Search results for: Rare earth elements

Authors: Višnjica Vučetić, Mislav Anić, Jelena Bašić, Petra Sviličić, Ivana Tomašević

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The Agroclimatic Atlas of Croatia (Atlas) for the periods 1981–2010 and 1991–2020 is monograph of six chapters in digital form. Detailed descriptions of particular agroclimatological data are given in separate chapters as follows: agroclimatic indices based on air temperature (degree days, Huglin heliothermal index), soil temperature, water balance components (precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration, soil moisture content, runoff, recharge and soil moisture loss) and fire weather indices. The last chapter is a description of the digital methods for the spatial interpolations (R and GIS). The Atlas comprises textual description of the relevant climate characteristic, maps of the spatial distribution of climatological elements at 109 stations (26 stations for soil temperature) and tables of the 30-year mean monthly, seasonal and annual values of climatological parameters at 24 stations. The Atlas was published in 2021, on the seventieth anniversary of the agrometeorology development at the Meteorological and Hydrological Service of Croatia. It is intended to support improvement of sustainable system of agricultural production and forest protection from fire and as a rich source of information for agronomic and forestry experts, but also for the decision-making bodies to use it for the development of strategic plans.

Keywords: agrometeorology, agroclimatic indices, soil temperature, water balance components, fire weather index, meteorological and hydrological service of Croatia

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Authors: Chalise Kiran

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The prime idea of inclusive education is to mainstream every child in education. However, it will be challenging for implementation when there are policy and practice gaps. It will be even more challenging when children have disabilities. Generally, the focus will be on the policy gap, but the problem may not always be with policy. The proper practice could be a challenge in the countries like Nepal. In determining practice, the teachers’ perceptions toward inclusive will play a vital role. Nepal has categorized disability in 7 types (physical, visual, hearing, vision/hearing, speech, mental, and multiple). Out of these, hearing impairment is the study realm. In the context of a limited number of researches on children with disabilities and rare researches on CWHI and their education in Nepal, this study is a pioneering effort in knowing basically the problems and challenges of CWHI focused on inclusive education in the schools including gaps and barriers in its proper implementation. Philosophically, the paradigm of the study is post-positivism. In the post-positivist worldview, the quantitative approach with the description of the situation and inferential relationship are revealed out in the study. This is related to the natural model of objective reality. The data were collected from an individual survey with the teachers and head teachers of 35 schools in Nepal. The survey questionnaire was prepared and filled by the respondents from the schools where the CWHI study in 7 provincial 20 districts of Nepal. Through these considerations, the perceptions of CWHI focused inclusive education were explored in the study. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential tools on which the Likert scale-based analysis was done for descriptive analysis, and chi-square mathematical tool was used to know the significant relationship between dependent variables and independent variables. The descriptive analysis showed that the majority of teachers have positive perceptions toward implementing CWHI focused inclusive education, and the majority of them have positive perceptions toward CWHI focused inclusive education, though there are some problems and challenges. The study has found out the major challenges and problems categorically. Some of them are: a large number of students in a single class; availability of generic textbooks for CWHI and no availability of textbooks to all students; less opportunity for teachers to acquire knowledge on CWHI; not adequate teachers in the schools; no flexibility in the curriculum; less information system in schools; no availability of educational consular; disaster-prone students; no child abuse control strategy; no disabled-friendly schools; no free health check-up facility; no participation of the students in school activities and in child clubs and so on. By and large, it is found that teachers’ age, gender, years of experience, position, employment status, and disability with him or her show no statistically significant relation to successfully implement CWHI focused inclusive education and perceptions to CWHI focused inclusive education in schools. However, in some of the cases, the set null hypothesis was rejected, and some are completely retained. The study has suggested policy implications, implications for educational authority, and implications for teachers and parents categorically.

Keywords: children with hearing impairment, disability, inclusive education, perception

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Authors: M. Ntswane, N. Mbuma, M. Labuschagne, A. Mofokeng, M. Rantso

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Cowpea is an essential legume for the nutrition and health of millions of people in different regions. The production and productivity of the crop are very limited in South Africa due to a lack of adapted and stable genotypes. The improvement of nutritional quality is made possible by manipulating the genes of diverse cowpea genotypes available around the world. Assessing the adaptability and stability of the cowpea mutant genotypes for yield and nutritional quality requires examining them in different environments. The objective of the study was to determine the adaptability and stability of cowpea mutant genotypes under South African conditions and to identify the superior genotypes that combine grain yield components, antioxidants, and nutritional quality. Thirty-one cowpea genotypes were obtained from the Agricultural Research Council grain crops (ARC-GC) and were planted in Glen, Mafikeng, Polokwane, Potchefstroom, Taung, and Vaalharts during the 2021/22 summer cropping season. Significant genotype by location interactions indicated the possibility of genetic improvement of these traits. The genotype plus genotype by environment indicated broad adaptability and stability of mutant genotypes. The principal component analysis identified the association of the genotypes with the traits. Phenotypic correlation analysis showed that Zn and protein content were significant and positively correlated and suggested the possibility of indirect selection of these traits. Results from this study could be used to help plant breeders in making informed decisions and developing nutritionally improved cowpea genotypes with the aim of addressing the challenges of poor nutritional quality.

