Wireless strain sensing system for assessing condition of civil infrastructure facilities

Bežični senzori i senzorske mreže postaju zamjena za tradicionalne sustave za praćenje ponašanja konstrukcija. Njihova je prednost u nižoj cijeni ugradnje jer nema potrebe za polaganjem dugih kabela između senzora i sustava za prikupljanje podataka. U radu se opisuju istraživanja provedena u svrhu ocjenjivanja učinkovitosti bežičnih senzora za mjerenje relativnih deformacija. Dan je primjer primjene bežičnog senzorskog sustava pri mjerenju ponašanja konstrukcije željezničkog mosta te je napravljena usporedba s primjenom klasičnih sustava.Wireless sensors and sensor networks are emerging as substitutes for traditional structural monitoring systems. Their benefit lies in a lower cost of installation because extensive wiring is no longer required between sensors and the data acquisition system. Studies carried out to evaluate performance of wireless strain measurement units are described in this paper. An example is given of a wireless system used for measuring behaviour of a railway bridge, and comparison with traditional systems is made

Intelligent Financial Fraud Detection Practices: An Investigation

Financial fraud is an issue with far reaching consequences in the finance industry, government, corporate sectors, and for ordinary consumers. Increasing dependence on new technologies such as cloud and mobile computing in recent years has compounded the problem. Traditional methods of detection involve extensive use of auditing, where a trained individual manually observes reports or transactions in an attempt to discover fraudulent behaviour. This method is not only time consuming, expensive and inaccurate, but in the age of big data it is also impractical. Not surprisingly, financial institutions have turned to automated processes using statistical and computational methods. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation on financial fraud detection practices using such data mining methods, with a particular focus on computational intelligence-based techniques. Classification of the practices based on key aspects such as detection algorithm used, fraud type investigated, and success rate have been covered. Issues and challenges associated with the current practices and potential future direction of research have also been identified.Comment: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Security and Privacy in Communication Networks (SecureComm 2014

Modeling and simulation of film blowing process

Film blowing process is a flexible mass production technology used for manufacturing thin polymeric films. Its flexibility in using an existing die to produce films of different width and thickness, just by controlling process conditions such as, extrudate velocity, excess pressure, and line speed, makes it an attractive process with less capital investment. Controlling the process conditions to obtain a stable bubble, however, is not a trivial task. It is a costly trial and error procedure, which could result is a large wastage of material and other resources. Hence, it is necessary to develop methods to simulate the process and design it using numerical experiments. This important need of the industry defines the objective of this work. In this dissertation, a transient, axisymmetric, nonisothermal, viscoelastic model is developed to simulate the process, and it is solved using finite element method. Material behavior of polymer melt is described using a modified Phan-Thien-Tanner model in the liquid??like region, and anisotropic Kelvin??Voight model in the solid zone, and the transition is modeled using a simple mixture theory. Crystallization kinetics is described using a modified Avrami model with factors to account for the influence of temperature and strain. Results obtained are compared with available experimental results and the model is used to explore stability issues and the role of different parameters. Software developed using this model comes with a GUI based pre- and post-processor, and it can be easily adapted to use other constitutive models

The speciation and genotyping of Cronobacter isolates from hospitalised patients

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognised all Cronobacter species as human pathogens. Among premature neonates and immunocompromised infants, these infections can be life-threatening, with clinical presentations of septicaemia, meningitis and necrotising enterocolitis. The neurological sequelae can be permanent and the mortality rate as high as 40 – 80 %. Despite the highlighted issues of neonatal infections, the majority of Cronobacter infections are in the elderly population suffering from serious underlying disease or malignancy and include wound and urinary tract infections, osteomyelitis, bacteraemia and septicaemia. However, no age profiling studies have speciated or genotyped the Cronobacter isolates. A clinical collection of 51 Cronobacter strains from two hospitals were speciated and genotyped using 7-loci multilocus sequence typing (MLST), rpoB gene sequence analysis, O-antigen typing and pulsed- field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The isolates were predominated by C. sakazakii sequence type 4 (63 %, 32/51) and C. malonaticus sequence type 7 (33 %, 17/51). These had been isolated from throat and sputum samples of all age groups, as well as recal and faecal swabs. There was no apparent relatedness between the age of the patient and the Cronobacter species isolated. Despite the high clonality of Cronobacter , PFGE profiles differentiated strains across the sequence types into 15 pulsotypes. There was almost complete agreement between O-antigen typing and rpoB gene sequence analysis and MLST profiling. This study shows the value of applying MLST to bacterial population studies with strains from two patient cohorts, combined with PFGE for further discrimination of strains

