Search results for: Glass Construction material

Authors: Konysbek Aksaule

Abstract:

The purpose of this work is to explore new and effective ways of teaching English to students who are studying a foreign language since the timeliness of the problem disclosed in this article is due to the high level of English proficiency that potential specialists must have due to high competition in the context of global globalization. The article presents an analysis of the feasibility and effectiveness of using an authentic feature film in teaching English to students. The methodological basis of the study includes an assessment of the level of students' proficiency in a foreign language, the stage of evaluating the film, and the method of selecting the film for certain categories of students. The study also contains a list of practical tasks that can be applied in the process of viewing and perception of an original feature film in a foreign language, and which are aimed at developing language skills such as speaking and listening. The results of this study proved that teaching English to students through watching an original film is one of the most effective methods because it improves speech perception, speech reproduction ability, and also expands the vocabulary of students and makes their speech fluent. In addition, learning English through watching foreign films has a huge impact on the cultural views and knowledge of students about the country of the language being studied and the world in general. Thus, this study demonstrates the high potential of using authentic feature film in English lessons for pedagogical science and methods of teaching English in general.

Keywords: university, education, students, foreign language, feature film

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Aneta Nitsch-Osuch, Beata Pawlus, Maria Pawlak

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Introduction: Recently, the number of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children or present so-called hesitant behaviors has increased in many developed countries. The study aimed to analyze the completeness and timeliness of vaccinations against hepatitis B and tuberculosis in neonates in a single maternity hospital in Warsaw (Poland). Material and Methods: We analyzed medical records of children born in the hospital between 1st January 2015 and 31st December 2016 and calculated the proportion of newborns not vaccinated on time. Results: The percentage of unvaccinated newborns was similar in the analyzed years: 7.2% in 2015 and 6.7% in 2016. Parental decisions rather than medical contraindications caused non-immunization (4.3% vs. 2.9% in 2015, and 4.7% vs. 2% in 2016). Most parents refused both vaccinations (81%-84%), whereas 7-8% refused only hep B vaccination, and 9-11% refused alone tuberculosis vaccination. The majority of hesitant parents decided to delay both vaccinations (70-80%), while 10-11% of parents chose to delay only one vaccination (hep B). In consecutive years, an increase in the percentage of parents delaying tuberculosis vaccination was reported (10 vs. 19%). Discussion: The increase in the number of newborns who are not correctly vaccinated just after birth due to their parents' decision should be considered non-gradual, both for hepatitis B and tuberculosis. It is necessary to implement effective educational and informative measures targeted at future parents to reinforce positive attitudes towards vaccinations and to dispel doubts about them among parents who are hesitant.

Keywords: hepatitis B, tuberculosis, immunization, new-borns, coverage rate

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Authors: Mustafa Avsever

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Throughout history, states have attached great importance to seas in terms of economic and security. Advanced civilizations have always founded in coastal regions. Over time, human being has tended to trade and naturally always aimed get more and more. Seas by covering 71% of the earth, provide the greatest economic opportunities for access to raw material resources and the world market. As a result, seas have become the most important areas of conflict over the course of time. Coastal states, use seas as a tool for defense zone, trade, marine transportation and power transfer, they have acquired colonies overseas and increased their capital, raw materials and labor. Societies, have increased their economic prosperity, though their navies in order to retain their welfare and achieve their foreign policy objectives. Sometimes they have imposed their demands through the use or threat of limited naval force in accordance with their interests that is gunboat diplomacy. Today we can see samples of gunboat diplomacy used in the Eastern Mediterranean, during Ukraine crisis, in dispute between North Korea and South Korea and the ongoing power struggle in Asia-Pacific. Gunboat diplomacy has been and continues to be applied consistently in solving problems by the stronger side of the problem. The purpose of this article is to examine using navy under the gunboat diplomacy as an active instrument of foreign policy and security policy and reveal the strategic sea areas in which gunboat diplomacy is used effectively in the matrix of international politics in the 21st century.

Keywords: gunboat diplomacy, maritime strategy, sea power, strategic sea lands

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Authors: Yue Wang, Fan Chen

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After the economic reform in 1978, the urbanization in China has grown fast. It urged cities to expand in an unprecedented high speed. Villages around were annexed unprepared, and it turned out to be a new type of community called 'village in city.' Two things happened here. First, the locals gave up farming and turned to secondary industry and tertiary industry, as a result of losing their land. Secondly, attracted by the high income in cities and low rent here, plenty of migrants came into the community. This area is important to a city in rapid growth for providing a transitional zone. But thanks to its passivity and low development, 'village in city' has caused lots of trouble to the city. Densities of population and construction are both high, while facilities are severely inadequate. Unplanned and illegal structures are built, which creates a complex mixed-function area and leads to a bad residential area. Besides, the locals have a strong property right consciousness for the land. It holds back the transformation and development of the community. Although the land capitalization can bring significant benefits, it’s inappropriate to make a great financial compensation to the locals, and considering the large population of city migrants, it’s important to explore the relationship among the 'village in city,' city immigrants and the city itself. Taking the example of Hangzhou, this paper analyzed the developing process, functions spatial distribution, industrial structure and current traffic system of 'village in city.' Above the research on the community, this paper put forward a common method to make urban planning through the following ways: adding city functions, building civil facilities, re-planning functions spatial distribution, changing the constitution of local industry and planning new traffic system. Under this plan, 'village in city' finally can be absorbed into cities and make its own contribution to the urbanization.

