Search results for: order

Authors: Komal Rathore, Aydin Sunol, Gita Iranipour, Luke Mulford

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Advanced wastewater treatment plants have complex biological kinetics, time variant influent flow rates and long processing times. Due to these factors, the modeling and operational control of advanced wastewater treatment plants become complicated. However, development of a robust model for advanced wastewater treatment plants has become necessary in order to increase the efficiency of the plants, reduce energy costs and meet the discharge limits set by the government. A dynamic model was designed using the Envirosim (Canada) platform software called BioWin for several wastewater treatment plants in Hillsborough County, Florida. Proper control strategies for various parameters such as mixed liquor suspended solids, recycle activated sludge and waste activated sludge were developed for models to match the plant performance. The models were tuned using both the influent and effluent data from the plant and their laboratories. The plant SCADA was used to predict the influent wastewater rates and concentration profiles as a function of time. The kinetic parameters were tuned based on sensitivity analysis and trial and error methods. The dynamic models were validated by using experimental data for influent and effluent parameters. The dissolved oxygen measurements were taken to validate the model by coupling them with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models. The Biowin models were able to exactly mimic the plant performance and predict effluent behavior for extended periods. The models are useful for plant engineers and operators as they can take decisions beforehand by predicting the plant performance with the use of BioWin models. One of the important findings from the model was the effects of recycle and wastage ratios on the mixed liquor suspended solids. The model was also useful in determining the significant kinetic parameters for biological wastewater treatment systems.

Keywords: BioWin, kinetic modeling, flowsheet simulation, dynamic modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 157

Authors: Dib Imane, Chettah Wahid, Khedidja Abdelhamid

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The plain of Gadaïne - Ain Yaghout, located in the wilaya of Batna (Eastern Algeria), experiences intensive human activities, particularly in agricultural practices which are accompanied by an increasing use of chemical fertilizers and manure. These activities lead to a degradation of the quality of water resources. In order to protect the quality of groundwater in this plain and formulate effective strategies to mitigate or avoid any contamination of groundwater, a risk assessment using the European method known as “COSTE Action 620” was applied to the mio-. plio-quaternary aquifer of this plain. Risk assessment requires the identification of existing dangers and their potential impact on groundwater by using a system of evaluation and weighting. In addition, it also requires the integration of the hydrogeological factors that influence the movement of contaminants by means of the intrinsic vulnerability maps of groundwater, which were produced according to the modified DRASTIC method. The overall danger on the plain ranges from very low to high. Farms containing stables, houses detached from the public sewer system, and sometimes manure piles were assigned a weighting factor expressing the highest degree of harmfulness; this created a medium to high danger index. Large areas for agricultural practice and grazing are characterized, successively, by low to very low danger. Therefore, the risks present at the study site are classified according to a range from medium to very high-risk intensity. These classes successively represent 3%, 49%, and 0.2% of the surface of the plain. Cultivated land and farms present a high to very high level of risk successively. In addition, with the exception of the salt mine, which presents a very high level of risk, the gas stations and cemeteries, as well as the railway line, represent a high level of risk.

Keywords: semi-arid, quality of water resources, risk assessment, vulnerability, contaminants

Procedia PDF Downloads 52

Authors: Asawari Alok Pawaskar

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This study was aimed at investigating quality assurance (QA) done with IBA matrix, the discrepan­cies observed for helical tomotherapy plans. A selection of tomotherapy plans that initially failed the with Matrix process was chosen for this investigation. These plans failed the fluence analysis as assessed using gamma criteria (3%, 3 mm). Each of these plans was modified (keeping the planning constraints the same), beamlets rebatched and reoptimized. By increasing and decreasing the modula­tion factor, the fluence in a circumferential plane as measured with a diode array was assessed. A subset of these plans was investigated using varied pitch values. Factors for each plan that were examined were point doses, fluences, leaf opening times, planned leaf sinograms, and uniformity indices. In order to ensure that the treatment constraints remained the same, the dose-volume histograms (DVHs) of all the modulated plans were compared to the original plan. It was observed that a large increase in the modulation factor did not significantly improve DVH unifor­mity, but reduced the gamma analysis pass rate. This also increased the treatment delivery time by slowing down the gantry rotation speed which then increases the maximum to mean non-zero leaf open time ratio. Increasing and decreasing the pitch value did not substantially change treatment time, but the delivery accuracy was adversely affected. This may be due to many other factors, such as the complexity of the treatment plan and site. Patient sites included in this study were head and neck, breast, abdomen. The impact of leaf tim­ing inaccuracies on plans was greater with higher modulation factors. Point-dose measurements were seen to be less susceptible to changes in pitch and modulation factors. The initial modulation factor used by the optimizer, such that the TPS generated ‘actual’ modulation factor within the range of 1.4 to 2.5, resulted in an improved deliverable plan.

Keywords: dose volume histogram, modulation factor, IBA matrix, tomotherapy

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: Weaam Aldeeban, Majd Aljamali, Lama A. Youssef

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Background & Objective: Warfarin is considered a problematic drug due to its narrow therapeutic window and wide inter-individual response variations, which are attributed to demographic, environmental, and genetic factors, particularly single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in the genes encoding VKORC1 and CYP2C9 involved in warfarin's mechanism of action and metabolism, respectively. CYP2C9*2rs1799853 and CYP2C9*3rs1057910 alleles are linked to reduced enzyme activity, as carriers of either or both alleles are classified as moderate or slow metabolizers, and therefore exhibit higher sensitivity of warfarin compared with wild type (CYP2C9*1*1). Our study aimed to assess the frequency of *1, *2, and *3 alleles in the CYP2C9 gene in a cohort of Syrian patients receiving a maintenance dose of warfarin for different indications, the impact of genotypes on warfarin dosing, and the frequency of adverse effects (i.e., bleedings). Subjects & Methods: This retrospective cohort study encompassed 94 patients treated with warfarin. Patients’ genotypes were identified by sequencing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) specific products of the gene encoding CYP2C9, and the effects on warfarin therapeutic outcomes were investigated. Results: Sequencing revealed that 43.6% of the study population has the *2 and/or *3 SNPs. The mean weekly maintenance dose of warfarin was 37.42 ± 15.5 mg for patients with the wild-type allele (CYP2C9*1*1), whereas patients with one or both variants (*2 and/or *3) demanded a significantly lower dose (28.59 ±11.58 mg) of warfarin, (P= 0.015). A higher percentage (40.7%) of patients with allele *2 and/or *3 experienced hemorrhagic accidents compared with only 17.9% of patients with the wild type *1*1, (P = 0.04). Conclusions: Our study proves an association between *2 and *3 genotypes and higher sensitivity to warfarin and a tendency to bleed, which necessitates lowering the dose. These findings emphasize the significance of CYP2C9 genotyping prior to commencing warfarin therapy in order to achieve optimal and faster dose control and to ensure effectiveness and safety.

