Search results for: growth pattern
2525 Analysis of the Role of Creative Tourism in Sustainable Tourism Development Case Study: Isfahan City
Authors: Saman Shafei
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Tourism has improved for several reasons, with the main objective of producing economic benefits, including foreign exchange earnings, income generation, employment, rising government incomes, and contributing to the financing of tourism infrastructure, which also has public consumption. Although today the interests of the tourism industry are not overlooked by anyone, the expansion and development of tourism services and products can make it competitive, and in this competition, those who bring creativity and diversity are ahead of other competitors. Developing creative tourism as third-generation tourism can help to attract visitors, increasing demand and diversifying it, achieving new markets and boosting growth. Creative tourism is a journey aimed at achieving a brand –new experience and is along with collaborative learning of arts, cultural heritage, or specific features of a place, and provides useful communication with the inhabitants of the tourism destination who is creators of the living culture of that place. The present study aims to identify and introduce the capabilities of the city of Isfahan in IRAN for the development of creative tourism and the role of creative tourism on the destination and the local community of this city. The research method is descriptive-analytical and field method, interviewing tool and questionnaire have been applied to obtain research findings. The results indicate that the city of Isfahan has the potential to develop creative tourism in the field of traditional handicrafts and traditional foods, and developing this kind of tourism will lead to the development of sustainable tourism in this destination and will bring numerous benefits for the local community.Keywords: creative tourism, tourism, Isfahan city, sustainable tourism development
Procedia PDF Downloads 2312524 Influence of Atmospheric Circulation Patterns on Dust Pollution Transport during the Harmattan Period over West Africa
Authors: Ayodeji Oluleye
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This study used Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) Aerosol Index (AI) and reanalysis dataset of thirty years (1983-2012) to investigate the influence of the atmospheric circulation on dust transport during the Harmattan period over WestAfrica using TOMS data. The Harmattan dust mobilization and atmospheric circulation pattern were evaluated using a kernel density estimate which shows the areas where most points are concentrated between the variables. The evolution of the Inter-Tropical Discontinuity (ITD), Sea surface Temperature (SST) over the Gulf of Guinea, and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index during the Harmattan period (November-March) was also analyzed and graphs of the average ITD positions, SST and the NAO were observed on daily basis. The Pearson moment correlation analysis was also employed to assess the effect of atmospheric circulation on Harmattan dust transport. The results show that the departure (increased) of TOMS AI values from the long-term mean (1.64) occurred from around 21st of December, which signifies the rich dust days during winter period. Strong TOMS AI signal were observed from January to March with the maximum occurring in the latter months (February and March). The inter-annual variability of TOMSAI revealed that the rich dust years were found between 1984-1985, 1987-1988, 1997-1998, 1999-2000, and 2002-2004. Significantly, poor dust year was found between 2005 and 2006 in all the periods. The study has found strong north-easterly (NE) trade winds were over most of the Sahelianregion of West Africa during the winter months with the maximum wind speed reaching 8.61m/s inJanuary.The strength of NE winds determines the extent of dust transport to the coast of Gulf of Guinea during winter. This study has confirmed that the presence of the Harmattan is strongly dependent on theSST over Atlantic Ocean and ITD position. The locus of the average SST and ITD positions over West Africa could be described by polynomial functions. The study concludes that the evolution of near surface wind field at 925 hpa, and the variations of SST and ITD positions are the major large scale atmospheric circulation systems driving the emission, distribution, and transport of Harmattan dust aerosols over West Africa. However, the influence of NAO was shown to have fewer significance effects on the Harmattan dust transport over the region.Keywords: atmospheric circulation, dust aerosols, Harmattan, West Africa
Procedia PDF Downloads 3152523 Dietary Effect of Probiotic Bacteria, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens JFP-2 Isolate from Jeju Island`s Traditional Fermented Food, on Innate Immune Response of Oplegnathus fasciatus Challenged with Vibrio anguillarum
Authors: Dong Hwi Kim, Dharaneedharan Subramanian, So Hyun Park, Ha-Ri Choi, Ji-Hyung Kim, Dong-Hoon Lee, Moon Soo Heo
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The present study was performed to evaluate the use of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens JFP-2 isolated from a traditional fermented sea food, as probiotic bacteria in the diets for Rock-bream, Oplegnathus faciatus. A total of 180 fish (187.4 ± 2.7 g) were divided into two groups, control (C) and probiotic (P) group (90 fish per group) in triplicate. C group was fed with basal diet without probiotic, while P group was fed with B. amyloliquefaciens spores at concentration of 1.4 x 106 colony forming units per gram (CFU/g) of feed. After two months of feeding experiments, P group fish showed significant improvements in body weight (BW), weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR) and food conversion ratio (FCR) compared with C group. Also, bi-weekly assessment of serum protein, glucose, fatty acid profile showed a significant increase in probiotic fed fish than that of control fish group. Similar increase in serum antioxidant and lysozyme activity was found in probiotic fed fish group. Twenty days challenge experiment shows decrease mortality in probiotic fed fish group when compared with that of control group. Hence, these results indicate that the use of B. amyloliquefaciens JFP-2 as a feed supplement, is beneficial to improve the health status of Oplegnathus fasciatus challenged with Vibrio anguillarum.Keywords: Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Oplegnathus fasciatus, probiotic feed, rock bream
Procedia PDF Downloads 2612522 Microscopic Analysis of Bulk, High-TC Superconductors by Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction
Authors: Anjela Koblischka-Veneva, Michael Koblischka
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In this contribution, the transmission-Kikuchi diffrac-tion (TKD, or sometimes called t-EBSD) is applied to bulk, melt-grown YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) superconductors prepared by the MTMG (melt-textured melt-grown) technique and the infiltration (IG) growth technique. TEM slices required for the analysis were prepared by means of focused ion-beam (FIB) milling using mechanically polished sample surfaces, which enable a proper selection of the in-teresting regions for investigations. The required optical transparency was reached by an additional polishing step of the resulting surfaces using FIB-Ga-ion and Ar-ion milling. The improved spatial resolution of TKD enabled the investigation of the tiny Y2BaCuO5 (Y-211) particles having a diameter of about 50-100 nm embedded within the YBCO matrix and of other added secondary phase particles. With the TKD technique, the microstructural properties of the YBCO matrix are studied in detail. It is observed that the matrix shows effects of stress/strain, depending on the size and distribution of the embedded particles, which are important for providing additional flux pinning centers in such superconducting bulk samples. Using the Kernel average misorientation (KAM) maps, the strain induced in the superconducting matrix around the particles, which increases the flux pinning effectivity, can be clearly revealed. This type of analysis of the EBSD/TKD data is, therefore, also important for other material systems, where nanoparticles are embedded in a matrix.Keywords: electron backscatter Diffraction, transmission Kikuchi diffraction, SEM, YBCO, microstructure, nanoparticles
Procedia PDF Downloads 1332521 Solid Waste Pollution and the Importance of Environmental Planning in Managing and Preserving the Public Environment in Benghazi City and Its Surrounding Areas
