Search results for: dynamic Bayesian network

Authors: Elaine Lima Da Fonseca, Eliomar Pereira Da Silva Filho

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The modeling of areas susceptible to soil loss by hydro erosive processes consists of a simplified instrument of reality with the purpose of predicting future behaviors from the observation and interaction of a set of geoenvironmental factors. The models of potential areas for soil loss will be obtained through binary logistic regression, artificial neural networks, and support vector machines. The choice of the municipality of Colorado do Oeste in the south of the western Amazon is due to soil degradation due to anthropogenic activities, such as agriculture, road construction, overgrazing, deforestation, and environmental and socioeconomic configurations. Initially, a soil erosion inventory map constructed through various field investigations will be designed, including the use of remotely piloted aircraft, orbital imagery, and the PLANAFLORO/RO database. 100 sampling units with the presence of erosion will be selected based on the assumptions indicated in the literature, and, to complement the dichotomous analysis, 100 units with no erosion will be randomly designated. The next step will be the selection of the predictive parameters that exert, jointly, directly, or indirectly, some influence on the mechanism of occurrence of soil erosion events. The chosen predictors are altitude, declivity, aspect or orientation of the slope, curvature of the slope, composite topographic index, flow power index, lineament density, normalized difference vegetation index, drainage density, lithology, soil type, erosivity, and ground surface temperature. After evaluating the relative contribution of each predictor variable, the erosion susceptibility model will be applied to the municipality of Colorado do Oeste - Rondônia through the SPSS Statistic 26 software. Evaluation of the model will occur through the determination of the values of the R² of Cox & Snell and the R² of Nagelkerke, Hosmer and Lemeshow Test, Log Likelihood Value, and Wald Test, in addition to analysis of the Confounding Matrix, ROC Curve and Accumulated Gain according to the model specification. The validation of the synthesis map resulting from both models of the potential risk of soil erosion will occur by means of Kappa indices, accuracy, and sensitivity, as well as by field verification of the classes of susceptibility to erosion using drone photogrammetry. Thus, it is expected to obtain the mapping of the following classes of susceptibility to erosion very low, low, moderate, very high, and high, which may constitute a screening tool to identify areas where more detailed investigations need to be carried out, applying more efficient social resources.

Keywords: modeling, susceptibility to erosion, artificial intelligence, Amazon

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Authors: Mao Zhaofang, Xu Yida, Fang Kan, Fu Enyuan, Zhao Zhao

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Nowadays, last-mile distribution plays an increasingly important role in the whole industrial chain delivery link and accounts for a large proportion of the whole distribution process cost. Promoting the upgrading of logistics networks and improving the layout of final distribution points has become one of the trends in the development of modern logistics. Due to the discrete and heterogeneous needs and spatial distribution of customer demand, which will lead to a higher delivery failure rate and lower vehicle utilization, last-mile delivery has become a time-consuming and uncertain process. As a result, courier companies have introduced a range of innovative parcel storage facilities, including pick-up points and lockers. The introduction of pick-up points and lockers has not only improved the users’ experience but has also helped logistics and courier companies achieve large-scale economy. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 of the previous period, contactless delivery has become a new hotspot, which has also created new opportunities for the development of collection services. Therefore, a key issue for logistics companies is how to design/redesign their last-mile distribution network systems to create integrated logistics and distribution networks that consider pick-up points and lockers. This paper focuses on the introduction of self-pickup facilities in new logistics and distribution scenarios and the heterogeneous demands of customers. In this paper, we consider two types of demand, including ordinary products and refrigerated products, as well as corresponding transportation vehicles. We consider the constraints associated with self-pickup points and lockers and then address the location-routing problem with self-pickup facilities and heterogeneous demands (LRP-PFHD). To solve this challenging problem, we propose a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model that aims to minimize the total cost, which includes the facility opening cost, the variable transport cost, and the fixed transport cost. Due to the NP-hardness of the problem, we propose a hybrid adaptive large-neighbourhood search algorithm to solve LRP-PFHD. We evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm by using instances generated based on benchmark instances. The results demonstrate that the hybrid adaptive large neighbourhood search algorithm is more efficient than MILP solvers such as Gurobi for LRP-PFHD, especially for large-scale instances. In addition, we made a comprehensive analysis of some important parameters (e.g., facility opening cost and transportation cost) to explore their impacts on the results and suggested helpful managerial insights for courier companies.

Keywords: city logistics, last-mile delivery, location-routing, adaptive large neighborhood search

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Authors: Kalaya Sribuddhachart, Mayuree Pumipaiboon, Mayuva Youngsabanant-Areekijseree

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The ultrastructure of 20 species of pheasant eggshells in Thailand, (Simese Fireback, Lophura diardi), (Silver Pheasant, Lophura nycthemera), (Kalij Pheasant, Lophura leucomelanos crawfurdii), (Kalij Pheasant, Lophura leucomelanos lineata), (Red Junglefowl, Gallus gallus spadiceus), (Crested Fireback, Lophura ignita rufa), (Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus), (Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus), (Grey Peacock Pheasant, Polyplectron bicalcaratum bicalcaratum), (Lesser Bornean Fireback, Lophura ignita ignita), (Green Junglefowl, Gallus varius), (Hume's Pheasant, Syrmaticus humiae humiae), (Himalayan Monal, Lophophorus impejanus), Golden Pheasant, Chrysolophus pictus, (Ring-Neck Pheasant, Phasianus sp.), (Reeves’s Pheasant, Syrmaticus reevesi), (Polish Chicken, Gallus sp.), (Brahma Chicken, Gallus sp.), (Yellow Golden Pheasant, Chrysolophus pictus luteus), and (Lady Amhersts Pheasant, Chrysolophus amherstiae) were studied by Secondary electron imaging (SEI) and Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) detectors of scanning electron microscope. Generally, all pheasant eggshells showed 3 layers of cuticle, palisade, and mammillary. The total thickness was ranging from 190.28±5.94-838.96±16.31µm. The palisade layer is the most thickness layer following by mammillary and cuticle layers. The palisade layer in all pheasant eggshells consisted of numerous vesicle holes that were firmly forming as network thorough the layer. The vesicle holes in all pheasant eggshells had difference porosity ranging from 0.44±0.11-0.23±0.05 µm. While the mammillary layer was the most compact layer with a variable shape (broad-base V and U-shape) connect to shell membrane. Elemental analysis by of 20 specie eggshells showed 9 apparent elements including carbon (C), oxygen (O), calcium (Ca), phosphorous (P), sulfur (S), magnesium (Mg), silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), and copper (Cu) at the percentage of 28.90- 8.33%, 60.64-27.61%, 55.30-14.49%, 1.97-0.03%, 0.08-0.03%, 0.50-0.16%, 0.30-0.04%, 0.06-0.02%, and 2.67-1.73%, respectively. It was found that Ca, C, and O showed highest elemental compositions, which essential for pheasant embryonic development, mainly presented as composited structure of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) more than 97%. Meanwhile, Mg, S, Si, Al, and P were major inorganic constituents of the eggshells which directly related to an increase of the shell hardness. Finally, the percentage of heavy metal copper (Cu) has been observed in 4 eggshell species. There are Golden Pheasant (2.67±0.16%), Indian Peafowl (2.61±0.13%), Green Peafowl (1.97±0.74%), and Silver Pheasant (1.73±0.11%), respectively. A non-significant difference was found in the percentages of 9 elements in all pheasant eggshells. This study is useful to provide the information of biology and taxonomic of pheasant study in Thailand for conservation.

Keywords: pheasants eggshells, secondary electron imaging (SEI) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), morphology, Thailand

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Authors: Riddhi Chopra

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Alfred Thayer Mahan described the sea as a ‘great common,’ which would serve as a medium for communication, trade, and transport. The seas of Asia are witnessing an intriguing historical anomaly – rise of an indigenous maritime power against the backdrop of US domination over the region. As China transforms from an inward leaning economy to an outward-leaning economy, it has become increasingly dependent on the global sea; as a result, we witness an evolution in its maritime strategy from near seas defense to far seas deployment strategies. It is not only patrolling the international waters but has also built a network of civilian and military infrastructure across the disputed oceanic expanse. The paper analyses the reorientation of China from a naval power to a blue water navy in an era of extensive globalisation. The actions of the Chinese have created a zone of high alert amongst its neighbors such as Japan, Philippines, Vietnam and North Korea. These nations are trying to align themselves so as to counter China’s growing brinkmanship, but China has been pursuing claims through a carefully calibrated strategy in the region shunning any coercive measures taken by other forces. If China continues to expand its maritime boundaries, its neighbors – all smaller and weaker Asian nations would be limited to a narrow band of the sea along its coastlines. Hence it is essential for the US to intervene and support its allies to offset Chinese supremacy. The paper intends to provide a profound analysis over the disputes in South China Sea and East China Sea focusing on Philippines and Japan respectively. Moreover, the paper attempts to give an account of US involvement in the region and its alignment with its South Asian allies. The geographic dynamics is said the breed a national coalition dominating the strategic ambitions of China as well as the weak littoral states. China has conducted behind the scenes diplomacy trying to persuade its neighbors to support its position on the territorial disputes. These efforts have been successful in creating fault lines in ASEAN thereby undermining regional integrity to reach a consensus on the issue. Chinese diplomatic efforts have also forced the US to revisit its foreign policy and engage with players like Cambodia and Laos. The current scenario in the SCS points to a strong Chinese hold trying to outspace all others with no regards to International law. Chinese activities are in contrast with US principles like Freedom of Navigation thereby signaling US to take bold actions to prevent Chinese hegemony in the region. The paper ultimately seeks to explore the changing power dynamics among various claimants where a rival superpower like US can pursue the traditional policy of alliance formation play a decisive role in changing the status quo in the arena, consequently determining the future trajectory.

