Search results for: external resorption

Authors: Mirosław Krzemieniewski, Marcin Zieliński, Marcin Dębowski

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This publication presents a device for depolymerisation of plant substrates applicable to agricultural biogas plants and closed-chamber sewage treatment plants where sludge fermentation is bolstered with plant mass. The device consists of a tank with a cover equipped with a heating system, an inlet for the substrate, and an outlet for the depolymerised substrate. Within the tank, a magnet shaft encased in a spiral casing is attached, equipped on its upper end with an internal magnetic disc. A motoreducer is mounted on an external magnetic disc located on the centre of the cover. Depolymerisation of the plant substrate allows for substrate destruction at much lower power levels than by conventional means. The temperature within the reactor can be lowered by 40% in comparison to existing designs. During the depolymerisation process, free radicals are generated within the magnetic field, oxidizing the conditioned substrate and promoting biodegradation. Thus, the fermentation time in the fermenters is reduced by approximately 20%.

Keywords: depolymerisation, pre-treatment, biomass, fermentation

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Authors: Tammy Shel (Aboody)

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The integration of philosophy with ethnography, i.e., ethno-philosophy, or any qualitative method, is multi-dimensional. It is, thus, vital to the discourse on caring in the philosophy of education, and in therapy. These two significant dimensions are focal in this proposal’s discussion. The integration of grounded data with philosophy can shed light on cultural, gender, socio-economic and political diversities in the relationships and interactions between and among individuals and societies. This approach can explain miscommunication and, eventually, violent conflicts. The ethno-philosophy study in this proposal focuses on the term caring, through case studies of 5 non-white male and female elementary school teachers in Los Angeles County. The study examined the teachers’ views on caring and, consequently, the implications on their pedagogy. Subsequently, this method turned out to also be a caring approach in therapy. Ethnographic data was juxtaposed with western philosophy. Research discussion unraveled transformable gaps between western patriarchal and feminist philosophy on caring, and that of the teachers. Multiple interpretations and practices of caring were found due to cultural, gender, and socio-economic-political differences. Likewise, two dominant categories emerged. The first is inclusive caring, which is perceived as an ideal, as the compass of humanity that aims towards emancipation from the shackles of inner and external violence. The second is tribal caring, which illuminates the inherently dialectical substantial diversity in the interpretations and praxes of caring. Such angles are absent or minor in traditional western literature. Both categories teach of the incessant dynamic definition of caring, and its subliminal and repressed mechanisms. The multi-cultural aspects can teach us, however, that despite the inclusive common ground we share on caring, and despite personal and social awareness of cultural and gender differences, the hegemonic ruling-class governs the standardized conventional interpretation of caring. Second is the dimension of therapy in ethno-philosophy. Each patient is like a case study per se, and is a self-ethnographer. Thus, the patient is the self-observer and data collector, and the therapist is the philosopher who helps deconstruct into fragments the consciousness that comprises our well-being and self-esteem and acceptance. Together, they both identify and confront hurdles that hinder the pursuit of a more composed attitude towards ourselves and others. Together, they study and re-organize these fragments into a more comprehensible and composed self-acceptance. Therefore, the ethno-philosophy method, which stems from a caring approach, confronts the internal and external conflicts that govern our relationships with others. It sheds light on the dark and subliminal spots in our minds and hearts that operate us. Unveiling the hidden spots helps identify a shared ground that can supersede miscommunication and conflicts among and between people. The juxtaposition of ethnography with philosophy, as a caring approach in education and therapy, emphasizes that planet earth is like a web. Hence, despite the common mechanism that stimulates a caring approach towards the other, ethno-philosophy can help undermine the ruling patriarchal oppressive forces that define and standardize caring relationships, and to subsequently bridge gaps between people.

Keywords: caring, philosophy of education, ethnography, therapy, research

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Authors: K. A. Tharanga, K. H. H. Damayanthi

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Perception is an epistemological concept discussed in Philosophy. Perception, in other word, vision, is one of the ways that human beings get empirical knowledge after five senses. However, we face innumerable problems when achieving knowledge from perception, and therefore the knowledge gained through perception is uncertain. what we see in the external world is not real. These are the major issues that we face when receiving knowledge through perception. Sometimes there is no physical existence of what we really see. In such cases, the perception is relative. The following frames will be taken into consideration when perception is analyzed illusions and delusions, the figure of a physical object, appearance and the reality of a physical object, time factor, and colour of a physical object.seeing and knowing become vary according to the above conceptual frames. We cannot come to a proper conclusion of what we see in the empirical world. Because the things that we see are not really there. Hence the scientific knowledge which is gained from observation is doubtful. All the factors discussed in science remain in the physical world. There is a leap from ones existence to the existence of a world outside his/her mind. Indeed, one can suppose that what he/she takes to be real is just anmassive deception. However, depending on the above facts, if someone begins to doubt about the whole world, it is unavoidable to become his/her view a scepticism or nihilism. This is a certain reality.

