Search results for: chocolate based products

Authors: Mehrnaz Farzingohar, Mehran Yasemi, Ahmad Savari

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The oil products are imported and exported via Rajaee’s tanker terminal. Within loading and discharging in several cases the oil is released into the berths and made oil spills. The spills are distributed within short time and seriously affected Rajaee port’s environment and even extended areas. The trajectory and fate of oil spills investigated by modeling and parted by three risk levels base on the modeling results. First GNOME (General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment) applied to trajectory the liquid oil. Second, ALOHA (Areal Location Of Hazardous Atmosphere) air quality model, is integrated to predict the oil evaporation path within the air. Base on the identified zones the high risk areas are signed by colored dots which their densities calculated and clarified on a map which displayed the harm places. Wind and water circulation moved the pollution to the East of Rajaee Port that accumulated about 12 km of coastline. Approximately 20 km of north east of Qeshm Island shore is covered by the three levels of risky areas. Since the main wind direction is SSW the pollution pushed to the east and the highest risk zones formed on the crests edges hence the low risk appeared on the concavities. This assessment help the management and emergency systems to monitor the exposure places base on the priority factors and find the best approaches to protect the environment.

Keywords: oil spill, modeling, pollution, risk assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 383

Authors: Khwaja Bahman Qaderi, Noorullah Rafiqee

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Background: With today's increasing Internet users, e-commerce has become a viable model for strengthening relationships between sellers, entrepreneurs, and consumers due to its speed, efficiency, and cost reduction. Agriculture is the economic backbone for 80 percent of the Afghan population. According to MCIT statistics, there are currently around 10 million internet users in Afghanistan. With this data, it was expected that Afghan people should have utilized e-commerce in their agricultural aspects, although it appears to be less used. Objective: This study examines the scope of e-commerce in Afghanistan's agriculture enterprises, how they harness the potential of internet users, and what obstacles they face in implementing e-commerce in their businesses. Method: The study distributed a 39-question questionnaire to agribusinesses in five different zones of Afghanistan. After extracting the responses and excluding the incomplete questionnaires, 280 were included in the analysis step to perform a non-parametric sign test. Result: E-commerce in Afghanistan faces four major political, economic, Internet, and technological obstacles, and no company in the country has implemented e-commerce. In addition, e-commerce is still in its infancy among agricultural companies in the country. Internet use is still primarily limited to email and sharing product images on Facebook & Instagram for advertising purposes. There are no companies that conduct international transactions via the Internet. Conclusion: This study contributes to knowing the challenges and barriers that the agriculture e-commerce faces in Afghanistan to find the effective solutions to use the capacity of internet users in the country and increase the sales rate of agricultural products through the Internet.

Keywords: E-commerce, barriers and challenges, agriculture companies, Afghanistan

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Naveen Kumar

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Microplastics, tiny plastic particles less than 5 mm in size formed by the disposal and breakdown of industrial and consumer products, have become a primary environmental concern due to their ubiquitous presence and application in the environment and their potential to cause harm to the ecosystem, wildlife and human health. In this, we study the ability of the fungus Rasamsonia emersonii IMI 393752 to degrade the rigid microplastics of Coke bottles. Microplastics were extracted from Coke bottles and incubated with Rasamsonia emersonii in Sabouraud dextrose agar media. Microplastics were pre-sterilized without altering the chemistry of microplastic. Preliminary analysis was performed by observing radial growth assessment of microplastic-containing media enriched with fungi vs. control. The assay confirmed no impedance or change in the fungi's growth pattern and rate by introducing microplastics. The degradation of the microplastics was monitored over time using microscopy and FTIR, and biodegradation/deterioration on the plastic surface was observed. Furthermore, the liquid assay was performed. HPLC and GCMS will be conducted to check the biodegradation and presence of enzyme release by fungi to counteract the presence of microplastics. These findings have important implications for managing plastic waste, as they suggest that fungi such as Rasamsonia emersonii can potentially degrade microplastics safely and effectively. However, further research to optimise the conditions for microplastic degradation by Rasamsonia emersonii and to develop strategies for scaling up the process for industrial applications will be beneficial.

