Search results for: systems perspective

Authors: Szymon Kugler, Krzysztof Kowalczyk, Tadeusz Spychaj

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An addition of carbon nanotubes (CNT) can simultaneously improve many features of epoxy coatings, i.e. electrical, mechanical, functional and thermal. Unfortunately, this nanofiller negatively affects visual properties of the coatings, such as transparency and gloss. The main reason for the low visual performance of CNT-modified epoxy coatings is the lack of compatibility between CNT and popular amine curing agents, although epoxy resins based on bisphenol A are indisputable good CNT dispersants. This is a serious obstacle in utilization of the coatings in advanced applications, demanding both high transparency and electrical conductivity. The aim of performed investigations was to find amine curing agents exhibiting affinity for CNT, and ensuring good performance of epoxy coatings with them. Commercially available CNT was dispersed in epoxy resin, as well as in different aliphatic, cycloaliphatic and aromatic amines, using one of two dispergation methods: ultrasonic or mechanical. The CNT dispersions were subsequently used in the preparation of epoxy coating compositions and coatings on a transparent substrate. It was found that amine derivative of bio-based cardanol, as well as modified o-tolylbiguanide exhibit significant CNT, dispersing properties, resulting in improved transparent/electroconductive performance of epoxy coatings. In one of prepared coating systems just 0.025 wt.% (250 ppm) of CNT was enough to obtain coatings with semi conductive properties, 83% of transparency as well as perfect chemical resistance to methyl-ethyl ketone and improved thermal stability. Additionally, a theory of the influence of amine chemical structure on CNT dispersing properties was proposed.

Keywords: bio-based cardanol, carbon nanotubes, epoxy coatings, tolylbiguanide

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Authors: Yitao Lei, Xingxiang Zhai, Burra Venkata Durga Kumar

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As the quantity and complexity of computing in large-scale software systems increase, distributed system computing becomes increasingly important. The distributed system realizes high-performance computing by collaboration between different computing resources. If there are no efficient resource scheduling resources, the abuse of distributed computing may cause resource waste and high costs. However, resource scheduling is usually an NP-hard problem, so we cannot find a general solution. However, some optimization algorithms exist like genetic algorithm, ant colony optimization, etc. The large scale of distributed systems makes this traditional optimization algorithm challenging to work with. Heuristic and machine learning algorithms are usually applied in this situation to ease the computing load. As a result, we do a review of traditional resource scheduling optimization algorithms and try to introduce a deep reinforcement learning method that utilizes the perceptual ability of neural networks and the decision-making ability of reinforcement learning. Using the machine learning method, we try to find important factors that influence the performance of distributed system computing and help the distributed system do an efficient computing resource scheduling. This paper surveys the application of deep reinforcement learning on distributed system computing resource scheduling proposes a deep reinforcement learning method that uses a recurrent neural network to optimize the resource scheduling, and proposes the challenges and improvement directions for DRL-based resource scheduling algorithms.

Keywords: resource scheduling, deep reinforcement learning, distributed system, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Torsten Mielitz, Dietmar Schulz, York C. Roth

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Market forecasts show a significant increase in the demand for aircraft within the next two decades and production rates will be adapted accordingly. Improvements and optimizations in the industrial system are becoming more important to cope with future challenges in manufacturing and assembly. Highest quality standards have to be met for aerospace parts, whereas cost effective production in industrial systems and methodologies are also a key driver. A look at other industries like e.g., automotive shows well established processes to streamline existing manufacturing systems. In this paper, the implementation of 'PULL' principles in an existing manufacturing process chain for a large scale composite part is presented. A nonlinear extrapolation based on 'Little's Law' showed a risk of a significant increase of parts needed in the process chain to meet future demand. A project has been set up to mitigate the risk whereas the methodology has been changed from a traditional milestone approach in the beginning towards an agile way of working in the end in order to facilitate immediate benefits in the shop-floor. Finally, delivery rates could be increased avoiding more semi-finished parts in the process chain (work in progress & inventory) by the successful implementation of the 'PULL' philosophy in the shop-floor between the work stations. Lessons learned during the running project as well as implementation and operations phases are discussed in order to share best practices.

Keywords: aerospace composite part manufacturing, PULL principles, shop-floor implementation, lessons learned

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Authors: Cecilia Fagerstrom, Solve Elmstahl, Lena S. Wranker

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The conditions of increased morbidity in an aging population cause the need for family care to become more common at an advanced age. The role of family caregivers may well last for a long time but may also change over time, from being caregivers to being non-caregivers or vice versa. Although demands associated with family caring change as individuals enter into, engage with, and exit from this role, the evidence regarding the impact of family caregiving transitions on the health of older carers is still limited. This study comprised individuals (n=2294, 60+years) from the southern part of Sweden included in the project Swedish National study of Aging and Care. Caregiving transitions are discussed in the categories: enter, exit, and continuing during a six-year period. Individuals who exited caregiving during the time were older than those who continued or entered into the role of caregiving. At the six-year follow-up, caregivers who were continuing or had exited caregiving were more often worried about their own health compared to baseline. Resembling findings were not found in those who entered caregiving. Family caregiving transitions of exiting, entering or continuing had no effect on the individuals’ functional, physical and mental health expect for participants who entered in caregiving. For them, entering the role of family caregiving was associated with an improvement in physical health during the six years follow up period. Conclusion: Although the health impact of different caregiving transitions in late life does not differ, individual conditions and health at baseline are important parameters to take into consideration to improve long-term health in family caregivers.

