Search results for: compound growth rate

Authors: Ana Belon Hercilla

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The study is developed in “Reactivos Jeans” company, in the city of Arequipa, whose main business is the laundry of garments at an industrial level. In 2012 the company initiated actions to provide a dry cleaning service of alpaca fiber garments, recognizing that this item is in a growth phase in Peru. Additionally this company took the initiative to use a new greenwashing technology which has not yet been developed in the country. To accomplish this, a redesign of both the process and the plant layout was required. For redesigning the plant, the methodology used was the Systemic Layout Planning, allowing this study divided into four stages. First stage is the information gathering and evaluation of the initial situation of the company, for which a description of the areas, facilities and initial equipment, distribution of the plant, the production process and flows of major operations was made. Second stage is the development of engineering techniques that allow the logging and analysis procedures, such as: Flow Diagram, Route Diagram, DOP (process flowchart), DAP (analysis diagram). Then the planning of the general distribution is carried out. At this stage, proximity factors of the areas are established, the Diagram Paths (TRA) is developed, and the Relational Diagram Activities (DRA). In order to obtain the General Grouping Diagram (DGC), further information is complemented by a time study and Guerchet method is used to calculate the space requirements for each area. Finally, the plant layout redesigning is presented and the implementation of the improvement is made, making it possible to obtain a model much more efficient than the initial design. The results indicate that the implementation of the new machinery, the adequacy of the plant facilities and equipment relocation resulted in a reduction of the production cycle time by 75.67%, routes were reduced by 68.88%, the number of activities during the process were reduced by 40%, waits and storage were removed 100%.

Keywords: redesign, time optimization, industrial laundry, greenwashing

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Authors: U. Ugochukwu, J. Lee, P. Conley

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According to a recent survey by the UT Southwestern Workplace Safety Committee, the three most common on-the-job injuries reported by workers at the medical center are musculoskeletal injuries, slip-and-fall injuries and repetitive motion injuries. Last year alone, of the 650 documented workplace injuries and accidents, 45% were seen in employees in their first-two years of employment. UT Southwestern New Employee On-Boarding program was created and modeled to follows OSHA’s model that consist of: determining if training is needed, identifying training needs, identifying goals and objectives, developing learning activities, conducting the training, evaluating program effectiveness, and improving the program. The hospital’s management best practices were recreated to limit and control workplace injuries and accidents. Regular trainings and workshops on workplace safety and compliance were initiated for new employees. Various computer workstations were evaluated and recommendations were made to reduce musculoskeletal disorders. Post exposure protocols and workers protection programs were remodeled for infectious agents and chemicals used in the hospital, and medical surveillance programs were updated, for every emerging threat, to ensure they are in compliance with the US policy, regulatory and standard setting organizations. If ignorance of specific job hazards and of proper work practices is to blame for this higher injury rate, then training will help to provide a solution. Use of this program in training activities is just one of many ways UT Southwestern complied with the OSHA standards that relate to training while enhancing the safety and health of their employees.

Keywords: ergonomics, hazard, on-boarding, surveillance, workplace

Procedia PDF Downloads 320

Authors: Randa Ismail Sharafeddine

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The Islamic economic system is distinctive in that it implicitly recognizes money as a separate, independent component of production capable of assuming risk and so entitled to the same reward as other Entrepreneurial Factors of Production (EFP). Conventional theory does not identify money capital explicitly as a component of production; rather, interest is recognized as a reward for capital, the interest rate is the cost of money capital, and it is also seen as a cost of physical capital. The conventional theory of production examines how diverse non-entrepreneurial resources (Land, Labor, and Capital) are selected; however, the economic theory community is largely unaware of the reasons why these resources choose to remain as non-entrepreneurial resources as opposed to becoming entrepreneurial resources. Should land, labor, and financial asset owners choose to work for others in return for rent, income, or interest, or should they engage in entrepreneurial risk-taking in order to profit. This is a decision made often in the actual world, but it has never been effectively treated in economic theory. This article will conduct a critical analysis of the conventional classification of factors of production and propose a classification for resource allocation and income distribution (Rent, Wages, Interest, and Profits) that is more rational, even within the conventional theoretical framework for evaluating and developing production and distribution theories. Money is an essential component of production in an Islamic economy, and it must be used to sustain economic activity.

Keywords: financial capital, production theory, distribution theory, economic activity, riba avoidance, institution of participation

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Authors: N. S. El-Mougy, M. M. Abdel-Kader, H. M. Abouelnasr

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The efficacy of two essential oils applied as a bean seed dressing followed by seedlings foliar spray with four commercial disinfectants against root rot and wilt incidence was evaluated under field conditions. The essential oils, grape seed and peppermint oils and the disinfectants, Gold, Revarest, Klenva, Malva were applied. Chitosan and the fungicide Topsin-M were used as comparison treatment. Essential oils individually or combined with disinfectants were applied as a bean seed dressing. Furthermore, emerged bean plants were sprayed with the same treatments. Under laboratory conditions, growth inhibition effect was observed for the isolated, tested fungi R. solani and F. oxysporum when exposed to essential oils individually or combined with disinfectants. A high inhibitor effect was recorded for peppermint followed by grape seed oils. Concentrations of 1% and 2% of chitosan as well as Topsin M at 400 ppm showed complete reduction (100%) in the two fungal growths. Under field conditions, the obtained results showed that the applied treatments of chitosan had a superior effect on root rot and wilt disease incidence compared with other tested treatments. It was found that seed coating treatment provides good protection of emerged green bean seeds against the root pathogens attack compared with the fungicide and control treatments. Also, the application of seed dressing with essential oils accompanied by seedling spray demonstrated similar results. It was observed that essential oils had an enhancing effect against disease incidence when combined with disinfectants compared with their application. The obvious yield increase was significantly higher in all applied treatments than in fungicide and control.

