Search results for: annual reports

Authors: S. M. Islam, Wasi Uddin, Nazmun Nahar

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Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, faces two contrasting problems; excess of water during monsoon season and scarcity of water during dry season. The first problem occurs due to rapid urbanization and mismanagement of rainwater whereas the second problem is related to climate change and increasing urban population. Inadequate drainage system also worsens the overall water management scenario in Dhaka city. Dhaka has a population density of 115,000 people per square miles. This results in a 2.5 billion liter water demand every day, 87% of which is fulfilled by groundwater. Over dependency on groundwater has resulted in more than 200 feet drop in the last 50 years and continues to decline at a rate of 9 feet per year. Considering the gravity of the problem, it is high time that practitioners, academicians and policymakers consider different water management practices and look into their cumulative impacts at different scales. The present study assesses different rainwater management options for North South University of Bangladesh and recommends the most feasible and sustainable rainwater management measure. North South University currently accommodates over 20,000 students, faculty members, and administrative staffs. To fulfill the water demand, there are two deep tube wells, which bring up approximately 150,000 liter of water every hour. The annual water demand is approximately 103 million liters. Dhaka receives approximately 1800 mm of rainfall every year. For the current study, two academic buildings and one administrative building consist of 4924 square meters of rooftop area was selected as catchment area. Both rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge options were analyzed separately. It was estimated that by rainwater harvesting, annually a total of 7.2 million liters of water can be reused which is approximately 7% of the total annual water usage. In the monsoon, rainwater harvesting fulfills 12.2% of the monthly water demand. The approximate cost of the rainwater harvesting system is estimated to be 940975 bdt (USD 11500). For direct groundwater recharge, a system comprises of one de-siltation tank, two recharge tanks and one siltation tank were designed that requires approximately 532788 bdt (USD 6500). The payback period is approximately 7 years and 4 months for the groundwater recharge system whereas the payback period for rainwater harvesting option is approximately 12 years and 4 months. Based on the cost-benefit analysis, the present study finds the groundwater recharge system to be most suitable for North South University. The present study also demonstrates that if only one institution like North South University can add up a substantial amount of water to the aquifer, bringing other institutions in the network has the potential to create significant cumulative impact on replenishing the declining groundwater level of Dhaka city. As an additional benefit, it also prevents large amount of water being discharged into the storm sewers which results in severe flooding in Dhaka city during monsoon.

Keywords: Dhaka, groundwater, harvesting, rainwater, recharge

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Authors: Jeremy Dixon

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Safeguarding adults forms a core part of social work practice. The Government in England and Wales has made efforts to standardise practices through The Care Act 2014. The Act states that local authorities have duties to make inquiries in cases where an adult with care or support needs is experiencing or at risk of abuse and is unable to protect themselves from abuse or neglect. Despite the importance given to safeguarding adults within law there remains little research about how social workers conduct such decisions on the ground. This presentation reports on findings from a pilot research study conducted within two social work teams in a Local Authority in England. The objective of the project was to find out how social workers interpreted safeguarding duties as laid out by The Care Act 2014 with a particular focus on how workers assessed and managed risk. Ethnographic research methods were used throughout the project. This paper focusses specifically on decisions made by workers in the assessment team. The paper reports on qualitative observation and interviews with five workers within this team. Drawing on governmentality theory, this paper analyses the techniques used by workers to manage risk from a distance. A high proportion of safeguarding referrals came from care workers or managers in residential care homes. Social workers conducting safeguarding assessments were aware that they had a duty to work in partnership with these agencies. However, their duty to safeguard adults also meant that they needed to view them as potential abusers. In making judgments about when it was proportionate to refer for a safeguarding assessment workers drew on a number of common beliefs about residential care workers which were then tested in conversations with them. Social workers held the belief that residential homes acted defensively, leading them to report any accident or danger. Social workers therefore encouraged residential workers to consider whether statutory criteria had been met and to use their own procedures to manage risk. In addition social workers carried out an assessment of the workers’ motives; specifically whether they were using safeguarding procedures as a shortcut for avoiding other assessments or as a means of accessing extra resources. Where potential abuse was identified social workers encouraged residential homes to use disciplinary policies as a means of isolating and managing risk. The study has implications for understanding risk within social work practice. It shows that whilst social workers use law to govern individuals, these laws are interpreted against cultural values. Additionally they also draw on assumptions about the culture of others.

Keywords: adult safeguarding, governmentality, risk, risk assessment

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Authors: L. Benseghir, H. Kadi-Hanifi

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Vegetation of the high steppic plains of southern Algiers region has ever been used by human occupation. The harsh climatic context characterized by long periods of drought and an ovine livestock in constant growth lead us to devote a particular attention to the biodiversity of those living environment. The diachronic study made in Tadmit (50 km south of the district of Djelfa) about the specific recording led us to notice that: The floristic recording of Tadmit is not reduced in time but fluctuate, depending on the pasture intensity, the annual rainfall and especially by the protection area of the following two years from January 2004. The forming specific recording of the station undergo significant changes from a period to another. Those changes in floristic list concern nearly 50% of the initial flora that could disappear or be replaced by new species. Finally, the alfa steppe is in a marked decline and is substituted by new facies that were privileged by the overgrazing, stranding or clearance.

