Search results for: real incentives

Authors: Malte Brettel, Niklas Friederichsen, Michael Keller, Marius Rosenberg

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The German manufacturing industry has to withstand an increasing global competition on product quality and production costs. As labor costs are high, several industries have suffered severely under the relocation of production facilities towards aspiring countries, which have managed to close the productivity and quality gap substantially. Established manufacturing companies have recognized that customers are not willing to pay large price premiums for incremental quality improvements. As a consequence, many companies from the German manufacturing industry adjust their production focusing on customized products and fast time to market. Leveraging the advantages of novel production strategies such as Agile Manufacturing and Mass Customization, manufacturing companies transform into integrated networks, in which companies unite their core competencies. Hereby, virtualization of the process- and supply-chain ensures smooth inter-company operations providing real-time access to relevant product and production information for all participating entities. Boundaries of companies deteriorate, as autonomous systems exchange data, gained by embedded systems throughout the entire value chain. By including Cyber-Physical-Systems, advanced communication between machines is tantamount to their dialogue with humans. The increasing utilization of information and communication technology allows digital engineering of products and production processes alike. Modular simulation and modeling techniques allow decentralized units to flexibly alter products and thereby enable rapid product innovation. The present article describes the developments of Industry 4.0 within the literature and reviews the associated research streams. Hereby, we analyze eight scientific journals with regards to the following research fields: Individualized production, end-to-end engineering in a virtual process chain and production networks. We employ cluster analysis to assign sub-topics into the respective research field. To assess the practical implications, we conducted face-to-face interviews with managers from the industry as well as from the consulting business using a structured interview guideline. The results reveal reasons for the adaption and refusal of Industry 4.0 practices from a managerial point of view. Our findings contribute to the upcoming research stream of Industry 4.0 and support decision-makers to assess their need for transformation towards Industry 4.0 practices.

Keywords: Industry 4.0., mass customization, production networks, virtual process-chain

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Authors: Chen-Jung Chen, Yi-Chang Chen

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While traditional virtual reality and augmented reality only allow for small movement learning and cannot provide a truly immersive teaching experience to give it the illusion of movement, the new technology of both content creation and immersive interactive simulation of the metaverse can just reach infinite close to the natural teaching situation. However, the mixed reality virtual classroom of metaverse has not yet explored its theory, and it is rarely implemented in the situational simulation teaching of nursing education. Therefore, in the first year, the study will intend to use grounded theory and case study methods and in-depth interviews with nursing education and information experts. Analyze the interview data to investigate the uniqueness of metaverse development. The proposed analysis will lead to alternative theories and methods for the development of nursing education. In the second year, it will plan to integrate the metaverse virtual situation simulation technology into the alternate teaching strategy in the pediatric nursing technology course and explore the nursing students' use of this teaching method as the construction of personal technology and experience. By leveraging the unique features of distinct teaching platforms and developing processes to deliver alternative teaching strategies in a nursing technology teaching environment. The aim is to increase learning achievements without compromising teaching quality and teacher-student relationships in the post-pandemic era. A descriptive and convergent mixed methods design will be employed. Sixty third-grade nursing students will be recruited to participate in the research and complete the pre-test. The students in the experimental group (N=30) agreed to participate in 4 real-time mixed virtual situation simulation courses in self-practice after class and conducted qualitative interviews after each 2 virtual situation courses; the control group (N=30) adopted traditional practice methods of self-learning after class. Both groups of students took a post-test after the course. Data analysis will adopt descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, and qualitative content analysis. This study addresses key issues in the virtual reality environment for teaching and learning within the metaverse, providing valuable lessons and insights for enhancing the quality of education. The findings of this study are expected to contribute useful information for the future development of digital teaching and learning in nursing and other practice-based disciplines.

Keywords: metaverse, post-pandemic era, online virtual classroom, immersive teaching

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Authors: Antti Lanki, Justiina Halonen, Juuso Punnonen, Emmi Rantavuo

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Marine oil spill response operation requires extensive vessel maneuvering and navigation skills. At-sea oil containment and recovery include both single vessel and multi-vessel operations. Towing long oil containment booms that are several hundreds of meters in length, is a challenge in itself. Boom deployment and towing in multi-vessel configurations is an added challenge that requires precise coordination and control of the vessels. Efficient communication, as a prerequisite for shared situational awareness, is needed in order to execute the response task effectively. To gain and maintain adequate maritime skills, practical training is needed. Field exercises are the most effective way of learning, but especially the related vessel operations are resource-intensive and costly. Field exercises may also be affected by environmental limitations such as high sea-state or other adverse weather conditions. In Finland, the seasonal ice-coverage also limits the training period to summer seasons only. In addition, environmental sensitiveness of the sea area restricts the use of real oil or other target substances. This paper examines, whether maritime simulator training can offer a complementary method to overcome the training challenges related to field exercises. The objective is to assess the efficiency and the learning impact of simulator training, and the specific skills that can be trained most effectively in simulators. This paper provides an overview of learning results from two oil spill response pilot courses, in which maritime navigational bridge simulators were used to train the oil spill response authorities. The simulators were equipped with an oil spill functionality module. The courses were targeted at coastal Fire and Rescue Services responsible for near shore oil spill response in Finland. The competence levels of the participants were surveyed before and after the course in order to measure potential shifts in competencies due to the simulator training. In addition to the quantitative analysis, the efficiency of the simulator training is evaluated qualitatively through feedback from the participants. The results indicate that simulator training is a valid and effective method for developing marine oil spill response competencies that complement traditional field exercises. Simulator training provides a safe environment for assessing various oil containment and recovery tactics. One of the main benefits of the simulator training was found to be the immediate feedback the spill modelling software provides on the oil spill behaviour as a reaction to response measures.

Keywords: maritime training, oil spill response, simulation, vessel manoeuvring

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Authors: Massimiliano Condotta, Giovanni Borga, Chiara Scanagatta

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Urban systems are places where the various actors involved interact and enter in conflict, in particular with reference to topics such as traffic congestion and security. But topics of discussion, and often clash because of their strong complexity, are air and noise pollution. For air pollution, the complexity stems from the fact that atmospheric pollution is due to many factors, but above all, the observation and measurement of the amount of pollution of a transparent, mobile and ethereal element like air is very difficult. Often the perceived condition of the inhabitants does not coincide with the real conditions, because it is conditioned - sometimes in positive ways other in negative ways - from many other factors such as the presence, or absence, of natural elements such as trees or rivers. These problems are seen with noise pollution as well, which is also less considered as an issue even if it’s problematic just as much as air quality. Starting from these opposite positions, it is difficult to identify and implement valid, and at the same time shared, mitigation solutions for the problem of urban pollution (air and noise pollution). The LOOPER (Learning Loops in the Public Realm) project –described in this paper – wants to build and test a methodology and a platform for participatory co-design, planning, and construction process inside a learning loop process. Novelties in this approach are various; the most relevant are three. The first is that citizens participation starts since from the research of problems and air quality analysis through a participatory data collection, and that continues in all process steps (design and construction). The second is that the methodology is characterized by a learning loop process. It means that after the first cycle of (1) problems identification, (2) planning and definition of design solution and (3) construction and implementation of mitigation measures, the effectiveness of implemented solutions is measured and verified through a new participatory data collection campaign. In this way, it is possible to understand if the policies and design solution had a positive impact on the territory. As a result of the learning process produced by the first loop, it will be possible to improve the design of the mitigation measures and start the second loop with new and more effective measures. The third relevant aspect is that the citizens' participation is carried out via Urban Living Labs that involve all stakeholder of the city (citizens, public administrators, associations of all urban stakeholders,…) and that the Urban Living Labs last for all the cycling of the design, planning and construction process. The paper will describe in detail the LOOPER methodology and the technical solution adopted for the participatory data collection and design and construction phases.

