Search results for: skills transfer

Authors: Setareh Yousife

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Introduction: Studies suggest that Extramarital Infidelity (EMI) variants, such as sexual and emotional infidelities are increasing in marriage relationships. To our knowledge, less is known about what therapies and mental-hygiene factors can prevent more effective this behavior and address it. Spiritual and cognitive-behavioural health have proven to reduce marital conflict, Increase marital satisfaction and commitment. Objective: This study aims to discuss the effectiveness of spiritual counseling combined with Cognitive-behavioural techniques in addressing Extramarital Infidelity. Method: Descriptive, analytical, and intervention articles indexed in SID, Noormags, Scopus, Iranmedex, Web of Science and PubMed databases, and Google Scholar were searched. We focused on Studies in which Women with extramarital relationships, including heterosexual married couples-only studies and spirituality/religion and CBT as coping techniques used as EMI therapy. Finally, the full text of all eligible articles was prepared and discussed in this review. Results: 25 publications were identified, and their textual analysis facilitated through four thematic approaches: The nature of EMI in Women, the meaning of spirituality in the context of mental health and human behavior as well as psychotherapy; Spirituality integrated into Cognitive-Behavioral approach, The role of Spirituality as a deterrent to EMI. Conclusions: The integration of the findings discussed herein suggests that the application of cognitive and behavioral skills in addressing these kinds of destructive family-based relationships is inevitable. As treatments based on religion/spirituality or cognition/behavior do not seem adequately effective in dealing with EMI, the combination of these approaches may lead to higher efficacy in fewer sessions and a shorter time.

Keywords: spirituality, religion, cognitive behavioral therapy, extramarital relation, infidelity

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Authors: Jung Ae Park, Jooyong Park

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Writing is an important learning activity that cultivates higher level thinking. Effective and immediate feedback is necessary to help improve students' writing skills. Peer assessment can be an effective method in writing tasks because it makes it possible for students not only to receive quick feedback on their writing but also to get a chance to examine different perspectives on the same topic. Peer assessment can be practiced frequently and has the advantage of immediate feedback. However, there is controversy about the accuracy of peer assessment. In this study, we tried to demonstrate experimentally how the accuracy of peer assessment could be improved. Participants (n=76) were randomly assigned to groups of 4 members. All the participant graded two sets of 4 essays on the same topic. They graded the first set twice, and the second set or the posttest once. After the first grading of the first set, each group in the experimental condition 1 (discussion group), were asked to discuss the results of the peer assessment and then to grade the essays again. Each group in the experimental condition 2 (reading group), were asked to read the assessment on each essay by an expert and then to grade the essays again. In the control group, the participants were asked to grade the 4 essays twice in different orders. Afterwards, all the participants graded the second set of 4 essays. The mean score from 4 participants was calculated for each essay. The accuracy of the peer assessment was measured by Pearson correlation with the scores of the expert. The results were analyzed by two-way repeated measure ANOVA. The main effect of grading was observed: Grading accuracy got better as the number of grading experience increased. Analysis of posttest accuracy revealed that the score variations within a group of 4 participants decreased in both discussion and reading conditions but not in the control condition. These results suggest that having students discuss their grading together can be an efficient means to improve peer assessment accuracy. By discussing, students can learn from others about what to consider in grading and whether their grading is too strict or lenient. Further research is needed to examine the exact cause of the grading accuracy.

Keywords: peer assessment, evaluation accuracy, discussion, score variations

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Authors: Michał Lidner, Zbigniew SzcześNiak

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The ability to estimate blast load overpressure properly plays an important role in safety design of buildings. The issue of studying of blast loading on structural elements has been explored for many years. However, in many literature reports shock wave overpressure is estimated with simplified triangular or exponential distribution in time. This indicates some errors when comparing real and numerical reaction of elements. Nonetheless, it is possible to further improve setting similar to the real blast load overpressure function versus time. The paper presents a method of numerical analysis of the phenomenon of the air shock wave propagation. It uses Finite Volume Method and takes into account energy losses due to a heat transfer with respect to an adiabatic process rule. A system of three equations (conservation of mass, momentum and energy) describes the flow of a volume of gaseous medium in the area remote from building compartments, which can inhibit the movement of gas. For validation three cases of a shock wave flow were analyzed: a free field explosion, an explosion inside a steel insusceptible tube (the 1D case) and an explosion inside insusceptible cube (the 3D case). The results of numerical analysis were compared with the literature reports. Values of impulse, pressure, and its duration were studied. Finally, an overall good convergence of numerical results with experiments was achieved. Also the most important parameters were well reflected. Additionally analyses of dynamic response of one of considered structural element were made.

Keywords: adiabatic process, air shock wave, explosive, finite volume method

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Authors: Maria Rodriguez-Gazquez, Sara Chaparro-Hernandez, Jose Rafael Gonzalez-Lopez

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Introduction: Nurses are models in healthy behaviors for their patients. This is why it is important for these professionals to not only have a good knowledge of healthy behaviors but also practice. Today’s nursing students will be tomorrow’s professionals and to fulfill their role in caring they not only need knowledge, they also must maintain behaviors which enable them to improve and protect both the health of others and their own. This is why the university is a unique environment of opportunities to foster the maximum potential of health. To care for others we first have to take care of ourselves. It is important for these behaviors in Nursing students to be evaluated during the years of their university education in order to design timely interventions which improve the health behaviors of the future professionals. Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate the lifestyles of first year nursing students of two Universities. Methodology: Cross-sectional study. In 2014, 140 first year Nursing students of two Universities Seville –US- (Spain -Europe, n=37) and Antioquia –UA- (Colombia -South America, n=93) self-reported the FANTASTIC Lifestyle checklist. Results: Findings reveal that (I) UA students doubled the percentage of dangerous or bad lifestyles with respect to the US students, (II) the lifestyles are not appropriate in 1 of 3 of nursing students in both Universities, (II) there are statistically significant differences for family support items (higher in US), positive thinkers (higher in UA), the use of safety belts and alcohol consumption before driving (higher in US). Discussion: The nursing students are mostly young people who are at a stage in which some of the most important behaviors for adult life can still be molded. It is necessary to develop educational interventions in their Nursing curricula to strengthen healthy behaviours during training. Nursing Schools not only have the duty to train professionals, but to also be agents that foster the health, welfare and quality of those who study and work there. It must encourage knowledge and skills oriented to healthy lifestyles.

