UK government policy that management of HAW will be through geological disposal. It is proposed that the intermediate level waste be transported to the geological disposal facility (GDF) in large cuboid packages. This poses a challenge for containment demonstration because such packages will have long seals and therefore large interspace test volumes. There is also uncertainty on the releasable fraction of material within the package ullage space. This is because the waste may be in many different forms which makes it difficult to define the fraction of material released by the waste package. Additionally because of the large interspace test volume, measuring the calculated leak rates may not be achievable. For this reason a justification for a lower releasable fraction of material is sought. This paper considers the use of aerosol processes to reduce the releasable fraction for both NCT and ACT. It reviews the basic coagulation and removal processes and applies the dynamic aerosol balance equation. The proposed solution includes only the most well understood physical processes namely; Brownian coagulation and gravitational settling. Other processes have been eliminated either on the basis that they would serve to reduce the release to the environment further (pessimistically in keeping with the essence of nuclear transport safety cases) or that they are not credible in the conditions of transport considered.

Keywords: Aerosol processes, Brownian coagulation, gravitational settling, transport regulations.

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Authors: M. Chen, S-Q. Zhang, X. Wang, D. Tate

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This paper presents a numerical solution, namely limit and shakedown analysis, to predict the safety state of smart structures made of heterogeneous materials under unknown cyclic loadings, for instance, the flexure hinge in the micro-positioning stage driven by piezoelectric actuator. In combination of homogenization theory and finite-element method (FEM), the safety evaluation problem is converted to a large-scale nonlinear optimization programming for an acceptable bounded loading as the design reference. Furthermore, a general numerical scheme integrated with the FEM and interior-point-algorithm based optimization tool is developed, which makes the practical application possible.

Keywords: Limit state, shakedown analysis, homogenization, heterogeneous structure.

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Authors: S. K. Balashanmugam, Padmavati Manchikanti, S. R. Subramanian

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The question of legal liability over injury arising out of the import and the introduction of GM food emerges as a crucial issue confronting to promote GM food and its derivatives. There is a greater possibility of commercialized GM food from the exporting country to enter importing country where status of approval shall not be same. This necessitates the importance of fixing a liability mechanism to discuss the damage, if any, occurs at the level of transboundary movement or at the market. There was a widespread consensus to develop the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and to give for a dedicated regime on liability and redress in the form of Nagoya Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on the Liability and Redress (‘N-KL Protocol’) at the international context. The national legal frameworks based on this protocol are not adequately established in the prevailing food legislations of the developing countries. The developing economy like India is willing to import GM food and its derivatives after the successful commercialization of Bt Cotton in 2002. As a party to the N-KL Protocol, it is indispensable for India to formulate a legal framework and to discuss safety, liability, and regulatory issues surrounding GM foods in conformity to the provisions of the Protocol. The liability mechanism is also important in the case where the risk assessment and risk management is still in implementing stage. Moreover, the country is facing GM infiltration issues with its neighbors Bangladesh. As a precautionary approach, there is a need to formulate rules and procedure of legal liability to discuss any kind of damage occurs at transboundary trade. In this context, the proposed work will attempt to analyze the liability regime in the existing Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 from the applicability and domestic compliance and to suggest legal and policy options for regulatory authorities.

Keywords: Commercialisation, food safety, FSSAI, genetically modified foods, India, liability.

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Authors: Juan Li, Chunfu Shao, Chunjiao Dong, Dan Zhao, Yinhong Liu

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Mixed-traffic (e.g., pedestrians, bicycles, and vehicles) data at an intersection is one of the essential factors for intersection design and traffic control. However, some data such as pedestrian volume cannot be directly collected by common detectors (e.g. inductive loop, sonar and microwave sensors). In this paper, a video based detection algorithm is proposed for mixed-traffic data collection at intersections using surveillance cameras. The algorithm is derived from Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), and uses a mergence time adjustment scheme to improve the traditional algorithm. Real-world video data were selected to test the algorithm. The results show that the proposed algorithm has the faster processing speed and more accuracy than the traditional algorithm. This indicates that the improved algorithm can be applied to detect mixed-traffic at signalized intersection, even when conflicts occur.

