Search results for: core acquisition

Authors: Akkouche Karim, Nekmouche Aghiles, Bouzid Leyla

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This study focuses on the development of a multifunctional Expert System (ES) called post-seismic damage inspection tool (PSDIT), a powerful tool which allows the evaluation, the processing and the archiving of the collected data stock after earthquakes. PSDIT can be operated by two user types; an ordinary user (engineer, expert or architect) for the damage visual inspection and an administrative user for updating the knowledge and / or for adding or removing the ordinary user. The knowledge acquisition is driven by a hierarchical knowledge model, the Information from investigation reports and those acquired through feedback from expert / engineer questionnaires are part.

Keywords: buildings, earthquake, seismic damage, damage assessment, expert system

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Papakonstantinou Apostolos, Argyrios Moustakas, Panagiotis Zervos, Dimitrios Stefanakis, Manolis Tsapakis, Nektarios Spyridakis, Mary Paspaliari, Christos Kontos, Antonis Legakis, Sarantis Houzouris, Konstantinos Topouzelis

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For years unmanned and remotely operated robots have been used as tools in industry research and education. The rapid development and miniaturization of sensors that can be attached to remotely operated vehicles in recent years allowed industry leaders and researchers to utilize them as an affordable means for data acquisition in air, land, and sea. Despite the recent developments in the ground and unmanned airborne vehicles, a small number of Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) platforms are targeted for mapping and monitoring environmental parameters for research and industry purposes. The ARGO project is developed an open-design USV equipped with multi-level control hardware architecture and state-of-the-art sensors and payloads for the autonomous monitoring of environmental parameters in large sea areas. The proposed USV is a catamaran-type USV controlled over a wireless radio link (5G) for long-range mapping capabilities and control for a ground-based control station. The ARGO USV has a propulsion control using 2x fully redundant electric trolling motors with active vector thrust for omnidirectional movement, navigation with opensource autopilot system with high accuracy GNSS device, and communication with the 2.4Ghz digital link able to provide 20km of Line of Sight (Los) range distance. The 3-meter dual hull design and composite structure offer well above 80kg of usable payload capacity. Furthermore, sun and friction energy harvesting methods provide clean energy to the propulsion system. The design is highly modular, where each component or payload can be replaced or modified according to the desired task (industrial or research). The system can be equipped with Multiparameter Sonde, measuring up to 20 water parameters simultaneously, such as conductivity, salinity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, etc. Furthermore, a high-end multibeam echo sounder can be installed in a specific boat datum for shallow water high-resolution seabed mapping. The system is designed to operate in the Aegean Sea. The developed USV is planned to be utilized as a system for autonomous data acquisition, mapping, and monitoring bathymetry and various environmental parameters. ARGO USV can operate in small or large ports with high maneuverability and endurance to map large geographical extends at sea. The system presents state of the art solutions in the following areas i) the on-board/real-time data processing/analysis capabilities, ii) the energy-independent and environmentally friendly platform entirely made using the latest aeronautical and marine materials, iii) the integration of advanced technology sensors, all in one system (photogrammetric and radiometric footprint, as well as its connection with various environmental and inertial sensors) and iv) the information management application. The ARGO web-based application enables the system to depict the results of the data acquisition process in near real-time. All the recorded environmental variables and indices are presented, allowing users to remotely access all the raw and processed information using the implemented web-based GIS application.

Keywords: monitor marine environment, unmanned surface vehicle, mapping bythometry, sea environmental monitoring

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Authors: Kinga Mylkie, Pawel Nowak, Marta Z. Borowska

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The most important proteins in human serum responsible for drug binding are human serum albumin (HSA) and α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP). The AGP molecule is a glycoconjugate containing a single polypeptide chain composed of 183 amino acids (the core of the protein), and five glycan branched chains (sugar part) covalently linked by an N-glycosidic bond with aspartyl residues (Asp(N) -15, -38, -54, -75, - 85) of polypeptide chain. This protein plays an important role in binding alkaline drugs, a large group of drugs used in psychiatry, some acid drugs (e.g., coumarin anticoagulants), and neutral drugs (steroid hormones). The main goal of the research was to obtain magnetic nanoparticles coated with biopolymers in a chemically modified form, which will have highly reactive functional groups able to effectively immobilize the glycoprotein (acid α1-glycoprotein) without losing the ability to bind active substances. The first phase of the project involved the chemical modification of biopolymer starch. Modification of starch was carried out by methods of organic synthesis, leading to the preparation of a polymer enriched on its surface with aldehyde groups, which in the next step was coupled with 3-aminophenylboronic acid. Magnetite nanoparticles coated with starch were prepared by in situ co-precipitation and then oxidized with a 1 M sodium periodate solution to form a dialdehyde starch coating. Afterward, the reaction between the magnetite nanoparticles coated with dialdehyde starch and 3-aminophenylboronic acid was carried out. The obtained materials consist of a magnetite core surrounded by a layer of modified polymer, which contains on its surface dihydroxyboryl groups of boronic acids which are capable of binding glycoproteins. Magnetic nanoparticles obtained as carriers for plasma protein immobilization were fully characterized by ATR-FTIR, TEM, SEM, and DLS. The glycoprotein was immobilized on the obtained nanoparticles. The amount of mobilized protein was determined by the Bradford method.

