Search results for: effective pair potential

Authors: Dominik Szczesniak, Sabre Kais

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In the present communication, we analyze selected local aspects of the metal-induced gap states (MIGSs) that may be responsible for the magnetic flux noise in some of the superconducting qubit modalities at low-dimension. The presented theoretical analysis stems from the earlier bulk considerations and is aimed at further explanation of the decoherence effect by recognizing its universal character. Specifically, the analysis is carried out by using the complex band structure method for arbitrary low-dimensional junctions. This allows us to provide the most fundamental and general observations for the systems of interest. In particular, herein, we investigate in detail the MIGSs behavior in the momentum space as a function of the potential fluctuations and the electron-electron interaction magnitude at the interface. In what follows, this study is meant to provide a direct relationship between the MIGSs behavior, the discussed decoherence effect, and the intrinsic properties of the low-dimensional Josephson junctions.

Keywords: superconducting qubits, metal-induced gap states, decoherence, low-dimension

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Authors: S. Kawther, C. Marshall

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Educational neuroscience has the intention of transforming research findings of the underpinning neural processes of learning to educational practices. A main criticism of the field, hitherto, is that less focus has been put on studying the in-progress practical application of these findings. Therefore, this study aims to gain a better understanding of teachers’ perceptions of the practical application and utilization of brain knowledge. This was approached by investigating the answer to 'What are the facilitators and barriers for bringing research from neuroscience to bear on education?'. Following a qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 teachers who had a proficient course in educational neuroscience. Thematic analysis was performed on the transcribed data applying Braun & Clark’s steps. Findings emerged with four main themes: time, knowledge, teacher’s involvement, and system. These themes revealed that some effective brain-based practices are being engaged in by the teachers. However, the lack of guidance and challenges regarding this implementation were also found. This study discusses findings in light of the development of educational neuroscience implementation.

Keywords: brain-based, educational neuroscience, neuroeducation, neuroscience-informed

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Authors: Jianhua Wang, Ying Zhou, Xi Zhang

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To establish the influential mechanism of learning engagement on interpreter’s performance, the present study submitted a questionnaire to a sample of 927 English major students with 804 valid ones and used the structural equation model as the basis for empirical analysis and statistical inference on the sample data. In order to explore the mechanism for interpreting learning engagement on student interpreters’ performance, a path model of interpreting processes with three variables of ‘input-environment-output’ was constructed. The results showed that the effect of each ‘environment’ variable on interpreting ability was different from and greater than the ‘input’ variable, and learning engagement was the greatest influencing factor. At the same time, peer interaction on interpreting performance has significant influence. Results suggest that it is crucial to provide effective guidance for optimizing learning engagement and interpreting teaching research by both improving the environmental support and building the platform of peer interaction, beginning with learning engagement.

Keywords: learning engagement, interpreting performance, interpreter training, English major students

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Authors: Ali Asmari, Alex Symington, Htaik Than, Austin Caradonna, John Senft

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This paper presents the collaborative effort between ULC Technologies and Con Edison in developing a groundbreaking robotic cable splicing machine. The focus is on the machine's design, which integrates advanced robotics and automation to enhance safety and efficiency in power network maintenance. The paper details the operational steps of the machine, including cable grounding, cutting, and removal of different insulation layers, and discusses its novel technological approach. The significant benefits over traditional methods, such as improved worker safety and reduced outage times, are highlighted based on the field data collected during the validation phase of the project. The paper also explores the future potential and scalability of this technology, emphasizing its role in transforming the landscape of power network maintenance.

Keywords: cable splicing machine, power network maintenance, electric distribution, electric transmission, medium voltage cable

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Authors: E. Younsi, H. Andriamboavonjy, A. David, S. Dokou, B. Lemrabet

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Software and time optimization are very important factors in financial markets, which are competitive fields, and emergence of new computer tools further stresses the challenge. In this context, any improvement of technical indicators which generate a buy or sell signal is a major issue. Thus, many tools have been created to make them more effective. This worry about efficiency has been leading in present paper to seek best (and most innovative) way giving largest improvement in these indicators. The approach consists in attaching a signature to frequent market configurations by application of frequent patterns extraction method which is here most appropriate to optimize investment strategies. The goal of proposed trading algorithm is to find most accurate signatures using back testing procedure applied to technical indicators for improving their performance. The problem is then to determine the signatures which, combined with an indicator, outperform this indicator alone. To do this, the FP-Tree algorithm has been preferred, as it appears to be the most efficient algorithm to perform this task.

