Search results for: business environment and entrepreneurial development

Authors: M. Al-Roumi, A. Al-Yaqout, A. Al-Baz

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Recently, sea cucumbers have shown to be significant to global trade and incomes due to their high commercial value for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry. This rising demand for sea cucumber products has created increasing harvest stress on the natural populations and led to the depletion of sea cucumbers stocks worldwide and accordingly there is a big concern on the marine environment's health worldwide. Few species have been reported and identified via morophlogical features only. Several sea cucumber species were collected from the North West side reefs at Qaruh Island, and the north side of Umm Al-Maradem Island in Kuwait waters, in the north-western Arabian Gulf, in order to identify the sea cucumber species available in the Kuwaiti waters. The identified species were Holothuria atra, Holothuria arenicola, Holothuria hilla and Holothuria impatiens. Species identification was made using morphological keys and review of their ossicles. This paper reports the species Stichopus hermanni from Kuwait.

Keywords: Stichopus hermanni, Kuwait waters, Arabian Gulf, ossicles

Procedia PDF Downloads 185

Authors: Mohammad Reza Taherkhani‎

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Wireless sensor networks that are used to monitor a special environment, are formed from a large number of sensor nodes. The role of these sensors is to sense special parameters from ambient and to make a connection. In these networks, the most important challenge is the management of energy usage. Clustering is one of the methods that are broadly used to face this challenge. In this paper, a distributed clustering protocol based on learning automata is proposed for underwater wireless sensor networks. The proposed algorithm that is called LA-Clustering forms clusters in the same energy level, based on the energy level of nodes and the connection radius regardless of size and the structure of sensor network. The proposed approach is simulated and is compared with some other protocols with considering some metrics such as network lifetime, number of alive nodes, and number of transmitted data. The simulation results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach.

Keywords: underwater sensor networks, clustering, learning automata, energy consumption

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Authors: Abdulla Al Hmoudi

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The impacts and costs of natural disasters on people, properties and the environment is often severe when they occur on a large scale or when not prepared for. Factors such as impacts of climate change, urban growth, poor planning to mention a few, have continued to significantly increase the frequencies and aggravate the impacts of natural hazards across the world; the United Arab Emirates (UAE) inclusive. The lack of deployment of an early warning system, low risk and hazard knowledge and impact of natural hazard experienced in some communities in the UAE have emphasised the need for more effective early warning systems. This paper focuses on the collaborative approach taken to instituting and implementing an early warning system. Using mixed methods 888 people completed the questionnaire and eight people were interviewed in Abu Dhabi. The results indicate that the collaborative approach to early warning system is UAE is needed, but lacks essential principles of the early warning system and currently underutilised. It is recommended that the collaborative early warning system is applied at every stage of the early warning system with the specific responsibility of each stakeholder and actor.

Keywords: community, early warning system, emergency management, UAE

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Authors: Jalindar R. Patil, Harish P. Gayakwad

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The increased economic growth across the globe as well as urbanization in developing countries have led into extensive construction activities that generate large amounts of wastes. Material wastage in construction projects resulted into huge financial setbacks to builders and contractors. In addition to this, it may also cause significant effects over aesthetics, health, and the general environment. However in many cities across the globe where construction wastes material management is still a problem. In this paper, the discussion is all about the method for the management of waste construction materials. The objectives of this seminar are to identify the significant source of construction waste globally, to improve the performance of by extracting the major barriers construction waste management and to determine the cost impact on the construction project. These wastes needs to be managed as well as their impacts needs to be ascertained to pave way for their proper management. The seminar includes the details of construction waste management with the reference to construction project. The application of construction waste management in the civil engineering projects is to describe the reduction in the construction wastes.

Keywords: civil engineering, construction materials, waste management, construction activities

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Authors: Anita Lazurko, Laszlo Pinter, Jeremy Richardson

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Uncertain climate projections, multiple possible development futures, and a financing gap create challenges for water infrastructure decision making. In contrast to conventional predict-plan-act methods, an emerging decision paradigm that enables social-ecological resilience supports decisions that are appropriate for uncertainty and leverage social, ecological, and economic multifunctionality. Concurrently, water infrastructure project finance plays a powerful role in sustainable infrastructure development but remains disconnected from discourse in socio-ecological resilience. At the time of research, a project to transfer water from Lesotho to Botswana through South Africa in the Orange-Senqu River Basin was at the pre-feasibility stage. This case was analysed through documents and interviews to investigate how uncertainty and multifunctionality are conceptualised and considered in decisions for the resilience of water infrastructure and to explore bridging concepts that might allow project finance to better enable socio-ecological resilience. Interviewees conceptualised uncertainty as risk, ambiguity and ignorance, and multifunctionality as politically-motivated shared benefits. Numerous efforts to adopt emerging decision methods that consider these terms were in use but required compromises to accommodate the persistent, conventional decision paradigm, though a range of future opportunities was identified. Bridging these findings to finance revealed opportunities to consider a more comprehensive scope of risk, to leverage risk mitigation measures, to diffuse risks and benefits over space, time and to diverse actor groups, and to clarify roles to achieve multiple objectives for resilience. In addition to insights into how multiple decision paradigms interact in real-world decision contexts, the research highlights untapped potential at the juncture between socio-ecological resilience and project finance.

