Search results for: process security

Authors: Y. El Kaissi, M. Allam, A. Koulou, M. Galai, M. Ebn Touhami

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The aim of our work is to develop an industrial bath of nickel alloy deposit on mild steel. The optimization of the operating parameters made it possible to obtain a stable Ni-P alloy deposition formulation. To understand the reaction mechanism of the deposition process, a kinetic study was performed by cyclic voltammetry and by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The coatings obtained have a very high corrosion resistance in a very aggressive acid medium which increases with the heat treatment.

Keywords: cyclic voltammetry, EIS, electroless Ni–P coating, heat treatment, potentiodynamic polarization

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Authors: Vephkhvia Grigalashvili

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The defense of Georgia is every citizen’s duty. The present article reviews the principles and standards of gender policy in the Georgian national defense sector. In addition, it looks at mechanisms for ensuring gender equality, going through the relevant Georgian legislation. Furthermore, this work aims to conduct a comparative analysis of defense models of Georgia, Finland, and the Baltic States in order to identify core institutional challenges. The study produced the following findings:(a) The national defense planning is based on the Total Defense approach, which implies a wide involvement of the country`s population in state defense. (b) This political act does not specify gender equality aspects of the Total Defense strategy; (c) According to the Constitution of Georgia, irrespective of gender factors, every citizen of Georgia is legally obliged to participate in state security activities. However, the state has an authority (power of choice) to decide which gender group (male or/and female citizen) must fulfill above mentioned their constitutional commitment. For instance, completion of compulsory military and reserve military services is a male citizen’s duty, whereas professional military service is equally accessible to both genders. The study concludes that effective implementation of the Total Defense concept largely depends on how Georgia uses its capabilities and human resources. Based on the statistical fact that more than 50% of the country’s population are women, Georgia has to elaborate on relevant institutional mechanisms for implementation of gender equality in the national defense organization. In this regard, it would be advisable: (i) to give the legal opportunity to women to serve in compulsory military service, and (ii) to develop labor reserve service as a part of the anti-crisis management system of Georgia.

Keywords: gender in defense organisation, gender mechanisms, gender in defense policy, gender policy

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Authors: Viraj Tyagi, Ajai Jain, P. K. Jain, Aarushi Jain

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This paper presents a genetic algorithm based loading methodology for a capacity constrained job-shop with the consideration of alternative process plans for each part to be produced. Performance analysis of the proposed methodology is carried out for two case studies by considering two different manufacturing scenarios. Results obtained indicate that the methodology is quite effective in improving the shop load balance, and hence, it can be included in the frameworks of manufacturing planning systems of job-shop oriented industries.

Keywords: manufacturing planning, loading, genetic algorithm, job shop

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Authors: Tuğçe Kiper Elibol, İbrahim Uslan, Mehmet Ali Guler, Murat Buyuk, Uğur Yolum

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According to the FAA report, 142603 bird strikes were reported for a period of 24 years, between 1990 – 2013. Bird strike with aerospace structures not only threaten the flight security but also cause financial loss and puts life in danger. The statistics show that most of the bird strikes are happening with the nose and the leading edge of the wings. Also, a substantial amount of bird strikes is absorbed by the jet engines and causes damage on blades and engine body. Crash proof designs are required to overcome the possibility of catastrophic failure of the airplane. Using computational methods for bird strike analysis during the product development phase has considerable importance in terms of cost saving. Clearly, using simulation techniques to reduce the number of reference tests can dramatically affect the total cost of an aircraft, where for bird strike often full-scale tests are considered. Therefore, development of validated numerical models is required that can replace preliminary tests and accelerate the design cycle. In this study, to verify the simulation parameters for a bird strike analysis, several different numerical options are studied for an impact case against a primitive structure. Then, a representative bird mode is generated with the verified parameters and collided against the leading edge of a training aircraft wing, where each structural member of the wing was explicitly modeled. A nonlinear explicit dynamics finite element code, LS-DYNA was used for the bird impact simulations. SPH methodology was used to model the behavior of the bird. Dynamic behavior of the wing superstructure was observed and will be used for further design optimization purposes.

Keywords: bird impact, bird strike, finite element modeling, smoothed particle hydrodynamics

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Authors: Mira Kaneva

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The ongoing migration crisis polemic opens up the debate to the ambivalent essence of borders due to both the legality and legitimacy of the displacement of vast masses of people across the European continent. In neoliberal terms, migration is seen as an economic opportunity, or, on the opposite, as a social disparity; in realist terms, it is regarded as a security threat that calls for mobilization; from a critical standpoint, it is a matter of discourse on democratic governance. This paper sets the objective of analyzing borders through the Foucauldian prism of biopolitics. It aims at defining the specifics of the management of the human body by producing both the irregular migrant as a subject (but prevalently as an object in the discourse) and the political subjectivity by exercising state power in repressive practices, including hate speech. The study relies on the conceptual framework of Bigo, Agamben, Huysmans, among others, and applies the methodology of qualitative comparative analysis between the cases of borders (fences, enclaves, camps and other forms of abnormal spatiality) in Italy, Spain, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgaria. The paper thus tries to throw light on these cross- and intra-regional contexts that share certain similarities and differences. It tries to argue that the governmentality of the masses of refugees and economic immigrants through the speech acts of their exclusion leads to a temporary populist backlash; a tentative finding is that the status-quo in terms of social and economic measures remains relatively balanced, whereas, values such as freedom, openness, and tolerance are consecutively marginalized.

