Search results for: heterogeneous environments

Authors: Hafizuddin W. Yussof, Syamsutajri S. Bahri, Adam P. Harvey

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Strong anion exchange resins with QN+OH-, have the potential to be developed and employed as heterogeneous catalyst for transesterification, as they are chemically stable to leaching of the functional group. Nine different SIERs (SIER1-9) with QN+OH- were prepared by suspension polymerization of vinylbenzyl chloride-divinylbenzene (VBC-DVB) copolymers in the presence of n-heptane (pore-forming agent). The amine group was successfully grafted into the polymeric resin beads through functionalization with trimethylamine. These SIERs are then used as a catalyst for the transesterification of triacetin with methanol. A set of differential equations that represents the Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW) and Eley-Rideal (ER) models for the transesterification reaction were developed. These kinetic models of LHHW and ER were fitted to the experimental data. Overall, the synthesized ion exchange resin-catalyzed reaction were well-described by the Eley-Rideal model compared to LHHW models, with sum of square error (SSE) of 0.742 and 0.996, respectively.

Keywords: anion exchange resin, Eley-Rideal, Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson, transesterification

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Authors: Alhadi Bustaman, Soeganda Formalidin, Titin Siswantining

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DNA microarray technology is used to analyze thousand gene expression data simultaneously and a very important task for drug development and test, function annotation, and cancer diagnosis. Various clustering methods have been used for analyzing gene expression data. However, when analyzing very large and heterogeneous collections of gene expression data, conventional clustering methods often cannot produce a satisfactory solution. Biclustering algorithm has been used as an alternative approach to identifying structures from gene expression data. In this paper, we introduce a transform technique based on singular value decomposition to identify normalized matrix of gene expression data followed by Mixed-Clustering algorithm and the Lift algorithm, inspired in the node-deletion and node-addition phases proposed by Cheng and Church based on Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC). Experimental study on standard datasets demonstrated the effectiveness of the algorithm in gene expression data.

Keywords: agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC), biclustering, gene expression data, lymphoma, singular value decomposition (SVD)

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Authors: Khaled Alshammari

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A facile approach to synthesizing highly active and stable Au/NiO catalysts for the hydrogenation of nitro-aromatics is reported. Preformed gold nanoparticles have been immobilized onto NiO using a colloidal method. In this article, the reduction of 4-nitrophenol with NaBH4 has been used as a model reaction to investigate the catalytic activity of synthesized Au/NiO catalysts. In addition, we report a systematic study of the reduction kinetics and the influence of specific reaction parameters such as (i) temperature, (ii) stirring rate, (iii) sodium borohydride concentration and (iv) substrate/metal molar ratio. The reaction has been performed at a substrate/metal molar ratio of 7.4, a ratio significantly higher than previously reported. The reusability of the catalyst has been examined, with little to no decrease in activity observed over 5 catalytic cycles. Systematic variation of Au loading reveals the successful synthesis of low-cost and efficient Au/NiO catalysts at very low Au content and using high substrate/metal molar ratios.

Keywords: nonochemistry, catalyst, nanoparticles supported, characterization of materials, colloidal nanoparticles

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Authors: Jianli Chang, Yusheng Zhang, Yali Yao, Diane Hildebrandt, Xinying Liu

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The influence of feed-gas ratio on the ethene hydroformylation over an Rh-Co bimetallic catalyst supported by reduced graphene oxide (RGO) has been investigated in a tubular fixed bed reactor. Argon was used as balance gas when the feed-gas ratio was changed, which can keep the partial pressure of the other two kinds of gas constant while the ratio of one component in feed-gas was changed. First, the effect of single-component gas ratio on the performance of ethene hydroformylation was studied one by one (H₂, C₂H₄ and CO). Then an optimized ratio was found to obtain a high selectivity to C₃ oxygenates. The results showed that: (1) 0.5%Rh-20%Co/RGO is a promising heterogeneous catalyst for ethene hydroformylation. (2) H₂ and CO have a more significant influence than C₂H₄ on selectivity to oxygenates. (3) A lower H₂ ratio and a higher CO ratio in feed-gas can lead to a higher selectivity to oxygenates. (4) The highest selectivity to oxygenates, 61.70%, was obtained at the feed-gas ratio CO: C₂H₄: H₂ = 4: 2: 1.

Keywords: ethene hydroformylation, reduced graphene oxide, rhodium cobalt bimetallic catalyst, the effect of feed-gas ratio

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Authors: Haozheng Luo, Ruiyang Qin

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People with visual impairments urgently need assistance, not only on the fundamental tasks such as guiding and retrieving objects but on the advanced like picturing the new environments. More than a guiding dog, they might want such devices that can provide linguistic interaction. Building on this idea, we aim to study the interaction between the robot agent and visually impaired people. In our research, we are going to develop a robot agent that will be able to analyze the test environment and answer the participants’ questions. We also will study the relevant issues regarding the interaction between human beings and the robot agents to figure out which and how the factors will affect the interaction.

