Search results for: comparison different types

Authors: Manana Rusieshvili, Rusudan Dolidze

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This paper aims at 1) investigating the ways in which a traditional, monomodal written verbal metaphor can be transposed as a monomodal non-verbal (visual) or multimodal (aural and -visual) filmic metaphor ; 2) exploring similarities and differences in the process of encoding and decoding of monomodal and multimodal metaphors. The empiric data, on which the research is based, embrace three sources: the novel by Harry Gray ‘The Hoods’, the script of the film ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ (English version by David Mills) and the resultant film by Sergio Leone. In order to achieve the above mentioned goals, the research focuses on the following issues: 1) identification of verbal and non-verbal monomodal and multimodal metaphors in the above-mentioned sources and 2) investigation of the ways and modes the specific written monomodal metaphors appearing in the novel and the script are enacted in the film and become visual, aural or visual-aural filmic metaphors ; 3) study of the factors which play an important role in contributing to the encoding and decoding of the filmic metaphor. The collection and analysis of the data were carried out in two stages: firstly, the relevant data, i.e. the monomodal metaphors from the novel, the script and the film were identified and collected. In the second, final stage the metaphors taken from all of the three sources were analysed, compared and two types of phenomena were selected for discussion: (1) the monomodal written metaphors found in the novel and/or in the script which become monomodal visual/aural metaphors in the film; (2) the monomodal written metaphors found in the novel and/or in the script which become multimodal, filmic (visual-aural) metaphors in the film.

Keywords: encoding, decoding, filmic metaphor, multimodality

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Authors: Manana Lobzhanidze

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Introduction: The paper will argue that labor migration is the most important problem Georgia faces today. The structure of labor migration by age and gender of Georgia is analyzed. The main driving factors of circular labor migration during the last ten years are identified. While studying migration, it is necessary to discuss the interconnection of economic, social, and demographic features, also taking into consideration the policy of state regulations in terms of education and professional training. Methodology: Different research methods are applied in the presented paper: statistical, such as selection, grouping, observation, trend, and qualitative research methods, namely; analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison ones. Main Findings: Labour migrants are filling the labor market as a low salary worker. The main positive feedback of migration from developing countries is poverty eradication, but this process is accompanied by problems, such as 'Brain Drain'. The country loses an important part of its intellectual potential, and it is invested by households or state itself. Conclusions: Labor migration is characterized to be temporary, but socio-economic problems of the country often push the labor migration in the direction of longterm and illegal migration. Countries with developed economies try to stricter migration policy and fight illegal migration with different methods; circular migration helps solve this problem. Conclusions and recommendations are included about circular labor migration consequences in Georgia and its influence on the reduction of unemployment level.

Keywords: migration, circular labor migration, labor migration employment, unemployment

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Authors: Mohsen Akhlaghi, Tahereh Ebrahimi

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Considering the increasing demand for water and limited resources, there is a possibility of a water crisis in the not-so-distant future. Therefore, to prevent this crisis, other options for drinking water supply should be examined. In this regard, the application of multi-criteria decision-making methods in various aspects of water resource management and planning has always been of great interest to researchers. In this report, six options for supplying drinking water to Tehran City were considered. Then, experts' opinions were collected through matrices and questionnaires, and using the TOPSIS method, which is one of the types of multi-criteria decision-making methods, they were calculated and analyzed. In the TOPSIS method, the options were ranked by calculating their proximity to the ideal (Ci). The closer the numerical value of Ci is to one, the more desirable the option is. Based on this, the option with the optimization pattern of water consumption, with Ci = 0.9787, is the best option among the proposed options for supplying drinking water to Tehran City. The other options, in order of priority, are rainwater harvesting, wastewater reuse, increasing current water supply sources, desalination and its transfer, and transferring water from freshwater sources between basins. In conclusion, the findings of this study highlight the importance of exploring alternative drinking water supply options and utilizing multi-criteria decision-making approaches to address the potential water crisis.

Keywords: multi-criteria decision, sustainable development, topsis, water supply

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Authors: Maria Zinnia Bardas Hoffmann

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Contrastive Analysis (CA) is the systematic comparison between two languages. It stems from the notion that errors are caused by interference of the L1 system in the acquisition process of an L2. CA represents a useful tool to understand the nature of learning and acquisition. Also, this particular method promises a path to un-derstand the nature of underlying cognitive processes, even when other factors such as intrinsic motivation and teaching strategies were found to best explain student’s problems in acquisition. CA study is justified not only from the need to get a deeper understanding of the nature of SLA, but as an invaluable source to provide clues, at a cognitive level, for those general processes involved in rule formation and abstract thought. It is relevant for cross disciplinary studies and the fields of Computational Thought, Natural Language processing, Applied Linguistics, Cognitive Linguistics and Math Theory. That being said, this paper intends to address here as well its own set of constraints and limitations. Finally, this paper: (a) aims at identifying some of the difficulties students may find in their learning process due to the nature of their specific variety of L1, Rio de la Plata Spanish (RPS), (b) represents an attempt to discuss the necessity for specific models to approach CA.

