Search results for: language variation

Authors: Pawthawala Nancy Manish, Syed Alay Hashim

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A hybrid rocket is a rocket engine which uses propellants in two different states of matter- one is in solid and the other either gas or liquid. A hybrid rocket exhibit advantages over both liquid rockets and solid rockets especially in terms of simplicity, stop-start-restart capabilities, safety and cost. This paper deals the design and development of a hybrid rocket having paraffin wax as solid fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer. Due to variation of pressure in combustion chamber there is significantly change in mass flow rate, burning rate and uneven regression along the length of the grain. This project describes the working model of a hybrid propellant rocket motor. We have designed a hybrid rocket thrust chamber based on the predetermined combustion chamber pressure and the properties of hybrid propellant. This project is all ready in working condition with normal oxygen injector. Now we have planned to modify the injector design to improve the combustion property. We will use spray type injector for injecting the oxidizer. This idea will increase the performance followed by the regression rate of the solid fuel. By employing mass conservation law, oxygen mass flux, oxidizer/fuel ratio and regression rate the thrust coefficient can be obtained for our current design. CATIA V5 R20 is our design software for the complete setup. This project is fully based on experimental evaluation and the collection of combustion and flow parameters. The thrust chamber is made of stainless steel and the duration of test is around 15-20 seconds (Maximum). These experiments indicates that paraffin based fuel provides the opportunity to satisfy a broad range of mission requirements for the next generation of the hybrid rocket system.

Keywords: burning rate, liquid oxygen, mass flow rate, paraffin wax and sugar

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Sarah Gaßmeyer, Nadine Hülsemann, Raphael Stoll, Kenji Miyamoto, Robert Kourist

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Enzymatic racemization allows the smooth interconversion of stereocenters under very mild reaction conditions. Racemases find frequent applications in deracemization and dynamic kinetic resolutions. Arylmalonate decarboxylase (AMDase) from Bordetella Bronchiseptica has high structural similarity to amino acid racemases. These cofactor-free racemases are able to break chemically strong CH-bonds under mild conditions. The racemase-like catalytic machinery of mutant G74C conveys it a unique activity in the racemisation of pharmacologically relevant derivates of 2-phenylpropionic acid (profenes), which makes AMDase G74C an interesting object for the mechanistic investigation of cofactor-independent racemases. Structure-guided protein engineering achieved a variant of this unique racemase with 40-fold increased activity in the racemisation of several arylaliphatic carboxylic acids. By saturation–transfer–difference NMR spectroscopy (STD-NMR), substrate binding during catalysis was investigated. All atoms of the substrate showed interactions with the enzyme. STD-NMR measurements revealed distinct nuclear Overhauser effects in experiments with and without molecular conversion. The spectroscopic analysis led to the identification of several amino acid residues whose variation increased the activity of G74C. While single-amino acid exchanges increased the activity moderately, structure-guided saturation mutagenesis yielded a quadruple mutant with a 40 times higher reaction rate. This study presents STD-NMR as versatile tool for the analysis of enzyme-substrate interactions in catalytically competent systems and for the guidance of protein engineering.

Keywords: racemase, rational protein design, STD-NMR, structure guided saturation mutagenesis

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Authors: Danute Jablonskyte-Rasce, Laura Masilionyte

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The field experiments of different farming systems were conducted at Joniškėlis Experimental Station of the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry in 2006–2016. The soil of the experimental site was Endocalcari-Endohypogleyic Cambisol (CMg-n-w-can). The research was designed to identify the effects of dry matter and nitrogen accumulated in the above-ground biomass of various catch crops grown after winter wheat on soil mineral nitrogen variation during the autumn and spring period in the presence of intensive leaching complex. Research was done in the soil differing in humus status in the organic and sustainable cropping systems by growing various plant mixtures as catch crops: narrow-leafed lupine (Lupinus angustifolius L.) and oil radish (Raphanus sativus var. Oleifera L.), white mustard (Sinapis alba L.) and buckwheat (Fagopyrum exculentum Moench.) and white mustard as a sole crop. All crop and soil management practices have shown optimal efficiency in late autumn – stubble breaking, catch crops and straw used during the post-harvest period of the main crops, reduced Nmin migration into deeper (40–80 cm) soil layer. The greatest Nmin reduction in the 0–40 cm soil layer during the period from late autumn to early spring was identified in the sustainable cropping system having applied N30 for the promotion of straw mineralization and with no catch crops cultivation. The sustainable cropping system, having applied N30 for straw mineralization and growing white mustard in combination with buckwheat as catch crops, Nmin difference in the spring compared with its status in the autumn in the soil low and moderate in humus was lower by 70.1% and 34.2%, respectively.

