Search results for: coping strategy with stress

Authors: Şeyma Saliha Fidan, Ozgur Serin, Ata Mugan

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While performing verification analyses under static and dynamic loads that composite structures used in aviation are exposed to, it is necessary to obtain the bearing strength limit value for mechanically connected composite structures. For this purpose, various tests are carried out in accordance with aviation standards. There are many companies in the world that perform these tests in accordance with aviation standards, but the test costs are very high. In addition, due to the necessity of producing coupons, the high cost of coupon materials, and the long test times, it is necessary to simulate these tests on the computer. For this purpose, various test coupons were produced by using reinforcement and alignment angles of the composite radomes, which were integrated into the aircraft. Glass fiber reinforced and Quartz prepreg is used in the production of the coupons. The simulations of the tests performed according to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D5961 Procedure C standard were performed on the computer. The analysis model was created in three dimensions for the purpose of modeling the bolt-hole contact surface realistically and obtaining the exact bearing strength value. The finite element model was carried out with the Analysis System (ANSYS). Since a physical break cannot be made in the analysis studies carried out in the virtual environment, a hypothetical break is realized by reducing the material properties. The material properties reduction coefficient was determined as 10%, which is stated to give the most realistic approach in the literature. There are various theories in this method, which is called progressive failure analysis. Because the hashin theory does not match our experimental results, the puck progressive damage method was used in all coupon analyses. When the experimental and numerical results are compared, the initial damage and the resulting force drop points, the maximum damage load values ​​, and the bearing strength value are very close. Furthermore, low error rates and similar damage patterns were obtained in both test and simulation models. In addition, the effects of various parameters such as pre-stress, use of bushing, the ratio of the distance between the bolt hole center and the plate edge to the hole diameter (E/D), the ratio of plate width to hole diameter (W/D), hot-wet environment conditions were investigated on the bearing strength of the composite structure.

Keywords: puck, finite element, bolted joint, composite

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: Wissal Ben Arfi, Jean-Michel Sahut

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The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper understanding of the succession process from a knowledge management perspective. By doing that, succession process in family businesses, as an environment for creating and sharing knowledge, was explored. Design/Methodology/Approach: To support our reasoning, we collected qualitative data through 16 in-depth interviews conducted with all decision makers involved in the family businesses succession process in France. These open-ended responses were subsequently exposed to thematic discourse analysis. Findings: Central to this exhibit is the nature and magnitude of knowledge creation and sharing among the actors within the family succession context and how can tacit knowledge sharing facilitate the succession process. We also identified factors that inhibit down the knowledge creation and sharing processes. The sharing and creation of knowledge among members of a family business appear to be a complex process that must be part of a strategy for change. This implies that it requests trust and takes a certain amount of time because it requires organizational change and a clear and coherent strategic vision that is accepted and assimilated by all the members. Professional and leadership skills are of particular importance in knowledge sharing and creation processes. In most cases, tacit knowledge is crucial when it is shared and accumulated collectively. Our findings reveal that managers should find ways of implementing knowledge sharing and creation processes while acknowledging the succession process within family firms. This study highlights the importance of generating knowledge strategies in order to enhance the performance and the success of intergenerational succession. The empirical outcomes contribute to enrich the field of succession management process and enhance the role of knowledge in shaping family performance and longevity. To a large extent, the lessons learned from the study of succession processes in family-owned businesses are that when there is a deliberate effort to introduce a knowledge-based approach, this action becomes a seminal event in the life of the organization. Originality/Value: The paper contributes to the deep understanding of interactions among actors by examining the knowledge creation and sharing processes since current researches in family succession focused on aspects such as personal development of potential, intra-family succession intention, decision-making processes in family businesses. Besides, as succession is one of the key factors that determine the longevity and the performance of family businesses, it also contributes to literature by examining how tacit knowledge is transferred, shared and created in family businesses and how this can facilitate the intergenerational succession process.

Keywords: family-owned businesses, succession process, knowledge, performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 208

Authors: E. K. K. Agyeman, P. Mousseau, A. Sarda, D. Edelin

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During the cooling of hot metals by the circulation of water in canals formed by boring holes in the metal, the rapid phase change of the water due to the high initial temperature of the metal leads to a non homogenous distribution of the phases within the canals. The liquid phase dominates towards the entrance of the canal while the gaseous phase dominates towards the exit. As a result of the different thermal properties of both phases, the metal is not uniformly cooled. This poses a problem during the cooling of moulds, where a uniform temperature distribution is needed in order to ensure the integrity of the part being formed. In this study, the simultaneous use of multiple water jets and an airflow for the uniform and controlled cooling of a steel block is investigated. A circular hole is bored at the centre of the steel block along its length and a perforated steel pipe is inserted along the central axis of the hole. Water jets that impact the internal surface of the steel block are generated from the perforations in the steel pipe when the water within it is put under pressure. These jets are oriented in the opposite direction to that of gravity. An intermittent airflow is imposed in the annular space between the steel pipe and the surface of hole bored in the steel block. The evolution of the temperature with respect to time of the external surface of the block is measured with the help of thermocouples and an infrared camera. Due to the high initial temperature of the steel block (350 °C), the water changes phase when it impacts the internal surface of the block. This leads to high heat fluxes. The strategy used to control the cooling speed of the block is the intermittent impingement of its internal surface by the jets. The intervals of impingement and of non impingement are varied in order to achieve the desired result. An airflow is used during the non impingement periods as an additional regulator of the cooling speed and to improve the temperature homogeneity of the impinged surface. After testing different jet positions, jet speeds and impingement intervals, it’s observed that the external surface of the steel block has a uniform temperature distribution along its length. However, the temperature distribution along its width isn’t uniform with the maximum temperature difference being between the centre of the block and its edge. Changing the positions of the jets has no significant effect on the temperature distribution on the external surface of the steel block. It’s also observed that reducing the jet impingement interval and increasing the non impingement interval slows down the cooling of the block and improves upon the temperature homogeneity of its external surface while increasing the duration of jet impingement speeds up the cooling process.

Keywords: cooling speed, homogenous cooling, jet impingement, phase change

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Mariamawit T. Belete

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Cereal production and marketing are the means of livelihood for millions of households in Ethiopia. However, cereal production is constrained by technical and socio-economic factors. Among the technical factors, cereal crop diseases are the major contributing factors to the low yield. The aim of this research is to develop an integration of data mining and knowledge based system for sorghum anthracnose disease diagnosis that assists agriculture experts and development agents to make timely decisions. Anthracnose diagnosing systems gather information from Melkassa agricultural research center and attempt to score anthracnose severity scale. Empirical research is designed for data exploration, modeling, and confirmatory procedures for testing hypothesis and prediction to draw a sound conclusion. WEKA (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis) was employed for the modeling. Knowledge based system has come across a variety of approaches based on the knowledge representation method; case-based reasoning (CBR) is one of the popular approaches used in knowledge-based system. CBR is a problem solving strategy that uses previous cases to solve new problems. The system utilizes hidden knowledge extracted by employing clustering algorithms, specifically K-means clustering from sampled anthracnose dataset. Clustered cases with centroid value are mapped to jCOLIBRI, and then the integrator application is created using NetBeans with JDK 8.0.2. The important part of a case based reasoning model includes case retrieval; the similarity measuring stage, reuse; which allows domain expert to transfer retrieval case solution to suit for the current case, revise; to test the solution, and retain to store the confirmed solution to the case base for future use. Evaluation of the system was done for both system performance and user acceptance. For testing the prototype, seven test cases were used. Experimental result shows that the system achieves an average precision and recall values of 70% and 83%, respectively. User acceptance testing also performed by involving five domain experts, and an average of 83% acceptance is achieved. Although the result of this study is promising, however, further study should be done an investigation on hybrid approach such as rule based reasoning, and pictorial retrieval process are recommended.

