Search results for: building evaluation

Authors: Maria Tsompanoglou, Dimitris Armenis

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Vessel behavior in different operational and weather conditions constitutes the main area of interest for the ship operator. Ship speed and fuel consumption are the most decisive parameters in this respect, as their correlation provides information about the economic and environmental efficiency of the vessel, becoming the basis of decision making in terms of maintenance and trading. In the analysis of vessel operational profile for the evaluation of fuel consumption and the equivalent CO2 emissions footprint, the indications of Speed Through Water are widely used. The seasonal and regional variations in seawater characteristics, which are available nowadays, can provide the basis for accurate estimation of the errors in Speed Through Water indications at any time. Accuracy in the speed value on a route basis can enable operator identify the ship fuel and propulsion efficiency and proceed with improvements. This paper discusses case studies, where the actual vessel speed was corrected by a post-processing algorithm. The effects of the vessel correction to standard Key Performance Indicators, as well as operational findings not identified earlier, are also discussed.

Keywords: data analytics, MATLAB, vessel performance monitoring, speed through water

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Authors: E. L. Queiroz, S. M. A. Souza, R. T. S. Santos

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The cereal bars have emerged as a healthy alternative in the food sector, by presenting a remarkable functional appeal, being a product of high nutritional value. Cereals have an important function in feeding because they have features that particularize them as their variety, smooth flavour and aroma and easy digestion and absorption in the body. Brazil is the largest producer of cassava in the world, and the flour produced from this raw material is a source of nutrients for much of the low-income population, however it is little explored industrially. The northeast region of Brazil has great potential for honey production, which is a source of vitamins, proteins, minerals and organic acids but it is much used as a medicine. Aiming to combine the production of healthy food with the sustainable utilization and enhancement of family farming products, was created a cereal bar using regional raw materials of desirable nutritional characteristics: honey, umbu pulp and cassava flour. The cereal bar was characterized by physicochemical analyzes quantifying the content of lipids, proteins, moisture and ashes, microbiological and sensory evaluation showed that the cereal bar is a safe, and nutritious food with good sensory properties.

Keywords: cassava flour, cereal bar, honey, insoluble fibre

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Authors: Mohamed Khiatine, Ramdane Bahar

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The research performed during the last years has revealed that the seismic response of the soilis significantly non linear and hysteresis to the deformationsitundergoes during earthquakes and notably during violent shaking. This nonlinear behavior of soils can be characterized by curves showing the evolution of shearmodulus and damping versus distortion. Also, in this context, geotechnical seismic engineering problems often require the characterization of dynamic soil properties over a wide range of deformation. This determination of dynamic soil properties is key to predict the seismic response of soils for important civil engineering structures. This communication discusses a numerical analysis method for evaluating the nonlinear dynamic properties of soils in Algeriausing the FLAC2D software and the database resulting from geophysical and geotechnical studies when laboratory dynamic tests are not available. The nonlinear model proposed by Ramberg-Osgood and limited by the Mohr-coulomb criterion is used.

Keywords: degradation, shear modulus, damping, ramberg-osgood, numerical analysis.

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Authors: Sarayu Agarwal

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This paper aims to teach English (secondary language) by bridging the understanding between the Regional language (primary language) and the English Language (secondary language). Here primary language is the one a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, while secondary language would be any other language one learns or speaks. The paper also focuses on evolving old teaching methods to a contemporary participatory model of learning and teaching. Pilot studies were conducted to gauge an understanding of student’s knowledge of the English language. Teachers and students were interviewed and their academic curriculum was assessed as a part of the initial study. Extensive literature study and design thinking principles were used to devise a solution to the problem. The objective is met using a holistic learning kit/card game to teach children word recognition, word pronunciation, word spelling and writing words. Implication of the paper is a noticeable improvement in the understanding and grasping of English language. With increasing usage and applicability of English as a second language (ESL) world over, the paper becomes relevant due to its easy replicability to any other primary or secondary language. Future scope of this paper would be transforming the idea of participatory learning into self-regulated learning methods. With the upcoming govt. learning centres in rural areas and provision of smart devices such as tablets, the development of the card games into digital applications seems very feasible.