Modeling and simulation of film blowing process

Film blowing process is a flexible mass production technology used for manufacturing thin polymeric films. Its flexibility in using an existing die to produce films of different width and thickness, just by controlling process conditions such as, extrudate velocity, excess pressure, and line speed, makes it an attractive process with less capital investment. Controlling the process conditions to obtain a stable bubble, however, is not a trivial task. It is a costly trial and error procedure, which could result is a large wastage of material and other resources. Hence, it is necessary to develop methods to simulate the process and design it using numerical experiments. This important need of the industry defines the objective of this work. In this dissertation, a transient, axisymmetric, nonisothermal, viscoelastic model is developed to simulate the process, and it is solved using finite element method. Material behavior of polymer melt is described using a modified Phan-Thien-Tanner model in the liquid??like region, and anisotropic Kelvin??Voight model in the solid zone, and the transition is modeled using a simple mixture theory. Crystallization kinetics is described using a modified Avrami model with factors to account for the influence of temperature and strain. Results obtained are compared with available experimental results and the model is used to explore stability issues and the role of different parameters. Software developed using this model comes with a GUI based pre- and post-processor, and it can be easily adapted to use other constitutive models

Spectrum and quench-induced dynamics of spin-orbit coupled quantum droplets

We investigate the ground state and dynamics of one-dimensional spin-orbit coupled (SOC) quantum droplets within the extended Gross-Pitaevskii approach. As the SOC wavenumber increases, stripe droplet patterns emerge, with a flat-top background, for larger particle numbers. The surface energy decays following a power-law with respect to the interactions. At small SOC wavenumbers, a transition from Gaussian to flat-top droplets occurs for either a larger number of atoms or reduced intercomponent attraction. The excitation spectrum shows that droplets for relatively small SOC wavenumbers are stable, otherwise stripe droplets feature instabilities as a function of the particle number or the interactions. We also witness rich droplet dynamical features using velocity imprinting and abrupt changes in the intercomponent interaction or the SOC parameters. Characteristic responses include breathing oscillations, expansion, symmetric and asymmetric droplet fragmentation, admixtures of single and stripe droplet branches, and erratic spatial distributions suggesting the triggering of relevant instabilities. Our results reveal the controlled dynamical generation and stability properties of stripe droplets that should be detectable in current cold-atom experiments.Comment: 18pages, 13figure

Climatic Influences on Canine Babesiosis: Patterns of Babesia Prevalence and Dynamics

This study investigates the prevalence of Babesia gibsoni and Babesia vogeli in Wayanad district Kerala, India, from January 2021 to December 2023, focusing on the impact of climatic factors on pathogen abundance. Canine babesiosis, caused by these protozoan parasites, poses a significant health threat to dogs globally. Despite the increasing incidence of the disease, there is limited research on the influence of specific climatic variables on the prevalence of B. gibsoni and B. vogeli in Kerala. An analysis of 350 canine blood samples was done by PCR to evaluate the prevalence of these pathogens and their correlation with climatic factors such as temperature, evaporation rate, relative humidity, and rainfall. Whole blood samples were collected from dogs exhibiting clinical signs of babesiosis were examined using PCR, while biometeorological data, including temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and evaporation rate, were simultaneously collected to explore their impact on parasite prevalence.  Our findings indicated a higher prevalence of B. gibsoni (58.33%) compared to B. vogeli (41.67%), with B. gibsoni showing peak incidence in 2022. Statistical analysis revealed that maximum temperature and evaporation rate were positively associated with the abundance of both species, whereas relative humidity and rainfall were negatively correlated. These results highlight the significant role of climatic conditions in the epidemiology of canine babesiosis, emphasizing the need for further research to understand how specific environmental factors influence pathogen transmission. Such insights are crucial for developing effective strategies to manage and mitigate the impact of these diseases in Kerala

COMPARATIVE DOCKING STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF COMMERCIAL DRUGS ON DIPEPTIDYL PEPTIDASE-4 (DPP-4)

Objective: The aim of our study was to validate the accuracy of computational tools in drug discovery and molecular interaction studies by studying the inhibitory activity of various commercial drugs on DPP-4.Methods: In order to validate the accuracy of computational tools, 50 commercially available drugs were docked with DPP-4, a major target for type 2 diabetes treatment. Studies were performed using Discovery studio 3.5.Results: The analysis showed that out of the fifty selected drugs, 33 drugs passed the Lipinski's rule and commercially prescribed drugs namely Sulfonylurea, Pregabalin and Metaformin were found to have maximum interaction with the target.Conclusion: These major drugs which yielded the best results were found to be used in the treatment of diabetes which reconfirms the efficacy of these drugs, druggability of the target as well as the accuracy of the tool used