Keywords: second language acquisition, applied linguistics, contrastive analysis, applied contrastive analysis English language department, meta-linguistic rules, cross-linguistics studies, computational thought, natural language processing

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Authors: Alvaro Javier Ortega

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A large number of companies face the challenge of matching highly-skilled professionals to high-end positions by human resource deployment professionals. However, when the professional list and tasks to be matched are larger than a few dozens, this process result is far from optimal and takes a long time to be made. Therefore, an automated assignment algorithm for this workforce management problem is needed. The majority of companies are divided into several sectors or departments, where trained employees with different experience levels deal with a large number of tasks daily. Also, the execution order of all tasks is of mater consequence, due to some of these tasks just can be run it if the result of another task is provided. Thus, a wrong execution order leads to large waiting times between consecutive tasks. The desired goal is, therefore, creating accurate matches and a near-optimal execution order that maximizes the number of tasks performed and minimizes the idle time of the expensive skilled employees. The problem described before can be model as a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) as it will be shown in detail through this paper. A large number of MINLP algorithms have been proposed in the literature. Here, genetic algorithm solutions are considered and a comparison between two different mutation approaches is presented. The simulated results considering different complexity levels of assignment decisions show the appropriateness of the proposed model.

Keywords: employees, genetic algorithm, industry management, workforce

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Authors: F. Jafari, S. GharehzadehShirazi, S. Khodabakhshi

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An efficient, simple, and environmentally benign procedure for the one-pot synthesis of dicoumarols was reported. The reaction entails the condensation of aryl glyoxals and 4-hydroxyxoumarin in the presence of catalytic amount of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) as recyclable catalyst in aqueous media. High product yields and use of clean conditions are important factors of green chemistry.Part of our continued interest to achieve high atom economic reactions by the use safe catalysts. The reaction mixture was refluxed with catalytic amount (3 mol%) of zinc oxide nanoparticles.Reducing the amount of toxic waste and byproducts arising from chemical reactions is an important issue in the context of green chemistry. In comparison with commonly organic solvents, the aqueous media is cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Avoiding the use of organic solvents is an important way to prevent waste in chemical processes. In the context of green and sustainable chemistry, one ofthe most promising approaches is the use of water as the reaction media. In recent years, there has been increasing recognition that water is an attractive media for manyorganic reactions. Using water continues to attract wide attention among synthetic chemists in the design of new synthetic methods.

Keywords: zinc oxide, dicoumarol, aryl glyoxal, green chemistry, catalyst

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Authors: Parker Townes, Prabdeep Panesar, Chunlin Liu, Soo Youn Lee, Dan Devoe, Paul D. Arnold, Jennifer Crosbie, Russell Schachar

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Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are impairing childhood neurodevelopmental disorders with problems in executive functions. Executive functions are higher-level mental processes essential for daily functioning and goal attainment. There is genetic and neural overlap between ADHD and ASD. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate if pediatric ASD and ADHD have distinct executive function profiles. This review was completed following Cochrane guidelines. Fifty-eight articles were identified through database searching, followed by a blinded screening in duplicate. A meta-analysis was performed for all task performance metrics evaluated by at least two articles. Forty-five metrics from 24 individual tasks underwent analysis. No differences were found between youth with ASD and ADHD in any domain under direct comparison. However, individuals with ASD and ADHD exhibited deficient attention, flexibility, visuospatial abilities, working memory, processing speed, and response inhibition compared to controls. No deficits in planning were noted in either disorder. Only 11 studies included a group with comorbid ASD+ADHD, making it difficult to determine whether common executive function deficits are a function of comorbidity. Further research is needed to determine if comorbidity accounts for the apparent commonality in executive function between ASD and ADHD.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, neurocognition, executive function, youth

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Authors: Mark Anthony A. Catiil

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Teachers are the principal actors in the delivery of quality education to the learners. Unfortunately, as time goes by, some of them got low motivation at work. Absenteeism, tardiness, under time, and non-compliance to school policies are some of the end results. There is, therefore, a need to review the different human resource management practices of the school that contribute to teachers’ work satisfaction and motivation. Hence, this study determined the level of satisfaction of teachers on the human resource management practices of Gingoog City Comprehensive National High School. This mixed-methodology research was focused on the 45 teachers chosen using a stratified random sampling technique. Reliability-tested questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussions were used to gather the data. Results revealed that the majority of the respondents are female, Teacher I, with MA units and have served for 11-20 years. Likewise, among the human resource management practices of the school, the respondents rated the lowest satisfaction on recruitment and selection (mean=2.15; n=45). This could mean that most of the recruitment and selection practices of the school are not well communicated, disseminated, and implemented. On the other hand, retirement practices of the school were rated with the highest satisfaction among the respondents (mean=2.73; n=45). This could mean that most of the retirement practices of the school are communicated, disseminated, implemented, and functional. It was recommended that the existing human resource management practices on recruitment and selection be reviewed to find out its deficiencies and possible improvement. Moreover, future researchers may also conduct a study between private and public schools in Gingoog City on the same topic for comparison.

