Search results for: energy modeling tools

Authors: Mariia Khramova, Sergio Martinez, Duc Nguyen

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Modern electronic devices, particularly smartphones, are characterised by extremely high environmental footprint and short product lifecycle. Every year manufacturers release new models with even more superior performance, which pushes the customers towards new purchases. As a result, millions of devices are being accumulated in the urban mine. To tackle these challenges the concept of circular economy has been introduced to promote repair, reuse and recycle of electronics. In this case, electronic devices, that previously ended up in landfills or households, are getting the second life, therefore, reducing the demand for new raw materials. Smartphone reuse is gradually gaining wider adoption partly due to the price increase of flagship models, consequently, boosting circular economy implementation. However, along with reuse of communication device, circular economy approach needs to ensure the data of the previous user have not been 'reused' together with a device. This is especially important since modern smartphones are comparable with computers in terms of performance and amount of data stored. These data vary from pictures, videos, call logs to social security numbers, passport and credit card details, from personal information to corporate confidential data. To assess how well the data privacy requirements are followed on smartphones second-hand market, a sample of 100 Android smartphones has been purchased from IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) facilities responsible for data erasure and resell. Although devices should not have stored any user data by the time they leave ITAD, it has been possible to retrieve the data from 19% of the sample. Applied techniques varied from manual device inspection to sophisticated equipment and tools. These findings indicate significant barrier in implementation of circular economy and a limitation of smartphone reuse. Therefore, in order to motivate the users to donate or sell their old devices and make electronic use more sustainable, data privacy on second-hand smartphone market should be significantly improved. Presented research has been carried out in the framework of sustainablySMART project, which is part of Horizon 2020 EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

Keywords: android, circular economy, data privacy, second-hand phones

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Authors: John N. Idenyi, Hadimundeen Abdallah, Abigeal D. Adeyemi, Jonathan C. Eya

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Gut microbiomes play a significant role in the growth, metabolism, and health of fish. However, we know very little about the interactive effects of variations in dietary composition and temperature on rainbow trout gut microbiota. Exactly 288 rainbow trout weighing 45.6g ± 0.05 (average ± SD) were fed four isocaloric, isolipidic, and isonitrogenous diets comprising 40% crude protein and 20% crude lipid and formulated as 100 % animal-based protein (AP) and a blend of 50 fish oil (FO)/50 camelina oil (CO), 100 % AP and100 % CO, 100 % plant-based protein (PP) and a blend of 50FO/50CO or 100 % PP and 100 % CO in 14 or 18°C for 150 days. Gut content was analyzed using 16S rRNA gene and shotgun sequencing. The most abundant phyla identified regardless of diet were Tenericutes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Spirochaetes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria, while Aeromonadaceae and Enterobacteriaceae were dominant families in 18°C. Moreover, gut microbes were dominated by genes relating to an amino acid, carbohydrate, fat, and energy metabolisms and influenced by temperature. The shared functional profiles for all the diets suggest that plant protein sources in combination with CO could be as good as the fish meal with 50/50 FO & CO in rainbow trout farming.

Keywords: aquafeed, aquaculture, microbiome, rainbow trout

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Authors: M. Balordi, G. Santucci de Magistris, F. Pini, P. Marcacci

