Search results for: China-Hungary economic and trade cooperation zone

Authors: A. Assad, T. Zayed

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Water networks (WNs) are responsible of providing adequate amounts of safe, high quality, water to the public. As other critical infrastructure systems, WNs are subjected to deterioration which increases the number of breaks and leaks and lower water quality. In Canada, 35% of water assets require critical attention and there is a significant gap between the needed and the implemented investments. Thus, the need for efficient rehabilitation programs is becoming more urgent given the paradigm of aging infrastructure and tight budget. The first step towards developing such programs is to formulate a Performance Index that reflects the current condition of water assets along with its criticality. While numerous studies in the literature have focused on various aspects of condition assessment and reliability, limited efforts have investigated the criticality of such components. Critical water mains are those whose failure cause significant economic, environmental or social impacts on a community. Inclusion of criticality in computing the performance index will serve as a prioritizing tool for the optimum allocating of the available resources and budget. In this study, several social, economic, and environmental factors that dictate the criticality of a water pipelines have been elicited from analyzing the literature. Expert opinions were sought to provide pairwise comparisons of the importance of such factors. Subsequently, Fuzzy Logic along with Analytical Network Process (ANP) was utilized to calculate the weights of several criteria factors. Multi Attribute Utility Theories (MAUT) was then employed to integrate the aforementioned weights with the attribute values of several pipelines in Montreal WN. The result is a criticality index, 0-1, that quantifies the severity of the consequence of failure of each pipeline. A novel contribution of this approach is that it accounts for both the interdependency between criteria factors as well as the inherited uncertainties in calculating the criticality. The practical value of the current study is represented by the automated tool, Excel-MATLAB, which can be used by the utility managers and decision makers in planning for future maintenance and rehabilitation activities where high-level efficiency in use of materials and time resources is required.

Keywords: water networks, criticality assessment, asset management, fuzzy analytical network process

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Authors: Abdullah Kaymakci, Daniel M. Madyira, Ntokozo Nkwanyana

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The effect of metal transfer modes on mechanical properties of welded 3CR12 stainless steel were investigated. This was achieved by butt welding 10 mm thick plates of 3CR12 in different positions while varying the welding positions for different metal transfer modes. The ASME IX: 2010 (Welding and Brazing Qualifications) code was used as a basis for welding variables. The material and the thickness of the base metal were kept constant together with the filler metal, shielding gas and joint types. The effect of the metal transfer modes on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the 3CR12 steel was then investigated as it was hypothesized that the change in welding positions will affect the transfer modes partly due to the effect of gravity. The microscopic examination revealed that the substrate was characterized by dual phase microstructure, that is, alpha phase and beta phase grain structures. Using the spectroscopic examination results and the ferritic factor calculation had shown that the microstructure was expected to be ferritic-martensitic during air cooling process. The tested tensile strength and Charpy impact energy were measured to be 498 MPa and 102 J which were in line with mechanical properties given in the material certificate. The heat input in the material was observed to be greater than 1 kJ/mm which is the limiting factor for grain growth during the welding process. Grain growths were observed in the heat affected zone of the welded materials. Ferritic-martensitic microstructure was observed in the microstructure during the microscopic examination. The grain growth altered the mechanical properties of the test material. Globular down hand had higher mechanical properties than spray down hand. Globular vertical up had better mechanical properties than globular vertical down.

Keywords: welding, metal transfer modes, stainless steel, microstructure, hardness, tensile strength

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Authors: Fatemeh Parhizkar, Mojtaba Yamani, Abdolla Behboodi, Masoomeh Hashemi

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The mangrove forests are natural and valuable gifts that exist in some parts of the world, including Iran. Regarding the threats faced by these forests and the declining area of them all over the world, as well as in Iran, it is very necessary to manage and monitor them. The current study aimed to investigate the changes in mangrove forests and the relationship between these changes and the marine hydrodynamics and coastal morphology in the area between qeshm island and the west coast of the Hormozgan province (i.e. the coastline between Mehran river and Bandar-e Pol port) in the 49-year period. After preprocessing and classifying satellite images using the SVM, MLC, and ANN classifiers and evaluating the accuracy of the maps, the SVM approach with the highest accuracy (the Kappa coefficient of 0.97 and overall accuracy of 98) was selected for preparing the classification map of all images. The results indicate that from 1972 to 1987, the area of these forests have had experienced a declining trend, and in the next years, their expansion was initiated. These forests include the mangrove forests of Khurkhuran wetland, Muriz Deraz Estuary, Haft Baram Estuary, the mangrove forest in the south of the Laft Port, and the mangrove forests between the Tabl Pier, Maleki Village, and Gevarzin Village. The marine hydrodynamic and geomorphological characteristics of the region, such as average intertidal zone, sediment data, the freshwater inlet of Mehran river, wave stability and calmness, topography and slope, as well as mangrove conservation projects make the further expansion of mangrove forests in this area possible. By providing significant and up-to-date information on the development and decline of mangrove forests in different parts of the coast, this study can significantly contribute to taking measures for the conservation and restoration of mangrove forests.

