Search results for: context building
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 9041

Search results for: context building

5681 Investigating the Accessibility of Physically Disabled Individuals in Corporate Offices: A Case of Dhaka City

Authors: Ishrar Tabassum, Jay Andrew Saptok, Khalid Raihan Kabir, Elmee Tabassum

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to bring light to the current state of the working environments in the corporate environment and other such institutions with a particular focus on the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) and its guidelines for accommodating the physically disabled. Data were collected via semi-formal interviews, site visits and focus groups conducted using a preset questionnaire as the guidelines. After conducting surveys at corporate offices of 20 organizations from major commercial sectors in Dhaka city, the auditing showed many inadequacies, as aside from the larger corporate offices, the offices have little to no accessibility for the physically disabled. This study hopes to shed light on the fact that the existing BNBCs lack of emphasis on ensuring the accessibility of the handicapped in corporate buildings in the hope that, in the future, the physically disabled will have greater opportunities at being productive members of the workforce.

Keywords: person with disability, PWD, corporate buildings, Dhaka City

Procedia PDF Downloads 179
5680 Exploring the Relationships between Experiential Marketing, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty: An Empirical Examination in Konya

Authors: Resul Öztürk

Abstract:

Experiential marketing is one of the marketing approaches that offers an exceptional framework to integrate elements of experience and entertainment in a product or service. Experiential marketing is defined as a memorable experience that goes deeply into the customer’s mind. Besides that, customer satisfaction is defined as an emotional response to the experiences provided by and associated with particular products or services purchased. Thus, experiential marketing activities can affect the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty. In this context, the research aims to explore the relationship among experiential marketing, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty among the cosmetic products customers in Konya. The partial least squares (PLS) method is used to analyse the survey data. The present study’s findings revealed have that experiential marketing has been a significant predictor of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, and also experiential marketing has a significantly positive effect on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Keywords: experiential marketing, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, social sciences

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5679 Discussion on Big Data and One of Its Early Training Application

Authors: Fulya Gokalp Yavuz, Mark Daniel Ward

Abstract:

This study focuses on a contemporary and inevitable topic of Data Science and its exemplary application for early career building: Big Data and Leaving Learning Community (LLC). ‘Academia’ and ‘Industry’ have a common sense on the importance of Big Data. However, both of them are in a threat of missing the training on this interdisciplinary area. Some traditional teaching doctrines are far away being effective on Data Science. Practitioners needs some intuition and real-life examples how to apply new methods to data in size of terabytes. We simply explain the scope of Data Science training and exemplified its early stage application with LLC, which is a National Science Foundation (NSF) founded project under the supervision of Prof. Ward since 2014. Essentially, we aim to give some intuition for professors, researchers and practitioners to combine data science tools for comprehensive real-life examples with the guides of mentees’ feedback. As a result of discussing mentoring methods and computational challenges of Big Data, we intend to underline its potential with some more realization.

Keywords: Big Data, computation, mentoring, training

Procedia PDF Downloads 342
5678 An Overview of Corroded Pipe Repair Techniques Using Composite Materials

Authors: Lim Kar Sing, Siti Nur Afifah Azraai, Norhazilan Md Noor, Nordin Yahaya

Abstract:

Polymeric composites are being increasingly used as repair material for repairing critical infrastructures such as building, bridge, pressure vessel, piping and pipeline. Technique in repairing damaged pipes is one of the major concerns of pipeline owners. Considerable researches have been carried out on the repair of corroded pipes using composite materials. This article attempts a short review of the subject matter to provide insight into various techniques used in repairing corroded pipes, focusing on a wide range of composite repair systems. These systems including pre-cured layered, flexible wet lay-up, pre-impregnated, split composite sleeve and flexible tape systems. Both advantages and limitations of these repair systems were highlighted. Critical technical aspects have been discussed through the current standards and practices. Research gaps and future study scopes in achieving more effective design philosophy are also presented.