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The increasing of extreme meteorological events represents the most important causes of damages and blackouts of the whole electric system. In particular, the icing on ground-wires and overheads lines, due to snowstorms or harsh winter conditions, very often gives rise to the collapse of cables and towers both in cold and warm climates. On the other hand, the high concentration of contaminants in the air, due to natural and/or antropic causes, is reflected in high levels of pollutants layered on glass and ceramic insulators, causing frequent and unpredictable flashover events. Overheads line and insulator failures lead to blackouts, dangerous and expensive maintenances and serious inefficiencies in the distribution service. Inducing superhydrophobic (SHP) properties to conductors, ground-wires and insulators, is one of the ways to face all these problems. Indeed, in some cases, the SHP surface can delay the ice nucleation time and decrease the ice nucleation temperature, preventing ice formation. Besides, thanks to the low surface energy, the adhesion force between ice and a superhydrophobic material are low and the ice can be easily detached from the surface. Moreover, it is well known that superhydrophobic surfaces can have self-cleaning properties: these hinder the deposition of pollution and decrease the probability of flashover phenomena. Here this study presents three different studies to impart superhydrophobicity to aluminum, zinc and glass specimens, which represent the main constituent materials of conductors, ground-wires and insulators, respectively. The route to impart the superhydrophobicity to the metallic surfaces can be summarized in a three-step process: 1) sandblasting treatment, 2) chemical-hydrothermal treatment and 3) coating deposition. The first step is required to create a micro-roughness. In the chemical-hydrothermal treatment a nano-scale metallic oxide (Al or Zn) is grown and, together with the sandblasting treatment, bring about a hierarchical micro-nano structure. By coating an alchilated or fluorinated siloxane coating, the surface energy decreases and gives rise to superhydrophobic surfaces. In order to functionalize the glass, different superhydrophobic powders, obtained by a sol-gel synthesis, were prepared. Further, the specimens were covered with a commercial primer and the powders were deposed on them. All the resulting metallic and glass surfaces showed a noticeable superhydrophobic behavior with a very high water contact angles (>150°) and a very low roll-off angles (<5°). The three optimized processes are fast, cheap and safe, and can be easily replicated on industrial scales. The anti-icing and self-cleaning properties of the surfaces were assessed with several indoor lab-tests that evidenced remarkable anti-icing properties and self-cleaning behavior with respect to the bare materials. Finally, to evaluate the anti-snow properties of the samples, some SHP specimens were exposed under real snow-fall events in the RSE outdoor test-facility located in Vinadio, western Alps: the coated samples delay the formation of the snow-sleeves and facilitate the detachment of the snow. The good results for both indoor and outdoor tests make these materials promising for further development in large scale applications.

Keywords: superhydrophobic coatings, anti-icing, self-cleaning, anti-snow, overheads lines

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Authors: Junhong Feng, Wenyu Lu, Xinhong Cheng, Li Zheng, Yuehui Yu

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The effects of proton irradiation on the properties of gate oxide were evaluated by monitoring the static parameters (such as threshold voltage and on-resistance) and dynamic parameters (Miller plateau time) of 1700V SiC VDMOS before and after proton irradiation. The incident proton energy was 3MeV, and the doses were 5 × 10¹² P / cm², 1 × 10¹³ P / cm², respectively. The results show that the threshold voltage of MOS exhibits negative drift under proton irradiation, and the near-interface traps in the gate oxide layer are occupied by holes generated by the ionization effect of irradiation, thus forming more positive charges. The basis for selecting TMiller is that the change time of Vgs is the time when Vds just shows an upward trend until it rises to a stable value. The degradation of the turn-off time of the Miller platform verifies that the capacitance Cgd becomes larger, reflecting that the gate oxide layer is introduced into the trap by the displacement effect caused by proton irradiation, and the interface state deteriorates. As a more sensitive area in the irradiation process, the gate oxide layer will be optimized for its parameters (such as thickness, type, etc.) in subsequent studies.

Keywords: SiC VDMOS, proton radiation, Miller time, gate oxide

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Authors: Zhou Xiaowen China, Zhang Sanming China

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Neighbourhood space as a very important part of city spaces, is an organic combination of material environment and spiritual achievement in people’ daily life, and has a real impact upon the sustainable development of the whole city. Looking back on the past 2014 World Architecture Festival (WAF), 4 out of 35winning buildings were neighbourhood designs, and all of them mentioned about space-sharing and sustainable development. In this paper, three award-winning cases were studied, including the world building of the year—the chapel (Vietnam, A21 studio), The Carve (Norway, A-Lab) and House for Trees (Vietnam, Vo Trong Nghia Architects). Urban context, planning, space construction and sustainable technology were discussed. Based on those, it was discovered that passive energy-saving technologies have been paid more and more attention, sharing space has been designed ingeniously, and the architectural forms of them reflect social inclusion and equity. This paper is aimed at summarizing the excellent works on the Festival and providing reference for the future design.

