Search results for: Tobias Good

Authors: Mei-Ying Liao, Lee-Ching Wei, Jung-Hsiang Tseng

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The main purpose of this study was to explore the process of planning and execution of the music learning center in preschool. This study was conducted through a collaborative action research method. The research members included a university music professor, a teaching guide, a preschool director, and a preschool teacher, leading a class of 5-6-year-old children to participate in this study. Five teaching cycles were performed with a subject of bird. In the whole process that lasted three months, the research members would maintain the conversation, reflection, and revision repeatedly. A triangular validated method was used to collect data, including archives, interviews, seminars, observations, journals, and learning evaluations to improve research on the validity and reliability. It was found that a successful music learning center required comprehensive planning and execution. It is also important to develop good listening, singing, respect, and homing habits at the beginning of running the music learning center. By timely providing diverse musical instruments, learning materials, and activities according to the teaching goals, children’s desire to learning was highly stimulated. Besides, peer interactions improved their ensemble and problem-solving abilities. The collaborative action research enhanced the preschool teacher’s confidence and promoted professional growth of the research members.

Keywords: collaborative action research, case study, music learning center, music development

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Ryotaro Ishikawa

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Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is marked by the persistent fear of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur. In contrast, SA in Japan and in China is understood differently. Taijin Kyofusho (TKS) is a culture-bound subtype of SAD which has been the focus of recent research. TKS refers to a unique form of SAD found in Japanese and East Asian cultures characterized by a fear of offending others, in contrast to prototypical SAD in which the source of fear is typically concerned about one’s own embarrassment, humiliation, or rejection by others. Criteria for TKS partially overlap with but are distinct from SAD; a primary factor distinguishing TKS from SAD appears to be individualistic versus interdependent or collectivistic self-construals. The aim of this study was to develop a scale to assess the typical SAD and offensive type of SAD (TKS). This study aimed to test the internal consistency and validity of the scale (Dimensional Social Anxiety Scale: DSAS) using university students sample. For this, 148 university students were enrolled (male=90, female=58, age=19.77, Standard Deviation=1.04). As a result of confirmatory factor analysis, three-factor models of DSAS were verified (χ2(74) =128.36). These three factors were named ‘general’, ‘perfomance’, and ‘offensive’. DSAS were significantly correlated with the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (r = .538, p < .001). Good internal consistencies were indicated on the three subscales (α = .76 to 89). In conclusion, this study indicated DSAS has adequate internal consistency and validity for assessing of multi-type of SADs.

Keywords: social anxiety, cognitive theory, assessment, anxiety disorder

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: Jing Zhao, Dayong Liu, Shihao Wang, Xinghua Zhu, Delong Li

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Uhumanned Underwater Vehicles generally operate in the deep sea, which has its own unique working conditions. Lithium-ion power batteries should have the necessary stability and endurance for use as an underwater vehicle’s power source. Therefore, it is essential to accurately forecast how long lithium-ion batteries will last in order to maintain the system’s reliability and safety. In order to model and forecast lithium battery Remaining Useful Life (RUL), this research suggests a model based on Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive noise-Temporal Convolutional Net (CEEMDAN-TCN). In this study, two datasets, NASA and CALCE, which have a specific gap in capacity data fluctuation, are used to verify the model and examine the experimental results in order to demonstrate the generalizability of the concept. The experiments demonstrate the network structure’s strong universality and ability to achieve good fitting outcomes on the test set for various battery dataset types. The evaluation metrics reveal that the CEEMDAN-TCN prediction performance of TCN is 25% to 35% better than that of a single neural network, proving that feature expansion and modal decomposition can both enhance the model’s generalizability and be extremely useful in industrial settings.

Keywords: lithium-ion battery, remaining useful life, complete EEMD with adaptive noise, temporal convolutional net

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Hesham Abdin, Mohamed Zakaria, Talaat Abd-Elmonaem, Alaa El-Din Sayed Hafez

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Kalman filter algorithm is an estimator known as the workhorse of estimation. It has an important application in missile guidance, especially in lack of accurate data of the target due to noise or uncertainty. In this paper, a Kalman filter is used as a tracking filter in a simulated target-interceptor scenario with noise. It estimates the position, velocity, and acceleration of the target in the presence of noise. These estimations are needed for both proportional navigation and differential geometry guidance laws. A Kalman filter has a good performance at low noise, but a large noise causes considerable errors leads to performance degradation. Therefore, a new technique is required to overcome this defect using tuning factors to tune a Kalman filter to adapt increasing of noise. The values of the tuning factors are between 0.8 and 1.2, they have a specific value for the first half of range and a different value for the second half. they are multiplied by the estimated values. These factors have its optimum values and are altered with the change of the target heading. A genetic algorithm updates these selections to increase the maximum effective range which was previously reduced by noise. The results show that the selected factors have other benefits such as decreasing the minimum effective range that was increased earlier due to noise. In addition to, the selected factors decrease the miss distance for all ranges of this direction of the target, and expand the effective range which leads to increase probability of kill.

