Search results for: wake shape

Authors: Nchanji Yvonne Kiki, Mala William Armand, Nchanji Eileen Bogweh, Ramcilovik-Suominen Sabaheta, Kotilainen Juha

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The Campo Ma'an National Park was created as part of an environmental and biodiversity compensation for the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project, which was meant to help alleviate poverty and boost the livelihood of rural communities around the area. This paper examines different strategies and coping mechanisms employed by the indigenous people and local communities to deal with the national and internationally driven conservation policies and initiatives in the case of the Campo Ma'an National Park. While most literature on park management/co-management/nature conservation has focused on the negative implications for local peoples’ livelihoods, fewer studies have investigated the strategies of local people to respond to these policies and renegotiate their position in a way that enables them to continue their traditional livelihoods using the existing local knowledge systems. This study contributes to the current literature by zooming into not only the impacts of nature conservation policies but also the local individual and collective strategies and responses to such policies and initiatives. We employ a qualitative research approach using ethnomethodology and a convivial lens to analyze data collected from October to November 2018. We find that conservation policies have worsened some existing livelihoods on the one hand and constrained livelihood improvement of indigenous people and local communities (IPLC) on the other hand. Nonetheless, the IPLC has devised individual and collective coping mechanisms to deal with these conservation interventions and the negative effects they have caused. Upon exploring these mechanisms and their effectiveness, this study proposes a management approach to conservation centered on both people and nature, based on indigenous and local people's knowledge and practices, promoting nature for and by humans and strengthening both livelihood and conservation. We take inspiration from the convivial conservation approach and thinking by Bucher and Fletcher.

Keywords: conservation policies, national park management, indigenous and local people’s experiences, livelihoods, local knowledge, coping strategies, conviviality

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Authors: Chang He, Hiroshi Tamura, Hiroshi Katsuchi, Jiaqi Wang

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In this study, the aim is to infer the slip limit (static friction limit) of contact interfaces in bolt friction joints by analyzing other bolt friction joints with the same contact surface but in a different shape. By using the Weibull distribution to deal with microelements on the contact surface statistically, the slip limit of a certain type of bolt joint was predicted from other types of bolt joint with the same contact surface. As a result, this research succeeded in predicting the slip limit of bolt joins with different numbers of contact surfaces and with different numbers of bolt rows.

Keywords: bolt joints, slip coefficient, finite element method, Weibull distribution

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Authors: Lise P. Labéjof, Ivna Mororó, Raquel G. Bastos, Maria Isabel G. Severo, Arno H. de Oliveira

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This work presents an alternative mode of intestine mucosa renewal that may allow to better understand the total loss of villi after irradiation. It was tested a morphological method of 3d reconstruction using micrographs of serial sections of rat duodenum. We used hundreds of sections of each specimen of duodenum placed on glass slides and examined under a light microscope. Those containing the detachment, approximately a dozen, were chosen for observation under a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Each of these sections was glued on a block of epon resin and recut into a hundred of 60 nm-thick sections. Ribbons of these ultrathin sections were distributed on a series of copper grids in the same order of appearance than during the process of microstomia. They were then stained by solutions of uranyl and lead salts and observed under a TEM. The sections were pictured and the electron micrographs showing signs of cells detachment were transferred into two softwares, ImageJ to align the cellular structures and Reconstruct to realize the 3d reconstruction. It has been detected epithelial cells that exhibited all signs of programmed cell death and localized at the villus-crypt junction. Their nucleus was irregular in shape with a condensed chromatin in clumps. Their cytoplasm was darker than that of neighboring cells, containing many swollen mitochondria. In some places of the sections, we could see intercellular spaces enlarged by the presence of shrunk cells which displayed a plasma membrane with an irregular shape in thermowell as if the cell interdigitations would distant from each other. The three-dimensional reconstruction of the crypts has allowed observe gradual loss of intercellular contacts of crypt cells in the longitudinal plan of the duodenal mucosa. In the transverse direction, there was a gradual increase of the intercellular space as if these cells moved away from one another. This observation allows assume that the gradual remoteness of the cells at the villus-crypt junction is the beginning of the mucosa detachment. Thus, the shrinking of cells due to apoptosis is the way that they detach from the mucosa and progressively the villi also. These results are in agreement with our initial hypothesis and thus have demonstrated that the villi become detached from the mucosa at the villus-crypt junction by the programmed cell death process. This type of loss of entire villus helps explain the rapid denudation of the intestinal mucosa in case of irradiation.

