Search results for: sustainability practices

Authors: Mais Qandeel

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Within the Jewish and democratic Israeli state, as dually characterized, the treatment of citizens differs according to their religious groups and nationalities. The laws and policies against Arab citizens concerning ownership and use of land are the main focus of this article. As the Jewish character has led to Jewish based legal provisions which give the privilege to Jews, first, this article examines the legal bases which distinguish between citizens in Israel based on their religion. It examines the major Israeli laws which are used to confiscate, manage, and lease properties. Second, the article demonstrates the de facto practices against Arab citizens in using lands. Most of the Palestinian land was confiscated and turned over to Jewish owners or to state land, Palestinian citizens are distinguished in using the state administered lands. They are also restricted in using full ownership rights and denied using plots of lands and housing units. Such policies have created, within the same state, a class of secondary citizens who are categorized as non-Jews. Last, within the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom which has served as the constitutional bill of rights for Israelis and also the International law, particularly the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, it will be concluded whether these restricted policies against Arab citizens in using land constitute a religion-based-discrimination among Israeli citizens and create a situation of separation and inequality between two groups of people in Israel.

Keywords: Israel, citizens, discrimination, equality

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Authors: Setenay Nil Doğan, Ece Oztan

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Research and development (R&D) as a term denotes the innovative studies conducted systematically to increase knowledge and its practices. As R&D intensity of Turkey (0,84%) is quite below the EU average intensity score, it has displayed a continuous increase since the 2000s. Also, the development of human capital in R&D has been one of the basic aims of National Strategy of Science, Technology, and Innovation, and National Innovation System 2023 of Turkey. R&D is considered to one of the fields in which the gender gap is wide. The reflections of the analogy of leaky pipeline, a term used for vertical differentiation in academy can also be observed in those scientific activities related with the private sector. In the private sector, the gender gap becomes wider: the percentage of female researchers in the universities (41%) decreases to 24% in the private sector. Though half of the undergraduates and gradutes are female in Turkey, a widening gender gap is observed in terms of employment in R&D. Given this background, this paper will focus on gendered dynamics of careers in R&D through the interviews conducted with 25 female and 25 male employees, working in a university technopark and some of the large RD centers in Turkey working in several sectors such as electronics, automotive etc. Focusing on some aspects of gender differences in terms of career experiences in R&D and innovation, mobility, participation to the projects, patents and inclusion to other innovatory activities, home-work balance, it aims to explore the relationships between science, technology, innovation and gender.

Keywords: gender, innovation, R&D, science, technology

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Authors: Mircea Pastrav, Horia Constantinescu

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The construction industry is currently trying to develop sustainable reinforced concrete structures. In trying to aid in the effort, the research presented in this paper aims to prove the efficiency of modified special hybrid moment frames composed of discretely jointed precast and post-tensioned concrete members. This aim is due to the fact that current design standards do not cover the spatial design of moment frame structures assembled by post-tensioning with special hybrid joints. This lack of standardization is coupled with the fact that previous experimental programs, available in scientific literature, deal mainly with plane structures and offer little information regarding spatial behavior. A spatial model of a modified hybrid moment frame is experimentally analyzed. The experimental results of a natural scale model test of a corner column-beams sub-structure, cut from an actual multilevel building tested to seismic type loading are presented in order to highlight the behavior of this type of structure. The test is performed under alternative cycles of imposed lateral displacements, up to a storey drift ratio of 0.035. Seismic response of the spatial model is discussed considering the acceptance criteria for reinforced concrete frame structures designed based on experimental tests, as well as some of its major sustainability features. The results obtained show an overall excellent behavior of the system. The joint detailing allows for quick and cheap repairs after an accidental event and a self-balancing behavior of the system that ensures it can be used almost immediately after an accidental event it.

Keywords: modified hybrid joint, seismic type loading response, self-balancing structure, acceptance criteria

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Authors: Medya Fathi

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Today, success in the construction industry is not merely about project completion in a timely manner within an established budget and meeting required quality considerations. Management practices and partnerships need to be emphasized as well. In this regard, critical success factors (CSFs) cover necessary considerations for a successful project beyond the traditional success definition, which vary depending on project outcomes, delivery methods, project types, and partnering processes. Despite the extensive research on CSFs, there is a paucity of studies that examine CSFs for public-private partnership (PPP); the delivery method, which has gained increasing attention from researchers and practitioners over the last decade with a slow but growing adoption in the transportation infrastructure, particularly, highway industry. To fill this knowledge gap, data are collected through questionnaire surveys among private and public parties involved in PPP transportation projects in the United States. Then, the collected data are analyzed to explore the causality relationships between CSFs and PPP project success using structural equation model and provide a list of factors with the greatest influence. This study advocates adopting a critical success factor approach to enhance PPP success in the U.S. transportation industry and identify elements essential for public and private organizations to achieve this success.

