Search results for: combined action

Authors: N. G. Teik Hiang, Fathyah Hashim

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This is a case of how strategic management techniques can be used to help resolving problems faced by an ageing Small and Medium Enterprise (SME). Strategic way of resolving problems had been proven to be possible in this case despite general thought that strategic management is useful mostly for large corporations. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can also use strategic management in managing their business and determining their future cause of action and strategies in order to survive in this ever competent world. Strategic orientation is the key to survival and development of small and medium enterprises. In order to adapt to the fierce market competition, ageing SMEs should improve competitiveness and operational efficiency. They must therefore establish a sense of strategic management to improve the strategic management skills, combined with its own unique characteristics, and work out practical strategies to develop core competitiveness of enterprises in the fierce market competition in order to be sustainable. In this case, internal strengths and weaknesses of an SME had been identified. Strategic internal factors and external factors had been classified and further utilized to formulate potential strategies to encounter various problems faced by the SME. These strategies had been further match to take advantages of the opportunities and to overcome the weaknesses and minimize the threats it is facing. Tan, a consultant who was given the opportunity to formulate a plan for the business started with the environmental scanning (internal and external environmental analysis), assessing strengths and weaknesses for the company, strategies generation, analysis and evaluation. He had numerous discussions with the owner of the business and the senior management in order to match the key internal and external factors to formulate alternative strategies for solving the problems that the company facing. Some of the recommendations or solutions are generated from the inspiration of the owner of the business who is a very enterprising and experience businessman.

Keywords: strategic orientation, strategic management, SME, core competitiveness, sustainable

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Authors: Nazym Alykpashova

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This article is based on the results of the action research at Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. The participants of this research were high school students who study Global Perspectives and Project Work course. Intellectual schools are designed to become an experimental site that develops, monitors, studies, analyzes, approves, implements modern models of educational programs. Subjects in NIS aimed to develop skills that will be useful for students in their life. Students learn how to do projects, research credible information, solve different issues. Many subjects cover complex topics, and most teachers feel that they often have to deliver a lot of information within one hour. Many educators recognize Conceptual Teaching, as well as Conceptual Learning, has a lot of benefits for students in terms of developing their perception of the subject topics. This qualitative paper presents findings of two research questions which explored high school students’ perception of conceptual teaching and its impact on their academic performance. Individual semi-structured interviews and observations were conducted with Global Perspectives teachers and students. The results of this action research assist teachers reflect on their professional practice.

Keywords: concept-based teaching, students’ research skills, teacher’s professional development, kazakhstan

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Authors: Kerstin Grunden, Ann Svensson, Berit Forsman, Christina Karlsson, Ayman Obeid

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The research question of the article is to explore whether the dialogue meetings method could be relevant for reflective learning among researchers and practitioners when welfare technology should be implemented in municipalities, or not. A testbed was planned to be implemented in a retirement home in a Swedish municipality, and the practitioners worked with a pre-study of that testbed. In the article, the dialogue between the researchers and the practitioners in the dialogue meetings is described and analyzed. The potential of dialogue meetings as an arena for learning and reflection among researchers and practitioners is discussed. The research methodology approach is participatory action research with mixed methods (dialogue meetings, focus groups, participant observations). The main findings from the dialogue meetings were that the researchers learned more about the use of traditional research methods, and the practitioners learned more about how they could improve their use of the methods to facilitate change processes in their organization. These findings have the potential both for the researchers and the practitioners to result in more relevant use of research methods in change processes in organizations. It is concluded that dialogue meetings could be relevant for reflective learning among researchers and practitioners when welfare technology should be implemented in a health care organization.

Keywords: dialogue meetings, implementation, reflection, test bed, welfare technology, participatory action research

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Authors: Mianheng Lai, Johnny Ching Ming Ho, Hoat Joen Pam

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Concrete-filled-steel-tube (CFST) columns are becoming increasingly popular owing to the superior behavior contributed by the composite action. However, this composite action cannot be fully developed because of different dilation properties between steel tube and concrete. During initial compression, there will be de-bonding between the constitutive materials. As a result, the strength, initial stiffness and ductility of CFST columns reduce significantly. To resolve this problem, external confinement in the form of spirals is proposed to improve the interface bonding. In this paper, a total of 14CFST columns with high-strength as well as ultra-high-strength concrete in-filled were fabricated and tested under uni-axial compression. From the experimental results, it can be concluded that the proposed spirals can improve the strength, initial stiffness, ductility and the interface bonding condition of CFST columns by restraining the lateral expansion of steel tube and core concrete. Moreover, the failure modes of confined core concrete change due to the strong confinement provided by spirals.

