Search results for: learning physical
5845 Effect of Alginate and Surfactant on Physical Properties of Oil Entrapped Alginate Bead Formulation of Curcumin
Authors: Arpa Petchsomrit, Namfa Sermkaew, Ruedeekorn Wiwattanapatapee
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Oil entrapped floating alginate beads of curcumin were developed and characterized. Cremophor EL, Cremophor RH and Tween 80 were utilized to improve the solubility of the drug. The oil-loaded floating gel beads prepared by emulsion gelation method contained sodium alginate, mineral oil and surfactant. The drug content and % encapsulation declined as the ratio of surfactant was increased. The release of curcumin from 1% alginate beads was significantly more than for the 2% alginate beads. The drug released from the beads containing 25% of tween 80 was about 70% while a higher drug release was observed with the beads containing Cremophor EL or Cremohor RH (approximately 90%). The developed floating beads of curcumin powder with surfactant provided a superior drug release than those without surfactant. Floating beads based on oil entrapment containing the drug solubilized in surfactants is a new delivery system to enhance the dissolution of poorly soluble drugs.Keywords: alginate, curcumin, floating drug delivery, oil entrapped bead
Procedia PDF Downloads 3915844 Studying Second Language Learners' Language Behavior from Conversation Analysis Perspective
Authors: Yanyan Wang
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This paper on second language teaching and learning uses conversation analysis (CA) approach and focuses on how second language learners of Chinese do repair when making clarification requests. In order to demonstrate their behavior in interaction, a comparison was made to study the differences between native speakers of Chinese with non-native speakers of Chinese. The significance of the research is to make second language teachers and learners aware of repair and how to seek clarification. Utilizing the methodology of CA, the research involved two sets of naturally occurring recordings, one of native speaker students and the other of non-native speaker students. Both sets of recording were telephone talks between students and teachers. There were 50 native speaker students and 50 non-native speaker students. From multiple listening to the recordings, the parts with repairs for clarification were selected for analysis which included the moments in the talk when students had problems in understanding or hearing the speaker and had to seek clarification. For example, ‘Sorry, I do not understand ‘and ‘Can you repeat the question? ‘were the parts as repair to make clarification requests. In the data, there were 43 such cases from native speaker students and 88 cases from non-native speaker students. The non-native speaker students were more likely to use repair to seek clarification. Analysis on how the students make clarification requests during their conversation was carried out by investigating how the students initiated problems and how the teachers repaired the problems. In CA term, it is called other-initiated self-repair (OISR), which refers to student-initiated teacher-repair in this research. The findings show that, in initiating repair, native speaker students pay more attention to mutual understanding (inter-subjectivity) while non-native speaker students, due to their lack of language proficiency, pay more attention to their status of knowledge (epistemic) switch. There are three major differences: 1, native Chinese students more often initiate closed-class OISR (seeking specific information in the request) such as repeating a word or phrases from the previous turn while non-native students more frequently initiate open-class OISR (not specifying clarification) such as ‘sorry, I don’t understand ‘. 2, native speakers’ clarification requests are treated by the teacher as understanding of the content while non-native learners’ clarification requests are treated by teacher as language proficiency problem. 3, native speakers don’t see repair as knowledge issue and there is no third position in the repair sequences to close repair while non-native learners take repair sequence as a time to adjust their knowledge. There is clear closing third position token such as ‘oh ‘ to close repair sequence so that the topic can go back. In conclusion, this paper uses conversation analysis approach to compare differences between native Chinese speakers and non-native Chinese learners in their ways of conducting repair when making clarification requests. The findings are useful in future Chinese language teaching and learning, especially in teaching pragmatics such as requests.Keywords: conversation analysis (CA), clarification request, second language (L2), teaching implication
Procedia PDF Downloads 2615843 CO₂ Capture by Clay and Its Adsorption Mechanism
Authors: Jedli Hedi, Hedfi Hachem, Abdessalem Jbara, Slimi Khalifa
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Natural and modified clay were used as an adsorbent for CO2 capture. Sample of clay was subjected to acid treatments to improve their textural properties, namely, its surface area and pore volume. The modifications were carried out by heating the clays at 120 °C and then by acid treatment with 3M sulphuric acid solution at boiling temperature for 10 h. The CO2 adsorption capacities of the acid-treated clay were performed out in a batch reactor. It was found that the clay sample treated with 3M H2SO4 exhibited the highest Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area (16.29–24.68 m2/g) and pore volume (0.056–0.064 cm3/g). After the acid treatment, the CO2 adsorption capacity of clay increased. The CO2 adsorption capacity of clay increased after the acid treatment. The CO2 adsorption by clay, were characterized by SEM, FTIR, ATD-ATG and BET method. For describing the phenomenon of CO2 adsorption for these materials, the adsorption isotherms were modeled using the Freundlich and Langmuir models. CO2 adsorption isotherm was found attributable to physical adsorption.Keywords: clay, acid treatment, CO2 capture, adsorption mechanism
