Search results for: finite element approach

Authors: Sultan Samah A. Alenezi

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Many EFL teachers are eager to look into the best way to suit the needs of their students in EFL writing courses. Numerous studies suggest that online blogging may present a social interaction opportunity for EFL writing students. Additionally, it can foster peer collaboration and social support in the form of scaffolding, which, when viewed from the perspective of socio-cultural theory, can boost social support and foster the development of students' writing abilities. This idea is based on Vygotsky's theories, which emphasize how collaboration and social interaction facilitate effective learning. In Saudi Arabia, students are taught to write using conventional methods that are totally under the teacher's control. Without any peer contact or cooperation, students are spoon-fed in a passive environment. This study included the cognitive processes of the genre-process approach into the EFL writing classroom to facilitate the use of internet blogging in EFL writing education. Thirty second-year undergraduate students from the Department of Languages and Translation at a Saudi college participated in this study. This study employed an action research project that blended qualitative and quantitative methodologies to comprehend Saudi students' perceptions and experiences with internet blogging in an EFL process-genre writing classroom. It also looked at the advantages and challenges people faced when blogging. They included a poll, interviews, and blog postings made by students. The intervention's outcomes showed that merging genre-process procedures with blogging was a successful tactic, and the Saudi students' perceptions of this method of online blogging for EFL writing were quite positive. The socio-cultural theory constructs that Vygotsky advocates, such as scaffolding, collaboration, and social interaction, were also improved by blogging. These elements demonstrated the improvement in the students' written, reading, social, and collaborative thinking skills, as well as their positive attitudes toward English-language writing. But the students encountered a variety of problems that made blogging difficult for them. These problems ranged from technological ones, such sluggish internet connections, to learner inadequacies, like a lack of computer know-how and ineffective time management.

Keywords: blogging, process-gnere approach, saudi learenrs, writing quality

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Authors: Sang-Sun Yoon, Yea-Hyun Leem, Sangmee Ahn Jo

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The N-acetylated-alpha-linked-acidic (NAAG) peptidase inhibitor 2-phosphonomethyl pentanedioic acid (2-PMPA) has demonstrated to be neuroprotective against glutamate-mediated neuron degeneration and neurological disorders such as ischemia. Several studies have demonstrated impaired psychiatric function by altered glutamate carboxypeptidase II expression, although 2-PMPA has not yet been studied. Thus, we investigated effect of 2-PMPA on depressive-like phenotype using C57BL/6 mice. Treatment of 2-PMPA (10 mg/kg for 6 days/daily, ip injection) on C57BL/6 naïve mice showed depressive-like symptoms such as decreased social preference, but did not affect the immobility measured by tail suspension test. Reduction of phosphorylated cAMP-responsive element binding (p-CREB) known as a representative marker of depressive-like behavior was observed in layer 1 and piriform cortex subregions of the prefrontal cortex of 2-PMPA-treated mice. The immunoreactivity of metabotropic glutamate receptors 5 (mGluR5) that mediate phosphorylation of CREB was also decreased in layer 1 and piriform cortex subregions of the prefrontal cortex of 2-PMPA injected mice. Thus, our results suggest that dysregulation of the GCPII or NAAG by 2-PMPA treatment is likely to be associated with pathogenesis of depression and further studies are needed to understand whether the reduced NAAG level or enhanced glutamate level in the brain is involved in this response.

Keywords: depression, GCPII, 2-PMPA, p-CREB, mGluR5

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Authors: M. Hussaina, K. Mahboobb, S. Z. Ilyasa, S. Shaheena

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Plume dispersion modeling is a computational procedure to establish a relationship between emissions, meteorology, atmospheric concentrations, deposition and other factors. The emission characteristics (stack height, stack diameter, release velocity, heat contents, chemical and physical properties of the gases/particle released etc.), terrain (surface roughness, local topography, nearby buildings) and meteorology (wind speed, stability, mixing height, etc.) are required for the modeling of the plume dispersion and estimation of ground and air concentration. During the early phase of Fukushima accident, plume dispersion modeling and decisions were taken for the implementation of protective measures. A difference in estimated results and decisions made by different countries for taking protective actions created a concern in local and international community regarding the exact identification of the safe zone. The current study is focused to highlight the importance of accurate and exact weather data availability, scientific approach for decision making for taking urgent protective actions, compatible and harmonized approach for plume dispersion modeling during a nuclear emergency. As a case study, the influence of meteorological data on plume dispersion modeling and decision-making process has been performed.

Keywords: decision making process, radiation doses, nuclear emergency, meteorological implications

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Authors: Gia Sirbiladze

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Route planning problems are among the activities that have the highest impact on logistical planning, transportation, and distribution because of their effects on efficiency in resource management, service levels, and client satisfaction. In extreme conditions, the difficulty of vehicle movement between different customers causes the imprecision of time of movement and the uncertainty of the feasibility of movement. A feasibility level of vehicle movement on the closed route of the disaster-streaking zone is defined for the construction of an objective function. Experts’ evaluations of the uncertain parameters in q-rung ortho-pair fuzzy numbers (q-ROFNs) are presented. A fuzzy bi-objective combinatorial optimization problem of fuzzy vehicle routine problem (FVRP) is constructed based on the technique of possibility theory. The FVRP is reduced to the bi-criteria partitioning problem for the so-called “promising” routes which were selected from the all-admissible closed routes. The convenient selection of the “promising” routes allows us to solve the reduced problem in real-time computing. For the numerical solution of the bi-criteria partitioning problem, the -constraint approach is used. The main results' support software is designed. The constructed model is illustrated with a numerical example.

