Search results for: 2001 strong economy programme

Authors: R. Vidhya, M. Navamuniyammal M. Sivakumar, S. Reeta

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The unplanned urbanization affects the environment due to pollution, conditions of the atmosphere, decreased vegetation and the pervious and impervious soil surface. Considered to be a cumulative effect of all these impacts is the Urban Heat Island. In this paper, the urban heat island effect is studied for the Chennai city, TamilNadu, South India using satellite remote sensing data. LANDSAT 8 OLI and TIRS DATA acquired on 9th September 2014 were used to Land Surface Temperature (LST) map, vegetation fraction map, Impervious surface fraction, Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), Normalized Difference Building Index (NDBI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) map. The relationship among LST, Vegetation fraction, NDBI, NDWI, and NDVI was calculated. The Chennai city’s Urban Heat Island effect is significant, and the results indicate LST has strong negative correlation with the vegetation present and positive correlation with NDBI. The vegetation is the main factor to control urban heat island effect issues in urban area like Chennai City. This study will help in developing measures to land use planning to reduce the heat effects in urban area based on remote sensing derivatives.

Keywords: land surface temperature, brightness temperature, emissivity, vegetation index

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Authors: Athdath Waduge Susantha Janaka Kumara, Xiefei Zhi, Zin Mie Mie Sein

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Understanding the air temperature variability is crucially important for disaster risk reduction and management. In this study, we used 15 synoptic meteorological stations to assess the spatiotemporal variability of air temperature over Sri Lanka during 1972–2021. The empirical orthogonal function (EOF), Principal component analysis (PCA), Mann-Kendall test, power spectrum analysis and correlation coefficient analysis were used to investigate the long-term trends of air temperature and their possible relation to sea surface temperature (SST) over the region. The results indicate that an increasing trend in air temperature was observed with the abrupt climate change noted in the year 1994. The spatial distribution of EOF1 (63.5%) shows the positive and negative loading dipole patterns from south to northeast, while EOF2 (23.4%) explains warmer (colder) in some parts of central (south and east) areas. The power spectrum of PC1 (PC2) indicates that there is a significant period of 3-4 years (quasi-2 years). Moreover, Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) provides a strong positive correlation with the air temperature of Sri Lanka, while the EL Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) presents a weak negative correlation. Therefore, IOD events led to higher temperatures in the region. This study’s findings can help disaster risk reduction and management in the country.

Keywords: air temperature, interannaul variability, ENSO, IOD

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Authors: Caroline Hoorn

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Post-matriculants in disadvantaged communities such as Douglas encounter a number of career challenges. The transition to the democratic dispensation in 1994, coupled with the rapid changes in the information domain that are characteristic of post-industrial life, complicate the career development trajectories of disadvantaged youth. The career development stories and experiences of disadvantaged youth in provinces such as the Northern Cape have not been told, leading to their marginalisation. It is against this background that the study explored the gendered dimensions of career development narratives, experiences, and choices of post-matriculants in the Douglas community in the Northern Cape. Using a qualitative, narrative approach, the researcher elicited career development stories from 23 participants in Douglas using semi-structured interviews. Two main themes were highlighted through the narratives; (1) willingness to challenge the traditional male dominated career script (2) breaking gender barriers. The study showed that gender did not have any influence on the career choices of the post-matriculants. The perceptions around career choices and gender were being challenged partly by the urge to affirm equality and the constant reminder of the poverty-stricken conditions prevalent in the households. A preferred gender is not required to be attached to the fulfilment of outcomes in a knowledge-based economy. Thus, it is not an issue of gender or masculinity but knowledge and skills. Furthermore, the study revealed that the career choices being considered are still the traditionally stereotypical careers like nursing, teaching, and social work, which demonstrates a lack of information to a broader pool of career options to select from.

Keywords: career development, gender, narratives, post-matriculants

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Authors: Festus Epetimehin

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Agriculture remains the dominant sector in the rural areas where over 70% of Nigerian reside and it’s still the backbone of our economy. The observed poor performance of farmers in agricultural productivity is due to the nature of risks and uncertainties in agriculture.Agricultural insurance is one of the mechanisms by which farmers can stabilize farm income and investment. The study examined the relationship between agricultural insurance scheme (AIS) and performance of agribusiness in Nigeria. The study adopted exploratory research design which is an ex-ante research approach. One hundred copies of structured questionnaire were administered for the purpose of the study. Correlation analysis and regression analysis were employed for the study. The correlation analysis of the finding revealed that the independent variable; agricultural insurance scheme (AIS) is positively and significantly correlated with the set of dependent variables; where turnover (ABT)=0.582**, profitability (ABP)=0.321**, solvency (ABS)=0.418**and cost of production (ABC)=0.23** respectively. The regression analysis result also revealed the degree of relationship between the independent variable (AIS) and set of dependent variables where one(1%) percent increase in independent variable will lead to 33.9% (ABT), 9.7% (ABP), 17.5%(ABS) and 1.5%(ABC).The study recommended that the Federal Government in collaboration with the participating Agricultural insurers embark on awareness campaign through to the length and breadth of Nigeria on government support and insurance scheme for farmers. Government should also ensure that the loan and insurance scheme should extend beyond the mechanized farmers and include the intensive subsistence farmers in view of the fact that they are the dominants in most of the farm produce markets.