Keywords: empirical, perception, sceptisism, nihilism

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Authors: Ioan Rusu

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In the operation of power transformers of 110 kV/MV from substations, these are traveled by fault current resulting from MV line damage. Defect electrical contacts are heated when they are travelled from fault currents. In the case of high temperatures when 135 °C is reached, the electrical insulating oil in the vicinity of the electrical faults comes into contact with these contacts releases gases, and activates the electrical protection. To avoid auto-flammability of electro-insulating oil, we designed a security system thermal of electrical contact defects by pouring fire-resistant polyurethane foam, mastic or mortar fire inside a cardboard electro-insulating cylinder. From practical experience, in the exploitation of power transformers of 110 kV/MT in oil electro-insulating were recorded some passing disconnecting commanded by the gas protection at internal defects. In normal operation and in the optimal load, nominal currents do not require thermal secure contacts inside electrical transformers, contacts are made at the fabrication according to the projects or to repair by solder. In the case of external short circuits close to the substation, the contacts inside electrical transformers, even if they are well made in sizes of Rcontact = 10^‑6 Ω, are subjected to short-circuit currents of the order of 10 kA-20 kA which lead to the dissipation of some significant second-order electric powers, 100 W-400 W, on contact. At some internal or external factors which action on electrical contacts, including electrodynamic efforts at short-circuits, these factors could be degraded over time to values in the range of 10^-4 Ω to 10^-5 Ω and if the action time of protection is great, on the order of seconds, power dissipation on electrical contacts achieve high values of 1,0 kW to 40,0 kW. This power leads to strong local heating, hundreds of degrees Celsius and can initiate self-ignition and burning oil in the vicinity of electro-insulating contacts with action the gas relay. Degradation of electrical contacts inside power transformers may not be limited for the duration of their operation. In order to avoid oil burn with gas release near electrical contacts, at short-circuit currents 10 kA-20 kA, we have outlined the following solutions: covering electrical contacts in fireproof materials that would avoid direct burn oil at short circuit and transmission of heat from electrical contact along the conductors with heat dissipation gradually over time, in a large volume of cooling. Flame retardant materials are: polyurethane foam, mastic, cement (concrete). In the normal condition of operation of transformer, insulating of conductors coils is with paper and insulating oil. Ignition points of its two components respectively are approximated: 135 °C heat for oil and 200 ⁰C for paper. In the case of a faulty electrical contact, about 10^-3 Ω, at short-circuit; the temperature can reach for a short time, a value of 300 °C-400 °C, which ignite the paper and also the oil. By burning oil, there are local gases that disconnect the power transformer. Securing thermal electrical contacts inside the transformer, in cardboard tube with polyurethane foams, mastik or cement, ensures avoiding gas release and also gas protection working.

Keywords: power transformer, oil insulatation, electric contacts, Bucholtz relay

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Authors: Luis Rodrigo Valencia Pérez, Juan Manuel Peña Aguilar, Adelina Morita Alexander, Alberto Lamadrid Alvarez, Héctor Fernando Valencia Pérez

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Financial education is among the areas of opportunity in the Spanish-speaking from an early age to high school, through mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets using ludic and fun applications like interactive games, children can learn money management and investment through time, thereby fostering the habit of saving and/or sound management of cash and family business resources, having interaction with an uncontrolled environment such as the involvement of other players in the external decisions of the environment in which the game is play. The application proposed in Phase 1 (design and development) was designed in multi-user environments, under methodologies of hybrid programming for any platform on the market and designed under CMMI standards that allow for quality production over time, following up on these improvements counting with continuous user feedback and usage statistics.

Keywords: mobile educational games, ludic games, children, multiuser, design and software development

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Authors: Jehad Al Dallal

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The design of the internal relationships among object-oriented class members (i.e., attributes and methods) and the external relationships among classes affects the overall quality of the object-oriented software. The degree of relatedness among class members is referred to as class cohesion and the degree to which a class is related to other classes is called class coupling. Well designed classes are expected to exhibit high cohesion and low coupling values. In this paper, using classes of three open-source Java systems, we empirically investigate the relation between class cohesion and coupling. In the empirical study, five lack-of-cohesion metrics and eight coupling metrics are considered. The empirical study results show that class cohesion and coupling internal quality attributes are inversely correlated. The strength of the correlation highly depends on the cohesion and coupling measurement approaches.

