Search results for: Multi Level Inverter (MLI)

Authors: Dyah Adi Sriwahyuni

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Institutional work has become a prominent and contemporary institutional theory perspective in organization studies. A wealth of studies in organizations have explored actor activities in creating, maintaining, and disrupting institutions at the field level. However, the exploration of the work of actors in creating new management practices at the organizational level has been somewhat limited. The current institutional work literature mostly describes the work of actors at the field level and ignores organizational actors who work to realize management practices. Organizational actors here are defined as actors in organizations who work to institutionalize a particular management practice within the organizations. The extant literature has also generalized the types of management practices, which meant overlooking the unique characteristics of each management fashion as well as a management practice. To fill these gaps, this study aims to provide empirical evidence so as to contribute theoretically to institutional work through a comparative case study on organizational actors’ creation of knowledge management (KM) practice in two public sector organizations in Indonesia. KM is a contemporary management practice employed to manage individual and organizational knowledge in order to improve organizational performance. This practice presents a suitable practical setting with which to provide a rich understanding of the organizational actors’ institutional work and their connection with technology. Drawing on and extending the work of Perkmann and Spicer (2008), this study explores the forms of institutional work performed by organizational actors, including their motivation, skills, challenges, and opportunities. The primary data collection is semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable actors and document analysis for validity and triangulation. Following Eisenhardt's cross-case patterns, the researcher analyzed the collected data focusing on within-group similarities and intergroup differences. The researcher coded interview data using NVivo and used documents to corroborate the findings. The study’s findings add to the wealth of institutional theory literature in organization studies, particularly institutional work related to management practices. This study builds a theory about the work of organizational actors in creating knowledge management practices. Using the perspective of institutional work, research can show the roles of the various actors involved, their practices, and their relationship to technology (materiality), not only focusing on actors with a power which has been the theorizing of institutional entrepreneurship. The development of knowledge management practices in the Indonesian public sector is also a significant additional contribution, given that the current KM literature is dominated by conceptualizing the KM framework and the impact of KM on organizations. The public sector, which is the research setting, also provides important lessons on how actors in a highly institutionalized context are creating an institution, in this case, a knowledge management practice.

Keywords: institutional work, knowledge management, case study, public sector organizations

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Authors: Oliver Ohneiser, Francesca De Crescenzio, Gianluca Di Flumeri, Jan Kraemer, Bruno Berberian, Sara Bagassi, Nicolina Sciaraffa, Pietro Aricò, Gianluca Borghini, Fabio Babiloni

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An increasing degree of automation in air traffic will also change the role of the air traffic controller (ATCO). ATCOs will fulfill significantly more monitoring tasks compared to today. However, this rather passive role may lead to Out-Of-The-Loop (OOTL) effects comprising vigilance decrement and less situation awareness. The project MINIMA (Mitigating Negative Impacts of Monitoring high levels of Automation) has conceived a system to control and mitigate such OOTL phenomena. In order to demonstrate the MINIMA concept, an experimental simulation set-up has been designed. This set-up consists of two parts: 1) a Task Environment (TE) comprising a Terminal Maneuvering Area (TMA) simulator as well as 2) a Vigilance and Attention Controller (VAC) based on neurophysiological data recording such as electroencephalography (EEG) and eye-tracking devices. The current vigilance level and the attention focus of the controller are measured during the ATCO’s active work in front of the human machine interface (HMI). The derived vigilance level and attention trigger adaptive automation functionalities in the TE to avoid OOTL effects. This paper describes the full-scale experimental set-up and the component development work towards it. Hence, it encompasses a pre-test whose results influenced the development of the VAC as well as the functionalities of the final TE and the two VAC’s sub-components.

Keywords: automation, human factors, air traffic controller, MINIMA, OOTL (Out-Of-The-Loop), EEG (Electroencephalography), HMI (Human Machine Interface)

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Authors: P. Senthilraja, C. Rukumani Khandhan, M. Palaniappan, S. L. Rama, P. Sai Sushimitha, R. Madhan, J. Vinumathi, N. Vijayarangan

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Nowadays, the logistics achieve a vast improvement in efficient delivery of goods. The technology improvement also helps to improve its development, but still the owners of transport vehicles face problems, i.e., fuel theft in vehicles by the drivers or by an unknown person. There is no proper solution to overcome the problems. This scheme is to determine the amount of fuel that has been stolen and also to determine the position of the vehicle at a particular time using the technologies like GPS, GSM, ultrasonic fuel level sensor and numeric lock system. The ultrasonic sensor uses the ultrasonic waves to calculate the height of the tank up to which the fuel is available. Based on height it is possible to calculate the amount of fuel. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system. The scientific community uses GPS for its precision timing capability and position information. The GSM provides the periodic information about the fuel level. A numeric lock system has been provided for fuel tank opening lever. A password is provided to access the fuel tank lever and this is authenticated only by the driver and the owner. Once the fuel tank is opened an alert is sent to owner through a SMS including the timing details. Third party monitoring software is a user interface that updates the information automatically into the database which helps to retrieve the data as and when required. Third party monitoring software provides vehicle’s information to the owner and also shows the status of the vehicle. The techniques that are to be proposed will provide an efficient output. This project helps to overcome the theft and hence to put forth fuel economy.

Keywords: fuel theft, third party monitoring software, bioinformatics, biomedicine

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Authors: Eyhab El-Kharashi, Maher El-Dessouki

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The paper is dedicated to precise assessment of the induction motor output energy during the unbalanced operation. Since many years ago and until now the voltage complex unbalance factor (CVUF) is used only to assess the output energy of the induction motor while this output energy for asymmetry supply voltage does not depend on the value of unbalanced voltage only but also on the machine parameters. The paper illustrates the variation of the two unbalance factors, complex voltage unbalance factor (CVUF) and impedance unbalance factor (IUF), with positive sequence voltage component, reveals that degree and manner of unbalance in supply voltage. From this point of view the paper delineates the current unbalance factor (CUF) to exactly reflect the output energy during unbalanced operation. The paper proceeds to illustrate the importance of using this factor in the multi-machine system to precise prediction of the output energy during the unbalanced operation. The use of the proposed unbalance factor (CUF) avoids the accumulation of the error due to more than one machine in the system which is expected if only the complex voltage unbalance factor (CVUF) is used.