Procedia PDF Downloads 2165842 Effects of Exposing Learners to Speech Acts in the German Teaching Material Schritte International: The Case of Requests
Authors: Wan-Lin Tsai
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Speech act of requests is an important issue in the field of language learning and teaching because we cannot avoid making requesting in our daily life. This study examined whether or not the subjects who were freshmen and majored in German at Wenzao University of Languages were able to use the linguistic forms which they had learned from their course book Schritte International to make appropriate requests through dialogue completed tasks (DCT). The results revealed that the majority of the subjects were unable to use the forms to make appropriate requests in German due to the lack of explicit instructions. Furthermore, Chinese interference was observed in students' productions. Explicit instructions in speech acts are strongly recommended.Keywords: Chinese interference, German pragmatics, German teaching, make appropriate requests in German, speech act of requesting
Procedia PDF Downloads 4685841 Heart Failure Identification and Progression by Classifying Cardiac Patients
Authors: Muhammad Saqlain, Nazar Abbas Saqib, Muazzam A. Khan
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Heart Failure (HF) has become the major health problem in our society. The prevalence of HF has increased as the patient’s ages and it is the major cause of the high mortality rate in adults. A successful identification and progression of HF can be helpful to reduce the individual and social burden from this syndrome. In this study, we use a real data set of cardiac patients to propose a classification model for the identification and progression of HF. The data set has divided into three age groups, namely young, adult, and old and then each age group have further classified into four classes according to patient’s current physical condition. Contemporary Data Mining classification algorithms have been applied to each individual class of every age group to identify the HF. Decision Tree (DT) gives the highest accuracy of 90% and outperform all other algorithms. Our model accurately diagnoses different stages of HF for each age group and it can be very useful for the early prediction of HF.Keywords: decision tree, heart failure, data mining, classification model
Procedia PDF Downloads 4055840 Women's Perceptions of Zika Virus Prevention Recommendations: A Tale of Two Cities within Fortaleza, Brazil
Authors: Jeni Stolow, Lina Moses, Carl Kendall
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Zika virus (ZIKV) reemerged as a global threat in 2015 with Brazil at its epicenter. Brazilians have a long history of combatting Aedes aegypti mosquitos as it is a common vector for dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever. As a response to the epidemic, public health authorities promoted ZIKV prevention behaviors such as mosquito bite prevention, reproductive counseling for women who are pregnant or contemplating pregnancy, pregnancy avoidance, and condom use. Most prevention efforts from Brazil focused on the mosquito vector- utilizing recycled dengue approaches without acknowledging the context in which women were able to adhere to these prevention messages. This study used qualitative methods to explore how women in Fortaleza, Brazil perceive ZIKV, the Brazilian authorities’ ZIKV prevention recommendations, and the feasibility of adhering to these recommendations. A core study aim was to look at how women perceive their physical, social, and natural environment as it impacts women’s ability to adhere to ZIKV prevention behaviors. A Rapid Anthropological Assessment (RAA) containing observations, informational interviews, and semi-structured in-depth interviews were utilized for data collection. The study utilized Grounded Theory as the systematic inductive method of analyzing the data collected. Interviews were conducted with 35 women of reproductive age (15-39 years old), who primarily utilize the public health system. It was found that women’s self-identified economic class was associated with how strongly women felt they could prevent ZIKV. All women interviewed technically belong to the C-class, the middle economic class. Although all members of the same economic class, there was a divide amongst participants as to who perceived themselves as higher C-class versus lower C-class. How women saw their economic status was dictated by how they perceived their physical, social, and natural environment. Women further associated their environment and their economic class to their likelihood of contracting ZIKV, their options for preventing ZIKV, their ability to prevent ZIKV, and their willingness to attempt to prevent ZIKV. Women’s perceived economic status was found to relate to their structural environment (housing quality, sewage, and locations to supplies), social environment (family and peer norms), and natural environment (wetland areas, natural mosquito breeding sites, and cyclical nature of vectors). Findings from this study suggest that women’s perceived environment and economic status impact their perceived feasibility and desire to attempt behaviors to prevent ZIKV. Although ZIKV has depleted from epidemic to endemic status, it is suggested that the virus will return as cyclical outbreaks like that seen with similar arboviruses such as dengue and chikungunya. As the next ZIKV epidemic approaches it is essential to understand how women perceive themselves, their abilities, and their environments to best aid the prevention of ZIKV.Keywords: Aedes aegypti, environment, prevention, qualitative, zika
Procedia PDF Downloads 1385839 The Tourism Management: The Case of Kingdom of Cambodia
Authors: Chanpen Meenakorn
