Search results for: work placement experience

Authors: Abdelrhman Elagez, Rolla Monib

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This empirical study investigates the observed risks associated with adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in the construction industry and proposes potential mitigation strategies. While AI has transformed several industries, the construction industry is slowly adopting advanced technologies like AI, introducing new risks that lack critical analysis in the current literature. A comprehensive literature review identified a research gap, highlighting the lack of critical analysis of risks and the need for a framework to measure and mitigate the risks of AI implementation in the construction industry. Consequently, an online survey was conducted with 24 project managers and construction professionals, possessing experience ranging from 1 to 30 years (with an average of 6.38 years), to gather industry perspectives and concerns relating to AI integration. The survey results yielded several significant findings. Firstly, respondents exhibited a moderate level of familiarity (66.67%) with AI technologies, while the industry's readiness for AI deployment and current usage rates remained low at 2.72 out of 5. Secondly, the top-ranked barriers to AI adoption were identified as lack of awareness, insufficient knowledge and skills, data quality concerns, high implementation costs, absence of prior case studies, and the uncertainty of outcomes. Thirdly, the most significant risks associated with AI use in construction were perceived to be a lack of human control (decision-making), accountability, algorithm bias, data security/privacy, and lack of legislation and regulations. Additionally, the participants acknowledged the value of factors such as education, training, organizational support, and communication in facilitating AI integration within the industry. These findings emphasize the necessity for tailored risk assessment frameworks, guidelines, and governance principles to address the identified risks and promote the responsible adoption of AI technologies in the construction sector.

Keywords: risk management, construction, artificial intelligence, technology

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Authors: Fuzhang Zhao

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Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is becoming one of the most important swarm intelligent paradigms for solving global optimization problems. Although some progress has been made to improve PSO algorithms over the last two decades, additional work is still needed to balance parameters to achieve better numerical properties of accuracy, efficiency, and stability. In the optimal PSO algorithm, the optimal weightings of (√ 5 − 1)/2 and (3 − √5)/2 are used for the cognitive factor and the social factor, respectively. By the same token, the same optimal weightings have been applied for intensification searches and diversification searches, respectively. Perturbation and constriction effects are optimally balanced. Simulations of the de Jong, the Rosenbrock, and the Griewank functions show that the optimal PSO algorithm indeed achieves better numerical properties and outperforms the canonical PSO algorithm.

Keywords: diversification search, intensification search, optimal weighting, particle swarm optimization

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Authors: Supriya H. S., Chandrakala B. M.

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Deep learning based models have been recently successful adoption for network traffic prediction. However, training a deep learning model for various prediction tasks is considered one of the critical tasks due to various reasons. This research work develops Multi-Layer Hybrid Network (MLHN) for network traffic prediction and analysis; MLHN comprises the three distinctive networks for handling the different inputs for custom feature extraction. Furthermore, an optimized and efficient parameter-tuning algorithm is introduced to enhance parameter learning. MLHN is evaluated considering the “Big Data Challenge” dataset considering the Mean Absolute Error, Root Mean Square Error and R^2as metrics; furthermore, MLHN efficiency is proved through comparison with a state-of-art approach.

Keywords: MLHN, network traffic prediction

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Authors: Sibylle Tellenbach, Julie Haddock-Millar, Francis Bidault

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The aim of this research is to understand the extent to which hybrid working models have influenced employee engagement in the Swiss financial sector. The context for this research is the transition out of the pandemic and the changes that have occurred between 2020 and 2023. Since the pandemic, many financial services companies have had to rethink their working model for office-based employees, as this group of employees has been able to experience a new way of working and, thus, greater freedom and flexibility. For a large number of companies, it was a huge change to shift from the traditional office-based to a new hybrid working model. A heightened focus on employee engagement has become a necessity in order to understand and respond to the challenges presented by the shift in a working model. This new way of working, partly office-based and partly virtual, has led to ambiguities about the impact on the engagement of hybrid teams. Therefore, the research question is: How hybrid working models have influenced employee engagement to what extent? The methodological approach is a narrative inquiry with four similar functional teams within four Swiss financial companies. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with managers from middle management and their individual team members. The findings will demonstrate whether this shift in the working model influenced individual team members’ engagement and to what extent. The contribution of this research is two-fold. First, the research makes a theoretical contribution, presenting evidence of the impact of hybrid working on individual team members’ engagement in a specific sector and context, enhancing current knowledge on the challenges in working model transition. Second, this research will make a practice-based contribution, recommending ways to enhance the engagement of hybrid teams in a specific context. These recommendations may be applied in wider sectors and teams.