Keywords: induction motor, electromagnetic torque, voltage unbalance, energy conversion

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Authors: Kharaishvili Eteri

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The article highlights the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises in achieving the goals of sustainable development of the economy and increasing the well-being of the population. The opinion is put forward that it is necessary to adapt the activities of small and medium-sized firms in Georgia to sustainable business models. Therefore, it is important to identify the challenges that will ensure compliance with the goals and requirements of sustainable development of small and mediumsized enterprises. Objectives. The goal of the study is to reveal the challenges of sustainable development in small and medium-sized enterprises in Georgia and to develop recommendations for strategic development opportunities. Methodologies The challenges of sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises are investigated with the following methodology: bibliographic research of scientific works and reports of organizations is carried out; Based on the grouping of sustainable development goals, the performance indicators of these goals are studied; Differences with respect to the corresponding indicators of European countries are determined by the comparison method; The matrix scheme establishes the conditions and tools for sustainable development; Challenges of sustainable development are identified by factor analysis. Contributions Trends in the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises are studied from the point of view of economic, social and environmental factors; To ensure sustainability, the conditions and tools for sustainable development are established (certified supply chains and global markets, allocation of financial resources necessary for sustainable development, proper public procurement, highly qualified workforce, etc.); Several main challenges have been identified in the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises, including: limited internal resources; Institutional factors, especially vague and imperfect regulations, bureaucracy; low level of investments; Low level of qualification of human capital and others.

Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises, sustainable development, conditions of sustainable development, strategic directions of sustainable development.

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Authors: Alazar G. Ejigu

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Cities have traditionally been designed for and by men. Despite positive changes in this regard, contemporary cities appear to offer limited options and experiences to women in their everyday life. There are differences regarding the quality of space. Distressed or disadvantaged areas often have less access to urban qualities, such as services, parks, and public places, than more privileged ones. The most attractive meeting-places are located centrally, whereas many suburban areas lack these elements. By focusing on young women living in multi-ethnic working-class suburban areas in Stockholm - a group generally ignored and disadvantaged; the study aims to examine various forms of inequality or equality in three selected neighborhoods. Spatial data was collected through walk-along with the young girls, inventory of the places, and geodata made available by Statistics Sweden (SCB). The combined data was analyzed with the help of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In line with Crenshaw - one of the forerunners of intersectional thinking – the project departs from the idea that if we address the needs of those who are disadvantaged and restructure urban space accordingly, then others will benefit too. Thus, working our way towards a more equal city.

Keywords: GIS, segregation, gender equality, urban planning

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Authors: R. Bouhennache, T. Bouden, A. A. Taleb, A. Chaddad

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In this paper we propose a method to map the urban areas. The method uses an arithmetic calculation processed from the land features indexes and Tasseled cap transformation TC of multi spectral Thematic Mapper Landsat TM image. For this purpose the derived indexes image from the original image such SAVI the soil adjusted vegetation index, UI the urban Index, and EBBI the enhanced built up and bareness index were staked to form a new image and the bands were uncorrelated, also the Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) and Spectral Information Divergence (SID) supervised classification approaches were first applied on the new image TM data using the reference spectra of the spectral library and subsequently the four urban, vegetation, water and soil land cover categories were extracted with their accuracy assessment.The urban features were represented using a logic calculation applied to the brightness, UI-SAVI, NDBI-greenness and EBBI- brightness data sets. The study applied to Blida and mentioned that the urban features can be mapped with an accuracy ranging from 92 % to 95%.

Keywords: EBBI, SAVI, Tasseled Cap Transformation, UI

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Authors: Redie Bezabih Hailu

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Unemployment is a problem of nations that needs a continuous research. This study aimed to determine the collaborations and challenges of public employment service (PES) with special emphasis of stakeholders, employers and job seekers. The researcher used pragmatic philosophy, exploratory design and inductive approach to collect data from the respondents using interview and focused group discussion techniques. PES provides job market information, vocational counseling, and training. As PES is not fully furnished with man power, budget, modern technologies, it is providing less adequate services to the employers and job seekers. Matching job seekers with job vacancies is the major challenge for the center and using paper-based data management system too. There is also a number of job seekers in spite of very limited number of vacancies that the service provision is poor due to the fact that there is low level of vacancies and high level of job seekers. The center has collaboration with AFE, AYA, BoTVED, BoWCY, and CETU. The major challenges with this collaborations was the absence of operational guidelines to evaluate effectiveness and performance, lottery method of selecting candidates for vacancies and nepotism or favoritism were challenges for job seekers. On the other hand, (COVID-19) pandemic, inability to get skilled labor, absence of standardized payment, expectation of job seekers and less educational quality and mass graduation were another challenges for employment services. The study recommended quality education and training, operational guideline for collaboration, technology based labor market information system and suggested further studies on quality of PES.

Keywords: public employment service, collaborations, stakeholders, employers, job seekers

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Authors: Mohammad J. Rezai, Fereshteh Davarpanah

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Producing a text in a language which is not one’s mother tongue can be a demanding task for language learners. Examining lexical errors committed by EFL learners is a challenging area of investigation which can shed light on the process of second language acquisition. Despite the considerable number of investigations into grammatical errors, few studies have tackled formal and semantic errors of lexis committed by EFL learners. The current study aimed at examining Persian learners’ formal and semantic errors of lexis in English. To this end, 60 students at three different proficiency levels were asked to write on 10 different topics in 10 separate sessions. Finally, 600 essays written by Persian EFL learners were collected, acting as the corpus of the study. An error taxonomy comprising formal and semantic errors was selected to analyze the corpus. The formal category covered misselection and misformation errors, while the semantic errors were classified into lexical, collocational and lexicogrammatical categories. Each category was further classified into subcategories depending on the identified errors. The results showed that there were 2583 errors in the corpus of 9600 words, among which, 2030 formal errors and 553 semantic errors were identified. The most frequent errors in the corpus included formal error commitment (78.6%), which were more prevalent at the advanced level (42.4%). The semantic errors (21.4%) were more frequent at the low intermediate level (40.5%). Among formal errors of lexis, the highest number of errors was devoted to misformation errors (98%), while misselection errors constituted 2% of the errors. Additionally, no significant differences were observed among the three semantic error subcategories, namely collocational, lexical choice and lexicogrammatical. The results of the study can shed light on the challenges faced by EFL learners in the second language acquisition process.