Keywords: quantitative analysis, back-testing, computational models, apriori algorithm, pattern recognition, data mining, FP-tree

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Authors: H. Alheeh, M. Alameri, A. Al Tarabsheh

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There has been a growing interest in CMOS-based sensors technology in cameras as they afford low-power, small-size, and cost-effective imaging systems. This article describes the CMOS image sensor pixel categories and presents the design and the simulation of the 3-Transistor (3T) Active Pixel Sensor (APS) in MATLAB/Simulink tool. The analysis investigates the conversion of the light into an electrical signal for a single pixel sensing circuit, which consists of a photodiode and three NMOS transistors. The paper also proposes three modes for the pixel operation; reset, integration, and readout modes. The simulations of the electrical signals for each of the studied modes of operation show how the output electrical signals are correlated to the input light intensities. The charging/discharging speed for the photodiodes is also investigated. The output voltage for different light intensities, including in dark case, is calculated and showed its inverse proportionality with the light intensity.

Keywords: APS, CMOS image sensor, light intensities photodiode, simulation

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Authors: Deepak Jugran

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The last century has witnessed rapid scientific growth, and social policies mainly targeted to increase the “life expectancy” of the people. As a result of these developments, the aging as well as ailing population, is increasing by every day. Despite an increase in “life expectancy”, we have not recorded compression in morbidity numbers as the age of onset of the majority of health issues has not increased substantially. In recent years, the prevalence of chronic diseases along with the improved treatment has also resulted in the increase of people living with chronic diseases. The last decade has also focused on social policies to increase the life expectancy in the population; however, in recent decades, social policies and biomedical research are gradually shifting on the potential of increasing healthy life or healthspan. In this article, we review the existing framework of lifespan and healthspan and wish to ignite a discussion among social scientists and public health experts to propose a wholistic framework to balance the trade-offs on social policies for “lifespan” and “healthspan”.

Keywords: lifespan, healthspan, chronic diseases, social policies

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Authors: Abdoulnabi Tavangari, Nasim Salehzadeh

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We presume a cylindrical medium that is under a uniform loading and there is a penny shaped crack located in the center of cylinder. In the crack growth analysis, the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) is a fundamental prerequisite. In the present study, according to the RITZ method and by considering a cylindrical coordinate system as the main coordinate and a local polar coordinate, the mode-I SIF of threedimensional penny-shaped crack is obtained. In this method the unknown coefficients will be obtained with minimizing the potential energy that is including the strain energy and the external force work. By using the hook's law, stress fields will be obtained and then by using the Irvine equations, the amount of SIF will be obtained near the edge of the crack. This question has been solved for extreme medium in the Tada handbook and the result of the present research has been compared with that.

Keywords: three-dimensional cracks, penny-shaped crack, stress intensity factor, fracture mechanics, Ritz method

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Authors: K. Krishna Milan Rao, Nelvin Joseph, Praveen Dwarakanath

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Augmented and Virtual Realties is quickly becoming a hotbed of activity with millions of dollars being spent on R & D and companies such as Google and Microsoft rushing to stake their claim. Augmented reality (AR) is however marching ahead due to the spread of the ideal AR device – the smartphone. Despite its potential, there remains a deep digital divide between the Developed and Developing Countries. The Technological Acceptance Model (TAM) and Hofstede cultural dimensions also predict the behaviour intention to uptake AR in India will be large. This paper takes a quantified approach by collecting 340 survey responses to AR scenarios and analyzing them through statistics. The Survey responses show that the Intention to Use, Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Enjoyment dimensions are high among the urban population in India. This along with the exponential smartphone indicates that India is on the cusp of a boom in the AR sector.