Keywords: 3dr, transmission electron microscopy, ionizing radiations, rat small intestine, apoptosis

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Authors: Petre Stan, Marinica Stan

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In this paper, a new way to define the vortex plane cyclic motion is exposed, starting from the physical cause of reacting the vortex. The Navier-Stokes equations are used in cylindrical coordinates for viscous fluids in laminar motion, and are integrated in case of a infinite long revolving cylinder which rotates around a pintle in a viscous fluid that occupies the entire space up to infinite. In this way, a revolving field of velocities in fluid is obtained, having the shape of a vortex in which the intensity is obtained objectively, being given by the physical phenomenon that generates this vortex.

Keywords: cylindrical coordinates, Navier-Stokes equations, viscous fluid, vortex plane

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Authors: Setareh Gorji Ghalamestani, Lieven Vandevelde, Jan Melkebeek

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In this work, an experimental technique is applied for the measurements of the vibrations and deformation of a test transformer core. Since the grid voltage contains some higher harmonics, in addition to a purely sinusoidal magnetisation of the core the presence of third harmonic is also studied. The vibrations of the transformer core for points as well as the surface scan of the leg show more deformation in the corners of the leg than the middle of the leg. The influence of the higher harmonic of the magnetisation on the core deformation is also more significant in the corners of the leg. The core deformation shape under a sinusoidal magnetisation with a higher harmonic is more wavy and fluctuating than that under a purely sinusoidal magnetisation.

Keywords: vibrations and noise, transformer, vibration measurements, laser vibrometer, higher harmonic

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Authors: Shahram Naghizadeh Raeisi, Ali Alghooneh

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The loss of curd cohesiveness and syneresis are two common problems in the ultrafiltered cheese industry. In this study, by using membrane technology and protein modification, a modified cheese was developed and its properties were compared with a control sample. In order to decrease the lactose content and adjust the protein, acidity, dry matter and milk minerals, a combination of ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis technologies was employed. For protein modification, a two-stage chemical and enzymatic reaction was employed before and after ultrafiltration. The physicochemical and microstructural properties of the modified ultrafiltered cheese were compared with the control one. Results showed that the modified protein enhanced the functional properties of the final cheese significantly (pvalue< 0.05), even if the protein content was 50% lower than the control one. The modified cheese showed 21 ± 0.70, 18 ± 1.10 & 25±1.65% higher hardness, cohesiveness and water-holding capacity values, respectively, than the control sample. This behavior could be explained by the developed microstructure of the gel network. Furthermore, chemical-enzymatic modification of milk protein induced a significant change in the network parameter of the final cheese. In this way, the indices of network linkage strength, network linkage density, and time scale of junctions were 10.34 ± 0.52, 68.50 ± 2.10 & 82.21 ± 3.85% higher than the control sample, whereas the distance between adjacent linkages was 16.77 ± 1.10% lower than the control sample. These results were supported by the results of the textural analysis. A non-linear viscoelastic study showed a triangle waveform stress of the modified protein contained cheese, while the control sample showed rectangular waveform stress, which suggested a better sliceability of the modified cheese. Moreover, to study the shelf life of the products, the acidity, as well as molds and yeast population, were determined in 120 days. It’s worth mentioning that the lactose content of modified cheese was adjusted at 2.5% before fermentation, while the lactose of the control one was at 4.5%. The control sample showed 8 weeks shelf life, while the shelf life of the modified cheese was 18 weeks in the refrigerator. During 18 weeks, the acidity of modified and control samples increased from 82 ± 1.50 to 94 ± 2.20 °D and 88 ± 1.64 to 194 ± 5.10 °D, respectively. The mold and yeast populations, with time, followed the semicircular shape model (R2 = 0.92, R2adj = 0.89, RMSE = 1.25). Furthermore, the mold and yeast counts and their growth rate in the modified cheese were lower than those for control one; Aforementioned result could be explained by the shortage of the source of energy for the microorganism in the modified cheese. The lactose content of the modified sample was less than 0.2 ± 0.05% at the end of fermentation, while this was 3.7 ± 0.68% in the control sample.

