Search results for: computer terms
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 8702

Search results for: computer terms

5702 Austempering Heat Treatment of AISI 4340 Steel and Comparative Analysis of Various Physical Properties at Different Parameters

Authors: Najeeb Niazi, Salman Nisar, Aqueel Shah

Abstract:

In this study a special heat treatment process named austempering on AISI 4340 steel is carried out. Heat treatment on steel is carried out to enhance mechanical properties. In this regard, it is considered essential to undertake a study to evaluate different changes occurred in AISI 4340 steel in terms of hardness, tensile strength and impact strength at different austempering temperatures and cooling times and achieving the best combination of these improved mechanical properties for better and optimum utilization of this grade of steel. By using software Design Expert DOE is formulated with Taguchi orthogonal arrays comprising of L18 (3*3) with 03 factors and 03 responses to be calculated. Results of experiments are analyzed via Taguchi method. Signal to noise ratio of responses are carried out to determine the significant factors among the 03 factors chosen for experimental runs. Overall analysis showed that impact factor along with hardness is improved to great extent by austempering process.

Keywords: austempering temperature, AISI 4340 steel, bainite, Taguchi

Procedia PDF Downloads 468
5701 Intellectual Capital Disclosure: A Study of Australia and Sri Lanka

Authors: Puwanenthiren Pratheepkanth

Abstract:

This study considers whether national development level influences a firm’s voluntary intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) provided by a sample of 100 Australian and 100 Sri Lankan firms in terms of a two-years during 2015-16. This two-nation study uses a content analysis and literature-review analysis to provide an understanding of the underlying forces and issues. It was found that Australian firms tend to rely heavily on external structure disclosures (with particular attention to brands, customer loyalty, and research collaborations), but Sri Lankan relatively larger firms prefer intellectual property disclosures and the smaller firms tend to be as adept at external structure as their Australian counterparts. It was also found that the nature of a firm tends to trump the nurture of the development level of the country in which the firm is embedded. While a wider diffusion of better ICD methodology under International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) could improve the cost-effectiveness of financial reporting and generally increase efficiency, this is unlikely to occur until competition is more of a spur.

Keywords: developed countries, developing countries, content analysis, intellectual capital disclosure

Procedia PDF Downloads 170
5700 Performance of VSAT MC-CDMA System Using LDPC and Turbo Codes over Multipath Channel

Authors: Hassan El Ghazi, Mohammed El Jourmi, Tayeb Sadiki, Esmail Ahouzi

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to model and analyze a geostationary satellite communication system based on VSAT network and Multicarrier CDMA system scheme which presents a combination of multicarrier modulation scheme and CDMA concepts. In this study the channel coding strategies (Turbo codes and LDPC codes) are adopted to achieve good performance due to iterative decoding. The envisaged system is examined for a transmission over Multipath channel with use of Ku band in the uplink case. The simulation results are obtained for each different case. The performance of the system is given in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER) and energy per bit to noise power spectral density ratio (Eb/N0). The performance results of designed system shown that the communication system coded with LDPC codes can achieve better error rate performance compared to VSAT MC-CDMA system coded with Turbo codes.

Keywords: satellite communication, VSAT Network, MC-CDMA, LDPC codes, turbo codes, uplink

Procedia PDF Downloads 504
5699 Effects of People’s Participation in Adult Education Programmes for Social Change in Ondo State, Nigeria

Authors: Akinyemi Eyitayo Oufunmilayo

Abstract:

In every society, it is expected that adult education will help in meeting the needs of people in terms of economic and social lives and reveal their talents, culture, and political abilities. Participation in adult education programmes could be the ones offered by the Federal, state, and local governments or non-governmental organisations. This study, therefore, investigated how people’s participation in adult education programmes could change their social lives. A quantitative method was employed for the study. The study population consisted of 210 people randomly selected from the three Senatorial Districts in Ondo State. Data obtained was analysed using frequency counts and percentages and chi-square analysis. Findings revealed that members of the society responded to the benefits of adult education programmes made available, and there were positive changes to their social lives. It could be concluded that people’s participation in adult education programmes improved every aspect of their lives for better living. It is recommended that members of the society respond and make good use of any adult education programme made available in their community, while stakeholders and other opportune members of the society come to the aid of less privileged people in their society.