Keywords: concrete-filled-steel-tube, confinement, failure mode, high-strength concrete, spirals

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Authors: Gia Lam Le, Dennis T. Bergado, Thi Ngoc Truc Nguyen

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This study focuses on behaviors of improved soft clay using prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) combined with vacuum and electro-osmotic preloading. Large-scale consolidations of reconstituted soft Bangkok clay were conducted for PVD improvement with vacuum (vacuum-PVD), and vacuum combined with heat (vacuum-thermo-PVD). The research revealed that vacuum-thermo-PVD gives high efficiency of the consolidation rate compared to the vacuum-PVD. In addition, the magnitude of settlement of the specimen improved by the vacuum-thermo-PVD is higher than the vacuum-PVD because the assistance of heat causes the collapse of the clay structure. Particularly, to reach 90% degree of consolidation, the thermal-vacuum-PVD reduced about 58% consolidation time compared to the vacuum-PVD. The increase in consolidation rate is resulted from the increase in horizontal coefficient of consolidation, Ch, the reduction of the smear effect expressed by the ratio of the horizontal hydraulic conductivity in the undisturbed zone, kh, and the horizontal hydraulic conductivity in the smeared zone, ks. Furthermore, the shear strength, Su, increased about 100% when compared using the vacuum-thermal-PVD to the vacuum PVD. In addition, numerical simulations gave reasonable results compared to the laboratory data.

Keywords: PVD improvement, vacuum preloading, prefabricated vertical drain, thermal PVD

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Authors: Mohamed M. Mashaly, Ahmed M. F. El Shiwi

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Background: Shoulder impingement syndrome is an encroachment of subacromial tissues, rotator cuff, subacromial bursa, and the long head of the biceps tendon, as a result of narrowing of the subacromial space. Activities requiring repetitive or sustained use of the arms over head often predispose the rotator cuff tendon to injury. Purpose: To compare between Combined effect therapeutic exercises and Shockwave therapy versus therapeutic exercises and phonophoresis in the treatment of shoulder impingement syndrome. Methods: Thirty patients diagnosed as shoulder impingement syndrome stage II Neer classification due to mechanical causes. Patients were randomly distributed into two equal groups. The first group consisted of 15 patients with a mean age of (45.46+8.64) received therapeutic exercises (stretching exercise of posterior shoulder capsule and strengthening exercises of shoulder muscles) and shockwave therapy (6000 shocks, 2000/session, 3 sessions, 2 weeks apart, 0.22mJ/mm^2) years. The second group consisted of 15 patients with a mean age of 46.26 (+ 8.05) received same therapeutic exercises and phonophoresis (3 times per week, each other day, for 4 consecutive weeks). Patients were evaluated pretreatment and post treatment for shoulder pain severity, shoulder functional disability, shoulder flexion, abduction and internal rotation motions. Results: Patients of both groups showed significant improvement in all the measured variables. In between groups difference the shock wave group showed a significant improvement in all measured variables than phonophoresis group. Interpretation/Conclusion: Combined effect of therapeutic exercises and shock wave were more effective than therapeutic exercises and phonophoresis on decreasing shoulder pain severity, shoulder functional disability, increasing in shoulder flexion, abduction, internal rotation in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome.

Keywords: shoulder impingement syndrome, therapeutic exercises, shockwave, phonophoresis

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Authors: Mohamed A. Eid, Sobhy M. Aly, Marwa M. Ibrahim, Nadia L. Radwan

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To investigate the interaction effects of vitamin D supplementation combined with aerobic exercises (AE) and conventional physical therapy program (CPTP) on balance and physical performance in children with Down syndrome (DS).Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted for 38 children with DS, with ages ranging from 8 to 12 years. They were divided randomly to two groups. The control group (n=19) received the CPTP, while the study group (n=19) received the CPTP, AE, and vitamin D in the form of an oral daily dose of vitamin D3 400 IU (Cholecalciferol). Evaluation of balance by using the Biodex Stability System and physical performance by using the six-minute walk test (6MWT)was performed before and after 12 weeks of the treatment program. Findings: All groups showed a significant improvement in balance and physical performance after treatment (p < 0.05). The study group showed a significant improvement in balance and physical performancecompared with that of the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Vitamin D supplementation combined with AE and CPTP could improve balance and physical performance in children with DS. Therefore, vitamin D and AEshould be considered as adjunctive to the rehabilitation program of these children.

Keywords: aerobic exercises, balance, down syndrome, physical performance, vitamin D

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Authors: Chiou-Shiue Ko, Pei-Fang Wu, Shu-hsien Tseng

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The researchers adopted two-year action research to investigate the professional collaborative process and development in learning communities for both early childhood and early childhood special education teachers on implementing the children’s school success curriculum framework. The participating teachers were recruited from three preschool sites for this current study. Research data were collected from multiple methods in order to ensure the data quality and validity. The results showed that participating educators had achieved professional growth, and they became more aware of teaching intentions and the preparation for the curriculum. Teachers in this research become more child-focused in teaching and create opportunities for children to participate in classroom activities and routines. The researcher also finds teachers’ participation levels were driven by each individual personality; during professional growth, some teachers are more proactive and reflective, and some are not. According to the research findings, suggestions for future studies and practices are provided.

