Abstract: The paper is focused to the evaluation railway tracks
in the Slovakia by using Multi-Criteria method. Evaluation of railway
tracks has important impacts for the assessment of investment in
technical equipment. Evaluation of railway tracks also has an
important impact for the allocation of marshalling yards. Marshalling
yards are in transport model as centers for the operation assigned
catchment area. This model is one of the effective ways to meet the
development strategy of the European Community's railways. By
applying this model in practice, a transport company can guarantee a
higher quality of service and then expect an increase in performance.
The model is also applicable to other rail networks. This model
supplements a theoretical problem of train formation problem of new
ways of looking at evaluation of factors affecting the organization of
wagon flows.
Abstract: Distance learning systems offer useful methods of
learning and usually contain a final course test or another form of
test. The paper proposes a web application for evaluating tests using
an expert system in distance learning systems. The proposed web
application is appropriate for didactic tests or tests with results for
subsequent studying follow-up courses. The web application works
with test questions and uses an expert system and LFLC tool for test
evaluation. After test evaluation, the results are visualized and shown
to the student.
Abstract: This study aimed to 1) develop pre-service teachers’
leadership skills through camp-based learning, and 2) develop preservice
teachers’ teamwork skills through camp-based learning. An
applied research methodology was used. The target group was
derived from a purposive selection. It involved 32 fourth-year
students in Early Childhood Education Program enrolling a course
entitled Seminar in Early Childhood Education provided during
second semester of academic year 2013. The treatment was camp-based
learning activities which applied a PDCA process including
four stages: 1) plan, 2) do, 3) check, and 4) act. Research instruments
were a learning camp program, a camp-based learning management
plan, a 5-level assessment form for leadership skills and a 5-level
assessment form for assessing teamwork skills. Data were analyzed
using descriptive statistics. Results were: 1) pre-service teachers’
leadership skills yielded the before treatment average score at x= 3.4,
S.D.=0.6 2and the after-treatment average score at x 4.29 , S.D.=0.66
pre-service teachers’ teamwork skills yielded the before-treatment
average score at x=3.31, S.D.=0.60 and the after-treatment average
score at x=4.42, S.D.=0.66 Both differences were statistically
significant at the .05 level. Thus, the pre-service teachers’ leadership
and teamwork skills were significantly improved through the camp-based
learning approach.
Abstract: Many herbal medicinal products are considered
potential anti-hypercholesterolemic agents with encouraging safety
profiles, however only a limited amount of clinical research exists to
support their efficacy. The present study was designed to compare the
antihypercholesterolemic and antioxidant activities of the crude
ethanolic extracts of Citrus reticulata fruit peel, Zingiber officinale
rhizome and Sesamum indicum seeds. Forty-five rats were used throughout the experiment which are
extended for four weeks. These were divided into nine groups, five
rats per each group as follows; group 1 was the normal control group
(rats only fed standard normal rat diet), group 2 was the
hypercholesterolemic control group (rats fed only
hypercholesterolemic diet which contained 1% cholesterol plus 10%
saturated animal fat added to the normal rat diet), groups 3 and 4
were fed hypercholesterolemic diet in addition to Citrus reticulata
ethanolic extract at doses of (250mg/kg (group 3) and 500mg/kg
(group 4)) administered daily via oral route, groups 5 and 6 were
given hypercholesterolemic diet in addition to Zingiber officinale
ethanolic extract at doses of (250mg/kg (group 5) and 500mg/kg
(group 6)) daily through oral route, groups 7 and 8 fed on
hypercholesterolemic diet in addition to Sesamum indicum ethanolic
extract at doses of (250mg/kg (group 7) and 500mg/kg (group 8))
daily orally; and group 9 rats were given hypercholesterolemic diet in
addition to atorvastatin (0.18mg/kg) daily via oral route as a standard
reference antihypercholesterolemic drug. Blood samples from all
groups were drawn from the retro-orbital venous plexus four weeks
following treatment after overnight fasting and the lipid profile (total
cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low
density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride levels) were
measured and the risk ratio (TC/HDL-C) was assessed. The
antioxidant activity of the three plants extracts was determined using
DPPH free-radical antioxidant assay. Results of in vivo and in vitro
antihypercholesterolemic and antioxidant assay respectively, revealed
that the three extracts possess comparable antioxidant and
antihypercholesterolemic activities.
