Search results for: Design techniques

Authors: Mary Isobelle Mullaney

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The purpose of this research was to explore the attitudes of student Art and Design teachers (n=79) and their cooperating teachers in the Republic of Ireland (n=83) as to their interpretation of the role in teacher education. The role is outlined in terms of how the Teaching Council defines the role and then how the students and teachers see it being fulfilled. While overall teachers rated themselves as fulfilling the role expected of them, the interpretation varied greatly, with considerable deficits reported regarding guidance given in planning, observation of the student teacher, and feedback given. Overall, students saw teachers as fulfilling their role effectively, though there was considerable variation reported in experiences. A focus group was conducted in order to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of the underlying factors influencing these discrepancies.

Keywords: Irish post primary teaching, cooperating teacher, student teacher, teacher education

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Authors: Nairy Kechichian

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The original Leclerc Bridge is a covered wooden bridge that is considered a Quebec heritage structure with an index of 60, making it a very important provincial bridge from a historical point of view. It was constructed in 1927 and is in the rural area of Abitibi-Temiscamingue. It is a “town Québécois” type of structure, which is generally rare but common for covered bridges in Abitibi-Temiscamingue. This type of structure is composed of two trusses on both sides formed with diagonals, internal bracings, uprights and top and bottom chords to allow the transmission of loads. This structure is mostly known for its solidity, lightweightness, and ease of construction. It is a single-span bridge with a length of 25.3 meters and allows the passage of one vehicle at a time with a 4.22-meter driving lane. The structure is composed of 2 trusses located at each end of the deck, two gabion foundations at both ends, uprights and top and bottom chords. WSP (Williams Sale Partnership) Canada inc. was mandated by the Transport Minister of Quebec in 2019 to increase the capacity of the bridge from 5 tons to 30.6 tons and rehabilitate it, as it has deteriorated quite significantly over the years. The bridge was damaged due to material deterioration over time, exposure to humidity, high load effects and insect infestation. To allow the passage of 3 axle trucks, as well as to keep the integrity of this heritage structure, the final design chosen to rehabilitate the bridge involved adding a new deck independent from the roof structure of the bridge. Essentially, new steel beams support the deck loads and the desired vehicle loads. The roof of the bridge is linked to the steel deck for lateral support, but it is isolated from the wooden deck. The roof is preserved for aesthetic reasons and remains intact as it is a heritage piece. Due to strict traffic management obstacles, an efficient construction method was put into place, which consisted of building a temporary bridge and moving the existing roof onto it to allow the circulation of vehicles on one side of the temporary bridge while providing a working space for the repairs of the roof on the other side to take place simultaneously. In parallel, this method allowed the demolition and reconstruction of the existing foundation, building a new steel deck, and transporting back the roof on the new bridge. One of the main criteria for the rehabilitation of the wooden bridge was to preserve, as much as possible, the existing patrimonial architectural design of the bridge. The project was completed successfully by the end of 2021.

Keywords: covered bridge, wood-steel, short span, town Québécois structure

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Authors: Selma Bouasria, Mahi Abdelkader, Abbès Azzi, Herouz Keltoum

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This paper reports concept was used into the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code cfx through user-defined functions to assess ventilation efficiency inside (forced-ventilation local). CFX is a simulation tool which uses powerful computer and applied mathematics, to model fluid flow situations for the prediction of heat, mass and momentum transfer and optimal design in various heat transfer and fluid flow processes to evaluate thermal comfort in a room ventilated (highly-glazed). The quality of the solutions obtained from CFD simulations is an effective tool for predicting the behavior and performance indoor thermo-aéraulique comfort.

Keywords: ventilation, thermal comfort, CFD, indoor environment, solar air heater

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Authors: Andy Zhang, Awnik Roy, Trevor B. Chen, Bibik Oleksandr, Subodh Adhikari, Paul S. Hsu

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The durability of a combustor in gas-turbine enginesrequiresa good control of its component temperatures. Since the temperature of combustion gases frequently exceeds the melting point of the combustion liner walls, an efficient air-cooling system is significantly important to elongatethe lifetime of liner walls. To determine the effectiveness of the air-cooling system, accurate 2D surface temperature measurement of combustor liner walls is crucial for advanced engine development. Traditional diagnostic techniques for temperature measurement, such as thermocouples, thermal wall paints, pyrometry, and phosphors, have shown disadvantages, including being intrusive and affecting local flame/flow dynamics, potential flame quenching, and physical damages to instrumentation due to harsh environments inside the combustor and strong optical interference from strong combustion emission in UV-Mid IR wavelength. To overcome these drawbacks, a compact and small borescope long-wave-infrared (LWIR) sensor is developed to achieve two-dimensional high-spatial resolution, high-fidelity thermal imaging of 2D surface temperature in gas-turbine engines, providing the desired engine component temperature distribution. The compactLWIRborescope sensor makes it feasible to promote the durability of combustor in gas-turbine engines.