Keywords: bioremediation, mycoremediation, plastic degradtion, polyethylene terephthalate

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Authors: André C. Silva, Débora N. Sousa, Elenice M. S. Silva, Thales P. Fontes, Raphael S. Tomaz

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Starches are widely used as depressant in froth flotation operations in Brazil due to their efficiency, increasing the selectivity in the inverse flotation of quartz depressing iron ore. Starches market have been growing and improving in recent years, leading to better products attending the requirements of the mineral industry. The major source of starch used for iron ore is corn starch, which needs to be gelatinized with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) prior to use. This stage has a direct impact on industrials costs, once the lowest consumption of NaOH in gelatinization provides better control of the pH in the froth flotation and reduces the amount of electrolytes present in the pulp. In order to evaluate the gelatinization degree of different starches and flour were subjected to the addiction of NaOH and temperature variation experiments. Samples of starch (corn, cassava, HIPIX 100, HIPIX 101 and HIPIX 102 commercialized by Ingredion) and flour (cassava and potato) were tested. The starch samples were characterized through Scanning Electronic Microscopy and the amylose content were determined through spectrometry, swelling and solubility tests. The gelatinization was carried out through titration with NaOH, keeping the solution temperature constant at 40 ^oC. At the end of the tests, the optimal amount of NaOH consumed to gelatinize the starch or flour from different botanical sources was established and a correlation between the content of amylopectin in the starch and the starch/NaOH ratio needed for its gelatinization.

Keywords: froth flotation, gelatinization, sodium hydroxide, starches and flours

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Authors: Timothy Whitehill

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This paper presents an innovative chat-based focus group method for collecting qualitative data to construct a cause-and-effect analysis in business research. This method was developed in response to the research and data collection challenges faced by the Covid-19 outbreak in the United Kingdom during 2020-21. This paper discusses the methodological approaches and builds a contemporary argument for its effectiveness in exploring cause-and-effect relationships in the context of focus group research, systems thinking and problem structuring methods. The pilot for this method was conducted between October 2020 and March 2021 and collected more than 7,000 words of chat-based data which was used to construct a consensus drawn cause-and-effect analysis. This method was developed in support of an ongoing Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) thesis, which is using Design Science Research methodology to operationalize organisational resilience in UK construction sector firms.

Keywords: cause-and-effect analysis, focus group research, problem structuring methods, qualitative research, systems thinking

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Authors: Isaac Kwaku Adu, Jacob Doku Tetteh, John Joseph Puthenkalam, Kwabena Effah Antwi

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The continuous increase in population implies increase in food demand. There is, therefore, the need to increase agricultural production and other forest products to ensure food security and economic development. This paper employs the three-level intensity analysis to assess the total change of land-use in two-time intervals (1986-2002 and 2002-2017), the net change and swap as well as gross gains and losses in the two intervals. The results revealed that the overall change in the 31-year period was greater in the second period (2002-2017). Agriculture and forest categories lost in the first period while the other land class gained. However, in the second period agriculture and built-up increased greatly while forest, water bodies and thick bushes/shrubland experienced loss. An assessment revealed a reduction of forest in both periods but was greater in the second period and expansion of agricultural land was recorded as population increases. The pixels gaining built-up targeted agricultural land in both intervals, it also targeted thick bushes/shrubland and waterbody in the second period only. Built-up avoided forest in both intervals as well as waterbody and thick bushes/shrubland. To help in developing the best land-use strategies/policies, a further validation of the social factors is necessary.

Keywords: agricultural land, forest, Ghana, land-use, intensity analysis, remote sensing

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Authors: Ramprasad Srinivasan

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Engineers create inventions and put their ideas in concrete terms to design new products. Design drivers must be established, which requires, among other things, a complete understanding of the product design, load paths, etc. For Aerospace Vehicles, weight/strength ratio, strength, stiffness and stability are the important design drivers. A complex built-up structure is made up of an assemblage of primitive structural forms of arbitrary shape, which include 1D structures like beams and frames, 2D structures like membranes, plate and shell structures, and 3D solid structures. Justification through simulation involves a check for all the quantities of interest, namely stresses, deformation, frequencies, and buckling loads and is normally achieved through the finite element (FE) method. Over the past few decades, Fiber-reinforced composites are fast replacing the traditional metallic structures in the weight-sensitive aerospace and aircraft industries due to their high specific strength, high specific stiffness, anisotropic properties, design freedom for tailoring etc. Composite panel constructions are used in aircraft to design primary structure components like wings, empennage, ailerons, etc., while thin-walled composite beams (TWCB) are used to model slender structures like stiffened panels, helicopter, and wind turbine rotor blades, etc. The TWCB demonstrates many non-classical effects like torsional and constrained warping, transverse shear, coupling effects, heterogeneity, etc., which makes the analysis of composite structures far more complex. Conventional FE formulations to model 1D structures suffer from many limitations like shear locking, particularly in slender beams, lower convergence rates due to material coupling in composites, inability to satisfy, equilibrium in the domain and natural boundary conditions (NBC) etc. For 2D structures, the limitations of conventional displacement-based FE formulations include the inability to satisfy NBC explicitly and many pathological problems such as shear and membrane locking, spurious modes, stress oscillations, lower convergence due to mesh distortion etc. This mandates frequent re-meshing to even achieve an acceptable mesh (satisfy stringent quality metrics) for analysis leading to significant cycle time. Besides, currently, there is a need for separate formulations (u/p) to model incompressible materials, and a single unified formulation is missing in the literature. Hence coupled field formulation (CFF) is a unified formulation proposed by the author for the solution of complex 1D and 2D structures addressing the gaps in the literature mentioned above. The salient features of CFF and its many advantages over other conventional methods shall be presented in this paper.

