Search results for: healthcare access and efficiency

Authors: Ramazan Bakir, Gizem Kayar

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It is known that Alzheimer and Dementia are the two most common types of Neurodegenerative diseases and their visibility is getting accelerated for the last couple of years. As the population sees older ages all over the world, researchers expect to see the rate of this acceleration much higher. However, unfortunately, there is no known pharmacological cure for both, although some help to reduce the rate of cognitive decline speed. This is why we encounter with non-pharmacological treatment and tracking methods more for the last five years. Many researchers, including well-known associations and hospitals, lean towards using non-pharmacological methods to support cognitive function and improve the patient’s life quality. As the dementia symptoms related to mind, learning, memory, speaking, problem-solving, social abilities and daily activities gradually worsen over the years, many researchers know that cognitive support should start from the very beginning of the symptoms in order to slow down the decline. At this point, life of a patient and caregiver can be improved with some daily activities and applications. These activities include but not limited to basic word puzzles, daily cleaning activities, taking notes. Later, these activities and their results should be observed carefully and it is only possible during patient/caregiver and M.D. in-person meetings in hospitals. These meetings can be quite time-consuming, exhausting and financially ineffective for hospitals, medical doctors, caregivers and especially for patients. On the other hand, digital support systems are showing positive results for all stakeholders of healthcare systems. This can be observed in countries that started Telemedicine systems. The biggest potential of our system is setting the inter-user communication up in the best possible way. In our project, we propose Machine Learning based digitalization of validated traditional cognitive tests (e.g. MOCA, Afazi, left-right hemisphere), their analyses for high-quality follow-up and communication systems for all stakeholders. R. Bakir and G. Kayar are with Gefeasoft, Inc, R&D – Software Development and Health Technologies company. Emails: ramazan, gizem @ gefeasoft.com This platform has a high potential not only for patient tracking but also for making all stakeholders feel safe through all stages. As the registered hospitals assign corresponding medical doctors to the system, these MDs are able to register their own patients and assign special tasks for each patient. With our integrated machine learning support, MDs are able to track the failure and success rates of each patient and also see general averages among similarly progressed patients. In addition, our platform also supports multi-player technology which helps patients play with their caregivers so that they feel much safer at any point they are uncomfortable. By also gamifying the daily household activities, the patients will be able to repeat their social tasks and we will provide non-pharmacological reminiscence therapy (RT – life review therapy). All collected data will be mined by our data scientists and analyzed meaningfully. In addition, we will also add gamification modules for caregivers based on Naomi Feil’s Validation Therapy. Both are behaving positively to the patient and keeping yourself mentally healthy is important for caregivers. We aim to provide a therapy system based on gamification for them, too. When this project accomplishes all the above-written tasks, patients will have the chance to do many tasks at home remotely and MDs will be able to follow them up very effectively. We propose a complete platform and the whole project is both time and cost-effective for supporting all stakeholders.

Keywords: alzheimer’s, dementia, cognitive functionality, cognitive tests, serious games, machine learning, artificial intelligence, digitalization, non-pharmacological, data analysis, telemedicine, e-health, health-tech, gamification

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Authors: Caglayan Hizal, Kutay Yuceturk, Ertugrul Turker Uzun, Hasan Ceylan, Engin Aktas, Gursoy Turan

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Monitoring concepts for structural systems have been investigated by researchers for decades since such tools are quite convenient to determine intervention planning of structures. Despite the considerable development in this regard, the efficient use of monitoring data in reliability assessment, and prediction models are still in need of improvement in their efficiency. More specifically, reliability-based seismic risk assessment of engineering structures may play a crucial role in the post-earthquake decision-making process for the structures. After an earthquake, professionals could identify heavily damaged structures based on visual observations. Among these, it is hard to identify the ones with minimum signs of damages, even if they would experience considerable structural degradation. Besides, visual observations are open to human interpretations, which make the decision process controversial, and thus, less reliable. In this context, when a continuous monitoring system has been previously installed on the corresponding structure, this decision process might be completed rapidly and with higher confidence by means of the observed data. At this stage, the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) procedure has an important role since it can make it possible to estimate the system reliability based on a recursively updated mathematical model. Therefore, integrating an SHM procedure into the reliability assessment process comes forward as an important challenge due to the arising uncertainties for the updated model in case of the environmental, material and earthquake induced changes. In this context, this study presents a case study on SHM-integrated reliability assessment of the continuously monitored progressively damaged systems. The objective of this study is to get instant feedback on the current state of the structure after an extreme event, such as earthquakes, by involving the observed data rather than the visual inspections. Thus, the decision-making process after such an event can be carried out on a rational basis. In the near future, this can give wing to the design of self-reported structures which can warn about its current situation after an extreme event.

Keywords: condition assessment, vibration-based SHM, reliability analysis, seismic risk assessment

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Authors: Chi-Wai Kan, Kam-Hong Chau, Ho-Shing Law

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Wicking property is important for textile finishing and wears comfort. Good wicking properties can ensure uniformity and efficiency of the textiles treatment. In view of wear comfort, quick wicking fabrics facilitate the evaporation of sweat. Therefore, the wetness sensation of the skin is minimised to prevent discomfort. The testing method for vertical wicking was standardised by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) in 2011. The traditional vertical wicking test involves human error to observe fast changing and/or unclear wicking height. This study introduces optoelectronic devices to achieve an automatic Vertical Wicking Tester (VWT) and reduce human error. The VWT can record the wicking time and wicking height of samples. By reducing the difficulties of manual judgment, the reliability of the vertical wicking experiment is highly increased. Furthermore, labour is greatly decreased by using the VWT. The automatic measurement of the VWT has optoelectronic devices to trace the liquid wicking with a simple operation procedure. The optoelectronic devices detect the colour difference between dry and wet samples. This allows high sensitivity to a difference in irradiance down to 10 μW/cm². Therefore, the VWT is capable of testing dark fabric. The VWT gives a wicking distance (wicking height) of 1 mm resolution and a wicking time of one-second resolution. Acknowledgment: This is a research project of HKRITA funded by Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) with title “Development of an Automatic Measuring System for Vertical Wicking” (ITP/055/20TP). Author would like to thank the financial support by ITF. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material/event (or by members of the project team) do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Innovation and Technology Commission or the Panel of Assessors for the Innovation and Technology Support Programme of the Innovation and Technology Fund and the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. Also, we would like to thank the support and sponsorship from Lai Tak Enterprises Limited, Kingis Development Limited and Wing Yue Textile Company Limited.

Keywords: AATCC method, comfort, textile measurement, wetness sensation

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Authors: Eliane Abdo, Olivier Colot

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SMEs are always considered as a national priority due to their contribution to job creation, innovation and growth. Once the start-up phase is crossed with encouraging results, the company enters the phase of growth. In order to improve its competitiveness, maintain and increase its market share, the company is in the necessity even the obligation to develop its tangible and intangible investments. SMEs are generally closed companies with special and critical financial situation, limited resources and difficulty to access the capital markets; their shareholders are always living in a conflict between their independence and their need to increase capital that leads to the entry of new shareholder. The capital structure was always considered the core of research in corporate finance; moreover, the financial crisis and its repercussions on the credit’s availability, especially for SMEs make SME financing a hot topic. On the other hand, financial theories do not provide answers to capital structure’s questions; they offer tools and mode of financing that are more accessible to larger companies. Yet, SME’s capital structure can’t be independent of their governance structure. The classic financial theory supposes independence between the investment decision and the financing decision. Thus, investment determines the volume of funding, but not the split between internal or external funds. In this context, we find interesting to study the hypothesis that SMEs respond positively to the financial theories applied to large firms and to check if they are constrained by conventional solutions used by large companies. In this context, this research focuses on the analysis of the resource’s structure of SME in parallel with their investments’ structure, in order to highlight a link between their assets and liabilities structure. We founded our conceptual model based on two main theoretical frameworks: the Pecking order theory, and the Trade Off theory taking into consideration the SME’s characteristics. Our data were generated from DIANE database. Five hypotheses were tested via a panel regression to understand the type of dependence between the financing methods of 3,244 French SMEs and the development of their investment over a period of 10 years (2007-2016). The results show dependence between equity and internal financing in case of intangible investments development. Moreover, this type of business is constraint to financial debts since the guarantees provided are not sufficient to meet the banks' requirements. However, for tangible investments development, SMEs count sequentially on internal financing, bank borrowing, and new shares issuance or hybrid financing. This is compliant to the Pecking Order Theory. We, therefore, conclude that unlisted SMEs incur more financial debts to finance their tangible investments more than their intangible. However, they always prefer internal financing as a first choice. This seems to be confirmed by the assumption that the profitability of the company is negatively related to the increase of the financial debt. Thus, the Pecking Order Theory predictions seem to be the most plausible. Consequently, SMEs primarily rely on self-financing and then go, into debt as a priority to finance their financial deficit.