Keywords: English as a second language, vocabulary-building card games, learning through gamification, rural education

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Authors: G. S. Thyagaraju, U. P. Kulkarni

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Context-aware computing refers to a general class of computing systems that can sense their physical environment, and adapt their behaviour accordingly. Context aware computing makes systems aware of situations of interest, enhances services to users, automates systems and personalizes applications. Context-aware services have been introduced into mobile devices, such as PDA and mobile phones. In this paper we are presenting a novel approaches used to realize the context aware mobile. The context aware mobile phone (CAMP) proposed in this paper senses the users situation automatically and provides user context required services. The proposed system is developed by using artificial intelligence techniques like Bayesian Network, fuzzy logic and rough sets theory based decision table. Bayesian Network to classify the incoming call (high priority call, low priority call and unknown calls), fuzzy linguistic variables and membership degrees to define the context situations, the decision table based rules for service recommendation. To exemplify and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods, the context aware mobile phone is tested for college campus scenario including different locations like library, class room, meeting room, administrative building and college canteen.

Keywords: context aware mobile, fuzzy logic, decision table, Bayesian probability

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Authors: David Glew, Felix Thomas, Matthew Brooke-Peat

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Improving the thermal performance of homes is seen as an essential step in achieving climate change, fuel security, fuel poverty targets. One of the most effective thermal retrofits is to insulate solid walls. However, it has been observed that applying insulation to the internal face of solid walls reduces the surface temperature of the inner wall leaf, which may introduce condensation risk and may interrupt seasonal moisture accumulation and dissipation. This research quantifies the extent to which the risk of condensation and moisture accumulation in the wall increases (which can increase the risk of timber rot) following the installation of six different types of internal wall insulation. In so doing, it compares how risk is affected by both the thermal resistance, thickness, and breathability of the insulation. Thermal bridging, surface temperatures, condensation risk, and moisture accumulation are evaluated using hygrothermal simulation software before and after the thermal upgrades. The research finds that installing internal wall insulation will always introduce some risk of condensation and moisture. However, it identifies that risks were present prior to insulation and that breathable materials and insulation with lower resistance have lower risks than alternative insulation options. The implications of this may be that building standards that encourage the enhanced thermal performance of solid walls may be introducing moisture risks into homes.

Keywords: condensation risk, hygrothermal simulation, internal wall insulation, thermal bridging

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Authors: Vaclav Mentl, Josef Volak

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In many industrial applications, materials are subjected to degradation of mechanical properties as a result of real service conditions, temperature, cyclic loading, humidity or other corrosive media, irradiation, their combination etc. The assessment of the remaining lifetime of components and structures is commonly based on correlated procedures including numerous destructive, non-destructive and mathematical techniques that should guarantee reasonably precise assessment of the current damage extent of materials in question and the remaining lifetime evaluation of the component under consideration. The answers to demands of customers to extend the lifetime of existing components beyond their original design life must be based on detailed assessment of the current degradation extent, what can be rarely realised by means of traditional mechanical (standardised) tests that need relatively large volumes of representative material for the test specimen manufacturing. This fact accelerated the research of miniaturised test specimen that can be sampled non-invasively from the component.

Keywords: small punch test, correlation, creep, mechanical properties

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Authors: H. H. Goh, Q. S. Chua, S. W. Lee, B. C. Kok, K. C. Goh, K. T. K. Teo

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At present, the evaluation of voltage stability assessment experiences sizeable anxiety in the safe operation of power systems. This is due to the complications of a strain power system. With the snowballing of power demand by the consumers and also the restricted amount of power sources, therefore, the system has to perform at its maximum proficiency. Consequently, the noteworthy to discover the maximum ability boundary prior to voltage collapse should be undertaken. A preliminary warning can be perceived to evade the interruption of power system’s capacity. The effectiveness of line voltage stability indices (LVSI) is differentiated in this paper. The main purpose of the indices is used to predict the proximity of voltage instability of the electric power system. On the other hand, the indices are also able to decide the weakest load buses which are close to voltage collapse in the power system. The line stability indices are assessed using the IEEE 14 bus test system to validate its practicability. Results demonstrated that the implemented indices are practically relevant in predicting the manifestation of voltage collapse in the system. Therefore, essential actions can be taken to dodge the incident from arising.