Keywords: education, human resource management practices, satisfaction, teachers

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Authors: Narayan Gurung, Fawu Wang, Ranjan Kumar Dahal

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Nepal is highly prone to earthquakes and has witnessed at least one major earthquake in 80 to 90 years interval. The Gorkha earthquake, that measured 7.8 RS in magnitude and struck Nepal on 25th April 2015, after 81 years since Mw 8.3 Nepal Bihar earthquake in 1934, was the largest earthquake after Mw 8.3 Nepal Bihar earthquake. In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight the lessons learnt from the MwW 7.8 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake. Several types of damage patterns in buildings were observed for reinforced concrete buildings, as well as for unreinforced masonry and adobe houses in the earthquake of 25 April 2015. Many field visits in the affected areas were conducted, and thus, associated failure and damage patterns were identified and analyzed. Damage patterns in non-engineered buildings, middle and high-rise buildings, commercial complexes, administrative buildings, schools and other critical facilities are also included from the affected districts. For most buildings, the construction and structural deficiencies have been identified as the major causes of failure; however, topography, local soil amplification, foundation settlement, liquefaction associated damages and buildings built in hazard-prone areas were also significantly observed for the failure or damages to buildings and hence are reported. Finally, the lessons learnt from Mw 7.8 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake are presented in order to mitigate impacts of future earthquakes in Nepal.

Keywords: Gorkha earthquake, reinforced concrete structure, Nepal, lesson learnt

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Authors: Kiran Kumar K., Ramesh Babu Bejjam, Atul Najan

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A thermosyphon system is a heat transfer loop which operates on the basis of gravity and buoyancy forces. It guarantees a good reliability and low maintenance cost as it does not involve any mechanical pump. Therefore it can be used in many industrial applications such as refrigeration and air conditioning, electronic cooling, nuclear reactors, geothermal heat extraction, etc. But flow instabilities and loop configuration are the major problems in this system. Several previous researchers studied that stabilities can be suppressed by using nanofluids as loop fluid. In the present study a rectangular thermosyphon loop with end heat exchangers are considered for the study. This configuration is more appropriate for many practical applications such as solar water heater, geothermal heat extraction, etc. In the present work, steady-state analysis is carried out on thermosyphon loop with parallel flow coaxial heat exchangers at heat source and heat sink. In this loop nano fluid is considered as the loop fluid and water is considered as the external fluid in both hot and cold heat exchangers. For this analysis one-dimensional homogeneous model is developed. In this model, conservation equations like conservation of mass, momentum, energy are discretized using finite difference method. A computer code is written in MATLAB to simulate the flow in thermosyphon loop. A comparison in terms of heat transfer is made between water and nano fluid as working fluids in the loop.

Keywords: heat exchanger, heat transfer, nanofluid, thermosyphon loop

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Authors: Maryam Vaezjalali, Foad Davoodbeglou, Mehrnaz Mesdaghi, Hossein Goudarzi, Fariba Shojaei, Hourieh Aram

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Introduction: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection causes chronic infection in human population, with high mortality. Some people are more susceptible to this infection. One of the high risk communities is mentally retarded children, who are institutionalized. Special conditions in these centers predispose children for HBV infection and transmission to healthy people. In this study our objective was to determine the prevalence of HBV infection among institutionalized mentally retarded children and study its associated risk factors. Materials and methods: In this study, 250 mentally retarded children (younger than 14 years old) were included. They were living in 5 nursing institutions, located in different parts of Tehran. HBsAg was measured in the sera of these patients by ELISA method. Results: Among 250 children, 20 children (8%) were HBsAg positive. HBV infection in girls was more than boys (11% to 5.6%). Among the types of mental retardation, children with cerebral palsy had the highest positive result for HBsAg. The most HBV infection (28.5%) was seen in children with longest duration of being institutionalized (10 to 11 years). Vaccinated children were more HBsAg positive (8.7%) than non-vaccinated children (5.3%). However, no significant relationship was observed between any of these factors and HBsAg positivity. Conclusion: Despite improvement of people’s health condition and implementation of HBV vaccination, the prevalence of HBV infection is high in institutionalized mentally retarded children, which highlights the need for active measures to reduce this infection among this high risk population.