Abstract: Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) measure brain
signals activity, intentionally and unintentionally induced by users,
and provides a communication channel without depending on the
brain’s normal peripheral nerves and muscles output pathway.
Feature Selection (FS) is a global optimization machine learning
problem that reduces features, removes irrelevant and noisy data
resulting in acceptable recognition accuracy. It is a vital step
affecting pattern recognition system performance. This study presents
a new Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO) based feature
selection algorithm. Multi-layer Perceptron Neural Network
(MLPNN) classifier with backpropagation training algorithm and
Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm classify selected features.
Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the
psychological variables motivating sport participation and
involvement among student-athletes of tertiary institutions in southwest
Nigeria. One thousand three hundred and fifty (N-1350) studentathletes
were randomly selected in all sports from nine tertiary
institutions in south-west Nigeria. These tertiary institutions include
University of Lagos, Lagos State University, Obafemi Awolowo
University, Osun State University, University of Ibadan, University
of Agriculture Abeokuta, Federal University of Technology
Akungba, University of Ilorin, and Kwara State University. The
descriptive survey research method was adopted while a self
developed validated Likert type questionnaire named Sport
Participation Scale (SPS) was used to elicit opinion from
respondents. The test-retest reliability value obtained for the
instrument, using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient
was 0.96. Out of the one thousand three hundred and fifty (N-1350)
questionnaire administered, only one thousand two hundred and five
(N-1286) were correctly filled, coded and analysed using inferential
statistics of Chi-Square (X2) while all the tested hypotheses were set
at. 05 alpha level. Based on the findings of this study, the result
revealed that several psychological factors influence student athletes
to continue participation in sport one which includes love for the
game, famous athletes as role model and family support. However,
the analysis further revealed that the stipends the student-athletes get
from their universities have no influence on their participation and
involvement in sport.
Abstract: NiFe2O4 (nickel ferrite), ZnFe2O4 (zinc ferrite) and
Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 (nickel-zinc ferrite) were prepared by
mechanochemical route in a planetary ball mill starting from mixture
of the appropriate quantities of the Ni(OH)2/Fe(OH)3,
Zn(OH)2/Fe(OH)3 and Ni(OH)2/Zn(OH)2/Fe(OH)3 hydroxide
powders. In order to monitor the progress of chemical reaction and
confirm phase formation, powder samples obtained after 25 h, 18 h
and 10 h of milling were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD),
transmission electron microscopy (TEM), IR, Raman and Mössbauer
spectroscopy. It is shown that the soft mechanochemical method, i.e.
mechanochemical activation of hydroxides, produces high quality
single phase ferrite samples in much more efficient way. From the IR
spectroscopy of single phase samples it is obvious that energy of
modes depends on the ratio of cations. It is obvious that all samples
have more than 5 Raman active modes predicted by group theory in
the normal spinel structure. Deconvolution of measured spectra
allows one to conclude that all complex bands in the spectra are made
of individual peaks with the intensities that vary from spectrum to
spectrum. The deconvolution of Raman spectra allows to separate
contributions of different cations to a particular type of vibration and
to estimate the degree of inversion.
Abstract: The paper is focused on the operational model for
transport the single wagon consignments on railway network by
using two different models of train formation. The paper gives an
overview of possibilities of improving the quality of transport
services. Paper deals with two models used in problematic of train
formatting - time continuously and time discrete. By applying these
models in practice, the transport company can guarantee a higher
quality of service and expect increasing of transport performance.
The models are also applicable into others transport networks. The
models supplement a theoretical problem of train formation by new
ways of looking to affecting the organization of wagon flows.
Abstract: In this glasshouse study, we developed a new imagebased
non-destructive technique for detecting leaf P status of
different crops such as cotton, tomato and lettuce. The plants were
grown on a nutrient solution containing different P concentrations,
e.g. 0%, 50% and 100% of recommended P concentration (P0 = no P,
L; P1 = 2.5 mL 10 L-1 of P and P2 = 5 mL 10 L-1 of P). After 7 weeks
of treatment, the plants were harvested and data on leaf P contents
were collected using the standard destructive laboratory method and
at the same time leaf images were collected by a handheld crop image
sensor. We calculated leaf area, leaf perimeter and RGB (red, green
and blue) values of these images. These data were further used in
linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to estimate leaf P contents, which
successfully classified these plants on the basis of leaf P contents.
