Search results for: patent quality

Authors: Saqib Amina, Waqas Mehmoodb, Iftikhar Yasinc

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This study analyzes the robust association between ethnic violence and mental health from a global perspective (201-countries across the world) by using the panel data for the period 1970 to 2020. Mental health has been determined through various dimensions such as mental disorders, anxiety disorder, depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. The empirical findings show that ethnic violence has a significant positive association with all types of mental health indicators, including mental disorders, anxiety disorder, depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. The study also reveals that institutional quality may reduce the effect of mental health disorders in a better way than promoting democracy. This study suggests the non-stigmatizing social form of community-based support services instead of a stigmatizing the concept of mental illnesses that promotes hospitalization and drug treatment.

Keywords: ethnic violence, unemployment, mental health, violence

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Authors: Mohsen Shirani, Shadi Asadzandi, Micaela Demichela

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This paper presents the results of a study to assess crucial aspects and the strength of the scientific basis of a typically interdisciplinary, applied field: food supply chain risk assessment research. Our approach is based on an advanced scientometrics analysis with novel elements to assess the influence and dissemination of research results and to measure interdisciplinary. This paper aims to describe the quantity and quality of the publication trends in food supply chain risk assessment. The population under study was composed of 266 articles from database web of science. The results were analyzed based on date of publication, type of document, language of the documents, source of publications, subject areas, authors and their affiliations, and the countries involved in developing the articles.

Keywords: food supply chain, risk assessment, scientometrics, web of science

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Authors: Rafid A. Al-Khannak, Fawzi M. Al-Naima

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Power load is one of the most important controlling keys which decide power demands and illustrate power usage to shape power market. Hence, power load forecasting is the parameter which facilitates understanding and analyzing all these aspects. In this paper, power load forecasting is solved under MATLAB environment by constructing a neural network for the power load to find an accurate simulated solution with the minimum error. A developed algorithm to achieve load forecasting application with faster technique is the aim for this paper. The algorithm is used to enable MATLAB power application to be implemented by multi machines in the Grid computing system, and to accomplish it within much less time, cost and with high accuracy and quality. Grid Computing, the modern computational distributing technology, has been used to enhance the performance of power applications by utilizing idle and desired Grid contributor(s) by sharing computational power resources.

Keywords: DeskGrid, Grid Server, idle contributor(s), grid computing, load forecasting

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Authors: O. Atli Eklioglu

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Atypical antipsychotics such as quetiapine, olanzapine, and risperidone have been frequently and chronically used to treat psychiatric disorders accompanied by psychosis mainly schizophrenia. Since these drugs are commonly used in male patients of reproductive age, it is required to determine the possible effects of them on the reproductive system. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the possible toxic effects of quetiapine, olanzapine and risperidone, which are the most frequently prescribed and chronically used psychiatric drugs, on sperm parameters. For this purpose, quetiapine (10, 20 and 40 mg/kg), olanzapine (2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg), and risperidone (1.25, 2.5 and 3 mg/kg) were administered to male rats for 28 consecutive days. At the end of this period, sperm concentration, motility, and morphology were investigated by a computer-assisted sperm analysis system. According to the results, sperm parameters were negatively affected by antipsychotic use.

Keywords: quetiapine, olanzapine, risperidone, sperm count, motility, sperm morphology, computer-assisted sperm analysis

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Authors: Yufen Qin

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Topic-to-Essay generation is a challenging task in Natural language processing, which aims to generate novel, diverse, and topic-related text based on user input. Previous research has overlooked the generation of articles under the constraints of event elements, resulting in issues such as incomplete event elements and logical inconsistencies in the generated results. To fill this gap, this paper proposes an event-constrained approach for a topic-to-essay generation that enforces the completeness of event elements during the generation process. Additionally, a language model is employed to verify the logical consistency of the generated results. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model achieves a better BLEU-2 score and performs better than the baseline in terms of subjective evaluation on a real dataset, indicating its capability to generate higher-quality topic-related text.

Keywords: event element, language model, natural language processing, topic-to-essay generation.