Keywords: air quality, co-design, learning loops, noise pollution, urban living labs

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Authors: Aiydh Aljeddani, Fran Martin

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The study mainly aims at exploring and understanding the current practice of social studies and citizenship education curriculum contribution to sustainability literacy and competency of the ninth and tenth grade students in the Saudi general education context. This study stems from a need for conducting research in general education contexts in order to prepare future graduate students who possess fundamental elements of education for sustainable development. To the best of our knowledge, the literature on education for sustainable development reveals that little research has been conducted so far on general education contexts and this study will add new knowledge in the literature. The study is interpretive in nature and employs a qualitative case study approach, and ethnography methodologies to understand deeply this complex educational phenomenon. 167 participants took part in this study, they were from six general education schools and made up of 25 teachers, and 142 students. Document analysis, semi-structured interviews, nominal group technique, and passive participant observation were used in order to gather the data for this study. The outcomes of the study showed the keenness of the Saudi government on promoting and raising awareness education for sustainable development among its younger generation via a sustainable development promoting curriculum. However, applying this vision in a real school setting, particularly via the social studies and citizenship education curriculum in grades nine and ten, has been challenging for different reasons as revealed by this study. First, incorporating sustainability in the social studies and citizenship education curriculum in the Saudi grade ninth and tenth grade, is based on the vision of the Saudi government but the ministry of education’s rules and regulations do not support it. Moreover, the circulars issued by the ministry are also not supportive of teachers and students efforts to implement a sustainable development education curriculum. Second, teachers, as members of this community who play a significant role in achieving the objectives of incorporating sustainability, are often seen as technicians and not as professional human beings. They are confined to the curriculum, the classroom and stripped of their will power by the school management and the educational administration. The subjects, who are students here, are also not prepared nor guided to achieve the objects. In addition, the tools mediated between subjects and objects are not convenient. There were some major challenges regarding the contradictions in incorporating sustainability processes such as demanding creativity from a teacher who is overloaded with tasks irrelevant to teaching and teachers’ training programs not meeting the teachers’ training needs.

Keywords: practice, integrating sustainability, curriculum, educational context

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Authors: Hamza Benzerrouk, Alexander Nebylov

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In classical GNSS/INS integration designs, the loosely coupled approach uses the GNSS derived position and the velocity as the measurements vector. This design is suboptimal from the standpoint of preventing GNSSoutliers/outages. The tightly coupled GPS/INS navigation filter mixes the GNSS pseudo range and inertial measurements and obtains the vehicle navigation state as the final navigation solution. The ultra‐tightly coupled GNSS/INS design combines the I (inphase) and Q(quadrature) accumulator outputs in the GNSS receiver signal tracking loops and the INS navigation filter function intoa single Kalman filter variant (EKF, UKF, SPKF, CKF and HCKF). As mentioned, EKF and UKF are the most used nonlinear filters in the literature and are well adapted to inertial navigation state estimation when integrated with GNSS signal outputs. In this paper, it is proposed to move a step forward with more accurate filters and modern approaches called Cubature and High Degree cubature Kalman Filtering methods, on the basis of previous results solving the state estimation based on INS/GNSS integration, Cubature Kalman Filter (CKF) and High Degree Cubature Kalman Filter with (HCKF) are the references for the recent developed generalized Cubature rule based Kalman Filter (GCKF). High degree cubature rules are the kernel of the new solution for more accurate estimation with less computational complexity compared with the Gauss-Hermite Quadrature (GHQKF). Gauss-Hermite Kalman Filter GHKF which is not selected in this work because of its limited real-time implementation in high-dimensional state-spaces. In ultra tightly or a deeply coupled GNSS/INS system is dynamics EKF is used with transition matrix factorization together with GNSS block processing which is well described in the paper and assumes available the intermediary frequency IF by using a correlator samples with a rate of 500 Hz in the presented approach. GNSS (GPS+GLONASS) measurements are assumed available and modern SPKF with Cubature Kalman Filter (CKF) are compared with new versions of CKF called high order CKF based on Spherical-radial cubature rules developed at the fifth order in this work. Estimation accuracy of the high degree CKF is supposed to be comparative to GHKF, results of state estimation are then observed and discussed for different initialization parameters. Results show more accurate navigation state estimation and more robust GNSS receiver when Ultra Tightly Coupled approach applied based on High Degree Cubature Kalman Filter.

Keywords: GNSS, INS, Kalman filtering, ultra tight integration

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Authors: Dangut Maren David, Skaf Zakwan

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Adequate monitoring of vehicle component in other to obtain high uptime is the goal of predictive maintenance, the major challenge faced by businesses in industries is the significant cost associated with a delay in service delivery due to system downtime. Most of those businesses are interested in predicting those problems and proactively prevent them in advance before it occurs, which is the core advantage of Prognostic Health Management (PHM) application. The recent emergence of industry 4.0 or industrial internet of things (IIoT) has led to the need for monitoring systems activities and enhancing system-to-system or component-to- component interactions, this has resulted to a large generation of data known as big data. Analysis of big data represents an increasingly important, however, due to complexity inherently in the dataset such as imbalance classification problems, it becomes extremely difficult to build a model with accurate high precision. Data-driven predictive modeling for condition-based maintenance (CBM) has recently drowned research interest with growing attention to both academics and industries. The large data generated from industrial process inherently comes with a different degree of complexity which posed a challenge for analytics. Thus, imbalance classification problem exists perversely in industrial datasets which can affect the performance of learning algorithms yielding to poor classifier accuracy in model development. Misclassification of faults can result in unplanned breakdown leading economic loss. In this paper, an advanced approach for handling imbalance classification problem is proposed and then a prognostic model for predicting aircraft component replacement is developed to predict component replacement in advanced by exploring aircraft historical data, the approached is based on hybrid ensemble-based method which improves the prediction of the minority class during learning, we also investigate the impact of our approach on multiclass imbalance problem. We validate the feasibility and effectiveness in terms of the performance of our approach using real-world aircraft operation and maintenance datasets, which spans over 7 years. Our approach shows better performance compared to other similar approaches. We also validate our approach strength for handling multiclass imbalanced dataset, our results also show good performance compared to other based classifiers.

Keywords: prognostics, data-driven, imbalance classification, deep learning

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Authors: Anjali Roy, Mirza S. Baig

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Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by the formation of lipid rich plaque enriched with necrotic core, modified lipid accumulation, smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, leucocytes and macrophages. Macrophage foam cells play a critical role in the occurrence and development of inflammatory atherosclerotic plaque. Foam cells are the fat-laden macrophages in the initial stage atherosclerotic lesion formation. Foam cells are an indication of plaque build-up, or atherosclerosis, which is commonly associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke as a result of arterial narrowing and hardening. The mechanisms that drive atherosclerotic plaque progression remain largely unknown. Dissecting the molecular mechanism involved in process of macrophage foam cell formation will help to develop therapeutic interventions for atherosclerosis. To investigate the mechanism, we studied the role of nitric oxide synthase 1(NOS1)-mediated nitric oxide (NO) on low-density lipoprotein (LDL) uptake by bone marrow derived macrophages (BMDM). Using confocal microscopy, we found that incubation of macrophages with NOS1 inhibitor, TRIM (1-(2-Trifluoromethylphenyl) imidazole) or L-NAME (N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester) prior to LDL treatment significantly reduces the LDL uptake by BMDM. Further, addition of NO donor (DEA NONOate) in NOS1 inhibitor treated macrophages recovers the LDL uptake. Our data strongly suggest that NOS1 derived NO regulates LDL uptake by macrophages and foam cell formation. Moreover, we also checked proinflammatory cytokine mRNA expression through real time PCR in BMDM treated with LDL and copper oxidized LDL (OxLDL) in presences and absences of inhibitor. Normal LDL does not evoke cytokine expression whereas OxLDL induced proinflammatory cytokine expression which significantly reduced in presences of NOS1 inhibitor. Rapid NOS-1-derived NO and its stable derivative formation act as signaling agents for inducible NOS-2 expression in endothelial cells, leading to endothelial vascular wall lining disruption and dysfunctioning. This study highlights the role of NOS1 as critical players of foam cell formation and would reveal much about the key molecular proteins involved in atherosclerosis. Thus, targeting NOS1 would be a useful strategy in reducing LDL uptake by macrophages at early stage of disease and hence dampening the atherosclerosis progression.