Keywords: HRI, video question answering, visual question answering, natural language processing

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Authors: Bilal Ahmed, Muhammad Rafiq, Choongjae Im

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The tech-savvy Gen Z's transfer towards interactive concept learning is hammering the demand for online collaborative learning environments, renovating conventional education approaches. The authors propose a novel approach to enhance learning outcomes to improve retention in 3D interactive education by connecting virtual reality (VR) and non-VR devices in the classroom and distance learning. The study evaluates students' experiences with VR interconnectivity devices in human anatomy lectures using real-time 3D interactive data visualization. Utilizing the renowned "Guo & Pooles Inventory" and the "Flow for Presence Questionnaires," it used an experimental research design with a control and experimental group to assess this novel connecting strategy's effectiveness and significant potential for in-person and online educational settings during the sessions. The experimental group's interactions, engagement levels, and usability experiences were assessed using the "Guo & Pooles Inventory" and "Flow for Presence Questionnaires," which measure their sense of presence, engagement, and immersion throughout the learning process using a 5-point Likert scale. At the end of the sessions, we used the "Perceived Usability Scale" to find our proposed system's overall efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction. By comparing both groups, the students in the experimental group used the integrated VR environment and VR to non-VR devices, and their sense of presence and attentiveness was significantly improved, allowing for increased engagement by giving students diverse technological access. Furthermore, learners' flow states demonstrated increased absorption and focus levels, improving information retention and Perceived Usability. The findings of this study can help educational institutions optimize their technology-enhanced teaching methods for traditional classroom settings as well as distance-based learning, where building a sense of connection among remote learners is critical. This study will give significant insights into educational technology and its ongoing progress by analyzing engagement, interactivity, usability, satisfaction, and presence.

Keywords: interactive learning environments, human-computer interaction, virtual reality, computer- supported collaborative learning

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Authors: B.Benalioua, I.Benyamina, A.Bentouami, B.Boury

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The objective of this study is based on the synthesis of a new photocatalyst based on TiO2 and its application in the photo-degradation of an acid dye under the visible light. The material obtained was characterized by different techniques like diffuse reflectance UV–Vis spectroscopy (DRS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The photocatalytic efficiency of the Bi, Zn co-doped TiO2 treated at 670°C for 2 h was tested on the Indigo Carmine under the irradiation of visible light and compared with that of the commercial titanium oxide TiO2-P25 (Degussa). The XRD characterization of the material Bi-Zn-TiO2 (670°C) revealed the presence of the anatase phase and the absence of the rutile phase in comparison of the TiO2 P25 diffractogram. Characterization by UV- visible diffuse reflection (DRS) material showed that the Bi-Zn-TiO2 exhibits redshift (move visible) relative to commercial titanium oxide TiO2-P25, this property promises a photocatalytic activity of Bi-Zn-TiO2 under visible light. Indeed, the efficiency of photocatalytic Bi-Zn-TiO2 as a visible light is shown by a complete discoloration of indigo carmine solution of 16 mg/L after 70 minutes, whereas with the P25-TiO2 discoloration is achieved after 120 minutes.

Keywords: POA, heterogeneous photocatalysis, TiO2, co-doping

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Authors: B. Benalioua, I. Benyamina, A. Bentouami, B. Boury

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The objective of this study is based on the synthesis of a new photocatalyst based on TiO2 and its application in the photo-degradation of an acid dye under the visible light. The material obtained was characterized by different techniques like diffuse reflectance UV–Vis spectroscopy (DRS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The photocatalytic efficiency of the S, N co-doped TiO2 treated at 600°C for 1 h was tested on the Indigo Carmine under the irradiation of visible light and compared with that of the commercial titanium oxide TiO2-P25 (Degussa). The XRD characterization of the material S-N-TiO2 (600°C) revealed the presence of the anatase phase and the absence of the rutile phase in comparison of the TiO2 P25 diffractogram. Characterization by UV- visible diffuse reflection (DRS) material showed that the S-N-TiO2 exhibits redshift (move visible) relative to commercial titanium oxide TiO2-P25, this property promises a photocatalytic activity of S-N-TiO2 under visible light. Indeed, the efficiency of photocatalytic S-N-TiO2 as a visible light is shown by a complete discoloration of indigo carmine solution of 16 mg/L after 40 minutes, whereas with the P25-TiO2 discoloration is achieved after 90 minutes.

Keywords: POA, heterogeneous photocatalysis, TiO2, co-doping

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Authors: Gelareh Changizi, Mahsa Khajavi, Ladan Shahhosseini

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Corporate-level strategy, or simply ‘parent strategy’, is a topic that has received much attention since the very early days of the strategic planning field. Since the multi level enterprises have different sub enterprises which deal with different business environments, we cannot define the same strategic perspective for all of them. Therefore, the determination of a perspective to manage and deal with affiliates of such enterprises is the main challenge. The parent strategy in mother enterprises' level has been analyzed in this research. A case study has been carried to comprehensively describe the proposed model.