Keywords: class cohesion measure, class coupling measure, object-oriented class, software quality

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Authors: Huie-Wen Lin

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This study integrated various teaching factors -based on the idea of a flipped classroom- in a financial management course. The study’s aim was to establish an effective teaching implementation strategy and evaluation mechanism with respect to learning outcomes, which can serve as a reference for the future modification of teaching methods. This study implemented a teaching method in five stages and estimated the learning efficiencies of 22 students (in the teaching scenario and over two semesters). Subsequently, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to compare, for each student, between the learning efficiencies before and after participation in the flipped classroom -in the first and second semesters, respectively- to identify the crucial external factors influencing learning efficiency. According to the results, the average overall student learning efficiency increased from 0.901 in the first semester to 0.967 in the second semester, which demonstrate that the flipped classroom approach can improve teaching effectiveness and learning outcomes. The results also revealed a difference in learning efficiency between male and female students.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, flipped classroom, learning outcome, teaching and learning

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Authors: Takashi Shimizu, Tomoaki Hashimoto

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Recently, crystal growth technologies have made progress by the requirement for the high quality of crystal materials. To control the crystal growth dynamics actively by external forces is useuful for reducing composition non-uniformity. In this study, a control method based on model predictive control using thermal inputs is proposed for crystal growth dynamics of semiconductor materials. The control system of crystal growth dynamics considered here is governed by the continuity, momentum, energy, and mass transport equations. To establish the control method for such thermal fluid systems, we adopt model predictive control known as a kind of optimal feedback control in which the control performance over a finite future is optimized with a performance index that has a moving initial time and terminal time. The objective of this study is to establish a model predictive control method for crystal growth dynamics of semiconductor materials.

Keywords: model predictive control, optimal control, process control, crystal growth

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Authors: M. Brahim, I. Bahri, Y. Bernard

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Traveling Wave Ultrasonic Motor (TWUM) is a compact, precise, and silent actuator generating high torque at low speed without gears. Moreover, the TWUM has a high holding torque without supply, which makes this motor as an attractive solution for holding position of robotic arms. However, their nonlinear dynamics, and the presence of load-dependent dead zones often limit their use. Those issues can be overcome in closed loop with effective and precise controllers. In this paper, robust H-infinity (H∞) and discrete time RST position controllers are presented. The H∞ controller is designed in continuous time with additional weighting filters to ensure the robustness in the case of uncertain motor model and external disturbances. Robust RST controller based on the pole placement method is also designed and compared to the H∞. Simulink model of TWUM is used to validate the stability and the robustness of the two proposed controllers.

Keywords: piezoelectric motors, position control, H∞, RST, stability criteria, robustness

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Authors: Sapna Bhargav

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Contemporary fiction is an intricate exercise where novelist acquires the role of a philosopher, a sociologist and a psychologist. The dilemma of fragmented self that a man experiences, is a crucial subject of contemporary fiction. Paul Auster's fiction is exemplary of the merger of Existentialism and Postmodernism, and while both of these movements insist on isolation of the self from all aspects of social affiliation, Auster's unique blend of these concepts presents man in a state which is not just alienated, but stranded in a desolate abyss, rendering even the release of death as questionable. The conundrums of the self is a compulsory consequence of the existentialist alienation that postmodern man is subjected to, and is further accentuated by the fact that existentialist freedom dictates that not only are one's actions not dictated by any form of external entity, but also the onus of one's destiny lies on an individual's own deeds. This paper will analyse Auster's The Brooklyn Follies from an Existentialist perspective, and will attempt to trace the alienation and identity conflicts of the Auster’s characters along with some of the common Austerian themes. An emphasis will be laid on the characters’ endeavour to reconstruct their lost self.

Keywords: alienation, existentialism, identity, postmodernism, self

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Authors: Yong Ren, Yaping Zhang

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A numerical model has been developed to investigate the thermally triggered release kinetics for drug delivery using phase change material as shell of microcapsules. Biocompatible material n-Eicosane is used as demonstration. PCM shell of microcapsule will remain in solid form after the drug is taken, so the drug will be encapsulated by the shell, and will not be released until the target body part of lesion is exposed to external heat source, which will thermally trigger the release kinetics, leading to solid-to-liquid phase change. The findings can lead to better understanding on the key effects influencing the phase change process for drug delivery applications. The facile approach to release drug from core/shell structure of microcapsule can be well integrated with organic solvent free fabrication of microcapsules, using double emulsion as template in microfluidic aqueous two phase system.