Keywords: capital structure, investments, life cycle, pecking order theory, trade off theory

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Authors: Hassan Qandil

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Using a statistical algorithm incorporated in MATLAB, four types of non-imaging Fresnel lenses are designed; spot-flat, linear-flat, dome-shaped and semi-cylindrical-shaped. The optimization employs a statistical ray-tracing methodology of the incident light, mainly considering effects of chromatic aberration, varying focal lengths, solar inclination and azimuth angles, lens and receiver apertures, and the optimum number of prism grooves. While adopting an equal-groove-width assumption of the Poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) prisms, the main target is to maximize the ray intensity on the receiver’s aperture and therefore achieving higher values of heat flux. The algorithm outputs prism angles and 2D sketches. 3D drawings are then generated via AutoCAD and linked to COMSOL Multiphysics software to simulate the lenses under solar ray conditions, which provides optical and thermal analysis at both the lens’ and the receiver’s apertures while setting conditions as per the Dallas-TX weather data. Once the lenses’ characterization is finalized, receivers are designed based on its optimized aperture size. Several cavity shapes; including triangular, arc-shaped and trapezoidal, are tested while coupled with a variety of receiver materials, working fluids, heat transfer mechanisms, and enclosure designs. A vacuum-reflective enclosure is also simulated for an enhanced thermal absorption efficiency. Each receiver type is simulated via COMSOL while coupled with the optimized lens. A lab-scale prototype for the optimum lens-receiver configuration is then fabricated for experimental evaluation. Application-based testing is also performed for the selected configuration, including that of a photovoltaic-thermal cogeneration system and solar furnace system. Finally, some future research work is pointed out, including the coupling of the collector-receiver system with an end-user power generator, and the use of a multi-layered genetic algorithm for comparative studies.

Keywords: COMSOL, concentrator, energy, fresnel, optics, renewable, solar

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Authors: Drishti Sharma, Mona Duggal

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Background: WhatsApp can serve as a cost-effective, scalable, convenient, and popular medium for public health management related communication in the developing world where the existing system of communication is top-down and slow. The product supports sending and receiving a variety of media: text, photos, videos, documents, and location, as well as voice/video calls. With growing number of users of smartphones and improving access and penetration of internet, the scope of information technology remains immense in resolving the hurdles faced by traditional public health system. Poor infrastructure, gap in digital literacy, faulty documentation, strict organizational hierarchy and slow movement of information across desks and offices- all these, make WhatsApp an efficient prospect to complement the existing system for communication, feedback and leadership for public health system in India. Objective: This study investigates the benefits, challenges and limitations associated with WhatsApp usage as a public health management tool. Methods: The study was conducted within the Chandigarh Union Territory. We used a qualitative approach and conducted individual semi-structured interviews and group interviews (n = 10). Participants included medical officers (n 20), Program managers (n = 4), academicians (n=2) and administrators (n=2). Thematic and content qualitative analyses were conducted. Message log of the WhatsApp group of one of the health program was assessed. Results: Medical Officers said that WhatsApp helped them remain in touch with the program officer. They could easily give feedback and highlight those challenges which needed immediate intervention from the program managers, hence they felt supported. Also, the application helped them share pictures of their activities (meetings and field activities) with the group which they thought inspired others and gave themselves immense satisfaction. Also, it helped build stronger relationships and better coordination among themselves, the same being important in team events. For program managers, it had become a portal for coordinating large scale campaigns. Its reach and the fact that the feedback is real-time make WhatsApp ideal for district level events. Though the easy informal connectivity made them answerable to their staff but it also provided them with flexibility in operations. It turned out to be an important portal for sharing outcome and goals related feedback (both positive and negative) to the team. To be sure, using WhatsApp for the purpose of public health program presents considerable challenges, including technological barriers, organizational challenges, gender issues, confidentiality concerns and unplanned aftereffects. Nevertheless, its advantages in a low-cost setting make it an efficient alternative. Conclusion: WhatsApp has become an integral part of our lives. Use of this app for public health program management within closed groups looks promising and useful. At the same time, addressing the challenges involved would make its usage safer.

Keywords: communication, mobile technology, public health management, WhatsApp

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Authors: Keshav Dubey, Swajeeth Panchangam, Arun Rajendran, Swarnim Gupta

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In the semiconductor capital equipment industry, effective modeling of repairable system reliability is crucial for optimizing maintenance strategies and ensuring operational efficiency. However, repairable system reliability modeling using a renewal process is not as popular in the semiconductor equipment industry as it is in the locomotive and automotive industries. Utilization of this approach will help optimize maintenance practices. This paper presents a structured framework that leverages both parametric and non-parametric approaches to model the reliability of repairable subsystems based on operational data, maintenance schedules, and system-specific conditions. Data is organized at the equipment ID level, facilitating trend testing to uncover failure patterns and system degradation over time. For non-parametric modeling, the Mean Cumulative Function (Mean Cumulative Function) approach is applied, offering a flexible method to estimate the cumulative number of failures over time without assuming an underlying statistical distribution. This allows for empirical insights into subsystem failure behavior based on historical data. On the parametric side, virtual age modeling, along with Homogeneous and Non-Homogeneous Poisson Process (Homogeneous Poisson Process and Non-Homogeneous Poisson Process) models, is employed to quantify the effect of repairs and the aging process on subsystem reliability. These models allow for a more structured analysis by characterizing repair effectiveness and system wear-out trends over time. A comparison of various Generalized Renewal Process (GRP) approaches highlights their utility in modeling different repair effectiveness scenarios. These approaches provide a robust framework for assessing the impact of maintenance actions on system performance and reliability. By integrating both parametric and non-parametric methods, this framework offers a comprehensive toolset for reliability engineers to better understand equipment behavior, assess the effectiveness of maintenance activities, and make data-driven decisions that enhance system availability and operational performance in semiconductor fabrication facilities.

Keywords: reliability, maintainability, homegenous poission process, repairable system

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Authors: Grant Bifolchi

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As global environmental problems continue to have highly adverse effects, finding long-term, sustainable solutions to combat ecological distress are of growing paramount concern. Ghost Gear—also known as abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) and derelict fishing gear (DFG)—represents one of the greatest threats to the world’s oceans, posing a significant hazard to human health, livelihoods, and global food security. In fact, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear represents approximately 10% of marine debris by volume. Around the world, many governments, governmental and non-profit organizations are doing their best to manage the reporting and retrieval of nets, lines, ropes, traps, floats and more from their respective bodies of water. However, these organizations’ ability to effectively manage files and documents about the environmental problem further complicates matters. In Ghost Gear monitoring and management, organizations face additional complexities. Whether it’s data ingest, industry regulations and standards, garnering actionable insights into the location, security, and management of data, or the application of enforcement due to disparate data—all of these factors are placing massive strains on organizations struggling to save the planet from the dangers of Ghost Gear. In this 90-minute educational session, globally recognized Ghost Gear technology expert Grant Bifolchi CET, BBA, Bcom, will provide real-world insight into how governments currently manage Ghost Gear and the technology that can accelerate success in combatting ALDFG and DFG. In this session, attendees will learn how to: • Identify specific technologies to solve the ingest and management of Ghost Gear data categories, including type, geo-location, size, ownership, regional assignment, collection and disposal. • Provide enhanced access to authorities, fisheries, independent fishing vessels, individuals, etc., while securely controlling confidential and privileged data to globally recognized standards. • Create and maintain processing accuracy to effectively track ALDFG/DFG reporting progress—including acknowledging receipt of the report and sharing it with all pertinent stakeholders to ensure approvals are secured. • Enable and utilize Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics to store and analyze data to optimize organizational performance, maintain anytime-visibility of report status, user accountability, scheduling, management, and foster governmental transparency. • Maintain Compliance Reporting through highly defined, detailed and automated reports—enabling all stakeholders to share critical insights with internal colleagues, regulatory agencies, and national and international partners.

