Search results for: micro and small enterprises

Authors: S. Blanchard, D. Beladjine, K. Beddiar

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Since 2015, the arrival of BIM in the building sector in France has turned the corporation world upside down. Not only constructive practices have been impacted, but also the uses and the men who have undergone important changes. Thus, the new collaborative mode generated by the BIM and the digital model has challenged the supremacy of some construction actors because the process involves working together taking into account the needs of other contributors. New BIM tools have emerged and actors in the act of building must take ownership of them. It is in this context that under the impetus of a European directive and the French government's encouragement of new missions and job profiles have. Moreover, concurrent engineering requires that each actor can advance at the same time as the others, at the whim of the information that reaches him, and the information he has to transmit. However, in the French legal system around public procurement, things are not planned in this direction. Also, a consequent evolution must take place to adapt to the methodology. The new missions generated by the BIM in France require a good mastery of the tools and the process. Also, to meet the objectives of the BIM approach, it is possible to define a typical job profile around the BIM, adapted to the various sectors concerned. The multitude of job offers using the same terms with very different objectives and the complexity of the proposed missions motivated by our approach. In order to reinforce exchanges with professionals or specialists, we carried out a statistical study to answer this problem. Five topics are discussed around the business area: the BIM in the company, the function (business), software used and BIM missions practiced (39 items). About 1400 professionals were interviewed. These people work in companies (micro businesses, SMEs, and Groups) of construction, engineering offices or, architectural agencies. 77% of respondents have the status of employees. All participants are graduated in their trade, the majority having level 1. Most people have less than a year of experience in BIM, but some have 10 years. The results of our survey help to understand why it is not possible to define a single type of BIM Manager. Indeed, the specificities of the companies are so numerous and complex and the missions so varied, that there is not a single model for a function. On the other hand, it was possible to define 3 main professions around the BIM (Manager, Coordinator and Modeler) and 3 main missions for the BIM Manager (deployment of the method, assistance to project management and management of a project).

Keywords: BIM manager, BIM modeler, BIM coordinator, project management

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: K. Ali, M. F. Qamar, M. A. Zaman, M. Younus, I. Khan, S. Ehtisham-ul-Haque, R. Tamkeen, M. I. Rashid, Q. Ali

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This study centers on molecular identification of Haemonchus contortus and isolation of Benz-imidazoles (BZ) resistant strains. Different abattoirs’ of two geographic regions of Punjab (Pakistan) were frequently visited for the collection of worms. Out of 1500 (n=1500) samples that were morphologically confirmed as H. contortus, 30 worms were subjected to molecular procedures for isolation of resistant strains. Resistant worms (n=8) were further subjected to DNA gene sequencing. Bio edit sequence alignment editor software was used to detect the possible mutation, deletion, replacement of nucleotides. Genetic diversity was noticed and genetic variation existing in β-tubulin isotype 1 of the H. contortus population of small ruminants of different regions considered in this study. H. contortus showed three different type of genetic sequences. 75%, 37.5%, 25% and 12.5% of the studied samples showed 100% query cover and identity with isolates and clones of China, UK, Australia and other countries, respectively. Interestingly the neighbor countries such as India and Iran haven’t many similarities with the Pakistani isolates. Thus, it suggests that population density of same genetic makeup H. contortus is scattered worldwide rather than clustering in a single region.

Keywords: Haemonchus contortus, Benzimidazole resistant, β-tubulin-1 gene, abattoirs

Procedia PDF Downloads 175

Authors: Nomakholwa F. Stokwe, Antoinette P. Malan

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Woolly apple aphid (WAA), Eriosoma lanigerum, is an important pest of apples worldwide. The aphid feeds above ground on buds and leaf axils and the roots of apple trees. Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) of the two families, Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae, and their symbiotic bacteria have generated extensive interest as inundative applied biological control agents of insects. With the development of the resistance of WAA to chemicals, export restrictions, and the inability of parasitoids to control the aphid successfully early in the season, considering EPNs as an alternative biocontrol agent is important. Seven EPN species were tested for their pathogenicity against WAA. Laboratory bioassays identified S. yirgalemense and H. zealandica as being the most virulent against the subterranean stage of the WAA, with a mortality rate of 48% and 38%, respectively. Studies on the effect of WAA size showed that the last instar is most susceptible to infection, whereas smaller instars appear to be too small for nematode penetration and infection. Neither increasing the exposure period of the aphids nor increasing the nematode concentration affected the infection rate positively. The haemolymph of WAA showed an inhibitory effect on the development of the symbiotic bacteria, preventing the completion of the nematode’s life cycle.

Keywords: apples, biocontrol, entomopathogenic nematodes, woolly apple aphid

Procedia PDF Downloads 224

Authors: Anna K. Wood, Terri Friedline

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In April and May 2020, the private banking industry approved over 1.7 million emergency small business loans, totaling over $650 billion in federal relief funds as part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Since the program’s rollout, the extensive evidence of discriminatory lending and misuse of funds has been revealed by investigative journalism and academic studies. This study is based on 41 interviews with frontline banking industry professionals conducted during the days and weeks of the PPP rollout, presenting a real-time narrative of the program rollout through the eyes of those in the role of a street-level bureaucrat. We present two themes from this data about the conditions under which these frontline workers experienced the PPP: Exigent Timelines and Defaulting to Existing Workplace Norms and Practices. We analyze these themes using literature on street-level organizations, bureaucratic discretion, and the differences between public and private sector logic. The results of this study present new directions for theorizing sector-level differences in street-level bureaucratic discretion in the context of mixed-sector collaboration on public service delivery, particularly under conditions of crisis and urgency.

