Search results for: time truncated experiment

Authors: Vladimir Messerle, Alfred Mosse, Alexandr Ustimenko, Oleg Lavrichshev

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Hygiene and sanitary study of typical medical-biological waste made in Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and other countries show that their risk to the environment is much higher than that of most chemical wastes. For example, toxicity of solid waste (SW) containing cytotoxic drugs and antibiotics is comparable to toxicity of radioactive waste of high and medium level activity. This report presents the results of the thermodynamic analysis of thermal processing of SW and experiments at the developed plasma unit for SW processing. Thermodynamic calculations showed that the maximum yield of the synthesis gas at plasma gasification of SW in air and steam mediums is achieved at a temperature of 1600K. At the air plasma gasification of SW high-calorific synthesis gas with a concentration of 82.4% (СO – 31.7%, H2 – 50.7%) can be obtained, and at the steam plasma gasification – with a concentration of 94.5% (СO – 33.6%, H2 – 60.9%). Specific heat of combustion of the synthesis gas produced by air gasification amounts to 14267 kJ/kg, while by steam gasification - 19414 kJ/kg. At the optimal temperature (1600 K), the specific power consumption for air gasification of SW constitutes 1.92 kWh/kg, while for steam gasification - 2.44 kWh/kg. Experimental study was carried out in a plasma reactor. This is device of periodic action. The arc plasma torch of 70 kW electric power is used for SW processing. Consumption of SW was 30 kg/h. Flow of plasma-forming air was 12 kg/h. Under the influence of air plasma flame weight average temperature in the chamber reaches 1800 K. Gaseous products are taken out of the reactor into the flue gas cooling unit, and the condensed products accumulate in the slag formation zone. The cooled gaseous products enter the gas purification unit, after which via gas sampling system is supplied to the analyzer. Ventilation system provides a negative pressure in the reactor up to 10 mm of water column. Condensed products of SW processing are removed from the reactor after its stopping. By the results of experiments on SW plasma gasification the reactor operating conditions were determined, the exhaust gas analysis was performed and the residual carbon content in the slag was determined. Gas analysis showed the following composition of the gas at the exit of gas purification unit, (vol.%): СO – 26.5, H2 – 44.6, N2–28.9. The total concentration of the syngas was 71.1%, which agreed well with the thermodynamic calculations. The discrepancy between experiment and calculation by the yield of the target syngas did not exceed 16%. Specific power consumption for SW gasification in the plasma reactor according to the results of experiments amounted to 2.25 kWh/kg of working substance. No harmful impurities were found in both gas and condensed products of SW plasma gasification. Comparison of experimental results and calculations showed good agreement. Acknowledgement—This work was supported by Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Agreement on grant No. 14.607.21.0118, project RFMEF160715X0118).

Keywords: coal, efficiency, ignition, numerical modeling, plasma-fuel system, plasma generator

Procedia PDF Downloads 242

Authors: Xinrong Zong, Tao Zhang

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Macau is known as the Oriental Monte Carlo and its economy depends on gambling heavily. The dealer is the key position of the gambling industry, at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, there were over 24,000 dealers among the 56,000 full-time employees in gambling industry. More than half of dealers were female. The dealer is also called 'Croupier', the main responsibilities of them are shuffling, dealing, processing chips, rolling dice game and inspecting play. Due to the limited land and small population of Macao, the government has not allowed hiring foreign domestic dealers since Macao developed temporary gambling industry. Therefore, local dealers enjoy special advantages but also bear the high stresses from work. From the middle of last year, with the reduced income of gambling, and the decline of mainland gamblers as well as VIP lounges, the working time of dealers increased greatly. Thus, many problems occurred in this condition, such as the rise of working pressures, psychological pressures and family-responsibility pressures, which may affect job satisfaction as well. Because of the less research of dealer satisfaction, and a lack of standing on feminine perspective to analyze female dealers, this study will focus on investigating the relationship between working pressure and job satisfaction from feminine view. Several issues will be discussed specifically: firstly, to understand current situation of the working pressures and job satisfactions of female dealers in different ages; secondly, to research if there is any relevance between working pressures and job satisfactions of female dealers in different ages; thirdly, to find out the relationship between dealers' working pressures and job satisfactions in different ages. This paper combined qualitative approach with quantitative approach selected samples by convenient sampling. The research showed the female dealers from diverse ages have different kinds of working pressures; second, job satisfactions of the female dealers in different ages are dissimilar; moreover, there is negative correlation between working pressure and job satisfaction of female dealer in different ages' groups; last but not the least, working pressure has a significant negative impact on job satisfaction. The research result will provide a reference value for the Macau gambling business. It is a pattern to improve dealers' working environment, to increase employees' job satisfaction, as well as to offer tourists a better service, which can help to attract more and more visitors from a good image of Macau gaming and tourism.

Keywords: female dealers, job satisfaction, working pressure, Macau

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: Shpetim Rezniqi

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Financial Policies in the process of global crisis the current crisis has swept the world with special emphasis, most developed countries, those countries which have most gross -product world and you have a high level of living.Even those who are not experts can describe the consequences of the crisis to see the reality that is seen, but how far will it go this crisis is impossible to predict. Even the biggest experts have conjecture and large divergence, but agree on one thing: - The devastating effects of this crisis will be more severe than ever before and can not be predicted.Long time, the world was dominated economic theory of free market laws. With the belief that the market is the regulator of all economic problems. The market, as river water will flow to find the best and will find the necessary solution best. Therefore much less state market barriers, less state intervention and market itself is an economic self-regulation. Free market economy became the model of global economic development and progress, it transcends national barriers and became the law of the development of the entire world economy. Globalization and global market freedom were principles of development and international cooperation. All international organizations like the World Bank, states powerful economic, development and cooperation principles laid free market economy and the elimination of state intervention. The less state intervention much more freedom of action was this market- leading international principle. We live in an era of financial tragic. Financial markets and banking in particular economies are in a state of thy good, US stock markets fell about 40%, in other words, this time, was one of the darkest moments 5 since 1920. Prior to her rank can only "collapse" of the stock of Wall Street in 1929, technological collapse of 2000, the crisis of 1973 after the Yom Kippur war, while the price of oil quadrupled and famous collapse of 1937 / '38, when Europe was beginning World war II In 2000, even though it seems like the end of the world was the corner, the world economy survived almost intact. Of course, that was small recessions in the United States, Europe, or Japan. Much more difficult the situation was at crisis 30s, or 70s, however, succeeded the world. Regarding the recent financial crisis, it has all the signs to be much sharper and with more consequences. The decline in stock prices is more a byproduct of what is really happening. Financial markets began dance of death with the credit crisis, which came as a result of the large increase in real estate prices and household debt. It is these last two phenomena can be matched very well with the gains of the '20s, a period during which people spent fists as if there was no tomorrow. All is not away from the mouth of the word recession, that fact no longer a sudden and abrupt. But as much as the financial markets melt, the greater is the risk of a problematic economy for years to come. Thus, for example, the banking crisis in Japan proved to be much more severe than initially expected, partly because the assets which were based more loans had, especially the land that falling in value. The price of land in Japan is about 15 years that continues to fall. (ADRI Nurellari-Published in the newspaper "Classifieds"). At this moment, it is still difficult to çmosh to what extent the crisis has affected the economy and what would be the consequences of the crisis. What we know is that many banks will need more time to reduce the award of credit, but banks have this primary function, this means huge loss.

