Search results for: hybrid framework

Authors: Sanchayan Banerjee, Peter John

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Nudge plus is a modification of the toolkit of behavioural public policy. It incorporates an element of reflection¾the plus¾into the delivery of a nudge, either blended in or made proximate. Nudge plus builds on recent work combining heuristics and deliberation. It may be used to design pro-social interventions that help preserve the autonomy of the agent. The argument turns on seminal work on dual systems, which presents a subtler relationship between fast and slow thinking than commonly assumed in the classic literature in behavioural public policy. We review classic and recent work on dual processes to show that a hybrid is more plausible than the default interventionist or parallel competitive framework. We define nudge plus, set out what reflection could entail, provide examples, outline causal mechanisms, and draw testable implications.

Keywords: nudge, nudge plus, think, dual process theory

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Authors: Pu Ying-Chih, Yang Yin-Ju, Hang Jian-Yi, Jang Guang-Way

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Organic-Inorganic hybrid materials consisting of graded distributions of inorganic nano particles in organic polymer matrices were successfully prepared by the sol-gel process. Optical and surface properties of the resulting nano composites can be manipulated by changing their compositions and nano particle distribution gradients. Applications of gradient nano composite materials include sealants for LED packaging and screen lenses for smartphones. Optical transparency, prism coupler, TEM, SEM, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer (EDX), Izod impact strength, conductivity, pencil hardness, and thermogravimetric characterizations of the nano composites were performed and the results will be presented.

Keywords: Gradient, Hybrid, Nanocomposite, Organic-Inorganic

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Authors: Abdul Rawuf Hussein, Rusnani Abdul Kadir, Mona Adlina Binti Adanan

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Guidance program has been an essential approach in helping professions from many institutions of learning as well as communities, organizations, and clinical settings. Although the term varies depending on the approaches, objectives, and theories, the core and central element is typically developmental in nature. In this conceptual paper, the researcher will review literature on the concept of group guidance, its impact on students’ and individual’s development, developing a guidance module and proposing a synthesised framework for group guidance program.

Keywords: concept, framework, group guidance, module development

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Authors: Reda Dzingelevičienė, Vytautas Abromaitis, Nerijus Dzingelevičius, Kęstutis Baranauskis, Saulius Raugelė, Malgorzata Mlynska-Szultka, Sergej Suzdalev, Reza Pashaei, Sajjad Abbasi, Boguslaw Buszewski

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A unique hybrid technology was developed for the removal of COVID-19 specific contaminants from wastewater. Reactor testing was performed using model water samples contaminated with COVID-19 pharmaceuticals and microplastics. Different hydraulic retention times, concentrations of pollutants and dissolved ozone were tested. Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, solid phase extraction, surface area and porosity, analytical tools were used to monitor the treatment efficiency and remaining sorption capacity of the spent adsorbent. The combination of advanced oxidation and adsorption processes was found to be the most effective, with the highest 90-99% and 89-95% molnupiravir and microplastics contaminants removal efficiency from the model wastewater. The research has received funding from the European Regional Development Fund (project No 13.1.1-LMT-K-718-05-0014) under a grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), and it was funded as part of the European Union’s measure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: adsorption, hybrid reactor system, pharmaceuticals-microplastics, wastewater

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Authors: Nadezhda Kvatashidze

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The International Accounting Standards Board updated the conceptual framework for financial reporting. The main reason behind it is to resolve the tasks of the accounting, which are caused by the market development and business-transactions of a new economic content. Also, the investors call for higher transparency of information and responsibility for the results in order to make a more accurate risk assessment and forecast. All these make it necessary to further develop the conceptual framework for financial reporting so that the users get useful information. The market development and certain shortcomings of the conceptual framework revealed in practice require its reconsideration and finding new solutions. Some issues and concepts, such as disclosure and supply of information, its qualitative characteristics, assessment, and measurement uncertainty had to be supplemented and perfected. The criteria of recognition of certain elements (assets and liabilities) of reporting had to be updated, too and all this is set out in the updated edition of the conceptual framework for financial reporting, a comprehensive collection of concepts underlying preparation of the financial statement. The main objective of conceptual framework revision is to improve financial reporting and development of clear concepts package. This will support International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to set common “Approach & Reflection” for similar transactions on the basis of mutually accepted concepts. As a result, companies will be able to develop coherent accounting policies for those transactions or events that are occurred from particular deals to which no standard is used or when standard allows choice of accounting policy.