Keywords: China, East China Sea, South China Sea, USA

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Authors: Roberto M. G. Velásquez, Jonas R. Gazoli, Nelson Ponce Jr, Valério L. Borges, Alessandro Sete, Fernanda M. C. Tomé, Julian D. Hunt, Heitor C. Lira, Cristiano L. de Souza, Fabio T. Bindemann, Wilmar Wounnsoscky

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Nowadays, society is working toward reducing energy losses and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as seeking clean energy sources, as a result of the constant increase in energy demand and emissions. Energy loss occurs in the gas pressure reduction stations at the delivery points in natural gas distribution systems (city gates). Installing pressure reduction turbines (PRT) parallel to the static reduction valves at the city gates enhances the energy efficiency of the system by recovering the enthalpy of the pressurized natural gas, obtaining in the pressure-lowering process shaft work and generating electrical power. Currently, the Brazilian natural gas transportation network has 9,409 km in extension, while the system has 16 national and 3 international natural gas processing plants, including more than 143 delivery points to final consumers. Thus, the potential of installing PRT in Brazil is 66 MW of power, which could yearly avoid the emission of 235,800 tons of CO2 and generate 333 GWh/year of electricity. On the other hand, an economic viability analysis of these energy efficiency projects is commonly carried out based on estimates of the project's cash flow obtained from several variables forecast. Usually, the cash flow analysis is performed using representative values of these variables, obtaining a deterministic set of financial indicators associated with the project. However, in most cases, these variables cannot be predicted with sufficient accuracy, resulting in the need to consider, to a greater or lesser degree, the risk associated with the calculated financial return. This paper presents an approach applied to the technical-economic viability analysis of PRTs projects that explicitly considers the uncertainties associated with the input parameters for the financial model, such as gas pressure at the delivery point, amount of energy generated by TRP, the future price of energy, among others, using sensitivity analysis techniques, scenario analysis, and Monte Carlo methods. In the latter case, estimates of several financial risk indicators, as well as their empirical probability distributions, can be obtained. This is a methodology for the financial risk analysis of PRT projects. The results of this paper allow a more accurate assessment of the potential PRT project's financial feasibility in Brazil. This methodology will be tested at the Cuiabá thermoelectric plant, located in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, and can be applied to study the potential in other countries.

Keywords: pressure reduction turbine, natural gas pressure drop station, energy efficiency, electricity generation, monte carlo methods

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Authors: Rewati Raman, Uttam K. Roy

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One of the main adversaries of city planning in present times is the ever-expanding problem of urbanization and the antagonistic issues accompanying it. The prevalent challenges in urbanization such as population growth, urban sprawl, poverty, inequality, pollution, congestion, etc. call for reforms in the urban fabric as well as in planning theory and practice. One of the various paradigms of city planning, land use planning, has been the major instruments for spatial planning of cities and regions in India. Zoning regulation based land use planning in the form of land use and development control plans (LUDCP) and development control regulations (DCR) have been considered mainstream guiding principles in land use planning for decades. In spite of many advantages of such zoning based regulations, over a period of time, it has been critiqued by scholars for its own limitations of isolation and lack of vitality, inconvenience in business in terms of proximity to residence and low operating cost, unsuitable environment for small investments, higher travel distance for facilities, amenities and thereby higher expenditure, safety issues etc. Mixed land use has been advocated as a tool to avoid such limitations in city planning by researchers. In addition, mixed land use can offer many advantages like housing variety and density, the creation of an economic blend of compatible land use, compact development, stronger neighborhood character, walkability, and generation of jobs, etc. Alternatively, the mixed land use beyond a suitable balance of use can also bring disadvantages like traffic congestion, encroachments, very high-density housing leading to a slum like condition, parking spill out, non-residential uses operating on residential premises paying less tax, chaos hampering residential privacy, pressure on existing infrastructure facilities, etc. This research aims at studying and outlining the various challenges and potentials of mixed land use zoning, through modeling tools, as a competent instrument for city planning in lieu of the present urban scenario. The methodology of research adopted in this paper involves the study of a mixed land use neighborhood in India, identification of indicators and parameters related to its extent and spatial pattern and the subsequent use of system dynamics as a modeling tool for simulation. The findings from this analysis helped in identifying the various advantages and challenges associated with the dynamic nature of a mixed use urban settlement. The results also confirmed the hypothesis that mixed use neighborhoods are catalysts for employment generation, socioeconomic gains while improving vibrancy, health, safety, and security. It is also seen that certain challenges related to chaos, lack of privacy and pollution prevail in mixed use neighborhoods, which can be mitigated by varying the percentage of mixing as per need, ensuring compatibility of adjoining use, institutional interventions in the form of policies, neighborhood micro-climatic interventions, etc. Therefore this paper gives a consolidated and holistic framework and quantified outcome pertaining to the extent and spatial pattern of mixed land use that should be adopted to ensure sustainable urban planning.

Keywords: mixed land use, sustainable development, system dynamics analysis, urban dynamics modelling

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Authors: George R. Puno, Eric N. Bruno

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The natural landscape of the Philippine archipelago plus the current realities of climate change make the country vulnerable to flood hazards. Flooding becomes the recurring natural disaster in the country resulting to lose of lives and properties. Musimusi is among the rivers which exhibited inundation particularly at the inhabited floodplain portion of its watershed. During the event, rescue operations and distribution of relief goods become a problem due to lack of high resolution flood maps to aid local government unit identify the most affected areas. In the attempt of minimizing impact of flooding, hydrologic modelling with high resolution mapping is becoming more challenging and important. This study focused on the analysis of flood extent as a function of different geomorphologic characteristics of Musimusi watershed. The methods include the delineation of morphometric parameters in the Musimusi watershed using Geographic Information System (GIS) and geometric calculations tools. Digital Terrain Model (DTM) as one of the derivatives of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology was used to determine the extent of river inundation involving the application of Hydrologic Engineering Center-River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) and Hydrology Modelling System (HEC-HMS) models. The digital elevation model (DEM) from synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) was used to delineate watershed boundary and river network. Datasets like mean sea level, river cross section, river stage, discharge and rainfall were also used as input parameters. Curve number (CN), vegetation, and soil properties were calibrated based on the existing condition of the site. Results showed that the drainage density value of the watershed is low which indicates that the basin is highly permeable subsoil and thick vegetative cover. The watershed’s elongation ratio value of 0.9 implies that the floodplain portion of the watershed is susceptible to flooding. The bifurcation ratio value of 2.1 indicates higher risk of flooding in localized areas of the watershed. The circularity ratio value (1.20) indicates that the basin is circular in shape, high discharge of runoff and low permeability of the subsoil condition. The heavy rainfall of 167 mm brought by Typhoon Seniang last December 29, 2014 was characterized as high intensity and long duration, with a return period of 100 years produced 316 m3s-1 outflows. Portion of the floodplain zone (1.52%) suffered inundation with 2.76 m depth at the maximum. The information generated in this study is helpful to the local disaster risk reduction management council in monitoring the affected sites for more appropriate decisions so that cost of rescue operations and relief goods distribution is minimized.

Keywords: flooding, geomorphology, mapping, watershed

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Authors: Christine Böckmann, Julia Rosemann

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We present an inversion algorithm that is used in the European Aerosol Lidar Network for the inversion of data collected with multi-wavelength Raman lidar. These instruments measure backscatter coefficients at 355, 532, and 1064 nm, and extinction coefficients at 355 and 532 nm. The algorithm is based on manually controlled inversion of optical data which allows for detailed sensitivity studies and thus provides us with comparably high quality of the derived data products. The algorithm allows us to derive particle effective radius, volume, surface-area concentration with comparably high confidence. The retrieval of the real and imaginary parts of the complex refractive index still is a challenge in view of the accuracy required for these parameters in climate change studies in which light-absorption needs to be known with high accuracy. Single-scattering albedo (SSA) can be computed from the retrieve microphysical parameters and allows us to categorize aerosols into high and low absorbing aerosols. From mathematical point of view the algorithm is based on the concept of using truncated singular value decomposition as regularization method. This method was adapted to work for the retrieval of the particle size distribution function (PSD) and is called hybrid regularization technique since it is using a triple of regularization parameters. The inversion of an ill-posed problem, such as the retrieval of the PSD, is always a challenging task because very small measurement errors will be amplified most often hugely during the solution process unless an appropriate regularization method is used. Even using a regularization method is difficult since appropriate regularization parameters have to be determined. Therefore, in a next stage of our work we decided to use two regularization techniques in parallel for comparison purpose. The second method is an iterative regularization method based on Pade iteration. Here, the number of iteration steps serves as the regularization parameter. We successfully developed a semi-automated software for spherical particles which is able to run even on a parallel processor machine. From a mathematical point of view, it is also very important (as selection criteria for an appropriate regularization method) to investigate the degree of ill-posedness of the problem which we found is a moderate ill-posedness. We computed the optical data from mono-modal logarithmic PSD and investigated particles of spherical shape in our simulations. We considered particle radii as large as 6 nm which does not only cover the size range of particles in the fine-mode fraction of naturally occurring PSD but also covers a part of the coarse-mode fraction of PSD. We considered errors of 15% in the simulation studies. For the SSA, 100% of all cases achieve relative errors below 12%. In more detail, 87% of all cases for 355 nm and 88% of all cases for 532 nm are well below 6%. With respect to the absolute error for non- and weak-absorbing particles with real parts 1.5 and 1.6 in all modes the accuracy limit +/- 0.03 is achieved. In sum, 70% of all cases stay below +/-0.03 which is sufficient for climate change studies.