Keywords: sorghum anthracnose, data mining, case based reasoning, integration

Procedia PDF Downloads 82

Authors: Christina Van Wingerden

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This paper focuses on a sense of belonging, isolation, and the use of a learning management system as a “third space” for connection and community. Given student use of learning management systems (LMS) for courses on campuses, moderate to high use of social media and hand-held devices, the author explores the possibilities of LMS as a third space. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated student experiences of isolation, and research indicates that students who experience a sense of belonging have a greater likelihood for academic retention and success. The impacts on students of an LMS designed for student employee orientation and training were examined through a mixed methods approach, including a survey, individual interviews, and focus groups. The sample involved 250-450 undergraduate student employees at a US northwestern university. The goal of the study was to find out the efficiency and effectiveness of the orientation information for a wide range of student employees from multiple student affairs departments. And unexpected finding emerged within the study in 2015 and was noted again as a finding in the 2017 study. Students reported feeling like they individually connected to the department, and further to the university because of the LMS orientation. They stated they could see themselves as part of the university community and like they belonged. The orientation, through the LMS, was designed for and occurred online (asynchronous), prior to students traveling and beginning university life for the academic year. The students indicated connection and belonging resulting from some of the design features. With the onset of COVID-19 and prolonged sheltering in place in North America, as well as other parts of the world, students have been precluded from physically gathering to educate and learn. COVID-19 essentially paused face-to-face education in 2020. Media, governments, and higher education outlets have been reporting on widespread college student stress, isolation, loneliness, and sadness. In this context, the author conducted a current mixed methods study (online survey, online interviews) of students in advanced degree programs, like Ph.D. and Ed.D. specifically investigating isolation and sense of belonging. As a part of the study a prototype of a Canvas site was experienced by student interviewees for their reaction of this Canvas site prototype as a “third” space. Some preliminary findings of this study are presented. Doctoral students in the study affirmed the potential of LMS as a third space for community and social academic connection.

Keywords: COVID-19, isolation, learning management system, sense of belonging

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Mohammed Messaoudi

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The higher education sector in Algeria has witnessed in recent years a remarkable transformation, as it witnessed the integration of institutions within the modern technological environment and harnessing all appropriate mechanisms to raise the level of education and the level of training. Observers and those interested that it is necessary for the Algerian university to enter this field, especially with the efforts that seek to employ modern technology in the sector and encourage investment in this field, in addition to the state’s keenness to move towards building a path to benefit from modern technology, and to encourage energies in light of a reality that carries many Aspirations and challenges by achieving openness to the new digital environment and keeping pace with the ranks of international universities. Higher education is one of the engines of development for societies, as it is a vital field for the transfer of knowledge and scientific expertise, and the university is at the top of the comprehensive educational system for various disciplines in light of the achievement of a multi-dimensional educational system, and amid the integration of three basic axes that establish the sound educational process (teaching, research, relevant outputs efficiency), and according to a clear strategy that monitors the advancement of academic work, and works on developing its future directions to achieve development in this field. The Algerian University is considered one of the service institutions that seeks to find the optimal mechanisms to keep pace with the changes of the times, as it has become necessary for the university to enter the technological space and thus ensure the quality of education in it and achieve the required empowerment by dedicating a structure that matches the requirements of the challenges on which the sector is based, amid unremitting efforts to develop the capabilities. He sought to harness the mechanisms of communication and information technology and achieve transformation at the level of the higher education sector with what is called higher education technology. The conceptual framework of information and communication technology at the level of higher education institutions in Algeria is determined through the factors of organization, factors of higher education institutions, characteristics of the professor, characteristics of students, the outcomes of the educational process, and there is a relentless pursuit to achieve a positive interaction between these axes as they are basic components on which the success and achievement of higher education are based for his goals.

Keywords: Information and communication technology, Algerian university, scientific and cognitive development, challenges

Procedia PDF Downloads 85

Authors: Lenka Krsnakova, Petr Jirsak

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Prior research on facility location in supply chain is mostly focused on improvement of mathematical models. It is due to the fact that supply chain design has been for the long time the area of operational research that underscores mainly quantitative criteria. Qualitative criteria are still highly neglected within the supply chain design research. Facility location in the supply chain has become multi-criteria decision-making problem rather than single criteria decision due to changes of market conditions. Thus, both qualitative and quantitative criteria have to be included in the decision making process. The aim of this study is to emphasize the importance of qualitative criteria as key parameters of relevant mathematical models. We examine which criteria are taken into consideration when Czech companies decide about their facility location. A literature review on criteria being used in facility location decision making process creates a theoretical background for the study. The data collection was conducted through questionnaire survey. Questionnaire was sent to manufacturing and business companies of all sizes (small, medium and large enterprises) with the representation in the Czech Republic within following sectors: automotive, toys, clothing industry, electronics and pharmaceutical industry. Comparison of which criteria prevail in the current research and which are considered important by companies in the Czech Republic is made. Despite the number of articles focused on supply chain design, only minority of them consider qualitative criteria and rarely process supply chain design as a multi-criteria decision making problem. Preliminary results of the questionnaire survey outlines that companies in the Czech Republic see the qualitative criteria and their impact on facility location decision as crucial. Qualitative criteria as company strategy, quality of working environment or future development expectations are confirmed to be considered by Czech companies. This study confirms that the qualitative criteria can significantly influence whether a particular location could or could not be right place for a logistic facility. The research has two major limitations: researchers who focus on improving of mathematical models mostly do not mention criteria that enter the model. Czech supply chain managers selected important criteria from the group of 18 available criteria and assign them importance weights. It does not necessarily mean that these criteria were taken into consideration when the last facility location was chosen, but how they perceive that today. Since the study confirmed the necessity of future research on how qualitative criteria influence decision making process about facility location, the authors have already started in-depth interviews with participating companies to reveal how the inclusion of qualitative criteria into decision making process about facility location influence the company´s performance.

Keywords: criteria influencing facility location, Czech Republic, facility location decision-making, qualitative criteria

Procedia PDF Downloads 326

Authors: R. Clancy, M. Ahern, D. O’Sullivan, K. Bruton

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The manufacturing industry is currently undergoing a digital transformation as part of the mega-trend Industry 4.0. As part of this phase of the industrial revolution, traditional manufacturing processes are being combined with digital technologies to achieve smarter and more efficient production. To successfully digitally transform a manufacturing facility, the processes must first be digitized. This is the conversion of information from an analogue format to a digital format. The objective of this study was to explore the research area of digitizing manufacturing data as part of the worldwide paradigm, Industry 4.0. The formal methodology of a systematic mapping study was utilized to capture a representative sample of the research area and assess its current state. Specific research questions were defined to assess the key benefits and limitations associated with the digitization of manufacturing data. Research papers were classified according to the type of research and type of contribution to the research area. Upon analyzing 54 papers identified in this area, it was noted that 23 of the papers originated in Germany. This is an unsurprising finding as Industry 4.0 is originally a German strategy with supporting strong policy instruments being utilized in Germany to support its implementation. It was also found that the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design, in collaboration with the University of Paderborn in Germany, was the most frequent contributing Institution of the research papers with three papers published. The literature suggested future research directions and highlighted one specific gap in the area. There exists an unresolved gap between the data science experts and the manufacturing process experts in the industry. The data analytics expertise is not useful unless the manufacturing process information is utilized. A legitimate understanding of the data is crucial to perform accurate analytics and gain true, valuable insights into the manufacturing process. There lies a gap between the manufacturing operations and the information technology/data analytics departments within enterprises, which was borne out by the results of many of the case studies reviewed as part of this work. To test the concept of this gap existing, the researcher initiated an industrial case study in which they embedded themselves between the subject matter expert of the manufacturing process and the data scientist. Of the papers resulting from the systematic mapping study, 12 of the papers contributed a framework, another 12 of the papers were based on a case study, and 11 of the papers focused on theory. However, there were only three papers that contributed a methodology. This provides further evidence for the need for an industry-focused methodology for digitizing and analyzing manufacturing data, which will be developed in future research.