Keywords: coupled field formulation, kinematic and material coupling, natural boundary condition, locking free formulation

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Authors: Ahmed Fradi

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Nowadays, recent technological advances in the acquisition, modeling, and processing of three-dimensional (3D) objects data lead to the creation of models stored in huge databases, which are used in various domains such as computer vision, augmented reality, game industry, medicine, CAD (Computer-aided design), 3D printing etc. On the other hand, the industry is currently benefiting from powerful modeling tools enabling designers to easily and quickly produce 3D models. The great ease of acquisition and modeling of 3D objects make possible to create large 3D models databases, then, it becomes difficult to navigate them. Therefore, the indexing of 3D objects appears as a necessary and promising solution to manage this type of data, to extract model information, retrieve an existing model or calculate similarity between 3D objects. The objective of the proposed research is to develop a framework allowing easy and fast access to 3D objects in a CAD models database with specific indexing algorithm to find objects similar to a reference model. Our main objectives are to study existing methods of similarity calculation of 3D objects (essentially shape-based methods) by specifying the characteristics of each method as well as the difference between them, and then we will propose a new approach for indexing and comparing 3D models, which is suitable for our case study and which is based on some previously studied methods. Our proposed approach is finally illustrated by an implementation, and evaluated in a professional context.

Keywords: CAD, 3D object retrieval, shape based retrieval, similarity calculation

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Authors: Afshan Ejaz, Syed Asim Ali

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The reality is a combination of perception, reconstruction, and interaction. Augmented Reality is the advancement that layer over consistent everyday existence which includes content based interface, voice-based interfaces, voice-based interface and guide based or gesture-based interfaces, so designing augmented reality application interfaces is a difficult task for the maker. Designing a user interface which is not only easy to use and easy to learn but its more interactive and self-explanatory which have high perceived affordability, perceived usefulness, consistency and high discoverability so that the user could easily recognized and understand the design. For this purpose, a lot of interface design principles such as learnability, Affordance, Simplicity, Memorability, Feedback, Visibility, Flexibly and others are introduced but there no such principles which explain the most appropriate interface design principles for designing an Augmented Reality application interfaces. Therefore, the basic goal of introducing design principles for Augmented Reality application interfaces is to match the user efforts and the computer display (‘plot user input onto computer output’) using an appropriate interface action symbol (‘metaphors’) or to make that application easy to use, easy to understand and easy to discover. In this study by observing Augmented reality system and interfaces, few of well-known design principle related to GUI (‘user-centered design’) are identify and through them, few issues are shown which can be determined through the design principles. With the help of multiple studies, our study suggests different interface design principles which makes designing Augmented Reality application interface more easier and more helpful for the maker as these principles make the interface more interactive, learnable and more usable. To accomplish and test our finding, Pokémon Go an Augmented Reality game was selected and all the suggested principles are implement and test on its interface. From the results, our study concludes that our identified principles are most important principles while developing and testing any Augmented Reality application interface.

Keywords: GUI, augmented reality, metaphors, affordance, perception, satisfaction, cognitive burden

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Authors: Magdalena Wilk-Kozubek, Jakub Pawłów, Maciej Czajkowski, Maria Zdończyk, Katarzyna Ślepokura, Joanna Cybińska

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Thermochromic materials belong to the family of intelligent materials that change their color in response to temperature changes; this ability is called thermochromism. Thermochromic behavior can be displayed by both isolated compounds and multicomponent mixtures. Fluoran leuco dye-based mixtures are well-known thermochromic systems used, for example, in heat-sensitive FAX paper. Weak acids often serve as color developers for such systems. As the temperature increases, the acids melt, and the mixtures become colored. The objective of this research is to determine the influence of acids showing a liquid crystalline nematic phase on the development of the fluoran dye. For this purpose, fluoran-based mixtures with 4-n-alkylbenzoic acids were prepared. The mixtures are colored at room temperature, but they become colorless upon the melting of the acids. The melting of acids is associated not only with a change in the color of the mixtures but also with a change in their emission color. Phase transitions were investigated by temperature-dependent powder X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry; nematic phases were visualized by polarized optical microscopy, and color and emission changes were studied by UV-Vis diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence spectroscopies, respectively. When 4-n-alkylbenzoic acids are used as color developers, the fluoran-based mixtures become colorless after the melting of the acids. This is because the melting of acids is accompanied by the transition from the crystalline phase to the nematic phase, in which the molecular arrangement of the acids does not allow the fluoran dye to be developed.