Keywords: q-rung ortho-pair fuzzy sets, facility location selection problem, multi-objective combinatorial optimization problem, partitioning problem

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Authors: Mohammad Rostami Mehr, Seyed Arya Mir Rashed, Arndt Lueder, Magdalena Missler-Behr

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This paper represents the conception that complex problems do not necessarily need a similar complex solution in order to cope with the complexity. Furthermore, a simple solution based on established methods can provide a sufficient way to deal with the complexity. To verify this conception, the presented paper focuses on the field of change management as a part of the new product development process in the automotive sector. In this field, dealing with increasing complexity is essential, while only non-flexible rigid processes that are not designed to handle complexity are available. The basic methodology of this paper can be divided into four main sections: 1) analyzing the complexity of the change management, 2) literature review in order to identify potential solutions and methods, 3) capturing and implementing expertise of experts from the change management field of an automobile manufacturing company and 4) systematical comparison of the identified methods from literature and connecting these with defined requirements of the complexity of the change management in order to develop a solution. As a practical outcome, this paper provides a method to capture the complexity of engineering changes (EC) and includes it within the EC evaluation process, following case-related process guidance to cope with the complexity. Furthermore, this approach supports the conception that dealing with complexity is possible while utilizing rather simple and established methods by combining them into a powerful tool.

Keywords: complexity management, new product development, engineering change management, flexibility

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Authors: Farzad Jalilian, Mehdi Mirzaei Alavijeh

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Background: E-interventions as a universal approach to prevent a high-risk behavior, such as alcohol drinking. This study was conducted to evaluate web-based alcohol drinking preventative intervention efficiency among medical university students in Iran. Methods: Overall, 150 freshman and sophomore male student’s college students participated in this study as intervention and control group. This was a longitudinal randomized pre- and post-test series control group design panel study to implement a behavior modification based intervention to alcohol drinking prevention among college students. Cross-tabulation, t-test, repeated measures, and GEE by using SPSS statistical package, version 21 was used for the statistical analysis. The participants were followed up for 6 months with data collection scheduled at baseline, 3 and 6 months. The primary outcomes are attitude, self-control, and sensation seeking. Furthermore, the secondary outcome is comparing alcohol drinking among the study groups. Results: It was found significant reduce in average response for an attitude towards alcohol drinking and sensation seeking among intervention group (P < 0.05). But after intervention not significant difference between intervention and control group of improve self-control and reduce alcohol drinking (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Our intervention has been accompanied with reducing alcohol use rate. These findings indicate that e-intervention may be effectiveness approach to address the alcohol prevention among college students.

Keywords: e-interventions, alcohol drinking, students, Iran

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Authors: Mrinalini Amritkar, Disha Patil, Swapna Kulkarni, Sukratu Barve, Suresh Gosavi

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Micro-mixers play an important role in the lab-on-a-chip applications and micro total analysis systems to acquire the correct level of mixing for any given process. The mixing process can be classified as active or passive according to the use of external energy. Literature of microfluidics reports that most of the work is done on the models of steady laminar flow; however, the study of unsteady laminar flow is an active area of research at present. There are wide applications of this, out of which, we consider nanoparticle synthesis in micro-mixers. In this work, we have developed a model for unsteady flow to study the mixing performance of a passive micro mixer for reactants used for such synthesis. The model is developed in Finite Volume Method (FVM)-based software, OpenFOAM. The model is tested by carrying out the simulations at Re of 0.5. Mixing performance of the micro-mixer is investigated using simulated concentration values of mixed species across the width of the micro-mixer and calculating the variance across a line profile. Experimental validation is done by passing dyes through a Y shape micro-mixer fabricated using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer and comparing variances with the simulated ones. Gold nanoparticles are later synthesized through the micro-mixer and collected at two different times leading to significantly different size distributions. These times match with the time scales over which reactant concentrations vary as obtained from simulations. Our simulations could thus be used to create design aids for passive micro-mixers used in nanoparticle synthesis.

Keywords: Lab-on-chip, LOC, micro-mixer, OpenFOAM, PDMS

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Authors: Amir Reza Talaghat

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Since 2015, a new approach and policy regarding energy resources protection and using renewable energies has been started in Iran which was developing new projects. Investigating about the feasibility study of these new projects helped to figure out five steps to prepare an executive feasibility study of the concerned projects, which are proper site selections, authorizations, design and simulation, economic study and programming, respectively. The results were interesting and essential for decision makers and investors to start implementing of these projects in reliable condition. The research is obtained through collection and study of the project's documents as well as recalculation to review conformity of the results with GIS data and the technical information of the bidders. In this paper, it is attempted to describe the result of the performed research by describing the five steps as an executive methodology, for preparing a feasible study of installing a 10 MW – solar farm project. The corresponding results of the research also help decision makers to start similar projects is explained in this paper as follows: selecting the best location for the concerned PV plant, reliable and safe conditions for investment and the required authorizations to start implementing the solar farm project in the concerned region, selecting suitable component to achieve the best possible performance for the plant, economic profit of the investment, proper programming to implement the project on time.

