Search results for: traditional models

Authors: Mehvish Bilal, Navneet Singh, Jasir Mushtaq

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Water pollution puts people's health at risk, and it can also impact the ecology. For practitioners of integrated water resources management (IWRM), water quality modelling may be useful for informing decisions about pollution control (such as discharge permitting) or demand management (such as abstraction permitting). To comprehend the current pollutant load, movement of effective load movement of contaminants generates effective relation between pollutants, mathematical simulation, source, and water quality is regarded as one of the best estimating tools. The current study involves the Qual2k model, which includes manual simulation of the various physiochemical characteristics of water. To this end, various sensors could be installed for the automatic simulation of various physiochemical characteristics of water. An artificial intelligence model has been proposed for the automatic simulation of water quality parameters. Models of water quality have become an effective tool for identifying worldwide water contamination, as well as the ultimate fate and behavior of contaminants in the water environment. Water quality model research is primarily conducted in Europe and other industrialized countries in the first world, where theoretical underpinnings and practical research are prioritized.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, QUAL2K, simulation, physiochemical parameters

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Authors: Chen Zhang, Nan Chen

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High-dimensional process monitoring becomes increasingly important in many application domains, where usually the process distribution is unknown and much more complicated than the normal distribution, and the between-stream correlation can not be neglected. However, since the process dimension is generally much bigger than the reference sample size, most traditional nonparametric multivariate control charts fail in high-dimensional cases due to the curse of dimensionality. Furthermore, when the process goes out of control, the influenced variables are quite sparse compared with the whole dimension, which increases the detection difficulty. Targeting at these issues, this paper proposes a new nonparametric monitoring scheme for high-dimensional processes. This scheme first projects the high-dimensional process into several subprocesses using random projections for dimension reduction. Then, for every subprocess with the dimension much smaller than the reference sample size, a local nonparametric control chart is constructed based on the spatial rank test to detect changes in this subprocess. Finally, the results of all the local charts are fused together for decision. Furthermore, after an out-of-control (OC) alarm is triggered, a diagnostic framework is proposed. using the square-root LASSO. Numerical studies demonstrate that the chart has satisfactory detection power for sparse OC changes and robust performance for non-normally distributed data, The diagnostic framework is also effective to identify truly changed variables. Finally, a real-data example is presented to demonstrate the application of the proposed method.

Keywords: random projection, high-dimensional process control, spatial rank, sequential change detection

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Authors: Antonella Hadzich, Santiago Flores

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Alkyds have become essential raw materials in the coating and paint industry, due to their low cost, good application properties and lower environmental impact in comparison with petroleum-based polymers. The properties of these oil-modified materials depend on the type of polyunsaturated vegetable oil used for its manufacturing, since a higher degree of unsaturation provides a better crosslinking of the cured paint. Linum usitatissimum L. (flax) oil is widely used to develop alkyd resins due to its high degree of unsaturation. Although it is intended to find non-traditional sources and increase their commercial value, to authors’ best knowledge a natural source that can replace flaxseed oil has not yet been found. However, Plukenetia volubilis L. oil, of Peruvian origin, contains a similar fatty acid polyunsaturated content to the one reported for Linum usitatissimum L. oil. In this perspective, medium alkyd resins were prepared with a mixture of 50% of Linum usitatissimum L. oil and 50% of Plukenetia volubilis L. oil. Pure Linum usitatissimum L. oil was also used for comparison purposes. Three different resins were obtained by varying the amount of glycerol and pentaerythritol. The synthesized alkyd resins were characterized by FT-IR, and physicochemical properties like acid value, colour, viscosity, density and drying time were evaluated by standard methods. The pencil hardness and chemical resistance behaviour of the cured resins were also studied. Overall, it can be concluded that medium alkyd resins containing Plukenetia volubilis L. oil have an equivalent behaviour compared to those prepared purely with Linum usitatissimum L. oil. Both Plukenetia volubilis L. oil and pentaerythritol have a remarkable influence on certain physicochemical properties of medium alkyd resins.

Keywords: alkyd resins, flaxseed oil, pentaerythritol, Plukenetia volubilis L. oil, protective coating

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Authors: Hiba Hamdi, Thomas Corpetti, Laure Roupioz, Xavier Briottet

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Air temperatures are generally higher in cities than in their rural surroundings. The overheating of cities is a direct consequence of increasing urbanization, characterized by the artificial filling of soils, the release of anthropogenic heat, and the complexity of urban geometry. This phenomenon, referred to as urban heat island (UHI), is more prevalent during heat waves, which have increased in frequency and intensity in recent years. In the context of global warming and urban population growth, helping urban planners implement UHI mitigation and adaptation strategies is critical. In practice, the study of UHI requires air temperature information at the street canyon level, which is difficult to obtain. Many urban air temperature simulation models have been proposed (mostly based on physics or statistics), all of which require a variety of input parameters related to urban morphology, land use, material properties, or meteorological conditions. In this paper, we build and evaluate a neural network model based on Urban Weather Generator (UWG) model simulations and data from meteorological stations that simulate air temperature over Toulouse, France, on days favourable to UHI.