Keywords: family caregiving, health, old age, transition

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Authors: Revanth Rallapalli

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Manually dispensing solids and powders can be difficult as it requires gradually pour and check the amount on the scale to be dispensed. Current systems are manual and non-continuous in nature and are user-dependent and difficult to control powder dispensation. Recurrent dosing of powdered medicines in precise amounts quickly and accurately has been an all-time challenge. Various new powder dispensing mechanisms are being designed to overcome these challenges. A battery-operated screw conveyor mechanism is being innovated to overcome the above problems faced. These inventions are numerically evaluated at the concept development level by employing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) of gas-solids multiphase flow systems. CFD has been very helpful in development of such devices saving time and money by reducing the number of prototypes and testing. Furthermore, this paper describes a simulation of powder dispensation from the trocar’s end by considering the powder as secondary flow in air, is simulated by using the technique called Dense Discrete Phase Model incorporated with Kinetic Theory of Granular Flow (DDPM-KTGF). By considering the volume fraction of powder as 50%, the transportation of powder from the inlet side to trocar’s end side is done by rotation of the screw conveyor. Thus, the performance is calculated for a 1-sec time frame in an unsteady computation manner. This methodology will help designers in developing design concepts to improve the dispensation and also at the effective area within a quick turnaround time frame.

Keywords: DDPM-KTGF, gas-solids multiphase flow, screw conveyor, Unsteady

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Authors: Essam Mansour

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The key purpose of this study is to provide first-hand information about beggars in Egypt, especially from the perspective of their information seeking behaviour including their information needs. The researcher tries to investigate the information-seeking behaviour of Egyptian beggars with regard to their thoughts, perceptions, motivations, attitudes, habits, preferences as well as challenges that may impede their use of information. The research methods used were an adapted form of snowball sampling of a heterogeneous demographic group of participants in the beggary activity in Egypt. This sampling was used to select focus groups to explore a range of relevant issues. Data on the demographic characteristics of the Egyptian beggars showed that they tend to be men, mostly with no formal education, with an average age around 30s, labeled as low-income persons, mostly single and mostly Muslims. A large number of Egyptian beggars were seeking for information to meet their basic needs as well as their daily needs, although some of them were not able to identify their information needs clearly. The information-seeking behaviour profile of a very large number of Egyptian beggars indicated a preference for informal sources of information over formal ones to solve different problems and meet the challenges they face during their beggary activity depending on assistive devices, such as mobile phones. The high degree of illiteracy and the lack of awareness about the basic rights of information as well as information needs were the most important problems Egyptian beggars face during accessing information. The study recommended further research to be conducted about the role of the library in the education of beggars. It also recommended that beggars’ awareness about their information rights should be promoted through educational programs that help them value the role of information in their life.

Keywords: user studies, information-seeking behaviour, information needs, information sources, beggars, Egypt

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Authors: Dalia Ambrazaitienė, Monika Vilkienė, Danute Karcauskienė, Gintaras Siaudinis

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The soil is a complex ecosystem that is part of our biosphere. The ability of soil to provide ecosystem services is dependent on microbial diversity. T Tillage is one of the major factors that affect soil properties. The no-till systems or shallow ploughless tillage are opposite of traditional deep ploughing, no-tillage systems, for instance, increase soil organic matter by reducing mineralization rates and stimulating litter concentrations of the top soil layer, whereas deep ploughing increases the biological activity of arable soil layer and reduces the incidence of weeds. The role of soil organisms is central to soil processes. Although the number of microbial species in soil is still being debated, the metagenomic approach to estimate microbial diversity predicted about 2000 – 18 000 bacterial genomes in 1 g of soil. Despite the key role of bacteria in soil processes, there is still lack of information about the bacterial diversity of soils as affected by tillage practices. This study focused on metagenomic analysis of bacterial diversity in long-term experimental plots of Dystric Epihypogleyic Albeluvisols in western part of Lithuania. The experiment was set up in 2013 and had a split-plot design where the whole-plot treatments were laid out in a randomized design with three replicates. The whole-plot treatments consisted of two tillage methods - deep ploughing (22-25 cm) (DP), ploughless tillage (7-10 cm) (PT). Three subsamples (0-20 cm) were collected on October 22, 2015 for each of the three replicates. Subsamples from the DP and PT systems were pooled together wise to make two composition samples, one representing deep ploughing (DP) and the other ploughless tillage (PT). Genomic DNA from soil sample was extracted from approximately 200 mg field-moist soil by using the D6005 Fungal/Bacterial Miniprep set (Zymo Research®) following the manufacturer’s instructions. To determine bacterial diversity and community composition, we employed a culture – independent approach of high-throughput pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Metagenomic sequencing was made with Illumina MiSeq platform in Base Clear Company. The microbial component of soil plays a crucial role in cycling of nutrients in biosphere. Our study was a preliminary attempt at observing bacterial diversity in soil under two common but contrasting tillage practices. The number of sequenced reads obtained for PT (161 917) was higher than DP (131 194). The 10 most abundant genus in soil sample were the same (Arthrobacter, Candidatus Saccharibacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacterium, Mycobacterium, Bacillus, Alphaproteobacteria, Longilinea, Gemmatimonas, Solirubrobacter), just the percent of community part was different. In DP the Arthrobacter and Acidobacterium consist respectively 8.4 % and 2.5%, meanwhile in PT just 5.8% and 2.1% of all community. The Nocardioides and Terrabacter were observed just in PT. This work was supported by the project VP1-3.1-ŠMM-01-V-03-001 NKPDOKT and National Science Program: The effect of long-term, different-intensity management of resources on the soils of different genesis and on other components of the agro-ecosystems [grant number SIT-9/2015] funded by the Research Council of Lithuania.