Keywords: socio-ecological resilience, finance, multifunctionality, uncertainty

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Authors: Adeniran K. Ademuwagun, Alastair Allen

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The relationship dependence between RSS and distance in an enclosed environment is an important consideration because it is a factor that can influence the reliability of any localization algorithm founded on RSS. Several algorithms effectively reduce the variance of RSS to improve localization or accuracy performance. Our proposed algorithm essentially avoids this pitfall and consequently, its high adaptability in the face of erratic radio signal. Using 3 anchors in close proximity of each other, we are able to establish that RSS can be used as reliable indicator for localization with an acceptable degree of accuracy. Inherent in this concept, is the ability for each prospective anchor to validate (guarantee) the position or the proximity of the other 2 anchors involved in the localization and vice versa. This procedure ensures that the uncertainties of radio signals due to multipath effects in enclosed environments are minimized. A major driver of this idea is the implicit topological relationship among sensors due to raw radio signal strength. The algorithm is an area based algorithm; however, it does not trade accuracy for precision (i.e the size of the returned area).

Keywords: anchor nodes, centroid algorithm, communication graph, radio signal strength

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Authors: Nidhal Mgadmi, Abdelhafidh Othmani

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This article examines the causal relationship between stock indices and cryptocurrencies during the current war between Russia and Ukraine. The econometric investigation runs from February 24, 2022, to April 12, 2023, focusing on seven stock market indices (S&P500, DAX, CAC40, Nikkei, TSX, MOEX, and PFTS) and seven cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litcoin, Dash, Ripple, DigiByte and XEM). In this article, we try to understand how investors react to fluctuations in financial assets to seek safe havens in cryptocurrencies. We used dynamic causality to detect a possible causal relationship in the short term and seven models to estimate the long-term relationship between cryptocurrencies and financial assets. The causal relationship between financial market indexes and cryptocurrency coins in the short run indicates that three famous cryptocurrencies (BITCOIN, ETHEREUM, RIPPLE) and the two digital assets with minor popularity (XEM, Digibyte) are impacted by the German, Russian, and Ukrainian stock markets. In the long run, we found a positive and significate effect of the American, Canadian, French, and Ukrainian stock market indexes on Bitcoin. Thus, the stability of the traditional financial markets during the current war period can be explained on the one hand by investors’ fears of an unstable business climate, and on the other hand, by speculators’ sentiment towards new electronic products, which are perceived as hedging instruments and a safe haven in the face of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

Keywords: causality, stock indices, cryptocurrency, war, Russia, Ukraine

Procedia PDF Downloads 61

Authors: Loren S. Bernal., Catalina Castillo, Carel E. Carvajal, José F. Ibla

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Plastic pollution, specifically microplastics, has become a significant issue in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. The large amount of plastic waste carried by water tributaries has resulted in the accumulation of microplastics in water bodies. The polymer aging process caused by environmental influences such as photodegradation and chemical degradation of additives leads to polymer embrittlement and properties change that require degradation or reduction procedures in rivers. However, there is a lack of such procedures for freshwater entities that develop over extended periods. The aim of this study is evaluate the potential of Pleurotus ostreatus a fungus, in reducing lowdensity polyethylene microplastics present in freshwater samples collected from the middle basin of the Magdalena River in Colombia. The study aims to evaluate this process both in vitro and in silico by identifying the growth capacity of Pleurotus ostreatus in the presence of microplastics and identifying the most likely interactions of Pleurotus ostreatus enzymes and their affinity energies. The study follows an engineering development methodology applied on an experimental basis. The in vitro evaluation protocol applied in this study focused on the growth capacity of Pleurotus ostreatus on microplastics using enzymatic inducers. In terms of in silico evaluation, molecular simulations were conducted using the Autodock 1.5.7 program to calculate interaction energies. The molecular dynamics were evaluated by using the myPresto Portal and GROMACS program to calculate radius of gyration and Energies.The results of the study showed that Pleurotus ostreatus has the potential to degrade low-density polyethylene microplastics. The in vitro evaluation revealed the adherence of Pleurotus ostreatus to LDPE using scanning electron microscopy. The best results were obtained with enzymatic inducers as a MnSO4 generating the activation of laccase or manganese peroxidase enzymes in the degradation process. The in silico modelling demonstrated that Pleurotus ostreatus was able to interact with the microplastics present in LDPE, showing affinity energies in molecular docking and molecular dynamics shown a minimum energy and the representative radius of gyration between each enzyme and its substract. The study contributes to the development of bioremediation processes for the removal of microplastics from freshwater sources using the fungus Pleurotus ostreatus. The in silico study provides insights into the affinity energies of Pleurotus ostreatus microplastic degrading enzymes and their interaction with low-density polyethylene. The study demonstrated that Pleurotus ostreatus can interact with LDPE microplastics, making it a good agent for the development of bioremediation processes that aid in the recovery of freshwater sources. The results of the study suggested that bioremediation could be a promising approach to reduce microplastics in freshwater systems.