Keywords: street level bureaucracy, social policy, bureaucratic discretion, public private partnerships

Procedia PDF Downloads 104

Authors: Muhammad A. Alsubaie

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An iterative learning control framework designed in state feedback structure suffers a lack in investigating load disturbance considerations. The presented work discusses the controller previously designed, highlights the disturbance problem, finds new conditions using singular value principle to assure safe operation conditions with error convergence and reference tracking under the influence of load disturbance. It is known that periodic disturbances can be represented by a delay model in a positive feedback loop acting on the system input. This model can be manipulated by isolating the delay model and finding a controller for the overall system around the delay model to remedy the periodic disturbances using the small signal theorem. The overall system is the base for control design and load disturbance investigation. The major finding of this work is the load disturbance condition found which clearly sets safe operation condition under the influence of load disturbances such that the error tends to nearly zero as the system keeps operating trial after trial.

Keywords: iterative learning control, singular values, state feedback, load disturbance

Procedia PDF Downloads 158

Authors: Fauzi Jarushi, Paul Cosentino, Edward Kalajian, Hadeel Dekhn

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At certain depths during large diameter displacement pile driving, rebound well over 0.25 inches was experienced, followed by a small permanent set during each hammer blow. High pile rebound (HPR) soils may stop the pile driving and results in a limited pile capacity. In some cases, rebound leads to pile damage, delaying the construction project, and the requiring foundations redesign. HPR was evaluated at seven Florida sites, during driving of square precast, prestressed concrete piles driven into saturated, fine silty to clayey sands and sandy clays. Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) deflection versus time data recorded during installation, was used to develop correlations between cone penetrometer (CPT) pore-water pressures, pile displacements and rebound. At five sites where piles experienced excessive HPR with minimal set, the pore pressure yielded very high positive values of greater than 20 tsf. However, at the site where the pile rebounded, followed by an acceptable permanent set, the measured pore pressure ranged between 5 and 20 tsf. The pore pressure exhibited values of less than 5 tsf at the site where no rebound was noticed. In summary, direct correlations between CPTu pore pressure and rebound were produced, allowing identification of soils that produce HPR.

Keywords: CPTU, pore water pressure, pile rebound

Procedia PDF Downloads 321

Authors: Ofonime Ogba, Augustine Akpan

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Objectives and Goals: The study was aimed at determining pathogenic microbial carriage on the external body parts of Camponotus consobrinus which is also known as the banded sugar ant because of its liking for sugar and sweet food. The level of pathogenic microbial carriage of Camponotus consobrinus in association to the environment in which they have been collected is not known. Methods: The ants were purposively collected from four locations including the kitchens, bedroom of various homes, food shops, and bakeries. The sample collection took place within the hours of 6:30 pm to 11:00 pm. The ants were trapped in transparent plastic containers of which sugar, pineapple peels, sugar cane and soft drinks were used as bait. The ants were removed with a sterile spatula and put in 10mls of peptone water in sterile universal bottles. The containers were vigorously shaken to wash the external surface of the ant. It was left overnight and transported to the Microbiology Laboratory, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital for analysis. The overnight peptone broths were inoculated on Chocolate agar, Blood agar, Cystine Lactose Electrolyte-Deficient agar (CLED) and Sabouraud dextrose agar. Incubation was done aerobically and in a carbon dioxide jar for 24 to 48 hours at 37°C. Isolates were identified based on colonial characteristics, Gram staining, and biochemical tests. Results: Out of the 250 Camponotus consobrinus caught for the study, 90(36.0%) were caught in the kitchen, 75(30.0%) in the bedrooms 40(16.0%) in the bakery while 45(18.0%) were caught in the shops. A total of 82.0% prevalence of different microbial isolates was associated with the ants. The kitchen had the highest number of isolates 75(36.6%) followed by the bedroom 55(26.8%) while the bakery recorded the lowest number of isolates 35(17.1%). The profile of micro-organisms associated with Camponotus consobrinus was Escherichia coli 73(30.0%), Morganella morganii 45(18.0%), Candida species 25(10.0%), Serratia marcescens 10(4.0%) and Citrobacter freundii 10(4.0%). Conclusion: Most of the Camponotus consobrinus examined in the four locations harboured potential pathogens. The presence of ants in homes and shops can facilitate the propagation and spread of pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, the development of basic preventive measures and the control of ants must be taken seriously.