Keywords: children’s school success curriculum framework, early childhood special education, preschool education, professional learning community

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Authors: John McDowall, Crysta Derham

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Broaden and build theory of emotion describes how experiencing positive emotions, such as happiness, broadens our ‘thought-action repertoire’ leading us to be more likely to go out and act on our positive emotions. This results in the building of new relationships, resources and skills, which we can draw on in times of need throughout life. In contrast, the experience of negative emotion is thought to narrow our ‘thought-action repertoire’, leading to specific actions to aid in survival. Three experiments aimed to explore the effect of briefly presented schematic faces (happy, sad, and neutral) on attentional scope using the flanker task. Based on the broaden and build theory it was hypothesised that there would be an increase in reaction time in trials primed with a happy face due to a broadening of attention, leading to increased flanker interference. A decrease in reaction time was predicted for trials primed with a sad face, due to a narrowing of attention leading to less flanker interference. Results lended partial support to the broaden and build hypothesis, with reaction times being slower following happy primes in incongruent flanker trials. Recent research is discussed in regards to potential mediators of the relationship between emotion and attention.

Keywords: emotion, attention, broaden and build, flanker task

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Authors: Dmitry Yu. Korulkin, Raissa A. Muzychkina, Evgenii N. Kojaev

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In review the generalized data about biological activity of anthraquinone-containing plants and specimens on their basis is presented. Data of traditional medicine, results of bioscreening and clinical researches of specimens are analyzed.

Keywords: anthraquinones, physiologically active substances, phytopreparation, Ramon

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Authors: Adeleye Johnson Adelagunayeja

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The concept of making cities, communities, and neighborhoods smart, intelligent, and responsive is relatively new to Africa and its urban renewal agencies. Efforts must be made by relevant agencies to begin a holistic review of the implementation of infrastructural facilities and urban renewal methodologies that will revolve around the appreciation and application of artificial intelligence. The propagation of the ideals and benefits of the smart city concept are key factors that can encourage governments of African nations, the African Union, and other regional organizations in Africa to embrace the ideology. The ability of this smart city concept to curb insecurities – armed robbery, assassination, terrorism, and civil disorder – is one major reason, amongst others, why African governments must speedily embrace this contemporary developmental concept whose time has come! The seamlessness to access information and virtually cross-pollinate ideas with people living in already established smart cities, when combined with the great efficiency that the emergence of smart cities brings with it, are other reasons why Africa must come up with action plans that can enable the existing cities to metamorphose into smart cities. Innovations will be required to enable Africa to develop a smart city concept that will be compatible with the basic patterns of livelihood because the essence of the smart city evolution is to make life better for people to co-exist, to be productive and to enjoy standard infrastructural facilities. This research paper enumerates the multifaceted adaptive factors that have the potentials of making the adoption of smartcity concept in Africa seamless. It also proffers solutions to potential bottlenecks capable of undermining the execution of the smart city concept in Africa.

Keywords: smartcity compactibility innovation Africa government evolution, Africa as global village member, evolution in Africa, ways to make Africa adopt smartcity, localizing smartcity concept in Africa, bottleneck to smartcity developmet in Africa

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Authors: Mohammed Bello Sokoto, Adewumi Babatunde Adebayo, Ajit Singh

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The field experiment was conducted at the dry land Teaching and Research Farm of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, during the 2023 rainy season to determine the effects of organic, inorganic, soil conditioner and integrated use of soil conditioners (Agzyme) with organic (super gro) and inorganic fertilizers on the growth and yield of cowpea varieties. The research consisted of two cowpea varieties (SAMPEA-20-T and ex-GidanYunfa) and six combinations of organic and inorganic fertilizers and soil conditioners factorially combined and laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) replicated three times. Data were collected on plant height, leaf area index, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, days to 50% flowering, grain yield, and 100 seed weight. Results indicated that the 100% inorganic fertilizer had a significantly increased growth parameter such as plant height and number of leaves, while combined application of the organic fertilizer and soil conditioner resulted in a significant increase in yield parameters such as number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 100 seed weight and grain yield. The study observed that the use of soil conditioner in combination with fertilizers supports sustainable cowpea production. Application of 50% recommended inorganic + 50% soil conditioner or 50% liquid organic + 50% soil conditioner was better in increasing the number of pods/plant, seeds/pod, 100 seed weight and grain yield. The ex-Gidan Yunfa cowpea variety generally performed better in most parameters measured, such as plant height, days to 50% flowering, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 100 seed weight and grain yield. Therefore, the combined application of 50% recommended inorganic + 50% soil conditioner or 50% liquid organic + 50% soil conditioner is effective for the sustainable production of cowpeas.

Keywords: integrated, fertilizers, growth, yield, cowpea, Sudan Savannah

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Authors: Anna-Maria Saarela

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At the Savonia University of Applied Sciences (UAS), curriculum and studies have been improved by applying an Open Innovation Space approach (OIS). It is based on multidisciplinary action learning. The key elements of OIS-ideology are work-life orientation, and student-centric communal learning. In this approach, every participant can learn from each other and innovations will be created. In this social innovation educational approach, all practices are carried out in close collaboration with enterprises in real-life settings, not in classrooms. As an example, in this paper, Savonia UAS’s Future Food RDI hub (FF) shows how OIS practices are implemented by providing food product development and consumer research services for enterprises in close collaboration with academicians, students and consumers. In particular one example of OIS experimentation in the field is provided by a consumer research carried out utilizing verbal analysis protocol combined with audio-visual observation (VAP-WAVO). In this case, all co-learners were acting together in supermarket settings to collect the relevant data for a product development and the marketing department of a company. The company benefitted from the results obtained, students were more satisfied with their studies, educators and academicians were able to obtain good evidence for further collaboration as well as renewing curriculum contents based on the requirements of working life. In addition, society will benefit over time as young university adults find careers more easily through their OIS related food science studies. Also this knowledge interaction model re-news education practices and brings working-life closer to educational research institutes.