Keywords: adult education programmes, social change, participation, society

Procedia PDF Downloads 139
5698 A Comparative Study of Granisetron and Palonosetron in Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting Following Laparoscopic Surgery

Authors: Burra Vijitha

Abstract:

A prospective randomized comparative study for the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting in the patients undergoing general anesthesia ,for elective laparoscopic surgeries with respect to efficacy and side effects of granisetron and palonosetron. Sixty adult patients of class ASA 1,2 of either sex in age group between 20-70 yrs,scheduled for elective laparoscopic surgeries were selected for the study.Patients were randomly divided into two groups 30 each. Group G: Granisetron group (n=30), 40µg/kg; Group P: Palonosetron group (n=30), 0.075 mg. at end of surgery before extubation group G patients 40 µg/kg of inj.granisetron and group P patients received 0.075 mg of inj.palonosetron slow iv over 30 sec.In post anesthesia care unit, episodes of nausea and vomiting experienced by each patient was recorded by direct questioning the patient .study medication was assessed in terms of incidence of nausea and vomiting during periods of 0-4 hrs,4-12 hrs,12-24 hrs,24-48hrs.our study demonstrated that complete response for those patients who received granisetron were 86.66%,80% and 66.66% ,while those received palonosetron were 100%,86.6%,90% between 0-4hrs,4-12hrs,12-24 hrs. It shows no statistically signidficant differences between the baseline values of hemodynamic variables beween two groups during study. Keywords: Granisetron, nausea, palonosetron, vomiting.

Keywords: granisetron, palonosetron, nausea, vomiting

Procedia PDF Downloads 236
5697 Reproductive Health Behavior and Nutritional Status of Plain Land Ethnic Women in Bangladesh

Authors: Zainal Abedin

Abstract:

Introduction: Reproductive health is one of the major priorities of global health and is a fundamental and inalienable part of women’s health due to childbearing, and it is closely associated with nutritional status. Objective: This study was done to assess reproductive health behavior and nutritional status of reproductive-age ethnic women residing in plain land. Method: It was a cross-sectional study conducted among conveniently selected 120 reproductive-aged ethnic women at three Upazila of Rajshahi District. Nutritional status was determined by the WHO cut-off value of BMI for the Asian population. Results: About 88% of respondents noticed that they seek treatment in response to disease, and most of them seek treatment from the pharmacy attendant. Two-thirds of women used contraceptives, and 76% of women received antenatal care visits from Govt health centers, private clinics, and NGO clinics, but 86% of respondents delivered at home. In terms of nutritional status, 70% were normal, 23% underweight, and 7% overweight. Conclusion: Though most of them were normal regarding nutritional status but one-fourth were still underweight. Local pharmacy/quack-dependent treatment should be reduced.

Keywords: reproductive health behavior, nutritional status, plain land, ethnic women

Procedia PDF Downloads 81
5696 The Application of Active Learning to Develop Creativity in General Education

Authors: Chalermwut Wijit

Abstract:

This research is conducted in order to 1) study the result of applying “Active Learning” in general education subject to develop creativity 2) explore problems and obstacles in applying Active Learning in general education subject to improve the creativity in 1780 undergraduate students who registered this subject in the first semester 2013. The research is implemented by allocating the students into several groups of 10 -15 students and assigning them to design the activities for society under the four main conditions including 1) require no financial resources 2) practical 3) can be attended by every student 4) must be accomplished within 2 weeks. The researcher evaluated the creativity prior and after the study. Ultimately, the problems and obstacles from creating activity are evaluated from the open-ended questions in the questionnaires. The study result states that overall average scores on students’ ability increased significantly in terms of creativity, analytical ability and the synthesis, the complexity of working plan and team working. It can be inferred from the outcome that active learning is one of the most efficient methods in developing creativity in general education.

Keywords: creative thinking, active learning, general education, social sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 184
5695 The Impact of Training Method on Programming Learning Performance

Authors: Chechen Liao, Chin Yi Yang

Abstract:

Although several factors that affect learning to program have been identified over the years, there continues to be no indication of any consensus in understanding why some students learn to program easily and quickly while others have difficulty. Seldom have researchers considered the problem of how to help the students enhance the programming learning outcome. The research had been conducted at a high school in Taiwan. Students participating in the study consist of 330 tenth grade students enrolled in the Basic Computer Concepts course with the same instructor. Two types of training methods-instruction-oriented and exploration-oriented were conducted. The result of this research shows that the instruction-oriented training method has better learning performance than exploration-oriented training method.

Keywords: learning performance, programming learning, TDD, training method

Procedia PDF Downloads 428
5694 Application of Pattern Recognition Technique to the Quality Characterization of Superficial Microstructures in Steel Coatings

Authors: H. Gonzalez-Rivera, J. L. Palmeros-Torres

Abstract:

This paper describes the application of traditional computer vision techniques as a procedure for automatic measurement of the secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) from microscopic images. The algorithm is capable of finding the lineal or curve-shaped secondary column of the main microstructure, measuring its length size in a micro-meter and counting the number of spaces between dendrites. The automatic characterization was compared with a set of 1728 manually characterized images, leading to an accuracy of −0.27 µm for the length size determination and a precision of ± 2.78 counts for dendrite spacing counting, also reducing the characterization time from 7 hours to 2 minutes.