Keywords: globalisation, finance, crisis, recomandation, bank, credits

Procedia PDF Downloads 374

Authors: Achim Kampker, Heiner H. Heimes, Mathias Ordung, Christoph Lienemann, Ansgar Hollah, Nemanja Sarovic

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Electric cars with their fast innovation cycles and their disruptive character offer a high degree of freedom regarding innovative design for remanufacturing. Remanufacturing increases not only the resource but also the economic efficiency by a prolonged product life time. The reduced power train wear of electric cars combined with high manufacturing costs for batteries allow new business models and even second life applications. Modular and intermountable designed battery packs enable the replacement of defective or outdated battery cells, allow additional cost savings and a prolongation of life time. This paper discusses opportunities for future remanufacturing value chains of electric cars and their battery components and how to address their potentials with elaborate designs. Based on a brief overview of implemented remanufacturing structures in different industries, opportunities of transferability are evaluated. In addition to an analysis of current and upcoming challenges, promising perspectives for a sustainable electric car circular economy enabled by design for remanufacturing are deduced. Two mathematical models describe the feasibility of pursuing a circular economy of lithium ion batteries and evaluate remanufacturing in terms of sustainability and economic efficiency. Taking into consideration not only labor and material cost but also capital costs for equipment and factory facilities to support the remanufacturing process, cost benefit analysis prognosticate that a remanufacturing battery can be produced more cost-efficiently. The ecological benefits were calculated on a broad database from different research projects which focus on the recycling, the second use and the assembly of lithium ion batteries. The results of this calculations show a significant improvement by remanufacturing in all relevant factors especially in the consumption of resources and greenhouse warming potential. Exemplarily suitable design guidelines for future remanufacturing lithium ion batteries, which consider modularity, interfaces and disassembly, are used to illustrate the findings. For one guideline, potential cost improvements were calculated and upcoming challenges are pointed out.

Keywords: circular economy, electric mobility, lithium ion batteries, remanufacturing

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Authors: Pinn Tsin Isabel Yee

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Students are increasingly turning towards online learning materials to supplement their education. One such approach would be the gamified student engagement platforms (GSEPs) to instill a new learning culture. Data was collected from closed-ended questions via content analysis techniques. About 81.8% of college students from the Monash University Foundation Year agreed that GSEPs (Quizizz) was an effective tool for learning. Approximately 85.5% of students disagreed that games were a waste of time. GSEPs were highly effective among students to facilitate the learning process.

Keywords: engagement, gamified, Quizizz, technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Wang Heng, Zhong Zhaoping, Guo Feihong, Wang Jia, Wang Xiaoyi

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Flow of gas and particles in fluidized beds is complex and chaotic, which is difficult to measure and analyze by experiments. Some bed materials with bad fluidized performance always fluidize with fluidized medium. The material and the fluidized medium are different in many properties such as density, size and shape. These factors make the dynamic process more complex and the experiment research more limited. Numerical simulation is an efficient way to describe the process of gas-solid flow in fluidized bed. One of the most popular numerical simulation methods is CFD-DEM, i.e., computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method. The shapes of particles are always simplified as sphere in most researches. Although sphere-shaped particles make the calculation of particle uncomplicated, the effects of different shapes are disregarded. However, in practical applications, the two-component systems in fluidized bed also contain sphere particles and non-sphere particles. Therefore, it is needed to study the two component flow of sphere particles and non-sphere particles. In this paper, the flows of mixing were simulated as the flow of molding biomass particles and quartz in fluidized bad. The integrated model was built on an Eulerian–Lagrangian approach which was improved to suit the non-sphere particles. The constructed methods of cylinder-shaped particles were different when it came to different numerical methods. Each cylinder-shaped particle was constructed as an agglomerate of fictitious small particles in CFD part, which means the small fictitious particles gathered but not combined with each other. The diameter of a fictitious particle d_fic and its solid volume fraction inside a cylinder-shaped particle α_fic, which is called the fictitious volume fraction, are introduced to modify the drag coefficient β by introducing the volume fraction of the cylinder-shaped particles α_cld and sphere-shaped particles α_sph. In a computational cell, the void ε, can be expressed as ε=1-〖α_cld α〗_fic-α_sph. The Ergun equation and the Wen and Yu equation were used to calculate β. While in DEM method, cylinder-shaped particles were built by multi-sphere method, in which small sphere element merged with each other. Soft sphere model was using to get the connect force between particles. The total connect force of cylinder-shaped particle was calculated as the sum of the small sphere particles’ forces. The model (size=1×0.15×0.032 mm3) contained 420000 sphere-shaped particles (diameter=0.8 mm, density=1350 kg/m3) and 60 cylinder-shaped particles (diameter=10 mm, length=10 mm, density=2650 kg/m3). Each cylinder-shaped particle was constructed by 2072 small sphere-shaped particles (d=0.8 mm) in CFD mesh and 768 sphere-shaped particles (d=3 mm) in DEM mesh. The length of CFD and DEM cells are 1 mm and 2 mm. Superficial gas velocity was changed in different models as 1.0 m/s, 1.5 m/s, 2.0m/s. The results of simulation were compared with the experimental results. The movements of particles were regularly as fountain. The effect of superficial gas velocity on cylinder-shaped particles was stronger than that of sphere-shaped particles. The result proved this present work provided a effective approach to simulation the flow of two component particles.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, discrete element method, fluidized bed, multiphase flow

