Search results for: dew point temperature

Authors: Roya Biabani, Mentore Vaccari, Piero Ferrari

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Accumulated microplastic (MPLs) in soil pose the risk of adsorbing and transporting polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the food chain or bodies. PCBs belong to a class of man-made hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOCs) that are classified as probable human carcinogens and a hazard to biota. Therefore, to take effective action and not aggravate the already recognized problems, the knowledge of PCB remediation in the presence of MPLs needs to be complete. Due to the high efficiency and little secondary pollution production, thermal desorption (TD) has been widely used for processing a variety of pollutants, especially for removing volatile and semi-volatile organic matter from contaminated solids and sediment. This study investigates the fate of PCB compounds during the thermal remediation method. For this, the PCB-contaminated soil was collected from the earth-canal downstream Caffaro S.p.A. chemical factory, which produced PCBs and PCB mixtures between 1930 and 1984. For MPL analysis, MPLs were separated by density separation and oxidation of organic matter. An operational range for the key parameters of thermal desorption processes was experimentally evaluated. Moreover, the temperature treatment characteristics of the PCBs-contaminated soil under anaerobic and aerobic conditions were studied using the Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA).

Keywords: contaminated soils, microplastics, polychlorinated biphenyls, thermal desorption

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Authors: Abhinay Puvvala, Veerendra Kumar Rai

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A bottleneck situation arises when the outflow is lesser than the inflow in a pipe-like setup. A more practical interpretation of bottlenecks emphasizes on the realization of Service Level Objectives (SLOs) at given workloads. Our approach detects two key aspects of bottlenecks – when and where. To identify ‘when’ we continuously poll on certain key metrics such as resource utilization, processing time, request backlog and throughput at a system level. Further, when the slope of the expected sojourn time at a workload is greater than ‘K’ times the slope of expected sojourn time at the previous step of the workload while the workload is being gradually increased in discrete steps, a bottleneck situation arises. ‘K’ defines the threshold condition and is computed based on the system’s service level objectives. The second aspect of our approach is to identify the location of the bottleneck. In multi-tier systems with a complex network of layers, it is a challenging problem to locate bottleneck that affects the overall system performance. We stage the system by varying workload incrementally to draw a correlation between load increase and system performance to the point where Service Level Objectives are violated. During the staging process, multiple metrics are monitored at hardware and application levels. The correlations are drawn between metrics and the overall system performance. These correlations along with the Service Level Objectives are used to arrive at the threshold conditions for each of these metrics. Subsequently, the same method used to identify when a bottleneck occurs is used on metrics data with threshold conditions to locate bottlenecks.

Keywords: bottleneck, workload, service level objectives (SLOs), throughput, system performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Somayeh Khanjani, Samaneh Nabavi, Shirin Jalili, Afshin Khara

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Fingerprints are area source of ubiquitous evidence and consequential for establishing identity. The detection and subsequent development of fingerprints are thus inevitable in criminal investigations. This becomes a difficult task in the case of certain extreme conditions like fire. A fire scene may be accidental or arson. The evidence subjected to fire is generally overlooked as there is a misconception that they are damaged. There are several scientific approaches to determine whether the fire was deliberate or not. In such as scenario, fingerprints may be most critical to link the perpetrator to the crime. The reason for this may be the destructive nature of fire. Fingerprints subjected to fire are exposed to high temperatures, soot deposition, electromagnetic radiation, and subsequent water force. It is believed that these phenomena damage the fingerprint. A novel fluorescent and a pre existing small particle reagent were investigated for the same. Zinc carbonates based fluorescent small particle reagent was capable of developing latent fingerprints exposed to a maximum temperature of 800 ̊C. Fluorescent SPR may prove very useful in such cases. Fluorescent SPR reagent based on zinc carbonate is a potential method for developing fingerprints from arson sites. The method is cost effective and non hazardous. This formulation is suitable for developing fingerprints exposed to fire/ arson.

Keywords: fingerprint, small particle reagent (SPR), arson, novel fluorescent

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Authors: J. O. Bodunrin, S. J. Moloi

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This study reports on the x-ray crystallography (XRD) structure of cadmium-implanted p-type silicon, the current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics of unimplanted and cadmium-implanted silicon-based diodes. Cadmium was implanted at the energy of 160 KeV to the fluence of 10¹⁵ ion/cm². The results obtained indicate that the diodes were well fabricated, and the introduction of cadmium results in a change in behavior of the diodes from normal exponential to ohmic I-V behavior. The C-V measurements, on the other hand, show that the measured capacitance increased after cadmium doping due to the injected charge carriers. The doping density of the p-Si material and the device's Schottky barrier height was extracted, and the doping density of the undoped p-Si material increased after cadmium doping while the Schottky barrier height reduced. In general, the results obtained here are similar to those obtained on the diodes fabricated on radiation-hard material, indicating that cadmium is a promising metal dopant to improve the radiation hardness of silicon. Thus, this study would assist in adding possible options to improve the radiation hardness of silicon to be used in high energy physics experiments.