Keywords: warfarin, CYP2C9, polymorphisms, Syrian, hemorrhage

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Younes El Khchine, Mohammed Sriti

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A parametric study has been conducted to analyse the flow around S809 airfoil of wind turbine in order to better understand the characteristics and effects of laminar separation bubble (LSB) on aerodynamic design for maximizing wind turbine efficiency. Numerical simulations were performed at low Reynolds number by solving the Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations based on C-type structural mesh and using γ-Reθt turbulence model. Two-dimensional study was conducted for the chord Reynolds number of 1×105 and angles of attack (AoA) between 0 and 20.15 degrees. The simulation results obtained for the aerodynamic coefficients at various angles of attack (AoA) were compared with XFoil results. A sensitivity study was performed to examine the effects of Reynolds number and free-stream turbulence intensity on the location and length of laminar separation bubble and aerodynamic performances of wind turbine. The results show that increasing the Reynolds number leads to a delay in the laminar separation on the upper surface of the airfoil. The increase in Reynolds number leads to an accelerate transition process and the turbulent reattachment point move closer to the leading edge owing to an earlier reattachment of the turbulent shear layer. This leads to a considerable reduction in the length of the separation bubble as the Reynolds number is increased. The increase of the level of free-stream turbulence intensity leads to a decrease in separation bubble length and an increase the lift coefficient while having negligible effects on the stall angle. When the AoA increased, the bubble on the suction airfoil surface was found to moves upstream to leading edge of the airfoil that causes earlier laminar separation.

Keywords: laminar separation bubble, turbulence intensity, S809 airfoil, transition model, Reynolds number

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Hanwei Cheng, Chengbei Xu, Yijie Wang

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More and more college students are accustomed to surfing the Internet everyday. As community members, college students have ability to express opinions and participate in social affairs, they not only accept information passively, but also voice their concerns on the Internet. We interpret the online discourses featured with anonymization, so it helps us more effectively and conveniently understand the behaviors and thoughts of college students, and educators can thus grasp the scales and directions in guiding online language. We analyzed online comments in both content and form aspects in one student forum (named Dandan, the BNU’s campus forum), and through methods of literature review and interview, we found that in term of content, college students pay attention to practical information online, emphasize on personal development and pursue hot issues; in term of form, college students' online language displays cross-border quality sometimes under the general feature of normative, and they often explore a certain topic in the form of question or discussion, and they like to show feelings in ironic and stream-of-consciousness ways. It is argued that college students intend to establish a community to facilitate personal development and meet emotional needs through the student forum, and by making comments at the forum they are also able to get involved in public affairs. We should pay attention to problems of college students' online discourse, such as boundary issues (like informal advertisement and information authenticity), emotional issues and the spread of gossip. Some possible solutions to solving online discourse problems can be applied, like we can improve access systems of student forum, clarify principles of Internet langue use, change oversimplified management approaches and use some other tactics, in order to form a mechanism of student self-regulation, also deepen the trust and cooperation between school administrators and students.

Keywords: online language, youth discourse, content and form, implication and strategy

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: Shanika Y. Koreshi

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Sri Lanka housed the lingerie product development and manufacturing subsidiary to renowned brands such as La Senza, Marks & Spencer, H&M, Etam, Lane Bryant, and George. Over the last few years, they have produced local brands such as Amante to cater to the local and regional customers. Past research has identified factors such as quality, price, and design to be vital when marketing lingerie to consumers. However, there has been minimum research that looks into the ethnically targeted market and skin colour within the Asian population. Therefore, the main aim of the research was to identify whether consumer preference for lingerie is influenced by the skin tone of the model wearing it. Moreover, the secondary aim was to investigate if the consumer preference for lingerie is influenced by the consumer’s ethnic identification with the skin tone of the model. An experimental design was used to explore the above aims. The participants constituted of 66 females residing in the western province of Sri Lanka and were gathered via convenience sampling. Six computerized images of a real model were used in the study, and her skin tone was digitally manipulated to express three different skin tones (light, tan and dark). Consumer preferences were measured through a ranking order scale that was constructed via a focus group discussion and ethnic identity was measured by the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure-Revised. Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Friedman test, and chi square test of independence were carried out using SPSS version 20. The results indicated that majority of the consumers ethnically identified and preferred the tan skin over the light and dark skin tones. The findings support the existing literature that states there is a preference among consumers when models have a medium skin tone over a lighter skin tone. The preference for a tan skin tone in a model is consistent with the ethnic identification of the Sri Lankan sample. The study implies that lingerie brands should consider the model's skin tones when marketing the brand to different ethnic backgrounds.

Keywords: consumer preference, ethnic identification, lingerie, skin tone

Procedia PDF Downloads 262

Authors: Kayum Fokoue Carole

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This paper aims at verifying the effectiveness of reaching target populations while paying attention to their cultural background when communicating new knowledge, ideas or technology in a multicultural world. Our case study is an experiment on the communication of knowledge on breast cancer in three sub-Saharan countries (Ghana, Tchad, and Cameroon health). The methodology consisted of submitting a semi-structured questionnaire to local populations in some localities in these target countries in order to determine the cultural barriers hindering the effective communication of knowledge on breast cancer. Once this done, sensitization documents on breast cancer were translated into Ewe (Ghana), Mbaye (Tchad), Ghomala’, Ewondo, and Fufulde (Cameroon). In each locality, a sensitization programme was organised for two groups. For one group, the cultural barriers discovered were taken into consideration while communicating during the programme whereas in the other group, they were not. Another questionnaire was disseminated after three months to verify the level of appropriation of those who attended the campaign based on Chumbow’s appropriation theory. This paper, therefore, discusses some spiritual beliefs, representations and practices in the target African communities hindering effective communication of issues on breast cancer in the target localities. Findings reveal that only 38% of respondents in the group of those for whom cultural barriers were not taken into account during the programme had a high level of appropriation while for the other group, 86% had a high level of appropriation. This is evidence that the communication of issues on breast cancer can be more effective by reaching different populations in a language they best master while paying attention to their culture. Therefore, international communication of new knowledge should be culturally contextualised. Suggestions at the end of the paper are directed towards the achievement of these goals. The present work promotes international partnership in addressing and resolving global health preoccupations since research findings from one community/country can be mutualized in partnership with other communities and countries.

