Search results for: critical evaluation

Authors: S. K. Ashiquer Rahman

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This paper presents a knowledge mediation platform, “ePLANETe Blue” that addresses the challenge of building knowledge partnerships for higher education. The purpose is to present, as an institutional perception, the ‘ePLANETe' idea and functionalities as a practical and pedagogical innovation program contributing to the collaborative learning goals in higher education. In consequence, the set of functionalities now amalgamated in ‘ePLANETe’ can be seen as an investigation of the challenges of “Collaborative Learning Digital Process.” It can exploit the system to facilitate collaborative education, research and student learning in higher education. Moreover, the platform is projected to support the identification of best practices at explicit levels of action and to inspire knowledge interactions in a “virtual community” and thus to advance in deliberation and learning evaluation of higher education through the engagement of collaborative activities of different sorts.

Keywords: mediation, collaboration, deliberation, evaluation

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Authors: Jonathan J. Foo, Keng Hao Chew

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Interest in virtual reality (VR) technologies as virtual learning environments have been on the rise in recent years. With thanks to the aggressively competitive consumer electronics environment, VR technology has been made affordable and accessible to the average person with developments like Google Cardboard and Oculus Go. While the promise of virtual access to unique virtual learning environments with the benefits of experiential learning sounds extremely attractive, there are still concerns over user comfort in the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective domains. Reports of motion sickness and short durations create doubt and have stunted its growth. In this paper, a multidimensional framework is proposed for the evaluation of VR learning environments within the three dimensions: tactual quality, didactic quality, and autodidactic quality. This paper further proposes a mixed-methods experimental research plan that sets out to evaluate a virtual reality training simulator in the context of amateur sports fencing. The study will investigate if an immersive VR learning environment can effectively simulate an authentic learning environment suitable for instruction, practice, and assessment while providing the user comfort in the tactual, didactic, and autodidactic dimensions. The models and recommendations developed for this study are designed in the context of fencing, but the potential impact is a guide for the future design and evaluation of all VR developments across sports and technical classroom education.

Keywords: autodidactic quality, didactic quality, tactual quality, virtual reality

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Authors: Ivan Ramos Sampe Immanuel, Linung Kresno Adikusumo, Liston Sitanggang

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Achieving the production targets of oil and gas in an upstream oil and gas company represents a complex undertaking necessitating collaborative engagement from a multidisciplinary team. In addition to conducting exploration activities and executing well intervention programs, an upstream oil and gas enterprise must assess the feasibility of attaining predetermined production goals. The monitoring of production performance serves as a critical activity to ensure organizational progress towards the established oil and gas performance targets. Subsequently, decisions within the upstream oil and gas management team are informed by the received information pertaining to the respective production performance. To augment the decision-making process, the implementation of a production performance dashboard emerges as a viable solution, providing an integrated and centralized tool. The deployment of a production performance dashboard manifests as an instrumental mechanism fostering a user-friendly interface for monitoring production performance, while concurrently preserving the intrinsic characteristics of granular data. The integration of diverse data sources into a unified production performance dashboard establishes a singular veritable source, thereby enhancing the organization's capacity to uphold a consolidated and authoritative foundation for its business requisites. Additionally, the heightened accessibility of the production performance dashboard to business users constitutes a compelling substantiation of its consequential impact on facilitating the monitoring of organizational targets.

Keywords: production, performance, dashboard, data analytics

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Authors: Samart Homthong, Wutthipong Moungnoi

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Critical success factors (CSFs) and the criteria to measure project success have received much attention over the decades and are among the most widely researched topics in the context of project management. However, although there have been extensive studies on the subject by different researchers, to date, there has been little agreement on the CSFs. The aim of this study is to identify the CSFs that influence the performance of construction projects, and determine their relative importance for different objectives across five stages in the project life cycle. A considerable literature review was conducted that resulted in the identification of 179 individual factors. These factors were then grouped into nine major categories. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from three groups of respondents: client representatives, consultants, and contractors. Out of 164 questionnaires distributed, 93 were returned, yielding a response rate of 56.7%. Using the mean score, relative importance index, and weighted average method, the top 10 critical factors for each category were identified. The agreement of survey respondents on those categorised factors were analysed using Spearman’s rank correlation. A one-way analysis of variance was then performed to determine whether the mean scores among the various groups of respondents were statistically significant. The findings indicate the most CSFs in each category in procurement phase are: proper procurement programming of materials (time), stability in the price of materials (cost), and determining quality in the construction (quality). They are then followed by safety equipment acquisition and maintenance (health and safety), budgeting allowed in a contractual arrangement for implementing environmental management activities (environment), completeness of drawing documents (productivity), accurate measurement and pricing of bill of quantities (risk management), adequate communication among the project team (human resource), and adequate cost control measures (client satisfaction). An understanding of CSFs would help all interested parties in the construction industry to improve project performance. Furthermore, the results of this study would help construction professionals and practitioners take proactive measures for effective project management.