Keywords: Camponotus consobrinus, potential pathogens, microbial isolates, spread

Procedia PDF Downloads 167

Authors: Ying Chen

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Conservation Agriculture in a sustainable way of farming, as it brings many benefits, such as preventing soil from erosion and degradation, improving soil health, conserving energy, and sequestrating carbon. However, adoption of conservation agriculture has been progressing slowly in some part of the world due to some challenges. Among them, seeding in heavy crop residue is challenging, especially in corn production systems. Weed control is also challenging in conservation agriculture. This research aimed to investigate some technologies that can address these challenges. For crop residue management, vertical tillage and vertical seeding have been studied in multiple research projects. Results showed that vertical tillage and seeding were able to deal with crop residue through cutting residue into small segments, which would not plug seeder in the sub-sequent seeding. Vertical tillage is a conservation tillage system, as it leaves more than 30% crop residue on soil surface while incorporating some residue into the shallow soil layer for fast residue decomposition. For weed control, mechanical weeding can reduce chemical inputs in crop production. A tine weeder was studied for weed control during the early growing season of several field crops (corn, soybean, flax, and pea). Detail results of these studies will be shared at the conference.

Keywords: tillage, seeding, mechanical weeding, crop residue

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Brian Kristopher Cambra

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Millions of displaced families are seeking refuge in countries that are not their own due to war, violence, persecution, political unrest, and natural disasters. This global crisis is forcing researchers and practitioners to consider how refugees are coping with the trauma associated with their migration process. Effective therapeutic approaches are needed in a global effort to address the traumatic impact of forced migration. This meta-analytical study investigates the effectiveness of expressive therapeutic modalities, including play, art, music, sandplay, theatre, and writing therapies, in helping children and adolescents cope with refugee trauma. Seventeen pre-post and between-group comparison studies were analyzed using a random-effects model. The combined effect size for pre-post comparisons was medium (g = 0.58), whereas the combined effect size for between-group comparisons was small (g = 0.32). Overall, art therapy was found to be most effective in treating stress symptoms. Heterogeneity tests, however, suggest effect sizes cannot be interpreted as meaningful due to substantial variance. Nevertheless, findings of this meta-analysis indicate that expressive therapies may be among beneficial modalities to integrate with other trauma-informed approaches.

Keywords: expressive therapies, forced migration, meta-analysis, refugees, trauma

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: A. El-S. Makled, M. K. Al-Tamimi

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Ignition phenomena are of great interest area over the past many years, and it has a direct impact on many propulsion and combustion applications. The direct goal of the paper is to realize and evaluate a functioning ignition method, shut-off, throttling and re-start operations for the hybrid rocket motor. A small-scale hybrid rocket motor (SSHRM) is designed, manufactured, demonstrated at various operating conditions and finally equipped for laboratory firing tests with high level of safety. Various solid fuel grains as Polymethyle-methacrylate (PMMA) and Polyethylene (PE) are selected, and it is decided to use the commercial gaseous oxygen (GO2) for its availability and low cost. Examine different types of ignition methods, pyrotechnic charge, fuse wire, heat wire and finally hot oxidizer method by using the heat exchanger, which are proposed as very safe ignition methods. Finally; recognize phenomena of throttling and re-start operations. Ignition by hot GO2 impingement is proved to be a very attractive ignition method for laboratory SSHRM, for its high safety, reliability and acceptable delay time. Finally; the throttling and re-start operations are demonstrated several times and can be carried out more easily with hot air ignition method.

Keywords: hybrid rocket motor, ignition system, re-start phenomena, throttling

Procedia PDF Downloads 301

Authors: Mohammad Pourmohammadi Fallah, Maziar Salahi

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In the literature, a mixed-integer linear programming model for the integrated production planning and warehouse layout problem is proposed. To solve the model, the authors proposed a Lagrangian relax-and-fix heuristic that takes a significant amount of time to stop with gaps above 5$\%$ for large-scale instances. Here, we present two heuristic algorithms to solve the problem. In the first one, we use a greedy approach by allocating warehouse locations with less reservation costs and also less transportation costs from the production area to locations and from locations to the output point to items with higher demands. Then a smaller model is solved. In the second heuristic, first, we sort items in descending order according to the fraction of the sum of the demands for that item in the time horizon plus the maximum demand for that item in the time horizon and the sum of all its demands in the time horizon. Then we categorize the sorted items into groups of 3, 4, or 5 and solve a small-scale optimization problem for each group, hoping to improve the solution of the first heuristic. Our preliminary numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed heuristics.

Keywords: capacitated lot-sizing, warehouse layout, mixed-integer linear programming, heuristics algorithm

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Jie Zheng, Ruifeng Luo

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The United States is the world’s most developed economy with the strongest military power. China is the fastest growing country with growing comprehensive strength and its economic strength is second only to the US. However, the conflict between them is getting serious in recent years. President’s address is the representative of a nation’s ideology. The paper has built up a small sized corpus of President Xi Jinping and Trump’s speech in Davos to investigate their respective use and types of metaphors and calculate the respective percentage of each type of metaphor. The result shows President Xi Jinping employs more metaphors than Trump. The metaphors of Xi includes “building” metaphor, “plant” metaphor, “journey” metaphor, “ship” metaphor, “traffic” metaphor, “nation is a person” metaphor, “show” metaphor, etc while Trump’s comprises “war” metaphor, “building” metaphor, “journey” metaphor, “traffic” metaphor, “tax” metaphor, “book” metaphor, etc. After investigating metaphor use differences, the paper makes an analysis of the underlying ideology between the two nations. China is willing to strengthen ties with all the countries all over the world and has built a platform of development for them and itself to go to the destination of social well being while the US pays much concern to itself, emphasizing its first leading position and is also willing to help its alliances to development. The paper’s comparison of the ideology difference between the two countries will help them get a better understanding and reduce the conflict to some extent.

