Finite element simulation of the airbag deployment in frontal impacts

Virtual modeling and simulation are increasingly used to help develop restraint systems, and airbag simulation is the necessary steps during airbag research and design progress. In this work, the squeezed airbag has been simulated by a uniform pressure method in which the pressure of the airbag is considered as constant. The main aim of this study is evaluate the performance of deploying of passenger side airbag using finite element methods (FEM) to handle different collision scenarios

A comparison of the public's use of PPE and strategies to avoid contagion during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia and Germany

The SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 pandemic has raised public awareness around disease protection. The aims in this study were to recruit participants from Australia and Germany to determine their use of personal protective equipment and COVID-19 avoidance strategies using scales designed for this study. Principal components analysis with the Australian data revealed two factors in the Protection from Infection Scale, Self-Care and Protective Behaviors, and a single factor in the Infection Avoidance Scale, with each scale demonstrating strong internal reliability. Data from German participants were used to confirm the scales' structure using confirmatory factor analysis. A comparison of the two data sets data revealed that Australian participants scored higher overall on protection and avoidance strategies but at the item level there were several commonalities, including self-care behaviors people adopted to avoid contracting COVID-19. With no foreseeable end to this pandemic, it is important that follow-up studies ascertain whether the public continues to adopt high levels of PPE use and follows government advice or if pandemic fatigue sets in. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

Ostatci β-laktamskih i tetraciklinskih antibiotika u kravljem mlijeku na području Konstantina, Alžir

The aim of the present study was to investigate the βeta-lactam and tetracycline antibiotic residues in cow milk samples. A total of 122 samples of cow milk were collected from raw milk collectors (109 samples) and from a reconstituted pasteurized milk sales clerk (13 samples) in the Constantine region, Algeria and examined using the ΒetaStar Combo screening kit (Neogen, USA). Results indicates that 13 samples (10.66%) were positive for antibiotics residues: 12 (9.84%) for βeta-lactams (ten (8.20%) raw and two (1.64%) pasteurized milk samples) and only one (0.82%) for tetracyclines in a raw milk sample. It is evident that the Algerian consumer is not sheltered from the danger of antibiotic residues in milk and these inhibitor residues should constitute a constant concern for the dairy industry in Algeria. A control programme should be established.Cilj je ove studije bio ispitati ostatke β-laktamskih i tetraciklinskih antibiotika u uzorcima kravljeg mlijeka. U tu su svrhu prikupljena 122 uzorka kravljeg mlijeka od otkupljivača sirovog mlijeka (109 uzoraka) i od prodavača rekonstituiranog pasteriziranog mlijeka (13 uzoraka) na području Konstantina u Alžiru, a ispitani su pomoću ΒetaStar Combo kompleta za testiranje (Neogen, SAD). Rezultati su pokazali da je od svih analiziranih uzoraka trinaest (10,66 %) bilo pozitivno na ostatke antibiotika, dvanaest (9,84 %) na β-laktame (deset (8,20 %) sirovog mlijeka i dva (1,64 %) pasteriziranog mlijeka) i samo jedan uzorak (0,82 %) na tetracikline u sirovog mlijeka. Očito je da alžirski potrošači mlijeka nisu zaštićeni od opasnosti ostataka antibiotika u mlijeku pa bi ostatci tih inhibitora trebali biti razlog zabrinutosti za mliječnu industriju u Alžiru te je potrebno uspostaviti jači program kontrole

Development and validation of a food photography manual, as a tool for estimation of food portion size in epidemiological dietary surveys in Tunisia