Keywords: employee engagement, hybrid teams, hybrid working models, Swiss financial sector, team engagement

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Authors: Jacqueline Zammit

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Currently, a considerable number of individuals from different backgrounds are being drawn to Malta due to its favourable environment for business, investment, and employment. This influx has led to a growing interest among expats in learning Maltese as a second language (ML2) to enrich their experience of working and residing in Malta. However, the intricacies of Maltese grammar, particularly challenging for second language (L2) learners unfamiliar with Arabic, can pose difficulties in the learning process. Furthermore, it's worth noting that the teaching of ML2 is an emerging field with limited existing research on effective pedagogical strategies. The realm of second language acquisition (SLA) can be notably demanding for adults, requiring well-founded interventions to facilitate learning. Among these interventions, approaches grounded in empirical evidence have incorporated artistic and musical elements to augment SLA. Both art and music have proven roles in facilitating L2 communication, aiding vocabulary retention, and improving comprehension skills. This study aims to delve into the utilization of music and art as catalysts for enhancing the progress of adult learners in mastering ML2. The research employs a qualitative methodology, employing a sample selected through convenience sampling, which encompassed 37 adult learners of ML2. These participants engaged in individual interviews. The data derived from these interviews were subjected to thorough analysis. The outcomes of the study underscore the substantial positive influence exerted by art and music on the academic advancement of adult ML2 learners. Notably, it emerged from the participants' accounts that the current ML2 curricula lack the integration of art and music. Therefore, this study advocates for the incorporation of art and music components within both traditional classroom settings and online ML2 courses. The intention is to bolster the academic accomplishments of adult learners in the realm of Maltese as a second language, bridging the current gap between theory and practice.

Keywords: academic accomplishment, mature learners, visual art, learning Maltese as a second language, musical involvement, acquiring a second language

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Authors: Chi Zhang, Jun Jiang

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Constitutive equations are very important in finite element (FE) modeling, and the accuracy of the material constants in the equations have significant effects on the accuracy of the FE models. A wide range of constitutive equations are available; however, fitting the material constants in the constitutive equations could be complex and time-consuming due to the strong non-linearity and relationship between the constants. This work will focus on the development of a set of unified MATLAB programs for fitting the material constants in the constitutive equations efficiently. Users will only need to supply experimental data in the required format and run the program without modifying functions or precisely guessing the initial values, or finding the parameters in previous works and will be able to fit the material constants efficiently.

Keywords: constitutive equations, FE modelling, MATLAB program, non-linear curve fitting

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Authors: Arun Dhakal, Geoff Cockfield, Tek Narayan Maraseni

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This paper attempts to fulfil the gap in measuring adoption in agroforestry studies. It explains the derivation of an index of adoption rate in a Nepalese context and examines the factors affecting adoption of agroforestry-based land management practice (AFLMP) in the Dhanusha District of Nepal. Data about the different farm practices and the factors (bio-physical, socio-economic) influencing adoption were collected during focus group discussion and from the randomly selected households using a household survey questionnaire, respectively. A multivariate regression model was used to determine the factors. The factors (variables) found to significantly affect adoption of AFLMP were: farm size, availability of irrigation water, education of household heads, agricultural labour force, frequency of visits by extension workers, expenditure on farm inputs purchase, household’s experience in agroforestry, and distance from home to government forest. The regression model explained about 75% of variation in adoption decision. The model rejected ‘erosion hazard’, ‘flood hazard’ and ‘gender’ as determinants of adoption, which in case of single agroforestry practice were major variables and played positive role. Out of eight variables, farm size played the most powerful role in explaining the variation in adoption, followed by availability of irrigation water and education of household heads. The results of this study suggest that policies to promote the provision of irrigation water, extension services and motivation to obtaining higher education would probably provide the incentive to adopt agroforestry elsewhere in the terai of Nepal.

Keywords: agroforestry, adoption index, determinants of adoption, step-wise linear regression, Nepal

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Authors: Aleksandra Y. Sazonova, Valentina M. Raeva

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The aim of this work was to apply extractive distillation for acetonitrile removal from water solutions, to validate thermodynamic criterion based on excess Gibbs energy to entrainer selection process for acetonitrile – water mixture separation and show its potential efficiency at isothermal conditions as well as at isobaric (conditions of real distillation process), to simulate and analyze an extractive distillation process with chosen entrainers: optimize amount of trays and feeds, entrainer/original mixture and reflux ratios. Equimolar composition of the feed stream was chosen for the process, comparison of the energy consumptions was carried out. Glycerol was suggested as the most energetically and ecologically suitable entrainer.