Keywords: composite materials, pipeline, repair technique, polymers

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5677 Translation and Validation of the Pain Resilience Scale in a French Population Suffering from Chronic Pain

Authors: Angeliki Gkiouzeli, Christine Rotonda, Elise Eby, Claire Touchet, Marie-Jo Brennstuhl, Cyril Tarquinio

Abstract:

Resilience is a psychological concept of possible relevance to the development and maintenance of chronic pain (CP). It refers to the ability of individuals to maintain reasonably healthy levels of physical and psychological functioning when exposed to an isolated and potentially highly disruptive event. Extensive research in recent years has supported the importance of this concept in the CP literature. Increased levels of resilience were associated with lower levels of perceived pain intensity and better mental health outcomes in adults with persistent pain. The ongoing project seeks to include the concept of pain-specific resilience in the French literature in order to provide more appropriate measures for assessing and understanding the complexities of CP in the near future. To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no validated version of the pain-specific resilience measure, the Pain Resilience scale (PRS), for French-speaking populations. Therefore, the present work aims to address this gap, firstly by performing a linguistic and cultural translation of the scale into French and secondly by studying the internal validity and reliability of the PRS for French CP populations. The forward-translation-back translation methodology was used to achieve as perfect a cultural and linguistic translation as possible according to the recommendations of the COSMIN (Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments) group, and an online survey is currently conducted among a representative sample of the French population suffering from CP. To date, the survey has involved one hundred respondents, with a total target of around three hundred participants at its completion. We further seek to study the metric properties of the French version of the PRS, ''L’Echelle de Résilience à la Douleur spécifique pour les Douleurs Chroniques'' (ERD-DC), in French patients suffering from CP, assessing the level of pain resilience in the context of CP. Finally, we will explore the relationship between the level of pain resilience in the context of CP and other variables of interest commonly assessed in pain research and treatment (i.e., general resilience, self-efficacy, pain catastrophising, and quality of life). This study will provide an overview of the methodology used to address our research objectives. We will also present for the first time the main findings and further discuss the validity of the scale in the field of CP research and pain management. We hope that this tool will provide a better understanding of how CP-specific resilience processes can influence the development and maintenance of this disease. This could ultimately result in better treatment strategies specifically tailored to individual needs, thus leading to reduced healthcare costs and improved patient well-being.

Keywords: chronic pain, pain measure, pain resilience, questionnaire adaptation

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5676 Increase the Ductility of Tall Buildings Using Green Material Bamboo for Earthquake Zone

Authors: Shef Amir Arasy

Abstract:

In 2023, the world's population will be 7.8 billion, which has increased significantly in the last 20 years. Every country in the world is experiencing the impacts of climate change directly and indirectly. However, the community still needs to build massive infrastructure and buildings. The massive CO2 emissions which lead to climate change come from cement usage in construction activity. Bamboo is one of the most sustainable materials for reducing carbon emissions and releasing more than 30% oxygen compared to the mass of trees. Besides, bamboo harvest time is faster than other sustainable materials, around 3-4 years. Furthermore, Bamboo has a high tensile strength, which can provide ductility effectively to prevent damage to buildings during an earthquake. By the finite element method, this research analyzes bamboo configuration and connection for tall building structures under different earthquake frequencies and fire. The aim of this research is to provide proper design and connection of bamboo buildings that can be more reliable than concrete structures.

Keywords: bamboo, concrete, ductility, earthquake.

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5675 Review and Evaluation of Viscose Damper on Structural Responses

Authors: Ehsan Sadie

Abstract:

Developments in the field of damping technology and advances in the area of dampers in equipping many structures have been the result of efforts and testing by researchers in this field. In this paper, a sample of a two-story building is simulated with the help of SAP2000 software, and the effect of a viscous damper on the performance of the structure is explained. The effect of dampers on the response of the structure is investigated. This response involves the horizontal displacement of floors. In this case, the structure is modeled once without a damper and again with a damper. In this regard, the results are presented in the form of tables and graphs. Since the seismic behavior of the structure is studied, the responses show the appropriate effect of viscous dampers in reducing the displacement of floors, and also the energy dissipation in the structure with dampers compared to structures without dampers is significant. Therefore, it is economical to use viscous dampers in areas that have a higher relative earthquake risk.

Keywords: bending frame, displacement criterion, dynamic response spectra, earthquake, non-linear history spectrum, SAP2000 software, structural response, viscous damper

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5674 Semi-Automatic Design and Fabrication of Water Waste Cleaning Machine

Authors: Chanida Tangjai Benchalak Muangmeesri, Dechrit Maneetham

Abstract:

Collection of marine garbage in the modern world, where technology is vital to existence. Consequently, technology can assist in reducing the duplicate labor in the subject of collecting trash in the water that must be done the same way repeatedly owing to the consequence of suffering an emerging disease or COVID-19. This is due to the rapid advancement of technology. As a result, solid trash and plastic garbage are increasing. Agricultural gardens, canals, ponds, and water basins are all sources of water. Building boat-like instruments for rubbish collection in the water will be done this time. It has two control options, boat control via remote control and boat control via an Internet of Things system. A solar panel with a power output of 40 watts powers the system being able to store so accurate and precise waste collection, allowing for thorough water cleaning. The primary goals are to keep the water's surface clean and assess its quality to support the aquatic ecology.