Keywords: cross-sectional studies, life style, nursing students, questionnaires

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Authors: Rebecca Haythorne

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Background: Agendas continuously emphasise the need to increase work based training and opportunities for individuals with learning disabilities. However research and statistics suggest that there is still significant stigma and stereotypes as to what they can contribute, or gain from being part of the working environment. Method: To tackles some of these prejudices an Occupational Therapy based intervention was developed for learning disability service users working at a social enterprise farm. The intervention aimed to increase positive public perception around individual capabilities and encourage individuals with learning disabilities to take ownership and be proud of their individual personhood and citizenship. This was achieved by using components of the Model of Human Occupation to tailor the intervention to individual values, skills and working contributions. The final project involved making creative wall art for public viewing, focusing on 'who works there and what they do'. This was accompanied by a visitor information guide, allowing individuals to tell visitors about themselves, the work they do and why it is meaningful to them. Outcomes: The intervention has helped to increased metal well-being and confidence of learning disability service users “people will know I work here now” and “I now have something to show my family about the work I do at the farm”. The intervention has also increased positive public perception and community awareness “you can really see the effort that’s gone into doing this” and “it’s a really visual experience to see people you don’t expect to see doing this type of work”. Resources left behind have further supported individuals to take ownership in creating more wall art to be sold at the farm shop. Conclusion: the intervention developed has helped to improve mental well-being of both service users and staff and improve community awareness. Due to this, the farm has decided to roll out the intervention to other areas of the social enterprise and is considering having more Occupational Therapy involvement in the future.

Keywords: citizenship, intervention, occupational therapy, personhood

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Authors: Samira Essabari

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What, unfortunately, governs the Moroccan educational philosophy and policy today is a concerning neoliberal discourse with its obsession with market logics and individualism. Critical education has been advocated to resist the neoliberal hegemony since it holds the promise to reclaim the social function of education. Significantly, the mounting forms of sexism and discrimination against women combined with hegemonic educational practices are jeopardizing the social function of teaching and learning, hence the relevance of feminist critical pedagogy. A substantial body of research worldwide has explored the ways in which feminist pedagogy can develop feminist consciousness and examine power relations in different educational contexts. In Morocco, however, the feasibility of feminist pedagogy has not been researched despite the overwhelming interest in gender issues in different educational settings. The research on critical pedagogies in Morocco remains very promising. Yet, most studies were conducted in contexts which are already engaged with issues of theory, discourse, and discourse analysis. The field of ESP ( English for Specific Purposes) is pragmatic by nature, and priority in research has been given to questions that adhere to the mainstream concerns of need analysis and study skills and ignore issues of power, gender power relations, and intersectional forms of oppression. To address these gaps in the existing literature, this participatory action research seeks to investigate the feasibility of Feminist pedagogy in ESP higher education and how it can foster feminist critical consciousness among ESP students without compromising their language learning needs. The findings of this research will contribute to research on critical applied linguistics and critical ESP more specifically and add to the practice of critical pedagogies in Moroccan higher education by providing in-depth insights into the enablers and barriers to the implementation of feminist critical pedagogy, which is still feeling its way into the educational scene in Morocco.

Keywords: feminist pedagogy, critical pedagogy, power relations, gender, ESP, intersectionality

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Authors: Haris Karnezi, Kevin Tierney

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Cognitive Behaviour Drama is a research-based intervention model that brought together the science of psychology with the art form of drama to create an unobtrusive and exciting approach that would provide children on the higher end of the autism spectrum the motivation to explore the rules of social interaction and develop competencies associated with communicative success. The method involves engaging the participants in exciting fictional scenarios and encouraging them to seek various solutions on a number of problems that will lead them to an understanding of causal relationships and how a different course of action may lead to a different outcome. The sessions are structured to offer opportunities to the participants to practice target behaviours and understand the functions they serve. The study involved six separate interventions and employed both single case and group designs. Overall 8 children aged between 6 to 13 years, diagnosed with ASD participated in the study. Outcomes were measured using theory of mind tests, executive functioning tests, behavioural observations, pre and post intervention standardised social competence questionnaires for parents and teachers. Collectively, the results indicated positive changes in the self esteem and behaviour of all eight participants. In particular, improvements in the ability to solve theory of mind tasks were noted in the younger group; and qualitative improvements in social communication, in terms of verbal (content) and non verbal expression (body posture, vocal expression, fluency, eye contact, reduction of ritualistic mannerisms) were noted in the older group. The need for reliable impact measures to assess the effectiveness of the model in generating global changes in the participants’ behaviour outside the therapeutic context was identified.