Keywords: China, city immigrant, urbanization, village in city

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Authors: Farnoush Haghanipour

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Objective: Father loss as one of the major stress factor, can causethe mental imbalances in children. It's clear that children's family condition of lacking a father is very clearly different from the condition of having a father. The goal of this research is to examine mental imbalances comparative checking in complete form and in five subsidiary categories as aggression, stress and depression, social incompatibility, anti-social behavior, and attention deficit imbalances (wackiness) do between children without father and normal ones. Method: This research is in descriptive and analytical method that reimburse to checking mental imbalances from 50 children that are student in one zone of Rasht’s education and nurture office. Material of this research is RATER behavior questionnaire (teacher form) and data analyses were did by SPSS software. Results: The results showed that there are clear different in relation with behavior imbalances between have father children and children without father and in children without a father behavior imbalance is more. Also showed that there is clearly a difference in aggression, stress, and depression and social incompatibility between children without and without fathers, and in children without a father the proportion increases. However, in antisocial behaviours and attention deficit imbalances there are not a clear difference between them. Conclusion: With upper amount of imbalance behaviour detection in children without fathers compared with children with fathers, it is essential that practitioners of society hygienic and remedy put efforts in order to primary and secondary prevention, for mental health of this group of society.

Keywords: child, behave imbalances, children without father, mental imbalances

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Authors: Sofia Serra-Dawa

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Adult relationships accrue on a variety of past social experiences, intentions, and emotions that might predispose and influence the approach to and construction of subsequent relationships. The Adult Attachment Theory (AAT) proposes four types of adult attachment, where attachment is built over two dimensions of anxiety and avoidance: secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, and fearful-avoidant. The AAT has been studied in multiple settings such as personal and therapeutic relationships, educational settings, sexual orientation, health, and religion. In music scholarship, the AAT has been used to frame class learning of student singers and study the relational behavior between voice teachers and students. Building on this study, the present inquiry studies how attachment types might characterize learning relationships of music students (in the Western Conservatory tradition), and whether particular instrumental experiences might correlate to given attachment styles. Given certain behavioral cohesive features of established traditions of instrumental playing and performance modes, it is hypothesized that student musicians will display specific characteristics correlated to instrumental traditions, demonstrating clear tendency of attachment style, which in turn has implications on subsequent professional interactions. This study is informed by the methodological framework of Adult Attachment Scale-R (Collins and Read, 1990), which was particularly chosen given its non-invasive questions and classificatory validation. It is further hypothesized that the analytical comparison of musicians’ profiles has the potential to serve as the baseline for other comparative behavioral observation studies [this component is expected to be verified and completed well before the conference meeting]. This research may have implications for practitioners concerned with matching and improving musical teaching and learning relationships and in (professional and amateur) long-term musical settings.

Keywords: adult attachment, music education, musicians attachment profile, musicians relationships

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Authors: Xian Chen

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In recent years, the tendency that the decline of material and social vitality of old city in China becomes more and more serious. Nowadays, transformation and renewal of the old city have become a hot topic in urban research. The traditional mode of large-scale promotion has been criticized. Thus, exploration of new ways to update the city turns to be a necessity on the way of sustainable urban development. Pocket Park is a small city open space, its location choose is based on abandoned or idle lands on urban structure, is scattered or hidden in corner of the urban. It has a great significance on improving the old city environment. Based on the theory of ‘pocket park’, this paper summarizes the successful experience of domestic and foreign practice, and discusses the update strategies which are suitable for China's national conditions according to the characteristics and predicament of the old city in China. The main methods and results are as follows: 1)Based on the conception of ‘pocket park’, though describing the research status in domestic and foreign, summarizing the experience which is worth learning and existing problems. 2) From the analysis of ‘pocket park’ function, general design principles and types of the deep-seated difficulties in renewal the old city and the possibility of the application of ‘pocket park’,the varied implementation of ‘pocket park’ form are established, and application value in the old city renewal are summed up. 3) It can’t be denied that pocket park plays an irreplaceable role in solving the recession and renewing the vitality of the old city. Anymore, It is recommended to develop corresponding supportive development policies.

Keywords: sustainable development, strategy, old city renewal, pocket park

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Authors: Christiana Frimpong, Mpundu Makasa, Lungowe Sitali, Charles Michelo

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Background: Toxoplasmosis is a neglected zoonotic disease which is prevalent among pregnant women especially in Africa. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence and determinants of the disease among pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH). Method: A cross-sectional study was employed where 411 pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic at UTH were interviewed using closed-ended questionnaires. Their blood was also tested for Toxoplasma gondii IgG and IgM antibodies using the OnSite Toxo IgG/IgM Combo Rapid Test cassettes by CTK Biotech, Inc, USA. Result: The overall seroprevalence of the infection (IgG) was 5.87%. There was no seropositive IgM result. Contact with cats showed 7.81 times the risk of contracting the infection in the pregnant women and being a farmer/being involved in construction work showed 15.5 times likelihood of contracting the infection. Socio-economic status of the pregnant women also presented an inverse relationship (showed association) with the infection graphically. However, though there were indications of the association between contact with cats, employment type as well as the socioeconomic status of the pregnant women with the infection, there was not enough evidence to suggest these factors as significant determining factors of Toxoplasma gondii infection in our study population. Conclusion: There is a low prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection among pregnant women in Lusaka, Zambia. Screening for the infection among pregnant women can be done once or twice during pregnancy to help protect both mother and child from the disease. Health promotion among women of child bearing age on the subject is of immense importance in order to help curb the situation. Further studies especially that of case-control and cohort studies should be carried out in the country in order to better ascertain the extent of the condition nationwide.