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Authors: Robin Molinier

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Industrial symbiosis (I.S) deals with the exchange of waste materials, fatal energy and utilities as resources for production. While it brings environmental benefits from resource conservation its economic profitability is one of the main barriers to its implementation. I.S involves several actors with their own objectives and resources so that each actor must be satisfied by ex-ante arrangements to commit toward investments and transactions. Regarding I.S Transaction cost economics helps to identify hybrid forms of governance for transactions governance due to I.S projects specificities induced by the need for customization (asset specificity, non-homogeneity). Thus we propose a framework to analyze the best contractual practices tailored to address I.S specific risks that we identified as threefold (load profiles and quality mismatch, value fluctuations). Schemes from cooperative game theory and contracting management are integrated to analyze value flows between actors. Contractual guidelines are then proposed to address the identified risks and to split the value for a set of I.S archetypes drawn from actual experiences.

Keywords: contracts, economics, industrial symbiosis, risks

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Authors: Qurbanov Huseyn Nuraddin

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The results of scientific research on a machine that pours an equal amount of mineral fertilizer under the soil to increase the productivity of grain in mountain farming and obtain quality grain are substantiated. The average yield of the crop depends on the nature of the distribution of fertilizers in the soil. Therefore, the study of effective energy-saving methods for the application of mineral fertilizers is the actual task of modern agriculture. Depending on the type and variety of plants in mountain farming, there is an optimal norm of mineral fertilizers. Applying an equal amount of fertilizer to the soil is one of the conditions that increase the efficiency of the field. One of the main agro-technical indicators of the work of mineral fertilizing machines is to ensure equal distribution of mineral fertilizers in the field. Taking into account the above-mentioned issues, a combined plough has been improved in our laboratory.

Keywords: combined plough, mineral fertilizers, sprinkle fluently, fertilizer rate, cereals

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Authors: P. F. Wong, H. Salleh, F. A. Rahim

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The adoption of building information modeling (BIM) is increasing in the construction industry. However, quantity surveyors are slow in adoption compared to other professions due to lack of awareness of the BIM’s potential in their profession. It is still unclear on how BIM application can enhance quantity surveyors’ work performance and project performance. The aim of this research is to identify the capabilities of BIM in quantity surveying practices and examine the relationship between BIM capabilities and project performance. Questionnaire survey and interviews were adopted for data collection. Literature reviews identified there are eleven BIM capabilities in quantity surveying practice. Questionnaire results showed that there are several BIM capabilities significantly correlated with project performance in time, cost and quality aspects and the results were validated through interviews. These findings show that BIM has the capabilities to enhance quantity surveyors’ performances and subsequently improved project performance.

Keywords: Building Information Modeling (BIM), quantity surveyors, capability, project performance

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Authors: Esra Alhamal

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Islamic architecture is known for the ornamental patterns that cover the architectural surfaces: floors, walls, and ceilings. This quality in Islamic buildings has long impressed other civilisation, and it is a visual language that exists across the Islamic lands. Ornamentation is divided into three types: geometry, biomorphs, and Arabic calligraphy. The focus of this study is the biomorphic ornaments. This paper will aim to define and characterise biomorphic patterns and trace their development from the 7th to the 18th centuries. Although the time period is seemingly long, the biomorphic patterns and their motifs have been consistent and supported by a geometric system underlying the free flowing, symmetrical motifs. The methodology of this paper consists of analysing and comparing biomorphic patterns from each Islamic period using rules of geometry and symmetry. The study is concluded with a table showcasing the main motifs and how they developed under each Islamic dynasty. This research is a documentation of the biomorphic language and having this record will help contemporary designers employ biomorphic ornaments thoughtfully.

Keywords: architectural surface, biomorphic patterns, Islamic patterns, Islamic ornamentation