Keywords: soil nitrogen, catch crops, ecological and sustainable farming systems, Cambisol

Procedia PDF Downloads 259

Authors: Ali Javaid, Rizwan Latif, Syed Adnan Qasim, Imran Shafi

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To control combustion inside a direct injection diesel engine, fuel atomization is the best tool. Controlling combustion helps in reducing emissions and improves efficiency. Cavitation is one of the most important factors that significantly affect the nature of spray before it injects into combustion chamber. Typical fuel injector nozzles are small and operate at a very high pressure, which limits the study of internal nozzle behavior especially in case of diesel engine. Simulating cavitation in a fuel injector will help in understanding the phenomenon and will assist in further development. There is a parametric variation between high speed and high torque low speed diesel engines. The objective of this study is to simulate internal spray characteristics for a low speed high torque diesel engine. In-nozzle cavitation has strong effects on the parameters e.g. mass flow rate, fuel velocity, and momentum flux of fuel that is to be injected into the combustion chamber. The external spray dynamics and subsequently the air – fuel mixing depends on a lot of the parameters of fuel injecting the nozzle. The approach used to model turbulence induced in – nozzle cavitation for high-torque low-speed diesel engine, is homogeneous equilibrium model. The governing equations were modeled using Matlab. Complete Model in question was extensively evaluated by performing 3-D time-dependent simulations on Open FOAM, which is an open source flow solver and implemented in CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). Results thus obtained will be analyzed for better evaporation in the near-nozzle region. The proposed analyses will further help in better engine efficiency, low emission, and improved fuel economy.

Keywords: cavitation, HEM model, nozzle flow, open foam, turbulence

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Authors: Patrizia Bonaventura

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The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of prosody on the acquisition of temporal aspects of V-V anticipatory lingual coarticulation in productions by Italian-speaking children. Two twin 7-years old male children, native Italian speakers, interacted with the same adult, repeating nonsense disyllables containing VtV sequences where V1 = {i, a} and V2 = {a,e, i, o,u}, with different stress patterns (e.g. pi’ta, pi’ta). The duration of the VC F2 transitions and the CV/VC F2 transitions durations ratios in different V2 contexts and stress conditions were measured by spectrographic analysis and compared between pronunciations by each child vs. the adult to test whether the child was able to imitate the duration of the transitions as produced by the adult in different stress conditions. Consequences highlighted a significant difference in durations of VC transitions between children and adult: longer VC transitions durations, indicating a greater amount of coarticulation, were found for one child in every context, and for the other, only in stressed [it] sequences. The data support the hypothesis of the presence of different temporal patterns of anticipatory coarticulation in adults and children, and of a greater amount of coarticulation in children, with different strategies of implementation across different prosodic conditions.

Keywords: speech acquisition, coarticulation, Italian language, prosody

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: M. Abuqebitah, H. Tanyildizi, N. Yeyin, I. Cavdar, M. Demir, L. Kabasakal

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Aim: Targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) is an increasingly used treatment modality for wide range of cancers. Presently dosimetry is highly required either to plan treatment or to ascertain the absorbed dose delivered to critical organs during treatment. Methods and Materials: The study comprised 7 patients suffered from prostate cancer with progressive disease and candidate to undergo Lu-177-DOTA-617 therapy following to PSMA- PET/CT imaging for all patients. (5.2±0.3 mCi) was intravenously injected. To evaluate bone marrow absorbed dose 2 cc blood samples were withdrawn in short variable times (3, 15, 30, 60, 180 minutes) after injection. Furthermore, whole body scans were performed using scintillation gama camera in 4, 24, 48, and 120 hours after injection and in order to quantify the activity taken up in the body, kidneys , liver, right parotid, and left parotid the geometric mean of anterior and posterior counts were determined through ROI analysis, after that background subtraction and attenuation correction were applied using patients PSMA- PET/CT images taking in a consideration: organ thickness, body thickness, and Hounsfield unites from CT scan. OLINDA/EXM dosimetry program was used for curve fitting, residence time calculation, and absorbed dose calculations. Findings: Absorbed doses of bone marrow, left kidney, right kidney, liver, left parotid, right parotid, total body were 1.28±0.52, 32.36±16.36, 32.7±13.68, 10.35±3.45, 38.67±21.29, 37.55±19.77, 2.25±0.95 (mGy/mCi), respectively. Conclusion: Our first results clarify that Lu-177-DOTA-617 is safe and reliable therapy as there were no complications seen. In the other hand, the observable variation in the absorbed dose of the critical organs among the patients necessitate patient-specific dosimetry approach to save body organs and particularly highly exposed kidneys and parotid gland.

Keywords: Lu-177-PSMA, prostate cancer, radionuclide therapy

Procedia PDF Downloads 480

Authors: Sajjad Izadpanah, Seyed Hadi Ghaderi, Morteza Sayah Irani, Mahdi Gerdooei

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In this research work, a sophisticated yield criterion known as BBC2003, capable of describing planar anisotropic behaviors of aluminum alloy sheets, was integrated into the commercial finite element code ABAQUS/Standard via a user subroutine. The complete formulation of the implementation process using a fully implicit integration scheme, i.e., the classic backward Euler method, is presented, and relevant aspects of the yield criterion are introduced. In order to solve nonlinear differential and algebraic equations, the line-search algorithm was adopted in the user-defined material subroutine (UMAT) to expand the convergence domain of the iterative Newton-Raphson method. The developed subroutine was used to simulate a challenging computational problem with complex stress states, i.e., deep drawing of an anisotropic aluminum alloy AA3105. The accuracy and stability of the developed subroutine were confirmed by comparing the numerically predicted earing and thickness variation profiles with the experimental results, which showed an excellent agreement between numerical and experimental earing and thickness profiles. The integration of the BBC2003 yield criterion into ABAQUS/Standard represents a significant contribution to the field of computational mechanics and provides a useful tool for analyzing the mechanical behavior of anisotropic materials subjected to complex loading conditions.

