Search results for: local machine learning

Authors: Husni Mohd Radzi, Lilie Zahara Ramly, Sapora Sipon, Salhah Abdullah

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Malaysia have been experiencing series of huge floods all around the country for the past decades despide planned development done by local authorities. The floods incurred due to factors like natural climate change or man-made disaster. Floods have caused a lot of damages, destructions and losses in term of infrastructure, financial implications and physical health. However, other damaging aspect was not being given much attention are the psychological need of the flood victim. The traumatic impact from the natural disaster like floods may cause serious psychological and spiritual deterioration. Many flood relief shelters in the past did not provide counseling services for flood victims to consult, and as a result, it contributes to added stress among the flood victims, as the issue were not being addressed. Some studies indicates that flood victims did not look for counseling service being offered. A total of 257 flood victim was involved in this study. Main area of the study was Kg Bukit Changgang, Kg. Rancangan Tanah Belia, Kg. Labohan Dagang and Kg.Olak Lempit in Kuala Langat, Selangor. The flood victims have responded to the survey given and the data was analyze using SPSS for descriptive information and other measures. At least 13 victims were reported to have experienced moderate to severe level of stress and anxiety over the flood disaster incidents and a total of 88 respondents admitted to have at least thought and consider getting counseling service.

Keywords: perception, acceptance towards counseling, counseling service for flood victim, disaster

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Authors: Georgiana Ciobotaru

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The vocabulary that foreign students assimilate once they start studying the Romanian language must allow them to develop the linguistic competence of oral and written expression, but also the intercultural one, necessary for their integration into the new socio-cultural environment. Therefore, the familiarization courses with Romanian as a foreign language aim at fundamental language acquisitions in order to obtain the expected level of Romanian language. They also relate differently to the new culture and the new language they come in contact with, having a distinct way of expressing themselves. Foreign students want to continue their university and postgraduate studies at specialized faculties in the country; therefore, they need both a general language for their integration into society and for interaction with others, Romanians or students from countries other than their own, but also from a specialized language that facilitates didactic communication and professional development. The complexity of the vocabulary must thus cover the daily communication needs, but also the subsequent evolution of each one. This paper aims to illustrate the most important semantic fields that students must assimilate in order to crystallize a linguistic identity in the new context of their personal and professional development and to help them cope with the culture shock.

Keywords: integration, intercultural, language, linguistic, vocabulary

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Authors: Sumbul Farhat, Pratyay Vaibhav, Sarah Jain, Kapinder Kumar, Archna Kumar

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The Diamondback Moth, Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus), is a major pest of cole crops that causes approximately 50% loss in global production. The utilization of inorganic pesticides is reflected in the development of resistance to this pest. Thus, there is a great need for an eco-friendly, sustainable strategy for the control of this pest. Although this pest, several natural enemies are reported worldwide, none of them can control it efficiently. Therefore, a proposed study is planned to understand the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) mediated signaling interaction mechanism of the plant, pest, and natural enemy. For VOCs collection during different deployment stages of Cabbage POI, Green Ball, Pusa Cabbage, Cabbage Local, Snowball 16, Kanchan Plus, Pusa Meghna, Farm Sona Hybrid F1, and Samridhi F1 Hybrid, the Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) method was employed. Characterization of VOCs was conducted by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The impact of collected VOCs was assessed through Y-Tube Bioassays. The results indicate that the Cabbage variety Green Ball shows maximum repellency for P. xylostella (-100%). The cues present in this variety may be exploited for efficient management of P. xylostella in the cole crop ecosystem.

Keywords: Plutella xylostella, cole crops, volatile organic compounds, GC-MS, Green Ball

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Authors: Zahra Mirsanjari, Mohammad Reza Baradaran, Mehdi Rastegari Ghiri

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Research in the field of education has widely documented that teachers’ sense of efficacy has strong impacts on various aspects of teaching and learning. The present study is an attempt to examine Iranian EFL teachers’ degree of self-efficacy for teaching English. The data required for the study was gathered from Iranian EFL teachers teaching English as a foreign language in different schools and language institutes in Iran. Data were collected using Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES). Results identified four dimensions of teachers’ English teaching-specific sense of efficacy: instructional strategies, classroom management, student engagement, and oral English language use. It was also found that teachers rated their self-efficacy in teaching English at a moderate level in the dimensions of instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement. Results have implications for language teachers and practitioners.

Keywords: Self-efficacy, teaching, EFL, teachers

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Authors: J. C. Iwuchukwu, K. C. Okwor

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In recent time and in the study area, yam farmers are moving into less laborious and more economical crops and very few yam farmers are growing trifoliate yam. In yam markets, little or no bitter yam is displayed or sold. The work was therefore designed to ascertain trend and causes of decline in trifoliate yam production in Enugu state. Three agricultural zones, six blocks, eighteen circles and one hundred and eight trifoliate yam farmers that were purposively selected constituted sample for the study. An interview schedule was used to collect data while percentage, mean score and standard deviation were used for data analysis. Findings of the study revealed that the respondents had no extension contact, Majority (90.7%) sourced information on trifoliate yam from neighbours/friends/relatives and produced mainly for consumption (67.6%) during rainy season (70.4%). Trifoliate yam was produced manually(71.3%) and organically (58.3%) in a mixture of other crops (87%) using indigenous/local varieties (73.1%). Mean size of land allocated to trifoliate yam production was relatively steady, mean cost of input and income were increasing while output was decreasing within the years under consideration (before 2001 to 2014). Poor/lack of finance(M=1.8) and drudgery associated with trifoliate yam product(M=1.72) were some of the causes of decline in trifoliate yam production in the area. The study recommended that more research and public enlightenment campaigns on the importance of trifoliate yam should be carried out to encourage and consolidate farmers and the masses effort in production and consumption of the crop so that it will not go extinct and then contribute to food security.

Keywords: causes, decline, trend, trifoliate yam

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Authors: Tabiti S. Tabiti, A. M. Jinadu, Daramola Japheth

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Urban insecurity is among the challenges militating against sustainable urban governance; in the first place it distorts the peace of urban areas making them unsafe. On the other hand it hinders the effective performance of urban functions. Urban security challenges manifest in different forms such as, street violence, theft and robbery, accidents of different types kidnapping, killings etc.. Efforts to address urban security challenges in Nigeria have been concentrated in legislative, law enforcement and the use of community vigilante groups. However in this study, the place of physical planning strategy through effective neighbourhood renewal as practiced in Mokola is presented as an effective complementary approach for addressing urban insecurity. On this backdrop, the paper recommends the need for gradual rehabilitation of urban slum neighborhoods by the state government in collaboration with World Bank and other development financiers. The local governments should be made autonomy in Nigeria so as to make them more responsible to the people. Other recommendations suggested in the paper include creating enabling environment that will promote economic empowerment and public enlightment on personal and community sanitation. It is certain that if these recommendations are adopted the challenge of urban insecurity will reduce significantly in Nigerian cities.

Keywords: neighbourhood renewal, pilot project, slum upgrading, urban security

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Authors: Nora El-Bilawia

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This paper discovers the challenges and/or opportunities to implementing multiple intelligence (MI) practices in English as foreign language (EFL) classrooms at Egyptian public schools as part of the government’s educational reform plan. It is found that Egyptian EFL teachers value the use of MI’s ways of teaching as means for active and higher order thinking. However, teachers believed they were underprivileged, as the government did not provide appropriate trainings, tools, or means to integrate MI in their daily lessons. They also conferred challenges they face due to some Egyptian schooling cultural practices. At the end of this chapter, a proposed need for a paradigm shift in the schooling culture in Egypt to implement practical changes in schools to promote hope in education such as the use of MI teaching tools. This study promotes cross-cultural understanding of educational opportunities and efforts for equal learning outcomes around the globe.

Keywords: professional development, schooling culture, acculturation, equitable education

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Authors: Ahmed Abada, Kadda Amara, Said Hiadsi, Bouhalouane Amrani

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Half-metallic properties of new predicted Mn2-based full Heusler alloys Mn2ZrSi and Mn2ZrGe have been studied by first-principles full-potential linearized augmented plane wave plus local orbital (FP-LAPW+lo) method based on density functional theory (DFT). Our investigation is focused on the structural, elastic, electronic and magnetic properties of these compounds. The AlCu2Mn-type structure is found to be energetically more favorable than the CuHg2Ti-type structure for both compounds and are half-metallic ferrimagnets (HMFIs) with total magnetic moments of 2.000 µB per formula unit, well consistent with Slater-Pauling rule (Mtot = ( 24 – Ztot ) µB). Calculations show that both the alloys have an indirect band gaps, in the majority-spin channel, with values of 0.505 eV and 0.278 eV for Mn2ZrSi and Mn2ZrGe, respectively. It was found that Mn2ZrSi and Mn2ZrGe preserved their half-metallicity for lattice constants range of 5.85–6.38 Å and 6.05–6.38 Å, respectively, and kept a 100% of spin polarization at the Fermi level. Moreover, the calculated formation energies and elastic constants confirm that these compounds are stable chemically and mechanically, and the good crystallographic compatibility with the lattice of semiconductors used industrially makes them promising magnetic materials in spintronic applications.

Keywords: first-principles calculations, full Heusler structure, half-metallic ferrimagnets, elastic properties

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Authors: Zayre I. Gonzalez-Acevedo, Marco A. Garcia-Zarate

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Environmental pollution by heavy metals is due to several processes, whether natural as weathering, or anthropogenic, related to human activities. Geysers may content dissolved heavy metals, related with their geothermal origin, and they are widely used by local people and tourists for treatment of dermal diseases and other therapeutic applications. In this study, 20 geysers with temperatures between 32 to 94 °C, located in the vicinity of Queretaro and Guanajuato in Central Mexico, were studied. These geysers were sampled in dry and rainy seasons in order to investigate seasonal changes of trace elements. The samples were analyzed in SWAMP Lab, University of Alberta, Canada for 34 elements. Most of the analyzed trace elements sowed concentrations below guidelines for natural waters. The elements showed seasonal variability with higher concentrations during rainy season. Arsenic varied from 49.29 to 2.16 µg L⁻¹. Arsenic was highly correlated with Fe, Sr, Th and Tl. Barium varied from 93.52 to 1.79 µg L⁻¹. Barium was highly correlated with Co, Cr, Mo, Ni, U, V, and Y. Copper and Zinc were correlated as well. According to the comparison of sites and the correlations between trace elements, their source was identified as natural regional, geothermal or anthropogenic origin. Because of application of geyser's water to balneology and health treatments, and also, because they are located in an urban zone in development, advise on their direct uses, according to their environmental quality is appointed in this research.

Keywords: balneology, direct uses, environmental quality and trace elements

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Authors: Sultan Noman Qasem

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This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm for solving multi-objective optimization problems-based artificial neural network (ANN). The multi-objective evolutionary algorithm used in this study is genetic algorithm while ANN used is radial basis function network (RBFN). The proposed algorithm named memetic elitist Pareto non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-based RBFNN (MEPGAN). The proposed algorithm is implemented on medical diseases problems. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is viable, and provides an effective means to design multi-objective RBFNs with good generalization capability and compact network structure. This study shows that MEPGAN generates RBFNs coming with an appropriate balance between accuracy and simplicity, comparing to the other algorithms found in literature.

Keywords: radial basis function network, hybrid learning, multi-objective optimization, genetic algorithm

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Authors: A. Saha Chaudhuri, D. Sarkar

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In steel construction, there are two families of structural members. One is hot rolled steel and another is cold formed steel. Cold formed steel section includes steel sheet, strip, plate or flat bar. Cold formed steel section is manufactured in roll forming machine by press brake or bending operation. Cold formed steel (CFS), also known as Light Gauge Steel (LGS). As cold formed steel is a sustainable material, it is widely used in green building. Cold formed steel can be recycled and reused with no degradation in structural properties. Cold formed steel structures can earn credits for green building ratings such as LEED and similar programs. Cold formed steel construction satisfies international demand for better, more efficient and affordable buildings. Cold formed steel sections are used in building, car body, railway coach, various types of equipment, storage rack, grain bin, highway product, transmission tower, transmission pole, drainage facility, bridge construction etc. Various shapes of cold formed steel sections are available, such as C section, Z section, I section, T section, angle section, hat section, box section, square hollow section (SHS), rectangular hollow section (RHS), circular hollow section (CHS) etc. In building construction cold formed steel is used as eave strut, purlin, girt, stud, header, floor joist, brace, diaphragm and covering for roof, wall and floor. Cold formed steel has high strength to weight ratio and high stiffness. Cold formed steel is non shrinking and non creeping at ambient temperature, it is termite proof and rot proof. CFS is durable, dimensionally stable and non combustible material. CFS is economical in transportation and handling. At present days cold formed steel becomes a competitive building material. In this paper all these applications related present research work are described and how the CFS can be used as blast resistant structural system that is examined.

Keywords: cold form steel sections, applications, present research review, blast resistant design

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Authors: Rick Evans

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Despite over 40 years of research into why women choose not to enroll or leave undergraduate engineering programs, along with the subsequent and serious efforts to attract more women, women receiving bachelor's degrees in engineering in the US have remained disappointingly low. We know that even despite their struggles to become more welcoming and inclusive, engineering programs remain gendered, raced and classed. However, our research team has found that women who participate and indeed thrive in undergraduate engineering project teams do so in numbers that far exceed their participation in undergraduate programs. We believe part of the answer lies in the ways that project teams facilitate experiential learning, specifically providing opportunities for members to play, practice and perform. We employ a multi-case study method and assume a feminist, activist and interpretive perspective. We seek to generate concrete and context-dependent knowledge in order to explore potentially new variables and hypotheses. Our focus is to learn from those select women who are thriving. For this oral or e-poster presentation, we will focus on the results of the second of our semi-structured interviews – the learning journey interview. During this interview, we ask participants to tell us the story/ies of their participation in project teams. Our results suggest these women find joy in their experience of developing and applying engineering expertise. They experience this joy and develop their expertise in the highly patterned progression of play, practice and performance. Play is a purposeful activity in which someone enters an imaginary world, a world not yet real to them. However, this imaginary world is still very much connected to the real world, in this case, a particular kind of engineering, in that the ways of engaging are already established, codified and rule-governed. As such, these women are novices motivated to join a community of actors. Practice, better understood as practices, a count noun, is an embodied, materially interconnected collection of actions organized around the shared understandings of that community of actors. Those shared understandings reveal a social order – a particular field of engineering. No longer novices, these women begin to develop and display their emergent identities as engineers. Perform is activity meant either to demonstrate competence and/or to enable, even teach play and practice to others. As performers, these women participants become models for others. They direct play and practice, contextualizing both within a field of engineering and the specific aims of the project team community. By playing, practicing and performing engineering, women claim their identities as engineers and, equally important, have those identities acknowledged by team members. If we hope to transform our gendered, raced, classed institutions, we need to learn more about women who thrive within those institutions. We need to learn more about their processes of becoming and belonging as engineers. Our research presentation begins with a description of project teams and our multi-case study method. We then offer detailed descriptions of play, practice, and performance using the voices of women in project teams.

Keywords: engineering education, gender, identity, project teams

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Authors: Yong Cang

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RJV001 is a subcutaneous injection containing mutated recombinant Collagenase H (ColH), leading to disruption of collagen matrix in adipose tissue and programmed cell death of adipocytes. Here we reported our clinical investigation of the safety, tolerance and pharmacodynamics of localized RJV001 injection into healthy human abdominal fat tissues (NCT04821648, Arizona Research Center). Investigate the safety, tolerance and clinical pharmacodynamics of subcutaneous RJV001 in humans. In the dose-escalating study, 18 subjects completed the study, 100% female, 78% white, with a mean age of 42[±9.9]. All three tested dose (0.05, 0.075 and 0.15 mg/injection), up to 30 injections, were safe and well-tolerated. Bruising and tenderness to palpation, mild to moderate, were the most frequent local skin reactions but nearly all resolved within 30 days. Additionally, physician-monitored ultrasound measurement showed that a reduction in abdominal fat tissue thickness was consistently observed in Cohort C (0.075, 0.15 mg/injection, 30injections), with a mean reduction of 7.37 [± 2.020] mm. Based on this clinical study, RJV001 has been advanced to phase II clinical studies. In the dose-escalating study, subcutaneously administered RJV001 was safe and well-tolerated in healthy adults up to 0.15 mg/injection, 30 injections. Fat reduction and adipocytolysis were observed by ultrasound measurements and histological analysis for exploratory purposes.

Keywords: fat reduction, mutant collagenase, clinical trial, subcutaneous injection

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Authors: Jakub Adamec, Svatava Janouskova, Tomas Hak

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The necessity of sustainable housing is explicitly embedded in ‘The 2030 agenda for sustainable development’, in particular, goal 11 ‘sustainable cities and communities’. Every UN member state is obligated to implement strategies from the agenda, including a strategy for sustainable housing into the practice in the local context. As shown in many countries, the lack of knowledge represses the adaptation process of sustainable strategies by governments. Hence, this study explores the concept of sustainable housing within the Czech Republic. The research elaborates on this term, and its current definition concerning ‘Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing’. To this day, the charter represents the most comprehensive framework for a sustainable housing concept. Researchers conducted a comparative analysis of 38 international and 195 Czech national strategic documents. As a result, the charter‘s and strategic documents‘ goals were interconnected, identifying the most represented targets (e.g. improved environmental and energy performance of dwellings, resilient urban settlements which use renewable energy, and sustainable and integrated transport systems). The research revealed, even though the concept of sustainable housing is still dominated by environmental aspects, that social aspects significantly increased its importance. Additionally, this theoretical framework will serve as a foundation for the sustainable housing index development for the Czech Republic.

Keywords: comparative analysis, Czech national strategy, Geneva un charter, sustainable housing, urban theory

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Authors: Mokgadi Moletsane-Kekae, Robert Kananga Mukuna

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The study focuses on the analysis of the Adjusted Rorschach Comprehensive System’s responses. The purpose of the study is to analyse the participants’ rate responses of the Adjusted Rorschach Comprehensive System with regards to critical psychology approach. The use of critical psychology theory in this study was crucial because it responds to the current inadequate western theory or practice in the field of psychology. The participants were learners in previously disadvantaged school in the Western Cape, South Africa. The study adopted a qualitative approach and a case study design. The study was grounded on interpretivist paradigm. The sample size comprised six learners (three boys and three girls, aged of 14 years) from historically disadvantaged school. The Adjusted Rorschach Comprehensive System (ARCS) administration procedure, biographical information, semi-structured interviews, and observation were used to collect data. Data was analysed using thematic framework. The study found out that, factors that increased the response rates during the administration of ARCS were, language, seating arrangement, drawing, viewing, and describing. The study recommended that, psychological test designers take into consideration the philosophy or worldviews of the local people for whom the test is designed to minimize low response rates.

Keywords: adjusted rorschach comprehensive system, critical psychology, learners, responses

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Authors: Sol Girouard, Zona Kostic

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A home is often the largest and most expensive purchase a person makes. Whether the decision leads to a successful outcome will be determined by a combination of critical factors. In this paper, we propose a method that efficiently handles all the factors in residential real estate and performs predictions given a feature space with high dimensionality while controlling for overfitting. The proposed method was built on gradient descent and boosting algorithms and uses a mixed optimizing technique to improve the prediction power. Usually, a single model cannot handle all the cases thus our approach builds multiple models based on different subsets of the predictors. The algorithm was tested on 3 million homes across the U.S., and the experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of this approach by outperforming techniques currently used in forecasting prices. With everyday changes on the real estate market, our proposed algorithm capitalizes from new events allowing more efficient predictions.