Keywords: ghost gear, ALDFG, DFG, abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear, data, technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 97

Authors: Rigers Dodaj

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Nowadays, the environment is a critical goal for civil engineers, human activity, construction projects, economic growth, and whole national development. Regarding the development of Albania's economy, people's living standards are increasing, and the requirements for the living environment are also increasing. Under these circumstances, environmental protection and sustainability this is the critical issue. The rising industrialization, urbanization, and energy demand affect the environment by emission of carbon dioxide gas (CO2), a significant parameter known to impact air pollution directly. Consequently, many governments and international organizations conducted policies and regulations to address environmental degradation in the pursuit of economic development, for instance in Albania, the CO2 emission calculated in metric tons per capita has increased by 23% in the last 20 years. This paper analyzes the importance of civil engineering and economic growth in the sustainability of the environment focusing on CO2 emission. The analyzed data are time series 2001 - 2020 (with annual frequency), based on official publications of the World Bank. The statistical approach with vector error correction model and time series forecasting model are used to perform the parameter’s estimations and long-run equilibrium. The research in this paper adds a new perspective to the evaluation of a sustainable environment in the context of carbon emission reduction. Also, it provides reference and technical support for the government toward green and sustainable environmental policies. In the context of low-carbon development, effectively improving carbon emission efficiency is an inevitable requirement for achieving sustainable economic and environmental protection. Also, the study reveals that civil engineering development projects impact greatly the environment in the long run, especially in areas of flooding, noise pollution, water pollution, erosion, ecological disorder, natural hazards, etc. The potential for reducing industrial carbon emissions in recent years indicates that reduction is becoming more difficult, it needs another economic growth policy and more civil engineering development, by improving the level of industrialization and promoting technological innovation in industrial low-carbonization.

Keywords: CO₂ emission, civil engineering, economic growth, environmental sustainability

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Authors: S. Curteanu, F. Leon, M. Gavrilescu, S. A. Floria

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Optimization algorithms inspired from human behavior were applied in this approach, associated with neural networks models. The algorithms belong to human behaviors of learning and cooperation and human competitive behavior classes. For the first class, the main strategies include: random learning, individual learning, and social learning, and the selected algorithms are: simplified human learning optimization (SHLO), social learning optimization (SLO), and teaching-learning based optimization (TLBO). For the second class, the concept of learning is associated with competitiveness, and the selected algorithms are sports-inspired algorithms (with Football Game Algorithm, FGA and Volleyball Premier League, VPL) and Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA). A real process, the synthesis of polyacrylamide-based multicomponent hydrogels, where some parameters are difficult to obtain experimentally, is considered as a case study. Reaction yield and swelling degree are predicted as a function of reaction conditions (acrylamide concentration, initiator concentration, crosslinking agent concentration, temperature, reaction time, and amount of inclusion polymer, which could be starch, poly(vinyl alcohol) or gelatin). The experimental results contain 175 data. Artificial neural networks are obtained in optimal form with biologically inspired algorithm; the optimization being perform at two level: structural and parametric. Feedforward neural networks with one or two hidden layers and no more than 25 neurons in intermediate layers were obtained with values of correlation coefficient in the validation phase over 0.90. The best results were obtained with TLBO algorithm, correlation coefficient being 0.94 for an MLP(6:9:20:2) – a feedforward neural network with two hidden layers and 9 and 20, respectively, intermediate neurons. Good results obtained prove the efficiency of the optimization algorithms. More than the good results, what is important in this approach is the simulation methodology, including neural networks and optimization biologically inspired algorithms, which provide satisfactory results. In addition, the methodology developed in this approach is general and has flexibility so that it can be easily adapted to other processes in association with different types of models.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, human behaviors of learning and cooperation, human competitive behavior, optimization algorithms

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Authors: Magda Milleyde de Sousa Lima, Letícia Lima Aguiar, Marina Guerra Martins, Erika Veríssimo Dias Sousa, Lizandra Sampaio de Oliveira, Lívia Moreira Barros, Joselany Áfio Caetano

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Patients with chronic kidney disease are vulnerable to episodes which make the safety of their health vulnerable, mainly due to the treatment process that exposes them to high rates of interventions during hemodialysis sessions. Some factors associated with health care contribute to the risk of death and complications. However, there are a small number of scientific studies evaluating the level of safety of hemodialysis clinics, and the sociodemographic characteristics of patients and professionals associated with this safety. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the level of patient safety in hemodialysis clinics in the Brazilian capital, to identify the sociodemographic and clinical factors of patients and nursing staff associated with the level of safety. This is an observational, descriptive and quantitative research conducted in three hemodialysis clinics placed in the city of Fortaleza-CE, Brazil, from September to November 2019. The sample was formed after a sample calculation for finite inhabitants of correlation with 200 chronic renal patients, 30 nursing technicians and seven nurses. Conventional sampling was used based on the inclusion criteria: being present at the hemodialysis session on the day the researcher performed the data collection and being 18 years of age or older. Participants who presented communication difficulties to listen to and/or answer the sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire were excluded. Two instruments were applied: sociodemographic and clinical characterization form and Chronic Renal Patient Safety Assessment Scale on Hemodialysis (EASPRCH). The data were analyzed using the Kruskal Walls Test for categorical variables and Spearman correlation coefficient for non-categorical variables, using the Statistical Package SPSS version 20.0. The present study respected the ethical and legal principles determined by resolution 466/2012 of the National Health Council, under the approval of the Ethics and Research Committee with an opinion number: 3,255,635. The results showed that a hemodialysis clinic presented unsafe care practices of 32 points in the EASPRCH (p=0.001). A statistical association was identified between the level of safety and the variables of the patients: level of education (p=0.018), family income (p=0.049), type of employment (p=0.012), venous access site (p=0.009), use of medication during the session (p=0.008) and time of hemodialysis (p=0.002). When evaluating the profile of nurses, a statistical association was evidenced between the level of safety with the variables: marital status (p=0.000), race (p=0.017), schooling (p= 0.000), income (p=0.013), age (p=0.000), clinic workload (p=0.000), time working with hemodialysis (p=0.000), time working in the clinic (p= 0.007) and clinic sizing (p=0.000). In order, the sociodemographic factors of nursing technicians associated with the level of patient safety were: race (p= 0.001) and weekly workload at (p=0.010). Therefore, it is concluded that there is a non-conformity in the level of patient safety in one of the clinics studied and, that sociodemographic and clinical factors of patients and health professionals corroborate the level of safety of the health unit.

Keywords: hemodialysis, nursing, patient safety, quality improvement

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Authors: M. Belén Prendes-Gero, Celestino González-Nicieza, M. Inmaculada Alvarez-Fernández

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Roof collapse is one of the problems with a higher frequency in most of the mines of all countries, even now. There are many reasons that may cause the roof to collapse, namely the mine stress activities in the mining process, the lack of vigilance and carelessness or the complexity of the geological structure and irregular operations. This work is the result of the analysis of one accident produced in the “Mary” coal exploitation located in northern Spain. In this accident, the roof of a crossroad of excavated galleries to exploit the “Morena” Layer, 700 m deep, collapsed. In the paper, the work done by the forensic team to determine the causes of the incident, its conclusions and recommendations are collected. Initially, the available documentation (geology, geotechnics, mining, etc.) and accident area were reviewed. After that, laboratory and on-site tests were carried out to characterize the behaviour of the rock materials and the support used (metal frames and shotcrete). With this information, different hypotheses of failure were simulated to find the one that best fits reality. For this work, the software of finite differences in three dimensions, FLAC 3D, was employed. The results of the study confirmed that the detachment was originated as a consequence of one sliding in the layer wall, due to the large roof span present in the place of the accident, and probably triggered as a consequence of the existence of a protection pillar insufficient. The results allowed to establish some corrective measures avoiding future risks. For example, the dimensions of the protection zones that must be remained unexploited and their interaction with the crossing areas between galleries, or the use of more adequate supports for these conditions, in which the significant deformations may discourage the use of rigid supports such as shotcrete. At last, a grid of seismic control was proposed as a predictive system. Its efficiency was tested along the investigation period employing three control equipment that detected new incidents (although smaller) in other similar areas of the mine. These new incidents show that the use of explosives produces vibrations which are a new risk factor to analyse in a next future.