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The purpose of this study are (1) development plan and management strategy of Virachey Natioanl Park, (2) to study stakeholders’ perception on tourism development for sustainable tourism planning and management. The data was collected through 28 sets of questionnaires with the total population of international visitors who were interested in Ecotourism in northeast Cambodia and traveled to Virachey National Park. The SPSS programme was used to analyze the level of visitors’ satisfaction and perception on tourism development. The results of the study indicated that moderate potentiality to be developed as tourist attraction for sustainable tourism development in the park. The components with moderate potential are physical condition, management, activities and process of natural and cultural tourism, and organization and participation of the local community. The study also found that most local communities satisfy with tourism development in the park as well as in their community.Keywords: Kingdom of Cambodia, stakeholders’ perception, tourism management, Virachey National Park
Procedia PDF Downloads 3705838 Educational Robotics with Easy Implementation and Low Cost
Authors: Maria R. A. R. Moreira, Francisco R. O. Da Silva, André O. A. Fontenele, Érick A. Ribeiro
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This article deals with the influence of technology in education showing educational robotics as pedagogical method of solution for knowledge building. We are proposing the development and implementation of four robot models that can be used for teaching purposes involving the areas of mechatronics, mechanics, electronics and computing, making it efficient for learning other sciences and theories. One of the main reasons for application of the developed educational kits is its low cost, allowing its applicability to a greater number of educational institutions. The technology will add to education dissemination of knowledge by means of experiments in such a way that the pedagogical robotics promotes understanding, practice, solution and criticism about classroom challenges. We also present the relationship between education, science, technology and society through educational robotics, treated as an incentive to technological careers.Keywords: education, mecatronics, robotics, technology
Procedia PDF Downloads 3895837 Modeling of Reverse Osmosis Water Desalination Powered by Photovoltaic Solar Energy
Authors: Salma El Aimani
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Freshwater is an essential material in our daily life; its availability is on the decline due to population growth and climate change. To meet the demand for fresh water in regions where reserves are insufficient, several countries have adopted seawater desalination. Several physical methods allow the production of fresh water from seawater; among these methods are distillation and reverse osmosis, and there is great potential to use renewable energy sources such as solar Photovoltaics. The work presented in this paper consists of three parts. First, the generalities of desalination technologies will be presented. The second part is devoted to the presentation of different water desalination systems combined with renewable energy and their benefits and drawbacks on different sides. In the third part, we will perform a modeling of a PV water desalination system under Matlab Simulink software. Then, according to the obtained simulation results, we conclude this paper with the prospects of the presented work.Keywords: reverse-osmosis, desalination, modelling, irradiation, Matlab
Procedia PDF Downloads 915836 Efficient and Timely Mutual Authentication Scheme for RFID Systems
Authors: Hesham A. El Zouka, Mustafa M. Hosni ka
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The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has a diverse base of applications, but it is also prone to security threats. There are different types of security attacks that limit the range of the RFID applications. For example, deploying the RFID networks in insecure environments could make the RFID system vulnerable to many types of attacks such as spoofing attack, location traceability attack, physical attack and many more. Therefore, security is often an important requirement for RFID systems. In this paper, RFID mutual authentication protocol is implemented based on mobile agent technology and timestamp, which are used to provide strong authentication and integrity assurances to both the RFID readers and their corresponding RFID tags. The integration of mobile agent technology and timestamp provides promising results towards achieving this goal and towards reducing the security threats in RFID systems.Keywords: RFID, security, authentication protocols, privacy, agent-based architecture, time-stamp, digital signature
Procedia PDF Downloads 2715835 Science Explorer Modules as a Communication Approach to Encourage High School Students to Pursue Science Careers
Authors: Mark Ivan Roblas
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The Science Explorer is a mobile learning science facility in the Philippines. It is a bus that travels to different provinces in the country bringing interactive science modules facilitated by scientists from the industry and academe. The project aims to entice students to get into careers in science through interactive science modules and interaction with real-life scientists. This article looks into the effectiveness of its modules as a communication source and message to encourage high school students to get into careers in the future. The study revealed that as the Science Explorer modules are able to retain students to stay in science careers of their choice and even convert some to choose from non-science to a science degree, it still lacks in penetrating the belief system of the students and influencing them to take a scientific career path.Keywords: informal science, mobile science, science careers, science education
Procedia PDF Downloads 2275834 Body Image Dissatisfaction of Females: A Holistic Therapeutic Approach
Authors: Katy Eleanor Addinall