Keywords: borescope, engine, long-wave-infrared, sensor

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Authors: Jingyu Hou

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This paper proposes a new teaching and learning approach-project and Module Based Teaching and Learning (PMBTL). The PMBTL approach incorporates the merits of project/problem based and module based learning methods, and overcomes the limitations of these methods. The correlation between teaching, learning, practice, and assessment is emphasized in this approach, and new methods have been proposed accordingly. The distinct features of these new methods differentiate the PMBTL approach from conventional teaching approaches. Evaluation of this approach on practical teaching and learning activities demonstrates the effectiveness and stability of the approach in improving the performance and quality of teaching and learning. The approach proposed in this paper is also intuitive to the design of other teaching units.

Keywords: computer science education, project and module based, software engineering, module based teaching and learning

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

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

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

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Authors: Salvador Antelmo Casanova Valencia

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This study documents the use of the Minecraft Education Edition application to explore immersive game-based learning environments. We analyze the contributions of fourth-year university students who are pursuing a degree in Administrative Computing at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo. In this study, descriptive data and statistical inference are detailed using a quasi-experimental design using the Wilcoxon test. The instruments will provide data validation. Game-based learning in immersive environments necessarily implies greater student participation and commitment, resulting in the study, motivation, and significant improvements, promoting cooperation and autonomous learning.

Keywords: game-based learning, gamification, higher education, Minecraft

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Authors: Kolade Olawande Owoeye, George Weir

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Terrorism and extremism activities on the internet are becoming the most significant threats to national security because of their potential dangers. In response to this challenge, law enforcement and security authorities are actively implementing comprehensive measures by countering the use of the internet for terrorism. To achieve the measures, there is need for intelligence gathering via the internet. This includes real-time monitoring of potential websites that are used for recruitment and information dissemination among other operations by extremist groups. However, with billions of active webpages, real-time monitoring of all webpages become almost impossible. To narrow down the search domain, there is a need for efficient webpage classification techniques. This research proposed a new approach tagged: SentiPosit-based method. SentiPosit-based method combines features of the Posit-based method and the Sentistrenght-based method for classification of terrorism and extremism webpages. The experiment was carried out on 7500 webpages obtained through TENE-webcrawler by International Cyber Crime Research Centre (ICCRC). The webpages were manually grouped into three classes which include the ‘pro-extremist’, ‘anti-extremist’ and ‘neutral’ with 2500 webpages in each category. A supervised learning algorithm is then applied on the classified dataset in order to build the model. Results obtained was compared with existing classification method using the prediction accuracy and runtime. It was observed that our proposed hybrid approach produced a better classification accuracy compared to existing approaches within a reasonable runtime.

Keywords: sentiposit, classification, extremism, terrorism

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Authors: P. Krachodnok

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In this paper, the design of a multiple U-slotted microstrip patch antenna with frequency selective surface (FSS) as a superstrate for WLAN and WiMAX applications is presented. The proposed antenna is designed by using substrate FR4 having permittivity of 4.4 and air substrate. The characteristics of the antenna are designed and evaluated the performance of modelled antenna using CST Microwave studio. The proposed antenna dual resonant frequency has been achieved in the band of 2.37-2.55 GHz and 3.4-3.6 GHz. Because of the impact of FSS superstrate, it is found that the bandwidths have been improved from 6.12% to 7.35 % and 3.7% to 5.7% at resonant frequencies 2.45 GHz and 3.5 GHz, respectively. The maximum gain at the resonant frequency of 2.45 and 3.5 GHz are 9.3 and 11.33 dBi, respectively.

Keywords: multi-slotted antenna, microstrip patch antenna, frequency selective surface, artificial magnetic conduction

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Authors: Adeola Adenikinju, Olusanya E. Olubusoye, Lateef O. Akinpelu, Dilinna L. Nwobi

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Since the enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (2007), the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has made public its fiscal budget and the subsequent implementation report. A critical review of these documents shows significant variations in the five macroeconomic variables which are inputs in each Presidential budget; oil Production target (mbpd), oil price ($), Foreign exchange rate(N/$), and Gross Domestic Product growth rate (%) and inflation rate (%). This results in underperformance of the Federal budget expected output in terms of non-oil and oil revenue aggregates. This paper evaluates first the existing variance between budgeted and actuals, then the relationship and causality between the determinants of Federal fiscal budget assumptions, and finally the determinants of FGN’s Gross Oil Revenue. The paper employed the use of descriptive statistics, the Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, and a Profit oil probabilistic model to achieve these objectives. This model permits for both the static and dynamic effect(s) of the independent variable(s) on the dependent variable, unlike a static model that accounts for static or fixed effect(s) only. It offers a technique for checking the existence of a long-run relationship between variables, unlike other tests of cointegration, such as the Engle-Granger and Johansen tests, which consider only non-stationary series that are integrated of the same order. Finally, even with small sample size, the ARDL model is known to generate a valid result, for it is the dependent variable and is the explanatory variable. The results showed that there is a long-run relationship between oil revenue as a proxy for budget performance and its determinants; oil price, produced oil quantity, and foreign exchange rate. There is a short-run relationship between oil revenue and its determinants; oil price, produced oil quantity, and foreign exchange rate. There is a long-run relationship between non-oil revenue and its determinants; inflation rate, GDP growth rate, and foreign exchange rate. The grangers’ causality test results show that there is a mono-directional causality between oil revenue and its determinants. The Federal budget assumptions only explain 68% of oil revenue and 62% of non-oil revenue. There is a mono-directional causality between non-oil revenue and its determinants. The Profit oil Model describes production sharing contracts, joint ventures, and modified carrying arrangements as the greatest contributors to FGN’s gross oil revenue. This provides empirical justification for the selected macroeconomic variables used in the Federal budget design and performance evaluation. The research recommends other variables, debt and money supply, be included in the Federal budget design to explain the Federal budget revenue performance further.