Keywords: metaphor; corpus; ideology; conflict

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Abraham Motlhabane

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This research analysed the written views of science education students regarding the teaching of laboratory work using the online mode. The research adopted the qualitative methodology. The qualitative research was aimed at investigating small and distinct groups normally regarded as a single-site study. Qualitative research was used to describe and analyze the phenomena from the student’s perspective. This means the research began with assumptions of the world view that use theoretical lenses of research problems inquiring into the meaning of individual students. The research was conducted with three groups of students studying for Postgraduate Certificate in Education, Bachelor of Education and honors Bachelor of Education respectively. In each of the study programmes, the science education module is compulsory. Five science education students from each study programme were purposively selected to participate in this research. Therefore, 15 students participated in the research. In order to analysis the data, the data were first printed and hard copies were used in the analysis. The data was read several times and key concepts and ideas were highlighted. Themes and patterns were identified to describe the data. Coding as a process of organising and sorting data was used. The findings of the study are very diverse; some students are in favour of online laboratory whereas other students argue that science can only be learnt through hands-on experimentation.

Keywords: online learning, laboratory work, views, perceptions

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Verarisa Ujung

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The Anthropocene – as scientists define as a new geological epoch where human intervention has the dominant influence on the geological, atmospheric, and ecological processes challenges the contemporary discourse in architecture and interior. The dominant influence characterises the incapability to distinguish the notion of nature, subnature, human and non-human. Consequently, living in the Anthropocene demands sensitivity and responsiveness to heighten our sense of the rhythm of transformation and recognition of our environment as a product of natural, social and historical processes. The notion of subnature is particularly emphasised in this paper to investigate the poetic sense of living with subnature. It could be associated with the critical tool for exploring the aesthetic and programmatic implications of subnature on interiority. The ephemeral immaterial attached to subnature promotes the sense of atmospheric delineation of interiority, the very inner significance of body-surface interaction, which central to interior architecture discourse. This would then reflect human’s activities; examine the transformative change, the architectural motion and the traces that left between moments. In this way, engaging the notion of subnature enable us to better understand the critical subject on interiority and might provide an in-depth study on interior architecture. Incorporating the exploration on the form, materiality, and pattern of subnature, this research seeks to grasp the inner significance of micro to macro approaches so that the future of interior might be compelled to depend more on the investigation and development of responsive environment. To reflect upon the form, materiality and intensity of subnature that specifically characterized by the natural, social and historical processes, this research examines a volcanic land, White Island/Whakaari, New Zealand as the chosen site of investigation. Emitting various forms and intensities of subnatures - smokes, mud, sulphur gas, this volcanic land also open to the new inhabitation within the sulphur factory ruins that reflects human’s past occupation. In this way, temporal and natural selected manifestations of materiality, artefact, and performance can be traced out and might reveal the meaningful relations among space, inhabitation, and well-being of inhabitants in the Anthropocene.

Keywords: anthropocene, body, intensification, intensity, interior architecture, subnature, surface

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Seda Yavuz, Anıl Çelebi, Aysun Taşyapı Çelebi, Oğuzhan Urhan

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Nowadays, demand for using real-time video transmission capable devices is ever-increasing. So, high resolution videos have made efficient video compression techniques an essential component for capturing and transmitting video data. Motion estimation has a critical role in encoding raw video. Hence, various motion estimation methods are introduced to efficiently compress the video. Low bit‑depth representation based motion estimation methods facilitate computation of matching criteria and thus, provide small hardware footprint. In this paper, a hardware implementation of a two-bit transformation based low-complexity motion estimation method using local binary pattern approach is proposed. Image frames are represented in two-bit depth instead of full-depth by making use of the local binary pattern as a binarization approach and the binarization part of the hardware architecture is explained in detail. Experimental results demonstrate the difference between the proposed hardware architecture and the architectures of well-known low-complexity motion estimation methods in terms of important aspects such as resource utilization, energy and power consumption.

Keywords: binarization, hardware architecture, local binary pattern, motion estimation, two-bit transform

Procedia PDF Downloads 311

Authors: R. Ezzati, M. Dezyani, H. Mirzaei

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The effects of the concentration of trisodium citrate (TSC) emulsifying salt (0.25 to 2.75%) and holding time (0 to 20 min) on the textural, rheological, and microstructural properties of Iranian Processed Cheese Cheddar cheese were studied using a central composite rotatable design. The loss tangent parameter (from small amplitude oscillatory rheology), extent of flow, and melt area (from the Schreiber test) all indicated that the meltability of process cheese decreased with increased concentration of TSC and that holding time led to a slight reduction in meltability. Hardness increased as the concentration of TSC increased. Fluorescence micrographs indicated that the size of fat droplets decreased with an increase in the concentration of TSC and with longer holding times. Acid-base titration curves indicated that the buffering peak at pH 4.8, which is due to residual colloidal calcium phosphate, decreased as the concentration of TSC increased. The soluble phosphate content increased as concentration of TSC increased. However, the insoluble Ca decreased with increasing concentration of TSC. The results of this study suggest that TSC chelated Ca from colloidal calcium phosphate and dispersed casein; the citrate-Ca complex remained trapped within the process cheese matrix. Increasing the concentration of TSC helped to improve fat emulsification and casein dispersion during cooking, both of which probably helped to reinforce the structure of process cheese.