Keywords: analytics, digitization, industry 4.0, manufacturing

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Manjinder Singh, Jasvinder Singh

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Existing theories of Titanic/Liberty ship, Sydney bridge accidents and practical experience generated an interest in developing weldments those has high toughness under sub-zero temperature conditions. The purpose was to protect the joint from undergoing DBT (Ductile to brittle transition), when ambient temperature reach sub-zero levels. Metallurgical improvement such as low carbonization or addition of deoxidization elements like Mn and Si was effective to prevent fracture in weldments (crack) at low temperature. In the present research, an attempt has been made to investigate the reason behind ductile to brittle transition of mild steel weldments when subjected to sub-zero temperatures and method of its mitigation. Nickel is added to weldments using manual metal arc welding (MMAW) preventing the DBT, but progressive reduction in charpy impact values as temperature is lowered. The variation in toughness with respect to nickel content being added to the weld pool is analyzed quantitatively to evaluate the rise in toughness value with increasing nickel amount. The impact performance of welded specimens was evaluated by Charpy V-notch impact tests at various temperatures (20 °C, 0 °C, -20 °C, -40 °C, -60 °C). Notch is made in the weldments, as notch sensitive failure is particularly likely to occur at zones of high stress concentration caused by a notch. Then the effect of nickel to weldments is investigated at various temperatures was studied by mechanical and metallurgical tests. It was noted that a large gain in impact toughness could be achieved by adding nickel content. The highest yield strength (462J) in combination with good impact toughness (over 220J at – 60 °C) was achieved with an alloying content of 16 wt. %nickel. Based on metallurgical behavior it was concluded that the weld metals solidify as austenite with increase in nickel. The microstructure was characterized using optical and high resolution SEM (scanning electron microscopy). At inter-dendritic regions mainly martensite was found. In dendrite core regions of the low carbon weld metals a mixture of upper bainite, lower bainite and a novel constituent coalesced bainite formed. Coalesced bainite was characterized by large bainitic ferrite grains with cementite precipitates and is believed to form when the bainite and martensite start temperatures are close to each other. Mechanical properties could be rationalized in terms of micro structural constituents as a function of nickel content.

Keywords: MMAW, Toughness, DBT, Notch, SEM, Coalesced bainite

Procedia PDF Downloads 526

Authors: R. Hurtado-Ortiz, D. Clermont, M. Schüngel, C. Bizet, D. Smith, E. Stackebrandt

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Microbiological resources and their derivatives are the essential raw material for the advancement of human health, agro-food, food security, biotechnology, research and development in all life sciences. Microbial resources, and their genetic and metabolic products, are utilised in many areas such as production of healthy and functional food, identification of new antimicrobials against emerging and resistant pathogens, fighting agricultural disease, identifying novel energy sources on the basis of microbial biomass and screening for new active molecules for the bio-industries. The complexity of public collections, distribution and use of living biological material (not only living but also DNA, services, training, consultation, etc.) and service offer, demands the coordination and sharing of policies, processes and procedures. The Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure (MIRRI) is an initiative within the European Strategy Forum Infrastructures (ESFRI), bring together 16 partners including 13 European public microbial culture collections and biological resource centres (BRCs), supported by several European and non-European associated partners. The objective of MIRRI is to support innovation in microbiology by provision of a one-stop shop for well-characterized microbial resources and high quality services on a not-for-profit basis for biotechnology in support of microbiological research. In addition, MIRRI contributes to the structuring of microbial resources capacity both at the national and European levels. This will facilitate access to microorganisms for biotechnology for the enhancement of the bio-economy in Europe. MIRRI will overcome the fragmentation of access to current resources and services, develop harmonised strategies for delivery of associated information, ensure bio-security and other regulatory conditions to bring access and promote the uptake of these resources into European research. Data mining of the landscape of current information is needed to discover potential and drive innovation, to ensure the uptake of high quality microbial resources into research. MIRRI is in its Preparatory Phase focusing on governance and structure including technical, legal governance and financial issues. MIRRI will help the Biological Resources Centres to work more closely with policy makers, stakeholders, funders and researchers, to deliver resources and services needed for innovation.

Keywords: culture collections, microbiology, infrastructure, microbial resources, biotechnology

Procedia PDF Downloads 444

Authors: Titir Bhattacharya, Tanika Chakraborty, Prabal K. De

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Maternal and child health continue to be a significant policy focus in developing countries, including India. An emerging model in health care is the creation of public and private partnerships. Since the construction of physical infrastructure is costly, governments at various levels have tried to implement social health insurance schemes where a trust calculates insurance premiums and medical payments. Typically, qualifying families get full subsidization of the premium and get access to private hospitals, in addition to low cost public hospitals, for their tertiary care needs. We analyze one such pioneering social insurance scheme in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (AP). The Rajiv Aarogyasri program (RA) was introduced by the Government of AP on a pilot basis in 2007 and implemented in 2008. In this paper, we first examine the extent to which access to reproductive health care changed. For example, the RA scheme reimburses hospital deliveries leading us to expect an increase in institutional deliveries, particularly in private hospitals. Second, we expect an increase in institutional deliveries to also improve child health outcomes. Hence, we estimate if the program improved infant and child mortality. We use District Level Health Survey data to create annual birth cohorts from 2000-2015. Since AP was the only state in which such a state insurance program was implemented, the neighboring states constituted a plausible control group. Combined with the policy timing, and the year of birth, we employ a difference-indifference strategy to identify the effects of RA on the residents of AP. We perform several checks against threats to identification, including testing for pre-treatment trends between the treatment and control states. We find that the policy significantly lowered infant and child mortality in AP. We also find that deliveries in private hospitals increased, and government hospitals decreased, showing a substitution effect of the relative price change. Finally, as expected, out-of-pocket costs declined for the treatment group. However, we do not find any significant effects for usual preventive care such as vaccination, showing that benefits of insurance schemes targeted at the tertiary level may not trickle down to the primary care level.

Keywords: public health insurance, maternal and child health, public-private choice

Procedia PDF Downloads 96

Authors: Kamran Jawed, Anu Jose Mattam, Zia Fatma, Saima Wajid, Malik Z. Abdin, Syed Shams Yazdani

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Worldwide demand of natural and sustainable fuels and chemicals have encouraged researchers to develop microbial platform for synthesis of short chain fatty acids as they are useful precursors to replace petroleum-based fuels and chemicals. In this study, we evaluated the role of fatty acid synthesis and β-oxidation cycle of Escherichia coli to produce butyric acid, a 4-carbon short chain fatty acid, with the help of three thioesterases, i.e., TesAT from Anaerococcus tetradius, TesBF from Bryantella formatexigens and TesBT from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. We found that E. coli strain transformed with gene for TesBT and grown in presence of 8 g/L glucose produced maximum butyric acid titer at 1.46 g/L, followed by that of TesBF at 0.85 g/L and TesAT at 0.12 g/L, indicating that these thioesterases were efficiently converting short chain fatty acyl-ACP intermediate of fatty acid synthesis pathway into the corresponding acid. The titer of butyric acid varied significantly depending upon the plasmid copy number and strain genotype. Deletion of genes for fatty acyl-CoA synthetase and acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, which are involved in initiating the fatty acid degradation cycle, and overexpression of FadR, which is a dual transcriptional regulator and exerts negative control over fatty acid degradation pathway, reduced up to 30% of butyric acid titer. This observation suggested that β-oxidation pathway is working synergistically with fatty acid synthesis pathway in production of butyric acid. Moreover, accelerating the fatty acid elongation cycle by overexpressing acetyl-CoA carboxyltransferase (Acc) and 3-hydroxy-acyl-ACP dehydratase (FabZ) or by deleting FabR, the transcription suppressor of elongation, did not improve the butyric acid titer, rather favored the long chain fatty acid production. Finally, a balance between cell growth and butyric acid production was achieved with the use of phosphorous limited growth medium and 14.3 g/L butyric acid, and 17.5 g/L total free fatty acids (FFAs) titer was achieved during fed-batch cultivation. We have engineered an E. coli strain which utilizes the intermediate of both fatty acid synthesis and degradation pathway, i.e. butyryl-ACP and -CoA, to produce butyric acid from glucose. The strategy used in this study resulted in highest reported titers of butyric acid and FFAs in engineered E. coli.