Keywords: hepatitis B virus, HBV vaccine, intellectually disabled children, mentally retarded

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Authors: Eva Stefanovska, Estefania Cuenca, Aleksandra Momirov, Monika Fidanchevska, Liberato Ferrara, Emilija Fidanchevski

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Silica is used in construction materials as a part of natural raw materials or as an additive in powder form (micro and nano dimensions). SiO₂ particles in cement act as centers of nucleation, as a filler or as pozzolan material. In this regard, silica improves the microstructure of cementitious composites, increases the mechanical properties, and finally also results into improved durability of the final products. Improved properties of cementitious composites may lead to better structural efficiency, which, together with increased durability, results into increased sustainability signature of structures made with this kind of materials. The aim of the present work was to investigate the influence of silica on the properties of cement. Fly ash (as received and mechanically activated) and synthetized silica (sol-gel method using TEOS as precursor) was used in the investigation as source of silica. Four types of cement mixtures were investigated (reference cement paste, cement paste with addition of 15wt.% as-received fly ash, cement paste with 15 wt.% mechanically activated fly ash and cement paste with 14wt.% mechanically activated fly ash and 1 wt.% silica). The influence of silica on setting time and mechanical properties (2, 7 and 28 days) was followed. As a matter of fact it will be shown that cement paste with composition 85 wt. % cement, 14 wt.% mechanically activated fly ash and 1 wt. % SiO₂ obtained by the sol-gel method was the best performing one, with increased compressive and flexure strength by 9 and 10 % respectively, as compared to the reference mixture. Acknowledgements: 'COST Action CA15202, www.sarcos.eng.cam.ac.uk'

Keywords: cement, fly ash, mechanical properties, silica, sol-gel

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Authors: Mst Shapna Akter, Hossain Shahriar

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Neural network approaches are machine learning methods used in many domains, such as healthcare and cyber security. Neural networks are mostly known for dealing with image datasets. While training with the images, several fundamental mathematical operations are carried out in the Neural Network. The operation includes a number of algebraic and mathematical functions, including derivative, convolution, and matrix inversion and transposition. Such operations require higher processing power than is typically needed for computer usage. Central Processing Unit (CPU) is not appropriate for a large image size of the dataset as it is built with serial processing. While Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) has parallel processing capabilities and, therefore, has higher speed. This paper uses advanced Neural Network techniques such as VGG16, Resnet50, Densenet, Inceptionv3, Xception, Mobilenet, XGBOOST-VGG16, and our proposed models to compare CPU and GPU resources. A system for classifying autism disease using face images of an autistic and non-autistic child was used to compare performance during testing. We used evaluation matrices such as Accuracy, F1 score, Precision, Recall, and Execution time. It has been observed that GPU runs faster than the CPU in all tests performed. Moreover, the performance of the Neural Network models in terms of accuracy increases on GPU compared to CPU.

Keywords: autism disease, neural network, CPU, GPU, transfer learning

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Authors: Moshe Davidian, Shlomo Mark, Yotam Lurie

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With the rapid development of technology and the concomitant growth in the capability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and their power, the ethical challenges involved in these systems are also evolving and increasing. In recent years, various organizations, including governments, international institutions, professional societies, civic organizations, and commercial companies, have been choosing to address these various challenges by publishing ethical codes for AI systems. However, despite the apparent agreement that AI should be “ethical,” there is debate about the definition of “ethical artificial intelligence.” This study investigates the various AI ethical codes and their key ethical values. From the vast collection of codes that exist, it analyzes and compares 25 ethical codes that were found to be representative of different types of organizations. In addition, as part of its literature review, the study overviews data collected in three recent reviews of AI codes. The results of the analyses demonstrate a convergence around seven key ethical values. However, the key finding is that the different AI ethical codes eventually reflect the type of organization that designed the code; i.e., the organizations’ role as regulator, user, or developer affects the view of what ethical AI is. The results show a relationship between the organization’s role and the dominant values in its code. The main contribution of this study is the development of a list of the key values for all AI systems and specific values that need to impact the development and design of AI systems, but also allowing for differences according to the organization for which the system is being developed. This will allow an analysis of AI values in relation to stakeholders.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, ethical codes, principles, values

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Authors: Animesh Gupta

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Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the versatility and outcome of lateral supra malleolar flap (LSMF) in soft tissue reconstruction of the regions including the distal leg, ankle, dorsal foot and heel. Methods: From March 2021 to April 2023, 18 patients with soft tissue defects in the regions, including the distal leg, ankle, dorsal foot and heel, who underwent LSMF repair for lower limb wound reconstruction were analyzed. The location, size of the defects, etiology, outcome, complications, and other alternative options were studied and presented. Results: The follow-up period of the cases was 3-6 months after surgery. All flaps were successful; however, one flap was complicated by venous congestion and was managed by loosening a few sutures and the patient was required to elevate the affected limb to resolve the issue. Conclusion: The LSMF has numerous advantages in repairing soft tissue defects in areas involving the ankle, distal leg, heel and dorsum of the foot. In comparison to reverse sural flaps for repairing defects in the heel and lower leg, LSMF offers shorter operation time, shorter hospitalization, lower cost, and fewer postoperative complications.