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Authors: Ghadir Hummeid

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Undoubtedly, our world is leading all the purposes and efforts to achieve sustainable development in life in all respects. Sustainability has been regarded as a solution to many challenges of our world today, materiality and immateriality. With the new consequences and challenges our world today, such as global climate change, the use of non-renewable resources, environmental pollution, the decreasing of urban health, the urban areas’ aging, the highly increasing migrations into urban areas linked to many consequences such as highly infrastructure density, social segregation. All of that required new forms of governance, new urban policies, and more efficient efforts and urban applications. Based on the fact that cities are the core of life and it is a fundamental life axis, their development can increase or decrease the life quality of their inhabitants. Architects and planners see themselves today in the need to create new approaches and new sustainable policies to develop urban areas to correspond with the physical and non-physical transformations that cities are nowadays experiencing. To enhance people's lives and provide for their needs in this present without compromising the needs and lives of future generations. The application of sustainability has become an inescapable part of the development and projections of cities' planning. Yet its definition has been indefinable due to the plurality and difference of its applications. As the conceptualizations of technology are arising and have dominated all life aspects today, from smart citizens and smart life rhythms to smart production and smart structures to smart frameworks, it has influenced the sustainability applications as well in the planning and urbanization of cities. The term "smart city" emerged from this influence as one of the possible key solutions to sustainability. The term “smart city” has various perspectives of applications and definitions in the literature and in urban applications. However, after the observation of smart city applications in current cities, this paper defined the smart city as an urban environment that is controlled by technologies yet lacks the physical architectural representation of this smartness as the current smart applications are mostly obscured from the public as they are applied now on a diminutive scale and highly integrated into the built environment. Regardless of the importance of these technologies in improving the quality of people's lives and in facing cities' challenges, it is important not to neglect their architectural and urban presentations will affect the shaping and development of city neighborhoods. By investigating the concept of smart cities and exploring its potential applications on a neighbourhood scale, this paper aims to shed light on understanding the challenges faced by cities and exploring innovative solutions such as smart city applications in urban mobility and how they affect the different aspects of communities. The paper aims to shape better articulations of smart neighborhoods’ morphologies on the social, architectural, functional, and material levels. To understand how to create more sustainable and liveable future approaches to developing urban environments inside cities. The findings of this paper will contribute to ongoing discussions and efforts in achieving sustainable urban development.

Keywords: sustainability, urban development, smart city, resilience, sense of belonging

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Authors: Fatima S. Rodriguez, Victorino T. Taylan, Manolito C. Bulaong, Helen F. Gavino, Vitaliana U. Malamug

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In sundrying the quality of the grains are greatly reduced when paddy grains were caught by the rain unsacked and unstored resulting to reduced profit. The objectives of this study were to design and fabricate a quick covering machine for grain drying pavement; to test and evaluate the operating characteristics of the machine according to its deployment speed, recovery speed, deployment time, recovery time, power consumption, aesthetics of laminated sack; and to conduct partial budget and cost curve analysis. The machine was able to cover the grains in a 12.8 m x 22.5 m grain drying pavement at an average time of 17.13 s. It consumed 0.53 W-hr for the deployment and recovery of the cover. The machine entailed an investment cost of $1,344.40 and an annual cost charge of $647.32. Moreover, the savings per year using the quick covering machine was $101.83.

Keywords: quick covering machine, grain drying pavement, laminated polypropylene, recovery time

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Authors: Cameron Wilson, Megan Hanrahan, Katie Brittain, Riona McArdle, Alison Keogh, Lynn Rochester

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Background: The loss of mobility and functional dependence is a significant marker in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Pharmacological, surgical, and therapeutic treatments are available that can help in the management and amelioration of PD symptoms; however, these only prolong more severe symptoms. Accordingly, ensuring people with PD can maintain independence and a healthy wellbeing are essential in establishing an effective treatment option for those afflicted. Existing literature reviews have examined experiences in engaging with PD treatment options and the impact of PD on independence and wellbeing. Although, the literature fails to explore the influence of treatment options on independence and wellbeing and therefore misses what people value in their treatment. This review is the first that synthesises the impact of mobility-related treatments on independence and wellbeing in people with PD and their carers, offering recommendations to clinical practice and provides a conceptual framework (in development) for future research and practice. Objectives: To explore the impact of mobility-related treatment (both pharmacological and non-pharmacological) on the independence and wellbeing of people with PD and their carers. To propose a conceptual framework to patients, carers and clinicians which captures the qualities people with PD value as part of their treatment. Methods: We performed a critical interpretive synthesis of qualitative evidence, searching six databases for reports that explored the impact of mobility-related treatments (both drug and non-pharmacological) on independence and wellbeing in Parkinson’s Disease. The types of treatments included medication (Levodopa and Amantadine), dance classes, Deep-Brain Stimulation, aquatic therapies, physical rehabilitation, balance training and foetal transplantation. Data was extracted, and quality was assessed using an adapted version of the NICE Quality Appraisal Tool Appendix H before being synthesised according to the critical interpretive synthesis framework and meta-ethnography process. Results: From 2301 records, 28 were eligible. Experiences and impact of treatment pathway on independence and wellbeing was similar across all types of treatments and are described by five inter-related themes: (i) desire to maintain independence, (ii) treatment as a social experience during and after, (iii) medication to strengthen emotional health, (iv) recognising physical capacity and (v) emphasising the personal journey of Parkinson’s treatments. Conclusion: There is a complex and inter-related experience and effect of PD treatments common across all types of treatment. The proposed conceptual framework (in development) provides patients, carers, and clinicians recommendations to personalise the delivery of PD treatment, thereby potentially improving adherence and effectiveness. This work is vital to disseminate as PD treatment transitions from subjective and clinically captured assessments to a more personalised process supplemented using wearable technology.