Keywords: butenoic acid, butyric acid, Escherichia coli, fed-batch fermentation, short chain fatty acids, thioesterase

Procedia PDF Downloads 371

Authors: Mirka Januszkiewicz

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The Regional Municipality of Durham is the upper level of a two-tier municipal and regional structure comprised of eight lower-tier municipalities. With a population of 655,000 in both urban and rural settings, the Region is approximately 2,537 square kilometers neighboring the City of Toronto, Ontario Canada to the east. The Region has been focused on diverting waste from disposal since the development of its Long Term Waste Management Strategy Plan for 2000-2020. With a 54 percent solid waste diversion rate, the focus now is on achieving 70 percent diversion on the path to zero waste using local waste management options whenever feasible. The Region has an Integrated Waste Management System that consists of a weekly curbside collection of recyclable printed paper and packaging and source separated organics; a seasonal collection of leaf and yard waste; a bi-weekly collection of residual garbage; and twice annual collection of intact, sealed household batteries. The Region also maintains three Waste Management Facilities for residential drop-off of household hazardous waste, polystyrene, construction and demolition debris and electronics. Special collection events are scheduled in the spring, summer and fall months for reusable items, household hazardous waste, and electronics. The Region is in the final commissioning stages of an energy from the waste facility for residual waste disposal that will recover energy from non-recyclable wastes. This facility is state of the art and is equipped for installation of carbon capture technology in the future. Despite all of these diversion programs and efforts, there is still room for improvement. Recent residential waste studies revealed that over 50% of the residual waste placed at the curb that is destined for incineration could be recycled. To move towards a zero waste community, the Region is looking to more advanced technologies for extracting the maximum recycling value from residential waste. Plans are underway to develop a pre-sort facility to remove organics and recyclables from the residual waste stream, including the growing multi-residential sector. Organics would then be treated anaerobically to generate biogas and fertilizer products for beneficial use within the Region. This project could increase the Region’s diversion rate beyond 70 percent and enhance the Region’s climate change mitigation goals. Zero waste is an ambitious goal in a changing regulatory and economic environment. Decision makers must be willing to consider new and emerging technologies and embrace change to succeed.

Keywords: municipal waste, residential, waste diversion, zero waste

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Paul Holmes, Mike N. G.

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Foundation-year doctors face increased stress, pressure and uncertainty when starting new rotations throughout their first years of work. This research questionnaire resulted in an induction cheat sheet and induction video that enhanced the Junior doctor's understanding of how to work effectively within the plastic surgery department at NHS Tayside. The objectives and goals were to improve the transition between cohorts of junior doctors in ward 26 at Ninewells Hospital. Before this quality improvement project, the induction pack was 74 pages long and over eight years old. With the support of consultant Mike Ng a new up-to-date induction was created. This involved a questionnaire and cheat sheet being developed. The questionnaire covered clerking, venipuncture, ward pharmacy, theatres, admissions, specialties on the ward, the cardiac arrest trolley, clinical emergencies, discharges and escalation. This audit has three completed cycles between August 2022 and August 2023. The cheat sheet developed a concise two-page A4 document designed for doctors to be able to reference easily and understand the essentials. The document format is a table containing ward layout; specialty; location; physician associate, shift patterns; ward rounds; handover location and time; hours coverage; senior escalation; nights; daytime duties, meetings/MDTs/board meetings, important bleeps and codes; department guidelines; boarders; referrals and patient stream; pharmacy; absences; rota coordinator; annual leave; top tips. The induction video is a 10-minute in-depth explanation of all aspects of the ward. The video explores in more depth the contents of the cheat sheet. This alternative visual format familiarizes the junior doctor with all aspects of the ward. These were provided to all foundation year 1 and 2 doctors on ward 26 at Ninewells Hospital at NHS Tayside Scotland. This work has since been adopted by the General Surgery Department, which extends to six further wards and has improved the effective handing over of the junior doctor’s role between cohorts. There is potential to further expand the cheat sheet to other departments as the concise document takes around 30 minutes to complete by a doctor who is currently on that ward. The time spent filling out the form provides vital information to the incoming junior doctors, which has a significant possibility to improve patient care.

Keywords: induction, junior doctor, handover, plastic surgery

Procedia PDF Downloads 85

Authors: Nusrat Zabeen Islam

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Partnership between local Non-Government organizations (NGO) and International development organizations has become an important feature in the development sector of Bangladesh. It is an important challenge for International development organizations to work with local NGOs with proper HR practice. Local NGOs have a lack of quality working environment and this affects the employee’s work experiences and overall performance at individual, partnership with International development organizations and organizational level. Many local development organizations due to the size of the organization and scope do not have a human resource (HR) unit. Inadequate Human Resource Policies, skills, leadership and lack of effective strategy is now a common scenario in Non-Government organization sector of Bangladesh. So corruption, nepotism, and fraud, risk of Political Contribution in office /work space, Sexual/ gender based abuse, insecurity take place in work place of development sector. The Complaint Management Mechanism (CMM) in human resource management could be one way to improve human resource competence in these organizations. The responsibility of Complaint Management Unit (CMU) of an International development organization is to make workplace maltreating, discriminating communities free. The information of impact of CMM was collected through case study of an International organization and some of its partner national organizations in Bangladesh who are engaged in different projects/programs. In this mechanism International development organizations collect complaints from beneficiaries/ staffs by complaint management unit and investigate by segregating the type and mood of the complaint and find out solution to improve the situation within a very short period. A complaint management committee is formed jointly with HR and management personnel. Concerned focal point collect complaints and share with CM unit. By conducting investigation, review of findings, reply back to CM unit and implementation of resolution through this mechanism, a successful bridge of communication and feedback can be established within beneficiaries, staffs and upper management. The overall result of Complaint management mechanism application indicates that by applying CMM accountability and transparency of workplace and workforce in development organization can be increased significantly. Evaluations based on outcomes, and measuring indicators such as productivity, satisfaction, retention, gender equity, proper judgment will guide organizations in building a healthy workforce, and will also clearly articulate the return on investment and justify any need for further funding.