Keywords: critical line, line outage, line voltage stability indices (LVSI), maximum loadability, voltage collapse, voltage instability, voltage stability analysis

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Authors: Davi Marinho de Araujo Falcão, Ronaldo Moreira Salles, Paulo Henrique Maranhão

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Disruption Tolerant Networks (DTN) are an evolution of Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANET) and work good in scenarioswhere nodes are sparsely distributed, with low density, intermittent connections and an end-to-end infrastructure is not possible to guarantee. Therefore, DTNs are recommended for high latency applications that can last from hours to days. The maritime scenario has mobility characteristics that contribute to a DTN network approach, but the concern with data security is also a relevant aspect in such scenarios. Continuing the previous work, which evaluated the performance of some DTN protocols (Epidemic, Spray and Wait, and Direct Delivery) in three warship scenarios and proposed the application of discriminant analysis, as a classification technique for secure connections, in the Epidemic protocol, thus, the current article proposes a new analysis of the directional discriminant function with opening angles smaller than 90 degrees, demonstrating that the increase in directivity influences the selection of a greater number of secure connections by the directional discriminant Epidemic protocol.

Keywords: DTN, discriminant function, epidemic protocol, security, tactical messages, warship scenario

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Authors: Hanh Thi My Nguyen, Phuong Thu Dinh

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People with intellectual disability are at high risk for sexual abuse. The reasons may originate from their communication skills deficits, lack of skills and knowledge to protect themselves from sexual abuse, or limited access to sexual abuse prevention programs. This article aims to present a systematic review about strategies for preventing sexual abuse for young people with intellectual disability. A range of articles in 10 years from 2009 to 2018 are searched by using online database. 5 papers are included for the final review. The results of this comprehensive literature review showed that there are two main strategies used: programs designed for people with intellectual, including evaluation on sex education programs; and sexual education program for parents of children with intellectual disability. However, none of the papers were conducted in low-and middle-income countries. Therefore, cautions should be taken when it comes to interpret these findings. The findings of studies showed that participants increased their awareness and skills for protecting themselves from sexual abuse after participating in the programs. It is also recommended that more effective evidence-based programs should be developed.

Keywords: intellectual disability, prevention, sexual abuse, sexual education program

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Authors: A. Eiguren-Munitis, N. Berasategi, J. M. Correa

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Changes in family structures, immigration, economic crisis, among others, hinder the connection between different generations. This situation gives rise to a greater lack of social protection of the groups in vulnerable situations, such as the elderly and children. There is a growing need to search for shared spaces where different generations manage to break negative stereotypes and interact with each other. The school environment provides a favourable context in which the approach of different generations can be worked on. The intergenerational experiences that take place within the school context help to introduce the educational ideology for a lifetime. This induces bilateral learning, which encourages citizen participation. For this reason, the general objective of this research is to deepen the impact that intergenerational experiences have on participating students. The research is carried out based on mixed methods. The qualitative and quantitative evaluation included pre-test and post-test questionnaires (n=148) and group interviews (n=43). The results indicate that the intergenerational experiences influence different levels, on the one hand, help to promote school motivation and on the other hand, help to reduce negative stereotypes towards older people thus contributing to greater social cohesion.

Keywords: intergenerational learning, school, stereotypes, social cohesion

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Authors: Muhammad Hadi Ibrahim

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The benefits of alternative/renewable fuels in general and a study of the environmental impacts of biofuels in particular have been reviewed in this paper. It is a known fact that, energy generation using fossil fuel produces many important pollutants including; nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, soot, dust, smoke and other particulate harmful matter. It’s believed that if carbon dioxide levels continue to increase drastically, the planet will become warmer and will most likely result in a variety of negative impacts including; sea-level rise, extreme and unpredictable weather events and an increased frequency of draughts in inland agricultural zones. Biofuels such as alcohols, biogas, etc. appear to be more viable alternatives, especially for use as fuels in diesel engines. The substitution of fossil fuel through increased utilization of biofuels produced in a sustainable manner, can contribute immensely towards a cleaner environment, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation of climate change. Stakeholders in the energy sector can be sensitized by the findings of the research study and to consider the possible adverse effects in developing technologies for the production and combustion of biofuels.