Authors: Abdelsalam Omran Gebril
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Pollution and solid waste are the most important environmental problems plaguing the city of Benghazi as well as other cities and towns in Libya. These problems are caused by the lack of environmental planning and sound environmental management. Environmental planning is very important at present for the development of projects that preserve the environment, therefore, the planning process should be prioritized over the management process. Pollution caused by poor planning and environmental management exists not only in Benghazi but also in all other Libyan cities. This study was conducted through various field visits to several neighborhoods and areas within Benghazi as well as its neighboring regions. Follow-ups in these areas were conducted from March 2013 to October 2013 and documented by photographs. The existing methods of waste collection and means of transportation were investigated. Interviews were conducted with relevant authorities, including the Environment Public Authority in Benghazi and the Public Service Company of Benghazi. The objective of this study is to determine the causes of solid waste pollution in Benghazi City and its surrounding areas. Results show that solid waste pollution in Benghazi and its surrounding areas is the result of poor planning and environmental management, population growth, and the lack of hardware and equipment for the collection and transport of waste from the city to the landfill site. One of the most important recommendations in this study is the development of a complete and comprehensive plan that includes environmental planning and environmental management to reduce solid waste pollution.Keywords: solid waste, pollution, environmental planning, management, Benghazi, Libya
Procedia PDF Downloads 3202520 Social Media Data Analysis for Personality Modelling and Learning Styles Prediction Using Educational Data Mining
Authors: Srushti Patil, Preethi Baligar, Gopalkrishna Joshi, Gururaj N. Bhadri
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In designing learning environments, the instructional strategies can be tailored to suit the learning style of an individual to ensure effective learning. In this study, the information shared on social media like Facebook is being used to predict learning style of a learner. Previous research studies have shown that Facebook data can be used to predict user personality. Users with a particular personality exhibit an inherent pattern in their digital footprint on Facebook. The proposed work aims to correlate the user's’ personality, predicted from Facebook data to the learning styles, predicted through questionnaires. For Millennial learners, Facebook has become a primary means for information sharing and interaction with peers. Thus, it can serve as a rich bed for research and direct the design of learning environments. The authors have conducted this study in an undergraduate freshman engineering course. Data from 320 freshmen Facebook users was collected. The same users also participated in the learning style and personality prediction survey. The Kolb’s Learning style questionnaires and Big 5 personality Inventory were adopted for the survey. The users have agreed to participate in this research and have signed individual consent forms. A specific page was created on Facebook to collect user data like personal details, status updates, comments, demographic characteristics and egocentric network parameters. This data was captured by an application created using Python program. The data captured from Facebook was subjected to text analysis process using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count dictionary. An analysis of the data collected from the questionnaires performed reveals individual student personality and learning style. The results obtained from analysis of Facebook, learning style and personality data were then fed into an automatic classifier that was trained by using the data mining techniques like Rule-based classifiers and Decision trees. This helps to predict the user personality and learning styles by analysing the common patterns. Rule-based classifiers applied for text analysis helps to categorize Facebook data into positive, negative and neutral. There were totally two models trained, one to predict the personality from Facebook data; another one to predict the learning styles from the personalities. The results show that the classifier model has high accuracy which makes the proposed method to be a reliable one for predicting the user personality and learning styles.Keywords: educational data mining, Facebook, learning styles, personality traits
Procedia PDF Downloads 2322519 Prenatal Lead Exposure and Postpartum Depression: An Exploratory Study of Women in Mexico
Authors: Nia McRae, Robert Wright, Ghalib Bello
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Introduction: Postpartum depression is a prevalent mood disorder that is detrimental to the mental and physical health of mothers and their newborns. Lead (Pb) is a toxic metal that is associated with hormonal imbalance and mental impairments. The hormone changes that accompany pregnancy and childbirth may be exacerbated by Pb and increase new mothers’ susceptibility to postpartum depression. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the only study that investigates the association between prenatal Pb exposure and postpartum depression. Identifying risk factors can contribute to improved prevention and treatment strategies for postpartum depression. Methods: Data was derived from the Programming Research in Obesity, Growth, Environment and Social Stress (PROGRESS) study which is an ongoing longitudinal birth cohort. Postpartum depression was identified by a score of 13 or above on the 10-Item Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) 6-months and 12-months postpartum. Pb was measured in the blood (BPb) in the second and third trimester and in the tibia and patella 1-month postpartum. Quantile regression models were used to assess the relationship between BPb and postpartum depression. Results: BPb in the second trimester was negatively associated with the 80th percentile of depression 6-months postpartum (β: -0.26; 95% CI: -0.51, -0.01). No significant association was found between BPb in the third trimester and depression 6-months postpartum. BPb in the third trimester exhibited an inverse relationship with the 60th percentile (β: -0.23; 95% CI: -0.41, -0.06), 70th percentile (β: -0.31; 95% CI: -0.52, -0.10), and 90th percentile of depression 12-months postpartum (β: -0.36; 95% CI: -0.69, -0.03). There was no significant association between BPb in the second trimester and depression 12-months postpartum. Bone Pb concentrations were not significantly associated with postpartum depression. Conclusion: The negative association between BPb and postpartum depression may support research which demonstrates lead is a nontherapeutic stimulant. Further research is needed to verify these results and identify effect modifiers.Keywords: depression, lead, postpartum, prenatal
Procedia PDF Downloads 2292518 Chemical Analysis and Sensory Evaluation of 'Domiati Cheese' Using Strains Isolated from Algerian Goat's Milk
Authors: A. Cheriguene, F. Chougrani
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A total of 120 wild lactic acid bacteria were isolated from goat’s milk collected from different areas in Western Algeria. The strains were screened for production and technological properties such as acid production, aminopeptidase activity, autolytic properties, antimicrobial activity, and exopolysaccharide production. In general most tested isolates showed a good biomass separation when collected by centrifugation; as for the production of the lactic acid, results revealed that our strains are weakly acidifying; nevertheless, lactococci showed a best acidifying activity compared to lactobacilli. Aminopeptidase activity was also weak in most strains; but, it was generally higher for lactobacilli compared to lactococci. Autolytic activity was generally higher for most strains, more particularly lactobacilli. Antimicrobial activity was detected in 50% of the isolates, particularly in lactobacilli where 80% of strains tested were able to inhibit the growth of other strains. The survey of the profile of the texture, the proteolysis as well as the development of the flavor in the Domiati cheese made on the basis of our isolated strains have been led during the ripening. The sensory assessment shows that the cheese salted in milk received the best scores in relation to cheese salted after drainage. Textural characteristics, such as hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, and chewiness decreased in the two treatments during the 60 days of ripening. Otherwise, it has been noted that adhesiveness and adhesive force increased in the cheese salted in milk.Keywords: lactic acid bacteria, technological properties, acidification, exopolysaccharide, bacteriocin, textural properties