Keywords: aerosol particles, inverse problem, microphysical particle properties, regularization

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Authors: Andrea Cretu, Calin Cadar, Maria Miclaus, Lucian Barbu-Tudoran, Siegfried Stapf, Ioan Ardelean

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Additives and mineral admixtures have become an integral part of cement-based materials. It is common practice to add silica fume to cement based mixes in order to produce high-performance concrete. There is still a lack of scientific understanding regarding the effects that silica fume has on the microstructure of hydrated cement paste. The aim of the current study is to develop high-performance materials with low permeability and high resistance to flexural stress using silica fume and an organosilane. Organosilane bonds with cement grains and silica fume, influencing both the workability and the final properties of the mix, especially the pore size distributions and pore connectivity. Silica fume is a known pozzolanic agent which reacts with the calcium hydroxide in hydrated cement paste, producing more C-S-H and improving the mechanical properties of the mix. It is believed that particles of silica fume act as capillary pore fillers and nucleation centers for C-S-H and other hydration products. In order to be able to design cement-based materials with added silica fume and organosilane, it is necessary first to understand the formation of the porous network during hydration and to observe the distribution of pores and their connectivity. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods in low-fields are non-destructive and allow the study of cement-based materials from the standpoint of their porous structure. Other methods, such as XRD and SEM-EDS, help create a comprehensive picture of the samples, along with the classic mechanical tests (compressive and flexural strength measurements). The transverse relaxation time (T₂) was measured during the hydration of 16 samples prepared with two water/cement ratios (0.3 and 0.4) and different concentrations or organosilane (APTES, up to 2% by mass of cement) and silica fume (up to 6%). After their hydration, the pore size distribution was assessed using the same NMR approach on the samples filled with cyclohexane. The SEM-EDS and XRD measurements were applied on pieces and powders prepared from the samples that were used in mechanical testing, which were kept under water for 28 days. Adding silica fume does not influence the hydration dynamics of cement paste, while the addition of organosilane extends the dormancy stage up to 10 hours. The size distribution of the capillary pores is not influenced by the addition of silica fume or organosilane, while the connectivity of capillary pores is decreased only when there is organosilane in the mix. No filling effect is observed even at the highest concentration of silica fume. There is an apparent increase in flexural strength of samples prepared only with silica fume and a decrease for those prepared with organosilane, with a few exceptions. XRD reveals that the pozzolanic reactivity of silica fume can only be observed when there is no organosilane present and the SEM-EDS method reveals the pore distribution, as well as hydration products and the presence or absence of calcium hydroxide. The current work was funded by the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS – UEFISCDI, through project PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2016-0719.

Keywords: cement hydration, concrete admixtures, NMR, organosilane, porosity, silica fume

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Authors: Yasmine Salehy, Yann Leroy, Francois Cluzel, Hong-Minh Hoang, Laurence Fournaison, Anthony Delahaye, Bernard Yannou

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Taking into consideration all the life cycle of a product is now an important step in the eco-design of a product or a technology. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a standard tool to evaluate the environmental impacts of a system or a process. Despite the improvement in refrigerant regulation through protocols, the environmental damage of refrigeration systems remains important and needs to be improved. In this paper, the environmental impacts of refrigeration systems in a typical supermarket are compared using the LCA methodology under different conditions. The system is used to provide cold at two levels of temperature: medium and low temperature during a life period of 15 years. The most commonly used architectures of supermarket cold production systems are investigated: centralized direct expansion systems and indirect systems using a secondary loop to transport the cold. The variation of power needed during seasonal changes and during the daily opening/closure periods of the supermarket are considered. R134a as the primary refrigerant fluid and two types of secondary fluids are considered. The composition of each system and the leakage rate of the refrigerant through its life cycle are taken from the literature and industrial data. Twelve scenarios are examined. They are based on the variation of three parameters, 1. location: France (Paris), Spain (Toledo) and Sweden (Stockholm), 2. different sources of electric consumption: photovoltaic panels and low voltage electric network and 3. architecture: direct and indirect refrigeration systems. OpenLCA, SimaPro softwares, and different impact assessment methods were compared; CML method is used to evaluate the midpoint environmental indicators. This study highlights the significant contribution of electric consumption in environmental damages compared to the impacts of refrigerant leakage. The secondary loop allows lowering the refrigerant amount in the primary loop which results in a decrease in the climate change indicators compared to the centralized direct systems. However, an exhaustive cost evaluation (CAPEX and OPEX) of both systems shows more important costs related to the indirect systems. A significant difference between the countries has been noticed, mostly due to the difference in electric production. In Spain, using photovoltaic panels helps to reduce efficiently the environmental impacts and the related costs. This scenario is the best alternative compared to the other scenarios. Sweden is a country with less environmental impacts. For both France and Sweden, the use of photovoltaic panels does not bring a significant difference, due to a less sunlight exposition than in Spain. Alternative solutions exist to reduce the impact of refrigerating systems, and a brief introduction is presented.

Keywords: eco-design, industrial engineering, LCA, refrigeration system

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Authors: Sugandha Gupta, Arun Kumar Jha

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A large number of ferroelectric materials have been intensely investigated for applications in non-volatile ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAMs), piezoelectric transducers, actuators, pyroelectric sensors, high dielectric constant capacitors, etc. Bismuth layered ferroelectric materials such as Strontium Bismuth Tantalate (SBT) has attracted a lot of attention due to low leakage current, high remnant polarization and high fatigue endurance up to 1012 switching cycles. However, pure SBT suffers from various major limitations such as high dielectric loss, low remnant polarization values, high processing temperature, bismuth volatilization, etc. Significant efforts have been made to improve the dielectric and ferroelectric properties of this compound. Firstly, it has been reported that electrical properties vary with the Sr/ Bi content ratio in the SrBi2Ta2O9 compsition i.e. non-stoichiometric compositions with Sr-deficient / Bi excess content have higher remnant polarization values than stoichiometic SBT compositions. With the objective to improve structural, dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of SBT compound, rare earth holmium (Ho3+) was chosen as a donor cation for substitution onto the Bi2O2 layer. Moreover, hardly any report on holmium substitution in stoichiometric SrBi2Ta2O9 and non-stoichiometric Sr0.8Bi2.2Ta2O9 compositions were available in the literature. The holmium substituted SrBi2-xHoxTa2O9 (x= 0.00-2.0) and Sr0.8Bi2.2Ta2O9 (x=0.0 and 0.01) compositions were synthesized by the solid state reaction method. The synthesized specimens were characterized for their structural and electrical properties. X-ray diffractograms reveal single phase layered perovskite structure formation for holmium content in stoichiometric SBT samples up to x ≤ 0.1. The granular morphology of the samples was investigated using scanning electron microscope (Hitachi, S-3700 N). The dielectric measurements were carried out using a precision LCR meter (Agilent 4284A) operating at oscillation amplitude of 1V. The variation of dielectric constant with temperature shows that the Curie temperature (Tc) decreases on increasing the holmium content. The specimen with x=2.0 i.e. the bismuth free specimen, has very low dielectric constant and does not show any appreciable variation with temperature. The dielectric loss reduces significantly with holmium substitution. The polarization–electric field (P–E) hysteresis loops were recorded using a P–E loop tracer based on Sawyer–Tower circuit. It is observed that the ferroelectric property improve with Ho substitution. Holmium substituted specimen exhibits enhanced value of remnant polarization (Pr= 9.22 μC/cm²) as compared to holmium free specimen (Pr= 2.55 μC/cm²). Piezoelectric co-efficient (d33 values) was measured using a piezo meter system (Piezo Test PM300). It is observed that holmium substitution enhances piezoelectric coefficient. Further, the optimized holmium content (x=0.01) in stoichiometric SrBi2-xHoxTa2O9 composition has been substituted in non-stoichiometric Sr0.8Bi2.2Ta2O9 composition to obtain further enhanced structural and electrical characteristics. It is expected that a new class of ferroelectric materials i.e. Rare Earth Layered Structured Ferroelectrics (RLSF) derived from Bismuth Layered Structured Ferroelectrics (BLSF) will generate which can be used to replace static (SRAM) and dynamic (DRAM) random access memories with ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAMS).