Keywords: cultural barriers, communication, health, breast cancer

Procedia PDF Downloads 343

Authors: Khaled Mawardi

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Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis L.) is an evergreen of the Laurus genus of the Lauraceae Family. It is a plant native to the southern Mediterranean and widespread in Syria. It is a plant with enormous industrial applications. For instance, they are used as platform chemicals in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. Herein, we report an efficient extraction of Bay laurel oil from Bay laurel fruits via a comparative investigation of boiled water conventional extraction technique and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) by microwave heating at atmospheric pressure. In order to optimize the extraction efficiency, we investigated several extraction parameters, such as extraction time and microwave power. In addition, to demonstrate the feasibility of the method, oil obtained under optimal conditions by method (MAE) was compared quantitatively and qualitatively with that obtained by the conventional method. After 1h of microwave-assisted extraction (power of 600W), an oil yield of 9.8% with identified lauric acid content of 22.7%. In comparison, an extended extraction of up to 4h was required to obtain a 9.7% yield of oil extraction with 21.2% of lauric acid content. The change in microwave power impacts the fatty acids profile and also the quality parameters of Laurel Oil. It was found that the profile of fatty acids changed with the power, where the lauric acid content increased from 22.7% at 600W to 30.5% at 1200W owing to a decrease of oleic acid content from 32.8% at 600W to 28.3% at 1200W and linoleic acid content from 22.3% at 600W to 20.6% at 1200W. In addition, we observed a decrease in oil yield from 9.8% at 600W to 5.1% at 1200W. Summarily, the overall results indicated that the extraction of laurel fruit oils could be successfully performed using (MAE) at a short extraction time and lower energy compared with the fixed oil obtained by conventional processes of extraction. Microwave heating exerted more aggressive effects on the oil. Indeed, microwave heating inflicted changes in the fatty acids profile of oil; the most affected fraction was the unsaturated fatty acids, with higher susceptibility to oxidation.

Keywords: microwaves, extraction, Laurel oil, solvent-free

Procedia PDF Downloads 69

Authors: Adebowale Olukayode Efunnowo

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This study was carried out to assess the awareness and utilization of Social Network Tools (SNTs) among agricultural science students in Colleges of Education in Ogun State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling techniques were used to select 280 respondents from the study area. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the objectives while Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test the hypothesis. The result showed that the majority (71.8%) of the respondents were single, with a mean age of 20 years. Almost all (95.7%) the respondents were aware of Facebook and 2go as a Social Network Tools (SNTs) while 85.0% of the respondents were not aware of Blackplanet, LinkedIn, MyHeritage and Bebo. Many (41.1%) of the respondents had views that using SNTs can enhance extensive literature survey, increase internet browsing potential, promote teaching proficiency, and update on outcomes of researches. However, 51.4% of the respondents perceived that SNTs usage as what is meant for the lecturers/adults only while 16.1% considered it as mainly used by internet fraudsters. Findings revealed that about 50.0% of the respondents browsed Facebook and 2go daily while more than 80% of the respondents used Blackplanet, MyHeritage, Skyrock, Bebo, LinkedIn and My YearBook as the need arise. Major constraints to the awareness and utilization of SNTs were high cost and poor quality of ICTs facilities (77.1%), epileptic power supply (75.0%), inadequate telecommunication infrastructure (71.1%), low technical know-how (62.9%) and inadequate computer knowledge (61.1%). The result of PPMC analysis showed that there was an inverse relationship between constraints and utilization of SNTs at p < 0.05. It can be concluded that constraints affect efficient and effective utilization of SNTs in the study area. It is hereby recommended that management of colleges of education and agricultural institutes should provide good internet connectivity, computer facilities, and alternative power supply in order to increase the awareness and utilization of SNTs among students.

Keywords: awareness, utilization, social network tools, constraints, students

Procedia PDF Downloads 356

Authors: Sanela Slavkovic, Congor Nad, Spela Golubovic

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Background: The diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) is a major life challenge and has repercussions on all aspects of the daily functioning of those attained by it – personal activities, social participation, and quality of life. Regular follow-up of only the neurological status is not informative enough so that it could provide data on the sort of support and rehabilitation that is required. Objective: The aim of this study was to establish the current level of functioning of persons attained by MS and the factors that influence it. Methods: The study was conducted in Serbia, on a sample of 108 persons with relapse-remitting form of MS, aged 20 to 53 (mean 39.86 years; SD 8.20 years). All participants were fully ambulatory. Methods applied in the study include Expanded Disability Status Scale-EDSS and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule, WHODAS 2.0 (36-item version, self-administered). Results: Participants were found to experience the most problems in the domains of Participation, Mobility, Life activities and Cognition. The least difficulties were found in the domain of Self-care. Symptom duration was the only control variable with a significant partial contribution to the prediction of the WHODAS scale score (β=0.30, p < 0.05). The total EDSS score correlated with the total WHODAS 2.0 score (r=0.34, p=0.00). Statistically significant differences in the domain of EDSS 0-5.5 were found within categories (0-1.5; 2-3.5; 4-5.5). The more pronounced a participant’s EDSS score was, although not indicative of large changes in the neurological status, the more apparent the changes in the functional domain, i.e. in all areas covered by WHODAS 2.0. Pyramidal (β=0.34, p < 0.05) and Bowel and bladder (β=0.24, p < 0.05) functional systems were found to have a significant partial contribution to the prediction of the WHODAS score. Conclusion: Measuring functioning and disability is important in the follow-up of persons suffering from MS in order to plan rehabilitation and define areas in which additional support is needed.