Keywords: color developer, leuco dye, liquid crystal, thermochromism

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Authors: Mohammad Sadeghi

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The subject matter of this article is the efficiency of current knowledge standard to afford the legal integration regarding criteria and approaches to ISP knowledge standards, to shield ISP and copyright, trademark and other parties’ rights in the online information society. The EU recognizes the knowledge-based liability for intermediaries in the European Directive on Electronic Commerce, but the implication of all parties’ responsibility for combating infringement has been immolated by dominating attention on liability due to the lack of the appropriate legal mechanism to devote each party responsibility. Moreover, there is legal challenge on the applicability of knowledge-based liability on hosting services and information location tools service. The aim of this contribution is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of ECD knowledge standard through case law with a special emphasis on duty of prevention and constructive knowledge role on internet service providers (ISP s’) to achieve fair balance between all parties rights.

Keywords: internet service providers, liability, copyright infringement, hosting, caching, mere conduit service, notice and takedown, E-commerce Directive

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Authors: Y. T. Gebreslassie, Abrha Tadesse, R. C. Saini, Rishi Pal

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Caffeine, known chemically as 3,7-dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione, is a naturally occurring alkaloid classified as an N-methyl derivative of xanthine. Given its widespread use in coffee and other caffeine-containing products, it is the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance in everyday human life. This research aimed to develop a cost-effective, sensitive, and easily manufacturable sensor for the detection of caffeine. Antraquinone-modified carbon paste electrode (AQMCPE) was fabricated, and the electrochemical behavior of caffeine on this electrode was investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV) in a solution of 0.1M perchloric acid at pH 0.56. The modified electrode displayed enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards caffeine oxidation, exhibiting a two-fold increase in peak current and an 82 mV shift of the peak potential in the negative direction compared to an unmodified carbon paste electrode (UMCPE). Exploiting the electrocatalytic properties of the modified electrode, SWV was employed for the quantitative determination of caffeine. Under optimized experimental conditions, a linear relationship between peak current and concentration was observed within the range of 2.0 x 10⁻⁶ to 1.0× 10⁻⁴ M, with a correlation coefficient of 0.998 and a detection limit of 1.47× 10⁻⁷ M (signal-to-noise ratio = 3). Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to the quantitative analysis of caffeine in pharmaceutical formulations, yielding recovery percentages ranging from 95.27% to 106.75%.

Keywords: antraquinone-modified carbon paste electrode, caffeine, detection, electrochemical sensor, quantitative analysis

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Authors: Lu Ren, You-Liang Fang, Yan-Gang Zhao

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In recent years, the application of BIM (Building Information Modelling) to construction schedule plan has been the focus of more and more researchers. In order to assess the reasonable level of the BIM-based construction schedule plan, that is whether the schedule can be completed on time, some researchers have introduced reliability theory to evaluate. In the process of evaluation, the uncertain factors affecting the construction schedule plan are regarded as random variables, and probability distributions of the random variables are assumed to be normal distribution, which is determined using two parameters evaluated from the mean and standard deviation of statistical data. However, in practical engineering, most of the uncertain influence factors are not normal random variables. So the evaluation results of the construction schedule plan will be unreasonable under the assumption that probability distributions of random variables submitted to the normal distribution. Therefore, in order to get a more reasonable evaluation result, it is necessary to describe the distribution of random variables more comprehensively. For this purpose, cubic normal distribution is introduced in this paper to describe the distribution of arbitrary random variables, which is determined by the first four moments (mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis). In this paper, building the BIM model firstly according to the design messages of the structure and making the construction schedule plan based on BIM, then the cubic normal distribution is used to describe the distribution of the random variables due to the collecting statistical data of the random factors influencing construction schedule plan. Next the reliability analysis of the construction schedule plan based on BIM can be carried out more reasonably. Finally, the more accurate evaluation results can be given providing reference for the implementation of the actual construction schedule plan. In the last part of this paper, the more efficiency and accuracy of the proposed methodology for the reliability analysis of the construction schedule plan based on BIM are conducted through practical engineering case.