Keywords: determinants, pregnant women, seroprevalence, toxoplasmosis, University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Zambia

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Authors: Ikenna Michael Onuorah

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The relentless march of globalization in architecture has led to a homogenization of built environments, often characterized by an overreliance on imported, resource-intensive materials and a disregard for local cultural contexts. This research posits that such practices pose significant environmental and cultural perils, trapping communities in "caged concrete jungles" devoid of both ecological sustainability and a meaningful connection to their heritage. Through a mixed-method approach encompassing quantitative and qualitative data analysis, the study investigated the impacts of neglecting local materials and cultural expression in architectural design. The research is anticipated to yield significant insights into the multifaceted consequences of neglecting locally available materials and cultural expression in architecture. It creates a compelling case for reasserting local materials and cultural expression in architectural design. Based on the anticipated research findings, the study proposed series of actionable recommendations for architects, policymakers, and communities to promote sustainable and culturally sensitive built environments. This will serve as a wake-up call, urging architects, policymakers, and communities to break free from the confines of "caged concrete jungles" and embrace a more sustainable and culturally sensitive approach to design.

Keywords: sustainability, cultural identity, building materials, sustainable dsigns

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Authors: Merlin Simo Tagne, Romain Rémond

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This study provides the sorption isotherm, its hysteresis and their mass transfer properties of four Central Africa Tropical woods largely used for building construction: frake, lotofa, sapelle and ayous. Characterization of these three species in particular and Central Africa tropical woods, in general, was necessary to develop conservation and treatment of wood after first transformation using the drying. Isotherms were performed using a dynamic vapor sorption apparatus (Surface Measurement Systems) at 20 and 40°C. The mass diffusivity was determined in steady state using a specific vapometer. Permeability was determined using a specialized device developed to measure over a wide range of permeability values. Permeability and mass transfer properties are determined in the tangential direction with a ‘false’ quartersawn cutting (sapelle and lotofa) and in the radial direction with a ‘false’ flatsawn cutting (ayous and frake). The sample of sapelle, ayous and frake are heartwood when lotofa contains as well as heartwood than sapwood. Results obtained showed that the temperature effect on sorption behavior was low than relative humidity effect. We also observed a low difference between the sorption behavior of our woods and hysteresis of sorption decreases when the temperature increases. Hailwood-Horrobin model’s predicts the isotherms of adsorption and desorption of ours woods and parameters of this model are proposed. Results on the characterization of mass transfer properties showed that, in the steady state, mass diffusivity decreases exponentially when basal density increases. In the phase of desorption, mass diffusivity is great than in the phase of adsorption. The permeability of ours woods are greater than Australian hardwoods but lower than temperate woods. It is difficult to define a relationship between permeability and mass diffusivity.

Keywords: tropical woods, sorption isotherm, diffusion coefficient, gas permeability, Central Africa

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Authors: Tebogo Mabotsa, Tamba Jamiru, David Ibrahim

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Dual phase(DP) steel consists essentially of fine grained equiaxial ferrite and a dispersion of martensite. Martensite is the primary precipitate in DP steels, it is the main resistance to dislocation motion within the material. The objective of this paper is to present a relation between the intercritical annealing holding time and the hardness of a dual phase steel. The initial heat treatment involved heating the specimens to 1000oC and holding the sample at that temperature for 30 minutes. After the initial heat treatment, the samples were heated to 770oC and held for a varying amount of time at constant temperature. The samples were held at 30, 60, and 90 minutes respectively. After heating and holding the samples at the austenite-ferrite phase field, the samples were quenched in water, brine, and oil for each holding time. The experimental results proved that an equation for predicting the hardness of a dual phase steel as a function of the intercritical holding time is possible. The relation between intercritical annealing holding time and hardness of a dual phase steel heat treated at high temperatures is parabolic in nature. Theoretically, the model isdependent on the cooling rate because the model differs for each quenching medium; therefore, a universal hardness equation can be derived where the cooling rate is a variable factor.

Keywords: quenching medium, annealing temperature, dual phase steel, martensite

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Authors: Shabnam Alizadeh, Hatice Dumanoglu

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Plant tissue culture is a substantial plant propagation technique for mass clonal production throughout the year, regardless of time in fruit species. However, the rooting achievement must be enhanced in the difficult-to-root genotypes. Classical auxin applications in clonal propagation of these genotypes are inadequate to solve the rooting problem. Nanoparticles having different physical and chemical properties from bulk material could enhance the rooting success of controlled release of these substances when loaded with auxin due to their ability to reach the active substance up to the target cells as a carrier system.The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles loaded with indole-3-acetic acid (IAA-nZnO) and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA-nZnO) on in vitro rooting of microcuttings in a difficult-to-root apple genotype (Malus domestica Borkh.). Rooting treatments consisted of IBA or IAA at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 mg/L; nZnO, IAA-nZnO and IBA-nZnO at doses of 0.0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 mg/L were used. All components were added to the Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium at strength ½ with 2% sucrose and 0.7% agar before autoclaving. In the study, no rooting occurred in control and nZnO applications. Especially, 1.0 mg/L and 2.0 mg/L IBA-nZnO nanoparticle applications (containing 0.5 mg/L and 0.9 mg/L IBA), respectively with rooting rates of 40.3% and 70.4%, rooting levels of 2.0±0.4 and 2.3±0.4, 2.6±0.7 and 2.5±0.6 average root numbers and 20.4±1.6 mm and 20.2±3.4 mm average root lengths put forward as effective applications.

