Search results for: solid state joining processes

Authors: Yong Xue, Daniel A. Menascé

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Automated and end-to-end network resource management and provisioning for virtual service networks in a multiple autonomous systems (a.k.a multi-AS) environment is a challenging and open problem. This paper proposes a novel, scalable and interoperable high-level architecture that incorporates a number of emerging enabling technologies including Software Defined Network (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), and Autonomic Computing. The proposed architecture can be used to not only automate network resource management and provisioning for virtual service networks across multiple autonomous substrate networks, but also provide an adaptive capability for achieving optimal network resource management and maintaining network-level end-to-end network performance as well. The paper argues that this SDN and autonomic computing based architecture lays a solid foundation that can facilitate the development of the future Internet based on the pluralistic paradigm.

Keywords: virtual network, software defined network, virtual service network, adaptive resource management, SOA, multi-AS, inter-domain

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Authors: Adebowale T. Odeyemi, Oluwafemi A. Ajenifuja

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The leachate samples collected from Erifun dumpsite along Federal Polythenic road, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, were subjected to bacteriological and mineral analyses. The bacteriological estimation and isolation were done using serial dilution and pour plating techniques. Antibiotic susceptibility test was done using agar disc diffusion technique. Atomic Absorption Spectophotometry method was used to analyze the heavy metal contents in the leachate samples. The bacterial and coliform counts ranged from 4.2 × 105 CFU/ml to 2.97 × 106 CFU/ml and 5.0 × 104 CFU/ml to 2.45 x 106 CFU/ml, respectively. The isolated bacteria and percentage of occurrence include Bacillus cereus (22%), Enterobacter aerogenes (18%), Staphylococcus aureus (16%), Proteus vulgaris (14%), Escherichia coli (14%), Bacillus licheniformis (12%) and Klebsiella aerogenes (4%). The mineral value ranged as follow; iron (21.30mg/L - 25.60mg/L), zinc (1.80mg/L - 5.60mg/L), copper (1.00mg/L - 2.60mg/L), chromium (0.50mg/L - 1.30mg/L), candium (0.20mg/L - 1.30mg/L), nickel (0.20mg/L - 0.80mg/L), lead (0.05mg/L-0.30mg/L), cobalt (0.03mg/L - 0.30mg/L) and in all samples manganese was not detected. The entire organisms isolated exhibited a high level of resistance to most of the antibiotics used. There is an urgent need for awareness to be created about the present situation of the leachate in Erifun, on the need for treatment of the nearby stream and other water sources before they can be used for drinking and other domestic use. In conclusion, a good method of waste disposal is required in those communities to prevent leachate formation, percolation, and runoff into water bodies during the raining season.

Keywords: antibiotic susceptibility, dumpsite, bacteriological analysis, heavy metal

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Authors: Nicole Cervenka

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On the question of norms in international politics, scholars are divided over whether norms are a tool for power politics or a genuine reflection of an emergent international society. The line is drawn between rationalism and idealism, but this dialectical relationship needs to be broken down if we hope to come to a comprehensive understanding of how norms play out in international society. The concept of an elusive international society is a simplification of a more pluralistic, cosmopolitan, and diverse collection of international societies. The English School effectively overcomes realist-idealist dichotomies and provides a pluralistic, comprehensive explanation and description of international societies through its application to two distinct areas: human rights as well as security and war. We argue that international norms have always been present in human rights, war, and international security, forming international societies that can be complimentary or oppositional, beneficial or problematic. Power politics are present, but they can only be regarded as partially explanatory of the role of norms in international politics, which must also include history, international law, the media, NGOs, and others to fully represent the normative influences in international societies. A side-by-side comparison of international norms of war/security and human rights show how much international societies converge. World War II was a turning point in terms of international law, these forces of international society have deeper historical roots. Norms of human rights and war/security are often norms of restraint, guiding appropriate treatment of individuals. This can at times give primacy to the individual over the sovereign state. However, state power politics and hegemony are still intact. It cannot be said that there is an emergent international society—international societies are part of broader historical backdrops. Furthermore, states and, more generally, power politics, are important components in international societies, but international norms are far from mere tools of power politics. They define a more diverse, complicated, and ever-present conception of international societies.

Keywords: English school, international societies, norms, pluralism

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Authors: Joseph Abiodun Ayo

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The main purpose of this study was to investigate the science laboratory management practices employed in some colleges of education in Kano State, Nigeria. Four specific objectives were stated to guide the study, four research questions were investigated, four null hypothesis were tested at 0.05 level of significance. A survey design was used and science laboratory management questionnaires which solicit responses that was used in answering the research questions and testing of hypotheses. These questionnaires were distributed to the respective respondents in the sampled colleges. The respondents for the study comprised biology chemistry, physics, integrated science teacher trainers and the paraprofessionals. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the questions. Chi-square statistical technique was used to test the hypothesis. The findings of the study revealed that all procedures on control of laboratory activities were rarely observed. Safety procedures were occasionally practiced. On provision and procurement of laboratory equipment and materials it was observed that both academic and the paraprofessional were not fully involved. While maintenance measures were occasionally observed, furthermore science laboratory management procedures are not frequently practiced. Hence making the acquisition of science process skills by students becoming difficult. To arrest these anomalies, it is recommended that direct labor in the maintenance of laboratory equipment and other apparatus by paraprofessional is crucial. Training of academic and paraprofessional through workshops to acquire technical skills in maintenance of science laboratory equipment be instituted to increase professionalism. Periodic supervision of activities in the science laboratories should be done promptly.