Keywords: BIM, construction schedule plan, cubic normal distribution, reliability analysis

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Authors: Julius Ilawe Osayi, Peter Osifo

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Solid waste disposal, such as used tires is a global challenge as well as energy crisis due to rising energy demand amidst price uncertainty and depleting fossil fuel reserves. Therefore, the effectiveness of pyrolysis as a disposal method that can transform used tires into liquid fuel and other end-products has made the process attractive to researchers. Although used tires have been converted to liquid fuel using pyrolysis, there is the need to improve on the liquid fuel properties. Hence, this paper reports the investigation of zeolite NaY synthesized from kaolin, a locally abundant soil material in the Benin metropolis as a suitable catalyst and its effect on the properties of pyrolytic oil produced from used tires. The pyrolysis process was conducted for a range of 1 to 10 wt.% of catalyst concentration to used tire at a temperature of 600 oC, a heating rate of 15oC/min and particle size of 6mm. Although no significant increase in pyrolytic oil yield was observed compared to the previously investigated non-catalytic pyrolysis of a used tire. However, the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR); and Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) characterization results revealed the pyrolytic oil to possess an improved physicochemical and fuel properties alongside valuable industrial chemical species. This confirms the possibility of transforming kaolin into a catalyst suitable for improved fuel properties of the liquid fraction obtainable from thermal cracking of hydrocarbon materials.

Keywords: catalytic pyrolysis, fossil fuel, kaolin, pyrolytic oil, used tyres, Zeolite NaY

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Authors: Worakrit Worananthakij, Kamonchanok Doungtadum, Nattagan Mingkwan, Supatsorn Chupong

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Natural products from herb have been used in different aspects of life as a result of their various biological activities. Generally, plant growth and production of secondary compounds largely depend on environmental conditions. To better understand this correlation, study on biological activity and soil parameter is necessary. This research aims to study the soil parameters which affect the efficiency of the antioxidant activity of essential oils extracted from the Zingiber zerumbet in three areas of Thailand, including Min Buri district, Bangkok province; Muang district, Chiang Mai province and Kaeng Sanam Nang district, Nakhon Ratchasima province. The soil samples in each area were collected and analyzed in the laboratory. The essential oil of Z. zerumbet in each province was extracted and tested for antioxidant activity by hydrodistillation method and DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical) assay, respectively. The results showed that, the soil parameters such as pH, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus elements and exchange of cations of soil specimen from Nakhon Ratchasima province were the highest (P<0.05) (6.10 ±0.03, 0.15 ± 0.04 percent of total nitrogen, 16.67 ± 0.46 mg/L, 3.35 ± 0.65 mg/kg and 12.87 ± 0.11 cmol/kg, respectively). In addition, IC50 (Inhibition Concentrtion of antioxidant at 50%) of Z. zerumbet essential oil collected from Nakhon Ratchasima showed the highest value (P<0.05) (1,400 µg/mL). In conclusion, the soil parameters are once important factor for the efficiency of essential oils extract from Z. zerumbet.

Keywords: antioxidant, essential oil, herb, soil parameter, Zingiber zerumbet

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Authors: Mami Nishida

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This paper presented a study on the development and control of a small biped soft robot using shape memory alloys (SMAs). Author proposed a flexible flat plate (FFP) actuators consisting of a thin　polyethylene plate and SMAs. This actuator has a nail like an insect. This robot moves from the front to back and from left to right using two nails. The walking robot has two degrees of freedom and is controlled by switching the ON-OFF current signals to the SMA based FFPs. The resulting small biped soft robot weighs a mere 4.7 g (with a height of 67 mm). The small robot realizes biped walking by transferring the elastic potential energy (generated by deflections of the SMA based FFPs) to kinematic energy. Experimental results demonstrated the viability and utility of the small biped soft robot with the proposed SMA-based FFPs and the control strategy to achieve walking behavior.

Keywords: biped soft robot with nails, flexible flat plate (FFP) actuators, ON-OFF control strategy, shape memory alloys (SMA)

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Authors: Ezayra Dubria, Leonora Yambao

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Mother Tongue–Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) is a salient part of the recent reform in the country’s Education system which is the implementation of the K to 12 Basic Education Program. Its importance is highlighted by the passing of Republic Act 10523, otherwise known as the ‘Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013’. However, teachers, especially new teachers encounter problems in using mother tongue as medium of instruction. Fortunately, teachers are able to create strategies which address these problems. Specifically, this paper gathered the viewpoints of teachers in using mother tongue and analyzed the different problems and strategies used. The problems encountered by teachers are lack of instructional materials written in mother tongue, especially books, lack of vocabulary, lack of teacher training, and influences of social media to learners. The strategies which address these problems are translation of literary pieces and other instructional materials, vocabulary enrichment through the use of word-of-the-day and picture-word association, remedial class, storytelling, differentiated instruction, explicit teaching, individual and group activities, and utilization of multilingual teaching.