Keywords: dendrite arm spacing, microstructure inspection, pattern recognition, polynomial regression

Procedia PDF Downloads 46
5693 Neighborhood Relations in a Context of Cultural and Social Diversity - Qualitative Analysis of a Case Study in a Territory in the inner City of Lisbon

Authors: Madalena Corte-real, João Pedro Nunes, Bernardo Fernandes, Ana Jorge Correira

Abstract:

This presentation looks, from a sociological perspective, at neighboring practices in the inner city of Lisbon. The capital of Portugal, with half a million inhabitants, inserted in a metropolitan area with almost 2,9 million people, has been in the international spotlight seen as an interesting city to live in and to invest in, especially in the real estate market. This promotion emerged in the context of the financial crisis, where local authorities aimed to make Lisbon a more competitive city, calling for visitors and financial and human capital. Especially in the last decade, Portugal’s capital has been experiencing a significant increase in terms of migration from creative and entrepreneurial exiles to economic and political expats. In this context, the territory under analysis, in particular, is a mixed-used area undergoing rapid transformations in recent years marked by the presence of newcomers and non-nationals as well as social and cultural heterogeneity. It is next to one of the main arteries, considered the most multicultural part of the city, and presented in the press as one of the coolest neighborhoods in Europe. In view of these aspects, this research aims to address key-topics in current urban research: anonymity often related to big cities, socio-spatial attachment to the neighborhood, and the effects of diversity in the everyday relations of residents and shopkeepers. This case-study intends to look at particularities in local regimes differently affected by growing mobility. Against a backdrop of unidimensional generalizations and a tendency to refer to central countries and global cities, it aims to discuss national and local specificities. In methodological terms, the project comprises essentially a qualitative approach that consists of direct observation techniques and ethnographic methods as well semi-structured interviews to residents and local stakeholders whose narratives are subject to content analysis. The paper starts with a characterization of the broader context of the city of Lisbon, followed by territorial specificities regarding socio-spatial development, namely the city’s and the inner-areas morphology as well as the population’s socioeconomic profile. Following the residents and stakeholders’ narratives and practices it will assess the perception and behaviors regarding the representation of the area, relationships and experiences, routines, and sociability. Results point to a significant presence of neighborhood relations and different forms of support, in particular, among the different groups – e.g., old long-time residents, middle-class families, global creative class, and communities of economic migrants. Fieldwork reveals low levels of place-attachment although some residents refer, presently, high levels of satisfaction. Engagement with living space, this case-study suggests, reveals the social construction and lived the experience of neighboring by different groups, but also the way different and contrasting visions and desires are articulated to the profound urban, cultural and political changes that permeate the area.

Keywords: diversity, lisbon, neighboring and neighborhood, place-attachment

Procedia PDF Downloads 108
5692 The Application of Animal Welfare for Madura Cow Racing Competition in Madura Island

Authors: Mustopa, Setyawan Wahyu Pradana

Abstract:

This study aims to determine the application of animal welfare in Madura cow racing competition at Sumenep district, Madura Island. This study conducted by survey and discussion methods with 3 Madura cow owners in the competition. The animal welfare is going to be proved by observing the condition of the cage, the cleanliness of it, feeding and water, the health of the cow, also owner treatments for their Madura cow that will be served as a racer. Observations made using stable conditions ACRES form with assessment scores ranged from 1 = very poor, 2 = poor, 3 = regular, 4 = good and 5 = very good, animal welfare conditions seen by conducting observations and interviews with Madura cow owners. The result shows that the Madura cow competition has fulfilled the criteria of animal welfare application. Application of animal welfare principle by the owner of Madura cow terms of ACRES (Animal Concerns Research and Education Society) below standard, the average score obtained was 2.06, which is mean in a poor ratings. Besides considering the animal welfare application, Madura cow owners also do special treatments for their Madura cow with purpose to produce racers that are healthy and fast. Therefore, if the cow wins in Madura cow racing competition, it will purchase a high-value price.

Keywords: animal welfare, competition, Madura cow, racing

Procedia PDF Downloads 271
5691 Understanding Racial Disparate Treatment of Juvenile Interpersonal Violent Offenders in the Juvenile Justice System Using Focal Concerns Theory

Authors: Suzanne Overstreet-Juenke

Abstract:

Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) is a salient issue that has been found at every stage of the decision-making process in the juvenile justice system. Existing research indicates that DMC influences adjudication for drug, property, and personal crimes. Because intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health problem and global concern, the current study examines DMC at adjudication among youth charged for crimes of interpersonal violence. This research uses administrative, Court Designated Worker (CDW) data collected from 2014 to 2016. The results are contextualized using Steffensmeier’s version of focal concerns theory of judicial decision-making. This study assesses race and two seriousness of offense measures to establish whether a link exists between race and adjudication. The results of the study is similar to prior research on the topic. These results are discussed in terms of policy implications, limitations, and future research.