Keywords: deep ploughing, metagenomics, ploughless tillage, soil community analysis

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Authors: Jiahui Yang, John Quigley, Lesley Walls

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In this paper, the authors develop a stochastic model regarding the investment in supplier delivery performance development from a buyer’s perspective. The authors propose a multivariate model through a Multinomial-Dirichlet distribution within an Empirical Bayesian inference framework, representing both the epistemic and aleatory uncertainties in deliveries. A closed form solution is obtained and the lower and upper bound for both optimal investment level and expected profit under uncertainty are derived. The theoretical properties provide decision makers with useful insights regarding supplier delivery performance improvement problems where multiple delivery statuses are involved. The authors also extend the model from a single supplier investment into a supplier portfolio, using a Lagrangian method to obtain a theoretical expression for an optimal investment level and overall expected profit. The model enables a buyer to know how the marginal expected profit/investment level of each supplier changes with respect to the budget and which supplier should be invested in when additional budget is available. An application of this model is illustrated in a simulation study. Overall, the main contribution of this study is to provide an optimal investment decision making framework for supplier development, taking into account multiple delivery statuses as well as multiple projects.

Keywords: decision making, empirical bayesian, portfolio optimization, supplier development, supply chain management

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Authors: V. A. Dubovsky, V. V. Savchenko, A. A. Baryskevich

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The current trend in the automotive industry towards automatic vehicles is creating new challenges related to human factors. This occurs due to the fact that the driver is increasingly relieved of the need to be constantly involved in driving the vehicle, which can negatively impact his/her situation awareness when manual control is required, and decrease driving skills and abilities. These new problems need to be studied in order to provide road safety during the transition towards self-driving vehicles. For this purpose, it is important to develop an appropriate conceptual model of the interaction between the driver and the automated vehicle, which could serve as a theoretical basis for the development of mathematical and simulation models to explore different aspects of driver behaviour in different road situations. Well-known driver behaviour models describe the impact of different stages of the driver's cognitive process on driving performance but do not describe how the driver controls and adjusts his actions. A more complete description of the driver's cognitive process, including the evaluation of the results of his/her actions, will make it possible to more accurately model various aspects of the human factor in different road situations. This paper presents a conceptual model of the 'driver – highly automated vehicle' system based on the P.K. Anokhin's theory of functional systems, which is a theoretical framework for describing internal processes in purposeful living systems based on such notions as goal, desired and actual results of the purposeful activity. A central feature of the proposed model is a dynamic coupling mechanism between the decision-making of a driver to perform a particular action and changes of road conditions due to driver’s actions. This mechanism is based on the stage by stage evaluation of the deviations of the actual values of the driver’s action results parameters from the expected values. The overall functional structure of the highly automated vehicle in the proposed model includes a driver/vehicle/environment state analyzer to coordinate the interaction between driver and vehicle. The proposed conceptual model can be used as a framework to investigate different aspects of human factors in transitions between automated and manual driving for future improvements in driving safety, and for understanding how driver-vehicle interface must be designed for comfort and safety. A major finding of this study is the demonstration that the theory of functional systems is promising and has the potential to describe the interaction of the driver with the vehicle and the environment.

Keywords: automated vehicle, driver behavior, human factors, human-machine system

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Authors: Ramez F. Saad, Ahmad Kobaissi, Bernard Amiaud, Julien Ruelle, Emile Benizri

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Agromining is a new technology that establishes agricultural systems on ultramafic soils in order to produce valuable metal compounds such as nickel (Ni), with the final aim of restoring a soil's agricultural functions. But ultramafic soils are characterized by low fertility levels and this can limit yields of hyperaccumulators and metal phytoextraction. The objectives of the present work were to test if the association of a hyperaccumulating plant (Alyssum murale) and a Fabaceae (Vicia sativa var. Prontivesa) could induce changes in physicochemical characteristics of a serpentine soil and in root architecture of a hyperaccumulating plant then lead to efficient agromining practices through soil quality improvement. Based on standard agricultural systems, consisting in the association of legumes and another crop such as wheat or rape, a three-month rhizobox experiment was carried out to study the effect of the co-cropping (Co) or rotation (Ro) of a hyperaccumulating plant (Alyssum murale) with a legume (Vicia sativa) and incorporating legume biomass to soil, in comparison with mineral fertilization (FMo), on the structure and physicochemical properties of an ultramafic soil and on root architecture. All parameters measured (biomass, C and N contents, and taken-up Ni) on Alyssum murale conducted in co-cropping system showed the highest values followed by the mineral fertilization and rotation (Co > FMo > Ro), except for root nickel yield for which rotation was better than the mineral fertilization (Ro > FMo). The rhizosphere soil of Alyssum murale in co-cropping had larger soil particles size and better aggregates stability than other treatments. Using geostatistics, co-cropped Alyssum murale showed a greater root surface area spatial distribution. Moreover, co-cropping and rotation-induced lower soil DTPA-extractable nickel concentrations than other treatments, but higher pH values. Alyssum murale co-cropped with a legume showed a higher biomass production, improved soil physical characteristics and enhanced nickel phytoextraction. This study showed that the introduction of a legume into Ni agromining systems could improve yields of dry biomass of the hyperaccumulating plant used and consequently, the yields of Ni. Our strategy can decrease the need to apply fertilizers and thus minimizes the risk of nitrogen leaching and underground water pollution. Co-cropping of Alyssum murale with the legume showed a clear tendency to increase nickel phytoextraction and plant biomass in comparison to rotation treatment and fertilized mono-culture. In addition, co-cropping improved soil physical characteristics and soil structure through larger and more stabilized aggregates. It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that the use of legumes in Ni-agromining systems could be a good strategy to reduce chemical inputs and to restore soil agricultural functions. Improving the agromining system by the replacement of inorganic fertilizers could simultaneously be a safe way of rehabilitating degraded soils and a method to restore soil quality and functions leading to the recovery of ecosystem services.