Keywords: BBC2003 yield function, plastic anisotropy, fully implicit integration scheme, line search algorithm, explicit and implicit integration schemes

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Authors: K. Rhea Devaiah, B. S. Premalatha

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Background: Tonsillar Lingual sulcus is the area between the tonsils and the base of the tongue. The surgical resection of the lesions in the head and neck results in changes in speech and swallowing functions. The severity of the speech and swallowing problem depends upon the site and extent of the lesion, types and extent of surgery and also the flexibility of the remaining structures. Need of the study: This paper focuses on the importance of speech and swallowing rehabilitation in an individual with the lesion in the Tonsillar Lingual Sulcus and post-operative functions. Aim: Evaluating the speech and swallow functions post-intensive speech and swallowing rehabilitation. The objectives are to evaluate the speech intelligibility and swallowing functions after intensive therapy and assess the quality of life. Method: The present study describes a report of an individual aged 47years male, with the diagnosis of basaloid squamous cell carcinoma, left tonsillar lingual sulcus (pT2n2M0) and underwent wide local excision with left radical neck dissection with PMMC flap reconstruction. Post-surgery the patient came with a complaint of reduced speech intelligibility, and difficulty in opening the mouth and swallowing. Detailed evaluation of the speech and swallowing functions were carried out such as OPME, articulation test, speech intelligibility, different phases of swallowing and trismus evaluation. Self-reported questionnaires such as SHI-E(Speech handicap Index- Indian English), DHI (Dysphagia handicap Index) and SESEQ -K (Self Evaluation of Swallowing Efficiency in Kannada) were also administered to know what the patient feels about his problem. Based on the evaluation, the patient was diagnosed with pharyngeal phase dysphagia associated with trismus and reduced speech intelligibility. Intensive speech and swallowing therapy was advised weekly twice for the duration of 1 hour. Results: Totally the patient attended 10 intensive speech and swallowing therapy sessions. Results indicated misarticulation of speech sounds such as lingua-palatal sounds. Mouth opening was restricted to one finger width with difficulty chewing, masticating, and swallowing the bolus. Intervention strategies included Oro motor exercise, Indirect swallowing therapy, usage of a trismus device to facilitate mouth opening, and change in the food consistency to help to swallow. A practice session was held with articulation drills to improve the production of speech sounds and also improve speech intelligibility. Significant changes in articulatory production and speech intelligibility and swallowing abilities were observed. The self-rated quality of life measures such as DHI, SHI and SESE Q-K revealed no speech handicap and near-normal swallowing ability indicating the improved QOL after the intensive speech and swallowing therapy. Conclusion: Speech and swallowing therapy post carcinoma in the tonsillar lingual sulcus is crucial as the tongue plays an important role in both speech and swallowing. The role of Speech-language and swallowing therapists in oral cancer should be highlighted in treating these patients and improving the overall quality of life. With intensive speech-language and swallowing therapy post-surgery for oral cancer, there can be a significant change in the speech outcome and swallowing functions depending on the site and extent of lesions which will thereby improve the individual’s QOL.

Keywords: oral cancer, speech and swallowing therapy, speech intelligibility, trismus, quality of life

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Authors: Camila Parodi, Viviana Letelier, Giacomo Moriconi

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The cement industry is responsible for around a 5% of the CO2 emissions worldwide and considering that concrete is one of the most used materials in construction its total effect is important. An alternative to reduce the environmental impact of concrete production is to incorporate certain amount of residues in the dosing, limiting the replacement percentages to avoid significant losses in the mechanical properties of the final material. Previous researches demonstrate the feasibility of using brick and rust residues, separately, as a cement replacement. This study analyses the variation in the mechanical properties of mortars by incorporating masonry residue composed of clay bricks and cement mortar. In order to improve the mechanical properties of masonry residue, this was subjected to a heat treatment of 650 ° C for four hours and its effect is analyzed in this study. Masonry residue was obtained from a demolition of masonry perimetral walls. The residues were crushed and sieved and the maximum size of particles used was 75 microns. The percentages of cement replaced by masonry residue were 0%, 10%, 20% and 30%. The effect of masonry residue addition and its heat treatment in the mechanical properties of mortars is evaluated through compressive and flexural strength tests after 7, 14 and 28 curing days. Results show that increasing the amount of masonry residue used increases the losses in compressive strength and flexural strength. However, the use of up to a 20% of masonry residue, when a heat treatment is applied, allows obtaining mortars with similar compressive strength to the control mortar. Masonry residues mortars without a heat treatment show losses in compressive strengths between 15% and 27% with respect to masonry residues with heat treatment, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the heat treatment. From this analysis it can be conclude that it is possible to use up to 20% of masonry residue with heat treatment as cement replacement without significant losses in mortars mechanical properties, reducing considerably the environmental impact of the final material.