Keywords: agribusiness, agricultural insurance, performance, turnover, solvency, agricultural risks

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Authors: Veronique Jubera, Guillaume Salek, Manuel Gaudon, Alain Garcia, Alain Demourgues

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Luminescence of transition metal and rare earth elements cover ultraviolet to far infrared wavelengths. Applications of phosphors are numerous. One can cite lighting, sensing, laser, energy, medical or military applications. But regarding each domain, specific criteria are required and they can be achieved with a strong control of the chemical composition. Emission of doped materials can be tailored with modifications of the local environment of the cations. For instance, the increase of the crystal field effect shifts the divalent manganese radiative transitions from the green to the red color. External factor as heat-treatment can induce changes of the doping element location or modify the unit cell crystalline symmetry. By controlling carefully the synthesis route, it is possible to initiate emission shift and to establish the thermal history of a compound. We propose to demonstrate through the luminescence of divalent manganese and trivalent rare earth doped oxide, that it is possible to follow the thermal history of a material. After optimization of the synthesis route, structural and optical properties are discussed. Finally, thermal calibration graphs are successfully established on these doped compounds. This makes these materials promising probe for thermal sensing.

Keywords: emission, thermal sensing, transition metal, rare eath element

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Authors: N. Türkmenoğlu Bayraktar, E. Kishalı

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Campus buildings are educational facilities where various amount of energy consumption for lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation occurs. Some of the new universities in Turkey, where this investigation takes place, still continue their educational activities in existing buildings primarily designed for different architectural programs and converted to campus buildings via changes of function, space organizations and structural interventions but most of the time without consideration of appropriate micro climatic conditions. Reducing energy consumption in these structures not only contributes to the national economy but also mitigates the negative effects on environment. Furthermore, optimum thermal comfort conditions should be provided during the refurbishment of existing campus structures and their building envelope. Considering this issue, the first step is to investigate the climatic performance of building elements regarding refurbishment process. In the context of the study Kocaeli University, Faculty of Design and Architecture building constructed in 1980s in Anıtpark campus located in the central part of Kocaeli, Turkey was investigated. Climatic factors influencing thermal conditions; the deteriorations on building envelope; temperature distribution; heat losses from façade elements observed by thermography were presented in order to improve strategies for retrofit process for the building envelope. Within the scope of the survey, refurbishment strategies towards providing optimum climatic comfort conditions, increasing energy efficiency of building envelope were proposed.

Keywords: building envelope, IRT, refurbishment, non-destructive test

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Authors: F. Kashanian, M. M. Masoudi, A. Akbari, A. Shamloo, M. R. Zand, S. S. Salehi

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Nano-sized materials present new opportunities in biology and medicine and they are used as biomedical tools for investigation, separation of molecules and cells. To achieve more effective cancer therapy, it is essential to select cancer cells exactly. This research suggests that using the antibody-functionalized nontoxic Arginine-doped magnetic nanoparticles (A-MNPs), has been prosperous in detection, capture, and magnetic separation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in tumor tissue. In this study, A-MNPs were synthesized via a simple precipitation reaction and directly immobilized Ep-CAM EBA-1 antibodies over superparamagnetic A-MNPs for Mucin BCA-225 in breast cancer cell. The samples were characterized by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), FT-IR spectroscopy, Tunneling Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). These antibody-functionalized nontoxic A-MNPs were used to capture breast cancer cell. Through employing a strong permanent magnet, the magnetic separation was achieved within a few seconds. Antibody-Conjugated nontoxic Arginine-doped Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles have the potential for the future study to capture CTCs which are released from tumor tissue and for drug delivery, and these results demonstrate that the antibody-conjugated A-MNPs can be used in magnetic hyperthermia techniques for cancer treatment.

Keywords: tumor tissue, antibody, magnetic nanoparticle, CTCs capturing

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Authors: M. Murmu, Govardhan, J. Satya Eswari

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Concrete is the most common and widely used building material. Concrete is basically made of aggregates, both fine and coarse, glued by a cement paste which is made of cement and water. Each one of these constituents of concrete has a negative environmental impact and gives rise to different sustainability issues. The current concrete construction practice is unsustainable because, not only it consumes enormous quantities of stones, sand, and drinking water, but also one billion tons a year of cement, which is not an environment friendly material. Preventing the reduction of natural resources and enhancing the usage of waste materials has become a challenge to the scientist and engineers. A number of studies have been conducted concerning the protection of natural resources, prevention of environmental pollution and contribution to the economy by using this waste material. This paper outlines the influence of Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS) as partial replacement of fine aggregate on mechanical properties of concrete. The strength of concrete is determined having OPC binder, replaced the fine aggregate with15%, 30%, 45% respectively. For this purpose, characteristics concrete mix of M25 with partial replacement of cement with GGBS is used and the strength of concrete cubes and cylinder have determined. The strength of concrete specimens has been compared with the reference specimen. Also X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests have been performed to examine the hydration products and the microstructure of the tested specimens. A correlation has been established between the developmental strength concrete with and without GGBS through analysis of hydration products and the microstructure.