Keywords: Iranian processed cheese, cheddar cheese, emulsifying salt, rheology

Procedia PDF Downloads 443

Authors: Chien Chin-Wen

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Collaborative teaching has different teaching models and station teaching is one type of collaborative teaching. Station teaching is not commonly practiced in elementary school English education and introduced in language teacher education programs in Taiwan. In station teaching, each teacher takes a small part of instructional content, working with a small number of students. Students rotate between stations where they receive the assignments and instruction from different teachers. The teachers provide the same content to each group, but the instructional method can vary based upon the needs of each group of students. This study explores thirty-four Taiwanese pre-service elementary school English teachers’ knowledge about station teaching and their competence demonstrated in designing activities for and delivering of station teaching in an English remedial education to six sixth graders in a local elementary school in northern Taiwan. The participants simultaneously enrolled in this Elementary School English Teaching Materials and Methods class, a part of an elementary school teacher education program in a northern Taiwan city. The instructor (Jennifer, pseudonym) in this Elementary School English Teaching Materials and Methods class collaborated with an English teacher (Olivia, pseudonym) in Maureen Elementary School (pseudonym), an urban elementary school in a northwestern Taiwan city. Of Olivia’s students, four male and two female sixth graders needed to have remedial English education. Olivia chose these six elementary school students because they were in the lowest 5 % of their class in terms of their English proficiency. The thirty-four pre-service English teachers signed up for and took turns in teaching these six sixth graders every Thursday afternoon from four to five o’clock for twelve weeks. While three participants signed up as a team and taught these six sixth graders, the last team consisted of only two pre-service teachers. Each team designed a 40-minute lesson plan on the given language focus (words, sentence patterns, dialogue, phonics) of the assigned unit. Data in this study included the KWLA chart, activity designs, and semi-structured interviews. Data collection lasted for four months, from September to December 2014. Data were analyzed as follows. First, all the notes were read and marked with appropriate codes (e.g., I don’t know, co-teaching etc.). Second, tentative categories were labeled (e.g., before, after, process, future implication, etc.). Finally, the data were sorted into topics that reflected the research questions on the basis of their relevance. This study has the following major findings. First of all, the majority of participants knew nothing about station teaching at the beginning of the study. After taking the course Elementary School English Teaching Materials and Methods and after designing and delivering the station teaching in an English remedial education program to six sixth graders, they learned that station teaching is co-teaching, and that it includes activity designs for different stations and students’ rotating from station to station. They demonstrated knowledge and skills in activity designs for vocabulary, sentence patterns, dialogue, and phonics. Moreover, they learned to interact with individual learners and guided them step by step in learning vocabulary, sentence patterns, dialogue, and phonics. However, they were still incompetent in classroom management, time management, English, and designing diverse and meaningful activities for elementary school students at different English proficiency levels. Hence, language teacher education programs are recommended to integrate station teaching to help pre-service teachers be equipped with eight knowledge and competences, including linguistic knowledge, content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, curriculum knowledge, knowledge of learners and their characteristics, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of education content, and knowledge of education’s ends and purposes.

Keywords: co-teaching, competence, knowledge, pre-service teachers, station teaching

Procedia PDF Downloads 427

Authors: Mehrnaz Alibeikloo, Hadi Khabbaz, Behzad Fatahi

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The spectral random field method is one of the widely used methods to obtain more reliable and accurate results in geotechnical problems involving material variability. Karhunen-Loeve (K-L) expansion method was applied to perform random field discretization of cross-correlated creep parameters. Karhunen-Loeve expansion method is based on eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of covariance function adopting Kernel integral solution. In this paper, the accuracy of Karhunen-Loeve expansion was investigated to predict long-term settlement of soft soils adopting elastic visco-plastic creep model. For this purpose, a parametric study was carried to evaluate the effect of K-L expansion terms and spatial correlation length on the reliability of results. The results indicate that small values of spatial correlation length require more K-L expansion terms. Moreover, by increasing spatial correlation length, the coefficient of variation (COV) of creep settlement increases, confirming more conservative and safer prediction.