Keywords: Balkans, biopolitical borders, cross- and intra-regional discourse analysis, irregular migration, Mediterranean Europe, securitization vs. humanitarianism

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Authors: C. Slim

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This paper presents an integrated model, which hybridized data envelopment analysis (DEA) and support vector machine (SVM) together, to class countries according to their efficiency and performance. This model takes into account aspects of multi-dimensional indicators, decision-making hierarchy and relativity of measurement. Starting from a set of indicators of performance as exhaustive as possible, a process of successive aggregations has been developed to attain an overall evaluation of a country’s competitiveness.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Support vector machine (SVM), Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Aggregations, indicators of performance

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah

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The manual system of voting has been the most widely used system of electing representatives around the globe, particularly in Africa. Due to the known numerous problems and challenges associated with the manual system of voting, many countries are migrating to the electronic voting system as a suitable and credible means of electing representatives over the manual paper-based system. This research paper therefore investigated the factors influencing adoption and use of an electronic voting system in Ghana. A total of 400 Questionnaire Instruments (QI) were administered to potential respondents in Ghana, of which 387 responded representing a response rate of 96.75%. The Technology Acceptance Model was used as the theoretical framework for the study. The research model was tested using a simple linear regression analysis with SPSS. A little of over 71.1% of the respondents recommended the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana to adopt an electronic voting system in the conduct of public elections in Ghana. The results indicated that all the six predictors such as perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived free and fair elections (PFFF), perceived credible elections (PCE), perceived system integrity (PSI) and citizens trust in the election management body (CTEM) were all positively significant in predicting the readiness of citizens to adopt and use an electronic voting system in Ghana. However, jointly, the hypotheses tested revealed that apart from Perceived Free and Fair Elections and Perceived Credible and Transparent Elections, all the other factors such as PU, Perceived System Integrity and Security and Citizen Trust in the Election Management Body were found to be significant predictors of the Willingness of Ghanaians to use an electronic voting system. All the six factors considered in this study jointly account for about 53.1% of the reasons determining the readiness to adopt and use an electronic voting system in Ghana. The implications of this research finding on elections in Ghana are discussed.

Keywords: credible elections, Election Management Body (EMB), electronic voting, Ghana, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

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Authors: Hisham M. G. Abusaada

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This article focuses on the field the art of the city, at the beginning of the third millennium, in the 21st century. It seems that a few Egyptian architects suffer from the lack of the ability to create and share knowledge in their field of proficiency. The assumption is that this weakness is the main reason that led to the invalidity of the local theorizing process. The presupposition is that the absence of respecting the conceptualization of enlightenment during the two phases of preparing and teaching the educational programs makes the students urban design projects not well designed. This paper submits an Egyptian Manifesto, to formulate some guidelines for the development of the work of some researchers, scholars and specialist's method.

Keywords: Egyptian manifesto, pedagogy, knowledge, urban design

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Authors: Thavananthan Sivananthawerl

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Coconut palm is existing for more than 2000 years in Sri Lanka. However, cultivation on a large scale (plantation) began only in the 19th century. Due to different light perceptions during the growth stages of palm, there is a huge potential to grow crops in-between rows of coconut plants which are grown with wider, fixed spacing. Intercropping under coconut will have multiple benefits such as increasing soil fertility, increasing sunlight utilization, increasing total crop productivity, increasing income & profit, maximum use of resources, reducing the risk, and increasing food security. Growing potential annual, agricultural intercrops could be classified as ‘agri-silvicultural’ system. This is the best agri-silvicultural system that can be named under any perennial crop system in Sri Lanka. In the late 1970’s cassava, pepper and cacao are the major intercrops under the coconut plantations. At the early ages of the palm (<5 years) light-loving crops such as pineapple, passion, papaya, and cassava are recommended and preferred by the cultivators. In between 5-20 years of age, the availability of light is very low, and therefore shade tolerant/loving crops (pasture, yam, ginger) could be used as the intercrops. However, after 20 years of age (>20 years) canopy is getting small, and the light availability on the ground increases. So, light demanding crops such as pepper, banana, pineapple, betel, cassava, and seasonal crops could be grown successfully. Even though this is a sustainable system in several aspects, there are potential challenges ahead to the system. The major ones are land fragmentation and infrastructure development. The other factors are drought, lack of financial support, price instability of the intercrops, availability of improved planting materials, and development of dwarf varieties which reduces the light.

Keywords: coconut cultivation, agri-silviculture, intercrop, sunlight, annuals, sustainability

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Authors: Jozef Jurcik, Miroslav Gutten, Milan Sebok, Daniel Korenciak, Jerzy Roj

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The paper presents the research results of electronic fuel injection system, which can be used for diagnostics of automotive systems. In the paper is described the construction and operation of a typical fuel injection system and analyzed its electronic part. It has also been proposed method for the detection of the injector malfunction, based on the analysis of differential current or voltage characteristics. In order to detect the fault state, it is needed to use self-learning process, by the use of an appropriate self-learning algorithm.

Keywords: electronic fuel injector, diagnostics, measurement, testing device

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Authors: Ghulamhossein Nezami

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Civilizations based in Iran, especially in the south, have always realized the all-around importance of the Persian Sea and for various reasons, have paid full attention to it. The first of these was the pre-Aryan government, Ilam in the coastal province of Sharihum and the city of Lian (now the port of Bushehr) in terms of trade, defense and religion. With the establishment of the Achaemenids on the entire plateau of Iran to the center of Persia, they created several communication routes from Parseh to the shores of the Persian Gulf, which ended in the present Bushehr province. This coastal area was extended by a road in the coastal plain to the more southern parts of the ports of Ausinze - according to Ptolemy the port of Siraf before the Sassanids - and Epstane and Hormozia in the present-day Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the ancient city of Temukknana, whose new historical documents testify to its extraordinary importance in the Achaemenid period, especially Darius I of the Achaemenids, from a strategic position with the coastal areas, the coasts and on the other hand with the gamers, the political center. - Achaemenid administration, had. New archeological evidence, research, and excavations show that both the famous Achaemenid kings and courtiers paid special attention to Tamukknana. The discovery of a tomb and three Achaemenid palaces from before the reign of Cyrus to Xerxes in this region showed the importance of the strategic, security-defense and commercial position of this region, extraordinary for the Achaemenids. Therefore, the city of Temukkana in the Dashtestan region of present-day Bushehr province became an important Achaemenid center on the Persian Gulf coast and became the political-economic center of gravity of the Achaemenids and the regulator of communication networks on the Persian Gulf coast. This event showed that the Achaemenids attached importance to their economic goals and oversight of their vast territory by the Persian Gulf. Methods: Book resources and field study.