Keywords: GGBS, sand, concrete, workability

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Authors: Megh Patel, Arjun Chauhan, Jay Thakkar

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Hydrofracturing is the most prominent but at the same time expensive, highly skilled and time consuming well stimulation technique. Due to high cost and skilled labor involved, it is generally carried out as the consummate solution among other well stimulation techniques. Considering today’s global petroleum market, no gaffe or complications could be entertained during fracturing, as it would further hamper the current dwindling economy. The literature would be dealing with the challenges encountered during fracturing low temperature waxy reservoirs and the prominent solutions to overcome such teething troubles. During fracturing treatment for, shallow and high freezing point waxy oil reservoirs, the first line problems are to overcome uncompleted breakdown, uncompleted cleanup of fracturing fluids and cold damages to the formations by injecting cold fluid (fluid at ambient conditions). Injecting fracturing fluids at ambient conditions have the tendency to decrease the near wellbore reservoir temperature below the freezing point of oil reservoir and hence leading to wax deposition around the wellbore thereby hampering the fluid production as well as fracture propagation. To overcome such problems, solutions such as hot fracturing fluid injection, encapsulated heat generating hydraulic fracturing fluid system, and injection of wax inhibitor techniques would be discussed. The paper would also be throwing light on changes in rheological properties occurred during heating fracturing fluids and solutions to deal with it taking economic considerations into account.

Keywords: hydrofracturing, waxy reservoirs, low temperature, viscosity, crosslinkers

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Authors: Hosamuddin Hamza

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The major concept of 4D printing is self-folding under thermal and humidity changes. This concept relies on understanding how the microstructures of 3D-printed models can undergo spontaneous shape transformation under thermal and moisture changes. The transformation mechanism could be achieved by mixing, in a controllable pattern, a number of materials within the printed model, each with known strain/shrinkage properties. 4D printing has a strong potential to be applied in dentistry as the technology could produce dynamic and adaptable materials to be used as functional objects in the oral environment under the continuously changing thermal and humidity conditions. The motion criteria could override the undesired dimensional changes, thermal instability, polymerization shrinkage and microleakage. 4D printing could produce restorative materials being self-adjusted spontaneously without further intervention from the dentist or patient; that is, the materials could be capable of fixing its failed portions, compensating for some lost tooth structure, while avoiding microleakage or overhangs at the margins. In prosthetic dentistry, 4D printing could provide an option to manage the influence of bone and soft tissue imbalance during mastication (and at rest) with high predictability of the type/direction of forces. It can also produce materials with better fitting and retention characteristics than conventional or 3D-printed materials. Nevertheless, it is important to highlight that 4D-printed objects, having dynamic properties, could provide some cushion as they undergo self-folding compensating for any thermal changes or mechanical forces such as traumatic forces.

Keywords: functional material, self-folding material, 3D printing, 4D printing

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Authors: Irena Smetackova

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The important part of school mathematics are word problems which represent the connection between school knowledge and life reality. To find the reasons why students consider word problems to be difficult, it is necessary to take into consideration the motivational settings, besides mathematical knowledge and reading skills. Our goal is to identify whether the familiar or unfamiliar context of math word problem influences solving success rate and if so, whether the reasons are motivational or cognitive. For this purpose, we conducted three steps study in group of fifty pupils 9-10 years old. In the first step, we asked pupils to create ‘the best’ word problems for entered numerical formula. The set of 19 word problems with different contexts were selected. In the second step, pupils were asked to evaluate (without solving) how they like each item and how easy it is for them. The 6 word problems with low preference and low estimated success rate were selected and combined with other 6 problems with high preference and success rate. In the third step, the same pupils were asked to solve the word problems. The analysis showed that pupils attitudes and solving toward word problems varied by the context. The strong gender patterns both in preferred contexts and in estimated success rates were identified however the real success rate did not differ so strongly. The success gap between word problems with and without preferred contexts were stronger than the gap between problems with and without real experience with the context. The hypothesis that motivational factors are more important than cognitive factors was confirmed.