Keywords: project success, critical success factors, public-private partnership, transportation

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Authors: Erika Pénzesné Kónya

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The conservation programme of various vascular plant species has been started in the Botanical garden o fEszterházy College in Eger cooperating with two national parks in the Northern mountain region and Botanical garden of Eötvös Lóránd University in Budapest. The seeds of the species were collected in the chosen habitats with the permission determined by the National Parks and the conservation specialists. Now we have different numbers of individuals from mainly endemic and relict species. We took some experiments to know how can we germinate and grow up this species succesfully up to blooming and fruiting. In the temperate zone the majority of species after ripening the seeds or corps get dormancy to avoid the inadequate period to germinate. The seeds of species need variously pre-treatment (for example pre-chill) and suitable environment (for example basic medium) to unlock the seed dormancy and germinate in large scale. This impacts are often similar to in their originally habitat. To bloom the plants need suitable types of soil, but we couldn’t grow them in the most fruitful soil of habitat. Suitable microclimate is usually more important for some relict species than the soil, that’s why should we make experiments to find the suitable essential conditions for different species and know all of fenological states of them. These experiments can start a method for growing common wild native plants as food materials.

Keywords: ex situ conservation, germination success, soil preference Hungary, regionality, native wild plants

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Authors: Elaosi Vhurumuku

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During the past twenty years, there has been an increased interest by science educators in researching and developing teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for teaching the nature of science (PCKNOS). While there has been this surge in interest in the idea of PCKNOS, there has not been a common understanding among NOS researchers as to how exactly the PCKNOS concept should be construed. In this paper, we analyse and evaluate published accredited journal articles on PCKNOS research. We also draw from our teaching experiences. The major points of foci are the researchers’ presentations of SMKNOS and their centres of attention regarding the elements of PCKNOS. Our content, cluster analysis, and evaluation of the studies on PCKNOS reveal that most researchers have presented SMKNOS in the form of a heuristic or a set of heuristics (targeted NOS ideas) to be mastered by teachers or learners. Furthermore, we found that most of the researchers’ attention has been on developing and recommending teacher pedagogical practices for teaching NOS. From this, we synthesize and propose a subject knowledge content structure and a pedagogical approach that we believe is relevant and appropriate for secondary school and science teacher education if the goal of science education for scientific literacy is to be achieved. The justification of our arguments is rooted in tracing and unpacking the origins and meaning of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). From our analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, as well as teaching experiences, we distil and construct a meaning for the PCKNOS construct.

Keywords: pedagogical content knowledge, teaching, nature of science, construct, subject matter knowledge

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Authors: Meltem Eryılmaz

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With the emergence of the COVID-19 infection outbreak, the socio-cultural, political, economic, educational systems dynamics of the world have gone through a major change, especially in the educational field, specifically dentistry preclinical education, where the students must have a certain amount of real-time experience in endodontics and other various procedures. The totality of the digital and physical elements that make our five sense organs feel as if we really exist in a virtual world is called virtual reality. Virtual reality, which is very popular today, has started to be used in education. With the inclusion of developing technology in education and training environments, virtual learning platforms have been designed to enrich students' learning experiences. The field of health is also affected by these current developments, and the number of virtual reality applications developed for students studying dentistry is increasing day by day. The most widely used tools of this technology are virtual reality glasses. With virtual reality glasses, you can look any way you want in a world designed in 3D and navigate as you wish. With this project, solutions that will respond to different types of dental practices of students who study dentistry with virtual reality applications are produced. With this application, students who cannot find the opportunity to work with patients in distance education or who want to improve themselves at home have unlimited trial opportunities. Unity 2021, Visual Studio 2019, Cardboard SDK are used in the study.

Keywords: dentistry, intelligent tutoring system, virtual reality, online learning, COVID-19

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Authors: Felib Ayman Shawky Salem

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This paper includes fast fashion verses sustainable fashion or slow fashion Indian based consumers. The expression ‘Fast fashion’ is generally referred to low-cost clothing collections that considered first hand copy of luxury brands, sometime interchangeably used with ‘mass fashion’. Whereas slow fashion or limited fashion which are consider to be more organic or eco-friendly. "Sustainable fashion is ethical fashion and here the consumer is just not design conscious but also social-environment conscious". Paper will deal with desire of young Indian consumer towards such luxury brands present in India, and their understanding of sustainable fashion, how to maintain the equilibrium between never newer fashion, style, and fashion sustainability. The green fashion market is growing rapidly as eco-friendly consumers are willing to expand their organic lifestyle to include clothing. With an increasing share of fashion consumers globally, Indian consumers are observed to consider the social and environmental ethics while making purchasing decisions. While some research clearly identifies the efforts of responsible consumers towards green fashion, some argue that fashion-orientated consumers who are sensitive towards environment do not actively participate towards supporting green fashion. This study aims to analyze the current perception of green fashion among Indian consumers. A small-scale exploratory study is conducted where consumers’ perception of green fashion is examined followed by an analysis of translation of this perception into purchase decision making. This research paper gives insight into consumer awareness on green fashion and provides scope towards the expansion of ethical fashion consumption

Keywords: diamond, inclusions, temperature gradient, HPHT synthetic fibers, polyamide fibers, fiber volume, compressive strength. gold nano clusters, copper ions, wool keratin, fluorescence

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Authors: Debanjana Chatterjee