Keywords: proportional navigation, differential geometry, Kalman filter, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Olumuyiwa Ojo, Masengo Ilunga

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Artificial neural network (ANN) has broken the bounds of the convention programming, which is actually a function of garbage in garbage out by its ability to mimic the human brain. Its ability to adopt, adapt, adjust, evaluate, learn and recognize the relationship, behavior, and pattern of a series of data set administered to it, is tailored after the human reasoning and learning mechanism. Thus, the study aimed at modeling wastewater treatment process in order to accurately diagnose water control problems for effective treatment. For this study, a stage ANN model development and evaluation methodology were employed. The source data analysis stage involved a statistical analysis of the data used in modeling in the model development stage, candidate ANN architecture development and then evaluated using a historical data set. The model was developed using historical data obtained from Daspoort Wastewater Treatment plant South Africa. The resultant designed dimensions and model for wastewater treatment plant provided good results. Parameters considered were temperature, pH value, colour, turbidity, amount of solids and acidity. Others are total hardness, Ca hardness, Mg hardness, and chloride. This enables the ANN to handle and represent more complex problems that conventional programming is incapable of performing.

Keywords: ANN, artificial neural network, wastewater treatment, model, development

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Gabor Varga, Krisztina Karadi, Zoltan Konya, Akos Kukovecz, Pal Sipos, Istvan Palinko

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Nickel can efficiently replace palladium in the Heck, Suzuki and Negishi reactions. This study focuses on the synthesis and catalytic application of Ni(II)-containing layered double hydroxides (LDHs) and layered triple hydroxides (LTHs). Our goals were to incorporate Ni(II) ions among the layers of LDHs or LTHs, or binding it to their surface or building it into their layers in such a way that their catalytic activities are maintained or even increased. The LDHs and LTHs were prepared by the co-precipitation method using ethylene glycol as co-solvent. In several cases, post-synthetic modifications (e.g., thermal treatment) were performed. After optimizing the synthesis conditions, the composites displayed good crystallinity and were free of byproducts. The success of the syntheses and the post-synthetic modifications was confirmed by relevant characterization methods (XRD, SEM, SEM-EDX and combined IR techniques). Catalytic activities of the produced and well-characterized solids were investigated through the Heck reaction. The composites behaved as efficient, recyclable catalysts in the Heck reaction between 4-bromoanisole and styrene. Through varying the reaction parameters, we were able to obtain acceptable conversions under mild conditions. Our study highlights the possibility of the application of Ni(II)-containing composites as efficient catalysts in coupling reactions.

Keywords: layered double hydroxide, layered triple hydroxide, heterogeneous catalysis, heck reaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 157

Authors: S. M. T. Mustafa, D. Raes, M. Huysmans

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Proper utilization of water resource is very important in agro-based Bangladesh. Irrigation schedule based on local environmental conditions, soil type and water availability will allow a sustainable use of water resources in agriculture. In this study, the FAO crop water model (AquaCrop) was used to simulate the different water and fertilizer management strategies in different location of Bangladesh to obtain a management guideline for the farmer. Model was calibrated and validated for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The statistical indices between the observed and simulated grain yields obtained were very good with R2, RMSE, and EF values of 0.92, 0.33, and 0.83, respectively for model calibration and 0.92, 0.68 and 0.77, respectively for model validations. Stem elongation (jointing) to booting and flowering stage were identified as most water sensitive for wheat. Deficit irrigation on water sensitive stage could increase the grain yield for increasing soil fertility levels both for loamy and sandy type soils. Deficit irrigation strategies provides higher water productivity than full irrigation strategies and increase the yield stability (reduce the standard deviation). The practical deficit irrigation schedule for wheat for four different stations and two different soils were designed. Farmer can produce more crops by using deficit irrigation schedule under water stress condition. Practical application and validation of proposed strategies will make them more credible.

Keywords: crop-water model, deficit irrigation, irrigation scheduling, wheat

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Authors: A. Tereci, M. Atmaca

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Recreational spaces designed or build for refreshment of the users through natural riches and/or activities. Those places contribute to the quality of city life by providing relaxation point for citizens and maintaining the environmental equilibrium. The elements which constitute the recreational areas also promote long-term environmental and social sustainability of cities. Preservation and creation of the recreation open spaces are important for water and air quality, natural habitat and also social communication. On this point, it is also a good area for promoting the renewable energy sources through comprehension of the sustainable development which is possible only with using nature and technic together. Energy production is mainly technical issue, and architectural design of these elements to the site always ignores or avoid. The main problems for integration of renewable energy sources are the system suitability, security, durability, and resiliency. In this paper, one of the city recreational open spaces in Konya, Turkey was evaluated for integration of possible renewable energy sources. It shows that the solar energy potential is high and PV integration is the best option. On the other hand wind, energy power and area is not suitable for wind turbine, so wind belts were decided to integrate on the design. According to recreational activities, the chosen elements was designed for site application, and their performance was calculated. According to possible installation on the furniture, there is 50 MWh/a electricity production capacity.