Keywords: cadmium, capacitance-voltage, current-voltage, high energy physics experiment, x-ray crystallography, XRD

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Authors: Amandeep Sharma, Digvaijay Verma, Ruplal Choudhary

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Food processing is an activity across the globe that help in better handling of agricultural produce, including dairy, meat, and fish. The operations carried out in the food industry includes raw material quality authenticity; sorting and grading; processing into various products using thermal treatments – heating, freezing, and chilling; packaging; and storage at the appropriate temperature to maximize the shelf life of the products. All this is done to safeguard the food products and to ensure the distribution up to the consumer. The approaches to develop predictive models based on mathematical or statistical tools or empirical models’ development has been reported for various milk processing activities, including plant maintenance and wastage. Recently AI is the key factor for the fourth industrial revolution. AI plays a vital role in the food industry, not only in quality and food security but also in different areas such as manufacturing, packaging, and cleaning. A new conceptual model was developed, which shows that smaller sample size as only spectra would be required to predict the other values hence leads to saving on raw materials and chemicals otherwise used for experimentation during the research and new product development activity. It would be a futuristic approach if these tools can be further clubbed with the mobile phones through some software development for their real time application in the field for quality check and traceability of the product.

Keywords: predictive modlleing, ann, ai, food

Procedia PDF Downloads 81

Authors: A. Calabrese, V. F. Uricchio, D. di Noia, S. Favale, C. Caiati, G. P. Maggi, G. Donvito, D. Diacono, S. Tangaro, A. Italiano, E. Riezzo, M. Zippitelli, M. Toriello, E. Celiberti, D. Festa, A. Colaianni

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Climate change has a severe impact on human health. There is a vast literature demonstrating temperature increase is causally related to cardiovascular problem and represents a high risk for human health, but there are not study that improve a solution. In this work, it is studied how the clime influenced the human parameter through the analysis of climatic conditions in an area of the Apulia Region: Capurso Municipality. At the same time, medical personnel involved identified a set of variables useful to define an index describing health condition. These scientific studies are the base of an innovative alert system, IPPOCRATE, whose aim is to asses climate risk and share information to population at risk to support prevention and mitigation actions. IPPOCRATE is an e-health system, it is designed to provide technological support to analysis of health risk related to climate and provide tools for prevention and management of critical events. It is the first integrated system of prevention of human risk caused by climate change. IPPOCRATE calculates risk weighting meteorological data with the vulnerability of monitored subjects and uses mobile and cloud technologies to acquire and share information on different data channels. It is composed of four components: Multichannel Hub. Multichannel Hub is the ICT infrastructure used to feed IPPOCRATE cloud with a different type of data coming from remote monitoring devices, or imported from meteorological databases. Such data are ingested, transformed and elaborated in order to be dispatched towards mobile app and VoIP phone systems. IPPOCRATE Multichannel Hub uses open communication protocols to create a set of APIs useful to interface IPPOCRATE with 3rd party applications. Internally, it uses non-relational paradigm to create flexible and highly scalable database. WeHeart and Smart Application The wearable device WeHeart is equipped with sensors designed to measure following biometric variables: heart rate, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, body temperature and blood glucose for diabetic subjects. WeHeart is designed to be easy of use and non-invasive. For data acquisition, users need only to wear it and connect it to Smart Application by Bluetooth protocol. Easy Box was designed to take advantage from new technologies related to e-health care. EasyBox allows user to fully exploit all IPPOCRATE features. Its name, Easy Box, reveals its purpose of container for various devices that may be included depending on user needs. Territorial Registry is the IPPOCRATE web module reserved to medical personnel for monitoring, research and analysis activities. Territorial Registry allows to access to all information gathered by IPPOCRATE using GIS system in order to execute spatial analysis combining geographical data (climatological information and monitored data) with information regarding the clinical history of users and their personal details. Territorial Registry was designed for different type of users: control rooms managed by wide area health facilities, single health care center or single doctor. Territorial registry manages such hierarchy diversifying the access to system functionalities. IPPOCRATE is the first e-Health system focused on climate risk prevention.

Keywords: climate change, health risk, new technological system

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Authors: Anny Lucrece Nlend Nkott, Ludovic Temple

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The appearance in 2012 of the CRISPR-CaS9 genome editing technique marks a turning point in the field of genetics. This technique would make it possible to create new varieties quickly and cheaply. Although some consider CRISPR-CaS9 to be revolutionary, others consider it a potential societal threat. To document the controversy, we explain the socioeconomic conditions under which this technique could be accepted for the creation of a rainfed rice variety in Madagascar. The methodological framework is based on 38 individual and semistructured interviews, a multistakeholder forum with 27 participants, and a survey of 148 rice producers. Results reveal that the acceptability of genome editing requires (i) strengthening the seed system through the operationalization of regulatory structures and the upgrading of stakeholders' knowledge of genetically modified organisms, (ii) assessing the effects of the edited variety on biodiversity and soil nitrogen dynamics, and (iii) strengthening the technical and human capacities of the biosafety body. Structural mechanisms for regulating the seed system are necessary to ensure safe experimentation of genome editing techniques. Organizational innovation also appears to be necessary. The study documents how collective learning between communities of scientists and nonscientists is a component of systemic processes of varietal innovation. This study was carried out with the financial support of the GENERICE project (Generation and Deployment of Genome-Edited, Nitrogen-use-Efficient Rice Varieties), funded by the Agropolis Foundation.