Keywords: non-linear viscoelastic, protein modification, semicircular shape model, ultrafiltered cheese

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Authors: Neslihan Taskale Karatug, Mustafa Akcelik

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Some literature data show that misL protein play a role on host immune response formed against Salmonella Typhimurium. The aim of the present study is to learn the role of the protein in S. Typhimurium pathogenicity. To describe certain functions of the protein, primarily recombinant misL protein was produced and purified. PCR was performed using a primer set targeted to passenger domain of the misL gene on S. Typhimurium LT2 genome. Amplicon and pet28a vector were enzymatically cleaved with EcoRI and NheI. The digested DNA materials were purified with High Pure PCR Product Purification Kit. The ligation reaction was achieved with the pure products. After preparation of competent Escherichia coli Dh5α, ligation mix was transformed into the cell by electroporation. To confirm the existence of insert gene, recombinant plasmid DNA of Dh5α was isolated with high pure plasmid DNA kit. Proved the correctness of recombinant plasmid was electroporated to BL21. The cell was induced by IPTG. After induction, the presence of recombinant protein was checked by SDS-PAGE. The recombinant misL protein was purified using HisPur Ni-NTA spin colon. The pure protein was shown by SDS-PAGE and western blot immünoassay. The concentration of the protein was measured BCA Protein Assay kit. In the wake of ligation with digested products (2 kb misL and 5.4 kb pet28a) visualised on gel size of the band was about 7.4 kb and was named as pNT01. The pNT01 recombinant plasmid was transformed into Dh5α and colonies were chosen in selective medium. Plasmid DNA isolation from them was carried out. PCR was achieved on the pNT01 to check misL and 2 kb band was observed on the agarose gel. After electroporation of the plasmid and induction of the cell, 68 kDa misL protein was seen. Subsequent to the purification of the protein, only a band was observed on SDS-PAGE. Association of the pure protein with anti-his antibody was verified by the western blot assay. The concentration of the pure misL protein was determined as 345 μg/mL. Production of polyclonal antibody will be achieved by using the obtained pure recombinant misL protein as next step. The role of the protein will come out on the immune system together some assays.

Keywords: cloning, Escherichia coli, recombinant protein purification, Salmonella Typhimurium

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Authors: P. Chantarawitoon, H. Askarinejad

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The steel beams with web opening including the cellular and castellated I-beams are fabricated from a solid web I-beam through a double cutting method to a specific shape and size along the beam. The two halves of the beams are then welded together, increasing the overall depth of the web section. In this paper, the deflection of the cellular and castellated beams subject to uniform vertical loads are investigated using Finite Element Autodesk simulation package. The structural response of the beams with web opening are compared with regular solid beams. Additionally, parametric studies are carried out to study the influence of the geometric properties of a cellular beam to its structural responses.

Keywords: beams with web opening, cellular and castellated beams, finite element analysis, vertical deflection

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Authors: Maria-Vittoria Carminati

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Conservations laws do not protect hybrids. From the United States’ Endangered Species Act to the European Union’s conservation policies to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List, hybrids don’t get the benefit of human preservation efforts. This paper tests the hypothesis that this practice is a byproduct of the co-birth of eugenics and conservation as twin fields and that while the first has been discredited and abandoned, the latter still bears the marks of its unfortunate primordial association. The research explores historical perspectives from so-called conservation luminaries such as Madison Grant, Ernst Mayr, and Charles Davenport and sheds light on how these influences continue to shape contemporary conservation approaches. The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the implications of these factors on biodiversity conservation and the ethical considerations surrounding hybrid species protection.

Keywords: conservation, hybridization, eugenics, speciation, evolution

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Authors: K. Vigneshwaran, Manoj Pandey

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In this paper, breathing crack is considered for the non linear dynamic analysis. The stiffness of the cracked beam is found out by using influence coefficients. The influence coefficients are calculated by using Castigliano’s theorem and strain energy release rate (SERR). The equation of motion of the beam was derived by using Hamilton’s principle. The stiffness and natural frequencies for the cracked beam has been calculated using XFEM and Eigen approach. It is seen that due to presence of cracks, the stiffness and natural frequency changes. The mode shapes and the FRF for the uncracked and breathing cracked cantilever beam also obtained and compared.