Keywords: lateral supra malleolar flap, LSMF, soft tissue reconstruction, lower leg defect

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Authors: Yoonjung An, Yongtae Park

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Offering a Product-Service System (PSS) is a well-accepted strategy that companies may adopt to provide a set of systemic solutions to customers. PSSs were initially provided in a simple form but now take diversified and complex forms involving multiple services, products and technologies. With the growing interest in the PSS, frameworks for the PSS development have been introduced by many researchers. However, most of the existing frameworks fail to examine various relations existing in a complex PSS. Since designing a complex PSS involves full integration of multiple products and services, it is essential to identify not only product-service relations but also product-product/ service-service relations. It is also equally important to specify how they are related for better understanding of the system. Moreover, as customers tend to view their purchase from a more holistic perspective, a PSS should be developed based on the whole system’s requirements, rather than focusing only on the product requirements or service requirements. Thus, we propose a framework to develop a complex PSS that is coordinated fully with the requirements of both worlds. Specifically, our approach adopts a multi-domain matrix (MDM). A MDM identifies not only inter-domain relations but also intra-domain relations so that it helps to design a PSS that includes highly desired and closely related core functions/ features. Also, various dependency types and rating schemes proposed in our approach would help the integration process.

Keywords: inter-domain relations, intra-domain relations, multi-domain matrix, product-service system design

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Authors: Boris Kolev, Matt Kokan, Mohammad Deriszadeh, Farshid Bateni

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Due to the increasing demand for real estate and the need for efficient land utilization in Greater Vancouver, developers have been increasingly considering the construction of high-rise structures with multiple below-grade parking. The temporary excavations required to allow for the construction of underground levels have recently reached up to 40 meters in depth. One of the challenges with deep excavations is the prediction of wall displacements and ground settlements due to their effect on the integrity of City utilities, infrastructure, and adjacent buildings. A large database of survey monitoring data has been collected for deep excavations in various soil conditions and shoring systems. The majority of the data collected is for tie-back anchors and shotcrete lagging systems. The data were categorized, analyzed and the results were evaluated to find a relationship between the most dominant parameters controlling the displacement, such as depth of excavation, soil properties, and the tie-back anchor loading and arrangement. For a select number of deep excavations, finite element modeling was considered for analyses. The lateral displacements from the simulation results were compared to the recorded survey monitoring data. The study concludes with a discussion and comparison of the available empirical and numerical modeling methodologies for evaluating lateral displacements in deep excavations.

Keywords: deep excavations, lateral displacements, numerical modeling, shoring walls, tieback anchors

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Authors: Abdelhak Djoudi, Hachemi Chekireb, El Madjid Berkouk

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The doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) received recently an important consideration in medium and high power wind energy conversion systems integration, due to its advantages compared to other generators types. The stator power sliding mode control (SPSMC) proves a great efficiency judge against other control laws and schemes. In the SPSMC laws elaborated by several authors, only the slide surface tracking conditions are elaborated using Lyapunov functions, and the boundedness of the DFIG states is never treated. Some works have validated theirs approaches by experiments results in the case of specified machines, but these verifications stay insufficient to generalize to other machines range. Adding to this argument, the DFIG states boundedness demonstration is widely suggested in goal to ensure that in the application of the SPSMC, the states evaluates within theirs tolerable bounds. Our objective in the present paper is to highlight the efficiency of the SPSMC by stability analysis. The boundedness of the DFIG states such as the stator current and rotor flux is discussed. Moreover, the states trajectories are finding using analytical proves taking into consideration the SPSMC gains.

Keywords: Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG), Stator Powers Sliding Mode Control (SPSMC), lyapunov function, stability, states boundedness, trajectories mathematical proves

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Authors: Tomer Gans-Or, Shmulik Pinkert

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The determination of lateral pile capacity per unit length is a key aspect in geotechnical engineering. Traditional approaches for assessing piles lateral capacity in cohesive soils involve the application of upper-bound and lower-bound plasticity theorems. However, a comprehensive solution encompassing the entire spectrum of soil strength parameters, particularly in frictional soils with or without cohesion, is still lacking. This research introduces an innovative implementation of the slice method limit equilibrium solution for lateral capacity assessment. For any given numerical discretization of the soil's domain around the pile, the lateral capacity evaluation is based on mobilized strength concept. The critical failure geometry is then found by a unique optimization procedure which includes both factor of safety minimization and geometrical optimization. The robustness of this suggested methodology is that the solution is independent of any predefined assumptions. Validation of the solution is accomplished through a comparison with established plasticity solutions for cohesive soils. Furthermore, the study demonstrates the applicability of the limit equilibrium method to address unresolved cases related to frictional and cohesive-frictional soils. Beyond providing capacity values, the method enables the utilization of the mobilized strength concept to generate safety-factor distributions for scenarios representing pre-failure states.

Keywords: lateral pile capacity, slice method, limit equilibrium, mobilized strength

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Authors: Bola M. Tunde-Awe

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The study investigated the influence of teacher’s non-verbal communication on secondary school students’ learning outcomes in English language. The study was a survey research. Participants were three hundred Senior Secondary School II students randomly selected from ten schools in Akoko South West Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire containing twenty items on a four-point Likert scale which measured teacher’s use of three types of non-verbal communication modes: body movement, eye contact and spatial distance. The data collected was analysed using simple percentage. Findings revealed that teacher’s use of these non-verbal communication modes enhanced learners’ learning outcomes in English language: a total of 271 (90.33%) participants affirmed that teacher’s body language influenced their learning of English; 224 (74.66%) maintained the same stand for eye contact; while 202 (67.33%) affirmed that teacher’s spatial distance had positive influence. Consequent upon these findings, it was recommended that teachers of English language should constantly utilize non-verbal communication in their instructional delivery. Also, non-verbal communication modes should be included in teacher education programme to equip prospective pre-service teachers with the art of non-verbal communication.