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Vernacular settlements in India often take the form that is dictated by the climate they are in. India, with its vast cultural diversity and various climatic regions, offers a wide range of vernacular architecture. This paper focuses on two main geographical regions: Kashmir and Kerala. They bring together myriad challenges of climatic and social characteristics to incorporate into their vernacular architectures, which are still relevant despite the advent of globalization and modernization. Scholars like William Wurster and Catherine Bauer even claimed that all the traditional buildings in these places have the kind of urbanity, which is dignified and elegant but also lively and human that every architect would like to achieve if they knew how. With modernization, and with a greater ease of construction, a reduction in labor, and the apparent robustness of contemporary construction techniques, people have, however, become increasingly tentative in respect of vernacular architecture. And yet modern architecture has typically led to energize intensive structures without much consideration to the location and surroundings of the structure itself. In contrary, Laurie Baker, the British-born Indian architect, had shown us the way to integrate the knowledge of vernacular when he developed his designs based on the traditional architecture of Kerala, respecting the local climate and environment. This paper also explores his technical creativity in his design of Center for Development Studies (CDS) in Trivandrum. Hence, in order to protect and conserve our rich cultural and architectural heritage, the elements of vernacular should be incorporated into the contemporary planning and architecture for sustainable building design. The provision should be made to incorporate vernacular architecture and traditional knowledge in the policies. Ultimately, the policymakers, planners, and architects should consider this incorporation of traditional vernacular and contemporary sustainability in their work for the betterment of society now.

Keywords: vernacular, architecture, sustainable development, Kashmir and Kerala, climate, Laurie Baker

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Authors: Brian H. Marsh

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Nitrogen fertility is an important component for optimum potato yield and quality. Best management practices are necessary in regards to N applications to achieve these goals without applying excess N with may contribute to ground water contamination. Eight potato fields in the Southern San Joaquin Valley were sampled for nitrogen inputs and uptake, tuber and vine dry matter and residual soil nitrate-N. The fields had substantial soil nitrate-N prior to the potato crop. Nitrogen fertilizer was applied prior to planting and in irrigation water as needed based on in-season petiole sampling in accordance with published recommendations. Average total nitrogen uptake was 237 kg ha^-1 on 63.5 Mg ha^-1 tuber yield and nitrogen use efficiency was very good at 81 percent. Sixty-nine percent of the plant nitrogen was removed in tubers. Soil nitrate-N increased 14 percent from pre-plant to post-harvest averaged across all fields and was generally situated in the upper soil profile. Irrigation timing and amount applied did not move water into the lower profile except for a single location where nitrate also moved into the lower soil profile. Pre-plant soil analysis is important information to be used. Rotation crops having deeper rooting growth would be able to utilize nitrogen that remained in the soil profile.

Keywords: potato, nitrogen fertilization, irrigation management, leaching potential

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Authors: F. Bellali, M. Kharroubi, Y. Rady, N. Bourhim

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In Morocco, fish processing industry is an important source income for a large amount of by-products including skins, bones, heads, guts, and scales. Those underutilized resources particularly scales contain a large amount of proteins and calcium. Sardina plichardus scales from resulting from the transformation operation have the potential to be used as raw material for the collagen production. Taking into account this strong expectation of the regional fish industry, scales sardine upgrading is well justified. In addition, political and societal demands for sustainability and environment-friendly industrial production systems, coupled with the depletion of fish resources, drive this trend forward. Therefore, fish scale used as a potential source to isolate collagen has a wide large of applications in food, cosmetic, and biomedical industry. The main aim of this study is to isolate and characterize the acid solubilize collagen from sardine fish scale, Sardina pilchardus. Experimental design methodology was adopted in collagen processing for extracting optimization. The first stage of this work is to investigate the optimization conditions of the sardine scale deproteinization on using response surface methodology (RSM). The second part focus on the demineralization with HCl solution or EDTA. And the last one is to establish the optimum condition for the isolation of collagen from fish scale by solvent extraction. The advancement from lab scale to pilot scale is a critical stage in the technological development. In this study, the optimal condition for the deproteinization which was validated at laboratory scale was employed in the pilot scale procedure. The deproteinization of fish scale was then demonstrated on a pilot scale (2Kg scales, 20l NaOH), resulting in protein content (0,2mg/ml) and hydroxyproline content (2,11mg/l). These results indicated that the pilot-scale showed similar performances to those of lab-scale one.

Keywords: deproteinization, pilot scale, scale, sardine pilchardus

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Authors: Hadjer Chellia

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In the light of the recent global pandemic, different issues in educational research seem to invite careful considerations. Following this perspective, this study sets out to question the concept of classroom management in an EFL higher education context during Covid-19. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of their experiences, 6 EFL teachers from different Algerian universities took part in semi-structured interviews. The main emerging themes revealed that EFL teachers have different pedagogical practices in relation to classroom management during the global crisis than those of normal times. In relation to flexible education theory, the teachers’ experiences suggest flexible classroom management during Covid-19; flexibility in the teaching methods, approach and design, flexibility in time, flexibility in space and pace (speed), flexibility in assessment modes and flexibility in coping with students’ well-being. The flexibility awareness helps them to develop readiness towards the future, mainly in terms of maintaining an appropriate pedagogy to face the future crisis. In terms of theoretical concepts, working on classroom management under unusual circumstances in relation to flexible education helped come out with the concept of flexible classroom management (FCM) and virtual classroom management (VCM). It is then important for educators and researchers to rethink different pedagogical concepts and mind a careful application in the case of unusual times.

