Search results for: demand theory

Authors: Igone Guerra, Xabier Barandiaran

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The deep crisis (economic, social and cultural) in which Europe and Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country (Spain), have been immersed in since 2008 forces governments to face a necessary transformation. These challenges demand different solutions and answers to meet the needs of the citizens. Adapting to continuous and sometimes abrupt changes in the social and political landscape requires an undeniable will to reinvent the way in which governments practice politics. This reinvention of government should help us build different organizations that, first, develop challenging public services, second, respond effectively to the needs of the citizens, and third, manage scarce resources, ultimately offering a contemporary concept of public value. In this context, the Etorkizuna Eraikiz initiative was designed to face the future challenges of the territory in a collaborative way. The aim of the initiative is to promote an alternative form of governance to generate common good and greater public value. In Etorkizuna Eraikiz democratic values, such as collaboration, participation, and accountability are prominent. This government approach is based on several features such as the creation of relational spaces to design and deliberate about the public politics or the promotion of a team-working approach, breaking down the silos between and within organizations, as an exercise in defining a shared vision regarding the Future of the Territory. A future in which the citizens are becoming actors in the problem-solving process and in the construction of a culture of participation and collective learning. In this paper, the Etorkizuna Eraikiz initiative will be presented (vision and methodology) as a model of a local approach to public policy innovation resulting in a way of governance that is more open and collaborative. Based on this case study, this paper explores the way in which collaborative governance leads to better decisions, better leadership, and better citizenry. Finally, the paper also describes some preliminary findings of this local approach, such as the level of knowledge of the citizenry about the projects promoted within Etorkizuna Eraikiz as well as the link between the challenges of the territory, as identified by the citizenry, and the political agenda promoted by the provincial government. Regarding the former, the Survey on the socio-political situation of Gipuzkoa showed that 27.9% of the respondents confirmed that they knew about the projects promoted within the initiative and gave it a mark of 5.71. In connection with the latter, over the last three years, 65 millions of euros have been allocated for a total of 73 projects that have covered socio-economic and political challenges such as aging, climate change, mobility, participation in democratic life, and so on. This governance approach of Etorkizuna Eraikiz has allowed the local government to match the needs of citizens to the political agenda fostering in this way a shared vision about the public value.

Keywords: collaborative governance, citizen participation, public good, social listening, public innovation

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Authors: Elif D. Oguz Erkal, David Krackhardt, Erica Cochran-Hameen

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Even though social network analysis (SNA) is an abundantly studied concept for many organizations and industries, a clear SNA approach to the project teams has not yet been adopted by the construction industry. The main challenges for performing SNA in construction and the apparent reason for this gap is the unique and complex structure of each construction project, the comparatively high circulation of project team members/contributing parties and the variety of authentic problems for each project. Additionally, there are stakeholders from a variety of professional backgrounds collaborating in a high-stress environment fueled by time and cost constraints. Within this case study on Project RE, a design & build project performed at the Urban Design Build Studio of Carnegie Mellon University, social network analysis of the project design team will be performed with the main goal of applying social network theory to construction project environments. The research objective is to determine a correlation between the network of how individuals relate to each other on one’s perception of their own professional strengths and weaknesses and the communication patterns within the team and the group dynamics. Data is collected through a survey performed over four rounds conducted monthly, detailed follow-up interviews and constant observations to assess the natural alteration in the network with the effect of time. The data collected is processed by the means of network analytics and in the light of the qualitative data collected with observations and individual interviews. This paper presents the full ethnography of this construction design team of fourteen architecture students based on an elaborate social network data analysis over time. This study is expected to be used as an initial step to perform a refined, targeted and large-scale social network data collection in construction projects in order to deduce the impacts of social networks on project performance and suggest better collaboration structures for construction project teams henceforth.

Keywords: construction design teams, construction project management, social network analysis, team collaboration, network analytics

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Authors: Nourhane Mohamed El Haridi, Mostafa El Arabi, Zeyad El Sayad

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Biomimicry is defined, by Benyus the natural sciences writer, as imitating or taking inspiration from nature’s forms and processes to solve human problems. Biomimicry is the conscious emulation of life’s genius. As the design community realizes the tremendous impact human constructions have on the world, environmental designers look to new approaches like biomimicry to advance sustainable design. Building leading the declaration made by biomimicry scientists that a full imitation of nature engages form, ecosystem, and process; this paper uses a logic approach to interpret human and environmental wholeness. Designers would benefit from both integrating social theory with environmental thinking and from combining their substantive skills with techniques for getting sustainable biomimic urban design. Integrating biomimicryʹs “Life’s Principles” into a built environment process model will make biomimicry more accessible and thus more widely accepted throughout the industry, and the sustainability of all species will benefit. The Biomimicry Guild hypothesizes the incorporation of these principles, called Lifeʹs Principles, increase the likelihood of sustainability for a respective design, and make it more likely that the design will have a greater impact on sustainability for future generations of all species as mentioned by Benyus in her book. This thesis utilizes Life’s Principles as a foundation for a design process model intended for application on built environment projects at various scales. This paper takes a look at the importance of the integration of biomimicry in urban design to get more sustainable cities and better life, by analyzing the principles of both sustainability and biomimicry, and applying these ideas on futuristic or existing cities to make a biomimic sustainable city more healthier and more conductive to life, and get a better biomimic urban design. A group of experts, architects, biologists, scientists, economists and ecologists should work together to face all the financial and designing difficulties, to have better solutions and good innovative ideas for biomimic sustainable urban design, it is not the only solution, but it is one of the best studies for a better future.

Keywords: biomimicry, built environment, sustainability, urban design

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Authors: Robert Ogbanje Okwori

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The research studied expository and simulation method of teaching woodwork at Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to compare expository and simulation method of teaching woodwork and determine the method that is more effective in improving performance of students in woodwork. Two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Fifteen objective questions and two theory questions were used for data collection. The questions set were on structure of timber. The study used the quasi experimental design. The population of the study consisted of 25 woodwork students of Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria and three hundred (300) level students were used for the study. The lesson plans for expository method and questions were validated by three lecturers in the Department of Industrial and Technology Education, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria. The validators checked the appropriates of test items and all the corrections and inputs were effected before administration of the instrument. Data obtained were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test statistical tool. The null hypotheses were formulated and tested using t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that simulation method of teaching has improved students’ performance in woodwork and the performance of the students was not influenced by gender. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that there was a significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught woodwork using simulation method. This implies that simulation method is more effective than expository method of teaching woodwork. Therefore, woodwork teachers should adopt simulation method of teaching woodwork towards better performance. It was recommended that simulation method should be used by woodwork lecturers to teach woodwork since students perform better using the method and also the teachers needs to be trained and re-trained in using simulation method for teaching woodwork. Teachers should be encouraged to use simulation method for their instructional delivery because it will allow them to identify their areas of strength and weakness when imparting knowledge to woodwork students. Government and different agencies should assist in procuring materials and equipment for wood workshops to enable students effectively practice what they have been taught using simulation method.