Keywords: breathing crack, XFEM, mode shape, FRF, non linear analysis

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Authors: Djamal Hamadi, Ashraf Ayoub, Ounis Abdelhafid, Chebili Rachid

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In this paper, a new computationally-efficient rectangular flat shell finite element named 'ACM_RSBEC' is presented. The formulated element is obtained by superposition of a new rectangular membrane element 'RSBEC' based on the strain approach and the well known plate bending element 'ACM'. This element can be used for the analysis of thin shell structures, no matter how the geometrical shape might be. Tests on standard problems have been examined. The convergence of the new formulated element is also compared to other types of quadrilateral shell elements. The presented shell element ‘ACM_RSBEC’ has been demonstrated to be effective and useful in analysing thin shell structures.

Keywords: finite element, flat shell element, strain based approach, static condensation

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Authors: S. Tayyebi, F. Mirjalili, H. Samadi, A. Nemati

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In this study, hydroxyapatite-Alumina nano composite powder, containing 15,20 and 25% weight percent of reinforced alumina were prepared by chemical precipitation from the reaction between calcium nitrate tetrahydrate and di-ammonium hydrogen phosphate with ratio of Ca / p = 1.67 and different percentage of aluminum nitrate nona hydrate in different pH of 9,10 and 11. The microstructure and thermal stability of samples were measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that the presence of reinforced alumina phase reduced the degree of crystallinity of hydroxyapatite phase and increased its decomposition to tricalcium phosphate phase. Microstructural analysis showed that the hydroxyapatite-alumina nano composite powder was obtained with spherical shape and size of less than 100 nm.

Keywords: biomaterial, hydroxyapatite, alumina, nano composite, precipitation method

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Authors: Hangsik Shin

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The purpose of this research is to restore the feature location of under-sampled photoplethysmogram using spline interpolation and to investigate feasibility for feature shape restoration. We obtained 10 kHz-sampled photoplethysmogram and decimated it to generate under-sampled dataset. Decimated dataset has 5 kHz, 2.5 k Hz, 1 kHz, 500 Hz, 250 Hz, 25 Hz and 10 Hz sampling frequency. To investigate the restoration performance, we interpolated under-sampled signals with 10 kHz, then compared feature locations with feature locations of 10 kHz sampled photoplethysmogram. Features were upper and lower peak of photplethysmography waveform. Result showed that time differences were dramatically decreased by interpolation. Location error was lesser than 1 ms in both feature types. In 10 Hz sampled cases, location error was also deceased a lot, however, they were still over 10 ms.

Keywords: peak detection, photoplethysmography, sampling, signal reconstruction

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Authors: Behrooz Ghasemi, Bahram Sharijian

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Al2O3/Mo nanocomposite powders were successfully synthesized by mechanical milling through mechanochemical reaction between MoO3 and Al. The structural evolutions of powder particles during mechanical milling were studied by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDX) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results show that Al2O3-Mo was completely obtained after 5 hr of milling. The crystallite sizes of Al2O3 and Mo after milling for 20 hr were about 45 nm and 23 nm, respectively. With longer milling time, the intensities of Al2O3 and Mo peaks decreased and became broad due to the decrease in crystallite size. Morphological features of powders were influenced by the milling time. The resulting Al2O3- Mo nanocomposite powder exhibited an average particle size of 200 nm after 20 hr of milling. Also nanocomposite powder after 10 hr milling had relatively equiaxed shape with uniformly distributed Mo phase in Al2O3 matrix.

Keywords: Al2O3/Mo, nanocomposites, mechanochemical, mechanical milling

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Authors: S. Benmebarek, S. Benmoussa, N. Benmebarek

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Natural soils are often deposited in layers. The estimation of the bearing capacity of the soil using conventional bearing capacity theory based on the properties of the upper layer introduces significant inaccuracies if the thickness of the top layer is comparable to the width of the foundation placed on the soil surface. In this paper, numerical computations using the FLAC code are reported to evaluate the two clay layers effect on the bearing capacity beneath rigid circular rough footing subject to axial static load. The computation results of the parametric study are used to illustrate the sensibility of the bearing capacity, the shape factor and the failure mechanisms to the layered strength and layered thickness.

Keywords: numerical modeling, circular footings, layered clays, bearing capacity, failure

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Authors: Hyun-Woo Jun, Tae-Chul Jeong, Huai-Cong Liu, Ju Lee

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The paper presents the electromagnetic-thermal flow coupled analysis of permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) which has cooling channel in stator core for forced air cooling. Unlike the general PMSM design, to achieve ohmic loss reduction for high efficiency, cooling channel actively used in the stator core. Equivalent thermal network model was made to analyze the effect of the formation of the additional flow path in the core. According to the shape and position changing of the channel design, electromagnetic-thermal coupled analysis results were reviewed.