Keywords: dielectrics, ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics, strontium bismuth tantalate

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Authors: Omwoyo Bosire Onyancha

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The Journal Citation Reports (JCR) of the Thomson Reuters has, for decades, provided the data for bibliometrically assessing the impact of journals. In their criticism of the journal impact factor (JIF), a number of scholars such as Priem, Taraborelli, Groth and Neylon (2010) observe that the “JIF is often incorrectly used to assess the impact of individual articles. It is troubling that the exact details of the JIF are a trade secret, and that significant gaming is relatively easy”. The emergence of alternative metrics (Altmetrics) has introduced another dimension of re-assessing how the impact of journals (and other units such as articles and even individual researchers) can be measured. Altmetrics is premised upon the fact that research is increasingly being disseminated through social network sites such as ResearchGate, Mendeley, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and ImpactStory, among others. This paper adopts informetrics (including altmetrics) techniques to report on the findings of a study conducted to investigate and compare the social media impact of 274 South Africa Post Secondary Education (SAPSE)-accredited journals, which are recognized and accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) of South Africa (SA). We used multiple sources to extract data for the study, namely Altmetric.com and the Thomson Reuters’ Journal Citation Reports. Data was analyzed in order to determine South African journals’ presence and impact on social media as well as contrast the social media impact with Thomson Reuters’ citation impact. The Spearman correlation test was performed to compare the journals’ social media impact and JCR citation impact. Preliminary findings reveal that a total of 6360 articles published in 96 South African journals have received some attention in social media; the most commonly used social media platform was Twitter, followed by Mendeley, Facebook, News outlets, and CiteULike; there were 29 SA journals covered in the JCR in 2008 and this number has grown to 53 journals in 2014; the journals indexed in the Thomson Reuters performed much better, in terms of their altmetrics, than those journals that are not indexed in Thomson Reuters databases; nevertheless, there was high correlation among journals that featured in both datasets; the journals with the highest scores in Altmetric.com included the South African Medical Journal, African Journal of Marine Science, and Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa while the journals with high impact factors in JCR were South African Medical Journal, Onderstepoort: Journal of Veterinary Research, and Sahara: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV-AIDS; and that Twitter has emerged as a strong avenue of sharing and communicating research published in the South African journals. Implications of the results of the study for the dissemination of research conducted in South Africa are offered. Discussions based on the research findings as well as conclusions and recommendations are offered in the full text paper.

Keywords: altmetrics, citation impact, journal citation reports, journal impact factor, journals, research, scholarly publishing, social media impact, South Africa

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Authors: Ilana Singer, Anastasia Lučić, Julie Leclerc

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Introduction: Tics, characterized by repetitive, sudden, non-voluntary motor movements or vocalizations, are prevalent in chronic tic disorder (CT) and Tourette Syndrome (TS). These neurodevelopmental disorders often coexist with various psychiatric conditions, leading to challenges and reduced quality of life. While medication in conjunction with behavioral interventions, such as Habit Reversal Training (HRT), Exposure Response Prevention (ERP), and Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT), has shown efficacy, a significant proportion of patients experience persistent tics. Thus, innovative treatment approaches are necessary to improve therapeutic outcomes, such as mindfulness-based approaches. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in the context of CT and TS remains understudied. Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to provide an overview of the current state of research on mindfulness-based interventions for CT and TS, identify knowledge and evidence gaps, discuss the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions with other treatment options, and discuss implications for clinical practice and policy development. Method: Using guidelines from Peters (2020) and the PRISMA-ScR, a scoping review was conducted. Multiple electronic databases were searched from inception until June 2023, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychInfo, Global Health, PubMed, Web of Science, and Érudit. Inclusion criteria were applied to select relevant studies, and data extraction was independently performed by two reviewers. Results: Five papers were included in the study. Firstly, we found that mindfulness interventions were found to be effective in reducing anxiety and depression while enhancing overall well-being in individuals with tics. Furthermore, the review highlighted the potential role of mindfulness in enhancing functional connectivity within the Default Mode Network (DMN) as a compensatory function in TS patients. This suggests that mindfulness interventions may complement and support traditional therapeutic approaches, particularly HRT, by positively influencing brain networks associated with tic regulation and control. Conclusion: This scoping review contributes to the understanding of the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in managing CT and TS. By identifying research gaps, this review can guide future investigations and interventions to improve outcomes for individuals with CT or TS. Overall, these findings emphasize the potential benefits of incorporating mindfulness-based interventions as a smaller subset within comprehensive treatment strategies. However, it is essential to acknowledge the limitations of this scoping review, such as the exclusion of a pre-established protocol and the limited number of studies available for inclusion. Further research and clinical exploration are necessary to better understand the specific mechanisms and optimal integration of mindfulness-based interventions with existing behavioral interventions for this population.

Keywords: scoping reviews, Tourette Syndrome, tics, mindfulness-based, therapy, intervention

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Authors: K. C. Apil, Keshab Sharma, Bigul Pokharel

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Kathmandu Valley, capital city of Nepal houses numerous historical monuments as well as religious structures which are as old as from the 4th century A.D. The city alone is home to seven UNESCO’s world heritage sites including various public squares and religious sanctums which are often regarded as living heritages by various historians and archeological explorers. Recently on April 25, 2015, the capital city including other nearby locations was struck with Gorkha earthquake of moment magnitude (Mw) 7.8, followed by the strongest aftershock of moment magnitude (Mw) 7.3 on May 12. This study reports structural failures and collapse of heritage structures in Kathmandu Valley during the earthquake and presents preliminary findings as to the causes of failures and collapses. Field reconnaissance was carried immediately after the main shock and the aftershock, in major heritage sites: UNESCO world heritage sites, a number of temples and historic buildings in Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square, and Bhaktapur Durbar Square. Despite such catastrophe, a significant number of heritage structures stood high, performing very well during the earthquake. Preliminary reports from archeological department suggest that 721 of such structures were severely affected, whereas numbers within the valley only were 444 including 76 structures which were completely collapsed. This study presents recorded accelerograms and geology of Kathmandu Valley. Structural typology and architecture of the heritage structures in Kathmandu Valley are briefly described. Case histories of damaged heritage structures, the patterns, and the failure mechanisms are also discussed in this paper. It was observed that performance of heritage structures was influenced by the multiple factors such as structural and architecture typology, configuration, and structural deficiency, local ground site effects and ground motion characteristics, age and maintenance level, material quality etc. Most of such heritage structures are of masonry type using bricks and earth-mortar as a bonding agent. The walls' resistance is mainly compressive, thus capable of withstanding vertical static gravitational load but not horizontal dynamic seismic load. There was no definitive pattern of damage to heritage structures as most of them behaved as a composite structure. Some structures were extensively damaged in some locations, while structures with similar configuration at nearby location had little or no damage. Out of major heritage structures, Dome, Pagoda (2, 3 or 5 tiered temples) and Shikhara structures were studied with similar variables. Studying varying degrees of damages in such structures, it was found that Shikhara structures were most vulnerable one where Dome structures were found to be the most stable one, followed by Pagoda structures. The seismic performance of the masonry-timber and stone masonry structures were slightly better than that of the masonry structures. Regular maintenance and periodic seismic retrofitting seems to have played pivotal role in strengthening seismic performance of the structure. The study also recommends some key functions to strengthen the seismic performance of such structures through study based on structural analysis, building material behavior and retrofitting details. The result also recognises the importance of documentation of traditional knowledge and its revised transformation in modern technology.

Keywords: Gorkha earthquake, field observation, heritage structure, seismic performance, masonry building

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Authors: Richard McGregor, Carmen Reaiche, Stephen Boyle

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Cyber threats are a relatively recent phenomenon and offer cyber insurers a dynamic and intelligent peril. As individuals en mass become increasingly digitally dependent, Personal Cyber Insurance (PCI) offers an attractive option to mitigate cyber risk at a personal level. This abstract proposes a literature review that conceptualises a framework for siting Personal Cyber Insurance (PCI) within the context of cyberspace. The lack of empirical research within this domain demonstrates an immediate need to define the scope of PCI to allow cyber insurers to understand personal cyber risk threats and vectors, customer awareness, capabilities, and their associated needs. Additionally, this will allow cyber insurers to conceptualise appropriate frameworks allowing effective management and distribution of PCI products and services within a landscape often in-congruent with risk attributes commonly associated with traditional personal line insurance products. Cyberspace has provided significant improvement to the quality of social connectivity and productivity during past decades and allowed enormous capability uplift of information sharing and communication between people and communities. Conversely, personal digital dependency furnish ample opportunities for adverse cyber events such as data breaches and cyber-attacksthus introducing a continuous and insidious threat of omnipresent cyber risk–particularly since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and wide-spread adoption of ‘work-from-home’ practices. Recognition of escalating inter-dependencies, vulnerabilities and inadequate personal cyber behaviours have prompted efforts by businesses and individuals alike to investigate strategies and tactics to mitigate cyber risk – of which cyber insurance is a viable, cost-effective option. It is argued that, ceteris parabus, the nature of cyberspace intrinsically provides characteristic peculiarities that pose significant and bespoke challenges to cyber insurers, often in-congruent with risk attributes commonly associated with traditional personal line insurance products. These challenges include (inter alia) a paucity of historical claim/loss data for underwriting and pricing purposes, interdependencies of cyber architecture promoting high correlation of cyber risk, difficulties in evaluating cyber risk, intangibility of risk assets (such as data, reputation), lack of standardisation across the industry, high and undetermined tail risks, and moral hazard among others. This study proposes a thematic overview of the literature deemed necessary to conceptualise the challenges to issuing personal cyber coverage. There is an evident absence of empirical research appertaining to PCI and the design of operational business models for this business domain, especially qualitative initiatives that (1) attempt to define the scope of the peril, (2) secure an understanding of the needs of both cyber insurer and customer, and (3) to identify elements pivotal to effective management and profitable distribution of PCI - leading to an argument proposed by the author that postulates that the traditional general insurance customer journey and business model are ill-suited for the lineaments of cyberspace. The findings of the review confirm significant gaps in contemporary research within the domain of personal cyber insurance.