Keywords: Achaemenids, Bushehr, Persian Gulf, Tamukkana

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Authors: Karen Butler

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The LGBTQ youth of color face stigma related to both race and gender identity. Effectively dealing with racial/ethnic discrimination requires strong connections to family and one’s racial/ethnic group. However, LGBTQ youth of color seldom receive support from family, peer groups or church groups. Moreover, ethnic communities often perceive LGBTQ identities as a rejection of ethnic heritage. Thus, stigma places these young people at greater risk for substance use, violence, risky sexual behaviors, suicide, and homelessness. Offering a Queer Studies (QS) class is one way to facilitate a safer and more inclusive environment for LGBTQ students, faculty and staff. The discipline of Queer Studies encompasses theories and thinkers from numerous fields: cultural studies, gay and lesbian studies, race studies, women's studies, media, postmodernism, post-colonialism, psychoanalysis and more. We began our course development by researching existing programs and classes. Several course syllabi were examined and course materials such as readings, videos, and guest speakers were assessed for possible inclusion. We also employed informal survey methods with students and faculty in order to gauge interest in the course. We then developed a sample course syllabus and began the process of new course approval. Feedback thus far indicates that students of various sexual orientations and gender identities are interested in the course and understand the need to offer it; faculty in Psychology, Social Work, and Interdisciplinary Studies are interested in cross-listing the course; library staff is willing to assist with course material acquisition, and the administration is supportive. The purpose of this session is to 1) explore the various health and wellness issues facing LGBTQ students of color and 2) share our experience of developing a QS course in health education in order to address these needs. This process, from initial recognition of the need to a course offering, will be described and discussed in the hopes that participants will increase their awareness of the issues. A QS course would be an appropriate requirement for any number of majors as well as an elective for any major.

Keywords: black colleges, health education, LGBTQ, queer studies

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Authors: Nivatha Elangovan, Lakshman Neelakantan, Murugaiyan Amirthalingam

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Magnesium and its alloys are widely used for various lightweight engineering and biomedical applications as they render high strength to low weight ratio and excellent corrosion resistance. These alloys possess good bio-compatibility and similar mechanical properties to natural bone. However, manufacturing magnesium alloy components by conventional formative and subtractive methods is challenging due to their poor castability, oxidation potential, and machinability. Therefore, efforts are made to produce complex-design containing magnesium alloy components by additive manufacturing (AM). Arc-wire directed energy deposition (AW-DED), also known as wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), is more attractive to produce large volume components with increased productivity than any other AM technique. In this research work, efforts were made to optimise the deposition parameters to build thick-walled (about 10 mm) AZ31 magnesium alloy components by a gas metal arc (GMA) based AW-DED process. By using controlled dip short-circuiting metal transfer in a GMA process, depositions were carried out without defects and spatter formation. Current and voltage waveforms were suitably modified to achieve stable metal transfer. Moreover, the droplet transfer behaviour was analysed using high-speed image analysis and correlated with arc energy. Optical and scanning electron microscopy analyses were carried out to correlate the influence of deposition parameters with the microstructural evolution during deposition. The investigation reveals that by carefully controlling the current-voltage waveform and droplet transfer behaviour, it is possible to stabilise equiaxed grain microstructures in the deposited AZ31 components. The printed component exhibited an improved mechanical property as equiaxed grains improve the ductility and enhance the toughness. The equiaxed grains in the component improved the corrosion-resistant behaviour of other conventionally manufactured components.

Keywords: arc wire directed energy deposition, AZ31 magnesium alloy, equiaxed grain, corrosion

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Authors: Brenda Ravenscroft, Ulemu Luhanga, Bev King

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A comprehensive evaluation of online learning needs to include a blend of educational design, technology use, and online instructional practices that integrate technology appropriately for developing and delivering quality online courses. Research shows that classroom-based evaluation tools do not adequately capture the dynamic relationships between content, pedagogy, and technology in online courses. Furthermore, studies suggest that using classroom evaluations for online courses yields lower than normal scores for instructors, and may affect faculty negatively in terms of administrative decisions. In 2014, the Faculty of Arts and Science at Queen’s University responded to this evidence by seeking an alternative to the university-mandated evaluation tool, which is designed for classroom learning. The Faculty is deeply engaged in e-learning, offering large variety of online courses and programs in the sciences, social sciences, humanities and arts. This paper describes the process by which a new student survey instrument for online courses was developed and piloted, the methods used to analyze the data, and the ways in which the instrument was subsequently adapted based on the results. It concludes with a critical reflection on the challenges of evaluating e-learning. The Student Evaluation of Online Teaching Effectiveness (SEOTE), developed by Arthur W. Bangert in 2004 to assess constructivist-compatible online teaching practices, provided the starting point. Modifications were made in order to allow the instrument to serve the two functions required by the university: student survey results provide the instructor with feedback to enhance their teaching, and also provide the institution with evidence of teaching quality in personnel processes. Changes were therefore made to the SEOTE to distinguish more clearly between evaluation of the instructor’s teaching and evaluation of the course design, since, in the online environment, the instructor is not necessarily the course designer. After the first pilot phase, involving 35 courses, the results were analyzed using Stobart's validity framework as a guide. This process included statistical analyses of the data to test for reliability and validity, student and instructor focus groups to ascertain the tool’s usefulness in terms of the feedback it provided, and an assessment of the utility of the results by the Faculty’s e-learning unit responsible for supporting online course design. A set of recommendations led to further modifications to the survey instrument prior to a second pilot phase involving 19 courses. Following the second pilot, statistical analyses were repeated, and more focus groups were used, this time involving deans and other decision makers to determine the usefulness of the survey results in personnel processes. As a result of this inclusive process and robust analysis, the modified SEOTE instrument is currently being considered for adoption as the standard evaluation tool for all online courses at the university. Audience members at this presentation will be stimulated to consider factors that differentiate effective evaluation of online courses from classroom-based teaching. They will gain insight into strategies for introducing a new evaluation tool in a unionized institutional environment, and methodologies for evaluating the tool itself.