Keywords: parent strategy, multi-business companies, performance evaluation, lifecycle

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Authors: Ankita Jadon, Sidi Souvi, Nathalie Girault, Denis Petitprez

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Safety requirements for Generation IV nuclear reactor designs, especially the new generation sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFR) require a risk-informed approach to model severe accidents (SA) and their consequences in case of outside release. In SFRs, aerosols are produced during a core disruptive accident when primary system sodium is ejected into the containment and burn in contact with the air; producing sodium aerosols. One of the key aspects of safety evaluation is the in-containment sodium aerosol behavior and their interaction with fission products. The study of the effects of sodium fires is essential for safety evaluation as the fire can both thermally damage the containment vessel and cause an overpressurization risk. Besides, during the fire, airborne fission product first dissolved in the primary sodium can be aerosolized or, as it can be the case for fission products, released under the gaseous form. The objective of this work is to study the interactions between sodium aerosols and fission products (Iodine, toxic and volatile, being the primary concern). Sodium fires resulting from an SA would produce aerosols consisting of sodium peroxides, hydroxides, carbonates, and bicarbonates. In addition to being toxic (in oxide form), this aerosol will then become radioactive. If such aerosols are leaked into the environment, they can pose a danger to the ecosystem. Depending on the chemical affinity of these chemical forms with fission products, the radiological consequences of an SA leading to containment leak tightness loss will also be affected. This work is split into two phases. Firstly, a method to theoretically understand the kinetics and thermodynamics of the heterogeneous reaction between sodium aerosols and fission products: I2 and HI are proposed. Ab-initio, density functional theory (DFT) calculations using Vienna ab-initio simulation package are carried out to develop an understanding of the surfaces of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) aerosols and hence provide insight on its affinity towards iodine species. A comprehensive study of I2 and HI adsorption, as well as bicarbonate formation on the calculated lowest energy surface of Na2CO3, was performed which provided adsorption energies and description of the optimized configuration of adsorbate on the stable surface. Secondly, the heterogeneous reaction between (I2)g and Na2CO3 aerosols were investigated experimentally. To study this, (I2)g was generated by heating a permeation tube containing solid I2, and, passing it through a reaction chamber containing Na2CO3 aerosol deposit. The concentration of iodine was then measured at the exit of the reaction chamber. Preliminary observations indicate that there is an effective uptake of (I2)g on Na2CO3 surface, as suggested by our theoretical chemistry calculations. This work is the first step in addressing the gaps in knowledge of in-containment and atmospheric source term which are essential aspects of safety evaluation of SFR SA. In particular, this study is aimed to determine and characterize the radiological and chemical source term. These results will then provide useful insights for the developments of new models to be implemented in integrated computer simulation tool to analyze and evaluate SFR safety designs.

Keywords: iodine adsorption, sodium aerosols, sodium cooled reactor, DFT calculations, sodium carbonate

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Authors: Audrey Romero-Pelaez, Juan Carlos Morocho-Yunga

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The increasing amount of open educational resources (OER) published on the web for consumption in teaching and learning environments also generates a growing need to ensure the quality of these resources. The low level of OER discovery is one of the most significant drawbacks when faced with its reuse, and as a consequence, high-quality educational resources can go unnoticed. Metadata enables the discovery of resources on the web. The purpose of this study is to lay the foundations for open educational resources to achieve their first quality star within the Quality4OER Framework. In this study, we evaluate the quality of OER metadata and establish the main guidelines on metadata quality in this context.

Keywords: open educational resources, OER quality, quality metadata

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Authors: Mariangela Viviani, Daniele Germano, Simone Colace, Agostino Forestiero, Giuseppe Papuzzo, Sara Laurita

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Nowadays, people spend most of their time in closed environments, in offices, or at home. Therefore, secure and highly livable environmental conditions are needed to reduce the probability of aerial viruses spreading. Also, to lower the human impact on the planet, it is important to reduce energy consumption. Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems account for the major part of energy consumption in buildings [1]. Devising systems to control and regulate the airflow is, therefore, essential for energy efficiency. Moreover, an optimal setting for thermal comfort and air quality is essential for people’s well-being, at home or in offices, and increases productivity. Thanks to the features of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and techniques, it is possible to design innovative systems with: (i) Improved monitoring and prediction accuracy; (ii) Enhanced decision-making and mitigation strategies; (iii) Real-time air quality information; (iv) Increased efficiency in data analysis and processing; (v) Advanced early warning systems for air pollution events; (vi) Automated and cost-effective m onitoring network; and (vii) A better understanding of air quality patterns and trends. We propose AIR SAFE, an IoT-based infrastructure designed to optimize air quality and thermal comfort in indoor environments leveraging AI tools. AIR SAFE employs a network of smart sensors collecting indoor and outdoor data to be analyzed in order to take any corrective measures to ensure the occupants’ wellness. The data are analyzed through AI algorithms able to predict the future levels of temperature, relative humidity, and CO₂ concentration [2]. Based on these predictions, AIR SAFE takes actions, such as opening/closing the window or the air conditioner, to guarantee a high level of thermal comfort and air quality in the environment. In this contribution, we present the results from the AI algorithm we have implemented on the first s et o f d ata c ollected i n a real environment. The results were compared with other models from the literature to validate our approach.

