Search results for: express delivery industry

Authors: Do Chi Thanh, Dang Ngoc Huy

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Nowadays, there are more and more variable speed drive systems in small-scale and large-scale applications such as the electric vehicle industry, household appliances, medical equipment, and other industrial fields led to the development of BLDC (Brushless DC) motors. BLDC drive has many advantages, such as higher efficiency, better speed torque characteristics, high power density, and low maintenance cost compared to other conventional motors. Most BLDC motors use a proportional-integral (PI) controller and a pulse width modulation (PWM) scheme for speed control. This article describes the simulation model of BLDC motor drive control with the help of MATLAB - SIMULINK simulation software. The built simulation model includes a BLDC motor dynamic block, Hall sensor signal generation block, inverter converter block, and PI controller.

Keywords: brushless DC motor, BLDC, six-step inverter, PI speed

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: A. Hol

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Nowadays, within quickly changing business environments, companies are often faced with specific problems where knowledge required to make timely decisions is often available however is not always readily accessible by the decision makers, in a required form. To identify if in any way via innovative system development companies could be assisted so that they can make quicker industry specific decisions in a given time and space, researchers conducted in depth case study investigation during which they studied company’s e-transformation recommendations, company’s current issues and problems as well as the nature of company’s pressing decisions. This study utilizes Scenario Based Analysis with the aim to help identify parameters crucial for the development of the system that could support decision making in a given time and space. Based on the findings, Context Specific e-transformation decision making framework is proposed.

Keywords: e-transformation, business context, decision making, e-T Guide, ICT

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Authors: Sanjay Singh, Swati Jaiswal, Prashant Mishra

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Nanoparticle based formulations of drug delivery systems have shown their potential in improving the performance of existing drugs and have opened avenues for new therapies. Calendula extract is a low cost, wide spectrum bioactive material that has been used for a long term therapy of various infections. Aim: The aim of this study was to develop Calendula officinalis extract based nanoformulations and to study the antibacterial activity of either Calendula extract loaded chitosan nanoparticles or Calendula extract coated silver nanoparticles for increased bioavailability and their long term effect. Methods: Chitosan nanoparticles were prepared by the process of ionotropic gelation, based on interaction between the negative groups of tri polyphosphate (TPP) and positively charged amino groups of chitosan. The size of the Calendula extract-loaded chitosan particles was determined using dynamic light scattering and scanning electron microscopy. Antibacterial activities of these formulations were determined based on minimum inhibitory concentration and time kill studies. In addition, silver nanoparticles were also synthesized in the presence of Calendula extract and characterized by UV visible spectrum, DLS and XRD. Experiments were conducted on 96-plates against two Gram-positive bacteria; Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis two Gram-negative bacteria; Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Results: Results demonstrated time dependent antibacterial activity against different microbes studied. Both Calendula extract and Calendula extract loaded chitosan nanoparticles have shown good antimicrobial activity against both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. Conclusion: Calendula extract loaded chitosan nanoparticles and calendula extract coated silver nanoparticles are potential antibacterial for their long term antibacterial effects.

Keywords: antibacterial, Calendula extract, chitosan nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles

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Authors: Raja Rodziah Binti Raja Zainal Hassan

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The development of Malaysian political cinema is rapidly taking shape in the local film industry. The paper focuses on the production of independent political documentary by two Malaysian filmmakers, Amir Muhammad and Fahmi Reza. Revolutionary cinema can be understood by utilizing the Third Cinema Theory in order to analyse the meaning and its impact on the audience. The issue surrounding the political cinema in Malaysia is the question of national identity. The implementation of racial or ethnic based politics has resulted in hostility within Malaysia’s multiracial society. Amir Muhammad and Fahmi Reza revisit the Malaysian political history through their films in order to understand the reasons behind the hostility and conflict.

Keywords: Political cinema, third cinema theory, revolutionary cinema, national identity, racial or ethnic politics