Keywords: bioremediation, in silico modelling, microplastics, Pleurotus ostreatus

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Authors: Ilona Buchem, Carolin Gellner

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The call for the support of senior learners in the development of digital literacy has become prevalent in recent years, especially in view of the aging societies paired with advances in digitalization in all spheres of life, including e-health. The goal has been to create opportunities for learning that incorporate the use of context in a reflective and dialogical way. Contextual learning has focused on developing skills through the application of authentic problems. While major research efforts in supporting senior learners in developing digital literacy have been invested so far in e-learning, focusing on knowledge acquisition and cognitive tasks, little research exists in reflective mentoring and coaching with the help of pedagogical agents and addressing the contextual dimensions of learning. This paper describes an approach to creating opportunities for senior learners to improve their digital literacy in the authentic context of the electronic health record (EHR) with the support of an intelligent virtual learning coach. The paper focuses on the design of the virtual coach as part of an e-learning system, which was developed in the EPA-Coach project founded by the German Ministry of Education and Research. The paper starts with the theoretical underpinnings of contextual learning and the related design considerations for a virtual learning coach based on previous studies. Since previous research in the area was mostly designed to cater to the needs of younger audiences, the results had to be adapted to the specific needs of senior learners. Next, the paper outlines the stages in the design of the virtual coach, which included the adaptation of the design requirements, the iterative development of the prototypes, the results of the two evaluation studies and how these results were used to improve the design of the virtual coach. The paper then presents the four prototypes of a senior-friendly virtual learning coach, which were designed to represent different preferences related to the visual appearance, the communication and social interaction styles, and the pedagogical roles. The first evaluation of the virtual coach design was an exploratory, qualitative study, which was carried out in October 2020 with eight seniors aged 64 to 78 and included a range of questions about the preferences of senior learners related to the visual design, gender, age, communication and role. Based on the results of the first evaluation, the design was adapted to the preferences of the senior learners and the new versions of prototypes were created to represent two male and two female options of the virtual coach. The second evaluation followed a quantitative approach with an online questionnaire and was conducted in May 2021 with 41 seniors aged 66 to 93 years. Following three research questions, the survey asked about (1) the intention to use, (2) the perceived characteristics, and (3) the preferred communication/interaction style of the virtual coach, i. e. task-oriented, relationship-oriented, or a mix. This paper follows with the discussion of the results of the design process and ends with conclusions and next steps in the development of the virtual coach including recommendations for further research.

Keywords: virtual learning coach, virtual mentor, pedagogical agent, senior learners, digital literacy, electronic health records

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Authors: Bernard Nnamdi Emenyeonu

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The study of communication as a fully-fledged discipline in institutions of higher education in the Sultanate of Oman is relatively young. Its evolution is associated with Oman's Renaissance beginning from 1970, which ushered in an era of modernization in which education, industrialization, expansion, and liberalization of the mass media, provision of infrastructure, and promotion of multilateral commercial ventures were considered among the top priorities of national development plans. Communication studies were pioneered by the sole government university, Sultan Qaboos University, in the 1990s, but so far, the program is taught in Arabic only. In recognition of the need to produce professionals suitably equipped to fit into the expanding media establishments in the Sultanate as well as the widening global market, the government decided to establish programs in which communication would be taught in English language. Under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education, six Colleges of Applied Sciences were established in Oman in 2007. These colleges offer a 4-year Bachelor degree program in communication studies that comprises six areas of specialization: Advertising, Digital Media, International Communication, Journalism, Media Management and Public Relations. Over the years, a trend has emerged where students tend to flock to particular specializations such as Public Relations and Digital Media, while others, such as Advertising and Journalism, continue to draw the least number of students. In some instances, some specializations have had to be frozen due to the dire lack of interest among new students. It has also been observed that female students are more likely to be more biased in choice of specializations. It was therefore the task of this paper to establish, through a survey and focus group interviews, the factors that influence choice of communication studies as well as particular specializations, among Omani Communication Studies undergraduates. Results of the study show that prior to entering into the communication studies program, the majority of students had no idea of what the field entailed. Whatever information they had about communication studies was sourced from friends and relatives rather than more reliable sources such as career fairs or guidance counselors. For the most part, the choice of communication studies as a major was also influenced by factors such as family, friends and prospects for jobs. Another significant finding is the strong association between gender and choice of specializations within the program, with females flocking to digital media while males tended to prefer public relations. Reasons for specialization preferences dwelt strongly on expectations of a good GPA and the promise of a good salary after graduation. Regardless of gender, most students identified careers in news reporting, public relations and advertising as unsuitable for females. Teaching and program presentation were identified as the most suitable for females. Based on these and other results, the paper not only examined the social and cultural factors that are likely to have influenced the respondent's attitude to communication studies, but also discussed the implication for curriculum development and career development in a developing society such as Oman.

Keywords: career choice, communication specialization, media education, Oman

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Authors: Ahmad Saadiq, Neeraj Sahu

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The partial or full replacement of natural coarse aggregate by recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is of great benefit to the environment, as the demand of natural coarse aggregate reduces. In the modern construction and practice, the use of RCA is limited to backfilling and road construction. The establishment of RCA for its wide application can only be done after having an understanding of the use of RCA in conventional concrete. To have an insight to this, various tests to determine the compressive strength, elastic strength, workability, durability and drying shrinkage tests can be done and the test results may be different from that obtained from natural coarse aggregates, by using natural coarse aggregate in concrete. This paper gives a comprehensive review of the said tests done on RCA concrete. The results obtained from the tests indicate that RCA concrete gives comparable compressive strength, stiffness, and workability relative to the corresponding results obtained from the natural coarse aggregates. However, the durability and drying shrinkage had more variance but well within recommended limits.

Keywords: aggregate, compressive strength, durability, modulus of elasticity, recycled concrete, shrinkage, workability

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Authors: Geoffrey A. Wright

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Over the past year we have developed and implemented a blended STEM curriculum based on ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) underwater technology with over 300 students in grades 2–9. This paper presents an overview of the curriculum, what we have learned from the development and implementation, with suggestions of how to build a similar statewide ROV program, and how we will continue and enhance the effort this next year with more than 300 additional students. The benefits of the program are the application and blending of STEM principles using inquiry based instruction, where students have shown to increase in STEM self-efficacy and interest.

Keywords: STEM, technology, engineering, ROV

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Sandesh Achar

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The cloud computing industry has set new goals for better service delivery and deployment, so anyone can access services such as computation, application, and storage anytime. Cloud computing promises new possibilities for approaching sustainable solutions to deploy and advance their services in this distributed environment. This work explores energy-efficient approaches and how cloud-based architecture can reduce energy consumption levels amongst enterprises leveraging cloud computing services. Adopting cloud-based networking, database, and server machines provide a comprehensive means of achieving the potential gains in energy efficiency that cloud computing offers. In energy-efficient cloud computing, virtualization is one aspect that can integrate several technologies to achieve consolidation and better resource utilization. Moreover, the Green Cloud Architecture for cloud data centers is discussed in terms of cost, performance, and energy consumption, and appropriate solutions for various application areas are provided.

Keywords: greener cloud, cloud computing, energy efficiency, energy consumption, metadata tags, green cloud advisor

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Authors: Farzaneh Tahmoorian, Bijan Samali, John Yeaman

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Road networks are expanding all over the world during the past few decades to meet the increasing freight volumes created by the population growth and industrial development. At the same time, the rate of generation of solid wastes in the society is increasing with the population growth, technological development, and changes in the lifestyle of people. Thus, the management of solid wastes has become an acute problem. Accordingly, there is a need for greater efficiency in the construction and maintenance of road networks, in reducing the overall cost, especially the utilization of natural materials such as aggregates. An efficient means to reduce construction and maintenance costs of road networks is to replace natural (virgin) materials by secondary, recycled materials. Recycling will also help to reduce pressure on landfills and demand for extraction of natural virgin materials thus ensuring sustainability. Application of solid wastes in asphalt layer reduces not only environmental issues associated with waste disposal but also the demand for virgin materials which will subsequently result in sustainability. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the feasibility of the application of some of the waste materials such as glass, construction and demolition wastes, etc. as alternative materials in pavement construction, particularly flexible pavements. To this end, various combination of different waste materials in certain percentages is considered in designing the asphalt mixture. One of the goals of this research is to determine the optimum percentage of all these materials in the mixture. This is done through a series of tests to evaluate the volumetric properties and resilient modulus of the mixture. The information and data collected from these tests are used to select the adequate samples for further assessment through advanced tests such as triaxial dynamic test and fatigue test, in order to investigate the asphalt mixture resistance to permanent deformation and also cracking. This paper presents the results of these investigations on the application of waste materials in asphalt mixture for production of a sustainable asphalt mix.