Keywords: laboratory, management, standard, facility

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Authors: Mário Silva, Filipa Gomes, Filipa Oliveira, Simone Morais, Cristina Delerue-Matos

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Brown seaweeds are abundant in Portuguese coastline and represent an almost unexploited marine economic resource. One of the most common species, easily available for harvesting in the northwest coast, is Saccorhiza polyschides grows in the lowest shore and costal rocky reefs. It is almost exclusively used by local farmers as natural fertilizer, but contains a substantial amount of valuable compounds, particularly alginates, natural biopolymers of high interest for many industrial applications. Alginates are natural polysaccharides present in cell walls of brown seaweed, highly biocompatible, with particular properties that make them of high interest for the food, biotechnology, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Conventional extraction processes are based on thermal treatment. They are lengthy and consume high amounts of energy and solvents. In recent years, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) has shown enormous potential to overcome major drawbacks that outcome from conventional plant material extraction (thermal and/or solvent based) techniques, being also successfully applied to the extraction of agar, fucoidans and alginates. In the present study, acid pretreatment of brown seaweed Saccorhiza polyschides for subsequent microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of alginate was optimized. Seaweeds were collected in Northwest Portuguese coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean between May and August, 2014. Experimental design was used to assess the effect of temperature and acid pretreatment time in alginate extraction. Response surface methodology allowed the determination of the optimum MAE conditions: 40 mL of HCl 0.1 M per g of dried seaweed with constant stirring at 20ºC during 14h. Optimal acid pretreatment conditions have enhanced significantly MAE of alginates from Saccorhiza polyschides, thus contributing for the development of a viable, more environmental friendly alternative to conventional processes.

Keywords: acid pretreatment, alginate, brown seaweed, microwave-assisted extraction, response surface methodology

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Authors: Carin Chuang, Kuan-Chou Chen

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An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is an integrated information system that supports the seamless integration of all the business processes of a company. Implementing an ERP system can increase efficiencies and decrease the costs while helping improve productivity. Many organizations including large, medium and small-sized companies have already adopted an ERP system for decades. Although ERP system can bring competitive advantages to organizations, the lack of proper training approach in ERP implementation is still a major concern. Organizations understand the importance of ERP training to adequately prepare managers and users. The low return on investment, however, for the ERP training makes the training difficult for knowledgeable workers to transfer what is learned in training to the jobs at workplace. Inadequate and inefficient ERP training limits the value realization and success of an ERP system. That is the need to call for a profound change and innovation for ERP training in both workplace at industry and the Information Systems (IS) education in academia. The innovated ERP training approach can improve the users’ knowledge in business processes and hands-on skills in mastering ERP system. It also can be instructed as educational material for IS students in universities. The purpose of the study is to examine the use of ERP simulation games via the ERPsim system to train the IS students in learning ERP implementation. The ERPsim is the business simulation game developed by ERPsim Lab at HEC Montréal, and the game is a real-life SAP (Systems Applications and Products) ERP system. The training uses the ERPsim system as the tool for the Internet-based simulation games and is designed as online student competitions during the class. The competitions involve student teams with the facilitation of instructor and put the students’ business skills to the test via intensive simulation games on a real-world SAP ERP system. The teams run the full business cycle of a manufacturing company while interacting with suppliers, vendors, and customers through sending and receiving orders, delivering products and completing the entire cash-to-cash cycle. To learn a range of business skills, student needs to adopt individual business role and make business decisions around the products and business processes. Based on the training experiences learned from rounds of business simulations, the findings show that learners have reduced risk in making mistakes that help learners build self-confidence in problem-solving. In addition, the learners’ reflections from their mistakes can speculate the root causes of the problems and further improve the efficiency of the training. ERP instructors teaching with the innovative approach report significant improvements in student evaluation, learner motivation, attendance, engagement as well as increased learner technology competency. The findings of the study can provide ERP instructors with guidelines to create an effective learning environment and can be transferred to a variety of other educational fields in which trainers are migrating towards a more active learning approach.

Keywords: business simulations, ERP implementation training, ERPsim, game-based learning, instructional strategy, training innovation

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Authors: Mizam Dogan, Hande Gökdemir

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In reinforced concrete elements, reinforcement steel bars are placed in concrete both longitudinal and lateral directions. The lateral reinforcement (called as confinement) which is used for confining circular RC elements is in a spiral shape. If the cross section of RC element is rectangular, stirrups should be rectangular too. At very high compressive stresses concrete will reach its limit strain value and therefore concrete outside the lateral reinforcement, which is not confined, will crush and start to spell. At this stage, concrete core of the RC element tries to expand laterally as a reason of high Poisson’s ratio value of concrete. Such a deformation is prevented by the lateral reinforcement which applies lateral passive pressure on concrete. At very high compressive stresses, the strength of reinforced column member rises to four times σ 2. This increase in strength of member is related to the properties of rectangular stirrups. In this paper, effect of stirrup step spacing to column behavior is calculated and presented confined concrete model is proved by numerical solutions.

