Quantification of volatile organic compounds in ten cities across three continents

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted from both biogenic and anthropogenic sources. Biogenic compounds dominate VOCs emissions worldwide while the anthropogenic VOCs prevail in urban areas. Apart from undesired and direct human health effects, VOCs can affect the physical-chemical behaviour of the atmosphere in several ways. In addition to influencing local, regional and even global photochemistry, some of these compounds have a potential impact on climate (e.g. due to their ability to form aerosol particles). Despite these facts, few studies have focused on urban environments of developing countries where VOCs levels are expected to be high because of rapid industrialization and lenient regulations. People spend up to 80-90% of their time indoors (houses, offices, bars etc.) and a significant amount of time (5%) in traffic while commuting to and from work. However, air quality (e.g. exposure assessment) concerning a diversity of airborne VOCs for those micro-environments are hardly documented, even in the developed world. Given these considerations, quantitative data on VOCs levels in urban environments are of crucial importance in order to (i) enable comparison of pollution levels and exposure, and (ii) estimate their undesired effects (in particular, ozone formation potential and cancer risk assessment). In this thesis, VOCs have been measured in ten cities across five countries (i.e. Belgium, Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia) in Europe, Asia, and Africa. All air sampling has been done in an active way using sorbent tubes filled with Tenax TA. The analysis has been excecuted by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) using internal standard calibration. The quantification resulted in a unique dataset of concentration levels of up to 84 VOCs in 450 samples from urban air regions or micro-environments where hardly data on VOCs exist today. This dataset has been used to make a first estimation of ozone formation potential and cancer risk via inhalation

Forward Kinematics Based Prediction for Bending Motion of Soft Pneumatic Actuators with Various Air Chambers

This study proposes a forward kinematic model for soft actuators that utilize pneumatic control to predict their bending motion, which is simulated using Ansys software. Firstly, a bending motion test is conducted with a 2-air chamber actuator to derive an equation that establishes the relationship between the bending angle and input pressure. Next, a serial model for the overall soft actuator is developed using forward kinematics with the DH method. The angle variables in the soft actuator are then replaced with an equation that relates the deformed angle and compressed air. Finally, the proposed serial model is used to predict the bending motion of 4-air and 6-air chamber actuators, and the results are compared to simulations and real experiments. The comparison shows that the proposed model could accurately predict the bending motion of the real actuators within an acceptable tolerance of 10%

Downscaling Global Weather Forecast Outputs Using ANN for Flood Prediction

Downscaling global weather prediction model outputs to individual locations or local scales is a common practice for operational weather forecast in order to correct the model outputs at subgrid scales. This paper presents an empirical-statistical downscaling method for precipitation prediction which uses a feed-forward multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network. The MLP architecture was optimized by considering physical bases that determine the circulation of atmospheric variables. Downscaled precipitation was then used as inputs to the super tank model (runoff model) for flood prediction. The case study was conducted for the Thu Bon River Basin, located in Central Vietnam. Study results showed that the precipitation predicted by MLP outperformed that directly obtained from model outputs or downscaled using multiple linear regression. Consequently, flood forecast based on the downscaled precipitation was very encouraging. It has demonstrated as a robust technology, simple to implement, reliable, and universal application for flood prediction through the combination of downscaling model and super tank model

On the central symmetry of the circumstellar envelope of RS Cnc

We present a phenomenological study of CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) emission from the circumstellar envelope (CSE) of the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) star RS\,Cnc. It reveals departures from central symmetry that turn out to be efficient tools for the exploration of some of the CSE properties. We use a wind model including a bipolar flow with a typical wind velocity of $\sim$8 km\,s$^{-1}$ decreasing to $\sim$2 km\,s$^{-1}$ near the equator to describe Doppler velocity spectral maps obtained by merging data collected at the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer and Pico Veleta single dish radio telescope. Parameters describing the wind morphology and kinematics are obtained, together with the radial dependence of the gas temperature in the domain of the circumstellar envelope probed by the CO observations. Significant north-south central asymmetries are revealed by the analysis, which we quantify using a simple phenomenological description. The origin of such asymmetries is unclear.Comment: accepted for publication in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics (RAA

Digital Marketing in Banking Activities – Suggestions for Vietnam Banks from International Experiences

Based on the innovation of science and technology in a fierce competitive environment, digital marketing has emerged as an inevitable trend for businesses with no exception from banking areas. With the target of reaching out and providing services to progressively demanding customers, current marketing tools need to be further improved to create the best interaction. Hence, the authors aim at clarifying the concept of digital marketing, which is a new trend in banking development globally, followed by experiences as well as proposing suggestions for banks in transitional countries such as Vietnam

Forward Kinematics Based Prediction for Bending Motion of Soft Pneumatic Actuators with Various Air Chambers

This study proposes a forward kinematic model for soft actuators that utilize pneumatic control to predict their bending motion, which is simulated using Ansys software. Firstly, a bending motion test is conducted with a 2-air chamber actuator to derive an equation that establishes the relationship between the bending angle and input pressure. Next, a serial model for the overall soft actuator is developed using forward kinematics with the DH method. The angle variables in the soft actuator are then replaced with an equation that relates the deformed angle and compressed air. Finally, the proposed serial model is used to predict the bending motion of 4-air and 6-air chamber actuators, and the results are compared to simulations and real experiments. The comparison shows that the proposed model could accurately predict the bending motion of the real actuators within an acceptable tolerance of 10%

HPV vaccine knowledge and beliefs among Cambodian American parents and community leaders.

BACKGROUND: The cervical cancer incidence rate among Cambodian American women is 15.0 per 100,000, compared to 7.7 per 100,000 among non-Latina white women. HPV infection has been identified as a universal risk factor for cervical cancer. The HPV vaccine was recently approved in the United States for females aged 9-26 years. There is little information about HPV vaccination knowledge and beliefs in Southeast Asian communities. METHODS: We conducted 13 key informant interviews with Cambodian community leaders, as well as four focus groups with Cambodian parents (37 participants). Two of the focus groups included fathers and two of the focus groups included mothers. Interview and focus group questions addressed HPV vaccine barriers and facilitators. RESULTS: Participants had limited knowledge about HPV infection and the HPV vaccine. Barriers to HPV vaccination included a lack of information about the vaccine, as well as concerns about vaccine safety, effectiveness, and financial costs. The most important facilitators were a health care provider recommendation for vaccination and believing in the importance of disease prevention. DISCUSSION: Future cervical cancer control educational programs for Cambodians should promote use of the HPV vaccine for age-eligible individuals. Health care providers who serve Cambodian communities should be encouraged to recommend HPV vaccination