Keywords: parkinson's disease, medication, treatment, dance, review, healthcare, delivery, levodopa, social, emotional, psychological, personalised healthcare

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Authors: Humaira Khan, Mohsin Javed, Sammia Shahid

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The reinforced photocatalytic activity of graphene oxide (GO) along with composites of ZnO nanoparticles and copper-doped ZnO nanoparticles were studied by synthesizing ZnO and copper- doped ZnO nanoparticles by co-precipitation method. Zinc acetate and copper acetate were used as precursors, whereas graphene oxide was prepared from pre-oxidized graphite in the presence of H2O2.The supernatant was collected carefully and showed high-quality single-layer characterized by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), XRD (X-ray Diffraction Analysis), EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectrometry). The degradation of methylene blue as standard pollutant under UV-Visible irradiation gave results for photocatalytic activity of dopants. It could be concluded that shrinking of optical band caused by composites of Cu-dopped nanoparticles with GO enhances the photocatalytic activity.

Keywords: degradation, graphene oxide, photocatalysis, ZnO nanoparticles and copper-doped ZnO nanoparticles

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Authors: Ranjini Ramanath, Nanjunda P. Swamy

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Construction has existed in our lives since time immemorial. However, unlike any other industry, construction projects have their own unique challenges – project type, purpose and end use of the project, geographical conditions, logistic arrangements, largely unorganized manpower and requirement of diverse skill sets, etc. These unique characteristics bring in their own level of risk and uncertainties to the project, which cause the project to deviate from its planned objectives of time, cost, quality, etc. over the many years, there have been significant developments in the way construction projects are conceptualized, planned, and managed. With the rapid increase in the population, increased rate of urbanization, there is a growing demand for infrastructure development, and it is required that the projects are delivered timely, and efficiently. In an age where ‘Time is Money,' implementation of new techniques of project management is required in leading to successful projects. This paper proposes a different approach to project management, which if applied in construction projects, can help in the accomplishment of the project objectives in a faster manner.

Keywords: critical chain project management methodology, critical chain, project management, construction management

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Authors: Jovina Concepcion Bachynski, Lenora Duhn, Idevania G. Costa, Pilar Camargo-Plazas