Keywords: overgrazing, diachronic study, protection area, climate, desertification

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Authors: Luís Felipe da Cunha Mendonça

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Normally, rural roads do not have any type of coating, and when they have any coating, they have a high maintenance cost due to the characteristics of natural materials. The Steel Aggregate has specific technical characteristics, which considerably reduce the maintenance costs of rural roads with the execution of the Primary Coating. For use as a primary coating, it must be mixed with clay due to the physical-chemical properties of the material. The application is mainly in the Primary Coating of rural roads due to the cementitious property in the presence of water, offering greater resistance to wear caused by traffic and consequently a longer useful life of the coating. The Steel Aggregate executed on rural roads has reduced particulate emissions and offers normal traffic in any weather condition, as well as creating sustainability. Contribute to the quality of life of communities through improvements in the conditions of rural and urban unpaved roads. Leading to substantial savings in maintenance. Because the durability, if applied correctly, is about 3 years, but if annual monitoring is carried out, it can be extended for more than 5 years.

Keywords: steel slag, co-product, primary coating, steel aggregate

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Authors: Talah Aissa

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This paper reports an experimental study of the influence of marble powder used as a partial substitute for Portland cement (PC) on the mechanical properties and durability of high-performance concretes. The analysis of the experimental results on concrete at 15% content of marble powder with a fineness modulus of 11500 cm2/g, in a chloride environment, showed that it contributes positively to the perfection of its mechanical characteristics, its durability with respect to migration of chloride ions and oxygen permeability. On the basis of the experiments performed, it can be concluded that the marble powder is suitable for formulation of high performance concretes (HPC) and their properties are significantly better compared to the reference concrete (RC).

Keywords: marble powder, durability, concrete, cement

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Authors: Navdeep Kaur

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Corporate Social Responsibility is the process through which the organizations execute their philanthropic visions for social welfare. This paper considers the data of one Public Sector Bank–State Bank of India (SBI) and one Private Sector Bank-Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) from the year 2008 to 2016. The study is based on descriptive research design, and secondary data collected from the annual report of respective bank from website and different literature are reviewed. Least Square Method is used for estimating CSR spending for the financial year 2017-18. The analysis shows that these banks are making efforts for the implementation of CSR, but are not spending their 2% share of profits on CSR. There is a need for better CSR activities by the banks, which is possible by concentrating more on the prevailing social issues. The finding reveals that the percentage of profit after tax spends for CSR by SBI is more compare to ICICI. The estimated Spending for CSR for 2017-18 is also more in SBI as compared to ICICI.

Keywords: banking sector, corporate social responsibility in India, financial institution, public sector banks, SBI, ICICI

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Authors: Cita Ayeni

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Following countless violations of Human Rights in Nigeria by the various arms and agencies of government; from the Military to the Federal Police and other law enforcement agencies, Nigeria has been riddled with several reports of acts by these agencies against the citizens, ranging from illegal arrest and imprisonment, torture, disappearing, and extrajudicial killings, just to mention a few. This paper, focuses on SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad), a division of the Nigeria Police Force, and its reported threats to the people’s security, particularly the Nigerian youths, with continuous violence, extortion, illegal arrest and imprisonment, terror, and extrajudicial activities resulting in maiming and in most cases death, thus infringing on the human rights of the people it’s sworn to protect. This research further analyses how the activities of SARS has over the years instigated fear on the average Nigerian youth, preventing the free participation in daily life, education, job, and individual development, in turn impeding the realization of their full potentials for growth and participation in collective national development. This research analyzes the executive order by the then Acting President (Vice-President) of Nigeria, directing the overhauling of SARS, and its implementation by the Federal Police Force in determining if it’s enough to prevent or put a stop to the continuous Human Rights abuse and threat to the security of the individual citizen. Concluding that although the order by the Acting President was given with an intent to halt the various violations by SARS, and the Inspector General of Police’s (IGP) subsequent action by releasing a statement following the order, the bureaucracy in Nigeria, with a history of incompetency and a return to 'business as usual' after a reduced public outcry, it’s most likely that there will not be adequate follow up put in place and these violations would be slowly 'swept under the rug' with SARS officials not held accountable. It is recommended therefore that the Federal Government through the NPF, following the reforms made, in collaboration with the mentioned Independent Human Rights and civil societies organizations should periodically produce unbiased and publicly accessible reports on the implementation of these reforms and progress made. This will go a long way in assuring the public of actual fulfillment of the restructuring, reduce fear by the youths and restore some public faith in the government.