Keywords: asphalt, glass, pavement, recycled aggregate, sustainability

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Authors: Tali Neta

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Humans’ impact on the environment has been incredibly brutal, with enormous plastic- and other pollutants (e.g., cigarette buds, paper cups, tires) worldwide. On land, litter costs taxpayers a fortune. Most of the litter pollution comes from the land, yet it is one of the greatest hazards to marine environments. Due to spatial and temporal limitations, previous litter data covered very small areas. Currently, smartphones can be used to obtain information on various pollutants (through citizen science), and they can greatly assist in acknowledging and mitigating the environmental impact of litter. Litter app data, such as the Litterati, are available for study through a global map only; these data are not available for download, and it is not clear whether irrelevant hashtags have been eliminated. Instagram and Twitter open-source geospatial data are available for download; however, these are considered inaccurate, computationally challenging, and impossible to quantify. Therefore, the resulting data are of poor quality. Other downloadable geospatial data (e.g., Marine Debris Tracker8 and Clean Swell10) are focused on marine- rather than terrestrial litter. Therefore, accurate terrestrial geospatial documentation of litter distribution is needed to improve environmental awareness. The current research employed citizen science to examine litter distribution in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, using the OpenLitterMap (OLM) app. The OLM app is an application used to track litter worldwide, and it can mark litter locations through photo georeferencing, which can be presented through GIS-designed maps. The OLM app provides open-source data that can be downloaded. It also offers information on various litter types and “hot-spots” areas where litter accumulates. In this study, Lethbridge College students collected litter data with the OLM app. The students produced GIS Story Maps (interactive web GIS illustrations) and presented these to school children to improve awareness of litter's impact on environmental health. Preliminary results indicate that towards the Lethbridge Coulees’ (valleys) East edges, the amount of litter significantly increased due to shrubs’ presence, that acted as litter catches. As wind generally travels from west to east in Lethbridge, litter in West-Lethbridge often finds its way down in the east part of the coulees. The students’ documented various litter types, while the majority (75%) included plastic and paper food packaging. The students also found metal wires, broken glass, plastic bottles, golf balls, and tires. Presentations of the Story Maps to school children had a significant impact, as the children voluntarily collected litter during school recess, and they were looking into solutions to reduce litter. Further litter distribution documentation through Citizen Science is needed to improve public awareness. Additionally, future research will be focused on Drone imagery of highly concentrated litter areas. Finally, a time series analysis of litter distribution will help us determine whether public education through Citizen Science and Story Maps can assist in reducing litter and reaching a cleaner and healthier environment.

Keywords: citizen science, litter pollution, Open Litter Map, GIS Story Map

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Authors: Henry Pariaman, Iwa Garniwa, Isti Surjandari, Bambang Sugiarto

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Availability of a complex system of thermal power plant is strongly influenced by the reliability of spare parts and maintenance management policies. A reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) technique is an established method of analysis and is the main reference for maintenance planning. This method considers the consequences of failure in its implementation, but does not deal with further risk of down time that associated with failures, loss of production or high maintenance costs. Risk-based maintenance (RBM) technique provides support strategies to minimize the risks posed by the failure to obtain maintenance task considering cost effectiveness. Meanwhile, condition-based maintenance (CBM) focuses on monitoring the application of the conditions that allow the planning and scheduling of maintenance or other action should be taken to avoid the risk of failure prior to the time-based maintenance. Implementation of RCM, RBM, CBM alone or combined RCM and RBM or RCM and CBM is a maintenance technique used in thermal power plants. Implementation of these three techniques in an integrated maintenance will increase the availability of thermal power plants compared to the use of maintenance techniques individually or in combination of two techniques. This study uses the reliability, risks and conditions-based maintenance in an integrated manner to increase the availability of thermal power plants. The method generates MPI (Priority Maintenance Index) is RPN (Risk Priority Number) are multiplied by RI (Risk Index) and FDT (Failure Defense Task) which can generate the task of monitoring and assessment of conditions other than maintenance tasks. Both MPI and FDT obtained from development of functional tree, failure mode effects analysis, fault-tree analysis, and risk analysis (risk assessment and risk evaluation) were then used to develop and implement a plan and schedule maintenance, monitoring and assessment of the condition and ultimately perform availability analysis. The results of this study indicate that the reliability, risks and conditions-based maintenance methods, in an integrated manner can increase the availability of thermal power plants.

Keywords: integrated maintenance techniques, availability, thermal power plant, MPI, FDT

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Authors: Liu Shengnan, Sun Liping, Zhu Jianxun

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Based on three dimensional potential flow theory, hydrodynamic response analysis is carried on the multi floating bodies system composed of FPSO moored with yoke and shuttle tanker. It considered hydrodynamic interaction between FPSO and shuttle tanker, interaction between the hull and yoke mooring systems, hawsers, fenders, and then focuses on hawsers of the side-by-side offloading system. The influence of hawsers parameters on system safety is studied in respects of hawser stiffness, length and arrangement. Through analysis in different environment conditions and two typical loading conditions, it can be found that a better safety performance can be achieved through these three ways including enlarging the number of hawsers as well as the stiffness of hawsers, changing the length and arrangement of hawsers.