Keywords: atherosclerosis, NOS1, inflammation, oxidized LDL

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Authors: Dorit Alt, Nirit Raichel

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Although university teaching is claimed to have a special task to support students in adopting ways of thinking and producing new knowledge anchored in scientific inquiry practices, it is argued that students' habits of learning are still overwhelmingly skewed toward passive acquisition of knowledge from authority sources rather than from collaborative inquiry activities.This form of instruction is criticized for encouraging students to acquire inert knowledge that can be used in instructional settings at best, however cannot be transferred into real-life complex problem settings. In order to overcome this critical inadequacy between current educational goals and instructional methods, the LLAF consortium (including 16 members from 8 countries) is aimed at developing updated instructional practices that put a premium on adaptability to the emerging requirements of present society. LLAF has created a practical guide for teachers containing updated pedagogical strategies and assessment tools, based on the constructivist approach for learning that put a premium on adaptability to the emerging requirements of present society. This presentation will be limited to teachers' education only and to the contribution of the project in providing a scale designed to measure the extent to which the constructivist activities are efficiently applied in the learning environment. A mix-method approach was implemented in two phases to construct the scale: The first phase included a qualitative content analysis involving both deductive and inductive category applications of students' observations. The results foregrounded eight categories: knowledge construction, authenticity, multiple perspectives, prior knowledge, in-depth learning, teacher- student interaction, social interaction and cooperative dialogue. The students' descriptions of their classes were formulated as 36 items. The second phase employed structural equation modeling (SEM). The scale was submitted to 597 undergraduate students. The goodness of fit of the data to the structural model yielded sufficient fit results. This research elaborates the body of literature by adding a category of in-depth learning which emerged from the content analysis. Moreover, the theoretical category of social activity has been extended to include two distinctive factors: cooperative dialogue and social interaction. Implications of these findings for the LLAF project are discussed.

Keywords: constructivist learning, higher education, mix-methodology, structural equation modeling

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Authors: Dijiang Lyu, Shaoying Li, Zhangzhi Tan, Zhifeng Wu, Feng Gao

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Nowadays, China is experiencing rapidly urban rail transit expansions in the world. The purpose of this study is to finely model factors influencing transit ridership at multi-time dimensions within transit stations’ pedestrian catchment area (PCA) in Guangzhou, China. This study was based on multi-sources spatial data, including smart card data, high spatial resolution images, points of interest (POIs), real-estate online data and building height data. Eight multiple linear regression models using backward stepwise method and Geographic Information System (GIS) were created at station-level. According to Chinese code for classification of urban land use and planning standards of development land, residential land-use were divided into three categories: first-level (e.g. villa), second-level (e.g. community) and third-level (e.g. urban villages). Finally, it concluded that: (1) four factors (CBD dummy, number of feeder bus route, number of entrance or exit and the years of station operation) were proved to be positively correlated with transit ridership, but the area of green land-use and water land-use negative correlated instead. (2) The area of education land-use, the second-level and third-level residential land-use were found to be highly connected to the average value of morning peak boarding and evening peak alighting ridership. But the area of commercial land-use and the average height of buildings, were significantly positive associated with the average value of morning peak alighting and evening peak boarding ridership. (3) The area of the second-level residential land-use was rarely correlated with ridership in other regression models. Because private car ownership is still large in Guangzhou now, and some residents living in the community around the stations go to work by transit at peak time, but others are much more willing to drive their own car at non-peak time. The area of the third-level residential land-use, like urban villages, was highly positive correlated with ridership in all models, indicating that residents who live in the third-level residential land-use are the main passenger source of the Guangzhou Metro. (4) The diversity of land-use was found to have a significant impact on the passenger flow on the weekend, but was non-related to weekday. The findings can be useful for station planning, management and policymaking.

Keywords: fine-scale modeling, Guangzhou city, multi-time dimensions, multi-sources spatial data, transit ridership

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Authors: Beate Englich, Linda Schlittenbauer, Christiane Pfeifer, Isabel Kratochvil, Michael Borte, Gabriele I. Stangl, Martin von Bergen, Thorsten Reemtsma, Irina Lehmann, Kristin M. Junge

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The worldwide production of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC) has risen dramatically over the last decades, as so has the prevalence for obesity. Many EDCs are believed to contribute to this obesity epidemic, by enhancing adipogenesis or disrupting relevant metabolism. This effect is most tremendous in the early prenatal period when priming effects find a highly vulnerable time window. Therefore, we investigate the impact of parabens on childhood overweight development and adipogenesis in general. Parabens are ester of 4-hydroxy-benzoic acid and part of many cosmetic products or food packing. Therefore, ubiquitous exposure can be found in the westernized world, with exposure already starting during the sensitive prenatal period. We assessed maternal cosmetic product consumption, prenatal paraben exposure and infant BMI z-scores in the prospective German LINA cohort. In detail, maternal urinary concentrations (34 weeks of gestation) of methyl paraben (MeP), ethyl paraben (EtP), n-propyl paraben (PrP) and n-butyl paraben (BuP) were quantified using UPLC-MS/MS. Body weight and height of their children was assessed during annual clinical visits. Further, we investigated the direct influence of those parabens on adipogenesis in-vitro using a human mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation assay to mimic a prenatal exposure scenario. MSC were exposed to 0.1 – 50 µM paraben during the entire differentiation period. Differentiation outcome was monitored by impedance spectrometry, real-time PCR and triglyceride staining. We found that maternal cosmetic product consumption was highly correlated with urinary paraben concentrations at pregnancy. Further, prenatal paraben exposure was linked to higher BMI Z-scores in children. Our in-vitro analysis revealed that especially the long chained paraben BuP stimulates adipogenesis by increasing the expression of adipocyte specific genes (PPARγ, ADIPOQ, LPL, etc.) and triglyceride storage. Moreover, we found that adiponectin secretion is increased whereas leptin secretion is reduced under BuP exposure in-vitro. Further mechanistic analysis for receptor binding and activation of PPARγ and other key players in adipogenesis are currently in process. We conclude that maternal cosmetic product consumption is linked to prenatal paraben exposure of children and contributes to the development of infant overweight development by triggering key pathways of adipogenesis.

Keywords: adipogenesis, endocrine disruptors, paraben, prenatal exposure

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Authors: Aneta Binkowska, Artur Kamecki

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The ability to provide first aid should be one of the basic skills of each of us. First aid by the Law on National Medical Emergency dated 8 September 2006 as amended, is a set of actions undertaken to save a person at the scene of an accident. In Poland, on the basis of Article 162 of the Criminal Code, we are obliged to provide first aid to the victim. In addition, according to a large part of society, unselfishness towards others in need of help is our moral obligation. The aim of the study was to learn the opinion of the members of Medical Rescue Teams (MRT) of the ‘Meditrans’ Provincial Ambulance and Sanitary Transport Service (PA and STS ‘Meditrans’) in Warsaw on how people react in real situations threatening life or health of the injured person. The study was conducted in the third quarter of 2015 on 335 members of medical rescue teams, including 77 W and 258 M, who provided medical services in the ‘Meditrans’ Provincial Ambulance and Sanitary Transport Service MRT in Warsaw. The research tool was an anonymous questionnaire survey of own design, which consisted of 12 questions: closed, half open and one open question. Respondents were divided into 3 age groups and by individual medical professions (doctor, paramedic, nurse). The straight majority of respondents encountered granting the first aid the event on the spot. However, the frequency of appearing in such proceedings isn’t too high. The first aid has most often been given in the street and in houses. The final audited fairly important element is the reason not to provide first aid by bystanders in the opinion of members of the medical teams. Respondents to this question, which was an open question were asked to name the reason for not taking any action while waiting for an ambulance. Over 50% of respondents could not answer. The most common answers were: fear, lack of knowledge and skills, reluctance, indifference, lack of training, lack of experience and fear that harm. Conclusion: The majority of respondents have encountered instances of first aid provision, but respondents assessed the frequency of such situations as low. Placing the victim in the recovery position is the simplest and most common form of first aid. Therefore, training should be introduced not only on CPR but also in the scope of helping persons in sudden health emergency, who do not have a sudden cardiac arrest. A statement can be formulated, as a main conclusion of the analysis, that only continuous education and in particular practical training will help people to overcome the barrier of their limitations in order to help others. Among the largest group of witnesses providing first aid are the elderly and youth, who are subjected to various forms of education related to first aid provision.