Keywords: special anti-robbery squad, youths in Nigeria, overhaul, insecurities, human rights violations

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Authors: Iman Mohseni

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Current studies indicate that neglecting the effect of intermediate diaphragms might lead to highly conservative values for bending moment distribution factors and result in non-economic designs for skew bridges. This paper reports on a parametric study performed on 160 prototypes of straight and skew concrete multicell box-girder bridges. The obtained results were used to develop practical expressions to account for the diaphragm effects on American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials formulas for live load distribution factors. It was observed that decks with internal transverse diaphragms perpendicular to the longitudinal webs are the best arrangement for load distribution in skew bridges.

Keywords: box bridges, truck, distribution factor, diaphragm

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Authors: M. N. Osman Zahid, K. Case, D. Watts

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This paper reports an advanced approach in the application of CNC machining for rapid manufacturing processes (CNC-RM). The aim of this study is to improve the quality of machined parts by introducing different cutting tools during finishing operations. As the cutting is performed in different directions, the surfaces presented on part can be classified into several categories. Therefore, suitable cutting tools are assigned to machine particular surfaces and to improve the quality. Experimental studies have been carried out by fabricating several parts based on the suggested approach. The results provide further support for implementing this approach in rapid machining processes.

Keywords: CNC machining, end mill tool, finishing operation, rapid manufacturing

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Authors: Cao Xi

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This paper reports a study which used eye-tracking to examine the cognitive validity of TEM 8(Test for English Majors, Band 8). The study investigated test takers' reading patterns on four -item types using eye-tracking, and interviews. Thirty participants completed 22 items on a computer, with the Tobii X2 Eye Tracker recording their eye movements on screen. Eleven students further participated in a recall interview while viewing video footage of their gaze patterns on the test. The findings will indicate that first, different reading item types will employ different cognitive processes; then different reading patterns for stronger and weaker test takers’on each item types. The implication of this study is to provide recommendations for the use of eye tracking technology in language research.

Keywords: eye tracking, reading patterns, test for english majors, cognitive validity

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Authors: François Vallée, Jean-François Toubeau, Zacharie De Grève, Jacques Lobry

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When evaluating the capacity of a generation park to cover the load in transmission systems, traditional Loss of Load Expectation (LOLE) and Expected Energy not Served (EENS) indices can be used. If those indices allow computing the annual duration and severity of load non-covering situations, they do not take into account the fact that the load excess is generally shifted from one penury state (hour or quarter of an hour) to the following one. In this paper, a sequential Monte Carlo framework is introduced in order to compute adjusted LOLE and EENS indices. Practically, those adapted indices permit to consider the effect of load excess transfer on the global adequacy of a generation park, providing thus a more accurate evaluation of this quantity.

Keywords: expected energy not served, loss of load expectation, Monte Carlo simulation, reliability, wind generation

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Authors: Navah Z. Ratzon, Shlomit Cohen, Sigal Portnoy

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This work focuses on posture and risk factors for the musculoskeletal disorder in guitarists, which constitutes the largest group of musicians today. The source of the problems experienced by these musicians is linked to physical, psychosocial and personal risk factors. These muscular problems are referred to as Playing Related Musculoskeletal Disorder (PRMD). There is not enough research that specifically studies guitar players, and to the extent of our knowledge, there is almost no reference to the characteristics of their movement patterns while they play. This is in spite of the high prevalence of PRMD in this population. Kinematic research may provide a basis for the development of a prevention plan for this population and their unique characteristics of playing patterns. The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation between risk factors for PRMD among guitar players and self-reporting of pain in the skeletal muscles, and specifically to test whether there are differences in the kinematics of the upper body while playing in a sitting or standing posture. Twenty-five guitarists, aged 18-35, participated in the study. The methods included a motion analysis using a motion capture system, anthropometric measurements and questionnaires relating to risk factors. The questionnaires used were the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire for the Analysis of Musculoskeletal Symptoms and the Demand Control Support Questionnaire, as well as a questionnaire of personal details. All of the study participants complained of musculoskeletal pain in the past year; the most frequent complaints being in the left wrist. Statistically significant correlations were found between biodemographic indices and reports of pain in the past year and the previous week. No significant correlations were found between the physical posture while playing and reports of pain among professional guitarists. However, a difference was found in several kinematic parameters between seated and standing playing postures. In a majority of the joints, the joint angles while playing in a seated position were more extreme than those during standing. This finding may suggest a higher risk for musculoskeletal disorder while playing in a seated position. In conclusion, the results of the present research highlight the prevalence of musculoskeletal problems in guitar players and its correlation with various risk factors. The finding supports the need for intervention in the form of prevention through identifying the risk factors and addressing them. Relating to the person, to their occupation and environment, which are the basis of proper occupational therapy, can help meet this need.