Procedia PDF Downloads 1662517 New Suspension Mechanism for a Formula Car using Camber Thrust
Authors: Shinji Kajiwara
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The basic ability of a vehicle is the ability to “run”, “turn” and “stop”. The safeness and comfort during a drive on various road surfaces and speed depends on the performance of these basic abilities of the vehicle. Stability and maneuverability of a vehicle is vital in automotive engineering. Stability of a vehicle is the ability of the vehicle to revert back to a stable state during a drive when faced with crosswind and irregular road conditions. Maneuverability of a vehicle is the ability of the vehicle to change direction during a drive swiftly based on the steering of the driver. The stability and maneuverability of a vehicle can also be defined as the driving stability of the vehicle. Since fossil fueled vehicle is the main type of transportation today, the environmental factor in automotive engineering is also vital. By improving the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, the overall carbon emission will be reduced thus reducing the effect of global warming and greenhouse gas on the Earth. Another main focus of the automotive engineering is the safety performance of the vehicle especially with the worrying increase of vehicle collision every day. With better safety performance on a vehicle, every driver will be more confidence driving every day. Next, let us focus on the “turn” ability of a vehicle. By improving this particular ability of the vehicle, the cornering limit of the vehicle can be improved thus increasing the stability and maneuverability factor. In order to improve the cornering limit of the vehicle, a study to find the balance between the steering systems, the stability of the vehicle, higher lateral acceleration and the cornering limit detection must be conducted. The aim of this research is to study and develop a new suspension system that that will boost the lateral acceleration of the vehicle and ultimately improving the cornering limit of the vehicle. This research will also study environmental factor and the stability factor of the new suspension system. The double wishbone suspension system is widely used in four-wheel vehicle especially for high cornering performance sports car and racing car. The double wishbone designs allow the engineer to carefully control the motion of the wheel by controlling such parameters as camber angle, caster angle, toe pattern, roll center height, scrub radius, scuff and more. The development of the new suspension system will focus on the ability of the new suspension system to optimize the camber control and to improve the camber limit during a cornering motion. The research will be carried out using the CAE analysis tool. Using this analysis tool we will develop a JSAE Formula Machine equipped with the double wishbone system and also the new suspension system and conduct simulation and conduct studies on performance of both suspension systems.Keywords: automobile, camber thrust, cornering force, suspension
Procedia PDF Downloads 3272516 The Formulation of R&D Strategy for Biofuel Technology: A Case Study of the Aviation Industry in Iran
Authors: Maryam Amiri, Ali Rajabzade, Gholam Reza Goudarzi, Reza Heidari
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Growth of technology and environmental changes are so fast and therefore, companies and industries have much tendency to do activities of R&D for active participation in the market and achievement to a competitive advantages. Aviation industry and its subdivisions have high level technology and play a special role in economic and social development of countries. So, in the aviation industry for getting new technologies and competing with other countries aviation industry, there is a requirement for capability in R&D. Considering of appropriate R&D strategy is supportive that day technologies of the world can be achieved. Biofuel technology is one of the newest technologies that has allocated discussion of the world in aviation industry to itself. The purpose of this research has been formulation of R&D strategy of biofuel technology in aviation industry of Iran. After reviewing of the theoretical foundations of the methods and R&D strategies, finally we classified R&D strategies in four main categories as follows: internal R&D, collaboration R&D, out sourcing R&D and in-house R&D. After a review of R&D strategies, a model for formulation of R&D strategy with the aim of developing biofuel technology in aviation industry in Iran was offered. With regard to the requirements and aracteristics of industry and technology in the model, we presented an integrated approach to R&D. Based on the techniques of decision making and analyzing of structured expert opinion, 4 R&D strategies for different scenarios and with the aim of developing biofuel technology in aviation industry in Iran were recommended. In this research, based on the common features of the implementation process of R&D, a logical classification of these methods are presented as R&D strategies. Then, R&D strategies and their characteristics was developed according to the experts. In the end, we introduced a model to consider the role of aviation industry and biofuel technology in R&D strategies. And lastly, for conditions and various scenarios of the aviation industry, we have formulated a specific R&D strategy.Keywords: aviation industry, biofuel technology, R&D, R&D strategy
Procedia PDF Downloads 5842515 Assessment of Environmental Impacts and Determination of Sustainability Level of BOOG Granite Mine Using a Mathematical Model
Authors: Gholamhassan Kakha, Mohsen Jami, Daniel Alex Merino Natorce
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Sustainable development refers to the creation of a balance between the development and the environment too; it consists of three key principles namely environment, society and economy. These three parameters are related to each other and the imbalance occurs in each will lead to the disparity of the other parts. Mining is one of the most important tools of the economic growth and social welfare in many countries. Meanwhile, assessment of the environmental impacts has directed to the attention of planners toward the natural environment of the areas surrounded by mines and allowing for monitoring and controlling of the current situation by the designers. In this look upon, a semi-quantitative model using a matrix method is presented for assessing the environmental impacts in the BOOG Granite Mine located in Sistan and Balouchestan, one of the provinces of Iran for determining the effective factors and environmental components. For accomplishing this purpose, the initial data are collected by the experts at the next stage; the effect of the factors affects each environmental component is determined by specifying the qualitative viewpoints. Based on the results, factors including air quality, ecology, human health and safety along with the environmental damages resulted from mining activities in that area. Finally, the results gained from the assessment of the environmental impact are used to evaluate the sustainability by using Philips mathematical model. The results show that the sustainability of this area is weak, so environmental preventive measures are recommended to reduce the environmental damages to its components.Keywords: sustainable development, environmental impacts' assessment, BOOG granite, Philips mathematical model
Procedia PDF Downloads 2032514 Effect of Fast Fashion on Urban Indian Consumer
Authors: Neha Dimri, Varsha Gupta