Procedia PDF Downloads 440

Authors: Sirwe Ghaderpour, Nasrollah Ahmadifard, Naser Agh, Zakaria Vahabzadeh

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Rotifers are used in many hatcheries for feeding the earliest stages of fish larvae and crustaceans due to their small size, slow movements, fast reproduction, and easy cultivation. One of the disadvantages of using rotifers as live prey is their lower content of some nutrients compared to copepods, so it is necessary to increase the amounts of these nutrients by means of enrichment. Minerals are a group of micro-elements, essential to fish, that is lacking in the rotifers, for example, selenium (30 fold) and zinc (5 fold) are present in lower quantities than the minimum amounts found in copepods. In this study, the condensed Isochrysis aff. galbana (T-ISO) and Nannochloropsis oculata were suspended at concentration of 18 × 109 cell mL⁻¹ of water with 20 ppt of salinity. Four different levels (0, 1000, 2000, and 4000 mg L⁻¹) of each Na₂SeO₃ and ZnSO₄.7H₂O separately were prepared, and 1 mL of each stock was poured to the algae enrichment vessels for 1 h simultaneously. After that, the material was centrifuged (at 4000 rpm for 5 min), and the precipitated enriched algae was used for rotifer feeding. The contents of Se, Zn, Cu, and Mn were determined in enriched microalgae and rotifer by Atomic absorption. The highest content of both minerals was observed in 0.4 Zn + 0.4 Se treatment and also rotifer enriched with these enriched microalgae. The enrichment of microalgae with Zn and Se does not affect the content of Cu in the microalgae. Also, the content of Cu in rotifer fed with the enriched microalgae showed the highest Cu content in the treatments than the control. But, the enrichment with both minerals had a negative effect on the content Mn in enriched mixed microalgae except 0.4 Zn + 0.4 Se. The Mn content in enriched rotifer decreased in the treatments than the control except for 0.1 Zn + 0.1 Se. There was no significant effect on rotifer growth in combined enrichment with both minerals (p < 0.05). Overall, rotifers enrichment with Se and Zn mixed microalgae resulted in increasing Se, Zn, and Cu. This will allow Se and Zn microalgae enriched rotifers to be used as the minerals delivery method for fish larvae nutritional requirements.

Keywords: enrichment, larvae, microalgae, mineral, rotifer

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Authors: Maryam Nazari, Atefeh Ghanbari, Saghar Noorinia

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Obesity, as an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat, is caused by genetic, behavioral and environmental factors. Recently, obesity surgeries, such as bariatric surgery, as the last measure to control obesity, have attracted experts and society, especially women, attention, so knowing the possible complications of this major surgery and their control in reproductive age is of particular importance due to its effects on pregnancy outcomes. Bariatric surgery reduces the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure associated with pregnancy, premature birth, macrosomia, stillbirth and dumping syndrome. Although in the first months after surgery, nausea and vomiting caused by changes in intra-abdominal pressure are associated with an increased risk of malabsorption of micronutrients such as folic acid, iron, vitamin B1, D, calcium, selenium and phosphorus and finally, fetal growth disorder. Moreover, serum levels of micronutrients such as vitamin D, calcium, and iron in mothers who used to have bariatric surgery and their babies have been shown to be lower than in mothers without a history of bariatric surgery. Moreover, vitamin A deficiency is shown to be more widespread in pregnancies after bariatric surgery, which leads to visual problems in newborns and premature delivery. However, complications such as the duration of hospitalization of newborns in the NICU, disease rate in the first 28 days of life and congenital anomalies are not significantly different in babies born to mothers undergoing bariatric surgery compared to the control group. In spite of the vast advantages following obesity surgeries, due to the catabolic conditions and severe weight loss followed by such major intervention and the probability of nutrients malnutrition in a pregnant woman and her baby, after having surgery, at least 12 to 18 months should be considered to get pregnant as a recovery period. In addition, taking essential supplements before and at least 6 months after this approach is recommended.

Keywords: bariatric surgery, pregnancy, malnutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiency

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Authors: Atakan Efe Akpınar, Zeynep Demir

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Seed priming technologies are frequently used nowadays to increase the germination potential and stress tolerance of seeds. These treatments might be beneficial for native species as well as crops. Different priming treatments can be used depending on the type of plant, the morphology, and the physiology of the seed. Moreover, these may be various physical, chemical, and/or biological treatments. Aiming to improve studies about seed priming, ideas need to be brought into this technological sector related to the agri-seed industry. In this study, seed priming was carried out using some plant extracts. Firstly, some plant extracts prepared from plant leaves, roots, or fruit parts were obtained for use in priming treatments. Then, seeds were kept in solutions containing plant extracts at 20°C for 48 hours. Seeds without any treatment were evaluated as the control group. At the end of priming applications, seeds are dried superficially at 25°C. Seeds were analyzed for vigor (normal germination rate, germination time, germination index etc.). In the future, seed priming applications can expand to multidisciplinary research combining with digital, bioinformatic and molecular tools.

Keywords: seed priming, plant extracts, germination, biology

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Authors: Raymond E. Raguindin

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Objective: This research studied the teaching improvement of daycare workers in imitation, joint attention, and language activities using the play-based early intervention training program in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija. Methods: Focus group discussions were developed to explore the attitude, beliefs, and practices of daycare workers. Results: Findings of the study revealed that daycare workers have existing knowledge and experience in teaching children with autism. Their workshops on managing inappropriate behaviors of children with autism resulting in a general positive perception of accepting and teaching children with autism in daycare centers. Play based activities were modelled and participated in by daycare workers. These include demonstration, modelling, prompting and providing social reinforcers as reward. Five lectures and five training days were done to implement the training program. Daycare workers’ levels of skill in teaching imitation, joint attention and language were gathered before and after the participation in the training program. Findings suggest significant differences between pre-test and post test scores. They have shown significant improvement in facilitating imitation, joint attention, and language children with autism after the play-based early intervention training. They were able to initiate and sustain imitation, joint attention, and language activities with adequate knowledge and confidence. Conclusions: 1. Existing attitudes and beliefs greatly influenced the positive delivery mode of instruction. 2. Teacher-directed approach to improve attention, imitation, joint attention, and language of children with autism can be acquired by daycare workers. 3. Teaching skills and experience can be used as reference and basis for identifying future training needs.