Keywords: body posture, motion tracking, PRMD, guitarists

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Authors: Ambika Roy Bardhan

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Kolkata, the City of Joy, is a greying metropolis not only in respect of its concrete jungle but also because of the largest population of 60-plus residents that it shelters among all other cities in India. Declining birth and death rates and a negative growth of population indicate that the city has reached the last stage of demographic transition. Thus, the obvious consequence has been the ageing of its population. With this background, the present paper attempts to study the demographic and socio-economic status of the elderly population in Kolkata. Analysis and findings have been based on secondary data obtained from Census of India of various years, Sample Registration System Reports and reports by HelpAge India. Findings show that the elderly population is increasing continuously. With respect to gender, the male elderly outnumbers the female elderly population. The percentage of households having one elderly member is more in the city due to the emergence of the nuclear families and erosion of joint family system. With respect to socio-economic status, those elderly who are the heads of the family are lower in percentages than those in the other age groups. Also, male elderly as head of the family are greater in percentage than female elderly. Elderly in the category of currently married records the highest percentage followed by widowed, never married and lastly, separated or divorced. Male elderly outnumber the female elderly as currently married, while female elderly outnumbers the male elderly in the category of widowed. In terms of living status, the percentage of elderly who are living alone is highest in Kolkata and the reason for staying alone as no support from children also happens to be highest in this city. The literacy rate and higher level of education is higher among the male than female elderly. Higher percentages of female elderly have been found to be with disability. Disability in movement and multiple disabilities have been found to be more common among the elderly population in Kolkata. Percentages of male literate pensioners are highest than other categories. Also, in terms of levels of education male elderly who are graduate and above other than technical degree are the highest receivers of pension. Also, in terms of working status, elderly as non-workers are higher in percentages with the population of elderly females outnumbering the males. The old age dependency ratio in the city is increasing continuously and the ratio is higher among females than male. Thus, it can be stated that Kolkata is witnessing continuous and rapid ageing of its population. Increasing dependency ratio is likely to create pressure on the working population, available civic, social and health amenities. This requires intervention in the form of planning, formulation and implementation of laws, policies, programs and measures to safeguard and improve the conditions of the elderly in Kolkata.

Keywords: demographic, elderly, population, socio-economic

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Authors: Cem Ozatalay, Senem Ornek

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The Artprice Contemporary Art Market Annual Report 2014 notices that Istanbul, with its art market volume of $3.6 million has become the first city of the Middle East and North Africa region and the 14th city of the World. Indeed, the period 2004–2014 has been significant in terms of the growth of the art market, during which the majority of contemporary art galleries and museums in Istanbul was inaugurated. This boom means that with the joining of new agents, the structure of the art market has dramatically changed. To use Nathalie Heinich’s terminology, in the current art field, three art genres – namely classical art, modern art and contemporary art – coexist, but in the case of Istanbul, such as many art cities in the world, the latter genre has become increasingly dominant. This presentation aims to show how the power shifts away from the classical art agents to contemporary art agents, and the effects produced by the conflicts between the old and new agents of current art field. Based on the data obtained from an ongoing field research in Istanbul among the art market agents such as art dealers, curators, art critics and artists, it will be shown that even if the agents of different art genres are in conflict with each other, there is, at the same time, a continuum between the three art worlds.

Keywords: contemporary art market, economic sociology of art, Istanbul art market, structure of the art field in Istanbul

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Authors: Bastian Haarmann, Likas Sikorski

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In this paper, we introduce an NLG application for the automatic creation of ready-to-publish texts from big data. The fully automatic generated stories have a high resemblance to the style in which the human writer would draw up a news story. Topics may include soccer games, stock exchange market reports, weather forecasts and many more. The generation of the texts runs according to the human language production. Each generated text is unique. Ready-to-publish stories written by a computer application can help humans to quickly grasp the outcomes of big data analyses, save time-consuming pre-formulations for journalists and cater to rather small audiences by offering stories that would otherwise not exist.

Keywords: big data, natural language generation, publishing, robotic journalism

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Authors: Mohammad Asadpour

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Cryptosporidium spp. is zoonotic pathogens transmissible from a variety of animals to humans and is a considerable public health concern. Calves have been identified in numerous reports as a major source of environmental contamination with this pathogen. Parasite has a different species that are the cases of zoonotic disease in immunodeficient people and neonatal calves. Cryptosporidium oocysts are extremely resistant to chlorine and other physical cases that commonly used in drinking water. Reproduction of resistant oocytes is a way for this monoxenous parasite to remain in the environment. Cryptosporidium parvum is the most important species that has human and cattle genotypes. Cryptosporidium is one of the most important causes of diarrhea in neonatal calves and also, one of the four causes of diarrhea symptoms in pre-weaned calves. Because of the incompetent immune system in calves, Cryptosporidium infection is the cause of a lot of problems in raising farms.