Keywords: energy, integrated design, recreational space, renewables

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Authors: B. Kodedova, E. Filova, M. Kralovic, E. Amler

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Vitiligo is the most common depigmentation disorder of the skin characterized by loss of melanocyte in the epidermis that leads to white lesions. One of the possible treatments is autologous transplantation of melanocytes. Biodegradable electrospun polymeric nanofibers provide good mechanical properties and could serve as suitable scaffold for epithelial cells cultivation and follow up transplantation. Moreover the microarchitecture of nanofibers mimics the structure of extracellular matrix and its porosity allows nutrients and waste exchange. The aim of this work was to develop biocompatible and biodegradable polymeric scaffolds suitable for autologous melanocytes transplantation. Electrospun polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers were modified by cold methane plasma to lower their hydrofility and to achieve better adhesion, proliferation and viability of the murine melanocyte (Melan-a). Cells were seeded on the modified scaffolds and their adhesion, metabolic activity, proliferation and melanin synthesis was evaluated and compared to non-modified scaffolds. Results clearly indicate that cold methane plasma modified PVA nanofibers are suitable for melanocyte cultivation and may be future candidate for vitiligo treatment. Furthermore, the nanofibers can be functionalized with various bioactive substances, for enhancement of the melanocyte proliferation, melanogenesis or healing and regenerative processes. The project was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports NPU I: LO1309 and by Grant Agency of Charles University (grant No. 1228214).

Keywords: melanocyte, nanofibers, polyvinyl alcohol, plasma modification

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Authors: Mahmoud Mohamed Emam

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In Oman the number of students referred for reading disabilities is on the rise. Schools serve these students by placement in the so-called learning disabilities unit. Recently the author led a strategic project to train teachers on the use of curriculum based measurement to identify students with reading disabilities in Oman. Additional the project involved training teachers to use phonemic awareness based activities to improve reading skills of those students. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in words. We know that a student's skill in phonemic awareness is a good predictor of later reading success or difficulty. Using multiple baseline design across four participants the current studies investigated the effectiveness of using phonemic awareness based activities to improve decoding skills of third grade students referred for reading disabilities in Oman. During treatment students received phonemic awareness based activities that were designed to fulfill the idiosyncratic characteristics of Arabic language phonology as well as orthography. Results indicated that the phonemic awareness based activities were effective in substantially increasing the number of correctly decoded word for all four participants. Maintenance of strategy effects was evident for the weeks following the termination of intervention for the four students. In addition, the effects of intervention generalized to decoding novel words for all four participants.

Keywords: learning disabilities, phonemic awareness, third graders, Oman

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Authors: Abhimanyu Pati, Krishna Kumar Veluri

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The paper intends to bring out a real life experience encountered during actual implementation of a large scale Tier-1 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in a multi-location, discrete manufacturing organization in India, involved in manufacturing of auto components and aggregates. The business complexities, prior to the implementation of ERP, include multi-product with hierarchical product structures, geographically distributed multiple plant locations with disparate business practices, lack of inter-plant broadband connectivity, existence of disparate legacy applications for different business functions, and non-standardized codifications of products, machines, employees, and accounts apart from others. On the other hand, the manufacturing environment consisted of processes like Assemble-to-Order (ATO), Make-to-Stock (MTS), and Engineer-to-Order (ETO) with a mix of discrete and process operations. The paper has highlighted various business plan areas and concerns, prior to the implementation, with specific focus on strategic issues and objectives. Subsequently, it has dealt with the complete process of ERP implementation, starting from strategic planning, project planning, resource mobilization, and finally, the program execution. The step-by-step process provides a very good learning opportunity about the implementation methodology. At the end, various organizational challenges and lessons emerged, which will act as guidelines and checklist for organizations to successfully align and implement ERP and achieve their business objectives.

Keywords: ERP, ATO, MTS, ETO, discrete manufacturing, strategic planning

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Rupinder Kaur, Parmjit S. Panesar, Ram S. Singh

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Whey is the lactose rich by-product of the dairy industry, having good amount of nutrient reservoir. Most abundant nutrients are lactose, soluble proteins, lipids and mineral salts. Disposing of whey by most of milk plants which do not have proper pre-treatment system is the major issue. As a result of which, there can be significant loss of potential food and energy source. Thus, whey has been explored as the substrate for the synthesis of different value added products such as enzymes. β-galactosidase is one of the important enzymes and has become the major focus of research due to its ability to catalyze both hydrolytic as well as transgalactosylation reaction simultaneously. The enzyme is widely used in dairy industry as it catalyzes the transformation of lactose to glucose and galactose, making it suitable for the lactose intolerant people. The enzyme is intracellular in both bacteria and yeast, whereas for molds, it has an extracellular location. The present work was carried to utilize the whey for the production of β-galactosidase enzyme using both yeast and fungal cultures. The yeast isolate Kluyveromyces marxianus WIG2 and various fungal strains have been used in the present study. Different disruption techniques have also been investigated for the extraction of the enzyme produced intracellularly from yeast cells. Among the different methods tested for the disruption of yeast cells, SDS-chloroform showed the maximum β-galactosidase activity. In case of the tested fungal cultures, Aureobasidium pullulans NCIM 1050, was observed to be the maximum extracellular enzyme producer.