Keywords: mother tongue-based instruction, multilingualism, problems, strategies

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Authors: Juan Jose Filgueira, Daniela Londono-Serna, Liliana Maria Hoyos

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Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) is one of the most important products of exportation in the floriculture industry worldwide. Fusariosis is the disease that causes the highest losses on farms, in particular the one produced by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. dianthi, called vascular wilt. Gene identification and metabolic routes of the genes that participate in the building of the plant response to Fusarium are some of the current targets in the carnation breeding industry. The techniques for the identifying of resistant genes in the plants, is the analysis of the transcriptome obtained during the host-pathogen interaction. In this work, we report the cell transcriptome of different varieties of carnation that present differential response from Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. dianthi attack. The cells of the different hybrids produced in the outbreeding program were cultured in vitro and elicited with the parasite in a dual culture. The isolation and purification of mRNA was achieved by using affinity chromatography Oligo dT columns and the transcriptomes were obtained by using Illumina NGS techniques. A total of 85,669 unigenes were detected in all the transcriptomes analyzed and 31,000 annotations were found in databases, which correspond to 36.2%. The library construction of genic expression techniques used, allowed to recognize the variation in the expression of genes such as Germin-like protein, Glycosyl hydrolase family and Cinnamate 4-hydroxylase. These have been reported in this study for the first time as part of the response mechanism to the presence of Fusarium oxysporum.

Keywords: Carnation, Fusarium, vascular wilt, transcriptome

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Authors: Mohammad Javad Shariatzadeh, Dana Grecov

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The tribological tests were performed on a new tribometer, in order to measure the coefficient of friction of a gland seal packing material on stainless steel shafts in presence of Cellulose Nanocrystal (CNC) suspension as a sustainable, environmentally friendly, water-based lubricant. To simulate the real situation from the slurry pumps, silica sands were used as slurry particles. The surface profiles after tests were measured by interferometer microscope to characterize the surface wear. Moreover, the coefficient of friction and surface wear were measured between stainless steel shaft and chrome steel ball to investigate the tribological effects of CNC in boundary lubrication region. Alignment of nanoparticles in the CNC suspensions are the main reason for friction and wear reduction. The homogeneous concentrated suspensions showed fingerprint patterns of a chiral nematic liquid crystal. These properties made CNC a very good lubricant additive in water.

Keywords: gland seal, lubricant additives, nanocrystalline cellulose, water-based lubricants

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Authors: O. M. Omar, G. D. Abd Elhameed, A. M. Heniegal, H. A. Mohamadien

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Green concrete are generally composed of recycling materials as hundred or partial percent substitutes for aggregate, cement, and admixture in concrete. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, efforts are needed to develop environmentally friendly construction materials. Using of fly ash based geopolymer as an alternative binder can help reduce CO2 emission of concrete. The binder of geopolymer concrete is different from the ordinary Portland cement concrete. Geopolymer Concrete specimens were prepared with different concentration of NaOH solution M10, M14, and, M16 and cured at 60 ºC in duration of 24 hours and 8 hours, in addition to the curing in direct sunlight. Thus, it is necessary to study the effects of the geopolymer binder on the behavior of concrete. Concrete is made by using geopolymer technology is environmental friendly and could be considered as part of the sustainable development. In this study the Local Alkaline Activator in Egypt and dolomite as coarse aggregate in fly ash based-geopolymer concrete was investigated. This paper illustrates the development of mechanical properties. Since the gained compressive strength for geopolymer concrete at 28 days was in the range of 22.5MPa – 43.9MPa.

Keywords: geopolymer, molarity, sodium hydroxide, sodium silicate

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Authors: Lekshmi Vijayan, K. Shreekrishna Kumar

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We demonstrated an organic field effect transistor based photodetector using phthalocyanine as the active material that exhibited high photosensitivity under varying light wavelengths. The thermally grown SiO₂ layer on silicon wafer act as a substrate. The critical parameters, such as photosensitivity, responsivity and detectivity, are comparatively high and were 3.09, 0.98AW⁻¹ and 4.86 × 10¹⁰ Jones, respectively, under a bias of 5 V and a monochromatic illumination intensity of 4mW cm⁻². The photodetector has a linear I-V curve with a low dark current. On comparing photoresponse of copper phthalocyanine at four different wavelengths, 560 nm shows better photoresponse and the highest value of photosensitivity is also obtained.