Keywords: glycoproteins, immobilization, magnetic nanoparticles, polysaccharides

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Authors: Mohammed Al-Yamani, Yaser Miaji

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DHL Customer Solutions and Innovation Department (CSI) have been experiencing difficulties while comparing quotes for different customers in different years. Currently, the employees are processing data by opening several loaded Excel files where the quotes are and manually copying values to another Excel Workbook where the comparison is made. This project consists of developing a new and effective database for DHL CSI department so that information is stored altogether on the same catalog. That being said, we have been assigned to find an efficient algorithm that can deal with the different formats of the Excel Workbooks to copy and store the express customer rates for core products (DOX, WPX, IMP) for comparisons purposes.

Keywords: DHL, solution design, ORACLE, EXCEL

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Authors: Yunus Onur Yildiz, Mesut Kirca

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In this study, mechanical properties of a nanoporous metal coated with a different metallic material are studied through a new atomistic modelling technique and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. This new atomistic modelling technique is based on the Voronoi tessellation method for the purpose of geometric representation of the ligaments. With the proposed technique, atomistic models of nanoporous metals which have randomly oriented ligaments with non-uniform mass distribution along the ligament axis can be generated by enabling researchers to control both ligament length and diameter. Furthermore, by the utilization of this technique, atomistic models of coated nanoporous materials can be numerically obtained for further mechanical or thermal characterization. In general, this study consists of two stages. At the first stage, we use algorithms developed for generating atomic coordinates of the coated nanoporous material. In this regard, coordinates of randomly distributed points are determined in a controlled way to be employed in the establishment of the Voronoi tessellation, which results in randomly oriented and intersected line segments. Then, line segment representation of the Voronoi tessellation is transformed to atomic structure by a special process. This special process includes generation of non-uniform volumetric core region in which atoms can be generated based on a specific crystal structure. As an extension, this technique can be used for coating of nanoporous structures by creating another volumetric region encapsulating the core region in which atoms for the coating material are generated. The ultimate goal of the study at this stage is to generate atomic coordinates that can be employed in the MD simulations of randomly organized coated nanoporous structures. At the second stage of the study, mechanical behavior of the coated nanoporous models is investigated by examining deformation mechanisms through MD simulations. In this way, the effect of coating on the mechanical behavior of the selected material couple is investigated.

Keywords: atomistic modelling, molecular dynamic, nanoporous metals, voronoi tessellation

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Authors: Tianqi Wu, Min Wang

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Research investigating language acquisition from a constructionist perspective has demonstrated that language is learned as constructions at various linguistic levels, which is related to factors of frequency, semantic prototypicality, and form-meaning contingency. However, previous research on construction learning tended to focus on clause-level constructions such as verb argument constructions but few attempts were made to study morpheme-level constructions such as the progressive construction, which is regarded as a source of acquisition problems for English learners from diverse L1 backgrounds, especially for those whose L1 do not have an equivalent construction such as German and Chinese. To trace the developmental trajectory of Chinese EFL learners’ use of the progressive with respect to verb frequency, verb-progressive contingency, and verbal prototypicality and generality, a learner corpus consisting of three sub-corpora representing three different English proficiency levels was extracted from the Chinese Learners of English Corpora (CLEC). As the reference point, a native speakers’ corpus extracted from the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays was also established. All the texts were annotated with C7 tagset by part-of-speech tagging software. After annotation all valid progressive hits were retrieved with AntConc 3.4.3 followed by a manual check. Frequency-related data showed that from the lowest to the highest proficiency level, (1) the type token ratio increased steadily from 23.5% to 35.6%, getting closer to 36.4% in the native speakers’ corpus, indicating a wider use of verbs in the progressive; (2) the normalized entropy value rose from 0.776 to 0.876, working towards the target score of 0.886 in native speakers’ corpus, revealing that upper-intermediate learners exhibited a more even distribution and more productive use of verbs in the progressive; (3) activity verbs (i.e., verbs with prototypical progressive meanings like running and singing) dropped from 59% to 34% but non-prototypical verbs such as state verbs (e.g., being and living) and achievement verbs (e.g., dying and finishing) were increasingly used in the progressive. Apart from raw frequency analyses, collostructional analyses were conducted to quantify verb-progressive contingency and to determine what verbs were distinctively associated with the progressive construction. Results were in line with raw frequency findings, which showed that contingency between the progressive and non-prototypical verbs represented by light verbs (e.g., going, doing, making, and coming) increased as English proficiency proceeded. These findings altogether suggested that beginning Chinese EFL learners were less productive in using the progressive construction: they were constrained by a small set of verbs which had concrete and typical progressive meanings (e.g., the activity verbs). But with English proficiency increasing, their use of the progressive began to spread to marginal members such as the light verbs.