The data indicated that P deficiency in crop plants can be predicted
using leaf image and morphological data. Our proposed nondestructive
imaging method is precise in estimating P requirements of
different crop species.
Abstract: The aim of the study is to improve the understanding
of latent and sensible thermal energy storage within a paraffin wax
media by an array of cylindrical tubes arranged both in in-line and
staggered layouts. An analytical and experimental study is carried out
in a horizontal shell-and-tube type system during melting process.
Pertamina paraffin-wax was used as a phase change material (PCM),
while the tubes are embedded in the PCM. From analytical study we
can obtain the useful information in designing a thermal energy
storage such as: the motion of interface, amount of material melted at
any time in the process, and the heat storage characteristic during
melting. The use of staggered tubes is proposed compared to in-line
layout in a heat exchanger as thermal storage. The experimental study
is used to verify the validity of the analytical predictions. From the
comparisons, the analytical and experimental data are in a good
agreement.
Abstract: In this study, we investigated numerically heat
transfer by mixed convection coupled to radiation in a square cavity;
the upper horizontal wall is movable. The purpose of this study is to
see the influence of the emissivity ε and the varying of the
Richardson number Ri on the variation of average Nusselt number
Nu. The vertical walls of the cavity are differentially heated, the left
wall is maintained at a uniform temperature higher than the right
wall, and the two horizontal walls are adiabatic. The finite volume
method is used for solving the dimensionless Governing Equations.
Emissivity values used in this study are ranged between 0 and 1, the
Richardson number in the range 0.1 to 10. The Rayleigh number is
fixed to Ra=104 and the Prandtl number is maintained constant
Pr=0.71. Streamlines, isothermal lines and the average Nusselt
number are presented according to the surface emissivity. The results
of this study show that the Richardson number Ri and emissivity ε
affect the average Nusselt number.
Abstract: In present study, a large deposit of oolitic iron ore of
Late Carboniferous-Permotriassic-Lower Jurassic age was discovered
in Wadi Halfa and Argein areas, North Sudan. It seems that the iron
ore mineralization exists in the west and east bank of the River Nile
of the study area that are found on the Egyptian-Sudanese border.
The Carboniferous-Lower Jurassic age strata were covered by 67
sections and each section has been examined and carefully described.
The iron-ore in Wadi Halfa occurs as oolitic ironstone and contained
two horizons: (A) horizon and (B) horizon. Only horizon (A) was
observed in southern Argein area. The texture of the ore is variable
depending on the volume of the component. In thin sections, the
average of the ooids was ranged between 90%-80%. The matrix
varies between 10%-20% by volume and detritus quartz in other
component my reach up to 30% by volume in sandy massive ore.
Ooids size ranges from 0.2mm-1.00 mm on average in very coarse
ooids may attend up to 1 mm in size. The matrix around the ooids is
dominated by iron hydroxide, carbonate, fine, and amorphous silica.
The probable ore reserve estimate of 1.234 billion at a head grade of
41.29% Fe for the Wadi Halfa Oolitic Ironstone Formation. The iron
ore shows higher content of phosphorus ranges from 6.15% to 0.16%,
with mean 1.45%. The new technology Hatch–Ironstone Chloride
Segregation (HICS) can be used to produce commercial-quality of
iron and reduce phosphorus and silica to acceptable levels for steel
industry. The presence of infrastructures in addition to the presence
of massive quantities of iron ore would make exploitation
economically.
Abstract: Pure nickel coatings have been successfully
electrodeposited on copper substrates by the pulse plating technique.
The influence of current density, duty cycle and pulse frequency on
the surface morphology, crystal orientation, and microhardness was
determined. It was found that the crystallite size of the deposit
increases with increasing current density and duty cycle. The crystal
orientation progressively changed from a random texture at 1 A/dm2
to (200) texture at 10 A/dm2. Increasing pulse frequency resulted in
increased texture coefficient and peak intensity of (111) reflection.
An increase in duty cycle resulted in considerable increase in texture
coefficient and peak intensity of (311) reflection. Coatings obtained
at high current densities and duty cycle present a mixed morphology
of small and large grains. Maximum microhardness of 193 Hv was
achieved at 4 A/dm2, 10 Hz and duty cycle of 50%. Nickel coatings
with (200) texture are ductile while (111) texture improves the
microhardness of the coatings.