Keywords: bean, disinfectants, essential oils, root rot, wilt

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Authors: Neslihan Ozman Say, Jim Gilmour, Pratik Desai, William Zimmerman

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Landfill leachate treatment has been attracting researchers recently for various environmental and economical reasons. Leachate discharge to receiving waterbodies without treatment causes serious detrimental effects including partial oxygen depletion due to high biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations besides toxicity of heavy metals it contains and high ammonia concentrations. In this study, it is aimed to show microalgal ammonia removal performances of a wild microalgae consortia as an alternative treatment method and determine the dominant leachate tolerant species for this consortia. For the microalgae species identification experiments a microalgal consortium which has been isolated from a local pond in Sheffield inoculated in %5 diluted raw landfill leachate and acclimated to the leachate by batch feeding for a month. In order to determine the most tolerant microalgal consortium, four different untreated landfill leachate samples have been used as diluted in four different ratios as 5%, 10%, 20%, and 40%. Microalgae cell samples have been collected from all experiment sets and have been examined by using 18S rDNA sequencing and specialised gel electrophoresis which are adapted molecular biodiversity methods. The best leachate tolerant algal consortium is being used in order to determine ammonia removal performances of the culture in a microbubble assisted photobioreactor (PBR). A porous microbubble diffuser which is supported by a fluidic oscillator is being used for dosing CO₂ and air mixture in the PBR. It is known that high mass transfer performance of microbubble technology provides a better removal efficiency and a better mixing in the photobioreactor. Ammonia concentrations and microalgal growth are being monitored for PBR currently. It is aimed to present all the results of the study in final paper submission.

Keywords: ammonia removal from leachate, landfill leachate treatment, microalgae species identification, microbubble assisted photobioreactors

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Zahid Ullah, Atlas Khan

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The rapid growth of data in various domains has created a pressing need for effective methods to transform this data into meaningful knowledge. In this era of big data, mathematical and statistical innovations play a crucial role in unlocking insights and facilitating informed decision-making in data analytics. This abstract aims to explore the transformative potential of these innovations and their impact on converting raw data into actionable knowledge. Drawing upon a comprehensive review of existing literature, this research investigates the cutting-edge mathematical and statistical techniques that enable the conversion of data into knowledge. By evaluating their underlying principles, strengths, and limitations, we aim to identify the most promising innovations in data analytics. To demonstrate the practical applications of these innovations, real-world datasets will be utilized through case studies or simulations. This empirical approach will showcase how mathematical and statistical innovations can extract patterns, trends, and insights from complex data, enabling evidence-based decision-making across diverse domains. Furthermore, a comparative analysis will be conducted to assess the performance, scalability, interpretability, and adaptability of different innovations. By benchmarking against established techniques, we aim to validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed mathematical and statistical innovations in data analytics. Ethical considerations surrounding data analytics, such as privacy, security, bias, and fairness, will be addressed throughout the research. Guidelines and best practices will be developed to ensure the responsible and ethical use of mathematical and statistical innovations in data analytics. The expected contributions of this research include advancements in mathematical and statistical sciences, improved data analysis techniques, enhanced decision-making processes, and practical implications for industries and policymakers. The outcomes will guide the adoption and implementation of mathematical and statistical innovations, empowering stakeholders to transform data into actionable knowledge and drive meaningful outcomes.

Keywords: data analytics, mathematical innovations, knowledge extraction, decision-making

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Authors: Hala Alshamlan, Ghada Badr, Yousef Alohali

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Cancer is one of the dreadful diseases, which causes considerable death rate in humans. DNA microarray-based gene expression profiling has been emerged as an efficient technique for cancer classification, as well as for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment purposes. In recent years, a DNA microarray technique has gained more attraction in both scientific and in industrial fields. It is important to determine the informative genes that cause cancer to improve early cancer diagnosis and to give effective chemotherapy treatment. In order to gain deep insight into the cancer classification problem, it is necessary to take a closer look at the proposed gene selection methods. We believe that they should be an integral preprocessing step for cancer classification. Furthermore, finding an accurate gene selection method is a very significant issue in a cancer classification area because it reduces the dimensionality of microarray dataset and selects informative genes. In this paper, we classify and review the state-of-art gene selection methods. We proceed by evaluating the performance of each gene selection approach based on their classification accuracy and number of informative genes. In our evaluation, we will use four benchmark microarray datasets for the cancer diagnosis (leukemia, colon, lung, and prostate). In addition, we compare the performance of gene selection method to investigate the effective gene selection method that has the ability to identify a small set of marker genes, and ensure high cancer classification accuracy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to compare gene selection approaches for cancer classification using microarray gene expression profile.

Keywords: gene selection, feature selection, cancer classification, microarray, gene expression profile

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Authors: Kamran Siddique, Hiroyuki Asada, Yoshifumi Ogami

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The use of Micro Gas Turbine (MGT) as the engine in Unmanned Aerobic Vehicles (UAVs) and power source in Robotics is widespread these days. Research has been conducted in the past decade or so to improve the performance of different components of MGT. This type of engine has interrelated components which have non-linear characteristics. Therefore, the overall engine performance depends on the individual engine element’s performance. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is one of the simulation method tools used to analyze or even optimize MGT system performance. In this study, the compressor of the MGT is designed, and performance optimization is being done using CFD. Performance of the micro compressor is improved in order to increase the overall performance of MGT. A high value of pressure ratio is to be achieved by studying the effect of change of different operating parameters like mass flow rate and revolutions per minute (RPM) and aerodynamical and geometrical parameters on the pressure ratio of the compressor. Two types of compressor designs are considered in this study; 3D centrifugal and ‘planar’ designs. For a 10 mm impeller, the planar model is the simplest compressor model with the ease in manufacturability. On the other hand, 3D centrifugal model, although more efficient, is very difficult to manufacture using current microfabrication resources. Therefore, the planar model is the best-suited model for a micro compressor. So. a planar micro compressor has been designed that has a good pressure ratio, and it is easy to manufacture using current microfabrication technologies. Future work is to fabricate the compressor to get experimental results and validate the theoretical model.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, microfabrication, MEMS, unmanned aerobic vehicles

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Authors: Affiah D. U., Katuri I. P., Emefiene M. E., Amienyo C. A.