Keywords: mobile augmented reality, technology acceptance model, Hofstede, cultural dimensions, India

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Authors: Kyung-Soon Choi, Ji-Young Hwang, Young-Hee Pyo

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Vinegars have been used as an alternative remedy for treating gout, but the scientific basis remains to be elucidated. In this study, acetic acid fermentation was applied for the first time to Monascus-fermented soybeans to examine its effect on the bioactive components together with the xanthine oxidase inhibitory (XOI) activity of the soy vinegar. The content of total phenols (0.47~0.97 mg gallic acid equivalents/mL) and flavonoids (0.18~0.39 mg quercetin equivallents/mL) were spectrophotometrically determined, and the content of organic acid (10.22~59.76 mg/mL) and isoflavones (6.79~7.46 mg/mL) were determined using HPLC-UV. The analytical method for ubiquinones (0.079~0.276 μg/mL) employed saponification before solvent extraction and quantification using LC-MS. Soy vinegar also showed significant XOI (95.3%) after 20 days of acetic acid fermentation at 30 °C. The results suggest that soy vinegar has potential as a novel medicinal food.

Keywords: acetic acid fermentation, bioactive component, soy vinegar, xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity

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Authors: Lu Yang, Meiyang Song, Xiang Yu, Wenhao Zhou, Chuntao Feng

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To address the problem that the FM continuous-wave radar (FMCW) extracts human vital sign signals which are susceptible to noise interference and low reconstruction accuracy, a new detection scheme for the sign signals is proposed. Firstly, an improved complete ensemble empirical modal decomposition with adaptive noise (ICEEMDAN) algorithm is applied to decompose the radar-extracted thoracic signals to obtain several intrinsic modal functions (IMF) with different spatial scales, and then the IMF components are optimized by a BP neural network improved by immune genetic algorithm (IGA). The simulation results show that this scheme can effectively separate the noise and accurately extract the respiratory and heartbeat signals and improve the reconstruction accuracy and signal-to-noise ratio of the sign signals.

Keywords: frequency modulated continuous wave radar, ICEEMDAN, BP neural network, vital signs signal

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Authors: Seongho Jang

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Objective: To investigate an appropriate depth of needle insertion during trigger point injection into the rhomboid major muscle. Methods: Sixty-two patients who visited our department with shoulder or upper back pain participated in this study. The distance between the skin and the rhomboid major muscle (SM) and the distance between the skin and rib (SB) were measured using ultrasonography. The subjects were divided into 3 groups according to BMI: BMI less than 23 kg/m2 (underweight or normal group); 23 kg/m2 or more to less than 25 kg/m2 (overweight group); and 25 kg/m2 or more (obese group). The mean ±standard deviation (SD) of SM and SB of each group were calculated. A range between mean+1 SD of SM and the mean-1 SD of SB was defined as a safe margin. Results: The underweight or normal group’s SM, SB, and the safe margin were 1.2±0.2, 2.1±0.4, and 1.4 to 1.7 cm, respectively. The overweight group’s SM and SB were 1.4±0.2 and 2.4±0.9 cm, respectively. The safe margin could not be calculated for this group. The obese group’s SM, SB, and the safe margin were 1.8±0.3, 2.7±0.5, and 2.1 to 2.2 cm, respectively. Conclusion: This study will help us to set the standard depth of safe needle insertion into the rhomboid major muscle in an effective manner without causing any complications.

Keywords: pneumothorax, rhomboid major muscle, trigger point injection, ultrasound

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Authors: Bih Ni Lee

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This paper discusses the unending coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The activity of detecting, testing those with symptoms, and isolating their contacts is the most effective method of stopping the chain of coronavirus infection. The number of cases of coronavirus continues to increase with some reporting a cure, but not a few die. Efforts to treat and prevent continue to fight COVID-19 with flu-like symptoms. The importance of the study is to identify smartphone applications that can track the movement of individuals in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, especially in Malaysia. This research method used a literature review, which included new insights into the quality of action and scientific papers. It synthesized information gleaned from a variety of sources. The findings of the study are that the Government of Malaysia has launched three main applications to track the movement of individuals, namely Gerak Malaysia, MyTrace, MySejahtera. Similarly, every state in Malaysia has its own state government application to track individual movements. Overall, Malaysia is one of the countries in the world that has successfully curbed the spread of COVID-19; Covid-19 cases in Malaysia are under control.