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Kidney failure is a life-limiting condition for which treatment, such as dialysis (hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis), can exact a tremendously high physical and psychosocial symptom burden. Kidney failure can be severe enough to require a palliative approach to care. The term supportive care can be used in lieu of palliative care to avoid the misunderstanding that palliative care is synonymous with end-of-life or hospice care. Kidney supportive care, encompassing advance care planning, is an approach to care that improves the quality of life for people receiving dialysis through early identification and treatment of symptoms throughout the disease trajectory. Advanced care planning involves ongoing conversations about the values, goals, and preferences for future care between individuals and their healthcare teams. Kidney supportive care is underutilized and often initiated late in this population. There is evidence to indicate nurses are not providing the necessary elements of supportive kidney care. Dialysis nurses’ delay or lack of engagement in supportive care until close to the end of life may result in people dying without receiving optimal palliative care services. Using Charmaz’s constructivist grounded theory, the purpose of this doctoral study is to develop a substantive theory that explains the process of engagement in supportive care by nurses working in dialysis settings in Canada. Through initial purposeful and subsequent theoretical sampling, 23 nurses with current or recent work experience in outpatient hemodialysis, home hemodialysis, and peritoneal dialysis settings drawn from across Canada were recruited to participate in two intensive interviews using the Zoom© teleconferencing platform. Concurrent data collection and data analysis, constant comparative analysis of initial and focused codes until the attainment of theoretical saturation, and memo-writing, as well as researcher reflexivity, have been undertaken to aid the emergence of concepts, categories, and, ultimately, the constructed theory. At the time of abstract submission, data analysis is currently at the second level of coding (i.e., focused coding stage) of the research study. Preliminary categories include: (a) focusing on biomedical care; (b) multi-dimensional challenges to having the conversation; (c) connecting and setting boundaries with patients; (d) difficulty articulating kidney-supportive care; and (e) unwittingly practising kidney-supportive care. For the conference, the resulting theory will be presented. Nurses working in dialysis are well-positioned to ensure the delivery of quality kidney-supportive care. This study will help to determine the process and the factors enabling and impeding nurse engagement in supportive care in dialysis to effect change for normalizing advance care planning conversations in the clinical setting. This improved practice will have substantive beneficial implications for the many individuals living with kidney failure and their supporting loved ones.

Keywords: dialysis, kidney failure, nursing, supportive care

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Authors: Shilan Rahmani Azr, Siavash Emtiyaz

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Recent development in computing and communicative technologies leads to much easier mobile accessibility to the information. Users can access to the information in different places using various deceives in which the care variety of abilities. Meanwhile, the format and details of electronic documents are changing each day. In these cases, a mismatch is created between content and client’s abilities. Recently the service-oriented content adaption has been developed which the adapting tasks are dedicated to some extended services. In this method, the main problem is to choose the best appropriate service among accessible and distributed services. In this paper, a method for determining the optimal path to the best services, based on the quality control parameters and user preferences, is proposed using max heap tree. The efficiency of this method in contrast to the other previous methods of the content adaptation is related to the determining the optimal path of the best services which are measured. The results show the advantages and progresses of this method in compare of the others.

Keywords: service-oriented content adaption, QoS, max heap tree, web services

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Authors: Muhammad Ilham Agus Salim, Mohammad Ali

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In this article, we have elaborated a study over the nature of Islamic financial transaction by comparing between Dinar and IDR currency in Indonesia. We have found the interesting issue among scholars and practitioners in which Dinar would be a single currency ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), then becoming motivation and added value research. The assessment among dinar volatility analysis for three years ago and IDR fluctuation as well as outlook qualitative test regarding dinar are components of analysis that weak Indonesian currency should be altered to be better coinage. The value of dinar more stable than IDR and also eligible as a currency e.g. limited quantities, easy to carry, durable, easy to saved, and has the same quality. On the other hand, the existing of IDR has defeated by inflation. The EViews program explained that Dinar at current level still fluctuate, but in the first different have fixed variant. The result of analysis describing that dinar has potential as the medium exchange, because the material of dinar is relevant and feasible since 14 century until present. Therefore, dinar should be considered to solve Indonesia crisis today.

Keywords: medium of exchange, dinar & IDR currency, volatility analysis, EViews program

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Authors: T. C. Bera, A. Bansal, D. Nema

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During performing turning operation, cutting force plays a significant role in metal cutting process affecting tool-work piece deflection, vibration and eventually part quality. The present research work aims to develop a mechanistic cutting force model and to study the mechanistic constants used in the force model in case of turning operation. The proposed model can be used for the reliable and accurate estimation of the cutting forces establishing relationship of various force components (cutting force and feed force) with uncut chip thickness. The accurate estimation of cutting force is required to improve thin-walled part accuracy by controlling the tool-work piece deflection induced surface errors and tool-work piece vibration.