Keywords: confined concrete, concrete column, stress-strain, stirrup, solid, frame

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Authors: Justina I. Reamen

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The study examined the influence of rational emotive therapy on the treatment of substance abuse among Senior Secondary School Students in Makurdi metropolis Benue State Nigeria. This research adopted youth self report scale which was distributed to 1,690 SSS Students drawn from Government day Secondary School Makurdi and Government Model College Makurdi. Afterwards, 200 who were identified to indulge in substance abuse were selected for the study, 100 each from the two schools. 100 were taken as the control group and 100 as the experimental group, (50 of each group from each school). The Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) intervention program was presented to the experimental group for seven (7) weeks. The students were taught how to apply REBT’s cognitive, Emotive and Behavioral techniques on their problems. After which post test was conducted to find out the impact of REBT on the treatment of adolescent students with substance abuse problem. GLM repeated measures of ANOVA were used to analyze the data from the study. The study reveals that REBT has positive impact on the treatment of adolescent students that abuse substances in the study area. Between pretest to post-test scores, a significant difference was observed (F=26.939; P=000) in substance abuse where a decrease of 1.12 (pre-10.91, post-9.79) scores was noticed irrespective of the groups. However, when the decrease in substance abuse were analyzed group wise, (experimental control) again significant F value (F=38.782; P=000) was obtained. From the mean scores it is evident that experimental group decreased it means by 2.56 (Pre-10.04 - Post-8.83) scores compared to control group, which changed its scores by only 0.32 scores (pre 11.04 - Post 11.36). Recommendations were made based on the findings of the research.

Keywords: abuse, influence, substance, therapy, treatment

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Authors: Taif Rocky, Uttam Saha, Mahobul Islam

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With a rapid urbanisation in Bangladesh, waste management remains one of the core challenges. Turning municipal waste into biogas for mass usage is a solution that Bangladesh needs to adopt urgently. Practical Action with its commitment to challenging poverty with technological justice has piloted such idea in Gaibandha. The initiative received immense success and drew the attention of policy makers and practitioners. We believe, biogas from waste can highly contribute to meet the growing demand for energy in the country at present and in the future. Practical Action has field based experience in promoting small scale and innovative technologies. We have proven track record in integrated solid waste management. We further utilized this experience to promote waste to biogas at end users’ level. In 2011, we have piloted a project on waste to biogas in Gaibandha, a northern secondary town of Bangladesh. With resource and support from UNICEF and with our own innovative funds we have established a complete chain of utilizing waste to the renewable energy source and organic fertilizer. Biogas is produced from municipal solid waste, which is properly collected, transported and segregated by private entrepreneurs. The project has two major focuses, diversification of biogas end use and establishing a public-private partnership business model. The project benefits include Recycling of Wastes, Improved institutional (municipal) capacity, Livelihood from improved services and Direct Income from the project. Project risks include Change of municipal leadership, Traditional mindset, Access to decision making, Land availability. We have observed several outcomes from the initiative. Up scaling such an initiative will certainly contribute for sustainable cleaner and healthier urban environment and urban poverty reduction. - It reduces the unsafe disposal of wastes which improve the cleanliness and environment of the town. -Make drainage system effective reducing the adverse impact of water logging or flooding. -Improve public health from better management of wastes. -Promotes usage of biogas replacing the use of firewood/coal which creates smoke and indoor air pollution in kitchens which have long term impact on health of women and children. -Reduce the greenhouse gas emission from the anaerobic recycling of wastes and contributes to sustainable urban environment. -Promote the concept of agroecology from the uses of bio slurry/compost which contributes to food security. -Creates green jobs from waste value chain which impacts on poverty alleviation of urban extreme poor. -Improve municipal governance from inclusive waste services and functional partnership with private sectors. -Contribute to the implementation of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) Strategy and Employment Creation of extreme poor to achieve the target set in Vision 2021 by Government of Bangladesh.

Keywords: kitchen waste, secondary town, biogas, segregation

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Authors: Tamar Lazariashvili

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Introduction: The growth and development of the economy in the country depend on many factors, the most important of which is the use of innovation. The article analyzes the innovations and the potential of agricultural development in Georgia, presents the problems in the field, justifies the need to introduce innovations, shows the policy of innovation development, evaluates the positive and negative factors of the use of innovations in agriculture. Methodology: The article uses general and specific research methods, namely, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison and statistical ones: selection, grouping, observation, trend. All these methods used together in the article reveal the main problems and challenges and their development trends. Main Findings: The introduction of innovations for the country has an impact if there is established state support system for business development and the State creates an effective environment for innovation development. As a result, the appropriate establishment gives incentives to increase budget revenues, create new jobs, increase export turnover and improve the overall economic situation in the country. Georgia has sufficient resource potential to create and develop new businesses in agriculture by introducing innovations and contribute to the further socio-economic development of the country. Political and economic stability, the existing legislation in the country, infrastructure, the proper functioning of financial institutions and the qualification of the workforce are crucial for the development of innovations. These criteria determine the political and economic ratings of all countries of the world, which are of great importance to foreign investors in the implementation of innovations. Conclusion: Enactment of agro-insurance will increase the interest and confidence of financial institutions in the farming sector, financial resources will be accessible to the farmers that will facilitate the stable development of the sector in the country. The size of the agro-insurance market in the country should be increased and the new territories should be covered. The State must have an obligation to ensure the risk of farmers and subsidize insurance companies. Based on an analysis of the insurance market the conclusions on agro-insurance issues and the relevant recommendations are proposed. The introduction of innovations in agriculture will have a great impact on the Georgian economy: it will improve the technological base, establish enterprises equipped with modern equipment and methodologies, retrain existing enterprises, promote to improve skills of workers and improve management systems. Based on the analysis, conclusions are made about the prospects for the development of innovation in agriculture and relevant recommendations are proposed.

