Intelligent and Distributed Data Warehouse for Student’s Academic Performance Analysis

In the academic world, a large amount of data is handled each day, ranging from student’s assessments to their socio-economic data. In order to analyze this historical information, an interesting alternative is to implement a Data Warehouse. However, Data Warehouses are not able to perform predictive analysis by themselves, so machine intelligence techniques can be used for sorting, grouping, and predicting based on historical information to improve the analysis quality. This work describes a Data Warehouse architecture to carry out an academic performance analysis of students

New Trends in Antibody-Based Electrochemical Biosensors

This chapter deals with new trends in antibody-based electrochemical biosensors. Considering mostly the period 2010–16, the related published work has been categorized into six main sections including: (1) new trends in transduction approaches (nanostructured sensing surfaces, enzyme and nanomaterial-based labels, signal amplification strategies, multiplexing, point-of-care (POC) diagnostics and detection of trace prognostic biomarkers), (2) microfluidics-based biosensing platforms (3) paper- or paperlike-based immunodetection devices, (4) wearable immunosensors, (5) self-powered immunosensors and (6) smartphone-coupled immunosensing systems. Notable applications in POC analysis, telemedicine and personalized continuous monitoring are also described. © 2017 Elsevier B.V

The effects of changes in EU emission trading scheme on the value of a gas fired power plant in Norway

The purpose of this thesis was to study how changes in the carbon market influences the present value of the gas fired power plant operated by Naturkraft AS. The changes in focus here are the ones introduced in EU’s Emission Trading Scheme after 2012, for instance higher prices on emissions and no more free emission allowances to the power generating industry. Based on secondary data, I used a binomial real option’s model that I programmed with Microsoft Visual Basic 6.5. The principal conclusion was that the present value is only slightly affected by an increase in the price of emissions (3.8% reduction in PV in the highest price scenario), but much more so by the removal of free emission allowances (34% reduction in PV). Interestingly, I also found that the present value of the plant actually increases with higher prices of emission allowances given that the plant still receives free emission allowances

The Effect of Biogas Origin on the Electricity Production by Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

This work simulates electricity production in a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC)-based power plant, fed by biogas of various compositions. Steam reforming of the gas feed stream is used to produce the required supply for the SOFC. Given the constraints of the feed stream compositions, resulting from the origin of biogas, i.e., by the biomass from which the biogas has been produced as well as by the operating conditions selected for its production, the overall plant performance is modelled in terms of energy and exergy. The model provides results on the efficiency, power output and thermal behavior of the system, thus presenting the potential to offer great advantages in generating electricity from biogas and reducing the environmental impact. This research study presents the efficiency of such a system in terms of energy and exergy, by considering several values of the operational parameters (extensions of reactions that take place in the apparatus, temperatures, feed stream compositions, etc.). It is found that moving towards a methane richer fuel, the energy and exergy efficiency can remain almost constant at high levels (around 70%), while in absolute value the electric energy can increase up to 35% according to the system’s needs. Therefore, under this prospect, the present research study reveals the usefulness of low content methane fuels, which through the optimization process can succeed identical energy management compared to high content methane fuels

Immunohistochemical analysis of the activation status of the Akt/mTOR/pS6 signaling pathway in oral lichen planus

Introduction. Aberrations of the Akt/mTOR/pS6 pathway have been linked to various types of human cancer, including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the activation status of Akt, mTOR, and pS6 in oral lichen planus (OLP) in comparison with oral premalignant and malignant lesions and normal oral mucosa (NM). Materials and Methods. Immunohistochemistry for p-Akt, p-mTOR, and phospho-pS6 was performed in 40 OLP, 20 oral leukoplakias (OL), 10 OSCC, and 10 control samples of NM. Results. Nuclear p-Akt expression was detected in the vast majority of cases in all categories, being significantly higher in OL. Cytoplasmic p-Akt and p-mTOR staining was present only in a minority of OLP cases, being significantly lower compared to OL and OSCC. Phospho-pS6 showed cytoplasmic positivity in most OLP cases, which however was significantly lower compared to OL and OSCC. Conclusions. Overall, cytoplasmic p-Akt, p-mTOR, and phospho-pS6 levels appear to be significantly lower in OLP compared to OL and OSCC. However, the expression of these molecules in a subset of OLP cases suggests that activation of Akt/mTOR/pS6 may occur in the context of OLP, possibly contributing to the premalignant potential of individual cases. © 2013 Georgios Prodromidis et al

Novel screen-printed antimony and tin voltammetric sensors for anodic stripping detection of Pb(II) and Cd(II)

In this article, some new types of electroplated and precursor-modified screen-printed antimony and tin electrodes were developed and assessed for the simultaneous anodic stripping voltammetric (ASV) detection of Pb(II) and Cd(II). The electrodes were characterized by cyclic voltammetry and the different instrumental and chemical parameters were investigated. A comprehensive comparison of the new sensors was performed against the benchmark electroplated and precursor-modified screen-printed bismuth electrodes. The limits of detection were in the range 0.9 to 1.2 μg L-1 for Pb(II) and 1.8 to 3.5 μg L-1 for Cd(II) for 240 s deposition. The repeatability on the same sensor (expressed as % relative standard deviation, (n = 8)) at the 20 μg L-1 level was always lower than 5.7% and 8.3% for the electroplated and the precursor-modified electrodes, respectively. Application of the new sensors to mineral water samples spiked with Cd(II) and Pb(II) produced % recovery values in the range 95% to 103%. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Screen-printed disposable sensors modified with bismuth precursors for rapid voltammetric determination of 3 ecotoxic nitrophenols

This work reports the application of screen-printed electrodes bulk-modified with bismuth precursors to the voltammetric determination of 2-nitrophenol (2-NP), 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) in water samples. A bismuth film was formed at the electrode surface via in situ reduction of the precursor compound contained in the electrode matrix by cathodic polarization at -1.20V. The formation of bismuth layer at the precursor-modified electrodes was assessed by cyclic voltammetric (CV) at different pH values and by optical techniques. The target nitrophenols were voltammetrically determined by recording their reduction peaks in the differential pulse (DP) mode. The composition and content of the precursor compounds in the printed ink and the effect of the pH of the supporting electrolyte on the DP reduction currents of the 3 target nitrophenols were studied. The limits of quantification (LOQs) in three water matrices (distilled water, tap water and surface water) were in the range 1.1-2.2μmolL-1. Using a simple solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure with Lichrolut EN cartridges and elution with methanol, a preconcentration factor of 100 was achieved; the LOQs were 0.021, 0.027 and 0.025μmolL-1 for 2-NP, 4-NP and 2,4-DNP, respectively. The recoveries of samples spiked with the 3 target nitrophenols at two concentration levels (0.04 and 0.1μmolL-1) were always >87%. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim