Search results for: power efficiency

Authors: Sogo Angel Olofinbiyi

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There have been widespread assumptions across the globe that the root cause of Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria is religious rather than socio-economic. An investigation into this dichotomy allowed this study to fully demonstrate that the root cause of Boko Haram’s terrorist actions emanates from the non-fulfillment of socio-economic goals that are prompted by the violation of fundamental human rights, corruption, poverty, unconstitutional and undemocratic practices in the northern part of the Nigerian state. To achieve its aim of establishing the root cause of the terrorism crisis in the latter country, the study critically appraised the socio-economic context of the insurgency by adopting one-on-one in-depth interviews involving forty (40) participants to interrogate the phenomenon. Empirical evidence from the study demonstrated that the evolution of Boko Haram terrorism was a response to socio-economic phlebotomy, political and moral putrescence, and the dehumanization of people that stem from a combination of decades of mismanagement and pervasive corruption by various Nigerian leaders. The study concludes that, as long as the endemic socio-economic problems caused by global capitalism vis-a-vis unequal hegemonic power exchange as expressed in socio-political, ethno-religious and cultural forms persist in the Nigerian society, the terrorism insurgency will recur and remain an inevitable enterprise and indeed a normal social reaction to every undesirable state of affairs. Based on the findings, the study urges the need for the amelioration of the conditions of the vast majority of the Nigerian populace by making socio-economic facilities available to them through the political state.

Keywords: Boko Haram Terrorism, insurgency, socio-economic, religious injunctions

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Authors: Kai-Jui Kou, Tzu-Ling Shen, Ying-Fang Wang

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The objectives of the present study are to characterize nanoparticles generated from the different working type in 3D printing room and the stack flue during 3D printing process. The studied laboratory (10.5 m× 7.2 m × 3.2 m) with a ventilation rate of 500 m³/H is installed a 3D metal printing machine. Direct-reading instrument of a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS, Model 3082, TSI Inc., St. Paul, MN, USA) was used to conduct static sampling for nanoparticle number concentration and particle size distribution measurements. The SMPS obtained particle number concentration at every 3 minutes, the diameter of the SMPS ranged from 11~372 nm when the aerosol and sheath flow rates were set at 0.6 and 6 L/min, respectively. The concentrations of background, printing process, clearing operation, and screening operation were performed in the laboratory. On the other hand, we also conducted nanoparticle measurement on the 3D printing machine's stack flue to understand its emission characteristics. Results show that the nanoparticles emitted from the different operation process were the same distribution in the form of the uni-modal with number median diameter (NMD) as approximately 28.3 nm to 29.6 nm. The number concentrations of nanoparticles were 2.55×10³ count/cm³ in laboratory background, 2.19×10³ count/cm³ during printing process, 2.29×10³ count/cm³ during clearing process, 3.05×10³ count/cm³ during screening process, 2.69×10³ count/cm³ in laboratory background after printing process, and 6.75×10³ outside laboratory, respectively. We found that there are no emission nanoparticles during the printing process. However, the number concentration of stack flue nanoparticles in the ongoing print is 1.13×10⁶ count/cm³, and that of the non-printing is 1.63×10⁴ count/cm³, with a NMD of 458 nm and 29.4 nm, respectively. It can be confirmed that the measured particle size belongs to easily penetrate the filter in theory during the printing process, even though the 3D printer has a high-efficiency filtration device. Therefore, it is recommended that the stack flue of the 3D printer would be equipped with an appropriate dust collection device to prevent the operators from exposing these hazardous particles.

Keywords: nanoparticle, particle emission, 3D printing, number concentration

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Authors: Tzay-An Shiau, Kuan-Lin Ho

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This study developed sustainability and quality of life indicators for urban passenger transportation by using Social Construction of Technology (SCOT). The initial indicators were proposed by referring to literatures and were summarized by using impact-based framework. Subsequently, the stakeholders were defined according to their interest, power and then classified into scientific, operational, policy making, policy monitoring and nonprofessional frames. The scientific frame consisted of nine scholars in transportation field. Ten representatives from Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC), Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) and bus operators were grouped into the operational frame. The policy making frame comprised of ten representatives from Department of Transportation, Taipei City Government (DOT, TCG), Department of Railways and Highways, Ministry of Transportation and Communication (DORH, MOTC), Directorate General of Highways, Ministry of Transportation and Communication (DGOH, MOTC) and Institute of Transportation, Ministry of Transportation and Communication (IOT, MOTC). The policy monitoring frame consisted of 15 representatives from Taipei City Councilor, legislator and reporter. The nonprofessional frame comprised of 72 Taipei citizens. The stakeholders were asked to evaluate the relative importance of indicators using Delphi survey method. Social construction of 14 transport sustainability indicators and 12 transport quality of life indicators were obtained.

Keywords: sustainability, quality of life, Social Construction of Technology (SCOT), stakeholder

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Authors: Ali Masria , Abdelazim Negm, Moheb Iskander, Oliver C. Saavedra

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Estuaries play an important role in exchanging water and providing a navigational pathway for ships. These zones are very sensitive and vulnerable to any interventions in coastal dynamics. Almost major of these inlets experience coastal problems such as severe erosion, and accretion. Rosetta promontory, Egypt is an example of this environment. It suffers from many coastal problems as erosion problem along the coastline and siltation problem inside the inlet. It is due to lack of water and sediment resources as a side effect of constructing the Aswan High dam. The shoaling of the inlet leads to hindering the navigation process of fishing boats, negative impacts to estuarine and salt marsh habitat and decrease the efficiency of the cross section to transfer the flow during emergencies to the sea. This paper aims to reach a new condition of stability of Rosetta Promontory by using coastal measures to control the sediment entering, and causes shoaling inside the inlet. These coastal measures include modifying the inlet cross section by using centered jetties, eliminate the coastal dynamic in the entrance using boundary jetties. This target is achieved by using a hydrodynamic model Coastal Modeling System (CMS). Extensive field data collection (hydrographic surveys, wave data, tide data, and bed morphology) is used to build and calibrate the model. About 20 scenarios were tested to reach a suitable solution that mitigate the coastal problems at the inlet. The results show that 360 m jetty in the eastern bank with system of sand bypass from the leeside of the jetty can stabilize the estuary.

Keywords: Rosetta promontory, erosion, sedimentation, inlet stability

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Authors: Damir Latypov

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A hybrid classical-quantum algorithm to solve boundary integral equations (BIE) arising in problems of electromagnetic and acoustic scattering is proposed. The quantum speed-up is due to a Quantum Linear System Algorithm (QLSA). The original QLSA of Harrow et al. provides an exponential speed-up over the best-known classical algorithms but only in the case of sparse systems. Due to the non-local nature of integral operators, matrices arising from discretization of BIEs, are, however, dense. A QLSA for dense matrices was introduced in 2017. Its runtime as function of the system's size N is bounded by O(√Npolylog(N)). The run time of the best-known classical algorithm for an arbitrary dense matrix scales as O(N².³⁷³). Instead of exponential as in case of sparse matrices, here we have only a polynomial speed-up. Nevertheless, sufficiently high power of this polynomial, ~4.7, should make QLSA an appealing alternative. Unfortunately for the QLSA, the asymptotic separability of the Green's function leads to high compressibility of the BIEs matrices. Classical fast algorithms such as Multilevel Fast Multipole Method (MLFMM) take advantage of this fact and reduce the runtime to O(Nlog(N)), i.e., the QLSA is only quadratically faster than the MLFMM. To be truly impactful for computational electromagnetics and acoustics engineers, QLSA must provide more substantial advantage than that. We propose a computational scheme which combines elements of the classical fast algorithms with the QLSA to achieve the required performance.

Keywords: quantum linear system algorithm, boundary integral equations, dense matrices, electromagnetic scattering theory

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Authors: Georgios Psakis, Imren Rahbay, David Spiteri, Jeanice Mallia, Martin Polidano, Vasilis P. Valdramidis

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Absence of surface water and progressive groundwater quality deterioration have exacerbated scarcity rapidly, making the Mediterranean island of Malta one of the most water-stressed countries in Europe. Water scarcity challenges have been addressed by reverse osmosis desalination of seawater, 60% of which is blended with groundwater to form the current potable tap-water supply. Chlorination has been the adopted method of water disinfection prior to distribution. However, with the Malteseconsumer chlorine sensory-threshold being as low as 0.34 ppm, presence of chorine residuals and chlorination by-products in the distributed tap-water impacts negatively on its organoleptic attributes, deterring the public from consuming it. As part of the PURILMA initiative, and with the aim of minimizing the impact of chlorine residual on the quality of the distributed water, UV-C, and hydrosonication, have been identified as cost- and energy-effective decontamination alternatives, paving the way for more sustainable water management. Bench-scale assessment of the decontamination efficiency of UV-C (254 nm), revealed 4.7-Log10 inactivation for both Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis at 36 mJ/cm2. At >200 mJ/cm2fluence rates, there was a systematic 2-Log10 difference in the reductions exhibited by E. coli and E. faecalis to suggest that UV-C disinfection was more effective against E. coli. Hybrid treatment schemes involving hydrosonication(at 9.5 and 12.5 dm3/min flow rates with 1-5 MPa maximum pressure) and UV-C showed at least 1.1-fold greater bactericidal activity relative to the individualized UV-C treatments. The observed inactivation appeared to have stemmed from additive effects of the combined treatments, with hydrosonication-generated reactive oxygen species enhancing the biocidal activity of UV-C.

Keywords: disinfection, groundwater, hydrosonication, UV-C

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Authors: Tomi Setiawan, Wahyu Y. Subekti, Siti S. Nur'Adya, Khusnul Ilmiah

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Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) is one type of solar cell, where solar cells function to convert light energy become the electrical energy. DSSC has two important parts of dye and counter electrode. Anthocyanin compounds in the coffee beans peel can be potential as natural dye and also counter electrodes as activated carbon in the DSSC system. The purpose of this research is to find out how to isolate Anthocyanin, manufacture of counter electrode, and to know the efficiency of counter electrode produced from the coffee pulp waste in DSSC prototype. In this research we used 2 x 2 cm FTO glass coated carbon paste with a thickness variation of 100 μL, 200 μL and 300 μL as counter electrode and other FTO glass coated with TiO₂ paste as work electrode, then two FTO glasses are connected to form a sandwich-liked structure and add Triiodide electrolyte solution in its gap, thus forming a DSSC prototype. The results showed that coffee pulp waste contains anthocyanin of 12.23 mL/80gr and it can produce activated carbon. The characterization performed shows that the UV-Vis Anthocyanin result is at wavelength of ultra violet area that is 219,50 nm with absorbance value equal to 1,469, and maximum wavelength at visible area is 720,00 nm with absorbance value equal to 0,013. The functional groups contained in the anthocyanin are O-H groups at wave numbers 3385.60 cm⁻¹, C = O groups at wave numbers 1618.63 cm⁻¹, and C-O-C groups at 1065.40 cm⁻¹ wave numbers. Morphological characterization using the SEM shows the activated carbon surface area becomes larger and evenly distributed. Voltage obtained on Counter Electrode 100 μL variation of 395mV, 200 μL of 334mV 100 μL of 254mV.

Keywords: DSSC, anthocyanin, counter electrode, solar cell, coffee pulp

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Authors: Esmaeil Zabihi, Seyed Hossein Alavi

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The purpose of this study is a comparison of movement and physical fitness in athlete's male students in altitude and sea-level. The samples consist of 450 subjects in altitude and sea-level in Iran in years of 2013 which were selected randomly from the population. We investigated the effect of high altitude on the tests activity profile of youth high altitude and sea level residents. Methods 450 Sea Level (Mahmood Abad) and 450 Altitude-resident (Shahre-Kord) athlete students tests of physical fitness near sea level (-5 m) and in Altitude (2100 m). This study is Descriptive Research (causal-comparative research). The tests of physical fitness include pull-ups test, sit-ups test, agility test(4 9), 45 sprint test, 1600 m running, long jump, and flexibility test. For determining of different between the physical fitness of altitude and sea-level students was used t-test (P ≤ 0.05). The result of this study show that there is no significant difference between the average of pull-ups test, flexibility, 45 sprints, and agility (4 9) test of students in sea-level and altitude. But there is a significant difference between the average of sit-ups, 1600 m running and long jump in altitude. The students of altitude have higher power rather than sea-level. But the students of sea-level have stronger abdominal muscles and cardio-respiratory endurance rather than altitude. High altitude reduces the distance covered by youth athlete students during tests. Neither acclimatisation nor lifelong residence at high altitude protects against detrimental effects of altitude on tests activity profile.

Keywords: physical fitness, sea level, altitude areas, AAHPERD test

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Authors: Isaac Alonge Olusola

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One of the major peculiarities of man is the ability to communicate and interact with language. The original Yoruba society, before the advent of the Europeans, was purely oral. That is the major means of inter- personal communication was through speaking. The abolition of slave trade by Britain marked the beginning of development of Yoruba alphabet and introduction of writing around 1800. However, most of the writing was Christian religion-focused. Later, the introduction of British colonial rule led to the introduction of writing that dwelt on political and economic emancipation. On October 1, 1960, Nigeria was granted independence by the British colonial masters and self-rule started in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the military and civilian administrations brought about political and economic oppression instead of comfort. The discomfort brought about by Nigerian political and military rulers turned the Yoruba poets to activists, reactionaries and critics. This paper will give a brief preamble on the history of Nigeria and how she got her political independence from the British in 1960. It will thereafter go further to mention some political and economic hardship brought about by Nigerian leaders. Using literary theories called semiotics and structuralism, the reactions and criticisms of some Yoruba poets will be mentioned and analyzed vis-à-vis the counter reactions of the governments in power. Moreover, the paper will bring about a conclusion on how to create a conducive atmosphere for the Yoruba poets to operate in Nigeria. Finally, suggestions will be offered on how the Nigerian government and Yoruba poets can co-exist positively to bring about a better standard of living to Nigerians and also promote good governance

Keywords: Yoruba, Yoruba language, Yoruba poets, political leaders

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Authors: Baker Ssekitto, Ambrose Mbogo

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The study reveals that indeed agriculture employs over 70% of Uganda’s population, of which majority are youth and women. The study further reveals that over 70% of the farmers are smallholder farmers based in rural areas, whose operations are greatly affected by; climate change, weak digital skills, limited access to productivity knowledge along value chains, limited access to quality farm inputs, weak logistics systems, limited access to quality extension services, weak business intelligence, limited access to quality markets among others. It finds that the emerging 4th industrial revolution powered by artificial intelligence, 5G and data science will provide possibilities of addressing some of these challenges. Furthermore, the study finds that despite rapid development of ICT4Agric Innovation, their uptake is constrained by a number of factors including; limited awareness of these innovations, low internet and smart phone penetration especially in rural areas, lack of appropriate digital skills, inappropriate programmes implementation models which are project and donor driven, limited articulation of value addition to various stakeholders among others. Majority of farmers and other value chain actors lacked knowledge and skills to harness the power of ICTs, especially their application of ICTs in monitoring and evaluation on quality of service in the extension system and farm level processes.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, productivity, ICT4agriculture, value chain, logistics

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Authors: Malgorzata Sekulowicz, Krystyna Boron-Krupinska, Paulina Morga, Blazej Cieslik

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Burnout is highly prevalent in health care employees, especially in physicians. It significantly reduces the efficiency of these employees, which can have negative consequences for both physicians and patients. Resilience and mindfulness enhancing positive emotions, leading to sustainable development and personal commitment, can have a significant impact on burnout. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between burnout symptoms and mindfulness and resilience among physicians. The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey study among seventy-four polish physicians. Participants filled out the following psychometric tools: the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Areas of Work-Life Survey (AWS), International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), the Resilience Assessment Scale (SPP-25) and the Mini-COPE Inventory. The relationship between burnout and resilience and mindfulness was assessed with path analysis. Analyzing the relationship between MBI-HSS components and mindfulness, a significant negative correlation of the FFMQ score with emotional exhaustion (-0.50, p < 0.05) and depersonalization (-0.43, p < 0.05) and a positive correlation with personal accomplishment (0.50, p < 0.05) was demonstrated. Analyzing resilience, a statistically significant relationship of SPP-25 with all tested components of MBI-HSS was demonstrated: emotional exhaustion (-0.54, p < 0.05), depersonalization (-0.31, p < 0.05) and personal accomplishment (0.35, p < 0.05). In the group of medical doctors, the higher the level of mindfulness and resilience, the lower the risk of burnout. Furthermore, the more frequently used active coping strategies (planning, acceptance), the lower the risk of burnout, while the use of passive, evasive strategies increases the risk of burnout. It may be worth considering implementing mindfulness intervention to effectively manage burnout symptoms in this group.