Keywords: disability, functionality, multiple sclerosis, rehabilitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: Francesca di Donato, Sara Trucco

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Green accounting is a growing topic of interest. Indeed, nowadays, most firms affect the environment; therefore, companies are seeking the best way to disclose environmental information. Furthermore, companies are increasingly committed to improving the environment, and the topic is gaining more importance to the public, governments, and policymakers. Green accounting is a type of accounting that considers environmental costs and their impact on the financial performance of firms. Thus, the motivation of the current research is to investigate the state-of-the-art literature on the relationship between green accounting and firm performance since the birth of the topic of green accounting and to investigate gaps in the literature that represent fruitful terrain for future research. In doing so, this study provides a bibliometric literature review of existing evidence related to the link between green accounting and firm performance since 2000. The search, based on the most relevant databases for scientific journals (which are Scopus, Emerald, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Econlit), returned 1917 scientific articles. The articles were manually reviewed in order to identify only the relevant studies in the field by excluding articles with titles and abstracts out of scope. The final sample was composed of 107 articles. A content analysis was carried out on the final sample of articles; in doing so, a classification system has been proposed. Findings show the most relevant environmental costs and issues considered in previous studies and how green accounting may be linked to the financial and non-financial performance of a firm. The study also offers suggestions for future research in this domain. This study has several practical implications. Indeed, the topic of green accounting may be applied to different sectors and different types of companies. Therefore, this study may help managers to better understand the most relevant environmental information to disclose and how environmental issues may be managed to improve the performance of the firms. Moreover, the bibliometric literature review may be of interest to those stakeholders who are interested in the historical evolution of the topic.

Keywords: bibliometric literature review, firm performance, green accounting, literature review

Procedia PDF Downloads 71

Authors: Gheyder Concha Bendezu, Rodrigo Lescano Loli, Aldo Bravo Lizano

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In big urbanized cities of Latin America, motor vehicles have priority over non-motor vehicles and pedestrians. There is an important problem that affects people's health and quality of life; lack of inclusion towards pedestrians makes it difficult for them to move smoothly and safely since the city has been planned for the transit of motor vehicles. Faced with the new trend for sustainable and economical transport, the city is forced to develop infrastructure in order to incorporate pedestrians and users with non-motorized vehicles in the transport system. The present research aims to study the influence of non-motorized vehicles on an avenue, the optimization of a cycle using traffic lights based on simulation in Synchro software, to improve the flow of non-motor vehicles. The evaluation is of the microscopic type; for this reason, field data was collected, such as vehicular, pedestrian, and non-motor vehicle user demand. With the values of speed and travel time, it is represented in the current scenario that contains the existing problem. These data allow to create a microsimulation model in Vissim software, later to be calibrated and validated so that it has a behavior similar to reality. The results of this model are compared with the efficiency parameters of the proposed model; these parameters are the queue length, the travel speed, and mainly the travel times of the users at this intersection. The results reflect a reduction of 27% in travel time, that is, an improvement between the proposed model and the current one for this great avenue. The tail length of motor vehicles is also reduced by 12.5%, a considerable improvement. All this represents an improvement in the level of service and in the quality of life of users.

Keywords: bikeway, microsimulation, pedestrians, queue length, traffic light cycle, travel time

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Yu-Sheng Lin, Sheng-Teng Huang

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In recent years, the issue of corporate social responsibility has become an enthusiastic discussion and hottest issue around the world. To make the enterprises be sustainable management and sustainable development, more and more enterprises realize that fulfill its corporate social responsibility is the good choice. It is an essential, important issue that the leader needs know how to lead the staff in balance benefit, also emphasize on economic, social and environmental aspects to impact the company, then enhance the consensus. The leader needs to improve cohesion of personnel, and implement the corporate social responsibility in staff behavior, in order to show a performance in the effort of corporate social responsibility of enterprises. The previous literature mostly is committed to comparison of corporate social responsibility in the industry and service industry, regarding to literature of shipping companies were relatively rare. This paper aims to take the domestic and foreign shipping companies of corporate social responsibility reports as the data analysis, and refer to the international convention (GRI) such as association and organization of CSR standard values. Overall comparison with shipping companies of CSR reports, annual reports and other public information, and taking Taiwan shipping companies as the target, respectively, with the international conventions and the world's top ten leading shipping companies to do the comparison and analysis. Shipping companies in Taiwan are bound to the standard that set by the international convention for the first goal diligently and following step is contend with the world's top ten leading shipping companies. There are 3 ~ 5 experts to be involved in interview after the result is completed. They will indicate the superiority and inferiority then provide the opinion, recommendation in the needed action. Through this study, we can explore the importance of corporate social responsibility report for shipping companies, and also provide the clear orientation to external providers to improve corporate social responsibility. In addition, it can provide the academic research and business experts as a reference; finally, serving shipping companies to complete another contribution.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility (CSR), CSR reports, statistical methods, expert interview method

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Authors: Merouane Salhi, Mohamed Roudane, Abdelkader Kirad

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In this work, we present a new form of characteristics method, which is a technique for solving partial differential equations. Typically, it applies to first-order equations; the aim of this method is to reduce a partial differential equation to a family of ordinary differential equations along which the solution can be integrated from some initial data. This latter developed under the real gas theory, because when the thermal and the caloric imperfections of a gas increases, the specific heat and their ratio do not remain constant anymore and start to vary with the gas parameters. The gas doesn’t stay perfect. Its state equation change and it becomes for a real gas. The presented equations of the characteristics remain valid whatever area or field of study. Here we need have inserted the developed Prandtl Meyer function in the mathematical system to find a new model when the effect of stagnation pressure is taken into account. In this case, the effects of molecular size and intermolecular attraction forces intervene to correct the state equation, the thermodynamic parameters and the value of Prandtl Meyer function. However, with the assumptions that Berthelot’s state equation accounts for molecular size and intermolecular force effects, expressions are developed for analyzing the supersonic flow for thermally and calorically imperfect gas. The supersonic parameters depend directly on the stagnation parameters of the combustion chamber. The resolution has been made by the finite differences method using the corrector predictor algorithm. As results, the developed mathematical model used to design 2D minimum length nozzles under effect of the stagnation parameters of fluid flow. A comparison for air with the perfect gas PG and high temperature models on the one hand and our results by the real gas theory on the other of nozzles shapes and characteristics are made.