Keywords: acetonitrile, entrainer, extractive distillation, water

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Authors: Claudia García-García, Catalina B. García-García, Román Salmerón-Gómez

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Much economic-environmental research includes the analysis of possible interactions by using Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA), which is a specific application of multiple linear regression analysis. This methodology allows analyzing how the effect of one of the independent variables is moderated by a second independent variable by adding a cross-product term between them as an additional explanatory variable. Due to the very specification of the methodology, the moderated factor is often highly correlated with the constitutive terms. Thus, great multicollinearity problems arise. The appearance of strong multicollinearity in a model has important consequences. Inflated variances of the estimators may appear, there is a tendency to consider non-significant regressors that they probably are together with a very high coefficient of determination, incorrect signs of our coefficients may appear and also the high sensibility of the results to small changes in the dataset. Finally, the high relationship among explanatory variables implies difficulties in fixing the individual effects of each one on the model under study. These consequences shifted to the moderated analysis may imply that it is not worth including an interaction term that may be distorting the model. Thus, it is important to manage the problem with some methodology that allows for obtaining reliable results. After a review of those works that applied the MRA among the ten top journals of the field, it is clear that multicollinearity is mostly disregarded. Less than 15% of the reviewed works take into account potential multicollinearity problems. To overcome the issue, this work studies the possible application of recent methodologies to MRA. Particularly, the raised regression is analyzed. This methodology mitigates collinearity from a geometrical point of view: the collinearity problem arises because the variables under study are very close geometrically, so by separating both variables, the problem can be mitigated. Raise regression maintains the available information and modifies the problematic variables instead of deleting variables, for example. Furthermore, the global characteristics of the initial model are also maintained (sum of squared residuals, estimated variance, coefficient of determination, global significance test and prediction). The proposal is implemented to data from countries of the European Union during the last year available regarding greenhouse gas emissions, per capita GDP and a dummy variable that represents the topography of the country. The use of a dummy variable as the moderator is a special variant of MRA, sometimes called “subgroup regression analysis.” The main conclusion of this work is that applying new techniques to the field can improve in a substantial way the results of the analysis. Particularly, the use of raised regression mitigates great multicollinearity problems, so the researcher is able to rely on the interaction term when interpreting the results of a particular study.

Keywords: multicollinearity, MRA, interaction, raise

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Authors: T. Manzur

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Concrete is the predominant construction material in Bangladesh. In large projects, stringent quality control procedures are usually followed under the supervision of experienced engineers and skilled labors. However, in the case of small projects and particularly at distant locations from major cities, proper quality control is often an issue. It has been found from experience that such quality related issues mainly arise from inappropriate proportioning of concrete mixes and improper curing conditions. In most cases external curing method is followed which requires supply of adequate quantity of water along with proper protection against evaporation. Often these conditions are found missing in the general construction sites and eventually lead to production of weaker concrete both in terms of strength and durability. In this study, an attempt has been made to investigate the performance of general concreting works of the country when subjected to several adverse curing conditions that are quite common in various small to medium construction sites. A total of six different types of adverse curing conditions were simulated in the laboratory and samples were kept under those conditions for several days. A set of samples was also submerged in normal curing condition having proper supply of curing water. Performance of concrete was evaluated in terms of compressive strength, tensile strength, chloride permeability and drying shrinkage. About 37% and 25% reduction in 28-day compressive and tensile strength were observed respectively, for samples subjected to most adverse curing condition as compared to the samples under normal curing conditions. Normal curing concrete exhibited moderate permeability (close to low permeability) whereas concrete under adverse curing conditions showed very high permeability values. Similar results were also obtained for shrinkage tests. This study, thus, will assist concerned engineers and supervisors to understand the importance of quality assurance during the curing period of concrete.

Keywords: adverse, concrete, curing, compressive strength, drying shrinkage, permeability, tensile strength

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Authors: Bashayer Alsana

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Emerging technologies present human interaction with new challenges. Individuals are required to interact and collaborate to achieve mutual gain. Accomplishing shared goals requires all parties involved to trust others commitment to fulfill their specified obligations. Trust is harder to establish when groups work virtually and members transcend time, space, and culture. This paper identifies the importance of trust in virtual groups of students at Cairo University by exposing them to electronic projects on which they collaborate.Students respond to a survey to assess their range of trust within their teams and how the outcome is affected. Gender differences and other demographic factors are analyzed to understand results and rates of trust. The paper concludes with summarizing factors influencing trust development and possible implications.

Keywords: students, teams, trust, virtual

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Authors: Zahra Khodaee

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Environmental Justice (EJ) concept consists of multifaceted movements, community struggles, and discourses in contemporary societies that seek to reduce environmental risks, increase environmental protections, and generally reduce environmental inequalities suffered by minority and poor communities; a term that incorporates ‘environmental racism’ and ‘environmental classism,’ captures the idea that different racial and socioeconomic groups experience differential access to environmental quality. This article explores environmental justice as an urban phenomenon in urban planning and applies it in peri-urban environment of a metropolis. Tehran peri-urban environments which are the result of meeting the city- village- nature systems or «city-village junction» have gradually faced effects such as accelerated environmental decline, changes without land-use plan, and severe service deficiencies. These problems are instances of environmental injustice which make the planners to adjust the problems and use and apply the appropriate strategies and policies by looking for solutions and resorting to theories, techniques and methods related to environmental justice. In order to access to this goal, try to define environmental justice through justice and determining environmental justice indices to analysis environmental injustice in case study. Then, make an effort to introduce some criteria to select case study in two micro and micro levels. Qiyamdasht town as the peri-urban environment of Tehran metropolis is chosen and examined to show the existence of environmental injustice by questionnaire analysis and SPSS software. Finally, use AIDA technique to design a strategic plan and reduce environmental injustice in case study by introducing the better scenario to be used in policy and decision making areas.