Keywords: comparative, expository, simulation, woodwork

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Authors: Annika Stechemesser, Rachel Pounds, Emma Lucas, Chris Dawson, Julia Lipecki, Pavle Vrljicak, Jan Brosens, Sean Kehoe, Jason Yap, Lawrence Young, Sascha Ott

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Advances in technology make it now possible to retrieve the genetic information of thousands of single cancerous cells. One of the key challenges in single cell analysis of cancerous tissue is to determine the number of different cell types and their characteristic genes within the sample to better understand the tumors and their reaction to different treatments. For this analysis to be possible, it is crucial to filter out background noise as it can severely blur the downstream analysis and give misleading results. In-depth analysis of the state-of-the-art filtering methods for single cell data showed that they do, in some cases, not separate noisy and normal cells sufficiently. We introduced an algorithm that filters and clusters single cell data simultaneously without relying on certain genes or thresholds chosen by eye. It detects communities in a Shared Nearest Neighbor similarity network, which captures the similarities and dissimilarities of the cells by optimizing the modularity and then identifies and removes vertices with a weak clustering belonging. This strategy is based on the fact that noisy data instances are very likely to be similar to true cell types but do not match any of these wells. Once the clustering is complete, we apply a set of evaluation metrics on the cluster level and accept or reject clusters based on the outcome. The performance of our algorithm was tested on three datasets and led to convincing results. We were able to replicate the results on a Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells dataset. Furthermore, we applied the algorithm to two samples of ovarian cancer from the same patient before and after chemotherapy. Comparing the standard approach to our algorithm, we found a hidden cell type in the ovarian postchemotherapy data with interesting marker genes that are potentially relevant for medical research.

Keywords: cancer research, graph theory, machine learning, single cell analysis

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Authors: Muncharee Phaobthip

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In this research, the researcher re-examine the mediating effect of employee engagement between its antecedents and consequences for investigates the relation of leadership practices, employment branding and employee engagement based on social exchange theory. As such the researcher has four objectives as follows: First, to study the effects of leadership practices on employment branding, employee engagement and work intention; second, to examine the effects of employer brand perception on employee engagement and work intention; third, to examine the effects of employee engagement on work intention; and last, forth, the researcher inquires into the respondence of work intention. The researcher constituted a sample population of 535 employees of a Thai hotel chain located in four regions of the Kingdom of Thailand (Thailand). The researcher utilized a mixed-methods approach divided into quantitative and qualitative research investigatory phases, respectively. In the quantitative phase of research investigation, the researcher collected germane data from the 535 members of the sample population through the use of a questionnaire as a research instrument. In the qualitative phase of research investigation, relevant data were obtained through carrying out in-depth interviews with three subgroups of members of the sample population. These three subgroups consisted of twelve hotelier experts, six employees at the administrator level, and operational level employees. Focus group discussions were held with discussants from these three subgroups. Findings are as follows: Leadership practices showed positive effects on employment branding, employee engagement, and work intention. Employment branding displayed positive effects on employee engagement and work intention. Employee engagement had positive effects on work intention. However, in the analysis of the equation, the researcher confirmed that the important role of employee engagement is mediator factor between its antecedent and consequence factors. This provides benefits, in that it augments the body of knowledge devoted to the fostering of employee engagement in respect to psychological conditions. In conclusion, the researcher found that the value co-creation between leaders, employers and employees had positive effects on employee outcomes for lead to business outcomes according to reciprocal rule.

Keywords: antecedents, employee engagement, psychological conditions, work intention

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Authors: Yesim Tumsek, Erkan Celebi

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In order to simulate the infinite soil medium for soil-foundation interaction problem, the essential geotechnical parameter on which the foundation stiffness depends, is the value of soil shear modulus. This parameter directly affects the site and structural response of the considered model under earthquake ground motions. Strain-dependent shear modulus under cycling loads makes difficult to estimate the accurate value in computation of foundation stiffness for the successful dynamic soil-structure interaction analysis. The aim of this study is to discuss in detail how to use the appropriate value of soil shear modulus in the computational analyses and to evaluate the effect of the variation in shear modulus with strain on the impedance functions used in the sub-structure method for idealizing the soil-foundation interaction problem. Herein, the impedance functions compose of springs and dashpots to represent the frequency-dependent stiffness and damping characteristics at the soil-foundation interface. Earthquake-induced vibration energy is dissipated into soil by both radiation and hysteretic damping. Therefore, flexible-base system damping, as well as the variability in shear strengths, should be considered in the calculation of impedance functions for achievement a more realistic dynamic soil-foundation interaction model. In this study, it has been written a Matlab code for addressing these purposes. The case-study example chosen for the analysis is considered as a 4-story reinforced concrete building structure located in Istanbul consisting of shear walls and moment resisting frames with a total height of 12m from the basement level. The foundation system composes of two different sized strip footings on clayey soil with different plasticity (Herein, PI=13 and 16). In the first stage of this study, the shear modulus reduction factor was not considered in the MATLAB algorithm. The static stiffness, dynamic stiffness modifiers and embedment correction factors of two rigid rectangular foundations measuring 2m wide by 17m long below the moment frames and 7m wide by 17m long below the shear walls are obtained for translation and rocking vibrational modes. Afterwards, the dynamic impedance functions of those have been calculated for reduced shear modulus through the developed Matlab code. The embedment effect of the foundation is also considered in these analyses. It can easy to see from the analysis results that the strain induced in soil will depend on the extent of the earthquake demand. It is clearly observed that when the strain range increases, the dynamic stiffness of the foundation medium decreases dramatically. The overall response of the structure can be affected considerably because of the degradation in soil stiffness even for a moderate earthquake. Therefore, it is very important to arrive at the corrected dynamic shear modulus for earthquake analysis including soil-structure interaction.

Keywords: clay soil, impedance functions, soil-foundation interaction, sub-structure approach, reduced shear modulus

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Authors: İlkay Özer Erselcan, Abdi Kükner, Gökhan Ceylan

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The power generated by eight point absorber type wave energy converters each having a different buoy are calculated in order to investigate the performances of buoys in this study. The calculations are carried out by modeling three different sea states observed in two different locations in the Black Sea. The floats analyzed in this study have two basic geometries and four different draft/radius (d/r) ratios. The buoys possess the shapes of a semi-ellipsoid and a semi-elliptic paraboloid. Additionally, the draft/radius ratios range from 0.25 to 1 by an increment of 0.25. The radiation forces acting on the buoys due to the oscillatory motions of these bodies are evaluated by employing a 3D panel method along with a distribution of 3D pulsating sources in frequency domain. On the other hand, the wave forces acting on the buoys which are taken as the sum of Froude-Krylov forces and diffraction forces are calculated by using linear wave theory. Furthermore, the wave energy converters are assumed to be taut-moored to the seabed so that the secondary body which houses a power take-off system oscillates with much smaller amplitudes compared to the buoy. As a result, it is assumed that there is not any significant contribution to the power generation from the motions of the housing body and the only contribution to power generation comes from the buoy. The power take-off systems of the wave energy converters are high pressure oil hydraulic systems which are identical in terms of their characteristic parameters. The results show that the power generated by wave energy converters which have semi-ellipsoid floats is higher than that of those which have semi elliptic paraboloid floats in both locations and in all sea states. It is also determined that the power generated by the wave energy converters follow an unsteady pattern such that they do not decrease or increase with changing draft/radius ratios of the floats. Although the highest power level is obtained with a semi-ellipsoid float which has a draft/radius ratio equal to 1, other floats of which the draft/radius ratio is 0.25 delivered higher power that the floats with a draft/radius ratio equal to 1 in some cases.

