Abstract: This paper presents a model-oriented development approach to software development in the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural standard. This approach aims to expose a process of extractions of information from the models, in which through rules and syntax defined in this work, assists in the design of the initial model and its future conversions. The proposed paper presents a syntax based on the natural language, according to the rules agreed in the classic grammar of the Portuguese language, added to the rules of conversions generating models that follow the norms of the Object Management Group (OMG) and the Meta-Object Facility MOF.
Abstract: The paper presents an original Python-based application that outlines the advantages of combining some elementary notions of mathematics with the study of a programming language. The application support refers to some of the first lessons of analytic geometry, meaning conics and quadrics and their reduction to a standard form, as well as some related notions. The chosen programming language is Python, not only for its closer to an everyday language syntax – and therefore, enhanced readability – but also for its highly reusable code, which is of utmost importance for a mathematician that is accustomed to exploit already known and used problems to solve new ones. The purpose of this paper is, on one hand, to support the idea that one of the most appropriate means to initiate one into programming is throughout mathematics, and reciprocal, one of the most facile and handy ways to assimilate some basic knowledge in the study of mathematics is to apply them in a personal project. On the other hand, besides being a mean of learning both programming and analytic geometry, the application subject to this paper is itself a useful tool for it can be seen as an independent original Python package for analytic geometry.
Abstract: Deregulation in the power system industry and the invention of new technologies for producing electrical energy has led to innovations in power system planning. Distributed generation (DG) is one of the most attractive technologies that bring different kinds of advantages to a lot of entities, engaged in power systems. In this paper, a model for considering DGs in the power system planning problem is presented. Dynamic power system planning for reduction of maintenance and operational cost is presented in this paper. In addition to that, a modified particle swarm optimization (PSO) is used to find the optimal topology solution. Voltage Profile Improvement Index (VPII) and Line Loss Reduction Index (LLRI) are taken as benefit index of employing DG. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated through examination of IEEE 30 bus test system.
Abstract: The robot manipulator is an equipment that stands out for two reasons: Firstly because of its characteristics of movement and reprogramming, resembling the arm; secondly, by adding several areas of knowledge of science and engineering. The present work shows the development of the prototype of a robotic manipulator driven by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), having two degrees of freedom, which allows the movement and displacement of mechanical parts, tools, and objects in general of small size, through an electronic system. The aim is to study direct and inverse kinematics of the robotic manipulator to describe the translation and rotation between two adjacent links of the robot through the Denavit-Hartenberg parameters. Currently, due to the many resources that microcomputer systems offer us, robotics is going through a period of continuous growth that will allow, in a short time, the development of intelligent robots with the capacity to perform operations that require flexibility, speed and precision.
Abstract: In this paper, the possibility of children studying by using an interactive learning technology called Pedagogic Conversational Agent is presented. The main benefit is that the agent is able to adapt the dialogue to each student and to provide automatic feedback. Moreover, according to Math teachers, in many cases students are unable to solve the problems even knowing the procedure to solve them, because they do not understand what they have to do. The hypothesis is that if students are helped to understand what they have to solve, they will be able to do it. Taken that into account, we have started the development of Dr. Roland, an agent to help students understand Math problems following a User-Centered Design methodology. The use of this methodology is proposed, for the first time, to design pedagogic agents to teach any subject from Secondary down to Pre-Primary education. The reason behind proposing a methodology is that while working on this project, we noticed the lack of literature to design and evaluate agents. To cover this gap, we describe how User-Centered Design can be applied, and which usability techniques can be applied to evaluate the agent.
Abstract: Centrifugal pumps are complex machines which can experience different types of fault. Condition monitoring can be used in centrifugal pump fault detection through vibration analysis for mechanical and hydraulic forces. Vibration analysis methods have the potential to be combined with artificial intelligence systems where an automatic diagnostic method can be approached. An automatic fault diagnosis approach could be a good option to minimize human error and to provide a precise machine fault classification. This work aims to introduce an approach to centrifugal pump fault diagnosis based on artificial intelligence and genetic algorithm systems. An overview of the future works, research methodology and proposed experimental setup is presented and discussed. The expected results and outcomes based on the experimental work are illustrated.