Keywords: turning, cutting forces, cutting constants, uncut chip thickness

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Authors: Malik Imran Afzal

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Cadmium supplied nanowires have unique electrical and optical properties and applications. To obtain cadmium supplied nanowires with regular and good aspect ratio, they can be synthesized by template synthesis method. Porous anodized aluminum oxide is the most promising template with regular hexagonal shapes. Their aspect ratio can be controlled by controlling the pores’ depth and diameter which greatly depend on anodization voltage and temperature of the electrolyte. In this research, high purity aluminium was used to prepare nanotemplates at 5-6°C in 1M phosphoric acid and cadmium supplied was deposited electrochemically using a co-solution of thiourea, cadmium acetate and ammonium acetate. pH was maintained at 11 in a heat bath at 75°C with the help of aqueous ammonia solution. Both porous anodized alumina and cadmium supplied nanowires were characterized suing SEM. A good quality Nanowires were obtained in bunches with reasonably high aspect ratio.

Keywords: bunches, electrodeposition, hexagonal, thiourea

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Authors: Choi Woo-Seok, Kim Eun-Sup, Ha Eun-Ryong

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Converter slag is used as a low-value product like a construction fill material and soil stabilizer unlike electric furnace slag and blast furnace slag. This study is fundamental research for utilizing the converter slag as the cement admixture. Magnetic separation was conducted for quality improvement of the converter slag, and it was classified according to into 3 types; SA: pure slag, SB: separated slag, SC: remained slag after separating. In XRF result, SB slag was Fe₂CO₃ ratio was higher, and CaO ratio was lower than SA. SC slag was Fe₂CO₃ ratio was lower, and CaO ratio was higher than SA. In compressive strength test for soil cement using SA, SB, SC as the cement admixture, SC slag was more effective in terms of 28days compressive strength than SA, SB slag. In this result, it is considered that the remained material (SC) after magnetic separation is available as the cement admixture.

Keywords: converter slag, magnetic separation, cement admixture, compressive strength

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Authors: N. Uaphongsathorn, C. Worawong, S. Thaewpia

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Background and significance: The population is aging in Thai society, the elderly dependent is at great risk of various functional, psychological, and socio-economic problems as well as less access to health care. They may require long term care at home to maximize their functional abilities and activities of daily living and to improve their quality of life during their own age. Therefore, there is a need to develop a home-based long term care to meet the long term care needs of elders dependent. Methods: The research purpose was to develop long term care model among the elderly dependent in Chaiyaphum province in Northeast region of Thailand. Action Research which is composing of planning, action, observation, and reflection phases was used. Research was carried out for 12 months in all sub-districts of 6 districts in Chaiyaphum province. Participants (N = 1,010) participating in the processes of model development were comprised of 3 groups: a) a total of 110 health care professionals, b) a total of 600 health volunteers and family caregivers and c) a total of 300 the elderly dependent with chronically medical illnesses or disabilities. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyze data. Findings: Results have shown that the most common health problems among elders dependent with physical disabilities to function independently were cardiovascular disease, dementia, and traffic injuries. The development of home-based long term care model among elders dependent in Chaiyaphum province was composed of six key steps. They are: a) initiating policies supporting formal and informal caregivers for the elder dependent in all sub-districts, b) building network and multidisciplinary team, c) developing 3-day care manager training program and 3-day care provider training program d) training case managers and care providers for the elderly dependent through team and action learning, e) assessing, planning and providing care based on care individual’s needs of the elderly dependent, and f) sharing experiences for good practice and innovation for long term care at homes in district urban and rural areas. Among all care managers and care providers, the satisfaction level for training programs was high with a mean score of 3.98 out of 5. The elders dependent and family caregivers addressed that long term care at home could contribute to improving life’s daily activities, family relationship, health status, and quality of life. Family caregivers and volunteers have feeling a sense of personal satisfaction and experiencing providing meaningful care and support for elders dependent. Conclusion: In conclusion, a home-based long term care is important to Thai elders dependent. Care managers and care providers play a large role and responsibility to provide appropriate care to meet the elders’ needs in both urban and rural areas in Thai society. Further research could be rigorously studied with a larger group of populations in similar socio-economic and cultural contexts.