Keywords: burnout, medical doctors, mindfulness, physicians, resilience

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Authors: Esther Chiramal, Kelvin Soh Boon Kai

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Explainable AI is a strong strategy implemented to understand complex black-box model predictions in a human-interpretable language. It provides the evidence required to execute the use of trustworthy and reliable AI systems. On the other hand, however, it also opens the door to locating possible vulnerabilities in an AI model. Traditional adversarial text attack uses word substitution, data augmentation techniques, and gradient-based attacks on powerful pre-trained Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) variants to generate adversarial sentences. These attacks are generally white-box in nature and not practical as they can be easily detected by humans e.g., Changing the word from “Poor” to “Rich”. We proposed a simple yet effective Grey-box cum Black-box approach that does not require the knowledge of the model while using a set of surrogate Transformer/BERT models to perform the attack using Explainable AI techniques. As Transformers are the current state-of-the-art models for almost all Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks, an attack generated from BERT1 is transferable to BERT2. This transferability is made possible due to the attention mechanism in the transformer that allows the model to capture long-range dependencies in a sequence. Using the power of BERT generalisation via attention, we attempt to exploit how transformers learn by attacking a few surrogate transformer variants which are all based on a different architecture. We demonstrate that this approach is highly effective to generate semantically good sentences by changing as little as one word that is not detectable by humans while still fooling other BERT models.

Keywords: BERT, explainable AI, Grey-box text attack, transformer

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Authors: O. V. Vyazovska

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Behavioral efficiency is one of the main principles to be successful in nature. Accuracy of visual discrimination is determined by the attention, learning experience, and memory. In the experimental condition, pigeons’ responses to visual stimuli presented on the screen of the monitor are behaviorally manifested by pecking or not pecking the stimulus, by the number of pecking, reaction time, etc. The higher the probability of rewarding is, the more likely pigeons will respond to the stimulus. We trained 8 pigeons (Columba livia) on a stagewise go/no-go visual discrimination task.16 visual stimuli were created from all possible combinations of four binary dimensions: brightness (dark/bright), size (large/small), line orientation (vertical/horizontal), and shape (circle/square). In the first stage, we presented S+ and 4 S-stimuli: the first that differed in all 4-dimensional values from S+, the second with brightness dimension sharing with S+, the third sharing brightness and orientation with S+, the fourth sharing brightness, orientation and size. Then all 16 stimuli were added. Pigeons rejected correctly 6-8 of 11 new added S-stimuli at the beginning of the second stage. The results revealed that pigeons’ behavior at the beginning of the second stage was controlled by probabilities of rewarding for 4 dimensions learned in the first stage. More or fewer mistakes with dimension discrimination at the beginning of the second stage depended on the number S- stimuli sharing the dimension with S+ in the first stage. A significant inverse correlation between the number of S- stimuli sharing dimension values with S+ in the first stage and the dimensional learning rate at the beginning of the second stage was found. Pigeons were more confident in discrimination of shape and size dimensions. They made mistakes at the beginning of the second stage, which were not associated with these dimensions. Thus, the received results help elucidate the principles of dimensional stimulus control during learning compound multidimensional visual stimuli.

Keywords: visual go/no go discrimination, selective attention, dimensional stimulus control, pigeon

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Authors: Ying-Pin Chang

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This paper presents a method for combining a particle swarm optimization with nonlinear time-varying evolution and orthogonal arrays (PSO-NTVEOA) in the planning of harmonic filters for the high speed railway traction system with specially connected transformers in unbalanced three-phase power systems. The objective is to minimize the cost of the filter, the filters loss, the total harmonic distortion of currents and voltages at each bus simultaneously. An orthogonal array is first conducted to obtain the initial solution set. The set is then treated as the initial training sample. Next, the PSO-NTVEOA method parameters are determined by using matrix experiments with an orthogonal array, in which a minimal number of experiments would have an effect that approximates the full factorial experiments. This PSO-NTVEOA method is then applied to design optimal harmonic filters in Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) traction system, where both rectifiers and inverters with IGBT are used. From the results of the illustrative examples, the feasibility of the PSO-NTVEOA to design an optimal passive harmonic filter of THSR system is verified and the design approach can greatly reduce the harmonic distortion. Three design schemes are compared that V-V connection suppressing the 3rd order harmonic, and Scott and Le Blanc connection for the harmonic improvement is better than the V-V connection.

Keywords: harmonic filters, particle swarm optimization, nonlinear time-varying evolution, orthogonal arrays, specially connected transformers

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Authors: Prangya Ranjan Rout, Rajesh Roshan Dash, Puspendu Bhunia

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With the aim of enhancing the nutrient (ammonium and phosphate) removal from eutrophic wastewater with reduced cost, a novel media based multistage bio filter with drop aeration facility was developed in this work. The bio filter was packed with a discarded sponge iron industry by product, ‘dolochar’ primarily to remove phosphate via physicochemical approach. In the multi stage bio-filter drop, aeration was achieved by the process of percolation of the gravity-fed wastewater through the filter media and dropping down of wastewater from stage to stage. Ammonium present in wastewater got adsorbed by the filter media and biomass grown on the filter media and subsequently, got converted to nitrate through biological nitrification in the aerobic condition, as realized by drop aeration. The performance of the bio-filter in treating real eutrophic wastewater was monitored for a period of about 2 months. The influent phosphate concentration was in the range of 16-19 mg/L, and ammonium concentration was in the range of 65-78 mg/L. The average nutrient removal efficiency observed during the study period were 95.2% for phosphate and 88.7% for ammonium, with mean final effluent concentration of 0.91, and 8.74 mg/L, respectively. Furthermore, the subsequent release of nutrient from the saturated filter media, after completion of treatment process has been undertaken in this study and thin layer funnel analytical test results reveal the slow nutrient release nature of spent dolochar, thereby, recommending its potential agricultural application. Thus, the bio-filter displays immense prospective for treating real eutrophic wastewater, significantly decreasing the level of nutrients and keeping the effluent nutrient concentrations at par with the permissible limit and more importantly, facilitating the conversion of the waste materials into usable ones.