Keywords: air quality, internet of things, artificial intelligence, smart home

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Authors: Sadaf H. Khan, Jyoti Kumar

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Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is a situation in which inhabitants of a building develop illness symptoms or get infected with a chronic disease as a result of the building in which they reside or work. Certain symptoms tend to get more severe as an individual spends more time in the building; however, they generally improve with time or even disappear when they leave that space. Though ‘Design of Built-Spaces’ is a crucial factor in regulating these symptoms but it still needs to be identified further as to what specific design features of a ‘Built-Space’ trigger sick building syndrome (SBS). Much of the research work present to date is focused on the physiological or physical sickness caused due to inappropriate built-space design. In this paper, the psychological aspects of sick building syndrome (SBS) will be investigated across the adult population, more specifically graduate students in India trying to settle in back to their previous physical work environments, i.e., campus, classrooms, hostels, after a very long hold which lasted more than a year due to lockdowns during Covid-19 crisis all over the world. The study will follow an analytical approach and the data will be collected through self-reported online surveys. The purpose of this study is to enquire causal agents, diagnosable symptoms and remedial design of built spaces which can enhance the productive level of built environments and better facilitate the inhabitants by improving their psychological wellbeing, which is the most uprising concern. The fact that SBS symptoms can be studied only within the initial few weeks as an occupant starts interacting with a built-environment and leaves as the occupant leaves that space or zone, the post-lockdown incoming of students back to their respective campuses provides an opportunity to clearly draw multiple conclusions of the relationship that exist between the Design of Built-Spaces and Psychological Sickness Syndrome associated with it. The study will be one of a kind approach for understanding and formulating methods to improve psychological wellbeing within a built-setting by better identifying factors associated with these psychological symptoms, including anxiety, mental fatigue, reduced attention span and reduced memory span as refined symptoms of SBS discussed in 1987 by Molhave within his study.

Keywords: built-environment psychology, built-space design, healthcare architecture, psychological wellbeing

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Authors: Eduardo F. Mello, Peter H. Bauer

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The primary focus of this paper is the generation of energy-optimal speed trajectories for heterogeneous electric vehicle platoons in urban driving conditions. Optimal speed trajectories are generated for individual vehicles and for an entire platoon under the assumption that they can be executed without errors, as would be the case for self-driving vehicles. It is then shown that the optimization for the “average vehicle in the platoon” generates similar transportation energy savings to optimizing speed trajectories for each vehicle individually. The introduced approach only requires the lead vehicle to run the optimization software while the remaining vehicles are only required to have adaptive cruise control capability. The achieved energy savings are typically between 30% and 50% for stop-to-stop segments in cities. The prime motivation of urban platooning comes from the fact that urban platoons efficiently utilize the available space and the minimization of transportation energy in cities is important for many reasons, i.e., for environmental, power, and range considerations.

Keywords: electric vehicles, energy efficiency, optimization, platooning, self-driving vehicles, urban traffic

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Authors: Maria E. Laconi, Kyla D. Scherr, Mary A. Jamieson

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Human populations in urban environments have rapidly grown in recent decades. Consequently, the intensity of land-use and development has also increased in many urban and peri-urban environments. Some cities, such as Detroit, Michigan, USA, have embraced urban agriculture and local food production. Little is known, however, about how the local and landscape scale environmental factors influence crop productivity on urban farms. Our study aims to evaluate factors influencing the productivity of strawberries on community farms and gardens in the Detroit metropolitan area. Strawberries are one of few fruits that can provide an abundant harvest just after the first season of being planted, which is ideal for urban gardeners in developed areas. In the spring of 2016, we planted six different strawberry cultivars (three everbearing and three June bearing varieties) at five farm sites in Wayne and Oakland County (six replicate plants per cultivar per site). We surveyed flower and fruit phenology and production for everbearing varieties weekly (flowers for June bearing varieties were removed to enhance productivity in the coming growing season). Additionally, we conducted one initial 36hr pollinator survey in mid-September during peak fruit production and characterized local and landscape scale land-cover data. Preliminary results and observations from this first year of our study revealed that strawberry production varied significantly by site. Specifically, productivity at our most northern site appeared to suffer from delayed phenology and early frost damage to ripening strawberries. Bee abundance and diversity also differed among farms, though further surveys are needed to adequately inventory the pollinator community. Finally, strawberry cultivars demonstrated significant differences in the number and size of fruits produced. We plan to continue this study in the coming years, increasing the number of sites surveyed and number of pollinator sampling events. Our study aims to inform strategies for enhancing crop productivity on urban and peri-urban farms.