Keywords: Cryptosporidium spp, dairy calves, importance, veterinary medicine

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Authors: A. Bolaji Adesoye, Alimi Olorunfemi

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This paper examines the impact of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) credit financing and financial market development and their shocks on the output growth of Nigeria. The study estimated a VAR model for Nigeria using 1970-2013 annual data series. Unit root tests and cointegration are carried out. The study also explores IRFs and FEVDs in a system that includes output, commercial bank loan to SMEs, domestic credit to private sector by banks, money supply, lending rate and investment. Findings suggest that shocks in commercial bank credit to SMEs has a major impact on the output changes of Nigeria. Money supply shocks also have a sizeable impact on output growth variations amidst other financial instruments. Lastly, neutrality of investment does not hold in Nigeria as it also has impact on output fluctuations.

Keywords: SMEs financing, financial development, investment, output, Nigeria

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Authors: Charles Asenime, Asaju Joel, Fagbenro Abiola, Adetoyese Oguntimehin, Agosu Rebecca

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This paper examines the fundamental principles of the National Transport Policy (NTP) and determined its role in the execution of transport projects, and the establishment of ministries, departments, and agencies. Data used for the paper are from secondary sources of commissioned reports, studies, internet sources, and government releases. Results of the analysis show that the draft NTP has been used to establish transport schemes, master plans, and transport infrastructure. The paper concludes that though, the national transport Policy is still in a draft form, its production, however, has shaped the transport system in Nigeria and has shown how transport has improved the economy through the efficient utilisation of resources, improved mobility, and lifestyle.

Keywords: principles, draft, system, resources

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Authors: Małgorzata Cichy

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Afghanistan is a source of conflicts that affect security on a global scale. The role of ethnic and national determinants in the peacebuilding process in this country remains an extremely important factor in this respect. Research methods include literature and data analysis (scientific literature, documents of governmental and non-governmental organizations, statistical data and media reports), institutional and legal analysis, as well as decision-making method. The main objective of the research is a comprehensive answer to the question of how ethnic and national factors affect the process of building peace in Afghanistan after 2021 and what impact it has on international security.

Keywords: Afghanistan, pashtuns, peace, taliban

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Authors: Nejmeddine Ouhichi, Fethi Lachaal, Radhouane Hamdi, Olivier Grunberger

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Located in Cap Bon peninsula (Tunisia), the Lebna dam was built in 1987 to balance local water salt intrusion taking place in the coastal aquifer of Korba. The first intention was to reduce coastal groundwater over-pumping by supplying surface water to a large irrigation system. The unpredicted beneficial effect was recorded with the occurrence of a direct localized recharge to the coastal aquifer by leakage through the geological material of the southern bank of the lake. The hydrological balance of the reservoir dam gave an estimation of the annual leakage volume, but dynamic processes and sound quantification of recharge inputs are still required to understand the localized effect of the recharge in terms of piezometry and quality. Present work focused on simulating the recharge process to confirm the hypothesis, and established a sound quantification of the water supply to the coastal aquifer and extend it to multi-annual effects. A spatial frame of 30km² was used for modeling. Intensive outcrops and geophysical surveys based on 68 electrical resistivity soundings were used to characterize the aquifer 3D geometry and the limit of the Plio-quaternary geological material concerned by the underground flow paths. Permeabilities were determined using 17 pumping tests on wells and piezometers. Six seasonal piezometric surveys on 71 wells around southern reservoir dam banks were performed during the 2019-2021 period. Eight monitoring boreholes of high frequency (15min) piezometric data were used to examine dynamical aspects. Model boundary conditions were specified using the geophysics interpretations coupled with the piezometric maps. The dam-groundwater flow model was performed using Visual MODFLOW software. Firstly, permanent state calibration based on the first piezometric map of February 2019 was established to estimate the permanent flow related to the different reservoir levels. Secondly, piezometric data for the 2019-2021 period were used for transient state calibration and to confirm the robustness of the model. Preliminary results confirmed the temporal link between the reservoir level and the localized recharge flow with a strong threshold effect for levels below 16 m.a.s.l. The good agreement of computed flow through recharge cells on the southern banks and hydrological budget of the reservoir open the path to future simulation scenarios of the dilution plume imposed by the localized recharge. The dam reservoir-groundwater flow-model simulation results approve a potential for storage of up to 17mm/year in existing wells, under gravity-feed conditions during level increases on the reservoir into the three years of operation. The Lebna dam groundwater flow model characterized a spatiotemporal relation between groundwater and surface water.