Keywords: plant association, legumes, hyperaccumulating plants, ultramafic soil physicochemical properties

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Authors: Annie Ramanbhai Mecwan

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Cleaning validation in a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility is documented evidence that a cleaning process has effectively removed contaminants, residues from previous drug products and cleaning agents below a pre-defined threshold from the reusable tools and parts of equipment. In shared manufacturing facilities more than one drug product is prepared. After cleaning of reusable tools and parts of equipment after one drug product manufacturing, there are chances that some residues of drug substance from previously manufactured drug products may be retained on the equipment and can carried forward to the next drug product and thus cause cross-contamination. Health-based limits through the derivation of a safe threshold value called permitted daily exposure (PDE) for the residues of drug substances should be employed to identify the risks posed at these manufacturing facilities. The PDE represents a substance-specific dose that is unlikely to cause an adverse effect if an individual is exposed to or below this dose every day for a lifetime. There are different practices to calculate PDE. Data for all APIs in the public domain are considered to calculate PDE value though, company to company may vary the final PDE value based on different toxicologist’s perspective or their subjective evaluation. Hence, Regulatory agencies should take responsibility for publishing PDE values for all APIs as it is done for elemental PDEs. This will harmonize the PDE values all over the world and prevent the unnecessary load on manufacturers for cleaning validation

Keywords: active pharmaceutical ingredient, good manufacturing practice, NOAEL, no observed adverse effect level, permitted daily exposure

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Authors: Don August G. Delgado

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Foreign Language acquisition without enough motivation is tough because it is the force that drives students’ interest or enthusiasm to achieve learning. In addition, it also serves as the students’ beacon to achieve their goals, desires, dreams, and aspirations in life. Since it plays an integral factor in language learning acquisition, this study focuses on the integrative and instrumental motivation levels of all the first year students of Naresuan University International College. The identification of their motivation level and inclination in learning the English language will greatly help all NUIC lecturers and administrators to create a project or activities that they will truly enjoy and find worth doing. However, if the findings of this study will say otherwise, this study can also show to NUIC lecturers and administrators how they can help and transform NUIC freshmen on becoming motivated learners to enhance their English proficiency levels. All respondents in this study received an adopted and developed questionnaire from different researches in the same perspective. The questionnaire has 24 questions that were randomly arranged; 12 for integrative motivation and 12 for instrumental motivation. The questionnaire employed the five-point Likert scale. The tabulated data were analyzed according to its means and standard deviations using the Standard Deviation Calculator. In order to interpret the motivation level of the respondents, the Interpretation of Mean Scores was utilized. Thus, this study concludes that majority of the NUIC freshmen are neither integratively motivated nor instrumentally motivated students.

Keywords: motivation, integrative, foreign language acquisition, instrumental

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Authors: Rurui Liu

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Universities have been one of the most important institutions in society. They shoulder the responsibility to do research and teach further generations. Therefore, the governance of universities has been a heated topic and has been learned for years. Recently, it witnessed great changes, for example, the massification of Higher Education, marketization, and privatization. As a result, more stakeholders are involved in the governance of Higher Education, among which students’ participation in HE becomes more important. However, the research about students’ participation in HE governance in China is not sufficient, and the situation requires improvement. The paper aims to not only fill in the research gap but also put forward practical suggestions to follow the world’s trend of HE governance. The methodology of this paper is literature analysis with comparative studies between China and western countries. The research points out that the current situation of students’ participation in HE governance is unideal due to problems in three fields, values and concepts, mechanisms and systems, as well as student unions. Then, the policy implications are based on these reasons: universities should highlight students’ status, respect their subjectivity and adhere to the service awareness; the government requires to build a sound legal system while universities should establish complete mechanisms and systems; student unions should be encouraged by universities to take part in HE governance affairs with sufficient funds, and autonomy. On the one hand, this paper is a further application of four rationales (consumerism, political-realism, communitarian, democracy, and consequentialism) created by Luescher‐Mamashela for the inevitable trend of students’ participation in HE governance. On the other hand, the suggestions it made benefit the students, universities, and society in practical ways.

Keywords: students’ participation, higher education governance, Chinese higher education, university power

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Authors: Simon Espigolé, Igor Shalyminov, Helen Hastie

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Deep machine learning techniques including deep neural networks (DNN) have been used to model language and dialogue for conversational agents to perform tasks, such as giving technical support and also for general chit-chat. They have been shown to be capable of generating long, diverse and coherent sentences in end-to-end dialogue systems and natural language generation. However, these systems tend to imitate the training data and will only generate the concepts and language within the scope of what they have been trained on. This work explores how deep neural networks can be used in a task that would normally require human creativity, whereby the human would read the movie description and/or watch the movie and come up with a compelling, interesting movie title. This task differs from simple summarization in that the movie title may not necessarily be derivable from the content or semantics of the movie description. Here, we train a type of DNN called a sequence-to-sequence model (seq2seq) that takes as input a short textual movie description and some information on e.g. genre of the movie. It then learns to output a movie title. The idea is that the DNN will learn certain techniques and approaches that the human movie titler may deploy that may not be immediately obvious to the human-eye. To give an example of a generated movie title, for the movie synopsis: ‘A hitman concludes his legacy with one more job, only to discover he may be the one getting hit.’; the original, true title is ‘The Driver’ and the one generated by the model is ‘The Masquerade’. A human evaluation was conducted where the DNN output was compared to the true human-generated title, as well as a number of baselines, on three 5-point Likert scales: ‘creativity’, ‘naturalness’ and ‘suitability’. Subjects were also asked which of the two systems they preferred. The scores of the DNN model were comparable to the scores of the human-generated movie title, with means m=3.11, m=3.12, respectively. There is room for improvement in these models as they were rated significantly less ‘natural’ and ‘suitable’ when compared to the human title. In addition, the human-generated title was preferred overall 58% of the time when pitted against the DNN model. These results, however, are encouraging given the comparison with a highly-considered, well-crafted human-generated movie title. Movie titles go through a rigorous process of assessment by experts and focus groups, who have watched the movie. This process is in place due to the large amount of money at stake and the importance of creating an effective title that captures the audiences’ attention. Our work shows progress towards automating this process, which in turn may lead to a better understanding of creativity itself.