Keywords: Construction learning, Corpus-based, Progressives, Prototype

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Authors: Yong-Hui Zheng

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Viruses hijack host machineries to propagate and spread, which disrupts cellular homeostasis and activates various counteractive mechanisms. Infection of enveloped viruses is dependent on their fusion proteins, which bind to viral receptors to allow virus entry into cells. Fusion proteins are glycoproteins and expressed in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by hijacking the secretory pathway. Previously, we reported that Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV)-glycoprotein (GP) expression induces ER stress, and EBOV-GP is targeted by the calnexin cycle to macro-ER-phagy for degradation. We now report that expression of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2/SARS2)-spike (S) protein also causes ER stress, and its expression is strongly downregulated by mannosidase alpha class 1B member 1 (MAN1B1), a class I α-mannosidase from the ER. MAN1B1 co-localizes with SARS2-S in the ER, and its downregulation of SARS2-S is blocked by inhibitors targeting lysosomes and autophagy, but not proteasomes, indicating SARS2-S degradation by autolysosomes. Notably, the SARS2-S degradation does not require the core autophagy machinery including ATG3, ATG5, ATG7, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase catalytic subunit type 3 (PI3KC3)/vacuolar protein sorting 34 (VPS34), and instead, it requires Beclin 1 (BECN1), a core component in the PI3KC3 complex. In addition, MAN1B1 does not trigger SARS2-S polyubiquitination, and consistently, the SARS2-S degradation does not require the autophagy receptor sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1)/p62. MAN1B1 also downregulates EBOV-GP similarly, but this degradation does not require BECN1. Collectively, we conclude that MAN1B1 downregulates viral fusions by micro-ER-phagy, and importantly, we have identified BECN1-dependent and BECN1-independent mechanisms for micro-ER-phagy.

Keywords: Micro-ER-phagy, reticulophagy, fusion proteins, ER stress

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Authors: Rodrigo T. Lourenço, Margarida Mano

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Higher Education Institutions (HEI), and other levels of Education, face important challenges. One of the most relevant one is the ability to adapt to a society that is changing over time, whilst guarantying levels of training that do not merely react to such changes. Thus, interacting with society, particularly with surrounding communities and key stakeholders, has become an essential requirement for the sustainability of these institutions. One of the formal mechanisms implemented in European educational institutions has been the design of organizational structures that include a top governance body sharing its constitution with both internal members, students and external members. Such frame holds the core mission of involving communities in the governance of educational institutions, assuming, both strategic decision-making functions, with the approval of the institutions’ strategic plans, and a supervision function, approved by activity reports. It also plays an essential role in the life of institutions by holding the responsibility of electing its top executives. In Portugal, it has been almost a decade since the publication of RJIES, the legal framework of Higher Education, such bodies being designated by General Councils. Thus, one may highlight that there has been a better understanding of the operative process of these bodies, as well as their added value to the education system. It has also been possible to analyse the extent to which their core mission has been fulfilled and to understand its growing relevance, particularly regarding the autonomy of institutions. This article aims to contribute to this theme by presenting the results of a study on the role of these bodies in the governance of Public Portuguese HEI, with a special focus on the supervisory competence of organizational performance. Through questionnaires made to board members and interviews with chairpersons of the bodies and top managers of the institutions, it was possible to conclude that there is a high concern with the connections to the external environment. However, regarding organizational performance and the role of the Council as a supervisor of that performance, the activity of the bodies has fallen short of what would be expected. Several reasons may be identified. It is important to emphasize the importance of the profile of the external members and the relationship between the organ’s standard functioning and the election of the head of the institution.

Keywords: governance, stakeholders, supervision, performance

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Authors: David Dean Hampton, William Morrison, Mary Rizza, Jan Osborn

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This evaluation examined the effects of a supplemental reading intervThis evaluation examined the effects of a supplemental reading intervention for students with specific learning disabilities in reading who were presented with below grade level on fall benchmark scores on DIBELS 6th ed. Revised. Participants consisted of a condition group, those who received supplemental reading instruction in addition to core + special education services and a comparison group of students who were at grade level in their fall benchmark scores. The students in the condition group received 26 weeks of Project MORE instruction delivered multiple times each week from trained volunteer tutors. Using a regression-discontinuity design, condition and comparison groups were compared on reading development growth using DIBELS ORF. Significant findings were reported for grade 2, 3, and 4. ntion for students with specific learning disabilities in reading who presented with below grade level on fall benchmark scores on DIBELS 6th ed. Revised. Participants consisted of a condition group, those who received supplemental reading instruction in addition to core + special education services and a comparison group of students who were at grade level in their fall benchmark scores. The students in the condition group received 26 weeks of Project MORE instruction delivered multiple times each week from trained volunteer tutors. Using a regression-discontinuity design, condition and comparison groups were compared on reading development growth using DIBELS ORF. Significant findings were reported for grade 2, 3, and 4.

Keywords: special education, evidence-based practices, curriculum, tutoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 66

Authors: P. Tanuska, A. Elias, P. Vazan, B. Zahradnikova

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This article describes the information system for measuring and evaluating the dose rate in the environment of nuclear power plants Mochovce and Bohunice in Slovakia. The article presents the results achieved in the implementation of the EU project–Research of monitoring and evaluation of non-standard conditions in the area of nuclear power plants. The objectives included improving the system of acquisition, measuring and evaluating data with mobile and autonomous units applying new knowledge from research. The article provides basic and specific features of the system and compared to the previous version of the system, also new functions.

Keywords: information system, dose rate, mobile devices, nuclear power plant

Procedia PDF Downloads 376

Authors: M.R Asghari Bejestani, Gh. R. Mohammad Khani, V.R. Nafisi

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Imagined speech recognition is one of the most interesting approaches to BCI development and a lot of works have been done in this area. Many different experiments have been designed and hundreds of combinations of feature extraction methods and classifiers have been examined. Reported classification accuracies range from the chance level to more than 90%. Based on non-stationary nature of brain signals, we have introduced 3 classification modes according to time difference in inter and intra-class samples. The modes can explain the diversity of reported results and predict the range of expected classification accuracies from the brain signal accusation procedure. In this paper, a few samples are illustrated by inspecting results of some previous works.

