High Percentage Coverage Research Articles

Design Optimization for Light-Shelves with Regard to Daylighting Performance Improvements in The Tropics

Different daylight device systems and control strategies can be employed in different parts of a window system to perform different functions, particularly for fully glazed façades. A light-shelves with parametric control in both portions of the system were proposed in this study as an innovative daylighting device to improve daylighting distribution and glare probability. The aim of this article was to present a simulation study to investigate the influence of light shelves on daylighting performance improvements in buildings located in tropical climates. Multi-objective optimization method was proposed by classifying the results based on sky conditions. The metrics of Useful Daylight Illuminance and Daylight Glare Probability were used to evaluate the daylight performance and glare to compare the final solutions of the blight shelf parameters of the light shelf. The study concludes that daylight improvements by optimal solutions of light shelves can provide the best range of optimal daylighting for visual comfort in office spaces in the tropics. The idea of a light shelf system with parametric control in both portions (inner and outer) provides the most optimal options for achieving balanced daylighting levels in both the front and back of the room. This resulted in a glare-free environment with undetectable glare indices, and acceptable daylight is accomplished, as well as a high percentage coverage within UDI300-2000 lux between 63% and 73.8% at midday and no less than 55% during working hours.

Daylighting performance improvements using of split louver with parametrically incremental slat angle control

Different shading device systems and control strategies can be employed in different parts of a window system to perform different functions, particularly for fully glazed façades. A split louverwith various improvements was proposed in this studyas an innovative daylighting device to improve daylighting distribution and uniformity. An 8 m deep office room in Jordan was chosen for a case study, where it is south-oriented with a high window-to-wall ratio (WWR: 95%). The split louver system features two sections with different functions that can affect the quality and quantity of daylighting performance in the deep room space. Four types of parametrically controlled reflective slats, i.e., unanimous, incremental, fully parametric, and parametrically incremental, were investigated for the upper section of the split louver. While the daylighting performance of the four systems is extremely similar in terms of illuminance level but different in distribution, the parametrically incremental control is the preferred one attributed to its practicality and distribution performance. The upper section of the split louver includes blind integration, and different slat surface materials (diffuse, semi-mirrored, and mirrored) were evolved through various improvement phases. Simultaneously, the lower section of the split louverwas investigated in order to adjust the overall illuminance level. The proposal of scheduled angles of split louver in both sections presented the most optimal combinations to achieve balanced daylighting levels in both the front and back of the space. This resulted in a free-glare indoor with accepted daylight uniformity levels of up to 0.60 and high percentage coverage within UDI150∼750 lx for most of the working hours throughout the year are realized (between 90% and 100% at noontime and no less than 50% along the rest of the working hours).

The burden of Japanese encephalitis, the catch-up vaccination campaign, and health service providers\u2019 perceptions in Myanmar: 2012\u20132017

BackgroundMyanmar is endemic for Japanese encephalitis (JE) and has experienced several outbreaks in recent years. The vector-borne disease control (VBDC) program has collected hospital-based surveillance data since 1974. There is an urgent need to collate, analyze, and interpret the most recent information. The study aimed to describe (i) hospital-based JE cases and deaths between 2012 and 2017, (ii) a catch-up vaccination campaign in children in 2017, and (iii) health service provider perceptions about JE in one township in 2018.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study of cases, deaths, and catch-up childhood vaccinations using secondary data from program records and a survey database of health service provider perceptions.ResultsBetween 2012 and 2017, there were 872 JE cases and 79 deaths with a case fatality rate of 91 per 1000; 2016 was the year with most cases and deaths. Most cases (n = 324) and deaths (n = 37) occurred in children aged 5–9 years. Large case numbers were reported in delta and lowland regions (n = 550) and during the wet season (n = 580). The highest case fatality rates were observed in the hills and coastal regions (120 and 112 per 1000, respectively). Nationwide coverage of the catch-up JE vaccination campaign among 13.7 million eligible children was 92%, with coverage lower in the hills and coastal regions (84%) compared with delta and lowland regions and plains (94%). More vaccinations (65%) occurred through school-based campaigns with the remainder (35%) vaccinated through community-based campaigns. Structured interviews in one township showed that service providers (n = 47) had good perceptions about various aspects of JE, although perceived benefits of specific vector control measures were poor: spraying/fumigation (38%), garbage removal (36%), larvicide use (36%), and drainage of standing/stagnant water (32%).ConclusionThe catch-up vaccination campaign was a successful response to high JE case numbers and deaths in children. However, ongoing surveillance for JE needs to continue and be strengthened to ensure comprehensive reporting of all cases, more knowledge is needed on disability in JE survivors, and all attempts must be made to ensure high percentage coverage of vaccination through routine and catch-up campaigns.