Keywords: leakage, MODFLOW, saltwater intrusion, surface water-groundwater interaction

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Authors: Fatemeh Yazdanmehr, Iulian Nistor

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The scope of the current study is the prediction of water separation in a two-stage industrial crude oil desalting plant. This research study was focused on developing a desalting operation in an existing production unit of one Iranian heavy oil field with 75 MBPD capacity. Because of some operational issues, such as oil dehydration at high temperatures, the optimization of the desalter operational parameters was essential. The mathematical desalting is modeled based on the population balance method. The existing operational data is used for tuning and validation of the accuracy of the modeling. The inlet oil temperature to desalter used was decreased from 110°C to 80°C, and the desalted electrical field was increased from 0.75 kv to 2.5 kv. The proposed condition for the desalter also meets the water oil specification. Based on these conditions of desalter, the oil recovery is increased by 574 BBL/D, and the gas flaring decrease by 2.8 MMSCF/D. Depending on the oil price, the additional production of oil can increase the annual income by about $15 MM and reduces greenhouse gas production caused by gas flaring.

Keywords: desalter, demulsification, modelling, water-oil separation, crude oil emulsion

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Authors: Selma Bouasria, Mahi Abdelkader, Abbès Azzi, Herouz Keltoum

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This paper reports concept was used into the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code cfx through user-defined functions to assess ventilation efficiency inside (forced-ventilation local). CFX is a simulation tool which uses powerful computer and applied mathematics, to model fluid flow situations for the prediction of heat, mass and momentum transfer and optimal design in various heat transfer and fluid flow processes to evaluate thermal comfort in a room ventilated (highly-glazed). The quality of the solutions obtained from CFD simulations is an effective tool for predicting the behavior and performance indoor thermo-aéraulique comfort.

Keywords: ventilation, thermal comfort, CFD, indoor environment, solar air heater

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Authors: Akkouche Karim, Nekmouche Aghiles, Bouzid Leyla

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This study focuses on the development of a multifunctional Expert System (ES) called post-seismic damage inspection tool (PSDIT), a powerful tool which allows the evaluation, the processing and the archiving of the collected data stock after earthquakes. PSDIT can be operated by two user types; an ordinary user (engineer, expert or architect) for the damage visual inspection and an administrative user for updating the knowledge and / or for adding or removing the ordinary user. The knowledge acquisition is driven by a hierarchical knowledge model, the Information from investigation reports and those acquired through feedback from expert / engineer questionnaires are part.

Keywords: buildings, earthquake, seismic damage, damage assessment, expert system

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Authors: Saba Rahman, Arvind K. Jain, S. D. Bharti, T. K. Datta

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Chimneys are generally tall and slender structures with circular cross-sections, due to which they are highly prone to wind forces. Wind exerts pressure on the wall of the chimneys, which produces unwanted forces. Vortex-induced oscillation is one of such excitations which can lead to the failure of the chimneys. Therefore, vortex-induced oscillation of chimneys is of great concern to researchers and practitioners since many failures of chimneys due to vortex shedding have occurred in the past. As a consequence, extensive research has taken place on the subject over decades. Many laboratory experiments have been performed to verify the theoretical models proposed to predict vortex-induced forces, including aero-elastic effects. Comparatively, very few proto-type measurement data have been recorded to verify the proposed theoretical models. Because of this reason, the theoretical models developed with the help of experimental laboratory data are utilized for analyzing the chimneys for vortex-induced forces. This calls for reliability analysis of the predictions of the responses of the chimneys produced due to vortex shedding phenomena. Although several works of literature exist on the vortex-induced oscillation of chimneys, including code provisions, the reliability analysis of chimneys against failure caused due to vortex shedding is scanty. In the present study, the reliability analysis of chimneys against vortex shedding failure is presented, assuming the uncertainty in vortex shedding phenomena to be significantly more than other uncertainties, and hence, the latter is ignored. The vortex shedding is modeled as a stationary random process and is represented by a power spectral density function (PSDF). It is assumed that the vortex shedding forces are perfectly correlated and act over the top one-third height of the chimney. The PSDF of the tip displacement of the chimney is obtained by performing a frequency domain spectral analysis using a matrix approach. For this purpose, both chimney and random wind forces are discretized over a number of points along with the height of the chimney. The method of analysis duly accounts for the aero-elastic effects. The double barrier threshold crossing level, as proposed by Vanmarcke, is used for determining the probability of crossing different threshold levels of the tip displacement of the chimney. Assuming the annual distribution of the mean wind velocity to be a Gumbel type-I distribution, the fragility curve denoting the variation of the annual probability of threshold crossing against different threshold levels of the tip displacement of the chimney is determined. The reliability estimate is derived from the fragility curve. A 210m tall concrete chimney with a base diameter of 35m, top diameter as 21m, and thickness as 0.3m has been taken as an illustrative example. The terrain condition is assumed to be that corresponding to the city center. The expression for the PSDF of the vortex shedding force is taken to be used by Vickery and Basu. The results of the study show that the threshold crossing reliability of the tip displacement of the chimney is significantly influenced by the assumed structural damping and the Gumbel distribution parameters. Further, the aero-elastic effect influences the reliability estimate to a great extent for small structural damping.