Keywords: mangrove forests, marine hydrodynamics, coastal morphology, west of strait of Hormuz, Iran

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Authors: Saeidreza Radpour, Md. Ahiduzzaman, Amit Kumar

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Alberta’s mining sector consumed 871.3 PJ in 2012, which is 67.1% of the energy consumed in the industry sector and about 40% of all the energy consumed in the province of Alberta. Natural gas, petroleum products, and electricity supplied 55.9%, 20.8%, and 7.7%, respectively, of the total energy use in this sector. Oil sands mining and upgrading to crude oil make up most of the mining energy sector activities in Alberta. Crude oil is produced from the oil sands either by in situ methods or by the mining and extraction of bitumen from oil sands ore. In this research, the factors affecting oil sands production have been assessed and a framework has been developed for market penetration of new efficient technologies in this sector. Oil sands production amount is a complex function of many different factors, broadly categorized into technical, economic, political, and global clusters. The results of developed and implemented statistical analysis in this research show that the importance of key factors affecting on oil sands production in Alberta is ranked as: Global energy consumption (94% consistency), Global crude oil price (86% consistency), and Crude oil export (80% consistency). A framework for modeling oil sands energy technologies’ market penetration (OSETMP) has been developed to cover related technical, economic and environmental factors in this sector. It has been assumed that the impact of political and social constraints is reflected in the model by changes of global oil price or crude oil price in Canada. The market share of novel in situ mining technologies with low energy and water use are assessed and calculated in the market penetration framework include: 1) Partial upgrading, 2) Liquid addition to steam to enhance recovery (LASER), 3) Solvent-assisted process (SAP), also called solvent-cyclic steam-assisted gravity drainage (SC-SAGD), 4) Cyclic solvent, 5) Heated solvent, 6) Wedge well, 7) Enhanced modified steam and Gas push (emsagp), 8) Electro-thermal dynamic stripping process (ET-DSP), 9) Harris electro-magnetic heating applications (EMHA), 10) Paraffin froth separation. The results of the study will show the penetration profile of these technologies over a long term planning horizon.

Keywords: appliances efficiency improvement, diffusion models, market penetration, residential sector

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Authors: Richard Roberts, Anna Kravtcova

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Introduction: The realisation that personality can change over the course of a lifetime has led to a new companion model to the Big Five, the behavioural, emotional, and social skills approach (BESSA). BESSA hypothesizes that this set of skills represents how the individual is thinking, feeling, and behaving when the situation calls for it, as opposed to traits, which represent how someone tends to think, feel, and behave averaged across situations. The five major skill domains share parallels with the Big Five Factor (BFF) model creativity and innovation (openness), self-management (conscientiousness), social engagement (extraversion), cooperation (agreeableness), and emotional resilience (emotional stability) skills. We point to noteworthy limitations in the current operationalisation of BESSA skills (i.e., via Likert-type items) and offer up a different measurement approach: forced choice. Method: In this forced-choice paradigm, individuals were given three skill items (e.g., managing my time) and asked to select one response they believed they were “worst at” and “best at”. The Thurstonian IRT models allow these to be placed on a normative scale. Two multivariate studies (N = 1178) were conducted with a 22-item forced-choice version of the BESSA, a published measure of the BFF, and various criteria. Findings: Confirmatory factor analysis of the forced-choice assessment showed acceptable model fit (RMSEA<0.06), while reliability estimates were reasonable (around 0.70 for each construct). Convergent validity evidence was as predicted (correlations between 0.40 and 0.60 for corresponding BFF and BESSA constructs). Notable was the extent the forced-choice BESSA assessment improved upon test-criterion relationships over and above the BFF. For example, typical regression models find BFF personality accounting for 25% of the variance in life satisfaction scores; both studies showed incremental gains over the BFF exceeding 6% (i.e., BFF and BESSA together accounted for over 31% of the variance in both studies). Discussion: Forced-choice measurement models offer up the promise of creating equated test forms that may unequivocally measure skill gains and are less prone to fakability and reference bias effects. Implications for practitioners are discussed, especially those interested in selection, succession planning, and training and development. We also discuss how the forced choice method can be applied to other constructs like emotional immunity, cross-cultural competence, and self-estimates of cognitive ability.

Keywords: Big Five, forced-choice method, BFF, methods of measurements

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Authors: Lina F. Ballesteros, Hafsae Lamsaf, Miguel A. Cerqueira, Lorenzo M. Pastrana, Sandra Carvalho, Jose A. Teixeira, S. Calderon V.

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The use of bio-based packaging materials containing metallic and bimetallic nanostructures is relatively modern technology. In this sense, the food packaging industry has been investigating biological and renewable resources that can replace petroleum-based materials to reduce the environmental impact and, at the same time, including new functionalities using nanotechnology. Therefore, the main objective of the present work consisted of developing bio-based poly-lactic acid (PLA) films with Zinc (Zn) and Zinc-Iron (Zn-Fe) nanostructures deposited by magnetron sputtering. The structural, antimicrobial, and optical properties of the films were evaluated when exposed at 60% and 96% relative humidity (RH). The morphology and elemental analysis of the samples were determined by scanning (transmission) electron microscopy (SEM and STEM), and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The structure of the PLA was monitored before and after deposition by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, and the antimicrobial and color assays were performed by using the zone of inhibition (ZOI) test and a Minolta colorimeter, respectively. Finally, the films were correlated in terms of the deposit conditions, Zn or Zn-Fe concentrations, and thickness. The results revealed PLA films with different morphologies, compositions, and thicknesses of Zn or Zn-Fe nanostructures. The samples showed a significant antibacterial and antifungal activity against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, P. fluorescens, S. aureus, and A. niger, and considerable changes of color and opacity at 96% RH, especially for the thinner nanostructures (150-250 nm). On the other hand, when the Fe fraction was increased, the lightness of samples increased, as well as their antimicrobial activity when compared to the films with pure Zn. Hence, these findings are relevant to the food packaging field since intelligent and active films with multiple properties can be developed.