Keywords: Auxin, Malus, nanotechnology, zinc oxide nanoparticles

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Authors: Jubee Varghese, Pouria Hafiz

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Increased use of lightweight concrete in the construction industry is mainly due to its reduction in the weight of the structural elements, which in turn reduces the cost of production, transportation, and the overall project cost. However, the structural application of these lightweight concrete structures is limited due to its reduced density. Hence, further investigations are in progress to study the effect of fiber inclusion in improving the mechanical properties of lightweight concrete. Incorporating structural steel fibers, in general, enhances the performance of concrete and increases its durability by minimizing its potential to cracking and providing crack arresting mechanism. In this research, Geometric and Materially Non-linear Analysis (GMNA) was conducted for Finite Element Modelling using a software known as ABAQUS, to investigate the structural behavior of lightweight concrete with and without the addition of steel fibers and shear reinforcement. 21 finite element models of beams were created to study the effect of steel fibers based on three main parameters; fiber volume fraction (Vf = 0, 0.5 and 0.75%), shear span to depth ratio (a/d of 2, 3 and 4) and ratio of area of shear stirrups to spacing (As/s of 0.7, 1 and 1.6). The models created were validated with the previous experiment conducted by H.K. Kang et al. in 2011. It was seen that the lightweight fiber reinforcement can replace the use of fiber reinforced normal weight concrete as structural elements. The effect of an increase in steel fiber volume fraction is dominant for beams with higher shear span to depth ratio than for lower ratios. The effect of stirrups in the presence of fibers was very negligible; however; it provided extra confinement to the cracks by reducing the crack propagation and extra shear resistance than when compared to beams with no stirrups.

Keywords: ABAQUS, beams, fiber-reinforced concrete, finite element, light weight, shear span-depth ratio, steel fibers, steel-fiber volume fraction

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Authors: Gloria Patricia Manurung

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Jakarta Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system which was established in 2009 to reduce private vehicle usage and ease the rush hour gridlock throughout the Jakarta Greater area, has failed to achieve its purpose. With gradually increasing the number of private vehicles ownership and reduced road space by the BRT lane construction, private vehicle users intuitively invade the exclusive lane of BRT, creating local traffic along the BRT network. Invaded BRT lanes costs become the same with the road network, making BRT which is supposed to be the main public transportation in the city becoming unreliable. Efforts to guard critical lanes with preventing the invasion by allocating traffic agents at several intersections have been expended, lead to the improving congestion level along the lane. Given a set of number of traffic agents, this study uses an analytical approach to finding the best deployment strategy of traffic agent on a simplified Jakarta road network in minimizing the BRT link cost which is expected to lead to the improvement of BRT system time reliability. User-equilibrium model of traffic assignment is used to reproduce the origin-destination demand flow on the network and the optimum solution conventionally can be obtained with brute force algorithm. This method’s main constraint is that traffic assignment simulation time escalates exponentially with the increase of set of agent’s number and network size. Our proposed metaheuristic and heuristic algorithms perform linear simulation time increase and result in minimized BRT cost approaching to brute force algorithm optimization. Further analysis of the overall network link cost should be performed to see the impact of traffic agent deployment to the network system.

Keywords: traffic assignment, user equilibrium, greedy algorithm, optimization

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Authors: Yusuf Hussaini Atulukwu, Daramola Japheth, Tabitit S. Tabiti, Daramola Elizabeth Lara

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In view of the recent limitations faced by the township concerning poorly constructed and in some cases non - existence of drainage facilities that resulted into incessant flooding in some parts of the community poses threat to life,property and the environment. The research seeks to address this issue by showing the spatial distribution of drainage network in Bida Urban using Geographic information System techniques. Relevant features were extracted from existing Bida based Map using un-screen digitization and x, y, z, data of existing drainages were acquired using handheld Global Positioning System (GPS). These data were uploaded into ArcGIS 9.2, software, and stored in the relational database structure that was used to produce the spatial data drainage network of the township. The result revealed that about 40 % of the drainages are blocked with sand and refuse, 35 % water-logged as a result of building across erosion channels and dilapidated bridges as a result of lack of drainage along major roads. The study thus concluded that drainage network systems in Bida community are not in good working condition and urgent measures must be initiated in order to avoid future disasters especially with the raining season setting in. Based on the above findings, the study therefore recommends that people within the locality should avoid dumping municipal waste within the drainage path while sand blocked or weed blocked drains should be clear by the authority concerned. In the same vein the authority should ensured that contract of drainage construction be awarded to professionals and all the natural drainages caused by erosion should be addressed to avoid future disasters.