Keywords: ARDL, budget performance, oil price, oil quantity, oil revenue

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Authors: Maria Barriga

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The article focuses on the analysis of three images of the last five years that represent different visions of social groups in the context of the so call “Conflicto Mapuche” in la Araucanía, Chile. Using a multimodal social semiotic approach, we analyze the meaning making of these images and the social groups strategies to achieve visibility and recognition in political contexts. We explore the making and appropriation of symbols and concepts and analyze the different strategies that groups use to built hegemonic views. Among these strategies, we compare the use of digital technologies in design these images and the influence of Chilean Estate's vision on the Mapuche political conflict. Finally, we propose visual strategies to improve basic conditions for dialogue and recognition among these groups.

Keywords: visual culture, power, conflict, indigenous people

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Authors: Panumard Kaewmora, Thirasak Rirksomboon, Vissanu Meeyoo

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Due to the globally growing demands of petroleum fuel and fossil fuels, the scarcity or even depletion of fossil fuel sources could be inevitable. Alternatively, the utilization of renewable sources, such as biomass, has become attractive to the community. Biomass can be converted into bio-oil by fast pyrolysis. In water phase of bio-oil, acetic acid which is one of its main components can be converted to hydrogen with high selectivity over effective catalysts in steam reforming process. Steam reforming of acetic acid as model compound has been intensively investigated for hydrogen production using various metal oxide supported nickel catalysts and yet they seem to be rapidly deactivated depending on the support utilized. A catalyst support such as Ce1-xZrxO2 mixed oxide was proposed for alleviating this problem with the anticipation of enhancing hydrogen yield. However, catalyst preparation methods play a significant role in catalytic activity and performance of the catalysts. In this work, Ce0.75Zr0.25O2 mixed oxide solid solution support was prepared by urea hydrolysis using microwave as heat source. After that nickel metal was incorporated at 15 wt% by incipient wetness impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by several techniques including BET, XRD, H2-TPR, XRF, SEM, and TEM as well as tested for the steam reforming of acetic acid at various operating conditions. Preliminary results showed that a hydrogen yield of ca. 32% with a relatively high acetic conversion was attained at 650°C.

Keywords: acetic acid, steam reforming, microwave, nickel, ceria, zirconia

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Authors: Elizabeth Starzycka-Korbas, Michal Starzycki, Wojciech Rybinski, Mirosława Dabert

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For a few years, the populations of pathogenic fungi occurring in winter oilseed rape in Malyszyn were analyzed. Brassica napus L. in Poland and in the world is a source of energy for both the men (oil), and animals, as post-extraction middling, as well as a motor fuel (oil, biofuel) therefore studies of this type are very important. The species composition of pathogenic fungi can be an indicator of seed yield. The occurrence of oilseed rape pathogens during several years were analyzed using the sequencing method DNA ITS. The results were compared in the gene bank using the program NCBI / BLAST. In field conditions before harvest of oilseed rape presence of pathogens infesting B. napus has been assessed. For example, in 2015, 150 samples have been isolated and applied to PDA medium for the identification of belonging species. From all population has been selected mycelium of 83 isolates which were sequenced. Others (67 isolates) were pathogenic fungi of the genus Alternaria which are easily to recognize. The population of pathogenic species on oilseed rape have been identified after analyzing the DNA ITS and include: Leptosphaeria sp. 38 (L. maculans 25, L. biglobosa 13), Alternaria sp. 29, Fusarium sp. 3, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum 7, heterogeneous 6, total of 83 isolates. The genus Alternaria sp. fungi wear the largest share of B. napus pathogens in particular years. Another dangerous species for oilseed rape was Leptosphaeria sp. Populations of pathogens in each year were different. The number of pathogens occurring in the field and their composition is very important for breeders and farmers because of the possible selection of the most resistant genotypes for sowing in the next growing season.