Keywords: biopolymers, functional properties, magnetron sputtering, Zn and Zn-Fe nanostructures

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Authors: Achinthya Bandara

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The Portuguese were the first known European Nation to colonize Ceylon during the early 16th century. When the Portuguese set sail in the late 15th century towards the East and West, they first landed in Pondicherry (Pondicherry), an eastern coastal location of early India and established their trade in the Indian Oceanic regions. Sri Lanka (Ceylon until 1972) made its first contact with the Portuguese just a few years after they anchored in India, the Luso-Sri Lankan contact was initiated and became prominent across the time, even during the later colonial rules, i.e., Dutch and British. Such connections created a Luso-Asian hybrid culture in Ceylon that shared both Sri Lankan and European identities. Portuguese Creole communities were prominent among them as an ethnic group with Portuguese descent interwoven with local traditions and customs, yet outcast by the mainstream Portuguese colonials. Hugh Nevil, a British Civil Servant who served Ceylon in the early 1800s, had collected a considerable amount of such Luso-Asian Literature belonging to Sri Lankan Portuguese creole communities, including 180 Portuguese creole verses sung by the creole communities in Eastern Sri Lanka. Though the collection was studied to uncover literature traits, few or no known studies focused on the anti-colonial subaltern discourse appearing in the shades of this work. It is evident that these verses contain local anti-colonial ideologies that create a platform to place them as elements of Luso-Asian subaltern literature. This research explores how the language and content of these verses contradict the mainstream colonial ideologies we intend to position within a regional anti-colonial subaltern context. As this is part of a long-term research project that translates the whole collection into Sinhalese and Tamil, this study will show evidence from early 1800s verses to suggest how Luso-Asian communities create a unique subaltern linguistic and literary discourse.

Keywords: Luso Asian creoles, Luso Asian subalterns, anti-colonial ideologies, Sri Lanka Portuguese creole

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Authors: Shireen Bhatti, M. Asif Shaikh, Atif Khan

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Sexually abusive behavior is seen as a social phenomenon across different societies and different territories. An institution of sport has its own uniqueness. It is different from other workplaces and academia. The challenges in sports raised are different, which require a call to action for specific sexual harassment policies and practices. Many sportswomen who are members of team games or individual games experience sexually abusive behavior from their male counterparts, including trainers, coaches, and lower staff. The power of the coach over the athlete is massive due to the coach’s position. The power can be disguised for possible abuse, whether physical or emotional. Female athletes are victims in most offensive situations that occur in collegiate settings by male coaches. The objective of the study is to identify the relationship between the sexually abusive behavior of male coaches and the motivation of female athletes at public sector universities in Sindh, Pakistan. The descriptive approach was used, whereas The cross-sectional survey design was used to support the study. Intercollegiate, intervarsity, provincial, and national level female athletes of public sector universities of Sindh province were the subject of this study. The tool of research was a self-developed scale that encompassed the relationship between the sexually abusive behaviors of coaches and the motivation of female athletes. Frequency, percentage, and mean and Pearson Correlation, chi square, and ANOVA were used. The results indicate that there is a strong negative relationship between the sexually abusive behavior of male coaches and female athletes’ sports motivation. The Pearson correlation shows that there is a strong negative relation between the sexually abusive behavior of male athletes and female athletes’ sports motivation. The significant level is (r = -.741); however, The findings confirmed that the coach’s power, authority, decision-making position, the threat of rejection on the refusal of sexual cooperation, the ready availability of inexperienced female athletes, and lack of implication of policies regarding sexual misconducts in public sector universities decline motivation of female athletes witnessed. Based on the findings, the study recommended that the family background, career history, and participation record of coaches should be investigated to ensure that they have ever been involved in any criminal activity or sexual misconduct during their career or participation.

Keywords: abusive, athlete, coach, motivation

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Authors: Sahar Navabakhsh, Rokia Raslan, Yair Schwartz

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Decision-making on regeneration of housing estates, whether to refurbish or re-build, has been mostly triggered by economic factors. To enable sustainable growth, it is vital that environmental and social impacts of different scenarios are also taken into account. The methodology used to include all the three sustainable development pillars is called Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), which comprises of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the assessment of environmental impacts of buildings. Current practice of LCA is regularly conducted post design stage and by sustainability experts. Not only is undertaking an LCA at this stage less effective, but issues such as the limited scope for the definition and assessment of environmental impacts, the implication of changes in the system boundary and the alteration of each of the variable metrics, employment of different Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods and use of various inventory data for Life Cycle Inventory Analysis can result in considerably contrasting results. Given the niche nature and scarce specialist domain of LCA of buildings, the majority of the stakeholders do not contribute to the generation or interpretation of the impact assessment, and the results can be generated and interpreted subjectively due to the mentioned uncertainties. For an effective and democratic assessment of environmental impacts, different stakeholders, and in particular the community and design team should collaborate in the process of data collection, assessment and analysis. This paper examines and evaluates a participatory approach to LCSA through the analysis of a case study of a housing estate in South West London. The study has been conducted throughout tier-based collaborative methods to collect and share data through surveys and co-design workshops with the community members and the design team as the main stakeholders. The assessment of lifecycle impacts is conducted throughout the process and has influenced the decision-making on the design of the Community Plan. The evaluation concludes better assessment transparency and outcome, alongside other socio-economic benefits of identifying and engaging the most contributive stakeholders in the process of conducting LCSA.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, participatory LCA, life cycle sustainability assessment, participatory processes, decision-making, housing estate regeneration

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Authors: Laxmi Versain, R. S. Banshtu

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Landslides are found to be the most commonly occurring geological hazards in the mountainous regions of the Himalaya. This mountainous zone is facing large number of seismic turbulences, climatic changes, and topography changes due to increasing urbanization. That eventually has lead several researchers working for best suitable methodologies to infer the ultimate results. Landslide Hazard Zonation has widely come as suitable method to know the appropriate factors that trigger the lansdslide phenomenon on higher reaches. Most vulnerable zones or zones of weaknesses are indentified and safe mitigation measures are to be suggested to mitigate and channelize the study of an effected area. Use of Landslide Hazard Zonation methodology in relative zones of weaknesses depend upon the data available for the particular site. The causative factors are identified and data is made available to infer the results. Factors like seismicity in mountainous region have closely associated to make the zones of thrust and faults or lineaments more vulnerable. Data related to soil, terrain, rainfall, geology, slope, nature of terrain, are found to be varied for various landforms and areas. Thus, the relative causes are to be identified and classified by giving specific weightage to each parameter. Factors which cause the instability of slopes are several and can be grouped to infer the potential modes of failure. The triggering factors of the landslides on the mountains are not uniform. The urbanization has crawled like ladder and emergence of concrete jungles are in a very fast pace on hilly region of Himalayas. The local terrains has largely been modified and hence instability of several zones are triggering at very fast pace. More strategic and pronounced methods are required to reduce the effect of landslide.