Keywords: collaboration, education, food science, industry, knowledge transfer, RDI, student

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Authors: Eka Maulana, Sholeh Hadi Pramono, Dody Fanditya, M. Julius

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In this paper, extract of papaya leaves are used as a natural dye and combined by variations of solvent concentration applied on DSSC (Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell). Indonesian geographic located on the equator line occasions the magnitude of the potential to develop organic solar cells made from extracts of chlorophyll as a substitute for inorganic materials or synthetic dye on DSSC material. Dye serves as absorbing photons which are then converted into electrical energy. A conductive coated glass layer called TCO (Transparent Conductive Oxide) is used as a substrate of electrode. TiO2 nanoparticles as binding dye molecules, redox couple iodide/ tri-iodide as the electrolyte and carbon as the counter electrode in the DSSC are used. TiO2 nanoparticles, organic dyes, electrolytes and counter electrode are arranged and combined with the layered structure of the photo-catalyst absorption layer. Dye absorption measurements using a spectrophotometer at 200-800 nm light spectrum produces a total amount of chlorophyll 80.076 mg/l. The test cell at 7 watt LED light with 5000 lux luminescence were obtained Voc and Isc of 235.5 mV and 14 μA, respectively.

Keywords: DSSC (Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell), natural dye, chlorophyll, absorption

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Authors: Elia Efraim, Boris Blostotsky

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Testing of columns in sway mode is performed in order to determine the maximal allowable load limited by plastic deformations or their end connections and a critical load limited by columns stability. Motivation to determine accurate value of critical force is caused by its using as follow: - critical load is maximal allowable load for given column configuration and can be used as criterion of perfection; - it is used in calculation prescribed by standards for design of structural elements under combined action of compression and bending; - it is used for verification of theoretical analysis of stability at various end conditions of columns. In the present work a new non-destructive method for determination of columns critical buckling load in sway mode is proposed. The method allows performing measurements during the tests under loads that exceeds the columns critical load without losing its stability. The possibility of such loading is achieved by structure of the loading system. The system is performed as frame with rigid girder, one of the columns is the tested column and the other is additional two-hinged strut. Loading of the frame is carried out by the flexible traction element attached to the girder. The load applied on the tested column can achieve values that exceed the critical load by choice of parameters of the traction element and the additional strut. The system lateral stiffness and the column critical load are obtained by the dynamic method. The experiment planning and the comparison between the experimental and theoretical values were performed based on the developed dependency of lateral stiffness of the system on vertical load, taking into account semi-rigid connections of the column's ends. The agreement between the obtained results was established. The method can be used for testing of real full-size columns in industrial conditions.

Keywords: buckling, columns, dynamic method, end-fixity factor, sway mode

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Authors: Mokhlisur Rahman

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The growing consensus among scientists and world leaders indicates that immediate action should be considered regarding the climate change phenomenon. However, climate change is no more a global issue but a personal one. Thus, individual participation is necessary to address such a significant issue. Studies show that individuals who perceive climate change as a personal issue are more likely to act toward it. This abstract presents augmented reality (A.R.) technology in the social media platform Facebook video advertising. The idea involves creating a video advertisement that enables users to interact with the video by navigating its features and experiencing the result uniquely and engagingly. This advertisement uses A.R. to bring changes, such as people making changes in real-life scenarios by simple clicks on the video and hearing an instant rewarding fact about their choices. The video shows three options: room, lawn, and driveway. Users select one option and engage in interaction based on while holding the camera in their personal spaces: Suppose users select the first option, room, and hold their camera toward spots such as by the windows, balcony, corners, and even walls. In that case, the A.R. offers users different plants appropriate for those unoccupied spaces in the room. Users can change the options of the plants and see which space at their house deserves a plant that makes it more natural. When a user adds a natural element to the video, the video content explains a piece of beneficiary information about how the user contributes to the world more to be livable and why it is necessary. With the help of A.R., if users select the second option, lawn, and hold their camera toward their lawn, the options are various small trees for their lawn to make it more environmentally friendly and decorative. The video plays a beneficiary explanation here too. Suppose users select the third option, driveway, and hold their camera toward their driveway. In that case, the A.R. video option offers unique recycle bin designs using A.I. measurement of spaces. The video plays audio information on anthropogenic contribution to greenhouse gas emission. IoT embeds tracking code in the video ad on Facebook, which stores the exact number of views in the cloud for data analysis. An online survey at the end collects short qualitative answers. This study helps understand the number of users involved and willing to change their behavior; It makes personalized advertising in social media. Considering the current state of climate change, the urgency for action is increasing. This ad increases the chance to make direct connections with individuals and gives a sense of personal responsibility for climate change to act