Keywords: mathematics, context of reality, motivation, cognition, word problems

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Authors: Ayushi Mishra

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Migrant construction workers or construction labors are one of the majority of the working population in our urban and rural areas. Even after being the majority, their involvement in the upbringing of the economy is hardly ever documented or recognized. Non-permanent or migrant workers face loads of exploitations and susceptibilities than other informal sector workers in India which in turn has affected the productivity of the labors. The relation of their employment and migration and the links of these dynamics to their housing and other basic needs in the city are mostly unstated. Even the urban planning and housing policies do not make thoughtful provision for them, they forcing them to live in extremely wretched conditions. And even if the policies are made, it frequently happens that they are not implemented. As the issue is very much prevalent in today’s time in India with so many large-scale and labor extensive projects going on, this study focuses on the assessment of the gap between the existing government policies and the current scenario of the construction workers in ongoing projects of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. A few of the policies for construction workers conditions a lot of things, out of which only a few are functional which makes this study to assess the reason behind the unorganized living condition and poor physical, the social and mental health of construction workers of Vijayawada. In present, the dignity of construction labors is compromised every day on construction sites, in terms of work and basic rights which leads to many other problems in future. So to work for the betterment of this community, knowledge on the differences is very much required and hence this study is a little effort to replenish the difference and compare the policies with the existing conditions of construction labors in Vijayawada.

Keywords: construction, labours, policy, productivity

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Authors: Yik Ling Chew, Adlina Maisarah Mahadi, Joo Kheng Goh

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Bauhinia kockiana originates from Peninsular Malaysia, and it is grown as a garden ornamental plant. However, it is used as medicinal plant by Malaysia ‘Kelabit’ ethic group in treating various diseases and illnesses. This study focused on the assessment of the antibacterial activity of B. kockiana towards MRSA, to purify and identify the antibacterial compounds, and to determine the mechanism of antibacterial activity. Antibacterial activity of B. kockiana flower is evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively using disc diffusion assay and microbroth dilution method to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of extracts. Phytochemical analysis is performed to determine the classes of phytochemicals in the extracts. Bioactivity-guided isolation is performed to purify the antibacterial agents and identified the chemical structures via various spectroscopy methods. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique is adopted to evaluate the antibacterial mechanism of extract and compounds isolated. B. kockiana flower is found to exhibit fairly strong antibacterial activity towards both strains of MRSA bacteria. Gallic acid and its ester derivatives are purified from ethyl acetate extract and the antibacterial activity is evaluated. SEM has revealed the mechanism of the extracts and compounds isolated.

Keywords: alkyl gallates, Bauhinia kockiana, MRSA, scanning electron microscopy

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Authors: Cheniti Khalissa, Dekhili Mohamed

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Several fungal diseases may infect hard and soft wheat, which directly affect the yield and thus the economy of the homeland. So, a treatment fungicide is one of means of diseases control. In this context, we studied two varieties of wheat; Waha for soft wheat and Hidhab for hard wheat, at the level of the Technical Institute of crops (ITGC) in the wilaya of Setif under semi-arid conditions. This study consists of a successive application of three fungicides (Tilt, Artea, and Armistarxtra) according to three treatments (T1, T2, and T3) in addition to the witness (T0) at different stages of plant development (respectively, Montaison, earing and after flowering) whose purpose is to test and determine the effectiveness of these products used sequentially. The study showed good efficacy when we use the sum of these pesticides The comparison between these different treatments indicates that the T3 treatment reduced yield losses significantly; which is evident in the main yield components such as fertility, grain yield and weight of 1000 grains. The various components of yield and final yield are all parameters to be taken into account in such a study. In general, the fungal treatment is an effective way of improving profitability. In general, the fungal treatment is an effective way of improving profitability and positioning interventions in time is one of the requirements for an appreciable efficiency.

Keywords: hard wheat, soft wheat, diseases, fungicide treatment, fertility, 1000-grain weight, semi-arid zone

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Authors: Rauf Razzaq, Kaiwu Dong, Muhammad Sharif, Ralf Jackstell, Matthias Beller

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Carbon dioxide (CO2), a key greenhouse gas produced from both anthropogenic and natural sources, has been recently considered to be an important C1 building-block for the synthesis of many industrial fuels and chemicals. Catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 using a heterogeneous system is regarded as an efficient process for CO2 valorization. In this regard CO2 reduction to CO via the reverse water gas shift reaction (RWGSR) has attracted much attention as a viable process for large scale commercial CO2 utilization. This process can generate syn-gas (CO+H2) which can provide an alternative route to direct CO2 conversion to methanol and/or liquid HCs from FT reaction. Herein, we report a highly active and selective silica supported copper catalyst with efficient CO2 reduction to CO in a slurry-bed batch autoclave reactor. The reactions were carried out at 200°C and 60 bar initial pressure with CO2/H2 ratio of 1:3 with varying temperature, pressure and fed-gas ratio. The gaseous phase products were analyzed using FID while the liquid products were analyzed by using FID detectors. It was found that Cu/SiO2 catalyst prepared using novel ammonia precipitation-urea gelation method achieved 26% CO2 conversion with a CO and methanol selectivity of 98 and 2% respectively. The high catalytic activity could be attributed to its strong metal-support interaction with highly dispersed and stabilized Cu+ species active for RWGSR. So, it can be concluded that reduction of CO2 to CO via RWGSR could address the problem of using CO2 gas in C1 chemistry.