Keywords: zonation, LHZ, susceptible, weightages, methodology

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Authors: Laura de Zwaan, Tracey West

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There is a sustained observable gender gap in financial literacy, with females consistently having lower levels than males. This research explores the knowledge and experiences of high school students in Australia aged 14 to 18 in order to understand how this gap can be improved. Using a predominantly qualitative approach, we find evidence to support impacts on financial literacy from financial socialization and socio-economic environment. We also find evidence that current teaching and assessment approaches to financial literacy may disadvantage female students. We conclude by offering recommendations to improve the way financial literacy education is delivered within the curriculum.

Keywords: financial literacy, financial socialization, gender, maths

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Authors: Oktia Woro Kasmini Handayani, Bambang Budi Raharjo, Efa Nugroho, Bertakalswa Hermawati

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Obesity prevalence and severe malnutrition in Indonesia has increased from 2007 to 2013. The utilization of local resources in nutritional program planning can be used to program efficiency and to reach the goal. The aim of this research is to plan a nutrition program based on local resources for urban fringe areas in a developing country. This research used a qualitative approach, with a focus on local resources including social capital, social system, cultural system. The study was conducted in Mijen, Central Java, as one of the urban fringe areas in Indonesia. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques are used to determine participants. A total of 16 participants took part in the study. Observation, interviews, focus group discussion, SWOT analysis, brainstorming and Miles and Huberman models were used to analyze the data. We have identified several local resources, such as the contributions from nutrition cadres, social organizations, social financial resources, as well as the cultural system and social system. The outstanding contribution of nutrition cadres is the participation and creativity to improve nutritional status. In addition, social organizations, like the role of the integrated health center for children (Pos Pelayanan Terpadu), can be engaged in the nutrition program planning. This center is supported by House of Nutrition to assist in nutrition program planning, and provide social support to families, neighbors and communities as social capitals. The study also reported that cultural systems that show appreciation for well-nourished children are a better way to improve the problem of balanced nutrition. Social systems such as teamwork and mutual cooperation can also be a potential resource to support nutritional programs and overcome associated problems. The impact of development in urban areas such as the introduction of more green areas which improve the perceived status of local people, as well as new health services facilitated by people and companies, can also be resources to support nutrition programs. Local resources in urban fringe areas can be used in the planning of nutrition programs. The expansion of partnership with all stakeholders, empowering the community through optimizing the roles of nutrition care centers for children as our recommendation with regard to nutrition program planning.

Keywords: developing country, local resources, nutrition program, urban fringe

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Authors: Siraj Beyan Mohamed, Woldia University

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The study is accompanied in northern Ethiopian basement rocks, Finarwa area, and its surrounding areas, south eastern Tigray. From the field observations, the geology of the area haven been described and mapped based on mineral composition, texture, structure, and colour of both fresh and weather rocks. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) have conducted to analysis gold and base metal mineralization. The ore mineral under microscope are commonly base metal sulphides pyrrhotite, Chalcopyrite, pentilanditeoccurring in variable proportions. Galena, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and gold mineral are hosted in quartz vein. Pyrite occurs both in quartz vein and enclosing rocks as a primary mineral. The base metal sulfides occur as disseminated, vein filling, and replacement. Geochemical analyses result determination of the threshold of geochemical anomalies is directly related to the identification of mineralization information. From samples, stream sediment samples and the soil samples indicated that the most promising mineralization occur in the prospect area are gold(Au), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn). This is also supported by the abundance of chalcopyrite and sphalerite in some highly altered samples. The stream sediment geochemical survey data shows relatively higher values for zinc compared to Pb and Cu. The moderate concentration of the base metals in some of the samples indicates availability base metal mineralization in the study area requiring further investigation. The rock and soil geochemistry shows the significant concentration of gold with maximum value of 0.33ppm and 0.97 ppm in the south western part of the study area. In Finarwa, artisanal gold mining has become an increasingly widespread economic activity of the local people undertaken by socially differentiated groups with a wide range of education levels and economic backgrounds incorporating a wide variety of ‘labour intensive activities without mechanisation.

Keywords: gold, base metal, anomaly, threshold

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Authors: Clive L. Morley

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Gravity models and panel data modelling of tourism flows are receiving renewed attention, after decades of general neglect. Such models have quite different underpinnings from conventional demand models derived from micro-economic theory. They operate at a different level of data and with different theoretical bases. These differences have important consequences for the interpretation of the results and their policy and managerial implications. This review compares and contrasts the two model forms, clarifying the distinguishing features and the estimation requirements of each. In general, gravity models are not recommended for use to address specific management and marketing purposes.

Keywords: gravity models, micro-economics, demand models, marketing

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Authors: Amna J. Ghith, Khaled Abu Zid, Khairia Youssef, Nasser Saad

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Backgrounds: The multikinase and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor inhibitors interrupt the pathway by which angiogenesis becomes established and promulgated, resulting in the inadequate nourishment of metastatic disease. VEGFR-2 has been the principal target of anti-angiogenic therapies. We disclose the new thieno pyrimidines as inhibitors of VEGFR-2 designed by a molecular modeling approach with increased synergistic activity and decreased side effects. Purpose: 2-substituted thieno pyrimidines are designed and synthesized with anticipated anticancer activity based on its in silico molecular docking study that supports the initial pharmacophoric hypothesis with a same binding mode of interaction at the ATP-binding site of VEGFR-2 (PDB 2QU5) with high docking score. Methods: A series of compounds were designed using discovery studio 4.1/CDOCKER with a rational that mimic the pharmacophoric features present in the reported active compounds that targeted VEGFR-2. An in silico ADMET study was also performed to validate the bioavailability of the newly designed compounds. Results: The Compounds to be synthesized showed interaction energy comparable to or within the range of the benzimidazole inhibitor ligand when docked with VEGFR-2. ADMET study showed comparable results most of the compounds showed absorption within (95-99) zone varying according to different substitutions attached to thieno pyrimidine ring system. Conclusions: A series of 2-subsituted thienopyrimidines are to be synthesized with anticipated anticancer activity and according to docking study structure requirement for the design of VEGFR-2 inhibitors which can act as powerful anticancer agents.