Keywords: brain computer interface, silent talk, imagined speech, classification, signal processing

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Rajasekar Anand Thiyagarajan

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One of the driving forces of mankind is the “le r`eve d'etoiles" or the “dream of stars", which has been the dynamo of our civilization. Since the beginning of the dawn of the civilization, mankind has looked upon the heavens with wonder and he has tried to understand the meaning of those twinkling lights. As human history has progressed, the understanding of those twinkling lights has progressed, as we now know a lot of information about stars. However, the dream of stars or the dream of reaching those stars always remains within the expectations of mankind. In fact, the needs of the civilization constantly drive for better knowledge and the capability of reaching those stars is one such way that knowledge and exultation can be achieved. This paper takes a futuristic case study of an interstellar mission to Wolf 359, which is approximately 8.3 light years away from us. In terms of galactic distances, 8.3 light years is not much, but as far as present space technology capabilities are concerned, it is next to impossible for us to reach those distances. Several studies have been conducted on various missions to Alpha Centauri and other nearby stars such as Barnard's star and Wolf 359. However, taking a more distant star such as Wolf 359 will help test the mankind's drive for interstellar exploration, as exotic means of travel are needed. This paper will take a futuristic case study of the event and various possibilities of space travel will be discussed in detail. Comprehensive tables and graphs will be given, which will depict the amount of time that will pass at each mode of travel and more importantly some idea on the cost in terms of energy as well as money will be discussed within today's context. In addition, prerequisites to an interstellar mission to Wolf 359 will be given in detail as well as a sample mission which will take place to that particular destination. Even though the possibility of such a mission is probably nonexistent for the 21st century, it is essential to do these exercises so that mankind's understanding of the universe will be increased. In addition, this paper hopes to establish some general guidelines for such an interstellar mission.

Keywords: wolf 359, interstellar mission, alpha centauri, core diameter, core length, reflector thickness enrichment, gas temperature, reflector temperature, power density, mass of the space craft, acceleration of the space craft, time expansion

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Authors: Ricardo Merlo, María González, Zully Rivero, Laura González

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This exploratory work was to know the perception of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) that university students have during their passage through the classroom. The significance of using AI in education, the degree of interest, knowledge acquisition, and how it would influence an interactive resource for acquiring skills were explored. Within this framework, a test with 30 items was designed and administered to 800 volunteer first-year university students of natural and exact sciences. Based on a randomized pilot test, it was validated with Cronbach's Alpha coefficient. Subsequently, the descriptive statistics of the sample used allowed us to observe the preponderance of the dimensions that constitute the attitude construct. Then, the factorial analysis by dimensions contributed to discern about the students' habits according to the knowledge acquired and the emotions put into play in the topics developed in the classroom.

Keywords: attitude, artificial intelligence, didactics, teaching

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Authors: SangWon Han, MuWook Pyeon, Sujung Moon, DaeKyo Seo

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Recently, technologies based on three-dimensional (3D) space information are being developed and quality of life is improving as a result. Research on real-time digital map (RDM) is being conducted now to provide 3D space information. RDM is a service that creates and supplies 3D space information in real time based on location/shape detection. Research subjects on RDM include the construction of 3D space information with matching image data, complementing the weaknesses of image acquisition using multi-source data, and data collection methods using big data. Using RDM will be effective for space analysis using 3D space information in a U-City and for other space information utilization technologies.

Keywords: RDM, multi-source data, big data, U-City

Procedia PDF Downloads 433

Authors: Cristina Opris, Bogdan Cojocaru, Madalina Tudorache, Simona M. Coman, Vasile I. Parvulescu, Camelia Bala, Bahir Duraki, Jeroen A. Van Bokhoven

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The tremendous achievements in the development of the society concretized by more sophisticated materials and systems are merely based on non-renewable resources. Consequently, after more than two centuries of intensive development, among others, we are faced with the decrease of the fossil fuel reserves, an increased impact of the greenhouse gases on the environment, and economic effects caused by the fluctuations in oil and mineral resource prices. The use of biomass may solve part of these problems, and recent analyses demonstrated that from the perspective of the reduction of the emissions of carbon dioxide, its valorization may bring important advantages conditioned by the usage of genetic modified fast growing trees or wastes, as primary sources. In this context, the abundance and complex structure of lignin may offer various possibilities of exploitation. However, its transformation in fuels or chemicals supposes a complex chemistry involving the cleavage of C-O and C-C bonds and altering of the functional groups. Chemistry offered various solutions in this sense. However, despite the intense work, there are still many drawbacks limiting the industrial application. Thus, the proposed technologies considered mainly homogeneous catalysts meaning expensive noble metals based systems that are hard to be recovered at the end of the reaction. Also, the reactions were carried out in organic solvents that are not acceptable today from the environmental point of view. To avoid these problems, the concept of this work was to investigate the synthesis of superparamagnetic core shell catalysts for the fragmentation of lignin directly in the aqueous phase. The magnetic nanoparticles were covered with a nanoshell of an oxide (niobia) with a double role: to protect the magnetic nanoparticles and to generate a proper (acidic) catalytic function and, on this composite, cobalt nanoparticles were deposed in order to catalyze the C-C bond splitting. With this purpose, we developed a protocol to prepare multifunctional and magnetic separable nano-composite Co@Nb2O5@Fe3O4 catalysts. We have also established an analytic protocol for the identification and quantification of the fragments resulted from lignin depolymerization in both liquid and solid phase. The fragmentation of various lignins occurred on the prepared materials in high yields and with very good selectivity in the desired fragments. The optimization of the catalyst composition indicated a cobalt loading of 4wt% as optimal. Working at 180 oC and 10 atm H2 this catalyst allowed a conversion of lignin up to 60% leading to a mixture containing over 96% in C20-C28 and C29-C37 fragments that were then completely fragmented to C12-C16 in a second stage. The investigated catalysts were completely recyclable, and no leaching of the elements included in the composition was determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES).