Keywords: environmental justice, metropolis of Tehran, Qiyam, Dasht peri, urban settlement, analysis of interconnected decision area (AIDA)

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Authors: Vinay Kumar Vanjakula, Frank Adam, Nils Goseberg, Christian Windt

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When a structure is installed on a seabed, the presence of the structure will influence the flow field around it. The changes in the flow field include, formation of vortices, turbulence generation, waves or currents flow breaking and pressure differentials around the seabed sediment. These changes allow the local seabed sediment to be carried off and results in Scour (erosion). These are a threat to the structure's stability. In recent decades, rapid developments of research work and the knowledge of scour On fixed structures (bridges and Monopiles) in rivers and oceans has been carried out, and very limited research work on scour and liquefaction for gravity anchors, particularly for floating Tension Leg Platform (TLP) substructures. Due to its importance and need for enhancement of knowledge in scour and liquefaction around marine structures, the MarTERA funded a three-year (2020-2023) research program called NuLIMAS (Numerical Modeling of Liquefaction Around Marine Structures). It’s a group consists of European institutions (Universities, laboratories, and consulting companies). The objective of this study is to build a numerical model that replicates the reality, which indeed helps to simulate (predict) underwater flow conditions and to study different marine scour and Liquefication situations. It helps to design a heavyweight anchor for the TLP substructure and to minimize the time and expenditure on experiments. And also, the achieved results and the numerical model will be a basis for the development of other design and concepts For marine structures. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical model will build in OpenFOAM. A conceptual design of heavyweight anchor for TLP substructure is designed through taking considerations of available state-of-the-art knowledge on scour and Liquefication concepts and references to Previous existing designs. These conceptual designs are validated with the available similar experimental benchmark data and also with the CFD numerical benchmark standards (CFD quality assurance study). CFD optimization model/tool is designed as to minimize the effect of fluid flow, scour, and Liquefication. A parameterized model is also developed to automate the calculation process to reduce user interactions. The parameters such as anchor Lowering Process, flow optimized outer contours, seabed interaction study, and FSSI (Fluid-Structure-Seabed Interactions) are investigated and used to carve the model as to build an optimized anchor.

Keywords: gravity anchor, liquefaction, scour, computational fluid dynamics

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Authors: Shirin Sadat Ahmadi

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The number of people, particularly university students, migrating from Iran and applying for American and European universities has been rising during recent years. Different people may have various reasons and goals for migration, but one of the common issues among all these people is the cultural challenges they experience when living in the adopted society. Immigrants usually confront obstacles during the Intercultural transition and adaption process. Different variables such as age, religion, gender, education, knowing the spoken language in destination country, financial condition, interactions with natives, and using social media can affect the cultural challenges people face after migration and how they conquer issues appearing due to intercultural differences and conflicts. In this research we have interviewed a sample consisted of 15 Iranian students living and studying abroad found by using snowball sampling technique via video call to realize what cultural challenges they have experienced in the new society, how the mentioned variables above eased these challenges or made them harder and what approaches and solutions they adopted to adjust themselves to the new society and its cultural dimensions. Based on John Berry's acculturation theory of migrant-host relationship, we have classified these 15 people in five different categories: Assimilation, Separation, Marginalization, and Integration. In addition we have considered Y.Y. Kim's communication-based theory of cross-cultural adaption to explain how communications helped migrant populations in adaption process. Based on the findings of this study, 12 of 15 interviewed members of the study used the integration strategy to adapt to the new cultural environment, 3 of them used the assimilation strategy, and none of them used marginalization or separation strategies. Communicating with natives, knowing the language, and education were the factors that helped all the interviewed members of the sample to overcome the difficulties of intercultural transition.

Keywords: acculturation, culture, intercultural transition, migration

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Authors: G. B. Lim, C. H. Jeon, K. H. Jung

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General light metal alloys are often developed in the material of transportation equipment such as automobiles and aircraft. Among the light metal alloys, magnesium is the lightest structural material with superior specific strength and many attractive physical and mechanical properties. However, magnesium alloys were difficult to obtain the mechanical properties at warm temperature. The aims of present work were to establish an analytical relation between mechanical properties and plastic flow induced by local indentation. An experimental investigation of the local strain distribution was carried out using a specially designed local indentation equipment in conjunction with ARAMIS based on digital image correlation method.