Keywords: human resource management in NGOs, challenges in human resource, workplace environment, complaint management mechanism

Procedia PDF Downloads 322

Authors: Minu Bharati, Priyanka Rai, Satarupa Dutta, Dhiraj Saha

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Culex quinquefasciatus Say, is a mosquito of immense public health concern due to its role in transmission of filariasis, which is an endemic disease in 20 states and union territories of India, putting about 600 million people at the risk of infection. The main strategies to control filaria in India include anti-larval measures in urban areas, Indoor Residual Spray (IRS) in rural areas and mass diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) administration. Larval destruction measures and IRS are done with the use of insecticides. In this study, Susceptibility/ Resistance to insecticides were assessed in Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes collected from eight densely populated areas of Siliguri subdivision, which has a high rate of filarial infection. To unveil the insecticide susceptibility status of Culex quinquefasciatus, bioassays were performed on field-caught mosquitoes against two major groups of insecticides, i.e. Synthetic Pyrethroids (SPs): 0.05% deltamethrin and 0.05% lambda-cyhalothrin and Organophosphates (OPs): 5% malathion and temephos using World Health Organisation (WHO) discriminating doses. The knockdown rates and knockdown times (KDT50) were also noted against deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin and malathion. Also, activities of major detoxifying enzymes, i.e. α-carboxylesterases, β-carboxylesterases and cytochrome P450 (CYP450) monooxygenases were determined to find the involvement of biochemical mechanisms in resistance phenomenon (if any). The results obtained showed that, majority of the mosquito populations were moderately to severely resistant against both the SPs and one OP, i.e. temephos. Whereas, most of the populations showed 100% susceptibility to malathion. The knockdown rates and KDT50 in response to above-mentioned insecticides showed significant variation among different populations. Variability in activities of carboxylesterases and CYP450 monooxygenases were also observed with hints of their involvement in contribution towards insecticide resistance in some of the tested populations. It may be concluded that, Culex quinquefasciatus has started developing resistance against deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin and temephos in Siliguri subdivision. Malathion seems to hold the greatest potentiality for control of these mosquitoes in this area as revealed through this study. Adoption of Integrated mosquito management (IMM) strategy should be the prime objective of the concerned authorities to delimit the insecticide resistance phenomenon and filariasis infections.

Keywords: Culex quinquefasciatus, detoxifying enzymes, insecticide resistance, knockdown rate

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Authors: Ahmed Alghurabi, Mysara Mohyaldinn, Shiferaw Jufar, Obai Younis, Abdullah Abduljabbar

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Erosion modeling equations were typically acquired from regulated experimental trials for solid particles entrained in single-phase or multi-phase flows. Evidently, those equations were later employed to predict the erosion damage caused by the continuous impacts of solid particles entrained in streamflow. It is also well-known that the particle impact angle and velocity do not change drastically in gas-sand flow erosion prediction; hence an accurate prediction of erosion can be projected. On the contrary, high-density fluid flows, such as water flow, through complex geometries, such as sand screens, greatly affect the sand particles’ trajectories/tracks and consequently impact the erosion rate predictions. Particle tracking models and erosion equations are frequently applied simultaneously as a method to improve erosion visualization and estimation. In the present work, computational fluid dynamic (CFD)-based erosion modeling was performed using a commercially available software; ANSYS Fluent. The continuous phase (water flow) behavior was simulated using the realizable K-epsilon model, and the secondary phase (solid particles), having a 5% flow concentration, was tracked with the help of the discrete phase model (DPM). To accomplish a successful erosion modeling, three erosion equations from the literature were utilized and introduced to the ANSYS Fluent software to predict the screen wire-slot velocity surge and estimate the maximum erosion rates on the screen surface. Results of turbulent kinetic energy, turbulence intensity, dissipation rate, the total pressure on the screen, screen wall shear stress, and flow velocity vectors were presented and discussed. Moreover, the particle tracks and path-lines were also demonstrated based on their residence time, velocity magnitude, and flow turbulence. On one hand, results from the utilized erosion equations have shown similarities in screen erosion patterns, locations, and DPM concentrations. On the other hand, the model equations estimated slightly different values of maximum erosion rates of the wire-wrapped screen. This is solely based on the fact that the utilized erosion equations were developed with some assumptions that are controlled by the experimental lab conditions.

Keywords: CFD simulation, erosion rate prediction, material loss due to erosion, water-sand flow

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Authors: David Lynch, Jake Madden

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There exists a body of literature that reports on the many benefits of partnerships between universities and schools, especially in terms of teaching improvement and school reform. This is because such partnerships can build significant teaching capital, by deepening and expanding the skillsets and mindsets needed to create the connections that support ongoing and embedded teacher professional development and career goals. At the same time, this literature is critical of such initiatives when the partnership outcomes are short- term or one-sided, misaligned to fundamental problems, and not expressly focused on building the desired teaching capabilities. In response to this situation, research conducted by Professor David Lynch and his TeachLab research team, has begun to shed light on the strengths and limitations of school/university partnerships, via the identification of key conceptual elements that appear to act as critical partnership success factors. These elements are theorised as an inter-play between professional knowledge acquisition, readiness, talent management and organisational structure. However, knowledge of how these elements are established, and how they manifest within the school and its teaching workforce as an overall system, remains incomplete. Therefore, research designed to more clearly delineate these elements in relation to their impact on school/university partnerships is thus required. It is within this context that this paper reports on the development and testing of a Professional Learning (PL) model for schools and their teachers that incorporates school-university research partnering within a systematic, whole-of-school PL strategy that is underpinned and structured by a micro-credentialing (MC) regime. MC involves learning a narrow-focused certificate (a micro-credential) in a specific topic area (e.g., 'How to Differentiate Instruction for English as a second language Students') and embedded in the teacher’s day-to-day teaching work. The use of MC is viewed as important to the efficacy and sustainability of teacher PL because it (1) provides an evidence-based framework for teacher learning, (2) has the ability to promote teacher social capital and (3) engender lifelong learning in keeping professional skills current in an embedded and seamless to work manner. The associated research is centred on a primary school in Australia (P-6) that acted as an arena to co-develop, test/investigate and report on outcomes for teacher PL that uses MC to support a whole-of-school partnership with a university.

Keywords: teaching improvement, teacher professional learning, talent management, education partnerships, school-university research

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Authors: Edwin Dankano

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Evident by incessant and sporadic attacks on Nigerians poise a serious threat to the unity of Nigeria, and secondly, the single biggest security nightmare to confront Nigeria since after amalgamation of the Southern and Northern protectorates by the British colonialist in 1914 is “Boko Haram” a terrorist organization also known as “Jama’atul Ahli Sunnah Lidda’wati wal Jihad”, or “people committed to the propagation of the Prophet’s teachings and jihad”. The sect also upholds an ideology translated as “Western Education is forbidden”, or rejection of Western civilization and institutions. By some estimates, more than 5,500 people were killed in Boko Haram attacks in 2014, and Boko Haram attacks have already claimed hundreds of lives and territories {caliphates}in early 2015. In total, the group may have killed more than 10,000 people since its emergence in the early 2000s. More than 1 million Nigerians have been displaced internally by the violence, and Nigerian refugee figures in neighboring countries continue to rise. This paper is predicated on secondary sources of data and anchored on the Huntington’s theory of clash of civilization. As such, the paper argued that the rise of Boko Haram with its violent disposition against Western values is a counter response to Western civilization that is fast eclipsing other civilizations. The paper posits that the Boko Haram insurrection going by its teachings, and destruction of churches is a validation of the propagation of the sect as a religious revolt which has resulted in dire humanitarian situation in Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, and Gombe states all in north eastern Nigeria as evident in human casualties, human right abuses, population displacement, refugee debacle, livelihood crisis, and public insecurity. The paper submits that the Nigerian state should muster the needed political will in terms of a viable anti-terrorism measures and build strong legitimate institutions that can adequately curb the menace of corruption that has engulfed the military hierarchy, respond proactively to the challenge of terrorism in Nigeria and should embrace a strategic paradigm shift from anti-terrorism to counter-terrorism as a strategy for containing the crisis that today threatens the secular status of Nigeria.