Keywords: conceptual framework, measurement basis, measurement uncertainty, neutrality, prudence, stewardship

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Authors: Mohammed Almohammedali, David Edgar, Duncan Peter

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The aim of this exploratory research is to further understand how organisations can evaluate their activities, which generate knowledge creation, to meet changing stakeholder expectations. A Scale of Knowledge (SoK) Framework is proposed which links knowledge management and organisational activities to changing stakeholder expectations. The framework was informed by the knowledge management literature, as well as empirical work conducted via a single case study of a multi-site hospital organisation in Saudi Arabia. Eight in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from across the organisation regarding current and future stakeholder expectations, organisational strategy/activities and knowledge management. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and a hierarchical value map technique to identify activities that can produce further knowledge and consequently impact on how stakeholder expectations are met. The SoK Framework developed may be useful to practitioners as an analytical aid to determine if current organisational activities produce organisational knowledge which helps them meet (increasingly higher levels of) stakeholder expectations. The limitations of the research and avenues for future development of the proposed framework are discussed.

Keywords: knowledge creation, knowledge management, organisational knowledge, analytical aid, stakeholders

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Authors: Thierry Pauporté

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Wide bandgap n-type oxide layers (TiO2, SnO2, ZnO etc.) play key roles in perovskite solar cells. They act as electron transport layers, and they permit the charge separation. They are also the substrate for the preparation of perovskite in the direct architecture. Therefore, they have a strong influence on the perovskite loading, its crystallinity and they can induce a degradation phenomenon upon annealing. The interface between the oxide and the perovskite is important, and the quality of this heterointerface must be optimized to limit the recombination of charges phenomena and performance losses. One can also play on the oxide and use two oxide contact layers for improving the device stability and durability. These aspects will be developed and illustrated on the basis of recent results obtained at Chimie-ParisTech.

Keywords: oxide, hybrid perovskite, solar cells, impedance

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Authors: B. Vinod, L. J. Sudev

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Natural fibers as reinforcement in polymer matrix material are gaining lot of attention in recent years. Natural fibers like jute, sisal, coir, hemp, banana etc. have attracted substantial importance as a potential structural material because of its attractive features along with its good mechanical properties. Cryogenic applications of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites are gaining importance. These materials need to possess good mechanical and physical properties at cryogenic temperatures to meet the high requirements by the cryogenic engineering applications. The objective of this work is to investigate the mechanical behavior of hybrid hemp/jute fibers reinforced epoxy composite material at liquid nitrogen temperature. Hybrid hemp/jute fibers reinforced polymer composite is prepared by hand lay-up method and test specimens are cut according to ASTM standards. These test specimens are dipped in liquid nitrogen for different time durations. The tensile properties, flexural properties and impact strength of the specimen are tested immediately after the specimens are removed from liquid nitrogen container. The experimental results indicate that the cryogenic treatment of the polymer composite has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of this material. The tensile properties and flexural properties of the hybrid hemp/jute fibers epoxy composite at liquid nitrogen temperature is higher than at room temperature. The impact strength of the material decreased after subjecting it to liquid nitrogen temperature.

Keywords: liquid nitrogen temperature, polymer composite, tensile properties, flexural properties

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Authors: D. Naresh Yadav, K. Anand Kishore, Bhaskar Bethi, Shirish H. Sonawane, D. Bhagawan

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The untreated industrial wastewater discharged into the environment causes the contamination of soil, water and air. Advanced treatment methods for enhanced wastewater treatment are attracting substantial interest among the currently employed unit processes in wastewater treatment. The textile industry is one of the predominant in wastewater production at current industrialized situation. The refused dyes at textile industry need to be treated in proper manner before its discharge into water bodies. In the present investigation, hybrid treatment process has been developed for the treatment of synthetic mixed dye wastewater. Photocatalysis and ceramic nanoporous membrane are mainly used for process integration to minimize the fouling and increase the flux. Commercial semiconducting powders (TiO2 and ZnO) has used as a nano photocatalyst for the degradation of mixed dye in the hybrid system. Commercial ceramic nanoporous tubular membranes have been used for the rejection of dye and suspended catalysts. Photocatalysis with catalyst has shown the average of 34% of decolorization (RB-32%, BG-34% and CR-36%), whereas ceramic nanofiltration has shown the 56% (RB-54%, BG-56% and CR-58%) of decolorization. Integration of photocatalysis and ceramic nanofiltration has shown 96% (RB-94%, BG-96% and CR-98%) of dye decolorization over 90 min of operation.