Keywords: autism, drama, intervention, social skills

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Authors: Yilin Ma, Zhaomiao Liu, Xiang Wang, Yan Pang

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Microscale droplets play an increasingly important role in various applications, including medical diagnostics, material synthesis, chemical engineering, and cell research due to features of high surface-to-volume ratio and tiny scale, which can significantly improve reaction rates, enhance heat transfer efficiency, enable high-throughput parallel studies as well as reduce reagent usage. As a mature technique to manipulate small amounts of liquids, droplet microfluidics could achieve the precise control of droplet parameters such as size, uniformity, structure, and thus has been widely adopted in the engineering and scientific research of multiple fields. Necking processes of the droplet in the cross junction microchannels are experimentally and theoretically investigated and dynamic mechanisms of the neck thinning in two different regimes are revealed. According to evolutions of the minimum neck width and the thinning rate, the necking process is further divided into different stages and the main driving force during each stage is confirmed. Effects of the flow rates and the cross-sectional aspect ratio on the necking process as well as the neck profile at different stages are provided in detail. The distinct features of the two regimes in the squeezing stage are well captured by the theoretical estimations of the effective flow rate and the variations of the actual flow rates in different channels are reasonably reflected by the channel width ratio. In the collapsing stage, the quantitative relation between the minimum neck width and the remaining time is constructed to identify the physical mechanism.

Keywords: cross junction, neck thinning, force analysis, inertial mechanism

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Authors: Pradeep Kumar

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The present work is based on application of cement mortar with natural sand and discontinuous steel fiber through which bending behavior of skinny beam was evaluated. This research is to study the effects of combining reinforcing steel meshes (continuous steel reinforcement) with discontinuous fibers as reinforcement in skinny walled Portland cement based cement mortar with crushed stone dust as a fine aggregate. The term ‘skinny’ means thickness of the beams is less than 25 mm. The main idea behind this combination is to satisfy the ultimate strength limit state through the steel mesh reinforcement (as a main reinforcement) and to control the cracking under service loads through fiber (Recron 3s) reinforcement (as secondary reinforcement). The main object of this study is to carry out the bending behavior of mortar reinforced thin beam with only one layer of steel mesh (with various transfer wire spacing) and with a recron 3s (Reliance) fifers. The wide experimental program with bending tests is undertaken. The following variables are investigated: (a) the reference mesh size - 25.4 x 25.4 mm and 50.8 x 50.8 mm; (b) the transverse wire spacing - 25.4 mm, 50.8 mm, and no transverse wires; (c) the type of fibers – Reliance (Recron 3s, 6mm length); and (d) the fiber volume fraction – 0.1% and 0.25%. Some of the main conclusions are: (a) the use of recron 3s fibers leads to a little better overall performance than that with no fiber; (b) an increase in equivalent stress is observed when 0.1% RF,0.25% R Fibers are used; (c) when 25.4 x 50.8 size steel mesh is used, no noticeable change in behavior is observed in comparison to specimens without fibers; and (d) for no fibers 0.1% and o.1% RF the transverse wire spacing has some little effect on the equivalent stress for RF fibers, the transverse wire has no influence but the equivalent stress are increased.

Keywords: cement mortar, crushed stone dust, fibre, steel mesh

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Authors: Imen Aribi Ben Amor

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The aim of the present study is to analyze the performance of requests in emails among a group of Tunisian postgraduate students. It also seeks to determine the influence of the social factors on the participants’ requests performance. For this purpose, the data were collected using a discourse completion test (DCT). Accordingly, 42 Tunisian postgraduate students were asked to respond in English to eight different situations in which they carried out the speech act of request in emails. The data were analyzed based on the degree of directness. A detailed analysis of the head acts found in the DCT revealed that Tunisian Postgraduate students use a varied repertoire of request strategies (direct, conventionally indirect and non-conventionally indirect) but at the same time rely heavily on direct request strategies. They tended to address their requestees directly except for distant superiors. DCT results suggest that the participants are to some extent aware of the influence of the ranking of imposition and social distance but fail to acknowledge the weight of social power when performing requests in emails. The preference of the participants to use direct strategies may be the result of the effect of Tunisian culture and the negative transfer of Tunisian communicative strategies. Accordingly, this study suggests some pedagogical implications and suggestions for Tunisian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) instructors. They are required to pay closer attention to the pragmalinguistic nuances of the ways in which requests in emails are realized. Teachers can also help students understand academic email etiquettes by explicitly explaining what they expect in the student email. Thus, EFL teachers and syllabus designers should devote more attention to developing EFL learners’ pragmatic competence through teaching L2 pragmatics.

Keywords: directness, ranking of imposition, request strategies, social distance, social power

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Authors: Lulu Liao, Huijing Chen, Yinan Zhao, Hongting Ning, Hui Feng

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Urinary tract infection rate is an important index of care quality in nursing homes. The aim of the study is to understand the nursing assistant's current knowledge and attitudes of urinary incontinence and to explore related stakeholders' viewpoint about urinary incontinence training. This explanatory sequential study used Knowledge, Practice, and Attitude Model (KAP) and Adult Learning Theories, as the conceptual framework. The researchers collected data from 509 nursing assistants in sixteen nursing homes in Hunan province in China. The questionnaire survey was to assess the knowledge and attitude of urinary incontinence of nursing assistants. On the basis of quantitative research and combined with focus group, training demands were identified, which nurse managers should adopt to improve nursing assistants’ professional practice ability in urinary incontinence. Most nursing assistants held the poor knowledge (14.0 ± 4.18) but had positive attitudes (35.5 ± 3.19) toward urinary incontinence. There was a significant positive correlation between urinary incontinence knowledge and nursing assistants' year of work and educational level, urinary incontinence attitude, and education level (p < 0.001). Despite a general awareness of the importance of prevention of urinary tract infections, not all nurse managers fully valued the training in urinary incontinence compared with daily care training. And the nursing assistants required simple education resources to equip them with skills to address problem about urinary incontinence. The variety of learning methods also highlighted the need for educational materials, and nursing assistants had shown a strong interest in online learning. Related education material should be developed to meet the learning need of nurse assistants and provide suitable training method for planned quality improvement in urinary incontinence.