Keywords: cement replacement, environmental impact, masonry residue, mechanical properties of recycled mortars

Procedia PDF Downloads 392

Authors: Kgabo Pofu, Hintsa Araya, Dean Oelofse, Sonja Venter, Christian Du Plooy, Phatu Mashela

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Nematode resistance to the tropical root-knot (Meloidogyne species) nematodes is one of the most preferred nematode management strategies in development of smallholder resource-poor farming systems. Due to its pharmacological and ethnomedicinal applications, Artemisia annua is one of the underutilised crops that have attracted attention of policy-makers in rural agrarian development in South Africa. However, the successful introduction of this crop in smallholder resource-poor farming systems could be upset by the widespread aggressive Meloidogyne species, which have limited management options. The objective of this study therefore was to determine the degree of nematode resistance to the South African M. incognita and M. javanica population densities on A. annua seedlings. Uniform three-week-old seedlings in pots containing pasteurised growing medium under greenhouse conditions were inoculated using a series of eggs and second-stage juveniles of two Meloidogyne species in separate trials. At 56 days after inoculation, treatments were highly significant on reproductive factor (RF) for M. incognita and M. javanica on A. annua, contributing 87 and 89% in total treatment variation of the variables, respectively. At all levels of inoculation, RF values for M. incognita (0.17-0.79) and M. javanica (0.02-0.29) were below unity, without any noticeable root galls. Infection of A. annua by both Meloidogyne species had no significant effects on growth variables. In conclusion, A. annua seedlings are resistant to the South African M. incognita and M. javanica population densities and could therefore be explored further for use in smallholder resource-poor farming systems.

Keywords: ethnomedicial plants, medicinal plants, underutilised crops, plant parasitic nematodes

Procedia PDF Downloads 300

Authors: R. M. Rajapaksa

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Construction industry is one of the key players in driving the economy of a country to achieve its prosperity. However, a dispute is one of the crucial factors which prevent the completion of construction contracts within the budgeted cost, scheduled time, and accepted quality. Disputes are inevitable in the construction contract. Accordingly, a study has been undertaken to identify the factors affecting contractual disputes in construction projects in Sri Lanka. The study was a mixed approach with major qualitative and minor quantitative. Qualitative study was set in the form of in-depth interviews with eighteen participants, and quantitative study was conducted using a questionnaire with twenty-four respondents from previously implemented projects by the National Water Supply & Drainage Board representing the employer, engineer and the Contractor to identify the factors affecting contractual disputes and to verify most critical factors respectively. Data analysis for qualitative and quantitative studies was carried out by means of transcribing, code & categorizeand average score methods, respectively. The study reveals that there are forty factors affecting the contractual disputes in construction contracts in Sri Lanka. The finding further illustrates that conflicting decisions by inexperience personnel in the higher position of the Employer, ambiguities resulting inadequate descriptions of the preliminary/general items in price schedule, unfair valuation and late confirmation of variations, unfair determination due to lack of experience of the Engineer/Consultant, under certification of progress payments, unfair grant of EOT & application of delay damages, unreasonable claims for variation of works, errors/discrepancies/ambiguities in the contract conditions and discrepancies & errors in designs & specifications are the most critical factors affecting contractual disputes. Finally, the study proposed remedial measures to most critical factors affecting contractual disputes.

Keywords: dispute, contractual, factors, employer, engineer, contractor, construction projects

Procedia PDF Downloads 216

Authors: Amaal Almigal

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Neurotypical children learn to ask questions from natural exposure and this skill is fundamental for their academic success. However, children with autism spectrum disorder may not learn to ask in the same way due to earlier communication impairments, and some may need to use Augmentative and Alternative Communication systems (AAC) to ask questions. This paper aims to highlight issues related to questioning skills in children with autism giving a specific attention to asking questions within preverbal or minimally verbal children. Different procedures have been employed to teach these children, including AAC users, to ask questions. Therefore, these procedures will also be discussed to administrate how they were used and what they were aimed to teach. This paper also provides a suggested procedure to assist preverbal or minimally verbal children to ask questions using an iPad application for communication (Proloquo2Go) as AAC. This suggested procedure was used with 3 children with autism. Initial results will be discussed to clarify ways in which this procedure was used with each child based on his skills and which questioning skills each child has acquired using this procedure.

Keywords: AAC, autism, communication, information, iPad, requesting

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Marwa A. Nasser

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This is an empirical study that provides an investigation of the most significant errors of Egyptian learners in producing English consonants and Arabic consonants, and advice on how these can be remedied. The study adopts a descriptive approach and the analysis is based on audio recordings of two groups of people. The first group includes six volunteers of Egyptian learners belonging to the English Department at Faculty of Women who learn English as a foreign language. The other group includes six Egyptian learners who are studying Tajweed (how to recite Quran correctly). The audio recordings were examined, and sounds were analyzed in an attempt to highlight the most common error done by the learners while reading English or reading (or reciting) Quran. Results show that the two groups of learners have problems with certain phonemic contrasts. Both groups share common errors although both languages are different and not related (e.g. pre-aspiration of fortis stops, incorrect articulation of consonants and velarization of certain sounds).