Keywords: Boko Haram, civilization, fundamentalism, Islam, religion revolt, terror

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Authors: Priyanka Bharti

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Decades ago designs were based on common sense and tradition, but after an enhancement in visualization technology and research, we are now able to comprehend the cognitive ability involved in the decoding of the visual information. However, many fields in visuals need intense research to deliver an efficient explanation for the events. Visuals are an information representation mode through images, symbols and graphics. It plays an impactful role in decision making by facilitating quick recognition, comprehension, and analysis of a situation. They enhance problem-solving capabilities by enabling the processing of more data without overloading the decision maker. As research proves that, visuals offer an improved learning environment by a factor of 400 compared to textual information. Visual information engages learners at a cognitive level and triggers the imagination, which enables the user to process the information faster (visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text). Appropriate information, visualization, and its presentation are known to aid and intensify the decision-making process for the users. However, most literature discusses the role of visual aids in comprehension and decision making during normal conditions alone. Unlike emergencies, in a normal situation (e.g. our day to day life) users are neither exposed to stringent time constraints nor face the anxiety of survival and have sufficient time to evaluate various alternatives before making any decision. An emergency is an unexpected probably fatal real-life situation which may inflict serious ramifications on both human life and material possessions unless corrective measures are taken instantly. The situation demands the exposed user to negotiate in a dynamic and unstable scenario in the absence or lack of any preparation, but still, take swift and appropriate decisions to save life/lives or possessions. But the resulting stress and anxiety restricts cue sampling, decreases vigilance, reduces the capacity of working memory, causes premature closure in evaluating alternative options, and results in task shedding. Limited time, uncertainty, high stakes and vague goals negatively affect cognitive abilities to take appropriate decisions. More so, theory of natural decision making by experts has been understood with far more depth than that of an ordinary user. Therefore, in this study, the author aims to understand the role of visual aids in supporting rapid comprehension to take appropriate decisions during an emergency situation.

Keywords: cognition, visual, decision making, graphics, recognition

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Authors: L. U. Dumuje, R. Leite

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There is an ongoing debate in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative in Niger Delta, Nigeria, that originates from existing gap between stated objective of organizations in the Nigerian oil sector and their main activities that threaten the society. CSR in developing countries is becoming popular, and to contribute to scientific knowledge, we need to research on CSR practices and discourse in indigenous Nigeria that is scarce. Despite governments mandate in terms of unofficial blazing, methane gas is released into the air around refinery area which contributes to global warming. There is a need to understand if this practice applies to indigenous oil companies in Nigeria. To get a better understanding of CSR among indigenous oil companies in Nigeria, our study focuses on discourse and rhetoric regarding CSR. This current paper contributions is twofold: on the one hand, it aims to better understand practitioner’s rationale and fundamentals of CSR in Nigerian oil companies. On the other hand, it intends to identify the stages of CSR initiatives, advantages and difficulties of CSR implementation in indigenous Nigeria oil sector. This current paper uses the qualitative research as a methodological strategy. Instrument for data collection is semi-structured interview. Besides 28 interviews, we conduct five focus group discussions with stakeholders. Participant for this study consist of: employees, managers and executives of indigenous oil companies in Nigeria. It is relevant to mention, key informants as government institution, environmental organization and community leader/member are part of our sample. It is important that despite significant findings in some studies, there are still some gaps. To help filling this existing gaps, we have formulated some research questions, as follows: ‘What are the stages, opportunities and obstacles of having corporate social responsibility practice in indigenous oil companies in Nigeria’. This ongoing research sub-questions as follows: What are the CSR discourses and practices among indigenous companies in the Nigerian oil sector; what is the actual status regarding CSR development; what are the main perceptions of opportunities and obstacles with regard to CSR in indigenous Nigerian oil companies; who are the main stakeholders of indigenous Nigerian oil companies and their different meanings and understandings of CSR practices. Regarding the above questions, the following objectives have been determined: first, we conduct a literature review with the aim of understanding and identifying importance of CSR practises in western and developing countries. Second, this current paper identify specific characteristics of the national context in terms of CSR engagement in Nigeria, so we perform empirical research with relevant stakeholder in indigenous Nigerian, as well as key informants, in order to identify development of CSR and different perception of this praised initiative, CSR.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, indigenous, oil organizations, Nigeria, practice

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Authors: Cynthia Zgheib, Yonna Sacre

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Pregnancy, this particular moment in the life of a woman, requires monitoring of eating behavior changes. However, the food choices during pregnancy should be varied and healthy, including the consumption of different food groups. Nutritional status is the process of acquisition and consumption of food. Therefore, a varied diet is associated with good nutritional status. This is why the nutrition education is a strategy commonly applied to improve maternal nutrition during pregnancy. Thus, it is crucial to assess 'The eating behavior and nutritional status of pregnant women living in Keserwan Lebanon.' In order to evaluate the association of different persona, socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors with the eating behavior and nutrition in the concerned study category, a cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on a sample of 150 pregnant women aging between 18 and 40 years randomly selected from the hospitals and clinics located in Keserwan area and equally distributed between different cities and villages of the area according to altitude. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the eating behavior of the concerned population and to compare it to the recommendation of the food guide pyramid, their level of food awareness and finally to analyze their blood tests in order to detect any nutrients deficiency that they may face during the course of their pregnancy. Sociodemographic, lifestyle, eating behaviour, health, eating patterns, awareness, and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) were collected through a validated questionnaire specifically adapted for the purpose of the study. Statistical analysis was carried out, and multivariate models were used in order to evaluate the association between several independent variables and the eating behaviour and nutritional status of Lebanese pregnant women The final analysis has shown that 48.7% of pregnant women were aged between 30 and 40 years old, 56% had a normal BMI between 18.5 and 24.9, thus age affects the eating behavior, so the older are the pregnant women, and the healthier is their eating behavior. In fact, 80.7% had acceptable food behavior which is based on an equilibrium between both quantity and quality of food, although the recommended foods are foods found in the food pyramid and available in the Lebanese diet. In addition, 68% had an acceptable level of awareness concerning the health importance of good eating habits, therefore, it is positively affecting their food choices. Moreover, 50 % have an acceptable nutritional status which is confirmed by their biological tests. Future governmental or national studies and programs could be settled aiming to increase the awareness about the good eating behaviors and nutritional status of Lebanese pregnant women.

Keywords: eating behavior, nutritional status, level of awareness, pregnant woman

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Authors: Minna-Maari Harmaala, Hanna Harilainen

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Estimates of the economic value of transitioning to circular economy models vary but it has been estimated to represent $1 trillion worth of new business into the global economy. In Europe alone, estimates claim that adopting circular-economy principles could not only have environmental and social benefits but also generate a net economic benefit of €1.8 trillion by 2030. Proponents of a circular economy argue that it offers a major opportunity to increase resource productivity, decrease resource dependence and waste, and increase employment and growth. A circular system could improve competitiveness and unleash innovation. Yet, most companies are not capturing these opportunities and thus the even abundant circular opportunities remain uncaptured even though they would seem inherently profitable. Service design in broad terms relates to developing an existing or a new service or service concept with emphasis and focus on the customer experience from the onset of the development process. Service design may even mean starting from scratch and co-creating the service concept entirely with the help of customer involvement. Service design methodologies provide a structured way of incorporating customer understanding and involvement in the process of designing better services with better resonance to customer needs. A business model is a depiction of how the company creates, delivers, and captures value; i.e. how it organizes its business. The process of business model development and adjustment or modification is also called business model innovation. Innovating business models has become a part of business strategy. Our hypothesis is that in addition to linear models still being easier to adopt and often with lower threshold costs, companies lack an understanding of how circular models can be adopted into their business and how customers will be willing and ready to adopt the new circular business models. In our research, we use robust service design methodology to develop circular economy solutions with two case study companies. The aim of the process is to not only develop the service concepts and portfolio, but to demonstrate the willingness to adopt circular solutions exists in the customer base. In addition to service design, we employ business model innovation methods to develop, test, and validate the new circular business models further. The results clearly indicate that amongst the customer groups there are specific customer personas that are willing to adopt and in fact are expecting the companies to take a leading role in the transition towards a circular economy. At the same time, there is a group of indifferents, to whom the idea of circularity provides no added value. In addition, the case studies clearly show what changes adoption of circular economy principles brings to the existing business model and how they can be integrated.