Keywords: photodetector, responsivity, photosensitivity, detectivity

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Authors: Glynn K. Pindihama, Rabelani Mudzielwana, Ndamulelo Lilimu

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Wastewater treatment effluents, particularly sludges, are known to be potential sources of heavy metal contamination in the environment, depending on how the sludge is managed. Maintenance of wastewater treatment infrastructure in developing countries such as South Africa has become an issue of grave concern, with many wastewater treatment facilities in dilapidating states. Among the problems is the vandalism of the periphery fence to many wastewater treatment facilities, resulting in livestock, such as cows from neighboring villages, grazing within the facilities. This raises human health risks since dried sludge from the treatment plants is usually spread on the grass around the plant, resulting in heavy metal contamination. Animal products such as meat and milk from these cows thus become an indirect route to heavy metals to humans. This study assessed heavy metals in sludges from 3 wastewater treatment plants in Limpopo Province of South Africa. In addition, cow dung and sludge liquors were collected from these plants and evaluated for their heavy metal content. The sludge and cow dung were microwave-digested using the aqua-regia method, and all samples were analyzed for heavy metals using ICP-OES. The loadings of heavy metals in the sludge were in the order Cu>Zn>Ni>Cr>Cd>As>Hg. In cow dung, the heavy metals were in the order Fe>Cu>Mn>Zn>Cr>Pb>Co>Cd. The levels of Zn and Cu in the sludge liquors where the animals were observed drinking were, in some cases, above the permissible limit for livestock consumption. Principal component and correlation analysis are yet to be done to determine if there is a correlation between the heavy metals in the cow dung and sludge and sludge liquors.

Keywords: cow dung, heavy metals, sludge, wastewater treatment plants, sludge.

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Authors: Yang Bao, Shi Wei Deng, WangQun Lin

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This paper introduces the concept and principle of data cleaning, analyzes the types and causes of dirty data, and proposes several key steps of typical cleaning process, puts forward a well scalability and versatility data cleaning framework, in view of data with attribute dependency relation, designs several of violation data discovery algorithms by formal formula, which can obtain inconsistent data to all target columns with condition attribute dependent no matter data is structured (SQL) or unstructured (NoSQL), and gives 6 data cleaning methods based on these algorithms.

Keywords: data cleaning, dependency rules, violation data discovery, data repair

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Authors: Haonan Hu, Shuge Lei, Dasheng Sun, Huabin Zhang, Kehong Yuan, Jian Dai, Jijun Tang

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This paper focuses on the classification task of breast ultrasound images and conducts research on the reliability measurement of classification results. A dual-channel evaluation framework was developed based on the proposed inference reliability and predictive reliability scores. For the inference reliability evaluation, human-aligned and doctor-agreed inference rationals based on the improved feature attribution algorithm SP-RISA are gracefully applied. Uncertainty quantification is used to evaluate the predictive reliability via the test time enhancement. The effectiveness of this reliability evaluation framework has been verified on the breast ultrasound clinical dataset YBUS, and its robustness is verified on the public dataset BUSI. The expected calibration errors on both datasets are significantly lower than traditional evaluation methods, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed reliability measurement.

Keywords: medical imaging, ultrasound imaging, XAI, uncertainty measurement, trustworthy AI

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Authors: Duangkamol Thitivesa

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

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

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Authors: David Lindström

Abstract:

We evaluate the performance of a numerical method for global optimization of expensive functions. The method is using a response surface to guide the search for the global optimum. This metamodel could be based on radial basis functions, kriging, or a combination of different models. We discuss how to set the cycling parameters of the optimization method to get a balance between local and global search. We also discuss the eventual problem with Runge oscillations in the response surface.

Keywords: expensive function, infill sampling criterion, kriging, global optimization, response surface, Runge phenomenon

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Authors: Y.J. Wang, C. Q. Ru

Abstract:

A key issue of cohesive zone models is how to determine the cohesive zone model parameters based on real material test data. In this paper, uniaxial nominal stress-strain curve (SS curve) is used to determine two key parameters of a cohesive zone model (CZM): The maximum traction and the area under the curve of traction-separation law (TSL). To this end, the true SS curve is obtained based on the nominal SS curve, and the relationship between the nominal SS curve and TSL is derived based on an assumption that the stress for cracking should be the same in both CZM and the real material. In particular, the true SS curve after necking is derived from the nominal SS curve by taking the average of the power law extrapolation and the linear extrapolation, and a damage factor is introduced to offset the true stress reduction caused by the voids generated at the necking zone. The maximum traction of the TSL is equal to the maximum true stress calculated based on the damage factor at the end of hardening. In addition, a simple specimen is modeled by Abaqus/Standard to calculate the critical J-integral, and the fracture energy calculated by the critical J-integral represents the stored strain energy in the necking zone calculated by the true SS curve. Finally, the CZM parameters obtained by the present method are compared to those used in a previous related work for a simulation of the drop-weight tear test.