Keywords: mixed methods, nursing assistants, nursing homes, urinary incontinence

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Authors: Yu-Jen Shih, Juan-Zhang Lou

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Nitrogenous compounds, such as NH4+/NH3 and NO3-, have become important contaminants in water resources. Excessive concentration of NH3 leads to eutrophication, which poses a threat to aquatic organisms in the environment. Electrochemical oxidation emerged as a promising water treatment technology, offering advantages such as simplicity, small-scale operation, and minimal reliance on additional chemicals. In this study, a nickel-based metal-organic framework (Ni-MOF) was synthesized using 2-amino terephthalic acid (BDC-NH2) and nickel nitrate. The Ni-MOF was further carbonized as derived nickel oxide and nitrogen-carbon composite, Ni/NiOx/NC. The nickel oxide within the 2D porous carbon texture served as active sites for ammonia oxidation. Results of characterization showed that the Ni-MOF was a hexagonal and flaky nanoparticle. With increasing carbonization temperature, the nickel ions in the organic framework re-crystallized as NiO clusters on the surfaces of the 2D carbon. The electrochemical surface area of Ni/NiOx/NC significantly increased as to improve the efficiency of ammonia oxidation. The phase transition of Ni(OH)2⇌NiOOH at around +0.8 V was the primary mediator of electron transfer. Batch electrolysis was conducted under constant current and constant potential modes. The electrolysis parameters included pyrolysis temperatures, pH, current density, initial feed concentration, and electrode potential. The constant current batch experiments indicated that via carbonization at 800 °C, Ni/NiOx/NC(800) was able to decrease the ammonium nitrogen of 50 mg-N/L to below 1 ppm within 4 hours at a current density of 3 mA/cm2 and pH 11 with negligible oxygenated nitrogen formation. The constant potential experiments confirmed that N2 nitrogen selectivity was enhanced up to 90% at +0.8 V.

Keywords: electrochemical oxidation, nickel oxyhydroxide, metal-organic framework, ammonium, nitrate

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Authors: M. Shaheed Hartley

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Science and mathematics are regarded as gateway subjects in South Africa as they are the perceived route to careers in science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM). One of the biggest challenges that the country faces is the poor achievement of learners in these two learning areas in the external high school exit examination. To compound the problem many national and international benchmark tests paint a bleak picture of the state of science and mathematics in the country. In an attempt to address this challenge, the education department of the Eastern Cape Province invited the Science Learning Centre of the University of the Western Cape to provide training to their science teachers in the form of a structured course conducted on a part-time basis in 2010 and 2011. The course was directed at improving teachers’ content knowledge, pedagogical strategies and practical and experimental skills. A total of 41 of the original 50 science teachers completed the course and received their certificates in 2012. As part of their continuous professional development, 31 science teachers enrolled for BEd Hons in science education in 2013 and 28 of them completed the course in 2014. These students graduated in 2015. Of the 28 BEd Hons students who completed the course 23 registered in 2015 for Masters in Science Education and were joined by an additional 3 students. This paper provides a reflection by science educators on the training, supervision and mentorship provided to them as students of science education. The growth and development of students through their own reflection and understanding as well as through the eyes of the lecturers and supervisors that took part in the training provide the evaluation of the professional development process over the past few years. This study attempts to identify the merits, challenges and limitations of this project and the lessons to be learnt on such projects. It also documents some of the useful performance indicators with a view to developing a framework for good practice for such programmes.

Keywords: reflection, science education, professional development, rural schools

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Authors: Tei Kim, Brooklynn McNeil, Kathryn Dunn, Douglas I. Walker

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To better characterize the relationship between complex chemical exposures and disease, our laboratory uses an approach that combines low-cost, polydimethylsiloxane (silicone) wristband samplers that absorb many of the chemicals we are exposed to with untargeted high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) to characterize 1000’s of chemicals at a time. In studies with human populations, these wristbands can provide an important measure of our environment: however, there is a need to use this approach in large cohorts to study exposures associated with the disease. To facilitate the use of silicone samplers in large scale population studies, the goal of this research project was to establish automated sample preparation methods that improve throughput, robustness, and scalability of analytical methods for silicone wristbands. Using the Opentron OT2 automated liquid platform, which provides a low-cost and opensource framework for automated pipetting, we created two separate workflows that translate the manual wristband preparation method to a fully automated protocol that requires minor intervention by the operator. These protocols include a sequence generation step, which defines the location of all plates and labware according to user-specified settings, and a transfer protocol that includes all necessary instrument parameters and instructions for automated solvent extraction of wristband samplers. These protocols were written in Python and uploaded to GitHub for use by others in the research community. Results from this project show it is possible to establish automated and open source methods for the preparation of silicone wristband samplers to support profiling of many environmental exposures. Ongoing studies include deployment in longitudinal cohort studies to investigate the relationship between personal chemical exposure and disease.