Keywords: Karhunen-Loeve expansion, long-term settlement, reliability analysis, spatial correlation length

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Victor Emery David Jr, Md S. Hossain

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Sewage sludge management has been a problem faced by most developing cities as in the case of Monrovia. The management of sewage sludge in Monrovia is still in its infant stage. The city is still struggling with poor sanitation, clogged pipes, shortage of septic tanks, lack of resources/human capacity, inadequate treatment facilities, open defecation, the absence of clear guidelines, etc. The rapid urban population growth of Monrovia has severely stressed Monrovia’s marginally functional urban WSS system caused by the civil conflict which led to break down in many sectors as well as infrastructure. The sewerage system which originally covered 17% of the population of Monrovia was down to serving about 7% because of bursts and blockages causing backflows in other areas. Prior to the Civil War, the average water production for Monrovia was about 68,000 m3/day but has now dropped to about 10,000 m3/day. Only small parts of Monrovia currently have direct access to the piped water supply while most areas depend on trucked water delivered to community collection points or household tanks, and/or on water from unprotected dug wells or hand pumps. There are only two functional treatment plants; The Fiamah Treatment plant and the White Plains Treatment Plant.

Keywords: Fiamah Treatment plant, management, Monrovia/Montserrado County, sewage, sludge

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: Nalanda Matia, Julia Zhao, Amber Jaycocks, Divya Sinha

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Social assistance programs for businesses are intended to improve their survival and growth in the face of catastrophic events like the COVID-19 pandemic. However, that goal remains unfulfilled when the mostwantingbusinesses fail to participate in such programs. Reasons for non-participation can include lack of information, inability to cope with applications and program compliance, as well as some programs’ non-entitlement status. Some of these factors may be associated with the organizational and locational characteristics of these businesses. This research investigates these organizational and locational factorsthat determine receipt and effectiveness of social assistance among the firms that receive it. of A sample of firms from the universe of 3 rounds of Small Business Administration backed Paycheck Protection Program recipient and similarly profiled non recipient businesses are used to analyze this question. Initial results show firm organizational factors like size and spatial factors like broadband coverage at firm location impact application for and subsequent receipt of assistance for digitally administered programs. Further, Line of business and wage structure of recipients’ impact effectiveness of the assistance dollars.

Keywords: public economics, economics of social assistance, firm organizational structure, survival analysis

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Authors: Susanna Vanhamäki, Gabor Schneider, Kati Manskinen

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‘Bioeconomy’ is a complex concept that cuts across many sectors and covers several policy areas. To achieve an overall understanding and support a successful bioeconomy, a cross-sectorial approach is necessary. In practice, due to the concept’s wide scope and varying international approaches, fully understanding bioeconomy is challenging on policy level. This paper provides a background of the topic through an analysis of bioeconomy strategies in the Baltic Sea region. Expert interviews and a small survey were conducted to discover the current and intended focuses of these countries’ bioeconomy sectors. The research shows that supporting sustainability is one of the keys in developing the future bioeconomy. The results highlighted that the bioeconomy has to be sustainable and based on circular economy principles. Currently, traditional bioeconomy sectors like food, wood, fish & waters as well as fuel & energy, which are in the core of national bioeconomy strategies, are best known and are considered more relevant than other bioeconomy industries. However, there is increasing potential for novel sectors, such as textiles and pharmaceuticals. The present research indicates that the opportunities presented by these bioeconomy sectors should be recognised and promoted. Education, research and innovation can play key roles in developing transformative and sustainable improvements in primary production and renewable resources. Furthermore, cooperation between businesses and educators is important.

Keywords: bioeconomy, circular economy, policy, strategy

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Ahmet Y. Gurkan, Cagatay S. Koksal, Cagri Aydin, U. Oral Unal

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The present paper covers the viscous flow computations for the asymmetric diffuser section of a large, high-speed cavitation tunnel which will be constructed in Istanbul Technical University. The analyses were carried out by using the incompressible Reynold-Averaged-Navier-Stokes equations. While determining the diffuser geometry, a high quality, separation-free flow field with minimum energy loses was particularly aimed. The expansion angle has a critical role on the diffuser hydrodynamic performance. In order obtain a relatively short diffuser length, due to the constructive limitations, and hydrodynamic energy effectiveness, three diffuser sections with varying expansion angles for side and bottom walls were considered. A systematic study was performed to determine the most effective diffuser configuration. The results revealed that the inlet condition of the diffuser greatly affects its flow field. The inclusion of the contraction section in the computations substantially modified the flow topology in the diffuser. The effect of the diffuser flow on the test section flow characteristics was clearly observed. The influence of the introduction of small chamfers at the corners of the diffuser geometry is also presented.

Keywords: asymmetric diffuser, diffuser design, cavitation tunnel, viscous flow, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), rans

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Authors: Mehrnoosh Ghadimi, Golnoush Ghadimi

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Precise monitoring of glacier velocity is critical in determining glacier-related hazards. Zardkooh Mountain was studied in terms of glacial activity rate in Zagros Mountainous region in Iran. In this study, we assessed the ability of optical and radar imagery to derive glacier-surface velocities in mountainous terrain. We processed Landsat 8 for optical data and Sentinel-1a for radar data. We used methods that are commonly used to measure glacier surface movements, such as cross correlation of optical and radar satellite images, SAR tracking techniques, and multiple aperture InSAR (MAI). We also assessed time series glacier surface displacement using our modified method, Enhanced Small Baseline Subset (ESBAS). The ESBAS has been implemented in StaMPS software, with several aspects of the processing chain modified, including filtering prior to phase unwrapping, topographic correction within three-dimensional phase unwrapping, reducing atmospheric noise, and removing the ramp caused by ionosphere turbulence and/or orbit errors. Our findings indicate an average surface velocity rate of 32 mm/yr in the Zardkooh mountainous areas.