Keywords: cyberspace, personal cyber risk, personal cyber insurance, customer journey, business model

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Authors: Mohammed S. Razali, Kamel Khimeche, Dahah Hichem, Ammar Boudjellal, Djamel E. Kaderi, Nourddine Ramdani

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The use of additive manufacturing technologies has revolutionized various aspects of our daily lives. In particular, 3D printing has greatly advanced biomedical applications. While fused filament fabrication (FFF) technologies have made it easy to produce or prototype various medical devices, it is crucial to minimize the risk of contamination. New materials with antibacterial properties, such as those containing compounded silver nanoparticles, have emerged on the market. In a previous study, we prepared a newly sintered seashell filler (SSh) from bio-based seashells found along the Mediterranean coast using a suitable heat treatment process. We then prepared a series of polylactic acid (PLA) and polybutylene succinate (PBS) biocomposites filled with these SSh particles using a melt mixing technique with a twin-screw extruder to use them as feedstock filaments for 3D printing. The study consisted of two parts: evaluating the antibacterial activity of newly prepared biocomposites made of PLA and PBS reinforced with a sintered seashell in the first part and experimental and modeling analysis of the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of these biocomposites in the second part. In the first part, the bactericidal activity of the biocomposites against three different bacteria, including Gram-negative bacteria such as (E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa), as well as Gram-positive bacteria such as (Staphylococcus aureus), was examined. The PLA-based biocomposite containing 20 wt.% of SSh particles exhibited an inhibition zone with radial diameters of 8mm and 6mm against E. coli and Pseudo. Au, respectively, while no bacterial activity was observed against Staphylococcus aureus. In the second part, the focus was on investigating the effect of the sintered seashell filler particles on the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of PLA and PBS 3D-printing composite materials. The objective was to understand the impact of the filler particles on the crystallization mechanism of both PLA and PBS during the cooling process of a melt-extruded filament in (FFF) to manage the dimensional accuracy and mechanical properties of the final printed part. We conducted a non-isothermal melt crystallization kinetic study of a series of PLA-SS and PBS-SS composites using differential scanning calorimetry at various cooling rates. We analyzed the obtained kinetic data using different crystallization kinetic models such as modified Avrami, Ozawa, and Mo's methods. Dynamic mode describes the relative crystallinity as a function of temperature; it found that time half crystallinity (t1/2) of neat PLA decreased from 17 min to 7.3 min for PLA+5 SSh and the (t1/2) of virgin PBS was reduced from 3.5 min to 2.8 min for the composite containing 5wt.% of SSh. We found that the coated SS particles with stearic acid acted as nucleating agents and had a nucleation activity, as observed through polarized optical microscopy. Moreover, we evaluated the effective energy barrier of the non-isothermal crystallization process using the Iso conversional methods of Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (F-W-O) and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (K-A-S). The study provides significant insights into the crystallization behavior of PLA and PBS biocomposites.

Keywords: avrami model, bio-based reinforcement, dsc, gram-negative bacteria, gram-positive bacteria, isoconversional methods, non-isothermal crystallization kinetics, poly(butylene succinate), poly(lactic acid), antbactirial activity

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Authors: Petros M. Chronopoulos, Evangelos Z. Astreinidis

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A major issue of the structural assessment and rehabilitation of existing RC structures is the inadequate lap-splicing of the longitudinal reinforcement. Although prohibited by modern Design Codes, the practice of arranging lap-splices inside the critical regions of RC elements was commonly applied in the past. Today this practice is still the rule, at least for conventional new buildings. Therefore, a lot of relevant research is ongoing in many earthquake prone countries. The rehabilitation of deficient lap-splices of RC elements by means of external confinement is widely accepted as the most efficient technique. If correctly applied, this versatile technique offers a limited increase of flexural capacity and a considerable increase of local ductility and of axial and shear capacities. Moreover, this intervention does not affect the stiffness of the elements and does not affect the dynamic characteristics of the structure. This technique has been extensively discussed and researched contributing to vast accumulation of technical and scientific knowledge that has been reported in relevant books, reports and papers, and included in recent Design Codes and Guides. These references are mostly dealing with modeling and redesign, covering both the enhanced (axial and) shear capacity (due to the additional external closed hoops or jackets) and the increased ductility (due to the confining action, preventing the unzipping of lap-splices and the buckling of continuous reinforcement). An analytical and experimental program devoted to RC members with lap-splices is completed in the Lab. of RC/NTU of Athens/GR. This program aims at the proposal of a rational and safe theoretical model and the calibration of the relevant Design Codes’ provisions. Tests, on forty two (42) full scale specimens, covering mostly beams and columns (not walls), strengthened or not, with adequate or inadequate lap-splices, have been already performed and evaluated. In this paper, the results of twelve (12) specimens under fully reversed cyclic actions are presented and discussed. In eight (8) specimens the lap-splices were inadequate (splicing length of 20 or 30 bar diameters) and they were retrofitted before testing by means of additional external confinement. The two (2) most commonly applied confining materials were used in this study, namely steel and FRPs. More specifically, jackets made of CFRP wraps or light cages made of mild steel were applied. The main parameters of these tests were (i) the degree of confinement (internal and external), and (ii) the length of lap-splices, equal to 20, 30 or 45 bar diameters. These tests were thoroughly instrumented and monitored, by means of conventional (LVDTs, strain gages, etc.) and innovative (optic fibre-Bragg-grating) sensors. This allowed for a thorough investigation of the most influencing design parameter, namely the hoop-stress developed in the confining material. Based on these test results and on comparisons with the provisions of modern Design Codes, it could be argued that shorter (than the normative) lap-splices, commonly found in old structures, could still be effective and safe (at least for lengths more than an absolute minimum), depending on the required ductility, if a properly arranged and adequately detailed external confinement is applied.

Keywords: concrete, fibre-Bragg-grating sensors, lap-splices, retrofitting / rehabilitation

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Authors: Afsheen Aman, Zainab Bibi, Shah Ali Ul Qader

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Introduction: Xylan is a heteropolysaccharide composed of xylose monomers linked together through 1,4 linkages within a complex xylan network. Owing to wide applications of xylan hydrolytic products (xylose, xylobiose and xylooligosaccharide) the researchers are focusing towards the development of various strategies for efficient xylan degradation. One of the most important strategies focused is the use of heat tolerant biocatalysts which acts as strong and specific cleaving agents. Therefore, the exploration of microbial pool from extremely diversified ecosystem is considerably vital. Microbial populations from extreme habitats are keenly explored for the isolation of thermophilic entities. These thermozymes usually demonstrate fast hydrolytic rate, can produce high yields of product and are less prone to microbial contamination. Another possibility of degrading xylan continuously is the use of immobilization technique. The current work is an effort to merge both the positive aspects of thermozyme and immobilization technique. Methodology: Geobacillus stearothermophilus was isolated from soil sample collected near the blast furnace site. This thermophile is capable of producing thermostable endo-β-1,4-xylanase which cleaves xylan effectively. In the current study, this thermozyme was immobilized within a synthetic and a non-synthetic matrice for continuous production of metabolites using entrapment technique. The kinetic parameters of the free and immobilized enzyme were studied. For this purpose calcium alginate and polyacrylamide beads were prepared. Results: For the synthesis of immobilized beads, sodium alginate (40.0 gL-1) and calcium chloride (0.4 M) was used amalgamated. The temperature (50°C) and pH (7.0) optima of immobilized enzyme remained same for xylan hydrolysis however, the enzyme-substrate catalytic reaction time raised from 5.0 to 30.0 minutes as compared to free counterpart. Diffusion limit of high molecular weight xylan (corncob) caused a decline in Vmax of immobilized enzyme from 4773 to 203.7 U min-1 whereas, Km value increased from 0.5074 to 0.5722 mg ml-1 with reference to free enzyme. Immobilized endo-β-1,4-xylanase showed its stability at high temperatures as compared to free enzyme. It retained 18% and 9% residual activity at 70°C and 80°C, respectively whereas; free enzyme completely lost its activity at both temperatures. The Immobilized thermozyme displayed sufficient recycling efficiency and can be reused up to five reaction cycles, indicating that this enzyme can be a plausible candidate in paper processing industry. Conclusion: This thermozyme showed better immobilization yield and operational stability with the purpose of hydrolyzing the high molecular weight xylan. However, the enzyme immobilization properties can be improved further by immobilizing it on different supports for industrial purpose.