Keywords: emission, energy, renewable/alternative fuel, environment, pollution

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Authors: Novawiguna Kemalasari, Ahmad Badawi Saluy

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Recent economic developments are more dependent on the value created by intangible assets than tangible company's assets. Intangible assets in question is intellectual capital that is recognized as the basis of individual, organizational, and general competition in the 21st century. The rapid global economy and technological innovations that have led to tough competition in the business world, make IC creation, management, measurement, and evaluation an important indicator in improving company performance that will affect the value of the company in the future. This study aims to determine the strong influence of intellectual capital on corporate performance, and how the influence of human capital on structural capital and relation capital. By distributing questionnaires to 100 employees of banking companies in Jakarta with middle and upper positions. Approach method used is Partial Least Square (PLS) Based on research that has been done, it can be concluded that human capital has influence on relation capital and structural capital. Similarly, the influence on the performance of the company turned out to human capital and relation capital has a significant influence, but structural capital has a non-significant effect on company performance.

Keywords: human capital, structural capital, relation capital, corporate performance

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Authors: Rashi Mahato

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Talent management represents an organization’s effort to attract, develop and retain highly skilled and valuable employees. The goal is to have people with capabilities and commitment needed for current and future organizational success. The organizational talent pool is its managerial talent referred to as leadership pipeline. It is managed through various systems and processes to help the organization source, reward, evaluate, develop and move employees into various functions and roles. The pipeline bends, turns, and sometimes breaks as organizations identify who is 'ready now' and who is 'on track' for larger leadership roles. From this perspective, talent management designs structured approach and a robust mechanism for high potential employees to meet organization’s needs. The paper attempts to provide a roadmap and a structured approach towards building a high performing organization through well-defined career path. Managers want career paths to be defined, so that an adequate number of individuals may be identified and prepared to fill future vacancies. Once career progression patterns are identified, more systematic forecasting of talent requirements is possible. For the development of senior management talent or leadership team, career paths are needed as guidelines for talent management across functional and organizational lines. Career path is one of the important tools for talent management and aligning talent with business strategy. This paper briefly describes the approach for career path and the concept of

Keywords: career path, career path framework, lateral movement, talent management

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Authors: Kerem Rızvanoglu, Serhat Güney, Betül Aydoğan, Emre Kızılkaya, Ayşegül Boyalı, Onurcan Güden

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This study investigates the urban experience of international students coming to Istanbul with exchange programs and reveals how locative media applications accompany their urban experiences. The sample of the research consists of international students who lived, perceived, and conceived the city on a daily basis during the academic year of 2022. Focusing on this particular sample would demonstrate the opportunities and authentic experiences offered by the city as well as the prevalent urban problems for the foreigners. In this regard, international students' urban experience in Istanbul, the blockages they encounter as resident tourists, the hotspots that the city offers, and the role of locative media in enriching the urban experience are the main axes to be evaluated. In the first step of the multi-staged research, we conduct an online qualitative survey with a sample; then, we evaluate the data obtained from the survey using cluster analysis to identify the urban experience, consumption habits, and tastes. In the final stage, digital ethnographic fieldwork will be carried out with representative personas identified by the cluster analysis. With this field research on the urban experience accompanied by locative media applications, suggestions will be developed by evaluating the opportunities these applications offer to enrich the urban practice of foreigners.