Keywords: agriculture, development potential, innovation, optimal environment

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Authors: Mamdouh Yousef Saleh, Medhat Hosny El-Zahar, Shymaa El-Dosoky

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In most cases, the associated processing cost of dewatering sludge increase with the solid particles concentration. All experiments in this study were conducted on biological sludge type. All experiments help to reduce the greenhouse gases in addition, the technology used was faster in time and less in cost compared to other methods. First, the bubbling pressure was used to dissolve N₂ gas into the sludge, second alum was added to accelerate the process of coagulation of the sludge particles and facilitate their flotation, and third nitrogen gas was used to help floating the sludge particles and reduce the processing time because of the nitrogen gas from the inert gases. The conclusions of this experiment were as follows: first, the best conditions were obtained when the bubbling pressure was 0.6 bar. Second, the best alum dose was determined to help the sludge agglomerate and float. During the experiment, the best alum dose was 80 mg/L. It increased concentration of the sludge by 7-8 times. Third, the economic dose of nitrogen gas was 60 mg/L with separation efficiency of 85%. The sludge concentration was about 8-9 times. That happened due to the gas released tiny bubbles which adhere to the suspended matter causing them to float to the surface of the water where it could be then removed.

Keywords: nitrogen gas, biological treatment, alum, dewatering sludge, greenhouse gases

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Authors: Azizah M. Nahari, Peter Doerner

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Phosphate (Pi) is one of the essential macronutrients in plant growth and development, and it plays a central role in metabolic processes in plants, particularly photosynthesis and respiration. Limitation of crop productivity by Pi is widespread and is likely to increase in the future. Applications of Pi fertilizers have improved soil Pi fertility and crop production; however, they have also caused environmental damage. Therefore, in order to reduce dependence on unsustainable Pi fertilizers, a better understanding of phosphate use efficiency (PUE) is required for engineering nutrient-efficient crop plants. Enhanced Pi efficiency can be achieved by improved productivity per unit Pi taken up. We aim to identify, by using association mapping, general features of the most important loci that contribute to increased PUE to allow us to delineate the physiological pathways involved in defining this trait in the model plant Arabidopsis. As PUE is in part determined by the efficiency of uptake, we designed a hydroponic system to avoid confounding effects due to differences in root system architecture leading to differences in Pi uptake. In this system, 18 parental lines and 217 lines of the MAGIC population (a Multiparent Advanced Generation Inter-Cross) grown in high and low Pi availability conditions. The results showed revealed a large variation of PUE in the parental lines, indicating that the MAGIC population was well suited to identify PUE loci and pathways. 2 of 18 parental lines had the highest PUE in low Pi while some lines responded strongly and increased PUE with increased Pi. Having examined the 217 MAGIC population, considerable variance in PUE was found. A general feature was the trend of most lines to exhibit higher PUE when grown in low Pi conditions. Association mapping is currently in progress, but initial observations indicate that a wide variety of physiological processes are involved in influencing PUE in Arabidopsis. The combination of hydroponic growth methods and genome-wide association mapping is a powerful tool to identify the physiological pathways underpinning complex quantitative traits in plants.

Keywords: hydroponic system growth, phosphate use efficiency (PUE), Genome-wide association mapping, MAGIC population

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Authors: Hossam Ali-Hassan, Michael Bliemel

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This poster reflects upon our experiences using INNOV8, IBM’s Business Process Management (BPM) simulation game, in online MBA and undergraduate MIS classes over a period of 2 years. The game is designed to gives both business and information technology players a better understanding of how effective BPM impacts an entire business ecosystem. The game includes three different scenarios: Smarter Traffic, which is used to evaluate existing traffic patterns and re-route traffic based on incoming metrics; Smarter Customer Service where players develop more efficient ways to respond to customers in a call centre environment; and Smarter Supply Chains where players balance supply and demand and reduce environmental impact in a traditional supply chain model. We use the game as an experiential learning tool, where students have to act as managers making real time changes to business processes to meet changing business demands and environments. The students learn how information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) can be used to intelligently solve different problems and how computer simulations can be used to test different scenarios or models based on business decisions without having to actually make the potentially costly and/or disruptive changes to business processes. Moreover, when students play the three different scenarios, they quickly see how practical process improvements can help meet profitability, customer satisfaction and environmental goals while addressing real problems faced by municipalities and businesses today. After spending approximately two hours in the game, students reflect on their experience from it to apply several BPM principles that were presented in their textbook through the use of a structured set of assignment questions. For each final scenario students submit a screenshot of their solution followed by one paragraph explaining what criteria you were trying to optimize, and why they picked their input variables. In this poster we outline the course and the module’s learning objectives where we used the game to place this into context. We illustrate key features of the INNOV8 Simulation Game, and describe how we used them to reinforce theoretical concepts. The poster will also illustrate examples from the simulation, assignment, and learning outcomes.