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Broccoli (Brassica oleraceae L., var. italica) is one of the most important vegetables that is high in nutrients and bioactive compounds. It easily grown on a wide range of soil types and is adaptable to many different climatic conditions. This study was carried out within Jos North and environs in vitro to evaluate Neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves extract against Albugo candida, the causative agent of white blisters disease of broccoli. Through the survey, prevalence and incidence were accessed and a fluffy white growth symptom on the underside of leaves was also observed on the field. Infected leaves samples were collected from three different farms namely: Farin Gada, Naraguta, and Juth and the organism associated with the disease was isolated. Pathogenicity test carried out revealed the fungal isolate Albugo candida to be responsible for the disease. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed using agar well diffusion method to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations of two extract of Azadirachta indica leaves against the organism. Ethanolic extract had the highest antifungal activities of 3.30±0.21 - 17.61± 0.11 while aqueous extract had the least antifungal activities of 0.00±0.00 - 13.23±0.12. The minimum inhibitory concentration of aqueous was 100 mg/ml while its minimum fungicidal concentration was at 200 mg/ml. For ethanol, the minimum inhibitory concentration was 50 mg/ml while its minimum fungicidal concentration was 100 mg/ml. Plants being less toxic in usage over synthetic or inorganic chemicals makes them easy to handle, easily accessible and renewable. Due to the biosafety of plant extracts and its availability since the plant-based extracts of the two different solvents were found to be effective against the test organism hence, it is recommended for in-depth research to make it readily available for control of other pathogens and pests.

Keywords: antifungal, biocontrol, broccoli, fungi

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Authors: Khalid S. Hashim, Andy Shaw, Rafid Alkhaddar, David Phipps, Ortoneda Pedrola

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Temperature is an essential parameter in the electrocoagulation process (EC) as it governs the solubility of electrodes and the precipitates and the collision rate of particles in water being treated. Although it has been about 100 years since the EC technology was invented and applied in water and wastewater treatment, the effects of temperature on the its performance were insufficiently investigated. Thus, the present project aims to fill this gap by an innovative use of perforated flow columns in the designing of a new EC reactor (ECR1). The new reactor (ECR1) consisted of a Perspex made cylinder container supplied with a flow column consisted of perorated discoid electrodes that made from aluminium. The flow column has been installed vertically, half submerged in the water being treated, inside a plastic cylinder. The unsubmerged part of the flow column works as a radiator for the water being treated. In order to investigate the performance of ECR1; water samples with different initial temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 °C) to the ECR1 for 20 min. Temperature of effluent water samples were measured using Hanna meter (Model: HI 98130). The obtained results demonstrated that the ECR1 reduced water temperature from 35, 30, and 25 °C to 24.6, 23.8, and 21.8 °C respectively. While low water temperature, 15 °C, increased slowly to reach 19.1 °C after 15 minutes and kept the same level till the end of the treatment period. At the same time, water sample with initial temperature of 20 °C showed almost a steady level of temperature along the treatment process, where the temperature increased negligibly from 20 to 20.1 °C after 20 minutes of treatment. In conclusion, ECR1 is able to control the temperature of water being treated around the room temperature even when the initial temperature was high (35 °C) or low (15 °C).

Keywords: electrocoagulation, flow column, treatment, water temperature

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Authors: Mustafa Durmuş, Yesim Ozogul, Esra Balıkcı, Saadet Gokdoğan, Fatih Ozogul, Ali Rıza Köşker, İlknur Yuvka

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Food scientists and researchers have paid attention to develop new ways for improving the nutritional value of foods. The application of nanotechnology techniques to the food industry may allow the modification of food texture, taste, sensory attributes, coloring strength, processability, and stability during shelf life of products. In this research, the effects of nanoemulsions based on commercial oils for vacuum-packed sea bass fillets stored at 2±2°C were investigated in terms of the sensory, chemical (total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), thiobarbituric acid (TBA), peroxide value (PV) and free fatty acids (FFA), pH, water holding capacity (WHC)) and microbiological qualities (total anaerobic bacteria and total lactic acid bacteria). Physical properties of emulsions (viscosity, the particle size of droplet, thermodynamic stability, refractive index, and surface tension) were determined. Nanoemulsion preparation method was based on high energy principle, with ultrasonic homojenizator. Sensory analyses of raw fish showed that the demerit points of the control group were found higher than those of treated groups. The sensory score (odour, taste and texture) of the cooked fillets decreased with storage time, especially in the control. Results obtained from chemical and microbiological analyses also showed that nanoemulsions significantly (p<0.05) decreased the values of biochemical parameters and growth of bacteria during storage period, thus improving quality of vacuum-packed sea bass.