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Purpose: Fast Fashion trend promotes consumption of low cost high fashion garments at a rapid rate. Frequent change in fashion trend results in higher disposability of Fast Fashion products. To cater for the Fast Fashion appetite of the present day consumer, fashion giants have ramped up production of garments, thus imposing a massive strain on the planet’s natural resources. Also, ethical issues related to cheaper methods of production are of concern. India being a large consumer base has a major role to play in proliferation of the Fast Fashion trend. This paper is an attempt to study the effect of fast fashion trends on the Indian consumer’s behaviour. It also attempts to ascertain the awareness of the consumer about the detrimental effect that the fast fashion trends manifest on the environment. Design /methodology/approach: The survey was conducted using a questionnaire targeted at a set of urban Indian consumers of varied age, profession and socio economic backgrounds. Trends regarding frequency of purchase, expenditure on clothing, disposal methods and awareness about environmental issues were analyzed using the obtained data. Findings: The result of the study indicates that urban Indian consumer has a strong affinity towards fast fashion trends, but is largely unaware of its detrimental effect on the environment and strain on natural resources. Research Limitation/implications: The sample size for survey was only of a hundred consumers, and the same could be expanded for a better estimate of trends. Also, the sample consumers were mostly urban. A big chunk of Indian fashion consumers reside in small towns and the same could be included in the survey. Practical implications: As the true cost of Fast Fashion in terms of environmental and ethical aspects is getting realized worldwide, a big market like India cannot remain isolated from this phenomenon. Globally there has been an increase in demand of ethically produced clothing. It is imperative that the Indian consumer be made aware about the unsustainable nature of Fast Fashion so that he can contribute towards conservation of natural resources and ethical production of garments. Originality/value The research attempts to ascertain consumption pattern of the Indian fashion consumer and also his awareness about the true cost and consequences of Fast Fashion. The inferences may be used by fashion giants to use ‘Green Marketing’ and ‘Social Marketing’ techniques to make the Indian consumer more aware about sustainable fashion and to market their own products as ‘Sustainable, Green and Ethical’.Keywords: consumption, disposable, fast fashion, Indian consumer
Procedia PDF Downloads 3172513 Different Data-Driven Bivariate Statistical Approaches to Landslide Susceptibility Mapping (Uzundere, Erzurum, Turkey)
Authors: Azimollah Aleshzadeh, Enver Vural Yavuz
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The main goal of this study is to produce landslide susceptibility maps using different data-driven bivariate statistical approaches; namely, entropy weight method (EWM), evidence belief function (EBF), and information content model (ICM), at Uzundere county, Erzurum province, in the north-eastern part of Turkey. Past landslide occurrences were identified and mapped from an interpretation of high-resolution satellite images, and earlier reports as well as by carrying out field surveys. In total, 42 landslide incidence polygons were mapped using ArcGIS 10.4.1 software and randomly split into a construction dataset 70 % (30 landslide incidences) for building the EWM, EBF, and ICM models and the remaining 30 % (12 landslides incidences) were used for verification purposes. Twelve layers of landslide-predisposing parameters were prepared, including total surface radiation, maximum relief, soil groups, standard curvature, distance to stream/river sites, distance to the road network, surface roughness, land use pattern, engineering geological rock group, topographical elevation, the orientation of slope, and terrain slope gradient. The relationships between the landslide-predisposing parameters and the landslide inventory map were determined using different statistical models (EWM, EBF, and ICM). The model results were validated with landslide incidences, which were not used during the model construction. In addition, receiver operating characteristic curves were applied, and the area under the curve (AUC) was determined for the different susceptibility maps using the success (construction data) and prediction (verification data) rate curves. The results revealed that the AUC for success rates are 0.7055, 0.7221, and 0.7368, while the prediction rates are 0.6811, 0.6997, and 0.7105 for EWM, EBF, and ICM models, respectively. Consequently, landslide susceptibility maps were classified into five susceptibility classes, including very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. Additionally, the portion of construction and verification landslides incidences in high and very high landslide susceptibility classes in each map was determined. The results showed that the EWM, EBF, and ICM models produced satisfactory accuracy. The obtained landslide susceptibility maps may be useful for future natural hazard mitigation studies and planning purposes for environmental protection.Keywords: entropy weight method, evidence belief function, information content model, landslide susceptibility mapping
Procedia PDF Downloads 1352512 Health Hazards in SME Garment Industries in India
Authors: Pranab Kumar Goswami
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According to WHO, over 1000 million people worldwide are employed in small-scale industries. The ‘garment’ industry’ is one such industry in developing countries. These garment SMEs are mostly run by private establishments in the unorganized sector to avoid legal obligations of OSH provisions. The OSH standards are very poor and even basic health and safety provisions are not provided in such units. The study has been conducted in India among workers employed in the ‘garment’ industry with the objectives to analyze the types and extent of occupational health hazards of the garment workers and to assess the relationship of sociodemographic and occupational factors with various health hazards. The survey method, the tabular method followed by applying simple statistical technique, has been taken into account to analyze the data collected from three SME garment industries in Delhi (India-Asia). The study was conducted in Delhi from August-2019 to October-2020. A random sampling of 70 workers from three factories has been chosen for this study. The study shows that most of the workers were males (82%) and were in the 18-50 age group (78%), with none below 18 years of age. It was found that 26% of the workers were illiterate and most of them belonged to poor socioeconomic status. The study revealed that the nature of the hazards in garment industries in India is mostly physical and mechanical. We found that musculoskeletal problems (54%) were the commonest health problem. The body areas commonly affected were neck, low back, hand, wrist, finger, and shoulder. If garment workers’ health is affected by occupational hazards, it will impact on national health and economic growth of developing countries. Health is a joint responsibility of both government and employing authority.Keywords: garment, MSD, health hazard, social factor
Procedia PDF Downloads 2082511 Incentive Policies to Promote Green Infrastructure in Urban Jordan
Authors: Zayed Freah Zeadat
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The wellbeing of urban dwellers is strongly associated with the quality and quantity of green infrastructure. Nevertheless, urban green infrastructure is still lagging in many Arab cities, and Jordan is no exception. The capital city of Jordan, Amman, is becoming more urban dense with limited green spaces. The unplanned urban growth in Amman has caused several environmental problems such as urban heat islands, air pollution, and lack of green spaces. This study aims to investigate the most suitable drivers to leverage the implementation of urban green infrastructure in Jordan through qualitative and quantitative analysis. The qualitative research includes an extensive literature review to discuss the most common drivers used internationally to promote urban green infrastructure implementation in the literature. The quantitative study employs a questionnaire survey to rank the suitability of each driver. Consultants, contractors, and policymakers were invited to fill the research questionnaire according to their judgments and opinions. Relative Importance Index has been used to calculate the weighted average of all drivers and the Kruskal-Wallis test to check the degree of agreement among groups. This study finds that research participants agreed that indirect financial incentives (i.e., tax reductions, reduction in stormwater utility fee, reduction of interest rate, density bonus, etc.) are the most effective incentive policy whilst granting sustainability certificate policy is the least effective driver to ensure widespread of UGI is elements in Jordan.Keywords: urban green infrastructure, relative importance index, sustainable urban development, urban Jordan