Keywords: digital ethnography, international students, locative media applications, urban experience

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Authors: Paramita Sekar Ayu, Sunjaya Deni Kurniadi, Yamazaki Chiho, Hilfi Lukman, Koyama Hiroshi

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Social cohesion, or closeness among members of society, is an important determinant of population health. A cohesive society is a crucial societal condition for a positive life evaluation and subjective wellbeing, and people living in a cohesive society are happier and more satisfied with life and achieve better health status. The objective of this study was to compose and validate a questionnaire for measuring social cohesion with Rasch analysis. We develop a set of 13 questions to measure 4 dimensions of social cohesion. Random samples of 166 Bandung citizens’ were selected to answer the questionnaire. To evaluate the questionnaire’s validity and reliability, Rasch analysis (a psychometric model for analyzing categorical data on questionnaire responses) was carried out using Winsteps version 3.75.0. Rasch analysis was performed on the response given to 13 items included in the questionnaire. The reliability coefficient, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.70, model RMSE 0.08, SD 0.54, separation 7.14, and reliability of 0.98. ‘Kohesif-Ques’ is a useful instrument to assess social cohesion.

Keywords: rasch analysis, rasch model, social cohesion, quesionnaire

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Authors: Hallan Moura Ladeira, Carla Tatiana Mota Anflor

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The drilling process for bolted or riveted joints of components is very common in the naval, aeronautical, mechanical, and civil industries. In this context, the present work aims to study, through computer simulation, the influence of hole geometry (through, chamfered, and rounded) on crack propagation when submitted to static and dynamic loads. For the static crack evaluation, failure was considered when the stress intensity factor (FIT) exceeds the fracture toughness of the material (KIc). In the case of fatigue, the condition of the small crack tip plastification zone and the Paris Law were considered for determining region II of the dadN x ΔK curve. Initially, a parametric analysis of the hole geometry was performed to obtain a topology that would result in less discontinuity of the stress field and, consequently, less influence on static crack growth. The best performing topology was then used to study the fatigue crack growth rate considering the Paris Law. The numerical tests were performed on a 7075-T6 aluminum specimen resulting in dadN x ΔK curves in good agreement with the literature.

Keywords: holes, cracks, loading, fracture toughness

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Authors: S. K. Hemalata, M. N. Shiva Kameshwari

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The present work focusses on anti-inflammatory action of Urginea wightii in-vitro. Urginea wightii is a member of Hyacinthaceae and considered to be wonder plant because of its varied important medicinal properties. The plant is endemic to India, Africa, and Mediterranian regions. Presence of alkaloids, flavonoid-glycosides especially flavonone derivatives are responsible for the strong anti-inflammatory activity of Urginea wightii. In present research work, anti-inflammatory activity of methanol extract of the bulb powder was tested on Male Wistar Rats. In these test animals, inflammation was induced by injecting carrageenan as the irritant to induce paw edema in Wistar rats. Inflammation of Paw edema was treated with both plant extract and Pyrox gel a known synthetic anti-inflammatory drug through external application. The result indicated that anti-inflammatory activity of Urginea wightii extract was almost similar to the synthetic Pyrox gel. This disproves the modern world's scepticism towards the herbal medicines and encourages to rely on natural plant extracts.

Keywords: anti-inflammatory activity, flavonoid-glycosides, Pyrox gel, Urginia wightii

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Authors: Hongshan Guo

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Ground-source heat pumps provide stable and reliable heating and cooling when designed properly. The confounding effect of the borehole depth for a GSHP system, however, is rarely taken into account for any optimization: the determination of the borehole depth usually comes prior to the selection of corresponding system components and thereafter any optimization of the GSHP system. The depth of the borehole is important to any GSHP system because the shallower the borehole, the larger the fluctuation of temperature of the near-borehole soil temperature. This could lead to fluctuations of the coefficient of performance (COP) for the GSHP system in the long term when the heating/cooling demand is large. Yet the deeper the boreholes are drilled, the more the drilling cost and the operational expenses for the circulation. A controller that reads different building load profiles, optimizing for the smallest costs and temperature fluctuation at the borehole wall, eventually providing borehole depth as the output is developed. Due to the nature of the nonlinear dynamic nature of the GSHP system, it was found that between conventional optimal controller problem and model predictive control problem, the latter was found to be more feasible due to a possible history of both the trajectory during the iteration as well as the final output could be computed and compared against. Aside from a few scenarios of different weighting factors, the resulting system costs were verified with literature and reports and were found to be relatively accurate, while the temperature fluctuation at the borehole wall was also found to be within acceptable range. It was therefore determined that the MPC is adequate to optimize for the investment as well as the system performance for various outputs.