Keywords: bioinformatics, automation, opentrons, research

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Authors: Robyn L. Curran, Joanne R. Naidoo, Gugu Mchunu

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Along with the increasing awareness of human trafficking, is the acknowledgement that it is no longer just a social problem but also a significant public health problem that requires both increased knowledge and the specialist equipping of aftercare providers such as nurses who care for human trafficking survivors. Current discourse regarding aftercare of human trafficking survivors, is that approaches do not clearly explain the function or content of aftercare and what aftercare entails. Although psychological and medical aftercare are emphasized as important components, little practical attention is devoted to what these components actually involve and the effectiveness of current practice in aftercare. Review of the literature on the processes that take place from aftercare to empowerment, revealed the need for emphasis to be placed on the voices of survivors concerning their liberation from oppression. The aim of the study was to develop a theory for aftercare of human trafficking survivors, through analyzing the experiences of survivors and aftercare providers in shelters in three provinces in South Africa. Through using a Straussian grounded theory approach, the researcher developed a theory to inform care of human trafficking survivors in low resource settings using the voice of the survivors and those experienced in direct care of human trafficking survivors. Four human trafficking survivors and three aftercare providers from three shelters in three provinces in South Africa were individually interviewed in order for the theory to emerge. The findings of the study elicited a theoretical model of the renewed self, and the conditions that facilitate this process in care of human trafficking survivors. The process that human trafficking survivors navigate to empowerment require mutual collaboration of the aftercare provider and survivor as the survivor awakens vision, confronts reality, re-salvages autonomy and liberates self. Psychological resilience of the survivor facilitates the transition to renewed self. The recommendations of this study may improve the nursing care provided to human trafficking survivors and equip professionals with knowledge and skills to promote the process of renewing self for survivors.

Keywords: aftercare, aftercare providers, grounded theory, human trafficking survivors

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Authors: Chetna Tyagi. G. B. V. S. Lakshmi, Ambuj Tripathi, D. K. Avasthi

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Graphene oxide provides a good host matrix for preparing nanocomposites due to the different functional groups attached to its edges and planes. Being biocompatible, it is used in therapeutic applications. As enzyme-based biosensor requires complicated enzyme purification procedure, high fabrication cost and special storage conditions, we need enzyme-less biosensors for use even in a harsh environment like high temperature, varying pH, etc. In this work, we have prepared both enzyme-based and enzyme-less graphene oxide-based biosensors for glucose detection using glucose-oxidase as enzyme and gold nanoparticles, respectively. These samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy to confirm the successful synthesis of the working electrodes. Electrochemical measurements were performed for both the working electrodes using a 3-electrode electrochemical cell. Cyclic voltammetry curves showed the homogeneous transfer of electron on the electrodes in the scan range between -0.2V to 0.6V. The sensing measurements were performed using differential pulse voltammetry for the glucose concentration varying from 0.01 mM to 20 mM, and sensing was improved towards glucose in the presence of gold nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles in graphene oxide nanocomposite played an important role in sensing glucose in the absence of enzyme, glucose oxidase, as evident from these measurements. The selectivity was tested by measuring the current response of the working electrode towards glucose in the presence of the other common interfering agents like cholesterol, ascorbic acid, citric acid, and urea. The enzyme-less working electrode also showed storage stability for up to 15 weeks, making it a suitable glucose biosensor.

Keywords: electrochemical, enzyme-less, glucose, gold nanoparticles, graphene oxide, nanocomposite

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Authors: N. G. Teik Hiang, Fathyah Hashim

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This is a case of how strategic management techniques can be used to help resolving problems faced by an ageing Small and Medium Enterprise (SME). Strategic way of resolving problems had been proven to be possible in this case despite general thought that strategic management is useful mostly for large corporations. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can also use strategic management in managing their business and determining their future cause of action and strategies in order to survive in this ever competent world. Strategic orientation is the key to survival and development of small and medium enterprises. In order to adapt to the fierce market competition, ageing SMEs should improve competitiveness and operational efficiency. They must therefore establish a sense of strategic management to improve the strategic management skills, combined with its own unique characteristics, and work out practical strategies to develop core competitiveness of enterprises in the fierce market competition in order to be sustainable. In this case, internal strengths and weaknesses of an SME had been identified. Strategic internal factors and external factors had been classified and further utilized to formulate potential strategies to encounter various problems faced by the SME. These strategies had been further match to take advantages of the opportunities and to overcome the weaknesses and minimize the threats it is facing. Tan, a consultant who was given the opportunity to formulate a plan for the business started with the environmental scanning (internal and external environmental analysis), assessing strengths and weaknesses for the company, strategies generation, analysis and evaluation. He had numerous discussions with the owner of the business and the senior management in order to match the key internal and external factors to formulate alternative strategies for solving the problems that the company facing. Some of the recommendations or solutions are generated from the inspiration of the owner of the business who is a very enterprising and experience businessman.

Keywords: strategic orientation, strategic management, SME, core competitiveness, sustainable

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Authors: Somya R. Patro, Arnab Banerjee, G. V. Ramana

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A flexural beam carrying elastically mounted concentrated masses, such as engines, motors, oscillators, or vibration absorbers, is often encountered in mechanical, civil, and aeronautical engineering domains. To prevent resonance conditions, the designers must predict the natural frequencies of such a constrained beam system. This paper investigates experimental and analytical studies on vibration suppression in a cantilever beam with a tip mass with the help of spring-mass to achieve local resonance conditions. The system consists of a 3D printed polylactic acid (PLA) beam screwed at the base plate of the shaker system. The top of the free end is connected by an accelerometer which also acts as a tip mass. A spring and a mass are attached at the bottom to replicate the mechanism of the spring-mass resonator. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm converts time acceleration plots into frequency amplitude plots from which transmittance is calculated as a function of the excitation frequency. The mathematical formulation is based on the transfer matrix method, and the governing differential equations are based on Euler Bernoulli's beam theory. The experimental results are successfully validated with the analytical results, providing us essential confidence in our proposed methodology. The beam spring-mass system is then converted to an equivalent two-degree of freedom system, from which frequency response function is obtained. The H2 optimization technique is also used to obtain the closed-form expression of optimum spring stiffness, which shows the influence of spring stiffness on the system's natural frequency and vibration response.