Abstract: Introduction: The process to build a better safety
culture, methods of error analysis, and preventive measures, starts
with an understanding of the effects when human factors engineering
refer to remote microscopic diagnosis in surgery and specially in
organ transplantation for the remote evaluation of the grafts. It has
been estimated that even in well-organized transplant systems an
average of 8% to 14% of the grafts (G) that arrive at the recipient
hospitals may be considered as diseased, injured, damaged or
improper for transplantation. Digital microscopy adds information on
a microscopic level about the grafts in Organ Transplant (OT), and
may lead to a change in their management. Such a method will
reduce the possibility that a diseased G, will arrive at the recipient
hospital for implantation. Aim: Ergonomics of Digital Microscopy
(DM) based on virtual slides, on Telemedicine Systems (TS) for
Tele-Pathological (TPE) evaluation of the grafts (G) in organ
transplantation (OT). Material and Methods: By experimental
simulation, the ergonomics of DM for microscopic TPE of Renal
Graft (RG), Liver Graft (LG) and Pancreatic Graft (PG) tissues is
analyzed. In fact, this corresponded to the ergonomics of digital
microscopy for TPE in OT by applying Virtual Slide (VS) system for
graft tissue image capture, for remote diagnoses of possible
microscopic inflammatory and/or neoplastic lesions. Experimentation
included: a. Development of an OTE-TS similar Experimental
Telemedicine System (Exp.-TS), b. Simulation of the integration of
TS with the VS based microscopic TPE of RG, LG and PG applying
DM. Simulation of the DM based TPE was performed by 2
specialists on a total of 238 human Renal Graft (RG), 172 Liver Graft
(LG) and 108 Pancreatic Graft (PG) tissues digital microscopic
images for inflammatory and neoplastic lesions on four electronic
spaces of the four used TS. Results: Statistical analysis of specialist‘s
answers about the ability to diagnose accurately the diseased RG, LG
and PG tissues on the electronic space among four TS (A,B,C,D)
showed that DM on TS for TPE in OT is elaborated perfectly on the
ES of a Desktop, followed by the ES of the applied Exp.-TS. Tablet
and Mobile-Phone ES seem significantly risky for the application of
DM in OT (p
Abstract: Cancer is still one of the serious diseases threatening
the lives of human beings. How to have an early diagnosis and
effective treatment for tumors is a very important issue. The animal
carcinoma model can provide a simulation tool for the studies of
pathogenesis, biological characteristics, and therapeutic effects.
Recently, drug delivery systems have been rapidly developed to
effectively improve the therapeutic effects. Liposome plays an
increasingly important role in clinical diagnosis and therapy for
delivering a pharmaceutic or contrast agent to the targeted sites.
Liposome can be absorbed and excreted by the human body, and is
well known that no harm to the human body. This study aimed to
compare the therapeutic effects between encapsulated (doxorubicin
liposomal, Lipodox) and un-encapsulated (doxorubicin, Dox)
anti-tumor drugs using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Twenty-four New Zealand rabbits implanted with VX2 carcinoma at
left thighs were classified into three groups: control group (untreated),
Dox-treated group, and LipoDox-treated group, 8 rabbits for each
group. MRI scans were performed three days after tumor implantation.
A 1.5T GE Signa HDxt whole body MRI scanner with a high
resolution knee coil was used in this study. After a 3-plane localizer
scan was performed, three-dimensional (3D) fast spin echo (FSE)
T2-weighted Images (T2WI) was used for tumor volumetric
quantification. Afterwards, two-dimensional (2D) spoiled gradient
recalled echo (SPGR) dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI was
used for tumor perfusion evaluation. DCE-MRI was designed to
acquire four baseline images, followed by contrast agent Gd-DOTA
injection through the ear vein of rabbit. A series of 32 images were
acquired to observe the signals change over time in the tumor and
muscle. The MRI scanning was scheduled on a weekly basis for a
period of four weeks to observe the tumor progression longitudinally.
The Dox and LipoDox treatments were prescribed 3 times in the first
week immediately after the first MRI scan; i.e. 3 days after VX2 tumor
implantation. ImageJ was used to quantitate tumor volume and time
course signal enhancement on DCE images. The changes of tumor size
showed that the growth of VX2 tumors was effectively inhibited for
both LipoDox-treated and Dox-treated groups. Furthermore, the tumor
volume of LipoDox-treated group was significantly lower than that of
Dox-treated group, which implies that LipoDox has better therapeutic effect than Dox. The signal intensity of LipoDox-treated group is
significantly lower than that of the other two groups, which implies
that targeted therapeutic drug remained in the tumor tissue. This study
provides a radiation-free and non-invasive MRI method for
therapeutic monitoring of targeted liposome on an animal tumor
model.