Keywords: β-galactosidase, fungus, yeast, whey

Procedia PDF Downloads 309

Authors: Daniel José de Oliveira Ferreira, Juan Harold Sosa-Arnao, Bruno Cássio Moreira, Leonardo Paes Rangel, Song Won Park

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The comprehensive CFD models have been used to represent and study the heterogeneous combustion of biomass. In the present work, the operation of a global flue gas circuit in the sugar-cane bagasse combustion, from wind boxes below primary air grate supply, passing by bagasse insertion in swirl burners and boiler furnace, to boiler bank outlet is simulated. It uses five different meshes representing each part of this system located in sequence: wind boxes and grate, boiler furnace, swirl burners, super heaters and boiler bank. The model considers turbulence using standard k-ε, combustion using EDM, radiation heat transfer using DTM with 16 ray directions and bagasse particle tracking represented by Schiller-Naumann model. The results showed good agreement with expected behavior found in literature and equipment design. The more detailed results view in separated parts of flue gas system allows to observe some flow behaviors that cannot be represented by usual simplifications like bagasse supply under homogeneous axial and rotational vectors and others that can be represented using new considerations like the representation of 26 thousand grate orifices by 144 rectangular inlets.

Keywords: comprehensive CFD model, sugar-cane bagasse combustion, sugar-cane bagasse grate boiler, axial

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Authors: Christopher A. Igene, Jonathan O. Ighodalo

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Youths play a critical role in the agricultural transformation of any developing nation such as Nigeria. Hence, the preparation of any nation for productive life depends on the policies and programmes designed for its youths. Studies have shown that children and youths contribute significantly in agricultural activities. Youths have vigour and prone to physical work, they constitute a great percentage of labour force in the country. It is of necessity that every policy on national development must of necessity take cognizance of the youths. Hence, the focus on youths in agricultural extension outreaches most especially, the young farmers club. It is an out-of-school education in agriculture and home economics for rural youth through learning by doing. Young farmers club in schools enables the young to learn and acquire those attributes that will enable them grown into useful and mature adult. There appears to be numerous constrains in the use of youths in extension, they are inadequate personnel, poor funding of agricultural sector, poor marketing channels, lack of good roads, others are poor input and lack of information. However, there is a need for Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) to organize workshop for secondary students and agricultural science teachers, schools to organize seminars and workshops for secondary schools who are members of Young Farmers Club (YFC). ADP should also organize agricultural show to encourage students to be members of Young Farmers Club (YFC).

Keywords: agricultural extension, agricultural role, students, youths, young farmers club (YFC)

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Bastien Batardière, Joon Kwon

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For finite-sum optimization, variance-reduced gradient methods (VR) compute at each iteration the gradient of a single function (or of a mini-batch), and yet achieve faster convergence than SGD thanks to a carefully crafted lower-variance stochastic gradient estimator that reuses past gradients. Another important line of research of the past decade in continuous optimization is the adaptive algorithms such as AdaGrad, that dynamically adjust the (possibly coordinate-wise) learning rate to past gradients and thereby adapt to the geometry of the objective function. Variants such as RMSprop and Adam demonstrate outstanding practical performance that have contributed to the success of deep learning. In this work, we present AdaLVR, which combines the AdaGrad algorithm with loopless variance-reduced gradient estimators such as SAGA or L-SVRG that benefits from a straightforward construction and a streamlined analysis. We assess that AdaLVR inherits both good convergence properties from VR methods and the adaptive nature of AdaGrad: in the case of L-smooth convex functions we establish a gradient complexity of O(n + (L + √ nL)/ε) without prior knowledge of L. Numerical experiments demonstrate the superiority of AdaLVR over state-of-the-art methods. Moreover, we empirically show that the RMSprop and Adam algorithm combined with variance-reduced gradients estimators achieve even faster convergence.