Keywords: consonant articulations, Egyptian learners of English, Egyptian learners of Quran, empirical study, error analysis, pronunciation problems

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Wenzhe Li, Xiaoyu Ying, Grace Ding

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Architecture plane form is an important consideration in the design of green buildings due to its significant impact on energy performance. The most effective method to consider energy performance in the early design stages is parametric modelling. This paper presents a methodology to program plane forms using MATLAB language, generating 16 kinds of plane forms by changing four designed parameters. DesignBuilder (an energy consumption simulation software) was proposed to simulate the energy consumption of the generated planes. A regression mathematical model was established to study the relationship between the plane forms and their energy consumption. The main finding of the study suggested that there was a cubic function relationship between the depth-ratio of U-shaped buildings and energy consumption, and there is also a cubic function relationship between the width-ratio and energy consumption. In the design, the depth-ratio of U-shaped buildings should not be less than 2.5, and the width-ratio should not be less than 2.

Keywords: graphic parameterization, green building design, mathematical model, plane form

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Shin-Shin Kao

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This paper reviews the crucial situation in higher education in Taiwan due to the rapid decline of the birth rate in the past three decades, and how the government and local colleges/universities work to face the challenge. Recruiting international students is one of the possible ways to resolve the problem, but offering enough courses in English is one of the main obstacles when the majority of learners are still Taiwanese students. In the academic year of 2012, Chung Yuan Christian University determined to make its campus international and began to enforce two required courses for freshmen taught in English. It failed in the beginning, but succeeded in the following academic year of 2013. Using the teaching evaluations accumulated in the past three years, this paper aims to clarify the myths which had been bothering most faculties. It also offers some suggestions for college/university teachers interested in giving lectures in English to English as Second Language (ESL) learners. A conclusion is presented at the end of the paper, in which the author explained why Taiwanese students could learn their profession in English.

Keywords: calculus, English, teaching evaluation, teaching strategy, vocabulary

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: Jilu David

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Background: Schizophrenia is one of the most misunderstood mental illnesses across the globe. Lack of understanding about mental illnesses often delay treatment, severely affects the functionality of the person, and causes distress to the family. The study, Video-based Psychoeducation for Caregivers of Persons with Schizophrenia, consisted of developing a psychoeducational video about Schizophrenia, its symptoms, causes, treatment, and the importance of family support. Methodology: A quasi-experimental pre-post design was used to understand the feasibility of the study. Qualitative analysis strengthened the feasibility outcomes. Knowledge About Schizophrenia Interview was used to assess the level of knowledge of 10 participants, before and after the screening of the video. Results: Themes of usefulness, length, content, educational component, format of the intervention, and language emerged in the qualitative analysis. There was a statistically significant difference in the knowledge level of participants before and after the video screening. Conclusion: The statistical and qualitative analysis revealed that the video-based psychoeducation program was feasible and that it facilitated a general improvement in knowledge of the participants.

Keywords: Schizophrenia, mental illness, psychoeducation, video-based psychoeducation, family support

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Authors: Duangkamol Thitivesa

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This paper focuses on the use of project work as a pretext for applying the conventions of writing, or the correctness of mechanics, usage, and sentence formation, in a content-based class in a Rajabhat University. Its aim was to explore to what extent the student teachers’ academic achievement of the basic writing features against the 70% attainment target after the use of project is. The organization of work around an agreed theme in which the students reproduce language provided by texts and instructors is expected to enhance students’ correct writing conventions. The sample of the study comprised of 38 fourth-year English major students. The data was collected by means of achievement test and student writing works. The scores in the summative achievement test were analyzed by mean score, standard deviation, and percentage. It was found that the student teachers do more achieve of practicing mechanics and usage, and less in sentence formation. The students benefited from the exposure to texts during conducting the project; however, their automaticity of how and when to form phrases and clauses into simple/complex sentences had room for improvement.

Keywords: project-based learning, project work, writing conventions, academic achievement

Procedia PDF Downloads 333

Authors: Yan Zhang

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With the development of commercial movies, more and more instructors are drawn to adapt film pedagogy to teach history and culture. By challenging traditional standards of classroom culture, instruction through film represents an intersection of modernity and adaptability which is no longer optional but essential to maintaining educational accessibility. First, this presentation describes special features of the film that can be used in the classroom and help students acquire intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and achieve the learning goal. Second, the author brings forward the 5 A STAIRCASE model (Acknowledge-Adjust-Acculturate-Act-Assess) to explore how students acquire international communicative competence. Third, this article presents the intersections between new digital environments and classroom practice, such as how films can contribute to combining classical and contemporary Chinese cultures seamlessly and how film pedagogy can be an effective way to get students to engage in deeper critical thinking by exposing them to visuals, music, language, and styling which do not exist in traditional learning formats. Last, the student’s final video project will be exemplified at the end, demonstrating how to engage students in the analysis and experience of history and culture.

Keywords: intercultural education, curriculum, media, history

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Authors: Alaina Caulkett, Audra Selkowitz, Lauren Harter, Aimee DeFoe

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Educational robotics is an effective tool for teaching and learning STEM curricula. Yet, most traditional professional development programs do not cover engineering, coding, or robotics. This paper will give an overview of how and why the VEX Professional Development Plus Introductory Training courses were developed to provide guided, simple professional development in the area of robotics and computer science instruction. These training courses guide educators through learning the basics of VEX robotics platforms, including VEX 123, GO, IQ, and EXP. Because many educators do not have experience teaching robotics or computer science, this course is meant to simulate one on one training or tutoring through video-based instruction. These videos, led by education professionals, can be watched at any time, which allows educators to watch at their own pace and create their own personalized professional development timeline. This personalization expands beyond the course itself into an online community where educators at different points in the self-paced course can converse with one another or with instructors from the videos and learn from a growing community of practice. By the end of each course, educators are armed with the skills to introduce robotics or computer science in their classroom or educational setting. The design of the course was guided by a variation of the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework and included hands-on activities and challenges to keep educators engaged and excited about robotics. Some of the concepts covered include, but are not limited to, following build instructions, building a robot, updating firmware, coding the robot to drive and turn autonomously, coding a robot using multiple methods, and considerations for teaching robotics and computer science in the classroom, and more. A secondary goal of this research is to discuss how this professional development approach can serve as an example in the larger educational community and explore ways that it could be further researched or used in the future.