Keywords: race, disproportionate minority contact, focal concerns theory, juvenile

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5690 The Investigation of Predictor Affect of Childhood Trauma, Dissociation, Alexithymia, and Gender on Dissociation in University Students

Authors: Gizem Akcan, Erdinc Ozturk

Abstract:

The purpose of the study was to determine some psychosocial variables that predict dissociation in university students. These psychosocial variables were perceived childhood trauma, alexithymia, and gender. 150 (75 males, 75 females) university students (bachelor, master and postgraduate) were enrolled in this study. They were chosen from universities in Istanbul at the education year of 2016-2017. Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale were used to assess related variables. Demographic Information Form was given to students in order to have their demographic information. Frequency Distribution, Linear Regression Analysis, and t-test analysis were used for statistical analysis. Childhood trauma and alexithymia were found to have predictive value on dissociation among university students. However, physical abuse, physical neglect and emotional neglect sub dimensions of childhood trauma and externally-oriented thinking sub dimension of alexithymia did not have predictive value on dissociation. Moreover, there was no significant difference between males and females in terms of dissociation scores of participants.

Keywords: childhood trauma, dissociation, alexithymia, gender

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5689 A 1.8 GHz to 43 GHz Low Noise Amplifier with 4 dB Noise Figure in 0.1 µm Galium Arsenide Technology

Authors: Mantas Sakalas, Paulius Sakalas

Abstract:

This paper presents an analysis and design of a ultrawideband 1.8GHz to 43GHz Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) in 0.1 μm Galium Arsenide (GaAs) pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor (pHEMT) technology. The feedback based bandwidth extension techniques is analyzed and based on the outcome, a two stage LNA is designed. The impedance fine tuning is implemented by using Transmission Line (TL) structures. The measured performance shows a good agreement with simulation results and an outstanding wideband noise matching. The measured small signal gain was 12 dB, whereas a 3 dB gain flatness in range from 1.8 - 43 GHz was reached. The noise figure was below 4 dB almost all over the entire frequency band of 1.8GHz to 43GHz, the output power at 1 dB compression point was 6 dBm and the DC power consumption was 95 mW. To the best knowledge of the authors the designed LNA outperforms the State of the Art (SotA) reported LNA designs in terms of combined parameters of noise figure within the addressed ultra-wide 3 dB bandwidth, linearity and DC power consumption.

Keywords: feedback amplifiers, GaAs pHEMT, monolithic microwave integrated circuit, LNA, noise matching

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5688 Failure Analysis and Fatigue Life Estimation of a Shaft of a Rotary Draw Bending Machine

Authors: B. Engel, Sara Salman Hassan Al-Maeeni

Abstract:

Human consumption of the Earth's resources increases the need for a sustainable development as an important ecological, social, and economic theme. Re-engineering of machine tools, in terms of design and failure analysis, is defined as steps performed on an obsolete machine to return it to a new machine with the warranty that matches the customer requirement. To understand the future fatigue behavior of the used machine components, it is important to investigate the possible causes of machine parts failure through design, surface, and material inspections. In this study, the failure modes of the shaft of the rotary draw bending machine are inspected. Furthermore, stress and deflection analysis of the shaft subjected to combined torsion and bending loads are carried out by an analytical method and compared with a finite element analysis method. The theoretical fatigue strength, correction factors, and fatigue life sustained by the shaft before damaged are estimated by creating a stress-cycle (S-N) diagram. In conclusion, it is seen that the shaft can work in the second life, but it needs some surface treatments to increase the reliability and fatigue life.

Keywords: failure analysis, fatigue life, FEM analysis, shaft, stress analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 302
5687 Students’ Perception and Patterns of Listening Behaviour in an Online Forum Discussion

Authors: K. L. Wong, I. N. Umar

Abstract:

Online forum is part of a Learning Management System (LMS) environment in which students share opinions. This study attempts to investigate the perceptions of students towards online forum and their patterns of listening behaviour during the forum interaction. The students’ perceptions were measured using a questionnaire, in which seven dimensions were used including online experience, benefits of forum participation, cost of participation, perceived ease of use, usefulness, attitude and intention. Meanwhile, their patterns of listening behaviours were obtained using the log file extracted from the LMS. A total of 25 postgraduate students undertaking a course were involved in this study, and their activities in the forum session were recorded by the LMS and used as a log file. The results from the questionnaire analysis indicated that the students perceived that the forum is easy to use, useful, and bring benefits to them. Also, they showed positive attitude towards online forum, and they have the intention to use it in future. Based on the log data, the participants were also divided into six clusters of listening behaviour, in which they are different in terms of temporality, breadth, depth and speaking level. The findings were compared to previous clusters grouping and future recommendations are also discussed.