Keywords: collocational errors, lexical errors, Persian EFL learners, semantic errors

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Authors: Marko Kolakovic

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Creative industries are an important sector of growth and development of knowledge economies. They have a positive impact on employment, economic growth, export and the quality of life in the areas where they are developed. Creative sectors include architecture, design, advertising, publishing, music, film, television and radio, video games, visual and performing arts and heritage. Following the positive trends of development of creative industries on the global and European level, this paper analyzes creative industries in general and specific characteristics of creative entrepreneurship. Special focus in this paper is put on the influence of the information communication technology on the development of new creative business models and protection of the intellectual property rights. One part of the paper is oriented on the analysis of the status of creative industries and creative entrepreneurship in Croatia. The main objective of the paper is by using the statistical analysis of creative industries in Croatia and information gained during the interviews with entrepreneurs, to make conclusions about potentials and development of creative industries in Croatia. Creative industries in Croatia are at the beginning of their development and growth strategy still does not exist at the national level. Statistical analysis pointed out that in 2015 creative enterprises made 9% of all enterprises in Croatia, employed 5,5% of employed people and their share in GDP was 4,01%. Croatian creative entrepreneurs are building competitive advantage using their creative resources and creating specific business models. The main obstacles they meet are lack of business experience and impossibility of focusing on the creative activities only. In their business, they use digital technologies and are focused on export. The conclusion is that creative industries in Croatia have development potential, but it is necessary to take adequate measures to use this potential in a right way.

Keywords: creative entrepreneurship, knowledge economy, business models, intellectual property

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Authors: Risna Wijayanti, Sumiati, Hanif Iswari

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This study aims to analyze the role of financial risk attitude as a mediation between financial knowledge and business growth. The ability of human resources in managing capital (financial literacy) can be a major milestone for a company's business to grow and build its competitive advantage. This study analyzed the important role of financial risk attitude in bringing about financial knowledge on corporate growth. There have been many discussions arguing that financial knowledge is one of the main abilities of corporate managers in determining the success of managing a company. However, a contrary argument of other scholars also enlightened that financial knowledge did not have a significant influence on corporate growth. This study used literatures' review to analyze whether there is another variable that can mediate the effect of financial knowledge toward corporate growth. Research mapping was conducted to analyze the concept of risk tolerance. This concept was related to people's risk aversion effects when making a decision under risk and the role of financial knowledge on changes in financial income. Understanding and managing risks and investments are complicated, in particular for corporate managers, who are always demanded to maintain their corporate growth. Substantial financial knowledge is extremely needed to identify and take accurate information for corporate financial decision-making. By reviewing several literature, this study hypothesized that financial knowledge of corporate managers would be meaningless without manager's courage to bear risks for taking favorable business opportunities. Therefore, the level of risk aversion from corporate managers will determine corporate action, which is a reflection of corporate-level investment behavior leading to attain corporate success or failure for achieving the company's expected growth rate.

Keywords: financial knowledge, financial risk attitude, corporate growth, risk tolerance

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Authors: Emily Arangote

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This paper defined the association between the indigenous knowledge, cultural practices and the ecosystem its implication to the environmental education to the farmers. Farmers recognize the need for sustainability of the ecosystem they inhabit. The cultural practices of farmers on use of indigenous pest control, use of insect-repellant plants, soil management practices that suppress diseases and harmful pests and conserve soil moisture are deemed to be ecologically-friendly. Indigenous plant materials that were more drought- and pest-resistant were grown. Crop rotation was implemented with various crop seeds to increase their disease resistance. Multi-cropping, planting of perennial crops, categorization of soil and planting of appropriate crops, planting of appropriate and leguminous crops, alloting land as watershed, and preserving traditional palay seed varieties were found to be beneficial in preserving the environment. The study also found that indigenous knowledge about crops are still relevant and useful to the current generation. This ensured the sustainability of our environment and incumbent on policy makers and educators to support and preserve for generations yet to come.

Keywords: cultural practices, ecosystem, environmental education, indigenous knowledge

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Authors: Rosemary Saidu, Taiyelolu Martins Ogunjirin

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The study examines the teaching environment and instructional materials on the performance of students in the English Language in selected secondary schools in Ogun State and its implication for counselling. Two research questions guided the study were developed. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed for the study. Samples of 100 students of Senior Secondary School Two (SSS11) were drawn. Purposive sampling technique was to select the five schools. Additionally, the instruments known as Teaching Environment and Instructional Materials on Students Performance in English Inventory (TEIMEI) and Student Achievement Scores (SAS) were used to elicit information. Thereafter, inferential statistics and the non-parametric chi-square statistics at 0.05 alpha levels and 3 degree of freedom were adopted as analytical tools. From the study, it was discovered among others that teaching environment and instructional materials significantly contributed to the performance of students in the English language. From the findings, it was recommended that among others functional language laboratory in the schools, counselors to regularly give guidance talk on the importance of the subject.