Keywords: forensic analysis, hypothesis modelling, roof failure, seismic monitoring

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Authors: Mahamuda Sk, Srinivasa Rao Allam, Vijaya Prakash G.

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The different concentrations of Eu3+ ions doped in Oxy-fluoroborate glasses of composition 60 B2O3-10 BaF2-10 CaF2-15 CaF2- (5-x) Al2O3 -x Eu2O3 where x = 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mol%, have been prepared by conventional melt quenching technique and are characterized through absorption and photoluminescence (PL), decay, color chromaticity and Confocal measurements. The absorption spectra of all the glasses consists of six peaks corresponding to the transitions 7F0→5D2, 7F0→5D1, 7F1→5D1, 7F1→5D0, 7F0→7F6 and 7F1→7F6 respectively. The experimental oscillator strengths with and without thermal corrections have been evaluated using absorption spectra. Judd-Ofelt (JO) intensity parameters (Ω2 and Ω4) have been evaluated from the photoluminescence spectra of all the glasses. PL spectra of all the glasses have been recorded at excitation wavelengths 395 nm (conventional excitation source) and 410 nm (diode laser) to observe the intensity variation in the PL spectra. All the spectra consists of five emission peaks corresponding to the transitions 5D0→7FJ (J = 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4). Surprisingly no concentration quenching is observed on PL spectra. Among all the glasses the glass with 2.0 mol% of Eu3+ ion concentration possesses maximum intensity for the transition 5D0→7F2 (612 nm) in bright red region. The JO parameters derived from the photoluminescence spectra have been used to evaluate the essential radiative properties such as transition probability (A), radiative lifetime (τR), branching ratio (βR) and peak stimulated emission cross-section (σse) for the 5D0→7FJ (J = 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4) transitions of the Eu3+ ions. The decay rates of the 5D0 fluorescent level of Eu3+ ions in the title glasses are found to be single exponential for all the studied Eu3+ ion concentrations. A marginal increase in lifetime of the 5D0 level has been noticed with increase in Eu3+ ion concentration from 0.1 mol% to 2.0 mol%. Among all the glasses, the glass with 2.0 mol% of Eu3+ ion concentration possesses maximum values of branching ratio, stimulated emission cross-section and quantum efficiency for the transition 5D0→7F2 (612 nm) in bright red region. The color chromaticity coordinates are also evaluated to confirm the reddish luminescence from these glasses. These color coordinates exactly fall in the bright red region. Confocal images also recorded to confirm reddish luminescence from these glasses. From all the obtained results in the present study, it is suggested that the glass with 2.0 mol% of Eu3+ ion concentration is suitable to emit bright red color laser.

Keywords: Europium, Judd-Ofelt parameters, laser, luminescence

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Authors: Marta Polec

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The paper outlines the problem of street performances in Poland in context of humanistic management studies. The Author perceives activity of street performers of various art and entertainment actions as a phenomenon of informal organizing, self-management and cultural entrepreneurship in urban sphere. What has to be highlighted, performative street art is not currently being an interest of scientific research as often as visual street art. That is why the Author indicates the need of including new approaches of humanistic and social disciplines, especially different management paradigms, in examining various aspects of the activity of street performers. The paper shows the results of ethnographic study based on anthropological interviews, participant observation non-participant observation, shadowing, field notes, audiovisual documentation and text analysis. The fieldwork was performed since 2014 in the old towns and major areas of several the most popular touristic Polish cities, mainly in Gdansk, Cracow, Lublin, Warsaw, and Wroclaw. The research group included street artists of various kinds of performative arts. The investigation was prepared within the ‘Ethnography of the informal organization of street artists in Poland’ project, as a part of Diamond Grant programme (the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland). The first conclusion of the study is that street shows form a way of artistic self-realization and unusual promotion of creative activity in public space. As street performance helps to make some extra money and even earning a living in general, it seems to constitute a new profession. Street performers as a specific environment usually know each other and in many ways cooperate informally to carry on their shows successfully. Secondly, this activity brings plenty benefits for the local communities. Street shows attract inhabitants and tourists quite often by appealing to intangible cultural heritage and memorializing it. They also pose a space for discussing current social issues. Moreover, they disseminate relatively inexpensive public access to culture, but also state an example of social courage of choosing unconventional occupation. Finally, currently being used terms of street performers/street artists/buskers in different languages, as instance as in Polish, are still fluent and undefined. As a consequence, it brings implications for existing common knowledge about street performers, for example in establishing and implementing public policies. It impedes solving many ethical and social dilemmas concerning the question of performances in public sphere, which in some cases seem to be related to, as: children’s work, beggars’ practices or question of harmony of public space. The main aim of this study was to expose street performances as yet undefined profession, including different possibilities of interacting with the audience, based on providing impressions, experiences and memories. Although the issue seems to be current and common, in indicated context there is a lack of equal and unified approach of managing urban sphere, which in practice differs both in informal rules and official policies concerning street performances not only in cities in Poland, but also generally in Europe.

Keywords: informal, organizing, street performance, urban sphere

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Authors: Yuvraj S. Malghe, Atul B. Lavand

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In recent years, semiconductor photocatalytic degradation processes have attracted a lot of attention and are used widely for the destruction of organic pollutants present in waste water. Among various semiconductors, titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the most popular photocatalyst due to its excellent chemical stability, non-toxicity, relatively low cost and high photo-oxidation power. It has been known that zinc oxide (ZnO) with band gap energy 3.2 eV is a suitable alternative to TiO2 due to its high quantum efficiency, however it corrodes in acidic medium. Unfortunately TiO2 and ZnO both are active only in UV light due to their wide band gaps. Sunlight consist about 5-7% UV light, 46% visible light and 47% infrared radiation. In order to utilize major portion of sunlight (visible spectrum), it is necessary to modify the band gap of TiO2 as well as ZnO. This can be done by several ways such as semiconductor coupling, doping the material with metals/non metals. Doping of TiO2 using transition metals like Fe, Co and non-metals such as N, C or S extends its absorption wavelengths from UV to visible region. In the present work, we have synthesized ZnO-TiO2 nanocomposite using reverse microemulsion method. Visible light photocatalytic activity of synthesized nanocomposite was investigated for degradation of aqueous solution of malachite green (MG). To increase the photocatalytic activity of ZnO-TiO2 nanocomposite, it is decorated with C and Fe. Pure, carbon (C) doped and carbon, iron(C, Fe) co-doped nanosized ZnO-TiO2 nanocomposites were synthesized using reverse microemulsion method. These composites were characterized using, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV visible spectrophotometery and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Visible light photocatalytic activities of synthesized nanocomposites were investigated for degradation of aqueous malachite green (MG) solution. C, Fe co-doped ZnO-TiO2 nanocomposite exhibit better photocatalytic activity and showed threefold increase in photocatalytic activity. Effect of amount of catalyst, pH and concentration of MG solution on the photodegradation rate is studied. Stability and reusability of photocatalyst is also studied. C, Fe decorated ZnO-TiO2 nanocomposite shows threefold increase in photocatalytic activity.

Keywords: malachite green, nanocomposite, photocatalysis, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide

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Authors: Liane J. Ioannou, Jonathan Serpell, Cino Bendinelli, David Walters, Jenny Gough, Dean Lisewski, Win Meyer-Rochow, Julie Miller, Duncan Topliss, Bill Fleming, Stephen Farrell, Andrew Kiu, James Kollias, Mark Sywak, Adam Aniss, Linda Fenton, Danielle Ghusn, Simon Harper, Aleksandra Popadich, Kate Stringer, David Watters, Susannah Ahern

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BACKGROUND: There are significant variations in the management, treatment and outcomes of thyroid cancer, particularly in the role of: diagnostic investigation and pre-treatment scanning; optimal extent of surgery (total or hemi-thyroidectomy); use of active surveillance for small low-risk cancers; central lymph node dissections (therapeutic or prophylactic); outcomes following surgery (e.g. recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, hypocalcaemia, hypoparathyroidism); post-surgical hormone, calcium and vitamin D therapy; and provision and dosage of radioactive iodine treatment. A proven strategy to reduce variations in the outcome and to improve survival is to measure and compare it using high-quality clinical registry data. Clinical registries provide the most effective means of collecting high-quality data and are a tool for quality improvement. Where they have been introduced at a state or national level, registries have become one of the most clinically valued tools for quality improvement. To benchmark clinical care, clinical quality registries require systematic measurement at predefined intervals and the capacity to report back information to participating clinical units. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop a core set clinical indicators that enable measurement and reporting of quality of care for patients with thyroid cancer. We hypothesise that measuring clinical quality indicators, developed to identify differences in quality of care across sites, will reduce variation and improve patient outcomes and survival, thereby lessening costs and healthcare burden to the Australian community. METHOD: Preparatory work and scoping was conducted to identify existing high quality, clinical guidelines and best practice for thyroid cancer both nationally and internationally, as well as relevant literature. A bi-national panel was invited to participate in a modified Delphi process. Panelists were asked to rate each proposed indicator on a Likert scale of 1–9 in a three-round iterative process. RESULTS: A total of 236 potential quality indicators were identified. One hundred and ninety-two indicators were removed to reflect the data capture by the Australian and New Zealand Thyroid Cancer Registry (ANZTCR) (from diagnosis to 90-days post-surgery). The remaining 44 indicators were presented to the panelists for voting. A further 21 indicators were later added by the panelists bringing the total potential quality indicators to 65. Of these, 21 were considered the most important and feasible indicators to measure quality of care in thyroid cancer, of which 12 were recommended for inclusion in the final set. The consensus indicator set spans the spectrum of care, including: preoperative; surgery; surgical complications; staging and post-surgical treatment planning; and post-surgical treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a core set of quality indicators to measure quality of care in thyroid cancer. This indicator set can be applied as a tool for internal quality improvement, comparative quality reporting, public reporting and research. Inclusion of these quality indicators into monitoring databases such as clinical quality registries will enable opportunities for benchmarking and feedback on best practice care to clinicians involved in the management of thyroid cancer.

Keywords: clinical registry, Delphi survey, quality indicators, quality of care

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Authors: Wen Cai Ng, Saman Ilankoon, Meng Nan Chong

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The vast increase in global energy demand, coupled with the growing concerns on environmental issues, has triggered the search for cleaner alternative energy sources. In view of this, the photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting offers a sustainable hydrogen (H2) production route that only requires solar energy, water, and PEC system operating in an ambient environment. However, the current advancement of PEC water splitting technologies is still far from the commercialization benchmark indicated by the solar-to-H2 (STH) efficiency of at least 10 %. This is largely due to the shortcomings of photoelectrodes used in the PEC system, such as the rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers and limited photo-responsiveness in the visible-light spectrum. Silver orthophosphate (Ag3PO4) possesses many desirable intrinsic properties for the fabrication into photoanode used in PEC systems, such as narrow bandgap of 2.4 eV and low valence band (VB) position. Hence, in this study, a highly efficient Ag3PO4-based photoanode was synthesized and characterized. The surface of the Ag foil substrate was directly oxidized to fabricate a top layer composed of {111}-bound Ag3PO4 tetrahedrons layer with a porous structure, forming the dual-layer Ag/Ag3PO4 photoanode. Furthermore, the key synthesis parameters were systematically investigated by varying the concentration ratio of capping agent-to-precursor (R), the volume ratio of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-to-water, and reaction period. Results showed that the optimized dual-layer Ag/Ag3PO4 photoanode achieved a photocurrent density as high as 4.19 mA/cm2 at 1 V vs. Ag/AgCl for the R-value of 4, the volume ratio of H2O2-to-water of 3:5 and 20 h reaction period. The current work provides a solid foundation for further nanoarchitecture modification strategies on Ag3PO4-based photoanodes for more efficient PEC water splitting applications. This piece of information needs to be backed up by evidence; therefore, you need to provide a reference. As the abstract should be self-contained, all information requiring a reference should be removed. This is a fact known to the area of research, and not necessarily required a reference to support.

Keywords: solar-to-hydrogen fuel, photoelectrochemical water splitting, photoelectrode, silver orthophosphate

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Authors: Henry Lau, Dilupa Nakandala, Li Zhao

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All along the length of the supply chain, fresh food firms face the challenge of managing both product quality, due to the perishable nature of the products, and product cost. This paper develops a method to assist logistics managers upstream in the fresh food supply chain in making cost optimized decisions regarding transportation, with the objective of minimizing the total cost while maintaining the quality of food products above acceptable levels. Considering the case of multiple fresh food products collected from multiple farms being transported to a warehouse or a retailer, this study develops a total cost model that includes various costs incurred during transportation. The practical application of the model is illustrated by using several computational intelligence approaches including Genetic Algorithms (GA), Fuzzy Genetic Algorithms (FGA) as well as an improved Simulated Annealing (SA) procedure applied with a repair mechanism for efficiency benchmarking. We demonstrate the practical viability of these approaches by using a simulation study based on pertinent data and evaluate the simulation outcomes. The application of the proposed total cost model was demonstrated using three approaches of GA, FGA and SA with a repair mechanism. All three approaches are adoptable; however, based on the performance evaluation, it was evident that the FGA is more likely to produce a better performance than the other two approaches of GA and SA. This study provides a pragmatic approach for supporting logistics and supply chain practitioners in fresh food industry in making important decisions on the arrangements and procedures related to the transportation of multiple fresh food products to a warehouse from multiple farms in a cost-effective way without compromising product quality. This study extends the literature on cold supply chain management by investigating cost and quality optimization in a multi-product scenario from farms to a retailer and, minimizing cost by managing the quality above expected quality levels at delivery. The scalability of the proposed generic function enables the application to alternative situations in practice such as different storage environments and transportation conditions.

Keywords: cost optimization, food supply chain, fuzzy sets, genetic algorithms, product quality, transportation

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Authors: Adriana Salgado, Sandra Castaneda, Ivan Perez

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Learning to read and write is a complex process involving several cognitive skills, contextual, and cultural environments. The basis of this development is linguistic skills, such as the ability to name and understand vocabulary, retell a story, phonological awareness, letter knowledge, among others. In children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one of the main concerns is related to language disorders. Nevertheless, most of the children with ASD are able to decode written information but have difficulties in reading comprehension. The research of these processes in the Spanish-speaking population is limited. However, the increasing prevalence of this diagnosis (1 in 115 children) in Mexico has implications at different levels. Educational research is an important area of interest in ASD children, such as emergent literacy. Reading and writing expand the possibilities of academic, cultural, and social information access. Taking this information into account, the objective of this research was to identify the relationship between language skills, alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, and early reading and writing in ASD Spanish-speaking children. The method used for this research was based on tasks that were selected, adapted and in some cases designed to measure initial reading and writing, as well as language skills (naming, receptive vocabulary, and narrative skills), phonological awareness (similar phonological word pairs, beginning sound awareness and spelling) and letter knowledge, in a sample of 45 children (38 boys and 7 girls) with prior diagnosis of ASD. Descriptive analyses, as well as bivariate correlations, cluster analysis, and canonical correspondence, were obtained for the data results. Results showed that variability was large; however, it was possible to characterize the sample in low, medium, and high score groups regarding children performance. The low score group (46.7% of the sample), had a null or deficient performance in language skills and phonological awareness, some could identify up to five letters of the alphabet, showed no early reading skills but they could scribble. The middle score group was characterized by a highly variable performance in different tasks, with better language skills in receptive and naming vocabulary, some narrative, letter knowledge, and phonological awareness (beginning sound awareness) skills. The high score group, (24.4% of the sample) had the best performance in language skills in relation to the sample data, as well as in the rest of the measured skills. Finally, scores were canonically correlated between naming, receptive vocabulary, narrative, phonological awareness, letter knowledge and initial learning of reading and writing skills for the high score group and letter knowledge, naming and receptive vocabulary for the lower score group, which is consistent with previous research in typical and ASD children. In conclusion, the obtained data is consistent with previous studies. Despite large variability, it was possible to identify performance profiles and relations based on linguistic, phonological awareness, and letter knowledge skills. These skills were predictor variables of the initial development of reading and writing. The above has implications for a future program and strategies development that may benefit the acquisition of reading and writing in ASD children.