Keywords: CRISPR-CaS9, varietal innovation, seed system, innovation system

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Authors: M. A. Karakassides, M. Baikousi, A. Kouloumpis, D. Gournis

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Nanocomposites of Carbon Nanorods (CNRs) with Polystyrene (PS), have been synthesized successfully by means of in situ polymerization process and characterized. Firstly, carbon nanorods with graphitic structure were prepared by the standard synthetic procedure of CMK-3 using MCM-41 as template, instead of SBA-15, and sucrose as carbon source. In order to create an organophilic surface on CNRs, two parts of modification were realized: surface chemical oxidation (CNRs-ox) according to the Staudenmaier’s method and the attachment of octadecylamine molecules on the functional groups of CNRs-ox (CNRs-ODA The nanocomposite materials of polystyrene with CNRs-ODA, were prepared by a solution-precipitation method at three nanoadditive to polymer loadings (1, 3 and 5 wt. %). The as derived nanocomposites were studied with a combination of characterization and analytical techniques. Especially, Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopies were used for the chemical and structural characterization of the pristine materials and the derived nanocomposites while the morphology of nanocomposites and the dispersion of the carbon nanorods were analyzed by atomic force and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Tensile testing and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) along with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were also used to examine the mechanical properties and thermal stability -glass transition temperature of PS after the incorporation of CNRs-ODA nanorods. The results showed that the thermal and mechanical properties of the PS/ CNRs-ODA nanocomposites gradually improved with increasing of CNRs-ODA loading.

Keywords: nanocomposites, polystyrene, carbon, nanorods

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Authors: Saba Arif, Anam Nadeem, Roman Kalvin, Muzaffar Ali, Burhan Ali, Juntakan Taweekun

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Globally transportation sector accounts for around 25% of energy demand and nearly 62% of oil consumed. Therefore, new energy sources are required to introduce for this huge demand replenishment of depleting conventional energy sources. Currently, biofuels such as Jatropha trees as an energy carrier for transportation sector are being utilized effectively round the globe. However, climate conditions at low altitudes with an average annual temperature above 20 degrees Celsius and rainfall of 300-1000mm are considered the most suitable environment for the efficient growth of Jatropha trees. The current study is providing a theoretical survey-based analysis to investigate the effect of rate of cultivation of jatropha trees on the reduction of fuel prices and its environmental benefits. The resulted study shows that jatropha tree’s 100 kg seeds give 80kg oil and the conversion process cost is very small as 890 PKR. Moreover, the extraction of oil from Jatropha tree is tax-free compared to other fuels. The analysis proved very essential for potential assessment of Jatropha regarding future energy fuel for transportation sector at global level. Additionally, it can be very beneficial for increment in the total amount of transportation fuel in Pakistan.

Keywords: jatropha tree, environmental impact, energy contents, theoretical survey

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Authors: S. Schröder, P. Ennen, T. Langer, S. Müller, M. Shehadeh, M. Haberstroh, F. Hees

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Since a bit over a year ago, Festo AG and Co. KG, Festo Didactic SE, robomotion GmbH, the researchers of the Cybernetics-Lab IMA/ZLW and IfU, as well as the Human-Computer Interaction Center at the RWTH Aachen University, have been working together in the focal point of assembly competences to realize different scenarios in the field of human-machine interaction (HMI). In the framework of project ARIZ, questions concerning the future of production within the fourth industrial revolution are dealt with. There are many perspectives of human-robot collaboration that consist Industry 4.0 on an individual, organization and enterprise level, and these will be addressed in ARIZ. The aim of the ARIZ projects is to link AI-Approaches to assembly problems and to implement them as prototypes in demonstrators. To do so, island and flow based production scenarios will be simulated and realized as prototypes. These prototypes will serve as applications of flexible robotics as well as AI-based planning and control of production process. Using the demonstrators, human interaction strategies will be examined with an information system on one hand, and a robotic system on the other. During the tests, prototypes of workspaces that illustrate prospective production work forms will be represented. The human being will remain a central element in future productions and will increasingly be in charge of managerial tasks. Questions thus arise within the overall perspective, primarily concerning the role of humans within these technological revolutions, as well as their ability to act and design respectively to the acceptance of such systems. Roles, such as the 'Trainer' of intelligent systems may become a possibility in such assembly scenarios.

Keywords: human-machine interaction, information technology, island based production, assembly competences

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Authors: F. A. Olutoge, O.R. Olulope, M. O. Odelola

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This study investigates the strength potentials of groundnut husk ash as partial cement replacement in mortar and also develops a predictive model using Artificial Neural Network. Groundnut husks sourced from Ogbomoso, Nigeria, was sun dried, calcined to ash in a furnace at a controlled temperature of 600⁰ C for a period of 6 hours, and sieved through the 75 microns. The ash was subjected to chemical analysis and setting time test. Fine aggregate (sand) for the mortar was sourced from Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. The cement: GHA constituents were blended in ratios 100:0, 95:5, 90:10, 85:15 and 80:20 %. The sum of SiO₂, Al₂O₃, and Fe₂O₃ content in GHA is 26.98%. The compressive strength for mortars PC, GHA5, GHA10, GHA15, and GHA20 ranged from 6.3-10.2 N/mm² at 7days, 7.5-12.3 N/mm² at 14 days, 9.31-13.7 N/mm² at 28 days, 10.4-16.7 N/mm² at 56days and 13.35- 22.3 N/mm² at 90 days respectively, PC, GHA5 and GHA10 had competitive values up to 28 days, but GHA10 gave the highest values at 56 and 90 days while GHA20 had the lowest values at all ages due to dilution effect. Flexural strengths values at 28 days ranged from 1.08 to 1.87 N/mm² and increased to a range of 1.53-4.10 N/mm² at 90 days. The ANN model gave good prediction for compressive strength of the mortars. This study has shown that groundnut husk ash as partial cement replacement improves the strength properties of mortar.