Keywords: early intervention, imitation, joint attention, language

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Authors: Elke Mackensen

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Systems Engineering plays a key role during industrial product development of complex technical systems. The need for systems engineers in industry is growing. However, there is a gap between the industrial need and the academic education. Normally the academic education is focused on the domain specific design, implementation and testing of technical systems. Necessary systems engineering expertise like knowledge about requirements analysis, product cost estimation, management or social skills are poorly taught. Thus, there is the need of new academic concepts for teaching systems engineering skills. This paper presents a project-orientated training concept to prepare students from different technical degree programs for systems engineering activities. The training concept has been initially implemented and applied in the industrial engineering master program of the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg.

Keywords: educational systems engineering training, requirements analysis, system modelling, SysML

Procedia PDF Downloads 350

Authors: Chen Jun

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This study investigates the impact of family involvement, a pivotal factor shaping the management structure of family firms, on the firm’s innovation outputs. The independent variable focuses on the percentage number of family members serving as directors, supervisors and senior management. Our hypothesis suggests that family involvement tends to make management more conservative, thereby increasing the likelihood of impeding innovation investments and resulting in adverse effects on innovation output. Our findings reveal that Chinese family firms with high family involvement exhibit poorer innovation outputs compared to those with lower family involvement. Subsample analyses indicate that this negative influence of family involvement on innovation output is strengthened as the firm faces higher industry competition and a low marketization context. The findings of our paper contribute to the literature on family involvement by empirically illustrating how family involvement hinders innovation efforts and performance in Chinese family firms.

Keywords: family firm, family involvement, firm innovation, Chinese family firm

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Authors: Jyoti Jha, Asim Tewari, Sushil Mishra

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The alpha-beta Titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) is the most common alloy in the aerospace industry. The hot workability of Ti–6Al–4V has been investigated by means of hot compression tests carried out in the 750–950 °C temperature range and 0.001–10s-1 strain rate range. Stress-strain plot obtained from the Gleeble 3800 test results show the dynamic recrystallization at temperature 950 °C. The effect of microstructural characteristics of the deformed specimens have been studied and correlated with the test temperature, total strain and strain rate. Finite element analysis in DEFORM 2D has been carried out to see the effect of flow stress parameters in different zones of deformed sample. Dynamic recrystallization simulation based on Cellular automata has been done in DEFORM 2D to simulate the effect of hardening and recovery during DRX. Simulated results well predict the grain growth and DRX in the deformed sample.

Keywords: compression test, Cellular automata, DEFORM , DRX

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Authors: N. Massoum, A. Guen. Bouazza, B. Bouazza, A. El Ouchdi

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The progress of industry integrated circuits in recent years has been pushed by continuous miniaturization of transistors. With the reduction of dimensions of components at 0.1 micron and below, new physical effects come into play as the standard simulators of two dimensions (2D) do not consider. In fact the third dimension comes into play because the transverse and longitudinal dimensions of the components are of the same order of magnitude. To describe the operation of such components with greater fidelity, we must refine simulation tools and adapted to take into account these phenomena. After an analytical study of the static characteristics of the component, according to the different operating modes, a numerical simulation is performed of field-effect transistor with submicron gate MESFET GaInP. The influence of the dimensions of the gate length is studied. The results are used to determine the optimal geometric and physical parameters of the component for their specific applications and uses.

Keywords: Monte Carlo simulation, transient electron transport, MESFET device, GaInP

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Authors: Pianpian Zhang, Qingping Luo

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Currently, there is a great tendency that more and more villages in China are trying to increase income by development of tourism. Especially in Zhejiang Province, 'Beautiful Rural Construction' provides an excellent opportunity for the development of tourism. In this context, development orientation, transportation routes and tourism service facilities are analyzed under the perspective of water resources protection and regional integration based on the development tourism industry of the six villages in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province as a research object. In the program, the biggest issue is the contradiction between the ecological protection of the water and the development of economy. How to deal with the relationship between protection and development is the key to the design of this case. Furthermore, the six villages are regarded as a whole, connecting to each other by the system of five-path and the landscape along the lake. Every village has its own features, but cannot develop without one another. The article is actively exploring for suggestions and countermeasures to promote the development premised on protection and based on a regional view.