Keywords: critical success factors, procurement phase, project life cycle, project performance

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Authors: Angela Maria Fasnacht

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Detection of anomalies due to contaminants’ presence, also known as early detection systems in water treatment plants, has become a critical point that deserves an in-depth study for their improvement and adaptation to current requirements. The design of these systems requires a detailed analysis and processing of the data in real-time, so it is necessary to apply various statistical methods appropriate to the data generated, such as Spearman’s Correlation, Factor Analysis, Cross-Correlation, and k-fold Cross-validation. Statistical analysis and methods allow the evaluation of large data sets to model the behavior of variables; in this sense, statistical treatment or analysis could be considered a vital step to be able to develop advanced models focused on machine learning that allows optimized data management in real-time, applied to early detection systems in water treatment processes. These techniques facilitate the development of new technologies used in advanced sensors. In this work, these methods were applied to identify the possible correlations between the measured parameters and the presence of the glyphosate contaminant in the single-pass system. The interaction between the initial concentration of glyphosate and the location of the sensors on the reading of the reported parameters was studied.

Keywords: glyphosate, emergent contaminants, machine learning, probes, sensors, predictive

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Authors: Ivan Gunass Govender, Andrea Giampiccoli

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A developmental state should use community engagement to facilitate socio-economic development for disadvantaged groups and individual members of society through empowerment, social justice, sustainability, and self-reliance. In this regard, community-based tourism (CBT) as a growing market should be an indigenous effort aided by external facilitation. Since this form of tourism presents its own preconditions, characteristics, and challenges, it could be guided by higher education institutions engagement. In particular, the facilitation should not only serve to assist the community members to reach their own goals; but rather also focus on learning through knowledge creation and sharing with the engagement of higher education institutions. While the increased relevance of CBT has produced various CBT manuals (or handbooks/guidelines) documents aimed to ‘teach’ and assist various entities in CBT development, this research aims to analyse the current monitoring & evaluation (M&E) manuals and thereafter, propose an M&E model for CBT. It is important to mention that all too often effective monitoring is seldom carried out thus risking the long-term sustainability and improvement of the CBT ventures. Therefore, the proposed model will also consider some inputs external to the tourism field, but in relation to local economic development (LED) matters from the previously proposed development monitoring and evaluation system framework. M&E should be seen as fundamental components of any CBT initiative, and the whole CBT intervention should be evaluated. In this context, M&E in CBT should go beyond strict ‘numerical’ economic matters and should be understood in a holistic development. In addition, M&E in CBT should not consider issues in various ‘compartments’ such as tourists, tourism attractions, CBT owners/participants, and stakeholder engagement but as interdependent components of a macro-ecosystem. Finally, the external facilitation process should be structured in a way to promote community self-reliance in both the intervention and the M&E process. The research will attempt to propose an M&E model for CBT so as to enhance the CBT possibilities of long-term growth and success through effective collaborations with key stakeholders.

Keywords: community-based tourism, community-engagement, monitoring and evaluation, stakeholders

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Authors: Feifei Wu, Pius Babuna, Xiaohua Yang

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The suitability evaluation of human settlements over time and space is essential to track potential challenges towards suitable human settlements and provide references for policy-makers. This study established a theoretical framework of human settlements based on the nature, human, economy, society and residence subsystems. Evaluation indicators were determined with the consideration of the coupling effect among subsystems. Based on the extended Fourier amplitude sensitivity test algorithm, the global sensitivity analysis that considered the coupling effect among indicators was used to determine the weights of indicators. The human settlement suitability was evaluated at both subsystems and comprehensive system levels in 30 provinces of China between 2000 and 2016. The findings were as follows: (1) human settlements suitability index (HSSI) values increased significantly in all 30 provinces from 2000 to 2016. Among the five subsystems, the suitability index of the residence subsystem in China exhibited the fastest growinggrowth, fol-lowed by the society and economy subsystems. (2) HSSI in eastern provinces with a developed economy was higher than that in western provinces with an underdeveloped economy. In con-trast, the growing rate of HSSI in eastern provinces was significantly higher than that in western provinces. (3) The inter-provincial difference of in HSSI decreased from 2000 to 2016. For sub-systems, it decreased for the residence system, whereas it increased for the economy system. (4) The suitability of the natural subsystem has become a limiting factor for the improvement of human settlements suitability, especially in economically developed provinces such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong. The results can be helpful to support decision-making and policy for improving the quality of human settlements in a broad nature, human, economy, society and residence context.

Keywords: human settlements, suitability evaluation, extended fourier amplitude, human settlement suitability

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Authors: Malinda Gayan Sirisena

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The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of software quality assurance approaches of Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations, and to propose a framework which could be used across all offshore software development organizations. An empirical study was conducted using derived framework from popular software quality evaluation models. The research instrument employed was a questionnaire survey among thirty seven Sri Lankan registered offshore software development organizations. The findings demonstrate a positive view of Effectiveness of Software Quality Assurance – the stronger predictors of Stability, Installability, Correctness, Testability and Changeability. The present study’s recommendations indicate a need for much emphasis on software quality assurance for the Sri Lankan offshore software development organizations.