Keywords: docking, discovery studio 4.1/CDOCKER, heterocycles based anticancer agents, 2-subsituted thienopyrimidines

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Authors: Asiya Rezzouq, Mehdi El Bouchti, Omar Cherkaoui, Sanaa Majid, Souad Zyade

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In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the exploration of new renewable and non-conventional sources for the production of biodegradable nanomaterials. Nature harbours valuable cellulose-rich materials that have so far been under-exploited and can be used to create cellulose derivatives such as cellulose microfibres (CMFs) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). These unconventional sources have considerable potential as alternatives to conventional sources such as wood and cotton. By using agricultural waste to produce these cellulose derivatives, we are responding to the global call for sustainable solutions to environmental and economic challenges. Responsible management of agricultural waste is increasingly crucial to reducing the environmental consequences of its disposal, including soil and water pollution, while making efficient use of these untapped resources. In this study, the main objective was to extract cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) from melon plant residues using methods that are both efficient and sustainable. To achieve this high-quality extraction, we followed a well-defined protocol involving several key steps: pre-treatment of the residues by grinding, filtration and chemical purification to obtain high-quality (CMF) with a yield of 52% relative to the initial mass of the melon plant residue. Acid hydrolysis was then carried out using phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid to convert (CMF) into cellulose nanocrystals. The extracted cellulose nanocrystals were subjected to in-depth characterization using advanced techniques such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction. The resulting cellulose nanocrystals have exceptional properties, including a large specific surface area, high thermal stability and high mechanical strength, making them suitable for a variety of applications, including as reinforcements for composite materials. In summary, the study highlights the potential for recovering agricultural melon waste to produce high-quality cellulose nanocrystals with promising applications in industry, nanotechnology, and biotechnology, thereby contributing to environmental and economic sustainability.

Keywords: cellulose, melon plant residues, cellulose nanocrystals, properties, applications, composite materials

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Authors: I. Wardana Ketut, I. Suparwa Nyoman

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This study investigated the form and characteristic of speech sound produced by three Balinese subjects who have recovered from aphasia as well as intervened their language impairment on side of linguistic and neuronal aspects of views. The failure of judging the speech sound was caused by impairment of motor cortex that indicated there were lesions in left hemispheric language zone. Sound articulation phenomena were in the forms of phonemes deletion, replacement or assimilation in individual words and meaning building for anomic aphasia. Therefore, the Balinese sound patterns were stimulated by showing pictures to the subjects and recorded to recognize what individual consonants or vowels they unclearly produced and to find out how the sound disorder occurred. The physiology of sound production by subject’s speech organs could not only show the accuracy of articulation but also any level of severity the lesion they suffered from. The subjects’ speech sounds were investigated, classified and analyzed to know how poor the lingual units were and observed to clarify weaknesses of sound characters occurred either for place or manner of articulation. Many fricative and stopped consonants were replaced by glottal or palatal sounds because the cranial nerve, such as facial, trigeminal, and hypoglossal underwent impairment after the stroke. The phonological intervention was applied through a technique called phonemic articulation drill and the examination was conducted to know any change has been obtained. The finding informed that some weak articulation turned into clearer sound and simple meaning of language has been conveyed. The hierarchy of functional parts of brain played important role of language formulation and processing. From this finding, it can be clearly emphasized that this study supports the role of right hemisphere in recovery from aphasia is associated with functional brain reorganization.

Keywords: aphasia, intervention, phonology, stroke

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Authors: Erico R. Carmona, Lucas Hernandez-Saravia, Aliro Villacorta, Felipe Carevic

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Tailings and electronic waste (e-waste) are an important source of global contamination. Chile is one of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries that least recycled this kind of industrial waste, reaching only 3% of the total. Tailings and e-waste recycling offers a valuable tool to minimize the increasing accumulation of waste, supplement the scarcity of some raw materials and to obtain economic benefits through the commercialization of these. It should be noted that this type of industrial waste is an important source of valuable metals, such as copper, which allow generating new business and added value through its transformation into new materials with advanced physical and biological properties. In this sense, the development of nanotechnology has led to the creation of nanomaterials with multiple applications given their unique physicochemical properties. Among others, copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) have gained great interest due to their optical, catalytic, conductive properties, and particularly because of their broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. There are different synthesis methods of copper nanoparticles; however, green synthesis is one of the most promising methodologies, since it is simple, low-cost, ecological, and generates stable nanoparticles, which makes it a promising methodology for scaling up. Currently, there are few initiatives that involve the development of methods for the recovery and transformation of copper from waste to produce nanoparticles with new properties and better technological benefits. Thus, the objective of this work is to show preliminary data about the develop a sustainable transformation process of tailings and e-waste that allows obtaining a copper-based nanotechnological product with potential antimicrobial applications. For this, samples of tailings and e-waste collected from Tarapacá and Antofagasta region of northern Chile were used to recover copper through efficient, ecological, and low-cost alkaline hydrometallurgical treatments, which to allow obtaining copper with a high degree of purity. On the other hand, the transformation process from recycled copper to a nanomaterial was carried out through a green synthesis approach by using vegetal organic residue extracts that allows obtaining CuNPs following methodologies previously reported by authors. Initial physical characterization with UV-Vis, FTIR, AFM, and TEM methodologies will be reported for CuNPs synthesized.