Keywords: development, integration, protection, rural tourism

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Authors: Taner Izzet Acarer, Ece Ceylan Baba

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This paper examines green building certification systems and their current processes in comparison with anticipatory systems. Rapid growth of human population and depletion of natural resources are causing irreparable damage to urban and natural environment. In this context, the concept of ‘sustainable architecture’ has emerged in the 20th century so as to establish and maintain standards for livable urban spaces, to improve quality of urban life, and to preserve natural resources for future generations. The construction industry is responsible for a large part of the resource consumption and it is believed that the ‘green building’ designs that emerge in construction industry can reduce environmental problems and contribute to sustainable development around the world. A building must meet a specific set of criteria, set forth through various certification systems, in order to be eligible for designation as a green building. It is disputable whether methods used by green building certification systems today truly serve the purposes of creating a sustainable world. Accordingly, this study will investigate the sets of rating systems used by the most popular green building certification programs, including LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), BREEAM (Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Methods), DGNB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen System), in terms of ‘Anticipatory Systems’ in accordance with the certification processes and their goals, while discussing their contribution to architecture. The basic methodology of the study is as follows. Firstly analyzes of brief historical and literature review of green buildings and certificate systems will be stated. Secondly, processes of green building certificate systems will be disputed by the help of anticipatory systems. Anticipatory Systems is a set of systems designed to generate action-oriented projections and to forecast potential side effects using the most current data. Anticipatory Systems pull the future into the present and take action based on future predictions. Although they do not have a claim to see into the future, they can provide foresight data. When shaping the foresight data, Anticipatory Systems use feedforward instead of feedback, enabling them to forecast the system’s behavior and potential side effects by establishing a correlation between the system’s present/past behavior and projected results. This study indicates the goals and current status of LEED, BREEAM and DGNB rating systems that created by using the feedback technique will be examined and presented in a chart. In addition, by examining these rating systems with the anticipatory system that using the feedforward method, the negative influences of the potential side effects on the purpose and current status of the rating systems will be shown in another chart. By comparing the two obtained data, the findings will be shown that rating systems are used for different goals than the purposes they are aiming for. In conclusion, the side effects of green building certification systems will be stated by using anticipatory system models.

Keywords: anticipatory systems, BREEAM, certificate systems, DGNB, green buildings, LEED

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Authors: Matthew John F. Sino Cruz, Sarah Jane M. Ferrer, Janice C. Francisco

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COVID-19 pandemic has affected more than 114 countries all over the world since it was considered a global health concern in 2020. Different sectors, including education, have shifted to remote/distant setups to follow the guidelines set to prevent the spread of the disease. One of the higher education institutes which shifted to remote setup is the Pangasinan State University (PSU). In order to continue providing quality instructions to the students, PSU designed Flexible Learning Model to still provide services to its stakeholders amidst the pandemic. The model covers the redesigning of delivering instructions in remote setup and the technology needed to support these adjustments. The primary goal of this study is to determine the insights of the PSU – Bayambang students towards the remote setup implemented during the pandemic and how they perceived the initiatives employed in relation to their experiences in flexible learning. In this study, the topic modelling approach was implemented using Latent Dirichlet Allocation. The dataset used in the study. The results show that the most common concern of the students includes time and resource management, poor internet connection issues, and difficulty coping with the flexible learning modality. Furthermore, the findings of the study can be used as one of the bases for the administration to review and improve the policies and initiatives implemented during the pandemic in relation to remote service delivery. In addition, further studies can be conducted to determine the overall sentiment of the other stakeholders in the policies implemented at the University.

Keywords: COVID-19, topic modelling, students’ sentiment, flexible learning, Latent Dirichlet allocation

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Authors: Rishabh Hans, Saksham Sharma

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Drying of a sessile droplet imbibed with colloidal solution is a complex process in many aspects. Till now, most of the work revolves around; conditions for buckling onset, post-buckling effects, nature of change of droplet shape etc. In this work, we are determining the shape of daughter cavity (DC) formed during post-buckling onset, a less explored stage, and its relationship with experimental parameters. We have introduced solid angle as a special parameter that can quantify the shape of DC at any instant. It facilitates us to compare the shape while experimenting across different substrate types, droplet sizes and particle concentration. Furthermore, the angular location of ‘weak spot’ on the periphery of droplet, which marks the initiation of cavity growth, varies in different conditions. To solve this problem, we have evaluated the deflection angle of weak spots w.r.t. the vertical axis going through the middle of droplet. Subsequently, the solid angle subtended by DC is analyzed about that inclined axis. Finally, results of analysis allude that increasing colloidal concentration has inverse effect on the growth rate of cavity’s shape. Moreover, the cap radius of DC is observed lower for high PLR which makes the capillary pressure higher and thus tougher to expedite cavity formation relatively. This analysis can be helpful in further studies to relate the shape, deflection angle, growth rate of daughter cavity to the type of droplet crust formed in the end. Examining DC stage shall add another layer to nano-colloidal research which aims to influence many industrial applications like patterning, coatings, drug delivery, food processing etc.