Keywords: air temperature, neural network model, urban heat island, urban weather generator

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Authors: Layla Mujahed

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COVID-19 is an exam for all the city’s systems. It shows many gaps in the systems such as healthcare, economic, social, and environment. This pandemic is paving for a new era, an era of technology and it has changed people’s lives, such as physical, and emotional changes, and converting communication into digitalized. The effect of COVID-19 has covered all urban city parts. COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic our cities will face. For that, more researches focus on enhancing the quality of the urban environment. This pandemic encourages a rethinking of the environment’s role, especially in cities. Cities are trying to provide the best suitable strategies and regulations to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and an example of that is Amman city. Amman has a high increment in the number of COVID-19 infected people, while it has controlled the situation for months. For that, this paper studies the relation between COVID-19 and urban environmental studies cases about cities around the world, and learns from their models to face COVID-19. In Amman, people’s behavior has changed towards public transportation and public green spaces. N­ew governmental regulations focus on increasing people’s mental awareness, supporting local businesses, and enhancing neighborhood planning that can help Amman to face any future pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19, urban environment, urban planning, urban resilience

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Authors: Andreas Aceranti, Simonetta Vernocchi, Elisabetta Aldrovandi, Marco Colorato, Carolina Ascrizzi

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Nowadays, especially due to an increasing flow of migration and uncontrolled globalisation, linguistic, cultural and religious differences can be a major obstacle for people belonging to different ethnic groups. Each group has its own traditional background, which, in addition to its positive aspects, also includes extremely unpleasant and dramatic situations: culture-related crimes. We analysed several cases belonging to this category of crime which is becoming more and more present in Europe, creating not only a strong social rift dictated by the misunderstanding between migrants and host populations but also by the isolation and ghettoisation of subjects classified as 'different'. Such social rejection, in fact, represents a great source of stress and frustration for those who seek to be part of the community and can generate phenomena of rebellion that result in violent acts. Similar situations must be addressed by the figure of the cultural-linguistic mediator who, thanks to his or her multidisciplinary knowledge, assumes the role of a 'bridge', thus helping the process of awareness and understanding within the social group through the use of various tools, including awareness-raising campaigns and interventions in both the school and social-health sectors. By analysing how the notions of culture and offense have evolved throughout history until they have merged into a single principle and, secondly, how the figure of the language mediator represents a fundamental role in the resolution of conflicts related to cultural diversity has helped us define the basis for new protocols in dealing with such crimes. Especially we have to define the directions of further investigations that we will carry out in the next months.

Keywords: cultural crimes, hatred crimes, immigration, cultural mediation

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Authors: Vanessa Cho, Janet Hsiao, Nigel King, Robert Anthonappa

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Background: The personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements for health care workers (HCWs) have changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aim: To ascertain, using eye-tracking technology, what children notice the most when seeing HCWs in various PPE. Design: A Tobii nano pro-eye-tracking camera tracked 156 children's visual attention while they viewed photographs of HCWs in various PPEs. Eye Movement analysis with Hidden Markov Models (EMHMM) was employed to analyse 624 recordings using two approaches, namely (i) data-driven where children's fixation determined the regions of interest (ROIs), and (ii) fixed ROIs where the investigators predefined the ROIs. Results: Two significant eye movement patterns, namely distributed(85.2%) and selective(14.7%), were identified(P<0.05). Most children fixated primarily on the face regardless of the different PPEs. Children fixated equally on all PPE images in the distributed pattern, while a strong preference for unmasked faces was evident in the selective pattern (P<0.01). Conclusion: Children as young as 2.5 years used a top-down visual search behaviour and demonstrated their face processing ability. Most children did not show a strong visual preference for a specific PPE, while a minority preferred PPE with distinct facial features, namely without masks and loupes.

Keywords: COVID-19, PPE, dentistry, pediatric

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Authors: Jayaraman Muniyappan, Bachchan Kr Mishra, Gautam Salkar, Swetha Manian Sridhar

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Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM), a cost effective method of Liquid Composite Molding (LCM), is a single step process where the resin, at atmospheric pressure, is infused through a preform that is maintained under vacuum. This hydrodynamic pressure gradient is responsible for the flow of resin through the dry fabric preform. The current study has a slight variation to traditional VARTM, wherein, the resin infuses through the fabric placed on a heated mold to reduce its viscosity. The saturated preform is subjected to a cure cycle where the resin hardens as it undergoes curing. During this cycle, an uneven temperature distribution through the thickness of the composite and excess exothermic heat released due to different cure rates result in non-uniform curing. Additionally, there is a difference in thermal expansion coefficient between fiber and resin in a given plane and between adjacent plies. All these effects coupled with orthotropic coefficient of thermal expansion of the composite give rise to process-induced stresses in the laminate. Such stresses lead to part deformation when the laminate tries to relieve them as the part is released off the mold. The current study looks at simulating resin infusion, cure kinetics and the structural response of composite laminate subject to process-induced stresses.