Keywords: evaluation, online courses, student survey, teaching effectiveness

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Authors: Julio Jesus Salazar, Max Jesus De Lama

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The challenges of water management are aggravated by global change, which implies high complexity and associated uncertainty; water management is difficult because water networks cross domains (natural, societal, and political), scales (space, time, jurisdictional, institutional, knowledge, etc.) and levels (area: patches to global; knowledge: a specific case to generalized principles). In this context, we need to apply natural and non-natural measures to manage water and soil. The Basin Management Methodology considers multifunctional measures of natural water retention and erosion control and soil formation to protect water resources and address the challenges related to the recovery or conservation of the ecosystem, as well as natural characteristics of water bodies, to improve the quantitative status of water bodies and reduce vulnerability to floods and droughts. This method of water management focuses on the positive impacts of the chemical and ecological status of water bodies, restoration of the functioning of the ecosystem and its natural services; thus, contributing to both adaptation and mitigation of climate change. This methodology was applied in 7 interventions in the sub-basin of the Shullcas River in Huancayo-Junín-Peru, obtaining great benefits in the framework of the participation of alliances of actors and integrated planning scenarios. To implement the methodology in the sub-basin of the Shullcas River, a process called Climate Smart Territories (CST) was used; with which the variables were characterized in a highly complex space. The diagnosis was then worked using risk management and adaptation to climate change. Finally, it was concluded with the selection of alternatives and projects of this type. Therefore, the CST approach and process face the challenges of climate change through integrated, systematic, interdisciplinary and collective responses at different scales that fit the needs of ecosystems and their services that are vital to human well-being. This methodology is now replicated at the level of the Mantaro river basin, improving with other initiatives that lead to the model of a resilient basin.

Keywords: climate-smart territories, climate change, ecosystem services, natural measures, Climate Smart Territories (CST) approach

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Authors: Su-Lin Yu

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Coalition politics has been one of feminists’ persistent concerns. Following recent feminist discussion on new modes of affiliation across difference, she will explore how the process of female subject formation depends on alliances across different cultural locations. First, she will examine how coalition politics is reformulated across difference in contemporary feminist literature. In particular, the paper will identify the particular contexts and locations in which coalition building both enables and constrains the female subject. She will attempt to explore how contemporary feminist literature highlights the possibilities and limitations for solidarity and affiliations. To understand coalition politics in contemporary feminist works, she will engage in close readings of two texts: Rebecca Walker’s Black, White and Jewish: Memoir of a Shifting Self and Danzy Senna’s Caucasia. Both Walker and Senna have articulated the complex nodes of identity that are staged by a politics of location as they refuse to be boxed into simplistic essentialist positions. Their texts are characterized by the characters’ racial ambiguity and their social and geographical mobility of life in the contemporary United States. Their experiences of living through conflictual and contradictory relationships never fully fit the boundaries of racial categorization. Each of these texts demonstrates the limits as well as the possibilities of working with diversity among and within persons and groups, thus, laying the ground for complex alliance formation. Because each of the protagonists must negotiate a set of contradictions, they will have to constantly shift their affiliations. Rather than construct a static alliance, they describe a process of moving ‘beyond boundaries,’ an embracing of multiple locations. As self-identified third wavers, Rebecca Walker and Danzy Senna have been identified and marked with the status of ‘leader’ by the feminist establishment and by mainstream U.S. media. Their texts have captured both mass popularity and critical attention in the feminist and, often, the non-feminist literary community. By analyzing these texts, she will show how contemporary American feminist literature reveals coalition politics which is fraught with complications and unintended consequences. Taken as a whole, then, these works provide an important examination not only of coalition politics of American feminism, but also a snapshot of a central debate among feminist critique of coalition politics as a whole.

Keywords: coalition politics, contemporary women’s literature, identity, female subject

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Authors: J. Yang, M. Monnot, T. Eljaddi, L. Simonian, L. Ercolei, P. Moulin