Keywords: business model innovation, circular economy, circular economy business models, service design

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Authors: Blanka Havlickova

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In the last ten years, there are growing numbers of troops with machine guns serving on streets of European cities. We can see them around government buildings, major transport hubs, synagogues, galleries and main tourist landmarks. As the main purpose of armed soldier’s presence in European cities authorities declare the prevention of terrorist attacks and psychological support for tourists and domestic population. The main objective of the following study is to find out whether the deployment of armed soldiers in European cities has a calming and reassuring effect on Czech citizens (if the presence at armed soldiers make the Czech population feel more secure) or rather becomes a stress factor (the presence of soldiers standing guard in full military fatigues recalls serious criminality and terrorist attacks which are reflected in the fears and insecurity of Czech population). The initial hypothesis of this study is connected with the priming theory, the idea that when we are exposed to an image (armed soldier), it makes us unconsciously focus on a topic connected with this image (terrorism). This paper is based on a quantitative public survey, which was carried out in the form of electronic questioning among the citizens of the Czech Republic. Respondents answered 14 questions about two European cities – London and Paris. Besides general questions investigating the respondents' awareness of these cities, some of the questions focused on the fear that the respondents had when picturing themselves leaving next Monday for the given city (London or Paris). The questions asking about respondent´s travel fears and concerns were accompanied by different photos. When answering the question about fear some respondents have been presented with a photo of Westminster Palace and the Eiffel with ordinary citizens while other respondents have been presented with a picture of the Westminster Palace, the and Eiffel's tower not only with ordinary citizens, but also with one soldier holding a machine gun. The main goal of this paper is to analyse and compare data about concerns for these two groups of respondents (presented with different pictures) and find out if and how an armed soldier with a machine gun in front of the Westminster Palace or the Eiffel Tower affects the public's concerns about visiting the site. In other words, the aim of this paper is to confirm or rebut the hypothesis that the look at a soldier with a machine gun in front of the Eiffel Tower or the Westminster Palace automatically triggers the association with a terrorist attack leading to an increase in fear and insecurity among Czech population.

Keywords: terrorism, security measures, priming, risk perception

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Authors: Ivan Maguire, Ciprian Briciu, Alan Barrett, Dara Kervick, Jens Ducrèe, Fiona Regan

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With the ever-increasing myriad of applications of which microfluidic devices are capable, reliable fluidic actuation development has remained fundamental to the success of these microfluidic platforms. There are a number of approaches which can be taken in order to integrate liquid actuation on microfluidic platforms, which can usually be split into two primary categories; active microvalves and passive microvalves. Active microvalves are microfluidic valves which require a physical parameter change by external, or separate interaction, for actuation to occur. Passive microvalves are microfluidic valves which don’t require external interaction for actuation due to the valve’s natural physical parameters, which can be overcome through sample interaction. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how further improvements to past microvalve solutions can largely enhance systematic reliability and performance, with both novel active and passive microvalves demonstrated. Covered within this scope will be two alternative and novel microvalve solutions for centrifugal microfluidic platforms; a revamped pneumatic-dissolvable film active microvalve (PAM) strategy and a spray-on Sol-Gel based hydrophobic passive microvalve (HPM) approach. Both the PAM and the HPM mechanisms were demonstrated on a centrifugal microfluidic platform consisting of alternating layers of 1.5 mm poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) (for reagent storage) sheets and ~150 μm pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) (for microchannel fabrication) sheets. The PAM approach differs from previous SOLUBON™ dissolvable film methods by introducing a more reliable and predictable liquid delivery mechanism to microvalve site, thus significantly reducing premature activation. This approach has also shown excellent synchronicity when performed in a multiplexed form. The HPM method utilises a new spray-on and low curing temperature (70°C) sol-gel material. The resultant double layer coating comprises a PMMA adherent sol-gel as the bottom layer and an ultra hydrophobic silica nano-particles (SNPs) film as the top layer. The optimal coating was integrated to microfluidic channels with varying cross-sectional area for assessing microvalve burst frequencies consistency. It is hoped that these microvalving solutions, which can be easily added to centrifugal microfluidic platforms, will significantly improve automation reliability.

Keywords: centrifugal microfluidics, hydrophobic microvalves, lab-on-a-disc, pneumatic microvalves

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Authors: Chukwuka Justus Iwegbu

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Background: A major concern facing the world is providing senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups with high-quality care. This issue is more serious in Nigeria's North Eastern area, where the burden of disease and disability is heavy, and access to care is constrained. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the roles, challenges and support needs of caregivers, care home management, funding and administration in challenged communities in North Eastern Nigeria. The study will also provide a comprehensive understanding of the current situation and identify opportunities for improving the quality of care and support for caregivers and care recipients in these communities. Methods: A mixed-methods design, including both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, will be used, and it will be guided by the stress process model of caregiving. The qualitative stage approach will comprise a survey, In-depth interviews, observations, and focus group discussion and the quantitative analysis will be used in order to comprehend the variations between caregiver's roles and care home management. A review of relevant documents, such as care home policies and funding reports, would be used to gather quantitative data on the administrative and financial aspects of care. The data collected will be analyzed using both descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. A sample size of around 200-300 participants, including caregivers, care recipients, care home managers and administrators, policymakers and health care providers, would be recruited. Findings: The study revealed that caregivers in challenged communities in North Eastern Nigeria face significant challenges, including lack of training and support, limited access to funding and resources, and high levels of burnout. Care home management and administration were also found to be inadequate, with a lack of clear policies and procedures and limited oversight and accountability. Conclusion: There is a need for increased investment in training and support for caregivers, as well as a need for improved care home management and administration in challenged communities in North Eastern Nigeria. It also highlights the importance of involving community members in decision-making and planning processes related to care homes and services. The study would contribute to the existing body of knowledge by providing a detailed understanding of the challenges faced by caregivers, care home managers and administrators.

Keywords: caregivers, care home management, funding, administration, challenge communities, North Eastern Nigeria

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Authors: Hussah Alotaishan

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In today’s globally-driven modern cities diverse groups of new visitors face various challenges when attempting to find their desired location if culture and language are barriers. The most common way-showing tools such as directional and identificational signs are the most problematic and their usefulness can be limited or even non-existent. It is argued new methods should be implemented that could support or replace such conventional literacy and language dependent way-finding aids. It has been concluded in recent research studies that local urban features in complex pedestrian spaces are worthy of further study in order to reveal if they do function as way-showing clues. Some researchers propose a more comprehensive approach to the complex perception of buildings, façade design and surface patterns, while some have been questioning whether we necessarily need directional signs or can other methods deliver the same message but in a clearer manner for a wider range of users. This study aimed to test to what extent do existent environmental and urban features through the city center area of Swansea in the UK facilitate the way-finding process of a first time visitor. The three-hour experiment was set to attempt to find 11 visitor attractions ranging from recreational, historical, educational and religious locations. The challenge was attempting to find as many as possible when no prior geographical knowledge of their whereabouts was established. The only clues were 11 pictures representing each of the locations that had been acquired from the city of Swansea official website. An iPhone and a heart-rate tracker wristwatch were used to record the route was taken and stress levels, and take record photographs of destinations or decision-making points throughout the journey. This paper addresses: current limitations in understanding the ways that the physical environment can be intentionally deployed to facilitate pedestrians while finding their way around, without or with a reduction in language dependent signage; investigates visitor perceptions of their surroundings by indicating what urban elements manifested an impact on the way-finding process. The initial findings support the view that building facades and street features, such as width, could facilitate the decision-making process if strategically employed. However, more importantly, the anticipated features of a specific place construed from a promotional picture can also be misleading and create confusion that may lead to getting lost.