Keywords: creativity, deep machine learning, natural language generation, movies

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Authors: Ali Alzeyadi, Edward Loffill, Rafid Alkhaddar Ali Alattabi

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Phosphate, ammonium, and nitrates are forms of nutrients; they are released from different sources. High nutrient levels contribute to the eutrophication of water bodies by accelerating the extraordinary growth of algae. Recently, many filtration and treatment systems were developed and used for different removal processes. Due to enhanced operational aspects for the up-flow, continuous, granular Media filter researchers became more interested in further developing this technology and its performance for nutrient removal from wastewater. Environmental factors significantly affect the filtration process performance, and understanding their impact will help to maintain the nutrient removal process. Phosphate removal by phosphate sorption materials PSMs and nitrogen removal biologically are the methods of nutrient removal that have been discussed in this paper. Hence, the focus on the factors that influence these processes is the scope of this work. The finding showed the presence of factors affecting both removal processes; the size, shape, and roughness of the filter media particles play a crucial role in supporting biofilm formation. On the other hand, all of which are effected on the reactivity of surface between the media and phosphate. Many studies alluded to factors that have significant influence on the biological removal for nitrogen such as dissolved oxygen, temperature, and pH; this is due to the sensitivity of biological processes while the phosphate removal by PSMs showed less affected by these factors. This review work provides help to the researchers in create a comprehensive approach in regards study the nutrient removal in up flow filtration systems.

Keywords: nitrogen biological treatment, nutrients, psms, upflow filter, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Taimaz Larimian

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During recent years, sustainable development has increasingly influenced urban policy, housing and planning in cities all over the world. Debates about sustainability no longer consider it solely as an environmental concern, but also incorporate social and economic dimensions. However, while a social dimension of sustainability is extensively accepted, the exact definition of the concept is still vague and unclear. This study is addressing this lack of specificity through a detailed exploration of social sustainability as the least studied pillar of sustainable development and sheds light on the debate over the definition of social sustainability through developing a measurement model of the constitutive dimensions of the concept. With this aim, a conceptual framework is developed based on the existing literature, determining seven main dimensions of the social sustainability concept namely: social interaction, safety and security, social equity, social participation, neighborhood satisfaction, housing satisfaction and sense of place. The validity and reliability of the model is then tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. In order to do so, five case study neighborhoods from Dunedin city with a range of urban forms and characters are investigated, to define social sustainability concept and its consisting dimensions from people’s perspective. The findings of this study present a clear definition of social sustainability at neighborhood scale and highlight all different dimensions of the concept in the context of New Zealand cities. According to the results, among the investigated dimensions, neighborhood satisfaction and safety and security had the most influence on people’s feeling of social sustainability in their neighborhood.

Keywords: social sustainability, factor analysis, neighborhood level, New Zealand cities

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Authors: Lukasz Baka

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Objective. The study aimed to investigate the direct and indirect - mediated through insomnia - effect of coronavirus anxiety on exhaustion from the perspective of Hobfol Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. According to COR theory, critical events (e.g. the coronavirus epidemic) make people fearful of losing their valuable resources. A prolonged state of anxiety may lead to sleep troubles, which over time, results in an increase in exhaustion. Materials and Methods: Data were collected among 440 Polish healthcare providers, including nurses and midwives, doctors, paramedics, medical assistance, and wardens. Three measurements were used: Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ, sleep trouble subscale) and Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI, exhaustion subscale). Hypotheses were tested by the use of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Results: The obtained results fully support the hypotheses. Both the direct and indirect relationships between coronavirus anxiety and exhaustion were observed. Specifically, high coronavirus anxiety increased insomnia, which in turn contributed to the development of exhaustion. Conclusion: The results are consistent with the COR theory. Prolonged coronavirus anxiety and sleep problems depleted healthcare providers’ resources and made them feel exhausted. Exhaustion among these workers can have serious consequences not only for themselves but also for the health of their patients, therefore researches into effective ways to deal with coronavirus anxiety are needed.

Keywords: coronavirus anxiety, front-line healt-care workers, insomnia, job burnout

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Authors: Rayeheh Khatami, Toktam Hanaei, Mohammad Reza Mansouri Daneshvar

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The growth of the agricultural sector is known as an essential way to achieve development goals in developing countries. Urban agriculture is a way to reduce the vulnerability of urban populations of the world toward global environmental change. It is a sustainable and efficient system to respond to the environmental, social and economic needs of the city, which leads to urban sustainability. Today, many local and national governments are developing urban agriculture as an effective tool in responding to challenges such as poverty, food security, and environmental problems. In this study, we follow a perspective based on urban agriculture literature in order to indicate the urban agriculture’s benefits in environmental planning strategies in non-western countries like Iran. The methodological approach adopted is based on qualitative approach and documentary studies. A total of 35 articles (mixed quantitative and qualitative methods studies) were studied in final analysis, which are published in relevant journals that focus on this subject. Studies show the wide range of positive benefits of urban agriculture on food security, nutrition outcomes, health outcomes, environmental outcomes, and social capital. However, there was no definitive conclusion about the negative effects of urban agriculture. This paper provides a conceptual and theoretical basis to know about urban agriculture and its roles in environmental planning, and also conclude the benefits of urban agriculture for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who seek to create spaces in cities for implementation urban agriculture in future.