Keywords: drainage network, spatial, digitization, relational database, waste

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Authors: Bessaha Hassiba, Bouraada Mohamed

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Layered double hydroxide with Zn/(Al+Fe) molar ratio of 3:1 was synthesized by co-precipitation method and their calcined product was obtained by heating treatment of ZAF-HT at 500°C. The calcined and uncalcined materials were used to remove weak acid dyes: indigo carmine (IC) and green bezanyl-F2B (F2B) in aqueous solution. The synthesized materials were characterized by XRD, SEM, FTIR and TG/DTA analysis confirming the formation of pure layered structure of ZAF-HT, the destruction of the original structure after calcination and the intercalation of the dyes molecules. Moreover, the interlayer distance increases from 7.645 Å in ZAF-HT to 19.102 Å after the dyes sorption. The dose of the adsorbents was chosen 0.5 g/l while the initial concentrations were 250 and 750 mg/l for indigo carmine and green bezanyl-F2B respectively. The sorption experiments were carried out at ambient temperature and without adjusting the initial solution pH (pHi = 6.10 for IC and pHi = 5.01 for F2B). In addition, the maximum adsorption capacities obtained by ZAF-HT and CZAF for both dyes followed the order: CZAF-F2B (1501.4 mg.g-1) > CZAF-IC (617.3 mg.g-1) > ZAF-HT-IC (41.4 mg.g-1) > ZAF-HT-F2B (28.9 mg.g-1). The removal of indigo carmine and green bezanyl-F2B by ZAF-HT was due to the anion exchange and/or the adsorption on the surface. By using the calcined material (CZAF), the removal of the dyes was based on a particular property, called ‘memory effect’. CZAF recover the pristine structure in the presence anionic molecules such as acid dyes where they occupy the interlayer space. The sorption process was spontaneous in nature and followed pseudo-second-order. The isotherms showed that the removal of IC and F2B by ZAF-HT and CZAF were consistent with Langmiur model.

Keywords: acid dyes, adsorption, calcination, layered double hydroxides

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Authors: Jianan Li, Lusen Shi, Haiqiao Du, Wei Chen, Qian Wang, Shuoshuo Kang, Shiming Yang

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Background: Follow-up of cochlear implant effectiveness is mainly focused on 3 years postoperatively, and studies with more than 5 years of observation are rare, especially for local Chinese brands. Objectives: Nurotron (Chinese domestic cochlear implant brand) CI recipients who participated in the clinical trial in 2009 were followed-up for 10 years prospectively, providing data to guide doctors and patients. Material and Methods: From December 2009 to April 2010, 57 subjects underwent Nurotron Venus CI surgery at multiple centers and were continued to be followed up and assessed at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 years after switching on. Results: All recipients were successfully implanted with CIs with no difficulty in subsequent use, with one reported case of re-implantation 9 years after implantation. The aided hearing thresholds were significantly improved one month after switching on (p<0.0001) and remained stable afterward for 10 years. Speech recognition scores were significantly higher than pre-operative results (p<0.05) and continued to improve till 3 years after switching on. At 10 years of post-operation, most subjects had improved QOL scores in most sub-items. Conclusions and Significance: Nurotron Venus CI System provides long-term, stable results in hearing speech assistance capabilities and can improve the quality of life of CI recipients.

Keywords: cochlear implantation, hearing loss, post lingual, follow up

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Authors: Houman Tamaddon, Mehrdad Behnia, Masud Behnia

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An accurate study of blood flow is associated with an accurate vascular pattern and geometrical properties of the organ of interest. Due to the complexity of vascular networks and poor accessibility in vivo, it is challenging to reconstruct the entire vasculature of any organ experimentally. The objective of this study is to introduce an innovative approach for the reconstruction of a full vascular tree from available morphometric data. Our method consists of implementing morphometric data on those parts of the vascular tree that are smaller than the resolution of medical imaging methods. This technique reconstructs the entire arterial tree down to the capillaries. Vessels greater than 2 mm are obtained from direct volume and surface analysis using contrast enhanced computed tomography (CT). Vessels smaller than 2mm are reconstructed from available morphometric and distensibility data and rearranged by applying Murray’s Laws. Implementation of morphometric data to reconstruct the branching pattern and applying Murray’s Laws to every vessel bifurcation simultaneously, lead to an accurate vascular tree reconstruction. The reconstruction algorithm generates full arterial tree topography down to the first capillary bifurcation. Geometry of each order of the vascular tree is generated separately to minimize the construction and simulation time. The node-to-node connectivity along with the diameter and length of every vessel segment is established and order numbers, according to the diameter-defined Strahler system, are assigned. During the simulation, we used the averaged flow rate for each order to predict the pressure drop and once the pressure drop is predicted, the flow rate is corrected to match the computed pressure drop for each vessel. The final results for 3 cardiac cycles is presented and compared to the clinical data.

Keywords: blood flow, morphometric data, vascular tree, Strahler ordering system

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Authors: Nazli Uren, Ayse Okur

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Tactile comfort of a textile product is an essential property and a major concern when it comes to customer perceptions and preferences. The subjective nature of comfort and the difficulties regarding the simulation of human hand sensory feelings make it hard to establish a well-accepted link between tactile comfort and objective evaluations. On the other hand, shear behavior of a fabric is a mechanical parameter which can be measured by various objective test methods. The principal aim of this study is to determine the tactile comfort of commercially available denim fabrics by subjective measurements, create a tactile score database for denim fabrics and investigate the relations between tactile comfort and shear behavior. In-plane shear behaviors of 17 different commercially available denim fabrics with a variety of raw material and weave structure were measured by a custom design shear frame and conventional bias extension method in two corresponding diagonal directions. Tactile comfort of denim fabrics was determined via subjective customer evaluations as well. Aforesaid relations were statistically investigated and introduced as regression equations. The analyses regarding the relations between tactile comfort and shear behavior showed that there are considerably high correlation coefficients. The suggested regression equations were likewise found out to be statistically significant. Accordingly, it was concluded that the tactile comfort of denim fabrics can be estimated with a high precision, based on the results of in-plane shear behavior measurements.