Keywords: software quality assurance (SQA), offshore software development, quality assurance evaluation models, effectiveness of quality assurance

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Authors: Chuan-Ming Tung, Tzu-Chiao Yuan

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This research aims to construct the supply indicators and weights of shelter space from a perspective of the needs of the elderly by virtue of literature review, a systematical compilation of related regulations, and the use of the Analytical Hierarchy Process method, the questionnaires regarding the indicators filled out by 16 experts and scholars. The researcher then used 3 schools and 2 activity centers in Banqiao District, New Taipei City, as study cases to evaluate the ‘friendliness’ degree/level for the supply of shelters meeting the needs of elderly people. The supply evaluation indicators of friendly shelters meeting the needs of the elderly include "Administrative Operations and Service Needs" and "Residence-related and Living Needs"; under the "Administrative Operations and Service Needs" are "Management Operations and Information Provision", "Shelter Space Preparedness and Logistics Support", "Medical Care and Social Support", and "Shelters and Medical Environment", a total of 17 assessment items in four indicators, while under the "Residence-related and Living Needs" are "Dietary Needs", "Sleep Needs", "Hygiene and Sanitation Needs", "Accessibility and Convenience Needs ", etc., a total of 18 assessment items in four indicators. The results show that "Residence-related and Living Needs" is the most important item in the main levels of the supply indicators of the needs for friendly shelters to elderly people (weigh value 0.5504), followed by "Administrative Operations and Service Needs" (0.4496). The order of importance of the supply indicators of friendly shelters for the needs of elderly people is as follows: "Hygiene and Sanitation Needs" (0.1721), "Dietary Needs" (0.1340), "Medical Care and Social Support" (0.1300), "Sleep Needs" (0.1277), "Accessibility and Convenience Needs" (0.1166), "Basic Environment of Shelters" (0.1145), "Shelter Space Preparedness and Logistics Support" (0.1115) and "Management Operations and Information Provision" (0.0936). In addition, it can be noticed from the results of the case evaluation that the provision of refuges and shelters, mainly from schools and activity centers, is extremely inadequate for the needs of the elderly. In a set of comprehensive comparisons and contrasts, the evaluation indicators of refuges and shelters that need to be improved are "Medical Care and Social Support", "Hygiene and Sanitation Needs", "Sleep Needs", "Dietary Needs", and "Shelter Space Preparedness and Logistics Support".

Keywords: needs of the elderly people, urban shelters, evaluation indicators/indices., taiwan

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Authors: Rouzbeh Jafari, Joe Nava

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This study includes learnings from an engineering practice normally performed on large scale biohydrogen processes. If properly scale-up is done, biohydrogen can be a reliable pathway for biowaste valorization. Most of the studies on biohydrogen process development have used model feedstock to investigate process key performance indicators (KPIs). This study does not intend to compare different technologies with model feedstock. However, it reports economic drivers and technical challenges which help in developing a road map for expanding biohydrogen economy deployment in Canada. BBA is a consulting firm responsible for the design of hydrogen production projects. Through executing these projects, activity has been performed to identify, register and mitigate technical drawbacks of large-scale hydrogen production. Those learnings, in this study, have been applied to the biohydrogen process. Through data collected by a comprehensive literature review, a base case has been considered as a reference, and several case studies have been performed. Critical parameters of the process were identified and through common engineering practice (process design, simulation, cost estimate, and life cycle assessment) impact of these parameters on the commercialization risk matrix and class 5 cost estimations were reported. The process considered in this study is food waste and woody biomass dark fermentation. To propose a reliable road map to develop a sustainable biohydrogen production process impact of critical parameters was studied on the end-to-end process. These parameters were 1) feedstock composition, 2) feedstock pre-treatment, 3) unit operation selection, and 4) multi-product concept. A couple of emerging technologies also were assessed such as photo-fermentation, integrated dark fermentation, and using ultrasound and microwave to break-down feedstock`s complex matrix and increase overall hydrogen yield. To properly report the impact of each parameter KPIs were identified as 1) Hydrogen yield, 2) energy consumption, 3) secondary waste generated, 4) CO2 footprint, 5) Product profile, 6) $/kg-H2 and 5) environmental impact. The feedstock is the main parameter defining the economic viability of biohydrogen production. Through parametric studies, it was found that biohydrogen production favors feedstock with higher carbohydrates. The feedstock composition was varied, by increasing one critical element (such as carbohydrate) and monitoring KPIs evolution. Different cases were studied with diverse feedstock, such as energy crops, wastewater slug, and lignocellulosic waste. The base case process was applied to have reference KPIs values and modifications such as pretreatment and feedstock mix-and-match were implemented to investigate KPIs changes. The complexity of the feedstock is the main bottleneck in the successful commercial deployment of the biohydrogen process as a reliable pathway for waste valorization. Hydrogen yield, reaction kinetics, and performance of key unit operations highly impacted as feedstock composition fluctuates during the lifetime of the process or from one case to another. In this case, concept of multi-product becomes more reliable. In this concept, the process is not designed to produce only one target product such as biohydrogen but will have two or multiple products (biohydrogen and biomethane or biochemicals). This new approach is being investigated by the BBA team and the results will be shared in another scientific contribution.