Keywords: non-verbal communication, body language, eye contact, spatial distance, learning outcomes

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Authors: Fatima Alsalem

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Objectives: This study aims to explore the perceived credibility of social media influencers and their effect on purchase intention. In addition, the study aims to investigate the relationship between satisfaction with content promoted via social media and its relation to purchasing intention. Methodology: This study uses an exploratory and quantitative methodology. It was implemented through a cross-sectional survey that asked respondents to identify the time they spend using social media, satisfaction with influencers’ content, types of influencers they prefer, motivations to use social media, purchase intention of products promoted by influencers, as well as three credibility dimensions. Sample: the sample included 1184 Kuwaiti nationals, of which 50.4% (N=593) were males and 49.6% (N=584) were females. Results: The analysis of the data indicated that comedy and entertainment influencers are the most preferred type of influencers, while fashion influencers “fashionistas” are the least preferred. Based on the results of the regression analysis, the perceived credibility of influencers and satisfaction with their content is positively related to higher purchase intention. While all dimensions of credibility are positively related to higher purchase intention, attractiveness is the strongest predictor. Conclusion: The significant value of this study is the examination of the perceived credibility of influencers and the type of influencer social media users prefer to follow. The current research proves that the attractiveness of influencers is the highest dimension of their perceived credibility, which was prevalent in the findings.

Keywords: influencers, social media, mass media, credibility

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Authors: Monjurul Hasan, Golam Kibria, Abdus Salam

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Pervious concrete is a form of lightweight porous concrete, obtained by eliminating the fine aggregate from the normal concrete mix. The advantages of this type of concrete are lower density, lower cost due to lower cement content, lower thermal conductivity, relatively low drying shrinkage, no segregation and capillary movement of water. In this paper an investigation is made on the mechanical response of the pervious concrete at zero fine level (zero fine concrete) made with local brick aggregate. Effect of aggregate size variation on the strength, void ratio and permeability of the zero fine concrete is studied. Finally, a comparison is also presented between the stone aggregate made pervious concrete and brick aggregate made pervious concrete. In total 75 concrete cylinder were tested for compressive strength, 15 cylinder were tested for void ratio and 15 cylinder were tested for permeability test. Mix proportion (cement: Coarse aggregate) was kept fixed at 1:6 (by weights), where water cement ratio was valued 0.35 for preparing the sample specimens. The brick aggregate size varied among 25mm, 19mm, 12mm. It has been found that the compressive strength decreased with the increment of aggregate size but permeability increases and concrete made with 19mm maximum aggregate size yields the optimum value. No significant differences on the strength and permeability test are observed between the brick aggregate made zero fine concrete and stone aggregate made zero fine concrete.

Keywords: pervious concrete, brick aggregate concrete, zero fine concrete, permeability, porosity

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Authors: Babak Azari, Afshin Pourahmad, Babak Sadeghi, Masuod Mokhtari

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In this work, Equisetnm arvense plant extract was used for preparing amorphous SiO₂. For preparing of SiO₂/zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) nanocomposite by solvothermal method, the synthesized SiO₂ was added to the synthesis mixture ZIF-8. The nanocomposite was characterized using a range of techniques. The photocatalytic activity of SiO₂/ZIF-8 was investigated systematically by degrading crystal violet as a cationic dye under Ultraviolet light irradiation. Among synthesized samples (SiO₂, ZIF-8 and SiO₂/ZIF-8), the SiO₂/ZIF-8 exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity and improved stability compared to pure SiO₂ and ZIF-8. As evidenced by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Transmission electron microscopy images, ZIF-8 particles without aggregation are located over SiO₂. The SiO₂ not only provides structured support for ZIF-8 but also prevents the aggregation of ZIF-8 Metal-organic framework in comparison to the isolated ZIF-8. The superior activity of this photocatalyst was attributed to the synergistic effects from SiO₂ owing to (I) an electron acceptor (from ZIF-8) and an electron donor (to O₂ molecules), (II) preventing recombination of electron-hole in ZIF-8, and (III) maximum interfacial contact ZIF-8 with the SiO₂ surface without aggregation or prevent the accumulation of ZIF-8. The results demonstrate that holes (h+) and •O₂- are primary reactive species involved in the photocatalytic oxidation process. Moreover, the SiO₂/ZIF-8 photocatalyst did not show any obvious loss of photocatalytic activity during five-cycle tests, which indicates that the heterostructured photocatalyst was highly stable and could be used repeatedly.