Keywords: cowpea seeds, adaptability, stability, mineral elements, protein content

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Authors: O. Yeret

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Visual resources are all around us, especially in today's media-driven world, which gravitates, more and more, towards the visual. As a result, authentic resources, such as television advertisements, become testaments – authentic cultural materials – that reflect the landscape of certain groups and communities during a specific point in time. Engaging language students with popular advertisements can provide a great opportunity for developing cultural awareness, a component that is sometimes overlooked in the foreign language classroom. This paper will showcase practical examples of using Israeli Television Ads in various Modern Hebrew language courses. Several approaches for combining the study of language and culture, through the use of advertisements, will be included; for example, targeted assignments based on students' proficiency levels, such as: asking to recognize vocabulary words and answer basic information questions, as opposed to commenting on the significance of an ad and analyzing its particular cultural elements. The use of visual resources in the language classroom does not only enable students to learn more about the culture of the target language, but also to combine their language skills. Most often, interacting with an ad requires close listening and some reading (through captions or other data). As students analyze the ad, they employ their writing and speaking skills by answering questions in text or audio form. Hence, these interactions are able to elicit complex language use across the four domains: listening, speaking, writing, and reading. This paper will include examples of practical assignments that were developed for several Modern Hebrew language courses, together with the specific advertisements and questions related to them. Conclusions from the process and recent feedback notes received from students regarding the use of visual resources will be mentioned as well.

Keywords: authentic materials, cultural awareness, second language acquisition, visual resources

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Authors: Charlotte Brenner, Fisayo Latilo, McKenna Causey

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This study explores the transformation of teacher candidates' beliefs regarding inclusion and inclusive teaching practices during their instructional and practicum experiences in the Canadian context. With the increasing diversity of schools, the study investigates how teacher candidates' beliefs impact their implementation of inclusive teaching practices, which are essential for meeting diverse student needs. The research examines the influence of teacher education programs, transformative learning experiences, and inclusive practicum placements on teacher candidates' beliefs about inclusion. Using a multiple case study approach, the study assesses teacher candidates' initial beliefs, documents changes in these beliefs after coursework on inclusion, and explores the supports and constraints affecting belief development in both university and practicum settings. Preliminary findings suggest that teacher candidates generally hold positive beliefs about inclusion at the outset of their teacher education programs. However, coursework and practicum experiences significantly shape their understanding of diversity, strategies for inclusion, and awareness of broader social issues related to inclusive classrooms. The research underscores the critical role of teacher education programs in shaping teacher candidates' beliefs about inclusion and highlights the value of transformative learning experiences and inclusive practicum placements in enhancing their understanding of equity and inclusion. Continued research is necessary to identify specific elements within courses and practicum experiences that promote positive beliefs about inclusive teaching practices, ultimately contributing to the creation of more equitable classrooms and improved student outcomes.

Keywords: inclusion, beliefs, teacher candidates, inclusive teaching practices

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Authors: M. L. Moyo

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Concerns about climate change, food productivity, and the ever-increasing cost of commercial fertilizer products is forcing have spurred interest in the production of alternatives or substitutes for commercial fertilizer products. In this study, the potential of pyrolytic tire char (PT-char) to improve soil productivity was investigated. The use of carbonized biomass, which is commonly termed biochar or biofertilizer and exhibits similar properties to PT-char in agriculture is not new, with historical evidence pointing to the use of charcoal for soil improvement by indigenous Amazon people for several centuries. Due to minimal market value or use of PT-char, huge quantities are currently stockpiled in South Africa. This successively reduces revenue and decreases investments in waste tire recycling efforts as PT-char constitutes 40 % weight of the total waste tire pyrolysis products. The physicochemical analysis results reported in this study showed that PT-char contains a low concentration of essential plant elements (P and K) and, therefore, cannot be used for increasing nutrient availability in soils. A low presence of heavy metals (Ni, Pb, and Cd), which may be harmful to the environment at high application rates was also observed. In addition, the results revealed that PT-char contains very high levels of Zn, a widely known phytotoxicity causing agents in plants. However, the study also illustrated that PT-char is made up of a highly aromatic and condensed carbon structure. PT-char is therefore highly stable, less prone to microbial degradation, and has a low chemical reactivity in soils. Considering these characteristics, PT-char meets the requirements for use as a carbon sequestration agent, which may be useful in mitigating climate change.

Keywords: agriculture, carbon sequestration, physicochemical analysis, pyrolytic tire char, soil amendment.

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Authors: Abhinav Chaturvedi, Joohi Chaturvedi, Renu Chaturvedi

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With rapid urbanization and growth of population, more buildings are require to be constructed to meet the increasing demand of the shelter. 80 % of the world population is living in developing countries, but the adequate energy supplied to only 30% of it. In India situation get little more difficult as majority of the villages of India are still deprived of energy. 1/3 of the Indian household does not have energy supply. So there is big gap between energy demand and supply. Moreover India is producing around 65 % of the energy from Non – Renewable sources and 25 % of the Energy is imported in the form of oil and gas and only 10% of the total, is generated from other sources like solar power, wind power etc. Present modern structures are big energy consumers as they are consuming 40 % of the total energy in providing comfort conditions to the users, in from of heating and cooling,5 % in Building Construction, 20 % in transportation and 20 % in industrial process and 10 % in other processes. If we minimize this Heating and Cooling and lighting load of the building we can conserve huge amount of energy for the future. In history, buildings do not have artificial systems of cooling or heating. These buildings, especially in Hadoti Region which have Semi Arid Climatic conditions, are provided with Solar Passive Design Techniques that is the reason of comfort inside the buildings. So if we use some appropriate elements of these heritage structures, in our present age building design we can find some certain solution to energy crises. Present paper describes Various Solar Passive design techniques used in past, and the same could be used in present to reduce the consumption of energy.