Keywords: biohydrogen, process scale-up, economic evaluation, commercialization uncertainties, hydrogen economy

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Authors: Shazali Abdulahi

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Project planning is the first phase in project life cycle which relates to the use of schedules such as Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report the project progress within the project environment. Likewise, project execution is the third phase in project lifecycle, is the phase where the work of the project must get done correctly and it’s the longest phase in the project lifecycle therefore, they must be effectively communicated, now today Communication has become the crucial element of every organization. During construction project delivery, information needs to be accurately and timely communicating among project stakeholders in order to realize the project objective. Effective communication among stakeholders during construction project delivery is one of the major factors that impact construction project delivery. Therefore, the aim of the research work is to examine the critical factors influencing effective communication among stakeholders on construction project delivery from the perspective of construction professionals (Architects, Builders, Quantity surveyors, and Civil engineers). A quantitative approach was adopted. This entailed the used of structured questionnaire to one (108) construction professionals in public and private organization within dutse metropolis. Frequency, mean, ranking and multiple linear regression using SPSS vision 25 software were used to analyses the data. The results show that Leadership, Trust, Communication tools, Communication skills, Stakeholders involvement, Cultural differences, and Communication technology were the most critical factors influencing effective communication among stakeholders on construction project delivery. The hypothesis revealed that, effective communication among stakeholders has significant effects on construction project delivery. This research work will profit the construction stakeholders in construction industry, by providing adequate knowledge regarding the factors influencing effective communication among stakeholders, so that necessary steps to be taken to improve project performance. Also, it will provide knowledge about the appropriate strategies to employ in order to improve communication among stakeholders.

Keywords: effetive communication, ineffective communication, stakeholders, project delivery

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Authors: Muthana Abdul Mjed Jamel Al-gburi

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The present paper introduces the methane-air flame and its main chemical reaction, the mass burning rate, the burning velocity, and the most important parameter, the adiabatic and its evaluation. Those major important flame parameters will be mathematically formulated and computerized using the MATLAB program. The present program established a new technique to decide the true adiabatic flame temperature. The new technique implements the trial and error procedure to obtained the calculated total internal energy of the product species then evaluate of the reactants ones, from both, we can draw two energy lines their intersection will decide the true required temperature. The obtained results show accurate evaluation for the atmospheric Stoichiometric (Φ=1.05) methane-air flame, and the value was 2136.36 K.

Keywords: 1- methane-air flame, 2-, adiabatic flame temperature, 3-, reaction model, 4- matlab program, 5-, new technique

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Authors: Djeamsly Salomon

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Background: Epidemiological surveillance is a dynamic national system used to observe all aspects of the evolution of priority health problems, through: collection, analysis, systematic interpretation of information, and dissemination of results with necessary recommendations. The study was conducted to assess the mandatory disease surveillance system in the Sud Department. Methods: A study was conducted from March to May 2021 with key players involved in surveillance at the level of health institutions in the department . The CDC's 2021 updated guideline was used to evaluate the system. We collected information about the operation, attributes, and usefulness of the surveillance system using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Epi-Info7.2 and Excel 2016 were used to generate the mean, frequencies and proportions. Results: Of 30 participants, 23 (77%) were women. The average age was 39 years[30-56]. 25 (83%) had training in epidemiological surveillance. (50%) of the forms checked were signed by the supervisor. Collection tools were available at (80%). Knowledge of at least 7 notifiable diseases was high (100%). Among the respondents, 29 declared that the collection tools were simple, 27 had already filled in a notification form. The maximum time taken to fill out a form was 10 minutes. The feedback between the different levels was done at (60%). Conclusion: The surveillance system is useful, simple, acceptable, representative, flexible, stable and responsive. The data generated was of high quality. However, it is threatened by the lack of supervision of sentinel sites, lack of investigation and weak feedback. This evaluation demonstrated the urgent need to improve supervision in the sites and to feedback information. Strengthen epidemiological surveillance.