Procedia PDF Downloads 1602510 Physical and Morphological Response to Land Reclamation Projects in a Wave-Dominated Bay
Authors: Florian Monetti, Brett Beamsley, Peter McComb, Simon Weppe
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Land reclamation from the ocean has considerably increased over past decades to support worldwide rapid urban growth. Reshaping the coastline, however, inevitably affects coastal systems. One of the main challenges for coastal oceanographers is to predict the physical and morphological responses for nearshore systems to man-made changes over multiple time-scales. Fully-coupled numerical models are powerful tools for simulating the wide range of interactions between flow field and bedform morphology. Restricted and inconsistent measurements, combined with limited computational resources, typically make this exercise complex and uncertain. In the present study, we investigate the impact of proposed land reclamation within a wave-dominated bay in New Zealand. For this purpose, we first calibrated our morphological model based on the long-term evolution of the bay resulting from land reclamation carried out in the 1950s. This included the application of sedimentological spin-up and reduction techniques based on historical bathymetry datasets. The updated bathymetry, including the proposed modifications of the bay, was then used to predict the effect of the proposed land reclamation on the wave climate and morphology of the bay after one decade. We show that reshaping the bay induces a distinct symmetrical response of the shoreline which likely will modify the nearshore wave patterns and consequently recreational activities in the area.Keywords: coastal waves, impact of land reclamation, long-term coastal evolution, morphodynamic modeling
Procedia PDF Downloads 1802509 Balancing Act: Political Dynamics of Economic and Climatological Security in the Politics of the Middle East
Authors: Zahra Bakhtiari
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Middle East countries confront a multitude of main environmental challenges which are inevitable. The unstable economic and political structure which dominates numerous middle East countries makes it difficult to react effectively to unfavorable climate change impacts. This study applies a qualitative methodology and relies on secondary literature aimed to investigate how countries in the Middle East are balancing economic security and climatic security in terms of budgeting, infrastructure investment, political engagement (domestically through discourses or internationally in terms of participation in international organizations or bargaining, etc.) There has been provided an outline of innovative measures in both economic and environmental fields that are in progress in the Middle East countries and what capacity they have for economic development and environmental adaptation, as well as what has already been performed. The primary outcome is that countries that rely more on infrastructure investment such as negative emissions technologies (NET) through green social capital enterprises and political engagement, especially nationally determined contributions (NDCs) commitments and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), experience more economic and climatological security balance in the Middle East. Since implementing these measures is not the same in all countries in the region, we see different levels of balance between climate security and economic security. The overall suggestion is that the collaboration of both the bottom-up and top-down approaches helps create strategic environmental strategies which are in line with the economic circumstances of each country and creates the desired balance.Keywords: climate change, economic growth, sustainability, the Middle East, green economy, renewable energy
Procedia PDF Downloads 852508 Future Projection of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods Hazard: A Hydrodynamic Study of the Highest Lake in the Dhauliganga Basin, Uttarakhand
Authors: Ashim Sattar, Ajanta Goswami, Anil V. Kulkarni
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Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) highly contributes to mountain hazards in the Himalaya. Over the past decade, high altitude lakes in the Himalaya has been showing notable growth in their size and number. The key reason is rapid retreat of its glacier front. Hydrodynamic modeling GLOF using shallow water equations (SWE) would result in understanding its impact in the downstream region. The present study incorporates remote sensing based ice thickness modeling to determine the future extent of the Dhauliganga Lake to map the over deepening extent around the highest lake in the Dhauliganga basin. The maximum future volume of the lake calculated using area-volume scaling is used to model a GLOF event. The GLOF hydrograph is routed along the channel using one dimensional and two dimensional model to understand the flood wave propagation till it reaches the 1st hydropower station located 72 km downstream of the lake. The present extent of the lake calculated using SENTINEL 2 images is 0.13 km². The maximum future extent of the lake, mapped by investigating the glacier bed has a calculated scaled volume of 3.48 x 106 m³. The GLOF modeling releasing the future volume of the lake resulted in a breach hydrograph with a peak flood of 4995 m³/s at just downstream of the lake. Hydraulic routingKeywords: GLOF, glacial lake outburst floods, mountain hazard, Central Himalaya, future projection
Procedia PDF Downloads 1662507 The Impact of Psychopathology Course on Students' Attitudes towards Mental Illness
Authors: Lorato Itumeleng Kenosi
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Background: Negative attitudes towards the mentally ill are widespread and a course for concern as they have a detrimental impact on individuals affected by mental illness. A possible avenue for changing attitudes towards mental illness is through mental health literacy. In a college or university setting, an abnormal psychology course may be introduced in an attempt to change student’s attitudes towards the mentally ill. Objective: To determine if and how students’ attitudes towards the mentally ill change as a result of taking a course in abnormal psychology. Methods: Twenty nine (29) students were recruited from an abnormal psychology class at the University of Botswana. Attitude Scale for Mental Illness (ASMI) questionnaire was administered to participants at the beginning and end of the semester. SPSS was employed to analyze data. Pooled means were used to determine whether the student’s attitudes towards mental illness were negative or positive. A mean of 2.5 translated to negative attitude for both total attitude and attitudes in different domains of the scale. Paired sample t-test was then used to assess whether any changes noted in attitudes were statistically significant or not. Statistical significance was assumed at p < 0.05. Results: Students’ general attitude towards mental illness remained positive although the pooled mean value increased from 2.08 to 2.24. The change was not statistically significant. In relation to different sub scales, the values of the pooled means for all the sub scales showed an increase although the changes were not statistically significant except for the Stereotyping sub scale (p = 0.031). The stereotyping domain reflected a statistically significant change in student’s attitude from positive attitude to negative (X² = 2.06 to X² = 2.55). For the pessimistic prediction domain, students consistently showed a negative attitude (X² = 3.34 to X² = 3.55). The other 4 domains indicated that students had positive attitude toward mentally ill throughout. Discussion: Abnormal psychology students have a positive attitude towards the mentally ill generally. This could be attributed to the fact that all students in the abnormal psychology course are majoring in psychology and research has shown that interest in psychology can affect one’s attitude towards mental illness. The students continuously held the view that people with mental illness are unlikely to improve as evidenced by a high score for Pessimistic prediction domain for both pre and post-test. Students initially had no stereotyping attitude towards the mentally ill, but at the end of the course, they were of the opinion that people with mental illness can be defined in a certain behavioural pattern and mental ability. This results could be an indication that students have learnt well how to differentiate abnormal from normal behaviour not necessarily that students had developed a negative attitude. Conclusion: A course in abnormal psychology does have an impact on the students’ attitudes towards the mentally ill. The impact does not solely depend on knowledge of mental illness but also on several other factors such as contact with the mentally ill, interest in psychology, and teaching methods. However, it should be noted that sometimes improved knowledge in mental illness can be misunderstood for a negative attitude. For example, stereotyping attitudes may be a reflection of the ability to differentiate between abnormal and normal behaviour.Keywords: attitudes, mental illness, psychopathology, students