Keywords: detection, intersection, mixed traffic, moving objects.

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Authors: Taleb Hosni Abderrahmane, Berga Abdelmadjid

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The development of numerical analysis and its application to geomechanics problems have provided geotechnical engineers with extremely powerful tools. One of the most important problems in geotechnical engineering is the slope stability assessment. It is a very difficult task due to several aspects such the nature of the problem, experimental consideration, monitoring, controlling, and assessment. The main objective of this paper is to perform a comparative numerical study between the following methods: The Limit Equilibrium (LEM), Finite Element (FEM), Limit Analysis (LAM) and Distinct Element (DEM). The comparison is conducted in terms of the safety factors and the critical slip surfaces. Through the results, we see the feasibility to analyse slope stability by many methods.

Keywords: Comparison, factor of safety, geomechanics, numerical methods, slope analysis, slip surfaces.

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Authors: Alexandra Gheorghiu, Marie-Line Félonneau

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Speeding represents one of the main concerns for road safety and it still is a subject for research. The need to address this problem and to understand why drivers over speed increases especially in Romania, where in 2011, speed was the main cause of car accidents. This article addresses this problem by using the theory of planned behaviour. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of young Romanian drivers (18 to 25 years) and several path analyses were made in order to verify if the model proposed by the theory of planned behaviour fits the data. One interesting result is that perceived behavioural control does not predict the intention to speed or self-reported driving speed, but subjective norms do. This implies that peers and social environment have a greater impact on young Romanian drivers than we thought.

Keywords: Speed, traffic safety, theory of planned behaviour, young drivers.

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Authors: Kulaya Wimolwat, Panlop Chakravitthamrong, Neti Waranuch

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Background: Seborrheic dermatitis is a common chronic skin condition affecting the face, scalp, chest, and trunk. The cause of seborrheic dermatitis is still unknown. Sebum production, lipid composition, hormone levels, and Malassezia species have been suggested as important factors in the development of seborrheic dermatitis. Curcuma aeruginosa Roxb. extract-containing cream with anti-inflammatory and anti-androgenic properties may be beneficial for treating mild to moderate facial seborrheic dermatitis. Objectives: We evaluated the efficacy and safety of 2% C. aeruginosa Roxb. extract-containing cream in the treatment of mild to moderate seborrheic dermatitis. Methods: This was a prospective, open-label, and non-comparative study. Ten adult patients clinically diagnosed with mild to moderate seborrheic dermatitis were enrolled in a four-week study. The 2% C. aeruginosa Roxb. cream was applied twice daily to a lesional area on the face for four weeks. The Scoring Index (SI) ranking system on days 14 and 28 was compared with that at baseline to determine the efficacy of treatment. The adverse events (burning sensation and erythema) were evaluated on days 14 and 28 to determine the safety of the treatment. Results: Significant improvement was observed in the reduction of the mean SI at day 14 (2.9) and 28 (1.4) compared to that at baseline (4.9). An adverse reaction was observed on day 14 (mild erythema 20% and mild burning sensation 10%) and was resolved by the end of the study. Conclusion: This open-label pilot study has shown that there was a significant improvement in the severity in these seborrheic patients and most reported they were satisfied with it. Reported adverse events were all mild.

Keywords: Anti-androgenic, antifungals, anti-inflammatory, Curcuma aeruginosa, seborrheic dermatitis, efficacy, safety.

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Authors: Roberto Sabatini, Terry Moore, Chris Hill

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This paper presents a novel Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Avionics Based Integrity Augmentation (ABIA) system architecture suitable for civil and military air platforms, including Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Taking the move from previous research on high-accuracy Differential GNSS (DGNSS) systems design, integration and experimental flight test activities conducted at the Italian Air Force Flight Test Centre (CSV-RSV), our research focused on the development of a novel approach to the problem of GNSS ABIA for mission- and safety-critical air vehicle applications and for multi-sensor avionics architectures based on GNSS. Detailed mathematical models were developed to describe the main causes of GNSS signal outages and degradation in flight, namely: antenna obscuration, multipath, fading due to adverse geometry and Doppler shift. Adopting these models in association with suitable integrity thresholds and guidance algorithms, the ABIA system is able to generate integrity cautions (predictive flags) and warnings (reactive flags), as well as providing steering information to the pilot and electronic commands to the aircraft/UAS flight control systems. These features allow real-time avoidance of safety-critical flight conditions and fast recovery of the required navigation performance in case of GNSS data losses. In other words, this novel ABIA system addresses all three cornerstones of GNSS integrity augmentation in mission- and safety-critical applications: prediction (caution flags), reaction (warning flags) and correction (alternate flight path computation).