Keywords: convex optimization, variance reduction, adaptive algorithms, loopless

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Josephine Eghonghon Ahiante, Barry Hanyane

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To give effect to the constitutional rights of gender equality, the South African government instituted various legislative policy frameworks and legislations to equalise the public service. Nonetheless, gender inequality in senior management positions remains a rift in government institutions, particularly the local sphere of government. The methodology for gathering and analysing data for this study was based on both primary and secondary data sources, namely literature review, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, triangulation, and inductive and deductive thematic analysis. The study found that misogynist tendencies which are manifest in organisational culture suffocate the good intentions of government in ensuring social justices, leadership diversity, and women equality. It also demonstrates that traditional gender role expectation still informs the ground in which senior management positions are allocated, men perceive women as non-leadership fit and discriminate against them during recruitment, selection, and promotion into high positions. The analyses from the study portray that, while government legislation and framework has been instrumental in the leadership acceleration of women, much more has to be done to deconstruct internalised leadership stereotypes on women's gender roles and leadership requirements. The study recommends that gender bias training intervention is needed to teach public employees on management excellence.

Keywords: gender, leadership, misogyny, orgnisational cultural, patriachy

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Yu Zhao, Rainer Gruenheid, Gerhard Bauch

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In the microwave and millimeter-wave transmission region, substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) is a very promising candidate for the development of circuits and components. It facilitates the transmission at the data rates in excess of 200 Gbit/s. An SIW mimics a rectangular waveguide by approximating the closed sidewalls with a via fence. This structure suppresses the low frequency components and makes the channel of the SIW a bandpass or high pass filter. This channel characteristic impedes the conventional baseband transmission using non-return-to-zero (NRZ) pulse shaping scheme. Therefore, mixers are commonly proposed to be used as carrier modulator and demodulator in order to facilitate a passband transmission. However, carrier modulation is not an energy efficient solution, because modulation and demodulation at high frequencies consume a lot of energy. For the first time to our knowledge, this paper proposes a spectrum shaping scheme of low complexity for the channel of SIW, namely spread reshaping code. It aims at matching the spectrum of the transmit signal to the channel frequency response. It facilitates the transmission through the SIW channel while it avoids using carrier modulation. In some cases, it even does not need equalization. Simulations reveal a good performance of this scheme, such that, as a result, eye opening is achieved without any equalization or modulation for the respective transmission channels.

Keywords: bandpass channel, eye-opening, switching frequency, substrate-integrated waveguide, spectrum shaping scheme, spread reshaping code

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Jamal Al-Zain, O. El Hajjaji, T. El Bardouni

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A (Th-U) O2 fuel pin benchmark made up of 25 w/o U and 75 w/o Th was used. In order to analyze the depletion and inventory of the fuel for the pressurized water reactor pin-cell model. The new version VIII.0 of the ENDF/B nuclear data library was used to create a data set in ACE format at various temperatures and process the data using the MAKXSF6.2 and NJOY2016 programs to process the data at the various temperatures in order to conduct this study and analyze cross-section data. The infinite multiplication factor, the concentrations and activities of the main fission products, the actinide radionuclides accumulated in the pin cell, and the total radioactivity were all estimated and compared in this study using the Monte Carlo N-Particle 6 (MCNP6.2) and DRAGON5 programs. Additionally, the behavior of the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) thorium pin cell that is dependent on burn-up (BU) was validated and compared with the reference data obtained using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT-MOCUP), Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL-MOCUP), and CASMO-4 codes. The results of this study indicate that all of the codes examined have good agreements.

Keywords: PWR thorium pin cell, ENDF/B-VIII.0, MAKXSF6.2, NJOY2016, MCNP6.2, DRAGON5, fuel burn-up.

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Authors: Heval Serhat Uluk, Sam M. Dakka, Kuldeep Singh, Richard Jefferson-Loveday

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This paper will focus on the suitability of a trapped vortex combustor as a candidate for gas turbine combustor objectives to minimize pressure drop across the combustor and investigate aerodynamic performance. Non-reacting simulation of axisymmetric cavity trapped vortex combustors were simulated to investigate the pressure drop for various cavity aspect ratios of 0.3, 0.6, and 1 and for air mass flow rates of 14 m/s, 28 m/s, and 42 m/s. A numerical study of an axisymmetric trapped vortex combustor was carried out by using two-dimensional and three-dimensional computational domains. A comparison study was conducted between Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) k-ε Realizable with enhanced wall treatment and RANS k-ω Shear Stress Transport (SST) models to find the most suitable turbulence model. It was found that the k-ω SST model gives relatively close results to experimental outcomes. The numerical results were validated and showed good agreement with the experimental data. Pressure drop rises with increasing air mass flow rate, and the lowest pressure drop was observed at 0.6 cavity aspect ratio for all air mass flow rates tested, which agrees with the experimental outcome. A mixing enhancement study showed that 30-degree angle air injectors provide improved fuel-air mixing.