Keywords: motivations, climate, iot, personalized-advertising, action

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Authors: Laura Bickel

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This paper aims to investigate to what extent Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of body memory serves as a viable resource for the enactive approach to cognitive science and its first-person experience-based research on ‘recurrent depressive disorder’ coded F33 in ICD-10. In pursuit of this goal, the analysis begins by revisiting the neuroreductive paradigm. This paradigm serves biological psychiatry to explain the condition of vital contact in terms of underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. It is demonstrated that the neuroreductive model cannot sufficiently account for the depressed person’s episodical withdrawal in causal terms. The analysis of the irregular loss of vital resonance requires integrating the body as the subject of experience and its phenomenological time. Then, it is shown that the enactive approach to depression as disordered sense-making is a promising alternative. The enactive model of perception implies that living beings do not register pre-existing meaning ‘out there’ but unfold ‘sense’ in their action-oriented response to the world. For the enactive approach, Husserl’s passive synthesis of inner time consciousness is fundamental for what becomes perceptually present for action. It seems intuitive to bring together the enactive approach to depression with the long-standing view in phenomenological psychopathology that explains the loss of vital contact by appealing to the disruption of the temporal structure of consciousness. However, this paper argues that the disruption of the temporal structure is not justified conceptually. Instead, one may integrate Merleau-Ponty’s concept of the past as the unconscious into the enactive approach to depression. From this perspective, the living being’s experiential and biological past inserts itself in the form of habit and bodily skills and ensures action-oriented responses to the environment. Finally, it is concluded that the depressed person’s withdrawal indicates the impairment of this application process. The person suffering from F33 cannot actualize sedimented meaning to respond to the valences and tasks of a given situation.

Keywords: depression, enactivism, neuroreductionsim, phenomenology, temporality

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Authors: Ahmed Mohamed El-Shamy, Akram Abbas El-Awady, Mahmoud Taha Eldestawy

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Background: The present study was to evaluate clinically and radiographically the combined effect of split crest technique by ultrasonic bone surgery and platelet concentrates in implant site development. Methods: Forty patients with narrow ridge were participated in this study. Patients were assigned randomly into one of the following four groups according to treatment: Group 1: Patients received split-crest technique by ultrasonic bone surgery with implant placement. Group 2: Patients received split-crest technique by ultrasonic bone surgery with implant placement and PRF. Group 3: Patients received split-crest technique by ultrasonic bone surgery with implant placement and PRP. Group 4: Patients received split-crest technique by ultrasonic bone surgery with implant placement and collagen membrane. Modified plaque index, modified sulcus bleeding index, and implant stability were recorded as a baseline and measured again at 3 and 6 months. CBCT scans were taken immediately after surgery completion and at 9 months to evaluate bone density at the bone-implant interface. Results after 6 months; collagen group showed statistically significantly lower mean modified bleeding index than the other groups. After 3 months, the PRF group showed statistically significantly higher mean implant stability with ostell ISQ units' than the other groups. After 6 months, the PRF group showed statistically significantly higher mean implant stability with ostell ISQ units' than the other groups. After 6 months, the PRF group showed statistically significantly higher mean bone density than the collagen group. Conclusion: Ultrasonic bone surgery in split-crest technique can be a successful option for increasing implant stability values throughout the healing period. The use of a combined technique of ultrasonic bone surgery with PRF and simultaneous implant placement potentially improves osseointegration (bone density). PRF membranes represent advanced technology for the stimulation and acceleration of bone regeneration.

Keywords: dental implants, split-crest, PRF, PRP

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Authors: Kaushik Sathupadi, Sandesh Achar

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Human action recognition modeling is a critical task in machine learning. These systems require better techniques for recognizing body parts and selecting optimal features based on vision sensors to identify complex action patterns efficiently. Still, there is a considerable gap and challenges between images and videos, such as brightness, motion variation, and random clutters. This paper proposes a robust approach for classifying human actions over cloud-based image data. First, we apply pre-processing and detection, human and outer shape detection techniques. Next, we extract valuable information in terms of cues. We extract two distinct features: fuzzy local binary patterns and sequence representation. Then, we applied a greedy, randomized adaptive search procedure for data optimization and dimension reduction, and for classification, we used a random forest. We tested our model on two benchmark datasets, AAMAZ and the KTH Multi-view football datasets. Our HMR framework significantly outperforms the other state-of-the-art approaches and achieves a better recognition rate of 91% and 89.6% over the AAMAZ and KTH multi-view football datasets, respectively.

Keywords: computer vision, human motion analysis, random forest, machine learning

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Authors: Jaishree Ranganathan, Poonam Rajurkar, Angelina A. Tzacheva, Zbigniew W. Ras

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In today’s world, business often depends on the customer feedback and reviews. Sentiment analysis helps identify and extract information about the sentiment or emotion of the of the topic or document. Attribute selection is a challenging problem, especially with large datasets in actionable pattern mining algorithms. Action Rule Mining is one of the methods to discover actionable patterns from data. Action Rules are rules that help describe specific actions to be made in the form of conditions that help achieve the desired outcome. The rules help to change from any undesirable or negative state to a more desirable or positive state. In this paper, we present a Lexicon based weighted scheme approach to identify emotions from customer feedback data in the area of manufacturing business. Also, we use Rough sets and explore the attribute selection method for large scale datasets. Then we apply Actionable pattern mining to extract possible emotion change recommendations. This kind of recommendations help business analyst to improve their customer service which leads to customer satisfaction and increase sales revenue.