Keywords: dynamic fracture, cohesive zone model, traction-separation law, stress-strain curve, J-integral

Procedia PDF Downloads 467

Authors: LaRon A. Scott, Donna M. Gibson

Abstract:

Data indicate that counselor education programs in the United States do not prepare their students adequately to serve students with disabilities nor provide counseling as a related service. There is a need to train more school counselors to provide related services to students with disabilities, for many reasons, but specifically, school counselors are participating in Individualized Education Programs (IEP) and transition planning meetings for students with disabilities where important academic, mental health and post-secondary education decisions are made. While school counselors input is perceived very important to the process, they may not have the knowledge or training in this area to feel confident in offering required input in these meetings. Using a conceptual research design, a model that can be used to prepare school counseling students as related service providers and effective supports to address transition for students with disabilities was developed as a component of this research. The authors developed the Collaborative Model of Preparing School Counseling Students as Related Service Providers to Students with Disabilities, based on a conceptual framework that involves an integration of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and evidenced-based practices based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to provide related and transition services and planning with students with disabilities. The authors’ conclude that with five overarching competencies, (1) knowledge and understanding of disabilities, (2) knowledge and expertise in group counseling to students with disabilities, (3), knowledge and experience in specific related service components, (4) knowledge and experience in evidence-based counseling interventions, (5) knowledge and experiencing in evidenced-based transition and career planning services, that school counselors can enter the field with the necessary expertise to adequately serve all students. Other examples and strategies are suggested, and recommendations for preparation programs seeking to integrate a model to prepare school counselors to implement evidenced-based transition strategies in supporting students with disabilities are included

Keywords: transition education, social cognitive career theory, self-determination, counseling

Procedia PDF Downloads 240

Authors: Mariam Azam, Sajjad Ur Rahman, Mukarram Bashir, Muhammad Tahir, Seemal Javaid, Jawad, Aoun Muhammad, Muhammad Zohaib, Hannan Khan

Abstract:

Products of microbial origin are of great importance as they have proved their value in healthcare and nutrition, use of these microbial metabolites acquired from partially fermented soya hulls and wheat bran along with Saccharomyces cerevisiae (DL-22 S/N) substantiates to be a great source for an increase in the total milk production and quality yield.1×109 CFU/ml cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (DL-22 S/N) were further grown under in-vivo conditions for the assessment of quality milk production. Two groups with twelve cows, each having the same physical characteristics (Group A and Group B), were under study, Group A was daily fed with 12gm of biological metabolites and 22% protein-pelleted feed. On the other hand, the animals of Group B were provided with no metabolites in their feed. In thirty days of trial, improvement in the overall health, body score, milk protein, milk fat, yield, incidence rate of mastitis, ash, and solid not fat (SNF) was observed. The collected data showed that the average quality milk production was elevated up to 0.45 liter/h/d. However, a reduction in the milk fats up to 0.45% and uplift in the SNF value up to 0.53% of cow milk was also observed. At the same time, the incidence rate of mastitis recorded for the animals under trial was reduced to half, and improved non specific immunity was reported.

Keywords: microbial metabolites, post-biotics, animal supplements, animal nutrition, proteins, animal production, fermentation

Procedia PDF Downloads 95

Authors: R. C. Law, Shirley Kang, T. Y. Hin, M. Z. Abdullah

Abstract:

LED technology has been evolving aggressively in recent years from incandescent bulb during older days to as small as chip scale package. It will continue to stay bright in future. As such, there is tremendous pressure to stay competitive in the market by optimizing products to next level of performance and reliability with the shortest time to market. This changes the conventional way of product design and development to virtual prototyping by means of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE). It comprises of the deployment of Finite Element Method (FEM) and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD). FEM accelerates the investigation for early detection of failures such as crack, improve the thermal performance of system and enhance solder joint reliability. CFD helps to simulate the flow pattern of molding material as a function of different temperature, molding parameters settings to evaluate failures like voids and displacement. This paper will briefly discuss the procedures and applications of FEM in thermal stress, solder joint reliability and CFD of compression molding in LED CSP. Integration of virtual prototyping in product development had greatly reduced the time to market. Many successful achievements with minimized number of evaluation iterations required in the scope of material, process setting, and package architecture variant have been materialized with this approach.

Keywords: LED, chip scale packaging (CSP), computational fluid dynamic (CFD), virtual prototyping

Procedia PDF Downloads 284