Procedia PDF Downloads 2922506 Application of RS and GIS Technique for Identifying Groundwater Potential Zone in Gomukhi Nadhi Sub Basin, South India
Authors: Punitha Periyasamy, Mahalingam Sudalaimuthu, Sachikanta Nanda, Arasu Sundaram
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India holds 17.5% of the world’s population but has only 2% of the total geographical area of the world where 27.35% of the area is categorized as wasteland due to lack of or less groundwater. So there is a demand for excessive groundwater for agricultural and non agricultural activities to balance its growth rate. With this in mind, an attempt is made to find the groundwater potential zone in Gomukhi river sub basin of Vellar River basin, TamilNadu, India covering an area of 1146.6 Sq.Km consists of 9 blocks from Peddanaickanpalayam to Villupuram fall in the sub basin. The thematic maps such as Geology, Geomorphology, Lineament, Landuse, and Landcover and Drainage are prepared for the study area using IRS P6 data. The collateral data includes rainfall, water level, soil map are collected for analysis and inference. The digital elevation model (DEM) is generated using Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) and the slope of the study area is obtained. ArcGIS 10.1 acts as a powerful spatial analysis tool to find out the ground water potential zones in the study area by means of weighted overlay analysis. Each individual parameter of the thematic maps are ranked and weighted in accordance with their influence to increase the water level in the ground. The potential zones in the study area are classified viz., Very Good, Good, Moderate, Poor with its aerial extent of 15.67, 381.06, 575.38, 174.49 Sq.Km respectively.Keywords: ArcGIS, DEM, groundwater, recharge, weighted overlay
Procedia PDF Downloads 4472505 Interface Problems in Construction Projects
Authors: Puti F. Marzuki, Adrianto Oktavianus, Almerinda Regina
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Interface problems among interacting parties in Indonesian construction projects have most often led to low productivity and completion delay. In the midst of this country’s needs to accelerate construction of public infrastructure providing connectivity among regions and supporting economic growth as well as better living quality, project delays have to be seriously addressed. This paper identifies potential causes factors of interface problems experienced by construction projects in Indonesia. Data are collected through a survey involving the main actors of six important public infrastructure construction projects including railway, LRT, sports stadiums, apartment, and education building construction projects. Five of these projects adopt the design-build project delivery method and one applies the design-bid-build scheme. Interface problems’ potential causes are categorized into contract, management, technical experience, coordination, financial, and environmental factors. Research results reveal that, especially in railway and LRT projects, potential causes of interface problems are mainly technical and managerial in nature. These relate to complex construction execution in highly congested areas. Meanwhile, coordination cause factors are mainly found in the education building construction project with loan from a foreign donor. All of the six projects have to resolve interface problems caused by incomplete or low-quality contract documents. This research also shows that the design-bid-build delivery method involving more parties in construction projects tends to induce more interface problem cause factors than the design-build scheme.Keywords: cause factors, construction delays, project delivery method, contract documents
Procedia PDF Downloads 2602504 Power Supply by Soil Battery and Production of Hydrogen Fuel for Greenhouse and Space Heating
Authors: Mohsen Azarmjoo, Yasaman Azarmjoo, Zahra Alikhani Koopaei
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The increasing global population and continued growth in energy consumption underscore the need for renewable and sustainable energy sources more than ever. Soil batteries are a method for generating electrical energy by using recycled materials. Recycled materials include galvanized and copper sheets and recycled tires. Additionally, hydrogen, being a clean and efficient fuel, has the potential to replace fossil fuels. Consequently, hydrogen production from water presents a sustainable solution for energy supply. By utilizing aged materials, hydrogen production becomes more cost-effective and environmentally friendly. This article focuses on energy-deprived agricultural lands, explaining how soil batteries and hydrogen can provide the necessary energy for agricultural equipment, such as irrigation, lighting, greenhouse ventilation, and heating. The article explores the benefits of utilizing this method, emphasizing its potential to reduce environmental pollution through the use of recyclable materials. It is worth mentioning that these technologies face challenges, but their progress toward achieving zero-energy consumer standards positions them as promising future technologies for electricity generation. This article provides detailed insights into emerging technologies using a constructed case study involving soil batteries and a hydrogen fuel production device.Keywords: electricity generation, soil batteries, tires, hydrogen, heat supply, water, aged materials, recycling, agricultural lands
Procedia PDF Downloads 672503 Isolated Iterating Fractal Independently Corresponds with Light and Foundational Quantum Problems
Authors: Blair D. Macdonald
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After nearly one hundred years of its origin, foundational quantum mechanics remains one of the greatest unexplained mysteries in physicists today. Within this time, chaos theory and its geometry, the fractal, has developed. In this paper, the propagation behaviour with an iteration of a simple fractal, the Koch Snowflake, was described and analysed. From an arbitrary observation point within the fractal set, the fractal propagates forward by oscillation—the focus of this study and retrospectively behind by exponential growth from a point beginning. It propagates a potentially infinite exponential oscillating sinusoidal wave of discrete triangle bits sharing many characteristics of light and quantum entities. The model's wave speed is potentially constant, offering insights into the perception and a direction of time where, to an observer, when travelling at the frontier of propagation, time may slow to a stop. In isolation, the fractal is a superposition of component bits where position and scale present a problem of location. In reality, this problem is experienced within fractal landscapes or fields where 'position' is only 'known' by the addition of information or markers. The quantum' measurement problem', 'uncertainty principle,' 'entanglement,' and the classical-quantum interface are addressed; these are a problem of scale invariance associated with isolated fractality. Dual forward and retrospective perspectives of the fractal model offer the opportunity for unification between quantum mechanics and cosmological mathematics, observations, and conjectures. Quantum and cosmological problems may be different aspects of the one fractal geometry.Keywords: measurement problem, observer, entanglement, unification
Procedia PDF Downloads 942502 Effects of Global Validity of Predictive Cues upon L2 Discourse Comprehension: Evidence from Self-paced Reading
Authors: Binger Lu