Keywords: quality parameters, nanoemulsion, sea bass, shelf life, vacuum packing

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Authors: Gaafar Muhammed, N. T. Ersoy

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The role of electricity in the economic development of any country is undeniable. The main goal of utilizing renewable sources in electricity generation, especially in the emerging countries, is to improve electricity access, economic development and energy sustainability. Germany’s recent transition from conventional to renewable energy technologies is overwhelming, this might not be associated with its abundant natural resources but owing to the policies in place. In line with the fast economic and technological developments recorded in recent years, Germany currently produces approximately 1059 GW of its energy from renewable sources. Hence, at the end of 2016, Germany is among the world leaders in terms of installed renewable energy capacity. As one of the most important factors that lead to renewable energy utilization in any nation is an effective policy, this study aims at examining the effect of policies on renewable energy (RE) development in Germany. Also, the study will focus on the evolution of the adopted feed-in tariff policies, as this evolution has affected the renewable energy capacity in Germany over a period of 15 years (2000 to 2015). The main contribution of the study is to establish a link between the feed-in tariff and the increase of RE in Germany’s energy mix. This is done by analyzing the characteristics of various feed-in tariff mechanisms adopted through the years. These characteristics include the feed-in-tariff rate, degression, special conditions, supported technology, etc. Then, the renewable energy development in Germany has been analyzed through the years along with the targets and the progress in reaching these targets. The study reveals that Germany’s renewable energy support policies (especially feed-in tariff) lead to several benefits and contribute towards the targets existing for renewable energy.

Keywords: feed-in tariff, Germany, policy, penewable energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 272

Authors: Matthew Kostawich, Mohammed Elmorsy, Mohamed Sayed Sifat, Shoukry Shams, Mahmoud Elsaadany

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6G communication systems represent the nominal future extension of current wireless technology, where its impact is extended to touch upon all human activities, including medical, security, and entertainment applications. As a result, human needs are allocated among the highest priority aspects of the system design and requirements. 6G communications is expected to replace all the current video conferencing with interactive virtual reality meetings involving high data-rate transmission merged with massive distributed computing resources. In addition, the current expansion of IoT applications must be mitigated with significant network changes to provide a reasonable Quality of Service (QoS). This directly implies a high demand for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) through mobile computing modules in future wireless communication systems. This article proposes the utilization of a Printed Ridge Gap Waveguide (PRGW) to host the wearable nodes. To the best of our knowledge, we propose for the first time a physical layer analysis within the context of a complete architecture. A thorough study is provided on the impact of the distortion of the guiding structure on the overall system performance. The proposed structure shows small latency and small losses, highlighting its compatibility with future applications.

Keywords: ridge gap waveguide, edge computing module, 6G, multimedia IoT applications

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Authors: Ting Wang, Pierre Marle, Vera I. Slaveykova, Kristin Schirmer, Wei Liu

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Metal-based nanoparticles (NPs) are considered detrimental to aquatic organisms due to their potential accumulation. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying these effects and their species-specificity. Here, we used stable silver (Ag) NPs (20 nm, from 10 to 500 μg/L) with a low dissolution rate (≤2.4%) to study the bioaccumulation and biological impacts in two freshwater gastropods: Lymnaea stagnalis and Planorbarius corneus. No mortality was detected during the experiments. Ag bioaccumulation showed a dose-related increase with an enhanced concentration in both species after 7d exposure. L. stagnalis displayed a higher accumulation for AgNPs than P. corneus (e.g., up to 18- and 15-fold in hepatopancreas and hemolymph, respectively), which could be due to the more active L. stagnalis having greater contact with suspended AgNPs. Furthermore, the hepatopancreas and stomach were preferred organs for bioaccumulation compared to the kidney, mantle and foot. Regarding biological responses, the hemolymph rather than hepatopancreas appeared more susceptible to oxidative stress elicited by AgNPs, as shown by significantly increasing lipid peroxidation (i.e., formation of malondialdehyde). Neurotoxicity was detected in L. stagnalis when exposed to high concentrations (500 μg/L). Comparison with impacts elicited by dissolved Ag revealed that the effects observed on AgNPs exposure were mainly attributable to NPs. These results highlighted the relationship between the physiological traits, bioaccumulation, and toxicity responses of these two species to AgNPs and demonstrated the necessity of species-specificity considerations when assessing the toxicity of NPs.

Keywords: nanotoxicity, freshwater gastropods, species-specificity, metals, physiological traits

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Authors: Mulubrhan Berihu

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Due to the design versatility, availability, and cost efficiency, concrete continues to be the most used construction material on earth. However, the production of Portland cement, the primary component of concrete mix is causing to have a serious effect on environmental and economic impacts. This shows there is a need to study using of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). The most commonly used supplementary cementitious materials are wastes, and the use of these industrial waste products has technical, economic, and environmental benefits besides the reduction of CO2 emission from cement production. This paper aims to document the effect on the strength property of concrete due to the use of low cement by maximizing supplementary cementitious materials like fly ash. The amount of cement content was below 250 kg/m3, and in all the mixes, the quantity of powder (cement + fly ash) is almost kept at about 500 kg. According to this, seven different cement content (250 kg/m3, 195 kg/m3, 150 kg/m3, 125 kg/m3, 100 kg/m3, 85 kg/m3, 70 kg/m3) with different amount of replacement of SCMs was conducted. The mix proportion was prepared by keeping the water content constant and varying the cement content, SCMs, and water-to-binder ratio. Based on the different mix proportions of fly ash, a range of mix designs was formulated. The test results showed that using up to 85 kg/m3 of cement is possible for plain concrete works like hollow block concrete to achieve 9.8 Mpa, and the experimental results indicate that strength is a function of w/b. The experiment result shows a big difference in gaining of compressive strength from 7 days to 28 days and this obviously shows the slow rate of hydration of fly ash concrete. As the w/b ratio increases, the strength decreases significantly. At the same time, higher permeability was seen in the specimens which were tested for three hours than one hour.