Keywords: coupled problems, electric motors, equivalent circuits, fluid flow, thermal analysis

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Authors: M. Bahgat, F. M. Awan, H. A. Hanafy

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The conventional ceramic route was utilized to prepare a hard magnetic powder (M-type strontium ferrite, SrFe12O19). The stoichiometric mixture of iron oxide and strontium carbonate were calcined at 1000°C and then fired at various temperatures. The influence of various reaction parameters such as mixing ratio, calcination temperature, firing temperature and firing time on the magnetic behaviors of the synthesized magnetic powder were investigated.The magnetic properties including Coercivity (Hc), Magnetic saturation (Ms), and Magnetic remnance (Mr) were measured by vibrating sample magnetometer. Morphologically the produced magnetic powder has a dense hexagonal grain shape structure.

Keywords: hard magnetic materials, ceramic route, strontium ferrite, magnetic properties

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Authors: Hong Wu, Naiji Lu

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Improvement of health behavior among people with chronic diseases is vital for increasing longevity and enhancing quality of life. This paper researched the causal effects of informal care on the compliance with doctor’s health advices – smoking control, dietetic regulation, weight control and keep exercising – among older people with chronic diseases in China, which is facing the challenge of aging. We addressed the selection bias by using propensity score matching in the estimation process. We used the 2011-2012 national baseline data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Our results showed informal care can help improve health behavior of older people. First, informal care improved the compliance of smoking controls: whether smoke, frequency of smoking, and the time lag between wake up and the first cigarette was all lower for these older people with informal care; Second, for dietetic regulation, older people with informal care had more meals every day than older people without informal care; Third, three variables: BMI, whether gain weight and whether lose weight were used to measure the outcome of weight control. There were no significant difference between group with informal care and that without for BMI and the possibility of losing weight. Older people with informal care had lower possibility of gain weight than that without; Last, for the advice of keeping exercising, informal care increased the probability of walking exercise, however, the difference between groups for moderate and vigorous exercise were not significant. Our results indicate policy makers who aim to decrease accidents should take informal care to elders into account and provide an appropriate policy to meet the demand of informal care. Our birth policy and postponed retirement policy may decrease the informal caregiving hours, so adjustments of these policies are important and urgent to meet the current situation of aged tendency of population. In addition, government could give more support to develop organizations to provide formal care, such as nursing home. We infer that formal care is also useful for health behavior improvements.

Keywords: chronic diseases, compliance, CHARLS, health advice, informal care, older people, propensity score matching

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Authors: Paul Stonaha, Mariia Romashchenko, Xaio Xu

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Magnetic shape memory alloys (MSMAs) are promising technological materials for a range of fields, from biomaterials to energy harvesting. We have performed inelastic neutron scattering on two powder samples of cobalt-based high-entropy MSMAs across a range of temperatures in an effort to compare calculations of thermodynamic properties (entropy, specific heat, etc.) to the measured ones. The measurements were correct for multiphonon scattering and multiple scattering contributions. We present herein the neutron-weighted vibrational density of states. Future work will utilize DFT calculations of the disordered lattice to correct for the neutron weighting and retrieve the true thermodynamical properties.

Keywords: neutron scattering, vibrational dynamics, computational physics, material science

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Authors: Shuhua Lai, Kairui Chen

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In this paper, we present a fast and efficient mesh coarsening algorithm for 3D triangular meshes. Theis approach can be applied to very complex 3D meshes of arbitrary topology and with millions of vertices. The algorithm is based on the clustering of the input mesh elements, which divides the faces of an input mesh into a given number of clusters for clustering purpose by approximating the Centroidal Voronoi Tessellation of the input mesh. Once a clustering is achieved, it provides us an efficient way to construct uniform tessellations, and therefore leads to good coarsening of polygonal meshes. With proliferation of 3D scanners, this coarsening algorithm is particularly useful for reverse engineering applications of 3D models, which in many cases are dense, non-uniform, irregular and arbitrary topology. Examples demonstrating effectiveness of the new algorithm are also included in the paper.