Keywords: buckling of sessile droplets, daughter cavity, droplet evaporation, nanoporous shell formation, solid angle

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Authors: Paritosh Goel

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The conservation of historic buildings and historic Centre’s over recent years has become fully encompassed in the planning of built-up areas and their management following climate changes. The approach of the world of restoration, in the Indian context on integrated urban regeneration and its strategic potential for a smarter, more sustainable and socially inclusive urban development introduces, for urban transformations in general (historical centers and otherwise), the theme of sustainability. From this viewpoint, it envisages, as a primary objective, a real “green, ecological or environmental” requalification of the city through interventions within the main categories of sustainability: mobility, energy efficiency, use of sources of renewable energy, urban metabolism (waste, water, territory, etc.) and natural environment. With this the concept of a “resilient city” is also introduced, which can adapt through progressive transformations to situations of change which may not be predictable, behavior that the historical city has always been able to express. Urban planning on the other hand, has increasingly focused on analyses oriented towards the taxonomic description of social/economic and perceptive parameters. It is connected with human behavior, mobility and the characterization of the consumption of resources, in terms of quantity even before quality to inform the city design process, which for ancient fabrics, and mainly affects the public space also in its social dimension. An exact definition of the term “smart city” is still essentially elusive, since we can attribute three dimensions to the term: a) That of a virtual city, evolved based on digital networks and web networks b) That of a physical construction determined by urban planning based on infrastructural innovation, which in the case of historic Centre’s implies regeneration that stimulates and sometimes changes the existing fabric; c) That of a political and social/economic project guided by a dynamic process that provides new behavior and requirements of the city communities that orients the future planning of cities also through participation in their management. This paper is a preliminary research into the connections between these three dimensions applied to the specific case of the fabric of ancient cities with the aim of obtaining a scientific theory and methodology to apply to the regeneration of Indian historical Centre’s. The Smart city scheme if contextualize with heritage of the city it can be an initiative which intends to provide a transdisciplinary approach between various research networks (natural sciences, socio-economics sciences and humanities, technological disciplines, digital infrastructures) which are united in order to improve the design, livability and understanding of urban environment and high historical/cultural performance levels.

Keywords: historical cities regeneration, sustainable restoration, urban planning, smart cities, cultural heritage development strategies

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Authors: Abd Alati Ali Abushnaq, Malek Essnni, Abduraouf Eteer

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The present study proposes a comprehensive approach to effectively utilize associated gas from the KK remote station, eliminating the practice of flaring and mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The proposed integrated system involves diverting the associated gas via a newly designed pipeline, seamlessly connecting to the existing 12-inch pipeline at the tie-in point. The proposed destination is the low-pressure system at A-100 or 3rd stage, where the associated gas will be channeled towards the NGL (natural gas liquid) plant for processing. To ensure the system's efficacy under varying gas production scenarios, the study employs two industry-standard simulation software packages, Aspen HYSYS and PIPSIM. The simulated results demonstrate the system's ability to handle the projected increase in gas production, reaching up to 38 MMSCFD. This comprehensive analysis ensures the system's robustness and adaptability to future production demands.

Keywords: associated gas, flaring mitigation, GHG emissions, pipeline diversion, NGL plant, KK remote station, production forecasting, Aspen HYSYS, PIPSIM

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Authors: Kenneth Okelo, Esther Waithaka, Maureen Mweru

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Development of oral language skills is a precursor to writing and reading acquisition. Oral skill is a means of communication through which people express their desires, ideas, excitements, amusements, disappointments and exchange information. In addition, oral skills have been found to be an important tool for thinking and concept development in children. Research carried out in industrialised countries have identified some appropriate teaching strategies used to enhance acquisition of oral language skills such as repetition, substitution, explanation, contrast, exemplification and code-switching. However, these studies’ geographical locations do not reflect the diversity of the Kenyan society. In addition, studies conducted in Kenya in the past have not established why pre-primary school teachers are not using appropriate teaching strategies. The purpose of this study was to find out whether teachers’ experience, academic qualification and type of training influences their choice of teaching strategies in the development of oral language skills inside and out of the classroom in selected preschools in Kibra Sub-County, Nairobi County. In addition, this study aimed at finding out the strategies used by teachers in Kibra Sub-County to promote oral skills development among pre-primary school children. The study was guided by Holdaway’s theory of language acquisition. Descriptive survey design was employed during this study. Questionnaires and observation schedules were used to collect data. Eighty-three (83) preschool teachers were sampled using multistage sampling methods for observation. Data was analysed using SPSS version 20. The researcher carried out content analysis on the qualitative data. The main descriptive methods used were tabulation of frequencies and percentages. Chi squire test was the inferential statistic used to test the relationship between variables. The main findings of the study indicate that teaching strategies that were mostly used by pre-primary school teachers were code-switching, examples, repetition, substitution and explanation. While questions, direction, expansion of children words and contrast were the least used teaching strategies when teaching oral language skills. The study revealed that the there is a slight correlation between the type of training of teachers and the teaching strategies as most of DICECE trained teachers used more teaching strategies when teaching oral skills compared to other teachers. The findings also revealed that there was a partial significant correlation between teacher’s academic qualifications and a few teaching strategies. A similar correlation was also observed between teaching experience and a few teaching strategies. Since the strategies used by pre-primary school teachers under the study were less than half of the recommended teaching strategies to promote oral skills, the study recommends that teachers should be encouraged to use more in structural strategies to improve children’s oral language skills.