Abstract: The importance of fruit trees and bushes growing for Romania is due the concordance that exists between the different ecological conditions in natural basins, and the requirements of different species and varieties. There are, in Romania, natural areas dedicated to the main trees species: plum, apple, pear, cherry, sour cherry, finding optimal conditions for harnessing the potential of fruitfulness, making fruit quality both in terms of ratio commercial, and content in active principles. The share of fruits crops in the world economy of agricultural production is due primarily to the role of fruits in nourishment for human, and in the prevention and combating of diseases, in increasing the national income of cultivator countries and to improve comfort for human life. For Romania, the perspectives of the sector are positive, and are due to European funding opportunities, which provide farmers a specialized program that meets the needs of development and modernization of fruit growing industry, cultivation technology and equipment, organization and grouping of producers, creating storage facilities, conditioning, marketing and the joint use of fresh fruit. This paper shows the evolution of fruit growing, in Romania compared to other states. The document presents the current situation of the main tree species both in terms of surface but also of the productions and the role that this activity may have for the development of rural communities.
Abstract: The present study investigates the effect of inclusions on the shape and size of crack tip plastic zones in engineering materials subjected to static loads by employing the element free Galerkin method (EFGM). The modeling of the discontinuities produced by cracks and inclusions becomes independent of the grid chosen for analysis. The standard displacement approximation is modified by adding additional enrichment functions, which introduce the effects of different discontinuities into the formulation. The level set method has been used to represent different discontinuities present in the domain. The effect of inclusions on the extent of crack tip plastic zones is investigated by solving some numerical problems by the EFGM.
Abstract: A 3C-2D PIV technique was applied to investigate the swirling flow generated by an axial plus tangential type swirl generator. This work is focused on the near-exit region of an isothermal swirling jet to characterize the effect of swirl on the flow field and to identify the large coherent structures both in unconfined and confined conditions for geometrical swirl number, Sg = 4.6. Effects of the Reynolds number on the flow structure were also studied. The experimental results show significant effects of the confinement on the mean velocity fields and its fluctuations. The size of the recirculation zone was significantly enlarged upon confinement compared to the free swirling jet. Increasing in the Reynolds number further enhanced the recirculation zone. The frequency characteristics have been measured with a capacitive microphone which indicates the presence of periodic oscillation related to the existence of precessing vortex core, PVC. Proper orthogonal decomposition of the jet velocity field was carried out, enabling the identification of coherent structures. The time coefficients of the first two most energetic POD modes were used to reconstruct the phase-averaged velocity field of the oscillatory motion in the swirling flow. The instantaneous minima of negative swirl strength values calculated from the instantaneous velocity field revealed the presence of two helical structures located in the inner and outer shear layers and this structure fade out at an axial location of approximately z/D = 1.5 for unconfined case and z/D = 1.2 for confined case. By phase averaging the instantaneous swirling strength maps, the 3D helical vortex structure was reconstructed.
Abstract: Corrosion problem which exists in every stage of oil and gas production has been a great challenge to the operators in the industry. The conventional carbon steel with all its inherent advantages has been adjudged susceptible to the aggressive corrosion environment of oilfield. This has aroused increased interest in the use of micro alloyed steels for oil and gas production and transportation. The corrosion behavior of three commercially supplied micro alloyed steels designated as A, B, and C have been investigated with API 5L X65 as reference samples. Electrochemical corrosion tests were conducted in an unbuffered 3.5 wt% NaCl solution saturated with CO2 at 30 0C for 24 hours. Pre-corrosion analyses revealed that samples A, B and X65 consist of ferrite-pearlite microstructures but with different grain sizes, shapes and distribution whereas sample C has bainitic microstructure with dispersed acicular ferrites. The results of the electrochemical corrosion tests showed that within the experimental conditions, the corrosion rate of the samples can be ranked as CR(A)< CR(X65)< CR(B)< CR(C). These results are attributed to difference in microstructures of the samples as depicted by ASTM grain size number in accordance with ASTM E112-12 Standard and ferrite-pearlite volume fractions determined by ImageJ Fiji grain size analysis software.