Keywords: elderly people, care manager, care provider, long term care

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Authors: Ivana Lolic, Petar Soric, Mirjana Cizmesija

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Based on Business and Consumer Survey (BCS) data, the European Commission (EC) regularly publishes the monthly Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) for each EU member state. ESI is conceptualized as a leading indicator, aimed ad tracking the overall economic activity. In calculating ESI, the EC employs arbitrarily chosen weights on 15 BCS response balances. This paper raises the predictive quality of ESI by applying nonlinear programming to find such weights that maximize the correlation coefficient of ESI and year-on-year GDP growth. The obtained results show that the highest weights are assigned to the response balances of industrial sector questions, followed by questions from the retail trade sector. This comes as no surprise since the existing literature shows that the industrial production is a plausible proxy for the overall Croatian economic activity and since Croatian GDP is largely influenced by the aggregate personal consumption.

Keywords: business and consumer survey, economic sentiment indicator, leading indicator, nonlinear optimization with constraints

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Authors: M. A. El-Khateeb

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The growth of the olive oil production in Saudi Arabia peculiarly in Al Jouf region in recent years has been accompanied by an increase in the discharge of associated processing waste. Olive mill waste is produced throughout the extraction of oil from the olive fruit using the traditional mill and press process. Deterioration of the environment due to olive mill disposal wastes is a serious problem. When olive mill waste disposed into the soil, it affects soil quality, soil micro flora, and also toxic to plants. The aim of this work is to isolate microorganism (bacterial or fungal strains) from OMW capable of degrading phenols. Olive mill wastewater, olive mill waste and soil (beside oil production mill) contaminated with olive waste were used for isolation of phenol tolerant microorganisms. Four strains (two fungal and two bacterial) were isolated from olive mill waste. The isolated strains were Candida tropicalis and Phanerochaete chrysosporium (fungal strains) and Bacillus sp. and Rhodococcus sp. (bacterial strains). These strains were able to degrade phenols and could be used for bioremediation of olive mill waste.

Keywords: bioremediation, bacteria, fungi, Sakaka

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Authors: Mohamed Jaditager, Julie Lovisa, Nagaratnam Sivakugan

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The Port of Townsville conducts regular annual maintenance dredging to maintain depths of its harbor basin and approach channels for the navigational safety of the vessels against the natural accumulation of marine sediments. In addition to the regular maintenance dredging, the port undertakes emergency dredging in cases where large quantities of sediments are mobilized and deposited in port waters by cyclone or major flood events. The maintenance dredging material derived from the port may be disposed at sea or on land in accordance with relevant state and commonwealth regulations. For the land disposal, the dredged mud slurry is hydraulically placed into containment ponds and left to undergo sedimentation and self-weight consolidation to form fill material for land reclamation. This paper provides an overview of the maintenance dredging at the Port of Townsville and emphasis on maintenance dredging requirements, sediment quality, bathymetry, dredging methods used, and dredged material disposal options.

Keywords: consolidation, dredged material, maintenance dredging, marine sediments, sedimentation

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Authors: Narin Salehiyan, Ramin Ghasemi Shayan

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In order to investigate coronavirus RNA replication, transcription, recombination, protein processing and transport, virion assembly, the identification of coronavirus-specific cell receptors, and polymerase processing, the manipulation of coronavirus clones and complementary DNAs (cDNAs) of defective-interfering (DI) RNAs is the subject of this chapter. The idea of the Covid genome is nonsegmented, single-abandoned, and positive-sense RNA. When compared to other RNA viruses, its size is significantly greater, ranging from 27 to 32 kb. The quality encoding the enormous surface glycoprotein depends on 4.4 kb, encoding a forcing trimeric, profoundly glycosylated protein. This takes off exactly 20 nm over the virion envelope, giving the infection the appearance-with a little creative mind of a crown or coronet. Covid research has added to the comprehension of numerous parts of atomic science as a general rule, like the component of RNA union, translational control, and protein transport and handling. It stays a fortune equipped for creating startling experiences.