Keywords: COVID-19 app, national security council, Gerak Malaysia, MyTrace, MySejahtera

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Authors: Reginald Chikere Keke

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This paper examined leadership failure consequent on endemic corruption as being the bane of good governance in Nigeria since independence in 1960 and the way forward. Nigeria is lavishly gifted by nature of abundance in human and material resources to be harnessed a strategic, resolute, ingenious, and inventive leadership. For leadership to drive sustainable growth in society, it must be rooted in the cultural values of the people. This, however, is contrary in Nigeria owing to unscrupulous leadership miscarriage, corruption, and bad governance. Using the eclectic approach, the paper scrutinizes the issues of leadership, corruption, and governance to clearly show how bad leadership and governance have destroyed the national fabric and the way out of Nigeria's development quack mire. Furthermore, this paper examined the perplexing nature of corruption in Nigeria that has made it the only lucrative endeavor for politicians and their cronies, leading Nigeria to be regarded as the world's poverty capital. This paper advocate that Nigerians and the international community must endeavor to enshrine effective leadership and good governance through strong institutions, laws, and individuals who have zero tolerance for corruption and mediocrity in the polity. Only then will the fatherland of everyone’s dreams will be realized, and the labors of our hero’s past will not be in vain.

Keywords: corruption, leadership, governance, Nigeria

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Authors: Seyed Abolhasan Naeini, Javad Shamsi Soosahab

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The use of geosynthetic reinforcement within the footing soils is a very effective and useful method to avoid the construction of costly deep foundations. This study investigated the use of geosynthetics for soil improvement based on numerical modeling using FELA software. Pressure settlement behavior and bearing capacity ratio of foundation on geogrid reinforced sand is investigated and the effect of different parameters like as number of geogrid layers and vertical distance between elements in three different relative density soil is studied. The effects of geometrical parameters of reinforcement layers were studied for determining the optimal values to reach to maximum bearing capacity. The results indicated that the optimum range of the distance ratio between the reinforcement layers was achieved at 0.5 to 0.6 and after number of geogrid layers of 4, no significant effect on increasing the bearing capacity of footing on reinforced sandy with geogrid

Keywords: geogrid, reinforced sand, FELA software, distance ratio, number of geogrid layers

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Authors: Soheily Shahram, Banaeifar Abdolali, Yadegari Elham

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Vascular adhesion molecules-1 (VCAM-1) is one of the factors associating obesity and inflammatory lesions like atherosclerosis. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of endurance training on serum concentration of VCAM-1 in overweight women. Thirty female overweight (BMI ≥ 25) voluntarily participated in our study. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups: Endurance training or control group. Training group exercised for 12 weeks, three sessions a week with definite intensity and distance. Pre and post 12 weeks of endurance training blood samples were taken (5cc) in fasting state from all subjects. Data was analyzed via independent t test (p≤0.05). The results showed that endurance training had significant effect on VCAM, body weight, fat percentage, BMI and maximum oxygen consumption (p ≤ 0.05). This study demonstrates that endurance training caused a decrease in the adhesion molecules level and decreasing inflammation, endurance training may perhaps play an effective role in atherosclerosis.

Keywords: endurance training, vascular cell adhesion molecules, overweight women, serum concentration

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Authors: Ashish Kumar Dwivedi

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Uttar Pradesh is largest part of Indian Federal system encapsulating twenty two million populations and has huge cultural, economic and religious diversity. The newly elected 18 months old state leadership of Uttar Pradesh has envisaged and initiated various proactive strides for the public grievance redressal and inclusive development schemes for all the sections of population from its very day of assumption of the office by Hon’ble Chief Minster Shri Yogi Adtiyanath. These initiatives also include Departmental responses via social media handles as Twitter, Facebook Page, and Web interaction. In the same course, every department of state government has been guided for the correct usage of verified social media handle separately and in co-ordination with other departments. These guidelines included making new WhatsApp groups to connect technocrats and politicians to communicate on common platform. Minister for Department of Infrastructure and Industrial Development, Shri Satish Mahana is a very popular leader and very intuitive statesman, has thousands of followers on social media and his accounts receive almost three hundred individually mentioned notifications from the various parts of Uttar Pradesh. These notifications primarily include problems related to livelihood and grievances concerned to department. To address these communications, a body of five experts has been set who are actively responding on various levels and increase bureaucratic engagements with marginalized sections of society. With reference to above background, this piece of research was conducted to analyze, categorize and derive effective implementation of public policies via social media platforms. This act of responsiveness has brought positive change in the mindset of population for the government, which was missed earlier. Department of Industrial Development in the Government is also inclined to attract investors aiming to become first trillion-dollar economy of India henceforth department also organized two major successful events in last one year. These events were also frame worked on social media platform to update 2.5 million population of state who is actively using social media in many ways. To analyze change scientifically, this study has been conducted and big data has been collected from October 2017 to September 2018 from the departmental social media handles as Twitter, Facebook, and emails. For this data, a statistical study has been conducted to analyze sentiments and expectations, specific and common requirement of communities, nature of grievances and their effective elucidation fitted into government policies. The control sample has also been taken from previous government activities to analyze the change. The statistical study used tools such as correlation study and principal component analysis. Also in this research communication, the modus operandi of grievance redressal, proliferation of government policies, connections to their beneficiaries and quick response procedure will be discussed.