Keywords: chimney, fragility curve, reliability analysis, vortex-induced vibration

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Authors: Indu Saini, Ashu Khanna, S. K. Peddoju

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Cloud computing is the new buzz word today attracting high interest among various domains like business enterprises, Particularly in Small and Medium Enterprises. As it is a pay-per-use model, SMEs have high expectations that adapting this model will not only make them flexible, hassle-free but also economic. In view of such expectations, this paper analyses the possibility of adapting cloud computing technologies in SMEs in light of economic concerns. In this paper, two hypotheses are developed to compare the average annual per-user costs of using Enterprise Resource Planning systems in two ways, The traditional approach and the cloud approach. A web based survey is conducted apart from the Interviews with the peers to collect the data across the selected SMEs and t-test is performed to compare both the technologies on the proposed hypothesis. Results achieved are produced and discussed.

Keywords: cloud computing, small and medium enterprises, enterprise resource solutions, interviews

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Authors: Corinna Zeli, Silvia Calati, Marco Simeoni, Chiara Comastri

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Developmental stuttering affects about 10% of preschool children; although the high percentage of natural recovery, a quarter of them will become an adult who stutters. An effective early intervention should help those children with high persistence risk for the future. The Psicodizione method for early stuttering is an Italian behavior indirect treatment for preschool children who stutter in which method parents act as good guides for communication, modeling their own fluency. In this study, we give a preliminary measure to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of Psicodizione method on stuttering preschool children with a high persistence risk. Among all Italian children treated with the Psicodizione method between 2018 and 2019, we selected 8 kids with at least 3 high risk persistence factors from the Illinois Prediction Criteria proposed by Yairi and Seery. The factors chosen for the selection were: one parent who stutters (1pt mother; 1.5pt father), male gender, ≥ 4 years old at onset; ≥ 12 months from onset of symptoms before treatment. For this study, the families were contacted after an average period of time of 14,7 months (range 3 - 26 months). Parental reports were gathered with a standard online questionnaire in order to obtain data reflecting fluency from a wide range of the children’s life situations. The minimum worthwhile outcome was set at "mild evidence" in a 5 point Likert scale (1 mild evidence- 5 high severity evidence). A second group of 6 children, among those treated with the Piscodizione method, was selected as high potential for spontaneous remission (low persistence risk). The children in this group had to fulfill all the following criteria: female gender, symptoms for less than 12 months (before treatment), age of onset <4 years old, none of the parents with persistent stuttering. At the time of this follow-up, the children were aged 6–9 years, with a mean of 15 months post-treatment. Among the children in the high persistence risk group, 2 (25%) hadn’t had stutter anymore, and 3 (37,5%) had mild stutter based on parental reports. In the low persistency risk group, the children were aged 4–6 years, with a mean of 14 months post-treatment, and 5 (84%) hadn’t had stutter anymore (for the past 16 months on average).62,5% of children at high risk of persistence after Psicodizione treatment showed mild evidence of stutter at most. 75% of parents confirmed a better fluency than before the treatment. The low persistence risk group seemed to be representative of spontaneous recovery. This study’s design could help to better evaluate the success of the proposed interventions for stuttering preschool children and provides a preliminary measure of the effectiveness of the Psicodizione method on high persistence risk children.

Keywords: early treatment, fluency, preschool children, stuttering

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Authors: Indra Bahadur Chand

Abstract:

This paper will focus on the need for development and application of global protocols and policy in planning, designing, development, and management of systems of eco-towns and eco-villages so that sustainable development will be assured from the perspective of environmental, economical, peace, and harmonized social dynamics. This perspective is essential for the development of civilized and eco-friendly human settlements in the town and rural areas of the nation that will be a milestone for developing a happy and sustainable lifestyle of rural and urban communities of the nation. The urban population of most of the town of developing economies has been tremendously increasing, whereas rural people have been tremendously migrating for the past three decades. Consequently, the urban lifestyle in most towns has stressed in terms of environmental pollution, water crisis, congested traffic, energy crisis, food crisis, and unemployment. Eco-towns and villages should be developed where lifestyle of all residents is sustainable and happy. Built up environment of settlement should reduce and minimize the problems of non ecological CO2 emissions, unbalanced utilization of natural resources, environmental degradation, natural calamities, ecological imbalance, energy crisis, water scarcity, waste management, food crisis, unemployment, deterioration of cultural heritage, social, the ratio among the public and private land ownership, ratio of land covered with vegetation and area of settlement, the ratio of people in the vehicles and foot, the ratio of people employed outside of town and village, ratio of resources recycling of waste materials, water consumption level, the ratio of people and vehicles, ratio of the length of the road network and area of town/villages, a ratio of renewable energy consumption with total energy, a ratio of religious/recreational area out of the total built-up area, the ratio of annual suicide case out of total people, a ratio of annual injured and death out of total people from a traffic accident, a ratio of production of agro foods within town out of total food consumption will be used to assist in designing and monitoring of each eco-towns and villages. An eco-town and villages should be planned and developed to offer sustainable infrastructure and utilities that maintain CO2 level in individual homes and settlements, home energy use, transport, food and consumer goods, water supply, waste management, conservation of historical heritages, healthy neighborhood, conservation of natural landscape, conserving bio-diversity and developing green infrastructures. Eco-towns and villages should be developed on the basis of master planning and architecture that affect and define the settlement and its form. Master planning and engineering should focus in delivering the sustainability criteria of eco towns and eco village. This will involve working with specific landscape and natural resources of locality.