Keywords: yoke mooring, side-by-side offloading, multi floating body, hawser, safety

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Authors: Daniel Ecler

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The aim of this paper was to find out how Chinese university students perceive distance learning compared to full-time teaching, to reveal its advantages and disadvantages, and to try to find what elements could be implemented in regular full-time teaching in order to make it more effective. Recent events have shown that online teaching has a significant role to play in the field of education and needs to be given increased attention and scrutiny. For this purpose, a research survey was conducted using semi-structured questionnaires, which aimed to determine the attitudes of Chinese university students to the phenomenon of distance learning. The results of this survey revealed that most students prefer distance learning to full-time teaching, mainly because it gives them more freedom to participate in teaching, regardless of the environment in which they are currently located. In conclusion, it is necessary to mention that the possibility to participate virtually in teaching from anywhere is a huge advantage that could become part of regular teaching in the future. However, further research into this issue will be necessary.

Keywords: distance learning, full-time teaching, Chinese college students, cultural background

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Authors: Sandra Arango-Caro, Kristine Callis-Duehl

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The Education Research and Outreach Lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center established the Plant and Agriculture Augmented and Virtual Reality Learning Laboratory (PAVRLL) to promote science education through professional development, school programs, internships, and outreach events. Professional development is offered to high school and college science and agriculture educators on the use and applications of zSpace and Oculus platforms. Educators learn to use, edit, or create lesson plans in the zSpace platform that are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. They also learn to use virtual reality experiences created by the PAVRLL available in Oculus (e.g. The Soybean Saga). Using a cost-free loan rotation system, educators can bring the AVR units to the classroom and offer AVR activities to their students. Each activity has user guides and activity protocols for both teachers and students. The PAVRLL also offers activities for 3D plant modeling. High school students work in teams of art-, science-, and technology-oriented students to design and create 3D models of plant species that are under research at the Danforth Center and present their projects at scientific events. Those 3D models are open access through the zSpace platform and are used by PAVRLL for professional development and the creation of VR activities. Both teachers and students acquire knowledge of plant and agriculture content and real-world problems, gain skills in AVR technology, 3D modeling, and science communication, and become more aware and interested in plant science. Students that participate in the PAVRLL activities complete pre- and post-surveys and reflection questions that evaluate interests in STEM and STEM careers, students’ perceptions of three design features of biology lab courses (collaboration, discovery/relevance, and iteration/productive failure), plant awareness, and engagement and learning in AVR environments. The PAVRLL was established in the fall of 2019, and since then, it has trained 15 educators, three of which will implement the AVR programs in the fall of 2021. Seven students have worked in the 3D plant modeling activity through a virtual internship. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of teachers trained, and classroom implementations have been very limited. It is expected that in the fall of 2021, students will come back to the schools in person, and by the spring of 2022, the PAVRLL activities will be fully implemented. This will allow the collection of enough data on student assessments that will provide insights on benefits and best practices for the use of AVR technologies in the classrooms. The PAVRLL uses cutting-edge educational technologies to promote science education and assess their benefits and will continue its expansion. Currently, the PAVRLL is applying for grants to create its own virtual labs where students can experience authentic research experiences using real Danforth research data based on programs the Education Lab already used in classrooms.

Keywords: assessment, augmented reality, education, plant science, virtual reality

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Authors: Sónia Ribeiro, Diana Farinha, Elsa Pereira, Hélia Sales, Filipa Figueiredo, Rita Pontes, João Nunes

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Conventional plastic impacts on Planet, natural resources contamination, human health as well as animals are the most attractive environmental and health attention. The lack of treatment in the end-of-life (EOL) phase and uncontrolled discard allows plastic to be found everywhere in the world. Food waste is increasing significantly, with a final destination to landfills. To face these difficulties, new packaging solutions are needed with the objective of prolonging the shelf-life of products as well as equipment solutions for the development of the mentioned packaging. FLUI project thus presents relevance and innovation to reach a new level of knowledge and industrial development focused in Ecodesign. Industrial equipment field for the manufacture of new packaging solutions based on biodegradable plastics films to apply in the food sector. With lesser environmental impacts and new solutions that make it possible to prevent food waste, reduce the production e consequent poor disposal of plastic of fossil origin. It will be a paradigm shift at different levels, from industry to waste treatment stations, passing through commercial agents and consumers. It can be achieved through the life cycle assessment (LCA) and ecodesign of the products, which integrates the environmental concerns in the design of the product as well as through the entire life cycle. The FLUI project aims to build a piece of new bio-PLA extrusion equipment with the incorporation of bioactive extracts through the production of flexible mono- and multi-layer functional films (FLUI systems). The biofunctional and biodegradable films will prompt the extension of packaged products’ shelf-life, reduce food waste and contribute to reducing the consumption of non-degradable fossil plastics, as well as the use of raw material from renewable sources.

Keywords: food packing, bioplastics, ecodesign, circular economy

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Authors: Hycham Aboutaleb, Bruno Monsuez

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Current systems' complexity has reached a degree that requires addressing conception and design issues while taking into account environmental, operational, social, legal, and financial aspects. Therefore, one of the main challenges is the way complex systems are specified and designed. The exponentially growing effort, cost, and time investment of complex systems in modeling phase emphasize the need for a paradigm, a framework, and an environment to handle the system model complexity. For that, it is necessary to understand the expectations of the human user of the model and his limits. This paper presents a generic framework for designing complex systems, highlights the requirements a system model needs to fulfill to meet human user expectations, and suggests a graph-based formalism for modeling complex systems. Finally, a set of transformations are defined to handle the model complexity.