Keywords: efficiency factor, cement content, compressive strength, mix proportion, w/c ratio, water permeability, SCMs

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Authors: M. J. Kim, D. B. Lee

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Centrifugal casting is a metal casting method that uses forces make by centripetal acceleration to distribute molten material in mold. Centrifugal cast parts manufactured in industry contain gas pipes and water supply lines, moreover rings, turbocharger, bushings, brake drums. Turbochargers were exposed to exhaust temperatures of 900-1050°C require a material for the corrosion resistance that will withstand such high component temperatures during the entire service life of the vehicle. Hence, the study of corrosion resistance for turbocharger is important for practical application. DIN1.4091 steels were used widely. The DIN1.4091 steels whose compositions were Fe-34.4Cr-14.5Ni-2.5Mo-0.4W-0.4Mn-0.5Si-(0.009 or 0.35)S (wt.%) were centrifugally cast, and oxidized at 900°C for 50-200 h in order to find the effect of sulfur on the high-temperature oxidation of Fe-34.4Cr-14.5Ni-2.5Mo-0.4W-0.4Mn-0.5Si-(0.009 or 0.35)S (wt.%) alloys. These alloys formed oxide scales that consisted primarily of Cr₂O₃ as the major oxide and Cr₂MnO₄ as the minor one through preferential oxidation of Cr and Mn. Cr formed a thin CrOx oxide film on the surface to prevent further oxidation, and when it is added more than 20%, the sulphide decreased corrosion rate. The high affinity of Mn with S, led to the formation of scattered MnS inclusions, particularly in the 0.35S-containing cast alloy. Sulfur was harmful to the oxidation resistance because it deteriorated the scale/alloy adherence so as to accelerate the adherence and compactness of the formed scales. Acknowledgement: This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2016R1A2B1013169).

Keywords: centrifugal casting, turbocharger, sulfur, oxidation, Fe-34.4Cr-14.5Ni alloy

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Authors: My Ha, Suwei Lin, Huiying Zou

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This study aimed at investigating the association between teacher support and academic resilience in a developing country. Using the data from PISA 2018 Student Questionnaire and Cognitive Tests, the study provided evidence of the significant impact teacher support had on reading literacy among 15-year-old students from low socio-economic status (SES) homes in Vietnam. From a total of 5773 Vietnamese participants from all backgrounds, a sample of 1765 disadvantaged students was drawn for analysis. As a result, 32 percent of the low SES sample was identified as resilient. Through their response to the PISA items regarding the frequency of support they received from teachers, the result of Latent Class Analysis (LCA) divides children into three subgroups: High Support (74.6%), Fair Support (21.6%), and Low Support (3.8%). The high support group reported the highest proportion of resilient students. Meanwhile, the low support group scored the lowest mean on reading test and had the lowest rate of resilience. Also, as the level of support increases, reading achievement becomes less dependent on socioeconomic status, reflected by the decrease in both the slope and magnitude of their correlation. Logistic regression revealed that 1 unit increase in standardized teacher support would lead to an increase of 29.1 percent in the odds of a student becoming resilient. The study emphasizes the role of supportive teachers in promoting resilience, as well as lowering educational inequity in general.

Keywords: academic resilience, disadvantaged students, teacher support, inequity, PISA

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Authors: Alemayehu Ambaw, Matia Mukama, Umezuruike Linus Opara

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This study introduces a comprehensive method for designing ventilated corrugated fiberboard carton for fresh fruit packaging utilising virtual prototyping. The technique efficiently assesses and analyses the mechanical and thermal capabilities of fresh fruit packing boxes prior to making production investments. Comprehensive structural, aerodynamic, and thermodynamic data from designs were collected and evaluated in comparison to real-world packaging needs. Physical prototypes of potential designs were created and evaluated afterward. The virtual prototype is created with computer-aided graphics, computational structural dynamics, and computational fluid dynamics technologies. The virtual prototyping quickly generated data on carton compression strength, airflow resistance, produce cooling rate, spatiotemporal temperature, and product quality map in the cold chain within a few hours. Six distinct designs were analysed. All the various carton designs showed similar effectiveness in preserving the quality of the goods. The innovative packaging box design is more compact, resulting in a higher freight density of 1720 kg more fruit per reefer compared to the commercial counterpart. The precooling process was improved, resulting in a 17% increase in throughput and a 30% reduction in power usage.

Keywords: postharvest, container logistics, space/volume usage, computational method, packaging technology

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Authors: J. B. Qin, X. H. Jiang, Y. T. Ge

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The growing awareness of global warming potential has internationally aroused interest and demand in reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity. Much national energy in the UK had been consumed in the residential sector mainly for space heating and domestic hot water production. Currently, gas boilers are mostly applied in the domestic water heating which contribute significantly to excessive CO₂ emissions and consumption of primary energy resources. The issues can be solved by popularizing heat pump systems that are attributable to higher performance efficiency than those of traditional gas boilers. Even so, the heat pump system performance can be further enhanced if the dissolved gases in its hot water circuit can be efficiently discharged.  To achieve this target, the bubble behaviors in the heat pump water heating system need to be extensively investigated. In this paper, by varying different experimental conditions, the effects of various heat pump hot water side parameters on gas microbubble diameters were measured and analyzed. Correspondingly, the effect of each parameter has been investigated. These include varied system pressures, water flow rates, saturation ratios and heat outputs. The results measurement showed that the water flow rate is the most significant parameter to influence on gas microbubble productions. The research outcomes can significantly contribute to the understanding of gas bubble behaviors at domestic heat pump water heating systems and thus the efficient way for the discharging of the associated dissolved gases.  