Abstract: Keeping in view the increasing demand, queen of Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) was reared artificially in this experiment at varying diets including royal jelly. Larval duration, pupal duration, weight, and size of pupae were evaluated at different diets including royal jelly. Queen larvae were raised by Doo Little grafting method. Four different diets were mixed with royal jelly and applied to larvae. Fructose, sugar, yeast, and honey were provided to rearing queen larvae along with same amount of royal jelly. Larval and pupal duration were longest (6.15 and 7.5 days, respectively) at yeast and shortest on honey (5.05 and 7.02 days, respectively). Heavier and bigger pupae were recorded on yeast (168.14 mg and 1.76 cm, respectively) followed by diets having sugar and honey. Due to production of heavier and bigger pupae, yeast was considered as best artificial diet for the growing queen larvae. So, in the second part of experiment, different amounts of yeast were provided to growing larvae along with fixed amount (0.5 g) of royal jelly. Survival rates of the larvae and queen bee were 70% and 40% in the 4-g food, 86.7% and 53.3% in the 6-g food, and 76.7% and 50% in the 8-g food. Weight of adult queen bee (1.459±0.191 g) and the number of ovarioles (41.7±21.3) were highest at 8 g of food. Results of this study are helpful for bee-keepers in producing fitter queen bees.
Abstract: Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is one of the best candidates for dynamic spectrum access due to its flexibility of spectrum shaping. However, the high sidelobes of the OFDM signal that result in high out-of-band radiation, introduce significant interference to the users operating in its vicinity. This problem becomes more critical in cognitive radio (CR) system that enables the secondary users (SUs) users to access the spectrum holes not used by the primary users (PUs) at that time. In this paper, we present a generalized OFDM framework that has a capability of describing any sidelobe suppression techniques, despite of whether one or a number of techniques are used. Based on that framework, we propose cancellation carrier (CC) technique in conjunction with the generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) to reduce the out-of-band radiation in the region where the licensed users are operating. Simulation results show that the proposed technique can reduce the out-of-band radiation better when compared with the existing techniques found in the literature.
Abstract: This study examined the effect of Urea Deep Placement (UDP) technology on the output of irrigated rice farmers in the northern region of Ghana. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 142 rice farmers from the Golinga and Bontanga irrigation schemes, around Tamale. A treatment effect model was estimated at two stages; firstly, to determine the factors that influenced farmers’ decision to adopt the UDP technology and secondly, to determine the effect of the adoption of the UDP technology on the output of rice farmers. The significant variables that influenced rice farmers’ adoption of the UPD technology were sex of the farmer, land ownership, off-farm activity, extension service, farmer group participation and training. The results also revealed that farm size and the adoption of UDP technology significantly influenced the output of rice farmers in the northern region of Ghana. In addition to the potential of the technology to improve yields, it also presents an employment opportunity for women and youth, who are engaged in the deep placement of Urea Super Granules (USG), as well as in the transplantation of rice. It is recommended that the government of Ghana work closely with the IFDC to embed the UDP technology in the national agricultural programmes and policies. The study also recommends an effective collaboration between the government, through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) to train agricultural extension agents on UDP technology in the rice producing areas of the country.
Abstract: Salinity is one of the most widespread agricultural problems in arid and semi-arid areas that limits the plant growth and crop productivity. In this study, the salt stress effects on protein, reducing sugar, proline contents and antioxidant enzymes activities of Carum copticum L. under in vitro conditions were studied. Seeds of C. copticum were cultured in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing 0, 25, 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl and calli were cultured in MS medium containing 1 μM 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, 4 μM benzyl amino purine and different levels of NaCl (0, 25, 50, 100 and 150 mM). After NaCl treatment for 28 days, the proline and reducing sugar contents of shoots, roots and calli increased significantly in relation to the severity of the salt stress. The highest amount of proline and carbohydrate were observed at 150 and 100 mM NaCl, respectively. The reducing sugar accumulation in shoots was the highest as compared to roots, whereas, proline contents did not show any significant difference in roots and shoots under salt stress. The results showed significant reduction of protein contents in seedlings and calli. Based on these results, proteins extracted from the shoots, roots and calli of C. copticum treated with 150 mM NaCl showed the lowest contents. The positive relationships were observed between activity of antioxidant enzymes and the increase in stress levels. Catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activity increased significantly under salt concentrations in comparison to the control. These results suggest that the accumulation of proline and sugars, and activation of antioxidant enzymes play adaptive roles in the adaptation of seedlings and callus of C. copticum to saline conditions.