Keywords: indentation, magnesium, mechanical property, lightweight material, ARAMIS

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Authors: Kyngäs Helvi, Patala-Pudas, Kaakinen Pirjo

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It has been reported that COPD -patients may experience much emotional distress, which can compromise positive health outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore disease-related uncertainty as reported by Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients. Uncertainty was defined as a lack of confidence; negative feelings; a sense of confidence; and awareness of the sources of uncertainty. Research design was a non-experimental cross-sectional survey. The data (n=141) was collected by validated questionnaire during COPD -patients’ visits or admissions to a tertiary hospital. The response rate was 62%. The data was analyzed by statistical methods. Around 70% of the participants were male with COPD diagnosed many years ago. Fifty-four percent were under 65 years and used an electronic respiratory aid apparatus (52%) (oxygen concentrator, ventilator or electronic inhalation device). Forty-one percent of the participants smoked. Disease-related uncertainty was widely reported. Seventy-three percent of the participants had uncertainty about their knowledge of the disease, the pulmonary medication and nutrition. One-quarter (25%) did not feel sure about managing COPD exacerbation. About forty percent (43%) reported that they did not have a written exacerbation decision aid indicating how to act in relation to COPD symptoms. Over half of the respondents were uncertain about self-management behavior related to health habits such as exercise and nutrition. Over a third of the participants (37%) felt uncertain about self-management skills related to giving up smoking. Support from the care providers was correlated significantly with the patients’ sense of confidence. COPD -patients who felt no confidence stated that they received significantly less support in care. Disease-related uncertainty should be considered more closely and broadly in the patient care context, and those strategies within patient education that enhance adherence should be strengthened and incorporated into standard practice.

Keywords: adherence, COPD, disease-management, uncertainty

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Authors: Julia Brudzinski, Ashley Croswell, Jade Mardin, Hannah Shilling, Jennifer Berg-Carnegie

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Adults with brain injuries and mental illnesses commonly experience cognitive impairments that interfere with their participation in activities of daily living (ADLs). Prior research states that electronic reminder systems can support adults with cognitive impairments; however, previous studies focus primarily on one-way reminder systems. Research on adults with chronic diseases reported that two-way reminder systems yield better health outcomes and disease self-management compared to one-way reminder systems. Literature was identified through systematically searching 7 databases and hand-searching relevant reference lists. Retrieved studies were independently screened and reviewed by at least two members of the research team. Data was extracted on study design, participant characteristics, intervention details, study objectives, outcome measures, and important results. 574 articles were screened and reviewed. Nine articles met all inclusion criteria and were included. The literature focused on three main areas: system feasibility (n=8), stakeholder satisfaction (n=6), and efficacy of the two-way reminder systems (n=6). Participants in eight of the studies had brain injuries, with participants in only one study having a mental illness (i.e., schizophrenia). Two-way reminder systems were used to support participation in a wide range of ADLs. The current literature on two-way reminder systems to support ADLs for adults with cognitive impairments focuses on feasibility, stakeholder satisfaction, and system efficacy. Future research should focus on addressing the barriers to accessing and implementing two-way reminder systems and identifying specific client characteristics that would benefit most from using these systems.

Keywords: brain injury, digital health, occupational therapy, activities of daily living, two-way reminder systems

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Authors: Van Huong Mai, Kanokwan Nithiratphat, Adool Booncham

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The Movement of Contemporary Life consisted of two purposes, which were to study the movement and development of the modern life and to create the visual arts, which were paintings expressed via the form of apartment buildings was used from mixed media (digital printing and acrylic painting on canvas) which conveyed the rapid pace of modern life leading to diverse movements in viewer’s feeling. The operation of this creation was collected field data, documentary data, and influence from creative work. The data analysis was analyzed in order to theme, form, technique, and process to satisfy of concept and special character of the pieces.

Keywords: movement, contemporary life, visual art, acrylic painting, digital art, urban space

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Authors: Paula Verdugo-Hernandez, Patricio Cumsille

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We analyze a first-class on the convergence of real number sequences, named hereafter sequences, to foster exploration and discovery of concepts through graphical representations before engaging students in proving. The main goal was to differentiate between sequences and continuous functions-of-a-real-variable and better understand concepts at an initial stage. We applied the analytic frame of mathematical working spaces, which we expect to contribute to extending to sequences since, as far as we know, it has only developed for other objects, and which is relevant to analyze how mathematical work is built systematically by connecting the epistemological and cognitive perspectives, and involving the semiotic, instrumental, and discursive dimensions.