Keywords: Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Integrity Augmentation, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Aircraft Based Augmentation, Avionics Based Integrity Augmentation, Safety-Critical Applications.

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Authors: Daniel C. S. Lim

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There are numerous nutritional supplements, such as multivitamins and nutrition drinks, in the market today. Many of these supplements are expensive and tend to be driven commercially by business decisions and big marketing budgets. Many of the costs are ultimately borne by the end user in the quest for keeping to a healthy lifestyle. This paper proposes a system with a list of ten determinants to gauge how to decide the value of various supplements. It suggests variables such as composition, safety, efficacy and bioavailability, as well as several other considerations. These guidelines can help to tackle many of the issues that people of all ages face in the way that they receive essential nutrients. The system also aims to promote and improve the safety and choice of foods and supplements. In so doing, the system aims to promote the individual’s or population’s control over their own health and reduce the growing health care burden on the society.

Keywords: Nutritional supplements, vitamins and minerals, bioavailability, supplementation determinants, nutrition guidelines.

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Authors: Houshmand E. Masoumi

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Residential self-selection has gained increasing attention in the Western travel behavior research during the past decade. Many studies in the US, UK, and Germany conclude that the role of individuals’ residential location choice on commute travel behavior is more important than that of the built environment or at least it has considerable effects. However the effectiveness of location choice in many countries and cultures like Iran is unclear. This study examines the self-selections in two neighborhoods in Tehran. As a part of a research about the influences of land use on travel behavior information about people’s location preferences was collected by direct questioning. The findings show that the main reasons for selecting the location of residential units are related to socio-economic factors such as rise of house price and affordability of house prices. Transportation has little impacts on location decisions. Moreover, residential self-selection accounts for only 3 to 7.5 percent of the pedestrian, PT, and car trips.

Keywords: Residential self-selection, Tehran, travel behavior, urban transportation.

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Authors: Peter Takáč, Dana Šimová, Terézia Szabová, Tomáš Bakalár

Abstract:

The direct sewage sludge application is a relative cheap method for their liquidation. In the past heavy metal contents increase in soils treated with sewage sludge was observed. In 2003 there was acceptance on act n.188/2003 about sewage sludge application on soils. The basic philosophy of act is a safety of the environmental proof of sludge application on soils. The samples of soils from wastewater treatment plant (WTP) Poprad (35) and WTP Michalovce (33 samples) were analyzed which were chosen for sludge application on soils. According to the results only 14 areas for Poprad and 25 areas for Michalovce are suitable for sludge application according to act No. 188/2003. The application dose of sludge was calculated 50 t.ha-1 or 75 t. ha-1 once in 5 years to ensure that heavy metal contents in treated soils will be kept.

Keywords: Environmental safety, heavy metals in soils, sewagesludge application.

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Authors: Ahmed Z. Gabr, Ahmed A. Helal, Hussein E. Said

Abstract:

With the incessant increase of power systems capacity and voltage grade, the safety of grounding grid becomes more and more prominent. In this paper, the designing substation grounding grid is presented by means of genetic algorithm (GA). This approach purposes to control the grounding cost of the power system with the aid of controlling grounding rod number and conductor lengths under the same safety limitations. The proposed technique is used for the design of the substation grounding grid in Khalda Petroleum Company “El-Qasr” power plant and the design was simulated by using CYMGRD software for results verification. The result of the design is highly complying with IEEE 80-2000 standard requirements.

Keywords: Genetic algorithm, optimum grounding grid design, power system analysis, power system protection, single layer model, substation.

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