Abstract: This paper presents the design and implementation
details of a complete unmanned aerial system (UAS) based
on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components, focusing on
safety, security, search and rescue scenarios in GPS-denied
environments. In particular, The aerial platform is capable
of semi-autonomously navigating through extremely low-light,
GPS-denied indoor environments based on onboard sensors only,
including a downward-facing optical flow camera. Besides, an
additional low-cost payload camera system is developed to stream
both infra-red video and visible light video to a ground station in
real-time, for the purpose of detecting sign of life and hidden humans.
The total cost of the complete system is estimated to be $1150,
and the effectiveness of the system has been tested and validated
in practical scenarios.
Abstract: South Africa is in its post-industrial era moving from
the primary and secondary sector to the tertiary sector. The study
investigated the impact of the disaggregated energy consumption
(coal, oil, and electricity) on the primary, secondary and tertiary
sectors of the economy between 1980 and 2012 in South Africa.
Using vector error correction model, it was established that South
Africa is an energy dependent economy, and that energy (especially
electricity and oil) is a limiting factor of growth. This implies that
implementation of energy conservation policies may hamper
economic growth. Output growth is significantly outpacing energy
supply, which has necessitated load shedding. To meet up the excess
energy demand, there is a need to increase the generating capacity
which will necessitate increased investment in the electricity sector as
well as strategic steps to increase oil production. There is also need to
explore more renewable energy sources, in order to meet the growing
energy demand without compromising growth and environmental
sustainability. Policy makers should also pursue energy efficiency
policies especially at sectoral level of the economy.
Abstract: The steady flow of a second order fluid through
constricted tube with slip velocity at wall is modeled and analyzed
theoretically. The governing equations are simplified by implying no
slip in radial direction. Based on Karman Pohlhausen procedure
polynomial solution for axial velocity profile is presented.
Expressions for pressure gradient, shear stress, separation and
reattachment points, and radial velocity are also calculated. The
effect of slip and no slip velocity on magnitude velocity, shear stress,
and pressure gradient are discussed and depicted graphically. It is
noted that when Reynolds number increases magnitude velocity of
the fluid decreases in both slip and no slip conditions. It is also found
that the wall shear stress, separation, and reattachment points are
strongly affected by Reynolds number.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of
literature review software on researchers. The aim of this study was
achieved by analyzing models in terms of perceived usefulness,
perceived ease of use, and acceptance level. Collected data were
analyzed using WarpPLS 4.0 software. This study used two
theoretical frameworks, namely, Technology Acceptance Model and
the Training Needs Assessment Model. The study was experimental
and was conducted at a public university in South Africa. The results
of the study showed that acceptance level has a high impact on
research productivity followed by perceived usefulness and perceived
ease of use.
Abstract: An early diagnosis of bone metastasis is very
important for making a right decision on a subsequent therapy. One
of the most important steps to be taken initially, for developing a new
radiopharmaceutical is the measurement of organ radiation exposure
dose. In this study, the dosimetric studies of a novel agent for
SPECT-imaging of the bone metastasis, 111In-(4-
{[(bis(phosphonomethyl))carbamoyl]methyl}7,10bis(carboxymethyl)
-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododec-1-yl) acetic acid (111In-BPAMD)
complex, have been carried out to estimate the dose in human organs
based on the data derived from mice. The radiolabeled complex was
prepared with high radiochemical purity in the optimal conditions.
Biodistribution studies of the complex was investigated in the male
Syrian mice at the selected times after injection (2, 4, 24 and 48 h).
The human absorbed dose estimation of the complex was made based
on data derived from the mice by the radiation absorbed dose
assessment resource (RADAR) method. 111In-BPAMD complex was prepared with high radiochemical
purity >95% (ITLC) and specific activities of 2.85 TBq/mmol. Total
body effective absorbed dose for 111In-BPAMD was 0.205
mSv/MBq. This value is comparable to the other 111In clinically used
complexes. The results show that the dose with respect to the critical
organs is satisfactory within the acceptable range for diagnostic
nuclear medicine procedures. Generally, 111In-BPAMD has
interesting characteristics and it can be considered as a viable agent
for SPECT-imaging of the bone metastasis in the near future.