Keywords: photocatalysis, ceramic nanoporous membrane, wastewater treatment, advanced oxidation process, process integration

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Authors: Lovesh Goyal, Pushkar Dave, Prajyot Jadhav, GonnaYaswanth, Sakshi Giri, Sahil Dharme, Rushika Joshi, Rishabh Verma, Shital Chiddarwar

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With the rising need for human-robot interaction, researchers have proposed and tested multiple models with varying degrees of success. A few of these models performed on aerial platforms are commonly known as Tethered Aerial Systems. These aerial vehicles may be powered continuously by a tether cable, which addresses the predicament of the short battery life of quadcopters. This system finds applications to minimize humanitarian efforts for industrial, medical, agricultural, and service uses. However, a significant challenge in employing such systems is that it necessities attaining smooth and secure robot-human interaction while ensuring that the forces from the tether remain within the standard comfortable range for the humans. To tackle this problem, a hybrid control method that could switch between two control techniques: constant control input and the steady-state solution, is implemented. The constant control approach is implemented when a person is far from the target location, and error is thought to be eventually constant. The controller switches to the steady-state approach when the person reaches within a specific range of the goal position. Both strategies take into account human velocity feedback. This hybrid technique enhances the outcomes by assisting the person to reach the desired location while decreasing the human's unwanted disturbance throughout the process, thereby keeping the interaction between the robot and the subject smooth.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle, tethered system, physical human-robot interaction, hybrid control

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Authors: Karen L. Rincon-Granados, América R. Vázquez-Olmos, Adriana-Patricia Rodríguez-Hernández, Gina Prado-Prone, Margarita Rivera, Roberto Y. Sato-Berrú

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In this work, a hybrid film based on poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P3HB) and nickel ferrite (NiFe₂O₄) nanoparticles (NPs) was obtained by a simple and reproducible methodology in order to study its antibacterial and cytotoxic properties. The motivation for this research is the current antimicrobial resistance (RAM). This is a threat to human health and development worldwide. RAM is caused by the emergence of bacterial strains resistant to traditional antibiotics that were used as treatment. Due to this, the need to investigate new alternatives for preventing and treating bacterial infections emerges. In this sense, metal oxide NPs have aroused great interest due to their unique physicochemical properties. However, their use is limited by the nanostructured nature, commonly obtained by chemical and physical synthesis methods, as powders or colloidal dispersions. Therefore, the incorporation of nanostructured materials in polymer matrices to obtain hybrid materials that allow disinfecting and preventing the spread of bacteria on various surfaces. Accordingly, this work presents the synthesis and study of the antibacterial properties of the P3HB@NiFe₂O₄ hybrid film as a potential material to inhibit bacterial growth. The NiFe₂O₄ NPs were previously synthesized by a mechanochemical method. The P3HB and P3HB@NiFe₂O₄ films were obtained by the solvent casting method. The films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman scattering, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRD pattern showed that the NiFe₂O₄ NPs were incorporated into the P3HB polymer matrix and retained their nanometric sizes. By energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), it was observed that the NPs are homogeneously distributed in the film. The bactericidal effect of the films obtained was evaluated in vitro using the broth surface method against two opportunistic and nosocomial pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The bacterial growth results showed that the P3HB@NiFe₂O₄ hybrid film was inhibited by 97% and 96% for S. aureus and P. aeruginosa, respectively. Surprisingly, the P3HB film inhibited both bacterial strains by around 90%. The cytotoxicity of the NiFe₂O₄ NPs, P3HB@NiFe₂O₄ hybrid film, and the P3HB film was evaluated using human skin cells, keratinocytes, and fibroblasts, finding that the NPs are biocompatible. The P3HB film and hybrids are cytotoxic, which demonstrated that although P3HB is known and reported as a biocompatible polymer, under our work conditions, P3HB was cytotoxic. Its bactericidal effect could be related to this activity. Its films are bactericidal and cytotoxic to keratinocytes and fibroblasts, the first barrier of human skin. Despite this, the hybrid film of P3HB@NiFe₂O₄ presents synergy with the bactericidal effect between P3HB and NPs, increasing bacterial inhibition. In addition, NPs decrease the cytotoxicity of P3HB to keratinocytes. The methodology used in this work was successful in producing hybrid films with antibacterial activity. However, future challenges are generated to find relationships between NPs and P3HB that allow taking advantage of their bactericidal properties and do not compromise biocompatibility.

Keywords: poly-3-hydroxybutyrate, nanoparticles, hybrid film, antibacterial

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Authors: Shruti Kohli

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The sophistication and pervasiveness of cyber-attacks are constantly growing, driven partly by technological progress, profitable applications in organized crime and state-sponsored innovation. The modernization of rail control systems has resulted in an increasing reliance on digital technology and increased the potential for security breaches and cyber-attacks. This research track showcases the need for developing a secure reusable scalable framework for enhancing cyber security of rail assets. A cyber security framework has been proposed that is being developed to detect the tell-tale signs of cyber-attacks against industrial assets.