Keywords: B. napus, DNA ITS Sequencing, pathogenic fungi, population

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Authors: Marwa T. Badawy, Alaa F. Bakr, Nesrine Hegazi, Mohamed A. Farag, Ahmed Abdellatif

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Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease affecting a large population worldwide. Africa is rich in native medicinal plants with myriad health benefits, though less explored towards the development of specific drug therapy as in diabetes. This study aims to determine the in vivo antidiabetic potential of the well-reported and traditionally used fruits of Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) using STZ induced diabetic model. The in-vitro cytotoxic and antioxidant properties were examined using MTT assay on L-929 fibroblast cells and DPPH antioxidant assays, respectively. The extract showed minimal cytotoxicity with an IC50 value of 105.7 µg/mL. Histopathological and immunohistochemical investigations showed the hepatoprotective and the renoprotective effects of A. digitata fruits’ extract, implying its protective effects against diabetes complications. These findings were further supported by biochemical assays, which showed that i.p., injection of a low dose (150 mg/kg) of A. digitata twice a week lowered the fasting blood glucose levels, lipid profile, hepatic and renal markers. For a comprehensive overview of extract metabolites composition, ultrahigh performance (UHPLC) analysis coupled to high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HRMS/MS) in synchronization with molecular networks led to the annotation of 77 metabolites, among which 50% are reported for the first time in A. digitata fruits.

Keywords: adansonia digital, diabetes mellitus, metabolomics, streptozotocin, Sprague, dawley rats

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Authors: Ubeyd Toçoğlu, Miraç Alaf, Hatem Akbulut

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We present a work which was conducted in order to improve the cycle life of silicon based lithium ion battery anodes by utilizing novel composite structure. In this study, carbon coated nano sized (50-100 nm) silicon particles were embedded into Graphene/MWCNT silicon matrix to produce free standing silicon based electrodes. Also, conventional Si powder anodes were produced from Si powder slurry on copper current collectors in order to make comparison of composite and conventional anode structures. Free –standing composite anodes (binder-free) were produced via vacuum filtration from a well dispersion of Graphene, MWCNT and carbon coated silicon powders. Carbon coating process of silicon powders was carried out via microwave reaction system. The certain amount of silicon powder and glucose was mixed under ultrasonication and then coating was conducted at 200 °C for two hours in Teflon lined autoclave reaction chamber. Graphene which was used in this study was synthesized from well-known Hummers method and hydrazine reduction of graphene oxide. X-Ray diffraction analysis and RAMAN spectroscopy techniques were used for phase characterization of anodes. Scanning electron microscopy analyses were conducted for morphological characterization. The electrochemical performance tests were carried out by means of galvanostatic charge/discharge, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

Keywords: graphene, Li-Ion, MWCNT, silicon

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Authors: A. A. Selaimia, H. Bensouilah, M. A. Yallese, I. Meddour, S. Belhadi, T. Mabrouki

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The objective of this work is to model the output responses namely; surface roughness (Ra), cutting force (Fc), during the face milling of the austenitic stainless steel X2CrNi18-9 with coated carbide tools (GC4040). For raison, response surface methodology (RMS) is used to determine the influence of each technological parameter. A full factorial design (L27) is chosen for the experiments, and the ANOVA is used in order to evaluate the influence of the technological cutting parameters namely; cutting speed (Vc), feed per tooth, and depth of cut (ap) on the out-put responses. The results reveal that (Ra) is mostly influenced by (fz) and (Fc) is found considerably affected by (ap).

Keywords: austenitic stainless steel, ANOVA, coated carbide, response surface methodology (RSM)

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Authors: Hamdi Omar Omar, Hela Fakhfakh, Chokri Yaich

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This work reflects the integration of different techniques, such as field sampling and observations, magnetic susceptibility measurement, cyclostratigaraphy and sequence stratigraphy. The combination of these results allows us to reconstruct the environmental evolution of the Sidi Khalif Formation in the North-South Axis (NOSA), aged of Upper Tithonian, Berriasian and Lower Valanginian. Six sedimentary facies were identified and are primarily influenced by open marine sedimentation receiving increasing terrigenous influx. Spectral analysis, based on MS variation (for the outcropped section) and wireline logging gamma ray (GR) variation (for the sub-area section) show a pervasive dominance of 405-kyr eccentricity cycles with the expression of 100-kyr eccentricity, obliquity and precession. This study provides (for the first time) a precise duration of 2.4 myr for the outcropped Sidi Khalif Formation with a sedimentation rate of 5.4 cm/kyr and the sub-area section to 3.24 myr with a sedimentation rate of 7.64 cm/kyr. We outlined 27 5th-order depositional sequences, 8 Milankovitch depositional sequences and 2 major 3rd-order cycles for the outcropping section, controlled by the long eccentricity (405 kyr) cycles and the precession index cycles. This study has demonstrated the potential of MS and GR to be used as proxies to develop an astronomically calibrated time-scale for the Mesozoic era.