Keywords: cure kinetics, process-induced stresses, thermal expansion coefficient, vacuum assisted resin transfer molding

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Authors: Kuen Ming Shu, Ren Kai Ho

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Ultrasonic horn has the functions of amplifying amplitude and reducing resonant impedance in ultrasonic system. Its primary function is to amplify deformation or velocity during vibration and focus ultrasonic energy on the small area. It is a crucial component in design of ultrasonic vibration system. There are five common design methods for ultrasonic horns: analytical method, equivalent circuit method, equal mechanical impedance, transfer matrix method, finite element method. In addition, the general optimization design process is to change the geometric parameters to improve a single performance. Therefore, in the general optimization design process, we couldn't find the relation of parameter and objective. However, a good optimization design must be able to establish the relationship between input parameters and output parameters so that the designer can choose between parameters according to different performance objectives and obtain the results of the optimization design. In this study, an ultrasonic horn provided by Maxwide Ultrasonic co., Ltd. was used as the contrast of optimized ultrasonic horn. The ANSYS finite element analysis (FEA) software was used to simulate the distribution of the horn amplitudes and the natural frequency value. The results showed that the frequency for the simulation values and actual measurement values were similar, verifying the accuracy of the simulation values. The ANSYS DesignXplorer was used to perform Response Surface optimization, which could shows the relation of parameter and objective. Therefore, this method can be used to substitute the traditional experience method or the trial-and-error method for design to reduce material costs and design cycles.

Keywords: horn, natural frequency, response surface optimization, ultrasonic vibration

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Authors: J. Bernasovska, I. Boronova, J. Poracova, M. Mydlarova Blascakova, V. Szabadosova, P. Ruzbarsky, E. Petrejcikova, I. Bernasovsky

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The paper presents the results of the molecular genetics analysis in sports research, with special emphasis to use genetic information in diagnosing of motoric predispositions in Roma boys from East Slovakia. The ability and move are the basic characteristics of all living organisms. The phenotypes are influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Genetic tests differ in principle from the traditional motoric tests, because the DNA of an individual does not change during life. The aim of the presented study was to examine motion abilities and to determine the frequency of ACTN3 (R577X) gene in Roma children. Genotype data were obtained from 138 Roma and 155 Slovak boys from 7 to 15 years old. Children were investigated on physical performance level in association with their genotype. Biological material for genetic analyses comprised samples of buccal swabs. Genotypes were determined using Real Time High resolution melting PCR method (Rotor-Gene 6000 Corbett and Light Cycler 480 Roche). The software allows creating reports of any analysis, where information of the specific analysis, normalized and differential graphs and many information of the samples are shown. Roma children of analyzed group legged to non-Romany children at the same age in all the compared tests. The % distribution of R and X alleles in Roma children was different from controls. The frequency of XX genotype was 9.26%, RX 46.33% and RR was 44.41%. The frequency of XX genotype was 9.26% which is comparable to a frequency of an Indian population. Data were analyzed with the ANOVA test.

Keywords: ACTN3 gene, R577X polymorphism, Roma children, sport performance, Slovakia

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Authors: William Michael Short

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Semantic Web’ technologies such as the Unified Medical Language System Metathesaurus, SNOMED-CT, and MeSH have been touted as transformational for the way users access online medical and health information, enabling both the automated analysis of natural-language data and the integration of heterogeneous healthrelated resources distributed across the Internet through the use of standardized terminologies that capture concepts and relationships between concepts that are expressed differently across datasets. However, the approaches that have so far characterized ‘semantic bioinformatics’ have not yet fulfilled the promise of the Semantic Web for medical and health information retrieval applications. This paper argues within the perspective of cognitive linguistics and cognitive anthropology that four features of human meaning-making must be taken into account before the potential of semantic technologies can be realized for this domain. First, many semantic technologies operate exclusively at the level of the word. However, texts convey meanings in ways beyond lexical semantics. For example, transitivity patterns (distributions of active or passive voice) and modality patterns (configurations of modal constituents like may, might, could, would, should) convey experiential and epistemic meanings that are not captured by single words. Language users also naturally associate stretches of text with discrete meanings, so that whole sentences can be ascribed senses similar to the senses of words (so-called ‘discourse topics’). Second, natural language processing systems tend to operate according to the principle of ‘one token, one tag’. For instance, occurrences of the word sound must be disambiguated for part of speech: in context, is sound a noun or a verb or an adjective? In syntactic analysis, deterministic annotation methods may be acceptable. But because natural language utterances are typically characterized by polyvalency and ambiguities of all kinds (including intentional ambiguities), such methods leave the meanings of texts highly impoverished. Third, ontologies tend to be disconnected from everyday language use and so struggle in cases where single concepts are captured through complex lexicalizations that involve profile shifts or other embodied representations. More problematically, concept graphs tend to capture ‘expert’ technical models rather than ‘folk’ models of knowledge and so may not match users’ common-sense intuitions about the organization of concepts in prototypical structures rather than Aristotelian categories. Fourth, and finally, most ontologies do not recognize the pervasively figurative character of human language. However, since the time of Galen the widespread use of metaphor in the linguistic usage of both medical professionals and lay persons has been recognized. In particular, metaphor is a well-documented linguistic tool for communicating experiences of pain. Because semantic medical knowledge-bases are designed to help capture variations within technical vocabularies – rather than the kinds of conventionalized figurative semantics that practitioners as well as patients actually utilize in clinical description and diagnosis – they fail to capture this dimension of linguistic usage. The failure of semantic technologies in these respects degrades the efficiency and efficacy not only of medical research, where information retrieval inefficiencies can lead to direct financial costs to organizations, but also of care provision, especially in contexts of patients’ self-management of complex medical conditions.