Keywords: Black Sea, buoys, hydraulic power take-off system, wave energy converters

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Authors: Zelalem Teshager

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The Choke Mountains have several endangered and endemic wildlife species and provide important ecosystem services. Despite their environmental importance, the Choke Mountains are found in dangerous conditions. This raised the need for an evaluation of the community's perception of deforestation and its major drivers and suggested possible solutions in the Choke Mountains of northwestern Ethiopia. For this purpose, household surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions were used. A total sample of 102 informants was used for this survey. A purposive sampling technique was applied to select the participants for in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses were used. Computation of descriptive statistics such as mean, percentages, frequency, tables, figures, and graphs was applied to organize, analyze, and interpret the study. This study assessed smallholder agricultural land expansion, Fuel wood collection, population growth; encroachment, free grazing, high demand of construction wood, unplanned resettlement, unemployment, border conflict, lack of a strong forest protecting system, and drought were the serious causes of forest depletion reported by local communities. Loss of land productivity, Soil erosion, soil fertility decline, increasing wind velocity, rising temperature, and frequency of drought were the most perceived impacts of deforestation. Most of the farmers have a holistic understanding of forest cover change. Strengthening forest protection, improving soil and water conservation, enrichment planting, awareness creation, payment for ecosystem services, and zero grazing campaigns were mentioned as possible solutions to the current state of deforestation. Applications of Intervention measures, such as animal fattening, beekeeping, and fruit production can contribute to decreasing the deforestation causes and improve communities’ livelihood. In addition, concerted efforts of conservation will ensure that the forests’ ecosystems contribute to increased ecosystem services. The major drivers of deforestation should be addressed with government intervention to change dependency on forest resources, income sources of the people, and institutional set-up of the forestry sector. Overall, further reduction in anthropogenic pressure is urgent and crucial for the recovery of the afro-alpine vegetation and the interrelated endangered wildlife in the Choke Mountains.

Keywords: choke afro-alpine, deforestation, drivers, intervention measures, perceptions

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Authors: H. B. Grobler, K. Du Plooy, P. Kruger, S. Ellis

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Objectives: The primary objective of the study was to determine the common mental disorders (CMD) identified by professional South African rugby players and its correlation with their mental toughness, as a first step towards developing such a programme within a larger research project. Design: Survey research, within the theoretical perspective of field theory, was conducted, utilising an adaptation of an already existing mental health questionnaire. The aim was to obtain feedback from as many possible professional South African rugby players in order to make certain generalizations and come to conclusions with regard to the current mental health experiences of these rugby players. Methods: Non-randomized sampling was done, linking it with internet research in the form of the online completion of a questionnaire. A sample of 215 rugby players participated and completed the online questionnaire. Permission was obtained to make use of an existing questionnaire, previously used by the specific authors with retired professional rugby players. A section on mental toughness was added. Data were descriptively analysed by means of the SPSS software platform. Results: Results indicated that the most significant problem that the players are experiencing, is a problem with alcohol (47.9%). Other problems that featured are distress (16.3%), sleep disturbances (7%), as well as anxiety and depression (4.2%). 4.7% of the players indicated that they smoke. 3.3% of the players experience themselves as not being mentally tough. A positive correlation between mental toughness and sound sleep (0.262) was found while a negative correlation was found between mental toughness and the following: anxiety/depression (-0.401), anxiety/depression positive (-0.423), distress (-0.259) and common mental disorder problems in general (-0.220). Conclusions: Although the presence of CMD at first glance do not seem significantly high amongst all the players, it must be considered that if one player in a team experiences the presence of CMD, it will have an impact on his mental toughness and most likely on his performance, as well as on the performance of the whole team. It is therefore important to ensure mental health in the whole team, by addressing individual CMD problems. A mental health support programme is therefore needed to be implemented to the benefit of these players within the South African context.

Keywords: common mental disorders, mental toughness, professional athletes, rugby players

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Authors: Sue S. Feldman

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As clinical and nursing informatics mature, an area that has gotten a lot of attention is the value capstone projects. Capstones are meant to address authentic and complex domain-specific problems. While capstone projects have not always been essential in graduate clinical and nursing informatics education, employers are wanting to see evidence of the prospective employee's knowledge and skills as an indication of employability. Capstones can be organized in many ways: a single course over a single semester, multiple courses over multiple semesters, as a targeted demonstration of skills, as a synthesis of prior knowledge and skills, mentored by one single person or mentored by various people, submitted as an assignment or presented in front of a panel. Because of the potential for capstones to enhance the educational experience, and as a mechanism for application of knowledge and demonstration of skills, a rigorous capstone can accelerate a graduate's potential in the workforce. In 2016, the capstone at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) could feel the external forces of a maturing Clinical and Nursing Informatics discipline. While the program had a capstone course for many years, it was lacking the depth of knowledge and demonstration of skills being asked for by those hiring in a maturing Informatics field. Since the program is online, all capstones were always in the online environment. While this modality did not change, other contributors to instruction modality changed. Pre-2016, the instruction modality was self-guided. Students checked in with a single instructor, and that instructor monitored progress across all capstones toward a PowerPoint and written paper deliverable. At the time, the enrollment was few, and the maturity had not yet pushed hard enough. By 2017, doubling enrollment and the increased demand of a more rigorously trained workforce led to restructuring the capstone so that graduates would have and retain the skills learned in the capstone process. There were three major changes: the capstone was broken up into a 3-course sequence (meaning it lasted about 10 months instead of 14 weeks), there were many chunks of deliverables, and each faculty had a cadre of about 5 students to advise through the capstone process. Literature suggests that the chunking, breaking up complex projects (i.e., the capstone in one summer) into smaller, more manageable chunks (i.e., chunks of the capstone across 3 semesters), can increase and sustain learning while allowing for increased rigor. By doing this, the teaching responsibility was shared across faculty with each semester course being taught by a different faculty member. This change facilitated delving much deeper in instruction and produced a significantly more rigorous final deliverable. Having students advised across the faculty seemed like the right thing to do. It not only shared the load, but also shared the success of students. Furthermore, it meant that students could be placed with an academic advisor who had expertise in their capstone area, further increasing the rigor of the entire capstone process and project and increasing student knowledge and skills.