Keywords: experiential learning, business process management, BPM, INNOV8, simulation, game

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Authors: Talbi Mohammed, Oustous Aziz, Ben Messaoud Mounir, Sebihi Rajaa, Khalis Mohammed

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Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for women around the world. Screening mammography is the reference examination, due to its sensitivity for detecting small lesions and micro-calcifications. Therefore, it is essential to ensure quality mammographic examinations with the most optimal dose. These conditions depend on the choice of exposure parameters. Clinically, practices must be evaluated in order to determine the most appropriate exposure parameters. Material and Methods: We performed our measurements on a mobile mammography unit (PLANMED Sofie-classic.) in Morocco. A solid dosimeter (AGMS Radcal) and a MTM 100 phantom allow to quantify the delivered dose and the image quality. For image quality assessment, scores are defined by the rate of visible inserts (MTM 100 phantom), obtained and compared for each acquisition. Results: The results show that the parameters of the mammography unit on which we have made our measurements can be improved in order to offer a better compromise between image quality and breast dose. The last one can be reduced up from 13.27% to 22.16%, while preserving comparable image quality.

Keywords: Mammography, Breast Dose, Image Quality, Phantom

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Authors: W. Intagun, T. Khamdaeng, P. Prom-ngarm, N. Panyoyai

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Biochar has been used as a soil amendment since it has high porous structure and has proper nutrients and chemical properties for plants. Product yields produced from biochar kiln are dependent on process parameters and kiln types used. The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of core puncture diameter on biochar kiln efficiency, i.e., yields of biochar and produced gas. Corncobs were used as raw material to produce biochar. Briquettes from agricultural wastes were used as fuel. Each treatment was performed by changing the core puncture diameter. From the experiment, it is revealed that the yield of biochar at the core puncture diameter of 3.18 mm, 4.76 mm, and 6.35 mm was 10.62 wt. %, 24.12 wt. %, and 12.24 wt. %, of total solid yields, respectively. The yield of produced gas increased with increasing the core puncture diameter. The maximum percentage by weight of the yield of produced gas was 81.53 wt. % which was found at the core puncture diameter of 6.35 mm. The core puncture diameter was furthermore found to affect the temperature distribution inside the kiln and its thermal efficiency. In conclusion, the high efficient biochar kiln can be designed and constructed by using the proper core puncture diameter.

Keywords: anila stove, bio-char, soil conditioning materials, temperature distribution

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Authors: Hwang Ho Kim, Do Gyun Kim, Jin Young Choi, Sang Chul Park

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Since tire production process is very complicated, company-wide management of it is very difficult, necessitating considerable amounts of capital and labors. Thus, productivity should be enhanced and maintained competitive by developing and applying effective production plans. Among major processes for tire manufacturing, consisting of mixing component preparation, building and curing, the mixing process is an essential and important step because the main component of tire, called compound, is formed at this step. Compound as a rubber synthesis with various characteristics plays its own role required for a tire as a finished product. Meanwhile, scheduling tire mixing process is similar to flexible job shop scheduling problem (FJSSP) because various kinds of compounds have their unique orders of operations, and a set of alternative machines can be used to process each operation. In addition, setup time required for different operations may differ due to alteration of additives. In other words, each operation of mixing processes requires different setup time depending on the previous one, and this kind of feature, called sequence dependent setup time (SDST), is a very important issue in traditional scheduling problems such as flexible job shop scheduling problems. However, despite of its importance, there exist few research works dealing with the tire mixing process. Thus, in this paper, we consider the scheduling problem for tire mixing process and suggest an efficient particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to minimize the makespan for completing all the required jobs belonging to the process. Specifically, we design a particle encoding scheme for the considered scheduling problem, including a processing sequence for compounds and machine allocation information for each job operation, and a method for generating a tire mixing schedule from a given particle. At each iteration, the coordination and velocity of particles are updated, and the current solution is compared with new solution. This procedure is repeated until a stopping condition is satisfied. The performance of the proposed algorithm is validated through a numerical experiment by using some small-sized problem instances expressing the tire mixing process. Furthermore, we compare the solution of the proposed algorithm with it obtained by solving a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model developed in previous research work. As for performance measure, we define an error rate which can evaluate the difference between two solutions. As a result, we show that PSO algorithm proposed in this paper outperforms MILP model with respect to the effectiveness and efficiency. As the direction for future work, we plan to consider scheduling problems in other processes such as building, curing. We can also extend our current work by considering other performance measures such as weighted makespan or processing times affected by aging or learning effects.

Keywords: compound, error rate, flexible job shop scheduling problem, makespan, particle encoding scheme, particle swarm optimization, sequence dependent setup time, tire mixing process

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Authors: Marta D'Onofrio

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The debate on the digitalization of the economy has raised questions about how both labor and the regulation of work processes are changing due to the introduction of digital technologies in the productive system. Within the literature, the term ‘digital labor’ is commonly used to identify the impact of digitalization on labor. Despite the wide use of this term, it is still not available an unambiguous definition of it, and this could create confusion in the use of terminology and in the attempts of classification. As a consequence, the purpose of this paper is to provide for a definition and to propose a classification of ‘digital labor’, resorting to the theoretical approach of organizational studies.

Keywords: digital labor, digitalization, data-driven algorithms, big data, organizational studies

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Authors: Abdolreza Esmaeilzadeh, Mehri Mirzaei

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Objective: Rheumatic disease is a chronic disease that causes pain, stiffness, swelling and limited motion and function of many joints. RA is the most common form of autoimmune arthritis, affecting more than 1.3 million Americans. Of these, about 75% are women. Materials and Methods: This study was formed due to the misconception about ANA test, which is frequently performed with methods based upon solid phase as ELISA. This experiment was conducted on 430 patients, with clinical symptoms that are likely affected with rheumatic diseases, simultaneously by means of ANA and FANA. Results: 36 cases (8.37%) of patients, despite positive ANA, have demonstrated negative results via Indirect Immunofluorescence Assay (IIFA), (false positive). 116 cases (27%) have demonstrated negative ANA results, by means of the ELISA technique, although they had positive IIFA results. Conclusion: Other advantages of IIFA are antibody titration and specific pattern detection that have the capability of distinguishing positive dsDNA results. According to the restrictions and false negative cases, in patients, IIFA test is highly recommended for these disease's diagnosis.