Keywords: evaluation, notifiable diseases, surveillance, system

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Authors: Bayar Shahab

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The fast development of technology that has advanced neuroscience and human interaction with computers has enabled solutions to various problems, and issues of this new era have been found and are being found like no other time in history. Brain-computer interface so-called BCI has opened the door to several new research areas and have been able to provide solutions to critical and important issues such as supporting a paralyzed patient to interact with the outside world, controlling a robot arm, playing games in VR with the brain, driving a wheelchair or even a car and neurotechnology enabled the rehabilitation of the lost memory, etc. This review work presents state-of-the-art methods and improvements of canonical correlation analyses (CCA), which is an SSVEP-based BCI method. These are the methods used to extract EEG signal features or, to be said in a different way, the features of interest that we are looking for in the EEG analyses. Each of the methods from oldest to newest has been discussed while comparing their advantages and disadvantages. This would create a great context and help researchers to understand the most state-of-the-art methods available in this field with their pros and cons, along with their mathematical representations and usage. This work makes a vital contribution to the existing field of study. It differs from other similar recently published works by providing the following: (1) stating most of the prominent methods used in this field in a hierarchical way (2) explaining pros and cons of each method and their performance (3) presenting the gaps that exist at the end of each method that can open the understanding and doors to new research and/or improvements.

Keywords: BCI, CCA, SSVEP, EEG

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Authors: Bheeshma B., Mathivanan N., Manoj Deepak M., Prabhu Thangaraju, K. Venkatachalam

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This study involves the effect of autologous blood injection for patients who had degeneration of the origin of extensor carpi radialis brevis which was confirmed radio logically and by ultrasound examination and failed cortisone injections to the lateral epicondylitis. In this prospective longitudinal series involves pre-injection assessment of grip strength, pain, and function, using the patient-rated tennis elbow evaluation. In this study, blood from the contralateral limb is taken and injected into the affected limb with the help of ultrasound guidance and then the patient wore a customized wrist support for five days, after which they were commenced with stretching, strengthening, and massage programme with an occupational therapist. In these patients assessment was done after six months and then finally at 12 months after injection, using the patient-rated tennis elbow evaluation. 50 patients completed the study, showing significant improvement in pain; the worst pain decreased by two to five points out of a 10-point visual analogue for pain. Self-perceived function improved by 11–25 points out of 100. Women showed significant increase in grip, but men did not. Our study thus concludes that autologous blood injection show significant improvement in pain and function in patients with chronic lateral epicondylitis, who did not have relief with cortisone injection.

Keywords: lateral epicondylitis, autologous blood injection, conservative treatment, plasma-rich proteins (PRPs)

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Authors: Sigrid Haukanes

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Implementation of democratic citizenship as a crossdisciplinary concept in educational practice has been problematic because of a vague and divided understanding of what the concept entails. This is underlined by a divide between understanding democracy as external to the educational sphere or understanding education as an internal part of a democratic society. This theoretical contribution aims to explore the concept of democratic citizenship in relation to Bildung perspectives. The methodology of this paper is grounded in a hermeneutical approach to interpret three philosophical perspectives from Immanuel Kant, John Dewey and Gert Biesta. These perspectives are chosen to explore democratic citizenship as: (1) an individual oriented concept, (2) a socially oriented concept and (3) a critical-social oriented concept. This theoretical paper argues that different orientations toward Bildung change the content of democratic citizenship as a cross-disciplinary concept in education. It argues that a Dewian or a Biestian notion could enrich our understanding of democratic citizenship, drawing on a critical-social perspective of Bildung.

Keywords: bildung, citizenship, democracy, education

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Authors: Siddhartha Bhattacharya

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Steam Turbine-Generators (STG) and Combustion Turbine-Generator (CTG) are used in almost all modern petrochemical, LNG plants and power plant facilities. The reinforced concrete table top foundations are required to support these high speed rotating heavy machineries and is one of the most critical and challenging structures on any industrial project. The paper illustrates through a practical example, the step by step procedure adopted in designing a table top foundation supported on piles for a steam turbine generator with operating speed of 60 Hz. Finite element model of a table top foundation is generated in ANSYS. Piles are modeled as springs-damper elements (COMBIN14). Basic loads are adopted in analysis and design of the foundation based on the vendor requirements, industry standards, and relevant ASCE & ACI codal provisions. Static serviceability checks are performed with the help of Misalignment Tolerance Matrix (MTM) method in which the percentage of misalignment at a given bearing due to displacement at another bearing is calculated and kept within the stipulated criteria by the vendor so that the machine rotor can sustain the stresses developed due to this misalignment. Dynamic serviceability checks are performed through modal and forced vibration analysis where the foundation is checked for resonance and allowable amplitudes, as stipulated by the machine manufacturer. Reinforced concrete design of the foundation is performed by calculating the axial force, bending moment and shear at each of the critical sections. These values are calculated through area integral of the element stresses at these critical locations. Design is done as per ACI 318-05.