Keywords: nanomaterials, industrial waste, chile, recycling

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Authors: Sudeshna Sengupta

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Women’s work lives weave a complex fabric of myriad work relations and complex structures. Lives, when seen from the lens of work, is a saga of conjugated oppression by intertwined structures that are vertically and horizontally interwoven in a very complex manner. Women interact with multiple institutions through their work. The interactions and interplay of institutions shape their organization of work. They intersperse productive work with reproductive work, unpaid economic activities with unpaid care work, and all kinds of activities with leisure and self-care. The proposed paper intends to understand how women working as home-based workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) of India are organizing their everyday work, and how the organization of work is influenced by the interplay of structures. Situating itself in a multidisciplinary theoretical framework, this paper brings out how the gendering of work is playing out in the political, economic and social domain and shaping the work-life within the family, and in the paid workspace. The paper will use a primary data source, which is qualitative in nature. It will comprise 15 qualitative interviews of women home-based workers from the National Capital Region. The research uses a life history approach. The sampling was purposive using snowballing as a method. The dataset is part of the primary data (qualitative) collected for the ongoing Ph.D. work in Gender Studies at Ambedkar University Delhi. The home-based workers interviewed were in “non-factory” wage relations based on piece rates with flexible working hours. Their workplaces were their own homes with no spatial divide between living spaces and workspaces. Home-based workers were recognized as a group in the domain of labor economics in the 1980s. When menial work was cheaper than machine work, the capital owners preferred to outsource work as home-based work to women. These production spaces are fragmented and the identity of gender is created within labor processes to favor material accumulation. Both the employers and employees acknowledged the material gain of the capital owner when work was subcontracted to women at home. Simultaneously the market reinforced women’s reproductive role by conforming to patriarchal ideology. The contractors played an important role in implementing localized control on workers and also in finding workers for fragmented, gendered production processes. Their presence helped the employers in bringing together multiple forms of oppression that ranged from creating a structure to flout laws by creating shadow employers. It created an intertwined social and economic structure as well as a workspace where the line between productive and reproductive work gets blurred. The state invisibilized itself either by keeping the sector out of the domain of laws or by not implementing its own laws regulating working conditions or social security. It allowed the local hierarchy to function and define localized working conditions. The productive reproductive continuum reveals a labor control that influenced both the productive and reproductive work of women.

Keywords: informal sector, paid work, women workers, labor processes

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Authors: Usama Bin Zubair, Syed Azhar Ali

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Introduction: Depression is emerging as a major public health problem in all parts of the world. Developing countries have a unique socioeconomic structure that affects the lives of its inhabitants in several ways. Going abroad for employment is one of the common social problems which have been faced by young males in developing countries. This included both highly qualified individuals as well as the labor class. Objective: To determine the difference in the presence of depressive symptoms among pregnant women with husbands living abroad and those with husbands living with them in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Methods: The sample population comprised of pregnant women reporting for an antenatal checkup at Amna hospital Rawalakot. Cases constituted the pregnant women with husbands living abroad while controls were the pregnant women with husbands living with them. Patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to record the presence and severity of depressive symptoms. Age, gestation, parity, rural or urban origin, education, level of family income, daily contact hours on the telephone or what’s app, previous pregnancy loss or complications, number of years abroad and visits to home per year were associated with the presence of depressive symptoms. Findings: The mean age of the study participants was 29.73 ±5.395 years. Sixty-six had significant depression in the case group, while 14 had in the control group (p-value<0.001). Education and rural background had a significant difference between the case and the control group. Less number of visits per year of the husband was strongly linked with the presence of depressive symptoms among the cases. Conclusion: Pregnant women with husbands abroad were found more prone to develop depressive symptoms as compared to those with husbands living with them. Special attention should be paid to the women whose husband had a lesser number of visits to the country.

Keywords: depression, pregnancy, lack of support, war zone

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Authors: Misbah Shaheen, Anam Qureshi

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In this work we will discuss the challenges faced by tourism industry in Pakistan. Tourism plays vital role in the socio-economic growth of a country. The countries of world, with less tourism opportunities are lagging behind from other nations of the world. Pakistan is one of those countries which rich in historical places, natural beauty, and uniqueness in handmade items and also of green forests. Present study will discuss the challenges being faced by tourism industry with special focus on hotel industry and law and order situation.

Keywords: Pakistan, tourism, handmade items, hotel industry

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Authors: Hanaa A. Al-Gaoudi, Hassan Ebeid

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The research investigates the materials and processes used in the manufacturing of an Egyptian polychrome cartonnage mummy mask with the aim of dating this object and establishing trade patterns of certain materials that were used and available at the time of ancient Egypt. This anonymous-source object was held in the basement storage of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (EMC) and has never been on display. Furthermore, there is no information available regarding its owner, provenance, date, and even the time of its possession by the museum. Moreover, the object is in a very poor condition where almost two-thirds of the mask was bent and has never received any previous conservation treatment. This research has utilized well-established multi-analytical methods to identify the considerable diversity of materials that have been used in the manufacturing of this object. These methods include Computed Tomography Scan (CT scan) to acquire detailed pictures of the inside physical structure and condition of the bended layers. Dino-Lite portable digital microscope, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDX), and the non-invasive imaging technique of multispectral imaging (MSI) to obtain information about the physical characteristics and condition of the painted layers and to examine the microstructure of the materials. Portable XRF Spectrometer (PXRF) and X-Ray powder diffraction (XRD) to identify mineral phases and the bulk element composition in the gilded layer, ground, and pigments; Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) to identify organic compounds and their molecular characterization; accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS 14C) to date the object. Preliminary results suggest that there are no human remains inside the object, and the textile support is linen fibres with tabby weave 1/1 and these fibres are in a very bad condition. Several pigments have been identified, such as Egyptian blue, Magnetite, Egyptian green frit, Hematite, Calcite, and Cinnabar; moreover, the gilded layers are pure gold and the binding media in the pigments is Arabic gum and animal glue in the textile support layer.