Keywords: insect pollination, strawberry productivity, sustainable agriculture, urban gardening

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Authors: Sandeep Nath

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There are good stresses and bad stresses. To tell the difference, recognize early signs of stress, and label stress conditions correctly, we need to understand stress triggers and the mechanism of stress as it arises. By understanding this in our teenage years, we can be prepared to prevent harmful stress from escalating and ruining health, physical, mental, and emotional. We can also prepare others/peers to be stress-free. The understanding of this is available in a form closest to our natural being, in ancient oriental wisdom, and is brought together as actionable habits in the movement called RENEWALism. The constructs of RENEWALism Habits are detailed in this paper, and case studies are presented of teenagers who have been equipped with both capability and capacity to handle their situations and environments independently.

Keywords: habits, renewalism, stress, teenagers

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Authors: Fumane Portia Khanare

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This paper explores strategies to improve the psychosocial wellbeing of orphans and vulnerable learners (OVLs) in rural schools in Lesotho that seem essential for their success, in anticipation of, and in the context of global education. Various strategies to improve psychosocial wellbeing are considered necessary in that they are inclusive and buffer other forms of conditions beyond traditional and Eurocentric forms in orientation. Furthermore, they bring about the local experiences and particularly of the learners and schools in rural areas – all of which constitute ethnopsychology. COVID-19 pandemic has enthused the demands for collaboration and responsive support for learners within rural and many deprived contexts in Lesotho. However, the increase of OVLs in the education sector has also sparked the debate of how many rural schools with a lack of resources, inadequate teacher training, declining unemployment and the detriment of COVID-19 throughout Lesotho affected the psychosocial wellbeing of these learners. In some cases, the pandemic has created opportunities to explore existing, forgotten or ignored resources dated back to the pre-colonial era in Lesotho, and emphasizing to have an optimistic outlook on life as a result of collaboration and appreciating local knowledge. In order to scale up the psychosocial wellbeing of OVLs, there is a need to explore various strategies to improve their psychosocial wellbeing, in which all learners can succeed during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, thereby promoting the agency of young people from the rural areas towards building supportive learning environments. The paper draws on qualitative participatory arts-based study data generated by 30 learners in two rural secondary schools in Lesotho. Thematic analysis was employed to provide an in-depth understanding of learners' psychosocial needs and strategies to improve their psychosocial wellbeing. The paper is guided by ethnopsychology – a strength-based perspective, which posits that in the most difficult situations, individuals including, young people have strengths, can collaborate and find solutions that respond to their challenges. This was done by examining how various facets of their environments such as peers, teachers, schools’ environment, family and community played out in creating supportive strategies to improve the psychosocial wellbeing of OVLs which buffer the successful completion of their secondary school education. It is recommended that ethnopsychology should recognise and be used under the realm of positive wellbeing in rural schools in Lesotho.

Keywords: arts-based research, ethnopsychology, Lesotho, orphans and vulnerable learners, psychosocial wellbeing, rural schools.

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Authors: Fumane Portia Khanare

Abstract:

This paper explores strategies to improve the psychosocial wellbeing of orphans and vulnerable learners (OVLs) in rural schools in Lesotho that seem essential for their success, in anticipation of, and in the context of global education. Various strategies to improve the psychosocial wellbeing are considered necessary in that they are inclusive and buffer other forms of conditions beyond traditional and Eurocentric forms in orientation. Furthermore, they bring about the local experiences and particularly of the learners and schools in rural areas – all of which constitute ethnopsychology. COVID-19 pandemic has enthused the demands for collaboration and responsive support for learners within rural and many deprived contexts in Lesotho. However, the increase of OVLs in the education sector has also sparked the debate of how much rural schools with lack of resources, inadequate teacher training, declining unemployment and the detriment of COVID-19 throughout Lesotho affected the psychosocial wellbeing of these learners. In some cases, the pandemic has created opportunities to explore existing, forgotten or ignored resources dated back to pre-colonial era in Lesotho, and emphasizing to have an optimistic outlook on life as a result of collaboration and appreciating local knowledge. In order to scale up the psychosocial wellbeing of OVLs there is a need to explore various strategies to improve their psychosocial wellbeing, in which all learners can succeed during COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, thereby promoting agency of young people from the rural areas towards building supportive learning environments. The paper draws on a qualitative participatory arts-based study data generated by 30 learners in two rural secondary schools in Lesotho. Thematic analysis was employed to provide an in-depth understanding of learners' psychosocial needs and strategies to improve their psychosocial wellbeing. The paper is guided by ethnopsychology – a strength-based perspective, which posit that in the most difficult situations, individual including, young people have strengths, can collaborate and find solutions that respond to their challenges. This was done by examining how various facets of their environments such as peers, teachers, schools’ environment, family and community played out in creating supportive strategies to improve the psychosocial wellbeing of OVLs which buffer their successful completion of their secondary school education. It is recommended that ethnopsychology should recognised and be used under the realm of positive wellbeing in rural schools in Lesotho.

Keywords: arts-based research, ethnopsychology, orphans and vulnerable learners, Lesotho, psychosocial wellbeing, rural schools

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Authors: Andy Wang

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Personalized learning refers to an educational approach that tailors instruction to meet the unique needs, interests, and abilities of each learner. This method of learning aims at providing students with a customized learning experience that is more engaging, interactive, and relevant to their personal lives. With generative AI technology, the author has developed a Personal Tutoring Bot (PTB) that supports personalized learning. The author is currently testing PTB in his EE 499 – Microelectronics Metrology course. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) provide interactive and immersive learning environments that can engage student in online learning. This paper presents the rationale of integrating VR/AR tools in PTB and discusses challenges and solutions of incorporating VA/AR into the Personal Tutoring Bot (PTB).