Keywords: real estate prediction, gradient descent, boosting, ensemble methods, active learning, training

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Authors: Mara Aparecida De Castilho Lopes. Maria Eliza Mattosinho Bernardes

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The education of deaf individuals in Brazil is grounded in the bilingual approach, which presupposes Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) as the first language for these students. In this perspective, Portuguese should be taught as a second language in its written form, ensuring that deaf students also have access to various academic subjects in sign language. Brazilian legislation (Federal Decree No. 5626 of 2005) mandates the teaching of Brazilian Sign Language in university teacher training programs, but there is no pre-established minimum workload. As a result, there is a significant disparity in the teaching and quality of teacher education across the Brazilian territory. Added to this fact is the general lack of awareness within society regarding the linguistic status of Libras, leading to a shortage of competent teachers for its use and instruction, particularly in higher education. Recently, Federal Law No. 14191 of 2021 established bilingual education for the deaf as a mode of instruction, indicating the need for adjustments in teacher training within higher education teacher preparation programs. Given this context, the objective of the present study was to analyze the teaching proposals for Brazilian Sign Language for students in teacher training programs at public universities in Brazil, presenting alternatives to overcome the current models and academic pathways of teaching and learning. In addition to analyzing Brazilian teaching models, an analysis of a continuing education model for teachers in a French institution was also conducted - considering the historical Franco-Brazilian path of deaf education in Brazil. The analysis of the current teacher training model for deaf education in Brazil revealed that initial exposure to sign language and its linguistic structure is not sufficient to provide future teachers with opportunities to reflect on bilingual teaching methods and practices, as seen in other definitions of bilingualism - bilingual education for proficient listeners in two oral languages. As a result, a training proposal was developed for an experimental interdisciplinary course, integrating the curriculum of an initial and continuing teacher training program alongside the Alfredo Bossi Chair at the University of São Paulo. This proposal is structured into three disciplines, which constitute consecutive moments in teacher education: Fundamental Aspects of Brazilian Sign Language, Bilingual Teaching Methodology, and Teaching Investigation Project - interdisciplinary engagement in the field of deafness. The last offered discipline represents an interdisciplinary supervised internship proposal, considering the multi-professional context that constitutes deaf education within a bilingual approach. In interdisciplinary work within the field of deafness, dialogue between teachers and other professionals who work with deaf students from different perspectives - teachers, speech therapists, and sign language interpreters - is frequently necessary. Through alternative avenues, these actions aim to direct the linguistic development of deaf students within their learning processes. Based on the innovative curriculum proposal described here, the intention is to contribute to the enhancement of teacher education in Brazil, with the goal of ensuring bilingual education for deaf students.

Keywords: bilingual education, teacher training, historical-cultural approach, interdisciplinary education, inclusive education

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Authors: Jessica Peart, Sarim Al Zubaidy

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This paper examines the main dialogic and reformative aspects that have constituted the developing implementation of an English language module in a common pre-sessional program in Oman, the General Foundation Program (GFP), at the new Military Technological College (MTC), in Oman’s capital, muscat. The MTC is the first of its kind in the country to merge military with academic training and has been running programs since September 2013 over five trimesters to date, receiving external validation and accreditation from the University of Portsmouth (UoP), UK. From this starting point, We will provide context on the parameters that necessitated delivery of this common but specially tailored pre-sessional program at the MTC and outline in detail how the English module with integrated key study skills and personal tutoring support was initially conceived before operations commenced and cooperation between all stakeholders took practical shape. This enquiry traces how stakeholders from students to faculty, college boards and collaborative university partners have considered and redefined the in part static and dynamic boundaries of their larger and smaller scale stakes. With regard to the widely held recognition that pre-sessional students require training in transferable study skills in order to succeed at university, we will chart the subsequent and ongoing adjustments made to the generic, pastoral and integrated elements of that program. Driving this concerted effort has been at base the need for a GFP concerned with three criteria for incoming MTC students cadets, namely to develop candidate’s rounded capacity for intellectual, technical and physical skill as both students and cadets, to generate linguistic proficiency and discerning use of appropriate language registers and to allow personal and collective time for adjustment to a multilayered, brand new environment, while also working within a regulated timeline for academic progression to the MTC diploma or degree levels. The English Department teaching staff’s facilitation of the initial program’s methodologies and timeframe for the GFP English module has garnered a keen and diverse sense of the holistic student cadet experience, which a range of alterations to the program demonstrate. These include alterations to the class types and overall program duration as well as greater multiplicity of exposure within learning environments. In surveying the impact of these composite maneuvers and challenges within a proactive and evolving context of teaching and learning, it is finally demonstrated how student cadet levels of productivity and self-reliance on the one hand and retention issues on the other are being gainfully steered towards progression within a framework for inclusive reciprocal dialogue, gathering thereby civilian and military backgrounds toward uniquely united ends.