Keywords: capstones, clinical informatics, health informatics, informatics

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Authors: Catariny C. Aleman, Flavio B. Campos, Matheus A. Caliman, Everardo C. Mantovani

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The seedling production stage is a critical point in the vegetable production system. Obtaining high-quality seedlings is a prerequisite for subsequent cropping to occur well and productivity optimization is required. The water management is an important step in agriculture production. The adequate water requirement in horticulture seedlings can provide higher quality and increase field production. The practice of irrigation is indispensable and requires a duly adjusted quality irrigation system, together with a specific water management plan to meet the water demand of the crop. Irrigation management in seedling management requires a great deal of specific information, especially when it involves the use of inputs such as hydrorentering polymers and automation technologies of the data acquisition and irrigation system. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse at the Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa - MG. Tomato seedlings (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) were produced in plastic trays of 128 cells, suspended at 1.25 m from the ground. The seedlings were irrigated by 4 micro sprinklers of fixed jet 360º per tray, duly isolated by sideboards, following the methodology developed for this work. During Phase 1, in January / February 2017 (duration of 24 days), the cultivation coefficient (Kc) of seedlings cultured in the presence and absence of hydrogel was evaluated by weighing lysimeter. In Phase 2, September 2017 (duration of 25 days), the seedlings were submitted to 4 irrigation managements (Kc, timer, 0.50 ETo, and 1.00 ETo), in the presence and absence of hydrogel and then evaluated in relation to quality parameters. The microclimate inside the greenhouse was monitored with the use of air temperature, relative humidity and global radiation sensors connected to a microcontroller that performed hourly calculations of reference evapotranspiration by Penman-Monteith standard method FAO56 modified for the balance of long waves according to Walker, Aldrich, Short (1983), and conducted water balance and irrigation decision making for each experimental treatment. Kc of seedlings cultured on a substrate with hydrogel (1.55) was higher than Kc on a pure substrate (1.39). The use of the hydrogel was a differential for the production of earlier tomato seedlings, with higher final height, the larger diameter of the colon, greater accumulation of a dry mass of shoot, a larger area of crown projection and greater the rate of relative growth. The handling 1.00 ETo promoted higher relative growth rate.

Keywords: automatic system; efficiency of water use; precision irrigation, micro sprinkler.

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Authors: Cécile Dufloux, Klaus Böttcher, Heike Oppermann, Jürgen Wollweber

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Hexagonal aluminum nitride (AlN) is a promising candidate for several wide band gap semiconductor compound applications such as deep UV light emitting diodes (UVC LED) and fast power transistors (HEMTs). To date, bulk AlN single crystals are still commonly grown from the physical vapor transport (PVT). Single crystalline AlN wafers obtained from this process could offer suitable substrates for a defect-free growth of ultimately active AlGaN layers, however, these wafers still lack from small sizes, limited delivery quantities and high prices so far.Although there is already an increasing interest in the commercial availability of AlN wafers, comparatively cheap Si, SiC or sapphire are still predominantly used as substrate material for the deposition of active AlGaN layers. Nevertheless, due to a lattice mismatch up to 20%, the obtained material shows high defect densities and is, therefore, less suitable for high power devices as described above. Therefore, the use of AlN with specially adapted properties for optical and sensor applications could be promising for mass market products which seem to fulfill fewer requirements. To respond to the demand of suitable AlN target material for the growth of AlGaN layers, we have designed an innovative technology based on reactive plasma spraying. The goal is to produce coarse grained AlN boules with N-terminated columnar structure and high purity. In this process, aluminum is injected into a microwave stimulated nitrogen plasma. AlN, as the product of the reaction between aluminum powder and the plasma activated N2, is deposited onto the target. We used an aluminum filament as the initial material to minimize oxygen contamination during the process. The material was guided through the nitrogen plasma so that the mass turnover was 10g/h. To avoid any impurity contamination by an erosion of the electrodes, an electrode-less discharge was used for the plasma ignition. The pressure was maintained at 600-700 mbar, so the plasma reached a temperature high enough to vaporize the aluminum which subsequently was reacting with the surrounding plasma. The obtained products consist of thick polycrystalline AlN layers with a diameter of 2-3 cm. The crystallinity was determined by X-ray crystallography. The grain structure was systematically investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, we performed a Raman spectroscopy to provide evidence of stress in the layers. This paper will discuss the effects of process parameters such as microwave power and deposition geometry (specimen holder, radiation shields, ...) on the topography, crystallinity, and stress distribution of AlN.

Keywords: aluminum nitride, polycrystal, reactive plasma spraying, semiconductor

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Authors: El Hadji Mamadou Sonko, Mbaye Mbéguéré, Cheikh Diop, Linda Strande

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In new approaches that are being developed for the treatment of sludge, the valorization of by-product is increasingly encouraged. In this perspective, Echinochloa pyramidalis has been successfully tested in Cameroon. Echinochloa pyramidalis is an efficient forage plant in the treatment of faecal sludge. It provides high removal rates and biosolids of high agronomic value. Thus in order to advise the use of this plant in planted drying beds in Senegal its comparison with the plants long been used in the field deserves to be carried out. That is the aim of this study showing the influence of the nature of the plants on the drainage, the purifying performances and the quality of the biosolids. Echinochloa pyramidalis, Typha australis, and Phragmites australis are the three macrophytes used in this study. The drainage properties of the beds were monitored through the frequency of clogging, the percentage of recovered leachate and the dryness of the accumulated sludge. The development of plants was followed through the measurement of the density. The purification performances were evaluated from the incoming raw sludge flows and the outflows of leachate for parameters such as Total Solids (TS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Volatile Solids (TVS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), Ammonia (NH₄⁺), Nitrate (NO₃⁻), Total Phosphorus (TP), Orthophosphorus (PO₄³⁻) and Ascaris eggs. The quality of the biosolids accumulated on the beds was measured after 3 months of maturation for parameters such as dryness, C/N ratio NH₄⁺/NO₃⁻ ratio, ammonia, Ascaris eggs. The results have shown that the recovered leachate volume is about 40.4%; 45.6% and 47.3%; the dryness about 41.7%; 38.7% and 28.7%, and clogging frequencies about 6.7%; 8.2% and 14.2% on average for the beds planted with Echinochloa pyramidalis, Typha australis and Phragmites australis respectively. The plants of Echinochloa pyramidalis (198.6 plants/m²) and Phragmites australis (138 plants/m²) have higher densities than Typha australis (90.3 plants/m²). The nature of the plants has no influence on the purification performance with reduction percentages around 80% or more for all the parameters followed whatever the nature of the plants. However, the concentrations of these various leachate pollutants are above the limit values of the Senegalese standard NS 05-061 for the release into the environment. The biosolids harvested after 3 months of maturation are all mature with C/N ratios around 10 for all the macrophytes. The NH₄⁺/NO₃⁻ ratio is lower than 1 except for the biosolids originating from the Echinochloa pyramidalis beds. The ammonia is also less than 0.4 g/kg except for biosolids from Typha australis beds. Biosolids are also rich in mineral elements. Their concentrations of Ascaris eggs are higher than the WHO recommendations despite a percentage of inactivation around 80%. These biosolids must be stored for an additional time or composted. From these results, the use of Echinochloa pyramidalis as the main macrophyte can be recommended in the various drying beds planted in sub-Saharan climate conditions.