Keywords: denim fabrics, in-plane shear behavior, linear regression estimation, tactile comfort

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Authors: Parveen Kundu, Nitika Chawla, Ruchi Agarwal, Swaran Kaur

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Background: Mature cystic teratoma is a benign, most common tumor of the ovary occurring mostly in young and middle-aged females. This study consists of 19 cases of mature cystic teratomas which were received in the Department Of Pathology over a period of two years. There were malignant transformations observed in three cases, which makes it very important for pathologists to thoroughly examine the entire specimen of mature cystic teratomas. Material and Methods: Nineteen reported cases of mature cystic teratomas were received in Deptt. Of Pathology, BPS GMC Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat, over a two-year period from November 2020 to October 2022 and reviewed retrospectively. Data regarding age, size, laterality, gross, morphological features, and surgery performed were retrieved from pathological archives. Results: In our study, the most common age of presentation was the 20-40 year age group. The most common presenting complaint was fullness in the abdomen or abdominal distension. Four out of 19 cases studied cases presented with bilateral ovarian cysts. Tumor size ranged from 6 to 20 cm in diameter. In seven cases, cysts were greater than or equal to 10 cm in diameter. Three cases showed malignant transformation. Conclusion: It is very important to thoroughly examine the contralateral ovary to rule out bilateral presentation. A furthermost thorough examination is advised in tumors of size >10 cm and in tumors with solid areas to rule out any malignant transformation.

Keywords: teratoma, ovary, malignant, transformation

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Authors: Nourah Alshalhoub

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As Saudi Arabia is one of the countries moving toward more inclusive schools, there are few researchers who have examined the new model of inclusive practice; that is, a model introduced by the Tatweer project. Tatweer is an initiative supported by the Saudi government to develop education with a particular focus on inclusion. This on-going doctoral work aims to find out the nature of inclusive practice that Taweer introduced to create effective practice to include students with different abilities. While stakeholders are important elements to the implementation of inclusive education practice, the study’s goal is to find out and explore their understandings and perspectives. This study considers the perspectives of stakeholders, who are involved and influential on the implementation of the practice, from different dimensions. Tatweer project’s managers, head teachers, teachers and teaching assistants will be interviewed to find out how do they understand inclusive education concept and what perspective do they hold. Reliant on this material, this work seeks to inquire into what meaning inclusion and inclusive practice holds in Tatweer and to what extent this educational models let students with different abilities be more included. Four primary schools in Riyadh were purposively selected and data will be collected through semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interview was selected as a study tool because it is a relevant and helpful method in understanding the thoughts, views, and beliefs of the stakeholders individually, and investigating issues more thoroughly in the context of Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: inclusive education, perspective, understanding, definition, inclusion

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Authors: Reza Akbari, Jalal MontazeriFashtali, PeymanMomeni Taromsari

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Pipeline systems, play an important role as a vital element in reducing or increasing the risk of earthquake damage and vulnerability. Pipelines are suitable, cheap, fast, and safe routes for transporting oil, gas, water, sewage, etc. The sepipelines must pass from a wide geographical area; hence they will structurally face different environmental and underground factors of earthquake forces’ effect. Therefore, structural engineering analysis and design for this type of lines requires the understanding of relevant parameters behavior and lack of familiarity with them can cause irreparable damages and risks to design and execution, especially in the face of earthquakes. Today, buried pipelines play an important role in human life cycle, thus, studying the vulnerability of pipeline systems is of particular importance. This study examines the behavior of buried pipelines affected by strike-slip fault. Studied fault is perpendicular to the tube axis and causes stress and deformation in the tube by sliding horizontally. In this study, the pipe-soil interaction is accurately simulated, so that one can examine the large displacements and strains, nonlinear material behavior and contact and friction conditions of soil and pipe. The results can be used for designing buried pipes and determining the amount of fault displacement that causes the failure of the buried pipes.

Keywords: pipe lines , earthquake , fault , soil-fault interaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 451

Authors: Wei Zhao

Abstract:

The pandemic crisis disrupted normal classroom practices so that the constraints of the traditional practice became apparent. This turns out to be new opportunities for technology-based learning and teaching. However, how the technology supports the preschool teachers go through this sudden crisis and how preschool teachers conceived of the use of technology, appropriate and design technological artifacts as a mediator of knowledge construction in order to suit young children’s literacy level are rarely explored. This study addresses these issues by looking at the influence of a web-supported teacher community on changes/shifts in preschool teachers’ epistemological beliefs and practices. This teachers’ professional development community was formulated before the pandemic time and developed virtually throughout the home-based learning caused by Covid-19. It served as a virtual and asynchronous community for those teachers to collaboratively plan for and conduct online lessons using the knowledge-building approach for the purpose of sustaining children’s learning curiosity and opening up new learning opportunities during the lock-down period. The knowledge-building approach helps to increase teachers’ collective responsibility to collaboratively work on shared educational goals in the teacher community and awareness of noticing new ideas or innovations in their classroom. Based on the data collected across five months during and after the lock-down period and the activity theory, results show a dynamic interplay between the evolution of the community culture, the growth of teacher community and teachers’ identity transformation and professional development. Technology is useful in this regard not only because it transforms the geographical distance and new gathering guidelines after the outbreak of pandemic into new ways of communal communication and collaboration. More importantly, while teachers selected, monitored and adapted the technology, it acts as a catalyst for changes in teachers’ old teaching practices and epistemological dispositions.