Keywords: heat pump water heating system, microbubble formation, dissolved gases in water, effectiveness

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: A. Ashraff

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The increasing importance of the web as a medium for electronic and business transactions has served as a catalyst or rather a driving force for the introduction and implementation of recommender systems. Recommender Systems play a major role in processing and analyzing thousands of data rows or reviews and help humans make a purchase decision of a product or service. It also has the ability to predict whether a particular user would rate a product or service based on the user’s profile behavioral pattern. At present, Recommender Systems are being used extensively in every domain known to us. They are said to be ubiquitous. However, in the field of recruitment, it’s not being utilized exclusively. Recent statistics show an increase in staff turnover, which has negatively impacted the organization as well as the employee. The reasons being company culture, working flexibility (work from home opportunity), no learning advancements, and pay scale. Further investigations revealed that there are lacking guidance or support, which helps a job seeker find the company that will suit him best, and though there’s information available about companies, job seekers can’t read all the reviews by themselves and get an analytical decision. In this paper, we propose an approach to study the available review data on IT companies (score their reviews based on user review sentiments) and gather information on job seekers, which includes their Psychometric evaluations. Then presents the job seeker with useful information or rather outputs on which company is most suitable for the job seeker. The theoretical approach, Algorithmic approach and the importance of such a system will be discussed in this paper.

Keywords: psychometric tests, recommender systems, sentiment analysis, hybrid recommender systems

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Authors: Aleksandar M. Radojković, Jovana M. Ćirković, Sanja Z. Perać, Jelena N. Jovanović, Zorica M. Branković, Slobodan D. Milanović, Ivan Lj. Milenković, Jovan N. Dobrosavljević, Nemanja V. Simović, Vanja M. Tadić, Ana R. Žugić, Goran O. Branković

Abstract:

In many parts of the world, various Phytophthora species pose a serious threat to forests and crops. With the rapidly growing international trade in plants and the ongoing impacts of climate change, the harmful effects of plant pathogens of the genus Phytophthora are increasing, damaging the biodiversity and sustainability of forest ecosystems. This genus is one of the most destructive plant pathogens, causing the majority of fine root (66%) and collar rot diseases (90%) of woody plant species worldwide. Eco-friendly biopesticides, based on plant-derived products, such as essential oils (EOs), are one of the promising solutions to this problem. In this study, among three different EOs investigated (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana (A. Murr.) Parl., Thuja plicata Donn ex D.Don and Juniperus communis L.), western red cedar (Thuja plicata) essential oil almost completely inhibited the growth of three Phytophthora species (P. plurivora Jung and Burgess, P. quercina Jung, and P. ×cambivora (Petri) Buisman) during seven days of exposure for the EO concentrations of 0.1% and 0.5% (v/v). To prolong the inhibiting effect, Thuja plicata EO was encapsulated into a biopolymer matrix consisting of a chitosan-gelatin mixture to form a water-in-oil emulsion. This approach allowed the prolonged effect of the essential oil by its slow release from the biopolymer matrix and protection of the active components from atmospheric influences. Thus, it was demonstrated that encapsulated Thuja plicata EO consisting of sustainable bioproducts is efficient in controlling of Phytophthora species and can be considered a means of protection in natural and semi-natural ecosystems.

Keywords: emulsions, essential oils, phytophthora, thuja plicata

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Authors: Zeineb Ben Salem, Wissem Frikha, Mounir Bouassida

Abstract:

Liquefaction has been responsible for tremendous amounts of damage in historical earthquakes around the world. The installation of stone columns is widely adopted to prevent liquefaction. Stone columns provide a drainage path, and due to their high permeability, allow for the quick dissipation of earthquake generated excess pore water pressure. Several excess pore pressure generation models in silty sand have been developed and calibrated based on the results of shaking table and centrifuge tests focusing on the effect of silt content on liquefaction resistance. In this paper, the generation and dissipation of excess pore pressure variation of reinforced silty sand by stone columns during liquefaction are analyzedwith different silt content based on test results. In addition, the installation effect of stone columns is investigated. This effect is described by a decrease in horizontal permeability within a disturbed zone around the column. Obtained results show that reduced soil permeability and a larger disturbed zone around the stone column increases the generation of excess pore pressure during the cyclic loading and decreases the dissipation rate after cyclic loading. On the other hand, beneficial effects of silt content were observed in the form of a decrease in excess pore water pressure.

Keywords: stone column, liquefaction, excess pore pressure, silt content, disturbed zone, reduced permeability

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: E. Mattio

Abstract:

The aim of this project is to study the Chinese presence in Ethiopia, following the path of the last salt caravans from Danakil to Tigray region. Official estimates of the number of Chinese in Africa vary widely; on the continent, there are increasingly diverse groups of Chinese migrants in terms of language, dialect, class, education, and employment. Based on this and on a very general state of the art, it was decided to increase the studies on this phenomenon, documenting the extraction of salt and following the sellers in the north of the country. The project is unique and allows you to admire a landscape that will soon change, due to the construction of infrastructure that is changing the dynamics of movement and sales. To carry out this study, interdisciplinary investigation methods were integrated, such as landscape archeology, historiographic research, participatory anthropology, geopolitics, and cultural anthropology and ethnology. There are two main objectives of the research. The first was an analysis of risk perceptions to predict what will happen to these populations and how the territory will be modified, trying to monitor the growth of infrastructure in the country and the effects it will have on the population. Thanks to the use of GIS, some roads created by Chinese companies that worked in the area have been georeferenced. The second point was to document the life and rituals of Ethiopian populations, in order not to lose the aspects of uniqueness that risk being lost. The local interviews have garnered impressions and criticisms from the local population to understand whether the Chinese presence is perceived as a threat or a solution. Among the most exclusive interviews, there are those made to Afar leaders in the Logya area and some Coptic representatives in the Wukro area. To make this project even more unique, the Coptic rituals of Gennà and Timkat have been documented, unique expressions of a millennial tradition. The aim was to understand whether the Maoist presence began to influence the religious rites and forms of belief present in the country.