Keywords: nano, zeolit, potocatalist, nanocomposite

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Authors: Maslan Lamria, Ralph E. H. Sims, Tatang H. Soerawidjaja

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In increasing its self-sufficiency on transportation fuel, Indonesia is currently developing commercial production and use of drop-in biofuel (DBF) from vegetable oil. To maximize the level of success, it is necessary to get insights on how the implementation would develop as well as any important factors. This study assessed the dynamics of transition from existing fossil fuel system to a renewable fuel system, which involves the transition from existing biodiesel to projected DBF. A systems dynamics approach was applied and a model developed to simulate the dynamics of liquid biofuel transition. The use of palm oil feedstock was taken as a case study to assess the projected DBF implementation by 2045. The set of model indicators include liquid fuel self-sufficiency, liquid biofuel share, foreign exchange savings and green-house gas emissions reduction. The model outputs showed that supports on DBF investment and use play an important role in the transition progress. Given assumptions which include application of a maximum level of supports over time, liquid fuel self-sufficiency would be still unfulfilled in which palm biofuel contribution is 0.2. Thus, other types of feedstock such as algae and oil feedstock from marginal lands need to be developed synergically. Regarding support on DBF use, this study recommended that removal of fossil subsidy would be necessary prior to applying a carbon tax policy effectively.

Keywords: biofuel, drop-in biofuel, energy transition, liquid fuel

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Authors: Chelsea-Anne Edwards, Paul Parker

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Flight school members are facing a major disruption in the technologies available for them to fly as electric planes enter the aviation industry. The year 2020 marked a new era in aviation with the first type certification of an electric plane. The Pipistrel Velis Electro is a two-seat electric aircraft (e-plane) designed for flight training. Electric flight training has the potential to deeply reduce emissions, noise, and cost of pilot training. Though these are all attractive features, understanding must be developed on the perceptions of the essential actor of the technology, the pilot. This study asks student pilots, flight instructors, flight center managers, and other members of flight schools about their perceptions of e-planes. The questions were divided into three categories: safety and trust of the technology, expected costs in comparison to conventional planes, and interest in the technology, including their desire to fly electric planes. Participants were recruited from flight schools using a protocol approved by the Office of Research Ethics. None of these flight schools have an e-plane in their fleet so these views are based on perceptions rather than direct experience. The results revealed perceptions that were strongly positive with many qualitative comments indicating great excitement about the potential of the new electric aviation technology. Some concerns were raised regarding battery endurance limits. Overall, the flight school community is clearly in favor of introducing electric propulsion technology and reducing the environmental impacts of their industry.

Keywords: electric planes, flight training, green aircraft, student pilots, sustainable aviation

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Authors: Zixi You

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There are a number of verbal prefixes in Old Japanese. However, the selection or the compatibility of verbs and verbal prefixes is among the least investigated topics on Old Japanese language. Unlike other types of prefixes, verbal prefixes in dictionaries are more often than not listed with very brief information such as ‘unknown meaning’ or ‘rhythmic function only’. To fill in a part of this knowledge gap, this paper presents an exhaustive investigation based on the newly developed ‘Oxford Corpus of Old Japanese’ (OCOJ), which included nearly all existing resource of Old Japanese language, with detailed linguistics information in TEI-XML tags. In this paper, we propose the possibility that the following three prefixes, i-, sa-, ta- (with ta- being considered as a variation of sa-), are relevant to split intransitivity in Old Japanese, with evidence that unergative verbs favor i- and that unergative verbs favor sa-(ta-). This might be undermined by the fact that transitives are also found to follow i-. However, with several manifestations of split intransitivity in Old Japanese discussed, the behavior of transitives in verbal prefix selection is no longer as surprising as it may seem to be when one look at the selection of verbal prefix in isolation. It is possible that there are one or more features that played essential roles in determining the selection of i-, and the attested transitive verbs happen to have these features. The data suggest that this feature is a sense of ‘change’ of location or state involved in the event donated by the verb, which is a feature of typical unaccusatives. This is further discussed in the ‘affectedness’ hierarchy. The presentation of this paper, which includes a brief demonstration of the OCOJ, is expected to be of the interest of both specialists and general audiences.

Keywords: old Japanese, split intransitivity, unaccusatives, unergatives, verbal prefix selection

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Authors: Ahmad Alazemi, M. Sherif El-Eskandrany, Mohamad Kishk, Thanyan AlOnaizi, Ahmad Alduweesh, Shorouq Abdullaleel

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Arc melting technique followed by top-down approach, using a high-energy ball milling technique were employed to synthesize nanocrystalline of Cu50(Zr50-xNix)50 (x = 0, 10, 20 and 30 at.%) powder particles. The end-products of the alloy powders obtained after 50 h of the ball milling time were uniform in composition and had spherical-like morphology with an average particle size of 0.75 µm in diameter. The powders, which consisted of nanocrystalline grains with an average grain size of 10 nm in diameter, were used as feedstock materials for double face coating of stainless (SUS304) sheets, using cold spraying process. The coating materials enjoyed nanocrystalline structure and uniform composition. Biofilms were grown on 20-mm2 SUS304 sheets coated coupons inoculated with 1.5 × 108 CFU ml−1 E. coli. Significant biofilm inhibition was recorded in the nanoparticles coated coupons in comparison to non-coated SUS304 coupon. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that formation of biofilms can be significantly inhibited by Cu-based alloys especially in case of high (Ni) content. The inhibition of biofilm formation by nanocrystalline powders of Cu-based provides a practical approach to achieve the inhibition of biofilms formed by an emerging pathogen.