Keywords: solar farm, solar energy, execution of PV power plant PV power plant

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Authors: Oxana Lukoshus

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The methods of corpus linguistics, a well-established field of research, are being increasingly applied in cognitive linguistics. Corpora data are especially useful for different quantitative studies of grammatical and other aspects of language. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate how present-day corpora can be applied in semantic studies in general and in semantic studies of adjectives in particular. Polysemantic adjectives have been the subject of numerous studies. But most of them have been carried out on dictionaries. Undoubtedly, dictionaries are viewed as one of the basic data sources, but only at the initial steps of a research. The author usually starts with the analysis of the lexicographic data after which s/he comes up with a hypothesis. In the research conducted three polysemantic synonyms true, loyal, faithful have been analyzed in terms of differences and similarities in their semantic structure. A corpus-based approach in the study of the above-mentioned adjectives involves the following. After the analysis of the dictionary data there was the reference to the following corpora to study the distributional patterns of the words under study – the British National Corpus (BNC) and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). These corpora are continually updated and contain thousands of examples of the words under research which make them a useful and convenient data source. For the purpose of this study there were no special needs regarding genre, mode or time of the texts included in the corpora. Out of the range of possibilities offered by corpus-analysis software (e.g. word lists, statistics of word frequencies, etc.), the most useful tool for the semantic analysis was the extracting a list of co-occurrence for the given search words. Searching by lemmas, e.g. true, true to, and grouping the results by lemmas have proved to be the most efficient corpora feature for the adjectives under the study. Following the search process, the corpora provided a list of co-occurrences, which were then to be analyzed and classified. Not every co-occurrence was relevant for the analysis. For example, the phrases like An enormous sense of responsibility to protect the minds and hearts of the faithful from incursions by the state was perceived to be the basic duty of the church leaders or ‘True,’ said Phoebe, ‘but I'd probably get to be a Union Official immediately were left out as in the first example the faithful is a substantivized adjective and in the second example true is used alone with no other parts of speech. The subsequent analysis of the corpora data gave the grounds for the distribution groups of the adjectives under the study which were then investigated with the help of a semantic experiment. To sum it up, the corpora-based approach has proved to be a powerful, reliable and convenient tool to get the data for the further semantic study.

Keywords: corpora, corpus-based approach, polysemantic adjectives, semantic studies

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Authors: Parsa Mahdavi, M. Amin Hariri-Ardebili

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The development of accurate machine learning and deep learning models traditionally demands hands-on expertise and a solid background to fine-tune hyperparameters. With the continuous expansion of datasets in various scientific and engineering domains, researchers increasingly turn to machine learning methods to unveil hidden insights that may elude classic regression techniques. This surge in adoption raises concerns about the adequacy of the resultant meta-models and, consequently, the interpretation of the findings. In response to these challenges, automated machine learning (AutoML) emerges as a promising solution, aiming to construct machine learning models with minimal intervention or guidance from human experts. AutoML encompasses crucial stages such as data preparation, feature engineering, hyperparameter optimization, and neural architecture search. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the principles underpinning AutoML, surveying several widely-used AutoML platforms. Additionally, the paper offers a glimpse into the application of AutoML on various engineering datasets. By comparing these results with those obtained through classical machine learning methods, the paper quantifies the uncertainties inherent in the application of a single ML model versus the holistic approach provided by AutoML. These examples showcase the efficacy of AutoML in extracting meaningful patterns and insights, emphasizing its potential to revolutionize the way we approach and analyze complex datasets.

Keywords: automated machine learning, uncertainty, engineering dataset, regression

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Authors: A. Kouloumpis, P. Zygouri, G. Potsi, K. Spyrou, D. Gournis

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Much of the research effort on graphene focuses on its use as building block for the development of new hybrid nanostructures with well-defined dimensions and behavior suitable for applications among else in gas storage, heterogeneous catalysis, gas/liquid separations, nanosensing and biology. Towards this aim, here we describe a new bottom-up approach, which combines the self-assembly with the Langmuir Schaefer technique, for the production of fullerene-intercalated graphene hybrid materials. This new method uses graphene nanosheets as a template for the grafting of various fullerene C60 molecules (pure C60, bromo-fullerenes, C60Br24, and fullerols, C60(OH)24) in a bi-dimensional array, and allows for perfect layer-by-layer growth with control at the molecular level. Our film preparation approach involves a bottom-up layer-by-layer process that includes the formation of a hybrid organo-graphene Langmuir film hosting fullerene molecules within its interlayer spacing. A dilute water solution of chemically oxidized graphene (GO) was used as subphase on the Langmuir-Blodgett deposition system while an appropriate amino surfactant (that binds covalently with the GO) was applied for the formation of hybridized organo-GO. After the horizontal lift of a hydrophobic substrate, a surface modification of the GO platelets was performed by bringing the surface of the transferred Langmuir film in contact with a second amino surfactant solution (capable to interact strongly with the fullerene derivatives). In the final step, the hybrid organo-graphene film was lowered in the solution of the appropriate fullerene derivative. Multilayer films were constructed by repeating this procedure. Hybrid fullerene-based thin films deposited on various hydrophobic substrates were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray reflectivity (XRR), FTIR, and Raman spectroscopies, Atomic Force Microscopy, and optical measurements. Acknowledgments. This research has been co‐financed by the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program "Education and Lifelong Learning" of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF)‐Research Funding Program: THALES. Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Fund (no. 377285).