Keywords: phase change material, drug release kinetics, double emulsion, microfluidics

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Authors: Günevi Uslu Evren

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Propaganda is one of the most effective methods for changing individual and mass opinions. Propaganda tries to get the message across to people or masses to effect rather than to provide objective information. There are many types of propaganda. Especially, political propaganda is a very powerful method that is used by states during in both war and peace. The aim of this method is to create a reaction against them by showing within the framework of internal and external enemies. Propaganda can be practiced by many different methods. Especially during the Cold War Era, the US and USSR have tried to create an ideological effect by using the mass media intensively. Cinema, which is located at the beginning of these methods, is the most powerful weapon to influence the masses. In this study, the historical process of the Cold War is examined. Especially, these propagandas that had been used by United States and The Soviet Union were investigated. The purposes of propaganda and construction methods were presented. Cold War events and relations between the US and the USSR during the Cold War will be discussed. Outlooks of two countries to each other during the Cold War, propaganda techniques used defectively during Cold War and how to use the cinema as a propaganda tool will be examined. The film "From Russia with Love, James Bond 007" that was filmed in Cold War were examined to explain how cinema was used as a propaganda tool in this context.

Keywords: cinema, cold war, James Bond, propaganda

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Authors: Maciej Major, Izabela Major

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The aim of this paper is a numerical analysis of three-layered block design to walls construction subjected to the dynamic load. The block consists of the layers: concrete with rubber pads in shape of crosses, space filled with air and concrete with I-shape rubber pads. The main purpose of rubber inserts embedded during the production process is additional protection against the transversal dynamic load. For the analysis, as rubber, the Zahorski hyperelastic incompressible material model was assumed. A concentrated force as dynamic load applied to the external block surface was investigated. The results for the considered block observed as the stress distribution plot were compared to the results obtained for the solid concrete block. In order to estimate the percentage damping of proposed composite, rubber-concrete block in relation to the solid block the numerical analysis with the use of finite element method based on ADINA software was performed.

Keywords: dynamics, composite, rubber, Zahorski

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Authors: Abdul Wajid Ali

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Supersonic flight promises speed, but the design of the air inlet faces an obstacle: shock waves. They prevent air flow in the mixed compression ports, which reduces engine performance. Our research investigates this using supersonic wind tunnels and schlieren imaging to reveal the complex dance between shock waves and airflow. The findings show clear patterns of shock wave formation influenced by internal/external pressure surfaces. We looked at the boundary layer, the slow-moving air near the inlet walls, and its interaction with shock waves. In addition, the study emphasizes the dependence of the shock wave behaviour on the Mach number, which highlights the need for adaptive models. This knowledge is key to optimizing the combined compression inputs, paving the way for more powerful and efficient supersonic vehicles. Future engineers can use this knowledge to improve existing designs and explore innovative configurations for next-generation ultrasonic applications.

Keywords: oblique shock formation, boundary layer interaction, schlieren images, double wedge surface

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Authors: Sascha Kraus, Wolfgang Hora, Philipp Stieg, Thomas Niemand, Ferdinand Thies, Matthias Filser

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In most countries, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are the backbone of the economy due to their impact on job creation, innovation and wealth creation. Moreover, the ongoing globalization makes it inevitable – even for SME that traditionally focused on their domestic markets – to internationalize their business activities to realize further growth and survive in international markets. Thus, internationalization has become one of the most common growth strategies for SME and has received increasing scholarly attention over the last two decades. One the downside internationalization can be also regarded as the most complex strategy that a firm can undertake. Particularly for family firms, that are often characterized by limited financial capital, a risk-averse nature and limited growth aspirations, it could be argued that family firms are more likely to face greater challenges when taking the pathway to internationalization. Especially the triangulation of family, ownership, and management (so-called ‘familiness’) manifests in a unique behavior and decision-making process which is often characterized by the importance given to noneconomic goals and distinguishes a family firm from other businesses. Taking this into account, the concept of socio-emotional wealth (SEW) has been evolved to describe the behavior of family firms. In order to investigate how different internal and external firm characteristics shape internationalization success of family firms, we drew on a sample consisting of 297 small and medium-sized family firms from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. Thus, we include SEW as essential family firm characteristic and added the two major intra-organizational characteristics, entrepreneurial orientation (EO), absorptive capacity (AC) as well as collaboration intensity (CI) and relational knowledge (RK) as two major external network characteristics. Based on previous research we assume that these characteristics are important to explain internationalization success of family firm SME. Regarding the data analysis, we applied a Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), an approach that allows identifying configurations of firm characteristics, specifically used to study complex causal relationships where traditional regression techniques reach their limits. Results indicate that several combinations of these family firm characteristics can lead to international success, with no permanently required key characteristic. Instead, there are many roads to walk down for family firms to achieve internationalization success. Consequently, our data states that family owned SME are heterogeneous and internationalization is a complex and dynamic process. Results further show that network related characteristics occur in all sets, thus represent an essential element in the internationalization process of family owned SME. The contribution of our study is twofold, as we investigate different forms of international expansion for family firms and how to improve them. First, we are able to broaden the understanding of the intersection between family firm and SME internationalization with respect to major intra-organizational and network-related variables. Second, from a practical perspective, we offer family firm owners a basis for setting up internal capabilities to achieve international success.