Keywords: ammonium removal, phosphate removal, multi-stage bio-filter, dolochar

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Authors: Giovanni Masala, Stefania Marica

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Forecasting electricity load plays a crucial role regards decision making and planning for economical purposes. Besides, in the light of the recent privatization and deregulation of the power industry, the forecasting of future electricity load turned out to be a very challenging problem. Empirical data about electricity load highlights a clear seasonal behavior (higher load during the winter season), which is partly due to climatic effects. We also emphasize the presence of load periodicity at a weekly basis (electricity load is usually lower on weekends or holidays) and at daily basis (electricity load is clearly influenced by the hour). Finally, a long-term trend may depend on the general economic situation (for example, industrial production affects electricity load). All these features must be captured by the model. The purpose of this paper is then to build an hourly electricity load model. The deterministic component of the model requires non-linear regression and Fourier series while we will investigate the stochastic component through econometrical tools. The calibration of the parameters’ model will be performed by using data coming from the Italian market in a 6 year period (2007- 2012). Then, we will perform a Monte Carlo simulation in order to compare the simulated data respect to the real data (both in-sample and out-of-sample inspection). The reliability of the model will be deduced thanks to standard tests which highlight a good fitting of the simulated values.

Keywords: ARMA-GARCH process, electricity load, fitting tests, Fourier series, Monte Carlo simulation, non-linear regression

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Authors: B. Elshafei, X. Mao

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The demand for renewable energy is significantly increasing, major investments are being supplied to the wind power generation industry as a leading source of clean energy. The wind energy sector is entirely dependable and driven by the prediction of wind speed, which by the nature of wind is very stochastic and widely random. This s0tudy employs deep multi-fidelity Gaussian process regression, used to predict wind speeds for medium term time horizons. Data of the RUNE experiment in the west coast of Denmark were provided by the Technical University of Denmark, which represent the wind speed across the study area from the period between December 2015 and March 2016. The study aims to investigate the effect of pre-processing the data by denoising the signal using empirical wavelet transform (EWT) and engaging the vector components of wind speed to increase the number of input data layers for data fusion using deep multi-fidelity Gaussian process regression (GPR). The outcomes were compared using root mean square error (RMSE) and the results demonstrated a significant increase in the accuracy of predictions which demonstrated that using vector components of the wind speed as additional predictors exhibits more accurate predictions than strategies that ignore them, reflecting the importance of the inclusion of all sub data and pre-processing signals for wind speed forecasting models.

Keywords: data fusion, Gaussian process regression, signal denoise, temporal extrapolation

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Authors: Matthew B. Davis, Amit Kumar

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With potentially dangerous impacts of climate change on the horizon, Canada has an opportunity to take a lead role on the international stage to demonstrate how energy use intensity and greenhouse gas emission intensity may be effectively reduced. Through bottom-up modelling of Canada’s energy sector using Long-range Energy Alternative Planning (LEAP) software, it can be determined where efforts should to be concentrated to produce the most positive energy management results. By analyzing a provincially integrated Canada, one can develop strategies to minimize the country’s economic downfall while transitioning to lower-emission energy technologies. Canada’s electricity sector plays an important role in accommodating these transitionary technologies as fossil-fuel based power production is prevalent in many parts of the country and is responsible for a large portion (17%) of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. Current findings incorporate an in-depth model of Canada’s current energy supply and demand sectors, as well as a business-as-usual scenario up to the year 2035. This allows for in-depth analysis of energy flow from resource potential, to extraction, to fuel and electricity production, to energy end use and emissions in Canada’s residential, transportation, commercial, institutional, industrial, and agricultural sectors. Bottom-up modelling techniques such as these are useful to critically analyze and compare the various possible scenarios of implementing sustainable energy measures. This work can aid government in creating effective energy and environmental policies, as well as guide industry to what technology or process changes would be most worthwhile to pursue.

Keywords: energy management, LEAP, energy end-use, GHG emissions

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Authors: Chiu-Yin Leung

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This research investigates a complex assemblage among indigenous identities, socio-political organization and national apparatus in the border landscape of post-colonial Hong Kong. This former British colony had designated a transient mode of governance in its New Territories and particularly the northernmost borderland in 1951-2012. With a discriminated system of land provisions for the indigenous villagers, the place has been inherited with distinctive village-based culture, historic monuments and agrarian practices until its sovereignty return into the People’s Republic of China. In its latest development imperatives by the national strategic planning, the frontier area of Hong Kong has been identified as a strategy site for regional economic integration in South China, with cross-border projects of innovation and technology zones, mega-transport infrastructure and inter-jurisdictional arrangement. Contemporary literature theorizes borders as the material and discursive production of territoriality, which manifest in state apparatus and the daily lives of its citizens and condense in the contested articulations of power, security and citizenship. Drawing on the concept of assemblage, this paper attempts to tract how the border regime and infrastructure in Hong Kong as a city are deeply ingrained in the everyday lived spaces of the local communities but also the changing urban and regional strategies across different longitudinal moments. Through an intensive ethnographic fieldwork among the borderland villages since 2008 and the extensive analysis of colonial archives, new development plans and spatial planning frameworks, the author navigates the genealogy of the border landscape in Ta Kwu Ling frontier area and its implications as the milieu for new state space, covering heterogeneous fields particularly in indigenous rights, heritage preservation, rural sustainability and regional economy. Empirical evidence suggests an apparent bias towards indigenous power and colonial representation in classifying landscape values and conserving historical monuments. Squatter and farm tenants are often deprived of property rights, statutory participation and livelihood option in the planning process. The postcolonial bureaucracies have great difficulties in mobilizing resources to catch up with the swift, political-first approach of the mainland counterparts. Meanwhile, the cultural heritage, lineage network and memory landscape are not protected altogether with any holistic view or collaborative effort across the border. The enactment of land resumption and compensation scheme is furthermore disturbed by lineage-based customary law, technocratic bureaucracy, intra-community conflicts and multi-scalar political mobilization. As many traces of colonial misfortune and tyranny have been whitewashed without proper management, the author argues that postcolonial justice is yet reconciled in this fragmented border landscape. The assemblage of border in mainstream representation has tended to oversimplify local struggles as a collective mist and setup a wider production of schizophrenia experiences in the discussion of further economic integration among Hong Kong and other mainland cities in the Pearl River Delta Region. The research is expected to shed new light on the theorizing of border regions and postcolonialism beyond Eurocentric perspectives. In reassembling the borderland experiences with other arrays in state governance, village organization and indigenous identities, the author also suggests an alternative epistemology in reconciling socio-spatial differences and opening up imaginaries for positive interventions.