Keywords: urban agriculture, environmental planning, urban planning, literature

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Authors: Savaş Durduran, Ceren Yağci

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The nature of the events going on in the world, when people’s lives are considered significantly affects natural disasters. Considering thousands of years of earth history, it is seen that many natural disasters, particularly earthquakes located in our country. Behaving cautious, without occurring hazards, after being disaster is much easier and cost effective than returning to the normal life. The four phases of disaster management in the whole world has been described as; pre-disaster preparedness and mitigation, post-disaster response and rehabilitation studies. Pre-disaster and post-disaster phases has half the weight of disaster management. How much would be prepared for disaster, no matter how disaster damage reducing work gives important, we will be less harm from material and spiritual sense. To do this in a systematic way we use the Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The execution of the emergency services to be on time and emergency control mechanism against the development the most appropriate decision Geographic Information System GIS) can be useful. The execution of the emergency services to be on time and emergency control mechanism towards for developing to be the most appropriate decision Geographic Information System (GIS) can be useful. The results obtained by using products with GIS analysis of seismic data to the city, manager of the city required information and data that can be more healthy and satisfies the appropriate policy decisions can be produced. In this study, using ArcGIS software and benefiting reports of the earthquake that occurred in the Konya city, spatial and non-spatial data consisting databases created, by the help of this database a potential disaster management aimed in the city of Konya regard to urban earthquake, GIS-aided analyzes were performed.

Keywords: geographic information systems (GIS), disaster management, emergency control mechanism, Konya

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Authors: Oluwole Durodolu

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The rationale for this study is to explore the adaptive strategy that librarians adopt in performing night shifts in a mega-city like Lagos state. Maslach Burnout Theory would be used to measure the three proportions of burnout in understanding emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and individual accomplishment to scrutinise job-related burnout syndrome allied with longstanding, unsolved stress. The qualitative methodology guided by a phenomenological research paradigm, which is an approach that focuses on the commonality of real-life experience in a particular group, would be used, focus group discussion adopted as a method of data collection from library staff who are involved in night-shift. The participant for the focus group discussion would be selected using a convenience sampling technique in which staff at the cataloguing unit would be included in the sample because of the representative characteristics of the unit. This would be done to enable readers to understand phenomena as it is reasonable than from a remote perspective. The exploratory interviews which will be in focus group method to shed light on issues relating to security, housing, transportation, budgeting, energy supply, employee duties, time management, information access, and sustaining professional levels of service and how all these variables affect the productivity of all the 149 library staff and their work-life balance.

Keywords: nightshift, work-life balance, mega-city, academic library, Maslach Burnout Theory, Lagos State, University of Lagos

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Authors: Mehmet Balci, Sakir Tasdemir, Mustafa Altin, Ozlem Bozok

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Our globalizing world has become almost a small village and everyone can access any information at any time. Everyone lets each other know who does whatever in which place. We can learn which social events occur in which place in the world. From the perspective of education, the course notes that a lecturer use in lessons in a university in any state of America can be examined by a student studying in a city of Africa or the Far East. This dizzying communication we have mentioned happened thanks to fast developments in computer technologies and in parallel with this, internet technology. While these developments in the world, has a very large young population and a rapidly evolving electronic communications infrastructure Turkey has been affected by this situation. Researches has shown that almost all young people in Turkey has an account in a social network. Especially becoming common of mobile devices causes data traffic in social networks to increase. In this study, has been surveyed on students in the different age groups and at the Selcuk University Vocational School of Technical Sciences Department of Computer Technology. Student’s opinions about the use of internet and social media has been gotten. Using the Internet and social media skills, purposes, operating frequency, access facilities and tools, social life and effects on vocational education etc. have been explored. Both internet and use of social media positive and negative effects on this department students results have been obtained by the obtained findings evaluating from various aspects. Relations and differences have been found out with statistic.

Keywords: computer technologies, internet use, social network, higher vocational school

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Authors: Liu Jiaxin

Abstract:

This paper seeks to do an in-depth investigation on the phenomenon of Early Modern era (1500-1700s) Livonian werewolves. Noting their uniqueness in comparison to contemporaneous werewolves hailing from other geographic areas, the paper suggests that the Livonian werewolf is a metaphor for Livonian society at that time, one which was characterized by social turmoil and strict class hierarchy. This metaphor was utilized by different classes to establish their own interests in society, and thus the paper concludes that the werewolf is a mutable artifact whose value is contingent on its social context. This is demonstrated by the particular case of Old Thiess—a poor, elderly Livonian peasant who gave an unorthodox and anomalous testimony when accused of being a werewolf. In his court statement, it is shown how Thiess was, in fact, alluding to social tensions by lambasting the rich German elite and establishing the righteousness of the peasantry, of which he was a member. A close reading method was utilized on the trial transcript of Old Thiess with heavy reference to Carlo Ginzburg and Bruce Lincoln’s collaborative work Old Thiess, a Livonian werewolf: a classic case in comparative perspective. Through a contextual reading of Livonia’s social atmosphere, the paper draws connections between the content of the trial to wider societal disturbances happening at the time. The thesis—that the werewolf is a flexible metaphor for the social milieu—is further buttressed by numerous contemporaneous sources that had similar messages as Thiess’ transcript, which are discussed as well.