Keywords: entrepreneurial orientation, family firm, fsQCA, internationalization, socio-emotional wealth

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Authors: Babak Nematshahrbabaki, Fallahi Arezoo

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Objective: The aim of this study was to describe teenagers’ decisions to undergo orthodontic treatment through a qualitative study. Materials and methods: Twenty-three patients (12 girls), aged 12–18 years, at a dental clinic in Sanandaj the western part of Iran participated. Face-to-face and semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussions were held to gather data. Data analyzed by the grounded theory method. Results: ‘Decision-making’ was the core category. During the data analysis four main themes were developed: ‘being like everyone else’, ‘being diagnosed’, ‘maintaining the mouth’ and ‘cultural-social and environmental factors’. Conclusions: cultural- social and environmental factors have crucial role in decision-making to undergo orthodontic treatment. The teenagers were not fully conscious of these external influences. They thought their decision to undergo orthodontic treatment is independent while it is related to cultural- social and environmental factors.

Keywords: decision-making, qualitative study, teenager, orthodontic treatment

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Authors: Mohammed A. Sakr, Tarek M. Khalifa, Walid N. Mansour

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Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) installation is a very effective way to repair and strengthen structures that have become structurally weak over their life span. This technique attracted the concerning of researchers during the last two decades. This paper presents a simple uniaxial nonlinear finite element model (UNFEM) able to accurately estimate the load-carrying capacity, different failure modes and the interfacial stresses of reinforced concrete (RC) continuous beams flexurally strengthened with externally bonded FRP plates on the upper and lower fibers. Results of the proposed finite element (FE) model are verified by comparing them with experimental measurements available in the literature. The agreement between numerical and experimental results is very good. Considering fracture energy of adhesive is necessary to get a realistic load carrying capacity of continuous RC beams strengthened with FRP. This simple UNFEM is able to help design engineers to model their strengthened structures and solve their problems.

Keywords: continuous beams, debonding, finite element, fibre reinforced polymer

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Authors: Michel Wakim, Rodrigo Rivera Tinoco

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Supersonic ejector is an economical device that use high pressure vapor to compress a low pressure vapor without any rotating parts or external power sources. Entrainment ratio is a major characteristic of the ejector performance, so the ejector performance is highly dependent on its geometry. The aim of this paper is to design ejector geometry, based on pre-specified operating conditions, and to study the flow behavior inside the ejector by using computational fluid dynamics ‘CFD’ by using ‘ANSYS FLUENT 15.0’ software. In the first section; 1-D mathematical model is carried out to predict the ejector geometry. The second part describes the flow behavior inside the designed model. CFD is the most reliable tool to reveal the mixing process at different parts of the supersonic turbulent flow and to study the effect of the geometry on the effective ejector area. Finally, the results show the effect of the geometry on the entrainment ratio.

Keywords: computational fluids dynamics, ejector, entrainment ratio, geometry optimization, performance

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Authors: Jing (Claire) LI

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More than two decades from 2000 to 2020 of economic reforms have brought China unprecedented economic growth. There is an urgent call of research towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of China because while China continues to develop into a global trading market, it suffers from various serious problems relating to CSR. This study analyses the factors affecting the adoption of CSR practices by Chinese listed companies. The author proposes a new framework of factors of CSR adoption. Following common organisational factors and external factors in the literature (including organisational support, company size, shareholder pressures, and government support), this study introduces two additional factors, dynamic capability and regional culture. A survey questionnaire was conducted on the CSR adoption of Chinese listed companies in Shen Zhen and Shang Hai index from December 2019 to March 2020. The survey was conducted to collect data on the factors that affect the adoption of CSR. After collection of data, this study performed factor analysis to reduce the number of measurement items to several main factors. This procedure is to confirm the proposed framework and ensure the significant factors. Through analysis, this study identifies four grouped factors as determinants of the CSR adoption. The first factor loading includes dynamic capability and organisational support. The study finds that they are positively related to the first factor, so the first factor mainly reflects the capabilities of companies, which is one component in internal factors. In the second factor, measurement items of stakeholder pressures mainly are from regulatory bodies, customer and supplier, employees and community, and shareholders. In sum, they are positively related to the second factor and they reflect stakeholder pressures, which is one component of external factors. The third factor reflects organisational characteristics. Variables include company size and cultural score. Among these variables, company size is negatively related to the third factor. The resulted factor loading of the third factor implies that organisational factor is an important determinant of CSR adoption. Cultural consistency, the variable in the fourth factor, is positively related to the factor. It represents the difference between perception of managers and actual culture of the organisations in terms of cultural dimensions, which is one component in internal factors. It implies that regional culture is an important factor of CSR adoption. Overall, the results are consistent with previous literature. This study is of significance from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. First, from the significance of theoretical perspective, this research combines stakeholder theory, dynamic capability view of a firm, and neo-institutional theory in CSR research. Based on association of these three theories, this study introduces two new factors (dynamic capability and regional culture) to have a better framework for CSR adoption. Second, this study contributes to empirical literature of CSR in the context of China. Extant Chinese companies lack recognition of the importance of CSR practices adoption. This study built a framework and may help companies to design resource allocation strategies and evaluate future CSR and management practices in an early stage.