Keywords: heritage conservation, indigenous communities, post-colonial borderland, regional development, rural sustainability

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Authors: Wang Yuan-hao, Habtamu Ayalew, Jing Wang, Shugeng Wu, Kai Qiu, Guanghai Qi, Haijun Zhang

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N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) has emerged as a promising candidate for regulating endogenous arginine synthesis, thereby promoting desirable growth, carcass traits, and muscle development in broilers. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of NCG in ovo feeding on the growth performance, growth hormones, and meat quality of Ross 308 breeder broilers. A total of 1680 embryo eggs were equally allocated into three treatment groups: non punctured control (NC), saline-injected control (SC; 100μL/egg), and N-carbamylglutamate injected group (NCG; 2 mg/egg). The treatment solution was injected into the amniotic cavity of the embryo at 17.5 days of incubation (DOI). For the subsequent 42 days of post hatch experimental sampling, a total of 360 broiler chicks with 6 replications per treatment and 15 chicks per replication were used. Chickens in the NCG group showed significantly higher (P<0.05) body weight gain (BWG) and final body weight (FBW) at both 21 and 42 days after hatch (DAH), while feed conversion efficiency (FCE) was significantly improved (P<0.05) at 42 DAH. The weight and percentage of drums at 21 DAH and the weight and percentage of breast muscle at 42 DAH were significantly higher (P<0.05) in the NCG group. In addition, insulin (INS), growth hormone (GH), and testosterone (T) levels were significantly higher (P<0.05) in the NCG groups at 21 and 42 DAH. Furthermore, triiodothyronine (T3) and tetraiodothyronine (T4) levels were significantly higher (P<0.05) in the NCG treatment group. Interestingly, meat color values were also significantly higher (P<0.05) in the NCG group at 24 hrs postmortem. Collectively, these findings show that 2 mg NCG in ovo injection improves the growth performance and meat quality of broilers; even the effects extend into the market age of the chickens.

Keywords: N-carbamylglutamate, broiler, in ovo injection, growth performance, meat quality

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Authors: Fedili Benamar, Beloulou Mohamed Lamine, Ouahes Hassane, Ghattas Samir

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Background and aims: While in Western countries, unilateral spinal anesthesia has been widely practiced for a long time, it remains little known in the local anesthesia community, and has not been the object of many studies. However, it is a simple, practical and effective technique. Our objective was to evaluate this practice in emergency anesthesia management in frail patients and to compare it with conventional spinal anesthesia. Methods: This is a prospective, observational, comparative study between hypobaric unilateral and conventional spinal anaesthesia for hip fracture surgery carried out in the operating room of the university military hospital of Staoueli. The work was spread over of 12-month period from 2019 to 2020. The parameters analyzed were hemodynamic variations, vasopressor use, block efficiency, postoperative adverse events, and postoperative morphine consumption. Results: -75 cases (mean age 72±14 years) -Group1= 41 patients (54.6%) divided into (ASA1=14.6% ASA2=60.98% ASA3=24.39%) single shoot spinal anaesthesia -Group2= 34 patients (45.3%) divided into (ASA1=2.9%, ASA2=26.4% ASA3=61.7%, ASA4=8.8%) unilateral hypobaric spinal anesthesia. -Hemodynamic variations were more severe in group 1 (51% hypotension) compared to 30% in group 2 RR=1.69 and odds ratio=2.4 -these variations were more marked in the ASA3 subgroup (group 1=70% hypotension versus group 2=30%) with an RR=2.33 and an odds ratio=5.44 -39% of group 1 required vasoactive drugs (15mg +/- 11) versus 32% of group 2 (8mg+/- 6.49) - no difference in the use of morphine in post-op. Conclusions: Within the limits of the population studied, this work demonstrates the clinical value of unilateral spinal anesthesia in ortho-trauma surgery in the frail patient.

Keywords: spinal anaesthesia, vasopressor, morphine, hypobaric unilateral spinal anesthesia, ropivacaine, hip surgery, eldery, hemodynamic

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Authors: Hande Yesil, Seda Aycan Altan, M. Vehbi Bal, Alper Uyar, O. Cumhur Sipahi

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Purpose: Fixed partial dentures (FPDs) must fulfill functional requirements such as phonetics, chewing efficiency and esthetics especially in the anterior region. A convex type tissue surface is usually recommended for pontics of FPDs. That pontic design also provides suitable oral hygiene and ease of cleaning. However, high esthetic requirements and correct emergence profile are not always achievable because of the convex shape of adjacent soft tissues. Therefore, the ovate type pontic which fulfills the high esthetic demands of the patients may be a good alternative to the modified ridge lap pontic design. Clinical Report: A female patient referred with the complaint of anterior upper edentulousness. In the oral examination it was determined that teeth 11, 12, 21, 22 were deficient. A thick and convex gingival tissue that may cause aesthetic problems was also observed.. Periodontal augmentation surgery was performed to ensure proper papillary configuration and gingival contour. An interim removable partial denture (IRPD) which applied pressure to operated gingival tissues was fabricated postoperatively. The IRPD was used for 4 weeks and after completion of tissue sculpting, the permanent FPD with an ovate pontic was fabricated and cemented. After a follow-up period of 6 months, not any esthetical and hygienic problem was detected and the patient was satisfied with her prosthesis. Conclusion: It was concluded that shaping of gingival contours with IRPD and use of a FPD with ovate pontic fulfills all esthetic and hygienic requirements.