Keywords: hybrids, graphene oxide, fullerenes, langmuir-blodgett, intercalated structures

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Authors: Nada Hamed, Mariam Aldhaheri, Sonia Abdennadher

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Islamic Finance is not a new term that emerging in the global market, but it is still under scope by many countries. Its characteristics and regulation are not widely clear and implemented. In 2015, The United Nation announced a plan about potential benefits of using Islamic Finance as a sustainable development approach. Enhancing its application in financial markets could protect from unexpected crisis that might be created from the traditional tools of finance. This paper focuses on this area to test if Islamic finance could be used for maintaining sustainable development and if the term of 'Green Islamic Finance' could be implemented to minimize the deficiencies and 'pollution’ generated from traditional techniques and tools of finance. This paper intends to measure the impact on financial performance and sustainability when financial institutions use Islamic finance or better practice it. The objective of this explanatory research is to measure the performance of Islamic Finance with using a case study of an Islamic bank. The paper would analyze and compare the behavior of financial institutions that used traditional financing tools and converted to Islamic banking system. The methodology used is based on a case study of an Islamic bank in Dubai with comparing its performance before implementing Islamic Finance and after. The selected case study represents the first national bank in Emirates Arab Unis who adopt the Islamic finance approach. Based on a time series analysis, a quantitative analysis would be also used through looking at various set of ratios that are routinely used to measure bank performance.

Keywords: Islamic finance, financial stability, green finance, Islamic finance practices, financial ratios

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Authors: A. Mukrimah, M. Mohd Parid, H. F. Lim

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Wetland ecosystem has valuable resources that contribute to national income generation and public well-being, either directly by resources that have a market value or indirectly by resources that have no market value. Economic approach is used to evaluate the resources to determine the best use of wetland resources and should be emphasized in policy development planning. This approach is to prevent imbalance in the allocation of resources and welfare benefits. A case study was conducted in 2016 to assess the economic value of wetland ecosystem services at Pulau Kukup National Parks (PKNP). This study has applied dichotomous choice survey design Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to investigate empirically the willingness-to-pay (WTP) by the public. The study interviewed 400 household respondents at Pontian, Johor. Analysis showed 81% of household interviewed were willing to contribute to the Wetland Conservation Trust Fund. The results also indicated that on average a household was willing to pay RM87 annually. By taking into account 21,664 households in Pontian district in 2016, public’s contribution to conserves wetland ecosystem at PKNP was calculated to be RM1, 884,334. From the public’s interest to contribute to the conservation of wetland ecosystem services at PKNP, it indicates that more concerted effort is needed by both the federal and state governments to conserve and rehabilitate the mangrove ecosystem in Malaysia.

Keywords: environmental economy, economic valuation, choice experiment, Pulau Kukup national parks

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Authors: Ana Paula Melchiors Stahlschmidt

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This paper discusses the role of music as a ludic activity and constituent element of voice in the construction and consolidation of the relationship of the baby and his/her mother or caretaker, evaluating its implications in his/her psychic structure and constitution as a subject. The work was based on the research developed as part of the author’s doctoral activities carried out from her insertion in a project of the Music Department of Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, which objective was the development of musical activities with groups of babies from 0 to 24 months old and their caretakers. Observations, video recordings of the meetings, audio testemonies, and evaluation tools applied to group participants were used as instruments for this research. Information was collected on the participation of 195 babies, among which 8 were more focused on through interviews with their mothers or caretakers. These interviews were analyzed based on the referential of French Discourse Analysis, Psychoanalysis, Psychology of Development and Musical Education. The results of the research were complemented by other posterior experiences that the author developed with similar groups, in a context of a private clinic. The information collected allowed the observation of the ludic and structural functions of musical activities, when developed in a structured environment, as well as the importance of the musicality of the mother’s voice to the psychical structuring of the baby, allowing his/her insertion in the language and his/her constituition as a subject.

Keywords: music and babies, maternal voice, Psychoanalysis and music, psychology and music

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Authors: Rajendra Kumar

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We study the Electronic spectral density of a double coupled quantum dots sandwich between superconducting leads, where one of the superconducting leads (QD1) are connected with left superconductor lead and (QD1) also connected right superconductor lead. (QD1) and (QD2) are coupling to each other. The electronic spectral density through a quantum dots between superconducting leads having s-wave symmetry of the superconducting order parameter. Such junction is called superconducting –quantum dot (S-QD-S) junction. For this purpose, we have considered a renormalized Anderson model that includes the double coupled of the superconducting leads with the quantum dots level and an attractive BCS-type effective interaction in superconducting leads. We employed the Green’s function technique to obtain superconducting order parameter with the BCS framework and Ambegaoker-Baratoff formalism to analyze the electronic spectral density through such (S-QD-S) junction. It has been pointed out that electronic spectral density through such a junction is dominated by the attractive the paring interaction in the leads, energy of the level on the dot with respect to Fermi energy and also on the coupling parameter of the two in an essential way. On the basis of numerical analysis we have compared the theoretical results of electronic spectral density with the recent transport existing theoretical analysis. QDs is the charging energy that may give rise to effects based on the interplay of Coulomb repulsion and superconducting correlations. It is, therefore, an interesting question to ask how the discrete level spectrum and the charging energy affect the DC and AC Josephson transport between two superconductors coupled via a QD. In the absence of a bias voltage, a finite DC current can be sustained in such an S-QD-S by the DC Josephson effect.