Keywords: compressive strength, groundnut husk ash, mortar, pozzolanic index

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Authors: Belal Mohamadi Kalesar, Raouf Hasanpour

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Proper placement of Distributed Generation (DG) units such as wind turbine generators in distribution system are still very challenging issue for obtaining their maximum potential benefits because inappropriate placement may increase the system losses. This paper proposes Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique for optimal placement of wind based DG (WDG) in the primary distribution system to reduce energy losses and voltage profile improvement with four different wind levels modeling in year duration. Also, wind turbine is modeled as a DFIG that will be operated at unity power factor and only one wind turbine tower will be considered to install at each bus of network. Finally, proposed method will be implemented on widely used 69 bus power distribution system in MATLAB software environment under four scenario (without, one, two and three WDG units) and for capability test of implemented program it is supposed that all buses of standard system can be candidate for WDG installing (large search space), though this program can consider predetermined number of candidate location in WDG placement to model financial limitation of project. Obtained results illustrate that wind speed increasing in some months will increase output power generated but this can increase / decrease power loss in some wind level, also results show that it is required about 3MW WDG capacity to install in different buses but when this is distributed in overall network (more number of WDG) it can cause better solution from point of view of power loss and voltage profile.

Keywords: wind turbine, DG placement, wind levels effect, PSO algorithm

Procedia PDF Downloads 446

Authors: Yagahira E. Castro-Sesquen, Chloe Kim, Robert H. Gilman, David J. Sullivan, Peter C. Searson

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Diagnosis of severe malaria is particularly important in highly endemic regions since most patients are positive for parasitemia and treatment differs from non-severe malaria. Diagnosis can be challenging due to the prevalence of diseases with similar symptoms. Accurate diagnosis is increasingly important to avoid overprescribing antimalarial drugs, minimize drug resistance, and minimize costs. A nanoparticle-based assay for detection and quantification of Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP2) in urine and serum is reported. The assay uses magnetic beads conjugated with anti-HRP2 antibody for protein capture and concentration, and antibody-conjugated quantum dots for optical detection. Western Blot analysis demonstrated that magnetic beads allows the concentration of HRP2 protein in urine by 20-fold. The concentration effect was achieved because large volume of urine can be incubated with beads, and magnetic separation can be easily performed in minutes to isolate beads containing HRP2 protein. Magnetic beads and Quantum Dots 525 conjugated to anti-HRP2 antibodies allows the detection of low concentration of HRP2 protein (0.5 ng mL-1), and quantification in the range of 33 to 2,000 ng mL-1 corresponding to the range associated with non-severe to severe malaria. This assay can be easily adapted to a non-invasive point-of-care test for classification of severe malaria.

Keywords: HRP2 protein, malaria, magnetic beads, Quantum dots

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Authors: Pyar Singh Jassal, Priti Rani, Rajni Johar

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The adsorption of Pb(II) ions from wastewater using ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether cross-linked magnetic chitosan beads (EGDE-MCB) was carried out by considering a number of parameters. The removal efficiency of the metal ion by magnetic chitosan beads (MCB) and its cross-linked derivatives depended on viz contact time, dose of the adsorbent, pH, temperature, etc. The concentration of Cd( II) at different time intervals was estimated by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPSAV) using 797 voltametric analyzer computrace. The adsorption data could be well interpreted by Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption model. The equilibrium parameter, RL values, support that the adsorption (0Keywords: magnetic chitosan beads, ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether, equilibrium parameters, desorption

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Authors: Mohammed Cherifi, Abderrahmane Benbrik, Siham Laouar-Meftah, Denis Lemonnier

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The present study was conducted to numerically investigate the interaction of non-gray-gas radiation with opposed mixed convection in a vertical two-sided lid-driven square cavity. The opposing flows are simultaneously generated by the vertical boundary walls which slide at a constant speed and the natural convection due to the gradient temperature of differentially heated cavity. The horizontal walls are thermally insulated and perfectly reflective. The enclosure is filled with air-H2O-CO2 gas mixture, which is considered as a non-gray, absorbing, emitting and not scattering medium. The governing differential equations are solved by a finite-volume method, by adopting the SIMPLER algorithm for pressure–velocity coupling. The radiative transfer equation (RTE) is solved by the discrete ordinates method (DOM). The spectral line weighted sum of gray gases model (SLW) is used to account for non-gray radiation properties. Three cases of the effects of radiation (transparent, gray and non-gray medium) are studied. Comparison is also made with the parametric studies of the effect of the mixed convection parameter, Ri (0.1, 1, 10), on the fluid flow and heat transfer have been performed.