Keywords: e-learning, learning management system, listening behavior, online forum

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5686 Impact of the Currency Devaluation on Contractors in Egypt

Authors: Mariam Zahwy, Waleed El Nemr, A. Samer Ezeldin

Abstract:

In 2016, the depreciation of the Egyptian pound (EGP) had a substantial impact on Egypt's construction industry. Studies assessing this influence are scarce, though. The impact of devaluation on contractors is measured in this study using empirical data. The difficulties contractors have as a result of rising import material costs, limited financing alternatives, and inflationary pressures are also determined by analyzing survey responses from contractors and industry experts. The approaches contractors utilize to lessen the impact of devaluation are also examined in the research. The survey results show how currency depreciation directly affects contractors in the Egyptian construction industry in terms of financial consequences. Inflationary pressures, fewer financing alternatives, and rising expenses have all affected contractors. To minimize losses, contractors have, nonetheless, put a number of tactics into practice. These findings highlight the importance of understanding and managing the impact of devaluation on the construction industry to ensure its resilience and development.

Keywords: construction, devaluation, contractors, material costs, inflationary pressures, empirical data, quantitative research

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5685 Global Race for Talent: Exploring Global Talent Management (GTM) and its Impact on Organizational Development: From the Prospective of Malaysian MNEs

Authors: Asma Moomal, Zukarnain Zakaria

Abstract:

In this uncertain, highly competitive and hasty moving era, most of the organizations are surviving under the pressure of complex dynamics, fierce competition and many challenges in terms of global talent management within the global market. One key result of these challenges is that the organizations have to be organized and good at handling human capital if they want to gain sustainable and steady success in near future. By keeping in mind the importance of global competition, many human resource (HR) professionals are diagnosing the complexities in managing talent of human capital at global level, especially those of multinational enterprises (MNEs). As, there has been little research in the country regarding identification of the GTM in MNEs, this paper reviewed the relevant literature in order to examine the role of GTM strategies in enhancing the organizational development in the MNEs of Malaysia. The data collection technique used in this study was done through the secondary data resources (i.e. the existing literature analysis). This study contributes to extend our understanding of the impact of GTM on organizational development of MNEs within the country.

Keywords: Global Talent Management (GTM), multinational enterprises (MNEs), organizational development, talent

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5684 NiO-CeO2 Nano-Catalyst for the Removal of Priority Organic Pollutants from Wastewater through Catalytic Wet Air Oxidation at Mild Conditions

Authors: Anushree, Chhaya Sharma, Satish Kumar

Abstract:

Catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) is normally carried out at elevated temperature and pressure. This work investigates the potential of NiO-CeO2 nano-catalyst in CWAO of paper industry wastewater under milder operating conditions of 90 °C and 1 atm. The NiO-CeO2 nano-catalysts were synthesized by a simple co-precipitation method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), before and after use, in order to study any crystallographic change during experiment. The extent of metal-leaching from the catalyst was determined using the inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The catalytic activity of nano-catalysts was studied in terms of total organic carbon (TOC), adsorbable organic halides (AOX) and chlorophenolics (CHPs) removal. Interestingly, mixed oxide catalysts exhibited higher activity than the corresponding single-metal oxides. The maximum removal efficiency was achieved with Ce40Ni60 catalyst. The results indicate that the CWAO process is efficient in removing the priority organic pollutants from wastewater, as it exhibited up to 59% TOC, 55% AOX, and 54 % CHPs removal.

Keywords: catalysis, nano-materials, NiO-CeO2, paper mill, wastewater, wet air oxidation

Procedia PDF Downloads 254
5683 Natural Language News Generation from Big Data

Authors: Bastian Haarmann, Likas Sikorski

Abstract:

In this paper, we introduce an NLG application for the automatic creation of ready-to-publish texts from big data. The fully automatic generated stories have a high resemblance to the style in which the human writer would draw up a news story. Topics may include soccer games, stock exchange market reports, weather forecasts and many more. The generation of the texts runs according to the human language production. Each generated text is unique. Ready-to-publish stories written by a computer application can help humans to quickly grasp the outcomes of big data analyses, save time-consuming pre-formulations for journalists and cater to rather small audiences by offering stories that would otherwise not exist.

Keywords: big data, natural language generation, publishing, robotic journalism

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5682 Estimation of Damping Force of Double Ended Shear Mode Magnetorheological Damper Using Computational Analysis

Authors: Gurubasavaraju T. M.