Keywords: convergence, graphical representations, mathematical working spaces, paradigms of real analysis, real number sequences

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Authors: Martin Popescu D. Dana Maria

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The aims of this research are to broaden the study on the relationship between emotional intelligence and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). The study sample consisted in 441 Romanian employees from companies all over the country. Data has been collected through web surveys and processed with SPSS. The results indicated an average correlation between the two constructs and their sub variables, employees with a high level of emotional intelligence tend to be less aggressive. In addition, labeling was considered an individual difference which has the power to influence the level of employee aggression. A regression model was used to underline the importance of emotional intelligence together with labeling as predictors of CWB. Results have shown that this regression model enforces the assumption that labeling and emotional intelligence, taken together, predict CWB. Employees, who label themselves as victims and have a low degree of emotional intelligence, have a higher level of CWB.

Keywords: aggression, CWB, emotional intelligence, labeling

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Authors: M. Kalyan Raj, Vinay Umesh Rao, M. Sudhakar

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The work focuses on the development of a directly compressible controlled release co-processed excipient using melt granulation technique. Erodible wax matrix systems are fabricated in which three different types of waxes are co processed separately with Maize starch in different ratios by melt granulation. The resultant free flowing powder is characterized by FTIR, NMR, Mass spectrophotometer and gel permeation chromatography. Also, controlled release tablets of Aripiprazole were formulated and dissolution profile was compared with that of the target product profile given in Zysis patent (Patent no. 20100004262) for Aripiprazole once a week formulation.

Keywords: co-processing, hot melt extrusion, direct compression, maize starch, stearic acid, aripiprazole

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Authors: Vandana Deswal

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Spas have been bringing people from far and near. They have long been recognized as the place for healing, relaxation, rejuvenation, and pampering. As the economies look forward to the newer ways of earning revenues; spas offer a bright option to the tourism of a place. They have become a strong pillar of hospitality and tourism industry in developed nations and developing nations can learn from their example. This paper is an attempt to study the impact of the spa industry on the tourism industry and to offer suggestions to strengthen this impact by understanding the situation in a developed economy (USA) and a developing one (India). A survey has been conducted on a sample size of 200 and the percentage analysis of the data reveals that spas can significantly add to the tourism of a place if they work on the accreditation system and put in more money and thought on their marketing plans.

Keywords: impact, India, marketing, spa, tourism, USA

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Authors: Mahdi Goharrokhi, Rasool Shiri, Eiraj Naser

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A depropanizer column of a particular refinery was redesigned in this work. That is, minimum reflux ratio, minimum number of trays, feed tray location and the hydraulic characteristics of the tower were calculated and compared with the actual values of the existing tower. To Design review of the tower, fundamental equations were used to develop software which its results were compared with two commercial software results. In each case PR EOS was used. Based on the total energy consumption in reboiler and condenser, feed tray location was also determined using case study definition for tower.

Keywords: column, hydraulic design, pressure drop, energy consumption

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Authors: S. Wisutmethangoon, S. Pannaray, T. Plookphol, J. Wannasin

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2024 Aluminium alloy was squeezed cast by the Gas Induced Semi Solid (GISS) process. Effect of artificial aging on microstructure and mechanical properties of this alloy was studied in the present work. The solutionized specimens were aged hardened at temperatures of 175°C, 200°C, and 225°C under various time durations. The highest hardness of about 77.7 HRE was attained from specimen aged at the temperature of 175 °C for 36 h. Upon investigation the microstructure by using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), the phase was mainly attributed to the strengthening effect in the aged alloy. The apparent activation energy for precipitation hardening of the alloy was calculated as 133,805 J/mol.

Keywords: 2024 aluminium alloy, gas induced semi solid, T6 heat treatment, aged hardening, transmission electron microscopy

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Authors: R. L. P. de Lima, F. C. B. Boogaard, D. Setyo Rini, P. Arisandi, R. E. de Graaf-Van Dinther

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Water quality in many Asian countries is very poor due to inefficient solid waste management, high population growth and the lack of sewage and purification systems for households and industry. A consortium of Indonesian and Dutch organizations has begun a large-scale international research project to evaluate and propose solutions to face the surface water pollution challenges in Brantas Basin, Indonesia (East Java: Malang / Surabaya). The first phase of the project consisted in a baseline study to assess the current status of surface water bodies and to determine the ambitions and strategies among local stakeholders. This study was conducted with high participatory / collaborative and knowledge sharing objectives. Several methods such as using mobile sensors (attached to boats or underwater drones), test strips and mobile apps, bio-monitoring (sediments), ecology scans using underwater cameras, or continuous / static measurements, were applied in different locations in the regions of the basin, at multiple locations within the water systems (e.g. spring, upstream / downstream of industry and urban areas, mouth of the Surabaya River, groundwater). Results gave an indication of (reference) values of basic water quality parameters such as turbidity, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen or nutrients (ammonium / nitrate). An important outcome was that collecting random samples may not be representative of a body of water, given that water quality parameters can vary widely in space (x, y, and depth) and time (day / night and seasonal). Innovative / dynamic monitoring methods (e.g. underwater drones, sensors on boats) can contribute to better understand the quality of the living environment (water, ecology, sediment) and factors that affect it. The field work activities, in particular, underwater drones, revealed potential as awareness actions as they attracted interest from locals and local press. This baseline study involved the cooperation with local managing organizations with Dutch partners, and their willingness to work together is important to ensure participatory actions and social awareness regarding the process of adaptation and strengthening of regulations, or for the construction of facilities such as sewage.