Keywords: opposed mixed convection, non-gray-gas radiation, two-sided lid-driven cavity, discrete ordinate method, SLW model

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Authors: Marianne Lumacang, Jessarine Dultra, Joana Fenol

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Filipinos are known to be conservative, sex or pornography is not discussed openly in the Philippines, topic of sex, when raised, will most likely elicit snickers, jokes, and blushes in most Filipino or expressions of disgust. However, a lot of Filipinos are still engaging into this kind of activity for some reasons. The study aims to determine young adult’s point of view about cyber pornography viewing, as well as their reasons for engagement, and its effects on them and their relationship with their partner. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to explore how young adults make sense of cyber pornography viewing. The study focused on Filipino young adults who are in a romantic or married relationship, engage in cyber pornography viewing, and currently residing in Cavite, Philippines. A total of four young adult couples, four females and four males participated in the study as research participants. Data gathered from a total of four young adult couples resulted to a total of nine superordinate themes focusing on (1) exploring young adult couple’s rationales for cyber pornography viewing, (2) experiences of positive effects in engaging to cyber pornography viewing, (3) experiences of negative effects in engaging to cyber pornography viewing, (4) experience of infidelity, (5) experience of necessity, (6) females perception about cyber pornography viewing towards self, (7) males perception about cyber pornography viewing towards self, (8) males perception about cyber pornography viewing towards romantic partner, and (9) males perception about cyber pornography viewing towards others.

Keywords: cyberpornography, Filipino, interpretative phenomenological analysis, making sense of cyberpornography, young adult

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Authors: Lukman Thalib, Luis Furuya-Kanamori, Rachel Walker, Brigid Gillespie, Suhail Doi

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Background and objectives: There are many topical treatments available for Pressure Injury (PI) treatment, yet there is a lack of evidence with regards to the most effective treatment. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of various topical treatments and identify the best treatment choice(s) for PI healing. Methods: Network meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials that compared the two or more of the following dressing groups: basic, foam, active, hydroactive, and other wound dressings. The outcome complete healing following treatment and the generalised pair-wise modelling framework was used to generate mixed treatment effects against hydroactive wound dressing, currently the standard of treatment for PIs. All treatments were then ranked by their point estimates. Main Results: 40 studies (1,757 participants) comparing 5 dressing groups were included in the analysis. All dressings groups ranked better than basic (i.e. saline gauze or similar inert dressing). The foam (RR 1.18; 95%CI 0.95-1.48) and active wound dressing (RR 1.16; 95%CI 0.92-1.47) ranked better than hydroactive wound dressing in terms of healing of PIs when the latter was used as the reference group. Conclusion & Recommendations: There was considerable uncertainty around the estimates, yet, the use of hydroactive wound dressings appear to perform better than basic dressings. Foam and active wound dressing groups show promise and need further investigation. High-quality research on clinical effectiveness of the topical treatments are warranted to identify if foam and active wound dressings do provide advantages over hydroactive dressings.

Keywords: Net work Meta Analysis, Pressure Injury, Dresssing, Pressure Ulcer

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Authors: Satarupa Bhattacharjee

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Inter-religious dialogue and understanding are possible without losing one’s own identity. We find a unique blend of tradition, reason and human values in contemporary Indian thought. On this point, we may take note of the similarity between views of M. K. Gandhi and the religious discourse of Swami Vivekananda, i.e., all religions as different paths to God realisation but their unity lies in their goal, which is attainment of God, who is One. This enrichment guided us towards a kind of religious pluralism of John Hicks, who gives a solution to the problems of co-existence of diverse religions without undermining any religion. The plurality percolates into different spheres of Indian society and regarded as a chord with discord in a wonderful music. Swami Vivekananda believes that to serve man is to serve God. Both M. K. Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda were non-dualist and believed in the essential unity of man. Gandhi believes in the many foldedness of reality. Swami Vivekananda’s attitude towards religion is in principles of co-existence and acceptance. These principles have been accumulated in such a way that gave us a different world-view. The concept of unity, tolerance, equality, etc. can be achieved only by a spiritual attitude. Dynamism of spirituality stands in between man’s empirical existence and his spiritual destination and manifests itself in the different aspects of life including religious understanding. It is a movement towards pluralism. It is the fusion of spirituality with plurality which characterizes the concept of religious pluralism. This re-visited religious pluralism will open a new horizon of love and tolerance in our society. M. K. Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda paved the path for new horizon for a resurgent world. So the Indian spiritualism re-vitalised the concept of pluralism and stimulated its progress towards a new world.

Keywords: M. K. Gandhi, religious pluralism, Swami Vivekananda, worldview

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Authors: Alireza Saidi

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Aside from injuries due to direct contact with hot or cold substances or objects, exposure to extreme temperatures in the workplace involves physical hazards to workers. On the other hand, a poorly acclimatized worker may have reduced performance and alertness and may, therefore, be more vulnerable to the risk of accidents and injuries. Due to the incompatibility of the standards put in place with certain workplaces and the lack of thermoregulation in many protective equipments, thermal strains remain among the physical risks most present in many work sectors. However, many of these problems can be overcome thanks to the potential of intelligent textile technologies allowing intelligent thermoregulation in protective equipment. Nowadays, technologies such as heating elements, cooling elements are applied in products intended for sport and leisure, and research work has been carried out in the integration of temperature sensors and thermal stress detectors in personal protective equipment. However, the usage of all of these technologies in personal protective equipment remains very marginal. This article presents a portrait of the current state of intelligent thermoregulation systems by carrying out a synthesis of technical developments, which is accompanied by a gap analysis of current developments. Thus, the research work necessary for the adaptation and integration of intelligent thermoregulation systems with personal protective equipment is discussed in order to offer a perspective of future developments.