Keywords: cyber security, rail asset, security threat, cyber ontology

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Authors: Karen Odendaal

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Accounting transactions are becoming more complex, and more extensive accounting guidance is provided on a continuous basis. It is widely perceived that conceptual teaching of accounting contributes to lifelong learning. Such a conceptual teaching approach also contributes to effective accounting problem-solving. This framework-based approach is rooted in educational psychologies such as constructivism and Ausubel’s subsumption theory. This study aimed at investigating the ability of students to solve complex accounting problems by using only concepts underlying the Conceptual Framework. An assignment was administered to pre-graduate students at a South African university and this study made use of an interpretative research design which implemented multiple research instruments to investigate the ability of students to solve complex accounting problems using only concepts underlying the Conceptual Framework. Student perceptions were analysed and were aided by a related reflective questionnaire. The importance of the study indicates the necessity of Accounting educators to enhance a conceptual understanding among students as a mechanism for problem-solving of accounting issues. The results indicate that the ability of students to solve accounting problems effectively using only the Conceptual Framework depends on the complexity of the scenario and the students’ familiarity with the problem. The study promotes a balanced and more conceptual (rather than only technical) preference to the problem-solving of complex accounting problems. The study indubitably promotes considerable emphasis on the importance of the Conceptual Framework in accounting education and the promotion of life-long learning in the subject field.

Keywords: accounting education, conceptual teaching, constructivism, framework-based, problem-solving

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Authors: Nidal F. Shilbayeh, Belal AbuHaija, Zainab N. Al-Qudsy

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In this paper, a hybrid blind digital watermarking system using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Contourlet Transform (CT) has been implemented and tested. The implemented combined digital watermarking system has been tested against five common types of image attacks. The performance evaluation shows improved results in terms of imperceptibility, robustness, and high tolerance against these attacks; accordingly, the system is very effective and applicable.

Keywords: discrete wavelet transform (DWT), contourlet transform (CT), digital image watermarking, copyright protection, geometric attack

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Authors: Marcel Heimar Ribeiro Utiyama, Fernanda Caveiro Correia, Dario Henrique Alliprandini

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The importance of the correct allocation of improvement programs is of growing interest in recent years. Due to their limited resources, companies must ensure that their financial resources are directed to the correct workstations in order to be the most effective and survive facing the strong competition. However, to our best knowledge, the literature about allocation of improvement programs does not analyze in depth this problem when the flow shop process has two capacity constrained resources. This is a research gap which is deeply studied in this work. The purpose of this work is to identify the best strategy to allocate improvement programs in a flow shop with two capacity constrained resources. Data were collected from a flow shop process with seven workstations in an industrial control and automation company, which process 13.690 units on average per month. The data were used to conduct a simulation with the System Dynamics-Factory Physics model. The main variables considered, due to their importance on lead time reduction, were the mean time between failures and the mean time to repair. The lead time reduction was the output measure of the simulations. Ten different strategies were created: (i) focused time to repair improvement, (ii) focused time between failures improvement, (iii) distributed time to repair improvement, (iv) distributed time between failures improvement, (v) focused time to repair and time between failures improvement, (vi) distributed time to repair and between failures improvement, (vii) hybrid time to repair improvement, (viii) hybrid time between failures improvements, (ix) time to repair improvement strategy towards the two capacity constrained resources, (x) time between failures improvement strategy towards the two capacity constrained resources. The ten strategies tested are variations of the three main strategies for improvement programs named focused, distributed and hybrid. Several comparisons among the effect of the ten strategies in lead time reduction were performed. The results indicated that for the flow shop analyzed, the focused strategies delivered the best results. When it is not possible to perform a large investment on the capacity constrained resources, companies should use hybrid approaches. An important contribution to the academy is the hybrid approach, which proposes a new way to direct the efforts of improvements. In addition, the study in a flow shop with two strong capacity constrained resources (more than 95% of utilization) is an important contribution to the literature. Another important contribution is the problem of allocation with two CCRs and the possibility of having floating capacity constrained resources. The results provided the best improvement strategies considering the different strategies of allocation of improvement programs and different positions of the capacity constrained resources. Finally, it is possible to state that both strategies, hybrid time to repair improvement and hybrid time between failures improvement, delivered best results compared to the respective distributed strategies. The main limitations of this study are mainly regarding the flow shop analyzed. Future work can further investigate different flow shop configurations like a varying number of workstations, different number of products or even different positions of the two capacity constrained resources.