Keywords: actionable pattern discovery, attribute selection, business data, data mining, emotion

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Authors: Djalal Boualili

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This article considers the problem of sizing prime movers for combined heating and power (CHP) systems operating at full load to satisfy a fraction of a facility's electric load, i.e. a base load. Prime mover sizing is examined using three criteria: operational cost, carbon dioxide emissions (CDE), and primary energy consumption (PEC). The sizing process leads to consider ratios of conversion factors applied to imported electricity to conversion factors applied to fuel consumed. These ratios are labelled RCost, R CDE, R PEC depending on whether the conversion factors are associated with operational cost, CDE, or PEC, respectively. Analytical results show that in order to achieve savings in operational cost, CDE, or PEC, the ratios must be larger than a unique constant R Min that only depends on the CHP components efficiencies. Savings in operational cost, CDE, or PEC due to CHP operation are explicitly formulated using simple equations. This facilitates the process of comparing the tradeoffs of optimizing the savings of one criterion over the other two – a task that has traditionally been accomplished through computer simulations. A hospital building, located in Chlef, Algeria, was used as an example to apply the methodology presented in this article.

Keywords: sizing, heating and power, ratios, energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions

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Authors: Sam J. Cooley, Mary L. Quinton, Benjamin J. Parry, Mark J. G. Holland, Richard J. Whiting, Jennifer Cumming

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Practitioners draw attention to people’s character strengths to promote empowerment and well-being. This paper explores the possibility that existing approaches for assessing character strengths (e.g., the Values in Action survey; VIA-IS) could be even more autonomy supportive and empowering when combined with strengths profiling, an ideographic tool informed by personal construct theory (PCT). A PCT approach ensures that: (1) knowledge is co-created (i.e., the practitioner is not seen as the ‘expert’ who leads the process); (2) individuals are not required to ‘fit’ within a prescribed list of characteristics; and (3) individuals are free to use their own terminology and interpretations. A combined Strengths Profiling and VIA approach was used in a sample of homeless youth (aged 16-25) who are commonly perceived as ‘hard-to-engage’ through traditional forms of assessment. Strengths Profiling was completed face-to-face in small groups. Participants (N = 116) began by listing a variety of personally meaningful characteristics. Participants gave each characteristic a score out of ten for how important it was to them (1 = not so important; 10 = very important), their ideal competency, and their current competency (1 = poor; 10 = excellent). A discrepancy score was calculated for each characteristic (discrepancy score = ideal score - current score x importance), whereby a lower discrepancy score indicated greater satisfaction. Strengths Profiling was used at the beginning and end of a 10-week positive youth development programme. Experiences were captured through video diary room entries made by participants and through reflective notes taken by the facilitators. Participants were also asked to complete a pre-and post-programme questionnaire, measuring perceptions of well-being, self-worth, and resilience. All of the young people who attended the strengths profiling session agreed to complete a profile, and the majority became highly engaged in the process. Strengths profiling was found to be an autonomy supportive and empowering experience, with each participant identifying an average of 10 character strengths (M = 10.27, SD = 3.23). In total, 215 different character strengths were identified, each with varying terms and definitions used, which differed greatly between participants and demonstrated the value in soliciting personal constructs. Using the participants’ definitions, 98% of characteristics were categorized deductively into the VIA framework. Bravery, perseverance, and hope were the character strengths that featured most, whilst temperance and courage received the highest discrepancy scores. Discrepancy scores were negatively correlated with well-being, self-worth, and resilience, and meaningful improvements were recorded following the intervention. These findings support the use of strengths profiling as a theoretically-driven and novel way to engage disadvantaged youth in identifying and monitoring character strengths. When young people are given the freedom to express their own characteristics, the resulting terminologies extend beyond the language used in existing frameworks. This added freedom and control over the process of strengths identification encouraged youth to take ownership over their profiles and apply their strengths. In addition, the ability to transform characteristics post hoc into the VIA framework means that strengths profiling can be used to explore aggregated/nomothetic hypotheses, whilst still benefiting from its ideographic roots.

Keywords: ideographic, nomothetic, positive youth development, VIA-IS, assessment, homeless youth

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Authors: Krittiya Pornmai, Sumaeth Chavadej

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The increasing in global energy demand has affected the climate change caused by the generation of greenhouse gases. Therefore, the objective of this work was to investigate a direct production of synthesis gas from a CO₂-containing natural gas by using gliding arc discharge plasma technology. In this research, the effects of steam reforming, combined steam reforming and partial oxidation, and using multistage gliding arc discharge system on the process performance have been discussed. The simulated natural gas used in this study contains 70% methane, 5% ethane, 5% propane, and 20% carbon dioxide. In comparison with different plasma reforming processes (under their optimum conditions), the steam reforming provides the highest H₂ selectivity resulting from the cracking reaction of steam. In addition, the combined steam reforming and partial oxidation process gives a very high CO production implying that the addition of both oxygen and steam can offer the acceptably highest synthesis gas production. The stage number of plasma reactor plays an important role in the improvement of CO₂ conversion. Moreover, 3 stage number of plasma reactor is considered as an optimum stage number for the reforming of CO₂-containing natural gas with steam and partial oxidation in term of providing low energy consumption as compared with other plasma reforming processes.