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Women’s body image dissatisfaction is a widespread problem, and it is present in all age groups, on every socioeconomic level, in all occupations, all cultures, and religions. Body image dissatisfaction is a broad term that is used to vary from normal discontent of a woman about one or more of her physical attributes to extreme negative causes, for example, an eating disorder. South African women were examined, and an empirical qualitative study was done to evaluate the women’s thoughts and feelings regarding their bodies. The causes and effects of body image dissatisfaction were examined, and social science literature was used to determine the etiology of body image dissatisfaction, which confirmed that it is multifactorial. A variety of therapeutic aids were studied, and cognitive behavioural therapy appeared to be the most effective. Every woman is an individual with an individual body image and must be approached as an individual holistic being. Thus, a holistic pragmatic model was developed as a possible aid in the woman’s healing process.Keywords: body, body image, females, woman, therapy, dissatisfaction, holistic, cognitive behavioural therapy
Procedia PDF Downloads 1455833 Fabrication of Titanium Diboride-Based High Emissive Paint Coating Using Economical Dip Coating Method for High Temperature Applications
Authors: Atasi Dan, Kamanio Chattopadhyay, Bikramjit Basu
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A cost-effective titanium diboride (TiB2) paint coating has been developed on stainless steel substrate using commercially available polyvinylpyrrolidone as a binder by convenient dip-coating technique. The emittance of the coating has been explored by tailoring various process parameters to obtain highest thermal radiation. The optimized coating has achieved a high thermal emittance of 0.85. In addition, the coating exhibited an excellent thermal stability while heat-treated at 500 °C in air. Along with the emittance, the structural and physical properties of the As-deposited and heat-treated coatings have been investigated systematically. The high temperature annealing has not affected the emittance, chemical composition and morphology of the coating significantly. Hence, the fabricated paint coating is expected to open up new possibilities for using it as a low-cost, thermally stable emitter in high temperature applications.Keywords: titanium diboride, emittance, paint coating, thermal stability
Procedia PDF Downloads 2895832 Electrospinning and Characterization of Silk Fibroin/Gelatin Nanofibre Mats
Authors: S. Mohammadzadehmoghadam, Y. Dong
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In this study, Bombyx mori silk fibroin/gelatin (SF/GT) nanocomposite with different GT ratio (SF/GT 100/0, 90/10 and 70/30) were prepared by electrospinning process and crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GA) vapor. Properties of crosslinked SF/GT nanocomposites were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mechanical test, water uptake capacity (WUC) and porosity. From SEM images, it was found that fiber diameter increased as GT content increased. The results of mechanical test indicated that the SF/GT 70/30 nanocomposites had both the highest Young’s modulus of 342 MPa and the highest tensile strength of about 14 MPa. However, porosity and WUC decreased from 62% and 405% for pristine SF to 47% and 232% for SF/GT 70/30, respectively. This behavior can be related to higher degree of crosslinking as GT ratio increased which altered the structure and physical properties of scaffolds. This study showed that incorporation of GT into SF nanofibers can enhance mechanical properties of resultant nanocomposite, but the GA treatment should be optimized to control and fine-tune other properties to warrant their biomedical application.Keywords: electrospinning, gelatin, silk fibroin, mechanical properties, nanocomposites
Procedia PDF Downloads 1605831 A Work-Individual-Family Inquiry on Mental Health and Family Responsibility of Dealers Employed in Macau Gaming Industry
Authors: Tak Mau Simon Chan
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While there is growing reflection of the adverse impacts instigated by the flourishing gaming industry on the physical health and job satisfaction of those who work in Macau casinos, there is also a critical void in our understanding of the mental health of croupiers and how casino employment interacts with the family system. From a systemic approach, it would be most effective to examine the ‘dealer issues’ collectively and offer assistance to both the individual dealer and the family system of dealers. Therefore, with the use of a mixed method study design, the levels of anxiety, depression and sleeping quality of a sample of 1124 dealers who are working in Macau casinos have been measured in the present study, and 113 dealers have been interviewed about the impacts of casino employment on their family life. This study presents some very important findings. First, the quantitative study indicates that gender is a significant predictor of depression and anxiety levels, whilst lower income means less quality sleep. The Pearson’s correlation coefficients show that as the Zung Self-rating Anxiety Scale (ZSAS) scores increase, the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (ZSDS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores will also simultaneously increase. Higher income, therefore, might partly explain for the reason why mothers choose to work in the gaming industry even with shift work involved and a stressful work environment. Second, the findings from the qualitative study show that aside from the positive impacts on family finances, the shift work and job stress to some degree negatively affect family responsibilities and relationships. There are resultant family issues, including missed family activities, and reduced parental care and guidance, marital intimacy, and communication with family members. Despite the mixed views on the gender role differences, the respondents generally agree that female dealers have more family and child-minding responsibilities at home, and thus it is more difficult for them to balance work and family. Consequently, they may be more vulnerable to stress at work. Thirdly, there are interrelationships between work and family, which are based on a systemic inquiry that incorporates work- individual- family. Poor physical and psychological health due to shift work or a harmful work environment could affect not just work performance, but also life at home. Therefore, a few practice points about 1) work-family conflicts in Macau; 2) families-in- transition in Macau; and 3) gender and class sensitivity in Macau; are provided for social workers and family practitioners who will greatly benefit these families, especially whose family members are working in the gaming industry in Macau. It is concluded that in addressing the cultural phenomenon of “dealer’s complex” in Macau, a systemic approach is recommended that addresses both personal psychological needs and family issue of dealers.Keywords: family, work stress, mental health, Macau, dealers, gaming industry