Keywords: automatic boat, water treatment, cleaning machine, iot

Procedia PDF Downloads 74
5673 Topology-Based Character Recognition Method for Coin Date Detection

Authors: Xingyu Pan, Laure Tougne

Abstract:

For recognizing coins, the graved release date is important information to identify precisely its monetary type. However, reading characters in coins meets much more obstacles than traditional character recognition tasks in the other fields, such as reading scanned documents or license plates. To address this challenging issue in a numismatic context, we propose a training-free approach dedicated to detection and recognition of the release date of the coin. In the first step, the date zone is detected by comparing histogram features; in the second step, a topology-based algorithm is introduced to recognize coin numbers with various font types represented by binary gradient map. Our method obtained a recognition rate of 92% on synthetic data and of 44% on real noised data.

Keywords: coin, detection, character recognition, topology

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5672 A Text in Movement in the Totonac Flyers’ Dance: A Performance-Linguistic Theory

Authors: Luisa Villani

Abstract:

The proposal aims to express concerns about the connection between mind, body, society, and environment in the Flyers’ dance, a very well-known rotatory dance in Mexico, to create meanings and to make the apprehension of the world possible. The interaction among the brain, mind, body, and environment, and the intersubjective relation among them, means the world creates and recreates a social interaction. The purpose of this methodology, based on the embodied cognition theory, which was named “A Performance-Embodied Theory” is to find the principles and patterns that organize the culture and the rules of the apprehension of the environment by Totonac people while the dance is being performed. The analysis started by questioning how anthropologists can interpret how Totonacs transform their unconscious knowledge into conscious knowledge and how the scheme formation of imagination and their collective imagery is understood in the context of public-facing rituals, such as Flyers’ dance. The problem is that most of the time, researchers interpret elements in a separate way and not as a complex ritual dancing whole, which is the original contribution of this study. This theory, which accepts the fact that people are body-mind agents, wants to interpret the dance as a whole, where the different elements are joined to an integral interpretation. To understand incorporation, data was recollected in prolonged periods of fieldwork, with participant observation and linguistic and extralinguistic data analysis. Laban’s notation for the description and analysis of gestures and movements in the space was first used, but it was later transformed and gone beyond this method, which is still a linear and compositional one. Performance in a ritual is the actualization of a potential complex of meanings or cognitive domains among many others in a culture: one potential dimension becomes probable and then real because of the activation of specific meanings in a context. It can only be thought what language permits thinking, and the lexicon that is used depends on the individual culture. Only some parts of this knowledge can be activated at once, and these parts of knowledge are connected. Only in this way, the world can be understood. It can be recognized that as languages geometrize the physical world thanks to the body, also ritual does. In conclusion, the ritual behaves as an embodied grammar or a text in movement, which, depending on the ritual phases and the words and sentences pronounced in the ritual, activates bits of encyclopedic knowledge that people have about the world. Gestures are not given by the performer but emerge from the intentional perception in which gestures are “understood” by the audio-spectator in an inter-corporeal way. The impact of this study regards the possibility not only to disseminate knowledge effectively but also to generate a balance between different parts of the world where knowledge is shared, rather than being received by academic institutions alone. This knowledge can be exchanged, so indigenous communities and academies could be together as part of the activation and the sharing of this knowledge with the world.

Keywords: dance, flyers, performance, embodied, cognition

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5671 Mapping the Urban Catalytic Trajectory for 'Convention and Exhibition' Projects: A Case of India International Convention and Expo Centre, New Delhi

Authors: Bhavana Gulaty, Arshia Chaudhri

Abstract:

Great civic projects contribute integrally to a city, and every city undergoes a recurring cycle of urban transformations and regeneration by their insertion. The M.I.C.E. (Meetings, Incentives, Convention and Exhibitions) industry is the forbearer of one category of such catalytic civic projects. Through a specific focus on M.I.C.E. destinations, this paper illustrates the multifarious dimensions that urban catalysts impact the city on S.P.U.R. (Seed. Profile. Urbane. Reflections), the theoretical framework of this paper aims to unearth these dimensions in the realm of the COEX (Convention & Exhibition) biosphere. The ‘COEX Biosphere’ is the filter of such catalysts being ecosystems unto themselves. Like a ripple in water, the impact of these strategic interventions focusing on art, culture, trade, and promotion expands right from the trigger; the immediate context to the region and subsequently impacts the global scale. These ripples are known to bring about significant economic, social, and political and network changes. The COEX inventory in the Asian context has one such prominent addition; the proposed India International Convention and Exhibition Centre (IICC) at New Delhi. It is envisioned to be the largest facility in Asia currently and would position India on the global M.I.C.E map. With the first phase of the project scheduled to open for use in the end of 2019, this flagship project of the Government of India is projected to cater to a peak daily footfall of 3,20,000 visitors and estimated to generate 5,00,000 jobs. While the economic benefits are yet to manifest in real time and ‘Good design is good business’ holds true, for the urban transformation to be meaningful, the benefits have to go beyond just a balance sheet for the city’s exchequer. This aspect has been found relatively unexplored in research on these developments. The methodology for investigation will comprise of two steps. The first will be establishing an inventory of the global success stories and associated benefits of COEX projects over the past decade. The rationale for capping the timeframe is the significant paradigm shift that has been observed in their recent conceptualization; for instance ‘Innovation Districts’ conceptualised in the city of Albuquerque that converges into the global economy. The second step would entail a comparative benchmarking of the projected transformations by IICC through a toolkit of parameters. This is posited to yield a matrix that can form the test bed for mapping the catalytic trajectory for projects in the pipeline globally. As a ready reckoner, it purports to be a catalyst to substantiate decision making in the planning stage itself for future projects in similar contexts.

Keywords: catalysts, COEX, M.I.C.E., urban transformations

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5670 The Self-Care During Pregnancy of Muslim Adolescents in Southern Border Provinces, Thailand

Authors: Benyapa Thitimapong, Najwa Niyomdecha

Abstract:

This qualitative descriptive research aimed to explore the self-care experiences during pregnancy of Muslim adolescents. Twenty participants were first-time Muslim mothers who had pregnancy experienceห under 20 years of age in three Southern border provinces of Thailand. Participants were selected by purposive sampling with inclusion criteria. Data were collected from the in-depth interview and analyzed using content analysis. The findings revealed that Muslim pregnant adolescents take care of themselves in the context of combining self-care in an Islamic way and conventional medicine. There are 2 subthemes: 1) antenatal care with Tok Bidan and 2) health promotion during pregnancy. The finding will help to understand self-care during pregnancy of Muslim adolescents among three Southern border provinces and can apply to nurse educators as a guide to educate and manage an appropriate self-care program for Muslim pregnant adolescents based on cultural diversity.

Keywords: adolescents, muslim, pregnancy, selfcare

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5669 Contribution for Rural Development Trough Training in Organic Farming

Authors: Raquel P. F. Guiné, Daniela V. T. A. Costa, Paula M. R. Correia, Moisés Castro, Luis T. Guerra, Cristina A. Costa

Abstract:

The aim of this work was to characterize a potential target group of people interested in participating into a training program in organic farming in the context of mobile-learning. The information sought addressed in particular, but not exclusively, possible contents, formats and forms of evaluation that will contribute to define the course objectives and curriculum, as well as to ensure that the course meets the needs of the learners and their preferences. The sample was selected among different European countries. The questionnaires were delivered electronically for answering online and in the end 135 consented valid questionnaires were obtained. The results allowed characterizing the target group and identifying their training needs and preferences towards m-learning formats, giving valuable tools to design the training offer.

Keywords: mobile-learning, organic farming, rural development, survey

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5668 FLEX: A Backdoor Detection and Elimination Method in Federated Scenario

Authors: Shuqi Zhang

Abstract:

Federated learning allows users to participate in collaborative model training without sending data to third-party servers, reducing the risk of user data privacy leakage, and is widely used in smart finance and smart healthcare. However, the distributed architecture design of federation learning itself and the existence of secure aggregation protocols make it inherently vulnerable to backdoor attacks. To solve this problem, the federated learning backdoor defense framework FLEX based on group aggregation, cluster analysis, and neuron pruning is proposed, and inter-compatibility with secure aggregation protocols is achieved. The good performance of FLEX is verified by building a horizontal federated learning framework on the CIFAR-10 dataset for experiments, which achieves 98% success rate of backdoor detection and reduces the success rate of backdoor tasks to 0% ~ 10%.