Keywords: performance, English language, teaching environment, instructional materials

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Ammar Alobaidy, Lamees Alsawafi, Malak Almawali, Balqees Alabri, Hajer Alhamrashdi

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Background: There is scarce data in the literature concerning the use of Arabic version neuron psychological cognitive tests in the geriatric age group of the Omani population. Objectives: Our aim is to obtain norms for normal elderly Omanis assessed by The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease (CERAD) neuro psychological battery and to compare these norms with other studies in the literature. Methods: 84 attendants and visitors of in-patients at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, elder than 55 years, were interviewed. All participants were assessed by Dementia Rating Scale & Geriatric Depression Scale to ensure the integrity of their activities of daily living and the absence of depression, respectively. The performance of all participants in the CERAD battery was rated by a single rater to optimize the inter-rater reliability. Results: The cut-point for average performance in CERAD battery is dependent on the age, sex, and level of education and cannot be set as a single cut-point for all elderly Omanis. Conclusion: This study has shown the effect of age, sex, and level of education on the cognitive performance of normal elderly Omanis. The normative data obtained from this study can be utilized to differentiate between the cognitive decline of normal aging and the cognitive impairment due to various neuro cognitive disorders in the elderly Omanis, and probably culturally similar Arabic speaking communities.

Keywords: CERAD, neuropsychological battery, normal aging, elderly Omanis

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Authors: Vilar, Katila

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Rapid urbanization have made of spontaneous settlements one of the dominant´s social subjects of the XXIst century. Currently, it´s recognized that these territories cannot easily be eradicated and are a way of life to many populations of emergent countries. Since late 90s, there is an urgent concern in finding planning and efficient urban design strategies to poverty reduction, spatial integration and social inclusion of low-income communities. The article aims to identify, understand and evaluate the social inclusion´s processes through the urban transformation that has been undertaken in Moravia and how they affected the community´s social capital. To achieve this objective, we start to analyse the PPMIM´s planning discourse in which prevails the sustainability´s concept, to further identify, through the analysis of the project carried out, the urban design strategies implemented and their impact on the perception and on the community´s experience, and, finally, how these focused on the social capital. It relies on concepts such as urban design, social capital, local development and sustainability. At the urban design level it starts on the current principles of “making places”, on the new urbanism concepts and on the practices on the ground carried out by a new generation of architects/planners whose have the main ethical approach in order to create more opportunities and greater social impact to these territories. At the social capital´s level and on the development´s theory, relies on authors such as Coleman, Putman Kliksberg and Amartya Sen. Finally, it aims to address a general discussion about the positive and negative implications of slum upgrading programmes and some necessary recommendations for urban design and social capital can really be translated into real resources for the self sustainable development of low-income communities and their future generations.

Keywords: local and sustainable development, social capital, spontaneous settlements, urban design

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Authors: Carole A. El Raheb, Hassan K. Abdel-Salam, Ingi Elcherif

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An architect carrying the design process alone is the main reason for the deterioration of the quality of the architectural product as the complexity of the projects makes it a multi-disciplinary work; then, the Integrative Design Process (IDP) must be applied in the architectural firm especially from the early design phases to improve the product’s quality and to eliminate the ignorance of the principles of design causing the occurrence of low-grade buildings. The research explores the Integrative Design (ID) principles that fit in the architectural practice. Constraints facing this application are presented with strategies and solutions to overcome them. A survey questionnaire was conducted to collect data from a number of recognized Egyptian Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) firms that explores their opinions on using the IDP. This survey emphasizes the importance of the IDP in firms and presents the reasons preventing the firms from applying the IDP. The aim here is to investigate the potentials of integrating this approach into architectural firms emphasizing the importance of this application which ensures the realization of the project’s goal and eliminates the reduction in the project’s quality.

Keywords: application, architectural firms, integrative design principles, integrative design process, the project quality

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Authors: Rawan Hakawati, Beatrice Smyth, David Rooney, Geoffrey McCullough

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Targets have been set in the EU to increase the share of renewable energy consumption to 20% by 2020, but developments have not occurred evenly across the member states. Northern Ireland is almost 90% dependent on imported fossil fuels. With such high energy dependency, Northern Ireland is particularly susceptible to the security of supply issues. Linked to fossil fuels are greenhouse gas emissions, and the EU plans to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020. The use of indigenously produced biomass could reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and external energy dependence. With a wide range of both crop and waste feedstock potentially available in Northern Ireland, anaerobic digestion has been put forward as a possible solution for renewable energy production, waste management, and greenhouse gas reduction. Not all feedstock, however, is the same, and an understanding of feedstock suitability is important for both plant operators and policy makers. The aim of this paper is to investigate biomass suitability for anaerobic digestion in Northern Ireland. It is also important that decisions are based on solid scientific evidence. For this reason, the methodology used is multi-criteria decision matrix analysis which takes multiple criteria into account simultaneously and ranks alternatives accordingly. The model uses the weighted sum method (which follows the Entropy Method to measure uncertainty using probability theory) to decide on weights. The Topsis method is utilized to carry out the mathematical analysis to provide the final scores. Feedstock that is currently available in Northern Ireland was classified into two categories: wastes (manure, sewage sludge and food waste) and energy crops, specifically grass silage. To select the most suitable feedstock, methane yield, feedstock availability, feedstock production cost, biogas production, calorific value, produced kilowatt-hours, dry matter content, and carbon to nitrogen ratio were assessed. The highest weight (0.249) corresponded to production cost reflecting a variation of £41 gate fee to 22£/tonne cost. The weights calculated found that grass silage was the most suitable feedstock. A sensitivity analysis was then conducted to investigate the impact of weights. The analysis used the Pugh Matrix Method which relies upon The Analytical Hierarchy Process and pairwise comparisons to determine a weighting for each criterion. The results showed that the highest weight (0.193) corresponded to biogas production indicating that grass silage and manure are the most suitable feedstock. Introducing co-digestion of two or more substrates can boost the biogas yield due to a synergistic effect induced by the feedstock to favor positive biological interactions. A further benefit of co-digesting manure is that the anaerobic digestion process also acts as a waste management strategy. From the research, it was concluded that energy from agricultural biomass is highly advantageous in Northern Ireland because it would increase the country's production of renewable energy, manage waste production, and would limit the production of greenhouse gases (current contribution from agriculture sector is 26%). Decision-making methods based on scientific evidence aid policy makers in classifying multiple criteria in a logical mathematical manner in order to reach a resolution.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biomass as feedstock, decision matrix, renewable energy

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Authors: Asma Mosbah, Hanane Khither, Kamelia Mosbah, Noreddine Kacem Chaouche, Mustapha Benboubetra