Keywords: autism, autism spectrum disorders, early literacy, emergent literacy

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Authors: Piotr A. Kowalski, Kasper Sapala, Wiktor Warchalowski

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PM10 is a suspended dust that primarily has a negative effect on the respiratory system. PM10 is responsible for attacks of coughing and wheezing, asthma or acute, violent bronchitis. Indirectly, PM10 also negatively affects the rest of the body, including increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Unfortunately, Poland is a country that cannot boast of good air quality, in particular, due to large PM concentration levels. Therefore, based on the dense network of Airly sensors, it was decided to deal with the problem of prediction of suspended particulate matter concentration. Due to the very complicated nature of this issue, the Machine Learning approach was used. For this purpose, Convolution Neural Network (CNN) neural networks have been adopted, these currently being the leading information processing methods in the field of computational intelligence. The aim of this research is to show the influence of particular CNN network parameters on the quality of the obtained forecast. The forecast itself is made on the basis of parameters measured by Airly sensors and is carried out for the subsequent day, hour after hour. The evaluation of learning process for the investigated models was mostly based upon the mean square error criterion; however, during the model validation, a number of other methods of quantitative evaluation were taken into account. The presented model of pollution prediction has been verified by way of real weather and air pollution data taken from the Airly sensor network. The dense and distributed network of Airly measurement devices enables access to current and archival data on air pollution, temperature, suspended particulate matter PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10, CAQI levels, as well as atmospheric pressure and air humidity. In this investigation, PM2.5, and PM10, temperature and wind information, as well as external forecasts of temperature and wind for next 24h served as inputted data. Due to the specificity of the CNN type network, this data is transformed into tensors and then processed. This network consists of an input layer, an output layer, and many hidden layers. In the hidden layers, convolutional and pooling operations are performed. The output of this system is a vector containing 24 elements that contain prediction of PM10 concentration for the upcoming 24 hour period. Over 1000 models based on CNN methodology were tested during the study. During the research, several were selected out that give the best results, and then a comparison was made with the other models based on linear regression. The numerical tests carried out fully confirmed the positive properties of the presented method. These were carried out using real ‘big’ data. Models based on the CNN technique allow prediction of PM10 dust concentration with a much smaller mean square error than currently used methods based on linear regression. What's more, the use of neural networks increased Pearson's correlation coefficient (R²) by about 5 percent compared to the linear model. During the simulation, the R² coefficient was 0.92, 0.76, 0.75, 0.73, and 0.73 for 1st, 6th, 12th, 18th, and 24th hour of prediction respectively.

Keywords: air pollution prediction (forecasting), machine learning, regression task, convolution neural networks

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Authors: Carly Madge, Melanie Zurba, Ryan Bullock

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The Boreal Forest has experienced some of the most drastic climate change-induced temperature rises in Canada, with average winter temperatures increasing by 3°C since 1948. One of the main concerns of the province of Saskatchewan, and particularly wildfire managers, is the increased risk of wildfires due to climate change. With these concerns in mind Sakaw Askiy Management Inc., a forestry corporation located in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan with operations in the Boreal Forest biome, is developing wildfire risk reduction strategies that are supported by the shareholders of the corporation as well as the stakeholders of the Prince Albert Forest Management Area (which includes citizens, hunters, trappers, cottage owners, and outfitters). In the past, wildfire management strategies implemented through harvesting have been received with skepticism by some community members of Prince Albert. Engagement of the stakeholders of the Prince Albert Management Area through the development of the wildfire risk reduction strategies aims to reduce this skepticism and rebuild some of the trust that has been lost between industry and community. This research project works with the framework of social learning, which is defined as the learning that occurs when individuals come together to form a group with the purpose of understanding environmental challenges and determining appropriate responses to them. The project evaluates the social learning processes that occur through the development of the risk reduction strategies and how the learning has allowed Sakaw to work towards implementing the strategies into their forest harvesting plans. The incorporation of wildfire risk reduction strategies works to increase the adaptive capacity of Sakaw, which in this case refers to the ability to adjust to climate change, moderate potential damages, take advantage of opportunities, and cope with consequences. Using semi-structured interviews and wildfire workshop meetings shareholders and stakeholders shared their knowledge of wildfire, their main wildfire concerns, and changes they would like to see made in the Prince Albert Forest Management Area. Interviews and topics discussed in the workshops were inductively coded for themes related to learning, adaptive capacity, areas of concern, and preferred methods of wildfire risk reduction strategies. Analysis determined that some of the learning that has occurred has resulted through social interactions and the development of networks oriented towards wildfire and wildfire risk reduction strategies. Participants have learned new knowledge and skills regarding wildfire risk reduction. The formation of wildfire networks increases access to information on wildfire and the social capital (trust and strengthened relations) of wildfire personnel. Both factors can be attributed to increases in adaptive capacity. Interview results were shared with the General Manager of Sakaw, where the areas of concern and preferred strategies of wildfire risk reduction will be considered and accounted for in the implementation of new harvesting plans. This research also augments the growing conceptual and empirical evidence of the important role of learning and networks in regional wildfire risk management efforts.

Keywords: adaptive capacity, community-engagement, social learning, wildfire risk reduction

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Authors: Doaa H. Elgohary, Dina M. Hamoda, S. Yahia

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Technical textiles refer to textile materials that are engineered and designed to have specific functionalities and performance characteristics beyond their traditional use as apparel or upholstery fabrics. These textiles are usually developed for their unique properties such as strength, durability, flame retardancy, chemical resistance, waterproofing, insulation and other special properties. The development and use of technical textiles are constantly evolving, driven by advances in materials science, manufacturing technologies and the demand for innovative solutions in various industries. Kevlar 29 is a type of aramid fiber developed by DuPont. It is a high-performance material known for its exceptional strength and resistance to impact, abrasion, and heat. Kevlar 29 belongs to the Kevlar family, which includes different types of aramid fibers. Kevlar 29 is primarily used in applications that require strength and durability, such as ballistic protection, body armor, and body armor for military and law enforcement personnel. It is also used in the aerospace and automotive industries to reinforce composite materials, as well as in various industrial applications. Two different Kevlar samples were used coated with cooper lithium silicate (CLS); ten different mechanical and physical properties (weight, thickness, tensile strength, elongation, stiffness, air permeability, puncture resistance, thermal conductivity, stiffness, and spray test) were conducted to approve its functional performance efficiency. The influence of different mechanical properties was statistically analyzed using an independent t-test with a significant difference at P-value = 0.05. The radar plot was calculated and evaluated to determine the best-performing samples. The results of the independent t-test observed that all variables were significantly affected by yarn counts except water permeability, which has no significant effect. All properties were evaluated for samples 1 and 2, a radar chart was used to determine the best attitude for samples. The radar chart area was calculated, which shows that sample 1 recorded the best performance, followed by sample 2. The surface morphology of all samples and the coating materials was determined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), also Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Measurement for the two samples.

Keywords: cooper lithium silicate, independent t-test, kevlar, technical textiles.

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Authors: Sahar Abbaszadeh, Sharifah Rafidah Wan Alwi, Colin Webb, Nahid Ghasemi, Ida Idayu Muhamad

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Toxic heavy metal discharges into environment due to rapid industrialization is a serious pollution problem that has drawn global attention towards their adverse impacts on both the structure of ecological systems as well as human health. Lead as toxic and bio-accumulating elements through the food chain, is regularly entering to water bodies from discharges of industries such as plating, mining activities, battery manufacture, paint manufacture, etc. The application of conventional methods to degrease and remove Pb(II) ion from wastewater is often restricted due to technical and economic constrains. Therefore, the use of various agro-wastes as low-cost bioadsorbent is found to be attractive since they are abundantly available and cheap. In this study, activated carbon of papaya peel (AC-PP) (as locally available agricultural waste) was employed to evaluate its Pb(II) uptake capacity from single-solute solutions in sets of batch mode experiments. To assess the surface characteristics of the adsorbents, the scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with energy disperse X-ray (EDX), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis were utilized. The removal amount of Pb(II) was determined by atomic adsorption spectrometry (AAS). The effects of pH, contact time, the initial concentration of Pb(II) and adsorbent dosage were investigated. The pH value = 5 was observed as optimum solution pH. The optimum initial concentration of Pb(II) in the solution for AC-PP was found to be 200 mg/l where the amount of Pb(II) removed was 36.42 mg/g. At the agitating time of 2 h, the adsorption processes using 100 mg dosage of AC-PP reached equilibrium. The experimental results exhibit high capability and metal affinity of modified papaya peel waste with removal efficiency of 93.22 %. The evaluation results show that the equilibrium adsorption of Pb(II) was best expressed by Freundlich isotherm model (R2 > 0.93). The experimental results confirmed that AC-PP potentially can be employed as an alternative adsorbent for Pb(II) uptake from industrial wastewater for the design of an environmentally friendly yet economical wastewater treatment process.