Keywords: natural gas, reforming process, gliding arc discharge, plasma technology

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Authors: Ahmed Mohamed Nasr, Waseim Ragab Azzam, Nada Osama Ramadan

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Contaminated soil can weaken the stability of buildings and infrastructure, posing serious risks to their structural integrity. Therefore, this study aims to understand how oil contamination affects the torsion behavior of model steel piles at different soil densities. This research is crucial for evaluating the structural integrity and stability of piles in oil-contaminated environments. Clean sand samples and heavy motor oil were mixed in amounts ranging from 0 to 6% of the soil's dry weight. The mixture was thoroughly mixed to ensure uniform distribution of the oil throughout the sandy soil for simulating the field conditions. In these investigations, the relative densities (Dr), pile slenderness ratio (Lp/Dp), oil content (O.C%), and contaminated sand layer thickness (LC) were all different. Also, the paper presents an analysis of piles that are loaded both vertically and torsionally. The findings demonstrated that the pre-applied torsion load led to a decrease in the vertical bearing ability of the pile. Also, at Dr = 80%, the ultimate vertical load under combined load at constant torsional load T = (1/3Tu, 2/3Tu, and Tu) in the cases of (Lc/Lp) = 0.5 and (Lp/Dp) =13.3 was found to be reduced by (1.48, 2.78, and 4.15%) less than piles under independent vertical load, respectively so it is crucial to consider the torsion load during pile design.

Keywords: torsion-vertical load, oil-contaminated sand, twist angle, steel pile

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Authors: Blerim Olluri

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A forensic science laboratory in Kosovo has never been organized at the level of most modern forensic science laboratories. This was made possible after the war of 1999 with the help and support from the United States. The United States Government/ICITAP provided 9.5 million dollars to support this project, this support have greatly benefitted law enforcement in Kosovo. With the establishment of Operative Procedures of Work and the law for Kosovo Agency of Forensic, the accreditation with ISO/IEC 17025 of the KAF labs it becomes mandatory. Since 2012 Laboratory’s DNA/Serology and Narcotics has begun reviewing and harmonizing their procedures according to ISO/IEC 17025. The focus of this work was to create quality manuals, procedures, work instructions, quality documentation and quality records. Furthermore, during this time is done the validation of work methods from scientific qualified personnel of KAF, without any help from other foreign agencies or accreditation body.In October 2014 we had the first evaluation based on ISO 17025 standards. According to the initial report of this assessment we have non conformity in test and Calibration methods method’s, and accommodation and environmental conditions. We identified several issues that are of extreme importance to KAF. One the most important issue is to create a professional group with experts of KAF, which will work in all the obligations, requested from ISO/IEC 17025. As conclusions that we earn in this path of accreditation, are that laboratory’s need to take corrective action, and all nonconformance’s must be addressed and corrective action taken before accreditation can be granted.

Keywords: accreditation, assessment, narcotics, DNA

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Authors: Brian Kristopher Cambra

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Millions of displaced families are seeking refuge in countries that are not their own due to war, violence, persecution, political unrest, and natural disasters. This global crisis is forcing researchers and practitioners to consider how refugees are coping with the trauma associated with their migration process. Effective therapeutic approaches are needed in a global effort to address the traumatic impact of forced migration. This meta-analytical study investigates the effectiveness of expressive therapeutic modalities, including play, art, music, sandplay, theatre, and writing therapies, in helping children and adolescents cope with refugee trauma. Seventeen pre-post and between-group comparison studies were analyzed using a random-effects model. The combined effect size for pre-post comparisons was medium (g = 0.58), whereas the combined effect size for between-group comparisons was small (g = 0.32). Overall, art therapy was found to be most effective in treating stress symptoms. Heterogeneity tests, however, suggest effect sizes cannot be interpreted as meaningful due to substantial variance. Nevertheless, findings of this meta-analysis indicate that expressive therapies may be among beneficial modalities to integrate with other trauma-informed approaches.

Keywords: expressive therapies, forced migration, meta-analysis, refugees, trauma

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Authors: lidija Vujičić, Akvilina Čamber Tambolas

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The increasinginterest of ECCE policyandpractice in the issue of children'sparticipation in theirownlivesis a consequence of the changingimage of the childand the shift in focus to thechild as anactive participant in socio-culturalrealityinstead of theearlierfocus on thechild'sindividual development.TheConvention on the Rights of theChild (1989) stronglysupportstheimage of thechild as a competent participant in education - capable of formingopinions, withtheright to expressthemselves on allmattersaffectingthe mand with the right to haveadultsaroundthemrespectthis. Notwithstandingthecontemporaryparadigm of ECCE, however, achievements in thisarea are still in theirinfancy. This is evident in thepractices of ECCE, whereearlyyearsandpre-schoolchildren are stillseen as users of systemsandservicesratherthanagents of change in theirsocialcommunities. Recent literature identifiestheneed for lifelong, continuouslearning of preschoolteachersthroughresearchintotheirownpedagogicalpractice as aneffectiveway of bridgingthegapbetweentheoryandpracticeandcontinuouslyimprovingthequality of ECCE institutions. Notwithstandingthecontemporaryparadigm of ECCE, however, achievements in thisarea are still in theirinfancy. Recent literature identifiestheneed for lifelong, continuouslearning of preschoolteachersthroughresearchintotheirownpedagogicalpractice as aneffectiveway bridgingthegapbetweentheoryandpracticeandcontinuouslyimprovingthequality of ECCE institutions. Thispaperpresentstheprocess of actionresearchaimed at increasingchildren'sparticipation in (co-)designingthekindergartencurriculumandparticipation in decision-making on issuesaffectingtheirstay in theinstitution. Thisactionresearchtook place in 2 facilities of theinstitution ECCE - DV Rijeka. In thisresearchparticipated 5 preschoolteachersworking in 4 pedagogicalgroups, where childrenfrom 2 to 7 yearsold are enrolled. Also, the process of development of reflexivepractice of preschoolteacherswhoparticipated in thisresearchispresented.