Keywords: autoimmune disease, IIFA, EIA, rheumatic disease

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Authors: Momoh Omeiza Sheidu

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Finite element method as a method of providing solutions to problems in computational bio mechanics provides a framework for modeling the function of tissues that integrates structurally from cell to organ system and functionally across the physiological processes that affect tissue mechanics or are regulated by mechanical forces. In this paper, we present an integrative finite element strategy for solution to problems in tissue bio mechanics as a case study.

Keywords: finite element, biomechanics, modeling, computational biomechanics

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Authors: Irene Oluwatosin Uwabor

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Climate change is a global phenomenon which affects the environment and undermines agricultural activities, in particular, cocoa production in Nigeria. This study, therefore, assessed the farmers ‘coping strategies to climate change effects in Ilaro Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. A simple random sampling technique was used to select twenty-five cocoa farmers from each of the selected six wards to make up 150 cocoa farmers as sample size for this study. Descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis were used for the data analysis. The results showed that the average age of the respondents was 43.8 years and male dominated (80.00%) cocoa production. Most of the respondents had some level of formal education (93.4%). The mean of household and year of experience in cocoa farming were eight people and 11.6 years respectively. Family and Hired labour (41.3%) was the common source of labour to the respondents and majority (86.0%) of the respondents were aware of climate change. The study concluded that respondents experienced low yield and high rate of deformed beans in the pods due to climate change. The adjustment strategies used were planting of diseases and pest resistant cocoa varieties, using of heavy mulching, diversification into other non- agricultural income generating activities and tree crops cultivation to provide shade. Also, significant relationships existed between personal characteristics (χ²= 62.24, df = 6, p = 0.00), adjustment strategies (χ²= 103.1, df = 4, p = 0.00) and effect of climate change. It is hereby recommend that extension service providers should intensify more effort and advocating for improved agronomic practices to increase cocoa productivity in the study area.

Keywords: cocoa farmers, coping strategies, climate change, ilaro

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Authors: Eisa Al-Balhan

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This study explores the effects of parents’ personality and family variables on aggressive behavior in children from the State of Kuwait. The sample of 117children aged between 6 and 10 years (M=7.79 years, SD =1.4 years),117 fathers, and 117mothers from Kuwait. The following tools were used: a) the Aggressive Behavior Scale for Children (ABSC), b) the Personality Scales Inventory (PSI), and c) the Family Climate Scale (FCS). The results show that there were significant differences between children with highly aggressive behavior and those with low aggressive behavior for most of the personality traits of the father and mother, as well as most of the family climate and its different dimensions according to the father’s knowledge and the mother’s knowledge. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between males and females in the total score of aggressive behavior, verbal aggression, physical aggression, self-aggression, and aggression toward others, with higher scores occurring among males. Most of the correlations of the children’s aggressive behavior were with the personality traits of the father. The personality traits of the mother, family climate, and most of its different dimensions according to the father's and mother's knowledge had significant negative correlations with the child's aggression. There was no effect of the mother's and father's education levels on their child’s aggressive behavior. There was a significant difference between normal families and separated families in the total score of aggressive behavior, verbal aggression, and self-aggression, with a higher score occurring among separated families, and there was no significant difference between the two groups in physical aggression and aggression towards others.

Keywords: aggressive behavior, personality traits of parents, family variables, parents

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Authors: Paulo O. Motita

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The Philippine Association of State Colleges and University (PASUC) is an association of State owned and operated higher learning institutions in the Philippines, it is the association that spearhead the conduct of the Annual National Athletic competitions for State Colleges and Universities and Arnis is one of the regular sports. In 2009, Republic Act 9850 also known as declared Arnis as the National Sports and Martial arts of the Philippines. Arnis an ancient Filipino Martial Arts is the major sports in the Annual Palarong Pambansa and other school based sports events. The researcher as a Filipino Martial Arts master and a former athlete desired to determine the extent of acceptability of the arnis rules in competition which serves as the basis for the development of arnis rules. The study aimed to assess the conduct of Arnis competition in PASUC Olympics 2015 in Tugegarao City, Cagayan, Philippines.the rules and conduct itself as perceived by Officiating officials, Coaches and Athletes during the competition last February 7-15, 2015. The descriptive method of research was used, the survey questionnaire as the data gathering instrument was validated. The respondents were composed of 12 Officiating officials, 19 coaches and 138 athletes representing the different regions. Their responses were treated using the Mean, Percentage and One-way Analysis of Variance. The study revealed that the conduct of Arnis competition in PASUC Olympics 2015 was at the low extent to moderate extent as perceived by the three groups of respondents in terms of officiating, scoring and giving violations. Furthermore there is no significant difference in the assessment of the three groups of respondents in the assessment of Anyo and Labanan. Considering the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1). There is a need to identify the criteria for judging in Anyo and a tedious scrutiny on the rules of the game for labanan. 2) The three groups of respondents have similar views towards the assessment on the overall competitions for anyo that there were no clear technical guidelines for judging the performance of anyo event. 3). The three groups of respondents have similar views towards the assessment on the overall competitions for labanan that there were no clear technical guidelines for majority rule of giving scores in labanan. 4) The Anyo performance should be rated according to effectiveness of techniques and performance of weapon/s that are being used. 5) On other issues and concern towards the rules of competitions, labanan should be addressed in improving rules of competitions, focus on the applications of majority rules for scoring, players shall be given rest interval, a clear guidelines and set a standard qualifications for officiating officials.