Keywords: activated carbon, bioadsorption, lead removal, papaya peel, wastewater treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 286

Authors: Bartlomiej S. Witkowski, Lukasz Wachnicki, Sylwia Gieraltowska, Rafal Pietruszka, Marek Godlewski

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Zinc oxide is extensively studied II-VI semiconductor with a direct energy gap of about 3.37 eV at room temperature and high transparency in visible light spectral region. Due to these properties, ZnO is an attractive material for applications in photovoltaic, electronic and optoelectronic devices. ZnO nanorods, due to a well-developed surface, have potential of applications in sensor technology and photovoltaics. In this work we present a new inexpensive method of the ultra-fast growth of ZnO nanorods from the aqueous solution. This environment friendly and fully reproducible method allows growth of nanorods in few minutes time on various substrates, without any catalyst or complexing agent. Growth temperature does not exceed 50ºC and growth can be performed at atmospheric pressure. The method is characterized by simplicity and allows regulation of size of the ZnO nanorods in a large extent. Moreover the method is also very safe, it requires organic, non-toxic and low-price precursors. The growth can be performed on almost any type of substrate through the homo-nucleation as well as hetero-nucleation. Moreover, received nanorods are characterized by a very high quality - they are monocrystalline as confirmed by XRD and transmission electron microscopy. Importantly oxygen vacancies are not found in the photoluminescence measurements. First results for obtained by us ZnO nanorods in sensor applications are very promising. Resistance UV sensor, based on ZnO nanorods grown on a quartz substrates shows high sensitivity of 20 mW/m2 (2 μW/cm2) for point contacts, especially that the results are obtained for the nanorods array, not for a single nanorod. UV light (below 400 nm of wavelength) generates electron-hole pairs, which results in a removal from the surfaces of the water vapor and hydroxyl groups. This reduces the depletion layer in nanorods, and thus lowers the resistance of the structure. The so-obtained sensor works at room temperature and does not need the annealing to reset to initial state. Details of the technology and the first sensors results will be presented. The obtained ZnO nanorods are also applied in simple-architecture photovoltaic cells (efficiency over 12%) in conjunction with low-price Si substrates and high-sensitive photoresistors. Details informations about technology and applications will be presented.

Keywords: hydrothermal method, photoresistor, photovoltaic cells, ZnO nanorods

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Authors: G. Yakubova, A. Kavetskiy, S. A. Prior, H. A. Torbert

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In-situ soil carbon determination over large soil surface areas (several hectares) is required in regard to carbon sequestration and carbon credit issues. This capability is important for optimizing modern agricultural practices and enhancing soil science knowledge. Collecting and processing representative field soil cores for traditional laboratory chemical analysis is labor-intensive and time-consuming. The neutron-stimulated gamma analysis method can be used for in-situ measurements of primary elements in agricultural soils (e.g., Si, Al, O, C, Fe, and H). This non-destructive method can assess several elements in large soil volumes with no need for sample preparation. Neutron-gamma soil elemental analysis utilizes gamma rays issued from different neutron-nuclei interactions. This process has become possible due to the availability of commercial portable pulse neutron generators, high-efficiency gamma detectors, reliable electronics, and measurement/data processing software complimented by advances in state-of-the-art nuclear physics methods. In Pulsed Fast Thermal Neutron Analysis (PFTNA), soil irradiation is accomplished using a pulsed neutron flux, and gamma spectra acquisition occurs both during and between pulses. This method allows the inelastic neutron scattering (INS) gamma spectrum to be separated from the thermal neutron capture (TNC) spectrum. Based on PFTNA, a mobile system for field-scale soil elemental determinations (primarily carbon) was developed and constructed. Our scanning methodology acquires data that can be directly used for creating soil elemental distribution maps (based on ArcGIS software) in a reasonable timeframe (~20-30 hectares per working day). Created maps are suitable for both agricultural purposes and carbon sequestration estimates. The measurement system design, spectra acquisition process, strategy for acquiring field-scale carbon content data, and mapping of agricultural fields will be discussed.

Keywords: neutron gamma analysis, soil elemental content, carbon sequestration, carbon credit, soil gamma spectroscopy, portable neutron generators, ArcMap mapping

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Authors: Sarah Reker, Christiane H. Kellner

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From the perspective of people with disabilities, inequalities can also emerge from spatial segregation, the lack of social contacts or limited economic resources. In order to reduce or even eliminate these disadvantages and increase general well-being, community-based participation as well as decentralisation efforts within exclusively residential homes is essential. Therefore, the new research project “Index for participation development and quality of life for persons with disabilities”(TeLe-Index, 2014-2016), which is anchored at the Technische Universität München in Munich and at a large residential complex and service provider for persons with disabilities in the outskirts of Munich aims to assist the development of community-based living environments. People with disabilities should be able to participate in social life beyond the confines of the institution. Since a diverse society is a society in which different individual needs and wishes can emerge and be catered to, the ultimate goal of the project is to create an environment for all citizens–regardless of disability, age or ethnic background–that accommodates their daily activities and requirements. The UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Germany also ratified, postulates the necessity of user-centered design, especially when it comes to evaluating the individual needs and wishes of all citizens. Therefore, a multidimensional approach is required. Based on this insight, the structure of the town-like center will be remodeled to open up the community to all people. This strategy should lead to more equal opportunities and open the way for a much more diverse community. Therefore, macro-level research questions were inspired by quality of life theory and were formulated as follows for different dimensions: •The user dimension: what needs and necessities can we identify? Are needs person-related? Are there any options to choose from? What type of quality of life can we identify? The economic dimension: what resources (both material and staff-related) are available in the region? (How) are they used? What costs (can) arise and what effects do they entail? •The environment dimension: what “environmental factors” such as access (mobility and absence of barriers) prove beneficial or impedimental? In this context, we have provided academic supervision and support for three projects (the construction of a new school, inclusive housing for children and teenagers with disabilities and the professionalization of employees with person-centered thinking). Since we cannot present all the issues of the umbrella-project within the conference framework, we will be focusing on one project more in-depth, namely “Outpatient Housing Options for Children and Teenagers with Disabilities”. The insights we have obtained until now will enable us to present the intermediary results of our evaluation. The most central questions pertaining to this part of the research were the following: •How have the existing network relations been designed? •What meaning (or significance) does the existing service offers and structures have for the everyday life of an external residential group? These issues underpinned the environmental analyses as well as the qualitative guided interviews and qualitative network analyses we carried out.