Keywords: superparamagnetic core-shell catalysts, environmental production of fuels, renewable lignin, recyclable catalysts

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Authors: Tannia Vindel, Angel Matute, Erik Elvir, Kelvin Santos

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Currently in Honduras, is been incentivized the generation of energy using renewable fonts, such as: hydroelectricity, wind power, biomass and, more recently with the strongest growth, photovoltaic energy. In July 2015 were installed 455.2 MW of photovoltaic energy, increasing by 24% the installed capacity of the national interconnected system existing in 2014, according the National Energy Company (NEC), that made possible reduce the thermoelectric dependency of the system. Given the good results of those large-scale photovoltaic plants, arises the question: is it interesting for the distribution utility and for the consumers the integration of photovoltaic systems in micro-scale in the urban and rural areas? To answer that question has been researched the insertion of photovoltaic energy in the residential sector in Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela (Central District), Honduras to determine the technical and economic viability. Francisco Morazán department, according the National Statistics Institute (NSI), in 2001 had more than 180,000 houses with power service. Tegucigalpa, department and Honduras capital, and Comayagüela, both, have the highest population density in the region, with 1,300,000 habitants in 2014 (NSI). The residential sector in the south-central region of Honduras represents a high percentage being 49% of total consumption, according with NEC in 2014; where 90% of this sector consumes in a range of 0 to 300 kWh / month. All this, in addition to the high level of losses in the transmission and distribution systems, 31.3% in 2014, and the availability of an annual average solar radiation of 5.20 kWh/(m2∙day) according to the NASA, suggests the feasibility of the implementation of photovoltaic systems as a solution to give a level of independency to the households, and besides could be capable of injecting the non-used energy to the grid. The capability of exchange of energy with the grid could make the photovoltaic systems acquisition more affordable to the consumers, because of the compensation energy programs or other kinds of incentives that could be created. Technical viability of the photovoltaic systems insertion has been analyzed, considering the solar radiation monthly average to determine the monthly average of energy that would be generated with the technology accessible locally and the effects of the injection of the energy locally generated on the grid. In addition, the economic viability has been analyzed too, considering the photovoltaic systems high costs, costs of the utility, location and monthly energy consumption requirements of the families. It was found that the inclusion of photovoltaic systems in Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela could decrease in 6 MW the demand for the region if 100% of the households use photovoltaic systems, which acquisition may be more accessible with the help of government incentives and/or the application of energy exchange programs.

Keywords: grid connected, photovoltaic, residential, technical analysis

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Authors: Jiraporn Adchariyaprasit

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The aesthetics of language in Thai poetry are emerged from the combination of sounds and meanings. The appreciation of such beauty can be achieved by means of education, acquisition of knowledge, and training. This research aims to study the learning process of aesthetics of language in Thai poetry for high school teachers in Bangkok and nearby provinces. There are 10 samples selected by purposive sampling for in-depth interviews. According to the research, there are four patterns in the learning process of aesthetics of language in Thai poetry which are 1) the study of characteristics and patterns of poetry, 2) the training of poetic reading, 3) the study of social and cultural contexts of poetry’s creation, and 4) the study of other sciences related to poetry such as linguistics, traditional dance, and so on.

Keywords: aesthetics, poetry, Thai poetry, poetry learning

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Authors: Irina Astrova, Arne Koschel, Thole Schneider, Johannes Westhuis, Jürgen Westerkamp

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The main purpose of this paper was to find a simple solution for load balancing and fault tolerance in OSGi. The challenge was to implement a highly available web application such as a shopping cart system with load balancing and fault tolerance, without having to change the core of OSGi.

Keywords: fault tolerance, load balancing, OSGi, shopping cart system

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Authors: Susana Sousa Machado

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The debate on the use of religious symbols has been highlighted in modern societies, especially in the field of labour relationships. As litigiousness appears to be growing, the matter requires a careful study from a legal perspective. In this context, a description and critical analysis of the most recent case law is conducted regarding the use of symbols by the employee in the workplace, delivered both by the European Court of Human Rights and by the Court of Justice of the European Union. From this comparative analysis we highlight the most relevant aspects in order to seek a common core regarding the juridical-argumentative approach of case law.