Keywords: quantum dots, S-QD-S junction, BCS superconductors, Anderson model

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Authors: Mustafa Col, Funda Gul Koc, Merve Yangaz, Eylem Subasi, Can Akbasoglu

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G38NiCrMo8-4-4 steel is widely used in mining industries, machine parts, gears due to its high strength and toughness properties. In this study, microstructure, wear and mechanical properties of G38NiCrMo8-4-4 steel modified with boron used in the mining industry were investigated. For this purpose, cast materials were alloyed by melting in an induction furnace to include boron with the rates of 0 ppm, 15 ppm, and 50 ppm (wt.) and were formed in the dimensions of 150x200x150 mm by casting into the sand mould. Homogenization heat treatment was applied to the specimens at 1150˚C for 7 hours. Then all specimens were austenitized at 930˚C for 1 hour, quenched in the polymer solution and tempered at 650˚C for 1 hour. Microstructures of the specimens were investigated by using light microscope and SEM to determine the effect of boron and heat treatment conditions. Changes in microstructure properties and material hardness were obtained due to increasing boron content and heat treatment conditions after microstructure investigations and hardness tests. Wear tests were carried out using a pin-on-disc tribometer under dry sliding conditions. Charpy V notch impact test was performed to determine the toughness properties of the specimens. Fracture and worn surfaces were investigated with scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results show that boron element has a positive effect on the hardness and wear properties of G38NiCrMo8-4-4 steel.

Keywords: G38NiCrMo8-4-4 steel, boron, heat treatment, microstructure, wear, mechanical properties

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Authors: Ali Alshumrani, Nathan Clarke, Bogdan Ghite, Stavros Shiaeles

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Digital forensics has become an essential tool in the investigation of cyber and computer-assisted crime. Arguably, given the prevalence of technology and the subsequent digital footprints that exist, it could have a significant role across almost all crimes. However, the variety of technology platforms (such as computers, mobiles, Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV), Internet of Things (IoT), databases, drones, cloud computing services), heterogeneity and volume of data, forensic tool capability, and the investigative cost make investigations both technically challenging and prohibitively expensive. Forensic tools also tend to be siloed into specific technologies, e.g., File System Forensic Analysis Tools (FS-FAT) and Network Forensic Analysis Tools (N-FAT), and a good deal of data sources has little to no specialist forensic tools. Increasingly it also becomes essential to compare and correlate evidence across data sources and to do so in an efficient and effective manner enabling an investigator to answer high-level questions of the data in a timely manner without having to trawl through data and perform the correlation manually. This paper proposes a Unified Forensic Analysis Tool (U-FAT), which aims to establish a common language for electronic information and permit multi-source forensic analysis. Core to this approach is the identification and development of forensic analyses that automate complex data correlations, enabling investigators to investigate cases more efficiently. The paper presents a systematic analysis of major crime categories and identifies what forensic analyses could be used. For example, in a child abduction, an investigation team might have evidence from a range of sources including computing devices (mobile phone, PC), CCTV (potentially a large number), ISP records, and mobile network cell tower data, in addition to third party databases such as the National Sex Offender registry and tax records, with the desire to auto-correlate and across sources and visualize in a cognitively effective manner. U-FAT provides a holistic, flexible, and extensible approach to providing digital forensics in technology, application, and data-agnostic manner, providing powerful and automated forensic analysis.

Keywords: digital forensics, evidence correlation, heterogeneous data, forensics tool

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Authors: A. Degale Desta, Cheng Jian

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Deep learning application in computer vision is rapidly advancing, giving it the ability to monitor the public and quickly identify potentially anomalous behaviour from crowd scenes. Therefore, the purpose of the current work is to improve the performance of safety of people in crowd events from panic behaviour through introducing the innovative idea of Aggregation of Ensembles (AOE), which makes use of the pre-trained ConvNets and a pool of classifiers to find anomalies in video data with packed scenes. According to the theory of algorithms that applied K-means, KNN, CNN, SVD, and Faster-CNN, YOLOv5 architectures learn different levels of semantic representation from crowd videos; the proposed approach leverages an ensemble of various fine-tuned convolutional neural networks (CNN), allowing for the extraction of enriched feature sets. In addition to the above algorithms, a long short-term memory neural network to forecast future feature values and a handmade feature that takes into consideration the peculiarities of the crowd to understand human behavior. On well-known datasets of panic situations, experiments are run to assess the effectiveness and precision of the suggested method. Results reveal that, compared to state-of-the-art methodologies, the system produces better and more promising results in terms of accuracy and processing speed.

Keywords: action recognition, computer vision, crowd detecting and tracking, deep learning

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Authors: Rahmi Yetri Kasri, Paulus Wirutomo

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Citizen engagement approach has become increasingly important in the rural water sector. However, the question remains as to what exactly is meant by citizen engagement and how this approach can lead to sustainable service delivery. To understand citizen engagement, this paper argues that we need to understand basic elements of social life that consist of social structure, process, and culture within the realm of community’s living environment. Extracting from empirical data from Pamsimas villages in rural West Java, Indonesia, this paper will identify basic elements of social life and environment that influence and form the engagement of citizen and government in delivering and sustaining rural water supply services in Indonesia. Pamsimas or the Water Supply and Sanitation for Low Income Communities project is the biggest rural water program in Indonesia, implemented since 1993 in more than 27,000 villages. The sustainability of this sector is explored through a rural water supply service delivery life-cycle, starts with capital investment, operational and maintenance, asset expansion or renewal, strategic planning for future services and matching cost with financing. Using mixed-method data collection in case study research, this paper argues that increased citizen engagement contributes to a more sustainable rural water service delivery.