Keywords: analytical methods, Egyptian museum, mummy mask, pigments, textile

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Authors: B. Kekezoglu, C. Kocatepe, O. Arikan, Y. Hacialiefendioglu, G. Ucar

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One of the significant problems of energy systems is to supply economic and efficient energy to consumers. Therefore studies has been continued to reduce technical losses in the network. In this paper, the technical losses analyzed for a portion of European side of Istanbul MV distribution network for different compensation scenarios by considering real system and load data and results are presented. Investigated system is modeled with CYME Power Engineering Software and optimal capacity placement has been proposed to minimize losses.

Keywords: distribution system, optimal capacitor placement, reactive power compensation, technical losses

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Authors: Ridwaan N. Milase, Leonardo J. Van Zyl, Marla Trindade

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American foulbrood (AFB) is the world’s most devastating honeybee disease that has drastically reduced the population of Apis mellifera capensis since 2009. The outbreak has jeopardized the South African bee keeping industry as well as the agricultural sector dependent on honeybees for honey production and pollination, leading to significant economic losses. AFB is caused by Paenibacillus larvae, a spore-forming, Gram positive facultative anaerobic and flagellated bacterium. The use of antibiotics within beehives has selected for resistant strains of P. larvae, while the current practice of burning spore contaminated beehives and equipment contributes to the economic losses in the honeybee-keeping industry. Therefore, phage therapy is proposed as a promising alternative to combat P. larvae strains affecting A. mellifera capensis. The genomes of two P. larvae strains isolated from infected combs in the Western Cape have been sequenced and annotated using bioinformatics tools. Genome analyses has revealed that these P. larvae strains are lysogens to more than 6 different prophages and possess different type of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPRs) regions per strain. Active prophages from one of the two P. larvae strains were detected and identified using PCR. Electron microscopy was used to determine the family of the identified active prophages. Lytic bacteriophages that specifically target the two P. larvae strains were purified from sewage wastewater, beehive materials, and soil samples to investigate their potential development as anti-P. larvae agents. Another alternative treatment being investigated is the development of a prophage endolysin cocktail. Endolysin genes of the prophages have been targeted, cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The heterologously expressed endolysins have been purified and are currently being assessed for their lytic activity against P. larvae strains and other commensal microorganisms that compose the honeybee larvae microbiota. The study has shown that phage therapy and endolysins have a great potential as alternative control methods for AFB disease affecting A. mellifera capensis.

Keywords: American foulbrood, bacteriophage, honeybee, Paenibacillus larvae

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Authors: Aldona Kluczek

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Energy efficient process have become a pressing research field in manufacturing. The arguments for having an effective industrial energy efficiency processes are interacted with factors: economic and environmental impact, and energy security. Improvements in energy efficiency are most often achieved by implementation of more efficient technology or manufacturing process. Current processes of electricity production represents the biggest consumption of energy and the greatest amount of emissions to the environment. The goal of this study is to improve the potential energy-savings and reduce greenhouse emissions related to improvement scenarios for the treatment of hardwood lumber produced by an industrial plant operating in the U.S. through the application of green balancing procedure, in order to find the preferable efficient technology. The green procedure for energy is based on analysis of energy efficiency data. Three alternative scenarios of the cogeneration systems plant (CHP) construction are considered: generation of fresh steam, the purchase of a new boiler with the operating pressure 300 pounds per square inch gauge (PSIG), an installation of a new boiler with a 600 PSIG pressure. In this paper, the application of a bottom-down modelling for energy flow to devise a streamlined Energy and Emission Flow Analyze method for the technology of producing electricity is illustrated. It will identify efficiency or technology of a given process to be reached, through the effective use of energy, or energy management. Results have shown that the third scenario seem to be the efficient alternative scenario considered from the environmental and economic concerns for treating hardwood lumber. The energy conservation evaluation options could save an estimated 6,215.78 MMBtu/yr in each year, which represents 9.5% of the total annual energy usage. The total annual potential cost savings from all recommendations is $143,523/yr, which represents 30.1% of the total annual energy costs. Estimation have presented that energy cost savings are possible up to 43% (US$ 143,337.85), representing 18.6% of the total annual energy costs.

Keywords: alternative scenario improvements, cogeneration system, energy and emission flow analyze, energy balancing, green procedure, hardwood lumber manufacturing process

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Authors: Shamsul Chowdhury

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The objective of this paper is to present the detailed analysis of the turbulent wave boundary layer produced by progressive finite-amplitude waves theory. Most of the works have done for the mass transport in the turbulent boundary layer assuming the eddy viscosity is not time varying, where the sediment movement is induced by the mean velocity. Near the ocean bottom, the waves produce a thin turbulent boundary layer, where the flow is highly rotational, and shear stress associated with the fluid motion cannot be neglected. The magnitude and the predominant direction of the sediment transport near the bottom are known to be closely related to the flow in the wave induced boundary layer. The magnitude of water particle velocity at the Crest phase differs from the one of the Trough phases due to the non-linearity of the waves, which plays an important role to determine the sediment movement. The non-linearity of the waves become predominant in the surf zone area, where the sediment movement occurs vigorously. Therefore, in order to describe the flow near the bottom and relationship between the flow and the movement of the sediment, the analysis was done using the non-linear boundary layer equation and the finite amplitude wave theory was applied to represent the velocity fields in the turbulent wave boundary layer. At first, the calculation was done for turbulent wave boundary layer by two-dimensional model where throughout the calculation is non-linear. But Stokes second order wave profile is adopted at the upper boundary. The calculated profile was compared with the experimental data. Finally, the calculation is done based on various modes of the velocity and turbulent energy. The mean velocity is found to differ from condition of the relative depth and the roughness. It is also found that due to non-linearity, the absolute value for velocity and turbulent energy as well as Reynolds stress are asymmetric. The mean velocity of the laminar boundary layer is always positive but in the turbulent boundary layer plays a very complicated role.