Keywords: ambiguity, bioinformatics, language, meaning, metaphor, ontology, semantic web, semantics

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Authors: Jocelyn Solomons, Sheree Bekker, Ryan Groom, Wilbur Kraak

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Sports coaching is marked by inherent elements of complexity. Coaches constantly encounter ambiguity, as they are unable to have complete certainty regarding the perspectives and expectations of stakeholders. Moreover, the coaching environment is characterised by its dynamic nature and intricate micro-political dynamics which further add to the complexity that coaches must navigate. This research study offers a unique perspective on the practical manifestation of coaching effectiveness in the South African (SA) context, where the sport is in its early stages of development. With a predominant presence of male coaches training female players and players originating from diverse sporting backgrounds, including a majority of those who commence their rugby careers at the university level, this exploration, along with practical recommendations, becomes essential. It allows for a nuanced understanding of coaching practices within a rugby system that concurrently focuses on development and high performance. By integrating the views of both players and coaches, insights are gained that extend traditional assessments, enabling a comprehensive understanding of coaching effectiveness and its implications in this evolving Women’s Rugby landscape. Through semi-structured interviews, the research delves into their assessments of coaching strategies, methodologies, and outcomes, aiming to understand coaching efficacy and its impact on player development. The findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of coaching effectiveness, paving the way for evidence-based recommendations to enhance coaching development and positively impact the sport's growth and success in SA.

Keywords: women’s rugby, coaching effectiveness, coaching, rugby, coaching education

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Authors: Haneen Alrawashdeh, Naciye Kunt

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Intercultural communicative competence or (ICC), is an extension of communicative competence that takes into account the intercultural aspect of learning a foreign language. Accordingly, this study aimed at investigating the intercultural interaction impact on English as a foreign language learners' academic achievement of language as a scholastic subject and their motivation towards learning it. To achieve the aim of the study, a qualitative research approach was implemented by means of semi-structured interviews. Interview sessions were conducted with eight teachers of English as well as ten English language learners who work in the tourism industry in a variety of career paths, such as selling antiques and traditional costumes. An analysis of learners' grades of English subjects from 2014 to 2019 academic years was performed by using the Open Education Management Information System Database in Jordan to support the findings of the study. The results illustrated that due to the fact that they work in the tourism sector, students gain skills and knowledge that assist them in better academic achievement in the subject of English by practicing intercultural communication with different nationalities on a daily basis; intercultural communication enhances students speaking skills, lexicon, and fluency; however, despite that their grades showed increasing, from teachers perspectives, intercultural communicative competence reduces their linguistic accuracy and ability to perform English academic writing in academic contexts such as exams.

Keywords: intercultural communicative competence, Jordan, language learning motivation, language academic achievement

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Authors: Yasin Kutuk, Bengi Yanik Ilhan

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Previous studies investigate the wage differentiations among regions in Turkey between couples who work in the same industry and those who work in different industries by using the models that is appropriate for cross sectional data. However, since there is no available panel data for this investigation in Turkey, pseudo panels using repeated cross-section data sets of the Household Labor Force Surveys 2004-2014 are employed in order to open a new way to examine wage differentiation patterns. For this purpose, household heads are separated into groups with respect to their household composition. These groups’ membership is assumed to be fixed over time such as age groups, education, gender, and NUTS1 (12 regions) Level. The average behavior of them can be tracked overtime same as in the panel data. Estimates using the pseudo panel data would be consistent with the estimates using genuine panel data on individuals if samples are representative of the population which has fixed composition, characteristics. With controlling the socioeconomic factors, wage differentiation of household income is affected by social, cultural and economic changes after global economic crisis emerged in US. It is also revealed whether wage differentiation is changing among the birth cohorts.

Keywords: wage income, same industry, pseudo panel, panel data econometrics

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Authors: Cristiane C. B. Alves, Livia Eisler, Gustavo Mota, Kurt Faltin Jr., Cristina L. F. Ortolani

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The correct positioning of the brackets is essential for the success of orthodontic treatment. Indirect bracket placing technique has the main objective of eliminating the positioning errors, which commonly occur in the technique of direct system of brackets. The objective of this study is to demonstrate that the exact positioning of the brackets is of extreme relevance for the success of the treatment. The present work shows a case report of an adult female patient who attended the clinic with the complaint of being in orthodontic treatment for more than 5 years without noticing any progress. As a result of the intra-oral clinical examination and documentation analysis, a class III malocclusion, an anterior open bite, and absence of all third molars and first upper and lower bilateral premolars were observed. For the treatment, the indirect bonding technique with self-ligating ceramic braces was applied. The preparation of the trays was done after the intraoral digital scanning and printing of models with a 3D printer. Brackets were positioned virtually, using a specialized software. After twelve months of treatment, correction of the malocclusion was observed, as well as the closing of the anterior open bite. It is concluded that the adequate and precise positioning of brackets is necessary for a successful treatment.