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Authors: Rahman Davtalab

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Florida is one of the most vulnerable states to natural disasters among the 50 states of the USA. The state exposed by tropical storms, hurricanes, storm surge, landslide, etc. Besides, the mentioned natural phenomena, global warming, sea-level rise, and other anthropogenic environmental changes make a very complicated and unpredictable system for decision-makers. In this study, we tried to highlight the effects of climate change and sea-level rise on surface water and groundwater systems for three different geographical locations in Florida; Main Canal of Jacksonville Beach (in the northeast of Florida adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean), Grace Lake in central Florida, far away from surrounded coastal line, and Mc Dill in Florida and adjacent to Tampa Bay and Mexican Gulf. An integrated hydrologic and hydraulic model was developed and simulated for all three cases, including surface water, groundwater, or a combination of both. For the case study of Main Canal-Jacksonville Beach, the investigation showed that a 76 cm sea-level rise in time horizon 2060 could increase the flow velocity of the tide cycle for the main canal's outlet and headwater. This case also revealed how the sea level rise could change the tide duration, potentially affecting the coastal ecosystem. As expected, sea-level rise can raise the groundwater level. Therefore, for the Mc Dill case, the effect of groundwater rise on soil storage and the performance of stormwater retention ponds is investigated. The study showed that sea-level rise increased the pond’s seasonal high water up to 40 cm by time horizon 2060. The reliability of the retention pond is dropped from 99% for the current condition to 54% for the future. The results also proved that the retention pond could not retain and infiltrate the designed treatment volume within 72 hours, which is a significant indication of increasing pollutants in the future. Grace Lake case study investigates the effects of climate change on groundwater recharge. This study showed that using the dynamically downscaled data of the groundwater recharge can decline up to 24% by the mid-21st century.

Keywords: groundwater, surface water, Florida, retention pond, tide, sea level rise

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Melanie Redding

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Historic widespread nitrate contamination of the Lower Yakima Valley aquifer in Washington State initiated a community-based effort to reduce nitrate concentrations to below-drinking water standards. This group commissioned studies on characterizing local nitrogen sources, deep soil assessments, drinking water, and assessing nitrate concentrations at the water table. Nitrate is the most prevalent groundwater contaminant with common sources from animal and human waste, fertilizers, plants and precipitation. It is challenging to address groundwater contamination when common sources, such as agriculture, on-site sewage systems, and animal production, are widespread. Remediation is not possible, so mitigation is essential. The Lower Yakima Valley is located over 175,000 acres, with a population of 56,000 residents. Approximately 25% of the population do not have access to safe, clean drinking water, and 20% of the population is at or below the poverty level. Agriculture is the primary economic land-use activity. Irrigated agriculture and livestock production make up the largest percentage of acreage and nitrogen load. Commodities include apples, grapes, hops, dairy, silage corn, triticale, alfalfa and cherries. These commodities are important to the economic viability of the residents of the Lower Yakima Valley, as well as Washington State. Mitigation of nitrate in groundwater is challenging. The goal is to ensure everyone has safe drinking water. There are no easy remedies due to the extensive and pervasiveness of the contamination. Monitoring at the water table indicates that 45% of the 30 spatially distributed monitoring wells exceeded the drinking water standard. This indicates that there are multiple sources that are impacting water quality. Washington State has several areas which have extensive groundwater nitrate contamination. The groundwater in these areas continues to degrade over time. However, the Lower Yakima Valley is being successful in addressing this health issue because of the following reasons: the community is engaged and committed; there is one common goal; there has been extensive public education and outreach to citizens; and generating credible data using sound scientific methods. Work in this area is continuing as an ambient groundwater monitoring network is established to assess the condition of the aquifer over time. Nitrate samples are being collected from 170 wells, spatially distributed across the aquifer. This research entails quarterly sampling for two years to characterize seasonal variability and then continue annually afterward. This assessment will provide the data to statistically determine trends in nitrate concentrations across the aquifer, over time. Thirty-three of these wells are monitoring wells that are screened across the aquifer. The water quality from these wells are indicative of activities at the land surface. Additional work is being conducted to identify land use management practices that are effective in limiting nitrate migration through the soil column. Tracking nitrate in the soil column every season is an important component of bridging land-use practices with the fate and transport of nitrate through the subsurface. Patience, tenacity, and the ability to think outside the box are essential for dealing with widespread nitrate contamination of groundwater.

Keywords: community, groundwater, monitoring, nitrate

Procedia PDF Downloads 160

Authors: Arpit Kumar Shrivastava, Subrat Kumar, Rajani Kanta Mohapatra, Priyadarshi Soumyaranjan Sahu

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Computational approaches to predict structure, function and other biological characteristics of proteins are becoming more common in comparison to the traditional methods in drug discovery. Cryptosporidiosis is a major zoonotic diarrheal disease particularly in children, which is caused primarily by Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium parvum. Currently, there are no vaccines for cryptosporidiosis and recommended drugs are not effective. With the availability of complete genome sequence of C. hominis, new targets have been recognized for the development of effective and better drugs and/or vaccines. We identified a unique hypothetical epitopic protein in C. hominis genome through BLASTP analysis. A 3D model of the hypothetical protein was generated using I-Tasser server through threading methodology. The quality of the model was validated through Ramachandran plot by PROCHECK server. The functional annotation of the hypothetical protein through DALI server revealed structural similarity with human Transportin 3. Phylogenetic analysis for this hypothetical protein also showed C. hominis hypothetical protein (CUV04613) was the closely related to human transportin 3 protein. The 3D protein model is further subjected to virtual screening study with inhibitors from the Zinc Database by using Dock Blaster software. Docking study reported N-(3-chlorobenzyl) ethane-1,2-diamine as the best inhibitor in terms of docking score. Docking analysis elucidated that Leu 525, Ile 526, Glu 528, Glu 529 are critical residues for ligand–receptor interactions. The molecular dynamic simulation was done to access the reliability of the binding pose of inhibitor and protein complex using GROMACS software at 10ns time point. Trajectories were analyzed at each 2.5 ns time interval, among which, H-bond with LEU-525 and GLY- 530 are significantly present in MD trajectories. Furthermore, antigenic determinants of the protein were determined with the help of DNA Star software. Our study findings showed a great potential in order to provide insights in the development of new drug(s) or vaccine(s) for control as well as prevention of cryptosporidiosis among humans and animals.