Keywords: Covid-19, EFL educators, flexible classroom management, flexible education, virtual classroom management

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Authors: M. Sundaram, H. R. Sanath Kumar, A. Ramprakash

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Energy saving is a key sustainability focus area for the Indian telecom industry today. This is especially true in rural India where energy consumption contributes to 70 % of the total network operating cost. In urban areas, the energy cost for network operation ranges between 15-30 %. This expenditure on energy as a result of the lack of grid power availability highlights a potential barrier to telecom industry growth. As a result of this, telecom tower companies switch to diesel generators, making them the second largest consumer of diesel in India, consuming over 2.5 billion litres per annum. The growing cost of energy due to increasing diesel prices and concerns over rising greenhouse emissions have caused these companies to look at other renewable energy options. Even the TRAI (Telecom Regulation Authority of India) has issued a number of guidelines to implement Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) in the telecom towers as part of its ‘Implementation of Green Technologies in Telecom Sector’ initiative. Our proposal suggests the implementation of a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based ‘optimisation controller’ that can not only efficiently utilize the energy from RETs but also help to conserve the power used in the telecom towers. When there are multiple RETs available to supply energy, this controller will pick the optimum amount of energy from each RET based on the availability and feasibility at that point of time, reducing the dependence on diesel generators. For effective maintenance of the towers, we are planing to implement a SCADA based monitoring system along with the ‘optimization controller’.

Keywords: operation costs, consumption of fuel and carbon footprint, implementation of a programmable logic controller (PLC) based ‘optimisation controller’, efficient SCADA based monitoring system

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Authors: Kiara Lawrence, Nadine Ponnusamy, Clive Greenstone

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One of the major challenges facing society today is food security. The risks to food security have increased significantly due to the evolving urban landscape, globalization, and a rising population. The cultivation of food is essential, particularly during times of crisis, such as a recession, and has long been a necessity for urban populations. In contemporary society, many urban residents are confronted with new challenges, including high levels of unemployment, which compel individuals to adopt alternative survival strategies, such as growing their own food. Recently, rooftop agriculture has made significant contributions to urban and national food security and has been utilized as a tool to mitigate the frequent and damaging disasters that many cities encounter. They have the potential to transform unused spaces into green, productive vegetable plots, while also providing urban residents with the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of gardening. Therefore, this study looks to investigate the evolving themes around rooftop agriculture and food security globally. A bibliometric review analysis was carried out on Scopus and Web of Science using the keywords “rooftop agriculture” OR “rooftop farming” OR “rooftop garden” AND “food security” between 2004 and 2024 to ensure a broader scope was covered around the chosen study. Vosviewer software was then utilized to analyze the extracted data to create network visualization maps based on keyword occurrences, co-author analysis, country analysis. There were only 37 relevant documents within the study parameters. Preliminary results indicate that much research focused on urban agriculture, food supply, green roof, sustainability and climate change. By analysing these aspects of rooftop agriculture and food security, the trends can identify gaps in literature and dictate future applications to assist in food security.

Keywords: food security, rooftop agriculture, rooftop farming, rooftop garden

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Authors: Amina Babou

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Gender and language is a moot and miscellaneous arena in the sphere of sociolinguistics, which has been proliferated so widely and rapidly in recent years. The dawn of research on gender and foreign language education was against the feminist researchers who allowed space for the bustling concourse of voices and perspectives in the arena of gender and language differences, in the early to the mid-1970. The objective of this scrutiny is to explore to what extent teaching gender and language in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom plays a pivotal role in learning language information and skills. And the gist of this paper is to investigate how EFL students in Algeria conflate their gender identities with the linguistic practices and scholastic expertise. To grapple with the full range of issues about the EFL students’ awareness about the negotiation of meanings in the classroom, we opt for observing, interviewing, and questioning later to check using ‘how-do-you do’ procedure. The analysis of the EFL classroom discourse, from five Algerian universities, reveals that speaking strategies such as the manners students make an abrupt topic shifts, respond spontaneously to the teacher, ask more questions, interrupt others to seize control of conversations and monopolize the speaking floor through denying what others have said, do not sit very lightly on 80.4% of female students’ shoulders. The data indicate that female students display the assertive style as a strategy of learning to subvert the norms of femininity, especially in the speaking module.