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In the present investigation, total oil (TO) and its neutral lipid fraction (NLF) extracted from the seed of the well know studied medicinal plant Nigella sativa were tested for their therapeutically effect on alcohol-induced liver injury in rat model. Male Albino rats were divided into five groups of eight animals each and fed a Lieber–DeCarli liquid diet containing 5% ethanol for experimental groups and dextran for control group, for a period of six weeks. Afterwards, rats received, orally, treatments with Nigella sativa extracts (TO, NLF) and N- acetylcysteine (NAC) as a positive control for four weeks. Activities of antioxidant enzymes; superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), as well as malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH). Biochemical parameters for kidney and liver functions, in treated and non treated rats, were evaluated throughout the time course of an experiment. Liver histological changes were taken into account. Enzymatic activities of both SOD and CAT increased significantly in rats treated with NLF and TO. While MDA level decreased in TO and NLF treated rats, GSH level increased significantly in TO and NLF treated rats. We noted equally a decrease in liver enzymes AST, ALT, and ALP. Microscopic observation of slides from the liver of ethanol treated rats showed a severe hepatotoxicity with lesions. Treatment with fractions leads to an improvement in liver lesions and a marked reduction in necrosis and infiltration. As a conclusion, both extracts of Nigella sativa seeds, TO and NLF, possess an important therapeutic protective potential against ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity in rats.

Keywords: alcohol-induced hepatotoxicity, antioxidant enzymes, Nigella sativa seeds, oil fractions

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Authors: Ziyu Diao, Yanyan Zhang, Zhentao Liu, Ruidong Yan

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The update frequency of wear profile in main bearing wear prognosis of internal combustion engine plays an important role in the calculation efficiency and accuracy. In order to investigate the appropriate cycle index of the simplified working condition of wear simulation, the main bearing-crankshaft journal friction pair of a diesel engine in service was studied in this paper. The method of multi-body dynamics simulation was used, and the wear prognosis model of the main bearing was established. Several groups of cycle indexes were set up for the wear calculation, and the maximum wear depth and wear profile were compared and analyzed. The results showed that when the cycle index reaches 3, the maximum deviation rate of the maximum wear depth is about 2.8%, and the maximum deviation rate comes to 1.6% when the cycle index reaches 5. This study provides guidance and suggestions for the optimization of wear prognosis by selecting appropriate value of cycle index according to the requirement of calculation cost and accuracy of the simulation work.

Keywords: cycle index, deviation rate, wear calculation, wear profile

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Authors: Tannia Vindel, Angel Matute, Erik Elvir, Kelvin Santos

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Currently in Honduras, is been incentivized the generation of energy using renewable fonts, such as: hydroelectricity, wind power, biomass and, more recently with the strongest growth, photovoltaic energy. In July 2015 were installed 455.2 MW of photovoltaic energy, increasing by 24% the installed capacity of the national interconnected system existing in 2014, according the National Energy Company (NEC), that made possible reduce the thermoelectric dependency of the system. Given the good results of those large-scale photovoltaic plants, arises the question: is it interesting for the distribution utility and for the consumers the integration of photovoltaic systems in micro-scale in the urban and rural areas? To answer that question has been researched the insertion of photovoltaic energy in the residential sector in Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela (Central District), Honduras to determine the technical and economic viability. Francisco Morazán department, according the National Statistics Institute (NSI), in 2001 had more than 180,000 houses with power service. Tegucigalpa, department and Honduras capital, and Comayagüela, both, have the highest population density in the region, with 1,300,000 habitants in 2014 (NSI). The residential sector in the south-central region of Honduras represents a high percentage being 49% of total consumption, according with NEC in 2014; where 90% of this sector consumes in a range of 0 to 300 kWh / month. All this, in addition to the high level of losses in the transmission and distribution systems, 31.3% in 2014, and the availability of an annual average solar radiation of 5.20 kWh/(m2∙day) according to the NASA, suggests the feasibility of the implementation of photovoltaic systems as a solution to give a level of independency to the households, and besides could be capable of injecting the non-used energy to the grid. The capability of exchange of energy with the grid could make the photovoltaic systems acquisition more affordable to the consumers, because of the compensation energy programs or other kinds of incentives that could be created. Technical viability of the photovoltaic systems insertion has been analyzed, considering the solar radiation monthly average to determine the monthly average of energy that would be generated with the technology accessible locally and the effects of the injection of the energy locally generated on the grid. In addition, the economic viability has been analyzed too, considering the photovoltaic systems high costs, costs of the utility, location and monthly energy consumption requirements of the families. It was found that the inclusion of photovoltaic systems in Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela could decrease in 6 MW the demand for the region if 100% of the households use photovoltaic systems, which acquisition may be more accessible with the help of government incentives and/or the application of energy exchange programs.

Keywords: grid connected, photovoltaic, residential, technical analysis

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Authors: Simran Ballani

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The purpose of this paper is to call education professionals to implement etiquette and public speaking skills for preschoolers, primary, middle and higher school students. In this paper the author aims to present importance of etiquette learning and public speaking curriculum for preschoolers, reflect on experiences from implementation of the curriculum and discuss the effect of the said implementation on higher education/global job market. Author’s aim to introduce this curriculum was to provide children with innovative learning and all around development. This training of soft skills at kindergarten level can have a long term effect on their social behaviors which in turn can contribute to professional success once they are ready for campus recruitment/global job markets. Additionally, if preschoolers learn polite, appropriate behavior at early age, it will enable them to become more socially attentive and display good manners as an adult. It is easier to nurture these skills in a child rather than changing bad manners at adulthood. Preschool/Kindergarten education can provide the platform for children to learn these crucial soft skills irrespective of the ethnicity, economic or social background they come from. These skills developed at such early years can go a long way to shape them into better and confident individuals. Unfortunately, accessibility of the etiquette learning and public speaking skill education is not standardized in pre-primary or primary level and most of the time embedding into the kindergarten curriculum is next to nil. All young children should be provided with equal opportunity to learn these soft skills which are essential for finding their place in job market.