Keywords: anterior open-bite, CAD/CAM, orthodontics, malocclusion, angle class III

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Authors: Wajahat Ali, Shakeel Javaid

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In this study, we have developed a mathematical programming model for a solid transportation problem with three objective functions arranged in hierarchical order. The mathematical programming models with more than one objective function to be solved in hierarchical order is termed as a multi-level programming model. Our study explores a Multi-Level Solid Transportation Problem with Uncertain Parameters (MLSTPWU). The proposed MLSTPWU model consists of three objective functions, viz. minimization of transportation cost, minimization of total transportation time, and minimization of deterioration during transportation. These three objective functions are supposed to be solved by decision-makers at three consecutive levels. Three constraint functions are added to the model, restricting the total availability, total demand, and capacity of modes of transportation. All the parameters involved in the model are assumed to be uncertain in nature. A solution method based on fuzzy logic is also discussed to obtain the compromise solution for the proposed model. Further, a simulated numerical example is discussed to establish the efficiency and applicability of the proposed model.

Keywords: solid transportation problem, multi-level programming, uncertain variable, uncertain environment

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Authors: Man Kumar Tamang, Uday Narayan Yadav

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Background and objectives: Every country in the world is facing a demographic challenge due to drastic growth of population over 60 years. Adequate diet and nutritional status are important determinants of health in elderly populations. This study aimed to assess the nutritional status among the elderly population and factors associated with malnutrition at the community setting in rural Nepal. Methods: This is a community-based cross-sectional study among elderly of age 60 years or above in the three randomly selected VDCs of Morang district in eastern Nepal, between August and November, 2016. A multi stage cluster sampling was adopted with sample size of 345 of which 339 participated in the study. Nutritional status was assessed by MNA tool and associated socio-economic, demographic, psychological and nutritional factors were checked by binary logistic regression analysis. Results: Among 339 participants, 24.8% were found to be within normal nutritional status, 49.6% were at risk of malnutrition and 24.8% were malnourished. Independent factors associated with malnutrition status among the elderly people after controlling the cofounders in the bivariate analysis were: elderly who were malnourished were those who belonged to backward caste according to traditional Hindu caste system [OR=2.69, 95% CI: 1.17-6.21), being unemployed (OR=3.23, 95% CI: 1.63-6.41),who experienced any mistreatment from caregivers (OR=4.05, 95% CI: 1.90-8.60), being not involved in physical activity (OR=4.67, 95% CI: 1.87-11.66) and those taking medication for any co-morbidities. Conclusion: Many socio-economic, psychological and physiological factors affect nutritional status in our sample population and these issues need to be addressed for bringing improvement in elderly nutrition and health status.

Keywords: elderly, eastern Nepal, malnutrition, nutritional status

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Authors: A. Shebani, C. Pislaru

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Wear of materials is an everyday experience and has been observed and studied for long time. The prediction of wear is a fundamental problem in the industrial field, mainly correlated to the planning of maintenance interventions and economy. Pin-on-disc test is the most common test which is used to study the wear behaviour. In this paper, the pin-on-disc (AEROTECH UNIDEX 11) is used for the investigation of the effects of normal load and hardness of material on the wear under dry and sliding conditions. In the pin-on-disc rig, two specimens were used; one, a pin which is made of steel with a tip, is positioned perpendicular to the disc, where the disc is made of aluminium. The pin wear and disc wear were measured by using the following instruments: The Talysurf instrument, a digital microscope, and the alicona instrument; where the Talysurf profilometer was used to measure the pin/disc wear scar depth, and the alicona was used to measure the volume loss for pin and disc. After that, the Archard model, American Society for Testing and Materials model (ASTM), and neural network model were used for pin/disc wear modelling and the simulation results are implemented by using the Matlab program. This paper focuses on how the alicona can be considered as a powerful tool for wear measurements and how the neural network is an effective algorithm for wear estimation.

Keywords: wear modelling, Archard Model, ASTM Model, Neural Networks Model, Pin-on-disc Test, Talysurf, digital microscope, Alicona

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Authors: Humayun Murshed, Shibly Abdullah

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The research conducted in early seventies apparently assumed the existence of a universal decision model for union negotiators and furthermore tended to regard financial information as a ‘neutral’ input into a rational decision-making process. However, research in the eighties began to question the neutrality of financial information as an input in collective bargaining rather viewing it as a potentially effective means for controlling the labour force. Furthermore, this later research also started challenging the simplistic assumptions relating particularly to union objectives which have underpinned the earlier search for universal union decision models. Despite the above developments there seems to be a dearth of studies in developing countries concerning the use of financial information in collective bargaining. This paper seeks to begin to remedy this deficiency. Utilising a case study approach based on two enterprises, one in the public sector and the other a multinational, the universal decision model is rejected and it is argued that the decision whether or not to use financial information is a contingent one and such a contingency is largely defined by the context and environment in which both union and management negotiators work. An attempt is also made to identify the factors constraining as well as promoting the use of financial information in collective bargaining, these being regarded as unique to the organizations within which the case studies are conducted.