Keywords: Berriasian, magnetic susceptibility, orbital tuning, Sidi Khalif Formation

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Authors: Suneet Jagdev

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The development of the original Bauhaus occurred at a time in the beginning of the 20th century when the industrialization of Germany had reached a climax. The cities were a reflection of the new living conditions of an industrialized society. The Bauhaus can be interpreted as an ambitious attempt to find appropriate answers to the challenges by using architecture-urban development and design. The core elements of the conviction of the day were the belief in the necessary crossing of boundaries between the various disciplines and courage to experiment for a better solution. Even after 100 years, the situation in our cities is shaped by similar complexity. The urban consequences of developments are difficult to estimate and to predict. The paper critically reflected on the central aspects of the history of the Bauhaus and its role in bringing the modernism in India by comparative studies of the methodology adopted by the artists and designer in both the countries. The paper talked in detail about how the Bauhaus Exhibition in 1922 offered Indian artists a new weapon of anti-colonial resistance. The original Bauhaus fought its aesthetic and political battles in the context of economic instability and the rise of German fascism. The Indians had access to dominant global languages and in a particular English. The availability of print media and a vibrant indigenous intellectual culture provided Indian people a tool to accept technology while denying both its dominant role in culture and the inevitability of only one form of modernism. The indigenous was thus less an engagement with their culture as in the West than a tool of anti-colonial struggle. We have shown how the Indian people used Bauhaus as a critique of colonialism itself through an undermining of its typical modes of representation and as a means of incorporating the Indian desire for spirituality into art and as providing the cultural basis for a non-materialistic and anti-industrial form of what we might now term development. The paper reflected how through painting the Bauhaus entered the artistic consciousness of the sub-continent not only for its stylistic and technical innovations but as a tool for a critical and even utopian modernism that could challenge both the hegemony of academic and orientalist art and as the bearer of a transnational avant-garde as much political as it was artistic, and as such the basis of a non-Eurocentric but genuinely cosmopolitan alternative to the hierarchies of oppression and domination that had long bound India and were at that moment rising once again to a tragic crescendo in Europe. We have talked about how the Bauhaus of today can offer an innovative orientation towards discourse around architecture and design.

Keywords: anti-colonial struggle, art over architecture, Bauhaus exhibition of 1922, industrialization

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Authors: Scarlet Tabot Enanga Longsti

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Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) schemes have been proposed as a possible means to achieve affordable health care in low-and lower-middle-income countries. The existing evidence provides mixed results on the impact of CBHI schemes on healthcare utilisation and out -of-pocket payments (OOPP) for healthcare. Over 900 CBHI schemes have been implemented in underdeveloped countries, and these schemes have undergone different modifications over the years. Prior reviews have suggested that different designs of CBHI schemes may result in different outcomes. Objectives: This review sought to determine the interventions that affect the impact of CBHI schemes on OOPP and health service utilisation. Interventions in this study referred to any action or modification in the design of a CBHI scheme that affected the impact of the scheme on OOPP and/or healthcare utilization. Methods: Any CBHI study that was done in a lower middle-income country, that used an experimental design, that included OOPP or health care utilisation as outcome variables, and that was published in either English or French was included in this study. Studies were searched for in MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, EconLit, IBSS, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Global Index Medicus from July to August 2023. Bias was assessed using Joanna Brigs Institute tools for quality assessment for randomized control trials and quasi experimental studies. A narrative synthesis was done. Results: 12 studies were included in the review, with a total of 69 villages, 13,653 households, and 62,786 participants. Average premium collection was 4.8 USD/year. Most CBHI schemes had flat rates. The study revealed that a range of interventions impact OOPP and health care utilisation. Five categories of interventions were identified. The intervention with the highest impact on OOPP and utilisation was “Audit visits”. Next in line came external funds, training scheme workers, and engaging community leaders and village heads to advertise the scheme. Free healthcare led to a significant increase in utilisation of health services, a significant reduction in Catastrophic health expenditure, but an insignificant effect on OOPP among insured compared with uninsured. Conclusions: Community-Based Health Insurance could pave the way for Universal Health Care in low and middle-income countries. However, this can only be possible if careful thought is given to how schemes are designed. Due to the heterogeneity of studies and results on CBHI schemes, there is need for further research for more effective designs to be developed.

Keywords: community based health insurance, developing countries, health service utilisation, out of pocket payment

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Authors: Arth J. Shah, Madhu R. Kamble

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Voice biometric liveness detection is customized to certify an authentication process of the voice data presented is genuine and not a recording or synthetic voice. With the rise of deepfakes and other equivalently sophisticated spoofing generation techniques, it’s becoming challenging to ensure that the person on the other end is a live speaker or not. Voice Liveness Detection (VLD) system is a group of security measures which detect and prevent voice spoofing attacks. Motivated by the recent development of the Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (KAN) based on the Kolmogorov-Arnold theorem, we proposed KAN for the VLD task. To date, multilayer perceptron (MLP) based classifiers have been used for the classification tasks. We aim to capture not only the compositional structure of the model but also to optimize the values of univariate functions. This study explains the mathematical as well as experimental analysis of KAN for VLD tasks, thereby opening a new perspective for scientists to work on speech and signal processing-based tasks. This study emerges as a combination of traditional signal processing tasks and new deep learning models, which further proved to be a better combination for VLD tasks. The experiments are performed on the POCO and ASVSpoof 2017 V2 database. We used Constant Q-transform, Mel, and short-time Fourier transform (STFT) based front-end features and used CNN, BiLSTM, and KAN as back-end classifiers. The best accuracy is 91.26 % on the POCO database using STFT features with the KAN classifier. In the ASVSpoof 2017 V2 database, the lowest EER we obtained was 26.42 %, using CQT features and KAN as a classifier.