Keywords: steam turbine generator foundation, finite element, static analysis, dynamic analysis

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Authors: Carlos Riascos, Peter Thomson

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Real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) is a modern cyber-physical technique used for the experimental evaluation of complex systems, that treats the system components with predictable behavior as a numerical substructure and the components that are difficult to model as an experimental substructure. Therefore it is an attractive method for evaluation of the response of civil structures under earthquake, wind and anthropic loads. Another practical application of RTHS is the evaluation of control systems, as these devices are often nonlinear and their characterization is an important step in the design of controllers with the desired performance. In this paper, the response of three-story shear frame controlled by a tuned liquid column damper (TLCD) and subject to base excitation is considered. Both passive and semi-active control strategies were implemented and are compared. While the passive TLCD achieved a reduction of 50% in the acceleration response of the main structure in comparison with the structure without control, the semi-active TLCD achieved a reduction of 70%, and was robust to variations in the dynamic properties of the main structure. In addition, a RTHS was implemented with the main structure modeled as a linear, time-invariant (LTI) system through a state space representation and the TLCD, with both control strategies, was evaluated on a shake table that reproduced the displacement of the virtual structure. Current assessment measures for RTHS were used to quantify the performance with parameters such as generalized amplitude, equivalent time delay between the target and measured displacement of the shake table, and energy error using the measured force, and prove that the RTHS described in this paper is an accurate method for the experimental evaluation of structural control systems.

Keywords: structural control, hybrid simulation, tuned liquid column damper, semi-active sontrol strategy

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Authors: S. S. R. Shojaei, S. Kord Afshari

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The study was initiated to compare the production and defecation of Eimerial oocysts of two internationally reputed broiler strains under the local environmental and management conditions. 40 one-day old male chickens of Arbor Acres strain and ROSS strain (20 chicks from each strain) used in this study and were divided randomly into four control and challenge groups. Feed and water were provided for ad libitum consumption. At 15 d of age, chickens of challenge groups (from each strain) were individually inoculated with a mixture of 50000 of sporulated oocysts of 4 species including of E. acervulina (20%), E. maxima (40%), E. tenella (25%) and E. necatrix (15%) and also from the fourth day after Eimerial challenge, faecal droppings (litter samples) were collected 10 days consecutively for counting oocyst per gram (OPG). The results indicated that in the challenge groups, there was an increasing process of OPG in days of 4 to 7 post challenging and the pick level of OPG was seen at seventh day after challenging. From day 8 to 9, decreasing of OPG was happened. This decreasing continues with mild, fast and mild process to day of 13. Respectively and totally the average of OPG in the Arbor Acres group was lower than the group Ross in all days post inoculation and this difference was significant according to t-test. According to the obtained results in this study and since oocyst index almost always is considered as one of the most important indicators for coccidiosis evaluation, it can be realized that in the same surveillance condition the regarding the severity evaluation of coccidiosis, Arbor Acres strain broilers shed less oocysts than Ross strain broilers.

Keywords: arbor acres, ross, coccidiosis, OPG

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Authors: Fayaz Ali Shah, Aleena Shehzad

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The incidents of race or racial discrimination is still a part of the advanced and the so-called twenty-first-century America. It not only affects America's society but also greatly influences the third world countries due to the colonial approach by the British and America. Due to this discrimination, hundreds of Blacks in the US have been disappeared or prisoned for crimes they have not committed. The same sort of inequality can be seen in Pakistan due to the discrimination and prejudice by the Pakistani government and militants. Especially the tribal areas of Pakistan have been facing the worst in such situations. Thousands of people have been disappeared since 9/11 due to the adulterous approach by the government and military. The article is an approach to show the still racist view or Black marginalization, on the paradigm of racism, in the novel 'The Guardian' written by John Grisham. Also, it will enlighten readers about Pakistan's military and government approach towards discrimination, which creates great chaos in the country nowadays. The research will be qualitative and will use Critical Race Theory by Delgado and Steffencic for analysis.

Keywords: blacks, colonial, discrimination, disappeared, prison

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Authors: Mahmoud Zakeri Niri, Saber Moazami, Arman Abdollahipour, Hossein Ghalkhani

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The objective of this research is to hydrological evaluation of four widely-used satellite precipitation products named PERSIANN, TMPA-3B42V7, TMPA-3B42RT, and CMORPH over Zarinehrood basin in Iran. For this aim, at first, daily streamflow of Sarough-cahy river of Zarinehrood basin was simulated using IHACRES rainfall-runoff model with daily rain gauge and temperature as input data from 1988 to 2008. Then, the model was calibrated in two different periods through comparison the simulated discharge with the observed one at hydrometric stations. Moreover, in order to evaluate the performance of satellite precipitation products in streamflow simulation, the calibrated model was validated using daily satellite rainfall estimates from the period of 2003 to 2008. The obtained results indicated that TMPA-3B42V7 with CC of 0.69, RMSE of 5.93 mm/day, MAE of 4.76 mm/day, and RBias of -5.39% performs better simulation of streamflow than those PERSIANN and CMORPH over the study area. It is noteworthy that in Iran, the availability of ground measuring station data is very limited because of the sparse density of hydro-meteorological networks. On the other hand, large spatial and temporal variability of precipitations and lack of a reliable and extensive observing system are the most important challenges to rainfall analysis, flood prediction, and other hydrological applications in this country.