Keywords: gender identities, EFL students, classroom discourse, linguistics

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Authors: Lidon Lashley

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This paper presents how the social model of disability can be used to reshape inclusive education practices in Guyana. Inclusive education in Guyana is metamorphosizing but still firmly held in the tenets of the Medical Model of Disability which influences the experiences of children with Special Education Needs and/or Disabilities (SEN/D). An ethnographic approach to data gathering was employed in this study. Qualitative data was gathered from the voices of children with and without SEN/D as well as their mainstream teachers to present the interplay of discourses and subjectivities in the situation. The data was analyzed using Adele Clarke's postmodern approach to grounded theory analysis called situational analysis. The data suggest that it is possible but will be challenging to fully contextualize and adopt Loreman's synthesis and Booths and Ainscow's Index in the two mainstream schools studied. In addition, the data paved the way for the presentation of the social model framework specific to Guyana called 'Southern Inclusive Education Framework for Guyana' and its support tool called 'The Inclusive Checker created for Southern mainstream primary classrooms.

Keywords: social model of disability, medical model of disability, subjectivities, metamorphosis, special education needs, postcolonial Guyana, inclusion, culture, mainstream primary schools, Loreman's synthesis, Booths and Ainscow's index

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Authors: Eman Mohamed Ali Elalwani

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The Libyan heritage buildings are currently facing a number of crises that pose a threat to their structural integrity, functionality, and overall performance. One of the challenges pertains to the loss of community identity, which has arisen due to the lack of awareness and unconscious behavior of the residents. An additional issue arises from inadequate site management practices, including the implementation of modern techniques and innovative building materials that are incompatible with structural elements, resulting in the deformation of certain sections of the buildings. The security concerns of the city, along with the ongoing civil conflict, fostered a conducive environment for violations, resulting in the vandalism of certain monuments in the city. However, the degradation of this valuable heritage is mainly attributed to the city's neglect and pollution. The elevated groundwater level resulting from pollution has led to erosion in the building's foundations. Mitigating these negative consequences through strategic interventions and rehabilitation is required to preserve this treasure. In order to assist the local community in recovering from those crises, this paper stated a viable strategy for promoting preservation efforts that aimed at safeguarding the heritage sites while also providing guidance to decision-makers and the local community on how to avoid these crises, preserve, enhance, and recognize the significance of the Libyan heritage.

Keywords: cultural heritage, historical buildings, Tripoli’s old city, Red Castle, crises, preservation

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Authors: Maryam Kalkatechi

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Nowadays, parametric design, scientific analysis, and digital fabrication are dominant. Many architectural practices are increasingly seeking to incorporate advanced digital software and fabrication in their projects. Proposing an erudite design process that combines digital and practical aspects in a strong frame within the method was resulted from the dissertation research. The digital aspects are the progressive advancements in algorithm design and simulation software. These aspects have assisted the firms to develop more holistic concepts at the early stage and maintain collaboration among disciplines during the design process. The erudite design process enhances the current design processes by encouraging the designer to implement the construction and architecture knowledge within the algorithm to make successful design processes. The erudite design process also involves the ongoing improvements of applying the new method of 3D printing in construction. This is achieved through the ‘data-sketches’. The term ‘data-sketch’ was developed by the author in the dissertation that was recently completed. It accommodates the decisions of the architect on the algorithm. This paper introduces the erudite design process and its components. It will summarize the application of this process in development of the ‘3D printed construction unit’. This paper contributes to overlaying the academic and practice with advanced technology by presenting a design process that transfers the dominance of tool to the learned architect and encourages innovation in design processes.

Keywords: erudite, data-sketch, algorithm design in architecture, design process

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Authors: Adam Ahmed Hosney

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The existence of a culture of corruption within an institution, such as the police, could be a sign of failure from various angles. There is a general perception among Ghanaians that the most corrupt institution is the police service. The purpose of this study is to formulate and analyze a nonlinear mathematical model to investigate corruption as an epidemic within the Ghana police service, this study revealed the basic reproduction number for corruption extinction and corruption survival. The threshold conditions for all kinds of equilibrium points are obtained using linearization methods and Lyapunov functional methods, and they demonstrate local asymptotic stability for both corrupt endemic and corrupt free equilibrium states. The model was analyzed qualitatively, and the solution was derived. The model appears to be positively invariant and attractive. Therefore, the region exhibits positive invariance. Thus, it is adequate to think about the dynamics of the model. For the purpose of illustrating the solution, the graphic result was presented and discussed. Results show that corruption will die out within the police service if the government shows no tolerance for those involved in corrupt practices. Study findings indicate that leaders should be trustworthy, demonstrate a complete and viable commitment to addressing corruption, and make it a priority to provide mass education to all citizens as well as using religious leaders to fight corruption since most Ghanaians are religious and trust their leaders.

Keywords: mathematical model, differential equation, dynamical system, simulation

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Authors: Saloni Diwakar, Hansika Kapoor

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The study undertook comparative analyses between 130 male and female managers in a power/electric company, relating to prevalent perceptions about gendered leadership, leadership efficacy, perceived organizational support, and diversity and inclusiveness. Results showed no significant difference in POS, leadership aspirations, expression, and self- and other leadership efficacy between male and female managers. However, within-groups analyses revealed that female managers reported a disparity between self and other leadership efficacy (value), to a far greater extent than male managers (value). Additionally, females reported a dip in POS during middle management, as compared to junior management, whereas men reported a steady increase in POS from junior, middle on to senior management. Descriptively, both men and women reported preferring gender neutral leadership traits, as compared to male or female centered traits, and both genders least preferred male centered leadership traits. Compared to women, male managers were found to significantly undervalue diversity and inclusion initiatives. Subjective feedback was elicited to corroborate quantitative output. Also, female participants provided subjective feedback regarding efficacy of existing D&I practices in the organization. Findings and implications are discussed relevant to existing gender inclusion agendas.