Abstract:

The magnetorheological (MR) damper could provide variable damping force with respect to the different input magnetic field. The damping force could be estimated through computational analysis using finite element and computational fluid dynamics analysis. The double-ended damper operates without changing the total volume of fluid. In this paper, damping force of double ended damper under different magnetic field is computed. Initially, the magneto-statics analysis carried out to evaluate the magnetic flux density across the fluid flow gap. The respective change in the rheology of the MR fluid is computed by using the experimentally fitted polynomial equation of shear stress versus magnetic field plot of MR fluid. The obtained values are substituted in the Herschel Buckley model to express the non-Newtonian behavior of MR fluid. Later, using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis damping characteristics in terms of force versus velocity and force versus displacement for the respective magnetic field is estimated. The purpose of the present approach is to characterize the preliminary designed MR damper before fabricating.

Keywords: MR fluid, double ended MR damper, CFD, FEA

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5681 Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor Followed by Dissolved Air Flotation Treating Municipal Sewage

Authors: Priscila Ribeiro dos Santos, Luiz Antonio Daniel

Abstract:

Inadequate access to clean water and sanitation has become one of the most widespread problems affecting people throughout the developing world, leading to an unceasing need for low-cost and sustainable wastewater treatment systems. The UASB technology has been widely employed as a suitable and economical option for the treatment of sewage in developing countries, which involves low initial investment, low energy requirements, low operation and maintenance costs, high loading capacity, short hydraulic retention times, long solids retention times and low sludge production. Whereas dissolved air flotation process is a good option for the post-treatment of anaerobic effluents, being capable of producing high quality effluents in terms of total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, phosphorus, and even pathogens. This work presents an evaluation and monitoring, over a period of 6 months, of one compact full-scale system with this configuration, UASB reactors followed by dissolved air flotation units (DAF), operating in Brazil. It was verified as a successful treatment system, and an issue of relevance since dissolved air flotation process treating UASB reactor effluents is not widely encompassed in the literature. The study covered the removal and behavior of several variables, such as turbidity, total suspend solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), Escherichia coli, total coliforms and Clostridium perfringens. The physicochemical variables were analyzed according to the protocols established by the Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater. For microbiological variables, such as Escherichia coli and total coliforms, it was used the “pour plate” technique with Chromocult Coliform Agar (Merk Cat. No.1.10426) serving as the culture medium, while the microorganism Clostridium perfringens was analyzed through the filtering membrane technique, with the Ágar m-CP (Oxoid Ltda, England) serving as the culture medium. Approximately 74% of total COD was removed in the UASB reactor, and the complementary removal done during the flotation process resulted in 88% of COD removal from the raw sewage, thus the initial concentration of COD of 729 mg.L-1 decreased to 87 mg.L-1. Whereas, in terms of particulate COD, the overall removal efficiency for the whole system was about 94%, decreasing from 375 mg.L-1 in raw sewage to 29 mg.L-1 in final effluent. The UASB reactor removed on average 77% of the TSS from raw sewage. While the dissolved air flotation process did not work as expected, removing only 30% of TSS from the anaerobic effluent. The final effluent presented an average concentration of 38 mg.L-1 of TSS. The turbidity was significantly reduced, leading to an overall efficiency removal of 80% and a final turbidity of 28 NTU.The treated effluent still presented a high concentration of fecal pollution indicators (E. coli, total coliforms, and Clostridium perfringens), showing that the system did not present a good performance in removing pathogens. Clostridium perfringens was the organism which suffered the higher removal by the treatment system. The results can be considered satisfactory for the physicochemical variables, taking into account the simplicity of the system, besides that, it is necessary a post-treatment to improve the microbiological quality of the final effluent.

Keywords: dissolved air flotation, municipal sewage, UASB reactor, treatment

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5680 The Study of the Concept of Aesthetics in Architecture Derived from the Ideas of Jörg Kurt Greuther

Authors: Mana Pirhadi, Maryam Pirhadi, Fatemeh Tavakoli

Abstract:

As there are several styles and attitudes among the practitioners of the present time, it is difficult to achieve a definition of beauty for contemporary architecture and aesthetic concepts has different frameworks in various disciplines. Beauty can be regarded as one of the most important elements of architecture; therefore, having a clear understanding of beauty can help architects and audiences to create or analyze an architectural work. This paper investigates the assumption that we can have a clearer understanding of the concept of aesthetics in architecture by analyzing the ideas of the contemporary analyst of architectural aesthetics, Jörg Greuther. Thus, the question is how the concept of aesthetics in architecture will be analyzed in their thoughts. In general, the paper aims to examine aesthetic concepts in the contemporary era that are expressed relying on Greuther's views. The paper adopts a descriptive-analytic approach in terms of methodology. Finally, through the study of the viewpoints of various scholars and specifically considering Greuther's definition that focuses on the effect of psychological-social factors on human perception and formation of the schema, it could be said that aesthetics means to have a good knowledge of truth and understand it.