Procedia PDF Downloads 3085830 2D PbS Nanosheets Synthesis and Their Applications as Field Effect Transistors or Solar Cells
Authors: T. Bielewicz, S. Dogan, C. Klinke
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Two-dimensional, solution-processable semiconductor materials are interesting for low-cost electronic applications [1]. We demonstrate the synthesis of lead sulfide nanosheets and how their size, shape and height can be tuned by varying concentrations of pre-cursors, ligands and by varying the reaction temperature. Especially, the charge carrier confinement in the nanosheets’ height adjustable from 2 to 20 nm has a decisive impact on their electronic properties. This is demonstrated by their use as conduction channel in a field effect transistor [2]. Recently we also showed that especially thin nanosheets show a high carrier multiplication (CM) efficiency [3] which could make them, through the confinement induced band gap and high photoconductivity, very attractive for application in photovoltaic devices. We are already able to manufacture photovoltaic devices out of single nanosheets which show promising results.Keywords: physical sciences, chemistry, materials, chemistry, colloids, physics, condensed-matter physics, semiconductors, two-dimensional materials
Procedia PDF Downloads 3035829 Television: A Tool for Learning English
Authors: Anirudha S. Joshi
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The 21st century classroom is filled with a vibrant assortment of learners. In India the different socio-economic background with culturally diversified experiences need the English teacher of the teenage group to be more dynamic, innovative and competent. The boycott of conventional ways of teaching and the warm reception of modern approaches give place to the modern devices like Television. Instead of calling it an idiot? box why not a dynamic teacher utilize it for the purpose of developing the skills among the students? The teacher applies various strategies for the learners. One of them is selecting a particular popular T.V. program in the national language ‘Hindi’ and motivating the constructivist students to take part in the activities based on it. This bilingual method enables them to develop the speaking, writing and conversational skills in English in a very natural, informal and enthusiastic way.Keywords: bilingual method, modern approaches, natural way, TV program
Procedia PDF Downloads 4005828 Physics’s Practical Based on Android as a Motivator in Learning Physics
Authors: Yuni Rochmawati, Luluk Il Mukarromah
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Android is a mobile operating system (OS) based on the linux kerrnel and currently developed by google. With a user interface based on direct manipulation, Android is designed primarily for touchscreen mobile deviced such as smartphone and tablet computer, with specialized user interface for television (Android TV), cars (Android Auto), and wrist watches (Android Wear). Now, almost all peoples using smartphone. Smartphone seems to be a must-have object, because smartphone has many benefits. In addition, of course smartphone have many benefits for education, like resume of lesson that form of e-book. However, this article is not about resume of lesson. This article is about practical based on android, exactly for physics. Therefore, we will explain our idea about physics’s practical based on android and for output, we wish many students will be like to studying physics and always remember about physics’s phenomenon by physics’s practical based on android.Keywords: android, smartphone, physics, practical
Procedia PDF Downloads 2485827 Factors Associated with Self-Rated Health among Persons with Disabilities: A Korean National Survey
Authors: Won-Seok Kim, Hyung-Ik Shin
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Self-rated health (SRH) is a subjective assessment of individual health and has been identified as a strong predictor for mortality and morbidity. However few studies have been directed to the factors associated with SRH in persons with disabilities (PWD). We used data of 7th Korean national survey for 5307 PWD in 2008. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to find out independent risk factors for poor SRH in PWD. As a result, indicators of physical condition (poor instrumental ADL), socioeconomic disadvantages (poor education, economically inactive, low self-rated social class, medicaid in health insurance, presence of unmet need for hospital use) and social participation and networks (no use of internet service) were selected as independent risk factors for poor SRH in final model. Findings in the present study would be helpful in making a program to promote the health and narrow the gap of health status between the PWD.Keywords: disabilities, risk factors, self-rated health, socioeconomic disadvantages, social networks
Procedia PDF Downloads 3985826 Towards Dynamic Estimation of Residential Building Energy Consumption in Germany: Leveraging Machine Learning and Public Data from England and Wales
Authors: Philipp Sommer, Amgad Agoub