Keywords: immobilization, reusability, thermozymes, xylanase

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Authors: Moanaro Ao, Nzanthung Ngullie

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Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) has unique challenges in hilly urban settlements. Efforts have been taken by municipalities, private players, non-governmental organizations, etc. for managing solid waste by preventing its generation, reusing, and recovering them into useful products to the extent possible, thereby minimizing its impact on the environment and human health. However, there are many constraints that lead to inadequate management of solid waste. Kohima is an unplanned hill station city in the North Eastern Region of India. The city is facing numerous issues due to the mismanagement of the MSW generated. Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) is the Urban Local Body (ULB) responsible for providing municipal services. The present MSWM system in Kohima comprises of collection, transportation, and disposal of waste without any treatment. Several efforts and experimental projects on waste management have been implemented without any success. Waste management in Kohima city is challenging due to its remote location, difficult topography, dispersed settlements within the city, sensitive ecosystem, etc. Furthermore, the narrow road network in Kohima with limited scope for expansion, inadequate infrastructure facilities, and financial constraints of the ULB add up to the problems faced in managing solid waste. This hill station also has a unique system of traditional local self-governance. Thus, shifting from a traditional system to a modern system in implementing systematic and scientific waste management is also a challenge in itself. This study aims to analyse the existing situation of waste generation, evaluate the effectiveness of the existing management system of MSW, and evolve a strategic approach to achieve a sustainable and resilient MSWM system. The results from the study show that a holistic approach, including social aspects, technical aspects, environmental aspects, and financial aspects, is needed to reform the MSWM system. Stringent adherence to source segregation is required by encouraging public participation through awareness programs. Active involvement of community-based organizations (CBOs) has brought a positive change in sensitizing the public. A waste management model was designed to be adopted at a micro-level such as composting household biodegradable waste and incinerator plants at the community level for non-biodegradable waste. Suitable locations for small waste stations were identified using geographical information system (GIS) tools for waste recovery and recycling. Inculcating the sense of responsibility in every waste generator towards waste management by implementing incentive-based strategies at the Ward level was explored. Initiatives based on the ‘polluters pay principle’ were also explored to make the solid waste management model “self-sustaining”.

Keywords: municipal solid waste management, public participation, source segregation, sustainable

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Authors: C. A. Barros, Ana P. Barroso

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Any industrial company needs to determine the amount of variation that exists within its measurement process and guarantee the reliability of their data, studying the performance of their measurement system, in terms of linearity, bias, repeatability and reproducibility and stability. This issue is critical for automotive industry suppliers, who are required to be certified by the 16949:2016 standard (replaces the ISO/TS 16949) of International Automotive Task Force, defining the requirements of a quality management system for companies in the automotive industry. Measurement System Analysis (MSA) is one of the mandatory tools. Frequently, the measurement system in companies is not connected to the equipment and do not incorporate the methods proposed by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG). To address these constraints, an R&D project is in progress, whose objective is to develop a web and cloud-based MSA tool. This MSA tool incorporates Industry 4.0 concepts, such as, Internet of Things (IoT) protocols to assure the connection with the measuring equipment, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, statistical tools, and advanced mathematical algorithms. This paper presents the preliminary findings of the project. The web and cloud-based MSA tool is innovative because it implements all statistical tests proposed in the MSA-4 reference manual from AIAG as well as other emerging methods and techniques. As it is integrated with the measuring devices, it reduces the manual input of data and therefore the errors. The tool ensures traceability of all performed tests and can be used in quality laboratories and in the production lines. Besides, it monitors MSAs over time, allowing both the analysis of deviations from the variation of the measurements performed and the management of measurement equipment and calibrations. To develop the MSA tool a ten-step approach was implemented. Firstly, it was performed a benchmarking analysis of the current competitors and commercial solutions linked to MSA, concerning Industry 4.0 paradigm. Next, an analysis of the size of the target market for the MSA tool was done. Afterwards, data flow and traceability requirements were analysed in order to implement an IoT data network that interconnects with the equipment, preferably via wireless. The MSA web solution was designed under UI/UX principles and an API in python language was developed to perform the algorithms and the statistical analysis. Continuous validation of the tool by companies is being performed to assure real time management of the ‘big data’. The main results of this R&D project are: MSA Tool, web and cloud-based; Python API; New Algorithms to the market; and Style Guide of UI/UX of the tool. The MSA tool proposed adds value to the state of the art as it ensures an effective response to the new challenges of measurement systems, which are increasingly critical in production processes. Although the automotive industry has triggered the development of this innovative MSA tool, other industries would also benefit from it. Currently, companies from molds and plastics, chemical and food industry are already validating it.

Keywords: automotive Industry, industry 4.0, Internet of Things, IATF 16949:2016, measurement system analysis

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Authors: Julio Jesus Salazar, Julio Jesus De Lama

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the fundamental objective of hydrological studies applied to the engineering field is to determine the statistically consistent volumes or water flows that, in each case, allow us to size or design a series of elements or structures to effectively manage and develop a river basin. To determine these values, there are several ways of working within the framework of traditional hydrology: (1) Study each of the factors that influence the hydrological cycle, (2) Study the historical behavior of the hydrology of the area, (3) Study the historical behavior of hydrologically similar zones, and (4) Other studies (rain simulators or experimental basins). Of course, this range of studies in a certain basin is very varied and complex and presents the difficulty of collecting the data in real time. In this complex space, the study of variables can only be overcome by collecting and transmitting data to decision centers through the Internet of things and artificial intelligence. Thus, this research work implemented the learning project of the sub-basin of the Shullcas river in the Andean basin of the Mantaro river in Peru. The sensor firmware to collect and communicate hydrological parameter data was programmed and tested in similar basins of the European Union. The Machine Learning applications was programmed to choose the algorithms that direct the best solution to the determination of the rainfall-runoff relationship captured in the different polygons of the sub-basin. Tests were carried out in the mountains of Europe, and in the sub-basins of the Shullcas river (Huancayo) and the Yauli river (Jauja) with heights close to 5000 m.a.s.l., giving the following conclusions: to guarantee a correct communication, the distance between devices should not pass the 15 km. It is advisable to minimize the energy consumption of the devices and avoid collisions between packages, the distances oscillate between 5 and 10 km, in this way the transmission power can be reduced and a higher bitrate can be used. In case the communication elements of the devices of the network (internet of things) installed in the basin do not have good visibility between them, the distance should be reduced to the range of 1-3 km. The energy efficiency of the Atmel microcontrollers present in Arduino is not adequate to meet the requirements of system autonomy. To increase the autonomy of the system, it is recommended to use low consumption systems, such as the Ashton Raggatt McDougall or ARM Cortex L (Ultra Low Power) microcontrollers or even the Cortex M; and high-performance direct current (DC) to direct current (DC) converters. The Machine Learning System has initiated the learning of the Shullcas system to generate the best hydrology of the sub-basin. This will improve as machine learning and the data entered in the big data coincide every second. This will provide services to each of the applications of the complex system to return the best data of determined flows.

Keywords: hydrology, internet of things, machine learning, river basin

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Authors: Lucie Speyer, Vincent Lecocq, Séverine Humbert, Antoine Hugon

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Mesoporous alumina is commonly used as a catalyst support for the hydrotreating of heavy petroleum cuts. The process of fabrication usually involves: the synthesis of the boehmite AlOOH precursor, a kneading-extrusion step, and a calcination in order to obtain the final alumina extrudates. Alumina is described as a complex porous medium, generally agglomerates constituted of aggregated nanocrystallites. Its porous texture directly influences the active phase deposition and mass transfer, and the catalytic properties. Then, it is easy to figure out that each step of the fabrication of the supports has a role on the building of their porous network, and has to be well understood to optimize the process. The synthesis of boehmite by precipitation of aluminum salts was extensively studied in the literature and the effect of various parameters, such as temperature or pH, are known to influence the size and shape of the crystallites and the specific surface area of the support. The calcination step, through the topotactic transition from boehmite to alumina, determines the final properties of the support and can tune the surface area, pore volume and pore diameters from those of boehmite. However, the kneading extrusion step has been subject to a very few studies. It generally consists in two steps: an acid, then a basic kneading, where the boehmite powder is introduced in a mixer and successively added with an acid and a base solution to form an extrudable paste. During the acid kneading, the induced positive charges on the hydroxyl surface groups of boehmite create an electrostatic repulsion which tends to separate the aggregates and even, following the conditions, the crystallites. The basic kneading, by reducing the surface charges, leads to a flocculation phenomenon and can control the reforming of the overall structure. The separation and reassembling of the particles constituting the boehmite paste have a quite obvious influence on the textural properties of the material. In this work, we are focused on the influence of the kneading step on the alumina catalysts supports. Starting from an industrial boehmite, extrudates are prepared using various kneading conditions. The samples are studied by nitrogen physisorption in order to analyze the evolution of the textural properties, and by synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), a more original method which brings information about agglomeration and aggregation of the samples. The coupling of physisorption and SAXS enables a precise description of the samples, as same as an accurate monitoring of their evolution as a function of the kneading conditions. These ones are found to have a strong influence of the pore volume and pore size distribution of the supports. A mechanism of evolution of the texture during the kneading step is proposed and could be attractive in order to optimize the texture of the supports and then, their catalytic performances.