Keywords: Kolmogorov Arnold networks, multilayer perceptron, pop noise, voice liveness detection

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Authors: Kherbache Radhwane

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This study is concerned with the nature of the strategy of agricultural and rural development, through the fiscal policy adopted by the government throughout programs included in the general budget of the state represented in the national program of agricultural and rural development. This study concluded that the general balance play an important role in the design of the strategy of agricultural and rural development despite the numerous problems clear in the result of the precedent plans of agricultural and rural development. Based on that we suggest that more importance should be accorded to the agricultural and rural field and that it should be one among economic alternatives to the collection of petroleum, as the countryside is the future.

Keywords: general balance, political economy, strategy of agricultural and rural development, economic alternatives, collection of petroleum

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Authors: T. Garba, Y. Y. Babanyara, K. G. Ilellah, M. A. Modibbo, T. O. Quddus, M. J. Sani

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After the United Nation Convention on Desertification (UNCD) in 1977 which was preceded by extensive, regional, and local studies, and consultations with numerous scientists, decision-makers, and relevant institutions. Global Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD) was formulated, endorsed by member Countries. The role of implementing PACD was vested with Governments of countries affected by desertification. The Federal Government of Nigeria as a signatory and World Bank funded and implement afforestation project aimed at combating desertification between 1988 and 1999. This research, therefore, applied remote sensing techniques to assess the effectiveness of the project. To achieve that a small portion of about 143,609 hectares was curved out from the project area. Normalized Difference of the Vegetative Index (NDVI) and Land Use Land Cover were derived from Landsat TM 1986, Landsat ETM 1999 and Nigeria Sat 1, 2007 of the project area. The findings show that there was an increase in cultivated area due to the project from 1986 through 1999 and 2007. This is further buttressed by the three NDVI imageries due to their high positive pixel value from 0.04 in 1986 to 0.22 in 1999 and to 0.32 in 2007 These signifies the gradual physical development of Afforestation project in the area. In addition, it was also verified by histograms of changes in vegetation which indicated an increased vegetative cover from 60,192 in 1986, to 102,476 in 1999 and then to 88,343 in 2007. The study concluded that Remote Sensing approach has actually confirmed that the project was indeed successful and effective.

Keywords: afforestation, desertification, landsat, vegetative index, remote sensing

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Authors: Carolina Gutierrez-Cortes, Hector Suarez, Gustavo Buitrago

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Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides produced by bacteria as a competitive strategy for substrate and habitat. Those peptides have a potential use as food biopreservatives due to their antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens, avoiding the use of additives that can be harmful to consumers. The industrial production of bacteriocins is currently expensive; one of the options to be competitive is the development of economic culture media, for example, with the use of agro-industrial wastes such as whey. This study evaluated the growth and production of bacteriocins from four strains: Pediococcus pentosaceus 63, Pediococcus pentosaceus 145, Pediococcus pentosaceus 146 and Pediococcus pentosaceus 147 isolated from ‘minas cheese’ (artisanal cheese made from raw milk in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil) in order to select a strain with growth at high rates and higher antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes 104 after incubation on the culture medium designed with whey and other components. The media used were: MRS broth, modified MRS broth (using different sources of carbon and nitrogen and different amounts of micronutrients) and a culture medium designed by a factorial design using whey and other components. The final biomass concentrations of the four strains in MRS broth after 24 hours of incubation were very similar 9.25, 9.33, 9.25 and 9.22 (log CFU/mL) for P. pentosaceus 63, P. pentosaceus 145, P. pentosaceus 146 and P. pentosaceus 147 respectively. In the same assays, antimicrobial activity of 3200 AU/mL for the first three and of 12800 AU/mL for P. pentosaceus 147 were obtained. Culture of P. pentosaceus 63 on modified MRS broth, showed the effect of some sources of carbon on the activity of bacteriocin, obtaining 12800 AU/mL with dextrose and 25600 AU/mL with maltose. Cultures of P. pentosaceus 145, 146 and 147 with these same sugars presented activity of 12800 AU/mL. It was observed that the modified MRS medium using whey increased the antimicrobial activity of the strains at 16000, 6400, 16000 and 19200 AU/mL for each strain respectively, keeping the biomass at values close to 9 log units. About nitrogen sources, it was observed that the combination of peptone (10 g /L), meat extract (10 g/L) and yeast extract (5 g/L) promoted the highest activity (12800 AU/mL), and in all cases MgSO4, MnSO4, K2HPO4 and ammonium citrate at low concentrations adversely affected bacteriocin production. Because P. pentosaceus 147 showed the highest antimicrobial activity in the presence of whey, it was used to evaluate the culture medium (peptone (10 g/L), meat extract (8 g/L), yeast extract (2 g/L), Tween® 80 (1 g/L), ammonium citrate (2 g/L), sodium acetate (5 g/L), MgSO4 (0.2 g/L), MnSO4 (0.04 g/L)). With the designed medium added with whey, 9.34 log units of biomass concentration and 19200 AU/mL were achieved for P. pentosaceus 147. The above suggest that the new medium promotes the antimicrobial activity of P. pentosaceus 147 allowing the use of an economic medium using whey.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, bacteriocins, pediococcus, whey