Keywords: aerodynamic, computational fluid dynamics, propulsion, trapped vortex combustor

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Authors: Jelena Vulić, Jasna Čanadanović-Brunet, Gordana Ćetković, Sonja Djilas, Vesna Tumbas Šaponjac

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Caneberries (raspberries and blackberries) are among the most popular berries in the world, which are consumed as fresh and processed to juice, jams, confitures and other products or as ingredients for different foods. These fruits are known as a rich source of phenolic compounds such as phenolic acids and anthocyanins. Antioxidant activity (AA) of caneberry juices was improved by addition of phenolic compounds which were extracted from two raspberry cultivars (Rubus idaeus, cv. 'Willamette' (RW) and 'Meeker' (RM)) and two blackberry cultivars (Rubus fruticosus, cv. 'Čačanka' (BC) and 'Thornfree' (BT)) pomace, a by-product in juice processing. The total phenolic contents in raspberry and blackberry pomace extracts were determined spectrophotometrically using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagens. The phenolic concentrations in caneberries (RW, RM, BC and BT) pomace extracts were 43.67 ± 2.13 mg GAE/g, 26.25 ± 1.18 mg GAE/g, 46.01 ± 3.26 mg GAE/g and 61.59 ± 1.14 mg GAE/g, respectively. In order to obtain enriched juices, phenolic compounds were applied at concentration of 0.05 mg GAE/ 100 ml. Antioxidant activities of caneberry juices and caneberry enriched juices were measured using stable 1.1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals. AADPPH of RW, RM, BC and BT juices and enriched juices with addition of 0.01 µg GAE/ml, changed from 37.12% to 93.01%, 23.26% to 91.57%, 53.61% to 95.65% and 52.06% to 93.13%, respectively, while IC50 values of RW, RM, BC and BT juices and enriched juices were diminished 6.33, 19.00, 6.33 and 4.75 times, respectively. Based on the obtained results it can be concluded that phenolic enriched juices were significantly more effective on DPPH radicals. Caneberry juices enriched with waste material are a good source of natural pigments and antioxidants and could be used as functional foods.

Keywords: caneberry, enriched juice, phenolic antioxidant, DPPH radical

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Authors: Ajay Sidana, Kulbir Singh Sandhu, Balwinder Singh Sidhu

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Joining of dissimilar non-ferrous alloys like aluminium and magnesium alloys becomes important in various automobile and aerospace applications due to their low density and good corrosion resistance. Friction Stir Welding (FSW), a solid state joining process, successfully welds difficult to weld similar and dissimilar aluminum and magnesium alloys. Two tool rotation speeds were selected by keeping the transverse speed constant to weld similar and dissimilar alloys. Similar(Al to Al) and Dissimilar(Al to Mg) weld joints were obtained by FSW. SEM scans revealed that higher tool rotation fragments the coarse grains of base material into fine grains in the weld zone. Also, there are less welding defects in weld joints obtained with higher tool rotation speed. The material of dissimilar alloys was mixed with each other forming recrystallised new intermetallics. There was decrease in hardness of similar weld joint however there is significant increase in hardness of weld zone in case of dissimilar weld joints due to stirring action of tool and formation of inter metallics. Tensile tests revealed that there was decrease in percentage elongation in both similar and dissimilar weld joints.

Keywords: aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys, friction stir welding, microstructure, mechanical properties

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Authors: T. E. Tshikalange, B. C. Mophuting

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Traditional medicine often consists of complex ingredients prepared from a mixture of plant species. These herbal mixtures are used in the treatment of various ailments such as sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. The present study was carried out to determine the biological activities of the herbal mixture used traditionally in the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. This herbal mixture consists of four plant species from families Asteraceae, Bignoniaceae, Fabaceae, and Myrtaceae. Five crude extracts (hexane, dichloromethane, methanol, water and boiled) of the herbal mixture were investigated for anti-gonococcal, anti-inflammatory, and reverse transcriptase activities. The anti-inflammatory activity of the plant extracts was determined by measuring the extract inhibitory effect on the pro-inflammatory enzyme lipoxygenase. The extracts were also tested for anti-HIV activity against recombinant HIV-1 enzyme using non-radioactive HIV-RT colorimetric assay. The boiled extract exhibited good anti-inflammatory activity with an IC₅₀ of 87 µg/ml compared to that of the positive control quercetin (IC₅₀= 92 µg/ml). All the other extracts showed little or no activity. Hexane extract was the only extract that showed reverse transcriptase extract inhibitory effect with an IC₅₀ of 74 µg/ml. Anti-gonococcal and cytotoxicity investigations are underway. The preliminary results support the use of herbal mixture by traditional healers.

Keywords: sexually transmitted diseases, lipoxygenase, anti-inflammatory, herbal mixture

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Authors: Serdal Pamuk, Irem Cay

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Our model is based on the theory of reinforced random walks coupled with Michealis-Menten mechanisms which view endothelial cell receptors as the catalysts for transforming both tumor and macrophage derived tumor angiogenesis factor (TAF) into proteolytic enzyme which in turn degrade the basal lamina. The model consists of two main parts. First part has seven differential equations (DE’s) in one space dimension over the capillary, whereas the second part has the same number of DE’s in two space dimensions in the extra cellular matrix (ECM). We connect these two parts via some boundary conditions to move the cells into the ECM in order to initiate capillary formation. But, when does this movement begin? To address this question we estimate the thresholds that activate the transport equations in the capillary. We do this by using steady-state analysis of TAF equation under some assumptions. Once these equations are activated endothelial, pericyte and macrophage cells begin to move into the ECM for the initiation of angiogenesis. We do believe that our results play an important role for the mechanisms of cell migration which are crucial for tumor angiogenesis. Furthermore, we estimate the long time tendency of these three cells, and find that they tend to the transition probability functions as time evolves. We provide our numerical solutions which are in good agreement with our theoretical results.