Keywords: alumina catalyst support, kneading, nitrogen physisorption, small-angle X-ray scattering

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Authors: Ismene Ithai Bras-Ruiz

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Learning Analytics (LA) is employed by universities not only as a tool but as a specialized ground to enhance students and professors. However, not all the academic programs apply LA with the same goal and use the same tools. In fact, LA is formed by five main fields of study (academic analytics, action research, educational data mining, recommender systems, and personalized systems). These fields can help not just to inform academic authorities about the situation of the program, but also can detect risk students, professors with needs, or general problems. The highest level applies Artificial Intelligence techniques to support learning practices. LA has adopted different techniques: statistics, ethnography, data visualization, machine learning, natural language process, and data mining. Is expected that any academic program decided what field wants to utilize on the basis of his academic interest but also his capacities related to professors, administrators, systems, logistics, data analyst, and the academic goals. The Open and Distance University System (SUAYED in Spanish) of the University National Autonomous of Mexico (UNAM), has been working for forty years as an alternative to traditional programs; one of their main supports has been the employ of new information and communications technologies (ICT). Today, UNAM has one of the largest network higher education programs, twenty-six academic programs in different faculties. This situation means that every faculty works with heterogeneous populations and academic problems. In this sense, every program has developed its own Learning Analytic techniques to improve academic issues. In this context, an investigation was carried out to know the situation of the application of LA in all the academic programs in the different faculties. The premise of the study it was that not all the faculties have utilized advanced LA techniques and it is probable that they do not know what field of study is closer to their program goals. In consequence, not all the programs know about LA but, this does not mean they do not work with LA in a veiled or, less clear sense. It is very important to know the grade of knowledge about LA for two reasons: 1) This allows to appreciate the work of the administration to improve the quality of the teaching and, 2) if it is possible to improve others LA techniques. For this purpose, it was designed three instruments to determinate the experience and knowledge in LA. These were applied to ten faculty coordinators and his personnel; thirty members were consulted (academic secretary, systems manager, or data analyst, and coordinator of the program). The final report allowed to understand that almost all the programs work with basic statistics tools and techniques, this helps the administration only to know what is happening inside de academic program, but they are not ready to move up to the next level, this means applying Artificial Intelligence or Recommender Systems to reach a personalized learning system. This situation is not related to the knowledge of LA, but the clarity of the long-term goals.

Keywords: academic improvements, analytical techniques, learning analytics, personnel expertise

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Authors: Emre Kara, Ali Kurşun, Halil Aykul

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The lightweight sandwiches obtained with the use of various core materials such as foams, honeycomb, lattice structures etc., which have high energy absorbing capacity and high strength to weight ratio, are suitable for several applications in transport industry (automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding industry) where saving of fuel consumption, load carrying capacity increase, safety of vehicles and decrease of emission of harmful gases are very important aspects. While the sandwich structures with foams and honeycombs have been applied for many years, there is a growing interest on a new generation sandwiches with micro lattice cores. In order to produce these core structures, various production methods were created with the development of the technology. One of these production technologies is an additive manufacturing technique called selective laser sintering/melting (SLS/SLM) which is very popular nowadays because of saving of production time and achieving the production of complex topologies. The static bending and the dynamic low velocity impact tests of the sandwiches with carbon fiber/epoxy skins and the micro lattice cores produced via SLS/SLM were already reported in just a few studies. The goal of this investigation was the analysis of the flexural response of the sandwiches consisting of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) skins and the micro lattice cores manufactured via SLS under thermo-mechanical loads in order to compare the results in terms of peak load and absorbed energy values respect to the effect of core cell size, temperature and support span length. The micro lattice cores were manufactured using SLS technology that creates the product drawn by a 3D computer aided design (CAD) software. The lattice cores which were designed as body centered cubic (BCC) model having two different cell sizes (d= 2 and 2.5 mm) with the strut diameter of 0.3 mm were produced using titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) powder. During the production of all the core materials, the same production parameters such as laser power, laser beam diameter, building direction etc. were kept constant. Vacuum Infusion (VI) method was used to produce skin materials, made of [0°/90°] woven S-Glass prepreg laminates. The combination of the core and skins were implemented under VI. Three point bending tests were carried out by a servo-hydraulic test machine with different values of support span distances (L = 30, 45, and 60 mm) under various temperature values (T = 23, 40 and 60 °C) in order to analyze the influences of support span and temperature values. The failure mode of the collapsed sandwiches has been investigated using 3D computed tomography (CT) that allows a three-dimensional reconstruction of the analyzed object. The main results of the bending tests are: load-deflection curves, peak force and absorbed energy values. The results were compared according to the effect of cell size, support span and temperature values. The obtained results have particular importance for applications that require lightweight structures with a high capacity of energy dissipation, such as the transport industry, where problems of collision and crash have increased in the last years.

Keywords: light-weight sandwich structures, micro lattice cores, selective laser sintering, transport application

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Authors: Solanki Ravirajsinh

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In the software testing life cycle, failing to conduct thorough performance testing can result in significant losses for an organization due to application crashes and improper behavior under high user loads in production. Simulating large volumes of requests, such as 5 million within 5-10 minutes, is challenging without a scalable performance testing framework. Leveraging cloud services to implement a performance testing framework makes it feasible to handle 5-10 million requests in just 5-10 minutes, helping organizations ensure their applications perform reliably under peak conditions. Implementing a scalable performance testing framework using cloud services and tools like JMeter, EC2 instances (Virtual machine), cloud logs (Monitor errors and logs), EFS (File storage system), and security groups offers several key benefits for organizations. Creating performance test framework using this approach helps optimize resource utilization, effective benchmarking, increased reliability, cost savings by resolving performance issues before the application is released. In performance testing, a master-slave framework facilitates distributed testing across multiple EC2 instances to emulate many concurrent users and efficiently handle high loads. The master node orchestrates the test execution by coordinating with multiple slave nodes to distribute the workload. Slave nodes execute the test scripts provided by the master node, with each node handling a portion of the overall user load and generating requests to the target application or service. By leveraging JMeter's master-slave framework in conjunction with cloud services like EC2 instances, EFS, CloudWatch logs, security groups, and command-line tools, organizations can achieve superior scalability and flexibility in their performance testing efforts. In this master-slave framework, JMeter must be installed on both the master and each slave EC2 instance. The master EC2 instance functions as the "brain," while the slave instances operate as the "body parts." The master directs each slave to execute a specified number of requests. Upon completion of the execution, the slave instances transmit their results back to the master. The master then consolidates these results into a comprehensive report detailing metrics such as the number of requests sent, encountered errors, network latency, response times, server capacity, throughput, and bandwidth. Leveraging cloud services, the framework benefits from automatic scaling based on the volume of requests. Notably, integrating cloud services allows organizations to handle more than 5-10 million requests within 5 minutes, depending on the server capacity of the hosted website or application.

Keywords: identify crashes of application under heavy load, JMeter with cloud Services, Scalable performance testing, JMeter master and slave using cloud Services

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Authors: Fabio N. Moreno, Letícia B. Marinho, Beatriz D. Ruiz, Maria Helena R. B. Martins

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Brazil is a top consumer of pesticides worldwide, and the São Paulo State is one of the highest consumers among the Brazilian federative states. However, representative data about the occurrence of pesticides in surface waters of the São Paulo State is scarce. This paper aims to present the results of pesticides monitoring executed within the Water Quality Monitoring Network of CETESB (The Environmental Agency of the São Paulo State) between the 2018-2022 period. Surface water sampling points (21 to 25) were selected within basins of predominantly agricultural land-use (5 to 85% of cultivated areas). The samples were collected throughout the year, including high-flow and low-flow conditions. The frequency of sampling varied between 6 to 4 times per year. Selection of pesticide molecules for monitoring followed a prioritizing process from EMBRAPA (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) databases of pesticide use. Pesticides extractions in aqueous samples were performed according to USEPA 3510C and 3546 methods following quality assurance and quality control procedures. Determination of pesticides in water (ng L-1) extracts were performed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) and by gas chromatography with nitrogen phosphorus (GC-NPD) and electron capture detectors (GC-ECD). The results showed higher frequencies (20- 65%) in surface water samples for Carbendazim (fungicide), Diuron/Tebuthiuron (herbicides) and Fipronil/Imidaclopride (insecticides). The frequency of observations for these pesticides were generally higher in monitoring points located in sugarcane cultivated areas. The following pesticides were most frequently quantified above the Aquatic life benchmarks for freshwater (USEPA Office of Pesticide Programs, 2023) or Brazilian Federal Regulatory Standards (CONAMA Resolution no. 357/2005): Atrazine, Imidaclopride, Carbendazim, 2,4D, Fipronil, and Chlorpiryfos. Higher median concentrations for Diuron and Tebuthiuron in the rainy months (october to march) indicated pesticide transport through surface runoff. However, measurable concentrations in the dry season (april to september) for Fipronil and Imidaclopride also indicates pathways related to subsurface or base flow discharge after pesticide soil infiltration and leaching or dry deposition following pesticide air spraying. With exception to Diuron, no temporal trends related to median concentrations of the most frequently quantified pesticides were observed. These results are important to assist policymakers in the development of strategies aiming at reducing pesticides migration to surface waters from agricultural areas. Further studies will be carried out in selected points to investigate potential risks as a result of pesticides exposure on aquatic biota.