Abstract: Brain information transmission in the neuronal network occurs in the form of electrical signals. Neural work transmits information between the neurons or neurons and target cells by moving charged particles in a voltage field; a fraction of the energy utilized in this process is dissipated via entropy generation. Exergy loss and entropy generation models demonstrate the inefficiencies of the communication along the dendritic trees. In this study, neurons of 4 different animals were analyzed with one dimensional cable model with N=6 identical dendritic trees and M=3 order of symmetrical branching. Each branch symmetrically bifurcates in accordance with the 3/2 power law in an infinitely long cylinder with the usual core conductor assumptions, where membrane potential is conserved in the core conductor at all branching points. In the model, exergy loss and entropy generation rates are calculated for each branch of equivalent cylinders of electrotonic length (L) ranging from 0.1 to 1.5 for four different dendritic branches, input branch (BI), and sister branch (BS) and two cousin branches (BC-1 & BC-2). Thermodynamic analysis with the data coming from two different cat motoneuron studies show that in both experiments nearly the same amount of exergy is lost while generating nearly the same amount of entropy. Guinea pig vagal motoneuron loses twofold more exergy compared to the cat models and the squid exergy loss and entropy generation were nearly tenfold compared to the guinea pig vagal motoneuron model. Thermodynamic analysis show that the dissipated energy in the dendritic tress is directly proportional with the electrotonic length, exergy loss and entropy generation. Entropy generation and exergy loss show variability not only between the vertebrate and invertebrates but also within the same class. Concurrently, single action potential Na+ ion load, metabolic energy utilization and its thermodynamic aspect contributed for squid giant axon and mammalian motoneuron model. Energy demand is supplied to the neurons in the form of Adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Exergy destruction and entropy generation upon ATP hydrolysis are calculated. ATP utilization, exergy destruction and entropy generation showed differences in each model depending on the variations in the ion transport along the channels.
Abstract: This paper presents an optimal state feedback controller based on Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) for a two-rotor aero-dynamical system (TRAS). TRAS is a highly nonlinear multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system with two degrees of freedom and cross coupling. There are two parameters that define the behavior of LQR controller: state weighting matrix and control weighting matrix. The two parameters influence the performance of LQR. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is proposed to optimally tune weighting matrices of LQR. The major concern of using LQR controller is to stabilize the TRAS by making the beam move quickly and accurately for tracking a trajectory or to reach a desired altitude. The simulation results were carried out in MATLAB/Simulink. The system is decoupled into two single-input single-output (SISO) systems. Comparing the performance of the optimized proportional, integral and derivative (PID) controller provided by INTECO, results depict that LQR controller gives a better performance in terms of both transient and steady state responses when PSO is performed.
Abstract: Wilson’s disease (WD) is an autosomal recessive disorder of the copper metabolism, which is caused by a mutation in the copper-transporting P-type ATPase (ATP7B). The mechanism of this disease is the failure of hepatic excretion of copper to bile, and leads to copper deposits in the liver and other organs. The ATP7B gene is located on the long arm of chromosome 13 (13q14.3). This study aimed to investigate the gene mutation in the Vietnamese patients with WD, and make a presymptomatic diagnosis for their familial members. Forty-three WD patients and their 65 siblings were identified as having ATP7B gene mutations. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples; 21 exons and exon-intron boundaries of the ATP7B gene were analyzed by direct sequencing. We recognized four mutations ([R723=; H724Tfs*34], V1042Cfs*79, D1027H, and IVS6+3A>G) in the sum of 20 detectable mutations, accounting for 87.2% of the total. Mutation S105* was determined to have a high rate (32.6%) in this study. The hotspot regions of ATP7B were found at exons 2, 16, and 8, and intron 14, in 39.6 %, 11.6 %, 9.3%, and 7 % of patients, respectively. Among nine homozygote/compound heterozygote siblings of the patients with WD, three individuals were determined as asymptomatic by screening mutations of the probands. They would begin treatment after diagnosis. In conclusion, 20 different mutations were detected in 43 WD patients. Of this number, four novel mutations were explored, including [R723=; H724Tfs*34], V1042Cfs*79, D1027H, and IVS6+3A>G. The mutation S105* is the most prevalent and has been considered as a biomarker that can be used in a rapid detection assay for diagnosis of WD patients. Exons 2, 8, and 16, and intron 14 should be screened initially for WD patients in Vietnam. Based on risk profile for WD, genetic testing for presymptomatic patients is also useful in diagnosis and treatment.