The detection and quantification of food components on stainless steel surfaces following use in an operational bakery

Food preparation areas in commercial bakeries present surfaces for continual organic fouling. The detection of retained food components and microorganisms on stainless steel surfaces situated for one month in the weighing in area, pastry and confectionary production areas of a bakery were investigated using different methods. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated the morphology of the material on the surfaces from all three areas, with the weighing in area demonstrating a more even coverage of material. Differential staining assays demonstrated a high percentage coverage of organic material heterogeneously distributed across the surfaces. Differential staining also demonstrated that the amount of organic material on the surface from the confectionary area was significantly greater than from both the pastry and weighing in areas. Although, UV at 353nm did not detect residual surface fouling, performance of the UV detection was optimised and demonstrated that the residual organic material on the weighing in area and the pastry samples was best illuminated at 510–560nm, and from the confectionary area of the bakery at 590–650nm. ATP bioluminescence revealed the confectionary production area contained the highest level of biofouling. Contact plates determined that only low microbial counts (≤2CFU/cm2) were recovered from the surfaces. Changes in the physicochemistry (increased hydrophobicity) demonstrated that all the surfaces were fouled (ΔGiwi −26.8mJ/m2 to −45.4mJ/m2). Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FTIR) demonstrated that all the surfaces had retained fats, carbohydrates and proteins. This work suggests that a range of methods may be needed to fully detect organic and microbial fouling.

Influencia de la vigilancia en una zona rocosa dentro de un área marina protegida, Pacífico Central de Costa Rica

We present the results of conservation assessment of a rocky shore in the Central Pacific of Costa Rica (Playa Hermosa-Punta Mala National Wildlife Refuge) using the biological indicators proposed by the national environmental ministry. This study aims to analyze the influence of surveillance, between two sites, over the rocky shore habitat. The sampling was carried out during both the dry and rainy seasons in 2015. Our data shows that Nerita scabricosta -harvested in small-scale fisheries- presents a high number of colonies formed by few individuals. Moreover, the abundance varied between seasons, probably due to a storm surge. Macroalgae differed slightly among sites, where turf had higher percentage coverage in low surveillance areas, while brown algae had higher coverage in high surveillance areas. Mechanical damage (abrasion due to rocks overturning) associated with tourism and harvesting could be influencing the low surveillance area, explaining these differences. Macroalgae presented a seasonal change, probably related to the storm surge. The density of the Tetraclita stalactifera did not exhibit variations. The surveillance level and enforcement influenced some bioindicators of the rocky shore, and therefore could be used to assess the extractive pressure.

Identification of plausible drug targets by investigating the druggable genome of MDR Staphylococcus epidermidis

Staphyloccocus epidermidis is recently recognized as opportunistic and multidrug resistant pathogen. In hospital settings, the pathogen is notorious for forming biofilm on indwelling medical devices causing fatal complications including bacteremia and prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE). In the present study, we proposed potential drug targets in S. epidermidis by computer aided, step-wise subtraction of bacterial proteome to few druggable proteins. The ultimate target was to search for non-host proteins followed by their essentiality in survival and subsequent involvement in unique bacterial pathways. The shortlisted 27 proteins in 11 unique pathways were later characterized for druggable potential. Total 15 cytoplasmic targets were selected from the previous set and were further characterized on the basis of known 3D structures and high percentage coverage and increased percentage sequence identity, in case of unknown experimental structures. Only cell division protein ftsZ was retrieved to have resolved 3D structure. Proteins with high coverage and increased sequence identity were alanine racemase, d-alanine-d-alanine ligase, tRNA dimethylallyltransferase, phosphoenolpyruvate-protein phosphotransferase and response regulator protein vraR. The highly specific proteins screened out in our study, will presumably accelerate the unraveling of novel therapeutic drugs against S. epidermidis.

Test Set Generation for Pairwise Testing Using Genetic Algorithms

In software systems, it has been observed that a fault is often caused by an interaction between a small number of input parameters. Even for moderately sized software systems, exhaustive testing is practically impossible to achieve. This is either due to time or cost constraints. Combinatorial (t-way) testing provides a technique to select a subset of exhaustive test cases covering all of the t-way interactions, without much of a loss to the fault detection capability. In this paper, an approach is proposed to generate 2-way (pairwise) test sets using genetic algorithms. The performance of the algorithm is improved by creating an initial solution using the overlap coefficient (a similarity matrix). Two mutation strategies have also been modified to improve their efficiency. Furthermore, the mutation operator is improved by using a combination of three mutation strategies. A comparative survey of the techniques to generate t-way test sets using genetic algorithms was also conducted. It has been shown experimentally that the proposed approach generates faster results by achieving higher percentage coverage in a fewer number of generations. Additionally, the size of the mixed covering arrays was reduced in one of the six benchmark problems examined.