Keywords: China, Ethiopia, GIS, risk perceptions

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Authors: Madhuri S. Ghate, Rahul P. Chavhan, Shriya S. Nahar

Abstract:

Learning objective: •To describe Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) imaging appearances of typical and atypical uterine fibroids with emphasis on differentiating it from other similar conditions. •To classify uterine fibroids according to International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Sub-classifications system and emphasis on its clinical significance. •To show cases with atypical imaging appearances atypical fibroids Material and methods: MRI of Pelvis had been performed in symptomatic women of child bearing age group on 1.5T and 3T MRI using T1, T2, STIR, FAT SAT, DWI sequences. Contrast was administered when degeneration was suspected. Imaging appearances of Atypical fibroids and various degenerations in fibroids were studied. Fibroids were classified using FIGO Sub-classification system. Its impact on surgical decision making and clinical outcome were also studied qualitatively. Results: Intramural fibroids were most common (14 patients), subserosal 7 patients, submucosal 5 patients . 6 patients were having multiple fibroids. 7 were having atypical fibroids. (1 hyaline degeneration, 1 cystic degeneration, 1 fatty, 1 necrosis and hemorrhage, 1 red degeneration, 1 calcification, 1 unusual large bilobed growth). Fibroids were classified using FIGO system. In uterus conservative surgeries, the lesser was the degree of myometrial invasion of fibroid, better was the fertility outcome. Conclusion: Relationship of fibroid with mucosal and serosal layers is important in the management of symptomatic fibroid cases. Risk to fertility involved in uterus conservative surgeries in women of child bearing age group depends on the extent of myometrial invasion of fibroids. FIGO system provides better insight into the degree of myometrial invasion. Knowledge about the atypical appearances of fibroids is important to avoid diagnostic confusion and untoward treatment.

Keywords: degeneration, FIGO sub-classification, MRI pelvis, uterine fibroids

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Authors: Jiahe Ru, Yan Pang, Zhaomiao Liu

Abstract:

Necking processes of the Janus droplet generation in the cross-junction microchannels are experimentally and theoretically investigated. The two dispersed phases that are simultaneously shear by continuous phases are liquid paraffin wax and 100cs silicone oil, in which 80% glycerin aqueous solution is used as continuous phases. According to the variation of minimum neck width and thinning rate, the necking process is divided into two stages, including the two-dimensional extrusion and the three-dimensional extrusion. In the two-dimensional extrusion stage, the evolutions of the tip extension length for the two discrete phases begin with the same trend, and then the length of liquid paraffin is larger than silicone oil. The upper and lower neck interface profiles in Janus necking process are asymmetrical when the tip extension velocity of paraffin oil is greater than that of silicone oil. In the three-dimensional extrusion stage, the neck of the liquid paraffin lags behind that of the silicone oil because of the higher surface tension, and finally, the necking fracture position gradually synchronizes. When the Janus droplets pinch off, the interfacial tension becomes positive to drive the neck thinning. The interface coupling of the three phases can cause asymmetric necking of the neck interface, which affects the necking time and, ultimately, the droplet volume. This paper mainly investigates the thinning dynamics of the liquid-liquid interface in confined microchannels. The revealed results could help to enhance the physical understanding of the droplet generation phenomenon.

Keywords: neck interface, interface coupling, janus droplets, multiphase flow

Procedia PDF Downloads 103

Authors: Mansoor Soomro

Abstract:

The evolution of power electronic equipment has been pivotal in making industrial processes productive, efficient and safe. Despite its attractive features, it has been due to nonlinear loads which make it vulnerable to power quality conditions. Harmonics is one of the power quality problem in which the harmonic frequency is integral multiple of supply frequency. Therefore, the supply voltage and supply frequency do not last within their tolerable limits. As a result, distorted current and voltage waveform may appear. Attributes of low power quality confirm that an electrical device or equipment is likely to malfunction, fail promptly or unable to operate under all applied conditions. The electrical power system is designed for delivering power reliably, namely maximizing power availability to customers. However, power quality events are largely untracked, and as a result, can take out a process as many as 20 to 30 times a year, costing utilities, customers and suppliers of load equipment, a loss of millions of dollars. The ill effects of current harmonics reduce system efficiency, cause overheating of connected equipment, result increase in electrical power and air conditioning costs. With the passage of time and the rapid growth of power electronic converters has highlighted the damages of current harmonics in the electrical power system. Therefore, it has become essential to address the bad influence of current harmonics while planning any suitable changes in the electrical installations. In this paper, an effort has been made to mitigate the effects of dominant 3rd order current harmonics. Passive filtering technique with six pulse multiplication converter has been employed to mitigate them. Since, the standards of power quality are to maintain the supply voltage and supply current within certain prescribed standard limits. For this purpose, the obtained results are validated as per specifications of IEEE 519-1992 and IEEE 519-2014 performance standards.