Keywords: coarsening, mesh clustering, shape approximation, mesh simplification

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Authors: Kaltrina Kusari

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Displaced populations have received increasing attention, yet the experiences of return migrants remain largely hidden within social sciences. Existing research, albeit limited, suggests that policies which impact return migrants, especially those forced to return to their home countries, do not reflect their voices. Specifically, the United Nations Hight Commissioner for Refugees has adopted repatriation as a preferred policy solution, despite research which substantiates that returning to one’s home country is neither durable nor the end of the migration cycle; as many of 80% of returnees decide to remigrate. This one-size-fits-all approach to forced displacement does not recognize the impact of intersecting identity categories on return migration, thus failing to consider how ethnicity, gender, and class, among others, shape repatriation. To address this, this qualitative study examined the repatriation experiences of return migrant women from Kosovo and the role of social workers in facilitating return. In 2015, Kosovars constituted the fourth largest group of asylum seekers in the European Union, yet 96% of them were rejected. Additionally, since 1999 Kosovo has ranked among the top 10 countries of origin for return migrants. Considering that return migration trends are impacted by global power dynamics, this study relied on a postcolonial and transnational feminist framework to contextualize the mobility of displaced peoples in terms of globalization and conceptualize migration as a gendered process. Postcolonial and feminist theories suggest that power is partly operationalized through language, thus, Critical Discourse Analysis was used as a research methodology. CDA is concerned with examining how power, language, and discourses shape social processes and relationships of dominance. Data collection included interviews with 15 return migrant women (eight ethnic minorities and seven Albanian) and 18 service providers in Kosovo. The main findings illustrate that both returnee women and service providers rely on discourses which 1) challenge the voluntariness and sustainability of repatriation; 2) construct Kosovo as inferior to EU countries; and 3) highlight the impact of patriarchy and ethnic racism on return migration. A postcolonial transnational feminist analysis demonstrates that despite Kosovars’ challenges with repatriation, European Union countries use their power to impose repatriation as a preferred solution for Kosovo’s government. These findings add to the body of existing repatriation literature and provide important implications for how return migration might be carried out, not only in Kosovo but other countries as well.

Keywords: migration, gender, repatriation, transnational feminism

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Authors: Leila Maleki, Ezatollah Ahmadi

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Neuroplasticity or the flexibility of the neural system is the ability of the brain to adapt to the lack or deterioration of sense and the capability of the neural system to modify itself through changing shape and function. Not only have studies revealed that neuroplasticity does not end in childhood, but also they have proven that it continues till the end of life and is not limited to the neural system and covers the cognitive system as well. In the field of cognition, neuroplasticity is defined as the ability to change old thoughts according to new conditions and the individuals' differences in using various styles of cognitive regulation inducing several social, emotional and cognitive outcomes. On the other hand, complexities of daily life necessitates cognitive neuroplasticity in order to adapt to different circumstances. The present paper attempts to discuss and define major theories and principles of neuroplasticity and elaborate on nature or nurture.

Keywords: neuroplasticity, cognitive plasticity, plasticity theories, plasticity mechanisms

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Authors: Leila Maleki, Ezatollah Ahmadi

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Neuroplasticity or the flexibility of the neural system is the ability of the brain to adapt to the lack or deterioration of sense and the capability of the neural system to modify itself through changing shape and function. Not only have studies revealed that neuroplasticity does not end in childhood, but also they have proven that it continues till the end of life and is not limited to the neural system and covers the cognitive system as well. In the field of cognition, neuroplasticity is defined as the ability to change old thoughts according to new conditions and the individuals' differences in using various styles of cognitive regulation inducing several social, emotional and cognitive outcomes. On the other hand, complexities of daily life necessitates cognitive neuroplasticity in order to adapt to different circumstances. The. present paper attempts to discuss and define major theories and principles of neuroplasticity and elaborate on nature or nurture.

Keywords: neuroplasticity, cognitive plasticity, plasticity theories, plasticity mechanisms

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Authors: Yifan Dong, Xincheng Pu

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Rural settlements originate from the accumulation of residential building elements, and their agglomeration forms the settlement pattern and defines the relationship between the settlement and the inside and outside. The settlement boundary is an important part of the settlement pattern. Compared with the simplification of the urban settlement boundary, the settlement of the country is more complex, fuzzy and uncertain, and then presents a rich and diverse boundary morphological phenomenon. In this paper, China traditional rural settlements plane boundary as the research object, using fractal theory and fractal dimension method, quantitative analysis of planar shape boundary settlement, and expounds the research for the architectural design, ancient architecture protection and renewal and development and the significance of the protection of settlements.