Keywords: CO2 reduction, methanol, slurry reactor, synthesis gas

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Authors: N. Laosiripojana, P. Tepamatr

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The influence of bismuth on the water gas shift activities of Pt on ceria was studied. The flow reactor was used to study the activity of the catalysts in temperature range 100-400°C. The feed gas composition contains 5%CO, 10% H₂O and balance N₂. The total flow rate was 100 mL/min. The outlet gas was analyzed by on-line gas chromatography with thermal conductivity detector. The catalytic activities of bimetallic 1%Pt1%Bi/CeO₂ catalyst were greatly enhanced when compared with the activities of monometallic 2%Pt/CeO₂ catalyst. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Temperature-Programmed Reduction (TPR) and surface area analysis. X-ray diffraction pattern of Pt/CeO₂ and PtBi/CeO₂ indicated slightly shift of diffraction angle when compared with pure ceria. This result was due to strong metal-support interaction between platinum and ceria solid solution, causing conversion of Ce⁴⁺ to larger Ce³⁺. The distortions inside ceria lattice structure generated strain into the oxide lattice and facilitated the formation of oxygen vacancies which help to increase water gas shift performance. The H₂-Temperature Programmed Reduction indicated that the reduction peak of surface oxygen of 1%Pt1%Bi/CeO₂ shifts to lower temperature than that of 2%Pt/CeO₂ causing the enhancement of the water gas shift activity of this catalyst. Pt played an important role in catalyzing the surface reduction of ceria and addition of Bi alter the reduction temperature of surface ceria resulting in the improvement of the water gas shift activity of Pt catalyst.

Keywords: bismuth, platinum, water gas shift, ceria

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Authors: James Moir

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Recent evidence suggests that academic staff face difficulties in applying new technologies as a means of assessing higher order assessment outcomes such as critical thinking, problem solving and creativity. Although higher education institutional mission statements and course unit outlines purport the value of these higher order skills there is still some question about how well academics are equipped to design curricula and, in particular, assessment strategies accordingly. Despite a rhetoric avowing the benefits of these higher order skills, it has been suggested that academics set assessment tasks up in such a way as to inadvertently lead students on the path towards lower order outcomes. This is a controversial claim, and one that this papers seeks to explore and critique in terms of challenging the conceptual basis of assessing higher order skills through new technologies. It is argued that the use of digital media in higher education is leading to a focus on students’ ability to use and manipulate of these products as an index of their flexibility and adaptability to the demands of the knowledge economy. This focus mirrors market flexibility and encourages programmes and courses of study to be rhetorically packaged as such. Curricular content has become a means to procure more or less elaborate aggregates of attributes. Higher education is now charged with producing graduates who are entrepreneurial and creative in order to drive forward economic sustainability. It is argued that critical independent learning can take place through the democratisation afforded by cultural and knowledge digitization and that assessment needs to acknowledge the changing relations between audience and author, expert and amateur, creator and consumer.

Keywords: higher education, curriculum, new technologies, assessment, higher order skills

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Authors: Luc Conti, Dimitry Dumont-Fillon, Harald van Lintel, Eric Chappel

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Flow control valves comprise a silicon flexible membrane that deflects against a substrate, usually made of glass, containing pillars, an outlet hole, and anti-stiction features. However, there is a strong interest in using silicon instead of glass as substrate material, as it would simplify the process flow by allowing the use of well controlled anisotropic etching. Moreover, specific devices demanding a bending of the substrate would also benefit from the inherent outstanding mechanical strength of monocrystalline silicon. Unfortunately, direct Si-Si bonding is not easily achieved with highly structured wafers since residual stress may prevent the good adhesion between wafers. Using a thermoplastic polymer, such as parylene, as intermediate layer is not well adapted to this design as the wafer-to-wafer alignment is critical. An alternative anodic bonding method using an intermediate borosilicate layer has been successfully tested. This layer has been deposited onto the silicon substrate. The bonding recipe has been adapted to account for the presence of the SOI buried oxide and intermediate glass layer in order not to exceed the breakdown voltage. Flow control valves dedicated to infusion of viscous fluids at very high pressure have been made and characterized. The results are compared to previous data obtained using the standard anodic bonding method.

Keywords: anodic bonding, evaporated glass, flow control valve, drug delivery

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Authors: Mzamani Aaron Mabasa

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The research study examines the reality that the Language Services Directorate can be considered a language repository hub. The study postulates that multilingual education guided by language policy implementation can improve student performance and pass rate. Various documents in the form of style guides, glossaries and tutorial letters may be used to enable students to understand complex words, sentences, phrases and paragraphs when technical vocabularies are used. This paper addresses the way in which quality assurance can transform South African official languages, including Sign Language, as mandated by the Language Policy for Higher Education. The paper further emphasizes that Language Services is unique in the sense that it involves all South African officials as tools for student support and facilitation of learning. This is in line with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) and the Unisa Language Policy of 2023, which declares the status, parity and esteem of these official languages regarding usage in formal function domains, namely education, economy, social and politics. The aim of this paper is to ensure that quality assurance is ultimately accomplished in terms of teaching and learning standards. Eventually, all South African languages can be used for official domains to achieve functional multilingualism. This paper furthermore points out that content analysis as a research instrument as far as a qualitative approach is concerned may be used as a data collection technique.