Keywords: religion, religious symbols, workplace, discrimination

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Authors: Maha Al-Soudani, Gilles Klysz, Jean-Paul Balayssac

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The aim of this paper is to use Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) as a non-destructive testing (NDT) method to increase its accuracy in recognizing the geometric reinforced concrete structures and in particular, the position of steel bars. This definition will help the managers to assess the state of their structures on the one hand vis-a-vis security constraints and secondly to quantify the need for maintenance and repair. Several configurations of acquisition and processing of the simulated signal were tested to propose and develop an appropriate imaging algorithm in the propagation medium to locate accurately the rebar. A subsequent experimental validation was used by testing the imaging algorithm on real reinforced concrete structures. The results indicate that, this algorithm is capable of estimating the reinforcing steel bar position to within (0-1) mm.

Keywords: GPR, NDT, Reinforced concrete structures, Rebar location.

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Authors: A. Knezović

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21st century has transformed the labor market landscape in a way of posing new and different demands on university graduates as well as university lecturers, which means that the knowledge and academic skills students acquire in the course of their studies should be applicable and transferable from the higher education context to their future professional careers. Given the context of the Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) classroom, the teachers’ objective is not only to teach the language itself, but also to prepare students to use that language as a medium to develop generic skills and competences. These include media and information literacy, critical and creative thinking, problem-solving and analytical skills, effective written and oral communication, as well as collaborative work and social skills, all of which are necessary to make university graduates more competitive in everyday professional environments. On the other hand, due to limitations of time and large numbers of students in classes, the frequently topic-centered syllabus of LSP courses places considerable focus on acquiring the subject matter and specialist vocabulary instead of sufficient development of skills and competences required by students’ prospective employers. This paper intends to explore some of those issues as viewed both by LSP lecturers and by business professionals in their respective surveys. The surveys were conducted among more than 50 LSP lecturers at higher education institutions in Croatia, more than 40 HR professionals and more than 60 university graduates with degrees in economics and/or business working in management positions in mainly large and medium-sized companies in Croatia. Various elements of LSP course content have been taken into consideration in this research, including reading and listening comprehension of specialist texts, acquisition of specialist vocabulary and grammatical structures, as well as presentation and negotiation skills. The ability to hold meetings, conduct business correspondence, write reports, academic texts, case studies and take part in debates were also taken into consideration, as well as informal business communication, business etiquette and core courses delivered in a foreign language. The results of the surveys conducted among LSP lecturers will be analyzed with reference to what extent those elements are included in their courses and how consistently and thoroughly they are evaluated according to their course requirements. Their opinions will be compared to the results of the surveys conducted among professionals from a range of industries in Croatia so as to examine how useful and important they perceive the same elements of the LSP course content in their working environments. Such comparative analysis will thus show to what extent the syllabi of LSP courses meet the demands of the employment market when it comes to the students’ language skills and competences, as well as transferable skills. Finally, the findings will also be compared to the observations based on practical teaching experience and the relevant sources that have been used in this research. In conclusion, the ideas and observations in this paper are merely open-ended questions that do not have conclusive answers, but might prompt LSP lecturers to re-evaluate the content and objectives of their course syllabi.

Keywords: languages for specific purposes (LSP), language skills, topic-centred syllabus, transferable skills

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Authors: Joyjit Dey, Souvik Sen

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Middle Permian Barakar formation is the major economic coal bearing unit of vast east-west trending Damodar Valley basin of Gondwana coalfield. Primary sedimentary structures were studied from the core holes, which represent majorly four facies groups: sandstone dominated facies, sandstone-shale heterolith facies, shale facies and coal facies. Total eight major coal seams have been identified with the bottom most seam being the thickest. Laterally, continuous coal seams were deposited in the calm and quiet environment of extensive floodplain swamps. Channel sinuosity and lateral channel migration/avulsion results in lateral facies heterogeneity and coal splitting. Geophysical well logs (Gamma-Resistivity-Density logs) have been used to establish the vertical and lateral correlation of various litho units field-wide, which reveals the predominance of repetitive fining upwards cycles. Well log data being a permanent record, offers a strong foundation for generating log based property evaluation and helps in characterization of depositional units in terms of lateral and vertical heterogeneity. Low gamma, high resistivity, low density is the typical coal seam signatures in geophysical logs. Here, we have used a density cutoff of 1.6 g/cc as a primary discriminator of coal and the same has been employed to compute various coal assay parameters, which are ash, fixed carbon, moisture, volatile content, cleat porosity, vitrinite reflectance (VRo%), which were calibrated with the laboratory based measurements. The study shows ash content and VRo% increase from west to east (towards basin margin), while fixed carbon, moisture and volatile content increase towards west, depicting increased coal quality westwards. Seam wise cleat porosity decreases from east to west, this would be an effect of overburden, as overburden pressure increases westward with the deepening of basin causing more sediment packet deposited on the western side of the study area. Coal is a porous, viscoelastic material in which velocity and strain both change nonlinearly with stress, especially for stress applied perpendicular to the bedding plane. Usually, the coal seam has a high velocity contrast relative to its neighboring layers. Despite extensive discussion of the maceral and chemical properties of coal, its elastic characteristics have received comparatively little attention. The measurement of the elastic constants of coal presents many difficulties: sample-to-sample inhomogeneity and fragility and velocity dependence on stress, orientation, humidity, and chemical content. In this study, a conclusive empirical equation VS= 0.80VP-0.86 has been used to model shear velocity from compression velocity. Also the same has been used to compute various geomechanical moduli. Geomech analyses yield a Poisson ratio of 0.348 against coals. Average bulk modulus value is 3.97 GPA, while average shear modulus and Young’s modulus values are coming out as 1.34 and 3.59 GPA respectively. These middle Permian Barakar coals show an average 23.84 MPA uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) with 4.97 MPA cohesive strength and 0.46 as friction coefficient. The output values of log based proximate parameters and geomechanical moduli suggest a medium volatile Bituminous grade for the studied coal seams, which is found in the laboratory based core study as well.