Keywords: BLS, first aid, medical rescue, resuscitation

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Authors: Hemant Upadhyay, Tarun Kumar Kundu

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It is utmost important for a blast furnace operator to understand the mechanisms governing the liquid flow, accumulation, drainage and heat transfer between various phases in blast furnace hearth for a stable and efficient blast furnace operation. Abnormal drainage behavior may lead to high liquid build up in the hearth. Operational problems such as pressurization, low wind intake, and lower material descent rates, normally be encountered if the liquid levels in the hearth exceed a critical limit when Hearth coke and Deadman start to float. Similarly, hot metal temperature is an important parameter to be controlled in the BF operation; it should be kept at an optimal level to obtain desired product quality and a stable BF performance. It is not possible to carry out any direct measurement of above due to the hostile conditions in the hearth with chemically aggressive hot liquids. The objective here is to develop a mathematical model to simulate the variation in hot metal / slag accumulation and temperature during the tapping of the blast furnace based on the computed drainage rate, production rate, mass balance, heat transfer between metal and slag, metal and solids, slag and solids as well as among the various zones of metal and slag itself. For modeling purpose, the BF hearth is considered as a pressurized vessel, filled with solid coke particles. Liquids trickle down in hearth from top and accumulate in voids between the coke particles which are assumed thermally saturated. A set of generic mass balance equations gives the amount of metal and slag intake in hearth. A small drainage (tap hole) is situated at the bottom of the hearth and flow rate of liquids from tap hole is computed taking in account the amount of both the phases accumulated their level in hearth, pressure from gases in the furnace and erosion behaviors of tap hole itself. Heat transfer equations provide the exchange of heat between various layers of liquid metal and slag, and heat loss to cooling system through refractories. Based on all that information a dynamic simulation is carried out which provides real time information of liquids accumulation in hearth before and during tapping, drainage rate and its variation, predicts critical event timings during tapping and expected tapping temperature of metal and slag on preset time intervals. The model is in use at JSPL, India BF-II and its output is regularly cross-checked with actual tapping data, which are in good agreement.

Keywords: blast furnace, hearth, deadman, hotmetal

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Authors: Nareshkumar Harale, B. B. Meshram

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The continued exponential growth of successful cyber intrusions against today’s businesses has made it abundantly clear that traditional perimeter security measures are no longer adequate and effective. We evolved the network trust architecture from trust-untrust to Zero-Trust, With Zero Trust, essential security capabilities are deployed in a way that provides policy enforcement and protection for all users, devices, applications, data resources, and the communications traffic between them, regardless of their location. Information exchange over the Internet, in spite of inclusion of advanced security controls, is always under innovative, inventive and prone to cyberattacks. TCP/IP protocol stack, the adapted standard for communication over network, suffers from inherent design vulnerabilities such as communication and session management protocols, routing protocols and security protocols are the major cause of major attacks. With the explosion of cyber security threats, such as viruses, worms, rootkits, malwares, Denial of Service attacks, accomplishing efficient and effective intrusion detection and prevention is become crucial and challenging too. In this paper, we propose a design and analysis model for next generation network intrusion detection and protection system as part of layered security strategy. The proposed system design provides intrusion detection for wide range of attacks with layered architecture and framework. The proposed network intrusion classification framework deals with cyberattacks on standard TCP/IP protocol, routing protocols and security protocols. It thereby forms the basis for detection of attack classes and applies signature based matching for known cyberattacks and data mining based machine learning approaches for unknown cyberattacks. Our proposed implemented software can effectively detect attacks even when malicious connections are hidden within normal events. The unsupervised learning algorithm applied to network audit data trails results in unknown intrusion detection. Association rule mining algorithms generate new rules from collected audit trail data resulting in increased intrusion prevention though integrated firewall systems. Intrusion response mechanisms can be initiated in real-time thereby minimizing the impact of network intrusions. Finally, we have shown that our approach can be validated and how the analysis results can be used for detecting and protection from the new network anomalies.

Keywords: network intrusion detection, network intrusion prevention, association rule mining, system analysis and design

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Authors: Ishan Kumar Garg

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Urban Fringes have been witnessing unforeseeable, haphazard, and ineffective spatial planning systems for many decades. It invades peripheral villages in the zest of the land as an abundant resource. The process, popularly known as "Urban Sprawl", is commonly seen in many fast-growing cities, especially in developing countries like India. The research for this paper reveals significant neglect in rural development policies, which are not recognized as crucial in current town and country planning regulations. This promotes urban-centric development in the fringe areas that are subjected to real-estate speculation. Therefore, being surrounded by arbitrary urban functions, these villages compromise with necessary strategies to retain the rural cultural identities, traditional ways of living, and villages’ interconnections while remaining deprived of urban amenities such as adequate water supply, education, sanitation, etc. Such socio-spatial separation makes us wonder about their right to development. The possibilities of a sustainable and socially inclusive city expansion are also explored through direct consumer–manufacturer media to bring positive socio-financial transformation. The paper aims to identify a rational playground for both the rural and urban population, which creates possibilities for economic and knowledge transactions beyond their local boundaries. This is achieved by empowering the intact community of villages with economic sufficiency and developing skills to pass on to future generations. In the above context, revolving around unregulated urban sprawl, the northeast region of Bareilly city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is also discussed, i.e., currently under the influence of such development pressures. As we see, exclusive developments like residential, hospitality, industries, etc., over the unplanned landscapes are emerging with the development aligned to only urban means, not the rural. The paper ultimately re-envisions urban-rural associations through appropriate design combinations with economic growth. It integrates broken linkages by revising methodologies and encourages local entrepreneurship that taps the possibility of a gradual social transformation. Concurrently, the addition of required urban amenities leads to rural life strengthening and fulfilling aspirations. Since the proposed thesis carries through an inclusive fringe development, the study caters to cities of similar scales and situations that bolster such coexistence.