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Authors: Panagiotis Lemonakis, Theodoros Αlimonakis, George Kaliabetsos, Nikos Eliou

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It is very well known that certain vertical and longitudinal slopes have to be assured in order to achieve adequate rainwater runoff from the pavement. The selection of longitudinal slopes, between the turning points of the vertical curves that meet the afore-mentioned requirement does not ensure adequate drainage because the same condition must also be applied at the transition curves. In this way none of the pavement edges’ slopes (as well as any other spot that lie on the pavement) will be opposite to the longitudinal slope of the rotation axis. Horizontal and vertical alignment must be properly combined in order to form a road which resultant slope does not take small values and hence, checks must be performed in every cross section and every chainage of the road. The present research investigates the rain water runoff from the road surface in order to identify the conditions under which, areas of inadequate drainage are being created, to analyze the rainwater behavior in such areas, to provide design examples of good and bad drainage zones and to track down certain motorcycle types which might encounter hazardous situations due to the presence of water film between the pavement and both of their tires resulting loss of traction. Moreover, it investigates the combination of longitudinal and cross slope values in critical pavement areas. It should be pointed out that the drainage gradient is analytically calculated for the whole road width and not just for an oblique slope per chainage (combination of longitudinal grade and cross slope). Lastly, various combinations of horizontal and vertical design are presented, indicating the crucial zones of bad pavement drainage. The key conclusion of the study is that any type of motorcycle will travel for some time inside the area of improper runoff for a certain time frame which depends on the speed and the trajectory that the rider chooses along the transition curve. Taking into account that on this section the rider will have to lean his motorcycle and hence reduce the contact area of his tire with the pavement it is apparent that any variations on the friction value due to the presence of a water film may lead to serious problems regarding his safety. The water runoff from the road pavement is improved when between reverse longitudinal slopes, crest instead of sag curve is chosen and particularly when its edges coincide with the edges of the horizontal curve. Lastly, the results of the investigation have shown that the variation of the longitudinal slope involves the vertical shift of the center of the poor water runoff area. The magnitude of this area increases as the length of the transition curve increases.

Keywords: drainage, motorcycle safety, superelevation, transition curves, vertical grade

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Authors: Kate Benedicta Amenador, Dianjian Wang, Bright Nkrumah

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This extensive bibliometric study explores the dynamic influence of artificial intelligence in the field of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) between 2012 and 2024. The study, which examined 4,500 articles from Google Scholar, Modern Language Association Linguistics Abstracts, Web of Science, Scopus, Researchgate, and library genesis databases, indicates that AI integration in EFL is on the rise. This notable increase is ascribed to a variety of transformative events, including increased academic funding for higher education and the COVID-19 epidemic. The results of the study identify leading contributors, prominent authors, publishers and sources, with the United States, China and the United Kingdom emerging as key contributors. The co-occurrence analysis of key terms reveals five clusters highlighting patterns in AI-enhanced language instruction and learning, including evaluation strategies, educational technology, learning motivation, EFL teaching aspects, and learner feedback. The study also discusses the impact of various AIs in enhancing EFL writing skills with software such as Grammarly, Quilbot, and Chatgpt. The current study recognizes limitations in database selection and linguistic constraints. Nevertheless, the results provide useful insights for educators, researchers and policymakers, inspiring and guiding a cross-disciplinary collaboration and creative pedagogical techniques and approaches to teaching and learning in the future.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, bibliometrics study, VOSviewer visualization, English as a foreign language

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Authors: Beng Yew Low, Cher Liang Cha, Cheng Yong Teoh

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Due to a lack of continual assessment or grade related data, identifying first-year engineering students in a polytechnic education at risk of failing is challenging. Our experience over the years tells us that there is no strong correlation between having good entry grades in Mathematics and the Sciences and excelling in hardcore engineering subjects. Hence, identifying students at risk of failure cannot be on the basis of entry grades in Mathematics and the Sciences alone. These factors compound the difficulty of early identification and intervention. This paper describes the development of a predictive analytics model in the early detection of students at risk of failing and evaluates its effectiveness. Data from continual assessments conducted in term one, supplemented by data of student psychological profiles such as interests and study habits, were used. Three classification techniques, namely Logistic Regression, K Nearest Neighbour, and Random Forest, were used in our predictive model. Based on our findings, Random Forest was determined to be the strongest predictor with an Area Under the Curve (AUC) value of 0.994. Correspondingly, the Accuracy, Precision, Recall, and F-Score were also highest among these three classifiers. Using this Random Forest Classification technique, students at risk of failure could be identified at the end of term one. They could then be assigned to a Learning Support Programme at the beginning of term two. This paper gathers the results of our findings. It also proposes further improvements that can be made to the model.