Keywords: rural settlement, border, fractal, quantification

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Authors: T. J. Jemi Jeya, V. Sriram, V. Sundar

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Caisson breakwaters are gravity structures resting on the seabed and piercing the free surface sunk in coastal waters to break the energy in the waves and protect the water area behind them by creating tranquil conditions on its lee side for the purpose of berthing of vessels. A number of formula and methodologies have been proposed for calculating the forces on caissons due to waves, most of which being evolved through intensive laboratory and field measurements. The reflection of waves from such breakwaters often generates clapotis, leading to an amplification of waves in its vicinity. This result in increased pressures and forces, forcing researchers to modify its seaside shape as well as placing dissipaters in the form of screens. Apart from the above aspects, this paper also discusses the other important phenomena, like overtopping that dictates the stability of caisson breakwaters.

Keywords: caisson breakwater, Jarlan type breakwater, screens, circular breakwater

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Authors: Menna Brown, Tania Domun

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Digital health interventions are effective across a wide array of health conditions spanning physical health, lifestyle behaviour change, and mental health and wellbeing; furthermore, they are rapidly increasing in volume within both the academic literature and society as commercial apps continue to proliferate the digital health market. However, adherence and engagement to digital health interventions remains problematic. Technology-based personalised and tailored reminder strategies can support engagement to digital health interventions. Interventions which support individuals’ mental health and wellbeing are of critical importance in the wake if the COVID-19 pandemic. Student and young person’s mental health has been negatively affected and digital resources continue to offer cost effective means to address wellbeing at a population level. Develop a databank of digital co-produced tailored messages to support engagement to a range of digital health interventions including those focused on mental health and wellbeing, and lifestyle behaviour change. Qualitative research design. Participants discussed their views of health and wellbeing, engagement and adherence to digital health interventions focused around a 12-week wellbeing intervention via a series of focus group discussions. They worked together to co-create content following a participatory design approach. Three focus group discussions were facilitated with (n=15) undergraduate students at one Welsh university to provide an empirically derived, co-produced, databank of (n=145) tailored messages. Messages were explored and categorised thematically, and the following ten themes emerged: Autonomy, Recognition, Guidance, Community, Acceptance, Responsibility, Encouragement, Compassion, Impact and Ease. The findings provide empirically derived, co-produced tailored messages. These have been made available for use, via ‘ACTivate your wellbeing’ a digital, automated, 12-week health and wellbeing intervention programme, based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). The purpose of which is to support future research to evaluate the impact of thematically categorised tailored messages on engagement and adherence to digital health interventions.

Keywords: digital health, engagement, wellbeing, participatory design, positive psychology, co-production

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Authors: Paolo Sassi, Jorge Freiria, Gabriel Usera

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In this work, a finite volume fluid flow solver is coupled with a discrete element method module for the simulation of the dynamics of free and elastic bodies in interaction with the fluid and between themselves. The open source fluid flow solver, caffa3d.MBRi, includes the capability to work with nested overlapping grids in order to easily refine the grid in the region where the bodies are moving. To do so, it is necessary to implement a recognition function able to identify the specific mesh block in which the device is moving in. The set of overlapping finer grids might be displaced along with the set of bodies being simulated. The interaction between the bodies and the fluid is computed through a two-way coupling. The velocity field of the fluid is first interpolated to determine the drag force on each object. After solving the objects displacements, subject to the elastic bonding among them, the force is applied back onto the fluid through a Gaussian smoothing considering the cells near the position of each object. The fishnet is represented as lumped masses connected by elastic lines. The internal forces are derived from the elasticity of these lines, and the external forces are due to drag, gravity, buoyancy and the load acting on each element of the system. When solving the ordinary differential equations system, that represents the motion of the elastic and flexible bodies, it was found that the Runge Kutta solver of fourth order is the best tool in terms of performance, but requires a finer grid than the fluid solver to make the system converge, which demands greater computing power. The coupled solver is demonstrated by simulating the interaction between the fluid, an elastic fishnet and a set of free bodies being captured by the net as they are dragged by the fluid. The deformation of the net, as well as the wake produced in the fluid stream are well captured by the method, without requiring the fluid solver mesh to adapt for the evolving geometry. Application of the same strategy to the simulation of elastic structures subject to the action of wind is also possible with the method presented, and one such application is currently under development.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, discrete element method, fishnets, nested overlapping grids