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The application of membrane technology to wastewater treatment has expanded rapidly under increasing stringent legislation and environmental protection requirements. At the same time, the water resource is becoming precious, and water reuse has gained popularity. Particularly, ultrafiltration (UF) is a very promising technology for water reuse as it can retain organic matters, suspended solids, colloids, and microorganisms. Nevertheless, few studies dealing with operating optimization of UF as a tertiary treatment for water reuse on a semi-industrial scale appear in the literature. Therefore, this study aims to explore the permeate water quality and to optimize operating parameters (maximizing productivity and minimizing irreversible fouling) through the operation of a UF pilot plant under real conditions. The fully automatic semi-industrial UF pilot plant with periodic classic backwashes (CB) and air backwashes (AB) was set up to filtrate the secondary effluent of an urban wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in France. In this plant, the secondary treatment consists of a conventional activated sludge process followed by a sedimentation tank. The UF process was thus defined as a tertiary treatment and was operated under constant flux. It is important to note that a combination of CB and chlorinated AB was used for better fouling management. The 200 kDa hollow fiber membrane was used in the UF module, with an initial permeability (for WWTP outlet water) of 600 L·m-2·h⁻¹·bar⁻¹ and a total filtration surface of 9 m². Fifteen filtration conditions with different fluxes, filtration times, and air backwash frequencies were operated for more than 40 hours of each to observe their hydraulic filtration performances. Through comparison, the best sustainable condition was flux at 60 L·h⁻¹·m⁻², filtration time at 60 min, and backwash frequency of 1 AB every 3 CBs. The optimized condition stands out from the others with > 92% water recovery rates, better irreversible fouling control, stable permeability variation, efficient backwash reversibility (80% for CB and 150% for AB), and no chemical washing occurrence in 40h’s filtration. For all tested conditions, the permeate water quality met the water reuse guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), French standards, and the regulation of the European Parliament adopted in May 2020, setting minimum requirements for water reuse in agriculture. In permeate: the total suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand, and turbidity were decreased to < 2 mg·L-1, ≤ 10 mg·L⁻¹, < 0.5 NTU respectively; the Escherichia coli and Enterococci were > 5 log removal reduction, the other required microorganisms’ analysis were below the detection limits. Additionally, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 was measured in raw wastewater of WWTP, UF feed, and UF permeate in November 2020. As a result, the raw wastewater was tested positive above the detection limit but below the quantification limit. Interestingly, the UF feed and UF permeate were tested negative to SARS-CoV-2 by these PCR assays. In summary, this work confirms the great interest in UF as intensified tertiary treatment for water reuse and gives operational indications for future industrial-scale production of reclaimed water.

Keywords: semi-industrial UF pilot plant, water reuse, fouling management, coronavirus

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Authors: V. Mani Rathnam, Giridhar Madras

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Fossil fuels are depleting rapidly as the demand for energy, and its allied chemicals are continuously increasing in the modern world. Therefore, sustainable renewable energy sources based on non-edible oils are being explored as a viable option as they do not compete with the food commodities. Oils such as castor oil are rich in fatty acids and thus can be used for the synthesis of biodiesel, bio-lubricants, and many other fine industrial chemicals. There are several processes available for the synthesis of different chemicals obtained from the castor oil. One such process is the transesterification of castor oil, which results in a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters. The main products in the above reaction are methyl ricinoleate and methyl 10-undecenoate. To separate these compounds, supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO₂) was used as a green solvent. SCCO₂ was chosen as a solvent due to its easy availability, non-toxic, non-flammable, and low cost. In order to design any separation process, the preliminary requirement is the solubility or phase equilibrium data. Therefore, the solubility of a mixture of methyl ricinoleate with methyl 10-undecenoate in SCCO₂ was determined in the present study. The temperature and pressure range selected for the investigation were T = 313 K to 333 K and P = 10 MPa to 18 MPa. It was observed that the solubility (mol·mol⁻¹) of methyl 10-undecenoate varied from 2.44 x 10⁻³ to 8.42 x 10⁻³ whereas it varied from 0.203 x 10⁻³ to 6.28 x 10⁻³ for methyl ricinoleate within the chosen operating conditions. These solubilities followed a retrograde behavior (characterized by the decrease in the solubility values with the increase in temperature) throughout the range of investigated operating conditions. An association theory model, coupled with regular solution theory for activity coefficients, was developed in the present study. The deviation from the experimental data using this model can be quantified using the average absolute relative deviation (AARD). The AARD% for the present compounds is 4.69 and 8.08 for methyl 10-undecenoate and methyl ricinoleate, respectively in a mixture of methyl ricinoleate and methyl 10-undecenoate. The maximum solubility enhancement of 32% was observed for the methyl ricinoleate in a mixture of methyl ricinoleate and methyl 10-undecenoate. The highest selectivity of SCCO₂ was observed to be 12 for methyl 10-undecenoate in a mixture of methyl ricinoleate and methyl 10-undecenoate.

Keywords: association theory, liquid mixtures, solubilities, supercritical carbon dioxide

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Authors: Debashree Ghosh, Preethi Sridhar, Shloka Atul Dhavle

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The judicious and economic consumption of energy for sustainable growth and development is nowadays a thing of primary importance; Phase Change Materials (PCM) provide an ingenious option of storing energy in the form of Latent Heat. Energy storing mechanism incorporating phase change material increases the efficiency of the process by minimizing the difference between supply and demand; PCM heat exchangers are used to storing the heat or non-convectional energy within the PCM as the heat of fusion. The experimental study evaluates the effect of thermo-physical properties, variation in inlet temperature, and flow rate on charging period of a coiled heat exchanger. Secondly, a numerical study is performed on a PCM double pipe heat exchanger packed with two different PCMs, namely, RT50 and Fatty Acid, in the annular region. In this work, the simulation of charging of paraffin wax (RT50) using water as high-temperature fluid (HTF) is performed. Commercial software Ansys-Fluent 15 is used for simulation, and hence charging of PCM is studied. In the Enthalpy-porosity model, a single momentum equation is applicable to describe the motion of both solid and liquid phases. The details of the progress of phase change with time are presented through the contours of melt-fraction, temperature. The velocity contour is shown to describe the motion of the liquid phase. The experimental study revealed that paraffin wax melts with almost the same temperature variation at the two Intermediate positions. Fatty acid, on the other hand, melts faster owing to greater thermal conductivity and low melting temperature. It was also observed that an increase in flow rate leads to a reduction in the charging period. The numerical study also supports some of the observations found in the experimental study like the significant dependence of driving force on the process of melting. The numerical study also clarifies the melting pattern of the PCM, which cannot be observed in the experimental study.