Keywords: core analysis, coal characterization, geophysical log, geo-mechanical moduli

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Authors: Zulaiha Maluma Ahmad

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This paper attempted to examine adult and non formal education for the attainment of entrepreneurial skills in empowering the citizens with entrepreneurial skills, for Nigeria’s socioeconomic development. This paper highlighted the meaning of education in the context of skill acquisition, entrepreneurial education, adult and non formal education. It also examined the objectives, issues and challenges as well as prospects of this type of education. It further discussed the role of adult and non formal education for the attainment of socioeconomic development of a growing nation like Nigeria. The paper equally proffered some recommendations and eventually concluded that adult and non formal education can indeed make self reliance, personal satisfaction and the attainment of entrepreneurial education for the socioeconomic development of any nation, possible.

Keywords: entrepreneurial education, adult education, non formal education skills, Nigeria

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Authors: Tyler T. Procko, Steve Collins

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New features in .NET (6 and above) permit streamlined access to information residing in JSON-capable relational databases, such as SQL Server (2016 and above). Traditional methods of data access now comparatively involve unnecessary steps which compromise system performance. This work posits that the established ORM (Object Relational Mapping) based methods of data access in applications and APIs result in common issues, e.g., object-relational impedance mismatch. Recent developments in C# and .NET Core combined with a framework of modern SQL Server coding conventions have allowed better technical solutions to the problem. As an amelioration, this work details the language features and coding conventions which enable this streamlined approach, resulting in an open-source .NET library implementation called Codeless Data Access (CODA). Canonical approaches rely on ad-hoc mapping code to perform type conversions between the client and back-end database; with CODA, no mapping code is needed, as JSON is freely mapped to SQL and vice versa. CODA streamlines API data access by improving on three aspects of immediate concern to web developers, database engineers and cybersecurity professionals: Simplicity, Speed and Security. Simplicity is engendered by cutting out the “middleman” steps, effectively making API data access a whitebox, whereas traditional methods are blackbox. Speed is improved because of the fewer translational steps taken, and security is improved as attack surfaces are minimized. An empirical evaluation of the speed of the CODA approach in comparison to ORM approaches ] is provided and demonstrates that the CODA approach is significantly faster. CODA presents substantial benefits for API developer workflows by simplifying data access, resulting in better speed and security and allowing developers to focus on productive development rather than being mired in data access code. Future considerations include a generalization of the CODA method and extension outside of the .NET ecosystem to other programming languages.

Keywords: API data access, database, JSON, .NET core, SQL server

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Authors: Saliha Ozcan

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Technology has become an integral part of our lives, aiding individuals in accessing higher order competencies, such as global awareness, creativity, collaborative problem solving, and self-directed learning. Students need to acquire these competencies, often referred to as 21st century skills, in order to adapt to a fast changing world. Today, an ever-increasing number of schools are exploring how engagement through telecollaboration can support language learning and promote 21st century skill development in classrooms. However, little is known regarding how telecollaboration may influence the way students acquire 21st century skills. In this paper, we aim to shed light to the potential implications of telecollaborative practices in acquisition of 21st century skills. In our context, telecollaboration, which might be carried out in a variety of settings both synchronously or asynchronously, is considered as the process of communicating and working together with other people or groups from different locations through online digital tools or offline activities to co-produce a desired work output. The study presented here will describe and analyse the implementation of a telecollaborative project between two high school classes, one in Spain and the other in Sweden. The students in these classes were asked to carry out some joint activities, including creating an online platform, aimed at raising awareness of the situation of the Syrian refugees. We conduct a qualitative study in order to explore how language, culture, communication, and technology merge into the co-construction of knowledge, as well as supporting the attainment of the 21st century skills needed for network-mediated communication. To this end, we collected a significant amount of audio-visual data, including video recordings of classroom interaction and external Skype meetings. By analysing this data, we verify whether the initial pedagogical design and intended objectives of the telecollaborative project coincide with what emerges from the actual implementation of the tasks. Our findings indicate that, as well as planned activities, unplanned classroom interactions may lead to acquisition of certain 21st century skills, such as collaborative problem solving and self-directed learning. This work is part of a wider project (KONECT, EDU2013-43932-P; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Finance), which aims to explore innovative, cross-competency based teaching that can address the current gaps between today’s educational practices and the needs of informed citizens in tomorrow’s interconnected, globalised world.