Keywords: numerical methods, nozzles design, real gas, stagnation parameters, supersonic expansion, the characteristics method

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Authors: Thomas S. Abia II, Citlali Garcia-Saucedo

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A continuous copper precipitation treatment (CCPT) system was conceived at Intel Chandler Site to serve as a first-of-kind (FOK) facility-scale waste copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and manganese (Mn) co-precipitation facility. The process was designed to treat highly variable wastewater discharged from a substrate packaging research factory. The paper discusses metals co-precipitation induced by internal changes for manufacturing facilities that lack the capacity for hardware expansion due to real estate restrictions, aggressive schedules, or budgetary constraints. Herein, operating parameters such as pH and oxidation reduction potential (ORP) were examined to analyze the ability of the CCPT System to immobilize various waste metals. Additionally, influential factors such as influent concentrations and retention times were investigated to quantify the environmental variability against system performance. A total of 2,027 samples were analyzed and statistically evaluated to measure the performance of CCPT that was internally retrofitted for Mn abatement to meet environmental regulations. In order to enhance the consistency of the influent, a separate holding tank was cannibalized from another system to collect and slow-feed the segregated Mn wastewater from the factory into CCPT. As a result, the baseline influent Mn decreased from 17.2+18.7 mg¹L^-1 at pre-pilot to 5.15+8.11 mg¹L^-1 post-pilot (70.1% reduction). Likewise, the pre-trial and post-trial average influent Cu values to CCPT were 52.0+54.6 mg¹L^-1 and 33.9+12.7 mg¹L^-1, respectively (34.8% reduction). However, the raw Ni content of 0.97+0.39 mg¹L^-1 at pre-pilot increased to 1.06+0.17 mg¹L^-1 at post-pilot. The average Mn output declined from 10.9+11.7 mg¹L^-1 at pre-pilot to 0.44+1.33 mg¹L^-1 at post-pilot (96.0% reduction) as a result of the pH and ORP operating setpoint changes. In similar fashion, the output Cu quality improved from 1.60+5.38 mg¹L^-1 to 0.55+1.02 mg¹L^-1 (65.6% reduction) while the Ni output sustained a 50% enhancement during the pilot study (0.22+0.19 mg¹L^-1 reduced to 0.11+0.06 mg¹L^-1). pH and ORP were shown to be significantly instrumental to the precipitative versatility of the CCPT System.

Keywords: copper, co-precipitation, industrial wastewater treatment, manganese, optimization, pilot study

Procedia PDF Downloads 271

Authors: Abdul Sattar Jamali, Imdad Ali Memon, Maqsood Ahmed Memon

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Quality of production near to zero defects is an objective of every manufacturing and service organization. In order to maintain and improve the quality by reduction in defects, Statistical tools are being used by any organizations. There are many statistical tools are available to assess the quality. Keeping in view the importance of many statistical tools, traditional 7QC tools has been used in any manufacturing and automobile Industry. Therefore, the 7QC tools have been successfully applied at one of the Automobile Company Pakistan. Preliminary survey has been done for the implementation of 7QC tool in the assembly line of Automobile Industry. During preliminary survey two inspection points were decided to collect the data, which are Chassis line and trim line. The data for defects at Chassis line and trim line were collected for reduction in defects which ultimately improve productivity. Every 7QC tools has its benefits observed from the results. The flow charts developed for better understanding about inspection point for data collection. The check sheets developed for helps for defects data collection. Histogram represents the severity level of defects. Pareto charts show the cumulative effect of defects. The Cause and Effect diagrams developed for finding the root causes of each defects. Scatter diagram developed the relation of defects increasing or decreasing. The P-Control charts developed for showing out of control points beyond the limits for corrective actions. The successful implementation of 7QC tools at the inspection points at Automobile Industry concluded that the considerable amount of reduction on defects level, as in Chassis line from 132 defects to 13 defects. The total 90% defects were reduced in Chassis Line. In Trim line defects were reduced from 157 defects to 28 defects. The total 82% defects were reduced in Trim Line. As the Automobile Company exercised only few of the 7 QC tools, not fully getting the fruits by the application of 7 QC tools. Therefore, it is suggested the company may need to manage a mechanism for the application of 7 QC tools at every section.

Keywords: check sheet, cause and effect diagram, control chart, histogram

Procedia PDF Downloads 329

Authors: Iuliana-Erika Köpeczi

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‘Language is no longer regarded as peripheral to our grasp of the world we live in, but as central to it. Words are not mere vocal labels or communicational adjuncts superimposed upon an already given order of things. They are collective products of social interaction, essential instruments through which human beings constitute and articulate their world’, said Roy Harris. If we were to accept the above-mentioned premise, then we surely must accept that discourse, generally, - and political discourse, specifically -, bears a crucial importance to one’s perception of reality. The way in which political rhetoric constructs reality changes the relationship between the voter and his/her view of the world, which, in turn, influences greatly the future trends of political participation. In this context, our inquiry focuses on the role of populist discourses in the post 9/11 political rhetoric, and how this led to the formation, construction and reconstruction of identity within the ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ dichotomy. It is our hypothesis that anti-intellectualistic elements played a significant role in the manner in which identity construction had been carried out on a discursive level. By adopting a comparative approach, we intend to identify the similarities and differences between the use of such anti-intellectualist elements in the United States of America on one hand – within the discourse of Rick Santorum, – and France on the other – with Marine le Pen’s discourse. Our methodological approach uses close textual analysis of primary source material (discourse analysis); historical contextualization of both primary documents and broader socio-political and cultural framework through archival research and secondary sources; as well as interpretation of primary texts through theoretical frameworks (qualitative research). We hope that the output of our endeavor will be useful in better understanding the different correlations that exist between anti-intellectualism and populism and how the interactions between these two elements aids in political identity construction through discourse.

Keywords: anti-intellectualism, discourse theory, France, identity construction, populism, United States of America

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Authors: Anna Bohers, Emília Hroncová, Juraj Ladomerský

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Oil sludge with its main characteristic of high acidity is a waste product generated from the operation of refinery and petrochemical plants. Former refinery and petrochemical plant - Petrochema Dubová is present in Slovakia as well. Its activities was to process the crude oil through sulfonation and adsorption technology for production of lubricating and special oils, synthetic detergents and special white oils for cosmetic and medical purposes. Seventy years ago – period, when this historical acid sludge burden has been created – comparing to the environmental awareness the production was in preference. That is the reason why, as in many countries, also in Slovakia a historical environmental burden is present until now – 229 211 m3 of oil sludge in the middle of the National Park of Nízke Tatry mountain chain. Neither one of tried treatment methods – bio or non-biologic one - was proved as suitable for processing or for recovery in the reason of different factors admission: i.e. strong aggressivity, difficulty with handling because of its sludgy and liquid state et sim. As a potential solution, also incineration was tested, but it was not proven as a suitable method, as the concentration of SO2 in combustion gases was too high, and it was not possible to decrease it under the acceptable value of 2000 mg.mn-3. That is the reason why the operation of incineration plant has been terminated, and the acid sludge landfills are present until nowadays. The objective of this paper is to present a new possibility of processing and valorization of acid sludgy-waste. The processing of oil sludge was performed through the effective separation - thermal desorption technology, through which it is possible to split the sludgy material into the matrix (soil, sediments) and organic contaminants. In order to boost the efficiency in the processing of acid sludge through thermal desorption, the work will present the possibility of application of an original technology – Method of Blowing Decomposition for recovering of organic matter into technological lubricating oil.