Keywords: euler bernoulli beam theory, fast fourier transform, natural frequencies, polylactic acid, transmittance, vibration absorbers

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Authors: Laura Florez

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The construction industry is labour intensive, and the behaviour and management of workers have a direct impact on the performance of construction projects. One of the issues it currently faces is how to recruit and maintain its workers. Construction is known as an industry where workers face the problem of short employment durations, frequent layoffs, and periods of unemployment between jobs. These challenges not only creates pressures on the workers but also project managers have to constantly train new workers, face skills shortage, and uncertainty on the quality of the workers it will attract. To consider worker’s needs and project managers expectations, one practice that can be implemented is to schedule construction projects to maintain a stable workforce. This paper proposes a mixed integer programming (MIP) model to schedule projects with the objective of maximising social sustainability of construction projects, that is, maximise labour stability. Aside from the social objective, the model accounts for equipment and financial resources required by the projects during the construction phase. To illustrate how the solution strategy works, a construction programme comprised of ten projects is considered. The projects are scheduled to maximise labour stability while simultaneously minimising time and minimising cost. The tradeoff between the values in terms of time, cost, and labour stability allows project managers to consider their preferences and identify which solution best suits their needs. Additionally, the model determines the optimal starting times for each of the projects, working patterns for the workers, and labour costs. This model shows that construction projects can be scheduled to not only benefit the project manager, but also benefit current workers and help attract new workers to the industry. Due to its practicality, it can be a valuable tool to support decision making and assist construction stakeholders when developing schedules that include social sustainability factors.

Keywords: labour stability, mixed-integer programming (MIP), scheduling, workforce management

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Authors: Hanin Suleiman Alqam

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The knowledge-based economy, as its name implies relies on knowledge, information and high levels of skills made available for all economic agents. Delving a bit more deeply, the concept of a knowledge-based economy is showcasing four main pillars, which are: Education and Training, Information and Communication Technology, Economic incentives and Institutional regimes, and Research and Development (R&D) and Innovation system. A good number of researches are showing its positive contribution to economic diversification underpinning sustainable development and growth. The present paper aimed at assessing the role of SMEs in moving Oman’s economy from a traditional economy to a knowledge-based economy. To lay down a groundwork that should lead to future studies, the methodology selected is based on exploratory research. Hence, the interview was conducted as a data collection tool. Based on a purposive sampling technique, seven handpicked experts have partaken in the study as they are working in different key organizations considered to be directly or indirectly the backbone of the Omani national economy. A thematic approach is employed for the purpose of data analysis. Results of the study showed that SMEs are not really contributing in the knowledge-based economy due to a lack of awareness about its importance to the country and to the enterprise within SMEs in Oman. However, it was shown that SMEs owners are interested in innovation and are trying to support innovative individuals by attracting them to their enterprises. On the other hand, the results revealed that SMEs' performance in e-solution is still not up to the level as 32% of SMEs only are using e-solutions in their internal processes and procedures like accounting systems. It is recommended to SMEs owners to use new and modern technologies in marketing and customer relation, encourage creativity, research and development, and allow the youth to have opportunities and facilitate the procedure in terms of innovation so that their role in contributing to the knowledge-based economy could be improved.

Keywords: knowledge-based economy, SMEs, ICT pillars, research and innovation

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Authors: Arezoo Assarian, Reza Javaherdashti

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Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) is an electrochemical process that can affect both metals and non-metals. The cost of MIC can amount to 40% of the cost of corrosion. MIC is enhanced via factors such as but not limited to the presence of certain bacteria and archaea as well as mechanisms such as external electron transfer. There are five methods by which electrochemical corrosion, including MIC, can be prevented, of which coatings are an effective method due to blinding anode, cathode and, electrolyte from each other. Conventional ordinary coatings may themselves become nutrient sources for the bacteria and therefore show low efficiency in dealing with MIC. Recently our works on polyaspartic coating (DTM) have shown promising results, therefore nominating DTM as the most appropriate coating material to manage both MIC and general electrochemical corrosion very efficiently. Nanosilver particles are known for their antimicrobial properties that make them of desirable distractive impacts on any germs. This coating will be formulated based on Nanosilver phosphate and copper II oxide in the resin network and co-reactant. The nanoparticles are light and heat-sensitive agents. The method which is used to keep nanoparticles in the film coating is the encapsulation of active ingredients. By this method, it will prevent incompatibility between different particles. For producing microcapsules, the interfacial cross-linking method will be used. This is achieved by adding an active ingredient to an aqueous solution of the cross-linkable polymer. In this paper, we will first explain the role of coating materials in controlling and preventing electrochemical corrosion. We will explain MIC and some of its fundamental principles, such as bacteria establishment (biofilm) and the role they play in enhancing corrosion via mechanisms such as the establishment of differential aeration cells. Later we will explain features of DTM coatings that highly contribute to preventing biofilm formation and thus microbial corrosion.

Keywords: biofilm, corrosion, microbiologically influenced corrosion(MIC), nanosilver particles, polyaspartic coating (DTM)

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Ellina Zipman

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This research investigates the place of music education in aged care facilities through the implementation of a program of regular piano lessons for residents. Using a qualitative case study methodology, the research explores aged care residents’ experiences in learning to play the piano. Since the aged care homes are unlikely places for formal learning and since older adults, especially in residential care, are not considered likely candidates for learning, this research opens the door for innovative and transformative thinking about where and to whom educational programs can be delivered. By addressing the educational needs of residents in aged care facilities, this research fills the gap in the literature. The research took place in Australia in two of Melbourne’s residential aged care facilities, engaging two residents (a nonagenarian female and an octogenarian male) to participate in 12-months weekly individual piano lessons. The data was collected through video recording of lessons, observations, interviews, emails, and a reflective journal. Data analysis was done using Nvivo and hard copy analysis with identifications of themes. The case studies revealed that passion for music was a major driver in participants’ motivation to engage in a long-term piano lessons program. This participation led to experiences of positive emotions, positive attitude, successes and challenges, the exercise of control, maintaining and building new relationships, improved self-confidence through autonomy and independent skills development, and discovering new identities through finding a new purpose and new roles in life. Speaking through participants’ voices, this research project demonstrates the importance of music education for older adults and hopes to influence transformation in the residential aged care sector.