Keywords: Early Childhood Learning, , public speaking, , confidence building, , innovative learning

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Authors: Chandragouda R. Patil, K. S. Jagadeesh, S. D. Kalolgi

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Biofertilizers containing live microbial cells can mobilize one or more nutrients to plants when applied to either seed or rhizosphere. They form an integral part of nutrient management strategies for sustainable production of agricultural crops. Annually, about 22 tons of lignite-based biofertilizers are being produced and supplied to farmers at the Institute of Organic Farming, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka state India. Although carrier based biofertilizers are common, they have shorter shelf life, poor quality, high contamination, unpredictable field performance and high cost of solid carriers. Hence, liquid formulations are being developed to increase their efficacy and broaden field applicability. An attempt was made to develop liquid formulation of strains of Rhizobium NC-92 (Groundnut), Azospirillum ACD15 both nitrogen-fixing biofertilizers and Pseudomonas striata an efficient P-solubilizing bacteria (PSB). Different concentration of amendments such as additives (glycerol and polyethylene glycol), adjuvants (carboxyl methyl cellulose), gum arabica (GA), surfactant (polysorbate) and trehalose specifically for Azospirillum were found essential. Combinations of formulations of Rhizobium and PSB for groundnut and Azospirillum and PSB for maize were evaluated under field conditions to determine the optimum level of inoculum required. Each biofertilizer strain was inoculated at the rate of 2, 4, 8 ml per kg of seeds and the efficacy of each formulation both individually and in combinations was evaluated against the lignite-based formulation at the rate of 20 g each per kg seeds and a un-inoculated set was included to compare the inoculation effect. The field experiment had 17 treatments in three replicates and the best level of inoculum was decided based on net returns and cost: benefit ratio. In peanut, the combination of 4 ml of Rhizobium and 2 ml of PSB resulted in the highest net returns and higher cost to benefit ratio of 1:2.98 followed by treatment with a combination of 2 ml per kg each of Rhizobium and PSB with a B;C ratio of 1:2.84. The benefits in terms of net returns were to the extent of 16 percent due to inoculation with lignite based formulations while it was up to 48 percent due to the best combination of liquid biofertilizers. In maize combination of liquid formulations consisting of 4 ml of Azospirillum and 2 ml of PSB resulted in the highest net returns; about 53 percent higher than the un-inoculated control and 20 percent higher than the treatment with lignite based formulation. In both the crops inoculation with lignite based formulations significantly increased the net returns over un-inoculated control while levels higher or lesser than 4 ml of Rhizobium and Azospirillum and higher or lesser than 2 ml of PSB were not economical and hence not optimal for these two crops.

Keywords: Rhizobium, Azospirillum, phosphate solubilizing bacteria, liquid formulation, benefit-cost ratio

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Authors: Ok-Kyun Im, Kyoung Hee Kim

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We live in an era that faces global challenges of climate changes and resource depletion. With the rapid urbanization and growing energy consumption in the built environment, building facades become ever more important in architectural practice and environmental stewardship. Furthermore, building facade undergoes complex dynamics of social, cultural, environmental and technological changes. Kinetic facades have drawn attention of architects, designers, and engineers in the field of adaptable, responsive and interactive architecture since 1980’s. Materials and building technologies have gradually evolved to address the technical implications of kinetic facades. The kinetic façade is becoming an independent system of the building, transforming the design methodology to sustainable building solutions. Accordingly, there is a need for a new design methodology to guide the design of a kinetic façade and evaluate its sustainable performance. The research objectives are two-fold: First, to establish a new design methodology for kinetic facades and second, to develop a micro-oculi façade system and assess its performance using the established design method. The design approach to the micro-oculi facade is comprised of 1) façade geometry optimization and 2) dynamic building energy simulation. The façade geometry optimization utilizes multi-objective optimization process, aiming to balance the quantitative and qualitative performances to address the sustainability of the built environment. The dynamic building energy simulation was carried out using EnergyPlus and Radiance simulation engines with scripted interfaces. The micro-oculi office was compared with an office tower with a glass façade in accordance with ASHRAE 90.1 2013 to understand its energy efficiency. The micro-oculi facade is constructed with an array of circular frames attached to a pair of micro-shades called a micro-oculus. The micro-oculi are encapsulated between two glass panes to protect kinetic mechanisms with longevity. The micro-oculus incorporates rotating gears that transmit the power to adjacent micro-oculi to minimize the number of mechanical parts. The micro-oculus rotates around its center axis with a step size of 15deg depending on the sun’s position while maximizing daylighting potentials and view-outs. A 2 ft by 2ft prototyping was undertaken to identify operational challenges and material implications of the micro-oculi facade. In this research, a systematic design methodology was proposed, that integrates multi-objectives of kinetic façade design criteria and whole building energy performance simulation within a holistic design process. This design methodology is expected to encourage multidisciplinary collaborations between designers and engineers to collaborate issues of the energy efficiency, daylighting performance and user experience during design phases. The preliminary energy simulation indicated that compared to a glass façade, the micro-oculi façade showed energy savings due to its improved thermal properties, daylighting attributes, and dynamic solar performance across the day and seasons. It is expected that the micro oculi façade provides a cost-effective, environmentally-friendly, sustainable, and aesthetically pleasing alternative to glass facades. Recommendations for future studies include lab testing to validate the simulated data of energy and optical properties of the micro-oculi façade. A 1:1 performance mock-up of the micro-oculi façade can suggest in-depth understanding of long-term operability and new development opportunities applicable for urban façade applications.

Keywords: energy efficiency, kinetic facades, sustainable architecture, urban facades

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Authors: Cathryn Robinson, Bernard McKenna, David Rooney

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This paper argues that the application of values-based leadership increasingly challenges leaders in rules-based organisations, particularly in bureaucratic organisations such as the military, public service, police, and emergency services. Leaders are grappling to reconcile how to enact values-based leadership and decision-making when they are bound by rules, policies, and procedures. This interpretive study used a multi-faceted vignette (critical incident) as the basis of an interview with air force officers at three levels: executive, senior, and junior. In this way, practice is forced to intersect with discourse. The findings revealed a shared set of discourse themes (legal; rules; safety and risk; operational practice/theatre discourses), but also clear dialectical tensions. These tensions were evident in executive officers and senior leaders emphasizing rules and information themes, whereas junior officers emphasized decision making, collateral, and situation. These findings reveal discourse and practice incommensurability that could have grave implications in the conduct of war.