Keywords: personalized learning, online education, hands-on practice, VR/AR tools

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Authors: Loizos A. Hadjivasiliou, May Chehab

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Confronted with the human tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean during the 2011-2016 period, the European Union introduced for the first time the “hotspot approach”, the establishment of facilities for initial reception, identification registration, and fingerprinting of asylum seekers and migrants arriving in the EU by sea, at the frontline Member States. However, the lack of a comprehensive collective policy on migration management and border security left the Mediterranean Member States, mainly Italy, Greece, and Cyprus, struggling to overcome these challenges. The current study sheds light on the implementation of the hotspot approach as the frontispiece of the European response to the migration challenges, which, limited to the operational and financial support of the hosting member states, leads to heterogeneous burden-sharing. Within this framework, it highlights the fact that the implementation of the hotspots as a panacea carries the risk of transforming the Mediterranean member states into giant hotspots with unpredictable consequences for the future of the Schengen area.

Keywords: asylum, burden sharing, hotspots, migration management policy, Schengen area

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Authors: Ouafek Nora, Keghouche Nassira, Dehdouh Heider, Untidt Carlos

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A lot of knowledge has been accumulated on the metal clusters supported on oxide surfaces because of their multiple applications in microelectronics, heterogeneous catalysis, and magnetic devices. In this work, the surface state of Ni / MgO has been studied by XPS (X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy). The samples were prepared by impregnation with ion exchange Ni²⁺ / MgO, followed by either a thermal treatment in air (T = 100 -350 ° C) or a gamma irradiation (dose 100 kGy, 25 kGy dose rate h -1). The obtained samples are named after impregnation NMI, NMR after irradiation, and finally NMC(T) after calcination at the temperature T (T = 100-600 °C). A structural study by XRD and HRTEM reveals the presence of nanoscaled Ni-Mg intermetallic phases (Mg₂Ni, MgNi₂, and Mg₆Ni) and magnesium hydroxide. Mg(OH)₂ in nanometric range (2- 4 nm). Mg-Ni compounds are of great interest in energy fields (hydrogen storage…). XPS spectra show two Ni2p peaks at energies of about 856.1 and 861.9 eV, indicating that the nickel is primarily in an oxidized state on the surface. The shift of the main peak relative to the pure NiO (856.1 instead of 854.0 eV) suggests that in addition to oxygen, nickel is engaged in another link with magnesium. This is in agreement with the O1s spectra which present an overlap of peaks corresponds to NiO and MgO, at a calcination temperature T ≤ 300 °C.

Keywords: XPS, XRD, nanoparticules, Ni-MgO

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Authors: Faiz Ul Haque Zeya

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In this paper, Fapitow’s bidding strategy and approach to participate in Travel Agent Competition (TAC) is described. Previously, Fapitow is designed using the agents provided by the TAC Team and mainly used their modification for developing our strategy. But later, by observing the behavior of the agent, it is decided to come up with strategies that will be the main cause of improved utilities of the agent, and by theoretical examination, it is evident that the strategies will provide a significant improvement in performance which is later proved by agent’s performance in the games. The techniques and strategies for further possible improvement are also described. TAC provides a real-time, uncertain environment for learning, experimenting, and implementing various AI techniques. Some lessons learned about handling uncertain environments are also presented.

Keywords: agent, travel agent competition, bidding, TAC

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Authors: Alessandra Swiny, Michalis Georgiou, Yiorgos Hadjichristou