Keywords: computer science education, online professional development, professional development, robotics education, video-based instruction

Procedia PDF Downloads 100

Authors: Victor E. Lopez, L. Dale Thomas

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As engineered systems become more complex, the difficulty associated with predicting, developing, and operating engineered systems also increases, resulting in increased costs, failure rates, and unexpected consequences. Successfully managing the complexity of the system should reduce these negative consequences. The study of complexity in the context of engineering development has suffered due to the ambiguity of the nature of complexity, what makes a system complex and how complexity translates to real world engineering attributes and consequences. This paper argues that the use of an ontology of engineering design complexity would i) improve the clarity of the research being performed by allowing researchers to use a common conceptualization of complexity, with more precise terminology, and ii) elucidate the connections between certain types of complexity and their consequences for system development. The ontology comprises concepts of complexity found in the literature and the different relations that exists between them. The ontology maps different complexity concepts such as structural complexity, creation complexity, and information entropy, and then relates the to system aspects such as interfaces, development effort, and modularity. The ontology is represented using the Web Ontology Language (OWL). This paper presents the current status of the ontology of engineering design complexity, the main challenges encountered, and the future plans for the ontology.

Keywords: design complexity, ontology, design effort, complexity ontology

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Authors: Ahmed Mateen, Zhu Qingsheng, Faisal Shahzad

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Requirement Engineering (RE) is a part being created for programming structure during the software development lifecycle. Software product line development is a new topic area within the domain of software engineering. It also plays important role in decision making and it is ultimately helpful in rising business environment for productive programming headway. Decisions are central to engineering processes and they hold them together. It is argued that better decisions will lead to better engineering. To achieve better decisions requires that they are understood in detail. In order to address the issues, companies are moving towards Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) which helps in providing large varieties of products with minimum development effort and cost. This paper proposed a new framework for software product line and compared with other models. The results can help to understand the needs in SPL testing, by identifying points that still require additional investigation. In our future scenario, we will combine this model in a controlled environment with industrial SPL projects which will be the new horizon for SPL process management testing strategies.

Keywords: requirements engineering, software product lines, scoping, process structure, domain specific language

Procedia PDF Downloads 225

Authors: Xian Xie, Qinghua Fang

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This study used quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the characteristics of flipped classroom’s influence on classroom environment of college English reading, writing, and translating, and to summarize and reflect on the teaching characteristics of college English Reading, writing, and translating. The results of the study indicated that after the flipped classroom applied to reading, writing, and translating, students’ performance was improved to a certain extent, the classroom environment was improved to some extent, students of the flipped classroom are generally satisfied with the classroom environment; students showed a certain degree of individual differences to the degree of cooperation, participation, self-responsibility, task-orientation, and the teacher leadership and innovation. The study indicated that the implementation of flipped classroom teaching mode can optimize College English reading, writing, and translating classroom environment and realize target－learner as the center in foreign language teaching and learning, but bring a greater challenge to teachers.

Keywords: classroom environment, college English reading, writing and translating, individual differences, flipped classroom

Procedia PDF Downloads 265

Authors: Generoso Pamittan Jr., Freddielyn Pontemayor

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Through the years, the purpose of tattoos in the Philippines, has changed from being tribal and traditional-ritualistic to personal and individualistic. Hence it is interesting to know the stories and meanings behind tattoos of particular individuals. Using the frames of Anabela Pereira’s concept of ‘body art’ as ‘visual language’, this paper scrutinizes the tattoos of selected Filipino LGBTs to (1) unfold the stories behind their body symbols, (2) describe the meanings and significance of their tattoos, and (3) determine the dominant themes that are common among the tattoos of the selected LGBTs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with selected respondents to obtain in-depth information about the tattoos. Photos of tattoos were also taken, with respondents’ consent, to describe and analyze the details of tattoos’ patterns/ designs. Based on the interviews and analysis, most of the immediate relatives of the selected LGBTs were initially against the idea of having tattoos because of social stigma. However, the LGBT respondents considered their tattoos as symbols of their penchant for something (arts, cooking, etc.), expression of their personality and life’s aspirations, assertion of their identity amidst heteronormative tendencies and symbols that constantly remind them of the significant people and milestones in their lives.