Keywords: personal protective equipment, smart textiles, thermoregulation, thermal strain

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Authors: Robert Herold

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This project aims to begin building out a new approach within the philosophy of science that is based around a combination of insights from Albert Camus and Paul Feyerabend. This approach is one that will be labeled an absurdist approach as it uses, for its foundation, the philosophy of the absurd as discussed by Camus. While Camus didn’t directly discuss the philosophy of science, nor did he offer his own views on the subject in any substantial way, that doesn’t mean that his work doesn’t have applications within the philosophy of science. In fact, as is argued throughout the piece, much of the work done by Paul Feyerabend stems from a similar metaphysical and epistemological foundation as Camus. This foundation is the notion of the absurd and the inability of us as humans to reach some sort of objective truth. In modern times both Camus and Feyerabend have been largely pushed to the wayside, though Feyerabend has undoubtedly received the most unfair treatment of the two, and this is something that serves to act more as a hindrance than anything else. Much of the claims and arguments made by both Camus and Feyerabend have not been truly refuted and have simply been pushed aside by pointing to supposed contradictions or inconsistencies. However, while it would be a monumental task to attempt to discuss all of this past work, perhaps it might be better to move beyond both Camus and Feyerabend and chart a new path. This is the overall goal of this paper. This research will demonstrate that not only are the philosophies of Camus and Feyerabend surprisingly similar and able to mesh well together, they also are able to form into something that is truly more than the sum of its parts. While the task of actually building out an approach is a monumental undertaking, the plan is to use this project as a jumping-off point. As such, this paper will start by examining some of the main claims made by both Camus and Feyerabend. Once this is done, then begin weaving them together and demonstrating where the links between the philosophies of both are. Then this study will end by building out the very begging foundations of the absurdist approach to the philosophy of science.

Keywords: philosophy, philosophy of science, albert camus, paul feyerabend

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Authors: Yeon Woo Seo, Haeyoung Choi, Jung Hyun Jeong

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Recently, the UC phosphors have attracted much attention owing to their wide applicability in areas such as biological fluorescence labeling, three-dimensional color displays, temperature sensor, solar cells, white light emitting diodes (WLEDs), fiber optic communication, anti-counterfeiting and other areas. The UC efficiency is mainly dependent on the host lattice and the interaction between the host lattice and doped ions. Up to date, various host matrices, such as oxides, fluorides, vanadates and phosphates, have been investigated as efficient UC luminescent hosts. Recently, oxide materials with low phonon energy have been investigated as the host matrices of UC materials due to their high chemical durability and physical stability. A series of Sr2CeO4: Tm3+/Yb3+ phosphors with different concentrations of Yb3+ ions have been successfully prepared using the high-energy ball milling method. In this study, we reported the UC luminescent properties of Tm3+/Yb3+ ions co-doped Sr2CeO4 phosphors under an excitation wavelength of 975 nm. Furthermore, the structural and morphological characteristics, as well as the UC luminescence mechanism were investigated in detail. The X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed their orthorhombic structure. Under 975 nm excitation, the emission peaks were observed at 478 nm (blue) and 652 nm (red), corresponding to the 1G4 → 3H6 and 1G4 → 3F4 transitions of Tm3+, respectively. The optimized doping concentration of Yb3+ ion was 10 mol%.

Keywords: Strontium Cerate, up-conversion, luminescence, Tm3+, Yb3+

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Authors: Sonalee Das, Smita Mohanty, S. K. Nayak

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Recent years has witnessed the increasing demand for natural resources and products in polyurethane synthesis because of global warming, sustainable development and oil crisis. For this purpose, different plant oils such as soybean oil, castor oil and linseed oil are extensively used. Moreover, the isocyanate used for the synthesis of polyurethane is derived from petroleum resources. In this present work attempts have been made for the successful synthesis of biobased isocyanate from castor oil with partially biobased isocyanate in presence of catalyst dibutyltin dilaurate (DBTDL). The goal of the present study was to investigate the thermal, mechanical, morphological and chemical properties of the synthesized polyurethane in terms of castor oil modification. The transesterified polyol shows broad and higher hydroxyl value as compared to castor oil which was confirmed by FTIR studies. The FTIR studies also revealed the successful synthesis of bio based polyurethane by showing characteristic peaks at 3300cm-1, 1715cm-1 and 1532cm-1 respectively. The TGA results showed three step degradation mechanism for the synthesized polyurethane from modified and unmodified castor oil. However, the modified polyurethane exhibited higher degradation temperature as compared to unmodified one. The mechanical properties also demonstrated higher tensile strength for modified polyurethane as compared to unmodified one.