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This paper focuses on the questions raised through the work of Unit 5: ‘In/Out of crisis, emergent and adaptive’; an architectural research-based studio at the University of Nicosia. It focusses on sustainable architectural and urban explorations tackling with the ever growing crises in its various types, phases and locations. ‘Great crisis situations’ are seen as ‘great chances’ that trigger investigations for further development and evolution of the built environment in an ultimate sustainable approach. The crisis is taken as an opportunity to rethink the urban and architectural directions as new forces for inventions leading to emergent and adaptive built environments. The Unit 5’s identity and environment facilitates the students to respond optimistically, alternatively and creatively towards the global current crisis. Mark Wigley’s notion that “crises are ultimately productive” and “They force invention” intrigued and defined the premises of the Unit. ‘Weather and nature are coauthors of the built environment’ Jonathan Hill states in his ‘weather architecture’ discourse. The weather is constantly changing and new environments, the subnatures are created which derived from the human activities David Gissen explains. The above set of premises triggered innovative responses by the Unit’s students. They thoroughly investigated the various kinds of crisis and their causes in relation to their various types of Terrains. The tools used for the research and investigation were chosen in contradictive pairs to generate further crisis situations: The re-used/salvaged competed with the new, the handmade rivalling with the fabrication, the analogue juxtaposed with digital. Students were asked to delve into state of art technologies in order to propose sustainable emergent and adaptive architectures and Urbanities, having though always in mind that the human and the social aspects of the community should be the core of the investigation. The resulting unprecedented spatial conditions and atmospheres of the emergent new ways of living are deemed to be the ultimate aim of the investigation. Students explored a variety of sites and crisis conditions such as: The vague terrain of the Green Line in Nicosia, the lost footprints of the sinking Venice, the endangered Australian coral reefs, the earthquake torn town of Crevalcore, and the decaying concrete urbanscape of Athens. Among other projects, ‘the plume project’ proposes a cloud-like, floating and almost dream-like living environment with unprecedented spatial conditions to the inhabitants of the coal mine of Centralia, USA, not just to enable them to survive but even to prosper in this unbearable environment due to the process of the captured plumes of smoke and heat. Existing water wells inspire inversed vertical structures creating a new living underground network, protecting the nomads from catastrophic sand storms in the Araoune of Mali. “Inverted utopia: Lost things in the sand”, weaves a series of tea-houses and a library holding lost artifacts and transcripts into a complex underground labyrinth by the utilization of the sand solidification technology. Within this methodology, crisis is seen as a mechanism for allowing an emergence of new and fascinating ultimate sustainable future cultures and cities.

Keywords: adaptive built environments, crisis as opportunity, emergent urbanities, forces for inventions

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Authors: Budi Annisa Sidi

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Present-day Indonesia maintains a narrative of a culturally plural but unified nation. At the same time, multicultural policies extend different degrees of recognition, accommodation, toleration and even discrimination towards different socio-cultural groups. In conjunction with different ethnographic landscapes across regions in Indonesia, this approach leads to a varied experience and understanding of national identity and multiculturalism among people. As a result, governments seeking to maintain national unity while practicing multiculturalism have to juggle different expectations. This situation is examined through the microcosms of university students using questionnaires followed up by focus group discussions and personal interviews. A comparison between university students across four different provinces in Indonesia (Aceh, Jakarta, West Java and the Moluccas) highlights the influence of one’s surroundings on their perception of multiculturalism. Students in the more heterogeneous areas generally show more acceptance towards diversity compared to students in primarily homogenous areas who have little actual experience in dealing with diversity. Regardless of their environment, students claim to have positive feelings and a strong sense of attachment to Indonesia but hold different ideas of what constitutes an ideal Indonesian national identity.

Keywords: Indonesia, multiculturalism, national identity, nationalism

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Authors: Vine Petzer, Mirna Nel

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An explanatory mixed method design was used to investigate accounting classroom conditions in the Further Education and Training (FET) Phase in South Africa. A descriptive survey research study with a heterogeneous group of learners and teachers was conducted in the first phase. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured individual interviews with learners and teachers, as well as observations in the accounting classroom, were employed to gain more in depth understanding of the learning conditions in the accounting classroom. The findings of the empirical research informed the development of a model for teachers in accounting, supporting them to use more effective teaching methods and create positive learning conditions for all learners to experience successful learning. A model towards creating positive Accounting classroom conditions that support successful learning was developed and recommended for education policy and decision-makers for use as a classroom intervention capacity building tool. The model identifies and delineates classroom practices that exert significant effect on learner attainment of quality education.

Keywords: accounting classroom conditions, positive education, successful learning, teaching accounting

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Authors: Fuad H. Veliev

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Negative pressure phenomenon appears in many thermodynamic, geophysical and biophysical processes in the Nature and technological systems. For more than 100 years of the laboratory researches beginning from F. M. Donny’s tests, the great values of negative pressure have been achieved. But this phenomenon has not been practically applied, being only a nice lab toy due to the special demands for the purity and homogeneity of the liquids for its appearance. The possibility of creation of direct wave of negative pressure in real heterogeneous liquid systems was confirmed experimentally under the certain kinetic and hydraulic conditions. The negative pressure can be considered as the factor of both useful and destroying energies. The new approach to generation of the negative pressure waves in impure, unclean fluids has allowed the creation of principally new energy saving technologies and installations to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of different production processes. It was proved that the negative pressure is one of the main factors causing hard troubles in some technological and natural processes. Received results emphasize the necessity to take into account the role of the negative pressure as an energy factor in evaluation of many transient thermohydrodynamic processes in the Nature and production systems.