Keywords: federated learning, secure aggregation, backdoor attack, cluster analysis, neuron pruning

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5667 Development of new Ecological Cleaning Process of Metal Sheets

Authors: L. M. López López, J. V. Montesdeoca Contreras, A. R. Cuji Fajardo, L. E. Garzón Muñoz, J. I. Fajardo Seminario

Abstract:

In this article a new method of cleaning process of metal sheets for household appliances was developed, using low-pressure cold plasma. In this context, this research consist in analyze the results of metal sheets cleaning process using plasma and compare with pickling process to determinate the efficiency of each process and the level of contamination produced. Surface Cleaning was evaluated by measuring the contact angle with deionized water, diiodo methane and ethylene glycol, for the calculus of the surface free energy by means of the Fowkes theories and Wu. Showing that low-pressure cold plasma is very efficient both in cleaning process how in environment impact.

Keywords: efficient use of plasma, ecological impact of plasma, metal sheets cleaning means, plasma cleaning process.

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5666 New Media Impact on Newspaper Readership

Authors: Umar Lawal Maradun

Abstract:

Newspapers are very important sources of information and are trusted by majority of populations in America, Latin America, Europe and many parts of the world. In the mid-1950s newspapers were at the forefront of providing people with information. However, in the 1970s television took over, while in the 1980s cable satellites became popular and in the 1990s the Internet and World Wide Web became major sources of media content and also major threats to the print media form. This paper looks at how newspaper readership has been affected by new media technology, especially the Internet. It uses empirical data by reviewing available literature within the context of change that is likely to threaten conventional media. It discovers that there is a growing decline in newspaper readership as a result of widespread use of the Internet. The decline in readership has been discovered to be a global phenomenon. The paper suggests strategies for the survival and revenue generation for print-based newspapers.

Keywords: Internet, media, newspaper, press

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5665 Energy Efficient Heterogeneous System for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)

Authors: José Anderson Rodrigues de Souza, Teles de Sales Bezerra, Saulo Aislan da Silva Eleuterio, Jeronimo Silva Rocha

Abstract:

Mobile devices are increasingly occupying sectors of society and one of its most important features is mobility. However, the use of mobile devices is subject to the lifetime of the batteries. Thus, the use of energy batteries has become an important issue in the study of wireless network technologies. In this context, new solutions that enable aggregate energy efficiency not only through energy saving, and principally they are evaluated from a more realistic model of energy discharge, if easy adaptation to existing protocols. This paper presents a study on the energy needed and the lifetime for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) using a heterogeneous network and applying the LEACH protocol.

Keywords: wireless sensor networks, energy efficiency, heterogeneous, LEACH protocol

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5664 Teachers’ Involvement in their Designed Play Activities in a Chinese Context

Authors: Shu-Chen Wu

Abstract:

This paper will present a study by the author which investigates Chinese teachers’ perspectives on learning at play and their teaching activities in the designed play activities. It asks the question of how Chinese teachers understand learning at play and how they design play activities in the classroom. Six kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong were invited to select and record exemplary play episodes which contain the largest amount of learning elements in their own classrooms. Applying video-stimulated interview, eight teachers in two focus groups were interviewed to elicit their perspectives on designing play activity and their teaching activities. The findings reveal that Chinese teachers have a very structured representation of learning at play, and the phenomenon of uniformity of teachers’ act was found. The contributions of which are important and useful for professional practices and curricular policies.

Keywords: learning at play, teacher involvement, video-stimulated interview, uniformity

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5663 The Use of Emoticons in Polite Phrases of Greeting and Thanks

Authors: Zuzana Komrsková

Abstract:

This paper shows the connection between emoticons and politeness in written computer-mediated communication. It studies if there are some differences in the use of emoticon between Czech and English written tweets. My assumptions about the use of emoticons were based on the use of greetings and thanks in real, face to face situations. The first assumption, that welcome greeting phrase would be accompanied by positive emoticon was correct. But for the farewell greeting both positive and negative emoticons are possible. My results show lower frequency of negative emoticons in this context. I also found quite often both positive and negative emoticon in the same tweet. The expression of gratitude is associated with positive emotions. The results show that emoticons accompany polite phrases of greeting and thanks very often both in Czech and English. The use of emoticons with studied polite phrases shows that emoticons have become an integral part of these phrases.