Keywords: 21st century skills, telecollaboration, language learning, network mediated communication

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Authors: Çisem Gündüz Arabacı

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Deliberation has been seen one of the most important components of democratic ideals especially since liberal democratic attributions have been under fire. Deliberative democracy advocates that people should participate in collective decision-making processes by other mechanisms rather than conventional ones in order to reach legitimate decisions. Deliberative democratic theory makes emphasis on deliberative communication between people and encourages them not to merely express their political opinions (through surveys and referendum) but to form those opinions through public debates. This paper focuses on deliberative democratic visions of Gezi Park Public Forums by taking deliberative democracy as theoretical basis and examining Gezi Park Public Forums in the light of core elements of deliberative democracy. Gezi Movement started on 28 May 2013 in İstanbul as a reaction to local government's revision plans for Taksim Gezi Park, spread throughout the country and created new zones in public sphere which are called Public Park Forums. During the summer of 2013, especially in İstanbul but also in other cities, people gathered in public parks, discussed and took collective decisions concerning actions which they will take. It is worth to mention that since 3 and half years some Public Park Forums are still continuing their meetings regularly in city of İzmir. This paper analyzes four 'Public Park Forums' in İzmir which are called Bornova Public Forum; Karşıyaka Public Forum, Foça Public Forum and Güzelyalı Public Forum. These Forums are under investigation in terms of their understanding of democracy and the values that support that understanding. Participant observation and in-depth interview methods are being used as research methods. Core element of deliberative democracy are being collected under three main category: common interest versus private interest, membership, rational argument and these values are being questioning within one of each Forum in order to draw an overall picture and also make comparison between them. Discourse analysis is being used in order to examine empirical data and paper aims to reveal how participants of public forums perceive deliberative democratic values and whether they give weight to these values.

Keywords: deliberative democracy, Gezi Park movement, public forums, social movement

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Authors: Michael Mickson

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The recent development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been increasing the number of technical solutions that can be used to identify, map, and manage the effects of geohazards. UAVs are generally cheaper and more versatile than traditional remote-sensing techniques, and they can be therefore considered as a good alternative for the acquisition of imagery and other remote sensing data before, during and after a natural hazard event. This study aims to use UAV for investigating areas susceptible to high mobility flows such as debris flow in Dominica, especially after the 2017 Hurricane Maria. The use of UAVs in identifying, mapping and managing of natural hazards helps to mitigate the negative effects of natural hazards on livelihood, properties and the built environment.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), geohazards, remote sensing, mapping, Dominica

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Authors: Tarek Duzan, Walid Esayed

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Fluid flow in porous media is attributed fundamentally to parameters that are controlled by depositional and post-depositional environments. After deposition, digenetic events can act negatively on the reservoir and reduce the effective porosity, thereby making the rock less permeable. Therefore, exploiting hydrocarbons from such resources requires partially altering the rock properties to improve the long-term production rate and enhance the recovery efficiency. In this study, we try to address, firstly, the phenomena of permeability reduction in tight sandstone reservoirs and illustrate the implemented procedures to investigate the problem roots; finally, benchmark the candidate solutions at the field scale and recommend the mitigation strategy for the field development plan. During the study, two investigations have been considered: subsurface analysis using ( PLT ) and Laboratory tests for four candidate wells of the interested reservoir. Based on the above investigations, it was obvious that the Production logging tool (PLT) has shown areas of contribution in the reservoir, which is considered very limited, considering the total reservoir thickness. Also, Alcohol treatment was the first choice to go with for the AA9 well. The well productivity has been relatively restored but not to its initial productivity. Furthermore, Alcohol treatment in the lab was effective and restored permeability in some plugs by 98%, but operationally, the challenge would be the ability to distribute enough alcohol in a wellbore to attain the sweep Efficiency obtained within a laboratory core plug. However, the Second solution, which is based on fracking wells, has shown excellent results, especially for those wells that suffered a high drop in oil production. It is suggested to frac and pack the wells that are already damaged in the Waha field to mitigate the damage and restore productivity back as much as possible. In addition, Critical fluid velocity and its effect on fine sand migration in the reservoir have to be well studied on core samples, and therefore, suitable pressure drawdown will be applied in the reservoir to limit fine sand migration.

Keywords: alcohol treatment, post-depositional environments, permeability, tight sandstone

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Authors: Marinka K. Baghdasaryan, Siranush M. Muradyan, Avgen A. Gasparyan

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Analytical expressions of the current and angular errors, as well as the frequency characteristics of an induction converter describing the relation with its structural parameters, the core and winding characteristics are obtained. Based on estimation of the dependences obtained, a mathematical problem of parametric optimization is formulated which can successfully be used for investigation and diagnosing an induction converter.

Keywords: induction converters, magnetic circuit material, current and angular errors, frequency response, mathematical formulation, structural parameters

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Authors: Zorana Jurinjak, Christos Alexopoulos

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The aim of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of using a medical bilingual dictionary in teaching English in a vocational college. More precisely, to what extent the use of bilingual medical dictionary in relation to the use of Standard English bilingual dictionaries influences the results on tests, and thus the acquisition of better competence of students mastering the subject terminology. Secondary interest in this paper would be to raise awareness among students and teachers about the advantages of dictionary use. The experiment was conducted at College of Applied Health Sciences in Ćuprija on a sample of 90 students. The respondents translated three medical texts with 42 target terms. Statistical analyses of the data obtained show that the differences in average time and correct answers favor the students who used medical dictionary.

Keywords: bilingual medical dictionary, standard english bilingual dictionary, medical terminology, EOS, ESP

Procedia PDF Downloads 110