Keywords: citizen engagement, rural water supply, sustainability, Indonesia

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Authors: Jake Gonzalez, Tommy Dang

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This paper proposes a temporal graph approach to visualize and analyze the evolution of gene relationships and nomenclature over time. An interactive web-based tool implements this temporal graph, enabling researchers to traverse a timeline and observe coupled dynamics in network topology and naming conventions. Analysis of a real human genomic dataset reveals the emergence of densely interconnected functional modules over time, representing groups of genes involved in key biological processes. For example, the antimicrobial peptide DEFA1A3 shows increased connections to related alpha-defensins involved in infection response. Tracking degree and betweenness centrality shifts over timeline iterations also quantitatively highlight the reprioritization of certain genes’ topological importance as knowledge advances. Examination of the CNR1 gene encoding the cannabinoid receptor CB1 demonstrates changing synonymous relationships and consolidating naming patterns over time, reflecting its unique functional role discovery. The integrated framework interconnecting these topological and nomenclature dynamics provides richer contextual insights compared to isolated analysis methods. Overall, this temporal graph approach enables a more holistic study of knowledge evolution to elucidate complex biology.

Keywords: temporal graph, gene relationships, nomenclature evolution, interactive visualization, biological insights

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Authors: Averalda van Graan, Joelaine Chetty, Malory Links, Agness Mwangwela, Sitilitha Masangwi, Dalitso Chimwala, Shiban Ghosh, Elizabeth Marino-Costello

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Food composition data is becoming increasingly important as dealing with food insecurity and malnutrition in its persistent form of under-nutrition is now coupled with increasing over-nutrition and its related ailments in the developing world, of which Malawi is not spared. In the absence of a food composition database (FCDB) inherent to our dietary patterns, efforts were made to develop a country-specific FCDB for nutrition practice, research, and programming. The main objective was to develop a multi-user, country-specific food composition database, and table from existing published and unpublished scientific literature. A multi-phased approach guided by the project framework was employed. Phase 1 comprised a scoping mission to assess the nutrition landscape for compilation activities. Phase 2 involved training of a compiler and data collection from various sources, primarily; institutional libraries, online databases, and food industry nutrient data. Phase 3 subsumed evaluation and compilation of data using FAO and IN FOODS standards and guidelines. Phase 4 concluded the process with quality assurance. 316 Malawian food items categorized into eight food groups for 42 components were captured. The majority were from the baby food group (27%), followed by a staple (22%) and animal (22%) food group. Fats and oils consisted the least number of food items (2%), followed by fruits (6%). Proximate values are well represented; however, the percent missing data is huge for some components, including Se 68%, I 75%, Vitamin A 42%, and lipid profile; saturated fat 53%, mono-saturated fat 59%, poly-saturated fat 59% and cholesterol 56%. A multi-phased approach following the project framework led to the development of the first Malawian FCDB and table. The table reflects inherent Malawian dietary patterns and nutritional concerns. The FCDB can be used by various professionals in nutrition and health. Rising over-nutrition, NCD, and changing diets challenge us for nutrient profiles of processed foods and complete lipid profiles.

Keywords: analytical data, dietary pattern, food composition data, multi-phased approach

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Authors: Teresa M. Odipo

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Inclusive physical education and an inclusive educational approach in German schools have received much attention in recent years due to the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities proposals, which came into force in Germany in 2009. The aim of inclusive PE is to include children with disabilities and able bodied children, based on the idea, that all children should attend school together. While PE mostly took place in a heterogeneous environment, introducing children with all kinds of disabilities posed more challenges to the teachers, when children with disabilities were included. Therefore it is important that the educational approach should include pre-service teachers’ (PST) self-efficacy for and their attitudes towards inclusive practices. The PSTs’ self-efficacy for inclusive practices is one of the strongest predictors of the success of the inclusion reforms introduced in 2009, in order to improve PSTs’ ability to handle these very new challenges. PE stands out because the very nature of sport involves the body which means that all children, especially those with special needs should be treated in an appropriate manner. Up till now, it has been mostly English-speaking countries that have been assessed for inclusive practices in PE. Due to the lack of research in Germany, there is a strong need to question PSTs’ prepared-ness. This paper presents results from the 2016 survey conducted on around 100 PSTs by the German University of Sports in Cologne and opens up new directions within PSTs’ education, concerning their attitudes and self-efficacy towards inclusive PE. These new aspects will be included in the construction of new learning and teaching tools to improve pre-service teachers’ education for inclusive Physical Education.

Keywords: attitudes, inclusive physical education, pre-service teachers, self-efficacy

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Authors: Sophie Lemoussu, Jean-Charles Chaudemar, Robertus A. Vingerhoeds

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Many innovative projects exist in the field of aeronautics, each addressing specific areas so to reduce weight, increase autonomy, reduction of CO2, etc. In many cases, such innovative developments are being carried out by very small enterprises (VSE’s) or small and medium sized-enterprises (SME’s). A good example concerns airships that are being studied as a real alternative to passenger and cargo transportation. Today, no international regulations propose a precise and sufficiently detailed framework for the development and certification of airships. The absence of such a regulatory framework requires a very close contact with regulatory instances. However, VSE’s/SME’s do not always have sufficient resources and internal knowledge to handle this complexity and to discuss these issues. This poses an additional challenge for those VSE’s/SME’s, in particular those that have system integration responsibilities and that must provide all the necessary evidence to demonstrate their ability to design, produce, and operate airships with the expected level of safety and reliability. The main objective of this research is to provide a methodological framework enabling VSE’s/SME’s with limited resources to organize the development of airships while taking into account the constraints of safety, cost, time and performance. This paper proposes to provide a contribution to this problematic by proposing a Model-Based Systems Engineering approach. Through a comprehensive process modeling approach applied to the development processes, the regulatory constraints, existing best practices, etc., a good image can be obtained as to the process landscape that may influence the development of airships. To this effect, not only the necessary regulatory information is taken on board, also other international standards and norms on systems engineering and project management are being modeled and taken into account. In a next step, the model can be used for analysis of the specific situation for given developments, derive critical paths for the development, identify eventual conflicting aspects between the norms, standards, and regulatory expectations, or also identify those areas where not enough information is available. Once critical paths are known, optimization approaches can be used and decision support techniques can be applied so to better support VSE’s/SME’s in their innovative developments. This paper reports on the adopted modeling approach, the retained modeling languages, and how they all fit together.