Keywords: smart growth framework, empowering rural economy, socio spatial separation, urban fringe development, urban sprawl consequences

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Authors: Sathwik Sarvadevabhatla Kasyap, Kostas Senetakis

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The mechanical behavior of geological materials is very complex, and this complexity is related to the discrete nature of soils and rocks. Characteristics of a material at the grain scale such as particle size and shape, surface roughness and morphology, and particle contact interface are critical to evaluate and better understand the behavior of discrete materials. This study investigates experimentally the micro-mechanical behavior of quartz sand grains with emphasis on the influence of the presence of microparticles in their contact region. The outputs of the study provide some fundamental insights on the contact mechanics behavior of artificially coated grains and can provide useful input parameters in the discrete element modeling (DEM) of soils. In nature, the contact interfaces between real soil grains are commonly observed with microparticles. This is usually the case of sand-silt and sand-clay mixtures, where the finer particles may create a coating on the surface of the coarser grains, altering in this way the micro-, and thus the macro-scale response of geological materials. In this study, the micro-mechanical behavior of Leighton Buzzard Sand (LBS) quartz grains, with interference of different microparticles at their contact interfaces is studied in the laboratory using an advanced custom-built inter-particle loading apparatus. Special techniques were adopted to develop the coating on the surfaces of the quartz sand grains so that to establish repeatability of the coating technique. The characterization of the microstructure of coated particles on their surfaces was based on element composition analyses, microscopic images, surface roughness measurements, and single particle crushing strength tests. The mechanical responses such as normal and tangential load – displacement behavior, tangential stiffness behavior, and normal contact behavior under cyclic loading were studied. The behavior of coated LBS particles is compared among different classes of them and with pure LBS (i.e. surface cleaned to remove any microparticles). The damage on the surface of the particles was analyzed using microscopic images. Extended displacements in both normal and tangential directions were observed for coated LBS particles due to the plastic nature of the coating material and this varied with the variation of the amount of coating. The tangential displacement required to reach steady state was delayed due to the presence of microparticles in the contact region of grains under shearing. Increased tangential loads and coefficient of friction were observed for the coated grains in comparison to the uncoated quartz grains.

Keywords: contact interface, microparticles, micro-mechanical behavior, quartz sand

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Tassadit Issaadi Hamitouche, Nicolas Gillard, Jean Petit, Valerie Lavaste, Celine Mayousse

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Water is a fundamental resource for the industry. It is taken from the environment either from municipal distribution networks or from various natural water sources such as the sea, ocean, rivers, aquifers, etc. Once used, water is discharged into the environment, reprocessed at the plant or treatment plants. These withdrawals and discharges have a direct impact on natural water resources. These impacts can apply to the quantity of water available, the quality of the water used, or to impacts that are more complex to measure and less direct, such as the health of the population downstream from the watercourse, for example. Based on the analysis of data (meteorological, river characteristics, physicochemical substances), we wish to predict water stress episodes and anticipate prefectoral decrees, which can impact the performance of plants and propose improvement solutions, help industrialists in their choice of location for a new plant, visualize possible interactions between companies to optimize exchanges and encourage the pooling of water treatment solutions, and set up circular economies around the issue of water. The development of a system for the collection, processing, and use of data related to water resources requires the functional constraints specific to the latter to be made explicit. Thus the system will have to be able to store a large amount of data from sensors (which is the main type of data in plants and their environment). In addition, manufacturers need to have 'near-real-time' processing of information in order to be able to make the best decisions (to be rapidly notified of an event that would have a significant impact on water resources). Finally, the visualization of data must be adapted to its temporal and geographical dimensions. In this study, we set up an infrastructure centered on the TICK application stack (for Telegraf, InfluxDB, Chronograf, and Kapacitor), which is a set of loosely coupled but tightly integrated open source projects designed to manage huge amounts of time-stamped information. The software architecture is coupled with the cross-industry standard process for data mining (CRISP-DM) data mining methodology. The robust architecture and the methodology used have demonstrated their effectiveness on the study case of learning the level of a river with a 7-day horizon. The management of water and the activities within the plants -which depend on this resource- should be considerably improved thanks, on the one hand, to the learning that allows the anticipation of periods of water stress, and on the other hand, to the information system that is able to warn decision-makers with alerts created from the formalization of prefectoral decrees.

Keywords: data mining, industry, machine Learning, shortage, water resources

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: Pablo Reyes, Vanessa Riveros Fiallo, Cesar Acevedo, Camila Castellanos, Catalina Moncaleano, Maria F. Parra, Laura Colmenares

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Social emotions are physiological, cognitive and behavioral phenomenon that intervene in the mechanisms of adaptation of individuals and their context. These are mediated by interpersonal relationship and language. Such emotions are subdivided into moral and comparison. The present research emphasizes two comparative emotions: Envy and Schadenfreude. Envy arises when a person lack of quality, possessions or achievements and these are superior in someone else. The Schadenfreude (SC) expresses the pleasure that someone experienced by the misfortune of the other. The relationship between both emotions has been questioned before. Hence there are reports showing that envy increases and modulates SC response. Other documents suggest that envy causes SC response. However, the methodological approach of the topic has been made through self-reports, as well as the hypothetical scenarios. Given this problematic, the neuroscience social framework provides an alternative and demonstrates that social emotions have neurophysiological correlates that can be measured. This is relevant when studying social emotions that are reprehensible like envy or SC are. When tested, the individuals tend to report low ratings due to social desirability. In this study, it was drawn up a proposal in research's protocol and the progress on its own piloting. The aim is to evaluate the effect of feeling envy and Schadenfreude has on the decision-making process, as well as the cooperative behavior in an economic game. To such a degree, it was proposed an experimental model that will provoke to feel envious by performing games against an unknown opponent. The game consists of asking general knowledge questions. The difficulty level in questions and the strangers' facial response have been manipulated in order to generate an ecological comparison framework and be able to arise both envy and SC emotions. During the game, an electromyography registry will be made for two facial muscles that have been associated with the expressiveness of envy and SC emotions. One of the innovations of the current proposal is the measurement of the effect that emotions have on a specific behavior. To that extent, it was evaluated the effect of each condition on the dictators' economic game. The main intention is to evaluate if a social emotion can modulate actions that have been associated with social norms, in the literacy. The result of the evaluation of a pilot model (without electromyography record and self-report) have shown an association between envy and SC, in a way that as the individuals report a greater sense of envy, the greater the chance to experience SC. The results of the economic game show a slight tendency towards profit maximization decisions. It is expected that at the time of using real cash this behavior will be strengthened and also to correlate with the responses of electromyography.

Keywords: envy, schadenfreude, electromyography, economic games

Procedia PDF Downloads 354

Authors: Mahadehe Hassan

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In most countries manufacturing, trading and distribution of gasoline and diesel fuels belongs to the most important sectors of national economy. For Bangladesh, a robust, well-functioning, secure and smartly managed national fuel distribution chain is an essential precondition for achieving Government top priorities in development and modernization of transportation infrastructure, protection of national environment and population health as well as, very importantly, securing due tax revenue for the State Budget. Bangladesh is a developing country with complex fuel supply network, high fuel taxes incidence and – till now - limited possibilities in application of modern, automated technologies for Government national fuel market control. Such environment allows dishonest physical and legal persons and organized criminals to build and profit from illegal fuel distribution schemes and fuel illicit trade. As a result, the market transparency and the country attractiveness for foreign investments, law-abiding economic operators, national consumers, State Budget and the Government ability to finance development projects, and the country at large suffer significantly. Research shows that over 50% of retail petrol stations in major agglomerations of Bangladesh sell adulterated fuels and/or cheat customers on the real volume of the fuel pumped into their vehicles. Other forms of detected fuel illicit trade practices include misdeclaration of fuel quantitative and qualitative parameters during internal transit and selling of non-declared and smuggled fuels. The aim of the study is to recommend the implementation of a National Fuel Distribution Integrity Program (FDIP) in Bangladesh to address and resolve fuel adulteration and illicit trade problems. The program should be customized according to the specific needs of the country and implemented in partnership with providers of advanced technologies. FDIP should enable and further enhance capacity of respective Bangladesh Government authorities in identification and elimination of all forms of fuel illicit trade swiftly and resolutely. FDIP high-technology, IT and automation systems and secure infrastructures should be aimed at the following areas (1) fuel adulteration, misdeclaration and non-declaration; (2) fuel quality and; (3) fuel volume manipulation at retail level. Furthermore, overall concept of FDIP delivery and its interaction with the reporting and management systems used by the Government shall be aligned with and support objectives of the Vision 2041 and Smart Bangladesh Government programs.