Keywords: China, corporate social responsibility, CSR adoption, dynamic capability, regional culture

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Authors: Layane Sara Vieira, Paulo Egidio Bernardo, Roberto Saverio Souza Costa

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Anthropogenic occupations and agricultural explorations without concern for the preservation and sustainability of the activity result in soil degradation that can make rural activity unfeasible. The objective of this work was to characterize and evaluate the recovery costs of an area degraded by major erosion (gully) in the municipality of Monte Alto (SP). Topographic characterization was carried out by means of a planialtimetric survey with a total station. The contours of the gully, internal area, slope height, contribution area, volume, and costs of operations for the recovery of the gully were delimited. The results obtained showed that the gully has a length of 145.56 m, a maximum width of 36.61 m, and a gap of 19.48 m. The external area of the gully is 1,039.8741 m², and the internal area is 119.3470 m². The calculated volume was 3,282.63 m³. The intervention area for breaking slopes was measured at 8,471.29 m², requiring the construction of 19 terraces in this area, vertically spaced at 2.8 m. The estimated costs for mechanical recovery of the gully were R$ 19,167.84 (US$ 3.657,98).

Keywords: erosion, volumetric assessment, soil degradation, terraces

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Authors: Sadaf Khalid, Jahanzaib Sarwar, Rabia Touseef

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No matter how much perfect we become in our practical skills regarding the implementation of learned ideas, the need of technical writing capability cannot be neglected to be a professional. Technical writing is a way of communicating the ideas in written which, otherwise, need to be presented orally. Technical writing skills have always been the need of the time, as they are required for internal, as well as external official communication in both formal and informal manner. Moreover, they are the best way to capture the attention of your customers by presenting information in an effective manner. This paper aims to analyze the importance of technical writing skills in professional industries of Pakistan by conducting a survey. Survey results presented in this paper clearly depicts the importance of formal and informal written communication media used in different professional industries in Pakistan. Analysis and discussion of the extent to which the alternative ways of communication besides technical writing have got importance in Pakistan is also an important aspect of this survey.

Keywords: technical writing, survey, oral communication, globalization, communication trends, formal communication media, informal communication, audience

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Authors: Ashwin Rai, Rajalakshmi Rai, Rajanigandha Vadgoankar

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Lingual artery is the chief artery of the tongue and the neighboring structures pertaining to the oral cavity. At the carotid triangle, this artery arises from the external carotid artery opposite to the tip of greater cornua of hyoid bone, undergoes a tortuous course with its first part being crossed by the hypoglossal nerve and runs beneath the digastric muscle. Then it continues to supply the tongue as the deep lingual artery. The aim of this study is to draw surgeon's attention to the course of lingual artery in this area since it can be accidentally lesioned causing an extensive hemorrhage in certain surgical or dental procedures. The study was conducted on 44 formalin fixed head and neck specimens focusing on the anatomic relations of lingual artery. In this study, we found that the lingual artery is located inferior to the digastric muscle and the hypoglossal nerve contradictory to the classical description. This data would be useful during ligation of lingual artery to avoid injury to the hypoglossal nerve in surgeries related to the anterior triangle of neck.

Keywords: anterior triangle, digastric muscle, hypoglossal nerve, lingual artery

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Authors: Sasitorn Chetanont, Benjaporn Yamjameung

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The objectives of this study are to increase tourism products and to develop family agro-tourism. The research methodology was to analyze internal and external situations according to MP-MF and the MC-STEPS principles. The results of this study highlight following necessary improvements; extend the cycling routes, increase the number of bicycle rental shops, offer a recreation place for the elders, organize a space for the floating market products and increase tourism activities throughout the year. In ‘places or distribution channel’ we discuss the improvement of facilities, specifically the routes to facilitate elder visitors and visitors on wheelchairs and furthermore the arrangement of educational trips to relevant centers in the community. In ‘promotions’, we discuss the implementation of an 'all inclusive package' were the agro-tourism program, health-conscious program and the elderly fun program converge.