Keywords: liquid systems, negative pressure, temperature, wave, metastable state

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Authors: Fatna Benmessaoud, Mohammed Cheikh, Vencent Velay, Vanessa Vedal, Farhad Rezai-Aria, Christine Boher

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The global mechanical behavior of materials is strongly linked to their microstructure, especially their crystallographic texture and their grains morphology. These material aspects determine the mechanical fields character (heterogeneous or homogeneous), thus, they give to the global behavior a degree of anisotropy according the initial microstructure. For these reasons, the prediction of global behavior of materials in relationship with the microstructure must be performed with a multi-scale approach. Therefore, multi-scale modeling in the context of crystal plasticity is widely used. In this present contribution, a phenomenological elasto-viscoplastic model developed in the crystal plasticity context and finite element method are used to investigate the effects of crystallographic texture and grains sizes on global behavior of a polycrystalline equiaxed Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The constitutive equations of this model are written on local scale for each slip system within each grain while the strain and stress mechanical fields are investigated at the global scale via finite element scale transition. The beta phase of Ti-6Al-4V alloy modeled is negligible; its percent is less than 10%. Three families of slip systems of alpha phase are considered: basal and prismatic families with a burgers vector and pyramidal family with a burgers vector. The twinning mechanism of plastic strain is not observed in Ti-6Al-4V, therefore, it is not considered in the present modeling. Nine representative elementary volumes (REV) are generated with Voronoi tessellations. For each individual equiaxed grain, the own crystallographic orientation vis-à-vis the loading is taken into account. The meshing strategy is optimized in a way to eliminate the meshing effects and at the same time to allow calculating the individual grain size. The stress and strain fields are determined in each Gauss point of the mesh element. A post-treatment is used to calculate the local behavior (in each grain) and then by appropriate homogenization, the macroscopic behavior is calculated. The developed model is validated by comparing the numerical simulation results with an experimental data reported in the literature. It is observed that the present model is able to predict the global mechanical behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy and investigate the microstructural parameters' effects. According to the simulations performed on the generated volumes (REV), the macroscopic mechanical behavior of Ti-6Al-4V is strongly linked to the active slip systems family (prismatic, basal or pyramidal). The crystallographic texture determines which family of slip systems can be activated; therefore it gives to the plastic strain a heterogeneous character thus an anisotropic macroscopic mechanical behavior. The average grains size influences also the Ti-6Al-4V mechanical proprieties, especially the yield stress; by decreasing of the average grains size, the yield strength increases according to Hall-Petch relationship. The grains sizes' distribution gives to the strain fields considerable heterogeneity. By increasing grain sizes, the scattering in the localization of plastic strain is observed, thus, in certain areas the stress concentrations are stronger than other regions.

Keywords: microstructural parameters, multi-scale modeling, crystal plasticity, Ti-6Al-4V alloy

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Authors: B. Benalioua, I. Benyamina, A. Bentouami, B. Boury

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The objective of this study is based on the synthesis of a new photocatalyst based on TiO2 and its application in the photo-degradation of an acid dye under the visible light. The material obtained was characterized by different techniques like diffuse reflectance UV–Vis spectroscopy (DRS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The photocatalytic efficiency of the Bi, N co-doped TiO2 treated at 600°C for 1 h was tested on the Indigo Carmine under the irradiation of visible light and compared with that of the commercial titanium oxide TiO2-P25 (Degussa). The XRD characterization of the material Bi -N- TiO2 (600°C) revealed the presence of the anatase phase and the absence of the rutile phase in comparison of the TiO2 P25 diffractogram. Characterization by UV- visible diffuse reflection (DRS) material showed that the Bi-N-TiO2 exhibits redshift (move visible) relative to commercial titanium oxide TiO2-P25, this property promises a photocatalytic activity of Bi-N-TiO2 under visible light. Indeed, the efficiency of photocatalytic Bi-N-TiO2 as a visible light is shown by a complete discoloration of indigo carmine solution of 16 mg/L after 40 minutes, whereas with the P25-TiO2 discoloration is achieved after 90 minutes.

Keywords: POA, heterogeneous photocatalysis, TiO2, co-doping

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Authors: Keunhong Chae, Seokho Yoon

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We propose a code acquisition scheme called improved multiple-shift (IMS) for optical code division multiple access systems, where the optical orthogonal code is used instead of the pseudo noise code. Although the IMS algorithm has a similar process to that of the conventional MS algorithm, it has a better code acquisition performance than the conventional MS algorithm. We analyze the code acquisition performance of the IMS algorithm and compare the code acquisition performances of the MS and the IMS algorithms in single-user and multi-user environments.

Keywords: code acquisition, optical CDMA, optical orthogonal code, serial algorithm

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Authors: Alexander A. Karabutov, Natalia B. Podymova, Elena B. Cherepetskaya, Vladimir A. Makarov, Yulia G. Sokolovskaya

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The laser-ultrasonic method is realized for quantifying the influence of porosity on the local Young’s modulus of isotropic composite materials. The method is based on a laser generation of ultrasound pulses combined with measurement of the phase velocity of longitudinal and shear acoustic waves in samples. The main advantage of this method compared with traditional ultrasonic research methods is the efficient generation of short and powerful probing acoustic pulses required for reliable testing of ultrasound absorbing and scattering heterogeneous materials. Using as an example samples of a metal matrix composite with reinforcing microparticles of silicon carbide in various concentrations, it is shown that to provide an effective increase in Young’s modulus with increasing concentration of microparticles, the porosity of the final sample should not exceed 2%.

Keywords: laser ultrasonic, longitudinal and shear ultrasonic waves, porosity, composite, local elastic moduli

Procedia PDF Downloads 335