Keywords: faecal sludge, nature of plants, quality of biosolids, treatment performances

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Authors: A. J. Cobley, L. Krishnan

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The demand for multi-functional lightweight materials in sectors such as automotive, aerospace, electronics is growing, and for this reason fibre-reinforced, epoxy polymer composites are being widely utilized. The fibre reinforcing material is mainly responsible for the strength and stiffness of the composites whilst the main role of the epoxy polymer matrix is to enhance the load distribution applied on the fibres as well as to protect the fibres from the effect of harmful environmental conditions. The superior properties of the fibre-reinforced composites are achieved by the best properties of both of the constituents. Although factors such as the chemical nature of the epoxy and how it is cured will have a strong influence on the properties of the epoxy matrix, the method of mixing and degassing of the resin can also have a significant impact. The production of a fibre-reinforced epoxy polymer composite will usually begin with the mixing of the epoxy pre-polymer with a hardener and accelerator. Mechanical methods of mixing are often employed for this stage but such processes naturally introduce air into the mixture, which, if it becomes entrapped, will lead to voids in the subsequent cured polymer. Therefore, degassing is normally utilised after mixing and this is often achieved by placing the epoxy resin mixture in a vacuum chamber. Although this is reasonably effective, it is another process stage and if a method of mixing could be found that, at the same time, degassed the resin mixture this would lead to shorter production times, more effective degassing and less voids in the final polymer. In this study the effect of four different methods for mixing and degassing of the pre-polymer with hardener and accelerator were investigated. The first two methods were manual stirring and magnetic stirring which were both followed by vacuum degassing. The other two techniques were ultrasonic mixing/degassing using a 40 kHz ultrasonic bath and a 20 kHz ultrasonic probe. The cured cast resin samples were examined under scanning electron microscope (SEM), optical microscope, and Image J analysis software to study morphological changes, void content and void distribution. Three point bending test and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were also performed to determine the thermal and mechanical properties of the cured resin. It was found that the use of the 20 kHz ultrasonic probe for mixing/degassing gave the lowest percentage voids of all the mixing methods in the study. In addition, the percentage voids found when employing a 40 kHz ultrasonic bath to mix/degas the epoxy polymer mixture was only slightly higher than when magnetic stirrer mixing followed by vacuum degassing was utilized. The effect of ultrasonic mixing/degassing on the thermal and mechanical properties of the cured resin will also be reported. The results suggest that low frequency ultrasound is an effective means of mixing/degassing a pre-polymer mixture and could enable a significant reduction in production times.

Keywords: degassing, low frequency ultrasound, polymer composites, voids

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Authors: Flavia Cordeiro, Fabio Silva, Alvaro Eiras, Jose Luiz Acebal

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Aedes aegypti is present in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and is a vector of several diseases such as dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya, zika etc. The growth in the number of arboviruses cases in the last decades became a matter of great concern worldwide. Meteorological factors like mean temperature and precipitation are known to influence the infestation by the species through effects on physiology and ecology, altering the fecundity, mortality, lifespan, dispersion behaviour and abundance of the vector. Models able to describe the dynamics of the vector population size should then take into account the meteorological variables. The relationship between meteorological factors and the population dynamics of Ae. aegypti adult females are studied to provide a good set of predictors to model the dynamics of the mosquito population size. The time-series data of capture of adult females of a public health surveillance program from the city of Lavras, MG, Brazil had its association with precipitation, humidity and temperature analysed through a set of statistical methods for time series analysis commonly adopted in Signal Processing, Information Theory and Neuroscience. Cross-correlation, multicollinearity test and whitened cross-correlation were applied to determine in which time lags would occur the influence of meteorological variables on the dynamics of the mosquito abundance. Among the findings, the studied case indicated strong collinearity between humidity and precipitation, and precipitation was selected to form a pair of descriptors together with temperature. In the techniques used, there were observed significant associations between infestation indicators and both temperature and precipitation in short, mid and long terms, evincing that those variables should be considered in entomological models and as public health indicators. A descriptive model used to test the results exhibits a strong correlation to data.

Keywords: Aedes aegypti, cross-correlation, multicollinearity, meteorological variables

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Authors: Kalpana Goel

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Australian social work schools are finding it difficult to find appropriate placements for the increasing number of international students enrolled in their Master of Social Work qualifying (MSWQ) programs. Anecdotally, it has been noticed that fewer social work students are ready to work with older people whose numbers are rising globally. An innovative and unique placement for international students enrolled in the MSWQ at one Australian university was organised in partnership with a community-based service working with older clients to meet two objectives: increasing the number of suitable placements for international students and preparing social work students to work with older people. Creative activities and projects were designed to provide meaningful engagement and experience in working with older people in the community. Students participated in a number of projects that were matched with their interest and capability in a 500-hour placement. The students were asked to complete an online survey after all work for the placement had been completed. The areas of assessment were: self-perceived change in perception towards age and older people, valued field placement experiences including reflective practice, knowledge and skill development, and constraints and challenges experienced in the placement. Findings revealed students’ increased level of confidence in applying social work theory to practice, developing effective communication and interpersonal skills, and use of innovation and creativity in preparing well-being plans with older adults. Challenges and constraints related to their limited English language ability and lack of cultural knowledge of the host society. It was recognised that extra support for these students and more planning in the beginning phase of placement are vital to placement success. Caution in matching students with clients of similar cultural background must be exercised to ensure that there is equity in task allocation and opportunities for wider experiences.

Keywords: field placement, international students, older people, social work

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Authors: Anat Peleg, Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg

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This interdisciplinary study, to our knowledge the first in this field, is located on the intersection of victimology-law and society-and media literature, and it corresponds both with feminist writing and with cyber literature which explores the techno-social sphere. It depicts the multifaceted dimensions of shaming in the eyes of the survivors through the following research questions: What are the motivations of sexual-assault survivors to publicize the assailants' identity or to refrain from this practice? Is shaming on Facebook perceived by sexual–assault victims as a substitute for the CJS or as a new form of social activism? What positive and negative consequences do survivors experience as a result of shaming their assailants online? The study draws on in-depth semi-structured interviews which we have conducted between 2016-2018 with 20 sexual-assaults survivors who exposed themselves on Facebook. They were sexually attacked in various forms: six participants reported that they had been raped when they were minors; eight women reported that they had been raped as adults; three reported that they had been victims of an indecent act and three reported that they had been harassed either in their workplace or in the public sphere. Most of our interviewees (12) reported to the police and were involved in criminal procedures. More than half of the survivors (11) disclosed the identity of their attackers online. The vocabularies of motives that have emerged from the thematic analysis of the interviews with the survivors consist of both social and personal motivations for using the practice of shaming online. Some survivors maintain that the use of shaming derives from the decline in the public trust in the criminal justice system. It reflects demand for accountability and justice and serves also as a practice of warning other potential victims of the assailants. Other survivors assert that shaming people in a position of privilege is meant to fulfill the public right to know who these privileged men really are. However, these aforementioned moral and practical justifications of the practice of shaming are often mitigated by fear from the attackers' physical or legal actions in response to their allegations. Some interviewees who are feminist activists argue that the practice of shaming perpetuates the social ancient tendency to define women by labels linking them to the men who attacked them, instead of being defined by their own life complexities. The variety of motivations to adopt or resent the practice of shaming by sexual assault victims presented in our study appear to refute the prevailing intuitive stereotype that shaming is an irrational act of revenge, and denote its rationality. The role of social media as an arena for seeking informal justice raises questions about the new power relations created between victims, assailants, the community and the State, outside the formal criminal justice system. At the same time, the survivors' narratives also uncover the risks and pitfalls embedded within the online sphere for sexual assault survivors.