Keywords: angiogenesis, capillary formation, mathematical analysis, steady-state, transition probability function

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Authors: Fairuz Fadzilah Rahim

Abstract:

Introduction: Indigenous adolescents are at higher risk of dog associated zoonotic infections (DAZI) as they live closely with free-roaming dogs and have limited access to veterinary care. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of health education interventions towards knowledge, attitudes, and preventive practices (KAP) of adolescents on DAZI. Methods: This one-group pre-and post-intervention study in 5 months period was conducted among Jahai adolescents aged 12 years and above. Jahai is one of the three major tribes of indigenous people in Peninsular Malaysia. Health education intervention programs using posters, slide presentations, comics, video clips, and discussion on DAZI were employed. Repeated measures of within-subjects analysis were used to identify the pre- and post- KAP of the adolescents. Results: There were 54 adolescents participated in this study with a mean age of 15.72 (SD: 2.49) and equal proportions of males (50%) and females (50%). Among the adolescents, 22.2% were married, 5.6% were illiterate, and 44.4% not continuing education at the time of data collection. The majority of them keep dogs as pets (64.8%), and few used dogs for hunting (11.1%). There was significant increase in mean scores of knowledge (F = 40.92, p < 0.001) and attitudes (F = 6.43, p = 0.014) of the adolescents. However, the preventive practices towards DAZI showed non-significant improvement on the intervention. Conclusions: The health education intervention programs showed to be effective in improving the attitudes and practices related to dog associated zoonotic infections. Emphasis on sustained health education programs is important to foster good health and wellbeing of the indigenous community.

Keywords: adolescent health, dog associated infection, zoonotic, KAP, indigenous

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Authors: Reza Hosseinpourpia, Stergios Adamopoulos, Carsten Mai

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Medium density fiberboard (MDF) is a common category of wood-based panels that are widely used in the furniture industry. Fine lignocellulosic fibres are combined with a synthetic resin, mostly urea formaldehyde (UF), and joined together under heat and pressure to form panels. Like solid wood, MDF is a hygroscopic material; therefore, its moisture content depends on the surrounding relative humidity and temperature. In addition, UF is a hydrophilic resin and susceptible to hydrolysis under certain conditions of elevated temperatures and humidity, which cause dimensional instability of the panels. The latter directly affect the performance of final products such as furniture, when they are used in situations of high relative humidity. Existing water-repellent formulations, such as paraffin, present limitations related to their non-renewable nature, cost and highest allowed added amount. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to test the suitability of renewable water repellents as alternative chemicals for enhancing the dimensional stability of MDF panels. A small amount of tall oil based formulations were used as water-repellent agents in the manufacturing of laboratory scale MDF. The effects on dimensional stability, internal bond strength and formaldehyde release of MDF were tested. The results indicated a good potential of tall oil as a bio-based substance of water repellent formulations for improving the dimensional stability of MDF.

Keywords: dimensional stability, medium density fiberboard, tall oil, urea formaldehyde

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Authors: Charmaine Devinee Pillay

Abstract:

Employees in both public and private sectors are expected to contribute significantly to the growth and development of the organization that employs them. Good working conditions are directly linked to the optimum output emanating from the workforce’s excellent performance. Insecurity, instability and lack of benefits negatively impact on the employees’ commitment to their job. This is a qualitative case study that comprised 40 “Contract Employees” (Academic and Supporting staff) in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Questionnaire, as instrument of data collection, was used to obtain qualitative data. Data collected were categorized in themes and sub-themes for analyses and discussion. Findings showed that “contract Employees” are highly demoralized due to job insecurity and non-benefits, among other factors, which directly affect their overall output in discharging their duties. The case study at Walter Sisulu University typifies the generalized challenges faced by workers on contract basis in South Africa. It is therefore, recommended that employers hire their workforce on permanent basis or, where “Contract Employment “is inevitable, similar conditions that go with permanent employment should be incorporated in the contract terms of “Contract Employees”. This serves as impetus for optimum performance.