Keywords: cryptosporidium hominis, hypothetical protein, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 352

Authors: Atin Mukherjee, Amitabha Sinha, Debesh Choudhury

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Fast Fourier transform (FFT) of large-number of samples requires larger hardware resources of field programmable gate arrays and it asks for more area as well as power. In this paper, an area efficient architecture of FFT processor is proposed, that reuses the butterfly units more than once. The FFT processor is emulated and the results are validated on Virtex-6 FPGA. The proposed architecture outperforms the conventional architecture of a N-point FFT processor in terms of area which is reduced by a factor of log_N(2) with the negligible increase of processing time.

Keywords: FFT, FPGA, resource optimization, butterfly units

Procedia PDF Downloads 509

Authors: Ratna Sen

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As due to very high temperature of Plasma it is very difficult to confine it for sufficient time so that nuclear fusion reactions to take place, As we know Plasma escapes faster than the binary collision rates. We studied the ball analogy and the ‘energy principle’ and calculated the total potential energy for the whole Plasma. If δ ⃗w is negative, that is decrease in potential energy then the plasma will be unstable. We also discussed different approaches of stability analysis such as Nyquist Method, MHD approximation and Vlasov approach of plasma stability. So that by using magnetic field configurations we can able to create a stable Plasma in Tokamak for generating energy for future generations.

Keywords: jello, magnetic field configuration, MHD approximation, energy principle

Procedia PDF Downloads 425

Authors: Katarzyna Pasternak

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Experiencing the meaning of life is widely recognised as a vital element of well-being and central human motivation. Studies have shown that a higher meaning of life is associated, among other things, with a higher quality of life, higher levels of happiness and better declared health. The subject of the study is the meaning in life measured with The Meaning in Life Questionnaire and the presence of such emotions as nostalgia, awe and hope, and the content of imaginations measured after temporal mental simulations in Americans and Poles. The respondents had to imagine themselves in future, in 40 years and describe two events that would take place at that time. Next, participants assessed the importance of the events described by them, recognised whether during their journey through time they felt awe, hope and nostalgia, and answered the questionnaire examining the meaning in life. 204 (102 from Poland 102 from the USA ) people aged 21 to 60 participated in the study. The study checked whether there were differences in the content of the imaginations of the respondents from Poland and USA, and whether there were statistically significant difference between the declared sense of meaning in life among participants from both countries. The result of the study hane shown that there were no differences in the overall result obtained by the participants in The Meaning in Life Questionnaire , while there were statistically significant differences among the subscales of the questionnaire. It turned out that Americans have a higher presence of meaning in life than Poles, but they obtained lower results in searching of meaning in life. Studies have also shown that there was a statistically significant difference between Poles and Americans in feeling awe after a mental simulation. Poles felt higher level of awe. Images about the future differed between Poles and Americans. Poles judged that the events they described were very important to them. Interestingly, the content of American participants’ imaginations was dominated by topics related to the future of the world, ecology and world peace. There were also ideas about nice moments spent with friends and family. Among Poles, ideas related to professional career and development as well as family events dominated. Research shows that despite the lack of differences in the general meaning in life, Poles are more focused on searching for meaning in life than Americans. The study shows interesting differences between the two cultures.

Keywords: meaning in life, mental simulations, imaginations, temporal mental simulations, future, cultural differences

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Authors: P. Serrano-Pérez, M. C. Rodríguez-Molina, C. Palo, E. Palo, A. Lacasa

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Phytophthora nicotianae is the principal causal agent of root and crown rot disease of red pepper plants in Extremadura (Western Spain). There is a need to develop a biologically-based method of soil disinfestation that facilitates profitable and sustainable production without the use of chemical fumigants. Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD), as well know as biodisinfestation, has been shown to control a wide range of soil-borne pathogens and nematodes in numerous crop production systems. This method implies soil wetting, incorporation of a easily decomposable carbon-rich organic amendment and covering with plastic film for several weeks. ASD with rapeseed cake (var. Tocatta, a glucosinolates-free variety) used as C-source was assayed in spring 2014, before the pepper crop establishment. The field experiment was conducted at the Agricultural Research Centre Finca La Orden (Southwestern Spain) and the treatments were: rapeseed cake (RCP); rapeseed cake without plastic cover (RC); control non-amendment (CP) and control non-amendment without plastic cover (C). The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with four replicates and a plot size of 5 x 5 m. On 26 March, rapeseed cake (1 kg·m-2) was incorporated into the soil with a rotovator. Biological probes with the inoculum were buried at 15 and 30-cm depth (biological probes were previously prepared with 100 g of disinfected soil inoculated with chlamydospores (chlam) of P. nicotianae P13 isolate [100 chlam·g-1 of soil] and wrapped in agryl cloth). Sprinkler irrigation was run until field capacity and the corresponding plots were covered with transparent plastic (PE 0.05 mm). On 6 May plastics were removed, the biological probes were dug out and a bioassay was established. One pepper seedling at the 2 to 4 true-leaves stage was transplanted in the soil from each biological probe. Plants were grown in a climatic chamber and disease symptoms were recorded every week during 2 months. Fragments of roots and crown of symptomatic plants were analyzed on NARPH media and soil from rizospheres was analyzed using carnation petals as baits. Results of “survival” were expressed as the percentage of soil samples where P. nicotianae was detected and results of “infectivity” were expressed as the percentage of diseased plants. No differences were detected in deep effect. Infectivity of P. nicotianae chlamydospores was successfully reduced in RCP treatment (4.2% of infectivity) compared with the controls (41.7% of infectivity). The pattern of survival was similar to infectivity observed by the bioassay: 21% of survival in RCP; 79% in CP; 83% in C and 87% in RC. Although ASD may be an effective alternative to chemical fumigants to pest management, more research is necessary to show their impact on the microbial community and chemistry of the soil.