Keywords: energy conservation, Hadoti region, solar passive design techniques , semi - arid climatic condition

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Authors: E. Kalcheva, A. Taki, Y. Hadi

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High-rises and placemaking is an understudied combination which receives more and more interest with the proliferation of this typology in many British cities. The reason for studying three major cities in England: London, Birmingham and Manchester, is to learn from the latest advances in urban design in well-developed and prominent urban environment. The analysis of several high-rise sites reveals the weaknesses in urban design of contemporary British cities and presents an opportunity to study from the implemented examples. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to analyze design approaches towards creating a sustainable and varied urban environment when high-rises are involved. The research questions raised by the study are: what is the quality of high-rises and their surroundings; what facilities and features are deployed in the research area; what is the role of the high-rise buildings in the placemaking process; what urban design principles are applicable in this context. The methodology utilizes observation of the researched area by structured questions, developed by the author to evaluate the outdoor qualities of the high-rise surroundings. In this context, the paper argues that the quality of the public realm around the high-rises is quite low, missing basic but vital elements such as plazas, public art, and seating, along with landscaping and pocket parks. There is lack of coherence, the rhythm of the streets is often disrupted, and even though the high-rises are very aesthetically appealing, they fail to create a sense of place on their own. The implications of the study are that future planning can take into consideration the critique in this article and provide more opportunities for urban design interventions around high-rise buildings in the British cities.

Keywords: high-rises, placemaking, urban design, townscape

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Authors: Michelle Micah Augustine

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Soap opera narrative creates a sense of community. Uzalo is a South African local soap opera television series. It is unique because Uzalo tells the story of black people and their everyday struggle centered in KwaMashu township community, which is an excellent example of how moving image culture has contributed in portraying township community that was once marginalized by the apartheid regime in contemporary South Africa. While soap opera importance and promotion of social change and behaviours have been extensively studied throughout history, little research has examined the importance of space and place in its narrative. This study explored the conventional community space and place, the core elements that drive soap opera narrative. By means of qualitative content analysis, the study investigated the construction of public meeting places in Uzalo, using a purposive sampling technique to collect data by choosing episodes. The result indicates that characters convergence in public meeting places in soap opera creates disequilibrium which drives the narrative; reveals that construction of a public meeting place is an important way of creating a minimum of homogeneousness among disparate characters, gives a sense of unified experience drawing on the notion of the particular characteristics or attitude generated from such place. The result shows that the use of camera angles, movements, editing, music and usual tricks (mise-en-scene) applied in the narrative setting function as a guide for viewers comprehension of emotional responses of the story and to connect with the space in which the narrative is set.

Keywords: community, narrative, place, space, soap opera

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Authors: Nicolò Vaiana, Giorgio Serino

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In this paper, a one-dimensional (1d) Parallel Elasto- Plastic Model (PEPM), able to simulate the uniaxial dynamic behavior of seismic isolators having a continuously decreasing tangent stiffness with increasing displacement, is presented. The parallel modeling concept is applied to discretize the continuously decreasing tangent stiffness function, thus allowing to simulate the dynamic behavior of seismic isolation bearings by putting linear elastic and nonlinear elastic-perfectly plastic elements in parallel. The mathematical model has been validated by comparing the experimental force-displacement hysteresis loops, obtained testing a helical wire rope isolator and a recycled rubber-fiber reinforced bearing, with those predicted numerically. Good agreement between the simulated and experimental results shows that the proposed model can be an effective numerical tool to predict the forcedisplacement relationship of seismic isolators within relatively large displacements. Compared to the widely used Bouc-Wen model, the proposed one allows to avoid the numerical solution of a first order ordinary nonlinear differential equation for each time step of a nonlinear time history analysis, thus reducing the computation effort, and requires the evaluation of only three model parameters from experimental tests, namely the initial tangent stiffness, the asymptotic tangent stiffness, and a parameter defining the transition from the initial to the asymptotic tangent stiffness.

Keywords: base isolation, earthquake engineering, parallel elasto-plastic model, seismic isolators, softening hysteresis loops

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Authors: Pibool Waijittragum

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The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the research result of brand Identities of Thai Halal brands which related to the way of life for Thai Muslims. The results will be transforming to Thai Halal Brands packaging and label design. The expected benefit is an alternative of marketing strategy for brand building process for Halal products in Thailand. Four elements of marketing strategies which necessary for the brand identity creation is the research framework: consists of Attributes, Benefits, Values and Personality. The research methodology was applied using qualitative and quantitative; 19 marketing experts with dynamic roles in Thai consumer products were interviewed. In addition, a field survey of 122 Thai Muslims selected from 175 Muslim communities in Bangkok was studied. Data analysis will be according to 5 categories of Thai Halal product: 1) Meat 2) Vegetable and Fruits 3) Instant foods and Garnishing ingredient 4) Beverages, Desserts and Snacks 5) Hygienic daily products. The results will explain some suitable approach for brand Identities of Thai Halal brands as are: 1) Benefit approach as the characteristics of the product with its benefit. The brand identity created transform to the packaging design should be clear and display a fresh product 2) Value approach as the value of products that affect to consumers’ perception. The brand identity created transform to the packaging design should be simply look and using a trustful image 3) Personality approach as the reflection of consumers thought. The brand identity created transform to the packaging design should be sincere, enjoyable, merry, flamboyant look and using a humoristic image.

Keywords: marketing strategies, brand identity, packaging and label design, Thai Halal products

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Authors: Andras Gyorfi, Andras Torma, Adrienn Buruzs

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Mobility has been evolved to a determining field of science. The continuously developing segment involves a variety of affected issues such as public and economic sectors. Beside the changes in mobility the state of environment had also changed in the last period. Alternative mobility as a separate category and the idea of its widespread appliance is such a new field that needs to be studied deeper. Alternative mobility implies finding new types of propulsion, using innovative kinds of power and energy resources, revolutionizing the approach to vehicular control. Including new resources and excluding others has such a complex effect which cannot be unequivocally confirmed by today’s scientific achievements. Changes in specific parameters will most likely reduce the environmental impacts, however, the production of new substances or even their subtraction of the system will cause probably energy deficit as well. The aim of this research is to elaborate the environmental impact matrix of alternative mobility and cognize the factors that are yet unknown, analyse them, look for alternative solutions and conclude all the above in a coherent system. In order to this, we analyse it with a method called ‘the system of systems (SoS) method’ to model the effects and the dynamics of the system. A part of the research process is to examine its impacts on the environment, and to decide whether the newly developed versions of alternative mobility are affecting the environmental state. As a final result, a complex approach will be used which can supplement the current scientific studies. By using the SoS approach, we create a framework of reference containing elements in which we examine the interactions as well. In such a way, a flexible and modular model can be established which supports the prioritizing of effects and the deeper analysis of the complex system.