Keywords: action research, co-construction of curriculum, participation of children, reflexive practice

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Authors: Solomon Huluka, Akrum Abdul-Latif, Rachid Baleh

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Metal foams have been developed intensively as a new class of materials for the last two decades due to their unique structural and multifunctional properties. The aim of this experimental work was to characterize the effect of biaxial loading complexity (combined compression-torsion) on the plastic response of highly uniform architecture open-cell aluminum foams of spherical porous with a density of 80%. For foam manufacturing, the Kelvin cells model was used to generate the generally spherical shape with a cell diameter of 11 mm. A patented rig called ACTP (Absorption par Compression-Torsion Plastique), was used to investigate the foam response under quasi-static complex loading paths having different torsional components (i.e. 0°, 45° and 60°). The key mechanical responses to be examined are yield stress, stress plateau, and energy absorption capacity. The collapse mode was also investigated. It was concluded that the higher the loading complexity, the greater the yield strength and the greater energy absorption capacity of the foam. Experimentally, it was also noticed that there were large softening effects that occurred after the first pick stress for both biaxial-45° and biaxial-60° loading.

Keywords: aluminum foam, loading complexity, characterization, biaxial loading

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Authors: Mahmoud Nadir, Adel Ghenaiet

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The main purpose of this study is the thermodynamic modeling, the parametric analysis, and the optimization of three pressure level reheat HRSG (Heat Recovery Steam Generator) using PSO method (Particle Swarm Optimization). In this paper, a parametric analysis followed by a thermodynamic optimization is presented. The chosen objective function is the specific work of the steam cycle that may be, in the case of combined cycle (CC), a good criterion of thermodynamic performance analysis, contrary to the conventional steam turbines in which the thermal efficiency could be also an important criterion. The technologic constraints such as maximal steam cycle temperature, minimal steam fraction at steam turbine outlet, maximal steam pressure, minimal stack temperature, minimal pinch point, and maximal superheater effectiveness are also considered. The parametric analyses permitted to understand the effect of design parameters and the constraints on steam cycle specific work variation. PSO algorithm was used successfully in HRSG optimization, knowing that the achieved results are in accordance with those of the previous studies in which genetic algorithms were used. Moreover, this method is easy to implement comparing with the other methods.

Keywords: combined cycle, HRSG thermodynamic modeling, optimization, PSO, steam cycle specific work

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Authors: Fiston Masudi Tambwe, Lwanga Charles, Arfang Badji, Unzimai Innocent

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The development of maize varieties combining Provitamin A (PVA), high yield, and Striga resistance is an effective and affordable strategy to contribute to food security in sub-Saharan Africa, where maize is a staple food crop. There has been limited research on introgressing PVA genes into Striga-resistant maize genotypes. The objectives of this study were to: i) determine the mode of gene action controlling PVA carotenoid accumulation in Striga-resistant maize, ii) identify Striga-resistant maize hybrids with high PVA content and stable yield, and iii) validate the presence of PVA functional markers in offspring. Six elite, Striga-resistant inbred females were crossed with six high-PVA inbred males in a North Carolina Design II and their offspring were evaluated in four environments, following a 5x8 alpha lattice design with four hybrid checks. Results revealed that both additive and non-additive gene action control carotenoid accumulation in the present study, with a predominance of non-additive gene effects for PVA. Hybrids STR1004xCLHP0352 and STR1004xCLHP0046 - identified as Striga-resistant because they supported fewer Striga plants – were the highest-yielding genotypes with a moderate PVA concentration of 5.48 and 5.77 µg/g, respectively. However, those two hybrids were not stable in terms of yield across all environments. Hybrid STR1007xCLHP0046, however, supported fewer Striga plants, had a yield of 4.52 T/ha, a PVA concentration of 4.52 µg/g, and was also stable. Gel-based marker systems of CrtRB1 and LCYE were used to screen the hybrids and favorable alleles of CrtRB1 primers were detected in 20 hybrids, confirming good levels of PVA carotenoids. Hybrids with favorable alleles of LCYE had the highest concentration of non-PVA carotenoids. These findings will contribute to the development of high-yielding PVA-rich maize varieties in Uganda.

Keywords: gene action, stability, striga resistance, provitamin A markers, beta-carotene hydroxylase 1, CrtRB1, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene epsilon cyclase, LCYE

Procedia PDF Downloads 66