Keywords: critical incident, discourse analysis, rules-based, values-based

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Authors: F. Agbele

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Elections are core democratic institutions. Consequently, voter participation during elections is paramount to democratic governance as it serves as a medium to legitimize authority and make the privileges of electoral democracy meaningful to citizens. To this effect, the topic of voter mobilization and subsequent turnout level have been largely studied in advanced democracies. In young and consolidating democracies, the debate has, however, revolves around the huge reliance on ethnic and regional appeals. According to the Author’s knowledge, studies on electoral mobilization especially within the African context have argued the use of ethnic linkages by political parties to mobilize voters during elections. Literature has however not differentiated between the level of democratic dispensation among African countries and the use of ethnic linkages. The question, however, is whether the state of the country’s democracy determines the strategies employed by political parties to induce voter participation. In other words, do parties simply play ethno-regional cards as strongly suggested by literature or will consider an arrayed of strategies to mobilize voters? Additionally, studies have not differentiated the impact of mobilization strategy within a country, i.e. between high to low turnout areas. They have also not distinguished between strategies employed by an incumbent or an opposition party. This paper, therefore, is a comparative analysis of voter mobilization in Ghana. It uses original survey and interview data from three constituencies in Ghana: Nanton, Assin North, and Ellembelle, which are typical cases of high, average and low turnout areas, respectively. The data were concurrently collected during fieldworks conducted in November 2016 to February 2017, and again from July to August 2017. The study found that political parties within a consolidating democracy employ a blend of strategies to ensure turnout by both parties’ faithful and swing voters. The dominant strategies used depends on whether the party is an incumbent or in opposition. While an incumbent may depend more on personalistic and clientelistic strategies, parties in opposition will largely use programmatic strategies, which entails making many campaign promises. Additionally, opposition parties do use clientelistic tactics, but not on the same level as the incumbent. Similarly, within the context of this study, the use of ethnic linkage by political parties to mobilize voters has not been found to be as strong as suggested in the literature. Further, location was key in determining the strategy to use. In all, the consolidation process of a democratic country like Ghana means the change of mobilization strategies used by political parties, which entail a gradual shift from ethnic linkages to programmatic and other forms of non-programmatic strategies.

Keywords: comparative analysis, elections, mobilization strategies, voter turnout

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Authors: Jana Pichova, Lubos Hes, Vladimir Bajzik

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Protective clothing is designed to keep a wearer save in hazardous conditions or enable perform short time working operation without being injured or feeling discomfort. Firefighters or other related workers are exposed to abnormal heat which can be conductive, convective or radiant type. Their garment is proposed to resist this conditions and prevent burn injuries or dead of human. However thermal comfort of firefighter exposed to high heat source have not been studied yet. Thermal resistance is the best representative parameter of thermal comfort. In this study a new method of testing of thermal resistance of special clothing exposed to high radiation heat source was designed. This method simulates human body wearing single or multi-layered garment which is exposed to radiative heat. Setup of this method enables measuring of radiative heat flow in time without effect of convection. The new testing method is verified on chosen group of textiles for firefighters.

Keywords: protective clothing, radiative heat, thermal comfort of firefighters, thermal resistance of special garments

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Teo Yen Nee, Tham Siew Yean, Andrew Kam Jia Yi

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There are growing concerns about the effect of increasing outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from Malaysia. These concerns emerged when OFDI surpassed inward FDI for the first time in 2007 and in the subsequent years as well. From a theoretical point of view, the effect of OFDI on exports remains inconclusive depending on the types and/or motivations of investment. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of Malaysia’s OFDI on manufacturing exports, using a reduced form exports model. The manufacturing data used in this study covered 24 manufacturing industries for the period 2003-2010. The manufacturing sector is the fourth largest sector invested by Malaysia’s OFDI abroad. However, this sector is chosen for this study because total manufacturing trade contributed significantly to Malaysia’s economy growth as reflected by its significant share in the country’s gross domestic product (138.7%) in 2013. Furthermore, Malaysia’s exports are dominated by manufacturing goods. Consequently, the drastic increase in OFDI added concerns about its impact on the country’s exports. Since OFDI activities are still relatively new in Malaysia, this study is exploratory in nature due to a lack of firm level data. Using industry level panel data, the value added of this paper is to meet the research gap by examining the effect of Malaysia’s outward FDI on manufacturing exports. Overall, the findings show that lagged inward FDI, technology development, and industry size are found to positive and significantly influence manufacturing exports as compared to other factors. The insignificant impact of OFDI on manufacturing exports suggests market seeking investment is the main form of OFDI from Malaysia and the destination markets are not served by exports before so that there are no new exports created or displacement of exports. While the results show that there is no need to worry about OFDI’s negative impact on exports, policies should be undertaken to encourage OFDI from Malaysia to create new exports for the country.