Keywords: repository, multilingualism, policy, education

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Authors: Abigail Parra Parra, Jorge L. Morelos Hernandez, Pedro A. Marquez Agilar, Marina Vlasova, Jesus Colin De La Cruz

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Carbothermal reduction of metal oxides is widely used both in metallurgical processes and in the production of oxygen-free refractory ceramics. As a rule, crushed coke and graphite are used as a reducing agent. The products of carbonization of organic compounds are among the innovative reducing agents. The aim of this work was to study the process of reduction of iron oxide (hematite) down to iron by waste active sludge (WAS) carbonization products. WAS was chosen due to the accumulation of a large amount of this type of waste, soil pollution, and the relevance of the development of technologies for its disposal. The studies have shown that the temperature treatment of mixtures WAS-Fe₂O₃ in the temperature range 900-1000 ºC for 1-5 hours under oxygen deficiency is described by the following scheme: WAS + Fe₂O₃→ C,CO + Fe₂O₃→ C + FexO → Fe (amorphous and crystalline). During the heat treatment of the mixtures, strong samples are formed. The study of the electrical conductive properties of such samples showed that, depending on the ratio of the components in the initial mixtures, it is possible to change the values of electrical resistivity from 5.6 Ω‧m to 151.6 Ω‧m When a current is passed through the samples, they are heated from 240 to 378ºC. Thus, based on WAS-Fe₂O₃ mixtures, heating elements can be created that can be used to heat ceramics and concrete.

Keywords: Fe₂O₃, reduction, waste activate sludge, electroconductivity

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Authors: Tanusha Raniga, Michael Boecker, Maud Mthembu

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This paper considers the formal employment sector, human capacity development and economic capital of single-mother households’ as they strive to sustain livelihoods. This paper advances empirical data in the field of economic and social development policy. The correlation between educational level, human capacity development and economic self-reliance of single-mother households is considered. This paper presents empirical evidence obtained from qualitative in-depth interviews conducted with twenty-five single mothers who were working in the formal work sector in Hagen, Germany and two provinces, namely KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in South Africa. This is an underexplored research area as most of the international literature focuses on pathology and victimhood related to single-mother households. Instead, this paper presents the biographic profiles and discusses two key themes that emerged from the data analysis namely; formal and informal streams of income enhanced human capital development through access to further education and training opportunities. The women perceived these themes as facilitating factors which helped them sustain their households. The paper presents some suggestions for policymakers and social work practitioners to consider to improve support systems and avoid economic exclusion of single mothers who work within the first economy.

Keywords: single mothers, formal work sector, economic capital, human capital

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Authors: Yorgos Darlas

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This original research aims at creating a wine tourism experience specially designed for Thessaloniki, based on retsina, a traditional Greek wine produced continuously since 5400 BC. Wine is a staple of the Greek dinner table, and this is particularly true for Thessaloniki, a city with a rich culinary tradition member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for gastronomy. Our methodology is based on historical and folklore research in order to shed light on the history and culture around the production and enjoyment of wine. In addition, we use quantitative and qualitative market research with the aim of recording modern habits and trends related to wine enjoyment. The above research has revealed the habits, rules, and rituals of the people of Thessaloniki, demonstrating the close link between the city’s culinary heritage and retsina. Thanks to this close link, the people of the city have a strong emotional bond with retsina, always ready to share a relevant story loaded with memories. Based on the findings of the research, our aim is to create a new wine tourism product for Thessaloniki based on storytelling. This wine tourism experience will provide visitors with the opportunity to discover the city through the personal stories of locals. At the same time, they will be acquainted with the history and the culture of retsina by visiting landmarks associated with its production and consumption and discovering the city’s multifaceted gastronomic heritage through pairings with retsina.

Keywords: retsina, Thessaloniki, wine tourism, marketing, storytelling

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Authors: Samuel Onyije Igbedion

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The Nigerian film industry, commonly known as Nollywood, has grown to become the second largest in the world in terms of the volumes of films produced. Many scholars have argued that the themes in most Nollywood films do not let themselves to the issue of film-induced tourism, which can be used to improve tourism in Nigeria and the economy at large. This study, therefore, seeks to examine the validity of this statement in the context of one film that attempts to address the issue. This paper examines the features of tourism-induced films to determine if tourism-inducing themes were used in the film and how they were used in order to confirm or refute the thesis statement. The agenda-setting theory of the media underpinned the study. A qualitative research approach was adopted and content analysis was used to review literature from relevant secondary sources that determined the content criteria, which was then used to analyze the film. The findings reveal that the filmmakers of Up North (2018) did feature themes and scenes that promoted tourism through the use and filming of exotic scenery. It also revealed that the film introduced these tourism-inducing features of the north through the setting, the storyline, the choice of locations and chosen shot types. The study concludes that the prominent and intentional featuring all of these beautiful scenery, history, culture, adventure activities and personalities point to a deliberate attempt at convincing the audiences of the tourist potential of Nigeria. Thus, the validity of the statement does not apply to the film Up North (2018).