Keywords: aeronautics, certification, process modeling, project management, regulation, SME, systems engineering, VSE

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Authors: Sophie Sakka, Rénald Gaboriau

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This paper describes a preliminary work aimed at setting a therapeutic support for autistic teenagers using three humanoid robots NAO shared by ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) subjects. The studied population had attended successfully a first year program, and were observed with a second year program using the robots. This paper focuses on the content and the effects of the second year program. The approach is based on a master puppet concept: the subjects program the robots, and use them as an extension for communication. Twenty sessions were organized, alternating ten preparatory sessions and ten robotics programming sessions. During the preparatory sessions, the subjects write a story to be played by the robots. During the robot programming sessions, the subjects program the motions to be realized to make the robot tell the story. The program was concluded by a public performance. The experiment involves five ASD teenagers aged 12-15, who had all attended the first year robotics training. As a result, a progress in voluntary and organized communication skills of the five subjects was observed, leading to improvements in social organization, focus, voluntary communication, programming, reading and writing abilities. The changes observed in the subjects general behavior took place in a short time, and could be observed from one robotics session to the next one. The approach allowed the subjects to draw the limits of their body with respect to the environment, and therefore helped them confronting the world with less anxiety.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, robot, therapeutic support, rob'autism

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Authors: Nishita Jaiswal, Apoorv Mohan Satpute

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The increasing demand for efficient, cost-effective motor control systems in the automotive industry has driven the need for advanced, highly optimized control algorithms. Field-Oriented Control (FOC) has established itself as the leading approach for motor control, offering precise and dynamic regulation of torque, speed, and position. However, as energy efficiency becomes more critical in modern applications, implementing FOC on low-power, cost-sensitive microcontrollers pose significant challenges due to the limited availability of computational and hardware resources. Currently, most solutions rely on high-performance 32-bit microcontrollers or Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) equipped with Floating Point Units (FPUs) and Hardware Accelerated Units (HAUs). These advanced platforms enable rapid computation and simplify the execution of complex control algorithms like FOC. However, these benefits come at the expense of higher costs, increased power consumption, and added system complexity. These drawbacks limit their suitability for embedded systems with strict power and budget constraints, where achieving energy and execution efficiency without compromising performance is essential. In this paper, we present an alternative approach that utilizes optimized data representation and computation techniques on a 16-bit microcontroller without FPUs or HAUs. By carefully optimizing data point formats and employing fixed-point arithmetic, we demonstrate how the precision and computational efficiency required for FOC can be maintained in resource-constrained environments. This approach eliminates the overhead performance associated with floating-point operations and hardware acceleration, providing a more practical solution in terms of cost, scalability and improved execution time efficiency, allowing faster response in motor control applications. Furthermore, it enhances system design flexibility, making it particularly well-suited for applications that demand stringent control over power consumption and costs.

Keywords: field-oriented control, fixed-point arithmetic, floating point unit, hardware accelerator unit, motor control systems

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Authors: Patrick Cummings, Laura Cassani, Deirdre Kelliher

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In this paper we present findings from a research effort to apply a hybrid collaborative-context approach for a system focused on Marine Corps civil affairs data collection, aggregation, and analysis called the Marine Civil Information Management System (MARCIMS). The goal of this effort is to provide operators with information to make sense of the interconnectedness of entities and relationships in their area of operation and discover existing data to support civil military operations. Our approach to build a recommendation engine was designed to overcome several technical challenges, including 1) ensuring models were robust to the relatively small amount of data collected by the Marine Corps civil affairs community; 2) finding methods to recommend novel data for which there are no interactions captured; and 3) overcoming confirmation bias by ensuring content was recommended that was relevant for the mission despite being obscure or less well known. We solve this by implementing a combination of collective matrix factorization (CMF) and graph-based random walks to provide recommendations to civil military operations users. We also present a method to resolve the challenge of computation complexity inherent from highly connected nodes through a precomputed process.