Keywords: hazardous waste, oil sludge, remediation, thermal desorption

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Authors: Othmane Touri, Sanaa El Filali, El Habib Benlahmar

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Natural Language Processing (NLP) has gained significant attention lately. It has proved its ability to analyze and extract insights from unstructured text data in various languages. It is found that one of the most popular NLP applications is sentiment analysis which aims to identify the sentiment expressed in a piece of text, such as positive, negative, or neutral, in multiple languages. While there are several multilingual NLP models available for sentiment analysis, there is a need to investigate their effectiveness in different contexts and applications. In this study, we aim to investigate the effectiveness of different multilingual NLP models for sentiment analysis on a dataset of online product reviews in multiple languages. The performance of several NLP models, including Google Cloud Natural Language API, Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services, Amazon Comprehend, Stanford CoreNLP, spaCy, and Hugging Face Transformers are being compared. The models based on several metrics, including accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score, are being evaluated and compared to their performance across different categories of product reviews. In order to run the study, preprocessing of the dataset has been performed by cleaning and tokenizing the text data in multiple languages. Then training and testing each model has been applied using a cross-validation approach where randomly dividing the dataset into training and testing sets and repeating the process multiple times has been used. A grid search approach to optimize the hyperparameters of each model and select the best-performing model for each category of product reviews and language has been applied. The findings of this study provide insights into the effectiveness of different multilingual NLP models for Multilingual Sentiment Analysis and their suitability for different languages and applications. The strengths and limitations of each model were identified, and recommendations for selecting the most performant model based on the specific requirements of a project were provided. This study contributes to the advancement of research methods in multilingual NLP and provides a practical guide for researchers and practitioners in the field.

Keywords: NLP, multilingual, sentiment analysis, texts

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Authors: Timothy T. Hsieh

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Current patent venue transfer laws under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) e.g., the Gilbert factors from Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501 (1947) are too malleable in that they often lead to frequent mandamus orders from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) overturning district court rulings on venue transfer motions. Thus, this paper proposes a more robust two-step burden-shifting framework that replaces the eight Gilbert factors. Moreover, a brief history of venue transfer patterns in the seven most active federal patent district courts is covered, with special focus devoted to the venue transfer orders from Judge Alan D Albright of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. A comprehensive data summary of 45 case sets where the Federal Circuit ruled on writs of mandamus involving Judge Albright’s transfer orders is subsequently provided, with coverage summaries of certain cases including four precedential ones from the Federal Circuit. This proposed two-step burden shifting framework is then applied to these venue transfer cases, as well as Federal Circuit mandamus orders ruling on those decisions. Finally, alternative approaches to remedying the frequent reversals for venue transfer will be discussed, including potential legislative solutions, adjustments to common law framework approaches to venue transfer, deference to the inherent powers of Article III U.S. District Judge, and a unified federal patent district court. Overall, this paper seeks to offer a more robust and consistent three-step burden-shifting framework for venue transfer and for the Federal Circuit to follow in administering mandamus orders, which might change somewhat in light of Western District of Texas Chief Judge Orlando Garcia’s order on redistributing Judge Albright’s patent cases.

Keywords: Patent law, venue, judge Alan Albright, minimum contacts, western district of Texas

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Authors: Ricardo Paiva, Rui Soares, Felix Harnau, Bruno Fragoso

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Nickel-based alloys are materials well suited for service in extreme environments subjected to pressure and heat. Some industrial applications for Nickel-based alloys are aerospace and jet engines, oil and gas extraction, pollution control and waste processing, automotive and marine industry. It is generally recognized that grain refinement is an effective methodology to improve the quality of casted parts. Conventional grain refinement techniques involve the addition of inoculation substances, the control of solidification conditions, or thermomechanical treatment with recrystallization. However, such methods often lead to non-uniform grain size distribution and the formation of hard phases, which are detrimental to both wear performance and biocompatibility. Stirring of the melt by electromagnetic fields has been widely used in continuous castings with success for grain refinement, solute redistribution, and surface quality improvement. Despite the advantages, much attention has not been paid yet to the use of this approach on functional castings such as investment casting. Furthermore, the effect of electromagnetic stirring (EMS) fields on Nickel-based alloys is not known. In line with the gaps/needs of the state-of-art, the present research work targets to promote new advances in controlling grain size and morphology of investment cast Nickel based alloys. For such a purpose, a set of experimental tests was conducted. A high-frequency induction furnace with vacuum and controlled atmosphere was used to cast the Inconel 718 alloy in ceramic shells. A coil surrounded the casting chamber in order to induce electromagnetic stirring during solidification. Aiming to assess the effect of the electromagnetic stirring on Ni alloys, the samples were subjected to microstructural analysis and mechanical tests. The results show that electromagnetic stirring can be an effective methodology to modify the grain size and mechanical properties of investment-cast parts.

Keywords: investment casting, grain refinement, electromagnetic stirring, nickel alloys

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Authors: Pooja Balasubramanian, Ghida Karbala

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Unfair treatment at the workplace encourages workers to adjust their behavior in order to restore fairness and align monetary returns to costs. This adjustment of behavior, however, may differ depending on the reference group considered to evaluate equity. In this aspect two main questions are to be considered: How do workers respond to unfair treatment at the workplace? And how does this response change depending on the identity of the reference group? To answer the above research questions, this paper utilizes data from a randomized field experiment conducted in Kolkata, India where student assistants were hired to help in a data entry task. Recruited workers were working in a team of two and were offered a fixed wage per hour. Workers were randomly assigned to one of the following treatment groups: A control group not subjected (1) to wage cuts (2) A general wage cut (3) A unilateral wage cut in reference to colleagues with similar social identity (4) A unilateral wage cut in reference to colleagues with a different social identity, where social identity is defined in terms of gender. Results show a significant decrease in the quantity and quality of work following a general wage cut. A more severe drop in productivity was presented by men in the case of unilateral wage cut, while women experiencing unilateral wage cuts didn’t exhibit a similar behavior regardless of the gender of the team member. To the contrary, women matched with a male colleague and experiencing unilateral wage cut show a slight increase in productivity, a result that contributes to the discussion regarding the paradox of the 'content female worker'. These findings highlight the necessity of a better understanding of the social comparison processes prevailing at the workplace, given the major role they play in determining the level of productivity supplied.