Keywords: geothermal borehole, MPC, dynamic modeling, simulation

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Authors: Chanpen Meenakorn

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This research aimed to examine the relationships between customer expectations and service quality management of Banpaew Hospital Samutsakorn in Thailand. The study sample consisted of 360 customers in patient unit. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics used were percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The analytical statistics comprised Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient analysis. The result showed that service quality of nurses was very good with sustainable development trend. Physical evidence was at a high level, and the process and personal were rated at a high level. Additional, the study suggested that head nurse should be encouraged to improve service quality management, management training. Nurse administrators should create an appropriate nursing department climate, and provide necessary resources in the department. In addition, the nurse administrators should continuously follow up the results of customer expectations and focus on patients/customers, process management, information and knowledge management, and evaluation of service quality also.

Keywords: Banpaew Hospital, Customer Expectations, Service Provided, Samutsakorn

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Authors: Taehyun Kim

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As a result of rapid urbanization, energy demands for lighting, heating and cooling of households have been concentrated in metropolitan areas. The energy resources for housing in urban areas are dominantly fossil fuel whose uses contribute to increase cost of living and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission. To achieve environmentally and economically sustainable residential development, it is important to know how energy use and cost of living can be reduced by planning and design. The purpose of this study is to examine which type of building requires less energy for housing. To do so, carbon footprint (CF) quiz survey was employed which estimates the amount of carbon dioxide required to support households’ consumption of energy uses for housing. The housing carbon footprints (HCF) of 500 households of Seoul, Korea in summer and winter were estimated and compared in three major types of housing: single-family (detached), row-house and apartment. In addition, its differences of HCF were estimated between tower and flat type of apartment. The results of T-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) provide statistical evidence that housing type is related to housing energy use. Average HCF of detached house was higher than other housing types. Between two types of apartment, tower type shows higher HCF than flat type in winter. These findings may provide new perspectives on CF application in sustainable architecture and urban design.

Keywords: analysis of variance, carbon footprint, energy use, housing type

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Authors: Mohan Ramasundaram, Amutha Prabakar Muniyandi

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Remote user authentication is one of the important tasks for any kind of remote server applications. Several remote authentication schemes are proposed by the researcher for Telecare Medicine Information System (TMIS). Most of the existing techniques have limitations, vulnerable to various kind attacks, lack of functionalities, information leakage, no perfect forward security and ineffectiveness. Authentication is a process of user verification mechanism for allows him to access the resources of a server. Nowadays, most of the remote authentication protocols are using two-factor authentications. We have made a survey of several remote authentication schemes using three factors and this survey shows that the most of the schemes are inefficient and subject to several attacks. We observed from the experimental evaluation; the proposed scheme is very secure against various known attacks that include replay attack, man-in-the-middle attack. Furthermore, the analysis based on the communication cost and computational cost estimation of the proposed scheme with related schemes shows that our proposed scheme is efficient.

Keywords: Telecare Medicine Information System, elliptic curve cryptography, three-factor, biometric, random oracle

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Authors: Prakriti Diwan, S. Saraf

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The present study involves preparation and evaluation of microparticles of diclofenac sodium. The microparticles were prepared by the emulsion solvent evaporation techniques using ethylcellulose polymer. Four different batches of microspheres were prepared by varying the concentration of polymer from 50% to 80% w/w. The microspheres were characterized for drug content, percentage yield and encapsulation efficiency, particle size analysis and surface morphology. Microsphere prepared with high drug content produces higher percentage yield and encapsulation efficiency values. It was observed the increase in concentration of the polymer, increases the mean particle size of the microspheres. The effect of polymer concentration on the in vitro release of diclofenac from the microspheres was also studied. The production microparticles yield showed 98.74%, mean particle size 956.32µm and loading efficiency 97.15%. The results were found that microparticles prepared had slower release than microparticles (p>0.05). Therefore, it may be concluded that drug loaded microparticles are suitable delivery systems for diclofenac sodium.