Keywords: marketing planning strategy, agro-tourism, promotions, Bang Nam Phueng

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Authors: Peng Lu, Liu Ting

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Because of the difficulty of financing from the external capital market, the reorganization and merger of private enterprises have formed a family group, seeking the help of the internal capital market to alleviate the capital demand. However, the inefficiency of the internal capital market can damage the effect it should have played, and even hinder the development of enterprises. This paper takes the "Tomorrow Group" as the research object to carry on the case analysis. After using the improved cash flow sensitivity coefficient to measure the efficiency of the internal capital market of Tomorrow Group, the inefficiency phenomenon is found. Then the analysis reveals that the reasons for its inefficiency include that the pyramidal equity structure is conducive to control, the separation of cash flow rights and control rights, the concentration of equity leads to poor balance, the abandonment of real industries and information asymmetry.

Keywords: tomorrow group, internal capital market, related-party transactions, Baotou tomorrow technology Co., LTD

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Authors: Nini Johana Marín Rodríguez, William Fernando Oquendo Patino

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In this work, we model a coupled system where we explore the effects of steady and random behavior on a linear system like an extension of the classic Strogatz model. This is exemplified by modeling a couple love dynamics as a linear system of two coupled differential equations and studying its stability for four types of lovers chosen as CC='Cautious- Cautious', OO='Only other feelings', OP='Opposites' and RR='Romeo the Robot'. We explore the effects of, first, introducing saturation, and second, adding a random variation to one of the CC-type lover, which will shape his character by trying to model how its variability influences the dynamics between love and hate in couple in a long run relationship. This work could also be useful to model other kind of systems where interactions can be modeled as linear systems with external or internal random influence. We found the final results are not easy to predict and a strong dependence on initial conditions appear, which a signature of chaos.

Keywords: differential equations, dynamical systems, linear system, love dynamics

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Authors: M. Bazin, I. Bouguir, D. Combe, V. Germain, G. Lassade

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The problem of managing a fleet of quad-rotor drones in a completely unknown environment is analyzed in the present paper. This work is following the footsteps of other studies about how should be managed the movements of a swarm of elements that have to stay gathered throughout their activities. In this paper we aim to demonstrate the limitations of a system where absolutely all the calculations and physical movements of our elements are done by one single external element. The strategy of control is an adaptive approach which takes into account the explored environment. This is made possible thanks to a set of command rules which can guide the drones through various missions with defined goal. The result of the mission is independent of the nature of environment and the number of drones in the fleet. This strategy is based on a simultaneous usage of different data: obstacles positions, real-time positions of all drones and relative positions between the different drones. The present work is made with the Robot Operating System and used several open-source projects on localization and usage of drones.

Keywords: cooperative guidance, distributed control, unmanned aerial vehicle, obstacle avoidance

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Authors: Pia Ulvenblad, Henrik Barth, Jennie Cederholm BjöRklund, Maya Hoveskog, Per-Ola Ulvenblad

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The importance of business model innovation (BMI) is widely recognized. This is also valid for firms in the agri-food industry, closely connected to global challenges. Worldwide food production will have to increase 70% by 2050 and the United Nations’ sustainable development goals prioritize research and innovation on food security and sustainable agriculture. The firms of the agri-food industry have opportunities to increase their competitive advantage through BMI. However, the process of BMI is complex and the implementation of new business models is associated with high degree of risk and failure. Thus, managers from all industries and scholars need to better understand how to address this complexity. Therefore, the research presented in this paper (i) explores different categories of barriers in research literature on business models in the agri-food industry, and (ii) illustrates categories of barriers with empirical cases. This study is addressing the rather limited understanding on barriers for BMI in the agri-food industry, through a systematic literature review (SLR) of 570 peer-reviewed journal articles that contained a combination of ‘BM’ or ‘BMI’ with agriculture-related and food-related terms (e.g. ‘agri-food sector’) published in the period 1990-2014. The study classifies the barriers in several categories and illustrates the identified barriers with ten empirical cases. Findings from the literature review show that barriers are mainly identified as outcomes. It can be assumed that a perceived barrier to growth can often be initially exaggerated or underestimated before being challenged by appropriate measures or courses of action. What may be considered by the public mind to be a barrier could in reality be very different from an actual barrier that needs to be challenged. One way of addressing barriers to growth is to define barriers according to their origin (internal/external) and nature (tangible/intangible). The framework encompasses barriers related to the firm (internal addressing in-house conditions) or to the industrial or national levels (external addressing environmental conditions). Tangible barriers can include asset shortages in the area of equipment or facilities, while human resources deficiencies or negative willingness towards growth are examples of intangible barriers. Our findings are consistent with previous research on barriers for BMI that has identified human factors barriers (individuals’ attitudes, histories, etc.); contextual barriers related to company and industry settings; and more abstract barriers (government regulations, value chain position, and weather). However, human factor barriers – and opportunities - related to family-owned businesses with idealistic values and attitudes and owning the real estate where the business is situated, are more frequent in the agri-food industry than other industries. This paper contributes by generating a classification of the barriers for BMI as well as illustrating them with empirical cases. We argue that internal barriers such as human factors barriers; values and attitudes are crucial to overcome in order to develop BMI. However, they can be as hard to overcome as for example institutional barriers such as governments’ regulations. Implications for research and practice are to focus on cognitive barriers and to develop the BMI capability of the owners and managers of agri-industry firms.