Keywords: fuel adulteration, octane, kerosene, diesel, petrol, pollution, carbon emissions

Procedia PDF Downloads 55

Authors: Muhammad Irfan

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The rise of radicalization within Islam has spawned a new era of global terror. The battlefield Successes of ISIS and the Taliban are fuelled by an ideological war waged, largely and successfully, in the media arena. This research will examine how Islamic extremist groups are using media modalities and populist narratives to influence migrant Muslim populations in Europe towards extremism. In 2014, ISIS shocked the world in exporting horrifically graphic forms of violence on social media. Their Muslim support base was largely disgusted and reviled. In response, they reconfigured their narrative by introducing populist 'hooks', astutely portraying the Muslim populous as oppressed and exploited by unjust, corrupt autocratic regimes and Western power structures. Within this crucible of real and perceived oppression, hundreds of thousands of the most desperate, vulnerable and abused migrants left their homelands, risking their lives in the hope of finding peace, justice, and prosperity in Europe. Instead, many encountered social stigmatization, detention and/or discrimination for being illegal migrants, for lacking resources and for simply being Muslim. This research will examine how Islamic extremist groups are exploiting the disenfranchisement of these migrant populations and using populist messaging on social media to influence them towards violent extremism. ISIS, in particular, formulates specific encoded messages for newly-arriving Muslims in Europe, preying upon their vulnerability. Violence is posited, as a populist response, to the tyranny of European oppression. This research will analyze the factors and indicators which propel Muslim migrants along the spectrum from resilience to violence extremism. Expected outcomes are identification of factors which influence vulnerability towards violent extremism; an early-warning detection framework; predictive analysis models; and de-radicalization frameworks. This research will provide valuable tools (practical and policy level) for European governments, security stakeholders, communities, policy-makers, and educators; it is anticipated to contribute to a de-escalation of Islamic extremism globally.

Keywords: populism, radicalization, de-radicalization, social media, ISIS, Taliban, shariah, jihad, Islam, Europe, political communication, terrorism, migrants, refugees, extremism, global terror, predictive analysis, early warning detection, models, strategic communication, populist narratives, Islamic extremism

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Carmen Rocio Fernandez Diaz

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This paper focuses on the relevance of information and communication technologies (hereinafter referred as ‘ICTs’) as an essential part of the day-to-day life of all societies nowadays, as they offer the scenario where an immense number of behaviors are performed that previously took place in the physical world. In this context, areas of reality that have remained outside the so-called ‘information society’ are hardly imaginable. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify a means that continue to be behind this reality, and it is the penitentiary area regarding inmates rights, as security aspects in prison have already be improved by new technologies. Introducing ICTs in prisons is still a matter subject to great rejections. The study of comparative penitentiary systems worldwide shows that most of them use ICTs only regarding educational aspects of life in prison and that communications with the outside world are generally based on traditional ways. These are only two examples of the huge range of activities where ICTs can carry positive results within the prison. Those positive results have to do with the social reintegration of persons serving a prison sentence. Deprivation of liberty entails contact with the prison subculture and the harmful effects of it, causing in cases of long-term sentences the so-called phenomenon of ‘prisonization’. This negative effect of imprisonment could be reduced if ICTs were used inside prisons in the different areas where they can have an impact, and which are treated in this research, as (1) access to information and culture, (2) basic and advanced training, (3) employment, (4) communication with the outside world, (5) treatment or (6) leisure and entertainment. The content of all of these areas could be improved if ICTs were introduced in prison, as it is shown by the experience of some prisons of Belgium, United Kingdom or The United States. However, rejections to introducing ICTs in prisons obey to the fact that it could carry also risks concerning security and the commission of new offences. Considering these risks, the scope of this paper is to offer a real proposal to introduce ICTs in prison, trying to avoid those risks. This enterprise would be done to take advantage of the possibilities that ICTs offer to all inmates in order to start to build a life outside which is far from delinquency, but mainly to those inmates who are close to release. Reforming prisons in this sense is considered by the author of this paper an opportunity to offer inmates a progressive resettlement to live in freedom with a higher possibility to obey the law and to escape from recidivism. The value that new technologies would add to education, employment, communications or treatment to a person deprived of liberty constitutes a way of humanization of prisons in the 21st century.

Keywords: deprivation of freedom, information and communication technologies, imprisonment, social reintegration

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Sara Matsuzaka

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At the center of emerging policy debates on the rights of transgender individuals in public accommodations is the collision of gender binary views with transgender perspectives that challenge conventional gender norms. The results of such socio-political debates could have significant ramifications for the policies and infrastructures of public and private institutions nationwide, including within the addiction treatment field. Despite having disproportionately high rates of substance use disorder compared to the general population, transgender individuals experience significant barriers to engaging in addiction treatment programs. Inpatient addiction treatment centers were originally designed to treat heterosexual cisgender populations and, as such, feature gender segregated housing, bathrooms, and counseling sessions. Such heteronormative structural barriers, combined with exposures to stigmatic al attitudes, may dissuade transgender populations from benefiting from the addiction treatment they so direly need. A literature review is performed to explore the mechanisms by which gender segregation alienates transgender populations within inpatient addiction treatment. The constituent parts of the current debate on the rights of transgender individuals in public accommodations are situated the context of inpatient addiction treatment facilities. Minority Stress Theory is used as a theoretical framework for understanding substance abuse issues among transgender populations as a maladaptive behavioral response for coping with chronic stressors related to gender minority status and intersecting identities. The findings include that despite having disproportionately high rates of substance use disorder compared to the general population, transgender individuals experience significant barriers to engaging in and benefiting from addiction treatment. These barriers are present in the form of anticipated or real interpersonal stigma and discrimination by service providers and structural stigma in the form of policy and programmatic components in addiction treatment that marginalize transgender populations. Transphobic manifestations within addiction treatment may dissuade transgender individuals from seeking help, if not reinforce a lifetime of stigmatic experience, potentially exacerbating their substance use issues. Conclusive recommendations for social workers and addiction treatment professionals include: (1) dismantling institutional policies around gender segregation that alienate transgender individuals, (2) developing policies that provide full protections for transgender clients against discrimination based on their gender identity, and (3) implementing trans-affirmative cultural competency training requirements for all staff. Directions for future research are provided.

Keywords: addiction treatment, gender segregation, stigma, transgender

Procedia PDF Downloads 185

Authors: Lakmini Wijesooriya, Vicki Chalker, Jessica Day, Priyantha Perera, N. P. Sunil-Chandra

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M. pneumoniae has been identified as an etiology for exacerbation of asthma (EQA), although viruses play a major role in EOA. M. pneumoniae infection is treated empirically with macrolides, and its antibiotic sensitivity is not detected routinely. Characterization of the organism by genotyping and determination of macrolide resistance is important epidemiologically as it guides the empiric antibiotic treatment. To date, there is no such characterization of M. pneumoniae performed in Sri Lanka. The present study describes the characterization of M. pneumoniae detected from a child with EOA following a screening of 100 children with EOA. Of the hundred children with EOA, M. pneumoniae was identified only in one child by Real-Time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for identifying the community-acquired respiratory distress syndrome (CARDS) toxin nucleotide sequences. The M. pneumoniae identified from this patient underwent detection of macrolide resistance via conventional PCR, amplifying and sequencing the region of the 23S rDNA gene that contains single nucleotide polymorphisms that confer resistance. Genotyping of the isolate was performed via nested Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) in which eight (8) housekeeping genes (ppa, pgm, gyrB, gmk, glyA, atpA, arcC, and adk) were amplified via nested PCR followed by gene sequencing and analysis. As per MLST analysis, the M. pneumoniae was identified as sequence type 14 (ST14), and no mutations that confer resistance were detected. Resistance to macrolides in M. pneumoniae is an increasing problem globally. Establishing surveillance systems is the key to informing local prescriptions. In the absence of local surveillance data, antibiotics are started empirically. If the relevant microbiological samples are not obtained before antibiotic therapy, as in most occasions in children, the course of antibiotic is completed without a microbiological diagnosis. This happens more frequently in therapy for M. pneumoniae which is treated with a macrolide in most patients. Hence, it is important to understand the macrolide sensitivity of M. pneumoniae in the setting. The M. pneumoniae detected in the present study was macrolide sensitive. Further studies are needed to examine a larger dataset in Sri Lanka to determine macrolide resistance levels to inform the use of macrolides in children with EOA. The MLST type varies in different geographical settings, and it also provides a clue to the existence of macrolide resistance. The present study enhances the database of the global distribution of different genotypes of M. pneumoniae as this is the first such characterization performed with the increased number of samples to determine macrolide resistance level in Sri Lanka. M. pneumoniae detected from a child with exacerbation of asthma in Sri Lanka was characterized as ST14 by MLST and no mutations that confer resistance were detected.