Keywords: Czech, emoticon, english, politeness, twitter

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5662 Formation of the Water Assisted Supramolecular Assembly in the Transition Structure of Organocatalytic Asymmetric Aldol Reaction: A DFT Study

Authors: Kuheli Chakrabarty, Animesh Ghosh, Atanu Roy, Gourab Kanti Das

Abstract:

Aldol reaction is an important class of carbon-carbon bond forming reactions. One of the popular ways to impose asymmetry in aldol reaction is the introduction of chiral auxiliary that binds the approaching reactants and create dissymmetry in the reaction environment, which finally evolves to enantiomeric excess in the aldol products. The last decade witnesses the usage of natural amino acids as chiral auxiliary to control the stereoselectivity in various carbon-carbon bond forming processes. In this context, L-proline was found to be an effective organocatalyst in asymmetric aldol additions. In last few decades the use of water as solvent or co-solvent in asymmetric organocatalytic reaction is increased sharply. Simple amino acids like L-proline does not catalyze asymmetric aldol reaction in aqueous medium not only that, In organic solvent medium high catalytic loading (~30 mol%) is required to achieve moderate to high asymmetric induction. In this context, huge efforts have been made to modify L-proline and 4-hydroxy-L-proline to prepare organocatalyst for aqueous medium asymmetric aldol reaction. Here, we report the result of our DFT calculations on asymmetric aldol reaction of benzaldehyde, p-NO2 benzaldehyde and t-butyraldehyde with a number of ketones using L-proline hydrazide as organocatalyst in wet solvent free condition. Gaussian 09 program package and Gauss View program were used for the present work. Geometry optimizations were performed using B3LYP hybrid functional and 6-31G(d,p) basis set. Transition structures were confirmed by hessian calculation and IRC calculation. As the reactions were carried out in solvent free condition, No solvent effect were studied theoretically. Present study has revealed for the first time, the direct involvement of two water molecules in the aldol transition structures. In the TS, the enamine and the aldehyde is connected through hydrogen bonding by the assistance of two intervening water molecules forming a supramolecular network. Formation of this type of supramolecular assembly is possible due to the presence of protonated -NH2 group in the L-proline hydrazide moiety, which is responsible for the favorable entropy contribution to the aldol reaction. It is also revealed from the present study that, water assisted TS is energetically more favorable than the TS without involving any water molecule. It can be concluded from this study that, insertion of polar group capable of hydrogen bond formation in the L-proline skeleton can lead to a favorable aldol reaction with significantly high enantiomeric excess in wet solvent free condition by reducing the activation barrier of this reaction.

Keywords: aldol reaction, DFT, organocatalysis, transition structure

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5661 Case Study of Child Labour in Pakistan

Authors: Ahmad Ali Ansari, Hassan Arshad, Basharat Hussani, Adnan Raza, Ahmad Ali Khan

Abstract:

Child labor is a kind of an issue which was found all over the world, but now the first world countries like countries in Europe and America (USA) got hold of it up to a large extent but Underdeveloped or the developing countries including Pakistan are still a victim of this issue. The following attempt has been made in this research article to figure out the main reasons of child labor in underdeveloped countries especially in Pakistan and also some of the issues are discussed which are hindering the solution of child labor in Pakistan. In this research we interviewed 70 working children in the area of Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Taxila and Hatar who belonged to the different parts of the country and figured out the basic causes of the child labor in Pakistan, what are its bad effects on the young one who is a victim of it and we also put a light on what the government of Pakistan is doing in this context and what the government still have to do.

Keywords: child labour, Pakistan, case study, underdeveloped countries

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5660 A Comparison between Modelled and Actual Thermal Performance of Load Bearing Rammed Earth Walls in Egypt

Authors: H. Hafez, A. Mekkawy, R. Rostom

Abstract:

Around 10% of the world’s CO₂ emissions could be attributed to the operational energy of buildings; that is why more research is directed towards the use of rammed earth walls which is claimed to have enhanced thermal properties compared to conventional building materials. The objective of this paper is to outline how the thermal performance of rammed earth walls compares to conventional reinforced concrete skeleton and red brick in-fill walls. For this sake, the indoor temperature and relative humidity of a classroom built with rammed earth walls and a vaulted red brick roof in the area of Behbeit, Giza, Egypt were measured hourly over 6 months using smart sensors. These parameters for the rammed earth walls were later also compared against the values obtained using a 'DesignBuilder v5' model to verify the model assumptions. The thermal insulation of rammed earth walls was found to be 30% better than this of the redbrick infill, and the recorded data were found to be almost 90% similar to the modelled values.