Keywords: environment, alternative mobility, complex model, element analysis, multidimensional map

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Authors: Catalina Albornoz, Giacomo Barbieri

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Crop monitoring has shown to reduce vulnerability to spreading plagues and pathologies in crops. Remote sensing with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has made crop monitoring more precise, cost-efficient and accessible. Nowadays, remote monitoring involves calculating maps of vegetation indices by using different software that takes either Truecolor (RGB) or multispectral images as an input. These maps are then used to segment the crop into management zones. Finally, knowing the spectral signature of a crop (the reflected radiation as a function of wavelength) can be used as an input for decision-making and crop characterization. The calculation of vegetation indices using software such as Pix4D has high precision for monoculture plantations. However, this paper shows that using this software on mixed crops may lead to errors resulting in an incorrect segmentation of the field. Within this work, authors propose to filter all the elements different from the main crop before the calculation of vegetation indices and the spectral signature. A filter based on the Sobel method for border detection is used for filtering a coffee crop. Results show that segmentation into management zones changes with respect to the traditional situation in which a filter is not applied. In particular, it is shown how the values of the spectral signature change in up to 17% per spectral band. Future work will quantify the benefits of filtering through the comparison between in situ measurements and the calculated vegetation indices obtained through remote sensing.

Keywords: coffee, filtering, mixed crop, precision agriculture, remote sensing, spectral signature

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Authors: Siddhartha Khare, Nitish Kr Boro, Omm Animesh Mishra

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Recent food price hikes may signal the end of an era of predictable global grain crop plenty due to climate change, population expansion, and dietary changes. Food consumption will treble in 20 years, requiring enormous production expenditures. Climate and the atmosphere changed owing to rainfall and seasonal cycles in the past decade. India's tropical agricultural relies on evapotranspiration and monsoons. In places with limited resources, the global environmental change affects agricultural productivity and farmers' capacity to adjust to changing moisture patterns. Motivated by these difficulties, satellite remote sensing might be combined with near-surface imaging data (smartphones, UAVs, and PhenoCams) to enable phenological monitoring and fast evaluations of field-level consequences of extreme weather events on smallholder agriculture output. To accomplish this technique, we must digitally map all communities agricultural boundaries and crop kinds. With the improvement of satellite remote sensing technologies, a geo-referenced database may be created for rural Indian agriculture fields. Using AI, we can design digital agricultural solutions for individual farms. Main objective is to Geo-enable each farm along with their seasonal crop information by combining Artificial Intelligence (AI) with satellite and near-surface data and then prepare long term crop monitoring through in-depth field analysis and scanning of fields with satellite derived vegetation indices. We developed an AI based algorithm to understand the timelapse based growth of vegetation using PhenoCam or Smartphone based images. We developed an android platform where user can collect images of their fields based on the android application. These images will be sent to our local server, and then further AI based processing will be done at our server. We are creating digital boundaries of individual farms and connecting these farms with our smart phone application to collect information about farmers and their crops in each season. We are extracting satellite-based information for each farm from Google earth engine APIs and merging this data with our data of tested crops from our app according to their farm’s locations and create a database which will provide the data of quality of crops from their location.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, satellite remote sensing, crop monitoring, android and web application

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Authors: M. L. Mesquita, V. H. Ferreira, C. M. Cebola

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Mediation is an increasingly important mechanism, particularly in the European context, as demonstrated, for example, by the publication by the European Union of the Directive 2008/52/EC on certain aspects of mediation in civil and mercantile matters. Developments in international trade and globalization in this new century have led to an increase of the number of litigations, often cross-border, and the courts have failed to respond adequately. From the economic point of view, competitive negotiation can generate negative external effects in social terms. Not always the solution found in court is the most efficient solution taking into account all elements of society. On the other hand, the administration of justice adds in economic terms transaction costs that can be mitigated by the application of other forms of conflict resolution, such as mediation. In this paper, the economic benefits of mediation will be analysed in the light of various studies on the functioning of justice. Several theoretical arguments will be confronted with empirical studies to demonstrate that mediation has significant positive economic effects. In the Portuguese legal system, legislative frameworks for mediation display a state committed to creating a new architecture for the administration of justice, based on the construction of a multi-faceted legal system for dispute resolution mechanisms. Understanding the way in which the system of mediation in Portugal was introduced, allows us to point out that our internal ordering is creating the legal instruments which can assist citizens in the effective protection of their rights. However, data on the use of mediation in concrete proceedings and the consequent effectiveness of mediation in settling disputes, reveal a mechanism that is still far from the ideal results that were initially sought.