Keywords: Kenya early childhood education, Kenya education, oral language skills acquisition, teaching methods

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Authors: Banan Aljumaiah

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In recent years, the construction industry has leveraged the information revolution, which makes it possible to view the entire construction process of new buildings before they are built with the advent of Building Information Modelling (BIM). Although BIM is an integration of the building model with the data and documents about the building, however, its implementation is limited to individual buildings missing the large picture of the city infrastructure. This limitation of BIM led to the birth of City Information Modelling. Three years ago, Eastern Province Municipality (EPM) in Saudi Arabia mandated that all major projects be delivered with collaborative 3D BIM. After three years of implementation, EPM started to implement City Information Modelling (CIM) as a part of the Smart City Plan to link infrastructure and public services and modelling how people move around and interact with the city. This paper demonstrates a local case study of BIM implementation in EPM and its future as a part of project management automation; the paper also highlights the ambitious plan of EPM to transform CIM towards building smart cities.

Keywords: BIM, BIM to CIM

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Authors: Mengke Zhan, Cheng-Gang Xie, Jian-Jun Shu

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A venturi flowmeter is a common device used in multiphase flow rate measurement in the upstream oil and gas industry. Having a robust computational model for multiphase flow in a venturi is desirable for understanding the gas-liquid and fluid-pipe interactions and predicting pressure and phase distributions under various flow conditions. A steady Eulerian-Eulerian framework is used to simulate upward gas-liquid flow in a vertical venturi. The simulation results are compared with experimental measurements of venturi differential pressure and chord-averaged gas holdup in the venturi throat section. The choice of turbulence model is nontrivial in the multiphase flow modelling in a venturi. The performance cross-comparison of the k-ϵ model, Reynolds stress model (RSM) and shear-stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model is made in the study. In terms of accuracy and computational cost, the SST k-ω turbulence model is observed to be the most efficient.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics (CFD), gas-liquid flow, turbulence modelling, venturi

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Authors: Cheng Fang Hsu

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Call center is the core of building customer relationship management system. Under the strong competitive stress, it becomes a new profiting challenge for a successful enterprise. Call center is a department not only to provide customer service but also to bring business profit. This is the qualitative case study in Taiwan bank service industry which goes on deeper exploration, and analysis by business interviews and industrial analysis. This study starts from the establishment, development, and management after the reforming of the case call center. Through SWOT analysis, and industrial analysis, this study adopted 7S model to explain how the call center reforms from service oriented to profit oriented and from cost management to profit management. The results indicated how service innovation management promotes call center to be operated as a market profit competition center. The recommendations are indicated to support the call center on marketing profit by service innovation management.

Keywords: call center, 7S model, service innovation management, bioinformatics

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Authors: Moustafa Elhamouly, Masayuki Shimada

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The production of competent oocytes is essential for reproductivity in mammals. Maintenance of mitochondrial efficiency is required to supply the ATP necessary for granulosa cell proliferation during the follicular development process. Treatment with Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) has been reported to increase the number of ovulated oocytes and pups per delivery in mice by maintaining healthy mitochondrial function. This study aimed to elucidate how PQQ maintains mitochondrial function during ovarian follicle growth. To do this, both in vitro and in vivo experiments were performed with granulosa cells from superovulated immature (3-week-old) mice that were pretreated with or without PQQ. The effects of PQQ on beta-oxidation, mitochondrial function, mitophagy, and mitochondrial biogenesis were examined. PQQ increased beta-oxidation-related genes and CPT1 protein content in granulosa cells and this was associated with a decreased phosphorylation of P38 signaling protein. Using the fatty acid oxidation assay on the flux analyzer, PQQ increased the reliance of beta-oxidation on the endogenous fatty acids and was associated with a mild UCP-dependant mitochondrial uncoupling, ATP production, mitophagy, and mitochondrial biogenesis. PQQ also increased the expression of endogenous antioxidant enzymes. Thus, PQQ induced beta-oxidation in growing granulosa cells relying on endogenous fatty acids. And reduced the Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by inducing a mild mitochondrial uncoupling with keeping high mitochondrial function. Damaged mitochondria were recycled by the induced mitophagy and replaced by the increased mitochondrial biogenesis. Collectively, PQQ may enhance reproductivity by maintaining the efficiency of mitochondria to produce enough ATP required for normal folliculogenesis.

Keywords: granulosa cells, mitochondrial uncoupling, mitophagy, pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ), reactive oxygen species (ROS).