Keywords: interim appliance, ovate pontic, tissue sculpturing, fixed partial denture

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Authors: Miguel Mellado, Cecilia Zapata

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Goats can be exploited in harsh environments due to their capacity to adjust to limited quantity and quality forage sources. In these environments, leguminous trees can be used as supplementary feeds as foliage and fruits of these trees can contribute to maintain or improve production efficiency in ruminants. The objective of this study was to determine the nutritional value of three leguminous trees heavily selected by goats in a xerophyllous shrubland. Chemical composition and in vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD) of leaves and pods from leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala), mesquite (Prosopis laevigata) and huisache (Acacia farnesiana) is presented. Crude protein (CP) ranged from 17.3% for leaves of huisache to 21.9% for leucaena. The neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content ranged from 39.0 to 40.3 with no difference among fodder threes. Across tree species, mean IVDMD was 61.6% for pods and 52.2% for leaves. IVDMD for leaves was highest (P < 0.01) for leucaena (54.9%) and lowest for huisache (47.3%). Condensed tannins in an acetonic extract were highest for leaves of huisache (45.3 mg CE/g DM) and lowest for mesquite (25.9 mg CE/g DM). Pods and leaves of huisache presented the highest number of secondary metabolites, mainly related to hydrobenzoic acid and flavonols; leucaena and mesquite presented mainly flavonols and anthocyanins. It was concluded that leaves and pods of leucaena, mesquite and huisache constitute valuable forages for ruminant livestock due to its low fiber, high CP levels, moderate in vitro fermentation characteristics and high mineral content. Keywords: Fodder tree; ruminants; secondary metabolites; minerals; tannins

Keywords: fodder tree, ruminants, secondary metabolites, minerals, tannins

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Authors: Elham Dehghan, A. Shirzadi Javid, Mohsen Tadayon

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Labor productivity is very important and gained special concerns among professionals in the construction industry, worldwide. Productivity improvements on labors achieve higher cost savings with minimal investment. Due to the fact that profit margins are small on construction projects, cost savings associated with productivity are crucial to become a successful contractor. This research program studies and highlights the factors affecting labor productivity in Iranian construction industry. A questionnaire was used to gather the relevant data from respondents who involve in managing various types of projects in wide areas in Iran. It involved ranking 57 predefined factors divided into 5 categories: Human/Labor; Financial; Management; Equipments/Materials and Environmental. Total 62 feedbacks were analyzed through the Relative Importance Index (RII) technique. The top ten factors affecting construction labor productivity in Iran are: 1) Professional capability of contractor project manager, 2) skills of contractor’s project management team, 3) professional capability of owner project manager, 4) professional capability of Consulting Project manager, 5) discipline working, 6) delay payments by the owner, 7) material shortages, 8) delays in delivery of materials, 9) turnover power of the owner, 10) poor site management. Recommendations have been made in the study to address these factors. The research has direct benefits to key stakeholders in Iranian construction industry.

Keywords: Iranian construction projects, labor, productivity, relative importance index

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Authors: S. Brain, P. J. Storer, H. Strydom, Z. M. Solaiman

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Increasing farmer awareness of soil health, the impact of agricultural management practices, and the requirement for high-quality agricultural produce are major factors driving the rapid adoption of biological seed treatments - currently valued globally at USD 1.5 billion. Biological seed coatings with multistrain plant beneficial microbial technology have the capability to affect plant establishment, growth, and development positively. These beneficial plant microbes can potentially increase soil health, plant yield, and nutrition – acting as bio fertilisers, rhizoremediators, phytostimulators, and stress modulators, and can ultimately reduce the overall use of agrichemicals. A field trial was conducted on MACE wheat in the central wheat belt of Western Australia to evaluate a proprietary seed coating technology (Langleys Bio-EnergeticTM Microbe blend (BMB)) on a conventional program (+/- BMB microbes) and a Regenerative Biomineral fertiliser program (+/- BMB microbes). The Conventional (+BMB) and Biomineral (+BMB) treated plants had no fungicide treatments and had no disease issues. Control (No fertiliser, No microbes), Conventional (No Microbes), and Biomineral (No Microbes) were treated with fungicides (seed dressing and foliar). From the research findings, compared to control and no microbe treatments, both the Conventional (+ BMB) and Biomineral (+ BMB) showed significant increases in Soil Carbon (SOC), Seed germination, nutrient use efficiency (NUE) of nitrogen, phosphate and mineral nutrients, grain mineral nutrient uptake, protein %, hectolitre weight, and fewer screenings, yield, and gross margins.

Keywords: biological seed coating, biomineral fertiliser, plant nutrition, regenerative and conventional agriculture

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Authors: Jasmin Cowin

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Augmented reality digital technologies, big data, and the need for a teacher workforce able to meet the demands of a knowledge-based society are poised to lead to major changes in the field of education. This paper explores applications and educational use cases of augmented reality digital technologies for educational organizations during the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The Fourth Industrial Revolution requires vision, flexibility, and innovative educational conduits by governments and educational institutions to remain competitive in a global economy. Educational organizations will need to focus on teaching in and for a digital age to continue offering academic knowledge relevant to 21st-century markets and changing labor force needs. Implementation of contemporary disciplines will need to be embodied through learners’ active knowledge-making experiences while embracing ubiquitous accessibility. The power of distributed ledger technology promises major streamlining for educational record-keeping, degree conferrals, and authenticity guarantees. Augmented reality digital technologies hold the potential to restructure educational philosophies and their underpinning pedagogies thereby transforming modes of delivery. Structural changes in education and governmental planning are already increasing through intelligent systems and big data. Reimagining and redesigning education on a broad scale is required to plan and implement governmental and institutional changes to harness innovative technologies while moving away from the big schooling machine.