Keywords: water quality monitoring, pollution, underwater drones, social awareness

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Authors: Samita Sondhi, Sachin Kumar, Chirag Chopra

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The increase in population has resulted in an excessive feedstock production, which has in return lead to the accumulation of a large amount of waste from different resources as crop residues, industrial waste and solid municipal waste. This situation has raised the problem of waste disposal in present days. A parallel problem of depletion of natural fossil fuel resources has led to the formation of alternative sources of energy from the waste of different industries to concurrently resolve the two issues. The biogas is a carbon neutral fuel which has applications in transportation, heating and power generation. India is a nation that has an agriculture-based economy and agro-residues are a significant source of organic waste. Taking into account, the second largest agro-based industry that is sugarcane industry producing a high quantity of sugar and sugarcane waste byproducts such as Bagasse, Press Mud, Vinasse and Wastewater. Currently, there are not such efficient disposal methods adopted at large scales. According to manageability objectives, anaerobic digestion can be considered as a method to treat organic wastes. Press mud is lignocellulosic biomass and cannot be accumulated for Mono digestion because of its complexity. Prior investigations indicated that it has a potential for production of biogas. But because of its biological and elemental complexity, Mono-digestion was not successful. Due to the imbalance in the C/N ratio and presence of wax in it can be utilized with any other fibrous material hence will be digested properly under suitable conditions. In the first batch of Mono-digestion of Pressmud biogas production was low. Now, co-digestion of Pressmud with Bagasse which has desired C/N ratio will be performed to optimize the ratio for maximum biogas from Press mud. In addition, with respect to supportability, the main considerations are the monetary estimation of item result and ecological concerns. The work is designed in such a way that the waste from the sugar industry will be digested for maximum biogas generation and digestive after digestion will be characterized for its use as a bio-fertilizer for soil conditioning. Due to effectiveness demonstrated by studied setups of Mono-digestion and Co-digestion, this approach can be considered as a viable alternative for lignocellulosic waste disposal and in agricultural applications. Biogas produced from the Pressmud either can be used for Powerhouses or transportation. In addition, the work initiated towards the development of waste disposal for energy production will demonstrate balanced economy sustainability of the process development.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, carbon neutral fuel, press mud, lignocellulosic biomass

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Authors: Zhaozhang Sun

Abstract:

Health communication is essential in promoting healthy lifestyles, preventing unhealthy behaviours, managing disease conditions, and eventually reducing health disparities. Nowadays, social media provides unprecedented opportunities for enhancing health communication for both healthcare providers and people with health conditions, including self-management of chronic conditions such as diabetes. Meanwhile, a special group of active social media users have started playing a pivotal role in providing health ‘solutions’. Such individuals are often referred to as ‘influencers’ because of their ‘central’ position in the online communication system and the persuasive effect their actions and advice may have on audiences' health-related knowledge, attitudes, confidence and behaviours. Work on social media influencers (SMIs) has gained much attention in a specific research field of “influencer marketing”, which mainly focuses on emphasising the use of SMIs to promote or endorse brands’ products and services in the business. Yet to date, a lack of well-studied and empirical evidence has been conducted to guide the exploration of health-related social media influencers. The failure to investigate health-related SMIs can significantly limit the effectiveness of communicating health on social media. Therefore, this article presents a study to identify key diabetes-related SMIs in the UK and the potential implications of information provided by identified social media influencers on their audiences’ diabetes-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours to bridge the research gap that exists in linking work on influencers in marketing to health communication. The multidisciplinary theories and methods in social media, communication, marketing and diabetes have been adopted, seeking to provide a more practical and promising approach to investigate the potential of social media influencers in health communication. Twitter was chosen as the social media platform to initially identify health influencers and the Twitter API academic was used to extract all the qualitative data. Health-related Influencer Identification Model was developed based on social network analysis, analytic hierarchy process and other screening criteria. Meanwhile, a two-section English-version online questionnaire has been developed to explore the potential implications of social media influencers’ (SMI’s) diabetes-related narratives on the health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours (KAB) of their audience. The paper is organised as follows: first, the theoretical and research background of health communication and social media influencers was discussed. Second, the methodology was described by illustrating the model for the identification of health-related SMIs and the development process of the SMIKAB instrument, followed by the results and discussions. The limitations and contributions of this study were highlighted in the summary.