Keywords: agri-food, barriers, business model, innovation

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Authors: L. Srikanth, D. Neelima Satyam

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The transmission line towers are one of the important life line structures in the distribution of power from the source to the various places for several purposes. The predominant external loads which act on these towers are wind and earthquake loads. In this present study tower is analyzed using Indian Standards IS: 875:1987 (Wind Load), IS: 802:1995 (Structural Steel), IS:1893:2002 (Earthquake) and dynamic analysis of tower has been performed considering ground motion of 2001 Bhuj Earthquake (India). The dynamic analysis was performed considering a tower system consisting two towers spaced 800m apart and 35m height each. This analysis has been performed using numerical time stepping finite difference method which is central difference method were employed by a developed MATLAB program to get the normalized ground motion parameters includes acceleration, frequency, velocity which are important in designing the tower. The tower is analyzed using response spectrum analysis.

Keywords: response spectra, dynamic analysis, central difference method, transmission tower

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Authors: Yael Livneh, Shay Tzafrir, Ilan Meshoulam

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Technological startup companies have been recognized as bearing tremendous potential for business and economic success. However, many entrepreneurs who produce promising innovative ideas fail to implement them as successful businesses. A key argument for such failure is the entrepreneurs' lack of competence in adaptation of the relevant level of formality of human resource management (HRM). The purpose of the present research was to examine multiple antecedents and consequences of HRM formality in growing startup companies. A review of the research literature identified two central components of HRM formality: HR control and professionalism. The effect of three contextual predictors was examined. The first was an intra-organizational factor: the development level of the organization. We based on a differentiation between knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation. At a given time, the organization chooses to focus on a specific mix of these orientations, a choice which requires an appropriate level of HRM formality, in order to efficiently overcome the challenges. It was hypothesized that the mix of orientations of knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation would predict HRM formality. The second predictor was the personal characteristics the organization's leader. According the idea of blueprint effect of CEO's on HRM, it was hypothesized that the CEO's cognitive style would predict HRM formality. The third contextual predictor was an external organizational factor: the level of investor involvement. By using the agency theory, and based on Transaction Cost Economy, it was hypothesized that the level of investor involvement in general management and HRM would be positively related to the HRM formality. The effect of formality on trust was examined directly and indirectly by the mediation role of procedural justice. The research method included a time-lagged field study. In the first study, data was obtained using three questionnaires, each directed to a different source: CEO, HR position-holder and employees. 43 companies participated in this study. The second study was conducted approximately a year later. Data was recollected using three questionnaires by reapplying the same sample. 41 companies participated in the second study. The organizations samples included technological startup companies. Both studies included 884 respondents. The results indicated consistency between the two studies. HRM formality was predicted by the intra-organizational factor as well as the personal characteristics of the CEO, but not at all by the external organizational context. Specifically, the organizational orientations was the greatest contributor to both components of HRM formality. The cognitive style predicted formality to a lesser extent. The investor's involvement was found not to have any predictive effect on the HRM formality. The results indicated a positive contribution to trust in HRM, mainly via the mediation of procedural justice. This study contributed a new concept for technological startup company development by a mixture of organizational orientation. Practical implications indicated that the level of HRM formality should be matched to that of the company's development. This match should be challenged and adjusted periodically by referring to the organization orientation, relevant HR practices, and HR function characteristics. A relevant matching could enhance further trust and business success.

Keywords: control, formality, human resource management, organizational development, professionalism, technological startup company

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Authors: Yang Luo, Beibei Wang

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a design methodology of lightweight register transfer level (RTL) hardware threat implemented based on a MAX II FPGA platform. The dynamic power consumed by the toggling of the various bit of registers as well as the dynamic power consumed per unit of logic circuits were analyzed. The hardware threat was designed taking advantage of the differences in dynamic power consumed per unit of logic circuits to hide the transfer information. The experiment result shows that the register hardware threat was successfully implemented by using different dynamic power consumed per unit of logic circuits to hide the key information of DES encryption module. It needs more than 100000 sample curves to reduce the background noise by comparing the sample space when it completely meets the time alignment requirement. In additional, an external trigger signal is playing a very important role to detect the hardware threat in this experiment.

Keywords: side-channel analysis, hardware Trojan, register transfer level, dynamic power

Procedia PDF Downloads 277