Keywords: pedestrian way-finding, environmental features, urban way-showing, environmental affordance

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Authors: Amin Akbari, Dongcai Wang, Huiru Li, Xiaoping Du, Jie Chen

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The effect of vibrational force (VF) on accelerating orthodontic tooth movement depends on the level of delivered stimulation to the tooth in terms of peak load (PL), which requires contacts between the tooth and the VF device. A personalized device ensures the contacts, but the resulting PL distribution on the teeth is unknown. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the PL on particular teeth can be adjusted to the prescribed values. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of apersonalized VF device in controlling the level of stimulation on two teeth, the mandibular canines and 2nd molars. A 3-D finite element (FE) model of human dentition, including teeth, PDL, and alveolar bone, was created from the cone beam computed tomography images of an anonymous subject. The VF was applied to the teeth through a VFdevice consisting of a mouthpiece with engraved tooth profile of the subject and a VF source that applied 0.3 N force with the frequency of 30 Hz. The dentition and mouthpiece were meshed using 10-node tetrahedral elements. Interface elements were created at the interfaces between the teeth and the mouthpiece. The upper and lower teeth bite on the mouthpiece to receive the vibration. The depth of engraved individual tooth profile could be adjusted, which was accomplished by adding a layer of material as an interference or removing a layer of material as a clearance to change the PL on the tooth. The interference increases the PL while the clearance decreases it. Fivemouthpiece design cases were simulated, which included a mouthpiece without interference/clearance; the mouthpieces with bilateral interferences on both mandibular canines and 2nd molars with magnitudes of 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2-mm, respectively; and mouthpiece with bilateral 0.3-mm clearances on the four teeth. Then, the force distributions on the entire dentition were compared corresponding to these adjustments. The PL distribution on the teeth is uneven when there is no interference or clearance. Among all teeth, the anterior segment receives the highest level of PL. Adding 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2-mm interferences to the canines and 2nd molars bilaterally leads to increase of the PL on the canines by 10, 62, and 73 percent and on the 2nd molar by 14, 55, and 87 percent, respectively. Adding clearances to the canines and 2nd molars by removing the contactsbetween these teeth and the mouthpiece results in zero PL on them. Moreover, introducing interference to mandibular canines and 2nd molarsredistributes the PL on the entireteeth. The share of the PL on the anterior teeth are reduced. The use of the personalized mouthpiece ensures contactsof the teeth to the mouthpiece so that all teeth can be stimulated. However, the PL distribution is uneven. Adding interference between a tooth and the mouthpiece increases the PL while introducing clearance decreases the PL. As a result, the PL is redistributed. This study confirms that the level of VF stimulation on the individual tooth can be adjusted to a prescribed value.

Keywords: finite element method, orthodontic treatment, stress analysis, tooth movement, vibrational force

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Authors: Eunsu Jang, Kang Park

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In developing an armored ground combat vehicle (AGCV), it is a very important step to analyze the vulnerability (or the survivability) of the AGCV against enemy’s attack. In the vulnerability analysis, the penetration equations are usually used to get the penetration depth and check whether a bullet can penetrate the armor of the AGCV, which causes the damage of internal components or crews. The penetration equations are derived from penetration experiments which require long time and great efforts. However, they usually hold only for the specific material of the target and the specific type of the bullet used in experiments. Thus, penetration simulation using ANSYS can be another option to calculate penetration depth. However, it is very important to model the targets and select the input parameters in order to get an accurate penetration depth. This paper performed a sensitivity analysis of input parameters of ANSYS on the accuracy of the calculated penetration depth. Two conflicting objectives need to be achieved in adopting ANSYS in penetration analysis: maximizing the accuracy of calculation and minimizing the calculation time. To maximize the calculation accuracy, the sensitivity analysis of the input parameters for ANSYS was performed and calculated the RMS error with the experimental data. The input parameters include mesh size, boundary condition, material properties, target diameter are tested and selected to minimize the error between the calculated result from simulation and the experiment data from the papers on the penetration equation. To minimize the calculation time, the parameter values obtained from accuracy analysis are adjusted to get optimized overall performance. As result of analysis, the followings were found: 1) As the mesh size gradually decreases from 0.9 mm to 0.5 mm, both the penetration depth and calculation time increase. 2) As diameters of the target decrease from 250mm to 60 mm, both the penetration depth and calculation time decrease. 3) As the yield stress which is one of the material property of the target decreases, the penetration depth increases. 4) The boundary condition with the fixed side surface of the target gives more penetration depth than that with the fixed side and rear surfaces. By using above finding, the input parameters can be tuned to minimize the error between simulation and experiments. By using simulation tool, ANSYS, with delicately tuned input parameters, penetration analysis can be done on computer without actual experiments. The data of penetration experiments are usually hard to get because of security reasons and only published papers provide them in the limited target material. The next step of this research is to generalize this approach to anticipate the penetration depth by interpolating the known penetration experiments. This result may not be accurate enough to be used to replace the penetration experiments, but those simulations can be used in the early stage of the design process of AGCV in modelling and simulation stage.

Keywords: ANSYS, input parameters, penetration depth, sensitivity analysis

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Authors: Kaushal Kishore, Suman Mukhopadhyay, Susovan Das, Manashi Adhikary, Sandip Bhattacharyya

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In integrated steel plants, conveyor belts are widely used for transferring raw materials from one location to another. An output pin bush coupling attached with a conveyor transferring iron ore fines and fluxes failed after two years of service life. This led to an operational delay of approximately 15 hours. This study is focused on failure analysis of the coupling and recommending counter-measures to prevent any such failures in the future. Investigation consisted of careful visual observation, checking of operating parameters, stress calculation and analysis, macro and micro-fractography, material characterizations like chemical and metallurgical analysis and tensile and impact testings. The fracture occurred from an unusually sharp double step. There were multiple corrosion pits near the step that aggravated the situation. Inner contact surface of the coupling revealed differential abrasion that created a macroscopic difference in the height of the component. This pointed towards misalignment of the coupling beyond a threshold limit. In addition to these design and installation issues, material of the coupling did not meet the quality standards. These were made up of grey cast iron having graphite morphology intermediate between random distribution (Type A) and rosette pattern (Type B). This manifested as a marked reduction in impact toughness and tensile strength of the component. These findings corroborated well with the brittle mode of fracture that might have occurred during minor impact loading while loading of conveyor belt with raw materials from height. Simulated study was conducted to examine the effect of corrosion pits on tensile and impact toughness of grey cast iron. It was observed that pitting marginally reduced tensile strength and ductility. However, there was marked (up to 45%) reduction in impact toughness due to pitting. Thus, it became evident that failure of the coupling occurred due to combination of factors like inferior material, misalignment, poor step design and corrosion pitting. Recommendation for life enhancement of coupling included the use of tougher SG 500/7 grade, incorporation of proper fillet radius for the step, correction of alignment and application of corrosion resistant organic coating to prevent pitting.

Keywords: brittle fracture, cast iron, coupling, double step, pitting, simulated impact tests

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