Keywords: English module transferable skills, faculty dialogue, governance structure, overarching regulatory agencies

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Authors: Imtisal-e-Noor, Andrew Martin, Olli Dahl

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Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) has developed as a chosen planarization technique in nano-electronics industries for fabrication of the integrated circuits (ICs). These CMP processes release a huge amount of wastewater that contains oxides of nano-particles (silica, alumina, and ceria) and oxalic acid. Since, this wastewater has high solid content (TS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and turbidity (NTU); therefore, in order to fulfill the environmental regulations, it needs to be treated up to the local and international standards. The present study proposed a unique CMP wastewater treatment method called Membrane Distillation (MD). MD is a non-isothermal membrane separation process, which allows only volatiles, i.e., water vapors to permeate through the membrane and provides 100% contaminants rejection. The performance of the MD technology is analyzed in terms of total organic carbon (TOC), turbidity, TS, COD, and residual oxide concentration in permeate/distilled water while considering different operating conditions (temperature, flow rate, and time). The results present that high-quality permeate has been recovered after removing 99% of the oxide particles and oxalic acid. The distilled water depicts turbidity < 1 NTU, TOC < 3 mg/L, TS < 50 mg/L, and COD < 100 mg/L. These findings clearly show that the MD treated water can be reused further in industrial processes or allowable to discharge in any water body under the stringent environmental regulations.

Keywords: chemical mechanical polishing, environmental regulations, membrane distillation, wastewater treatment

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Authors: B. F. Olanipekun, O. J. Oyelade, C. O. Osemobor

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Pigeon pea is a very good source of protein and micronutrient, but it is being underutilized in Nigeria because of several constraints. This research considered the effect of different processing methods on the quality attributes of pigeon pea used in bread production towards enhancing its utility. Pigeon pea was obtained at a local market and processed into the flour using three processing methods: soaking, sprouting and roasting and were used to bake bread in different proportions. Chemical composition and sensory attributes of the breads were thereafter determined. The highest values of protein and ash contents were obtained from 20 % substitution of sprouted pigeon pea in wheat flour and may be attributable to complex biochemical changes occurring during hydration, to invariably lead to protein constituent being broken down. Hydrolytic activities of the enzymes from the sprouted sample resulted in improvement in the constituent of total protein probably due to reduction in the carbohydrate content. Sensory qualities analyses showed that bread produced with soaked and roasted pigeon pea flours at 5 and 10% inclusion, respectively were mostly accepted than other blends, and products with sprouted pigeon pea flour were least accepted. The findings of this research suggest that supplementing wheat flour with sprouted pigeon peas have more nutritional potentials. However, with sensory analysis indices, the soaked and roasted pigeon peas up to 10% are majorly accepted, and also can improve the nutritional status. Overall, this will be very beneficial to population dependent on plant protein in order to combat malnutrition problems.

Keywords: pigeon pea, processing, protein, malnutrition

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Authors: Masoud Shahmanzari

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The aim of this paper is to present a Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) with Tabu Search (TS) conditions for the Roaming Salesman Problem (RSP). The RSP is a special case of the well-known traveling salesman problem (TSP) where a set of cities with time-dependent rewards and a set of campaign days are given. Each city can be visited on any day and a subset of cities can be visited multiple times. The goal is to determine an optimal campaign schedule consist of daily open/closed tours that visit some cities and maximizes the total net benefit while respecting daily maximum tour duration constraints and the necessity to return campaign base frequently. This problem arises in several real-life applications and particularly in election logistics where depots are not fixed. We formulate the problem as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP), in which we capture as many real-world aspects of the RSP as possible. We also present a hybrid metaheuristic algorithm based on a VNS with TS conditions. The initial feasible solution is constructed via a new matheuristc approach based on the decomposition of the original problem. Next, this solution is improved in terms of the collected rewards using the proposed local search procedure. We consider a set of 81 cities in Turkey and a campaign of 30 days as our largest instance. Computational results on real-world instances show that the developed algorithm could find near-optimal solutions effectively.

Keywords: optimization, routing, election logistics, heuristics

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Authors: Judith Mwakalonge, Geophrey Mbatta, Cuthbert Ruseruka, Gurcan Comert, Saidi Siuhi

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Recent advancements in technology have fostered the development of Electric Vehicles (EVs) that provides relief from transportation dependence on natural fossil fuels as sources of energy. It is estimated that more than 50% of petroleum is used for transportation, which accounts for 28% of annual energy use. Vehicles make up about 82% of all transportation energy use. It is also estimated that about 22% of global Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are produced by the transportation sector, therefore, it raises environmental concerns. Governments worldwide, including the United States, are investing in developing EVs to resolve the issues related to the use of natural fossil fuels, such as air pollution due to emissions. For instance, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) that was signed by President Biden on November 15th, 2021, sets aside about $5 billion to be apportioned to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico for the development of EV chargers. These chargers should be placed in a way that maximizes their utility. This study aims at studying the charging behaviors of Electric Vehicle (EV) users to establish factors to be considered in the selection of charging locations. The study will focus on social-economic and land use data by studying the relationship between charging time and charging locations. Local factors affecting the charging time and the chargers’ utility will be investigated.