Keywords: body art, body tattoo, gender, identity, LGBT, tattoo

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: Michal Christina Steven, Mohd. Yusof Hj Ibrahim, Haryati Abdul Karim, Prabakaran Dhanaraj, Kelly Alexius Mansin

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After 27 years, Malaysia reported polio cases in 2019 involving the children of the undocumented migrants living in Sabah. These undocumented migrants present a significant challenge in achieving the elimination of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD). Due to the recent polio outbreak among the undocumented migrant children in Sabah, an in-depth interview was conducted among the caregivers of undocumented migrant children to identify the barriers and drivers towards vaccinating their children. Financial barriers, legal citizenship status, language barrier, the COVID-19 pandemic, and physical barriers have been the barriers to access vaccination services by undocumented migrants. Five significant drivers for undocumented migrants to vaccinate their children are social influence, fear of disease, parental trust in healthcare providers, good support, and vaccine availability. Necessary action should be taken immediately to address the problems of vaccinating the children of undocumented migrants to prevent the re-emergence of VPD.

Keywords: Malaysia, polio, Sabah, undocumented migrants

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: C. Treerattanaphan, P. Boonpramuk, P. Singla

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Frequent, continuous speech training has proven to be a necessary part of a successful speech therapy process, but constraints of traveling time and employment dispensation become key obstacles especially for individuals living in remote areas or for dependent children who have working parents. In order to ameliorate speech difficulties with ample guidance from speech therapists, a website has been developed that supports speech therapy and training for people with articulation disorders in the standard Thai language. This web-based program has the ability to record speech training exercises for each speech trainee. The records will be stored in a database for the speech therapist to investigate, evaluate, compare and keep track of all trainees’ progress in detail. Speech trainees can request live discussions via video conference call when needed. Communication through this web-based program facilitates and reduces training time in comparison to walk-in training or appointments. This type of training also allows people with articulation disorders to practice speech lessons whenever or wherever is convenient for them, which can lead to a more regular training processes.

Keywords: web-based remote training program, Thai speech therapy, articulation disorders, speech booster

Procedia PDF Downloads 375

Authors: M. Deligianni, P. Voultsos, E. Tsamadou

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Background/Introduction: Moral distress is a common occurrence for health professionals working in neonatal critical care. Despite a growing number of critically ill neonatal and pediatric patients, only a few articles related to moral distress as experienced by neonatal physicians have been published over the last years. Objectives/Aims: The aim of this study was to define and identify barriers to and facilitators of moral distress based on the perceptions and experiences of neonatal physicians working in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). This pilot study is a part of a larger nationwide project. Methods: A multicenter qualitative descriptive study using focus group methodology was conducted. In-depth interviews lasting 45 to 60 minutes were audio-recorded. Once data were transcribed, conventional content analysis was used to develop the definition and categories, as well as to identify the barriers to and facilitators of moral distress. Results: Participants defined moral distress broadly in the context of neonatal critical care. A wide variation of definitions was displayed. The physicians' responses to moral distress included different feelings and other situations. The overarching categories that emerged from the data were patient-related, family-related, and physician-related factors. Moreover, organizational factors may constitute major facilitators of moral distress among neonatal physicians in NICUs. Note, however, that moral distress may be regarded as an essential component to caring for neonates in critical care. The present study provides further insight into the moral distress experienced by physicians working in Greek NICUs. Discussion/Conclusions: Understanding how neonatal and pediatric critical care nurses define moral distress and what contributes to its development is foundational to developing targeted strategies for mitigating the prevalence of moral distress among neonate physicians in the context of NICUs.

Keywords: critical care, moral distress, neonatal physician, neonatal intensive care unit, NICU

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Jacqueline Eleonora Ek, Michael Spiteri, Chris Giordimaina, Pierre Agius

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Background: Malta is known for being a key player as a frontline country with regard to irregular immigration from Africa to Europe. Every year the island experiences an influx of migrants as boat movement across the Mediterranean continues to be a humanitarian challenge. Irregular immigration and applying for asylum is both a lengthy and mentally demanding process. Those doing so are often faced with multiple challenges, which can adversely affect their mental health. Between January and August 2020, Malta disembarked 2 162 people rescued at sea, 463 of them between July & August. Given the small size of the Maltese islands, this regulation places a disproportionately large burden on the country, creating a backlog in the processing of asylum applications resulting in increased time periods of detention. These delays reverberate throughout multiple management pathways resulting in prolonged periods of detention and challenging access to health services. Objectives: To better understand the spatial dimensions of this humanitarian crisis, this study aims to assess disparities in the acute medical management of migrants presenting to the emergency department (ED) with acute mental health presentations as compared to that of local and non-local residents. Method: In this retrospective study, 17795 consecutive ED attendances were reviewed to look for acute mental health presentations. These were further evaluated to assess discrepancies in transportation routes to hospital, nature of presenting complaint, effects of language barriers, use of CT brain, treatment given at ED, availability of psychiatric reviews, and final admission/discharge plans. Results: Of the ED attendances, 92.3% were local residents, and 7.7% were non-locals. Of the non-locals, 13.8% were migrants, and 86.2% were other-non-locals. Acute mental health presentations were seen in 1% of local residents; this increased to 20.6% in migrants. 56.4% of migrants attended with deliberate self-harm; this was lower in local residents, 28.9%. Contrastingly, in local residents, the most common presenting complaint was suicidal thought/ low mood 37.3%, the incidence was similar in migrants at 33.3%. The main differences included 12.8% of migrants presenting with refused oral intake while only 0.6% of local residents presented with the same complaints. 7.7% of migrants presented with a reduced level of consciousness, no local residents presented with this same issue. Physicians documented a language barrier in 74.4% of migrants. 25.6% were noted to be completely uncommunicative. Further investigations included the use of a CT scan in 12% of local residents and in 35.9% of migrants. The most common treatment administered to migrants was supportive fluids 15.4%, the most common in local residents was benzodiazepines 15.1%. Voluntary psychiatric admissions were seen in 33.3% of migrants and 24.7% of locals. Involuntary admissions were seen in 23% of migrants and 13.3% of locals. Conclusion: Results showed multiple disparities in health management. A meeting was held between entities responsible for migrant health in Malta, including the emergency department, primary health care, migrant detention services, and Malta Red Cross. Currently, national quality-improvement initiatives are underway to form new pathways to improve patient-centered care. These include an interpreter unit, centralized handover sheets, and a dedicated migrant health service.