Keywords: gendered leadership, diversity, inclusivity, perceived organizational support

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Authors: Muhammad Atif Randhawa, Muhammad Nadeem

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Kinnow (Citrus reticulate Blanco) is nutritious and perishable fruit with high juice content, and also rich source of vitamin-C. In Pakistan, kinnow export is limited due to inadequate post-harvest handling and lack of satisfactory storage practices. Considering these issues, the present study was designed to evaluate the effect of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) coating in combination with CaCl2 and MgSO4 on shelf life extension of kinnow. Fruits were treated with different levels of CaCl2 and MgSO4 followed by HPMC coating (3 and 5%) and stored at 10°C with 80% relative humidity for 6 weeks. Fruits were analyzed for various physico-chemical parameters on weekly basis. During this study lower fruit firmness (0.24Nm-2), loss in weight (0.64%) and ethylene production (0.039 µL•kg-1•hr-1) was observed in fruits treated with 1% CaCl2 + 1% MgSO4 + 5% HPMC (T6) during storage of 42 days. Minimum chilling injury indexes 0.22% and 0.61% were recorded in treatments T4 and T6, respectively. T6 showed higher values of titerable acidity (0.29%) and ascorbic acid contents (39.82mg/100g). Minimum TSS (9.62°Brix) was found in fruits of T6. Overall T6 showed significantly better results for various parameters, as compared to all other treated and control fruits.

Keywords: firmness, kinnow coating, physicochemical, storage

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Authors: Alafara A. Baba, Kuranga I. Ayinla, Folahan A. Adekola, Rafiu B. Bale

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Due to increasing demands and diverse applications of copper oxide as pigment in ceramics, cuprammonium hydroxide solution for rayon, p-type semi-conductor, dry cell batteries production and as safety disposal of hazardous materials, a study on the hydrometallurgical operations involving leaching, solvent extraction and precipitation for the recovery of copper for producing high grade copper oxide from a Nigerian chalcopyrite ore in chloride media has been examined. At a particular set of experimental parameter with respect to acid concentration, reaction temperature and particle size, the leaching investigation showed that the ore dissolution increases with increasing acid concentration, temperature and decreasing particle diameter at a moderate stirring. The kinetics data has been analyzed and was found to follow diffusion control mechanism. At optimal conditions, the extent of ore dissolution reached 94.3%. The recovery of the total copper from the hydrochloric acid-leached chalcopyrite ore was undertaken by solvent extraction and precipitation techniques, prior to the beneficiation of the purified solution as copper oxide. The purification of the leach liquor was firstly done by precipitation of total iron and manganese using Ca(OH)2 and H2O2 as oxidizer at pH 3.5 and 4.25, respectively. An extraction efficiency of 97.3% total copper was obtained by 0.2 mol/L Dithizone in kerosene at 25±2ºC within 40 minutes, from which ≈98% Cu from loaded organic phase was successfully stripped by 0.1 mol/L HCl solution. The beneficiation of the recovered pure copper solution was carried out by crystallization through alkali addition followed by calcination at 600ºC to obtain high grade copper oxide (Tenorite, CuO: 05-0661). Finally, a simple hydrometallurgical scheme for the operational extraction procedure amenable for industrial utilization and economic sustainability was provided.

Keywords: chalcopyrite ore, Nigeria, copper, copper oxide, solvent extraction

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Authors: Gerald Gwamba, Bo Zhou, Yajun Song, Dong Changyin

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The challenges that sand production presents to the oil and gas industry, particularly while working in poorly consolidated reservoirs, cannot be overstated. From restricting production to blocking production tubing, sand production increases the costs associated with production as it elevates the cost of servicing production equipment over time. Production in reservoirs that present with high viscosities, flow rate, cementation, clay content as well as fine sand contents is even more complex and challenging. As opposed to the one-factor at a-time testing, investigating the interactive effects arising from a combination of several factors offers increased reliability of results as well as representation of actual field conditions. It is thus paramount to investigate the conditions leading to the onset of sanding during production to ensure the future sustainability of hydrocarbon production operations under viscous conditions. We adopt the Design of Experiments (DOE) to analyse, using Taguchi factorial designs, the most significant interactive effects of sanding. We propose an optimized regression model to predict the drawdown time at sand production. The results obtained underscore that reservoirs characterized by varying (high and low) levels of viscosity, flow rate, cementation, clay, and fine sand content have a resulting impact on sand production. The only significant interactive effect recorded arises from the interaction between BD (fine sand content and flow rate), while the main effects included fluid viscosity and cementation, with percentage significances recorded as 31.3%, 37.76%, and 30.94%, respectively. The drawdown time model presented could be useful for predicting the time to reach the maximum drawdown pressure under viscous conditions during the onset of sand production.