Keywords: mycoplasma pneumoniae, Sri Lanka, characterization, macrolide resistance

Procedia PDF Downloads 165

Authors: Martins Onyekwelu Onuorah, Jnr Dahiru Usman

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Introduction: In the realm of public health, the threat posed by Monkeypox continues to elicit concern, prompting rigorous studies to understand its dynamics and devise effective containment strategies. Particularly significant is its recurrence in variable populations, such as the observed outbreak in Nigeria in 2022. In light of this, our study undertakes a meticulous analysis, employing a data-driven approach to explore, validate, and propose optimized intervention strategies tailored to the distinct dynamics of Monkeypox within varying demographic structures. Utilizing a deterministic mathematical model, we delved into the intricate dynamics of Monkeypox, with a particular focus on a variable population context. Our qualitative analysis provided insights into the disease-free equilibrium, revealing its stability when R0 is less than one and discounting the possibility of backward bifurcation, as substantiated by the presence of a single stable endemic equilibrium. The model was rigorously validated using real-time data from the Nigerian 2022 recorded cases for Epi weeks 1 – 52. Transitioning from qualitative to quantitative, we augmented our deterministic model with optimal control, introducing three time-dependent interventions to scrutinize their efficacy and influence on the epidemic's trajectory. Numerical simulations unveiled a pronounced impact of the interventions, offering a data-supported blueprint for informed decision-making in containing the disease. A comprehensive cost-effectiveness analysis employing the Infection Averted Ratio (IAR), Average Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ACER), and Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) facilitated a balanced evaluation of the interventions’ economic and health impacts. In essence, our study epitomizes a holistic approach to understanding and mitigating Monkeypox, intertwining rigorous mathematical modeling, empirical validation, and economic evaluation. The insights derived not only bolster our comprehension of Monkeypox's intricate dynamics but also unveil optimized, cost-effective interventions. This integration of methodologies and findings underscores a pivotal stride towards aligning public health imperatives with economic sustainability, marking a significant contribution to global efforts in combating infectious diseases.

Keywords: monkeypox, equilibrium states, stability, bifurcation, optimal control, cost-effectiveness

Procedia PDF Downloads 49

Authors: Ambeck Celyne Tebid, Harry S. Rampa

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The South African Education system recognises the need for all learners including those experiencing learning difficulties, to have access to a single unified system of education. For teachers to be pedagogically responsive to an increasingly diverse learner population without appropriate support has been proven to be unrealistic. As such, this has considerably hampered interest amongst teachers, especially those at the foundation phase to work within an Inclusive Education (IE) and training system. This qualitative study aimed at investigating foundation phase teachers’ experiences of school-based support teams (SBSTs) in two Full-Service (inclusive schools) and one Mainstream public primary school in the Gauteng province of South Africa; with particular emphasis on finding ways to supporting them, since teachers claimed they were not empowered in their initial training to teach learners experiencing learning difficulties. Hence, SBSTs were created at school levels to fill this gap thereby, supporting teaching and learning by identifying and addressing learners’, teachers’ and schools’ needs. With the notion that IE may be failing because of systemic reasons, this study uses Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecosystemic as well as Piaget’s (1980) maturational theory to examine the nature of support and experiences amongst teachers taking individual and systemic factors into consideration. Data was collected using in-depth, face-to-face interviews, document analysis and observation with 6 foundation phase teachers drawn from 3 different schools, 3 SBST coordinators, and 3 school principals. Data was analysed using the phenomenological data analysis method. Amongst the findings of the study is that South African full- service and mainstream schools have functional SBSTs which render formal and informal support to the teachers; this support varies in quality depending on the socio-economic status of the relevant community where the schools are situated. This paper, however, argues that what foundation phase teachers settled for as ‘support’ is flawed; as well as how they perceive the SBST and its role is problematic. The paper conclude by recommending that, the SBST should consider other approaches at foundation phase teacher support such as, empowering teachers with continuous practical experiences on how to deal with real classroom scenarios, as well as ensuring that all support, be it on academic or non-academic issues should be provided within a learning community framework where the teacher, family, SBST and where necessary, community organisations should harness their skills towards a common goal.

Keywords: foundation phase, full- service schools, inclusive education, learning difficulties, school-based support teams, teacher support

Procedia PDF Downloads 211

Authors: Farina Riaz, Shahab Abdulla, Srinjoy Ganguly, Hajime Suzuki, Ravinesh C. Deo, Susan Hopkins

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Recently, quantum machine learning has received significant attention. For various types of data, including text and images, numerous quantum machine learning (QML) models have been created and are being tested. Images are exceedingly complex data components that demand more processing power. Despite being mature, classical machine learning still has difficulties with big data applications. Furthermore, quantum technology has revolutionized how machine learning is thought of, by employing quantum features to address optimization issues. Since quantum hardware is currently extremely noisy, it is not practicable to run machine learning algorithms on it without risking the production of inaccurate results. To discover the advantages of quantum versus classical approaches, this research has concentrated on colored image data. Deep learning classification models are currently being created on Quantum platforms, but they are still in a very early stage. Black and white benchmark image datasets like MNIST and Fashion MINIST have been used in recent research. MNIST and CIFAR-10 were compared for binary classification, but the comparison showed that MNIST performed more accurately than colored CIFAR-10. This research will evaluate the performance of the QML algorithm on the colored benchmark dataset CIFAR-10 to advance QML's real-time applicability. However, deep learning classification models have not been developed to compare colored images like Quantum Convolutional Neural Network (QCNN) to determine how much it is better to classical. Only a few models, such as quantum variational circuits, take colored images. The methodology adopted in this research is a hybrid approach by using penny lane as a simulator. To process the 10 classes of CIFAR-10, the image data has been translated into grey scale and the 28 × 28-pixel image containing 10,000 test and 50,000 training images were used. The objective of this work is to determine how much the quantum approach can outperform a classical approach for a comprehensive dataset of color images. After pre-processing 50,000 images from a classical computer, the QCNN model adopted a hybrid method and encoded the images into a quantum simulator for feature extraction using quantum gate rotations. The measurements were carried out on the classical computer after the rotations were applied. According to the results, we note that the QCNN approach is ~12% more effective than the traditional classical CNN approaches and it is possible that applying data augmentation may increase the accuracy. This study has demonstrated that quantum machine and deep learning models can be relatively superior to the classical machine learning approaches in terms of their processing speed and accuracy when used to perform classification on colored classes.