Keywords: Recommendation engine, collaborative filtering, context based recommendation, graph analysis, coverage, civil affairs operations, Marine Corps

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Authors: Rika van Zyl

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South Africa’s racial discrimination past has led to the drafting of the Constitution with the Bill of Rights for the people of South Africa. The Bill of Rights prohibits the state from unfairly discriminating directly or indirectly on certain grounds, one of which is race and another is gender. This has forced changes to the law of succession. The customary law rule of male primogeniture was abolished to ensure that women were not excluded from the intestate succession of the male head of the family in 2005. It was said that this rule cannot be reconciled with the notions of equality and human dignity contained in the Bill of Rights. The freedom of testation has further come under fire in South Africa, where it was found to be unfair discrimination and against public policy to exclude a specific gender (women) from inheriting in a private will. Although no one has the right to inherit in South Africa, any person with an interest can approach the court alleging that a right in the Bill of Rights has been infringed. A will that is found inconsistent with the South African Bill of Rights then cannot be enforced. Recent case law found that to leave out a specific gender (women) from a will, based entirely on the fact that they are of said specific gender, is in contravention of the Constitution and should, therefore, be declared invalid. It was said that the courts should take a transformative constitutional approach when equality rights are affected. Otherwise, the historical and insidious unequal distribution of wealth in South Africa will continue along the fault lines such as gender. This decision has opened the debate on the extent to which the state can interfere with the private autonomy of an individual who is deceased. Some of these arguments will be discussed, including the ambit of public policy in this regard.

Keywords: equality, discrimination, succession, public policy

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Authors: Emmanuel Billy

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This work is in the CABRISS project (H2020 projects) which aims at developing innovative cost-effective methods for the extraction of materials from the different sources of PV waste: Si based panels, thin film panels or Si water diluted slurries. Aluminum, silicon, indium, and silver will especially be extracted from these wastes in order to constitute materials feedstock which can be used later in a closed-loop process. The extraction of metals from silicon solar cells is often an energy-intensive process. It requires either smelting or leaching at elevated temperature, or the use of large quantities of strong acids or bases that require energy to produce. The energy input equates to a significant cost and an associated CO2 footprint, both of which it would be desirable to reduce. Thus there is a need to develop more energy-efficient and environmentally-compatible processes. Thus, ‘ionometallurgy’ could offer a new set of environmentally-benign process for metallurgy. This work demonstrates that ionic liquids provide one such method since they can be used to dissolve and recover silver. The overall process associates leaching, recovery and the possibility to re-use the solution in closed-loop process. This study aims to evaluate and compare different ionic liquids to leach and recover silver. An electrochemical analysis is first implemented to define the best system for the Ag dissolution. Effects of temperature, concentration and oxidizing agent are evaluated by this approach. Further, a comparative study between conventional approach (nitric acid, thiourea) and the ionic liquids (Cu and Al) focused on the leaching efficiency is conducted. A specific attention has been paid to the selection of the Ionic Liquids. Electrolytes composed of chelating anions are used to facilitate the lixiviation (Cl, Br, I,), avoid problems dealing with solubility issues of metallic species and of classical additional ligands. This approach reduces the cost of the process and facilitates the re-use of the leaching medium. To define the most suitable ionic liquids, electrochemical experiments have been carried out to evaluate the oxidation potential of silver include in the crystalline solar cells. Then, chemical dissolution of metals for crystalline solar cells have been performed for the most promising ionic liquids. After the chemical dissolution, electrodeposition has been performed to recover silver under a metallic form.

Keywords: electrodeposition, ionometallurgy, leaching, recycling, silver

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Authors: Mijoh A. Gbededo, Kapila Liyanage, Sabuj Mallik

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The emerging approaches to sustainable manufacturing are considered to be solution-oriented with the aim of addressing the environmental, economic and social issues holistically. However, the analysis of the interdependencies amongst the three sustainability dimensions has not been fully captured in the literature. In a recent review of approaches to sustainable manufacturing, two categories of techniques are identified: 1) Sustainable Product Development (SPD), and 2) Sustainability Performance Assessment (SPA) techniques. The challenges of the approaches are not only related to the arguments and misconceptions of the relationships between the techniques and sustainable development but also to the inability to capture and integrate the three sustainability dimensions. This requires a clear definition of some of the approaches and a road-map to the development of a holistic approach that supports sustainability decision-making. In this context, eco-innovation, social impact assessment, and life cycle sustainability analysis play an important role. This paper deployed an integrative approach that enabled amalgamation of sustainable manufacturing approaches and the theories of reciprocity and motivation into a holistic simulation-based impact analysis framework. The findings in this research have the potential to guide sustainability analysts to capture the aspects of the three sustainability dimensions into an analytical model. Additionally, the research findings presented can aid the construction of a holistic simulation model of a sustainable manufacturing and support effective decision-making.

Keywords: life cycle sustainability analysis, sustainable manufacturing, sustainability performance assessment, sustainable product development

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Authors: Zekang Lan, Yan Xu, Yingkun Huang, Dian Huang, Shengzhong Feng

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Jobs on high-performance computing (HPC) clusters can suffer significant performance degradation due to inter-job network interference. Topology-aware job allocation problem (TJAP) is such a problem that decides how to dedicate nodes to specific applications to mitigate inter-job network interference. In this paper, we study the window-based TJAP on a fat-tree network aiming at minimizing the cost of communication hop, a defined inter-job interference metric. The window-based approach for scheduling repeats periodically, taking the jobs in the queue and solving an assignment problem that maps jobs to the available nodes. Two special allocation strategies are considered, i.e., static continuity assignment strategy (SCAS) and dynamic continuity assignment strategy (DCAS). For the SCAS, a 0-1 integer programming is developed. For the DCAS, an approach called neural simulated algorithm (NSA), which is an extension to simulated algorithm (SA) that learns a repair operator and employs them in a guided heuristic search, is proposed. The efficacy of NSA is demonstrated with a computational study against SA and SCIP. The results of numerical experiments indicate that both the model and algorithm proposed in this paper are effective.

Keywords: high-performance computing, job allocation, neural simulated annealing, topology-aware

Procedia PDF Downloads 118