Keywords: health communication, Interdisciplinary research, social media influencers, diabetes management

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Authors: Lisa Monteiro, Jacqueline Saliba, Nadia Saiyouri, Humberto Y. Godoy

Abstract:

Theevolution of the global environmental context incites companies to reduce their impact by reusing local materials and promoting circular economy. Dredged sediments represent a potential source of materials due to their large volume. Indeed, the dredging operations carried out in Gironde alone generated an annual volume of sediment of approximately 9 million m³. Moreover, on the eve of the evolution of laws concerning dredging practices, the recovery of sediments is necessary to create a viable economy for their management. This thesis work is oriented towards the development of an ecological binder from the fine fraction of untreated dredged sediments. In fact, their physico-chemical properties make them favorable for the synthesis of geopolymer, current competitor of cement, thanks to its lower carbon footprint and environmental impact. However, several obstacles must be overcome before implementing this new family of materials: the use of sediments without thermal or chemical treatment, the absence of a formulation approach, ignorance of the reactions produced, etc. During the first year of the thesis, a physico-chemical characterization of the sediments made it possible to validate their use as precursors forgeopolymerization according to three criteria: their fineness, their mineralogical composition, and the percentage of amorphous phase. Following these results, several formulations have been defined, taking into account the environmental impact. The sediments were activated with an alkaline solution of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate. Two other formulations with cement and blast furnace slag have been defined for comparison. The results highlighted the possibility of forming geopolymers from untreated and still wet dredged sediments. The development of structural bonds through the formation of hydrated sodium aluminosilicate thus leads to higher strengths at 90 days (4.78 MPa) than a mixture with cement (0.75 MPa). A 30% gain in CO₂ emissions has also been obtained compared to cement. In order to reduce the uncertainties linked to the absence of a formulation approach, to optimize the number of experiments to be carried out in the laboratory, and to obtain an optimal formulation, an analysis by mixing plan was conducted in order to frame the responses according to the proportions of the constituents. Following the obtaining of an optimal binder, the work will focus on the study of the durability and the interspecific variability of the sediments on the mechanical properties by testing the binder developed with different sediments dredged from the Bordeaux estuary. , the Grand Port Maritime of Bayonne, La Rochelle, and the Bassinsd'Arcachon.

Keywords: compressive strength, dredged sediments, ecological binder, geopolymers

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Authors: H. Babou, S. Ridjla, B. Amerate, R. Ferhoum, M. Aberkane

Abstract:

This work is devoted to the experimental study of thermal ageing effect on the mechanical and micro structural behavior of polycarbonate (PC). A simple compression tests, micro hardness and an IRTF analysis were completed in order to characterize the response of material on specimens after ageing at a temperature of order 100 C° and for serval maintain duration 72, 144 and 216 hours. These investigations showed a decrease of the intrinsic properties of polycarbonate (Young modulus, yield stress, etc.); the superposition of spectra IRTF shows that the intensity of chemical connections C=C, C-O, CH3 and C-H are influenced by the duration of thermal ageing; in addition, an increase of 30 % of micro hardness was detected after 216 hour of ageing.

Keywords: amorphous polymer, polycarbonate, mechanical behavior, compression test, thermal ageing

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Authors: Antonio Horta, Renato Marinho, Raimir Holanda

Abstract:

Considered as an evolution of the Blockchain, the Ethereum platform, besides allowing transactions of its cryptocurrency named Ether, it allows the programming of decentralised applications (DApps) and smart contracts. However, this functionality into blockchains has raised other types of threats, and the exploitation of smart contracts vulnerabilities has taken companies to experience big losses. This research intends to figure out the number of contracts that are under risk of being drained. Through a deep investigation, more than two hundred thousand smart contracts currently available in the Ethereum platform were scanned and estimated how much money is at risk. The experiment was based in a query run on Google Big Query in July 2022 and returned 50,707,133 contracts published on the Ethereum platform. After applying the filtering criteria, the experimentgot 430,584 smart contracts to download and analyse. The filtering criteria consisted of filtering out: ERC20 and ERC721 contracts, contracts without transactions, and contracts without balance. From this amount of 430,584 smart contracts selected, only 268,103 had source codes published on Etherscan, however, we discovered, using a hashing process, that there were contracts duplication. Removing the duplicated contracts, the process ended up with 20,417 source codes, which were analysed using the open source SAST tool smartbugswith oyente and securify algorithms. In the end, there was nearly $100,000 at risk of being drained from the potentially vulnerable smart contracts. It is important to note that the tools used in this study may generate false positives, which may interfere with the number of vulnerable contracts. To address this point, our next step in this research is to develop an application to test the contract in a parallel environment to verify the vulnerability. Finally, this study aims to alert users and companies about the risk on not properly creating and analysing their smart contracts before publishing them into the platform. As any other application, smart contracts are at risk of having vulnerabilities which, in this case, may result in direct financial losses.

Keywords: blockchain, reentrancy, static application security testing, smart contracts

Procedia PDF Downloads 75