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Authors: Yifan Fan, Xudong Luo, Pingping Lin

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An essential task in the field of artificial intelligence is to allow computers to interact with people through natural language. Therefore, researches such as virtual assistants and dialogue systems have received widespread attention from industry and academia. The response generation plays a crucial role in dialogue systems, so to push forward the research on this topic, this paper surveys various methods for response generation. We sort out these methods into three categories. First one includes finite state machine methods, framework methods, and instance methods. The second contains full-text indexing methods, ontology methods, vast knowledge base method, and some other methods. The third covers retrieval methods and generative methods. We also discuss some hybrid methods based knowledge and deep learning. We compare their disadvantages and advantages and point out in which ways these studies can be improved further. Our discussion covers some studies published in leading conferences such as IJCAI and AAAI in recent years.

Keywords: deep learning, generative, knowledge, response generation, retrieval

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Authors: Yee Hooi Min, Mohdnasir Abdul Hadi

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Tensioned membrane structure in the form of Enneper minimal surface can be considered as a sustainable development for the green environment and technology, it also can be used to support the effectiveness used of energy and the structure. Soap film in the form of Enneper minimal surface model has been studied. The combination of shape and internal forces for the purpose of stiffness and strength is an important feature of membrane surface. For this purpose, form-finding using soap film model has been carried out for Enneper minimal surface models with variables u=v=0.6 and u=v=1.0. Enneper soap film models with variables u=v=0.6 and u=v=1.0 provides an alternative choice for structural engineers to consider the tensioned membrane structure in the form of Enneper minimal surface applied in the building industry. It is expected to become an alternative building material to be considered by the designer.

Keywords: Enneper, minimal surface, soap film, tensioned membrane structure

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Authors: Imam Uddin, Imtiaz Ahmed Memon

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This paper analyzes the ideological contextuality of market oriented strategy language used by Industry leaders to envision the future of Islamic financial Institutions (IFIs) in the light of Wittgenstein language-games and Foucault’s power-discourse framework. The analysis infers that the explicit market orientation of strategy language and modern knowledge of finance now defines various concepts related of Islamic finance, let alone Islamic finance theory itself. Theorizing and practicing Islamic finance therefore under the dominant influence of modern strategy discourse and modern knowledge of finance has significant implications for developing an ethical and spiritual orientation of Islamic banks. The concerned academia and scholarship therefore need to review such trends and work around the possible degradation to the public image of IFIs and resulting disappointments of religiously inspired customers.

Keywords: Islamic finance discourse, strategy discourse, language games, strategic intent, productive misunderstanding

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Authors: C. O’Brien, Chloe Reiss

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While South Africa has been the chosen host country for over 1,2 million asylum seekers/refugees it has at the same time, been struggling to address the needs of its own people who are still trapped in poverty with little prospects of employment. This limited exploratory, qualitative study was undertaken in Cape Town with a purposive sample of 21 key personnel from various NPOs providing a service to asylum seekers/refugees. Individual in-depth face to face interviews were carried out and the main findings were: Some of the officials at the Department of Home Affairs, health personnel, landlords, school principals, employers, bank officials and police officers were prejudicial in their practices towards asylum seekers/ refugees. The major constraints experienced by NPOs in this study were linked to a lack of funding and minimal government support, strained relationship with the Department of Home Affairs and difficulties in accessing refugees. And finally, the strategies adopted by these NPOs included networking with other service providers, engaging in advocacy, raising community awareness and liaising with government. Thus, more focused intervention strategies are needed to build social cohesion, address prejudices which fuels xenophobic attacks and raise awareness/educate various sectors about refugee rights. Given this burgeoning global problem, social work education and training should include curriculum content on migrant issues. Furthermore, larger studies using mixed methodology approaches would yield more nuanced data and provide for more strategic interventions.

Keywords: refugees and asylum seekers, constraints of service delivery, non-profit organisations, refugee challenges

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Authors: Secil Kaya Gulen

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Face to face and virtual classrooms that came up with different conditions and environments, but similar purposes have different characteristics. Although virtual classrooms have some similar facilities with face-to-face classes such as program, students, and administrators, they have no walls and corridors. Therefore, students can attend the courses from a distance and can control their own learning spaces. Virtual classrooms defined as simultaneous online environments where students in different places come together at the same time with the guidance of a teacher. Distance education and virtual classes require different intellectual and managerial skills and models. Therefore, for effective use of virtual classrooms, the virtual property should be taken into consideration. One of the most important factors that affect the spread and effective use of the virtual classrooms is the perceptions and opinions of students -as one the main participants-. Student opinions and recommendations are important in terms of providing information about the fulfillment of expectation. This will help to improve the applications and contribute to the more efficient implementations. In this context, ideas and perceptions of the students related to the virtual classrooms, in general, were determined in this study. Advantages and disadvantages of virtual classrooms expected contributions to the educational system and expected characteristics of virtual classrooms have examined in this study. Students of an online distance education graduate program in which all the courses offered by virtual classrooms have asked for their opinions. Online Distance Education Graduate Program has totally 19 students. The questionnaire that consists of open-ended and multiple choice questions sent to these 19 students and finally 12 of them answered the questionnaire. Analysis of the data presented as frequencies and percentages for each item. SPSS for multiple-choice questions and Nvivo for open-ended questions were used for analyses. According to the results obtained by the analysis, participants stated that they did not get any training on virtual classes before the courses; but they emphasize that newly enrolled students should be educated about the virtual classrooms. In addition, all participants mentioned that virtual classroom contribute their personal development and they want to improve their skills by gaining more experience. The participants, who mainly emphasize the advantages of virtual classrooms, express that the dissemination of virtual classrooms will contribute to the Turkish Education System. Within the advantages of virtual classrooms, ‘recordable and repeatable lessons’ and ‘eliminating the access and transportation costs’ are most common advantages according to the participants. On the other hand, they mentioned ‘technological features and keyboard usage skills affect the attendance’ is the most common disadvantage. Participants' most obvious problem during virtual lectures is ‘lack of technical support’. Finally ‘easy to use’, ‘support possibilities’, ‘communication level’ and ‘flexibility’ come to the forefront in the scope of expected features of virtual classrooms. Last of all, students' opinions about the virtual classrooms seems to be generally positive. Designing and managing virtual classrooms according to the prioritized features will increase the students’ satisfaction and will contribute to improve applications that are more effective.