Keywords: criminal justice, gender, Facebook, sexual-assaults

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Authors: Surendra Mund

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At the beginning, the physical entity force was defined mathematically by Sir Isaac Newton in his Principia Mathematica as F ⃗=(dp ⃗)/dt in form of his second law of motion. Newton also defines his Universal law of Gravitational force exist in same outstanding book, but at the end of 20th century and beginning of 21st century, we have tried a lot to specify and unify four or five Fundamental forces or Interaction exist in universe, but we failed every time. Usually, Gravity creates problems in this unification every single time, but in my previous papers and presentations, I defined and derived Field and force equations for Gravitational like Interactions for each and every kind of central systems. This force is named as Variational Force by me, and this force is generated by variation in the scalar field density around the body. In this particular paper, at first, I am specifying which type of Interactions are Fundamental in Universal sense (or in all type of central systems or bodies predicted by my N-time Inflationary Model of Universe) and then unify them in Universal framework (defined and derived by me as Universal Mechanics in a separate paper) as well. This will also be valid in Universal dynamical sense which includes inflations and deflations of universe, central system relativity, Universal relativity, ϕ-ψ transformation and transformation of spin, physical perception principle, Generalized Fundamental Dynamical Law and many other important Generalized Principles of Generalized Quantum Mechanics (GQM) and Central System Theory (CST). So, In this article, at first, I am Generalizing some Fundamental Principles, and then Unifying Variational Forces (General form of Gravitation like Interactions) and Flow Generated Force (General form of EM like Interactions), and then Unify all Fundamental Forces by specifying Weak and Strong Interactions in form of more basic terms - Variational, Flow Generated and Transformational Interactions.

Keywords: Central System Force, Disturbance Force, Flow Generated Forces, Generalized Nuclear Force, Generalized Weak Interactions, Generalized EM-Like Interactions, Imbalance Force, Spin Generated Forces, Transformation Generated Force, Unified Force, Universal Mechanics, Uniform And Non-Uniform Variational Interactions, Variational Interactions

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Authors: Dorota M. Michalak

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The agricultural sector, due to the growing demand for food and over-exploitation of the natural environment, contributes to the deepening of climate change, on the one hand, and on the other hand, shrinking freshwater resources, as a negative effect of climate change, threaten the food security of each country. Therefore, adaptation measures to climate change should take into account effective water management and seek solutions ensuring food production at an unchanged or higher level, while not burdening the environment and not contributing to the worsening of the negative consequences of climate change. The problems of Poland's water management result not only from relatively small, natural water resources but to a large extent on the low efficiency of their use. Appropriate agricultural practices and state solutions in this field can contribute to achieving significant benefits in terms of economical water management in agriculture, providing a greater amount of water that could also be used for other purposes, including for purposes related to environmental protection. The aim of the article is to determine the level of use of water resources in Polish agriculture and the advancement of measures aimed at adapting Polish agriculture in the field of water management to climate change. The study provides knowledge about Polish legal regulations and water management tools, the shaping of water policy of Polish agriculture against the background of EU countries and other sources of energy, and measures supporting Polish agricultural holdings in the effective management of water resources run by state budget institutions. In order to achieve the above-mentioned goals, the author used research tools such as the analysis of existing sources and a survey conducted among five groups of entities, i.e. agricultural advisory centers and departments, agricultural, rural and environmental protection departments, regional water management boards, provincial agricultural chambers and restructuring and modernization of agriculture. The main conclusion of the analyses carried out is the low use of water in Polish agriculture in relation to other EU countries, other sources of intake in Poland, as well as irrigation. The analysis allows us to observe another problem, which is the lack of reporting and data collection, which is extremely important from the point of view of the effectiveness of adaptation measures to climate change. The results obtained from the survey indicate a very low level of support for government institutions in the implementation of adaptation measures to climate change and the water management of Polish farms. Some of the basic problems of the adaptation policy to change climate with regard to water management in Polish agriculture include a lack of knowledge regarding climate change, the possibilities of adapting, the available tools or ways to rationalize the use of water resources. It also refers to the lack of ordering procedures and the separation of responsibility with a proper territorial unit, non-functioning channels of information flow and practically low effects.

Keywords: water management, adaptation policy, agriculture, climate change

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Authors: Tom Elias, Kiran G. Shirlal

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Coastal erosion is one of the major issue faced by maritime countries, globally. More than 1200 km stretch of Indian coastline is marked eroding. There have been numerous attempts to impede the erosion rate and to attain equilibrium beach profiles. High cost and unavailability of natural rocks forced coastal engineers to find alternatives for conventional hard options like seawalls and groynes. Geosynthetic containment systems, emerged in the mid 20th century proved promising in catering coastal protection in countries like Australia, Germany and United States. The present study aims at reviewing Indian timeline of protection works that uses geosynthetic containment systems. Indian exploration regarding geosynthetic containment system dates back to early 2000s. Generally, protection structures use geosynthetics in the form of Geotubes, Geocontainers, and Geobags with Geotubes being most widely used in the form of submerged reefs, seawalls, groynes and breakwaters. Sand and dredged waste are used to fill these containment systems with calculated sand fill ratio. Reviewing the prominent protection works constructed in the east and west coast of India provides an insight into benefits and the difficulties faced by the practical installation. Initially, geosynthetic structures were considered as a temporary protection method prior to the construction of some other hard structure. Later Dahanu, Hamala and Pentha experiences helped in establishing geotubes as an alternative to conventional structures. Nearshore geotubes reefs aimed to attain equilibrium beach served its purpose in Hamala and Dahanu, Maharashtra, while reef constructed at Candolim, Goa underwent serious damage due to Toe Scour. In situ filling by pumping of sand slurry as in case of Shankarpur Seawall, West Bengal remains as a major concern. Geosynthetic systems supplemented by gabions and rock armours improves the wave dissipation, stability and reflection characteristics as implied in Pentha Coast, Odisha, Hazira, Gujarat and Uppada, Andhra Pradesh. Keeping improper design and deliberate destruction by vandals apart, geosynthetic containment systems offer a cost-effective alternative to conventional coastal protection methods in India. Additionally, geosynthetics supports marine growth in its surface which enhances its demand as an eco-friendly material and encourages usage.