Keywords: active rock glaciers, landsat 8, sentinel-1a, zagros mountainous region

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Authors: Loredana Elena Nita, Maria Bercea, Aurica P. Chiriac, Iordana Neamtu

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The paper is devoted to the behavior of gels based on poly(itaconic anhydride-co-3, 9-divinyl-2, 4, 8, 10-tetraoxaspiro (5.5) undecane) copolymers, with different ratio between the comonomers, and hyaluronic acid (HA). The gel formation was investigated by small-amplitude oscillatory shear measurements following the viscoelastic behavior as a function of gel composition, temperature and shear conditions. Hyaluronic acid was investigated in the same conditions and its rheological behavior is typical to viscous fluids. In the case of the copolymers, the ratio between the two comonomers influences the viscoelastic behavior, a higher content of itaconic anhydride favoring the gel formation. Also, the sol-gel transition was evaluated according to Winter-Chambon criterion that identifies the gelation point when the viscoelastic moduli (G’ and G”) behave similarly as a function of oscillation frequency. From rheological measurements, an optimum composition was evidenced for which the system presents a typical gel-like behavior at 37 °C: the elastic modulus is higher than the viscous modulus and they are not dependent on the oscillation frequency. The formation of the 3D macroporous network was also evidenced by FTIR spectra, SEM microscopy and chemical imaging. These hydrogels present a high potential as drug delivery systems.

Keywords: copolymer, viscoelasticity, gelation, 3D network

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Authors: Stanley Fore

Abstract:

The case study company is one of the leading newsprint companies in South Africa. The company has achieved this status through operational expansion, diversification and investing in cutting-edge technology. They have a reputation for the highest quality and personalised service that transcends borders and industries. The company offers a wide variety of small and large scales printing services. The company is faced with the challenge of significant waste production during normal operations. The company generates 1200 kg of plastic waste and 60 – 70 tonnes of paper waste per month. The company operates a waste management process currently, whereby waste paper is sold, at low cost, to recycling firms for further processing. Having considered the quantity of waste being generated, the company has embarked on a venture to find a more profitable solution to its current waste production. As waste management and recycling is not the company’s core business, the aim of the venture is to implement a secondary profitable waste process business. The venture will be expedited as a strategic project. This research aims to estimate the financial feasibility of a selected solution as well as the impact of non-financial considerations thereof. The financial feasibility is analysed using metrics such as Payback period; internal rate of return and net present value.

Keywords: waste, printing industry, up-cycling, management

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Authors: Hussein M. Etmimi, Peter E. Mallon

Abstract:

Electrospinning uses an electrical charge to draw very fine fibers (typically on the micro or nano scale) from a liquid or molten precursor. Over the years, this method has become a widely used and a successful technique to process polymer materials and their composites into nanofibers. The main focus of this work is to study the electrospinning of multi-phase amphiphilic copolymers and their nanocomposites, which contain graphene as the nanofiller material. In such amphiphilic materials, the constituents segments are incompatible and thus the solid state morphology will be determined by the composition of the various constituents as well as the method of preparation. In this study, amphiphilic block copolymers of poly(dimethyl siloxane) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PDMS-b-PMMA) with well-defined structures were synthesized and the solution electrospinning of these materials and their properties were investigated. Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) was used to obtain the controlled block copolymers with relatively high molar masses and narrow dispersity. First, PDMS macroinitiators with different chain length of 1000, 5000 and 10000 g/mol were synthesized by the reaction of monocarbinol terminated PDMS with α-bromoisobutyryl bromide initiator. The obtained macroinitiators were used for the polymerization of methyl methacrylate monomer to obtain the desired block copolymers using the ATRP process. Graphene oxide (GO) of different loading was then added to the copolymer solution and the resultant nanocomposites were successfully electrospun into nanofibers. The electrospinning was achieved using dimethylformamide/chloroform mixture (60:40 vl%) as electrospinning solution medium. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed the successful formation of the electrospun fibers with dimensions in the nanometer range. X-ray diffraction indicated that the GO nanosheets were of an exfoliated structure, irrespective of the filler loading. Thermogravimetric analysis also showed that the thermal stability of the nanofibers was improved in the presence of GO, which was not a function of the filler loading. Differential scanning calorimetry also showed that the mechanical properties (measured as glass transition temperature) of the nanofibers was improved significantly in the presence of GO, which was a function of the filler loading.