Keywords: latent heat storage, charging period, discharging period, coiled heat exchanger

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Authors: M. Yaqoob, C. S. O’Neill, S. Faraj, C. L. O’Neill

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This paper presents the preliminary findings from a study exploring nurse’s contributions to end of life decisions and to the care of dying patients in ICU units in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The process of dying is complex as medical clinicians are frequently unable to say with certainty when death will occur. It is generally accepted that end of life care begins when it is possible to know that death is imminent. Nurses do not make medical treatment decisions when caring for a dying patient. There are, however, many other types of decisions made when a patient is approaching the end of life and nurses are either formally or informally part of these decision making processes. This study explored nurses care practices at the end of life, in two ICU units in large hospitals in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The research design was a grounded theory approach. Ten nurses participated, six of whom were Bahraini nationals and four were Indian. A core category death avoidance talk was supported by three major subcategories, degrees of involvement in decision making; signalling and creating an awareness of death; care shifting from dying patients to family. Despite nurses asserting that they carried out the orders of doctors and had no role in decision making processes at end of life this study showed that there were degrees of nurse involvement. Doctors frequently discussed the patient’s clinical condition with nurses and also sought information regarding the family. Information about the family was of particular relevance if the doctor was considering a DNR order, which the nurses equated with dying. Families were not always informed when a DNR decision was made. When families were not informed the nurses engaged in sophisticated rituals signalling and creating awareness to family members that the death of their loved one was near. This process also involved a subtle shifting of care from the dying patient to the family. This seminar paper will focus particularly on how nurses signal and create an awareness of death in an ICU setting. The findings suggest that despite the avoidance of death talk in the ICU nurses indirectly convey and create an awareness that death is near to family members.

Keywords: decision making, dying patients, end of life, intensive care unit

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Authors: Anushtha Saxena

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This paper examines the process of data monetisation bye-commerce companies operating in India. Data monetisation is collecting, storing, and analysing consumers’ data to use further the data that is generated for profits, revenue, etc. Data monetisation enables e-commerce companies to get better businesses opportunities, innovative products and services, a competitive edge over others to the consumers, and generate millions of revenues. This paper analyses the issues and challenges that are faced due to the process of data monetisation. Some of the issues highlighted in the paper pertain to the right to privacy, protection of data of e-commerce consumers. At the same time, data monetisation cannot be prohibited, but it can be regulated and monitored by stringent laws and regulations. The right to privacy isa fundamental right guaranteed to the citizens of India through Article 21 of The Constitution of India. The Supreme Court of India recognized the Right to Privacy as a fundamental right in the landmark judgment of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd) and Another v. Union of India . This paper highlights the legal issue of how e-commerce businesses violate individuals’ right to privacy by using the data collected, stored by them for economic gains and monetisation and protection of data. The researcher has mainly focused on e-commerce companies like online shopping websitesto analyse the legal issue of data monetisation. In the Internet of Things and the digital age, people have shifted to online shopping as it is convenient, easy, flexible, comfortable, time-consuming, etc. But at the same time, the e-commerce companies store the data of their consumers and use it by selling to the third party or generating more data from the data stored with them. This violatesindividuals’ right to privacy because the consumers do not know anything while giving their data online. Many times, data is collected without the consent of individuals also. Data can be structured, unstructured, etc., that is used by analytics to monetise. The Indian legislation like The Information Technology Act, 2000, etc., does not effectively protect the e-consumers concerning their data and how it is used by e-commerce businesses to monetise and generate revenues from that data. The paper also examines the draft Data Protection Bill, 2021, pending in the Parliament of India, and how this Bill can make a huge impact on data monetisation. This paper also aims to study the European Union General Data Protection Regulation and how this legislation can be helpful in the Indian scenarioconcerning e-commerce businesses with respect to data monetisation.

Keywords: data monetization, e-commerce companies, regulatory framework, GDPR

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Authors: Anupam Chanda

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Presently Packaging plays a significant role for drug discoveries. The process of selecting materials and the type of packaging also offers an opportunity for the Packaging scientist to look for biological delivery choices. Most injectable protein products were supplied in some sort of glass vial, prefilled syringe, cartridge. Those product having high Ph content there is a chance of “delamination “from inner surface of glass vial. With protein-based drugs, the biggest issue is the effect of packaging derivatives on the protein’s threedimensional and surface structure. These are any effects that relate to denaturation or aggregation of the protein due to oxidation or interactions from contaminants or impurities in the preparation. The potential for these effects needs to be carefully considered in choosing the container and the container closure system to avoid putting patients in jeopardy. Cause of Delamination : -Formulations with a high pH include phosphate and citrate buffers increase the risk of glass delamination. -High alkali content in glass could accelerate erosion. -High temperature during the vial-forming process increase the risk of glass delamination. -Terminal sterilization (irradiated at 20-40 kGy for 150 min) also is a risk factor for specific products(veterinary parenteral administration),could cause delamination. -High product-storage temperatures and long exposure times can increase the rate and severity of glass delamination. How to prevent Delamination -Treating the surface of the glass vials with materials, such as ammonium sulfate or siliconization can reduce the rate of glass erosion. -Consider alternative sterilization methods only in rare cases. -The correct specification for the glass to ensure its suitability for the pH of the product. -Use Cyclic olefin copolymer(COC)/Cyclic olefin Polymer(COP) Adsorption of protein and Solutions: Option#1 Coat with linear methoxylated polyglycerol and hyperbranchedmethoxylated polyglycerol. Option#2 Thehyperbranched non-methoxylated coating performed best. Option#3 Coat with hyperbranched polyglycerol Option#4 Right selection of Sterilization of glass vial/syringe.