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The construction sector significantly impacts global CO₂ emissions, particularly through the energy usage of residential buildings. To address this, various governments, including Germany's, are focusing on reducing emissions via sustainable refurbishment initiatives. This study examines the application of machine learning (ML) to estimate energy demands dynamically in residential buildings and enhance the potential for large-scale sustainable refurbishment. A major challenge in Germany is the lack of extensive publicly labeled datasets for energy performance, as energy performance certificates, which provide critical data on building-specific energy requirements and consumption, are not available for all buildings or require on-site inspections. Conversely, England and other countries in the European Union (EU) have rich public datasets, providing a viable alternative for analysis. This research adapts insights from these English datasets to the German context by developing a comprehensive data schema and calibration dataset capable of predicting building energy demand effectively. The study proposes a minimal feature set, determined through feature importance analysis, to optimize the ML model. Findings indicate that ML significantly improves the scalability and accuracy of energy demand forecasts, supporting more effective emissions reduction strategies in the construction industry. Integrating energy performance certificates into municipal heat planning in Germany highlights the transformative impact of data-driven approaches on environmental sustainability. The goal is to identify and utilize key features from open data sources that significantly influence energy demand, creating an efficient forecasting model. Using Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB) and data from energy performance certificates, effective features such as building type, year of construction, living space, insulation level, and building materials were incorporated. These were supplemented by data derived from descriptions of roofs, walls, windows, and floors, integrated into three datasets. The emphasis was on features accessible via remote sensing, which, along with other correlated characteristics, greatly improved the model's accuracy. The model was further validated using SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) values and aggregated feature importance, which quantified the effects of individual features on the predictions. The refined model using remote sensing data showed a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.64 and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 4.12, indicating predictions based on efficiency class 1-100 (G-A) may deviate by 4.12 points. This R² increased to 0.84 with the inclusion of more samples, with wall type emerging as the most predictive feature. After optimizing and incorporating related features like estimated primary energy consumption, the R² score for the training and test set reached 0.94, demonstrating good generalization. The study concludes that ML models significantly improve prediction accuracy over traditional methods, illustrating the potential of ML in enhancing energy efficiency analysis and planning. This supports better decision-making for energy optimization and highlights the benefits of developing and refining data schemas using open data to bolster sustainability in the building sector. The study underscores the importance of supporting open data initiatives to collect similar features and support the creation of comparable models in Germany, enhancing the outlook for environmental sustainability.Keywords: machine learning, remote sensing, residential building, energy performance certificates, data-driven, heat planning
Procedia PDF Downloads 625825 Understanding Student Pilot Mental Workload in Recreational Aircraft Training
Authors: Ron Bishop, Jim Mitchell, Talitha Best
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The increase in air travel worldwide has resulted in a pilot shortage. To increase student pilot capacity and lower costs, flight schools have increased the use of recreational aircraft (RA) with technological advanced cockpits in flight schools. The impact of RA based training compared to general aviation (GA) aircraft training on student mental workload is not well understood. This research investigated student pilot (N = 17) awareness of mental workload between technologically advanced cockpit equipped RA training with analogue gauge equipped GA training. The results showed a significantly higher rating of mental workload across subscales of mental and physical demand on the NASA-TLX in recreational aviation aircraft training compared to GA aircraft. Similarly, thematic content analysis of follow-up questions identified that mental workload of the student pilots flying the RA was perceived to be more than the GA aircraft.Keywords: mental workload, recreational aircraft, student pilot, training
Procedia PDF Downloads 1605824 Rethinking of Self-Monitoring and Self-Response Roles in Teaching Grammar Knowledge to Iranian EFL Learners
Authors: Gholam Reza Parvizi, Ali Reza Kargar, Amir Arani
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In the present days, learning and teaching researchers have emphasized the role which teachers, tutors, and trainers’ constraint knowledge treat in resizing and trimming what they perform in educational atmosphere. Regarding English language as subject to teaching, although the prominence of instructor’s knowledge about grammar has also been stressed, but the lack of empirical insights into the relationship between teacher’ self-monitoring and self-response of grammar knowledge have been observed. With particular attention to the grammar this article indicates and discusses information obtained self- feedback and conversing teachers of a kind who backwash the issue. The result of the study indicates that enabling teachers to progress and maintain a logical and realistic awareness of their knowledge about grammar have to be prominent goal for teachers’ education and development programs.Keywords: grammar knowledge, self-monitoring, self-response, teaching grammar, language teaching program