Background: Estimation of food portion sizes has always been a challenge in dietary studies on free-living individuals. The aim of this work was to develop and validate a food photography manual to improve the accuracy of the estimated size of consumed food portions.Methods: A manual was compiled from digital photos of foods commonly consumed by the Tunisian population. The food was cooked and weighed before taking digital photographs of three portion sizes. The manual was validated by comparing the method of 24-hour recall (using photos) to the reference method [food weighing (FW)]. In both the methods, the comparison focused on food intake amounts as well as nutritional issues. Validity was assessed by BlandAltman limits of agreement. In total, 31 male and female volunteers aged 989 participated in the study.Results: We focused on eight food categories and compared their estimated amounts (using the 24-hour recall method) to those actually consumed (using FW). Animal products and sweets were underestimated, whereas pasta, bread, vegetables, fruits, and dairy products were overestimated. However, the difference between the two methods is not statistically significant except for pasta (pB0.05) and dairy products (pB0.05). The coefficient of correlation between the two methods is highly significant, ranging from 0.876 for pasta to 0.989 for dairy products. Nutrient intake calculated for both methods showed insignificant differences except for fat (pB0.001) and dietary fiber (pB0.05). A highly significant correlation was observed between the two methods for all micronutrients. The test agreement highlights the lack of difference between the two methods.Conclusion: The difference between the 24-hour recall method using digital photos and the weighing method is acceptable. Our findings indicate that the food photography manual can be a useful tool for quantifying food portion sizes in epidemiological dietary surveys.Keywords: food portion sizes; Tunisia; weighed foods; 24-hour recall; portion size photographs; portion size estimatio

Does institutional quality mitigate the effect of Foreign Direct Investment on environmental quality: Evidence of MENA countries

The purpose of this study is to examine the interaction effects of Foreign Direct investment and institutional quality on environmental degradation in 17 Middle East and North African (MENA). We use ordinary least squares (OLS), Fixed effects (FE) random effects (RE) and system generalized method of moments (GMM) for the period 1996–2018. Six dimensions of governance are used : control of corruption, a sound voice and accountability, rule of Law, regulatory Quality, Govenance effectiviness and Political Stability. First, our findings show that FDI increases CO2 emissions in the MENA countries. Second, the effect of FDI on environmental degradation can be ameliorated through the presence of good institutional quality. In fact, FDI accompagnied by good governance could reduce the adverse effects of co2 emissions in MENA countries. Therefore, MENA countries should implement efficiently good institutions that will help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions

Analyse de dépendance des programmes à objet en utilisant les modèles probabilistes des entrées

La tâche de maintenance ainsi que la compréhension des programmes orientés objet (OO) deviennent de plus en plus coûteuses. L’analyse des liens de dépendance peut être une solution pour faciliter ces tâches d’ingénierie. Cependant, analyser les liens de dépendance est une tâche à la fois importante et difficile. Nous proposons une approche pour l'étude des liens de dépendance internes pour des programmes OO, dans un cadre probabiliste, où les entrées du programme peuvent être modélisées comme un vecteur aléatoire, ou comme une chaîne de Markov. Dans ce cadre, les métriques de couplage deviennent des variables aléatoires dont les distributions de probabilité peuvent être étudiées en utilisant les techniques de simulation Monte-Carlo. Les distributions obtenues constituent un point d’entrée pour comprendre les liens de dépendance internes entre les éléments du programme, ainsi que leur comportement général. Ce travail est valable dans le cas où les valeurs prises par la métrique dépendent des entrées du programme et que ces entrées ne sont pas fixées à priori. Nous illustrons notre approche par deux études de cas.The task of maintenance and understanding of object-oriented programs is becoming increasingly costly. Dependency analysis can be a solution to facilitate this engineering task. However, dependency analysis is a task both important and difficult. We propose a framework for studying program internal dependencies in a probabilistic setting, where the program inputs are modeled either as a random vector, or as a Markov chain. In that setting, coupling metrics become random variables whose probability distributions can be studied via Monte-Carlo simulation. The obtained distributions provide an entry point for understanding the internal dependencies of program elements, as well as their general behaviour. This framework is appropriate for the (common) situation where the value taken by the metric does depend on the program inputs and where those inputs are not fixed a priori. We provide a concrete illustration with two case studies