Keywords: correlation study, principal component analysis, bureaucratic engagements, social media

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Authors: C. N. Vanitha, M. Usha

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In a real world scenario, the viability of the sensor networks has been proved by standardizing the technologies. Wireless sensor networks are vulnerable to both electronic and physical security breaches because of their deployment in remote, distributed, and inaccessible locations. The compromised sensor nodes send malicious data to the base station, and thus, the total network effectiveness will possibly be compromised. To detect and seclude the Route modifiers, a neural network based Pattern Learning predictor (PLP) is presented. This algorithm senses data at any node on present and previous patterns obtained from the en-route nodes. The eminence of any node is upgraded by their predicted and reported patterns. This paper propounds a solution not only to detect the route modifiers, but also to seclude the malevolent nodes from the network. The simulation result proves the effective performance of the network by the presented methodology in terms of energy level, routing and various network conditions.

Keywords: neural networks, pattern learning, security, wireless sensor networks

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Authors: Chiu-Pin Wei

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This research aims to explore the impact of music preferences on the emotional well-being of military academy students, recognizing the potential long-term implications for their high-stress careers post-graduation. Given the significance of positive emotion regulation in military personnel, this study focuses on understanding the types of music preferred by military cadets and analyzing how these preferences correlate with their emotional states. The study employs a quantitative approach, utilizing the Music Category Scale and Mood Scale to collect data. Statistical tools, such as Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS), are employed for inferential analysis, including t-tests for emotional responses to instrumental and vocal music, one-way variance analysis for different demographic factors (grades, genders, and music listening frequencies), and Pearson's correlation to examine the relationship between music preferences and moods of military students.

Keywords: music preference, emotional regulation, military academic students, SPASS

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Authors: A. Karadeniz, Belgin Kucukomeroglu

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In this study natural gamma radioactivity levels are determined on sands along the coastal regions of Giresun/Turkey. The coast of Giresun about 290 km long in investigated to collect 101 sand samples. Natural and artificial radioactivity concentrations of sand samples were measured by using HPGe gamma spectrometry. The average activity concentrations of 238U, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs on sand samples of Giresun were found to be 10.83±2.92 Bq/kg, 21.28±3.22 Bq/kg, 6.42±1.06 Bq/kg, 230.94±10.67 Bq/kg respectively. The average activity concentrations for these radionuclides were compared with the reported data of other parts of Turkey and other countries. The average absorbed dose rate for Giresun was calculated to be 38.68 nGy/h respectively. This value is significantly lower than the World averaged value of 60 nGy/h. The external annual effective dose rate concentration in Giresun was found to be 0.047 mSv/y respectively. This result is much lower than the recommeded limit of 5 mSv/y. The external hazard dose rate for Giresun weas calculated to be 0.21 respectively. This result is much lower than the recommended limit of 1.0.

Keywords: concentration, radioactivity, Giresun, natural gamma radioactivity

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Authors: T. Meftah, M. M. Zerafat, S. Sabbaghi

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Nitrate compounds are considered as groundwater contaminants, the concentration of which has been growing in these resources during recent years. As a result, it seems necessary to use effective methods to remove nitrate from water and wastewater. Adsorption process is generally considered more economical in water treatment. Natural clinoptilolite zeolite is one of the best absorbents because of its high capacity and low cost.In this research, we are going to modify zeolite nanoparticles as a chemical modification. Zeolite nanoparticles have been modified with a kind of organosilane, like 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. The advantage of this modification method, in comparison with physical modification, is the good stability in various environmental conditions. In this research, absorbent properties have been analyzed by PSA, FTIR and CHN elemental analysis. Also, nitrate adsorption by modified nanoparticles was examined by UV-Vis spectroscopy. There would be 〖NH〗_2 groups on the zeolite surface as a result of organosilane modification. In order to adsorption of nitrate, we need to convert 〖NH〗_2 groups to〖NH〗_4^+, that it is possible in acidic condition. As a result, the best nitrate removal is possible in the lowest concentration and pH. We obtained 80.12% nitrate removal in pH=3 and 50 mg⁄l nitrate concentration and 4 g⁄l absorbent optimum concentration.