Keywords: pesticides monitoring, são paulo state, water quality, surface waters

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Authors: Keith Schofield, Garry R. Prentice

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The perceptions of the work an academic does, and the environment in which they do it, contributes to the professional identity of that academic. In turn, this has implications for the level of involvement they have in their job, their satisfaction, and their work product. This research explores academic identities in British and Irish institutions and considers the complex interplay between identity, practice, and participation. Theoretical assumptions made in this paper assert that meaningful work has positive effects on work pride, organisational commitment, organisational citizenship, and motivation; when employees participate enthusiastically they are likely to be more engaged, more successful, and more satisfied. Further examination is given to the context in which this participation happens; the nature of institutional process, management, and relationships with colleagues, team members, and students is considered. The present study follows a mixed-methods approach to explore work satisfaction constructs in a number of academic contexts in the UK and Ireland. The quantitative component of this research (Convenience Sample: 155 academics, and support/ administrative staff; 36.1% male, 63.9% female; 60.8% academic staff, 39.2% support/ administration staff; across a number of universities in the UK and Ireland) was based on an established emotional labour model and was tested across gender groups, job roles, and years of service. This was complimented by qualitative semi-structured interviews (Purposive Sample: 10 academics, and 5 support/ administrative staff across the same universities in the UK and Ireland) to examine various themes including values within academia, work conditions, professional development, and transmission of knowledge to students. Experiences from both academic and support perspectives were sought in order to gain a holistic view of academia and to provide an opportunity to explore the dynamic of the academic/administrator relationship within the broader institutional context. The quantitative emotional labour model, tested via a path analysis, provided a robust description of the relationships within the data. The significant relationships found within the quantitative emotional labour model included a link between non-expression of true feelings resulting in emotional labourious work and lower levels of intrinsic motivation and higher levels of extrinsic motivation. Higher levels of intrinsic motivation also linked positively to work pride. These findings were further explored in the qualitative elements of the research where themes emerged including the disconnection between faculty management and staff, personal fulfilment and the friction between the identities of teacher, researcher/ practitioner and administrator. The implications of the research findings from this study are combined and discussed in relation to possible identity-related and emotional labour management-related interventions. Further, suggestions are made to institutions concerning the application of these findings including the development of academic practices, with specific reference to the duality of identity required to service the combined teacher/ researcher role. Broader considerations of the paper include how individuals and institutions may engage with the changing nature of students-as-consumers as well as a recommendation to centralise personal fulfillment through the development of professional academic identities.

Keywords: academic work, emotional labour, identity friction, mixed methods

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Julia Córdoba

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People are not completely autonomous, as we live in society; therefore, people could be defined as relationally dependent. The lack, decrease or loss of physical, psychological and/or social interdependence due to a disability situation is known as dependence. This is related to the need for help from another person in order to carry out activities of daily living. This population group lives with major social limitations that significantly reduce their participation and autonomy. They have high levels of stigma and invisibility from private environments (family and close networks), as well as from the public order (environment, community). The importance of this study lies in the fact that the lack of support and adjustments leads to what authors call the circle of exclusion. This circle describes how not accessing services - due to the difficulties caused by the disability situation impacts biological, social and psychological levels. This situation produces higher levels of exclusion and vulnerability. This study will focus on the process of autonomy and dependence of adults with disability from the model of disability proposed by the International Classification of Functioning, Health and Disability (ICF). The objectives are: i) to write down the relationship between autonomy and dependence based on socio-health variables and ii) to determine the relationship between the situation of autonomy and dependence and the expectations and interests of the participants. We propose a study that will use a survey technique through a previously validated virtual questionnaire. The data obtained will be analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods for the details of the profiles obtained. No less than 200 questionnaires will be administered to people between 18 and 64 years of age who self-identify as having some degree of dependency due to disability. For the analysis of the results, the two main variables of autonomy and dependence will be considered. Socio-demographic variables such as age, gender identity, area of residence and family composition will be used. In relation to the biological dimension of the situation, the diagnosis, if any, and the type of disability will be asked. For the description of these profiles of autonomy and dependence, the following variables will be used: self-perception, decision-making, interests, expectations and life project, care of their health condition, support and social network, and labor and educational inclusion. The relationship between the target population and the variables collected provides several guidelines that could form the basis for the analysis of other research of interest in terms of self-perception, autonomy and dependence. The areas and situations where people state that they have greater possibilities to decide and have a say will be obtained. It will identify social (networks and support, educational background), demographic (age, gender identity and residence) and health-related variables (diagnosis and type of disability, quality of care) that may have a greater relationship with situations of dependency or autonomy. It will be studied whether the level of autonomy and/or dependence has an impact on the type of expectations and interests of the people surveyed.

Keywords: life project, disability, inclusion, autonomy

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Authors: Salwa Karboune, Amanda Waglay

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Recent studies indicate that health-promoting functional ingredients and nutraceuticals can help support and improve the overall public health, which is timely given the aging of the population and the increasing cost of health care. The development of novel ‘natural’ functional ingredients is increasingly challenging. Biocatalysis offers powerful approaches to achieve this goal. Our recent research has been focusing on the development of innovative biocatalytic approaches towards the isolation of protein isolates from potato by-products and the generation of peptides. Potato is a vegetable whose high-quality proteins are underestimated. In addition to their high proportion in the essential amino acids, potato proteins possess angiotensin-converting enzyme-inhibitory potency, an ability to reduce plasma triglycerides associated with a reduced risk of atherosclerosis, and stimulate the release of the appetite regulating hormone CCK. Potato proteins have long been considered not economically feasible due to the low protein content (27% dry matter) found in tuber (Solanum tuberosum). However, potatoes rank the second largest protein supplying crop grown per hectare following wheat. Potato proteins include patatin (40-45 kDa), protease inhibitors (5-25 kDa), and various high MW proteins. Non-destructive techniques for the extraction of proteins from potato pulp and for the generation of peptides are needed in order to minimize functional losses and enhance quality. A promising approach for isolating the potato proteins was developed, which involves the use of multi-enzymatic systems containing selected glycosyl hydrolase enzymes that synergistically work to open the plant cell wall network. This enzymatic approach is advantageous due to: (1) the use of milder reaction conditions, (2) the high selectivity and specificity of enzymes, (3) the low cost and (4) the ability to market natural ingredients. Another major benefit to this enzymatic approach is the elimination of a costly purification step; indeed, these multi-enzymatic systems have the ability to isolate proteins, while fractionating them due to their specificity and selectivity with minimal proteolytic activities. The isolated proteins were used for the enzymatic generation of active peptides. In addition, they were applied into a reduced gluten cookie formulation as consumers are putting a high demand for easy ready to eat snack foods, with high nutritional quality and limited to no gluten incorporation. The addition of potato protein significantly improved the textural hardness of reduced gluten cookies, more comparable to wheat flour alone. The presentation will focus on our recent ‘proof-of principle’ results illustrating the feasibility and the efficiency of new biocatalytic processes for the production of innovative functional food ingredients, from potato by-products, whose potential health benefits are increasingly being recognized.

Keywords: biocatalytic approaches, functional ingredients, potato proteins, peptides

Procedia PDF Downloads 380

Authors: Nasreen Abdulmannan

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Fetal abnormalities are categorized as a structural abnormality, non-structural abnormality, or a combination of both. Fetal structural abnormalities (FSA) include, but are not limited, to Down syndrome, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, and cleft lip and palate. These abnormalities can be detected in the first weeks of pregnancy, which is almost around 9 - 20 weeks gestational. Etiological factors for FSA are unknown; however, transmitted genetic risk can be one of these factors. Consanguineous marriage often referred to as inbreeding, represents a significant risk factor for FSA due to the increased likelihood of deleterious genetic traits shared by both biological parents. In a country such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), consanguineous marriage is high, which creates a significant risk of children being born with congenital abnormalities. Historically, the practice of consanguinity occurred commonly among European royalty. For example, Great Britain’s Queen Victoria married her German first cousin, Prince Albert of Coburg. Although a distant blood relationship, the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II married her cousin, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark—both of them direct descendants of Queen Victoria. In Middle Eastern countries, a high incidence of consanguineous unions still exists, including in the KSA. Previous studies indicated that a significant gap exists in understanding the lived experiences of Saudi women dealing with an FSA-complicated pregnancy. Eleven participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview format for this qualitative phenomenological study investigating the lived experiences of pregnant Saudi women carrying a child with FSA. This study explored the gaps in current literature regarding the lived experiences of pregnant Saudi women whose pregnancies were complicated by FSA. In addition, the researcher acquired knowledge about the available support and resources as well as the Saudi cultural perspective on FSA. This research explored the lived experiences of pregnant Saudi women utilizing Giorgi’s (2009) approach to data collection and data management. Findings for this study cover five major themes: (1) initial maternal reaction to the FSA diagnosis per ultrasound screening; (2) strengthening of the maternal relationship with God; (3) maternal concern for their child’s future; (4) feeling supported by their loved ones; and (5) lack of healthcare provider support and guidance. Future research in the KSA is needed to explore the network support for these mothers. This study recommended further clinical nursing research, nursing education, clinical practice, and healthcare policy/procedures to provide opportunities for improvement in nursing care and increase awareness in KSA society.

Keywords: fetal structural abnormalities, psychological distress, health provider, health care

Procedia PDF Downloads 156