Procedia PDF Downloads 5655823 The Impact of Sensory Overload on Students on the Autism Spectrum in Italian Inclusive Classrooms: Teachers' Perspectives and Training Needs
Authors: Paola Molteni, Luigi d’Alonzo
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Background: Sensory issues are now considered one of the key aspects in defining and diagnosing autism, changing the perspectives on behavioural analysis and intervention in mainstream educational services. However, Italian teachers’ training is yet not specific on the topic of autism and its sensory-related effects and this research investigates the teacher’s capability in understanding the student’s needs and his/her challenging behaviours considering sensory perceptions. Objectives: The research aims to analyse mainstream schools teachers’ awareness on students’ sensory perceptions and how this affects classroom inclusion and learning process. The research questions are: i) Are teachers able to identify student’s sensory issues?; ii) Are trained teachers more able to identify sensory problems then untrained ones?; iii) What is the impact of sensory issues on inclusion in mainstream classrooms?; iv) What should teachers know about autistic sensory dimensions? Methods: This research was designed as a pilot study that involves a multi-methods approach, including action and collaborative research methodology. The designed research allows the researcher to catch the complexity of a province school district (from kindergarten to high school) through a deep detailed analysis of selected aspects. The researcher explored the questions described above through 133 questionnaires and 6 focus groups. The qualitative and quantitative data collected during the research were analysed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Mainstream schools teachers are not able to confidently recognise sensory issues of children included in the classroom. The research underlines: how professionals with no specific training on autism are not able to recognise sensory problems in students on the spectrum; how hearing and sight issues have higher impact on classroom inclusion and student’s learning process; how a lack of understanding is often followed by misinterpretations of the impact of sensory issues and challenging behaviours. Conclusions: As this research has shown, promoting and enhancing the importance of understanding sensory issues related to autism is fundamental to enable mainstream schools teachers to define educational and life-long plans able to properly answer the student’s needs and support his/her real inclusion in the classroom. This study is a good example of how the educational research can meet and help the daily practice in working with people on the autism spectrum and support the training design for mainstream school teachers: the emerging need of designed preparation on sensory issues is fundamental to be considered when planning school district in-service training programmes, specifically declined for inclusive services.Keywords: autism spectrum condition, scholastic inclusion, sensory overload, teacher's training
Procedia PDF Downloads 3215822 Psychosocial Factors in Relation to Musculoskeletal Disorders among Nursing Professionals in Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Authors: Karwan Khudhir
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A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and psychosocial factors associated with it, among Kurdistan nursing professionals. Simple random sampling was used to select 220 nurses and data were collected by self-administrative questionnaire. Results of the study showed that the overall prevalence of MSDs among Kurdistan nurses was 74% in different body regions and, by body regions, neck pain was reported to be the highest complaint of twelve-month MSDs (48.4%) compared to other body parts. Logistic regression analysis indicated 6 variables that are significantly associated with musculoskeletal disorders: smoking (OR=19.472, 95% CI: 5.396, 70.273), BMI (OR= 5.106, 95% CI: 1.735, 15.025), physical activity (OR=8.639, 95% CI: 3.075, 24.271), psychological demand (OR=6.685, 95% CI: 3.318, 13.468), social support (OR=3.143, 95% CI: 1.202, 4.814) and job satisfaction (OR=2.44, 95% CI: 1.04, 5.63). Prevention strategies and health education which emphasizes on psychosocial risk factors and how to improve working conditions should be introduced.Keywords: Kurdistan Region, Iraq, musculoskeletal disorders, nurses, psycho-social factors
Procedia PDF Downloads 2265821 Organic Waste Valorization for Biodiesel Production: Chemical and Biological Approach
Authors: Meha Alouini, Wissem Mnif, Yasmine Souissi
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This work will be conducted within the framework of the environmental sustainable development. It involves waste recovering into biodiesel fuel. Low cost feedstocks such as waste of frying oil and animal fats have been utilized to replace refined vegetable oil for biodiesel production. Biodiesel which refers to fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) was carried out by both chemical and enzymatic reaction of transesterification. In order to compare the two studied reactions the obtained biodiesel was characterized by determining its esters content and its fuel properties according to the European standard EN 14214. It was noted that the chemical method gave the product with the best physical property. But the biological one was found more effective for obtaining important ester content. Thus it would be interesting to optimize the enzymatic pathway of production of biodiesel to obtain a better property of biodiesel.Keywords: biodiesel, fatty acid methyl esters, transesterification, waste frying oil, waste beef fat
Procedia PDF Downloads 5035820 Metabolic Cost and Perceived Exertion during Progressive and Randomized Walking Protocols
Authors: Simeon E. H. Davies