Keywords: fourth industrial revolution, artificial intelligence, big data, education, augmented reality digital technologies, distributed ledger technology

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Authors: Haruna Maama

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Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting is gaining considerable attention despite being voluntary. Meanwhile, it consumes resources to provide ESG reporting, raising a question of its value relevance. The study examined the impact of ESG reporting on the market value of listed firms in SSA. The annual and integrated reports of 276 listed sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) firms. The integrated reporting scores of the firm were analysed using a content analysis method. A multiple regression estimation technique using a GMM approach was employed for the analysis. The results revealed that ESG has a positive relationship with firms’ market value, suggesting that investors are interested in the ESG information disclosure of firms in SSA. This suggests that extensive ESG disclosures are attempts by firms to obtain the approval of powerful social, political and environmental stakeholders, especially institutional investors. Furthermore, the market value analysis evidence is consistent with signalling theory, which postulates that firms provide integrated reports as a signal to influence the behaviour of stakeholders. This finding reflects the value placed on investors' social, environmental and governance disclosures, which affirms the views that conventional investors would care about the social, environmental and governance issues of their potential or existing investee firms. Overall, the evidence is consistent with the prediction of signalling theory. In the context of this theory, integrated reporting is seen as part of firms' overall competitive strategy to influence investors' behaviour. The findings of this study make unique contributions to knowledge and practice in corporate reporting.

Keywords: environmental accounting, ESG accounting, signalling theory, sustainability reporting, sub-saharan Africa

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Authors: Girts Bumanis, Diana Bajare

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With demand for primary energy continuously growing, search for renewable and efficient energy sources has been high on agenda of our society. One of the most promising energy sources is biogas technology. Residues coming from dairy industry and milk processing could be used in biogas production; however, low efficiency and high cost impede wide application of such technology. One of the main problems is management and conversion of organic residues through the anaerobic digestion process which is characterized by acidic environment due to the low whey pH (<6) whereas additional pH control system is required. Low buffering capacity of whey is responsible for the rapid acidification in biological treatments; therefore alkali activated material is a promising solution of this problem. Alkali activated material is formed using SiO2 and Al2O3 rich materials under highly alkaline solution. After material structure forming process is completed, free alkalis remain in the structure of materials which are available for leaching and could provide buffer capacity potential. In this research porous alkali activated material was investigated. Highly porous material structure ensures gradual leaching of alkalis during time which is important in biogas digestion process. Research of mixture composition and SiO2/Na2O and SiO2/Al2O ratio was studied to test the buffer capacity potential of alkali activated material. This research has proved that by changing molar ratio of components it is possible to obtain a material with different buffer capacity, and this novel material was seen to have considerable potential for using it in processes where buffer capacity and pH control is vitally important.

Keywords: alkaline material, buffer capacity, biogas production, bioreactors

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Authors: Behzad Ahdiharab, Senol Baskaya, Tamer Calisir

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Heat exchangers are one of the most widely used systems in factories, refineries etc. In this study, natural convection heat transfer using nano-fluids in between two cylinders is numerically investigated. The inner and outer cylinders are kept at constant temperatures. One of the most important assumptions in the project is that the working fluid is non-Newtonian. In recent years, the use of nano-fluids in industrial applications has increased profoundly. In this study, nano-Newtonian fluids containing metal particles with high heat transfer coefficients have been used. All fluid properties such as homogeneity has been calculated. In the present study, solutions have been obtained under unsteady conditions, base fluid was water, and effects of various parameters on heat transfer have been investigated. These parameters are Rayleigh number (103 < Ra < 106), power-law index (0.6 < n < 1.4), aspect ratio (0 < AR < 0.8), nano-particle composition, horizontal and vertical displacement of the inner cylinder, rotation of the inner cylinder, and volume fraction of nanoparticles. Results such as the internal cylinder average and local Nusselt number variations, contours of temperature, flow lines are presented. The results are also discussed in detail. From the validation study performed it was found that a very good agreement exists between the present results and those from the open literature. It was found out that the heat transfer is always affected by the investigated parameters. However, the degree to which the heat transfer is affected does change in a wide range.

Keywords: heat transfer, circular space, non-Newtonian, nano fluid, computational fluid dynamics.

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Authors: Rakesh Kumar Soni

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Under free living conditions, human biological clocks show a periodicity of 24 hour for numerous physiological, behavioral and biochemical variables. However, this period is not the original period; rather it merely exhibits synchronization with the solar clock. It is, therefore, most important to investigate characteristics of human circadian clock, essentially in shift workers, who normally confront with contrasting social clocks. Aim of the present study was to investigate rest-activity rhythm and to vouch for the best technique for the computation of periods in this rhythm in subjects randomly selected from different groups of shift workers. The rest-activity rhythm was studied in forty-eight shift workers from three different organizations, namely Newspaper Printing Press (NPP), Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB) and Raipur Alloys (RA). Shift workers of NPP (N = 20) were working on a permanent night shift schedule (NS; 20:00-04:00). However, in CSEB (N = 14) and RA (N = 14), shift workers were working in a 3-shift system comprising of rotations from night (NS; 22:00-06:00) to afternoon (AS; 14:00-22:00) and to morning shift (MS; 06:00-14:00). Each subject wore an Actiwatch (AW64, Mini Mitter Co. Inc., USA) for 7 and/or 21 consecutive days, only after furnishing a certificate of consent. One-minute epoch length was chosen for the collection of wrist activity data. Period was determined by using Actiware sleep software (Periodogram), Lomb-Scargle Periodogram (LSP) and Spectral analysis software (Spectre). Other statistical techniques, such as ANOVA and Duncan’s multiple-range test were also used whenever required. A statistically significant circadian rhythm in rest-activity, gauged by cosinor, was documented in all shift workers, irrespective of shift work. Results indicate that the efficiency of the technique to determine the period (τ) depended upon the clipping limits of the τs. It appears that the technique of spectre is more reliable.

Keywords: biological clock, rest activity rhythm, spectre, periodogram

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