Keywords: factorial designs, DOE optimization, sand production prediction, drawdown time, regression model

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Authors: Aram Yeretzian, Yaser Abunnasr, Zahraa Makki, Betina Abi Habib

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Developments in architectural building typologies that are informed by prevalent construction techniques and socio-cultural practices generate different adaptations in the building envelope. While different building envelope types exhibit different climate responsive passive strategies, the individual and comparative thermal performance analysis resulting from these technologies is yet to be understood. This research aims to develop this analysis by selecting three building envelope types from three distinct building traditions by measuring the heat transmission in the city of Beirut. The three typical residential buildings are selected from the 1920s, 1940s, and 1990s within the same street to ensure similar climatic and urban conditions. Climatic data loggers are installed inside and outside of the three locations to measure indoor and outdoor temperatures, relative humidity, and heat flow. The analysis of the thermal measurements is complemented by site surveys on window opening, lighting, and occupancy in the three selected locations and research on building technology from the three periods. Apart from defining the U-value of the building envelopes, the collected data will help evaluate the indoor environments with respect to the thermal comfort zone. This research, thus, validates and contextualizes the role of building technologies in relation to climate responsive design.

Keywords: architecture, wall construction, envelope performance, thermal comfort

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Authors: C. G. Sawant, C. S. Patil

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The investigation was conducted during January 2016 on Farmer’s field at Nandur Madhyameshwar, Tq. Niphad, Dist. Nashik (Maharashtra: India) on bio-efficacy of newer insecticides against Plutella xylostella L. infesting cabbage. The cabbage crop (var. Saint) was raised according to package of practices except for plant protection measures. Six newer insecticides along with two conventional insecticides and one synthetic pyrethroid were applied twice at 30 and 55 days after transplanting. Insecticidal solutions were diluted in water (375-500 L ha-1) and applied using knapsack sprayer (16L) with hollow cone nozzle. Treatments included indoxacarb @ 40 g a.i.ha-1, spinosad @ 17.5 g a.i.ha-1, flubendiamide @18.24 g a.i. ha-1, diafenthiuron @ 300 g a. i. ha-1, emamectin benzoate @ 10 g a. i. ha-1, chlorantraniliprole @ 10 g a. i. ha-1, quinalphos @ 250 g a. i. ha-1, triazophos @ 500 g a. i. ha-1, bifenthrin @ 50 g a.i. ha-1 and untreated control. The larvae were counted on head and outside the head. Observations were recorded one day before spray (Precount) and 1,3,7,14 days after spray. Results revealed that all the insecticidal treatments were significantly superior over untreated control by recording lower larval count. Among the insecticidal treatments, significantly lowest number of larvae of diamondback moth was recorded in chlorantraniliprole @ 10 g a.i.ha-1 (1.00 larvae plant-1) followed by spinosad @ 17.5 g a.i. ha-1 (1.45 larvae plant-1 and flubendiamide 18.24 g a.i. ha-1(1.53 larvae plant-1). The efficacy of insecticides reflected on yield of marketable cabbage heads by recording 242.27 qt ha-1 (1:33.38) in the treatment of chlorantraniliprole @ 10 g a.i.ha-1. It was followed by spinosad @ 17.5 g a.i. ha-1 with 236.91 qt ha-1 (1:24.92) and flubendiamide 18.24 g a.i. ha-1 with 228.49 qt ha-1 (1:30.43).

Keywords: bio-efficacy, cabbage, chlorantraniliprole, Plutella xylostella L.

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Authors: Odewumi Olatunde, Adegun Sunday

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Linguistic diversity is seen to complicate attempts to build a stable and cohesive political community. Hence, the challenge of integration is enormous in a multi-ethno-lingual country like Nigeria. In the same vein, justification for minority language rights claims in relation to broader political theories of justice, freedom and democracy cannot be ignored. It is in the light of the fore-going that this paper explores Nigeria’s experiments at language policy and planning(LPP) and the long drawn agitations for self-determination and linguistic freedom by the minority ethnic groups in the polity which has been exacerbated by the National Policy on Education language provisions. The paper succinctly reviews Nigeria’s LPP efforts and its attendant theater of conflicts; explores international attempts at evolving normative principles of freedom and equality for language policy and finally evaluates the position of the Nigerian LPP in the light of evolving international conventions. On this premise, it is concluded that giving a conscientious and honest implementation of the Nigerian language provisions as assessed from their face validity, the nation’s efforts could be exonerated from running afoul of any known civilized values and best practices. It is, therefore, recommended that an effectual and consistent commitment to implementation driven by a renewed political will is what is required for the nation to succeed in this direction.