Keywords: wave boundary, mass transport, mean velocity, shear stress

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Authors: Yasir Arafat, Asma Shah, Hua Shao

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Background and Aims: Legume/cereal intercropping is used worldwide for enhancement in biomass and yield of cereal crops. However, because of intercropping, the belowground biological and chemical interactions and their effect on physiological parameters and yield of crops are limited. Methods: Wheat faba bean (WF) intercropping was designed to understand the underlying changes in the soil's chemical environment, soil microbial communities, and effect on growth and yield parameters. Experimental plots were established as having no root partition (NRP), semi-root partition (SRP), complete root partition (CRP), and their sole cropping (CK). Low molecular weight organic acids (LMWOAs) were determined by GC-MS, and high throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was carried out to screen microbial structure and composition in different root partitions of the WF intercropping system. Results: We show that intercropping induced a shift in the relative abundance of some genera of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) such as Allorhizobium, Neorhizobium, Pararhizobium, and Rhizobium species and resulted in better growth and yield performance of wheat. Moreover, as the plant's distance of wheat from faba beans decreased, the diversity of microbes increased, and a positive effect was observed on physiological traits and crop yield. Furthermore, an abundance and positive correlations of palmitic acid, arachidic acid, stearic acid, and 9-Octadecenoic with PGPR were recorded in the root zone of WF intercropping, which can play an important role in this facilitative mechanism of enhancing growth and yield of cereals. Conclusion: The two treatments clearly affected soil microbial and chemical composition, which can be reflected in growth and yield enhancement.

Keywords: intercropping, microbial community, LMWOAs, PGPR, soil chemical environment

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Authors: Qian Wang, Haibo Gu

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To drive practical interpretations and applications of various policies in building the transnational education joint-ventures, middle managers learn to navigate through uncertainties and ambiguities. However, the current literature views very little about those middle managers’ experiences, perceptions, and practices. This paper takes the empirical approach and aims to uncover the middle managers’ experiences by conducting interviews, campus visits, and document analysis. Following the qualitative research method approach, the researchers gathered information from a mixture of fourteen foreign and Chinese managers. Their perceptions of the China-foreign cooperation in higher education and their perceived roles have offered important, valuable insights to this group of people’s attitudes and management performances. The diverse cultural and demographic backgrounds contributed to the significance of the study. There are four key findings. One, middle managers’ immediate micro-contexts and individual attitudes are the top two influential factors in managers’ performances. Two, the foreign middle managers showed a stronger sense of self-identity in risk-taking. Three, the Chinese middle managers preferred to see difficulties as part of their assigned responsibilities. Four, middle managers in independent universities demonstrated a stronger sense of belonging and fewer frustrations than middle managers in secondary institutes. The researchers propose that training for managers in a transnational educational setting should consider these discoveries when select fitting topics and content. In particular, middle managers should be better prepared to anticipate their everyday jobs in the micro-environment; hence, information concerning sponsor organizations’ working culture is as essential as knowing the national and local regulations, and socio-culture. Different case studies can help the managers to recognize and celebrate the diversity in transnational education. Situational stories can help them to become aware of the diverse and wide range of work contexts so that they will not feel to be left alone when facing challenges without relevant previous experience or training. Though this research is a case study based in the Chinese transnational higher education setting, the implications could be relevant and comparable to other transnational higher education situations and help to continue expanding the potential applications in this field.

Keywords: educational management, middle manager performance, transnational higher education

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Authors: Elaiho Osaruwense, Ajuzie Godson Chidiebere

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Nigeria of at least 250 ethnic group a have suffered a lot of social, economic and political setback especially in the regime of oil and gas, that are exploited from the minority region of the Niger south -south areas. The rate of insecurity in the north gives a lot of questioning and concern, with the series of killings by the Boko Haram in some part of the north etc. the fact still remains on how the gap and the compromise will be reconciling especially with the incoming president of Muhammadu Buhari with all the problems which was not resolve by the past administration (President Ebele Jonathan), considering the configuration and the character of the Nigerian state. This paper tends to critically evaluate all this problems, assertion, proffering possible solution.

Keywords: ethnic minority, oil theft, insecurity, the gap and the compromise

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Authors: B. Rusyidi, D. Mariana

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Although reforms in trafficking regulations have taken place since 2007, Indonesia is still struggling to fight child trafficking. This study aimed to identify and assess risk factors and vulnerabilities in the life of trafficked children prior to, during, and after being trafficked in order to inform the child protection system and its policies. The study was qualitative and utilized in-depth interviews to collect data. Data were gathered in 2014 and 2015 from 15 trafficked and sexually exploited girls aged 14 to 17 years originating from West Java. Social workers, safe home personnel and parents were also included as informants. Data analysis was guided by the ecological perspective and theme analyses. The study found that risks and vulnerabilities of the victims were associated with conditions at various levels of the environment. At the micro level, risk factors and vulnerabilities included young age, family conflict/violence, involvement with the “wrong” circle of friends/peers, family poverty, lack of social and economic support for the victim’s family, and psychological damages due to trafficking experiences. At the mezzo level, the lack of structured activities after school, economic inequality, stigma towards victims, lack of services for victims, and minimum public education on human trafficking were among the community hazards that increased the vulnerability and risks. Gender inequality, consumerism, the view of children as assets, corruption, weak law enforcement, the lack of institutional support, and community-wide ignorance regarding trafficking were found as factors that increased risks and vulnerabilities at the macro level. The findings from the study underline the necessity to reduce risk factors and promote protective factors at the individual, family, community and societal levels. Shifting the current focus from tertiary to primary/prevention policies and improving institutional efforts are pressing needs in the context of reducing child trafficking in Indonesia. The roles of human service providers including social work also should be promoted.

Keywords: child trafficking, child sexual exploitation, ecological perspective, risks and vulnerabilities

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