Keywords: access to justice, alternative dispute resolution, mediation, litigation

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Authors: Evgeny E. Tereshatov, C. M. Folden

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Ionic liquids and deep eutectic mixtures represent so-called non-conventional solvents. The former, composed of discrete ions, is a salt with a melting temperature below 100°С. The latter, consisting of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, is a mixture of at least two compounds, resulting in a melting temperature depression in comparison with that of the individual moiety. These systems also can be water-immiscible, which makes them applicable for metal extraction. This work will cover interactions of In, Tl, Ir, and Rh in hydrochloric acid media with eutectic mixtures and Er, Ir, and At in a gas phase with chemically modified α-detectors. The purpose is to study chemical systems based on non-conventional solvents in terms of their interaction with metals. Once promising systems are found, the next step is to modify the surface of α-detectors used in the online element production at cyclotrons to get the detector chemical selectivity. Initially, the metal interactions are studied by means of the liquid-liquid extraction technique. Then appropriate molecules are chemisorbed on the surrogate surface first to understand the coating quality. Finally, a detector is covered with the same molecule, and the metal sorption on such detectors is studied in the online regime. It was found that chemical treatment of the surface can result in 99% coverage with a monolayer formation. This surface is chemically active and can adsorb metals from hydrochloric acid solutions. Similarly, a detector surface was modified and tested during cyclotron-based experiments. Thus, a procedure of detectors functionalization has been developed, and this opens an interesting opportunity of studying chemisorption of elements which do not have stable isotopes.

Keywords: mechanism, radioisotopes, solvent extraction, gas phase sorption

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Authors: Paschal Arsein Mugabe

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This paper examines sustainable development planning in the context of environmental concerns in rural areas of the Tanzania. It challenges mainstream approaches to development, focusing instead upon transformative action for environmental justice. The goal is to help shape future sustainable development agendas in local government, international agencies and civil society organisations. Research methods: The approach of the study is geographical, but also involves various Trans-disciplinary elements, particularly from development studies, sociology and anthropology, management, geography, agriculture and environmental science. The research methods included thematic and questionnaire interviews, participatory tools such as focus group discussion, participatory research appraisal and expert interviews for primary data. Secondary data were gathered through the analysis of land use/cover data and official documents on climate, agriculture, marketing and health. Also several earlier studies that were made in the area provided an important reference base. Findings: The findings show that, agricultural sustainability in Tanzania appears likely to deteriorate as a consequence of climate change. Noteworthy differences in impacts across households are also present both by district and by income category. Also food security cannot be explained by climate as the only influencing factor. A combination of economic, political and socio-cultural context of the community are crucial. Conclusively, it is worthy knowing that people understand their relationship between climate change and their livelihood.

Keywords: agriculture, climate change, environment, sustainable development

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Authors: P. Abtahi, B. Samali

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Façade panels of various shapes, weights, and connections usually act as a barrier between the indoor and outdoor environments. They also play a major role in enhancing the aesthetics of building structures. They are attached by different types of connections to the primary structure or inner panels in double skin façade skins. Structural buildings designed to withstand seismic shocks have been undergoing a critical appraisal in recent years, with the emphasis changing from ‘strength’ to ‘performance’. Performance based design and analysis have found their way into research, development, and practice of earthquake engineering, particularly after the 1994 Northridge and 1995 Kobe earthquakes. The design performance of facades as non-structural elements has now focused mainly on evaluating the damage sustained by façade frames with fixed connections, not movable ones. This paper will review current design standards for structural buildings, including the performance of structural and non-structural components during earthquake excitations in order to overview and evaluate the damage assessment and behaviour of various façade systems in building structures during seismic activities. The proposed solutions for each facade system will be discussed case by case to evaluate their potential for incorporation with newly designed connections. Finally, Double-Skin-Facade systems can potentially be combined with movable facade technology, although other glazing systems would require minor to major changes in their design before being integrated into the system.

Keywords: building performance, earthquake engineering, glazing system, movable façade technology

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Authors: Eduardo P. Wiechmann, Jorge A. Henríquez, Pablo E. Aqueveque, Luis G. Muñoz

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PV energy prices are declining rapidly. To take advantage of the benefits of those prices and lower the carbon footprint, operational practices must be modified. Undoubtedly, it challenges the electrowinning practice to operate at constant current throughout the day. This work presents a technology that contributes in providing modulation capacity to the electrode current distribution system. This is to raise the day time dc current and lower it at night. The system is a triple intercell bar that operates in current-source mode. The design is a capping board free dogbone type of bar that ensures an operation free of short circuits, hot swapability repairs and improved current balance. This current-source system eliminates the resetting currents circulating in equipotential bars. Twin auxiliary connectors are added to the main connectors providing secure current paths to bypass faulty or impaired contacts. All system conductive elements are positioned over a baseboard offering a large heat sink area to the ventilation of a facility. The system works with lower temperature than a conventional busbar. Of these attributes, the cathode current balance property stands out and is paramount for day/night modulation and the use of photovoltaic energy. A design based on a 3D finite element method model predicting electric and thermal performance under various industrial scenarios is presented. Preliminary results obtained in an electrowinning facility with industrial prototypes are included.

Keywords: electrowinning, intercell bars, PV energy, current modulation

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Authors: Marija Lončar, Zorana Šuljug Vučica, Magdalena Nigoević

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Diverse social, cultural and economic trends and changes in contemporary societies influence the ways masculinity is represented in a variety of media. Masculinity is constructed within media images as a dynamic process that changes slowly over time and is shaped by various social factors. In many societies, dominant masculinity is still associated with authority, heterosexuality, marriage, professional and financial success, ethnic dominance and physical strength. But contemporary media depict men in ways that suggest a change in the approach to media images. The number of media images of men, which promote men’s identity through their body, have increased. With the male body more scrutinized and commodified, it is necessary to highlight how the body is represented and which visual elements are crucial since the body has an important role in the construction of masculinities. The study includes content analysis of male body images in the advertisements of different men’s and women’s lifestyle magazines available in Croatia. The main aim was to explore how masculinities are currently being portrayed through body regarding age, physical appearance, fashion, touch and gaze. The findings are also discussed in relation to female images since women are central in many of the processes constructing masculinities and according to the recent conceptualization of masculinity. Although the construction of male images varies through body features, almost all of them convey the message that men’s identity could be managed through manipulation and by enhancing the appearance. Furthermore, they suggest that men should engage in “bodywork” through advertised products, activities and/or practices, in order to achieve their preferred social image.