Keywords: effort supply, fairness, reference groups, social comparison

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Authors: Ákos Wolf, Richard P. Ray

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Due to the introduction of Eurocode 8, the structural design for seismic and dynamic effects has become more significant in Hungary. This has emphasized the need for more effort to describe the behavior of structures under these conditions. Soil conditions have a significant effect on the response of structures by modifying the stiffness and damping of the soil-structural system and by modifying the seismic action as it reaches the ground surface. Shear modulus (G) and shear wave velocity (v_s), which are often measured in the field, are the fundamental dynamic soil properties for foundation vibration problems, liquefaction potential and earthquake site response analysis. There are several laboratory and in-situ measurement techniques to evaluate dynamic soil properties, but unfortunately, they are often too expensive for general design practice. However, a significant number of correlations have been proposed to determine shear wave velocity or shear modulus from Cone Penetration Tests (CPT), which are used more and more in geotechnical design practice in Hungary. This allows the designer to analyze and compare CPT and seismic test result in order to select the best correlation equations for Hungarian soils and to improve the recommendations for the Hungarian geologic conditions. Based on a literature review, as well as research experience in Hungary, the influence of various parameters on the accuracy of results will be shown. This study can serve as a basis for selecting and modifying correlation equations for Hungarian soils. Test data are taken from seven locations in Hungary with similar geologic conditions. The shear wave velocity values were measured by seismic CPT. Several factors are analyzed including soil type, behavior index, measurement depth, geologic age etc. for their effect on the accuracy of predictions. The final results show an improved prediction method for Hungarian soils

Keywords: CPT correlation, dynamic soil properties, seismic CPT, shear wave velocity

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Authors: Colm Barcoe, Garvan Whelan

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In tourism, engagement has been found to boost awareness of a destination and subsequently increase visits. Customer engagement in this industry is now facilitated by social media. This phenomenon is not very well researched in relation to Ireland and the North American tourism market. The objective of this paper is to present research findings on two related topics; the first is an investigation into the effectiveness of social media channels as components of a digital marketing campaign when promoting Ireland as a brand in North America. Secondly, this study reveals how Irish marketers have embraced social media platforms and channels with an innovative strategy that has successfully attracted growing numbers of US and Canadian holidaymakers to Ireland. A range of methodological approaches was applied in order to achieve the study’s objective. The methods used were both quantitative and qualitative, and the data was obtained from both Irish marketers and North American holidaymakers. Surveys of these holidaymakers in the pre, during and post-trip phases revealed their attitudes towards social media and Ireland as a destination. Semi-structured interviews with those responsible for implementing relationship marketing strategies for this segment provide insight into the effectiveness of social media when used to capitalise on the cultural link between Ireland and North America. Further analysis involved using Nvivo 11+ software to investigate the activities of the Irish destination marketer (DMO) and the engagement of the US and Canadian audiences through a detailed study of social media platform content. The findings from this investigation will extend an under-researched body of literature pertaining to Ireland as a destination and the successful digital marketing campaigns that have achieved exponential growth in this sector over the past five years. The empirical evidence presented also illustrates how the innovative use of social media has assisted the DMO to engage with the North American holidaymaker as part of an effective digital marketing strategy.

Keywords: channels, digital, engagement, marketing, strategies

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Authors: Robin Molinier

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Industrial symbiosis (I.S) rely on two basic modes of cooperation between organizations that are infrastructure/service sharing and resource substitution (the use of waste materials, fatal energy and recirculated utilities for production). The former consists in the intensification of use of an asset and thus requires to compare the incremental investment cost to be incurred and the stand-alone cost faced by each potential participant to satisfy its own requirements. In order to investigate the way such a cooperation mode can be implemented we formulate a game theoretic model integrating the grassroot investment decision and the ex-post access pricing problem. In the first period two actors set cooperatively (resp. non-cooperatively) a level of common (resp. individual) infrastructure capacity oversizing to attract ex-post a potential entrant with a plug-and-play offer (available capacity, tariff). The entrant’s requirement is randomly distributed and known only after investments took place. Capacity cost exhibits sub-additive property so that there is room for profitable overcapacity setting in the first period under some conditions that we derive. The entrant willingness-to-pay for the access to the infrastructure is driven by both her standalone cost and the complement cost to be incurred in case she chooses to access an infrastructure whose the available capacity is lower than her requirement level. The expected complement cost function is thus derived, and we show that it is decreasing, convex and shaped by the entrant’s requirements distribution function. For both uniform and triangular distributions optimal capacity level is obtained in the cooperative setting and equilibrium levels are determined in the non-cooperative case. Regarding the latter, we show that competition is deterred by the first period investor with the highest requirement level. Using the non-cooperative game outcomes which gives lower bounds for the profit sharing problem in the cooperative one we solve the whole game and describe situations supporting sharing agreements.