Keywords: diclofenac sodium, emulsion solvent evaporation, ethylcellulose, microparticles

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Authors: Stephen J. Mitchual, Kwasi Frimpong-Mensah, Nicholas A. Darkwa

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The fuel potential of six tropical hardwood species namely: Triplochiton scleroxylon, Ceiba pentandra, Aningeria robusta, Terminalia superba, Celtis mildbreadii and Piptadenia africana were studied. Properties studied include the species density, gross calorific value, volatile matter, ash, organic carbon, N, H, S, Cu, Pb, As and Cd content. Fuel properties were determined using standard laboratory methods. The result indicates that the Gross Calorific Value (GCV) of the species ranged from 20.16 to 22.22 MJ/kg and they slightly varied from each other. Additionally, the GCV of the biomass materials were higher than that of other biomass materials like; wheat straw, rice straw, maize straw and sugar cane. The ash and volatile matter content varied from 0.6075 to 5.0407%, and 75.23% to 83.70% respectively. The overall rating of the properties of the six biomass materials suggest that Piptadenia africana has the best fuel property to be used as briquettes and Aningeria robusta the worse. This study therefore suggests that a holistic assessment of a biomass material needs to be done before selecting it for fuel purpose.

Keywords: ash content, briquette, calorific value, elemental composition, species, volatile matter

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Authors: Mohammad Goli, Akram Sharifi, Mohammad Yousefi Jozdani, Seyed Ali Mortazavi

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An industrial spray dryer was used, and the effects of atomizer speed on the physicochemical properties of milk powder, the textural and sensory characteristics of white cheese made from this milk powder, were evaluated. For this purpose, whole milk was converted into powder by using three different speeds (10,000, 11,000, and 12,000 rpm). Results showed that with increasing atomizer speed in the spray dryer, the average size of casein micelle is significantly decreased (p < 0.05), whereas no significant effect is observed on the chemical properties of milk powder. White cheese characteristics indicated that with increasing atomizer speed, texture parameters, such as hardness, mastication, and gumminess, were significantly reduced (p < 0.05). Sensory evaluation also revealed that cheese samples prepared with dried milk produced at 12,000 rpm were highly accepted by panelists. Overall, the findings suggested that 12,000 rpm is the optimal atomizer speed for milk powder production.

Keywords: spray drying, powder technology, atomizer speed, particle size, white cheese physical properties

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Authors: Lani Fraizer, Faiz Shah

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Extreme poverty continues to plague the world. Forty-seven million people live well-below the poverty line in Bangladesh, enduring poor quality of life, often with no access to basic human needs like shelter and healthcare. It is not surprising that poverty eradication is central to the mission of social change makers, such as Muhammad Yunus, who have demonstrated how enterprise-led development initiatives empower individuals at the grassroots, and can galvanize entire communities to emerge out of poverty. Such strategies call for system-wide change, and like a number of systems leaders, social business champions have typically challenged the status quo, and broken out of silos to catalyze vibrant multi-stakeholder partnerships across sectors. Apart from individual charisma, social change makers succeed because they garner collaborative impact through socially beneficial partnerships. So while enterprise-led social development evolves in scope and complexity, in step with the need to create and sustain partnerships, Partnership Brokering is emerging as an approach to facilitate collaborative processes. As such, it may now be possible for anyone motivated by the idea of social business to acquire the skills and sophistication necessary for building enriching partnerships that harness the power of the market to address poverty. This paper examines dimensions of partnership brokering in the context of social business, and explores the implications of this emerging approach on fostering poverty eradication.

Keywords: poverty, social business, partnership brokering, social entrepreneurship, systems change, enterprise-led development, change making

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Authors: T. Davitashvili

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At present impact of global climate change on the territory of Georgia is evident at least on the background of the Caucasus glaciers melting which during the last century have decreased to half their size. Glaciers are early indicators of ongoing global and regional climate change. Knowledge of the Caucasus glaciers fluctuation (melting) is an extremely necessary tool for planning hydro-electric stations and water reservoir, for development tourism and agriculture, for provision of population with drinking water and for prediction of water supplies in more arid regions of Georgia. Otherwise, the activity of anthropogenic factors has resulted in decreasing of the mowing, arable, unused lands, water resources, shrubs and forests, owing to increasing the production and building. Transformation of one type structural unit into another one has resulted in local climate change and its directly or indirectly impacts on different components of water resources on the territory of Georgia. In the present paper, some hydrological specifications of Georgian water resources and its potential pollutants on the background of regional climate change are presented. Some results of Georgian’s glaciers pollution and its melting process are given. The possibility of surface and subsurface water pollution owing to accidents at oil pipelines or railway routes are discussed. The specific properties of regional climate warming process in the eastern Georgia are studied by statistical methods. The effect of the eastern Georgian climate change upon water resources is investigated.