Keywords: body images, content analysis, lifestyle magazines, masculinity

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Authors: Carmen Aguilera-Carnerero

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Islamophobia, the unfounded hostility towards Muslims and Islam, has been deeply studied in the last decades from different perspectives ranging from anthropology, sociology, media studies, and linguistics. In the past few years, we have witnessed how the birth of social media has transformed formerly passive audiences into an active group that not only receives and digests information but also creates and comments publicly on any event of their interest. In this way, average citizens now have been entitled with the power of becoming potential opinion leaders. This rise of social media in the last years gave way to a different way of Islamophobia, the so called ‘cyberIslamophobia’. Considerably less attention, however, has been given to the study of islamophobic images that accompany the texts in social media. This paper attempts to analyse a corpus of 300 images of islamophobic nature taken from social media (from Twitter and Facebook) from the years 2014-2017 to see: a) how hate speech is visually constructed, b) how cyberislamophobia is articulated through images and whether there are differences/similarities between the textual and the visual elements, c) the impact of those images in the audience and their reaction to it and d) whether visual cyberislamophobia has undergone any process of permeating popular culture (for example, through memes) and its real impact. To carry out this task, we have used Critical Discourse Analysis as the most suitable theoretical framework that analyses and criticizes the dominant discourses that affect inequality, injustice, and oppression. The analysis of images was studied according to the theoretical framework provided by the visual framing theory and the visual design grammar to conclude that memes are subtle but very powerful tools to spread Islamophobia and foster hate speech under the guise of humour within popular culture.

Keywords: cyberIslamophobia, visual grammar, social media, popular culture

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Authors: Bandar A. Alkhayyal

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Modern supply chains are typically linear, transforming virgin raw materials into products for end consumers, who then discard them after use to landfills or incinerators. Nowadays, there are major efforts underway to create a circular economy to reduce non-renewable resource use and waste. One important aspect of these efforts is the development of Green Supply Chain (GSC) systems which enables a reverse flow of used products from consumers back to manufacturers, where they can be refurbished or remanufactured, to both economic and environmental benefit. This paper develops novel multi-objective optimization models to inform GSC system design at multiple levels: (1) strategic planning of facility location and transportation logistics; (2) tactical planning of optimal pricing; and (3) policy planning to account for potential valuation of GSC emissions. First, physical linear programming was applied to evaluate GSC facility placement by determining the quantities of end-of-life products for transport from candidate collection centers to remanufacturing facilities while satisfying cost and capacity criteria. Second, disassembly and remanufacturing processes have received little attention in industrial engineering and process cost modeling literature. The increasing scale of remanufacturing operations, worth nearly $50 billion annually in the United States alone, have made GSC pricing an important subject of research. A non-linear physical programming model for optimization of pricing policy for remanufactured products that maximizes total profit and minimizes product recovery costs were examined and solved. Finally, a deterministic equilibrium model was used to determine the effects of internalizing a cost of GSC greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into optimization models. Changes in optimal facility use, transportation logistics, and pricing/profit margins were all investigated against a variable cost of carbon, using case study system created based on actual data from sites in the Boston area. As carbon costs increase, the optimal GSC system undergoes several distinct shifts in topology as it seeks new cost-minimal configurations. A comprehensive study of quantitative evaluation and performance of the model has been done using orthogonal arrays. Results were compared to top-down estimates from economic input-output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) models, to contrast remanufacturing GHG emission quantities with those from original equipment manufacturing operations. Introducing a carbon cost of $40/t CO2e increases modeled remanufacturing costs by 2.7% but also increases original equipment costs by 2.3%. The assembled work advances the theoretical modeling of optimal GSC systems and presents a rare case study of remanufactured appliances.

Keywords: circular economy, extended producer responsibility, greenhouse gas emissions, industrial ecology, low carbon logistics, green supply chains

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Authors: Jacob Lewis Watts, Adam F. A. Pellegrini

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Prairies, grasslands, and forests cover an expansive portion of the world’s surface and contribute significantly to Earth’s carbon cycle. The largest driver of carbon dynamics in some of these ecosystems is fire. As the global climate changes, most fire-dominated ecosystems will experience increased fire frequency and intensity, leading to increased carbon flux into the atmosphere and soil nutrient depletion. The plant communities associated with different fire regimes are important for reassimilation of carbon lost during fire and soil recovery. More frequent fires promote conservative plant functional traits aboveground; however, belowground fine root traits are poorly explored and arguably more important drivers of ecosystem function as the primary interface between the soil and plant. The root economic spectrum (RES) hypothesis describes single-dimensional covariation between important fine-root traits along a range of plant strategies from acquisitive to conservative – parallel to the well-established leaf economic spectrum (LES). However, because of the paucity of root trait data, the complex nature of the rhizosphere, and the phylogenetic conservatism of root traits, it is unknown whether the RES hypothesis accurately describes plant nutrient and water acquisition strategies. This project utilizesplants grown in common garden conditions in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden and a meta-analysis of long-term fire manipulation experiments to examine the belowground physiological traits of fire-adapted and non-fire-adapted herbaceous species to 1) test the RES hypothesis and 2) describe the effect of fire regimes on fine root functional traits – which in turn affect carbon and nutrient cycling. A suite of morphological, chemical, and biological root traits (e.g. root diameter, specific root length, percent N, percent mycorrhizal colonization, etc.) of 50 herbaceous species were measuredand tested for phylogenetic conservatism and RES dimensionality. Fire-adapted and non-fire-adapted plants traits were compared using phylogenetic PCA techniques. Preliminary evidence suggests that phylogenetic conservatism may weaken the single-dimensionality of the RES, suggesting that there may not be a single way that plants optimize nutrient and water acquisition and storage in the complex rhizosphere; additionally, fire-adapted species are expected to be more conservative than non-fire-adapted species, which may be indicative of slower carbon cycling with increasing fire frequency and intensity.