Keywords: rammed earth, thermal insulation, indoor air quality, design builder

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5659 Multi-Objective Optimization of an Aerodynamic Feeding System Using Genetic Algorithm

Authors: Jan Busch, Peter Nyhuis

Abstract:

Considering the challenges of short product life cycles and growing variant diversity, cost minimization and manufacturing flexibility increasingly gain importance to maintain a competitive edge in today’s global and dynamic markets. In this context, an aerodynamic part feeding system for high-speed industrial assembly applications has been developed at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA), Leibniz Universitaet Hannover. The aerodynamic part feeding system outperforms conventional systems with respect to its process safety, reliability, and operating speed. In this paper, a multi-objective optimisation of the aerodynamic feeding system regarding the orientation rate, the feeding velocity and the required nozzle pressure is presented.

Keywords: aerodynamic feeding system, genetic algorithm, multi-objective optimization, workpiece orientation

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5658 Study on the Neurotransmitters and Digestion of Amino Acids Affecting Psychological Chemical Imbalance

Authors: Yoonah Lee, Richard Kyung

Abstract:

With technological advances in the computational biomedical field, the ability to measure neurotransmitters’ chemical imbalances that affect depression and anxiety has been established. By comparing the thermodynamics stability of amino acid supplements, such as glutamine, tyrosine, phe-nylalanine, and methionine, this research analyzes mood-regulating neurotransmitters, amino acid supplements, and antipsychotic substances (ie. Reserpine molecule and CRF complexes) in relation to depression and anxiety and suggests alternative complexes that are low in energy to act as more efficient treatments for mood disorders. To determine a molecule’s thermodynamic stability, this research examines the molecular energy using Avogadro, a software for building virtual molecules and calculating optimized geometry using GAFF (General Amber Force Field) and UFF (Universal Force Field). The molecules, built using Avogadro, is analyzed using their theoretical values and atomic properties.

Keywords: amino acids, anxiety, depression, neurotransmitters

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5657 Coding Considerations for Standalone Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Atomistic Structures

Authors: R. O. Ocaya, J. J. Terblans

Abstract:

The laws of Newtonian mechanics allow ab-initio molecular dynamics to model and simulate particle trajectories in material science by defining a differentiable potential function. This paper discusses some considerations for the coding of ab-initio programs for simulation on a standalone computer and illustrates the approach by C language codes in the context of embedded metallic atoms in the face-centred cubic structure. The algorithms use velocity-time integration to determine particle parameter evolution for up to several thousands of particles in a thermodynamical ensemble. Such functions are reusable and can be placed in a redistributable header library file. While there are both commercial and free packages available, their heuristic nature prevents dissection. In addition, developing own codes has the obvious advantage of teaching techniques applicable to new problems.

Keywords: C language, molecular dynamics, simulation, embedded atom method

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5656 Rejoinders to the Expression of Reprimand among Jordanian Youth: A Pragmatic Study

Authors: Nisreen Al-Khawaldeh

Abstract:

The study investigates the expressions voiced by Jordanian youth as rejoinders to the expressions of reprimands. It also explores the impact sociocultural variables exert on such types of rejoinders. To our best knowledge, this study is the first of its kind. Despite the significance and sensitivity of such type of communicative act, there is a scarcity of research on it, and it has not been investigated in the Jordanian context. Data collected from observation of naturally occurring data. Data have been qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed in light of the rapport management approach (RMA). The analysis revealed different types of rejoinders, among which was the expression of apology, admitting responsibility, and trying to manage and fix the situation were the most used strategies. Variation in the types of strategies was attributed to the influence of the sociocultural variables. Promising ideas were recommended for future research.

Keywords: gender, rejoinder to reprimand, Jordanian youth, rapport management approach

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5655 The Use of Political Savviness in Dealing with Workplace Ostracism: A Social Information Processing Perspective

Authors: Amy Y. Wang, Eko L. Yi

Abstract:

Can vicarious experiences of workplace ostracism affect employees’ willingness to voice? Given the increasingly interdependent nature of the modern workplace in which employees rely on social interactions to fulfill organizational goals, workplace ostracism –the extent to which an individual perceives that he or she is ignored or excluded by others in the workplace– has garnered significant interest from scholars and practitioners alike. Extending beyond conventional studies that largely focus on the perspectives and outcomes of ostracized targets, we address the indirect effects of workplace ostracism on third-party employees embedded in the same social context. Using a social information processing approach, we propose that the ostracism of coworkers acts as political information that influences third-party employees in their decisions to engage in risky and discretionary behaviors such as employee voice. To make sense of and to navigate through experiences of workplace ostracism, we posit that both political understanding and political skill allow third party employees to minimize the risks and uncertainty of voicing. This conceptual model was tested by a study involving 154 supervisor-subordinate dyads of a publicly listed bio-technology firm located in Mainland China. Each supervisor and their direct subordinates composed of a work team; each team had a minimum of two subordinates and a maximum of four subordinates. Human resources used the master list to distribute the ID coded questionnaires to the matching names. All studied constructs were measured using existing scales proved effective in previous literature. Hypotheses were tested using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Hierarchal Multiple Regression. All three hypotheses were supported which showed that employees were less likely to engage in voice behaviors when their coworkers reported having experienced ostracism in the workplace. Results also showed a significant three-way interaction between political understanding and political skill on the relationship between coworkers’ ostracism and employee voice, indicating that political savviness is a valuable resource in mitigating ostracism’s negative and indirect effects. Our results illustrated that an employee’s coworkers being ostracized indeed adversely impacted his or her own voice behavior. However, not all individuals reacted passively to the social context; rather, we found that politically savvy individuals – possessing both political understanding and political skill – and their voice behaviors were less impacted by ostracism in their work environment. At the same time, we found that having only political understanding or only political skill was significantly less effective in mitigating ostracism’s negative effects, suggesting a necessary duality of political knowledge and political skill in combatting ostracism. Organizational implications, recommendations, and future research ideas are also discussed.

Keywords: employee voice, organizational politics, social information processing, workplace ostracism

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5654 A Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization-Nelder- Mead Algorithm (PSO-NM) for Nelson-Siegel- Svensson Calibration

Authors: Sofia Ayouche, Rachid Ellaia, Rajae Aboulaich

Abstract:

Today, insurers may use the yield curve as an indicator evaluation of the profit or the performance of their portfolios; therefore, they modeled it by one class of model that has the ability to fit and forecast the future term structure of interest rates. This class of model is the Nelson-Siegel-Svensson model. Unfortunately, many authors have reported a lot of difficulties when they want to calibrate the model because the optimization problem is not convex and has multiple local optima. In this context, we implement a hybrid Particle Swarm optimization and Nelder Mead algorithm in order to minimize by least squares method, the difference between the zero-coupon curve and the NSS curve.

Keywords: optimization, zero-coupon curve, Nelson-Siegel-Svensson, particle swarm optimization, Nelder-Mead algorithm

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5653 Autism Awareness Among School Students and the Violent Reaction of the Autist Toward Society in Egypt

Authors: Naglaa Baskhroun Thabet Wasef

Abstract:

Specific education services for students with Autism remains in its early developmental stages in Egypt. In spite of many more children with autism are attending schools since The Egyptian government introduced the Education Provision for Students with Disabilities Act in 2010, the services students with autism and their families receive are generally not enough. This pointed study used Attitude and Reaction to Teach Students with Autism Scale to investigate 50 primary school teachers’ attitude and reaction to teach students with autism in the general education classroom. Statistical analysis of the data found that student behavior was the most noticeable factor in building teachers’ wrong attitudes students with autism. The minority of teachers also indicated that their service education did not prepare them to meet the learning needs of children with autism in special, those who are non-vocal. The study is descriptive and provides direction for increasing teacher awareness for inclusivity in Egypt.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, sports activates, movement skills, motor skills, autism attitude

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5652 Walking in the Steps of Poets: Evoking Past Poets in Sufi Poetry

Authors: Bilal Orfali

Abstract:

It is common practice in modern times to read mystical poetry and apply it to our mundane lives and loves. Sufis in the early period did the opposite. Their mystical hymns often spun out of the courtly poetic ghazal, panegyric, and wine songs. This paper highlights the relation of the Arabic courtly poetic canon to early Sufism. Sufi akhbār and poetry evoke past poets and their poetic heritage. They tend to quote or refer to eminent poets whose poetry must have been widely circulated and memorized. However, Sufism places this readily recognizable poetry in a new context that deliberately changes the past. It is a process of a metaphorization in which the reality of the pre-Islamic, Umayyad, and Abbasid models now acts as a device or metaphor for the Sufi poetics.

Keywords: Sufism, Arabic poetry, literature, Islamic literature, Abbasid

Procedia PDF Downloads 294