Keywords: allocation of improvement programs, capacity constrained resource, hybrid strategy, lead time, mean time to repair, mean time between failures

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Authors: Miguel Ramirez, Ivan Lizarazo

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The emergence of various interpretations of sustainability, including weak and strong paradigms, can be traced back to the definition of sustainable development provided in the 1987 Brundtland report and the subsequent evolution of the sustainability concept. However, there has been limited scholarly attention given to clarifying the concept of sustainability within the theoretical and conceptual framework of geography. The discipline has predominantly been focused on understanding the diverse conceptions of sustainability within its epistemological boundaries, resulting in tensions between sustainability paradigms and their associated dimensions, including the incorporation of political perspectives, with particular emphasis on environmental geography's epistemology. In response to this gap, a conceptual framework for sustainability is proposed, effectively integrating spatial and territorial concepts. This framework aims to enhance geography's role in contributing to sustainability by utilizing the land system theory, which is based on the dynamics of land use change. Such an integrated conceptual framework enables incorporating methodological tools such as remote sensing, encompassing various earth observations and fusion methods, and supervised classification techniques. Additionally, it looks for better integration of socioecological information, thereby capturing essential population-related features.

Keywords: geography, sustainability, land change science, territorial sustainability

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Authors: Mengqiu Deng, Xiao Peng, Yang Zhao

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The development of local energy systems requires the collective involvement of different actors from various levels of society. However, the stakeholder analysis of local energy systems still has been under-developed. This paper proposes an multi-agent system (MAS) framework to facilitate the development of stakeholder analysis of local energy systems. The framework takes into account the most influencing stakeholders, including prosumers/consumers, system operators, energy companies and government bodies. Different stakeholders are modeled based on agent architectures for example the belief-desire-intention (BDI) to better reflect their motivations and interests in participating in local energy systems. The agent models of different stakeholders are then integrated in one model of the whole energy system. An illustrative case study is provided to elaborate how to develop a quantitative agent model for different stakeholders, as well as to demonstrate the practicability of the proposed framework. The findings from the case study indicate that the suggested framework and agent model can serve as analytical instruments for enhancing the government’s policy-making process by offering a systematic view of stakeholder interconnections in local energy systems.

Keywords: multi-agent system, BDI agent, local energy systems, stakeholders

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Authors: Juan Pablo Bertuzzi, Mauro Chiarella

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Employing a communication studies perspective and a socio-technological approach, this paper introduces a theoretical framework for understanding the concept of hybrid world; the avatarization phenomena; and the communicational archetype of co-hybridization. This analysis intends to make a contribution to future design of virtual reality experimental applications. Ultimately, this paper presents an ongoing research project that proposes the study of human-avatar interactions in digital educational environments, as well as an innovative reflection on inner digital communication. The aforementioned project presents the analysis of human-avatar interactions, through the development of an interactive experience in virtual reality. The goal is to generate an innovative communicational dimension that could reinforce the hypotheses presented throughout this paper. Being thought for its initial application in educational environments, the analysis and results of this research are dependent and have been prepared in regard of a meticulous planning of: the conception of a 3D digital platform; the interactive game objects; the AI or computer avatars; the human representation as hybrid avatars; and lastly, the potential of immersion, ergonomics and control diversity that can provide the virtual reality system and the game engine that were chosen. The project is divided in two main axes: The first part is the structural one, as it is mandatory for the construction of an original prototype. The 3D model is inspired by the physical space that belongs to an academic institution. The incorporation of smart objects, avatars, game mechanics, game objects, and a dialogue system will be part of the prototype. These elements have all the objective of gamifying the educational environment. To generate a continuous participation and a large amount of interactions, the digital world will be navigable both, in a conventional device and in a virtual reality system. This decision is made, practically, to facilitate the communication between students and teachers; and strategically, because it will help to a faster population of the digital environment. The second part is concentrated to content production and further data analysis. The challenge is to offer a scenario’s diversity that compels users to interact and to question their digital embodiment. The multipath narrative content that is being applied is focused on the subjects covered in this paper. Furthermore, the experience with virtual reality devices proposes users to experiment in a mixture of a seemingly infinite digital world and a small physical area of movement. This combination will lead the narrative content and it will be crucial in order to restrict user’s interactions. The main point is to stimulate and to grow in the user the need of his hybrid avatar’s help. By building an inner communication between user’s physicality and user’s digital extension, the interactions will serve as a self-guide through the gameworld. This is the first attempt to make explicit the avatarization phenomena and to further analyze the communicational archetype of co-hybridization. The challenge of the upcoming years will be to take advantage from these forms of generalized avatarization, in order to create awareness and establish innovative forms of hybridization.