Keywords: film-tourism, nollywood, agenda-setting theory, filmmaking, culture

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Authors: Felicia Titilayo Olanrewaju

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Folktales are a subclass of folklores which are verbally told and passed down from one generation to another, from the elderly ones to their children, usually at moonlight. These tales are heavily laden with moral lessons of what should be done and what not within the society. Though these are oftentimes heavily embellished yet are related to guide, guard, train, and dishing out moral attributes and mores worthwhile for ethical progression of the young minds within our traditional settings. With the rapid advancement of technological know-how, the existence of most of these moral-inclined stories becomes questionable; hence this study appraised the influences of these traditional storytellings have in the upgrading of moral learning of ethical behavioral traits acceptable among the Yoruba people. Oral interviews couples with recording gadgets were used to collate both sample parents' and children’s responses within a particular community in Owo (ute) local government area of Owo Ondo State, Nigeria. Findings reveal that diverse tales told at moonlight periods have an untold impact on the speedy growth of the children intellectually than the modern happenings around them. These telltale stories become powerful aids in learning goodly traits and eschewing bad manners. It is recommended that folk stories be told within the household among the family after hard labour in the evenings as this would help develop human relationships and brings about a strong sense of community bindings.

Keywords: folktales, folklores, impact, advancement, ethical progression

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Authors: Zasha Romero, Roberto Trevino, Lin Wang, Elizabeth Alanis, Jesus Cuellar

Abstract:

Background: There is a strong relationship between low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and high adiposity levels. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of the Bienestar/Neema Coordinated School Health Program (BN CSHP) on the CRF of preschool children. Methods: This is a randomized cluster trial conducted in preschools of two school districts located along the Texas-Mexico border. Of 48 eligible schools, 28 were randomly selected (intervention, n=14; control, n=14). Family demographics and household health characteristics were collected from parents. CRF, as measured by the Progressive Anaerobic Capacity Endurance Run (PACER) fitness test, was collected from the children. A generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) was used to analyze the data. Results: Family demographics, household health characteristics, and children’s weight, obesity prevalence, and sedentary activity were similar among both treatment groups. After adjusting for covariates, the number of laps run by children in the control group increased by 23% (CI: -5% to 60%) per each data collection period compared with 53% (CI: 7% to 119%) in the intervention group. Conclusions: Children in the BN CSHP, compared to those in the control group, had a significantly higher increase in their CRF. This finding is important because of the health benefits of CRF in children.

Keywords: coordinated school health program, cardiorespiratory fitness, obesity, border health, preschool, physical education, movement

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Authors: Kunwar Paritosh, Vivekanand Vivekanand, Nidhi Pareek

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Presently, India depends primarily on fossil fuels for its acute energy demand. The swift in development of India in last two decades is accentuating its natural resources and compelling expenditures to cope energy security for the habitats. A total inhabitant of 1.2 billion, observing growing industrialization; is generating 68.8 million tonnes of municipal solid waste per year, 53.7 million tonnes is collected, and only trifling amount of 10.3 million tonnes of waste is treated per year that integrates to a massive amount of unimaginable land hill. In India, waste is mostly landfilled and/or incinerated with low technology and is poorly managed. Underutilization of this waste not only gulps resources but also stresses environment, public health and bionetwork thus affecting the bioeconomy negatively. It also creates conditions that invoke inevitable expenditures and loss of its renewable energy potential. The non-scientific approach to manage waste may lead to an economy downfall, underutilization and degradation of natural resources. Waste treatment technologies must be scientifically tailored and engineered as per the type of waste where it may be utilized as a source of energy (here biogas) and nutrients employing anaerobic digestion to the sorted waste. This paper presents a brief review on current practices, key achievements and forthcoming aspects of harnessing energy from municipal solid waste in Indian scenario.

Keywords: municipal discards, organic waste, anaerobic digestion, incineration, energy

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Authors: Benzerara Mohammed, Redjel Bachir, Kebaili Bachir

Abstract:

The cracking of the concrete is a more crucial problem with the development of the complex structures related to technological progress. The projections in the knowledge of the breaking process make it possible today for better prevention of the risk of the fracture. The breaking strength brutal of a quasi-fragile material like the concrete called Toughness, is measured by a breaking value of the factor of intensity of the constraints K1C for which the crack is propagated, it is an intrinsic property of material. Many studies reported in the literature treating of the concrete were carried out on specimens which are in fact inadequate compared to the intrinsic characteristic to identify. We started from this established fact, in order to compare the evolution of the parameter of toughness K1C measured by calling upon ordinary concrete specimens of three prismatics geometries different (10*10*84) cm³ and (5*20*120) cm³ &(12*20*120) cm³ containing from the side notches various depths simulating of the cracks was set up. The notches are carried out using triangular pyramidal plates into manufactured out of sheet coated placed at the centre of the specimens at the time of the casting, then withdrawn to leave the trace of a crack. The tests are carried out in 3 points bending test in mode 1 of fracture, by using the techniques of mechanical fracture. The evolution of the parameter of toughness K1C measured with the three geometries specimens gives almost the same results. They are acceptable and return in the beach of the results determined by various researchers (toughness of the ordinary concrete turns to the turn of the 1 MPa √m). These results inform us about the presence of an economy on the level of the geometrie specimen (5*20*120) cm³, therefore to use plates specimens later if one wants to master the toughness of this material complexes, astonishing but always essential that is the concrete.

Keywords: elementary representative volume, concrete, fissure, toughness

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Authors: Cora Fernandez Dacosta, John A. Posada, Andrea Ramirez

Abstract:

The biodegradable family of polymers polyhydroxyalkanoates are interesting substitutes for convectional fossil-based plastics. However, the manufacturing and environmental impacts associated with their production via intracellular bacterial fermentation are strongly dependent on the raw material used and on energy consumption during the extraction process, limiting their potential for commercialization. Industrial wastewater is studied in this paper as a promising alternative feedstock for waste valorization. Based on results from laboratory and pilot-scale experiments, a conceptual process design, techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment are developed for the large-scale production of the most common type of polyhydroxyalkanoate, polyhydroxbutyrate. Intracellular polyhydroxybutyrate is obtained via fermentation of microbial community present in industrial wastewater and the downstream processing is based on chemical digestion with surfactant and hypochlorite. The economic potential and environmental performance results help identifying bottlenecks and best opportunities to scale-up the process prior to industrial implementation. The outcome of this research indicates that the fermentation of wastewater towards PHB presents advantages compared to traditional PHAs production from sugars because the null environmental burdens and financial costs of the raw material in the bioplastic production process. Nevertheless, process optimization is still required to compete with the petrochemicals counterparts.

Keywords: circular economy, life cycle assessment, polyhydroxyalkanoates, waste valorization

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Authors: Liu De-jun, Fu Jing, Zhang Rong, Luo Tian, Ma Ning

Abstract:

Cs-137, the radioactive fission products of uranium, can be easily dissolved in water during the accident of nuclear power plant, such as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima accidents. The concentration of Cs in the groundwater around the nuclear power plant exceeded the standard value almost 10,000 times after the Fukushima accident. The adsorption capacity of Titanate nano-materials for radioactive cation (Cs+) is very strong. Moreover, the radioactive ion can be tightly contained in the nanotubes or nanofibers without reversible adsorption, and it can safely be fixed. In addition, the nano-material has good chemical stability, thermal stability and mechanical stability to minimize the environmental impact of nuclear waste and waste volume. The preparation of titanate nanotubes or nanofibers was studied by hydrothermal methods, and chemical kinetics of removal of Cs by nano-materials was obtained. The adsorption time with maximum adsorption capacity and the effects of pH, coexisting ion concentration and the optimum adsorption conditions on the removal of Cs by titanate nano-materials were also obtained. The adsorption boundary curves, adsorption isotherm and the maximum adsorption capacity of Cs-137 as tracer on the nano-materials were studied in the research. The experimental results showed that the removal rate of Cs-137 in 0.01 tons of waste water with only 1 gram nano-materials could reach above 98%, according to the optimum adsorption conditions.

Keywords: preparation, titanate, cs-137, removal, nuclear

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Authors: Siddharth Soni, Gourav Kumar Pandey, Sneha Kumari, Dev Mani Pandey, Koel Mukherjee

Abstract:

The silkworm Bombyx mori is a commercially important insect, but a major roadblock in silk production are silkworm diseases. Flacherie is one of the diseases of the silkworm, that affects the midgut of the 4th and 5th instar larvae and eventually makes them lethargic, stop feeding and finally result in their death. The concerned disease is a result of bacterial and viral infection and in some instances a combination of both. The present study aims to identify and study the expression level of genes in the flacherie condition. For the said work, total RNA was isolated from the infected larvae at their most probable infectious instar and cDNA was synthesized using Reverse Transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). This cDNA was then used to amplify disease relalted genes whose expression levels were checked using quantitaive PCR (qPCR) using the double delta Ct method. Cry toxin receptors like APN and BtR-175, ROS mediator Dual Oxidase are few proteins whose genes were overexpressed. Interestingly, pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) C-type lectins' genes were found to be downregulated. The results explain about the strong expression of genes that can distinguish the concerned protein in the midgut of diseased silkworm and thereby aiding knowledge in the field of inhibitor designing research.

Keywords: Bombyx mori, flacherie disease, inhibitor designing, up and down regulation

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