Keywords: coastal protection, geotubes, geobags, geocontainers

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Authors: Ayesha Akbar

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Pakistan is moving from a security state to a welfare state despite several security challenges both internal and external. Human security signifies a varied approach in different regions depending upon the leadership and policy priorities. The link between human development and economic growth is not automatic. It has to be created consciously by forward-looking policies and strategies by national governments. There are seven components or categories of human security these include: Economic Security, Personal Security, Health Security, Environmental Security, Food Security, Community Security and Political Security. The increasing interest of the international community to clearly understand the dimensions of human security provided the grounds to Pakistani scholars as well to ponder on the issue and delineate lines of human security. A great deal of work has been either done or in process to evaluate human security indicators in Pakistan. Notwithstanding, after having been done a great deal of work the human security in Pakistan is not satisfactory. A range of deteriorating indicators of human development that lies under the domain of human security leaves certain inquiries to be answered. What are the dimensions of human security in Pakistan? And how are they being dealt from the perspective of policy and institution in terms of its operationalization in Pakistan? Is the human security discourse reflects evidence-based policy changes. The methodology is broadly based on qualitative methods that include interviews, content analysis of policy documents. Pakistan is among the most populous countries in the world and faces high vulnerability to climate change. Literacy rate has gone down with the surge of youth bulge to accommodate in the job market. Increasing population is creating food problems as the resources have not been able to compete with the raising demands of food and other social amenities of life. Majority of the people are facing acute poverty. Health outcomes are also not satisfactory with the high infant and maternal mortality rate. Pakistan is on the verge of facing water crisis as the water resources are depleting so fast with the high demand in agriculture and energy sector. Pakistan is striving hard to deal with the declining state of human security but the dilemma is lack of resources that hinders in meeting up with the emerging demands. The government requires to bring about more change with scaling-up economic growth avenues with enhancing the capacity of human resources. A modern performance drive culture with the integration of technology is required to deliver efficient and effective service delivery. On an already fast track process of reforms; e-governance and evidence based policy mechanism is being instilled in the government process for better governance and evidence based decisions.

Keywords: governance, human development index, human security, Pakistan, policy

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Authors: Jeroen De Ceuster

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This study is the first empirical analysis of the link between corporate governance and European Union competition law. Although competition law enforcement is often studied through the lens of competition law, we offer an alternative perspective by looking at a number of corporate governance factor at the level of the board of directors. We find that undertakings where the Chief Executive Officer is also chairman of the board are twice as likely to violate European Union competition law. No significant relationship was found between European Union competition law infringements and gender diversity of the board, the size of the board, the percentage of directors appointed after the Chief Executive Officer, the percentage of independent directors, or the presence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee. This contribution is based on a 1-1 matched peer study. Our sample includes all ultimate parent companies with a board that have been sanctioned by the European Commission for either anticompetitive agreements or abuse of dominance for the period from 2004 to 2018. These companies were matched to a company with headquarters in the same country, belongs to the same industry group, is active in the European Economic Area, and is the nearest neighbor to the infringing company in terms of revenue. Our final sample includes 121 pairs. As is common with matched peer studies, we use CLR to analyze the differences within these pairs. The only statistically significant independent variable after controlling for size and performance is CEO/Chair duality. The results indicate that companies whose Chief Executive Officer also functions as chairman of the board are twice as likely to infringe European Union competition law. This is in line with the monitoring theory of the board of directors, which states that its primary function is to monitor top management. Since competition law infringements are mostly organized by management and hidden from board directors, the results suggest that a Chief Executive Officer who is also chairman is more likely to be either complicit in the infringement or less critical towards his day-to-day colleagues and thus impedes proper detection by the board of competition law infringements.

Keywords: corporate governance, competition law, board of directors, board independence, ender diversity, corporate social responisbility

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Authors: Benito Garcia-Valero

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This paper analyses the cognitivist value of traditional Japanese theories about aesthetics, art, and literature. These reflections were developed several centuries before actual Cognitive Studies, which started in the seventies of the last century. A comparative methodology is employed to shed light on the similarities between traditional Japanese conceptions about art and current cognitivist principles. The Japanese texts to be compared are Zeami’s treatise on noh art, Okura Toraaki’s Waranbe-gusa on kabuki theatre, and several Buddhist canonical texts about wisdom and knowledge, like the Prajnaparamitahrdaya or Heart Sutra. Japanese contemporary critical sources on these works are also referred, like Nishida Kitaro’s reflections on Zen painting or Ichikawa Hiroshi’s analysis of body/mind dualism in Japanese physical practices. Their ideas are compared with cognitivist authors like George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, Mark Turner and Margaret Freeman. This comparative review reveals the anticipatory ideas of Japanese thinking on body/mind interrelationship, which agrees with cognitivist criticism against dualism, since both elucidate the physical grounds acting upon the formation of concepts and schemes during the production of knowledge. It also highlights the necessity of recovering ancient Japanese treatises on cognition to continue enlightening current research on art and literature. The artistic examples used to illustrate the theory are Sesshu’s Zen paintings and Basho’s classical haiku poetry. Zen painting is an excellent field to demonstrate how monk artists conceived human perception and guessed the active role of beholders during the contemplation of art. On the other hand, some haikus by Matsuo Basho aim at factoring subjectivity out from artistic praxis, which constitutes an ideal of illumination that cannot be achieved using art, due to the embodied nature of perception; a constraint consciously explored by the poet himself. These ideas consolidate the conclusions drawn today by cognitivism about the interrelation between subject and object and the concept of intersubjectivity.

Keywords: cognitivism, dualism, haiku, Zen painting

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Authors: Nur Syahidatul Idany Abdul Ghani, Rahizar Ramli, Jamilah Mohamad, Ahmad Saifizul, Mohamed Rehan Karim

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Increasing fatalities in road accidents in Malaysia over the last 10 years are quite alarming. Based on Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) latest research ‘Predicting Malaysian Road Fatalities for year 2020; it is predicted that road fatalities in Malaysia for 2015 is 8,780 and 10,716 for the year 2020 which 30 percent of fatalities were caused by accidents involving commercial vehicles. Government, related agencies and NGOs have continuously and persistently work to reduce the statistics through enforcement, educating the public, training to drivers, road safety campaigns, advertisements etc. However, the trend of casualties does not show encouraging pattern but instead, steadily growing. Thus, this comparative study reviews the literature pertaining on method of measurement used to evaluate commercial drivers competency. In several studies driving competency has been assessed with different assessment based on the license procedures and requirements according to the country regulation. The assessment criteria that has been establish for commercial drivers generally focus on driving tasks and assessment e.g. theory test, medical test and road assessment rather than driving competency test or physical test. Realizing the importance of specific assessment test for drivers competency this comparative study reviews the most discussed literature related to competency assessment method to identify competency of the drivers include (1. judgement and reaction, 2. skill of drivers, 3. experiences and fatigue). The concluding analysis of this paper is a comparative table for assessment methodology to access driver’s competency. A comparative study is a further discussion reviewing past literature to provide an overview on existing assessment test and potential subject matters that can be identified for further studies to increase awareness of the drivers, passengers as well as the authorities about the importance of competent drivers in order to improve safety in commercial vehicles.

Keywords: commercial vehicles, driver’s competency, specific assessment

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Authors: Frederic Heymes, Michael Albrecht Birk, Roland Eyssette

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Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion (BLEVE) has been a well know industrial accident for over 6 decades now, and yet it is still poorly predicted and avoided. BLEVE is created when a vessel containing a pressure liquefied gas (PLG) is engulfed in a fire until the tank rupture. At this time, the pressure drops suddenly, leading the liquid to be in a superheated state. The vapor expansion and the violent boiling of the liquid produce several shock waves. This works aimed at understanding the contribution of vapor ad liquid phases in the overpressure generation in the near field. An experimental work was undertaken at a small scale to reproduce realistic BLEVE explosions. Key parameters were controlled through the experiments, such as failure pressure, fluid mass in the vessel, and weakened length of the vessel. Thirty-four propane BLEVEs were then performed to collect data on scenarios similar to common industrial cases. The aerial overpressure was recorded all around the vessel, and also the internal pressure changed during the explosion and ground loading under the vessel. Several high-speed cameras were used to see the vessel explosion and the blast creation by shadowgraph. Results highlight how the pressure field is anisotropic around the cylindrical vessel and highlights a strong dependency between vapor content and maximum overpressure from the lead shock. The time chronology of events reveals that the vapor phase is the main contributor to the aerial overpressure peak. A prediction model is built upon this assumption. Secondary flow patterns are observed after the lead. A theory on how the second shock observed in experiments forms is exposed thanks to an analogy with numerical simulation. The phase change dynamics are also discussed thanks to a window in the vessel. Ground loading measurements are finally presented and discussed to give insight into the order of magnitude of the force.