Keywords: adult music education, quality of life, passion, positive ageing, wellbeing

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: A. Aljohani, D. Moore, D. D. Ahiaga-Dagbui

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Cost overruns are endemic in the delivery of construction projects. The problem is global. It occurs irrespective of type and size of the project, its location, procurement method or client. The size of overruns can be as high as 200% in some cases. Projects thus unfortunately often make the news headlines, not for their immense socio-economic contribution to society, but for being poorly procured. In Saudi Arabia, two-thirds of construction projects are publicly procured by the Saudi government, which has been invested Billions of dollars in infrastructure projects each year as part of an ambitious strategic development agenda to shift from mainly oil dependency to multi-source dependency. However, reports show that about 3,000 public projects face diverse issues related to time and cost overrun. As part of an on-going study to develop a framework for effective public procurement for the Saudi Arabian construction industry, this paper reports the initial findings of the causes of cost overruns in the context of the Gulf State. It also evaluates the interface between some of the front-end loading issues in public procurement in Saudi and their effects on project performance. A systematic review of the existing literature on construction cost overruns, with focus on the Saudi Arabian construction industry has been used. One of the initial findings is that a fixed-price contract is usually used by the client in an attempt to transfer all financial risks to the contractors. This has the unintended consequence of creating a turbulent environment for the delivery of the project which leads to project abandonment by contractors, poor quality of work and substantial rework. Further work is being undertaken to empirically verify the initial findings reported in this paper and their generalizability for the construction industry as a whole.

Keywords: cost overrun, public procurement, Saudi Arabia, construction projects

Procedia PDF Downloads 257

Authors: Dattatray Gadkari, Dilip Maske, Manisha Joshi, Rashmi Choudhari, Brij Mohan Arora

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The vertical directional solidification (VDS) technique has been applied to the growth of bulk InSb crystals. The concept of practical stability is applied to the case of detached bulk crystal growth on earth in a simplified design. By optimization of the set up and growth parameters, 32 ingots of 65-75 mm in length and 10-22 mm in diameter have been grown. The results indicate that the wetting angle of the melt on the ampoule wall and the pressure difference across the interface are the crucial factors effecting the meniscus shape and stability. Taking into account both heat transfer and capillarity, it is demonstrated that the process is stable in case of convex menisci (seen from melt), provided that pressure fluctuations remain in a stable range. During the crystal growth process, it is necessary to keep a relationship between the rate of the difference pressure controls and the solidification to maintain the width of gas gap. It is concluded that practical stability gives valuable knowledge of the dynamics and could be usefully applied to other crystal growth processes, especially those involving capillary shaping. Optoelectronic properties were investigated in relation to the type of solidification attached and detached ingots growth. These samples, room temperature physical properties such as Hall mobility, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy and microhardness achieved for antimonide samples grown by VDS technique have shown the highest values gained till at this time. These results reveal that these crystals can be used to produce InSb with high mobility for device applications.

Keywords: alloys, electronic materials, semiconductors, crystal growth, solidification, etching, optical microscopy, crystal structure, defects, Hall effect

Procedia PDF Downloads 406

Authors: Sh. Heidari, A. J. Andrews, A. Oberoi

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Electrochemical storage of hydrogen in activated carbon electrodes as part of a reversible fuel cell offers a potentially attractive option for storing surplus electrical energy from inherently variable solar and wind energy resources. Such a system – which we have called a proton flow battery – promises to have a roundtrip energy efficiency comparable to lithium ion batteries, while having higher gravimetric and volumetric energy densities. In this paper, a theoretical model is presented of the process of H+ ion (proton) conduction through an acid electrolyte into a highly porous activated carbon electrode where it is neutralised and absorbed on the inner surfaces of pores. A Butler-Volmer type equation relates the rate of adsorption to the potential difference between the activated carbon surface and the electrolyte. This model for the hydrogen storage electrode is then incorporated into a more general computer model based on MATLAB software of the entire electrochemical cell including the oxygen electrode. Hence a theoretical voltage-current curve is generated for given input parameters for a particular activated carbon electrode. It is shown that theoretical VI curves produced by the model can be fitted accurately to experimental data from an actual electrochemical cell with the same characteristics. By obtaining the best-fit values of input parameters, such as the exchange current density and charge transfer coefficient for the hydrogen adsorption reaction, an improved understanding of the adsorption reaction is obtained. This new model will assist in designing improved proton flow batteries for storing solar and wind energy.