Keywords: activity theory, changes in epistemology and practice, knowledge building, web-based teachers’ professional development community

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Authors: Ehsan Mohseni, Waiching Tang, Shanyong Wang

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Low thermal conductivity of phase change materials (PCMs) affects the thermal performance and energy storage efficiency of latent heat thermal energy storage systems. In the current research, a structural lightweight concrete with function of indoor temperature control was developed using thermal energy storage aggregates (TESA) and nano-titanium (NT). The macro-encapsulated technique was served to incorporate the PCM into the lightweight aggregate through vacuum impregnation. The compressive strength was measured, and the thermal performance of concrete panel was evaluated by using a self-designed environmental chamber. The impact of NT on microstructure was also assessed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) tests. The test results indicated that NT was able to increase the compressive strength by filling the micro pores and making the microstructure denser and more homogeneous. In addition, the environmental chamber experiment showed that introduction of NT into TESA improved the heat transfer of composites noticeably. The changes were illustrated by the reduction in peak temperatures in the centre, outside and inside surfaces of concrete panels by the inclusion of NT. It can be concluded that NT particles had the capability to decrease the energy consumption and obtain higher energy storage efficiency by the reduction of indoor temperature.

Keywords: heat transfer, macro-encapsulation, microstructure properties, nanoparticles, phase change material

Procedia PDF Downloads 105

Authors: Amina Ben Abla, Sylvie Changotade, Geraldine Rohman, Guilhem Boeuf, Cyrine Dridi, Ahmed Elmarjou, Florence Dufour, Didier Lutomski, Abdellatif Elm’semi

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Understanding cell adhesion and interaction with the extracellular matrix is essential for biomedical and biotechnological applications, including the development of biomaterials. In recent years, numerous biomaterials have emerged and were used in the field of tissue engineering. Nevertheless, the lack of interaction of biomaterials with cells still limits their bio-integration. Thus, the design of bioactive biomaterials to improve cell attachment and proliferation is of growing interest. In this study, bio-functionalized material was developed combining a synthetic polymer scaffold surface with selected domains of type III human fibronectin (FNIII-DOM) to promote cell adhesion and proliferation. Bioadhesive ligand includes cell-binding domains of human fibronectin, a major ECM protein that interacts with a variety of integrins cell-surface receptors, and ECM proteins through specific binding domains were engineered. FNIII-DOM was produced in bacterial system E. coli in 5L fermentor with a high yield level reaching 20mg/L. Bioactivity of the produced fragment was validated by studying cellular adhesion of human cells. The adsorption and immobilization of FNIII-DOM onto the polymer scaffold were evaluated in order to develop an innovative biomaterial.

Keywords: biomaterials, cellular adhesion, fibronectin, tissue engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: Balram Panjwani, Bernd Wittgens, Jan Erik Olsen, Stein Tore Johansen

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The Norwegian ferroalloy industry is a world leader in sustainable production of ferrosilicon, silicon and manganese alloys with the lowest global specific energy consumption. One of the byproducts during the metal reduction process is energy rich off-gas and usually this energy is not harnessed. A novel concept for sustainable energy recovery from ferroalloy off-gas is discussed. The concept is founded on the idea of introducing a combustion chamber in the off-gas section in which energy rich off-gas mainly consisting of CO will be combusted. This will provide an additional degree of freedom for optimizing energy recovery. A well-controlled and high off-gas temperature will assure a significant increase in energy recovery and reduction of emissions to the atmosphere. Design and operation of the combustion chamber depend on many parameters, including the total power capacity of the combustion chamber, sufficient residence time for combusting the complex Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH), NOx, as well as converting other potential pollutants. The design criteria for the combustion chamber have been identified and discussed and sizing of the combustion chamber has been carried out considering these design criteria. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been utilized extensively for sizing the combustion chamber. The results from our CFD simulations of the flow in the combustion chamber and exploring different off-gas fuel composition are presented. In brief, the paper covers all aspect which impacts the sizing of the combustion chamber, including insulation thickness, choice of insulating material, heat transfer through extended surfaces, multi-staging and secondary air injection.