Keywords: decentralisation, environmental analyses, outpatient housing options for children and teenagers with disabilities, qualitative network analyses

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Authors: Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, Lisa-Charlotte Wolter

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With the continuous proliferation of media platforms, there have been tremendous changes in media consumption behaviors. From the perspective of sports sponsorship, while there is now a multitude of platforms to create brand associations, the changing media landscape and shift of message control also mean that sports sponsors will have to take into account the nature of and consumer responses toward these emerging digital media to devise effective marketing strategies. Utilizing the personal interview methodology, this study is qualitative and exploratory in nature. A total of 18 experts from European and American academics, sports marketing industry, and sports leagues/teams were interviewed to address three main research questions: 1) What are the major changes in digital technologies that are relevant to sports sponsorship; 2) How have digital media influenced the channels and platforms of sports sponsorship; and 3) How have these technologies affected the goals, strategies, and measurement of sports sponsorship. The study found that sports sponsorship has moved from consumer engagement, engagement measurement, and consequences of engagement on brand behaviors to micro-targeting one on one, engagement by context, time, and space, and activation and leveraging based on tracking and databases. From the perspective of platforms and channels, the use of mobile devices is prominent during sports content consumption. Increasing multiscreen media consumption means that sports sponsors need to optimize their investment decisions in leagues, teams, or game-related content sources, as they need to go where the fans are most engaged in. The study observed an imbalanced strategic leveraging of technology and digital infrastructure. While sports leagues have had less emphasis on brand value management via technology, sports sponsors have been much more active in utilizing technologies like mobile/LBS tools, big data/user info, real-time marketing and programmatic, and social media activation. Regardless of the new media/platforms, the study found that integration and contextualization are the two essential means of improving sports sponsorship effectiveness through technology. That is, how sponsors effectively integrate social media/mobile/second screen into their existing legacy media sponsorship plan so technology works for the experience/message instead of distracting fans. Additionally, technological advancement and attention economy amplify the importance of consumer data gathering, but sports consumer data does not mean loyalty or engagement. This study also affirms the benefit of digital media as they offer viral and pre-event activations through storytelling way before the actual event, which is critical for leveraging brand association before and after. That is, sponsors now have multiple opportunities and platforms to tell stories about their brands for longer time period. In summary, digital media facilitate fan experience, access to the brand message, multiplatform/channel presentations, storytelling, and content sharing. Nevertheless, rather than focusing on technology and media, today’s sponsors need to define what they want to focus on in terms of content themes that connect with their brands and then identify the channels/platforms. The big challenge for sponsors is to play to the venues/media’s specificity and its fit with the target audience and not uniformly deliver the same message in the same format on different platforms/channels.

Keywords: digital media, mobile media, social media, technology, sports sponsorship

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Authors: Gashaw Gismu Chakilu

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Climate and land cover change are very important issues in terms of global context and their responses to environmental and socio-economic drivers. The dynamic of these two factors is currently affecting the environment in unbalanced way including watershed hydrology. In this paper individual and combined impacts of climate change and land use land cover change on hydrological processes were evaluated through applying the model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in Gumara watershed, Upper Blue Nile basin Ethiopia. The regional climate; temperature and rainfall data of the past 40 years in the study area were prepared and changes were detected by using trend analysis applying Mann-Kendall trend test. The land use land cover data were obtained from land sat image and processed by ERDAS IMAGIN 2010 software. Three land use land cover data; 1973, 1986, and 2013 were prepared and these data were used for base line, model calibration and change study respectively. The effects of these changes on high flow and low flow of the catchment have also been evaluated separately. The high flow of the catchment for these two decades was analyzed by using Annual Maximum (AM) model and the low flow was evaluated by seven day sustained low flow model. Both temperature and rainfall showed increasing trend; and then the extent of changes were evaluated in terms of monthly bases by using two decadal time periods; 1973-1982 was taken as baseline and 2004-2013 was used as change study. The efficiency of the model was determined by Nash-Sutcliffe (NS) and Relative Volume error (RVe) and their values were 0.65 and 0.032 for calibration and 0.62 and 0.0051 for validation respectively. The impact of climate change was higher than that of land use land cover change on stream flow of the catchment; the flow has been increasing by 16.86% and 7.25% due to climate and LULC change respectively, and the combined change effect accounted 22.13% flow increment. The overall results of the study indicated that Climate change is more responsible for high flow than low flow; and reversely the land use land cover change showed more significant effect on low flow than high flow of the catchment. From the result we conclude that the hydrology of the catchment has been altered because of changes of climate and land cover of the study area.

Keywords: climate, LULC, SWAT, Ethiopia

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Authors: Jessica M. Black

Abstract:

Although much of natural and social science research aims to enhance human flourishing and address social problems, the training within the two fields is significantly different across theory, methodology, and implementation of results. Social scientists are trained in social, psychological, and to the extent that it is relevant to their discipline, spiritual development, theory, and accompanying methodologies. They tend not to receive training or learn about accompanying methodology related to interrogating human development and social problems from a biological perspective. On the other hand, those in the natural sciences, and for the purpose of this work, human biological sciences specifically – biology, neuroscience, genetics, epigenetics, and physiology – are often trained first to consider cellular development and related methodologies, and may not have opportunity to receive formal training in many of the foundational principles that guide human development, such as systems theory or person-in-environment framework, methodology related to tapping both proximal and distal psycho-social-spiritual influences on human development, and foundational principles of equity, justice and inclusion in research design. There is a need for disciplines heretofore siloed to know one another, to receive streamlined, easy to access training in theory and methods from one another and to learn how to build interdisciplinary teams that can speak and act upon a shared research language. Team science is more essential than ever, as are transdisciplinary approaches to training and research design. This study explores the use of a methodological toolbox that natural and social scientists can use by employing a decision-making tree regarding project aims, costs, and participants, among other important study variables. The decision tree begins with a decision about whether the researcher wants to learn more about social sciences approaches or biological approaches to study design. The toolbox and platform are flexible, such that users could also choose among modules, for instance, reviewing epigenetics or community-based participatory research even if those are aspects already a part of their home field. To start, both natural and social scientists would receive training on systems science, team science, transdisciplinary approaches, and translational science. Next, social scientists would receive training on grounding biological theory and the following methodological approaches and tools: physiology, (epi)genetics, non-invasive neuroimaging, invasive neuroimaging, endocrinology, and the gut-brain connection. Natural scientists would receive training on grounding social science theory, and measurement including variables, assessment and surveys on human development as related to the developing person (e.g., temperament and identity), microsystems (e.g., systems that directly interact with the person such as family and peers), mesosystems (e.g., systems that interact with one another but do not directly interact with the individual person, such as parent and teacher relationships with one another), exosystems (e.g., spaces and settings that may come back to affect the individual person, such as a parent’s work environment, but within which the individual does not directly interact, macrosystems (e.g., wider culture and policy), and the chronosystem (e.g., historical time, such as the generational impact of trauma). Participants will be able to engage with the toolbox and one another to foster increased transdisciplinary work

Keywords: methodology, natural science, social science, transdisciplinary

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Antoinette Maarawi, Zoe Anxionnaz-Minvielle, Pierre Coste, Nathalie Di Miceli Raimondi, Michel Cabassud

Abstract:

Milli-structured heat exchanger/reactors have been recently widely used, especially in the chemical industry, due to their enhanced performances in heat and mass transfer compared to conventional apparatuses. In our work, the ‘DeanHex’ heat exchanger/reactor with a 2D-meandering channel is investigated both experimentally and numerically. The square cross-sectioned channel has a hydraulic diameter of 2mm. The aim of our study is to model local physico-chemical phenomena (heat and mass transfer, axial dispersion, etc.) for a liquid-liquid two-phase flow in our lab-scale meandering channel, which represents the central part of the heat exchanger/reactor design. The numerical approach of the reactor is based on a 1D model for the flow channel encapsulated in a 3D model for the surrounding solid, using COMSOL Multiphysics V5.5. The use of the 1D approach to model the milli-channel reduces significantly the calculation time compared to 3D approaches, which are generally focused on local effects. Our 1D/3D approach intends to bridge the gap between the simulation at a small scale and the simulation at the reactor scale at a reasonable CPU cost. The heat transfer process between the 1D milli-channel and its 3D surrounding is modeled. The feasibility of this 1D/3D coupling was verified by comparing simulation results to experimental ones originated from two previous works. Temperature profiles along the channel axis obtained by simulation fit the experimental profiles for both cases. The next step is to integrate the liquid-liquid mass transfer model and to validate it with our experimental results. The hydrodynamics of the liquid-liquid two-phase system is modeled using the ‘mixture model approach’. The mass transfer behavior is represented by an overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient ‘kLa’ correlation obtained from our experimental results in the millimetric size meandering channel. The present work is a first step towards the scale-up of our ‘DeanHex’ expecting future industrialization of such equipment. Therefore, a generalized scaled-up model of the reactor comprising all the transfer processes will be built in order to predict the performance of the reactor in terms of conversion rate and energy efficiency at an industrial scale.

Keywords: liquid-liquid mass transfer, milli-structured reactor, 1D/3D model, process intensification

Procedia PDF Downloads 131