Keywords: early-modern baltic, Livonia, Old Thiess, social history, werewolves

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Authors: Achim Kampker, Christoph Deutskens, Heiner Hans Heimes, Mathias Ordung, Felix Optehostert

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In the past years electric mobility became part of a public discussion. The trend to fully electrified vehicles instead of vehicles fueled with fossil energy has notably gained momentum. Today nearly every big car manufacturer produces and sells fully electrified vehicles, but electrified vehicles are still not as competitive as conventional powered vehicles. As the traction battery states the largest cost driver, lowering its price is a crucial objective. In addition to improvements in product and production processes a non-negligible, but widely underestimated cost driver of production can be found in logistics, since the production technology is not continuous yet and neither are the logistics systems. This paper presents an approach to evaluate cost factors on different designs of load carrier systems. Due to numerous interdependencies, the combination of costs factors for a particular scenario is not transparent. This is effecting actions for cost reduction negatively, but still cost reduction is one of the major goals for simultaneous engineering processes. Therefore a concurrent and phase appropriate cost valuation method is necessary to serve cost transparency. In this paper the four phases of this cost valuation method are defined and explained, which based upon a new approach integrating the logistics development process in to the integrated product and process development.

Keywords: research and development, technology and innovation, lithium-ion-battery production, load carrier development process, cost valuation method

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Authors: Halil Demir, Ersin Polat

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This study, in which crispy salad plants was cultivated between the two rows of tomato, was conducted in Spring 2007 in a research glasshouse at Akdeniz University. Crispy salad (Lactuca sativa var. crispa cv. Bohemia) plants were intercropped with tomato (Solanum lycopersicon cv. Selin F1) plants as the main crop. Tomato seedlings were planted according to double line plantation system with 100 cm large spacing, 50 cm narrow spacing and 50 cm within row plant spacing. In both control and intercropping applications, each plot was 9.75 m2 according to plantation distances and there were 26 plants per each plot for tomato. Crispy salad seedlings were planted with 30 cm spacing as one row in the middle of tomato plants and with 30x30 spacing as two rows between plants rows. Moreover, salad seedlings were transplanted between tomato plants above the tomato rows that were planted in two rows with intervals of 50 cm and also with 25x25 cm spacing as the third row in the middle of tomato rows. While tomato plants were growing during the research, fruit width and height were measured periodically with 15 days in the tomato fruits of the third cluster from the formation of fruit to fruit ripening. According to results, while there were no differences between cropping systems in terms of fruit width, the highest fruit height was found in Control trial in the first measurement. In the second measurement while the highest fruit width was determined with 64.39 mm in Control, there were no differences between cropping systems. In the third measurement, the highest fruit width and height were obtained from Control with 68.47 mm and 55.52 mm, respectively. As a conclusion the trial, which crispy salad seedlings were planted with 30x30 cm spacing as two rows between tomato plants rows, was determined as a best intercropping application.

Keywords: crispy salad, glasshouse, intercropping, tomato

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Authors: V. A. Adzika, D. Ayim-Aboagye, T. Gordh

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Background and aims: Prevalence of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is high in Ghana but not much is known in terms of research into non-medical strategies for managing and coping with the pain associated with SCD. This study was carried out to examine effective non-medical related strategies patients use to cope and manage their SCD condition. Methods: SCD patients (387) consisting of 180 males and 204 females between 18-65 years old years participated in the study. A cross-sectional research design was used in which participants completed questionnaires on pain, non-medical coping and management strategies, anxiety, and depression. Results of multiple regression analysis showed that socio-demographic characteristics contributed to the variance in the pain associated with SCD. Results: Over 90% of participants reported that pains associated with SCD were the main reason for seeking treatment in SCD crisis. In terms of non-medical related coping strategies, attending a place of worship and praying were the main coping strategies used in SCD crises, suggesting that patients’ beliefs, particularly in a supernatural being, served as a mitigating factor in the process of coping with the pain associated with SCD crisis. Also, avoidance and withdrawal from people and social activities were reported to be strategies used to cope effectively with the pain associated with SCD crisis. Conclusion: This indicates that it is imperative to incorporate non-medical related coping and management strategies, especially religious beliefs and psychosocial factors, to coping and management of the pain associated with SCD.

Keywords: anxiety, depression, sickle cell disease, quality of life, socio-demographic characteristics, Ghana

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Authors: María Araya Léon, Ainoa Abella, Aura Murillo, Ricardo Guasch, Laura Clèries

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Objectives: This article aims to examine scientific theory framed within the term hospitals of the future from a multidisciplinary and cross-sectional perspective. To understand the connection that the various cross-sectional areas we studied have with architectural spaces and to determine the future outlook of the works examined and how they can be classified into the categories of need/solution, evolution/revolution, collective/individual, and preventive/corrective. Background: The changes currently taking place within the context of healthcare demonstrate how important these projects are and the need for companies to face future changes. Method: A systematic review has been carried out focused on what will the hospitals of the future be like in relation to the elements that form part of their use, design, and architectural space experience, using the WOS database from 2016 to 2019. Results: The large number of works about sensoring & big data and the scarce amount related to the area of materials is worth highlighting. Furthermore, no growth concerning future issues is envisaged over time. Regarding classifications, the articles we reviewed address evolutionary and collective solutions more, and in terms of preventive and corrective solutions, they were found at a similar level. Conclusions: Although our research focused on the future of hospitals, there is little evidence representing this approach. We also detected that, given the relevance of the research on how the built environment influences human health and well-being, these studies should be promoted within the context of healthcare.