Keywords: CFD, combustion chamber, arc furnace, energy recovery

Procedia PDF Downloads 319

Authors: Bumjo Kim, Hyun Jin Kim, Joon Ha Kim

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The separate sewer system is that collects the wastewater as a sewer pipe and rainfall as a stormwater pipe separately, and then sewage is treated in the wastewater treatment plant, the stormwater is discharged to rivers or lakes through stormwater drainage pipes. Unfortunately, even for separate sewer systems, it is not possible to prevent Rainfall Driven Inflow/Infiltration(RDII) completely to the sewer pipe. Even if the sewerage line is renovated, there is an ineluctable RDII due to the combined sewer system in the house or the difficulty of sewage maintenance in private areas. The basic statistical analysis was performed using environmental data including rainfall, sewage, water qualities and groundwater level in the strict of Gwangju in ​South Korea. During rainfall in the target area, RDII showed an increased rate of 13.4 ~ 53.0% compared to that of a clear day and showed a rapid hydrograph response of 0.3 ~ 3.0 hr. As a result of water quality analysis, BOD5 concentration decreased by 17.3 % and salinity concentration decreased by 8.8 % at the representative spot in the project area compared to the sunny day during rainfall. In contrast to the seasonal fluctuation range of 0.38 m ~ 0.55 m in groundwater in Gwangju area and 0.58 m ~ 0.78 m in monthly fluctuation range, while the difference between groundwater level and the depth of sewer pipe laying was 2.70 m on average, which is larger than the range of fluctuation. Comprehensively, it can be concluded that the increasing of flowrate at sewer line is due to not infiltration water caused by groundwater level rise, construction failure, cracking due to joint failure or conduit deterioration, rainfall was directly inflowed into the sewer line rapidly. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the 'Climate Technology Development and Application' research project (#K07731) through a grant provided by GIST in 2017.

Keywords: ground water, rainfall, rainfall driven inflow/infiltration, separate sewer system

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Karim Kheloufi, El Hachemi Amara

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In the present study, a three-dimensional transient numerical model was developed to study the temperature field and cutting kerf shape during laser fusion cutting. The finite volume model has been constructed, based on the Navier–Stokes equations and energy conservation equation for the description of momentum and heat transport phenomena, and the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method for free surface tracking. The Fresnel absorption model is used to handle the absorption of the incident wave by the surface of the liquid metal and the enthalpy-porosity technique is employed to account for the latent heat during melting and solidification of the material. To model the physical phenomena occurring at the liquid film/gas interface, including momentum/heat transfer, a new approach is proposed which consists of treating friction force, pressure force applied by the gas jet and the heat absorbed by the cutting front surface as source terms incorporated into the governing equations. All these physics are coupled and solved simultaneously in Fluent CFD®. The main objective of using a transient phase change model in the current case is to simulate the dynamics and geometry of a growing laser-cutting generated kerf until it becomes fully developed. The model is used to investigate the effect of some process parameters on temperature fields and the formed kerf geometry.

Keywords: laser cutting, numerical simulation, heat transfer, fluid flow

Procedia PDF Downloads 339

Authors: Madhav Khadilkar

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Construction of a large standby reservoir was required to provide secure water supply. The new reservoir was required to be constructed at the same location of an abandoned old open pond due to space constraints. Some investigations were carried out earlier to improvise and re-commission the existing pond. But due to a lack of quantified risk of settlement from voids in the underlying limestone, the shallow foundations were not found feasible. Since the reservoir was resting on hard strata for about three-quarter of plan area and one quarter was resting on soil underlying with limestone and considerably low subgrade modulus. Further investigations were carried out to ascertain the locations and extent of voids within the limestone. It was concluded that the risk due to lime dissolution was acceptably low, and the site was found geotechnically feasible. The hazard posed by limestone dissolution was addressed through the integrated structural and geotechnical analysis and design approach. Finite Element Analysis was carried out to quantify the stresses and differential settlement due to various probable loads and soil-structure interaction. Walls behaving as cantilever under operational loads were found undergoing in-plane bending and tensile forces due to soil-structure interaction. Sensitivity analysis for varying soil subgrade modulus was carried out to check the variation in the response of the structure and magnitude of stresses developed. The base slab was additionally checked for the loss of soil contact due to lime pocket formations at random locations. The expansion and contraction joints were planned to receive minimal additional forces due to differential settlement. The reservoir was designed to sustain the actions corresponding to allowable deformation limits per code, and geotechnical measures were proposed to achieve the soil parameters set in structural analysis.

Keywords: differential settlement, limestone dissolution, reservoir, soil structure interaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Charity Ngoatle, Tebogo M. Mothiba, Mahlapahlapana J. Themane

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Misapprehension of medications instructions due to poor health literacy is common in diabetic patients, predominantly leading to suboptimal medication therapy caused by taking less than expected, or getting inadequate medication concentration. Globally, 50% of adults have been reported to have misunderstood medication instructions which could be the cause of not using medication as prescribed. Reading material has been found not to improve people’s knowledge to the extent where they would be informed and knowledgeable about their health. This, therefore, depicts that instructive materials alone cannot improve health literacy but further patient education is still needed to explain what the information really mean. The aim of this study was to investigate patients’ interpretation of prescribed medication instructions at Makanye Clinic in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study used a mixed method approach. A non-probability purposive and simple random sampling strategies will be used to select ten (10) participants for the pilot study. Semi-structured interviews with a guide and self- administered structured questionnaires will be used to collect data. Tesch’s eight steps for qualitative data analysis and SPSS version 24 with descriptive statistics will be adopted. The preliminary findings from other studies show that: (a) poor health literacy negatively affect medication adherence, (b) general literacy influence health literacy, and (c) there are poor health outcomes and medication adverse effects due to poor medication comprehension.

Keywords: instructions, diabetes mellitus, patients, prescribed medication

Procedia PDF Downloads 137