Keywords: avatar, hybrid worlds, socio-technology, virtual reality

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Authors: Dicko Ali Hamadi, Tong-Yette Nicolas, Gilles Benjamin, Faure Francois, Palombi Olivier

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A novel hybrid model of the lumbar spine, allowing fast static and dynamic simulations of the disc pressure and the spine mobility, is introduced in this work. Our contribution is to combine rigid bodies, deformable finite elements, articular constraints, and springs into a unique model of the spine. Each vertebra is represented by a rigid body controlling a surface mesh to model contacts on the facet joints and the spinous process. The discs are modeled using a heterogeneous tetrahedral finite element model. The facet joints are represented as elastic joints with six degrees of freedom, while the ligaments are modeled using non-linear one-dimensional elastic elements. The challenge we tackle is to make these different models efficiently interact while respecting the principles of Anatomy and Mechanics. The mobility, the intradiscal pressure, the facet joint force and the instantaneous center of rotation of the lumbar spine are validated against the experimental and theoretical results of the literature on flexion, extension, lateral bending as well as axial rotation. Our hybrid model greatly simplifies the modeling task and dramatically accelerates the simulation of pressure within the discs, as well as the evaluation of the range of motion and the instantaneous centers of rotation, without penalizing precision. These results suggest that for some types of biomechanical simulations, simplified models allow far easier modeling and faster simulations compared to usual full-FEM approaches without any loss of accuracy.

Keywords: hybrid, modeling, fast simulation, lumbar spine

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Authors: Muhammad Muzamil Khan, Asadullah Madni, Nina Filipczek, Jiayi Pan, Nayab Tahir, Hassan Shah, Vladimir Torchilin

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Lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles (LPHNP) are delivery systems for controlled drug delivery at tumor sites. The superior biocompatible properties of lipid and structural advantages of polymer can be obtained via this system for controlled drug delivery. In the present study, cisplatin-loaded lipid-chitosan hybrid nanoparticles were formulated by the single step ionic gelation method based on ionic interaction of positively charged chitosan and negatively charged lipid. Formulations with various chitosan to lipid ratio were investigated to obtain the optimal particle size, encapsulation efficiency, and controlled release pattern. Transmission electron microscope and dynamic light scattering analysis demonstrated a size range of 181-245 nm and a zeta potential range of 20-30 mV. Compatibility among the components and the stability of formulation were demonstrated with FTIR analysis and thermal studies, respectively. The therapeutic efficacy and cellular interaction of cisplatin-loaded LPHNP were investigated using in vitro cell-based assays in A2780/ADR ovarian carcinoma cell line. Additionally, the cisplatin loaded LPHNP exhibited a low toxicity profile in rats. The in-vivo pharmacokinetics study also proved a controlled delivery of cisplatin with enhanced mean residual time and half-life. Our studies suggested that the cisplatin-loaded LPHNP being a promising platform for controlled delivery of cisplatin in cancer therapy.

Keywords: cisplatin, lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticle, chitosan, in vitro cell line study

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Authors: MyungGu Yeo, JongHan Ha, Gi-Hoon Yang, JaeYoon Lee, SeungHyun Ahn, Hyeongjin Lee, HoJun Jeon, YongBok Kim, Minseong Kim, GeunHyung Kim

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Tissue engineering is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary research area that may provide options for treating damaged tissues and organs. As a promising technique for regenerating various tissues, this technology requires biomedical scaffolds, which serve as an artificial extracellular matrix (ECM) to support neotissue growth. Electrospun micro/nanofibers have been used widely in tissue engineering because of their high surface-area-to-volume ratio and structural similarity to extracellular matrix. However, low mechanical sustainability, low 3D shape-ability, and low cell infiltration have been major limitations to their use. In this work, we propose new hybrid scaffolds interlayered with cell-laden electrospun micro/nano fibers and poly(caprolactone) microstructures. Also, we applied various concentrations of alginate and electric field strengths to determine optimal conditions for the cell-electrospinning process. The combination of cell-laden bioink (2 ⅹ 10^5 osteoblast-like MG63 cells/mL, 2 wt% alginate, 2 wt% poly(ethylene oxide), and 0.7 wt% lecithin) and a 0.16 kV/mm electric field showed the highest cell viability and fiber formation in this process. Using these conditions and PCL microstructures, we achieved mechanically stable hybrid scaffolds. In addition, the cells embedded in the fibrous structure were viable and proliferated. We suggest that the cell-embedded hybrid scaffolds fabricated using the cell-electrospinning process may be useful for various soft- and hard-tissue regeneration applications.