Keywords: phase change, superheated state, explosion, vapor expansion, blast, shock wave, pressure liquefied gas

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Authors: James Beringer

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Switzerland’s ability to forge a strong national identity across linguistic barriers has long been of interest to nationalism scholars. This begs the question of how this has been achieved, given that traditional explanations of luck or exceptionalism appear highly reductionist. This paper evaluates the theory that successful Swiss management of linguistic diversity stems from the strong integration of multilingualism into Swiss national identity. Using archival analysis of Swiss government records, historical accounts of prominent Swiss citizens, as well as secondary literature concerning the fundamental aspects of Swiss national identity, this paper charts the historical evolution of Swiss national identity. It explains how multilingualism was deliberately and successfully integrated into Swiss national identity as a response to political fragmentation along linguistic lines during the First World War. Its primary conclusions are the following. Firstly, the earliest foundations of Swiss national identity were purposefully removed from any association with a single national language. This produced symbols, myths, and values -such as a strong commitment to communalism, the imagery of the Swiss natural landscape, and the use of Latin expressions, which can be adopted across Swiss linguistic groups. Secondly, the First World War triggered a turning point in the evolution of Swiss national identity. The fundamental building blocks proved insufficient in preventing political fractures amongst linguistic lines, as each Swiss linguistic group gravitated towards its linguistic neighbours within Europe. To avoid a repeat of such fragmentation, a deliberate effort was made to fully integrate multilingualism as a fundamental aspect of Swiss national identity. Existing natural symbols, such as the St Gotthard Mountains, were recontextualized in order to become associated with multilingualism. The education system was similarly reformed to reflect the unique multilingual nature of the Swiss nation. The successful result of this process can be readily observed in polls and surveys, with large segments of the Swiss population highlighting multilingualism as a uniquely Swiss characteristic, indicating the symbiotic connection between multilingualism and the Swiss nation.

Keywords: language's role in identity formation, multilingualism in nationalism, national identity formation, Swiss national identity history

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Authors: Yanqun Li, Hong Geng

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The rapid urbanization process taking big cities as the main body leads to the unequal configuration of urban and rural areas in the aspects of land supply, industrial division of labor, service supply and space allocation, and induces the shrinking characterization of service energy, industrial system and population vitality in small towns. As an important spatial unit in the spectrum of urbanization that serves, connects and couples urban and rural areas, the shrinking phenomenon faced by small towns has an important influence on the healthy development of urbanization. Based on the census of small towns in Wuhan metropolitan area, we have found that the shrinking of small towns is a passive contraction of elastic tension under the squeeze in cities. Once affected by the external forces such as policy regulation, planning guidance, and population return, small towns will achieve expansion and growth. Based on the theory of complex adaptive systems, this paper comprehensively constructs the development index evaluation system of small towns from five aspects of population, economy, space, society and ecology, measures the shrinking level of small towns, further analyzes the shrinking characteristics of small towns, and identifies whether the shrinking is elastic or not. And then this paper measures the resilience ability index of small town contract from the above-mentioned five aspects. Finally, this paper proposes an adaptive mechanism of urban-rural interaction evolution under fine division of labor to response the passive shrinking in small towns of Wuhan. Based on the above, the paper creatively puts forward the planning response measures of the small towns on the aspects of spatial layout, function orientation and service support, which can provide reference for other regions.

Keywords: complex adaptive systems, resiliency shrinking, adaptation mechanism, planning response

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Authors: Symbat Moldabekova

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This research explores the practice of decision-making in commercial banks in Kazakhstan. It focuses on recent technologies, such as contactless payments and QR code, and uses interviews with bank executives and industry practitioners to gain an understanding of how decisions are made and the role of financial assessment methods. The aim of the research is (1) to study the importance of financial techniques to evaluate IT investments; (2) to understand the role of different expert groups; (3) to explore how market trends and industry features affect decisions on IT; (4) to build a model that defines the real practice of decision-making on IT in commercial banks in Kazakhstan. The theoretical framework suggests that decision-making on IT is a socially constructed process, where actor groups with different background interact and negotiate with each other to develop a shared understanding of IT and to make more effective decisions. Theory and observations suggest that the more parties involved in the process of decision-making, the higher the possibility of disagreements between them. As each actor group has their views on the rational decision on an IT project, it is worth exploring how the final decision is made in practice. Initial findings show that the financial assessment methods are used as a guideline and do not play a big role in the final decision. The commercial banks of Kazakhstan tend to study experience of neighboring countries before adopting innovation. Implementing contactless payments is widely regarded as pinnacle success factor due to increasing competition in the market. First-to-market innovations are considered as priorities therefore, such decisions can be made with exemption of some certain actor groups from the process. Customers play significant role and they participate in testing demo versions of the products before bringing innovation to the market. The study will identify the viewpoints of actors in the banking sector on a rational decision, and the ways decision-makers from a variety of disciplines interact with each other in order to make a decision on IT in retail banks.

Keywords: actor groups, decision making, technology investment, retail banks

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Authors: Mohammed Amin, Debra Kerr, Yacoba Atiase, Andrea Driscoll

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Background: Physical activity (PA) is a major component of diabetes self-care management; although this is often stressed to patients, many adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM)lead sedentary lifestyles, and barriers exist for uptake of PA. Aim: To explore opinions of healthcare professionals about barriers to PA for adults with T2DM in Ghana. Methods: This qualitative descriptive study included 13healthcare professionals (3 Physiotherapists, 3 exercise physiologists, 3 nurses, and 4 physicians) who provide care to individuals with T2DM in Ghana. Data was collected by semi-structured interviews. The social cognitive theory guided the design of the interview schedule. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Four main themeswere identified: 1) Individual-related factors, 2) Interpersonal factors, 3) Environment-related factors, and 4) Health system-related factors. Fear of injury, existing co-morbidities, and lack of time make it difficult for people with T2DM to engage in PA. Lack of family support, fear of social ridicule, and cultural beliefs prevent uptake of PA. Poorly designed community spaces, including safe walkways and lack of exercise facilities, inhibit PA participation. Few physical therapists and physical therapy centres exist to support PA participation among people with T2DM. Some nurses and doctors lack adequate knowledge to deliver proper PA education to clients, thereby making clients lack the needed support. Conclusion: Adults with T2DM may be restricted from partaking in PA arising from personal and external factors. This study has identified that barriers to exercise need consideration when designing PA programs that aim to improve health outcomes for people with T2DM in Ghana.

Keywords: type 2 diabetes, physical activity, exercise, ghana, qualitative, barriers

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