Keywords: integration, rights, challenge, conventions, policy

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Authors: Mohamad Reza Mohamed Afla, Putri Haryati Ibrahim, Azila Ahmad Sarkawi

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This study examines the standard procedure involved in terms of planning and management at selected Muslim cemeteries within the Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan Area. It focuses on sustainable design practice for the provision of burial infrastructures at public cemeteries, which emphasizes the inclusion of society, economy, and environment. The escalating issues of overcrowding, lack of space, and land shortage for full-body burial in the urbanized area of Kuala Lumpur have raised a concern to this alarming situation. There is a necessity to address these problems through the incorporation of sustainable development in the making of urban cemeteries to ensure a holistic approach. Recorded site observation of cemeteries’ area has been employed as a means of data collection and interpreted by conducting spatial analysis. The spatial analysis entails the assessment of form and function in accordance with sustainable design principles. The finding exhibits the dimensional layout of Muslim cemeteries were problematics due to the tension that exists between ritual practices and space organization set-up by the local authorities. This article concludes by providing conceptual guidelines for the purpose of Muslim cemetery development in the future.

Keywords: cemetery, metropolitan, spatial analysis, sustainable design practice

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Authors: Thavananthan Sivananthawerl

Abstract:

Coconut palm is existing for more than 2000 years in Sri Lanka. However, cultivation on a large scale (plantation) began only in the 19th century. Due to different light perceptions during the growth stages of palm, there is a huge potential to grow crops in-between rows of coconut plants which are grown with wider, fixed spacing. Intercropping under coconut will have multiple benefits such as increasing soil fertility, increasing sunlight utilization, increasing total crop productivity, increasing income & profit, maximum use of resources, reducing the risk, and increasing food security. Growing potential annual, agricultural intercrops could be classified as ‘agri-silvicultural’ system. This is the best agri-silvicultural system that can be named under any perennial crop system in Sri Lanka. In the late 1970’s cassava, pepper and cacao are the major intercrops under the coconut plantations. At the early ages of the palm (<5 years) light-loving crops such as pineapple, passion, papaya, and cassava are recommended and preferred by the cultivators. In between 5-20 years of age, the availability of light is very low, and therefore shade tolerant/loving crops (pasture, yam, ginger) could be used as the intercrops. However, after 20 years of age (>20 years) canopy is getting small, and the light availability on the ground increases. So, light demanding crops such as pepper, banana, pineapple, betel, cassava, and seasonal crops could be grown successfully. Even though this is a sustainable system in several aspects, there are potential challenges ahead to the system. The major ones are land fragmentation and infrastructure development. The other factors are drought, lack of financial support, price instability of the intercrops, availability of improved planting materials, and development of dwarf varieties which reduces the light.

Keywords: coconut cultivation, agri-silviculture, intercrop, sunlight, annuals, sustainability

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Authors: Leonid Rybakovski

Abstract:

Contemporary media offer a variety of themes for the diverse tastes of their audiences. The Digital games medium was mostly perceived as an instrument of entertainment. But being a part of global trends while constantly pushing the boundaries of storytelling in virtual reality and standing on the edge of technology also brings huge responsibility for game designers around the globe. A very recent emerging topic over the last years was an individual's mental state. In recent years there has been a shift in mental problems representations in commercial game releases such as Hell blade: Senua's Sacrifice and Sea of Solitude. The aim of this study is to research the approach of mental illness representation in media and digital games over the years and to suggest alternatives for putting characters who suffer from mental illness at the forefront of the storyline. This study traces dominant representations of characters with mental illness in digital games, reflecting the major change of the game industry toward inclusiveness. At the same time, the research embraces a hybrid approach to the academic study of digital games and includes the development of a game that follows a post-traumatic young girl, forcing the users to live her life through her eyes. The game prototype was developed as part of the Mdes Game Design and Development program and consisted of academic research and game development practices.

Keywords: framing analysis, mental condition, up keying, game mechanics

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Authors: Kunwar Paritosh, Sanjay Mathur, Monika Yadav, Paras Gandhi, Subodh Kumar, Nidhi Pareek, Vivekanand Vivekanand

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A significant fraction of energy is wasted every year managing the biodegradable organic waste inadequately as development and sustainability are the inherent enemies. The management of these waste is indispensable to boost its optimum utilization by converting it to renewable energy resource (here biogas) through anaerobic digestion and to mitigate greenhouse gas emission. Food and yard wastes may prove to be appropriate and potential feedstocks for anaerobic co-digestion for biogas production. The present study has been performed to explore the synergistic effect of co-digesting food waste and yard trimmings from MNIT campus for enhanced biogas production in different ratios in batch tests (37±10C, 90 rpm, 45 days). The results were overwhelming and showed that blending two different organic waste in proper ratio improved the biogas generation considerably, with the highest biogas yield (2044±24 mLg-1VS) that was achieved at 75:25 of food waste to yard waste ratio on volatile solids (VS) basis. The yield was 1.7 and 2.2 folds higher than the mono-digestion of food or yard waste (1172±34, 1016±36mLg-1VS) respectively. The increase in biogas production may be credited to optimum C/N ratio resulting in higher yield. Also Adding TiO2 nanoparticles showed virtually no effect on biogas production as sometimes nanoparticles enhance biogas production. ICP-MS, FTIR analysis was carried out to gain an insight of feedstocks. Modified Gompertz and logistics models were applied for the kinetic study of biogas production where modified Gompertz model showed goodness-of-fit (R2=0.9978) with the experimental results.

Keywords: anaerobic co-digestion, biogas, kinetics, nanoparticle, organic waste

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