Keywords: bioink, cell-laden scaffold, micro/nanofibers, poly(caprolactone)

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Authors: Saugata Bose, Ritambhra Korpal

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The internet has increased the copy-paste scenarios amongst students as well as amongst researchers leading to different levels of plagiarized documents. For this reason, much of research is focused on for detecting plagiarism automatically. In this paper, an initiative is discussed where Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques as well as supervised machine learning algorithms have been combined to detect plagiarized texts. Here, the major emphasis is on to construct a framework which detects external plagiarism from monolingual texts successfully. For successfully detecting the plagiarism, n-gram frequency comparison approach has been implemented to construct the model framework. The framework is based on 120 characteristics which have been extracted during pre-processing the documents using NLP approach. Afterwards, filter metrics has been applied to select most relevant characteristics and then supervised classification learning algorithm has been used to classify the documents in four levels of plagiarism. Confusion matrix was built to estimate the false positives and false negatives. Our plagiarism framework achieved a very high the accuracy score.

Keywords: lexical matching, shallow NLP, supervised machine learning algorithm, word n-gram

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Authors: Lutful Karim, Mohammed S. Al-kahtani

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Sensors are being used in various applications such as agriculture, health monitoring, air and water pollution monitoring, traffic monitoring and control and hence, play the vital role in the growth of big data. However, sensors collect redundant data. Thus, aggregating and filtering sensors data are significantly important to design an efficient big data framework. Current researches do not focus on aggregating and filtering data at multiple layers of sensor-based big data framework. Thus, this paper introduces (i) three layers data aggregation and framework for big data and (ii) a priority-based, dynamic data aggregation scheme (PDDA) for the lowest layer at sensors. Simulation results show that the PDDA outperforms existing tree and cluster-based data aggregation scheme in terms of overall network energy consumptions and end-to-end data transmission delay.

Keywords: big data, clustering, tree topology, data aggregation, sensor networks

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Authors: Sidi Mohamed Mesli, Mohamed Habchi, Mohamed Kotbi, Rafik Benallal, Abdelali Derouiche

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Fluoride glasses with a nominal composition of BaMnMF7 (M = FeV assuming isomorphous replacement) have been structurally modelled through the simultaneous simulation of their neutron diffraction patterns by a reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) model and by a Rietveld for disordered materials (RDM) method. Model is consistent with an expected network of interconnected [MF6] polyhedra. The RMC results are accompanied by artificial satellite peaks. To remedy this problem, we use an extension of the RMC algorithm, which introduces an energy penalty term in acceptance criteria. This method is called the Hybrid Reverse Monte Carlo (HRMC) method. The idea of this paper is to apply the (HRMC) method to the title glasses, in order to make a study of the phenomenon nature of order and disorder by displaying and discussing the partial pair distribution functions (PDFs) g(r). We suggest that this method can be used to describe average correlations between components of fluoride glass or similar system.

Keywords: fluoride glasses, RMC simulation, neutron scattering, hybrid RMC simulation, Lennard-Jones potential, partial pair distribution functions

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Authors: Antonio D. Lee, Steven X. Jiang

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A variety of techniques and methods are available to evaluate cognitive performance in Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) applications. However, traditional cognitive performance evaluation techniques typically incorporate either the conscious or systematic aspect, failing to take into consideration the subconscious or intuitive aspect. This leads to incomplete measures and produces ineffective designs. In order to fill the gaps in past research, this study developed a theoretical framework to facilitate the integration of situation awareness (SA) and intuitive pattern recognition (IPR) to enhance the cognitive performance representation in USAR applications. This framework provides guidance to integrate both SA and IPR in order to evaluate the cognitive performance of the USAR responders. The application of this framework will help improve the system design.

Keywords: cognitive performance, intuitive pattern recognition, situation awareness, urban search and rescue

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Authors: Daniel Vaati Nzioka, John Oredo, Dorothy Muthoni Njiraine

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The service delivery in academic libraries has been regressing due to the failure of Digital Librarians (DLns) to perform optimally. This study aimed at developing a proposed framework for digital librarianship in academic libraries with special emphasis to three selected public academic institutional libraries. The study’s specific objectives were to determine the roles played by the current DLns’ in academic libraries, establish job description of DLns’ in various academic libraries, ascertain DLns best practices, and to implement a viable digital librarianship conceptual framework. The study used a survey research with open-ended questionnaire designed as per the objectives of the study. A purposively selected sample of 30 Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals from the three selected academic libraries in charge of Digital Information Services (DIS) and managing electronic resources were selected and interviewed. A piloted self-administered questionnaire was used to gather information from these respondents. A total of thirty (30) questionnaires to the LIS professionals-ten from each of the three selected academic libraries were administered. The study developed a proposed conceptual framework for DLns’ that details the pertinent issues currently facing academic libraries when hiring DLns. The study recommended that the provided framework be adopted to guide library managers in identifying the needs of staff training and selecting the most adequate training method as well as settling on the best practices to be sent to staff for training and development.