Keywords: castor oil, partially biobased Isocyanate, polyurethane synthesis, FTIR

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Authors: Muhammad Shahrukh Saeed, Syed Ahmad Nameer, Shafiq Ur Rehman, Aisha Jillani

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Heat exchangers play a critical role in industrial applications of thermal systems. Its physical size and performance are vital parameters; therefore enhancement of heat transfer through different techniques remained a major research area for both academia and industry. This research reports the main purpose of heat exchanger with better kit design which plays a vital role during the process of heat transfer. Plate type heat exchanger mainly requires a design in which the plates can be easily be installed and removed without having any problem with the plates. For the flow of the fluid within the heat exchanger, it requires a flow should be fully developed. As natural laws allows the driving energy of the system to flow until equilibrium is achieved. As with a plate type heat exchanger heat the heat penetrates the surface which separates the hot medium with the cold one very easily. As some of the precautions should be considered while taking the heat exchanger accountable like heat should transfer from hot medium to cold, there should always be difference in temperature present and heat loss from hot body should be equal to the heat gained by the cold body regardless of the losses present to the surroundings. Aluminum plates of same grade are used in all experiments to ensure similarity. Size of all plates was 254 mm X 100 mm and thickness was taken as 5 mm.

Keywords: heat transfer coefficient, aluminium, entry length, design

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Authors: Shoubhik Mandal, Debarghya Mallick, Abhishek Banerjee, R. Ganesan, P. S. Anil Kumar

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We report magnetotransport measurements in Bi₁Sb₁Te₁.₅Se₁.₅/RuCl₃ heterostructure nanodevices. Bi₁Sb₁Te₁.₅Se₁.₅ (BSTS) is a strong three-dimensional topological insulator (3D-TI) that hosts conducting topological surface states (TSS) enclosing an insulating bulk. α-RuCl₃ (namely, RuCl₃) is an anti-ferromagnet that is predicted to behave as a Kitaev-like quantum spin liquid carrying Majorana excitations. Temperature (T)-dependent resistivity measurements show the interplay between parallel bulk and surface transport channels. At T < 150 K, surface state transport dominates over bulk transport. Multi-channel weak anti-localization (WAL) is observed, as a sharp cusp in the magnetoconductivity, indicating strong spin-orbit coupling. The presence of top and bottom topological surface states (TSS), including a pair of electrically coupled Rashba surface states (RSS), are indicated. Non-linear Hall effect, explained by a two-band model, further supports this interpretation. Finally, a low-T logarithmic resistance upturn is analyzed using the Lu-Shen model, supporting the presence of gapless surface states with a π Berry phase.

Keywords: topological materials, electrical transport, Lu-Shen model, quantum spin liquid

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Authors: M. O. Eyankware, D. O. Ufomata

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Groundwater samples were collected from Otovwodo-Ughelli and Environ with the aim of assessing groundwater quality of the area. Twenty (20) water samples from Boreholes (BH) (six) and Hand Dug Wells (HDW) (fourteen) were randomly sampled and were analysed for different physiochemical and bacteriological parameters. The following 16 parameters have been considered viz: pH, electrical conductivity, temperature, total hardness, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, phosphate, sulphate, chloride, nitrate, calcium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, and total suspended solids. On comparing the results against drinking quality standards laid by World Health Organization and Nigeria industrial standard, it was found that the water quality parameters were not above the (WHO, 2011 and NIS, 2007) permissible limit. Microbial analysis reveals the presence of coliform and E.coli in two hand-dug well (HDW7 and 13) and one borehole well (BH20). These contaminations are perhaps traceable to have originated from human activities (septic tanks, latrines, dumpsites) and have affected the quality of groundwater in Otovwodo-Ughelli. From the piper trilinear diagram, the dominant ionic species is alkali bicarbonate water type, with bicarbonate as the predominant ion (Na+ + K+)-HCO3.

Keywords: groundwater, surface water, Ughelli, Nigeria industrial standard, who standard

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Authors: Mouustafa A. Fadel, Ahmed Bani Hammad, Faisal Al Hosany, Osama Iwaimer

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Covering materials of greenhouses is the most governing component of the construction which controls two major parameters the amount of light and heat diffused from the surrounding environment into the internal space. In hot areas, balancing between inside and outside the greenhouse consumes most of the energy spent in production systems. In this research, a special testing apparatus was fabricated to simulate the structure of the greenhouse provided with a 400W full spectrum light. Tests were carried out to investigate the effectiveness of different commercial covering material in light and heat diffusion. Twenty one combinations of Fiberglass, Polyethylene, Polycarbonate, Plexiglass and Agril (PP nonwoven fabric) were tested. It was concluded that Plexiglass was the highest in light transparency of 87.4% where the lowest was 33% and 86.8% for Polycarbonate sheets. The enthalpy of the air moving through the testing rig was calculated according to air temperature differences between inlet and outlet openings. The highest enthalpy value was for one layer of Fiberglass and it was 0.81 kj/kg air while it was for both Plexiglass and blocked Fiberglass with a value of 0.5 kj/kg air. It is concluded that, although Plexiglass has high level of transparency which is indeed very helpful under low levels of solar flux, it is not recommended under hot arid conditions where solar flux is available most of the year. On the other hand, it might be a disadvantage to use Plixeglass specially in summer where it helps to accumulate more heat inside the greenhouse.