Keywords: contract employee, insecurity, instability, risk factors

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: T. Esteves, S. Mesquita, A. Santos, A. Campina, C. Costa-Lobo

Abstract:

The theme regarding the differentiation of high-performance athletes has always aroused curiosity and fascination, becoming a target for study, especially in the social and human sciences. It was from the 60's and 70's that the concern for the study of the excellence of athletes that showed indices of high performance in sports began to arise. From the 1990s, it became possible to specify the mental competencies and psychological characteristics associated with Olympic athletes with high levels of success. Several studies considered that well-structured pre-competitive and competitive routines and plans were predictors of sports success. Likewise, the high levels of motivation, commitment and concentration; the high levels of self-confidence and optimism; the presence of effective coping strategies to deal with distractions and unexpected situations or events; adequate regulation of activation and anxiety; the establishment and formulation of objectives; and mental visualization and practice were determinants in the manifestation of excellence in these athletes. As such, the promotion of these cognitive abilities has been emphasized in the good performance of the athletes. With the objective of implementing cognitive stimulation programs to meet the specific needs of talented athletes, together with pedagogical activities to promote educational strategies and promote interpersonal relationships, this communication systematizes a proposal for a psychopedagogical service to promote cognitive abilities in competitive athletes, SPAC, to implement in a Portuguese soccer team. This service will be based on a holistic vision in order to promote talent.

Keywords: athletes, cognitive abilities, high competition, psycho-pedagogical service

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Authors: Veepaul Kaur Mann Balwinder Singh

Abstract:

The COVID-19 had an intense impact on several countries across the world. National governments have imposed widespread restrictions to prevent the growth of this pandemic. The new health competitive scenario induced by the COVID-19 crisis raised many issues on how business activities should be reorganized due to the difficulties of physical interactions with distributors, suppliers and customers. The pandemic has particularly affected the whole selling process because of the relevant issues that emerged in managing physical sale channels and interactions with one another, both in the Business-to-Consumer and in the Business-to-Business markets. Recent research about the appropriate actions and strategies that could help firms overcome the crisis has highlighted the key role of digital expertise that may ensure connections and, thus, help business activities run smoothly. This could be true, especially with the occurrence of strong limitations on physical interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The catastrophe changes life publically and economically. People are living alone for following the social distancing norms. In that set-up, Digital Marketing is playing an important role in civilization. Anyone can buy any item, pay bills, transfer money and compare items through Digital Marketing without physical interactions. After COVID-19, people will be more aware of health safety and trust. So, through Digital Marketing, organizations can approach customers and provide good service environments. In such a situation, the online network becomes the most important encouraging for online customers to get in contact with the firm and carry out online selling and purchasing activities around the world.

Keywords: COVID-19, business, digital marketing, online customer

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Authors: Abdessalam Hijab, Eric Henry, Hafida Boulekbache

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The complexity of the city makes sustainable management of the urban environment more difficult. Managers are required to make significant human and technical investments, particularly in household waste collection (focus of our research). The aim of this communication is to propose a collaborative geographic multi-actor device (MGCD) based on the link between information and communication technologies (ICT) and geo-web tools in order to involve urban residents in household waste collection processes. Our method is based on a collaborative/motivational concept between the city and its residents. It is a geographic collaboration dedicated to the general public (citizens, residents, and any other participant), based on real-time allocation and geographic location of topological, geographic, and multimedia data in the form of local geo-alerts (location-specific problems) related to household waste in an urban environment. This contribution allows us to understand the extent to which residents can assist and contribute to the development of household waste collection processes for a better protected urban environment. This suggestion provides a good idea of how residents can contribute to the data bank for future uses. Moreover, it will contribute to the transformation of the population into a smart inhabitant as an essential component of a smart city. The proposed model will be tested in the Lamkansa sampling district in Casablanca, Morocco.

Keywords: information and communication technologies, ICTs, GeoWeb, geo-collaboration, city, inhabitant, waste, collection, environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 107

Authors: I. S. R. Butswat, D. Zahraddeen

Abstract:

This study identified and described some skill-based and necessity-driven entrepreneurship in animal agriculture (AA). AA is an integral segment of the world food industry, and provides a good and rapid source of income. The contribution of AA to the Sub-Saharan economy is quite significant, and there are still large opportunities that remain untapped in the sector. However, it is imperative to understand, simplify and package the various components of AA in order to pave way for rapid wealth creation, poverty eradication and women empowerment programmes in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries. The entrepreneurial areas of AA highlighted were animal breeding, livestock fattening, dairy production, poultry farming, meat production (beef, mutton, chevon, etc.), rabbit farming, wool/leather production, animal traction, animal feed industry, commercial pasture management, fish farming, sport animals, micro livestock production, private ownership of abattoirs, slaughter slabs, animal parks and zoos, among others. This study concludes that reproductive biotechnology such as oestrous synchronization, super-/multiple ovulation, artificial insemination and embryo transfer can be employed as a tool for improvement of genetic make-up of low-yielding animals in terms of milk, meat, egg, wool, leather production and other economic traits that will necessitate sustainable job and wealth creations.

Keywords: animal, agriculture, entreprenurship, wealth

Procedia PDF Downloads 228