Keywords: biodisinfestation, BSD, soil fumigant alternatives, organic amendments

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Authors: Diana Mitova, Krassimir Mitrev

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To prepare the current generation for the future, education systems need to change. It implies a way of learning that meets the demands of the times and the environment in which we live. Productive interaction in the educational process implies an interactive learning environment and the possibility of personal development of learners based on communication and mutual dialogue, cooperation and good partnership in decision-making. Students need not only theoretical knowledge, but transferable skills that will help them to become inventors and entrepreneurs, to implement ideas. STEM education , is now a real necessity for the modern school. Through learning in a "learning company", students master examples from classroom practice, simulate real life situations, group activities and apply basic interactive learning strategies and techniques. The learning company is the subject of this study, reduced to entrepreneurship training in STEM - technologies that encourage students to think outside the traditional box. STEM learning focuses the teacher's efforts on modeling entrepreneurial thinking and behavior in students and helping them solve problems in the world of business and entrepreneurship. Learning based on the implementation of various STEM projects in extracurricular activities, experiential learning, and an interdisciplinary approach are means by which educators better connect the local community and private businesses. Learners learn to be creative, experiment and take risks and work in teams - the leading characteristics of any innovator and future entrepreneur. This article presents some European policies on STEM and entrepreneurship education. It also shares best practices for training company training , with the integration of STEM in the learning company training environment. The main results boil down to identifying some advantages and problems in STEM entrepreneurship education. The benefits of using integrative approaches to teach STEM within a training company are identified, as well as the positive effects of project-based learning in a training company using STEM. Best practices for teaching entrepreneurship through extracurricular activities using STEM within a training company are shared. The following research methods are applied in this research paper: Theoretical and comparative analysis of principles and policies of European Union countries and Bulgaria in the field of entrepreneurship education through a training company. Experiences in entrepreneurship education through extracurricular activities with STEM application within a training company are shared. A questionnaire survey to investigate the motivation of secondary vocational school students to learn entrepreneurship through a training company and their readiness to start their own business after completing their education. Within the framework of learning through a "learning company" with the integration of STEM, the activity of the teacher-facilitator includes the methods: counseling, supervising and advising students during work. The expectation is that students acquire the key competence "initiative and entrepreneurship" and that the cooperation between the vocational education system and the business in Bulgaria is more effective.

Keywords: STEM, entrepreneurship, training company, extracurricular activities

Procedia PDF Downloads 85

Authors: Mohamed Benaddou, Mohammed Diouri

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country, such as Morocco, generates a high quantity of agricultural and food industry residues. A large portion of these residues is disposed of by burning or landfilling. The valorization of this waste biomass as feed is an interesting alternative because it is therefore considered among the best sources of cheap carbohydrates. However, its nutritional yield without any pre-treatment is very low because lignin protects cellulose, the carbohydrate used as a source of energy by ruminants. Fungal treatment is an environmentally friendly, easy and inexpensive method. This study investigated the treatment of wheat straw (WS), cedar sawdust (CS) and olive pomace (OP) with fungi selected according to the source of Carbon for improving its digestibility. Two were selected in a culture medium in which cellulose was the only source of Carbon: Cosmospora Viridescens (C.vir) and Penicillium crustosum (P.crus), two were selected in a culture medium in which lignin is the only source of Carbon: Fusarium oxysporum (F.oxy) and Fusarium sp. (F. Sp), and two in a culture medium where cellulose and lignin are the two sources of Carbon at the same time: Fusarium solani (F. solani) and Penicillium chrysogenum (P.chryso). P.chryso degraded more CS cellulose. It is very important to notice that the delignification by F. Solani reached 70% after 12 weeks of treatment of wheat straw. Ligninase enzymatic was detected in F.solani, F.sp, F.oxysporum, which made it possible to delignify the treated substrates. Delignification by C.vir is negligible in all three substrates after 12 weeks of treatment. P.crus and P.chryso degraded the lignin very slightly in WC (it did not exceed 12% after 12 weeks of treatment) but in OP this delignification is slight reaching 25% and 13% for P.chryso and P.crus successively. P.chryso allowed 30% degradation of lignin from 4 weeks of treatment. The degradation of the lignin was able to reach the maximum within 8 weeks of treatment for most of the fungi except F. solani who continued the treatment after this period. Digestibility variation (IVTD.variation) is highly very significant from fungus to fungi, duration to time, substrate to substrate and its interactions (P <0.001). indeed, all the fungi increased digestibility after 12 weeks of treatment with a difference in the degree of this increase. F.solani and F.oxy increased digestibility more than the others. this digestibility exceeded 50% in CS and O.P but did not exceed 20% for WS after treatment with F.oxy. IVTD.Var was not exceeded 20% in W.S.cedar treated with P.chryso but reached 45% after 8 weeks of treatment in W.straw.

Keywords: lignin, cellulose, digestibility, fungi, treatment, lignocellulosic biomass

Procedia PDF Downloads 193

Authors: Teris Cheung, Joyce Yuen Ting Lam, Kwan Hin Fong, Yuen Shan Ho, Tim Man Ho Li, Andy Choi-Yeung Tse, Cheng-Ta Li, Calvin Pak-Wing Cheng, Roland Beisteiner

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Transcranial pulse stimulation (TPS) is a non-intrusive brain stimulation technology that has been proven effective in older adults with mild neurocognitive disorders and adults with major depressive disorder. Given these robust evidences, TPS might be an adjunct treatment options in neuropsychiatric disorders, for example, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – which is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in children. This trial aimed to investigate the effects of TPS on right temporoparietal junction, a key node for social cognition for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and to examine the association between TPS, executive functions and social functions. Design: This trial adopted a two-armed (verum TPS group vs. sham TPS group), double-blinded, randomized, sham-controlled design. Sampling: 32 subjects aged between 12 and 17, diagnosed with ASD were recruited. All subjects were computerized randomized into either verum TPS group or the sham TPS group on a 1:1 ratio. All subjects undertook functional MRI before and after the TPS interventions. Intervention: Six 30-min TPS sessions were administered to subjects in 2 weeks’ time on alternate days assessing neural connectivity changes. Baseline measurements and post-TPS evaluation of the ASD symptoms, executive functions, and social functions were conducted. Participants were followed up at 2-weeks, at 1-month and 3-month, assessing the short-and long-term sustainability of the TPS intervention. Data analysis: Generalized Estimating Equations with repeated measures were used to analyze the group and time difference. Missing data were managed by multiple imputations. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. To our best knowledge, this is the first study evaluating the efficacy and safety of TPS among adolescents with ASD in Hong Kong and nationwide. Results emerging from this study will develop insight on whether TPS can be used as an adjunct treatment on ASD in neuroscience and clinical psychiatry. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT05408793.