Keywords: electrochemical hydrogen storage, proton flow battery, butler-volmer equation, activated carbon

Procedia PDF Downloads 490

Authors: Matthias Feiner, Francisco Javier Fernández García, Michael Arneman, Martin Kipfmüller

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To ensure reliability in miniaturized devices or processes with increased heat fluxes, very efficient cooling methods have to be employed in order to cope with small available cooling surfaces. To address this problem, a certain type of evaporator/heat exchanger was developed: It is called a swirl evaporator due to its flow characteristic. The swirl evaporator consists of a concentrically eroded screw geometry in which a capillary tube is guided, which is inserted into a pocket hole in components with high heat load. The liquid refrigerant R32 is sprayed through the capillary tube to the end face of the blind hole and is sucked off against the injection direction in the screw geometry. Its inner diameter is between one and three millimeters. The refrigerant is sprayed into the pocket hole via a small tube aligned in the center of the bore hole and is sucked off on the front side of the hole against the direction of injection. The refrigerant is sucked off in a helical geometry (twisted flow) so that it is accelerated against the hot wall (centrifugal acceleration). This results in an increase in the critical heat flux of up to 40%. In this way, more heat can be dissipated on the same surface/available installation space. This enables a wide range of technical applications. To optimize the design for the needs in various fields of industry, like the internal tool cooling when machining nickel base alloys like Inconel 718, a correlation-based model of the swirl-evaporator was developed. The model is separated into 3 subgroups with overall 5 regimes. The pressure drop and heat transfer are calculated separately. An approach to determine the locality of phase change in the capillary and the swirl was implemented. A test stand has been developed to verify the simulation.

Keywords: helically-shaped, oil-free, R-32, swirl-evaporator, twist-flow

Procedia PDF Downloads 97

Authors: Wen Feiming

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As the ecological barrier of the Yangtze River, the ecological security of the Parallel Range-Valley area is very important. However, the unique geomorphic features aggravate the contradiction between man and land, resulting in the encroachment of ecological space. In recent years , relevant researches has focused on the single field of land science, ecology and landscape ecology, and it is difficult to systematically reflect the regularities of distribution and evolution trends of ecological patterns in the process of urban development. Therefore, from the perspective of "Production-Living-Ecological space", using spatial analysis methods such as Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), this paper analyzes the evolution characteristics and driving factors of the ecological pattern of mountain towns in the parallel range-valley region from the aspects of land use structure, change rate, transformation relationship, and spatial correlation. It is concluded that the ecological pattern of mountain towns presents a trend from expansion and diffusion to agglomeration, and the dynamic spatial transfer is a trend from artificial transformation to the natural origin, while the driving effect analysis shows the significant characteristics of terrain attraction and construction barrier. Finally, combined with the evolution characteristics and driving mechanism, the evolution modes of "mountain area - concentrated growth", "trough area - diffusion attenuation" and "flat area - concentrated attenuation" are summarized, and the differentiated zoning and stratification ecological planning strategies are proposed here, in order to provide the theoretical basis for the sustainable development of mountain towns in parallel range-valley areas.

Keywords: parallel range-valley, ecological pattern, evolution characteristics, driving factors

Procedia PDF Downloads 82

Authors: Obinna Emmanuel Nkomadu

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Many illegal activities take place on the sea, including trafficking in arms, which constitutes one of the major threats to maritime security. Indeed, the dissemination of arms has hampered the peaceful settlement of many States in Africa, fuelled disputes into armed conflicts, and contributed to the prolongation of armed conflicts in many African States. The absence of international standards on the importation, exportation, and transfer of conventional arms is a contributory factor to conflict, displacement of people, crime, and terrorism on the continent of Africa, which in turn undermines peace, safety, security, stability, and sustainable development. South Africa and Nigeria have taken steps to address the illicit arms, but, despite those steps, arms trafficking at sea continues. To suppress the illicit arms and to combat a number of other threats to maritime security around the continent of Africa, the majority of AU members in 2016 adopted the African Charter on Maritime Security and Safety and Development in Africa (“the Lomé Charter”). However, the Lomé Charter is yet to come into force. This paper set out the pre-existing international legal instruments on arms to ascertain the domestic laws of South Africa and Nigeria relating to arms with the relevant provisions of the Charter in order to establish whether any legal steps are required to ensure that South Africa and Nigeria comply with its obligations under the Lomé Charter should it decide to ratify it. The legal steps include cooperating in establishing policies, as well as a regional and continental institution, and ensuring the implementation of such policies. The paper concludes ratifying the Lomé Charter is a step in the right direction in suppressing arms trafficking at sea, in addition to filling those gaps or limitations in their relevant legislation.

Keywords: cooperation against arms trafficking at sea, Lomé Charter, maritime security, Nigerian and South Africa legislation on arms

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: Mohammed Belalia Douma

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Interactive learning is considered as the most effective strategy of learning, it is an educational philosophy based on the learner's contribution and involvement mainly in classroom and how he interacts toward his small society “classroom”, and the level of his collaboration into challenge, discovering, games, participation, all these can be provided through the interactive learning, which aims to activate the learner's role in the operation of learning, which focuses on research and experimentation, and the learner's self-reliance in obtaining information, acquiring skills, and forming values and attitudes. Whereas not based on memorization only, but rather on developing thinking and the ability to solve problems, on teamwork and collaborative learning. With the exchange or roles - teacher to student- , when the student will be more active and performing operations more than the student under the interactive learning method; we might face a several issues dealing with class controlling management, noise, and stability of learning… etc. This research paper is observing the application of the interactive learning on reality “classroom” and answers several assumptions and analyzes the issues coming up of these strategies mainly: noise, class control…etc The research sample was about 150 student of the 3rd year primary school in “Chlef” district, Algeria, level: beginners in the range of age 08 to 10 years old . We provided a questionnaire of confidential fifteen questions and also analyzing the attitudes of learners during three months. it have witnessed as teachers a variety of strategies dealing with applying the interactive learning but with a different issues; time management, noise, uncontrolled classes, overcrowded classes. Finally, it summed up that although the active education is an inevitably effective method of teaching, however, there are drawbacks to this, in addition to the fact that not all theoretical strategies can be applied and we conclude with solutions of this case study.

Keywords: interactive learning, student, learners, strategies.

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

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 86