Keywords: electric vehicles, EV charging stations, social economic factors, charging networks

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Authors: Jessica Liqin Kong

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Female engineers and scientists face unique challenges in their careers that make the development of professional networks crucial, but also more difficult. Working to overcome these challenges, ‘The Network’ was established in 2013 at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia as an alumni chapter with the purpose of evoking continuous positive change for female participation and retention in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). ‘The Network’ adopts an innovative model for a Women in STEM alumni chapter which was inspired by the cradle to cradle approach to engagement, and the concept of growing and harvesting individual and collective social capital through a variety of initiatives. ‘The Network’ fosters an environment where the values exchanged in social and professional relationships can be capitalized for both current and future women in STEM. The model of ‘The Network’ acts as a simulation and opportunity for participants to further develop their leadership and other soft skills through learning, building and experimenting with ‘The Network’.

Keywords: women in STEM, engagement, Cradle-to-Cradle, social capital

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Authors: T. Vandeyar

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The purpose of this study is to explore how Government policy on ICT influences teaching and learning in South African schools. An instrumental case study using backward mapping principles as a strategy of inquiry was used. Utilizing a social constructivist lens and guided by a theoretical framework of a sociocultural approach to policy analysis, this exploratory qualitative research study set out to investigate how teachers appropriate government policy on ICT in South African schools. Three major findings emanated from this study. First, although teachers were ignorant of the national e-education policy their professionalism and agency were key in formulating and implementing an e-education policy in practice. Second, teachers repositioned themselves not as recipients or reactors of the e-education policy but as social and cultural actors of policy appropriation and formulation. Third, the lack of systemic support to teachers catalyzed improved school and teacher collaborations, teachers became drivers of ICT integration through collaboration, innovation, institutional practice and institutional leadership.

Keywords: ICT, teachers as change agents, practice as policy, teacher's beliefs, teacher's attitudes

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Authors: Wallyson Thomas, Zsombor Fulop, Attila Szilagyi

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Impact dampers are mainly used in the metal-mechanical industry in operations that generate too much vibration in the machining system. Internal turning processes become unstable during the machining of deep holes, in which the tool holder is used with long overhangs (high length-to-diameter ratios). The devices coupled with active dampers, are expensive and require the use of advanced electronics. On the other hand, passive impact dampers (PID – Particle Impact Dampers) are cheaper alternatives that are easier to adapt to the machine’s fixation system, once that, in this last case, a cavity filled with particles is simply added to the structure of the tool holder. The cavity dimensions and the diameter of the spheres are pre-determined. Thus, when passive dampers are employed during the machining process, the vibration is transferred from the tip of the tool to the structure of the boring bar, where it is absorbed by the fixation system. This work proposes to compare the behaviors of a conventional solid boring bar and a boring bar with a passive impact damper in turning while using the highest possible L/D (length-to-diameter ratio) of the tool and an Easy Fix fixation system (also called: Split Bushing Holding System). It is also intended to optimize the impact absorption parameters, as the filling percentage of the cavity and the diameter of the spheres. The test specimens were made of hardened material and machined in a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) lathe. The laboratory tests showed that when the cavity of the boring bar is totally filled with minimally spaced spheres of the largest diameter, the gain in absorption allowed of obtaining, with an L/D equal to 6, the same surface roughness obtained when using the solid boring bar with an L/D equal to 3.4. The use of the passive particle impact damper resulted in, therefore, increased static stiffness and reduced deflexion of the tool.

Keywords: active damper, fixation system, hardened material, passive damper

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Authors: Shah Muhammad Butt, Ahmed Masaud Ansair

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Present financial crisis in Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) is causing lots of problems such as considerable budget cuts, which makes it difficult to meet the ever growing IT based research and learning needs. Institutions are rapidly planning and promoting cloud based approaches for their academic and research needs. A cost-effective hybrid cloud framework for HEIs will provide educational services for campus or intercampus communication. Hybrid cloud framework comprises private and public cloud approaches. This paper will propose the framework based on the Open Source Cloud (OpenNebula for Virtualization, Eucalyptus for Infrastructure and Aneka for programming development environment) combined with CSPs services which are delivered to the end-user via the internet from public clouds such as Google, Microsoft, Zoho, and Salesforce.