Keywords: hydrological evaluation, IHACRES, satellite precipitation product, streamflow simulation

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Authors: Misook Ahn

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This study examined the Digital Curriculum Repository (DCR) project initiated at Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). The purpose of the DCR is to build a centralized curriculum infrastructure, preserve all curriculum materials, and provide academic service to users (faculty, students, or other agencies). The DCR collection includes core language curriculum materials developed by each language school—foreign language textbooks, language survival kits, and audio files currently in or not in use at the schools. All core curriculum materials with audio and video files have been coded, collected, and preserved at the DCR. The DCR website was designed with MS SharePoint for easy accessibility by the DLIFLC’s faculty and students. All metadata for the collected curriculum materials have been input by language, code, year, book type, level, user, version, and current status (in use/not in use). The study documents digital curriculum preservation planning, actions, and challenges, including collecting, coding, collaborating, designing DCR SharePoint, and policymaking. DCR Survey data is also collected and analyzed for this research. Based on the finding, the study concludes that the mandatory policy for the DCR system and collaboration with school leadership are critical elements of a successful repository system. The sample collected items, metadata, and DCR SharePoint site are presented in the evaluation section.

Keywords: MS share point, digital preservation, repository, policy

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Authors: Ilirian Laçi, Alketa Spahiu

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Modality of treatment in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients depends on the stage of the disease. The Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Classification (BCLC) is the preferred staging system. There are many patients initially present with intermediate-stage disease. For these patients, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the treatment of choice. The differences in individual factors that are not captured by the BCLC framework, such as the tumor growth pattern, degree of hypervascularity, and vascular supply, complicate further evaluation of these patients. Because of these differences, not all patients benefit equally from TACE. Several tools have been devised to aid the decision-making process, which have shown promising initial results but have failed external evaluation and have not been translated to the clinic aspects. Criteria for treatment decisions in daily clinical practice are needed in all stages of the disease.

Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, transarterial chemoembolization, TACE, liver

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Authors: Sharon Lopez

Abstract:

Much of critical thought dismisses the notion of subaltern women engaging in resistance because of her complex colonial identity. She is seen in postcolonial theory as being "doubly effaced" and removed from exercising control to speak up and taking part in defiance. This line of reasoning suggests a critical area in which engaging with issues unavoidably excludes subaltern women from the emerging resistance discourse. A position like this also suggests a closed-minded view of human experience and a desire to maintain subalternity. The argument here is that subaltern women might be understood as achieving agency when they engage in resistance and speak out about their circumstances, whether aloud or in silence. Using deductions from Mahasweta Devi's literary narratives such as Imaginary Maps and Breast Stories, the study investigates the tactics Devi employs to engage marginalised women into resistance and establishes that the 'body' emerges in her stories not just as a site of oppression but also as an important motif of power and resistance.

Keywords: subaltern woman, reproductive docy, breast giver, devi

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Authors: Anastasia Stamatiou, Markus Odermatt, Dominic Leemann, Ludger J. Fischer, Joerg Worlitschek

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The successful integration of thermal energy storage in industrial processes is expected to play an important role in the energy turnaround. Latent heat storage technologies can offer more compact thermal storage at a constant temperature level, in comparison to conventional, sensible thermal storage technologies. The focus of this study is the development of latent heat storage solutions based on the Phase Change Slurry (PCS) concept. Such systems promise higher energy densities both as refrigerants and as storage media while presenting better heat transfer characteristics than conventional latent heat storage technologies. This technology is expected to deliver high thermal power and high-temperature stability which makes it ideal for storage of process heat. An evaluation of important batch processes in industrial applications set the focus on materials with a melting point in the range of 55 - 90 °C. Aluminium ammonium sulfate dodecahydrate (NH₄Al(SO₄)₂·12H₂O) was chosen as the first interesting PCM for the next steps of this study. The ability of this material to produce slurries at the relevant temperatures was demonstrated in a continuous mode in a laboratory test-rig. Critical operational and design parameters were identified.

Keywords: esters, latent heat storage, phase change materials, thermal properties

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Authors: G. Meccariello, L. Della Ragione

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The exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer and increases the risk of bladder cancer. Because air pollution in urban areas is mainly caused by transportation, it is necessary to evaluate pollutant exhaust emissions from vehicles during their real-world use. Nevertheless their evaluation and reduction is a key problem, especially in the cities, that account for more than 50% of world population. A particular attention was given to the slope variability along the streets during each journey performed by the instrumented vehicle. In this paper we dealt with the problem of describing a quantitatively approach for the reconstruction of GPS coordinates and altitude, in the context of correlation study between driving cycles / emission / geographical location, during an experimental campaign realized with some instrumented cars. Finally the slope analysis can be correlated to the emission and consumption values in a specific road position, and it could be evaluated its influence on their behaviour.