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It remains unclear whether second language (L2) speakers could use discourse context cues to predict upcoming information as native speakers do during online comprehension. Some researchers propose that L2 learners may have a reduced ability to generate predictions during discourse processing. At the same time, there is evidence that discourse-level cues are weighed more heavily in L2 processing than in L1. Previous studies showed that L1 prediction is sensitive to the global validity of predictive cues. The current study aims to explore whether and to what extent L2 learners can dynamically and strategically adjust their prediction in accord with the global validity of predictive cues in L2 discourse comprehension as native speakers do. In a self-paced reading experiment, Chinese native speakers (N=128), C-E bilinguals (N=128), and English native speakers (N=128) read high-predictable (e.g., Jimmy felt thirsty after running. He wanted to get some water from the refrigerator.) and low-predictable (e.g., Jimmy felt sick this morning. He wanted to get some water from the refrigerator.) discourses in two-sentence frames. The global validity of predictive cues was manipulated by varying the ratio of predictable (e.g., Bill stood at the door. He opened it with the key.) and unpredictable fillers (e.g., Bill stood at the door. He opened it with the card.), such that across conditions, the predictability of the final word of the fillers ranged from 100% to 0%. The dependent variable was reading time on the critical region (the target word and the following word), analyzed with linear mixed-effects models in R. C-E bilinguals showed reliable prediction across all validity conditions (β = -35.6 ms, SE = 7.74, t = -4.601, p< .001), and Chinese native speakers showed significant effect (β = -93.5 ms, SE = 7.82, t = -11.956, p< .001) in two of the four validity conditions (namely, the High-validity and MedLow conditions, where fillers ended with predictable words in 100% and 25% cases respectively), whereas English native speakers didn’t predict at all (β = -2.78 ms, SE = 7.60, t = -.365, p = .715). There was neither main effect (χ^²(3) = .256, p = .968) nor interaction (Predictability: Background: Validity, χ^²(3) = 1.229, p = .746; Predictability: Validity, χ^²(3) = 2.520, p = .472; Background: Validity, χ^²(3) = 1.281, p = .734) of Validity with speaker groups. The results suggest that prediction occurs in L2 discourse processing but to a much less extent in L1, witha significant effect in some conditions of L1 Chinese and anull effect in L1 English processing, consistent with the view that L2 speakers are more sensitive to discourse cues compared with L1 speakers. Additionally, the pattern of L1 and L2 predictive processing was not affected by the global validity of predictive cues. C-E bilinguals’ predictive processing could be partly transferred from their L1, as prior research showed that discourse information played a more significant role in L1 Chinese processing.Keywords: bilingualism, discourse processing, global validity, prediction, self-paced reading
Procedia PDF Downloads 1412501 Phytochemical Screening, Anticancer, Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of the Leaf Extracts of Mabolo (Diospyros philippinensis A. DC.)
Authors: Jarel Elgin Tolentino, Arby Denise Nera, Mary Rose Roco, Angela Vianca Aspa, Nikko Beltran, Else Dapat
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Drug resistance by cells has been the problem in the medical field for decades now. The use of medicinal plants as a source of creating powerful drugs has been nowadays recognized worldwide to treat such resistant diseases. In the present study, the potential for Diospyros philippinensis A. DC. to inhibit growth of both bacteria and cancer cell line was conducted. The leaf crude extracts were screened for the presence of phytochemicals and examined for potential bioactivities by employing several assays like Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method, DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate) assay and MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) tetrazolium assay for the antibacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the extract, respectively. Phytochemical test results of the extracts revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, phenols, quinones, cardiac glycosides, phlobatannins, carbohydrate, cardenolides and proteins. The leaf extracts were found to exhibit antibacterial activity against gram-positive bacteria, high antioxidant activity (99.22% ± 0.005) but did not show any sign of cytotoxicity towards HCT116 (ATCC CCL-247). The study therefore concludes that D. philippinensis A. DC. leaf extract can be a source of antibacterial and chemopreventive agents. This claim may be used as basis for future investigation.Keywords: bioassay, medicinal plants, plant crude extracts, phytochemical screening
Procedia PDF Downloads 2912500 Measuring the Effect of Co-Composting Oil Sludge with Pig, Cow, Horse And Poultry Manures on the Degradation in Selected Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Concentrations
Authors: Ubani Onyedikachi, Atagana Harrison Ifeanyichukwu, Thantsha Mapitsi Silvester
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Components of oil sludge (PAHs) are known cytotoxic, mutagenic and potentially carcinogenic compounds also bacteria and fungi have been found to degrade PAHs to innocuous compounds. This study is aimed at measuring the effect of pig, cow, horse and poultry manures on the degradation in selected PAHs present in oil sludge. Soil spiked with oil sludge was co-composted differently with each manure in a ratio of 2:1 (w/w) spiked soil: manure and wood-chips in a ratio of 2:1 (w/v) spiked soil: wood-chips. Control was set up similar as the one above but without manure. The mixtures were incubated for 10 months at room temperature. Compost piles were turned weekly and moisture level was maintained at between 50% and 70%. Moisture level, pH, temperature, CO2 evolution and oxygen consumption were measured monthly and the ash content at the end of experimentation. Highest temperature reached was 27.5 °C in all compost heaps, pH ranged from 5.5 to 7.8 and CO2 evolution was highest in poultry manure at 18.78μg/dwt/day. Microbial growth and activities were enhanced; bacteria identified were Bacillus, Arthrobacter and Staphylococcus species. Percentage reduction in PAHs was measured using automated soxhlet extractor with Dichloromethane coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Results from PAH measurements showed reduction between 77% and 99%. Co-composting of spiked soils with animal manures enhanced the reduction in PAHs.Keywords: animal manures, bioremediation, co-composting, oil refinery sludge, PAHs
Procedia PDF Downloads 2772499 Integrated Farming Barns as a Strategy for National Food Security
Authors: Ilma Ulfatul Janah, Ibnu Rizky Briwantara, Muhammad Afif
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The agricultural sector is one of the sectors that contribute to national development. The benefit of the agricultural sector can be felt directly by the majority of Indonesian people. Indonesia is one of the agricultural countries and most of the people working in the agricultural sector. Hence, the agricultural sector’s become the second sector which has contributed greatly to the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) after the manufacture sector. Based on the National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN) from 2015 to 2019, one of the targets to be achieved by the Indonesian government is rice’s self-sufficient. Rice is the main food commodities which as most people in Indonesia, and it is making Indonesian government attempt self-sufficient in rice. Indonesia as an agricultural country becomes one of the countries that have a lower percentage of food security than other ASEAN countries. Rice self-sufficiency can be created through agricultural productivity and the availability of a market for the output. There are some problems still to be faced by the farmers such as farmer exchange rate is low. The low exchange rate of farmers showed that the level of the welfare’s Indonesian farmers is still low. The aims of this paper are to resolve problems related to food security and improve the welfare of the national rice farmers. The method by using materials obtained from the analysis of secondary data with the descriptive approach and conceptual framework. Integrated Farmers barn raising rice production is integrated and managed by the government coupled with the implementation of technology in the form of systems connected and accessible to farmers, namely 'SIBUNGTAN'.Keywords: agriculture, self-sufficiency, technology, productivity
Procedia PDF Downloads 2592498 Open Science Philosophy, Research and Innovation