Keywords: higraph-based, formalism, system engineering paradigm, modeling requirements, graph-based transformations

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Authors: Paul Nadasdy

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In 2020, oral communication classes at many universities in Japan switched to online and hybrid lessons because of the coronavirus pandemic. Teachers had to adapt their practices immediately and deal with the challenges of the online environment. Even for experienced teachers, this still presented a problem as many had not conducted online classes before. Simultaneously, for many students, this type of learning was completely alien to them, and they had to adapt to the challenges faced by communicating in English online. This study collected data from 418 first grade students in the first semester of English communication classes at a technical university in Tokyo, Japan. Zoom software was used throughout the learning period. Though there were many challenges in the setting up and implementation of Zoom classes at the university, the results indicated that the students enjoyed the format and made the most of the circumstances. This proved the robustness of the course that was taught in regular lessons and the adaptability of teachers and students to challenges in a very short timeframe.

Keywords: zoom, hybrid lessons, communicative english, online teaching

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Authors: Serge Mudinga Lemika, Samuel Olukayode Akinwamide, Aribo Sunday, Babatunde Abiodun Obadele, Peter Apata Olubambi

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Use of Duplex stainless steel has become predominant in applications where excellent corrosion resistance is of utmost importance. Corrosion behavior of duplex stainless steel induced with varying stress in a chloride media were studied. Characterization of as received 2205 duplex stainless steels were carried out to reveal its structure and properties tensile sample produced from duplex stainless steel was initially subjected to tensile test to obtain the yield strength. Stresses obtained by various percentages (20, 40, 60 and 80%) of the yield strength was induced in DSS samples. Corrosion tests were carried out in magnesium chloride solution at room temperature. Morphologies of cracks observed with optical and scanning electron microscope showed that samples induced with higher stress had its austenite and ferrite grains affected by pitting.

Keywords: duplex stainless steel, hardness, nanoceramics, spark plasma sintering

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Authors: Olatokunbo Shoyemi, Mario Brito, Ian Dawson

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In recent times, the Nigerian motor insurers have experienced high volume of motor insurance claim pay-outs and insignificant contribution to the net premium income of the Nigerian insurance market, which has been a major concern for the shareholders/stakeholders. It has been argued that there are many factors that have brought about these concerns. However, anecdotal evidence (ongoing debates among industry practitioners) suggests prevalence of fraud due to poor practices in motor insurance business in Nigeria. This study is therefore aimed to carry out an assessment of fraud in motor insurance claims as perceived by experts in the Nigerian insurance market. This study adopted a descriptive research design, and the analysis was built on a survey among insurance experts in Nigeria using a designed questionnaire. A purposive and snowball sampling were used to select our sample (N = 120) - representing a selection of all professionally qualified insurance experts in Nigeria insurance industry. The study found that Nigerian insurance experts (i) largely agree that there is a problematic level of fraud in the Nigerian motor insurance industry; (ii) perceive soft fraud to be about 3 times more common than hard fraud in the Nigerian motor insurance industry, and (iii) strongly agree there are problematic impacts from fraud on the solvency of the Nigerian motor insurers. This paper has provided an empirical understanding of the existence, extent, and impact of fraud risks within the Nigerian insurance market based on expert knowledge and insights rather than, as has often been the case, a reliance on individual anecdotes.

Keywords: claims, net premium income, motor insurance, soft fraud, hard fraud

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Authors: Juliana Bastos dos Santos, Francisca Dantas Mendes, Abdul Jabbar Mohammad Khatri, Adam Abdul Jabbar Khatri

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This research aims to describe the experimentation of color extraction from household waste, for the application of the natural vegetable dyeing technique, as a more sustainable option for the upcycling process. Based on the research of the case study, this article intends to record the process of collecting the materials, extracting the colors and their applicability. The study aims to deepen the knowledge about possible alternatives that generate less impact on the environment throughout the process of plant stamping and, also, to spread the concepts of sustainability in fashion. Therefore, this content becomes relevant for valuing an artisanal production process, reconnecting with ancestral knowledge. This article also intends to serve as a record of ancestral artisanal processes, based on the indigenous and African matrices that are pillars of Brazilian culture.