Keywords: emergency department, communication, health, migration

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Nuchanat Handumrongkul Danaya Darnsawasdi, Anantachai Aeka

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To be a model for performing oral presentations by the tour guides, this research has been conducted. In order to develop French language teaching and studying for tourism, its purpose is to analyze the content used by tour guides. The study employed audio recordings of these presentations as an interview method in authentic situations, having four guides as respondents and information providers. The data was analyzed through content analysis. The results found that the tour guides described eight important items by giving more importance to details at Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha than at the palaces. They preferred the buildings upon the upper terrace, Buddhist cosmology, the decoration techniques, the royal chapel, the mural paintings, Thai offerings to Buddha images, palaces with architectural features and functions including royal ceremonies and others. This information represents the Thai characteristics of each building and other related content. The findings were used as a manual for guides for how to describe a tourist attraction, especially the temple and other related cultural topics of interest.

Keywords: guide, guide presentation, Grand Palace, Buddhist cosmology

Procedia PDF Downloads 500

Authors: N. A. Kharisa, I. Wulandari, R. Narendratama, M. I. Faisal, K. Kirana, R. Zipora, I. Arfiansah, I. Suyanto

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Acquisition of geophysical survey with magnetic method has been done in manifestation of geothermalat Candi Umbul, Grabag, Magelang, Central Java Province on 10-12 May 2013. This objective research is interpretation to interpret structural geology that control geothermal system in CandiUmbul area. The research has been finished with area size 1,5 km x 2 km and measurement space of 150 m. And each point of line space survey is 150 m using PPM Geometrics model G-856. Data processing was started with IGRF and diurnal variation correction to get total magnetic field anomaly. Then, advance processing was done until reduction to pole, upward continuation, and residual anomaly. That results become next interpretation in qualitative step. It is known that the biggest object position causes low anomaly located in central of area survey that comes from hot spring manifestation and demagnetization zone that indicates the existence of heat source activity. Then, modeling the anomaly map was used for quantitative interpretation step. The result of modeling is rock layers and geological structure model that can inform about the geothermal system. And further information from quantitative interpretations can be interpreted about lithology susceptibility. And lithology susceptibilities are andesiteas heat source has susceptibility value of (k= 0.00014 emu), basaltic as alteration rock (k= 0.0016 emu), volcanic breccia as reservoir rock (k= 0.0026 emu), andesite porfirtic as cap rock (k= 0.004 emu), lava andesite (k= 0.003 emu), and alluvium (k= 0.0007 emu). The hot spring manifestation is controlled by the normal fault which becomes a weak zone, easily passed by hot water which comes from the geothermal reservoir.

Keywords: geological structure, geothermal system, magnetic, susceptibility

Procedia PDF Downloads 384

Authors: D. Jagath Kumari, K. Srinivasa Rao

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Reinforced concrete column is an important structural element in a building. Concrete usually performs well in building fires. However, when it is subjected to prolonged fire exposure or unusually high temperatures, and then it will suffer significant distress. Because concrete pre-fire compressive strength generally exceeds design requirements, therefore an average strength reduction can be tolerated. However high temperature reduces the compressive strength of concrete so much that the concrete retains no useful structural strength. Therefore the residual strength and its performance of structure can be assed by NDT testing. In this paper, rebound hammer test and the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) are used to evaluate the residual compressive strength and material integrity of post-fire-curing concrete subjected to elevated temperatures. Also considering the large availability of fly ash in most of the countries, an attempt was made to study the effect of high volume fly ash concrete exposed to elevated temperatures. 32 RC column specimens were made with a M20 grade concrete mix. Out of 32 column specimens 16 column specimens were made with OPC concrete and other 16 column specimens were made with HVFA concrete. All specimens having similar cross-section details. Columns were exposed to fire for temperatures from 100oC to 800o C with increments of 100o C for duration of 3 hours. Then the specimens allowed cooling to room temperature by two methods natural air cooling method and immediate water quenching method. All the specimens were tested identically, for the compressive strengths and material integrity by rebound hammer and ultrasonic pulse velocity meter respectively for study. These two tests were carried out on preheating and post heating of the column specimens. The percentage variation of compressive strengths of RCC columns with the increase in temperature has been studied and compared the results for both OPC and HVFA concretes. Physical observations of the heated columns were observed.

Keywords: HVFA concrete, NDT testing, residual strength

Procedia PDF Downloads 386