Keywords: covid-19, corona, virus, genome, genetic

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Authors: Chih-Hsiang Chang, Chia-Ching Tsai

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The aim of this study is to examine the stock price effect of the enterprises being classified as socially responsible. We explore the stock price response to the announcement that an enterprise is selected for the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards. Empirical results indicate that the announcements of the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards provide useful informational content to stock market. We find the evidence of insignificantly positive short-term and significantly positive long-term price reaction to the enterprises being classified as socially responsible. This study concludes that investors in the Taiwan stock market tend to view an enterprise being selected for the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards as one with superior quality and long-term price potential.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, stock price effect, Taiwan stock market, investments

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Zoe Polk

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In cities across the US, race continues to predict an individual’s likelihood to be employed, to receive a quality education, to live in a safe neighborhood, to life expectancy to contacts with the criminal justice system. Deep and pervasive disparities exist despite laws enacted at the federal, state and local level to eliminate discrimination. This paper examines the strengths of the U.S. civil rights movement in making discrimination a moral issue. Following the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, cities throughout the US adopted laws that mirror the language, theories of practice and enforcement of the law. This paper argues that while those laws were relevant to the way discrimination was conducted in that time, they are limited in their ability to help cities address discrimination today. This paper reviews health indicators This paper concludes that in order for cities to create environments where race no longer predicts one’s success, cities must conduct institutional and structural racism audits.

Keywords: racism, racial equity, constitutional law, social justice

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Authors: Chanida Tangjai Benchalak Muangmeesri, Dechrit Maneetham

Abstract:

Collection of marine garbage in the modern world, where technology is vital to existence. Consequently, technology can assist in reducing the duplicate labor in the subject of collecting trash in the water that must be done the same way repeatedly owing to the consequence of suffering an emerging disease or COVID-19. This is due to the rapid advancement of technology. As a result, solid trash and plastic garbage are increasing. Agricultural gardens, canals, ponds, and water basins are all sources of water. Building boat-like instruments for rubbish collection in the water will be done this time. It has two control options, boat control via remote control and boat control via an Internet of Things system. A solar panel with a power output of 40 watts powers the system being able to store so accurate and precise waste collection, allowing for thorough water cleaning. The primary goals are to keep the water's surface clean and assess its quality to support the aquatic ecology.

Keywords: automatic boat, water treatment, cleaning machine, iot

Procedia PDF Downloads 91

Authors: Amine Hamdi, Sidi Mohammed Merghache, Brahim Fernini

Abstract:

During abrasive machining of hard steels by belt grinding, the finished surface texture is influenced by the pressure between the abrasive belt and the workpiece; this pressure is the force applied by the contact roller on the workpiece. Therefore, the contact roller has an important role and has a direct impact on process efficiency. The objective of this article is to study and compare the influence of different contact rollers on the belt ground surface texture. The quality of the surface texture is characterized by eight roughness parameters (Ra, Rz, Rp, Rv, Rsk, Rku, Rsm, and Rdq) and five parameters of the bearing area curve (Rpk, Rk, Rvk, Mr1, and Mr2). The results of the experimental tests indicate a better surface texture obtained by the PA 6 polyamide roller (hardness 60 Shore D) compared to that obtained with other rollers of the same hardness or of different hardness. Simultaneously, optimum medium pressure between the belt and the workpiece allows chip removal without fracturing the abrasive grains. This generates a good surface texture.

Keywords: belt grinding, contact roller, pressure, abrasive belt, surface texture

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Akbar Esmaeili, Azadeh Asgari

Abstract:

Essential oils’ unique and practical properties have been widely reported in recent years. Still, the sensitivity of critical oils to environmental factors and their poor solubility in aqueous solutions have limited their use in industries. Therefore, we encapsulated C. copticum essential oil in chitosan nanoparticles by emulsion-ionic gelation with sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium hexametaphosphate cross-linkers. The nanoparticles showed a round shape with an average size of 30-80 nm and a regular distribution. The release profile in the laboratory environment showed a burst in the initial release and then a stable release of C. copticum essential oil from chitosan nanoparticles at different pH. Antioxidant and antibacterial properties of C. copticum essential oil before and after the encapsulation process were evaluated by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical and disc diffusion methods, respectively. The results showed that the encapsulation of C. copticum essential oil in chitosan nanoparticles could protect its quality and bioactive compounds and improve the properties of the crucial oil.

Keywords: essential oils, Carum copticum, biological activities, nanotechnology

Procedia PDF Downloads 88