Keywords: adolescents, autism spectrum disorder, neuromodulation, rct, transcranial pulse stimulation

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Authors: Mesbah Tarek, Kelaiaia Samia, Chiheb Sofien, Kelaiaia Mounia Samira, Labar Hocine

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As every power systems short circuit failure can occur for HVDC at the DC link. So, the power devices should be protected against over heath produced by this over-current. This can be achieved through the power switchers or fast breaker. After short circuit the system is unable to restart, only after a time delay, because of the potential distribution along the DC link line. An appropriate fast and safety control is proposed and tested successfully. The detailed development and discussion of these faults is presented in this paper.

Keywords: HVDC, DC link, switchers, short circuit, faults

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Authors: Parastou Kharazmi

Abstract:

Degradation of building materials particularly pipelines causes environmental damage during the renovation or replacement, disturbance for people living in the buildings, is time-consuming and last but not least is very costly. Rehabilitation by composite materials is a solution for renovation of degraded pipeline in residential buildings and any other structures which is less costly, faster and causes less damage to the environment. This study provides a brief state of technology, methods, and materials which are being used in Nordic and some other European countries and an investigation on the performance of the relined pipes after they have been in working condition. The investigation was carried by different analyses in laboratory as well as numerous field inspections.

Keywords: buildings, pipeline, rehabilitation, polymer materials

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Authors: Maryam Bahreini, Mostafa Talebi Garekani, Fatemeh Rasooli, Atefeh Abdollahi

Abstract:

Introduction: Procedural sedation and analgesia have been desirable to handle painful procedures. The trend to find the agent with more efficacy and less complications is still controversial; thus, many sedative regimens have been studied. This study tried to assess the effectiveness and adverse effects of thiopental sodium-fentanyl with the known medication, ketamine-propofol for procedural sedation in the emergency department. Methods: Consenting patients were enrolled in this randomized double-blind trial to receive either 1:1 ketamine-propofol (KP) or thiopental-fentanyl (TF) 1:1 mg: Mg proportion on a weight-based dosing basis to reach the sedation level of American Society of Anesthesiologist class III/IV. The respiratory and hemodynamic complications, nausea and vomiting, recovery agitation, patient recall and satisfaction, provider satisfaction and recovery time were compared. The study was registered in Iranian randomized Control Trial Registry (Code: IRCT2015111325025N1). Results: 96 adult patients were included and randomized, 47 in the KP group and 49 in the TF group. 2.1% in the KP group and 8.1 % in the TF group experienced transient hypoxia leading to performing 4.2 % versus 8.1 % airway maneuvers for 2 groups, respectively; however, no statistically significant difference was observed between 2 combinations, and there was no report of endotracheal placement or further admission. Patient and physician satisfaction were significantly higher in the KP group. There was no difference in respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and psychiatric adverse events, recovery time and patient recall of the procedure between groups. The efficacy and complications were not related to the type of procedure or patients’ smoking or addiction trends. Conclusion: Ketamine-propofol and thiopental-fentanyl combinations were effectively comparable although KP resulted in higher patient and provider satisfaction. It is estimated that thiopental fentanyl combination can be as potent and efficacious as ketofol with relatively similar incidence of adverse events in procedural sedation.

Keywords: adverse effects, conscious sedation, fentanyl, propofol, ketamine, safety, thiopental

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Authors: Constantin Z. Leshan

Abstract:

Hole Vacuum theory is based on discontinuous spacetime that contains vacuum holes. Vacuum holes can explain gravitation, some laws of quantum mechanics and allow teleportation of matter. All massive bodies emit a flux of holes which curve the spacetime; if we increase the concentration of holes, it leads to length contraction and time dilation because the holes do not have the properties of extension and duration. In the limited case when space consists of holes only, the distance between every two points is equal to zero and time stops - outside of the Universe, the extension and duration properties do not exist. For this reason, the vacuum hole is the only particle in physics capable of describing gravitation using its own properties only. All microscopic particles must 'jump' continually and 'vibrate' due to the appearance of holes (impassable microscopic 'walls' in space), and it is the cause of the quantum behavior. Vacuum holes can explain the entanglement, non-locality, wave properties of matter, tunneling, uncertainty principle and so on. Particles do not have trajectories because spacetime is discontinuous and has impassable microscopic 'walls' due to the simple mechanical motion is impossible at small scale distances; it is impossible to 'trace' a straight line in the discontinuous spacetime because it contains the impassable holes. Spacetime 'boils' continually due to the appearance of the vacuum holes. For teleportation to be possible, we must send a body outside of the Universe by enveloping it with a closed surface consisting of vacuum holes. Since a material body cannot exist outside of the Universe, it reappears instantaneously in a random point of the Universe. Since a body disappears in one volume and reappears in another random volume without traversing the physical space between them, such a transportation method can be called teleportation (or Hole Teleportation). It is shown that Hole Teleportation does not violate causality and special relativity due to its random nature and other properties. Although Hole Teleportation has a random nature, it can be used for colonization of extrasolar planets by the help of the method called 'random jumps': after a large number of random teleportation jumps, there is a probability that the spaceship may appear near a habitable planet. We can create vacuum holes experimentally using the method proposed by Descartes: we must remove a body from the vessel without permitting another body to occupy this volume.