Keywords: collective bargaining, developing countries, disclosures, financial information

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Authors: Dharni Vasudhevan Venkatesan, K. E. Shanjay, H. Sujith Kumar, N. A. Abhilash, D. Aswin Ram, V. R. Sanal Kumar

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Numerical studies on race car aerodynamics at wing in ground effect have been carried out using a steady 3d, double precision, pressure-based, and standard k-epsilon turbulence model. Through various parametric analytical studies we have observed that at a particular speed and ground clearance of the wings a favorable negative lift was found high at a particular angle of attack for all the physical models considered in this paper. The fact is that if the ground clearance height to chord length (h/c) is too small, the developing boundary layers from either side (the ground and the lower surface of the wing) can interact, leading to an altered variation of the aerodynamic characteristics at wing in ground effect. Therefore a suitable ground clearance must be predicted throughout the racing for a better performance of the race car, which obviously depends upon the coupled effects of the topography, wing orientation with respect to the ground, the incoming flow features and/or the race car speed. We have concluded that for the design of high performance and high speed race cars the adjustable wings capable to alter the ground clearance and the angles of attack is the best design option for any race car for racing safely with variable speeds.

Keywords: external aerodynamics, external flow choking, race car aerodynamics, wing in ground effect

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Authors: Yannis Stavrakakis, Damian Gordon

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Critical Thinking and Reflective Practice are two vital skills that students undertaking postgraduate studies should ideally possess. To help students develop and enhance these skills, this research developed several authentic activities to be undertaken as part of a module that is delivered early in a taught MSc to enhance these skills. One of the challenges of these topics is that they are somewhat ill-defined in terms of precisely what they mean, and also, there is no clear route to operationalizing the teaching of these skills. This research focuses on identifying suitable models of these skills and delivering them in a manner that is both clear and highly motivating. To achieve this, a class of 22 Master's students was divided into two groups, one was provided with a presentation and checklist about critical thinking skills, and the other group was given the same materials on the reflective practice process. The groups were given two scenarios each to analyze using their respective checklists and were asked to present their outcomes to each other and give peer review. The results were coded and compared, and key differences were noted, including the fact that the Critical Thinking outcomes were more future-focused, and the Reflective Practice outcomes were more past-focused and present-focused, as well as the fact that the Reflective Practice process generated a significantly wider range of perspectives on the scenarios.

Keywords: critical thinking, ethical scenarios, formative assessment, reflective practice

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Authors: Yeun Sug Jeong, Yeongseon Jang, Rhim Ryoo, Donha Choi, Sung-Suk Lee, Kang-Hyeon Ka

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Broussonetia kazinoki (paper mulberry) is a plant native to Asia, and it grows at the foot of a mountain. Its bark is used as a raw material of Hanji, traditional Korean paper, and fruit is used as a medicinal material. However, inside the bark (woody part) is not used and discarded. We tried to use it for Lentinula edodes (oak mushroom) cultivation. It is commonly cultivated using oak trees and sawdust, but it could be grown with other trees. The woody part of paper mulberry was ground and mixed with oak sawdust by five different ratios. The 1.2 kg cylindrical bag media were prepared and water contents were adjusted to 65%. The media were autoclaved at 100℃ for 60 min and 121℃ for 90 min. Two strains of oak mushroom, NIFoS 2462 and NIFoS 2778 were inoculated and cultivated for 90 days in dark condition, and 40 days in light condition. Compared to the control, the mycelial growth period was long and the hardness of the media was low when paper mulberry sawdust was added. After incubation period, fruiting was stimulated at 18℃ and more than 85% humidity. After each flush, there was a resting period of 2 weeks. In the first flush, mushrooms were small, and a lot of small mushrooms were harvested. On the other hand, no mushrooms of 5 g or less were harvested in the secondary flush. The highest productivity was obtained in a 3:1 ratio of paper mulberry and oak sawdust. The size of NIFoS 2778 was uniform in each condition. On the other hand, NIFoS 2462 had smaller mushrooms in the media containing paper mulberry sawdust, but the appearance was not significantly different. This study showed that paper mulberry wood could be used to grow oak mushrooms and some oak sawdust could be substituted.