Keywords: educational services, hybrid campus cloud, open source, higher educational institutes

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Authors: G. Lingam, N. Lingam, K. Raghuwaiya

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The reported study focuses on pre-service teachers’ professional development during the teaching practice. The cohort studied comprised participants in their final year in the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science with Graduate Certificate in Education programmes of a university in Fiji. Analysis of the data obtained using a survey questionnaire indicates that overall, the pre-service teachers were satisfied with the practicum experience. This is assumed to demonstrate that the practicum experience contributed well towards their professional preparation for work expected of them in Fiji secondary schools. Participants also identified some concerns as needing attention. To conclude, the paper provides suggestions for improving the preparation of teachers by strengthening the identified areas of the practicum offered by the university. The study has implications for other teacher education providers in small developing island states and even beyond for the purpose of enhancing learning in student teachers’ for future work.

Keywords: pre-service, teacher education, practicum, teachers’ world of work, student teachers

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Authors: Yuhua Yang, Yingcheng Li

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As a new form of intercity economic cooperation, innovation enclaves have received much attention from governments and scholars in China, which are of great significance in promoting the flow of innovation elements and advancing regional integration. Utilizing inter-city linkages of innovation enclaves within and beyond the Yangtze River Delta Region, we construct multi-scalar innovation enclave networks in 2018 and 2022, and analyze the evolutionary characteristics and underlying mechanisms of the networks. Overall, we find that: (1) The intercity innovation enclave networks have the characteristics of preferential connection and are gradually forming a clear multi-scale and hierarchical structure, with Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing as the core and other cities as the general nodes; (2) The intercity innovation enclave networks exhibit local clustering dominated by geographical proximity connections, and are becoming more noticeable in the effect of distance decay and functionally polycentric as the spatial scale decreases; (3) The intercity innovation enclave networks are influenced by both functional distance and multidimensional proximity. While the innovation potential differences caused by urban attributes internally drive the formation of innovation enclave cooperation, geographic proximity, technological proximity and institutional proximity externally affect the selection of cooperation partners.

Keywords: economic enclave, intercity cooperation, proximity, yangtze river delta region

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Authors: Narayan Gurung, Fawu Wang, Ranjan Kumar Dahal

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Nepal is highly prone to earthquakes and has witnessed at least one major earthquake in 80 to 90 years interval. The Gorkha earthquake, that measured 7.8 RS in magnitude and struck Nepal on 25th April 2015, after 81 years since Mw 8.3 Nepal Bihar earthquake in 1934, was the largest earthquake after Mw 8.3 Nepal Bihar earthquake. In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight the lessons learnt from the MwW 7.8 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake. Several types of damage patterns in buildings were observed for reinforced concrete buildings, as well as for unreinforced masonry and adobe houses in the earthquake of 25 April 2015. Many field visits in the affected areas were conducted, and thus, associated failure and damage patterns were identified and analyzed. Damage patterns in non-engineered buildings, middle and high-rise buildings, commercial complexes, administrative buildings, schools and other critical facilities are also included from the affected districts. For most buildings, the construction and structural deficiencies have been identified as the major causes of failure; however, topography, local soil amplification, foundation settlement, liquefaction associated damages and buildings built in hazard-prone areas were also significantly observed for the failure or damages to buildings and hence are reported. Finally, the lessons learnt from Mw 7.8 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake are presented in order to mitigate impacts of future earthquakes in Nepal.

Keywords: Gorkha earthquake, reinforced concrete structure, Nepal, lesson learnt

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Authors: Paul Lemarignier, Olivier Fiquet, Vincent Pateloup

Abstract:

In line with the strong desire of nuclear energy players to have ever more effective products in terms of safety, research programs on E-ATF (Enhanced-Accident Tolerant Fuels) that are more resilient, particularly to the loss of coolant, have been launched in all countries with nuclear power plants. Among the multitude of solutions being developed internationally, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and its partners are investigating a promising solution, which is the realization of CERMET (CERamic-METal) type fuel pellets made of a matrix of fissile material, uranium dioxide UO2, which has a low thermal conductivity, and a metallic phase with a high thermal conductivity to improve heat evacuation. Work has focused on the development by powder metallurgy of micro-structured CERMETs, characterized by networks of metallic phase embedded in the UO₂ matrix. Other types of macro-structured CERMETs, based on concepts proposed by thermal simulation studies, have been developed with a metallic phase with a specific geometry to optimize heat evacuation. This solution could not be developed using traditional processes, so additive manufacturing, which revolutionizes traditional design principles, is used to produce these innovative prototype concepts. At CEA Cadarache, work is first carried out on a non-radioactive surrogate material, alumina, in order to acquire skills and to develop the equipment, in particular the robocasting machine, an additive manufacturing technique selected for its simplicity and the possibility of optimizing the paste formulations. A manufacturing chain was set up, with the pastes production, the 3D printing of pellets, and the associated thermal post-treatment. The work leading to the first elaborations of macro-structured alumina/molybdenum CERMETs will be presented. This work was carried out with the support of Framatome and EdF.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, alumina, CERMET, molybdenum, nuclear safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 73