Keywords: border of the Universe, causality violation, perfect isolation, quantum jumps

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Authors: Zhen Ye, Maryam Zaroudi, Elizabeth Aisenbrey, Nicolynn E. Davis, Peng Gao

Abstract:

Nanoparticles have been used as drug delivery systems in the treatment of life-threatening diseases for decades, but traditional formulation development methods are time consuming and labor intensive. Millipore Sigma has developed a platform¬¬– NanoFabTxTM¬¬– for rapid and reproducible formulation development and screening to ensure consistentnanoparticle characteristics. Reproducible and precise control of the development process for a range of nanoparticle formulations accelerates the introduction of novel formulations to the clinic.

Keywords: Bio platform, Formulation development, NanoFabTxTM, Drug delivery

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Authors: C. E. Nugraheni, L. Abednego

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This paper is concerned with minimization of mean tardiness and flow time in a real single machine production scheduling problem. Two variants of genetic algorithm as meta-heuristic are combined with hyper-heuristic approach are proposed to solve this problem. These methods are used to solve instances generated with real world data from a company. Encouraging results are reported.

Keywords: hyper-heuristics, evolutionary algorithms, production scheduling, meta-heuristic

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Authors: Barbara Behre, Verolien Cauberghe, Dieneke Van de Sompel

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Sustainable consumption is on the rise, yet it has still not entered the mainstream in several industries, such as the fashion industry. In online fashion contexts, sustainability cues have been used to signal the sustainable benefits of certain garments to promote sustainable consumption. These sustainable cues may focus on the ecological or social dimension of sustainability. Since sustainability, in general, relates to distant, abstract benefits, the current study aims to examine if and how psychological distance may mediate the effects of exposure to different sustainability cues on consumption outcomes. Following the framework of Construal Level Theory of Psychological Distance, reduced psychological distance renders the construal level more concrete, which may influence attitudes and subsequent behavior in situations like fashion shopping. Most studies investigated sustainability as a composite, failing to differentiate between ecological and societal aspects of sustainability. The few studies examining sustainability more in detail uncovered that environmental sustainability is rather perceived in abstract cognitive construal, whereas social sustainability is linked to concrete construal. However, the construal level affiliation of the sustainability dimensions likely is not universally applicable to different domains and stages of consumption, which further suggest a need to clarify the relationships between environmental and social sustainability dimensions and the construal level of psychological distance within fashion brand consumption. While psychological distance and construal level have been examined in the context of sustainability, these studies yielded mixed results. The inconsistent findings of past studies might be due to the context-dependence of psychological distance as inducing construal differently in diverse situations. Especially in a hedonic consumption context like online fashion shopping, the role of visual processing of information could determine behavioural outcomes as linked to situational construal. Given the influence of the mode of processing on psychological distance and construal level, the current study examines the moderating role of verbal versus non-verbal presentation of the sustainability cues. In a 3 (environmental sustainability vs. social sustainability vs. control) x 2 (non-verbal message vs. verbal message) between subjects experiment, the present study thus examines how consumers evaluate sustainable brands in online shopping contexts in terms of psychological distance and construal level, as well as the impact on brand attitudes and buying intentions. The results among 246 participants verify the differential impact of the sustainability dimensions on fashion brand purchase intent as mediated by construal level and perceived psychological distance. The ecological sustainability cue is perceived as more concrete, which might be explained by consumer bias induced by the predominance of pro-environmental sustainability messages. The verbal versus non-verbal presentation of the sustainability cue neither had a significant influence on distance perceptions and construal level nor on buying intentions. This study offers valuable contributions to the sustainable consumption literature, as well as a theoretical basis for construal-level framing as applied in sustainable fashion branding.

Keywords: construal level theory, environmental vs social sustainability, online fashion shopping, sustainable fashion

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Authors: Sadok Aboubakr

Abstract:

The mechanical behavior of cracks from several manufacturing defect in an oil pipeline, is characterized by the fact that defects'm taking several forms: circumferential, longitudinal and inclined crack that evolve over time. Increased lifetime of the constructions and in particular cylindrical tubes under internal pressure requires knowledge improving these defects during loading. From this study we simulated various forms of cracking and also their pipeline repair patch.

Keywords: stress intensity factor, pressure, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, Shear modulus, Longueur du pipeline, the angle of crack, crack length

Procedia PDF Downloads 349

Authors: Dong Bok Lee, Min Jung Kim

Abstract:

The commercially available titanium alloy, Ti-6Al-4V, was oxynitrided in the deoxygenated nitrogen gas at high temperatures followed by cooling in oxygen-containing nitrogen in order to analyze the influence of oxynitriding parameters on the phase modification, hardness, and the microstructural evolution of the oxynitrided coating. The surface microhardness of the oxynitrided alloy increased due to the strengthening effect of the formed titanium oxynitrides, TiN_xO_y. The maximum microhardness was obtained, when TiN_xO_y had near equiatomic composition of nitrogen and oxygen. It could be attained under the optimum oxygen partial pressure and temperature-time condition.

Keywords: titanium alloy, oxynitriding, gas diffusion, surface treatment

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Authors: Cornelia-Eugenia Munteanu

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The goal of this paper is to present the diagnostic contribution that the screening instrument, Mini-Mental State Examination-2: Expanded Version (MMSE-2:EV), brings in detecting the cognitive impairment or in monitoring the progress of degenerative disorders. The diagnostic signification is underlined by the interpretation of the MMSE-2:EV scores, resulted from the test application to patients with mild and major neurocognitive disorders. The original MMSE is one of the most widely used screening tools for detecting the cognitive impairment, in clinical settings, but also in the field of neurocognitive research. Now, the practitioners and researchers are turning their attention to the MMSE-2. To enhance its clinical utility, the new instrument was enriched and reorganized in three versions (MMSE-2:BV, MMSE-2:SV and MMSE-2:EV), each with two forms: blue and red. The MMSE-2 was adapted and used successfully in Romania since 2013. The cases were selected from current practice, in order to cover vast and significant neurocognitive pathology: mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, mixed dementia, Parkinson’s disease, conversion of the mild cognitive impairment into Alzheimer’s disease. The MMSE-2:EV version was used: it was applied one month after the initial assessment, three months after the first reevaluation and then every six months, alternating the blue and red forms. Correlated with age and educational level, the raw scores were converted in T scores and then, with the mean and the standard deviation, the z scores were calculated. The differences of raw scores between the evaluations were analyzed from the point of view of statistic signification, in order to establish the progression in time of the disease. The results indicated that the psycho-diagnostic approach for the evaluation of the cognitive impairment with MMSE-2:EV is safe and the application interval is optimal. The alternation of the forms prevents the learning phenomenon. The diagnostic accuracy and efficient therapeutic conduct derive from the usage of the national test norms. In clinical settings with a large flux of patients, the application of the MMSE-2:EV is a safe and fast psycho-diagnostic solution. The clinicians can draw objective decisions and for the patients: it doesn’t take too much time and energy, it doesn’t bother them and it doesn’t force them to travel frequently.