Keywords: delamination of glass, ptrotien adoptions inside the glass surface, extractable & leachable solutions, injectable designs for new drugs

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Authors: Shahryar Eslamitabar

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Currently, the internet plays an important role in the various scientific, commercial and service practices. Thanks to information and communication technology, the healthcare industry via the internet, generally known as cyber-medicine, can offer professional medical service in a wider geographical area. Having some appealing benefits such as convenience in offering healthcare services, improved accessibility to the services, enhanced information exchange, cost-effectiveness, time-saving, etc. Tele-health has increasingly developed innovative models of healthcare delivery. However, it presents many potential hazards to cyber-patients, inherent in the use of the system. First, there are legal issues associated with the communication and transfer of information on the internet. These include licensure, malpractice, liabilities and jurisdictions as well as privacy, confidentiality and security of personal data as the most important challenge brought about by this system. Additional items of concern are technological and ethical. Although, there are some rules to deal with pitfalls associated with cyber-medicine practices in the USA and some European countries, yet for all developments, it is being practiced in a legal vacuum in many countries. In addition to the domestic legislations to deal with potential problems arisen from the system, it is also imperative that some international or regional agreement should be developed to achieve the harmonization of laws among countries and states. This article discusses some implications posed by the practice of cyber-medicine in the healthcare system according to the experience of some developed countries using a comparative study of laws. It will also review the status of tele-health laws in Iran. Finally, it is intended to pave the way to outline a plan for countries like Iran, with newly-established judicial system for health laws, to develop appropriate regulations through providing some recommendations.

Keywords: tele-health, cyber-medicine, telemedicine, criminal laws, legislations, time-saving

Procedia PDF Downloads 647

Authors: Minjeoung Kim

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This paper deals with the comparison of women’s political participation in Korea and China. Korean women are participated more in higher education. As the economic development and the women's social participation can enhance the possibility of women's political participation in advanced democratic countries, in Asian countries such as Korea and China in which Confucianism prohibited women to participate in public life and the process of nation building is different from western countries, the political power takes an initiative to implement policies for women's participation in politics and for women's consciousness.

Keywords: korea, china, women, political participation

Procedia PDF Downloads 389

Authors: Y. Kavanagh, N. O'Hara, R. Palmer, P. Lowe, D. Rafferty

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Physical Physics is a physics education methodology for games programfmes that integrates physical activity with movement tracking and modelling. It significantly enhances the learning experience and it is effective in illustrating how physics is core in games design and programming, while allowing students to be active participants and take ownership of the learning process. It has been successfully piloted with undergraduate students studying Games Development.

Keywords: activity, enhanced learning, game development, physics

Procedia PDF Downloads 278

Authors: Farzaneh Badinlou, Reza Kormi-Nouri, Monika Knopf, Kamal Kharazi

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Research into long-term memory has demonstrated that the richness of the knowledge base cues in memory tasks improves retrieval process, which in turn influences learning and memory performance. The present research investigated the idea that adding cues connected to knowledge can affect memory performance in the context of action memory in children. In action memory studies, participants are instructed to learn a series of verb–object phrases as verbal learning and experience-based learning (learning by doing and learning by observation). It is well established that executing action phrases is a more memorable way to learn than verbally repeating the phrases, a finding called enactment effect. In the present study, a total of 410 students from four grade groups—2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th—participated in this study. During the study, participants listened to verbal action phrases (VTs), performed the phrases (SPTs: subject-performed tasks), and observed the experimenter perform the phrases (EPTs: experimenter-performed tasks). During the test phase, cued recall test was administered. Semantic relational cues (i.e., well-integrated vs. poorly integrated items) were manipulated in the present study. In that, the participants were presented two lists of action phrases with high semantic integration between verb and noun, e.g., “write with the pen” and with low semantic integration between verb and noun, e.g., “pick up the glass”. Results revealed that experience-based learning had a better results than verbal learning for both well-integrated and poorly integrated items, though manipulations of semantic relational cues can moderate the enactment effect. In addition, children of different grade groups outperformed for well- than poorly integrated items, in flavour of older children. The results were discussed in relation to the effect of knowledge-based information in facilitating retrieval process in children.

Keywords: action memory, enactment effect, knowledge-based cues, school-aged children, semantic relational cues

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Authors: Galal Omer, Onisimo Mutanga, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman, Elhadi Adam

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Threatened tree species (TTS) play a significant role in ecosystem functioning and services, land use dynamics, and other socio-economic aspects. Such aspects include ecological, economic, livelihood, security-based, and well-being benefits. The development of techniques for mapping and monitoring TTS is thus critical for understanding the functioning of ecosystems. The advent of advanced imaging systems and supervised learning algorithms has provided an opportunity to classify TTS over fragmenting landscape. Recently, vegetation maps have been produced using advanced imaging systems such as WorldView-2 (WV-2) and robust classification algorithms such as support vectors machines (SVM) and artificial neural network (ANN). However, delineation of TTS in a fragmenting landscape using high resolution imagery has widely remained elusive due to the complexity of the species structure and their distribution. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to examine the utility of the advanced WV-2 data for mapping TTS in the fragmenting Dukuduku indigenous forest of South Africa using SVM and ANN classification algorithms. The results showed the robustness of the two machine learning algorithms with an overall accuracy (OA) of 77.00% (total disagreement = 23.00%) for SVM and 75.00% (total disagreement = 25.00%) for ANN using all eight bands of WV-2 (8B). This study concludes that SVM and ANN classification algorithms with WV-2 8B have the potential to classify TTS in the Dukuduku indigenous forest. This study offers relatively accurate information that is important for forest managers to make informed decisions regarding management and conservation protocols of TTS.