Keywords: PASUC Olympics 2015, Arnis rules of competition, Anyo, Labanan, officiating

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Authors: Mikel Alonso López

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The early eighties saw the rise of a new research trend in several prestigious journals, mainly articles that related emotions with the decision-making processes of the consumer, and stopped treating them as external elements. That is why we ask questions such as: what are emotions? Are there different types of emotions? What components do they have? Which theories exist about them? In this study, we will review the main theories and components of emotion analysing the cognitive factor and the different emotional states that are generally recognizable with a focus in the classic debate as to whether they occur before the cognitive process or the affective process.

Keywords: emotion, consumer behaviour, feelings, decision making

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Authors: Muhammet Şahal, Oğuz Köklü

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As statistical thinking and problem-solving processes have become increasingly important, teachers need to be more rigorously prepared with statistical knowledge to teach their students effectively. This study examined preservice mathematics teachers' development of statistical investigation projects using data and exploratory data analysis tools, following a design-based research perspective and statistical investigation cycle. A total of 26 pre-service senior mathematics teachers from a public university in Turkiye participated in the study. They formed groups of 3-4 members voluntarily and worked on their statistical investigation projects for six weeks. The data sources were audio recordings of pre-service teachers' group discussions while working on their projects in class, whole-class video recordings, and each group’s weekly and final reports. As part of the study, we reviewed weekly reports, provided timely feedback specific to each group, and revised the following week's class work based on the groups’ needs and development in their project. We used content analysis to analyze groups’ audio and classroom video recordings. The participants encountered several difficulties, which included formulating a meaningful statistical question in the early phase of the investigation, securing the most suitable data collection strategy, and deciding on the data analysis method appropriate for their statistical questions. The data collection and organization processes were challenging for some groups and revealed the importance of comprehensive planning. Overall, preservice senior mathematics teachers were able to work on a statistical project that contained the formulation of a statistical question, planning, data collection, analysis, and reaching a conclusion holistically, even though they faced challenges because of their lack of experience. The study suggests that preservice senior mathematics teachers have the potential to apply statistical knowledge and techniques in a real-world context, and they could proceed with the project with the support of the researchers. We provided implications for the statistical education of teachers and future research.

Keywords: design-based study, pre-service mathematics teachers, statistical investigation projects, statistical model

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Authors: M. Yaqoob, C. S. O’Neill, S. Faraj, C. L. O’Neill

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This paper presents the preliminary findings from a study exploring nurse’s contributions to end of life decisions and to the care of dying patients in ICU units in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The process of dying is complex as medical clinicians are frequently unable to say with certainty when death will occur. It is generally accepted that end of life care begins when it is possible to know that death is imminent. Nurses do not make medical treatment decisions when caring for a dying patient. There are, however, many other types of decisions made when a patient is approaching the end of life and nurses are either formally or informally part of these decision making processes. This study explored nurses care practices at the end of life, in two ICU units in large hospitals in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The research design was a grounded theory approach. Ten nurses participated, six of whom were Bahraini nationals and four were Indian. A core category death avoidance talk was supported by three major subcategories, degrees of involvement in decision making; signalling and creating an awareness of death; care shifting from dying patients to family. Despite nurses asserting that they carried out the orders of doctors and had no role in decision making processes at end of life this study showed that there were degrees of nurse involvement. Doctors frequently discussed the patient’s clinical condition with nurses and also sought information regarding the family. Information about the family was of particular relevance if the doctor was considering a DNR order, which the nurses equated with dying. Families were not always informed when a DNR decision was made. When families were not informed the nurses engaged in sophisticated rituals signalling and creating awareness to family members that the death of their loved one was near. This process also involved a subtle shifting of care from the dying patient to the family. This seminar paper will focus particularly on how nurses signal and create an awareness of death in an ICU setting. The findings suggest that despite the avoidance of death talk in the ICU nurses indirectly convey and create an awareness that death is near to family members.

Keywords: decision making, dying patients, end of life, intensive care unit

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Authors: Irakli Manvelidze, Genadi Iashvili, Giga Phartenadze, Giorgi Katamadze

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Establishment of electronic governance in the region is facing serious problems. Organizational, technical, social and methodological problems have been identified after the research. These problems currently create serious barriers and prevent the development of effective e-governance. Lack of human resources, difference in program targets of the centre and the region, lack of citizens’ awareness about the project of electronic governance are other issues that should be mentioned. In spite of positive changes the overall situation concerning development of modern information-communication technologies in Adjara is not satisfactory. The information systems in the region can be described as transforming in a democratic way which needs serious reforms. Current situation shows that unsystematic, uncoordinated actions were made which overall represents more chaotic rather than coordinated systematic process. Therefore, a strategic document ‘Adjarian Electronic Government’ should be created which will ensure systematic development of electronic governance in the region. The implementation of the strategy of ‘Adjarian Electronic Government’ should be based on not only conceptual and instrumental but also legal basics. A legal normative basis should be created which will include formation of electronic government’s instrumental basis as well as creation of united regional system of electronic document management. Meanwhile types of documents which would be used in inter institutional relations should be defined under a legal norm. Creation of regional united system of e-filing will regulate regional public institutions, relations between local self-government and public organizations as well as it will ensure coordinated work of all regional public institutions.