Keywords: continual assessment, predictive analytics, random forest, student psychological profile

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: Omar Dib, Rita Yaacoub, Luc Eveleigh, Nathalie Locquet, Hussein Dib, Ali Bassal, Christophe B. Y. Cordella

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The potential of front-face fluorescence coupled with chemometric techniques, namely parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) and multiple linear regression (MLR) as a rapid analysis tool to characterize Lebanese virgin olive oils was investigated. Fluorescence fingerprints were acquired directly on 102 Lebanese virgin olive oil samples in the range of 280-540 nm in excitation and 280-700 nm in emission. A PARAFAC model with seven components was considered optimal with a residual of 99.64% and core consistency value of 78.65. The model revealed seven main fluorescence profiles in olive oil and was mainly associated with tocopherols, polyphenols, chlorophyllic compounds and oxidation/hydrolysis products. 23 MLR regression models based on PARAFAC scores were generated, the majority of which showed a good correlation coefficient (R > 0.7 for 12 predicted variables), thus satisfactory prediction performances. Acid values, peroxide values, and Delta K had the models with the highest predictions, with R values of 0.89, 0.84 and 0.81 respectively. Among fatty acids, linoleic and oleic acids were also highly predicted with R values of 0.8 and 0.76, respectively. Factors contributing to the model's construction were related to common fluorophores found in olive oil, mainly chlorophyll, polyphenols, and oxidation products. This study demonstrates the interest of front-face fluorescence as a promising tool for quality control of Lebanese virgin olive oils.

Keywords: front-face fluorescence, Lebanese virgin olive oils, multiple Linear regressions, PARAFAC analysis

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Authors: Sanjeev Kumar Raghuwanshi, Yadvendra Singh

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The objective of this paper is to develop and optimize the Fiber Bragg (FBG) grating based Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensor for monitoring the hazardous toxic chemicals and gases in underground mines or any industrial area. A fully cladded telecommunication standard FBG is proposed to develop to produce surface plasmon resonance. A thin few nm gold/silver film (subject to optimization) is proposed to apply over the FBG sensing head using e-beam deposition method. Sensitivity enhancement of the sensor will be done by adding a composite nanostructured Graphene Oxide (GO) sensing layer using the spin coating method. Both sensor configurations suppose to demonstrate high responsiveness towards the changes in resonance wavelength. The GO enhanced sensor may show increased sensitivity of many fold compared to the gold coated traditional fibre optic sensor. Our work is focused on to optimize GO, multilayer structure and to develop fibre coating techniques that will serve well for sensitive and multifunctional detection of hazardous chemicals. This research proposal shows great potential towards future development of optical fiber sensors using readily available components such as Bragg gratings as highly sensitive chemical sensors in areas such as environmental sensing.

Keywords: surface plasmon resonance, fibre Bragg grating, sensitivity, toxic gases, MATRIX method

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Authors: Roman Graf, Sergiu Gordea, Heather M. Ryan

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This paper presents an approach for the classification of an unstructured format description for identification of file formats. The main contribution of this work is the employment of data mining techniques to support file format selection with just the unstructured text description that comprises the most important format features for a particular organisation. Subsequently, the file format indentification method employs file format classifier and associated configurations to support digital preservation experts with an estimation of required file format. Our goal is to make use of a format specification knowledge base aggregated from a different Web sources in order to select file format for a particular institution. Using the naive Bayes method, the decision support system recommends to an expert, the file format for his institution. The proposed methods facilitate the selection of file format and the quality of a digital preservation process. The presented approach is meant to facilitate decision making for the preservation of digital content in libraries and archives using domain expert knowledge and specifications of file formats. To facilitate decision-making, the aggregated information about the file formats is presented as a file format vocabulary that comprises most common terms that are characteristic for all researched formats. The goal is to suggest a particular file format based on this vocabulary for analysis by an expert. The sample file format calculation and the calculation results including probabilities are presented in the evaluation section.

Keywords: data mining, digital libraries, digital preservation, file format

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Authors: JoonHo Lee, KyoJin An, JunSu Kim, Young-Chul Park

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In this study, the fluid flow characteristics and performance numerical study through CFD model of the Non-split quick coupling for flow control in hydraulic system equipment for the aerospace business group focused to predict. In this study, we considered turbulence models for the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics for the CFD model of the Non-split Quick Coupling for aerospace business. In addition to this, the adequacy of the CFD model were verified by comparing with standard value. Based on this analysis, accurate the fluid flow characteristics can be predicted. It is, therefore, the design of the fluid flow characteristic contribute the reliability for the Quick Coupling which is required in industries on the basis of research results.

Keywords: CFD, FEM, quick coupling, turbulence

Procedia PDF Downloads 380