Keywords: digital, academic, libraries, framework

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Authors: Yasaman Zeinali, Farid Khosravikia

Abstract:

This paper presents a multi-objective framework for sustainable urban development. The proposed framework aims to address different aspects of sustainability in urban development planning. These aspects include, but are not limited to education, health, job opportunities, architecture, culture, environment, mobility, energy, water, waste, and so on. Then, the proposed framework is applied to the Brackenridge Tract (an area in downtown Austin, Texas), to redevelop that area in a sustainable way. The detail of the implementation process is presented in this paper. The ultimate goal of this paper is to develop a sustainable area in downtown Austin with ensuring that it locally meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental, health as well as cultural aspects. Moreover, it helps the city with the population growth problem by accommodating more people in that area.

Keywords: urban planning, sustainability, sustainable urban development, environmental impacts of human activities

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Authors: Halil Ibrahim Demir, Caner Erden, Abdullah Hulusi Kokcam, Mumtaz Ipek

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Process planning, scheduling, and due date assignment are three important manufacturing functions which are studied independently in literature. There are hundreds of works on IPPS and SWDDA problems but a few works on IPPSDDA problem. Integrating these three functions is very crucial due to the high relationship between them. Since the scheduling problem is in the NP-Hard problem class without any integration, an integrated problem is even harder to solve. This study focuses on the integration of these functions. Sum of weighted tardiness, earliness, and due date related costs are used as a penalty function. Random search and hybrid metaheuristics are used to solve the integrated problem. Marginal improvement in random search is very high in the early iterations and reduces enormously in later iterations. At that point directed search contribute to marginal improvement more than random search. In this study, random and genetic search methods are combined to find better solutions. Results show that overall performance becomes better as the integration level increases.

Keywords: process planning, genetic algorithm, hybrid search, random search, weighted due-date assignment, weighted scheduling

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Authors: Muhammad Jamil, Ning He, Aqib Mashood Khan, Munish Kumar Gupta

Abstract:

Ti-6Al-4V has numerous applications in the medical, automobile, and aerospace industries due to corrosion resistivity, structural stability, and chemical inertness to most fluids at room temperature. These peculiar characteristics are beneficial for their application and present formidable challenges during machining. Machining of Ti-6Al-4V produces an elevated cutting temperature above 1000oC at dry conditions. This accelerates tool wear and reduces product quality. Therefore, there is always a need to employ sustainable/effective coolant/lubricant when machining such alloy. In this study, Finite Element Modeling (FEM) and experimental analysis when cutting Ti-6Al-4V under a distinctly developed dry ice mixed hybrid lubri-coolant are presented. This study aims to model the milling process of Ti-6Al-4V under a proposed novel hybrid lubri-coolant using different cutting speeds and feed per tooth DEFORM® software package was used to conduct the FEM and the numerical model was experimentally validated. A comparison of experimental and simulation results showed a maximum error of no more than 6% for all experimental conditions. In a nutshell, it can be said that the proposed model is effective in predicting the machining temperature precisely.

Keywords: friction coefficient, heat transfer, finite element modeling (FEM), milling Ti-6Al-4V

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Authors: Wafula Simon Peter, Kimuli Nabayego Ibtihal, Nabaggala Kimuli Nashua

Abstract:

The worldwide use of information and communications technology (ICT) equipment and other electronic equipment is growing and consequently, there is a growing amount of equipment that becomes waste after its time in use. This growth is expected to accelerate since equipment lifetime decreases with time and growing consumption. As a result, e-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams globally. The United Nations University (UNU) calculates in its second Global E-waste Monitor 44.7 million metric tonnes (Mt) of e-waste were generated globally in 2016. The study population was 80 respondents, from which a sample of 69 respondents was selected using simple and purposive sampling techniques. This research was carried out to investigate the problem of e-waste and come up with a framework to improve e-waste management. The objective of the study was to develop a framework for improving e-waste management at the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT). This was achieved by breaking it down into specific objectives, and these included the establishment of the policy and other Regulatory frameworks being used in e-waste management at CEDAT, the determination of the effectiveness of the e-waste management practices at CEDAT, the establishment of the critical challenges constraining e-waste management at the College, development of a framework for e-waste management. The study reviewed the e-waste regulatory framework used at the college and then collected data which was used to come up with a framework. The study also established that weak policy and regulatory framework, lack of proper infrastructure, improper disposal of e-waste and a general lack of awareness of the e-waste and the magnitude of the problem are the critical challenges of e-waste management. In conclusion, the policy and regulatory framework should be revised, localized and strengthened to contextually address the problem. Awareness campaigns, the development of proper infrastructure and extensive research to establish the volumes and magnitude of the problems will come in handy. The study recommends a framework for the improvement of e-waste.

Keywords: e-waste, treatment, disposal, computers, model, management policy and guidelines

Procedia PDF Downloads 56