Keywords: current harmonics, power quality, passive filters, power electronic converters

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Ismail Aslantas

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Value-Added Models (VAMs), the statistical methods for evaluating the effectiveness of teachers and schools based on student achievement growth, has attracted decision-makers’ and researchers’ attention over the last decades. As a result of this attention, many studies have conducted in recent years to discuss these statistical models from different aspects. This research focused on the importance of conceptual variables in VAM estimations; therefor, this research was undertaken to examine the extent to which value-added effectiveness estimates for teachers can be affected by using context predictions. Using longitudinal data over three years from the international school context, value-added teacher effectiveness was estimated by ordinary least-square value-added models, and the effectiveness of the teachers was examined. The longitudinal dataset in this study consisted of three major sources: students’ attainment scores up to three years and their characteristics, teacher background information, and school characteristics. A total of 1,027 teachers and their 35,355 students who were in eighth grade were examined for understanding the impact of model specifications on the value-added teacher effectiveness evaluation. Models were created using selection methods that adding a predictor on each step, then removing it and adding another one on a subsequent step and evaluating changes in model fit was checked by reviewing changes in R² values. Cohen’s effect size statistics were also employed in order to find out the degree of the relationship between teacher characteristics and their effectiveness. Overall, the results indicated that prior attainment score is the most powerful predictor of the current attainment score. 47.1 percent of the variation in grade 8 math score can be explained by the prior attainment score in grade 7. The research findings raise issues to be considered in VAM implementations for teacher evaluations and make suggestions to researchers and practitioners.

Keywords: model specification, teacher effectiveness, teacher performance evaluation, value-added model

Procedia PDF Downloads 116

Authors: Arab M., Ait Abdallah M., Zeraoulia N., Boumaza H., Aoutia M., Griene L., Ait Abdelkader B.,

Abstract:

breast and ovarian cancer are respectively the first and fourth leading causes of cancer among women in Algeria. A family story of cancer in the most important risk factor, and in most cases of families with breast and /or ovarian cancer, the pattern of cancer family can be attributed to mutation in BRCA1/2genes. objectibes: the aim of our study in to investigate the spectrum of BRCA1/2 germiline mutation in familial breast and /or ovarian cancer and to determine the prevalence and the nature of BRCA1/2mutation in Algeria methods: we deremined the prevalence of BRCA1/2 mutation within a cohort of 161 probands selected according the eisinger score double stranded sanger sequencing of all coding exons of BRCA1/2including flanking intronic region were performed results: we identified a total of 23 distinct deleterious mutations (class5) 12 differents mutations in BRCA1(52%) and 11 in BRCA2(48%). 78% (18/23) were protein truncating and 22%(5/23) missens mutations.3 novel deleterious mutations have been identified, which have not been described in public mutation database. one new mutation were found in two unrelated patients. the overall mutation detection rate in our study is 28,5%(46/161).more over, an UVS c7783 located in BRCA2 is found in two unrelated probands and segregate in the 02 families/ conclusion: our results sugget of large spectrum of BRCA1/2 mutation in Algerian breast/ovarian cancer family. The nature and prevalence of BRCA1/2mutation in algerian families are ongoing in a larger study, 80 probands are to day under investigation. This study which may therefore identify the genetic particularity of Algerian breast /ovarian cancer.

Keywords: BRCA1/2 mutations, hereditary breast cancer, algerian women, prvalence

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Abdulraaof H. Alqaili, Hamad A. Alsoliman

Abstract:

Through progress in pavement design developments, a pavement design method was developed, which is titled the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). Nowadays, the evolution in roads network and highways is observed in Saudi Arabia as a result of increasing in traffic volume. Therefore, the MEPDG currently is implemented for flexible pavement design by the Saudi Ministry of Transportation. Implementation of MEPDG for local pavement design requires the calibration of distress models under the local conditions (traffic, climate, and materials). This paper aims to prepare data for calibration of MEPDG in Central Saudi Arabia. Thus, the first goal is data collection for the design of flexible pavement from the local conditions of the Riyadh region. Since, the modifying of collected data to input data is needed; the main goal of this paper is the analysis of collected data. The data analysis in this paper includes processing each: Trucks Classification, Traffic Growth Factor, Annual Average Daily Truck Traffic (AADTT), Monthly Adjustment Factors (MAFi), Vehicle Class Distribution (VCD), Truck Hourly Distribution Factors, Axle Load Distribution Factors (ALDF), Number of axle types (single, tandem, and tridem) per truck class, cloud cover percent, and road sections selected for the local calibration. Detailed descriptions of input parameters are explained in this paper, which leads to providing of an approach for successful implementation of MEPDG. Local calibration of MEPDG to the conditions of Riyadh region can be performed based on the findings in this paper.

Keywords: mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG), traffic characteristics, materials properties, climate, Riyadh

Procedia PDF Downloads 217

Authors: Farida Naceur

Abstract:

Algerian cities experienced after the independence of the country a rapid urbanisation process fostered by population growth. In order to deal with the severe housing shortage resulted, large social public housing programs totally financed by the government were launched across the country during the eighty. Unfortunately, the standardized multistory buildings produced underwent intense deterioration and turned very quickly after their occupancy into sources of nuisance and distress. The government adopted a new housing policy in 2000, which aims to diversify housing types according to household incomes and encourage access to housing property. The model of participatory social housing emerged; it was designed for the intermediate groups, allowing them to benefit from direct financial aid and to borrow credit from banks in order to purchase their dwellings. Twenty years afterward, no assessment to date has been established to evaluate the real impact of such a strategy. The aim of this paper is to examine whether this type of housing helped to stimulate a participative dynamism among its occupants to strengthen their commitment, their involvement in the maintenance and keeping of their surroundings. For the purpose of the study, we focus our attention on various participatory social housing settlements in Batna and Biskra, two medium-sized cities in eastern Algeria. The investigation is structured in various types of analysis: a spatial analysis, observations, interviews with public authorities representatives, chief planners, and experts. In addition to this, informal interviews with occupants of various participatory social housing settlements were arranged to collect qualitative data. Occupants were asked open questions focusing on their daily life and practices in order to examine their degree of involvement in their neighbourhood’s life.

Keywords: participatory social housing, rental social housing, involvement, maintenance, social interactions, community life

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