Keywords: hospitals, future, architectural space, disruptive approach

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Authors: Sayantan Saha, Sambit Supriya Dash, Vinayak Malhotra

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Efficient propulsive systems development is an area of major interest and concern in aerospace industry. Combustion forms the most reliable and basic form of propulsion for ground and space applications. The generation of large amount of energy from a small volume relates mostly to the flaming combustion. This study deals with instabilities associated with flaming combustion. Combustion is always accompanied by acoustics be it external or internal. Chemical propulsion oriented rockets and space systems are well known to encounter acoustic instabilities. Acoustic brings in changes in inter-energy conversion and alter the reaction rates. The modified heat fluxes, owing to wall temperature, reaction rates, and non-linear heat transfer are observed. The thermoacoustic instabilities significantly result in reduced combustion efficiency leading to uncontrolled liquid rocket engine performance, serious hazards to systems, assisted testing facilities, enormous loss of resources and every year a substantial amount of money is spent to prevent them. Present work attempts to fundamentally understand the mechanisms governing the thermoacoustic combustion in liquid rocket engine using a simplified experimental setup comprising a butane cylinder and an impinging acoustic source. Rocket engine produces sound pressure level in excess of 153 Db. The RL-10 engine generates noise of 180 Db at its base. Systematic studies are carried out for varying fuel flow rates, acoustic levels and observations are made on the flames. The work is expected to yield a good physical insight into the development of acoustic devices that when coupled with the present propulsive devices could effectively enhance combustion efficiency leading to better and safer missions. The results would be utilized to develop impinging acoustic devices that impinge sound on the combustion chambers leading to stable combustion thus, improving specific fuel consumption, specific impulse, reducing emissions, enhanced performance and fire safety. The results can be effectively applied to terrestrial and space application.

Keywords: combustion instability, fire safety, improved performance, liquid rocket engines, thermoacoustics

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Authors: Xavier A. Conlan

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Speed of analysis is a significant limitation to current high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) and ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC)/MS systems both of which are used in many forensic investigations. The flow rate limitations of MS detection require a compromise in the chromatographic flow rate, which in turn reduces throughput, and when using modern columns, a reduction in separation efficiency. Commonly, this restriction is combated through the post-column splitting of flow prior to entry into the mass spectrometer. However, this results in a loss of sensitivity and a loss in efficiency due to the post-extra column dead volume. A new chromatographic column format known as 'parallel segmented flow' involves the splitting of eluent flow within the column outlet end fitting, and in this study we present its application in order to interrogate the provenience of methamphetamine samples with mass spectrometry detection. Using parallel segmented flow, column flow rates as high as 3 mL/min were employed in the analysis of amino acids without post-column splitting to the mass spectrometer. Furthermore, when parallel segmented flow chromatography columns were employed, the sensitivity was more than twice that of conventional systems with post-column splitting when the same volume of mobile phase was passed through the detector. These finding suggest that this type of column technology will particularly enhance the capabilities of modern LC/MS enabling both high-throughput and sensitive mass spectral detection.

Keywords: chromatography, mass spectrometry methamphetamine, parallel segmented outlet flow column, forensic sciences

Procedia PDF Downloads 475

Authors: Gupta Indu

Abstract:

This paper aims to examine the relationship between foreign direct investment and globalization. Foreign direct investment plays an important role in globalization. It is dramatically increasing in the age of globalization. It has played an important role for economic growth in this global process. It can provide new markets and marketing channels, cheaper production facilities, access to new technology, products to a firm. FDI has come to play a major role in the internationalization of business. FDI has become even more important than trade. Growing liberalization of the national regulatory framework governing investment in enterprises and changes in capital markets profound changes have occurred in the size, scope and methods of FDI. New information technology systems, decline in global communication costs have made management of foreign investments far easier than in the past. FDI provide opportunities to host countries to enhance their economic development and opens new opportunities to home countries to optimize their earnings by employing their ideal resources. Smaller and weaker economies can drive out much local competition. For small and medium sized companies, FDI represents an opportunity to become more actively involved in international business activities. In the past decade, foreign direct investment has expanded its role by change in trade policy, investment policy, tariff liberalization, easing of restrictions on foreign investment and acquisition in many nations, and the deregulation and privatization of many industries. In present competitive scenario, FDI has become a prominent external source of finance for developing countries.

Keywords: foreign direct investment, globalization, economic development, information technology systems new opportunities

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Authors: Mohamed Fadzlee Sulaiman, Zainurrasyid Abdullah, Mohd Zabri Adil Talib, Aswami Fadillah Mohd Ariffin

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In common digital forensics cases, investigation may rely on the analysis conducted on specific and relevant exhibits involved. Usually the investigation officer may define and advise digital forensic analyst about the goals and objectives to be achieved in reconstructing the trail of evidence while maintaining the specific scope of investigation. With the technology growth, people are starting to realize the importance of cyber security to their organization and this new perspective creates awareness that digital forensics auditing must come in place in order to measure possible threat or attack to their cyber-infrastructure. Instead of performing investigation on incident basis, auditing may broaden the scope of investigation to the level of anomaly detection in daily operation of organization’s cyber space. While handling a huge amount of data such as log files, performing digital forensics audit for large organization proven to be onerous task for the analyst either to analyze the huge files or to translate the findings in a way where the stakeholder can clearly understand. Data visualization can be emphasized in conducting digital forensic audit and investigation to resolve both needs. This study will identify the important factors that should be considered to perform data visualization techniques in order to detect anomaly that meet the digital forensic audit and investigation objectives.

Keywords: digital forensic, data visualization, anomaly detection , log analysis, forensic audit, visualization techniques

Procedia PDF Downloads 271