Effects of hurricane-induced hydrilla reduction on the largemouth bass fishery at two central Florida lakes

Lakes Weohyakapka and St. Johns Water Management Area, Florida, experienced severe impacts from multiple hurricanes in August and September 2004, resulting in the loss of all submersed aquatic vegetation, primarily hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata). We assessed at both lakes changes in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) population size distribution, recreational fishing effort and success, angler expenditures, and catches of trophy fish in relation to disparate levels of hydrilla coverage for prehurricane (1999–2004) and posthurricane (2005–2009) periods. Tests revealed significant differences at both lakes in the population size distribution between prehurricane (high percentage coverage of hydrilla) and posthurricane (no hydrilla) periods. At both lakes, the population size distribution comprised more juvenile (age-1) largemouth bass before the hurricanes, indicating that a decline in recruitment strength coincided with the absence of hydrilla posthurricanes. Declines in directed fishing effort, angler expenditures, and angler catches of trophy-sized fish also occurred following the absence of hydrilla posthurricanes. These findings demonstrate an important link between radical changes in hydrilla coverage with recruitment of juvenile largemouth bass and the strength of the largemouth bass fishery. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recently adopted a new agency position on hydrilla management that allows flexibility regarding waterbodies with limited or absent native submersed vegetation, recognizing that hydrilla at a low to moderate coverage can be beneficial to fish and wildlife.

Mergerburst transients of brown dwarfs with exoplanets

We explore the properties of an optical transient event formed by the destruction of a planet by a brown dwarf (BD) – a BD–planet mergerburst. When a massive planet approaches a BD towards a merging process it will be tidally destroyed and will form an accretion disc around the BD. The viscosity in the disc sets the characteristic time for the event – several days. We suggest that BD–planet mergerburst events have light curves resembling those of other intermediate luminosity optical transient events, such as V838 Mon, but at shorter time-scales and lower luminosities. With the high percentage coverage of the sky, we expect that such events will be detected in the near future.

Synthesis of iron oxide nanoworms

We report on the synthesis of highly crystalline iron oxide nanoworms via a modified “heat-up” method using iron oleate as the precursor. According to a detailed nanoparticle growth study, we proposed that the nanoworms resulted from the aggregation of spherical iron oxide nanoparticles. The aggregation was induced by the high percentage coverage of a weakly bound ligand (trioctylphosphine oxide) on the iron oxide surfaces. A time dependent study clearly demonstrated the evolution of these nanostructures from spheres to one-dimensional nanoworms. The diameter of the nanoworms was similar to the spherical nanoparticles observed at an early stage of the reaction, and the length of the nanoworms changed from 50–200 nm during the reaction. The spheres and the nanoworms were both maghemite crystal structures, but the magnetic properties changed from superparamagnetic for the spheres to ferromagnetic for the elongated nanoworms. These one dimensional structures will offer additional opportunities for biomedical applications because of their high blood circulation time and large surface area for bio-labeling.

Solving the maximal covering location problem with heuristic concentration

The metaheuristic heuristic concentration (HC) is applied here to the solution of large instances of the maximal covering location problem with high percentage coverage. In these instances, exact methods may be too cumbersome for practical use, and heuristics can allow faster solution times with near-optimal results. We examined the performance of HC based on its ability to approach the optimal solutions to these problems and the run times of the algorithm compared to LP-IP runtimes. Exact solutions, generated by linear programming and branch and bound, provided a benchmark for comparison when the LP-IP problems could be run to completion. In all cases, HC found solutions with objective values no worse than 0.543% below the best known LP-IP objective value. In several instances, LP-IP runtime ballooned to as much as 38.5 h, while HC took no longer than 1.6 h in any instance. In one particular instance, LP-IP took 38.5 h to terminate, while HC found a near-optimal solution (within 0.306% of optimality) in only 25 min. Furthermore, in 62.5% of the runs, the second stage of HC improved on the first stage 1-opt algorithm.

Distribution of deep-water gorgonian corals in relation to benthic habitat features in the Northeast Channel (Atlantic Canada)

The distribution and abundance of deep-water gorgonian corals were investigated along 52 transects at 183–498 m depth in the Northeast Channel, between Georges Bank and Browns Bank in the northwest Atlantic, using a remotely operated vehicle and a towed video-camera system. Three species (Paragorgia arborea, Primnoa resedaeformis, and Acanthogorgia armata) were observed. Primnoa occurred on 35 transects below 196 m depth, with highest local abundance in stands of 104 colonies per 100 m2. Paragorgia was present on 21 transects deeper than 235 m, with highest local abundance of 49 colonies per 100 m2. Acanthogorgia was observed at only four transects between 231 m and 364 m, with a local maximum abundance of 199 colonies per 100 m2. The maximum abundance averaged for whole transects was 19.2 and 6.2 colonies per 100 m2 for Primnoa and Paragorgia, respectively. The corals were more common in the outer part of the channel along the shelf break and slope than on the shelf in the inner part. All three species showed a patchy distribution with no signs of competitive exclusion at any spatial scale. Transects with high abundance of corals were characterised by depths greater than 400 m, maximum temperatures less than 9.2°C, and a relatively high percentage coverage of cobble and boulder (more than 19% and 6%, respectively). High temperatures probably control the upper depth limit of the corals, and Primnoa seems to tolerate slightly higher temperatures than Paragorgia. Abundance of both species was negatively correlated with average temperature and positively with cobbles. Together, temperature, percentage cobble and salinity accounted for 38% of the variance of Primnoa. The comparable figure for Paragorgia was 15%. The observed distribution indicated that the abundance of coral is controlled by additional factors such as larger-scaled topographic features governing the current regimes and thus also the supply of food and larvae.