Keywords: nitrate removal, zeolite, surface modification, organosilane

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Authors: Inuusah Mahama

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The study focused on the importance of diversity and the use of evidence-based practices and strategies in teaching learners with ASD. The study employed a mixed-methods design, including surveys, interviews, and observations. A total of 500 K-12 practitioners participated in the study, including teachers, administrators, and support staff. The study sought to investigate the current understanding and knowledge level of K-12 practitioners regarding diversity, evidence-based practices, and strategies for teaching learners with ASD. The study also examined the challenges that K-12 practitioners face in preparing learners with ASD and the resources they require to improve their practice. The results indicated that K-12 practitioners in Ghana have limited knowledge and skills in teaching learners with ASD, particularly in using evidence-based practices and strategies. Therefore, there is a need for providing training and professional development opportunities for K-12 practitioners, developing and implementing evidence-based practices and strategies, and increasing awareness of ASD and the need for effective teaching strategies. This would go a long way to improve the quality of education for learners with ASD in Ghana and ultimately lead to better outcomes for these students.

Keywords: autism, practitioners, diversity, evidence-based practises

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Authors: Rohan Erasala, Ian McCulloh

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The NFL Draft is a chance for every NFL team to select their next superstar. As a result, teams heavily invest in scouting, and millions of fans partake in the online discourse surrounding the draft. This paper investigates the potential correlations between positive sentiment in individual draft selection threads from the subreddit r/NFL and if this data can be used to make successful player recommendations. It is hypothesized that there will be limited correlations and nonviable recommendations made from these threads. The hypothesis is tested using sentiment analysis of draft thread comments and analyzing correlation and precision at k of top scores. The results indicate weak correlations between the percentage of positive comments in a draft selection thread and a player’s approximate value, but potentially viable recommendations from looking at players whose draft selection threads have the highest percentage of positive comments.

Keywords: national football league, NFL, NFL Draft, sentiment analysis, Reddit, social media, NLP

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Authors: Ayodele E. Ikudayisi, Yomi M. D. Adedeji, Olumuyiwa B. Adegun

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The level of adoption of green building (GB) schemes in Nigeria is low. The prevailing focus on economic development has overshadowed sustainability concerns. Despite these, few project cases exist in Nigeria in which sustainability goals have been achieved. This study aims to draw lessons from these in order to understand the project attributes, certification status, and the delivery process. Through an exploratory case study approach, fifteen project cases across five cities in Nigeria were examined. These represent the first-generation of green buildings in Nigeria, a verifiable reference for future initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa. From the result, three categories of green buildings were identified, namely certified projects, demonstration projects, and potential projects with varying delivery attributes. Then, it is concluded by setting research and practice agenda towards aligning Nigeria’s building industry with the global trends in sustainable building delivery.

Keywords: LEED, green building, Nigeria, project attributes

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Authors: Abolfazl Ghelichi, Ghasem Modarresi

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The problem with interpretation courses arises from the fact that Interpretation Courses at University levels are presented by most of the instructors based on listening activities and testing listening performance while interpretation strategies have been underrated. The data are gathered from30 students majoring in Translation Studies to fulfill the major aims of the study including. The study aimed at: 1) examining the significant relationship between specific interpretation strategies and interpretation performance of translation students in interpretation courses, 2) investigating the significant difference between males and females in their interpretation performance, and 3) exploring the interpretation strategies which are more effective for the translation students to improve their interpretation performance from students’ opinions. The results of the study revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in the mean scores for the two groups. The experimental group outperformed the control group in their interpretation performance and the effect size was large. However, there was no significant difference between male and female with respect to their cognition [t (28) =.79, p<.05]. As for the results obtained from the interviews with the students, the commonalities emerged from the students’ responses were analyzed and reported by the researchers.