Keywords: capacity, cooperation, industrial symbiosis, pricing

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Authors: Mohammadbagher Asghariaghamashhadi

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Internet users normally are automatically linked to an advertisement sponsored by a bidder when Internet users enter any trademarked keyword on a search engine. This advertisement appears beside the search results. Through the process of keyword advertising, advertisers can connect with many Internet users and let them know about their goods and services. This concept has generated heated disagreements among legal scholars, trademark proprietors, advertisers, search engine owners, and consumers. Therefore, use of trademarks in keyword advertising has been one of the most debatable issues in trademark law for several years. This entirely new way of using trademarks over the Internet has provoked a discussion concerning the core concepts of trademark law. In respect to legal issues, European Union (EU) trademark law is mostly governed by the Trademark Directive and the Community Trademark Regulation. Article 5 of the directive and Article 9 of the trademark regulation determine the circumstances in which a trademark owner holds the right to prohibit a third party’s use of his/her registered sign. Harmonized EU trademark law proved to be ambiguous on whether using of a trademark is amounted to trademark infringement or not. The case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), with reference to this legislation, is mostly unfavorable to trademark owners. This ambivalence was also exhibited by the case law of EU Member States. European keyword advertisers simply could not tell which use of a competitor‘s trademark was lawful. In recent years, ECJ has continuously expanded the scope and reach of trademark protection in the EU. It is notable that Inconsistencies in the Court’s system of infringement criteria clearly come to the fore and this approach has been criticized by analysts who believe that the Court should have adopted a more traditional approach to the analysis of trademark infringement, which was suggested by its Advocate General, in order to arrive at the same conclusion. Regarding case law of keyword advertising within Europe, one of the most disputable cases is Interflora vs. Marks and Spencer, which is still on-going. This study examines and critically analyzes the decisions of the ECJ, the high court of England, and the Court of Appeals of England and address critically keyword advertising issue within European trademark legislation.

Keywords: ECJ, Google, Interflora, keyword advertising, Marks and Spencer, trademark infringement

Procedia PDF Downloads 348

Authors: Neo Mohlabane

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-- Feminists across various contexts have written extensively on the subject of ‘Woman.’ Recently the question of difference; to account for the cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity among women themselves has become a highly contested issue in feminist theories. Tensions have ensued where ‘western feminisms’ have been criticized for bias that is embedded in the objectification of ‘different’ women often regarded as ‘other’; traditional, therefore inferior. Thus, it is argued that womanhood; a set of socially defined attributes appropriate for women, holds different meanings depending on the context in which it is defined. Drawing on decolonial feminist approaches, this qualitative study explored the constructions of ‘womanhood’ from the perspective of unmarried Basotho women in Lesotho, where womanhood is predominantly defined in marital terms. Through the narrated life-stories of twenty unmarried Basotho women, the study revealed that as opposed to the ‘traditional’ definition that accounts for a single attribute woman as ‘wife,’ unmarried Basotho women defined ‘womanhood’ in different ways that deconstructed fixed gendered categories. The women drew meaning from their past personal experiences of childhood to construct and re-construct womanhood in adulthood. By transforming their embodied experiences of hardship and sorrow into valuable constructs with which they self-evaluated as resilient and perseverant, the women constructed a base for self-affirmation as woman. In addition, the women anchored their constructions and reconstructions of woman by transforming the meanings attached to the realms of respectability, sexuality and motherhood. Thus, to the question; what is a Woman? In part, the study concluded that there is no such thing as a ‘unitary’ definition of womanhood, instead Mosotho womanhood has always been and will always be in a state of flux; bearing multiplicity and complexity. This study highlights the need to exercise caution when using western concepts to understand the experiences of women in local African contexts. In order to decolonize feminist scholarship, African feminisms need to re-construct conceptual and theoretical frameworks appropriate for analyzing and understanding gender issues in African contexts.

Keywords: decoloniality, feminism, Lesotho, womanhood

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Authors: J. J. Lloyd, J. S. Phillips

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Background: HIV/AIDS has made a huge impact on human development and sexual reproductive habits in this century in the world and especially in sub-Saharan Africa. It has only recently been acknowledged that HIV/AIDS has an equal if not greater effect on or threat to people with disabilities. Survivors of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) with resultant disability are incorrectly believed to be sexually inactive, unlikely to use drugs or alcohol and at less risk of violence or rape than their non-disabled peers. This group can thus be described as economically, educationally and socially disadvantaged, which in itself, suggest that they are a high-risk group for HIV infection. Objectives: Thus, the overall objective of this study was to assess the factors that exacerbate the risk and vulnerability of individuals with spinal cord injuries to HIV infection in order to develop a more effective HIV intervention. Methodology: This paper reports on the cross-sectional data gathered from individuals with a traumatic spinal cord injury in 4 conveniently selected provinces in South Africa. Data was collected by means of self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of various sections requesting for information on Demographics; HIV-Knowledge (HIV- KQ-18); Sexual behaviours; sexual communication, and negotiation skills and Self-efficacy to refuse sex. Results: The majority of the study sample was males (72.7%) with a mean age of 34.6 years. The majority reported lifetime sexual intercourse (92.4%) but only 31.8% reported condom use with last sexual intercourse. Low level of HIV knowledge, and being male were the strongest predictor of risky sexual behaviours in this sample. Conclusion: Significant numbers of individuals with spinal cord injuries are thus engaging in risky sexual behaviours pointing to a need to strengthen comprehensive sexual health education to increase access to HIV testing, promote safe sex and condom use among this group.

Keywords: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), individuals with spinal cord injuries, risky sexual behaviours, HIV risk factors, sub-saharan Africa

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Authors: Thomas Wetere

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Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (COVID-19) virus infection is a severe infectious disease with the highly transmissible variant, which become the global public health treat now. It has taken the life of more than 4 million people so far. What makes the disease the worst of all is no specific effective treatment available, its dynamics is not much researched and understood. Methodology: To end the global COVID-19 pandemic, implementation of multiple population-wide strategies, including vaccination, environmental factors, Government action, testing, and contact tracing, is required. In this article, a new mathematical model incorporating both temperature and government action to study the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic has been developed and comprehensively analysed. The model considers eight stages of infection: susceptible (S), infected Asymptomatic and Undetected(IAU ), infected Asymptomatic and detected(IAD), infected symptomatic and Undetected(ISU ), infected Symptomatic and detected(ISD), Hospitalized or threatened(H), Recovered(R) and Died(D). Results: The existence as well as non-negativity of the solution to the model is also verified, and the basic reproduction number is calculated. Besides, stability conditions are also checked, and finally, simulation results are compared with real data. The results demonstrates that effective government action will need to be combined with vaccination to end the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Vaccination and Government action are highly the crucial measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, as the cost of vaccination might be high, we recommend an optimal control to reduce the cost and number of infected individuals. Moreover, in order to prevent COVID-19 pandemic, through the analysis of the model, the government must strictly manage the policy on COVID-19 and carry it out. This, in turn, helps for health campaigning and raising health literacy which plays a role to control the quick spread of the disease. We finally strongly believe that our study will play its own role in the current effort of controlling the pandemic.

Keywords: modeling, COVID-19, MCMC, stability

Procedia PDF Downloads 119