Keywords: climate change, fire regimes, root economic spectrum, fine roots

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Authors: Aagesson, Ekstrand, Persson, Sallander

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A description of how a team of librarians at Linnaeus University Library in Sweden utilizes a pedagogical approach to deliver engaging digital workshops on information retrieval. The team consists of four librarians supporting three different faculties. The paper discusses the challenges faced in engaging students who may perceive information retrieval as a boring and difficult subject. The paper emphasizes the importance of motivation, inclusivity, constructive feedback, and collaborative learning in enhancing student engagement. By employing a two-librarian teaching model, maintaining a lighthearted approach, and relating information retrieval to everyday experiences, the team aimed to create an enjoyable and meaningful learning experience. The authors describe their approach to increase student engagement and learning outcomes through a three-phase workshop structure: before, during, and after the workshops. The "flipped classroom" method was used, where students were provided with pre-workshop materials, including a short film on information search and encouraged to reflect on the topic using a digital collaboration tool. During the workshops, interactive elements such as quizzes, live demonstrations, and practical training were incorporated, along with opportunities for students to ask questions and provide feedback. The paper concludes by highlighting the benefits of the flipped classroom approach and the extended learning opportunities provided by the before and after workshop phases. The authors believe that their approach offers a sustainable alternative for enhancing information retrieval knowledge among students at Linnaeus University.

Keywords: digital workshop, flipped classroom, information retrieval, interactivity, LIS practitioner, student engagement

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Authors: Maria Lina Garrido

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This paper aims to reflect upon instruction in English classes with the specific purpose of reading comprehension development, having as its paradigm the considerations presented by William Grabe, in his book Reading in a Second Language: Moving from theory to practice. His concerns regarding the connection between research findings and instructional practices have stimulated the present author to re-evaluate both her long practice as an English reading teacher and as the author of two reading textbooks for graduate students. Elements of the reading process such as linguistic issues, prior knowledge, reading strategies, critical evaluation, and motivation are the main foci of this analysis as far as the activities developed in the classroom are concerned. The experience with university candidates on postgraduate courses with different levels of English knowledge in Bahia, Brazil, has definitely demanded certain adjustments to this author`s classroom setting. Word recognition based on cognates, for example, has been emphasized given the fact that academic texts use many Latin words which have the same roots as the Brazilian Portuguese lexicon. Concerning syntactic parsing, the tenses/verbal aspects, modality and linking words are included in the curriculum, but not with the same depth as the general English curricula. Reading strategies, another essential predictor for developing reading skills, have been largely stimulated in L2 classes in order to compensate for a lack of the appropriate knowledge of the foreign language. This paper presents results that demonstrate that this author`s teaching practice is compatible with the implications and instruction concerning the reading process outlined by Grabe, however, it admits that each class demands specific instructions to meet the needs of that particular group.

Keywords: classroom practice, instructional activities, reading comprehension, reading skills

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Authors: A. E. Yakshin, D. Ijpes, J. M. Sturm, I. A. Makhotkin, M. D. Ackermann

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Applications like synchrotron optics, soft X-ray microscopy, X-ray astronomy, and wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) rely heavily on short- and ultra-short-period multilayer (ML) structures. In WD-XRF, ML serves as an analyzer crystal to disperse emission lines of light elements. The key requirement for the ML is to be highly reflective while also providing sufficient angular dispersion to resolve specific XRF lines. For these reasons, MLs with periods ranging from 1.0 to 2.5 nm are of great interest in this field. Due to the short period, the reflectance of such MLs is extremely sensitive to interface imperfections such as roughness and interdiffusion. Moreover, the thickness of the individual layers is only a few angstroms, which is close to the limit of materials to grow a continuous film. MLs with a period between 2.5 nm and 1.0 nm, combining tungsten (W) reflector with B₄C, Si, and Al spacers, were created and examined. These combinations show high theoretical reflectance in the full range from C-Kα (4.48nm) down to S-Kα (0.54nm). However, the formation of optically unfavorable compounds, intermixing, and interface roughness result in limited reflectance. A variety of techniques, including diffusion barriers, seed layers, and ion polishing for sputter-deposited MLs, were used to address these issues. Diffuse scattering measurements, photo-electron spectroscopy analysis, and X-ray reflectivity measurements showed a noticeable reduction of compound formation, intermixing, and interface roughness. This also resulted in a substantial increase in soft X-ray reflectance for W/Si, W/B4C, and W/Al MLs. In particular, the reflectivity of 1 nm period W/Si multilayers at the wavelength of 0.84 nm increased more than 3-fold – propelling forward the applicability of such multilayers for shorter wavelengths.

Keywords: interface engineering, reflectance, short period multilayer structures, x-ray optics

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Authors: Mohamed Moheyeldin Mahmoud

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Various Islamic, Coptic and Jewish archeological places are located in many Egyptian neighborhoods such as Alsayeda zainab, Aldarb Alahmar, Algammaleya and many other in which they are daily exposed to a great traffic intensity causing vibrations. Vibrations could be stated as one of the most important challenges that face the archeological buildings and threaten their survival. The impact of vibrations varies according to the nature of the soil, nature and building conditions, how far the source of vibration is and the period of exposure. Traffic vibrations could be also stated as one of the most common types of vibrations having the greatest impact on buildings and archaeological installations. These vibrations result from the way that the vehicles act with different types of roads which vary according to the shape, nature, and type of obstacles. Other elements concerning the vehicle itself such as speed, weight, and load have a direct impact on the vibrations resulting from the vehicle movement that couldn't be neglected. The research aims to determine some of the requirements that must be observed when designing the public means of transport operating in the archaeological areas, in order to preserve the archaeological nature of the place. The research concludes that light weight slow motion vehicles should be used (25-50 km/h at maximum) having a multi-leaf steel spring suspension system instead of having an air-bag one should be used in order to reduce generated vibrations that could destroy the archeological buildings. Isolation layers could be used in the engine chamber in order to reduce the resulting noise causing vibrations. Electrically operated engines that use solar photovoltaic cells as a source of electricity could be used instead of gas ones in order to reduce the resulting engine noise.