Keywords: CIFAR-10, quantum convolutional neural networks, quantum deep learning, quantum machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Sven Tackenberg, Sönke Duckwitz, Andreas Petz, Christopher M. Schlick

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This paper introduces an extension to the well-established Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) to apply it to complex maintenance problems. The problem is to assign technicians to a team which has to process several tasks with multi-level skill requirements during a work shift. Here, several alternative activities for a task allow both, the temporal shift of activities or the reallocation of technicians and tools. As a result, switches from one valid work process variant to another can be considered and may be selected by the developed evolutionary algorithm based on the present skill level of technicians or the available tools. An additional complication of the observed scheduling problem is that the locations of the construction sites are only temporarily accessible during a day. Due to intensive rail traffic, the available time slots for maintenance and repair works are extremely short and are often distributed throughout the day. To identify efficient working periods, a first concept of a Bayesian network is introduced and is integrated into the extended RCPSP with pre-emptive and non-pre-emptive tasks. Thereby, the Bayesian network is used to calculate the probability of a maintenance task to be processed during a specific period of the shift. Focusing on the domain of maintenance of the railway infrastructure in metropolitan areas as the most unproductive implementation process at construction site, the paper illustrates how the extended RCPSP can be applied for maintenance planning support. A multi-criteria evolutionary algorithm with a problem representation is introduced which is capable of revising technician-task allocations, whereas the duration of the task may be stochastic. The approach uses a novel activity list representation to ensure easily describable and modifiable elements which can be converted into detailed shift schedules. Thereby, the main objective is to develop a shift plan which maximizes the utilization of each technician due to a minimization of the waiting times caused by rail traffic. The results of the already implemented core algorithm illustrate a fast convergence towards an optimal team composition for a shift, an efficient sequence of tasks and a high probability of the subsequent implementation due to the stochastic durations of the tasks. In the paper, the algorithm for the extended RCPSP is analyzed in experimental evaluation using real-world example problems with various size, resource complexity, tightness and so forth.

Keywords: maintenance management, scheduling, resource constrained project scheduling problem, genetic algorithms

Procedia PDF Downloads 211

Authors: Ahmed Mantawy, James C. Anderson

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Numerous cases of earthquakes (main-shocks) that were followed by aftershocks have been recorded in California. In 1992 a pair of strong earthquakes occurred within three hours of each other in Southern California. The first shock occurred near the community of Landers and was assigned a magnitude of 7.3 then the second shock occurred near the city of Big Bear about 20 miles west of the initial shock and was assigned a magnitude of 6.2. In the same year, a series of three earthquakes occurred over two days in the Cape-Mendocino area of Northern California. The main-shock was assigned a magnitude of 7.0 while the second and the third shocks were both assigned a value of 6.6. This paper investigates the effect of a main-shock accompanied with aftershocks of significant intensity on reinforced concrete (RC) frame buildings to indicate nonlinear behavior using PERFORM-3D software. A 6-story building in San Bruno and a 20-story building in North Hollywood were selected for the study as both of them have RC moment resisting frame systems. The buildings are also instrumented at multiple floor levels as a part of the California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (CSMIP). Both buildings have recorded responses during past events such as Loma-Prieta and Northridge earthquakes which were used in verifying the response parameters of the numerical models in PERFORM-3D. The verification of the numerical models shows good agreement between the calculated and the recorded response values. Then, different scenarios of a main-shock followed by a series of aftershocks from real cases in California were applied to the building models in order to investigate the structural behavior of the moment-resisting frame system. The behavior was evaluated in terms of the lateral floor displacements, the ductility demands, and the inelastic behavior at critical locations. The analysis results showed that permanent displacements may have happened due to the plastic deformation during the main-shock that can lead to higher displacements during after-shocks. Also, the inelastic response at plastic hinges during the main-shock can change the hysteretic behavior during the aftershocks. Higher ductility demands can also occur when buildings are subjected to trains of ground motions compared to the case of individual ground motions. A general conclusion is that the occurrence of aftershocks following an earthquake can lead to increased damage within the elements of an RC frame buildings. Current code provisions for seismic design do not consider the probability of significant aftershocks when designing a new building in zones of high seismic activity.

Keywords: reinforced concrete, existing buildings, aftershocks, damage accumulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 268

Authors: Bencherif Kada

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In the forest management practice, landscape and Mediterranean forest are never posed as linked objects. But sustainable forestry requires the valorization of the forest landscape, and this aim involves assessing the spatial distribution of biodiversity by mapping forest landscaped units and subunits and by monitoring the environmental trends. This contribution aims to highlight, through object-oriented classifications, the landscaped biodiversity of the National Park of Tlemcen (Algeria). The methodology used is based on ground data and on the basic processing units of object-oriented classification, that are segments, so-called image-objects, representing a relatively homogenous units on the ground. The classification of Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) imagery is performed on image objects and not on pixels. Advantages of object-oriented classification are to make full use of meaningful statistic and texture calculation, uncorrelated shape information (e.g., length-to-width ratio, direction, and area of an object, etc.), and topological features (neighbor, super-object, etc.), and the close relation between real-world objects and image objects. The results show that per object classification using the k-nearest neighbor’s method is more efficient than per pixel one. It permits to simplify of the content of the image while preserving spectrally and spatially homogeneous types of land covers such as Aleppo pine stands, cork oak groves, mixed groves of cork oak, holm oak, and zen oak, mixed groves of holm oak and thuja, water plan, dense and open shrub-lands of oaks, vegetable crops or orchard, herbaceous plants, and bare soils. Texture attributes seem to provide no useful information, while spatial attributes of shape and compactness seem to be performant for all the dominant features, such as pure stands of Aleppo pine and/or cork oak and bare soils. Landscaped sub-units are individualized while conserving the spatial information. Continuously dominant dense stands over a large area were formed into a single class, such as dense, fragmented stands with clear stands. Low shrublands formations and high wooded shrublands are well individualized but with some confusion with enclaves for the former. Overall, a visual evaluation of the classification shows that the classification reflects the actual spatial state of the study area at the landscape level.

Keywords: forest, oaks, remote sensing, diversity, shrublands

Procedia PDF Downloads 97

Authors: Monalisa Halder, Amit K. Das, Ajit K. Meikap

Abstract:

Polymer nanocomposites are very significant materials both in academia and industry for diverse potential applicability in electronics. Polymer plays the role of matrix element which has low density, flexibility, good mechanical strength and electrical properties. Use of nanosized multiferroic filler in the polymer matrix is suitable to achieve nanocomposites with enhanced magneto-dielectric effect and good mechanical properties both at the same time. Multiferroic terbium manganate (TbMnO₃) nanoparticles have been synthesized by sol-gel method using chloride precursors. Terbium manganate-polyvinyl alcohol (TbMnO₃-PVA) nanocomposite film has been prepared by solution casting method. Crystallite size of TbMnO₃ nanoparticle has been calculated to be ~ 40 nm from XRD analysis. Morphological study of the samples has been done by scanning electron microscopy and a well dispersion of the nanoparticles in the PVA matrix has been found. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) exhibits enhancement of thermal stability of the nanocomposite film with the inclusion of TbMnO₃ nanofiller in PVA matrix. The electrical transport properties of the nanocomposite film sample have been studied in the frequency range 20Hz - 2MHz at and above room temperature. The frequency dependent variation of ac conductivity follows universal dielectric response (UDR) obeying Jhonscher’s sublinear power law. Correlated barrier hopping (CBH) mechanism is the dominant charge transport mechanism with maximum barrier height 19 meV above room temperature. The variation of dielectric constant of the sample with frequency has been studied at different temperatures. Real part of dielectric constant at 1 KHz frequency at room temperature of the sample is found to be ~ 8 which is higher than that of the pure PVA film sample (~ 6). Dielectric constant decreases with the increase in frequency. Relaxation peaks have been observed in the variation of imaginary part of electric modulus with frequency. The relaxation peaks shift towards higher frequency as temperature increases probably due to the existence of interfacial polarization in the sample in presence of applied electric field. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the nanocomposite film have been studied under ±40 V applied at different temperatures. I-V characteristic exhibits temperature dependent rectifying nature indicating the formation of Schottky barrier diode (SBD) with barrier height 23 meV. In conclusion, using multiferroic TbMnO₃ nanofiller in PVA matrix, enhanced thermal stability and electrical properties can be achieved.

Keywords: correlated barrier hopping, nanocomposite, schottky diode, TbMnO₃, TGA

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