Authors: C.Ardil
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Open Science translates the understanding and application of various theories and practices in open science philosophy, systems, paradigms and epistemology. Open Science originates with the premise that universal scientific knowledge is a product of a collective scholarly and social collaboration involving all stakeholders and knowledge belongs to the global society. Scientific outputs generated by public research are a public good that should be available to all at no cost and without barriers or restrictions. Open Science has the potential to increase the quality, impact and benefits of science and to accelerate advancement of knowledge by making it more reliable, more efficient and accurate, better understandable by society and responsive to societal challenges, and has the potential to enable growth and innovation through reuse of scientific results by all stakeholders at all levels of society, and ultimately contribute to growth and competitiveness of global society. Open Science is a global movement to improve accessibility to and reusability of research practices and outputs. In its broadest definition, it encompasses open access to publications, open research data and methods, open source, open educational resources, open evaluation, and citizen science. The implementation of open science provides an excellent opportunity to renegotiate the social roles and responsibilities of publicly funded research and to rethink the science system as a whole. Open Science is the practice of science in such a way that others can collaborate and contribute, where research data, lab notes and other research processes are freely available, under terms that enable reuse, redistribution and reproduction of the research and its underlying data and methods. Open Science represents a novel systematic approach to the scientific process, shifting from the standard practices of publishing research results in scientific publications towards sharing and using all available knowledge at an earlier stage in the research process, based on cooperative work and diffusing scholarly knowledge with no barriers and restrictions. Open Science refers to efforts to make the primary outputs of publicly funded research results (publications and the research data) publicly accessible in digital format with no limitations. Open Science is about extending the principles of openness to the whole research cycle, fostering, sharing and collaboration as early as possible, thus entailing a systemic change to the way science and research is done. Open Science is the ongoing transition in how open research is carried out, disseminated, deployed, and transformed to make scholarly research more open, global, collaborative, creative and closer to society. Open Science involves various movements aiming to remove the barriers for sharing any kind of output, resources, methods or tools, at any stage of the research process. Open Science embraces open access to publications, research data, source software, collaboration, peer review, notebooks, educational resources, monographs, citizen science, or research crowdfunding. The recognition and adoption of open science practices, including open science policies that increase open access to scientific literature and encourage data and code sharing, is increasing in the open science philosophy. Revolutionary open science policies are motivated by ethical, moral or utilitarian arguments, such as the right to access digital research literature for open source research or science data accumulation, research indicators, transparency in the field of academic practice, and reproducibility. Open science philosophy is adopted primarily to demonstrate the benefits of open science practices. Researchers use open science applications for their own advantage in order to get more offers, increase citations, attract media attention, potential collaborators, career opportunities, donations and funding opportunities. In open science philosophy, open data findings are evidence that open science practices provide significant benefits to researchers in scientific research creation, collaboration, communication, and evaluation according to more traditional closed science practices. Open science considers concerns such as the rigor of peer review, common research facts such as financing and career development, and the sacrifice of author rights. Therefore, researchers are recommended to implement open science research within the framework of existing academic evaluation and incentives. As a result, open science research issues are addressed in the areas of publishing, financing, collaboration, resource management and sharing, career development, discussion of open science questions and conclusions.Keywords: Open Science, Open Science Philosophy, Open Science Research, Open Science Data
Procedia PDF Downloads 1392497 Effect of Synthesis Parameters on Crystal Size and Perfection of Mordenite and Analcime
Authors: Zehui Du, Chaiwat Prapainainar, Paisan Kongkachuichay, Paweena Prapainainar
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The aim of this work was to obtain small crystalline size and high crystallinity of mordenites and analcimes, by modifying the aging time, agitation, water content, crystallization temperature and crystallization time. Two different hydrothermal methods were studied. Both methods used Na2SiO3 as the silica source, NaAlO2 as the aluminum source, and NaOH as the alkali source. The first method used HMI as the template while the second method did not use the template. Mordenite crystals with spherical shape and bimodal in size of about 1 and 5 µm were obtained from the first method using conditions of 24 hr aging time, 170°C and 24 hr crystallization. Modernites with high crystallinity were formed using agitation system in the crystallization process. It was also found that the aging time of 2 hr and 24 hr did not much affect the formation of mordenite crystals. Analcime crystals were formed in spherical shape and facet on surface with the size between 13-15 µm by the second method using the conditions of 30 minutes aging time, 170°C and 24 hr crystallization without calcination. By increasing water content, the crystallization process was slowed down and resulted in smaller analcime crystals. Larger size of analcime crystals were observed when the samples were calcined at 300°C and 580°C. Higher calcination temperature led to higher crystal growth and resulted in larger crystal size. Finally, mordenite and analcime was used as fillers in zeolite/Nafion composite membrane to solve the fuel cross over problem in direct alcohol fuel cell.Keywords: analcime, hydrothermal synthesis, mordenite, zeolite
Procedia PDF Downloads 2692496 Community Based Landslide Investigation and Treatment in the Earthquake Affected Areas, Nepal
Authors: Basanta Raj Adhikari
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Large and small scale earthquakes are frequent in the Nepal, Himalaya, and many co-seismic landslides are resulted out of it. Recently, Gorkha earthquake-2015 has triggered many co-seismic landslides destroying many lives and properties. People have displaced their original places due to having many cracks and unstable ground. Therefore, Nepal has been adopting a pronged development strategy to address the earthquake issues through reconstruction and rehabilitation policy, plans and budgets. Landslides are major threat for the mountain livelihood, and it is very important to investigate and mitigate to improve human wellbeing factoring in considerations of economic growth, environmental safety, and sustainable development. Community based landslide investigation was carried with the involvement of the local community in the Sindhupalchowk District of Central Nepal. Landslide training and field orientation were the major methodological approach of this study. Combination of indigenous and modern scientific knowledge has created unique working environment which enhanced the local capacity and trained people for replication. Local topography of the landslide was created with the help of Total Station and bill of quantity was derived based on it. River training works, plantation of trees and grasses, support structures, surface and sub-surface drainage management are the recommended mitigative measures. This is a very unique example of how academia and local community can work together for sustainable development by reducing disaster risk at the local level with very low-cost technology.Keywords: community, earthquake, landslides, Nepal
Procedia PDF Downloads 159