Keywords: distance education, virtual classrooms, higher education, e-learning

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Authors: Hyun Ji Hyun, Hyo Sun Suh, Min Kook Kim, Yong Chan Kwon, Byung-Mu Lee

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Scope: This study is focused on the effect of myristic acid on LPS-induced inflammation in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Methods and results: For the experiment, RAW 264.7 mouse macrophage cell line was used. Results showed that treatment with myristic acid can attenuate LPS-induced inflammation. Moreover, myristic acid significantly suppressed expression of inflammatory mediators and down-regulating UVB-induced intracellular ROS generation. Furthermore, myristic acid reduced the expression of NF-κB by inhibiting degradation of IκB-α and ERK, JNK, and p38 pathways by inhibiting phosphorylation in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Conclusion: Overall, these data suggest that the myristic acid could reduce LPS-induced inflammation. Acknowledgment: This research was supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy(MOTIE), Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology(KIAT) through the Encouragement Program for The Industries of Economic Cooperation Region

Keywords: anti-inflammation, myristic acid, ROS, ultraviolet light

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Authors: Bastien Sanglard, Simon Cayez, Guillaume Viau, Thomas Blon, Julian Carrey, Sébastien Lachaize

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The need to develop clean production processes is a key challenge of any industry. Steel and iron industries are particularly concerned since they emit 6.8% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. One key step of the process is the high-temperature reduction of iron ore using coke, leading to large amounts of CO2 emissions. One route to decrease impacts is to get rid of fossil fuels by changing both the heat source and the reducer. The present work aims at investigating experimentally the possibility to use concentrated solar energy and carbon-free reducing agents. Two sets of experimentations were realized. First, in situ X-ray diffraction on pure and industrial powder of hematite was realized to study the phase evolution as a function of temperature during reduction under hydrogen and ammonia. Secondly, experiments were performed on industrial iron ore pellets, which were reduced by NH3 or H2 into a “solar furnace” composed of a controllable 1600W Xenon lamp to simulate and control the solar concentrated irradiation of a glass reactor and of a diaphragm to control light flux. Temperature and pressure were recorded during each experiment via thermocouples and pressure sensors. The percentage of iron oxide converted to iron (called thereafter “reduction ratio”) was found through Rietveld refinement. The power of the light source and the reduction time were varied. Results obtained in the diffractometer reaction chamber show that iron begins to form at 300°C with pure Fe2O3 powder and 400°C with industrial iron ore when maintained at this temperature for 60 minutes and 80 minutes, respectively. Magnetite and wuestite are detected on both powders during the reduction under hydrogen; under ammonia, iron nitride is also detected for temperatures between400°C and 600°C. All the iron oxide was converted to iron for a reaction of 60 min at 500°C, whereas a conversion ratio of 96% was reached with industrial powder for a reaction of 240 min at 600°C under hydrogen. Under ammonia, full conversion was also reached after 240 min of reduction at 600 °C. For experimentations into the solar furnace with iron ore pellets, the lamp power and the shutter opening were varied. An 83.2% conversion ratio was obtained with a light power of 67 W/cm2 without turning over the pellets. Nevertheless, under the same conditions, turning over the pellets in the middle of the experiment permits to reach a conversion ratio of 86.4%. A reduction ratio of 95% was reached with an exposure of 16 min by turning over pellets at half time with a flux of 169W/cm2. Similar or slightly better results were obtained under an ammonia reducing atmosphere. Under the same flux, the highest reduction yield of 97.3% was obtained under ammonia after 28 minutes of exposure. The chemical reaction itself, including the solar heat source, does not produce any greenhouse gases, so solar metallurgy represents a serious way to reduce greenhouse gas emission of metallurgy industry. Nevertheless, the ecological impact of the reducers must be investigated, which will be done in future work.

Keywords: solar concentration, metallurgy, ammonia, hydrogen, sustainability

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