Keywords: elctrospinning, graphene oxide, nanofibers, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)

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Authors: Mulatu Kassie Birhanu

Abstract:

Electrochemical reduction of CO₂ is an emerging and current issue for its conversion in to valuable product upon minimization of its atmospheric level for contribution of maintaining within the range of permissible limit. Among plenty of electro-catalysts gold and copper are efficient and effective catalysts, which are synthesized and applicable for this research work. The two metal catalysts were prepared in inert environment with different compositions through co-reduction process from their corresponding precursors and then by adding multi-walled carbon nano-tube as a supporter and enhanced the conductivity. The catalytic performance of CO₂ reduction for each composition was performed and resulted an outstanding catalytic activity with generation of high current density (70 mA/cm² at 0.91V vs. RHE) and relatively small onset potential. The catalytic performance, compositions, morphologies, structure and geometric arrangements were evaluated by electrochemical analysis (LSV, impedance, chronoamperometry & tafel plot), EDS, SEM and XAS respectively. The composite metals showed better selectivity of products and faradaic efficiencies due to the synergetic effects of the combined nano-particles in addition to the impact of grain size in reduction of CO₂. Carbon monoxide, hydrogen, formate and ethanol are the reduction products, which are detected and quantifiable by chromatographic techniques considering their physical state of each product.

Keywords: carbondioxide, faradaic efficiency, electrocatalyst, current density

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Authors: B. Khorsandi Talab, M. Kordi

Abstract:

It is highly deplorable that every year, theft behavior among employees of the insurance industry is growing throughout the world. A very significant source of contraction (despite many costly technological and widespread security measures) needs to be addressed and prevented. Employee and agent theft cannot be ignored as it causes significant losses to employers. This study investigates the workplace factors that affect the insurance employee and agent theft behavior. Although identifying theft is difficult, this study will help employers to further understand employees’ theft behavior. This study was conducted in two service small and medium organizations (two branches of insurance companies) in ALBORZ’s capital city, KARAJ. Data has been collected via questionnaire from 30 employees and agents consisting employees and supervisors of branches and agencies. According to the results, it must be acknowledged that compensation, organizational justice, internal control systems, penalties and personal characteristics were associated with employees' theft behavior, it is despite the fact that, no effect could be assumed for organizational ethics and requirement in this case. Nevertheless, poor financial status cannot be considered as the driving factor in pushing employees to steal property as well as increasing their theft behavior. As mentioned earlier, the purpose of this study was to determine the factors contributing to employees’ theft (insurance employees and agencies) behavior in insurance organizations in Karaj.

Keywords: service theft, employee theft behavior, work theft, insurance agency, SMEs

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Authors: David Quevedo, Diana Coronel

Abstract:

The present article carries out an evaluation of the drinking water system in the Bellavista sector of the city of Azogues, with the purpose of determining the appropriate equipment to record the actual consumption flows of the inhabitants in said sector. Taking into account that the study area is located in a rural and economically disadvantaged area, there is an urgent need to establish a control system for the consumption of drinking water in order to conserve and manage the vital resource in the best possible way, considering that the water source supplying this sector is approximately 9km away. The research began with the collection of cartographic, demographic, and statistical data of the sector, determining the coverage area, population projection, and a provision that guarantees the supply of drinking water to meet the water needs of the sector's inhabitants. By using hydraulic modeling through the United States Environmental Protection Agency Application for Modeling Drinking Water Distribution Systems EPANET 2.0 software, theoretical hydraulic data were obtained, which were used to design and justify the most suitable measuring equipment for the Bellavista drinking water system. Taking into account a minimum service life of the drinking water system of 30 years, future flow rates were calculated for the design of the macro-measuring device. After analyzing the network, it was evident that the Bellavista sector has an average consumption of 102.87 liters per person per day, but considering that Ecuadorian regulations recommend a provision of 180 liters per person per day for the geographical conditions of the sector, this value was used for the analysis. With all the collected and calculated information, the conclusion was reached that the Bellavista drinking water system needs to have a 125mm electromagnetic macro-measuring device for the first three quinquenniums of its service life and a 150mm diameter device for the following three quinquenniums. The importance of having equipment that provides real and reliable data will allow for the control of water consumption by the population of the sector, measured through micro-measuring devices installed at the entrance of each household, which should match the readings of the macro-measuring device placed after the water storage tank outlet, in order to control losses that may occur due to leaks in the drinking water system or illegal connections.

Keywords: macrometer, hydraulics, endowment, water

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Authors: Sangguk Ahn, Youngyu Kim, Jaheon Gu, Gyoutae Park

Abstract:

In this paper, we developed a dual gas leak instrument to detect Hydrocarbon (HC) and Monoxide (CO) gases. To two kinds of gases, it is necessary to design compact structure for sensors. And then it is important to draw sensing circuits such as measuring, amplifying and filtering. After that, it should be well programmed with robust, systematic and module coding methods. In center of them, improvement of accuracy and initial response time are a matter of vital importance. To manufacture distinguished gas leak detector, we applied intrinsically safe explosion-proof structure to lithium ion battery, main circuits, a pump with motor, color LCD interfaces and sensing circuits. On software, to enhance measuring accuracy we used numerical analysis such as Lagrange and Neville interpolation. Performance test result is conducted by using standard Methane with seven different concentrations with three other products. We want raise risk prevention and efficiency of gas safe management through distributing to the field of gas safety. Acknowledgment: This study was supported by Small and Medium Business Administration under the research theme of ‘Commercialized Development of a portable intrinsically safe explosion-proof type dual gas leak detector’, (task number S2456036).

Keywords: gas leak, dual gas detector, intrinsically safe, explosion proof

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