Keywords: biofilm, Cu, E.coli, FE-HRTEM/EDS, nanomaterials, nanocrystalline

Procedia PDF Downloads 405

Authors: Ananthakrishna L. R., Ramesh D., Kumar Wodeyar, Kotresh A. M., Gururaj P. M.

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Malnad Gidda is the indigenous recognized cattle breed of Shivamogga District of Karnataka state, India is known for its disease resistance to many of the infectious diseases. There are 25 LRR (Leucine Rich Repeats) identified in bovine (Bos indicus) TLR9. The amino acid sequence of LRR is deduced to nucleotide sequence in BLASTx bioinformatic online tools. LRR2 to LRR10 are involved in pathogen recognition and binding in human TLR9 which showed a higher degree of nucleotide variations with respect to disease resistance to various pathogens. Hence, primers were designed to amplify the flanking sequences of LRR2 to LRR10, to discover the nucleotide variations if any, in Malnad Gidda breed of Cattle which is associated with disease resistance. The DNA isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of ten Malnad Gidda cattle. A desired and specific amplification product of 0.8 kb was obtained at an annealing temperature of 56.6ᵒC. All the PCR products were sequenced on both sides by gene-specific primers. The sequences were compared with TLR9 sequence of cross breed cattle obtained from NCBI data bank. The sequence analysis between Malnad Gidda and crossbreed cattle revealed no nucleotide variations in the region LRR2 to LRR9 which shows the conserved in pathogen binding domain (LRR) of TLR9.

Keywords: leucine rich repeats, Malnad Gidda, cross breed, TLR9

Procedia PDF Downloads 203

Authors: Jaswinder Kaur, Nitika, Navneet Kaur, Rajesh Khanna

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A hand-fan shaped microstrip patch antenna (MPA) for L-band and S-band applications is designed, and its characteristics have been reconnoitered. The proposed microstrip patch antenna with double U-slot defected ground structure (DGS) is fabricated on an FR4 substrate which is a very readily available and inexpensive material. The suggested antenna is optimized using Orthogonal Design Method (ODM) of Design of Experiments (DOE) to cover the frequency range from 0.91-2.82 GHz for L-band and S-band applications. The L-band covers the frequency range of 1-2 GHz, which is allocated to telemetry, aeronautical, and military systems for passive satellite sensors, weather radars, radio astronomy, and mobile communication. The S-band covers the frequency range of 2-3 GHz, which is used by weather radars, surface ship radars and communication satellites and is also reserved for various wireless applications such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wi-MAX), super high frequency radio frequency identification (SHF RFID), industrial, scientific and medical bands (ISM), Bluetooth, wireless broadband (Wi-Bro) and wireless local area network (WLAN). The proposed method of optimization is very time efficient and accurate as compared to the conventional evolutionary algorithms due to its statistical strategy. Moreover, the antenna is tested, followed by the comparison of simulated and measured results.

Keywords: design of experiments, hand fan shaped MPA, L-Band, orthogonal design method, S-Band

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Authors: Ravish K. Jain, Jatinder Kaur, Shaira Arora, Arun Kumar, Amit K. Chawla, Atul Khanna

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Surface-dependent properties such as hydrophobicity can be modified significantly by oblique angle deposition technique. Bi thin films were studied for their hydrophobic nature. The effects of oblique angle deposition on structural, surface morphology, electrical and wettability properties of Bi thin films have been studied and a comparison of these physical properties of normally deposited and obliquely deposited Bi films has been carried out in this study. X-ray diffraction studies found that films have highly oriented hexagonal crystal structure and crystallite size is smaller for obliquely deposited (70 nm) film as compared to that of the normally deposited film (111 nm). Raman spectra of the films consist of peaks corresponding to E_g and A_1g first-order Raman modes of bismuth. The atomic force and scanning electron microscopy studies show that the surface roughness of obliquely deposited film is higher as compared to that of normally deposited film. Contact angle measurements revealed that both films are strongly hydrophobic in nature with the contact angles of 105ᵒ and 119ᵒ for normally and obliquely deposited films respectively. Oblique angle deposition enhances the hydrophobicity of the film. The electrical conductivity of the film is significantly reduced by oblique angle deposition. The activation energies for electrical conduction were determined by four-probe measurements and are 0.016 eV and 0.018 eV for normally and obliquely deposited films respectively.

Keywords: bi thin films, hydrophobicity, oblique angle deposition, surface morphology

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