Keywords: anticipation, interpretation performance, interpretation strategy, shadowing

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Authors: Mesfer Al Duhayyim, Paul Newbury

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This paper proposes an effective adaptive e-learning system that uses a coloured concept map to show the learner's knowledge level for each concept in the chosen subject area. A Fuzzy logic system is used to evaluate the learner's knowledge level for each concept in the domain, and produce a ranked concept list of learning materials to address weaknesses in the learner’s understanding. This system obtains information on the learner's understanding of concepts by an initial pre-test before the system is used for learning and a post-test after using the learning system. A Fuzzy logic system is used to produce a weighted concept map during the learning process. The aim of this research is to prove that such a proposed novel adapted e-learning system will enhance learner's performance and understanding. In addition, this research aims to increase participants' overall understanding of their learning level by providing a coloured concept map of understanding followed by a ranked concepts list of learning materials.

Keywords: adaptive e-learning system, coloured concept map, fuzzy logic, ranked concept list

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Authors: Ahmadali Shirazytabar, Hamidreza Namazi

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As water resources are rapidly getting diminished, more and more interest is paid to the desalination of saline waters. Desalination has become a reliable and cost effective solution in provision of fresh water particularly in the arid areas of the world such as Middle East countries. However, the dramatic increase of utilizing desalination will cause a series of problems which are significantly related to energy consumption and environment impacts. The use of renewable energy sources to provide energy required by desalination processes is a feasible and simultaneously environmental friendly solution. In this study an attempt has been made to present a review on desalination technologies, desalination integrated with renewable energies, in brief, and practical progresses made during recent years particularly in the field of desalination by wind energy which is the most common form of renewable energies. Moreover, an economic analysis of a wind powered RO desalination system comprising of 10×2.5 MW wind turbines is done, and the results will be compared to those of a cogeneration system comprising of one 25 MW gas turbines, heat recovery steam generators (HRSG) and MED-TVC desalination.

Keywords: wind turbine, desalination, RO, MED, cogeneration, gas turbine, HRSG

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Authors: Jasvinder Singh, Manjinder Singh

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Welding of dissimilar materials is a complicated process due to the difference in melting point of two materials. Thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion of dissimilar materials also different; therefore, residual stresses produced in the weldment and base metal are the most critical problem associated with the joining of dissimilar materials. Tensile strength and impact toughness also reduced due to the residual stresses. In the present research work, an attempt has been made to weld SS304 and MS1018 dissimilar materials by submerged arc welding (SAW). By conducting trail, runs most effective parameters welding current, Arc voltage, welding speed and nozzle to plate distance were selected to weld these materials. The fractional factorial technique was used to optimize the welding parameters. Effect on tensile strength (TS), fracture toughness (FT) and microhardness of weldment were studied. It was concluded that by optimizing welding current, voltage and welding speed the properties of weldment can be enhanced.

Keywords: SAW, Tensile Strength (TS), fracture toughness, micro hardness

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Authors: Viktória Sugár, Attila Talamon, András Horkai, Michihiro Kita

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The dense urban fabric of the 7^th district of Budapest -known as the former Jewish Quarter-, contains mainly historical style, multi-story tenement houses with courtyards. The high population density and the unsatisfactory energetic state of the buildings result high energy consumption. As a preliminary survey of a complex rehabilitation plan, the authors aim to determine the energy demand of the area. The energy demand was calculated by analyzing the structure and the energy consumption of each building by using Geographic Information System (GIS) methods. The carbon dioxide emission was also calculated, to assess the potential of reducing the present state value by complex structural and energetic rehabilitation. As a main focus of the survey, an energy intensity map has been created about the area.

Keywords: CO₂, energy intensity map, geographic information system (GIS), Hungary, Jewish quarter, rehabilitation

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Authors: Aedah Abd Rahman, Nurdatillah Hasim

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Software quality issues require special attention especially in view of the demands of quality software product to meet customer satisfaction. Software development projects in most organisations need proper defect management process in order to produce high quality software product and reduce the number of defects. The research question of this study is how to produce high quality software and reducing the number of defects. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to provide a framework for managing software defects by following defined life cycle processes. The methodology starts by reviewing defects, defect models, best practices and standards. A framework for defect management life cycle is proposed. The major contribution of this study is to define a defect management road map in software development. The adoption of an effective defect management process helps to achieve the ultimate goal of producing high quality software products and contributes towards continuous software process improvement.

Keywords: defects, defect management, life cycle process, software quality

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