Keywords: eco-town, ecological habitation, master plan, sustainable development

Procedia PDF Downloads 170

Authors: Pablo Reyes, Vanessa Riveros Fiallo, Cesar Acevedo, Camila Castellanos, Catalina Moncaleano, Maria F. Parra, Laura Colmenares

Abstract:

Social emotions are physiological, cognitive and behavioral phenomenon that intervene in the mechanisms of adaptation of individuals and their context. These are mediated by interpersonal relationship and language. Such emotions are subdivided into moral and comparison. The present research emphasizes two comparative emotions: Envy and Schadenfreude. Envy arises when a person lack of quality, possessions or achievements and these are superior in someone else. The Schadenfreude (SC) expresses the pleasure that someone experienced by the misfortune of the other. The relationship between both emotions has been questioned before. Hence there are reports showing that envy increases and modulates SC response. Other documents suggest that envy causes SC response. However, the methodological approach of the topic has been made through self-reports, as well as the hypothetical scenarios. Given this problematic, the neuroscience social framework provides an alternative and demonstrates that social emotions have neurophysiological correlates that can be measured. This is relevant when studying social emotions that are reprehensible like envy or SC are. When tested, the individuals tend to report low ratings due to social desirability. In this study, it was drawn up a proposal in research's protocol and the progress on its own piloting. The aim is to evaluate the effect of feeling envy and Schadenfreude has on the decision-making process, as well as the cooperative behavior in an economic game. To such a degree, it was proposed an experimental model that will provoke to feel envious by performing games against an unknown opponent. The game consists of asking general knowledge questions. The difficulty level in questions and the strangers' facial response have been manipulated in order to generate an ecological comparison framework and be able to arise both envy and SC emotions. During the game, an electromyography registry will be made for two facial muscles that have been associated with the expressiveness of envy and SC emotions. One of the innovations of the current proposal is the measurement of the effect that emotions have on a specific behavior. To that extent, it was evaluated the effect of each condition on the dictators' economic game. The main intention is to evaluate if a social emotion can modulate actions that have been associated with social norms, in the literacy. The result of the evaluation of a pilot model (without electromyography record and self-report) have shown an association between envy and SC, in a way that as the individuals report a greater sense of envy, the greater the chance to experience SC. The results of the economic game show a slight tendency towards profit maximization decisions. It is expected that at the time of using real cash this behavior will be strengthened and also to correlate with the responses of electromyography.

Keywords: envy, schadenfreude, electromyography, economic games

Procedia PDF Downloads 361

Authors: Aysegul Salikutluk, Zehra Altinay, Gokmen Dagli, Fahriye Altinay

Abstract:

The aim of the study is to reveal the performance of special education schools as regards the service quality and management within the school culture. The project management and school climate are the fundamental elements for the quality in organisations. Having strategic plans, activities and funded projects improve service quality and satisfaction for the families who have children with disabilities. The research has qualitative nature, self-reports were used to examine the perceptions of teachers upon project management and school climate for service quality. The results show that special education schools' teachers are aware of essence of school climate and flow of communication for service quality and project management.

Keywords: disability, education, service quality, project management

Procedia PDF Downloads 250

Authors: Mohammed Khenfouch, Fokotsa V. Molefe, Bakang M. Mothudi

Abstract:

Nowadays, graphene and its composites are universally known as promising materials. They show their potential in a large field of applications including photovoltaics. This study reports on the role of nanohybrids and nanosystems known as strong light harvesters in the efficiency of graphene hybrid solar cells. Our system included Graphene/ZnO/Porphyrin/P3HT layers. Moreover, the physical properties including surface/interface, optical and vibrational properties were also studied. Our investigations confirmed the interaction between the different components as well as the sensitivity of their photonics to the synthesis conditions. Remarkable energy and charge transfer were detected and deeply investigated. Hence, the optimization of the conditions will lead to the fabrication of higher conversion efficiency in graphene solar cells.

Keywords: graphene, optoelectronics, nanohybrids, solar cells

Procedia PDF Downloads 159