Keywords: Broussonetia kazinoki, cultivation, Lentinula edodes, oak mushroom

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Authors: Mouli Banga, Chaya Ravindra

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Wound classification is a crucial step in wound diagnosis. An effective classifier can aid wound specialists in identifying wound types with reduced financial and time investments, facilitating the determination of optimal treatment procedures. This study presents a deep neural network-based classifier that leverages wound images and their corresponding locations to categorize wounds into various classes, such as diabetic, pressure, surgical, and venous ulcers. By incorporating a developed body map, the process of tagging wound locations is significantly enhanced, providing healthcare specialists with a more efficient tool for wound analysis. We conducted a comparative analysis between two prominent convolutional neural network models, ResNet50 and MobileNetV2, utilizing a dataset of 730 images. Our findings reveal that the RestNet50 outperforms MovileNetV2, achieving an accuracy of approximately 90%, compared to MobileNetV2’s 83%. This disparity highlights the superior capability of ResNet50 in the context of this dataset. The results underscore the potential of integrating deep learning with spatial data to improve the precision and efficiency of wound diagnosis, ultimately contributing to better patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs.

Keywords: wound classification, MobileNetV2, ResNet50, multimodel

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Authors: Muhammad Noor Ul Ane, Dong-Soon Kim, Myron P. Zalucki

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Models can be useful to help understand population dynamics of insects under diverse environmental conditions and in developing strategies to manage pest species better. Adult longevity and fecundity of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) were evaluated against a wide range of constant temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 37.5ᵒC). The modified Sharpe and DeMichele model described adult aging rate and was used to estimate adult physiological age. Maximum fecundity of H. armigera was 973 egg/female at 25ᵒC decreasing to 72 eggs/female at 37.5ᵒC. The relationship between adult fecundity and temperature was well described by an extreme value function. Age-specific cumulative oviposition rate and age-specific survival rate were well described by a two-parameter Weibull function and sigmoid function, respectively. An oviposition model was developed using three temperature-dependent components: total fecundity, age-specific oviposition rate, and age-specific survival rate. The oviposition model was validated against independent field data and described the field occurrence pattern of egg population of H. armigera very well. Our model should be a useful component for population modeling of H. armigera and can be independently used for the timing of sprays in management programs of this key pest species.

Keywords: cotton bollworm, life table, temperature-dependent adult development, temperature-dependent fecundity

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Lateefat Amao, Misagh Faezipour

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Implementing electronic health records (EHR) in healthcare is a pivotal transition aimed at digitizing and optimizing patient health information management. The expectations associated with this transition are high, even towards other health information systems (HIS) and health technology. This multifaceted process involves careful planning and execution to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care, especially as healthcare technology is a sensitive niche. Key considerations include a thorough needs assessment, judicious vendor selection, robust infrastructure development, and training and adaptation of healthcare professionals. Comprehensive training programs, data migration from legacy systems and models, interoperability, as well as security and regulatory compliance are imperative for healthcare staff to navigate EHR systems adeptly. The purpose of this work is to offer a comprehensive review of the literature on EHR implementation. It explores the impact of this health technology on health practices, highlights challenges and barriers to its successful utility, and offers practical strategies that can impact its success in healthcare. This paper provides a thorough review of studies on the adoption of EHRs, emphasizing the wide range of experiences and results connected to EHR use in the medical field, especially across different types of healthcare organizations.

Keywords: healthcare, electronic health records, EHR implementation, patient care, interoperability

Procedia PDF Downloads 69

Authors: Rujira Jitrwung, Kuntima Krekkeitsakul, Weerawat Patthaveekongka, Chiraphat Kumpidet, Jarukit Tepkeaw, Krissana Jaikengdee, Anantachai Wannajampa

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Flue gas discharging from coal fired or gas combustion power plant contains around 12% Carbon dioxide (CO₂), 6% Oxygen (O₂), and 82% Nitrogen (N₂).CO₂ is a greenhouse gas which has been concerned to the global warming. Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) is a topic which is a tool to deal with this CO₂ realization. Flue gas is drawn down from the chimney and filtered, then it is compressed to build up the pressure until 8 bar. This compressed flue gas is sent to three stages Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA), which is filled with activated carbon. Experiments were showed the optimum adsorption pressure at 7bar, which CO₂ can be adsorbed step by step in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd stage, obtaining CO₂ concentration 29.8, 66.4, and 96.7 %, respectively. The mixed gas concentration from the last step is composed of 96.7% CO₂,2.7% N₂, and 0.6%O₂. This mixed CO₂product gas obtained from 3 stages PSA contained high concentration CO₂, which is ready to use for methanol synthesis. The mixed CO₂ was experimented in 5 Liter/Day of methanol synthesis reactor skid by 3 step processes as followed steam reforming, reverse water gas shift, and then hydrogenation. The result showed that proportional of mixed CO₂ and CH₄ 70/30, 50/50, 30/70 % (v/v), and 10/90 yielded methanol 2.4, 4.3, 5.6, and 6.0 Liter/day and save CO₂ 40, 30, 20, and 5 % respectively. The optimum condition resulted both methanol yield and CO₂ consumption using CO₂/CH₄ ratio 43/57 % (v/v), which yielded 4.8 Liter/day methanol and save CO₂ 27% comparing with traditional methanol production from methane steam reforming (5 Liter/day)and absent CO₂ consumption.