Keywords: OFDI, manufacturing industries, exports, Malaysia

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Authors: Justine Salam

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As a federal state, Canada’s constitutional arrangements regarding the management of natural resources is unique because it gives complete ownership and control of natural resources to the provinces (subnational level). However, the province of Alberta—home to the third largest oil reserves in the world—lags behind comparable jurisdictions in levying royalties on oil corporations, especially oil sands royalties. While Albertans own the oil sands, scholars have argued that natural resource exploitation in Alberta benefits corporations and industry more than it does Albertans. This study provides a systematic understanding of the causal factors affecting royalties in Alberta to map dynamics of power and how they manifest themselves during policy-making. Mounting domestic and global public pressure led Alberta to review its oil sands royalties twice in less than a decade through public-commissioned Royalty Review Panels, first in 2007 and again in 2015. The Panels’ task was to research best practices and to provide policy recommendations to the Government through public consultations with Albertans, industry, non-governmental organizations, and First Nations peoples. Both times, the Panels recommended a relative increase to oil sands royalties. However, irrespective of the Reviews’ recommendations, neither the right-wing 2007 Progressive Conservative Party (PC) nor the left-wing 2015 New Democratic Party (NDP) government—both committed to increase oil sands royalties—increased royalty intake. Why did two consecutive political parties at opposite ends of the political spectrum fail to account for the recommendations put forward by the Panel? Through a qualitative case-study analysis, this study assesses domestic and global causal factors for Alberta’s inability to raise oil sands royalties significantly after the two Reviews through an institutions, interests, and ideas framework. Indeed, causal factors can be global (e.g. market and price fluctuation) or domestic (e.g. oil companies’ influence on the Alberta government). The institutions, interests, and ideas framework is at the intersection of public policy, comparative studies, and political economy literatures, and therefore draws multi-faceted insights into the analysis. To account for institutions, the study proposes to review international trade agreements documents such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) because they have embedded Alberta’s oil sands into American energy security policy and tied Canadian and Albertan oil policy in legal international nods. To account for interests, such as how the oil lobby or the environment lobby can penetrate governmental decision-making spheres, the study draws on the Oil Sands Oral History project, a database of interviews from government officials and oil industry leaders at a pivotal time in Alberta’s oil industry, 2011-2013. Finally, to account for ideas, such as how narratives of Canada as a global ‘energy superpower’ and the importance of ‘energy security’ have dominated and polarized public discourse, the study relies on content analysis of Alberta-based pro-industry newspapers to trace the prevalence of these narratives. By mapping systematically the nods and dynamics of power at play in Alberta, the study sheds light on the factors that influence royalty policy-making in one of the largest industries in Canada.

Keywords: Alberta Canada, natural resources governance, oil sands, political economy

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Authors: P. Barreto, A. Guevara, V. Ibujes

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In this study, the removal of arsenic from synthetic solutions and natural water from Papallacta Lagoon was evaluated, by using the rhizofiltration method with terrestrial and aquatic plant species. Ecuador is a country of high volcanic activity, that is why most of water sources come from volcanic glaciers. Therefore, it is necessary to find new, affordable and effective methods for treating water. The water from Papallacta Lagoon shows levels from 327 µg/L to 803 µg/L of arsenic. The evaluation for the removal of arsenic began with the selection of 16 different species of terrestrial and aquatic plants. These plants were immersed to solutions of 4500 µg/L arsenic concentration, for 48 hours. Subsequently, 3 terrestrial species and 2 aquatic species were selected based on the highest amount of absorbed arsenic they showed, analyzed by plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and their best capacity for adaptation into the arsenic solution. The chosen terrestrial species were cultivated from their seed with hydroponics methods, using coconut fiber and polyurethane foam as substrates. Afterwards, the species that best adapted to hydroponic environment were selected. Additionally, a control of the development for the selected aquatic species was carried out using a basic nutrient solution to provide the nutrients that the plants required. Following this procedure, 30 plants from the 3 types of species selected were exposed to a synthetic solution with levels of arsenic concentration of 154, 375 and 874 µg/L, for 15 days. Finally, the plant that showed the highest level of arsenic absorption was placed in 3 L of natural water, with arsenic levels of 803 µg/L. The plant laid in the water until it reached the desired level of arsenic of 10 µg/L. This experiment was carried out in a total of 30 days, in which the capacity of arsenic absorption of the plant was measured. As a result, the five species initially selected to be used in the last part of the evaluation were: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), clover (Trifolium), blue grass (Poa pratensis), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and miniature aquatic fern (Azolla). The best result of arsenic removal was showed by the water hyacinth with a 53,7% of absorption, followed by the blue grass with 31,3% of absorption. On the other hand, the blue grass was the plant that best responded to the hydroponic cultivation, by obtaining a germination percentage of 97% and achieving its full growth in two months. Thus, it was the only terrestrial species selected. In summary, the final selected species were blue grass, water hyacinth and miniature aquatic fern. These three species were evaluated by immersing them in synthetic solutions with three different arsenic concentrations (154, 375 and 874 µg/L). Out of the three plants, the water hyacinth was the one that showed the highest percentages of arsenic removal with 98, 58 and 64%, for each one of the arsenic solutions. Finally, 12 plants of water hyacinth were chosen to reach an arsenic level up to 10 µg/L in natural water. This significant arsenic concentration reduction was obtained in 5 days. In conclusion, it was found that water hyacinth is the best plant to reduce arsenic levels in natural water.

Keywords: arsenic, natural water, plant species, rhizofiltration, synthetic solutions

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Authors: Omolara Lade, David Oloke

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Ibadan City suffers serious water supply problems; cases of dry taps are common in virtually every part of the City. The scarcity of piped water has made communities find alternative water sources; groundwater sources being a ready source. These wells are prone to pollution due to the close proximity of septic tanks to wells, disposal of solid or liquid wastes in pits, abandoned boreholes or even stream channels and landfills. Storms and floods in Ibadan have increased with consequent devastating effects claiming over 120 lives and displacing 600 people on August 2011 alone. In this study, an analysis of the water demand and sources of supply for the city was carried out through questionnaire survey and collection of data from City’s main water supply - Water Corporation of Oyo State (WCOS), groundwater sources were explored and 30 years rainfall data were collected from Meteorological station in Ibadan. 1067 questionnaire were administered at household level with a response rate of 86.7 %. A descriptive analysis of the survey revealed that 77.1 % of the respondents did not receive water at all from WCOS while 83.8 % depend on groundwater sources. Analysis of data from WCOS revealed that main water supply is inadequate as < 10 % of the population water demand was met. Rainfall intensity is highest in June with a mean value of 188 mm, which can be harvested at community—based level and used to complement the population water demand. Rainwater harvesting if planned, and managed properly will become a valuable alternative source of managing urban flood and alleviating water scarcity in the city.

Keywords: Ibadan, rainwater harvesting, sustainable water, urban flooding

Procedia PDF Downloads 166