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Authors: Augustar Omoze Ehighalua, Itotenaan Henry Ogiri

Abstract:

As a mono-product economy, Nigeria relies largely on oil revenues for its foreign exchange earnings and the exploration activities of firms operating in the Niger Delta region have left in its wake tales of environmental degradation, poverty and misery. This, no doubt, have created corporate social responsibility issues in the region. The focus of this research is the critical evaluation of the ethical response to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practice by firms operating in Nigeria Delta Swamplands. While CSR is becoming more popular in developed society with effective practice guidelines and reporting benchmark, there is a relatively low level of awareness and selective applicability of existing international guidelines to effectively support CSR practice in Nigeria. This study, haven identified the lack of CSR institutional framework attempts to develop an ethically-driven CSR transparency benchmark laced within a regulatory framework based on international best practices. The research adopts a qualitative methodology and makes use of primary data collected through semi-structured interviews conducted across the six core states of the Niger Delta Region. More importantly, the study adopts an inductive, interpretivist philosophical paradigm that reveal deep phenomenological insights into what local communities, civil society and government officials consider as good ethical benchmark for responsible CSR practice by organizations. The institutional theory provides for the main theoretical foundation, complemented by the stakeholder and legitimacy theories. The Nvivo software was used to analyze the data collected. This study shows that ethical responsibility is lacking in CSR practice by firms in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. Furthermore, findings of the study indicate key issues of environmental, health and safety, human rights, and labour as fundamental in developing an effective CSR practice guideline for Nigeria. The study has implications for public policy formulation as well as managerial perspective.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, CSR, ethics, firms, Niger-Delta Swampland, Nigeria

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Authors: Moses Joseph

Abstract:

Language is a veritable tool in the hands of politicians. They use it to shape social realities; create new meanings and ultimately to acquire, exercise and sustain power in the society. Language and politics both share a symbiotic relationship. The former is the medium through which members of the society communicate and cohabitate while the later is used to gain and exercise power in the society. Language therefore is the epicenter of every human activity and politicians explore, deploy and manipulate it to advance their personal interests. This paper examines the ideological use of language in Okediran’s Tenants of the House. The study further shows that language is used as an instrument of political domination and manipulation through the display of emotiveness. The study concludes that politicians do not innocently use language but deliberately employ them to foreground their ideological position.

Keywords: language, ideology, political domination, manipulation

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Authors: Bencherif Kada

Abstract:

In the forest management practice, landscape and Mediterranean forest are never posed as linked objects. But sustainable forestry requires the valorization of the forest landscape, and this aim involves assessing the spatial distribution of biodiversity by mapping forest landscaped units and subunits and by monitoring the environmental trends. This contribution aims to highlight, through object-oriented classifications, the landscaped biodiversity of the National Park of Tlemcen (Algeria). The methodology used is based on ground data and on the basic processing units of object-oriented classification, that are segments, so-called image-objects, representing a relatively homogenous units on the ground. The classification of Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) imagery is performed on image objects and not on pixels. Advantages of object-oriented classification are to make full use of meaningful statistic and texture calculation, uncorrelated shape information (e.g., length-to-width ratio, direction, and area of an object, etc.), and topological features (neighbor, super-object, etc.), and the close relation between real-world objects and image objects. The results show that per object classification using the k-nearest neighbor’s method is more efficient than per pixel one. It permits to simplify of the content of the image while preserving spectrally and spatially homogeneous types of land covers such as Aleppo pine stands, cork oak groves, mixed groves of cork oak, holm oak, and zen oak, mixed groves of holm oak and thuja, water plan, dense and open shrub-lands of oaks, vegetable crops or orchard, herbaceous plants, and bare soils. Texture attributes seem to provide no useful information, while spatial attributes of shape and compactness seem to be performant for all the dominant features, such as pure stands of Aleppo pine and/or cork oak and bare soils. Landscaped sub-units are individualized while conserving the spatial information. Continuously dominant dense stands over a large area were formed into a single class, such as dense, fragmented stands with clear stands. Low shrublands formations and high wooded shrublands are well individualized but with some confusion with enclaves for the former. Overall, a visual evaluation of the classification shows that the classification reflects the actual spatial state of the study area at the landscape level.

Keywords: forest, oaks, remote sensing, diversity, shrublands

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