Abstract: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) pandemic increased significantly worldwide. The rise in cases of HIV/AIDS was also followed by an increase in the incidence of opportunistic infection, with tuberculosis being the most opportunistic infection found in HIV/AIDS and the main cause of mortality in HIV/AIDS patients. Diagnosis of tuberculosis in HIV/AIDS patients is often difficult because of the uncommon symptom in HIV/AIDS patients compared to those without the disease. Thus, diagnostic tools are required that are more effective and efficient to diagnose tuberculosis in HIV/AIDS. CXCL-10/IP-10 is a chemokine that binds to the CXCR3 receptor found in HIV/AIDS patients with a weakened immune system. Tuberculosis infection in HIV/AIDS activates chemokine IP-10 in urine, which is used as a marker for diagnosis of infection. The aim of this study was to prove whether IP-10 urine can be a biomarker diagnosis of active lung tuberculosis in HIV-AIDS patients. Design of this study is a cross sectional study involving HIV/AIDS patients with lung tuberculosis as the subject of this study. Forty-seven HIV/AIDS patients with tuberculosis based on clinical and biochemical laboratory were asked to collect urine samples and IP-10/CXCL-10 urine being measured using ELISA method with 18 healthy human urine samples as control. Forty-seven patients diagnosed as HIV/AIDS were included as a subject of this study. HIV/AIDS were more common in male than in women with the percentage in male 85.1% vs. 14.5% of women. In this study, most diagnosed patients were aged 31-40 years old, followed by those 21-30 years, and > 40 years old, with one case diagnosed at age less than 20 years of age. From the result of the urine IP-10 using ELISA method, there was significant increase of the mean value of IP-10 urine in patients with TB-HIV/AIDS co-infection compared to the healthy control with mean 61.05 pg/mL ± 78.01 pg/mL vs. mean 17.2 pg/mL. Based on this research, there was significant increase of urine IP-10/CXCL-10 in active lung tuberculosis with HIV/AIDS compared to the healthy control. From this finding, it is necessary to conduct further research into whether urine IP-10/CXCL-10 plays a significant role in TB-HIV/AIDS co-infection, which can also be used as a biomarker in the early diagnosis of TB-HIV.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to reduce radiation dose for chest CT examination by including Tube Current Modulation (TCM) to a standard CT protocol. A scan of an anthropomorphic male Alderson phantom was performed on a 128-slice scanner. The estimation of effective dose (ED) in both scans with and without mAs modulation was done via multiplication of Dose Length Product (DLP) to a conversion factor. Results were compared to those measured with a CT-Expo software. The size specific dose estimation (SSDE) values were obtained by multiplication of the volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) with a conversion size factor related to the phantom’s effective diameter. Objective assessment of image quality was performed with Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) measurements in phantom. SPSS software was used for data analysis. Results showed including CARE Dose 4D; ED was lowered by 48.35% and 51.51% using DLP and CT-expo, respectively. In addition, ED ranges between 7.01 mSv and 6.6 mSv in case of standard protocol, while it ranges between 3.62 mSv and 3.2 mSv with TCM. Similar results are found for SSDE; dose was higher without TCM of 16.25 mGy and was lower by 48.8% including TCM. The SNR values calculated were significantly different (p=0.03
Abstract: Background: In addition to reducing body weight, the low-calorie diets can reduce the lean body mass. It is hypothesized that in addition to reducing the body weight, the low-calorie diets can maintain the lean body mass. So, the current study aimed at evaluating the effects of high-protein diet with calorie restriction on body composition in overweight and obese individuals. Methods: 36 obese and overweight subjects were divided randomly into two groups. The first group received a normal-protein, low-energy diet (RDA), and the second group received a high-protein, low-energy diet (2×RDA). The anthropometric indices including height, weight, body mass index, body fat mass, fat free mass, and body fat percentage were evaluated before and after the study. Results: A significant reduction was observed in anthropometric indices in both groups (high-protein, low-energy diets and normal-protein, low-energy diets). In addition, more reduction in fat free mass was observed in the normal-protein, low-energy diet group compared to the high -protein, low-energy diet group. In other the anthropometric indices, significant differences were not observed between the two groups. Conclusion: Independently of the type of diet, low-calorie diet can improve the anthropometric indices, but during a weight loss, high-protein diet can help the fat free mass to be maintained.