Keywords: carbon capture utilization and storage, pressure swing adsorption, reforming, reverse water gas shift, methanol

Procedia PDF Downloads 173

Authors: Joselyne Rugema, Innocent Twagirayezu, Aimable Nkurunziza, Alice Nyirazigama, Vedaste Bagweneza, Belancilla Nikuze

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Introduction: Burn injuries among children are associated with major complications. Early health care seeking and appropriate management are crucial in saving lives and preventing complications. Objective: To assess home-based management practices and health seeking behaviors among caregivers of children admitted with burn injuries at selected hospitals in Rwanda. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among caregivers of children admitted with burn injuries at three hospitals in Kigali. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data that were analyzed using SPSS version 25. Statistical software Results: Most of the children with burn injuries had median age of 36 months, and 89.9% had second-degree burns. 92.4% of burns happened at home and 63.3% were scalds. Only 18% of the caregivers seek care immediately after children’s burn injuries. About 2.5% reported not seeking any care after burn injuries and 3.8% sought care from traditional healers. 65.9% of the participants used wrong practices before seeking care such as applying honey, cooking oil and urine to the burn injuries. Transportation difficulties before consulting health facilities were the main reported faced barriers to success health care (86.1%). Conclusion: Immediate health seeking behavior was low. Wrong practices including application of harmful products to burn injuries are common in the community. There is a need for community based interventions to prevent burn injuries at home and to empower the community with appropriate actions to take after injuries.

Keywords: adolescent pregnancy, qualitative design, childbearing, teenage mothers

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: M. Z. Raqab, Debasis Kundu, M. A. Meraou

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In this paper, we have analyzed maximum precipitation data during a particular period of time obtained from different stations in the Global Historical Climatological Network of the USA. One important point to mention is that some stations are shut down on certain days for some reason or the other. Hence, the maximum values are recorded by excluding those readings. It is assumed that the number of stations that operate follows zero-truncated Poisson random variables, and the daily precipitation follows a lognormal random variable. We call this model a compound truncated Poisson lognormal model. The proposed model has three unknown parameters, and it can take a variety of shapes. The maximum likelihood estimators can be obtained quite conveniently using Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm. Approximate maximum likelihood estimators are also derived. The associated confidence intervals also can be obtained from the observed Fisher information matrix. Simulation results have been performed to check the performance of the EM algorithm, and it is observed that the EM algorithm works quite well in this case. When we analyze the precipitation data set using the proposed model, it is observed that the proposed model provides a better fit than some of the existing models.

Keywords: compound Poisson lognormal distribution, EM algorithm, maximum likelihood estimation, approximate maximum likelihood estimation, Fisher information, skew distribution

Procedia PDF Downloads 103

Authors: Vania Helena Tonussi Vidal, Ester Eliane Jeunon

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This article aims to analyze the change processes of management related bureaucracy and learning organization model. The theoretical framework was based on Beer and Nohria (2001) model, identified as E and O Theory. Based on this theory the empirical research was conducted in connection with six key dimensions: goal, leadership, focus, process, reward systems and consulting. We used a case study of an educational Institution located in Barbacena, Minas Gerais. This traditional center of technical knowledge for long time adopted the bureaucratic way of management. After many changes in a business model, as the creation of graduate and undergraduate courses they decided to make a deep change in management model that is our research focus. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with director, managers and courses supervisors. The analysis were processed by the procedures of Collective Subject Discourse (CSD) method, develop by Lefèvre & Lefèvre (2000), Results showed the incremental growing of management model toward a learning organization. Many impacts could be seeing. As negative factors we have: people resistance; poor information about the planning and implementation process; old politics inside the new model and so on. Positive impacts are: new procedures in human resources, mainly related to manager skills and empowerment; structure downsizing, open discussions channel; integrated information system. The process is still under construction and now great stimulus is done to managers and employee commitment in the process.

Keywords: bureaucracy, organizational learning, organizational change, E and O theory

Procedia PDF Downloads 427

Authors: Hussain Syed Asad, Richard Kwok Kit Yuen, Gongsheng Huang

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Real-time optimization has been considered an effective approach for improving energy efficient operation of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. In model-based real-time optimization, model mismatches cannot be avoided. When model mismatches are significant, the performance of the real-time optimization will be impaired and hence the expected energy saving will be reduced. In this paper, the model mismatches for chiller plant on real-time optimization are considered. In the real-time optimization of the chiller plant, simplified semi-physical or grey box model of chiller is always used, which should be identified using available operation data. To overcome the model mismatches associated with the chiller model, hybrid Genetic Algorithms (HGAs) method is used for online real-time training of the chiller model. HGAs combines Genetic Algorithms (GAs) method (for global search) and traditional optimization method (i.e. faster and more efficient for local search) to avoid conventional hit and trial process of GAs. The identification of model parameters is synthesized as an optimization problem; and the objective function is the Least Square Error between the output from the model and the actual output from the chiller plant. A case study is used to illustrate the implementation of the proposed method. It has been shown that the proposed approach is able to provide reliability in decision making, enhance the robustness of the real-time optimization strategy and improve on energy performance.

Keywords: energy performance, hybrid adaptive modeling, hybrid genetic algorithms, real-time optimization, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning

Procedia PDF Downloads 407