Keywords: MMSE-2, dementia, cognitive impairment, neuropsychology

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Authors: Vilma Zydziunaite, Ausra Rutkiene

Abstract:

In modern society, problems related to the teacher's personality, mental and physical health, teacher's emotions and competencies are becoming more and more relevant. In Lithuania, compared to other European countries, teachers experience specific difficulties at work: they have to work in conditions of constant reforms and changes and face growing competition due to the decrease in students and schools. Professional burnout, teacher’s self-efficacy and perceived stress are interrelated personally and/or organisationally. So, the relationship between teachers' professional burnout, self-efficacy, and perceived stress in the school environment seems to be a relatively underresearched area in Lithuania. The research aim was to reveal and characterize teacher burnout, self-efficacy, and perceived stress in the Lithuanian school context. The quantitative research design with a questioning survey was chosen for the study. The sample size consisted of 427 Lithuanian teachers. Research results revealed the highest scores for exhaustion and the lowest for cynicism; at a time when the teacher experiences professional burnout, cynicism is observed as the weakest characteristic; no significant differences were found according to educational level work experience; significant differences were identified according to age for exhaustion and overall burnout level among teachers; the most of teachers in Lithuanian sample perceive the moderate stress level in school environment; overall burnout has a significant correlation with self-efficacy and stress among Lithuanian teachers. This study has empirical and practical implications: it is relevant to study the problems of teacher's professional burnout, stress, and self-efficacy in connection with contextual qualitative variables and specify the interrelationships between variables in order to be able to identify specific problems and provide empirical evidence to practically solve them. From a practical point of view, the results show that the socio-emotional state of teachers should not be dismissed as an insignificant aspect. Therefore, the school administration must make efforts to develop a positive school climate that supports the socio-emotional state of the teacher. At the same time, school administration must pay great attention to the development of teachers' socio-emotional competencies without ignoring their importance in the teacher's professional life.

Keywords: Lithuania, perceived stress, professional burnout, self-efficacy, teacher

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Authors: Mayantoinette F. Watson

Abstract:

During such an unprecedented time of the largest public health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing students are of the utmost concern regarding their psychological and physical well-being. Questions are emerging and circulating about what will happen to the nursing students and the long-term effects of the pandemic, especially now that hospitals are being overwhelmed with a significant need for nursing staff. Expectations, demands, change, and the fear of the unknown during this unprecedented time can only contribute to the many stressors that accompany nursing students through laborious clinical and didactic courses in nursing programs. The risk of psychological distress is at a maximum, and its effects can negatively impact not only nursing students but also nursing education and academia. The high exposures to interpersonal, economic, and academic demands contribute to the major health concerns, which include a potential risk for psychological distress. Achievement of educational success among nursing students is directly affected by the high exposure to anxiety and depression from experiences within the program. Working relationships and achieving academic success is imperative to positive student outcomes within the nursing program. The purpose of this study is to identify and establish influences and associations within multilevel factors, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological distress in nursing students. Neuman’s Systems Model Theory was used to determine nursing students’ responses to internal and external stressors. The research in this study utilized a mixed-methods, convergent study design. The study population included undergraduate nursing students from Southeastern U.S. The research surveyed a convenience sample of undergraduate nursing students. The quantitative survey was completed by 202 participants, and 11 participants participated in the qualitative follow-up interview surveys. Participants completed the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS4), and the Dundee Readiness Educational Environment Scale (DREEM12) to measure psychological distress, perceived stress, and perceived educational environment. Participants also answered open-ended questions regarding their experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistical tests, including bivariate analyses, multiple linear regression analyses, and binary logistics regression analyses were performed in effort to identify and highlight the effects of independent variables on the dependent variable, psychological distress. Coding and qualitative content analysis were performed to identify overarching themes within participants’ interviews. Quantitative data were sufficient in identifying correlations between psychological distress and multilevel factors of coping, marital status, COVID-19 stress, perceived stress, educational environment, and social support in nursing students. Qualitative data were sufficient in identifying common themes of students’ perceptions during COVID-19 and included online learning, workload, finances, experience, breaks, time, unknown, support, encouragement, unchanged, communication, and transmission. The findings are significant, specifically regarding contributing factors to nursing students’ psychological distress, which will help to improve learning in the academic environment.

Keywords: nursing education, nursing students, pandemic, psychological distress

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Authors: Parth Prajapati, A. R. Srinivas

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The purpose of this paper is to validate the concept of the Lotus Mechanism using Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) tools considering the statics and dynamics through actual time dependence involving inertial forces acting on the mechanism joints. For a 1.2 m mirror made of hexagonal segments, with simple harnesses and three-point supports, the maximum diameter is 400 mm, minimum segment base thickness is 1.5 mm, and maximum rib height is considered as 12 mm. Manufacturing challenges are explored for the segments using manufacturing research and development approaches to enable use of large lightweight mirrors required for the future space system.

Keywords: dynamics, manufacturing, reflectors, segmentation, statics

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Authors: Leila Maleki, Ezatollah Ahmadi

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of memory training exercise on cognitive flexibility. The method of this study was experimental. The statistical population selected 40 students 14 years old, samples were chosen by available sampling method and then they were replaced in experimental (training program) group and control group randomly and answered to Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; covariance test results indicated that there were a significant in post-test scores of experimental group (p<0.005).

Keywords: cognitive flexibility, working memory exercises, problem solving, reaction time

Procedia PDF Downloads 404