Keywords: natural dyeing, sustainability, organic residue, fashion, reuse

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Authors: Laila Akbarali

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In the small scale study, an attempt is made to explore the structure and administrative relationships adopted by Multi Campus Universities [MCU] in UK and Pakistan and how these universities deal with some selected issues with respect to student related functions. For this study, literature on multi-site, divisionalized and other complex organizations related to business and Industry was consulted and an attempt was made to empirically test the normative models in the literature with respect to centralized , deconcentrated and decentralized structures. A questionnaire was used to gather data for this study. Purposive sampling was used. The findings of this study are somewhat different for UK and Pakistan. Contrary to a substantial body of organization theory, the results show that deconcentrated and decentralized universities in the UK are prone to delays in decision making and tend not to sensitive to local needs. In Pakistan on the other hand, deconcentrated and decentralized universities are more sensitive to local needs and there are less delays in decision making. The findings suggest that distance and reporting relationships could perhaps be responsible for the contradiction. The results also suggest that there is better coordination when the subsidiary campus sub-registrar reports to the registrar. The findings also highlight, that in both contexts, leadership at the campus level remains an issue. The results suggest that there may be factors other than structure that allow universities to keep their identity intact. The study highlights that MCU are inclined to use Information Technology and develop broad policies within which they allow their campuses to operate.

Keywords: administrative relationships, Multi-Campus, organization structure, registrar

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Authors: Zhaoyang Liu

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Oil pollution is typically caused by oil and gas-related operations such as vessel accidents, which can pollute waterways as well as the environment and damage the ecosystem. Tanker ship cleaning contributes to oil spills, which have a negative impact on coastal countries due to protracted service disruption. It is critical for coastal countries to develop efficient oil taint cleanup technology. There are various oil/water separation technologies, such as gravity separation, hydrocyclone, air flotation, and membrane filtration, among others. Among these, membrane filtration has been shown to produce high-quality effluent. Commercial membranes, on the other hand, nevertheless face significant practical challenges, such as a high susceptibility for membrane fouling when dealing with greasy effluent. We developed a unique anti-fouling filtering membrane for oil/water separation in this work. The membrane was made of inorganic nanofibers, which possesses the advantages of low membrane fouling, high permeation flux and long-term durability. This results from this study could facilitate to pave a new way for membranes filtration’s practical applications in oil/gas industry.

Keywords: oil, contaminate, wastewater, removal

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Authors: Deborah O. Okusanya, Chris Vanrooyen, Stefan de Jager

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Introduction: Homosexuality has been and continues to be a controversial subject across many disciplines; it has generated many debates around religious, academic institutions, political, socio-cultural as well as medical domains. The current study investigated students from a previously disadvantaged African university’s perception regarding homosexuality. Method: This qualitative study utilized two focus groups to collect data, which then was analyzed using thematic content analysis. Result: The study revealed that students’ level of awareness with regard to homosexuality is very high and their perceptions largely negative. Students predominantly found the practice unethical, and un-African. Discussion: Students tend to show a lot of stereotypical prejudicial responses and there seems to be a general lack of willingness to discuss this in a public discourse. In conclusion, there seems to be a tension between cultural values and the open environment such as academic institutions. Students’ perceptions go a long way in shaping public discourse and the larger population’s general attitude toward homosexuality.

Keywords: discourse, homosexuality, stereotypical, un-African

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Authors: Sushma Ghogale

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With a surge in user-generated content or feedback or reviews on the internet, it has become possible and important to know consumers' opinions about products and services. This data is important for both potential customers and businesses providing the services. Data from social media is attracting significant attention and has become the most prominent channel of expressing an unregulated opinion. Prospective customers look for reviews from experienced customers before deciding to buy a product or service. Several websites provide a platform for users to post their feedback for the provider and potential customers. However, the biggest challenge in analyzing such data is in extracting latent features and providing term-level analysis of the data. This paper proposes an approach to use topic modeling to classify the reviews into topics and conduct sentiment analysis to mine the opinions. This approach can analyse and classify latent topics mentioned by reviewers on business sites or review sites, or social media using topic modeling to identify the importance of each topic. It is followed by sentiment analysis to assess the satisfaction level of each topic. This approach provides a classification of hotel reviews using multiple machine learning techniques and comparing different classifiers to mine the opinions of user reviews through sentiment analysis. This experiment concludes that Multinomial Naïve Bayes classifier produces higher accuracy than other classifiers.

Keywords: latent Dirichlet allocation, topic modeling, text classification, sentiment analysis

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Authors: Hamza A. Ali, Adnan H. M. Al-Helali

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Generally, a watermark is information that identifies the ownership of multimedia (text, image, audio or video files). It is achieved by introducing modifications into these files that are imperceptible to the human senses but easily recoverable by a computer program. These modifications are done according to a secret key in a descriptive model that would be either in the time domain or frequency domain or both. This paper presents a procedure for watermarking by mixing amplitude modulation with frequency transformation histogram; namely a specific value is used to modulate the intensity component Y of the YIQ components of the carrier image. This scheme is referred to as histogram embedding technique (HET). Results comparison with those of other techniques such as discrete wavelet transform (DWT), discrete cosine transform (DCT) and singular value decomposition (SVD) have shown an enhance efficiency in terms of ease and performance. It has manifested a good degree of robustness against various environment effects such as resizing, rotation and different kinds of noise. This method would prove very useful technique for copyright protection and ownership judgment.

Keywords: watermarking, ownership, copyright protection, steganography, information hiding, authentication

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