Keywords: artificial neural network, threatened tree species, indigenous forest, support vector machines

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Authors: Marcin Dębowski, Marcin Zieliński, Mirosław Krzemieniewski

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As methane fermentation is a complex series of successive biochemical transformations, its subsequent stages are determined, to a various extent, by physical and chemical factors. A specific state of equilibrium is being settled in the functioning fermentation system between environmental conditions and the rate of biochemical reactions and products of successive transformations. In the case of physical factors that influence the effectiveness of methane fermentation transformations, the key significance is ascribed to temperature and intensity of biomass agitation. Among the chemical factors, significant are pH value, type, and availability of the culture medium (to put it simply: the C/N ratio) as well as the presence of toxic substances. One of the important elements which influence the effectiveness of methane fermentation is the pre-treatment of organic substrates and the mode in which the organic matter is made available to anaerobes. Out of all known and described methods for organic substrate pre-treatment before methane fermentation process, the ultrasound disintegration is one of the most interesting technologies. Investigations undertaken on the ultrasound field and the use of installations operating on the existing systems result principally from very wide and universal technological possibilities offered by the sonication process. This physical factor may induce deep physicochemical changes in ultrasonicated substrates that are highly beneficial from the viewpoint of methane fermentation processes. In this case, special role is ascribed to disintegration of biomass that is further subjected to methane fermentation. Once cell walls are damaged, cytoplasm and cellular enzymes are released. The released substances – either in dissolved or colloidal form – are immediately available to anaerobic bacteria for biodegradation. To ensure the maximal release of organic matter from dead biomass cells, disintegration processes are aimed to achieve particle size below 50 μm. It has been demonstrated in many research works and in systems operating in the technical scale that immediately after substrate supersonication the content of organic matter (characterized by COD, BOD5 and TOC indices) was increasing in the dissolved phase of sedimentation water. This phenomenon points to the immediate sonolysis of solid substances contained in the biomass and to the release of cell material, and consequently to the intensification of the hydrolytic phase of fermentation. It results in a significant reduction of fermentation time and increased effectiveness of production of gaseous metabolites of anaerobic bacteria. Because disintegration of Virginia fanpetals biomass via ultrasounds applied in order to intensify its conversion is a novel technique, it is often underestimated by exploiters of agri-biogas works. It has, however, many advantages that have a direct impact on its technological and economical superiority over thus far applied methods of biomass conversion. As for now, ultrasound disintegrators for biomass conversion are not produced on the mass-scale, but by specialized groups in scientific or R&D centers. Therefore, their quality and effectiveness are to a large extent determined by their manufacturers’ knowledge and skills in the fields of acoustics and electronic engineering.

Keywords: ultrasound disintegration, biomass, methane fermentation, biogas, Virginia fanpetals

Procedia PDF Downloads 358

Authors: Nindyo Cahyo Kresnanto, Muhamad Willdan, Wika Harisa Putri

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Gunungkidul is one of the emerging tourism industry areas in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia. This article describes how GIS can predict the development of tourism potential in Gunungkidul. The tourism sector in Gunungkidul Regency contributes 3.34% of the total gross regional domestic product and is the economic sector with the highest growth with a percentage of 18.37% in the post-Covid-19 period. This contribution makes researchers consider that several tourist sites need to be explored more to increase regional economic development gradually. This research starts by collecting spatial data from tourist locations tourists want to visit in Gunungkidul Regency based on survey data from 571 respondents. Then the data is visualized with ArcGIS software. This research shows an overview of tourist destinations interested in travellers depicted from the lowest to the highest from the data visualization. Based on the data visualization results, specific tourist locations potentially developed to influence the surrounding economy positively. The visualization of the data displayed is also in the form of a desire line map that shows tourist travel patterns from the origin of the tourist to the destination of the tourist location of interest. From the desire line, the prediction of the path of tourist sites with a high frequency of transportation activity can figure out. Predictions regarding specific tourist location routes that high transportation activities can burden can consider which routes will be chosen. The route also needs to be improved in terms of capacity and quality. The goal is to provide a sense of security and comfort for tourists who drive and positively impact the tourist sites traversed by the route.

Keywords: tourism development, GIS and survey, transportation, potential desire line

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Authors: Salman Ahmad, Muhammad Aown Sammar Raza, Muhammad Farrukh Saleem, Rashid Iqbal, Muhammad Saqlain Zaheer, Muhammad Usman Aslam, Imran Haider, Muhammad Adnan Nazar, Muhammad Ali

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Among the various abiotic stresses, drought stress is one of the most challenging for field crops. Wheat is one of the major staple food of the world, which is highly affected by water deficit stress in the current scenario of climate change. In order to ensure food security by depleting water resources, there is an urgent need to adopt technologies which result in sufficient crop yield with less water consumption. Mulching and partial rootzone drying (PRD) are two important management techniques used for water conservation and to mitigate the negative impacts of drought. The experiment was conducted to screen out the best-suited mulch for wheat under PRD system. Two water application techniques (I1= full irrigation I2= PRD irrigation) and four mulch treatments (M0= un-mulched, M1= black plastic mulch, M2= wheat straw mulch and M4= cotton sticks mulch) were conducted in completely randomized design with four replications. The treatment, black plastic mulch was performed the best than other mulch treatments. For irrigation levels, higher values of growth, physiological and water-related parameters were recorded in control treatment while, quality traits and enzymatic activities were higher under partial root zone drying. The current study concluded that adverse effects of drought on wheat can be significantly mitigated by using mulches but black plastic mulch was best suited for partial rootzone drying irrigation system in wheat.

Keywords: antioxidants, leaf water relations, Mulches, osmolytes, partial root zone drying, photosynthesis

Procedia PDF Downloads 247