Keywords: air pollution, driving cycles, GPS signal, slope, emission factor, fuel consumption

Procedia PDF Downloads 387

Authors: Patricia Jiménez, Rafael Corchuelo, Hassan A. Sleiman

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Web mining is gaining importance at an increasing pace. Currently, there are many complementary research topics under this umbrella. Their common theme is that they all focus on applying knowledge discovery techniques to data that is gathered from the Web. Sometimes, these data are relatively easy to gather, chiefly when it comes from server logs. Unfortunately, there are cases in which the data to be mined is the data that is displayed on a web document. In such cases, it is necessary to apply a pre-processing step to first extract the information of interest from the web documents. Such pre-processing steps are performed using so-called information extractors, which are software components that are typically configured by means of rules that are tailored to extracting the information of interest from a web page and structuring it according to a pre-defined schema. Paramount to getting good mining results is that the technique used to extract the source information is exact, which requires to evaluate and compare the different proposals in the literature from an empirical point of view. According to Google Scholar, about 4 200 papers on information extraction have been published during the last decade. Unfortunately, they were not evaluated within a homogeneous framework, which leads to difficulties to compare them empirically. In this paper, we report on an original information extraction evaluation method. Our contribution is three-fold: a) this is the first attempt to provide an evaluation method for proposals that work on semi-structured documents; the little existing work on this topic focuses on proposals that work on free text, which has little to do with extracting information from semi-structured documents. b) It provides a method that relies on statistically sound tests to support the conclusions drawn; the previous work does not provide clear guidelines or recommend statistically sound tests, but rather a survey that collects many features to take into account as well as related work; c) We provide a novel method to compute the performance measures regarding unsupervised proposals; otherwise they would require the intervention of a user to compute them by using the annotations on the evaluation sets and the information extracted. Our contributions will definitely help researchers in this area make sure that they have advanced the state of the art not only conceptually, but from an empirical point of view; it will also help practitioners make informed decisions on which proposal is the most adequate for a particular problem. This conference is a good forum to discuss on our ideas so that we can spread them to help improve the evaluation of information extraction proposals and gather valuable feedback from other researchers.

Keywords: web information extractors, information extraction evaluation method, Google scholar, web

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Authors: Sahar Shahsavaripour Ghazanfarpour

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As our daily life depends on quality of built services by systems and using devices in our environment; so education and model of software′s quality will be so important. By daily growth in software′s systems and using them so much, progressing process and requirements′ evaluation in primary level of progress especially architecture level in software get more important. Modern driver architecture changes an in dependent model of a level into some specific models that their purpose is reducing number of software changes into an executive model. Process of designing software engineering is mid-automated. The needed quality attribute in designing architecture and quality attribute in representation are in architecture models. The main problem is the relationship between needs, and elements in some aspect with implicit models and input sources in process. It’s because there is no detection ability. The MART profile is use to describe real-time properties and perform plat form modeling.

Keywords: MDA, DW, OMG, UML, AKB, software architecture, ontology, evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 493

Authors: Piyush Hajela

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Public spaces within Indian markets are vibrant, colorful and contain dimensions that make them attractive and therefore act as popular gathering spaces. Most of these public spaces emerge as squares, plazas of varied shapes and sizes spread at different locations within the market. These public spaces grow organically and are discovered by the people themselves as they respond positively to the collective human senses. On the other hand, there are the planned and designed public spaces as well that are less active. This research evaluates both the planned and the organically transformed public spaces in Indian markets from an Urban Design point of view. The purpose of such research is to provide a basis for design solutions to ensure the success of designed public spaces. The evaluation is done for identified Attributes, namely Comfort, Protection, Familiarity, Activities, Form, Legibility, Engagement, Safety, Accessibility, Environment and Transformations by which a Public Space attains its recognition. The evaluation is based on a rating done for forty-four parameters falling under eleven attributes of public space. An opinion survey of professionals is conducted for their priorities of attributes while designing Public spaces. A comparison is made to rank these attributes between Planned and Organically transformed Public spaces and, opinion of the professionals. After dues analysis, the research suggests the learning from the organically transformed Public spaces for ensuring the success of designed public spaces. The suggestions may be in the form of Design decisions or administrative regulations, or both for achieving the desirables.

Keywords: assessment, attributes, engagement, interaction

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Authors: Sandeep Singh

Abstract:

In this article, two classes of iterative schemes are proposed for approximating solutions of nonlinear systems of equations whose orders of convergence are six and eight respectively. Sixth order scheme requires the evaluation of two vector-functions, two first Fr'echet derivatives and three matrices inversion per iteration. This three-step sixth-order method is further extended to eighth-order method which requires one more step and the evaluation of one extra vector-function. Moreover, computational efficiency is compared with some other recently published methods in which we found, our methods are more efficient than existing numerical methods for higher and medium size nonlinear system of equations. Numerical tests are performed to validate the proposed schemes.

Keywords: Nonlinear systems, Computational complexity, order of convergence, Jarratt-type scheme

Procedia PDF Downloads 133