Keywords: climate, droughts, pollution, water resources

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Authors: Intissar Abbes, Yousra Hallem, Jean-michel Sahut

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The purpose of this research is to explore the legitimacy of a proximity mobile payment (PMP) system by taking into account the social aspects related to its use (social acceptability). We have chosen to focus on the acceptability process of a PMP application (‘Flashplay’) from the first testing to the adoption in a service context. This PMP solution is a pilot program developed as part of a global strategy of disintermediation in various sectors (retail, catering, and entertainment). This case is particularly interesting for two reasons: the context and environment are suitable to the adoption of innovation in payment like other African countries and the possibility to study different stages of the social acceptability process of that PMP system. The neo-institutional theory is mobilized to identify the three pillars of legitimacy: cognitive, normative and regulatory. A longitudinal qualitative study was conducted with 27 customers using the PMP service. Results highlighted the importance of the consumption system and the service provider as institutions. Recommendations are thus proposed to PMP service providers in order to rethink the design and implementation strategies of their PMP system to ensure their adoption and promote the institutionalization of this type of consumption practice.

Keywords: legitimacy, payment, acceptability, mobility

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Authors: Ibrahim Alhumaidan

Abstract:

As King Saud University believes in the critical role played by technology and its effectiveness in achieving quality, speed of achievement, facilitating follow-up and enhancing responsibility undertaking; the university is keen on activating its e-services for the purpose of attaining the primary requirements of achievement and perfection. The web portal of the student's academic system comes as one of the most important practices in technological and e-transaction aspects. It enables students to carry out their processes–registration, addition, evaluation, viewing their results, and scholastic accomplishments, etc.– through the relevant web portal. The aim of this study is to recognize Education College students' attitude -as one of King's University Colleges- regarding the usage of the academic system web portal, its effectiveness in saving time and effort, and, efficiency in enhancing student's planning skills. The study society is all students of college of education in King Saud University and the sample has been chosen randomly from them. The study tool is a questionnaire designed to learn about students' views about using the web portal; as the researcher used the surveying methodology to achieve the aim of the study.

Keywords: web portal, academic system, education faculty, students, planning skills

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: Ermelinda Bloise, Giuseppe Mele

Abstract:

In recent years, Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) has received great attention from researchers because it is an abundant waste material from the agri-food industry that fits perfectly into the idea of reusing waste from renewable resources for the production of new functional materials. The different components of this waste showed a certain chemical versatility and, above all, various biological activities. Take advantage of their surface-active capacity in particular conditions, various amphiphilic nanostructures have been prepared through sustainable chemical processes using cardanol (CA) and anacardic acid (AA) as two main components of the CNSL. In-batch solvent-free method has been developed to obtain new versatile green nanovesicles capable of effectively incorporating and stabilizing both hydrophobic and hydrophilic bioactive molecules. Furthermore, these nanosystems have shown antioxidant and cytotoxic properties and, in vitroinvestigations, established that they efficiently taken-up some human cells. With the idea of meeting the principles of green chemistry, even more, some improvements of the synthetic procedure have been implemented in terms of milder temperature and pH conditions, producing one-component nanovesicles, in which the AA and CA-derivatives are the sole building block of the green nanosystems. Finally, a new experimental approach has been carried out by a microfluidic route, with the advantage to operate at continuous flows, with a reduced amount of reagents, waste, and at lower temperatures, ensuring the achievement of size-monodisperse amphiphilic nanostructures that do not need further purification steps.

Keywords: bioactive nanosystems, bio-based renewables, cashew oil, green nanoformulations

Procedia PDF Downloads 75