Keywords: aesthetics, beauty perception, contemporary architecture, Jörg Greuther

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5679 A Phenomenological-Hermeneutic Account of Design Thinking by Way of an Exposition of Four Species of Negatite: 'Not Being', 'Non-Being', 'Absence', 'Non-Existence'

Authors: Soheil Ashrafi

Abstract:

In this paper, it is attempted to chart and exposit terra incognito of the transcendental intuition of ‘non-being’, a peculiar species of négatité and a form of consciousness which underpins the phenomenal capacity for design thinking, and which serves as the ground of the ‘designing being-relation to the world’. The paper’s contention is that the transcendental intuition of the non-being indwells the agent’s being-relation to the world as a continual tension in that neither does the agent relinquish its ontological leverage and submit altogether to the world’s curbs and dictates, nor is it able to subdue satisfactorily or settle into the world once and for all. By way of phenomenological-hermeneutic analysis, it is endeavoured to argue that design thinking occurs by virtue of a phenomenal transition between the a priori ‘not-being’, the basis of ‘that-which-is’, and the transcendental intuition of non-being through which that-which-is-not-yet announces itself. Along with this, the other two species of négatité as ‘absence’ and ‘non-existence’ are clarified and contrasted with not-being and non-being, which have widely been used in the literature interchangeably as identical terms. In conclusion, it is argued that not only has design thinking in its unadulterated, originary mode historically preceded scientific thinking, but it also has served as the foundation of its emergence. In short, scientific thinking is a derivative, reformed application of design thinking; it indeed supervenes upon it.

Keywords: design thinking, designing being-relation to the world, négatité, not-being, non-being

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5678 A New Study on Mathematical Modelling of COVID-19 with Caputo Fractional Derivative

Authors: Sadia Arshad

Abstract:

The new coronavirus disease or COVID-19 still poses an alarming situation around the world. Modeling based on the derivative of fractional order is relatively important to capture real-world problems and to analyze the realistic situation of the proposed model. Weproposed a mathematical model for the investigation of COVID-19 dynamics in a generalized fractional framework. The new model is formulated in the Caputo sense and employs a nonlinear time-varying transmission rate. The existence and uniqueness solutions of the fractional order derivative have been studied using the fixed-point theory. The associated dynamical behaviors are discussed in terms of equilibrium, stability, and basic reproduction number. For the purpose of numerical implementation, an effcient approximation scheme is also employed to solve the fractional COVID-19 model. Numerical simulations are reported for various fractional orders, and simulation results are compared with a real case of COVID-19 pandemic. According to the comparative results with real data, we find the best value of fractional orderand justify the use of the fractional concept in the mathematical modelling, for the new fractional modelsimulates the reality more accurately than the other classical frameworks.

Keywords: fractional calculus, modeling, stability, numerical solution

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5677 Fundamental Solutions for Discrete Dynamical Systems Involving the Fractional Laplacian

Authors: Jorge Gonzalez Camus, Valentin Keyantuo, Mahamadi Warma

Abstract:

In this work, we obtain representation results for solutions of a time-fractional differential equation involving the discrete fractional Laplace operator in terms of generalized Wright functions. Such equations arise in the modeling of many physical systems, for example, chain processes in chemistry and radioactivity. The focus is on the linear problem of the simplified Moore - Gibson - Thompson equation, where the discrete fractional Laplacian and the Caputo fractional derivate of order on (0,2] are involved. As a particular case, we obtain the explicit solution for the discrete heat equation and discrete wave equation. Furthermore, we show the explicit solution for the equation involving the perturbed Laplacian by the identity operator. The main tool for obtaining the explicit solution are the Laplace and discrete Fourier transforms, and Stirling's formula. The methodology mainly is to apply both transforms in the equation, to find the inverse of each transform, and to prove that this solution is well defined, using Stirling´s formula.

Keywords: discrete fractional Laplacian, explicit representation of solutions, fractional heat and wave equations, fundamental

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5676 Multi-Dimensional Experience of Processing Textual and Visual Information: Case Study of Allocations to Places in the Mind’s Eye Based on Individual’s Semantic Knowledge Base

Authors: Joanna Wielochowska, Aneta Wielochowska

Abstract:

Whilst the relationship between scientific areas such as cognitive psychology, neurobiology and philosophy of mind has been emphasized in recent decades of scientific research, concepts and discoveries made in both fields overlap and complement each other in their quest for answers to similar questions. The object of the following case study is to describe, analyze and illustrate the nature and characteristics of a certain cognitive experience which appears to display features of synaesthesia, or rather high-level synaesthesia (ideasthesia). The following research has been conducted on the subject of two authors, monozygotic twins (both polysynaesthetes) experiencing involuntary associations of identical nature. Authors made attempts to identify which cognitive and conceptual dependencies may guide this experience. Operating on self-introduced nomenclature, the described phenomenon- multi-dimensional processing of textual and visual information- aims to define a relationship that involuntarily and immediately couples the content introduced by means of text or image a sensation of appearing in a certain place in the mind’s eye. More precisely: (I) defining a concept introduced by means of textual content during activity of reading or writing, or (II) defining a concept introduced by means of visual content during activity of looking at image(s) with simultaneous sensation of being allocated to a given place in the mind’s eye. A place can be then defined as a cognitive representation of a certain concept. During the activity of processing information, a person has an immediate and involuntary feel of appearing in a certain place themselves, just like a character of a story, ‘observing’ a venue or a scenery from one or more perspectives and angles. That forms a unique and unified experience, constituting a background mental landscape of text or image being looked at. We came to a conclusion that semantic allocations to a given place could be divided and classified into the categories and subcategories and are naturally linked with an individual’s semantic knowledge-base. A place can be defined as a representation one’s unique idea of a given concept that has been established in their semantic knowledge base. A multi-level structure of selectivity of places in the mind’s eye, as a reaction to a given information (one stimuli), draws comparisons to structures and patterns found in botany. Double-flowered varieties of flowers and a whorl system (arrangement) which is characteristic to components of some flower species were given as an illustrative example. A composition of petals that fan out from one single point and wrap around a stem inspired an idea that, just like in nature, in philosophy of mind there are patterns driven by the logic specific to a given phenomenon. The study intertwines terms perceived through the philosophical lens, such as definition of meaning, subjectivity of meaning, mental atmosphere of places, and others. Analysis of this rare experience aims to contribute to constantly developing theoretical framework of the philosophy of mind and influence the way human semantic knowledge base and processing given content in terms of distinguishing between information and meaning is researched.

Keywords: information and meaning, information processing, mental atmosphere of places, patterns in nature, philosophy of mind, selectivity, semantic knowledge base, senses, synaesthesia

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5675 Effects of Urbanization on Land Use/Land Cover and Stream Flow of a Sub-Tropical River Basin of India

Authors: Satyavati Shukla, Lakhan V. Rathod, Mohan V. Khire

Abstract:

Rapid urbanization changes the land use/land cover pattern of a developing region. Due to these land surface changes, stream flow of the rivers also changes. It is important to investigate the factors affecting hydrological characteristics of the river basin for better river basin management planning. This study is aimed to understand the effect of Land Use/Land Cover (LU/LC) changes on stream flow of Upper Bhima River basin which is highly stressed in terms of water resources. In this study, Upper Bhima River basin is divided into two adjacent sub-watersheds: Mula-Mutha (urbanized) sub-watershed and Bhima (non-urbanized) sub-watershed. First of all, LU/LC changes were estimated over 1980, 2002, and 2009 for both Mula-Mutha and Bhima sub-watersheds. Further, stream flow simulations were done using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for the streams draining both watersheds. Results revealed that stream flow was relatively higher for urbanized sub-watershed. Through Sensitivity Analysis it was observed that out of all the parameters used, base flow was the most sensitive parameter towards LU/LC changes.

Keywords: land use/land cover, remote sensing, stream flow, urbanization

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5674 Ultrasonic Measurement of Elastic Properties of Fiber Reinforced Composite Materials

Authors: Hatice Guzel, Imran Oral, Huseyin Isler

Abstract:

In this study, elastic constants, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratios, and shear moduli of orthotropic composite materials, consisting of E-glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy, were calculated by ultrasonic velocities which were measured using ultrasonic pulse-echo method. 35 MHz computer controlled analyzer, 60 MHz digital oscilloscope, 5 MHz longitudinal probe, and 2,25 MHz transverse probe were used for the measurements of ultrasound velocities, the measurements were performed at ambient temperature. It was understood from the data obtained in this study that, measured ultrasound velocities and the calculated elasticity coefficients were depending on the fiber orientations.

Keywords: composite materials, elastic constants, orthotropic materials, ultrasound

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5673 COVID-19 and College Students: Insights into Coping Schemas and Resilience

Authors: Yassir Semmar

Abstract:

The ability to cope during trying times is essential for psychological well-being. 101 college students attending a northeastern university in the United States took part in a study that examined their coping schemas and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first aim was to determine the types of coping strategies and resilience domains that students most frequently relied on. The second purpose was to investigate whether demographic variables correlated with certain coping schemas and resilience scales. First year students were particularly more vulnerable to the stressors brought by the pandemic as they frequently resorted to more maladaptive strategies in comparison to their older peers. The latter were deemed more resilient in the sense of feeling in control, staying focused, and regulating their emotions. Participants from different racial backgrounds appeared to differ in the extent to which they sought support from others. Students who were employed part-time felt less optimistic and knowledgeable about where to seek assistance and how to cope with various stressors as compared to their unemployed counterparts. Implications are discussed in terms of developing a holistic, proactive approach to identifying, understanding, and effectively responding to the unique needs of our diverse student population from an equity-mindedness stance.

Keywords: COVID-19, coping schemas, resilience, wellbeing, college students

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