Keywords: greenhouse, covering materials, aridlands, environmental control

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Authors: Claude Alavoine, Ferkan Kaplanseren

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Negotiation is a specific form of interaction based on communication in which the parties enter into deliberately, each with clear but different interests or goals and a mutual dependency towards a decision due to be taken at the end of the confrontation. Consequently, negotiation is a complex activity involving many different disciplines from the strategic aspects and the decision making process to the evaluation of alternatives or outcomes and the exchange of information. While gender differences can be considered as one of the most researched topic within negotiation studies, empirical works and theory present many conflicting evidences and results about the role of gender in the process or the outcome. Furthermore, little interest has been shown over gender differences in the definition of what is negotiation, its essence or fundamental elements. Or, as differences exist in practices, it might be essential to study if the starting point of these discrepancies does not come from different considerations about what is negotiation and what will encourage the participants in their strategic decisions. Some recent and promising experiments made with diverse groups show that male and female participants in a common and shared situation barely consider the same way the concepts of power, trust or stakes which are largely considered as the usual driving forces of any negotiation. Furthermore, results from Human Resource self-assessment tests display and confirm considerable differences between individuals regarding essential behavioral dimensions like capacity to improvise and to achieve, aptitude to conciliate or to compete and orientation towards power and group domination which are also part of negotiation skills. Our intention in this paper is to confront these dimensions with negotiation’s usual driving forces in order to build up new paths for further research.

Keywords: negotiation, gender, trust, power, stakes, strategies

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Authors: Olusegun D. Badewa, E. K. Tsado, A. S. Gana, K. D. Tolorunse, R. U. Okechukwu, P. Iluebbey, S. Ibrahim

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Farmers are faced with varying production challenges ranging from unstable weather due to climate change, low yield, malnutrition, cattle invasion, and bush fires that have always affected their livelihood. Research effort must therefore be centered on improving farmers’ livelihood, nutrition, and health by providing early bulking biofortified cassava varieties that could be harvested earlier with reasonable root yield and thereby preventing long stay of the crop on their farmland. This study evaluated cassava genotypes at different harvesting months of 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after planting in order to evaluate their bulking rate at different agroecology of Mokwa and Ubiaja. Data were collected on fresh storage root yield, Harvest index, and Dry matter content. It was shown from the study that traits FSRY, HI, and DM were significant for genotype and months after planting and variable among the genotype while location had no effect on the yield traits. Early bulking genotypes were not high yielding and showed discontinuity at some point across the months. The retrogression in yield performance across months had no effect on the highest yielding. Also, for all the genotypes and across evaluated months, FSRY reduces at 9 MAP due to a reduction in dry matter content during the same month, and the best performing genotype was the genotype IBA90581, followed by IBA120036, IBA130896, and IBA980581 while the least performing was genotype IBA130818.

Keywords: early bulking, dry mater, harvest index, high yielding, root yield

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Authors: Liu Szu Yin

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The center of urban development lies in commercial transactions and folk religious activities. In Taipei City, temples serve as crucial urban spaces and centers for civic activities and religious beliefs. The appearance of local temples can be influenced by the prosperity of the surrounding communities. Apart from being centers of religious worship, Taipei's temples also host festival celebrations, allowing people to gather in front of the temples and form collective urban memories. The spatial attributes for hosting festival activities include streets, squares, parks, and buildings. In Taipei, many traditional festivals take place on the streets, either as round-trip routes or linear routes with a single starting and ending point. Given the processions and parades involving palanquins and other ceremonial objects during traditional festival activities, street spaces are frequently utilized. Therefore, this study analyzes the historical context and street spaces of three traditional festivals in Taipei City, including Qingshan Temple in Monga, Xiahai City God Temple in Dadaocheng, and Baoan Temple in Dalongdong, through on-site research. Most urban festival planners need to understand the characteristics of the city's streets in order to effectively utilize street spaces for festival planning. Taipei's traditional festivals not only preserve Chinese traditional culture but also incorporate modern elements, ensuring the transmission of culture and faith and allowing the city to become characterized by sustainable culture and unique urban memories.

Keywords: festival space, urban festival, taipei, urban memory

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Authors: Yuhong Li, Luyu Mao

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Globalization has led to an increasingly interconnected international community and transmitted risks to every corner of the world through the chain of globalization. Security risks arising from international conflicts seem inescapable. Some countries have begun to build their capacity to deal with the globalization of security risks. They establish disembedding security mechanisms that transcend spatial or temporal boundaries and promote security cooperation with countries or regions that are not geographically close. This paper proposes four hypotheses of the phenomenon of "risks and security disembedding" in the post-Cold War international society and uses them to explain The United Kingdom’s behavior in the Bosnian War and the Russo-Ukrainian War. In the Bosnian War, confident in its own security and focused on maintaining European stability, The UK has therefore chosen to be cautious in its use of force in international frameworks such as the EU and to maintain a very limited intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina's affairs. In contrast, the failure of the EU and NATO’s security mechanism in the Russo-Ukrainian war heightened Britain's anxiety, and the volatile international situation led it to show a strong tendency towards security disembedding, choosing to conclude security communities with extra-territorial states. Analysis suggests that security mechanisms are also the starting point of conflict and that countries will rely more on disembedding mechanisms to counteract the global security risks. The current mechanism of security disembedding occurs as a result of the global proliferation of security perceptions as a symbolic token and the recognition of an expert system of security mechanisms formed by states with similar security perceptions.

Keywords: disembedding mechanism, bosnia war, the russian-ukrainian war, british security strategy

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