Keywords: archeological, design, isolation layers, suspension, vibrations

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Authors: Tauqir A. Moughal, Fusheng Yu, Abeer Mazher

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Land-cover and land-use change information are important because of their practical uses in various applications, including deforestation, damage assessment, disasters monitoring, urban expansion, planning, and land management. Therefore, developing change detection methods for remote sensing images is an important ongoing research agenda. However, detection of change through optical remote sensing images is not a trivial task due to many factors including the vagueness between the boundaries of changed and unchanged regions and spatial dependence of the pixels to its neighborhood. In this paper, we propose a binary change detection technique for bi-temporal optical remote sensing images. As in most of the optical remote sensing images, the transition between the two clusters (change and no change) is overlapping and the existing methods are incapable of providing the accurate cluster boundaries. In this regard, a methodology has been proposed which uses the fuzzy c-means clustering to tackle the problem of vagueness in the changed and unchanged class by formulating the soft boundaries between them. Furthermore, in order to exploit the neighborhood information of the pixels, the input patterns are generated corresponding to each pixel from bi-temporal images using 3×3, 5×5 and 7×7 window. The between images and within image spatial dependence of the pixels to its neighborhood is quantified by using Pearson product moment correlation and Moran’s I statistics, respectively. The proposed technique consists of two phases. At first, between images and within image spatial correlation is calculated to utilize the information that the pixels at different locations may not be independent. Second, fuzzy c-means technique is used to produce two clusters from input feature by not only taking care of vagueness between the changed and unchanged class but also by exploiting the spatial correlation of the pixels. To show the effectiveness of the proposed technique, experiments are conducted on multispectral and bi-temporal remote sensing images. A subset (2100×1212 pixels) of a pan-sharpened, bi-temporal Landsat 5 thematic mapper optical image of Los Angeles, California, is used in this study which shows a long period of the forest fire continued from July until October 2009. Early forest fire and later forest fire optical remote sensing images were acquired on July 5, 2009 and October 25, 2009, respectively. The proposed technique is used to detect the fire (which causes change on earth’s surface) and compared with the existing K-means clustering technique. Experimental results showed that proposed technique performs better than the already existing technique. The proposed technique can be easily extendable for optical hyperspectral images and is suitable for many practical applications.

Keywords: burned area, change detection, correlation, fuzzy clustering, optical remote sensing

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Authors: Elspeth McInnes

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Research design is central to ethical research. Discriminatory research design is a key risk for researchers examining diverse cultural groups without conscious commitment to anti-discrimination values or knowledge of their culture. Culturally discriminatory research design is defined here as research proceeding from negative assumptions about people on the basis of race, colour, ethnicity, nationality or religion. Such discrimination can be direct or indirect. Direct discrimination is the uncritical mobilization of dominant group negative stereotypes of cultural minorities. Indirect discrimination is the examination of policies or programs grounded in dominant culture negative stereotypes that have been uncritically accepted by the researchers. This paper draws on anonymized elements of planned research projects and considers both direct and indirect cultural discrimination in research design and the responsibilities of ethics committees. Human research ethics committees provide a point of scrutiny with responsibility to alert researchers to risks of basing research on negative cultural stereotypes, as well as protecting participants from being subjected to negative discourses about them. This issue has become an increasing concern in a globalizing world of human displacement and migration creating a rise in the presence of minority cultures in host countries. As a nation established through colonization and immigration Australia has a long history of negative cultural stereotypes of Indigenous Australians as well as a legacy of the White Australia policy, which still echoes in attitudes to each wave of non-European immigration. The task of eliminating cultural discrimination in research design is vital to sustaining research integrity and ensuring that research is not used to reinforce or justify cultural discrimination.

Keywords: cultural discrimination, cultural stereotypes, participant risk, research design

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Authors: K. Kong, E. Ferrier, L. Michel

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The purpose of this research was to investigate the creep behaviour of the heterogeneous Timber-UHPFRC beams. New developments have been done to further improve the structural performance, such as strengthening of the timber (glulam) beam by bonding composite material combine with an ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) internally reinforced with or without carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars. However, in the design of wooden structures, in addition to the criteria of strengthening and stiffness, deformability due to the creep of wood, especially in horizontal elements, is also a design criterion. Glulam, UHPFRC and CFRP may be an interesting composite mix to respond to the issue of creep behaviour of composite structures made of different materials with different rheological properties. In this paper, we describe an experimental and analytical investigation of the creep performance of the glulam-UHPFRC-CFRP beams assembled by bonding. The experimental investigations creep behaviour was conducted for different environments: in- and outside under constant loading for approximately a year. The measured results are compared with numerical ones obtained by an analytical model. This model was developed to predict the creep response of the glulam-UHPFRC-CFRP beams based on the creep characteristics of the individual components. The results show that heterogeneous glulam-UHPFRC beams provide an improvement in both the strengthening and stiffness, and can also effectively reduce the creep deflection of wooden beams.

Keywords: carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars, creep behaviour, glulam, ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC)

Procedia PDF Downloads 386