Keywords: e-government, information society, public administration, reforming state governance, public institutions

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Authors: Kinza Qadeer, Muhammad Abdul Qyyum, Moonyong Lee

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Natural gas has become an attractive energy source in comparison with other fossil fuels because of its lower CO₂ and other air pollutant emissions. Therefore, compared to the demand for coal and oil, that for natural gas is increasing rapidly world-wide. The transportation of natural gas over long distances as a liquid (LNG) preferable for several reasons, including economic, technical, political, and safety factors. However, LNG production is an energy-intensive process due to the tremendous amount of power requirements for compression of refrigerants, which provide sufficient cold energy to liquefy natural gas. Therefore, one of the major issues in the LNG industry is to improve the energy efficiency of existing LNG processes through a cost-effective approach that is 'optimization'. In this context, a bio-inspired Krill-herd (KH) step-up approach was examined to enhance the energy efficiency of a single mixed refrigerant (SMR) natural gas liquefaction (LNG) process, which is considered as a most promising candidate for offshore LNG production (FPSO). The optimal design of a natural gas liquefaction processes involves multivariable non-linear thermodynamic interactions, which lead to exergy destruction and contribute to process irreversibility. As key decision variables, the optimal values of mixed refrigerant flow rates and process operating pressures were determined based on the herding behavior of krill individuals corresponding to the minimum energy consumption for LNG production. To perform the rigorous process analysis, the SMR process was simulated in Aspen Hysys® software and the resulting model was connected with the Krill-herd approach coded in MATLAB. The optimal operating conditions found by the proposed approach significantly reduced the overall energy consumption of the SMR process by ≤ 22.5% and also improved the coefficient of performance in comparison with the base case. The proposed approach was also compared with other well-proven optimization algorithms, such as genetic and particle swarm optimization algorithms, and was found to exhibit a superior performance over these existing approaches.

Keywords: energy efficiency, Krill-herd, LNG, optimization, single mixed refrigerant

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Authors: Felix Brito

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With the growth of online learning, several higher education institutions have attempted to incorporate technology in their curriculum. Successful technology implementation projects really on technology infrastructure and on the acceptance of education professionals towards innovation. This research study is aimed at illustrating the relevance of the human component in technology implementation projects in higher education by describing the Learning Management System implementation project executed by instructional designers working for a higher education institution in the southeast region of the United States. An analysis of the Transformative Leadership Theory, the Technology Acceptance Model, and the Diffusion of Innovation Process provide the support for a solid understanding of this issue and address recommendations for future technology implementation projects in higher education institutions.

Keywords: diffusion of innovation process, instructional design, leadership, learning management systems, online learning, technology acceptance model, transformative leadership theory

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Authors: Zoltán Weltsch, József Hlinka, Eszter Kókai

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The temperature dependence of wettability (wetting angle, Θ (T)) for Ag-based melts on graphite and Al2O3 substrates is compared. Typical alloying effects are found, as the Ag host metal is gradually replaced by various metallic elements. The essence of alloying lies in the change of the electron/atom (e/a) ratio. This ratio is also manifested in the shift of wetting angles on the same substrate. Nevertheless, the effects are partially smeared by other (metallurgical) factors, like the interaction between the oxygen-alloying elements and by the graphite substrate-oxygen interaction. In contrast, such effects are not pronounced in the case of Al2O3 substrates. As a consequence, Θ(T) exhibits an opposite trend in the case of two substrates. Crossovers of the Θ(T) curves were often found. The positions of crossovers depend on the chemical character and concentration of solute atoms. Segregation and epitaxial texture formation after solidification were also observed in certain alloy drops, especially in high concentration range. This phenomenon is not yet explained in every detail.

Keywords: contact angle, graphite, silver, soldering, solid solubility, substrate, temperature dependence, wetting

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Authors: Shittu Bisi Agnes

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Ebola virus Diseases outbreak in Nigeria caused a lot of concerns considering the mode of transmission and no known cure discovered. Therefore a lot of safety measures were taken which eventually led to the eradication of the virus in Nigeria. This therefore attempted to determine the various safety measures, how socio-economic characteristic of the people affected adherence to safety measures. And provide reasonable recommendations for total eradication of the virus, future outbreak and general environmental safety Data were collected with the aid of well structured questionnaires and administered 180 randomly selected of the state and oral interview was also utilize. Data collected were analysed using both descriptive tools and inferential statistics vis-a-vis regression analysis. Finding showed that 70.5% was strongly adhere to almost all the measures, 15.2% was fairly advent, 3% was poorly observing the selected measures while 1.3% was in different. 65% of the respondents was strongly aware of the advent of ebola virus diseases, 20% was fairly in awareness, 8.5% was poorly in awareness while 6.55% was in aware of any disease outbreak. Safety measures put forwards were; hand washing, use of hand sanitize-rs, no shaking of hands non-consumption of wildlife games(Bush Meat) and general health and environmental safety measures. It was recommended that policy instrument to increase peoples income will accelerate eradication of diseases as this will enable households to pay for monetary safety measures, health and environmental education, in form of talk shop, workshop, lectures could be organised at the political ward levels, schools, market women, religious bodies functional unions and mass media.

Keywords: ebola diseases, pay, safety, outbreak

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