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This study investigated whether selected metabolic responses and the perception of effort varied during four different walk protocols where speed increased progressively 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 km/hr (progressive treadmill walk (PTW); and progressive land walk (PLW); or where the participant adjusted to random changes of speed e.g. 6, 3, 7, 4, and 5 km/hr during a randomized treadmill walk (RTW); and a randomized land walk (RLW). Mean stature and mass of the seven participants was 1.75m and 70kg respectively, with a mean body fat of 15%. Metabolic measures including heart rate, relative oxygen uptake, ventilation, increased in a linear fashion up to 6 km/hr, however at 7 km/hr there was a significant increase in metabolic response notably during the PLW, and to a similar, although lesser extent in RLW, probably as a consequence of the loss of kinetic energy when turning at each cone in order to maintain the speed during each shuttle. Respiration frequency appeared to be a more sensitive indicator of physical exertion, exhibiting a rapid elevation at 5 km/hr. The perception of effort during each mode and at each speed was largely congruent during each walk protocol.Keywords: exertion, metabolic, progressive, random, walking
Procedia PDF Downloads 4695819 Correlation between Pinch and Grip Strength with Dexterity in Adult Hemiplegic
Authors: S. Abbsi, M. R. Hadian, M. Abdolvahab, M. Jalili, S. Khafri
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Background: According to physical effects of cardiovascular accident (CVA) which is the most common disabilities in adulthood. It seems attention to treatment and rehabilitation of this patient has importance. Hemiplegic patients have been experienced of wild functional disabilities. Numerous patients have been suffered from upper limb disabilities. Aim of this study correlation of pinch and grip strength with dexterity in adult hemiplegic. Methods: 34 adult hemiplegic in range of 50-70 years participate in this study. After introduce and take a satisfaction patient, pinch and grip strength have evaluated by dynamometer and dexterity have evaluated by Minnesota manual dexterity test and correlation effects of them have studied. Result: According to result of present investigation, patients with hemiplegia have shown significant correlation between dexterity with pinch and grip strength. Conclusion: Dexterity has correlation with pinch and grip strength, but it seems, not have correlation with age and duration of CVA.Keywords: pinch strength, grip strength, dexterity, hemiplegia
Procedia PDF Downloads 2965818 Comparative Analysis of Technologies for Production of Granular NPKS-Fertilizers
Authors: Andrey Norov
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Based on a comparison of technologies for the production of granular nitrate-containing and nitrate-free NPKS-fertilizers, this paper considers the effect of process parameters on the economic feasibility of production, on physical & chemical, and structural & mechanical properties and quality of final products (caking, static strength of granules, hygroscopicity, etc.), as well as on thermal stability of fertilizers, eco-friendly production, and other aspects. This comparative analysis allows to select the optimal technology for specific conditions and requirements. Additionally, the report considers flexible, a unique technology for the production of granular NPKS-fertilizers containing sulfur and calcium, suggested by Samoilov Research Institute for Mineral Fertilizers JSC “NIUIF” - the oldest industry-oriented institute in Russia. This technology is implemented at one of the Russian plants where combined drum is used for granulation and drying.Keywords: caking, granule static strength, granulating-drying drum, NPKS-fertilizers
Procedia PDF Downloads 1155817 Dam Break Model Using Navier-Stokes Equation
Authors: Alireza Lohrasbi, Alireza Lavaei, Mohammadali M. Shahlaei
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The liquid flow and the free surface shape during the initial stage of dam breaking are investigated. A numerical scheme is developed to predict the wave of an unsteady, incompressible viscous flow with free surface. The method involves a two dimensional finite element (2D), in a vertical plan. The Naiver-Stokes equations for conservation of momentum and mass for Newtonian fluids, continuity equation, and full nonlinear kinematic free-surface equation were used as the governing equations. The mapping developed to solve highly deformed free surface problems common in waves formed during wave propagation, transforms the run up model from the physical domain to a computational domain with Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) finite element modeling technique.Keywords: dam break, Naiver-Stokes equations, free-surface flows, Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian
Procedia PDF Downloads 3465816 Thermo-Aeraulic Studies of a Multizone Building Influence of the Compactness Index
Authors: S. M. A. Bekkouche, T. Benouaz, M. K. Cherier, M. Hamdani, M. R. Yaiche, N. Benamrane
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Most codes of building energy simulation neglect the humidity or well represent it with a very simplified method. It is for this reason that we have developed a new approach to the description and modeling of multizone buildings in Saharan climate. The thermal nodal method was used to apprehend thermoaeraulic behavior of air subjected to varied solicitations. In this contribution, analyzing the building geometry introduced the concept of index compactness as "quotient of external walls area and volume of the building". Physical phenomena that we have described in this paper, allow to build the model of the coupled thermoaeraulic behavior. The comparison shows that the found results are to some extent satisfactory. The result proves that temperature and specific humidity depending on compactness and geometric shape. Proper use of compactness index and building geometry parameters will noticeably minimize building energy.Keywords: multizone model, nodal method, compactness index, specific humidity, temperature
Procedia PDF Downloads 414