Keywords: neighbourhood design, 2014 World Architecture Festival (WAF), sustainable development, space-sharing

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Authors: Khamael M. Abualnaja, Lidija Šiller, Benjamin R. Horrocks

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Alkylated silicon nanocrystals (C11-SiNCs) were prepared successfully by galvanostatic etching of p-Si(100) wafers followed by a thermal hydrosilation reaction of 1-undecene in refluxing toluene in order to extract C11-SiNCs from porous silicon. Erbium trichloride was added to alkylated SiNCs using a simple mixing chemical route. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first investigation on mixing SiNCs with erbium ions (III) by this chemical method. The chemical characterization of C11-SiNCs and their mixtures with Er3+ (Er/C11-SiNCs) were carried out using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The optical properties of C11-SiNCs and their mixtures with Er3+ were investigated using Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL). The erbium-mixed alkylated SiNCs shows an orange PL emission peak at around 595 nm that originates from radiative recombination of Si. Er/C11-SiNCs mixture also exhibits a weak PL emission peak at 1536 nm that originates from the intra-4f transition in erbium ions (Er3+). The PL peak of Si in Er/C11-SiNCs mixture is increased in the intensity up to three times as compared to pure C11-SiNCs. The collected data suggest that this chemical mixing route leads instead to a transfer of energy from erbium ions to alkylated SiNCs.

Keywords: photoluminescence, silicon nanocrystals, erbium, Raman spectroscopy

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Authors: Alaa Morsy, Youssef Ibrahim

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Earthquake is one of the most catastrophic events, which makes enormous harm to properties and human lives. As a piece of a safe building configuration, reinforced concrete walls are given in structures to decrease horizontal displacements under seismic load. Shear walls are additionally used to oppose the horizontal loads that might be incited by the impact of wind. Reinforced concrete walls in residential buildings might have openings that are required for windows in outside walls or for doors in inside walls or different states of openings due to architectural purposes. The size, position, and area of openings may fluctuate from an engineering perspective. Shear walls can encounter harm around corners of entryways and windows because of advancement of stress concentration under the impact of vertical or horizontal loads. The openings cause a diminishing in shear wall capacity. It might have an unfavorable impact on the stiffness of reinforced concrete wall and on the seismic reaction of structures. Finite Element Method using software package ‘ANSYS ver. 12’ becomes an essential approach in analyzing civil engineering problems numerically. Now we can make various models with different parameters in short time by using ANSYS instead of doing it experimentally, which consumes a lot of time and money. Finite element modeling approach has been conducted to study the effect of opening shape, size and position in RC wall with different thicknesses under axial and lateral static loads. The proposed finite element approach has been verified with experimental programme conducted by the researchers and validated by their variables. A very good correlation has been observed between the model and experimental results including load capacity, failure mode, and lateral displacement. A parametric study is applied to investigate the effect of opening size, shape, position on different reinforced concrete wall thicknesses. The results may be useful for improving existing design models and to be applied in practice, as it satisfies both the architectural and the structural requirements.

Keywords: Ansys, concrete walls, openings, out of plane behavior, seismic, shear wall

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Authors: Salina Yahya Saddick

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Ovarian cancer remains the most lethal gynecological malignancy due to the lack of highly sensitive and specific screening tools for detection of early-stage disease. The OSE provides the progenitor cells for 90% of human ovarian cancers. Recent morphologic, immunohistochemical and molecular genetic studies have led to the development of a new paradigm for the pathogenesis and origin of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) based on a ualistic model of carcinogenesis that divides EOC into two broad categories designated Types I and II which are characterized by specific mutations, including KRAS, BRAF, ERBB2, CTNNB1, PTEN PIK3CA, ARID1A, and PPPR1A, which target specific cell signaling pathways. Type 1 tumors rarely harbor TP53. type I tumors are relatively genetically stable and typically display a variety of somatic sequence mutations that include KRAS, BRAF, PTEN, PIK3CA CTNNB1 (the gene encoding beta catenin), ARID1A and PPP2R1A but very rarely TP53 . The cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis postulates that the tumorigenic potential of CSCs is confined to a very small subset of tumor cells and is defined by their ability to self-renew and differentiate leading to the formation of a tumor mass. Potential protein biomarker miRNA, are promising biomarkers as they are remarkably stable to allow isolation and analysis from tissues and from blood in which they can be found as free circulating nucleic acids and in mononuclear cells. Recently, genomic anaylsis have identified biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for ovarian cancer namely, FGF18 which plays an active role in controlling migration, invasion, and tumorigenicity of ovarian cancer cells through NF-κB activation, which increased the production of oncogenic cytokines and chemokines. This review summarizes update information on epithelial ovarian cancers and point out to the most recent ongoing research.

Keywords: epithelial ovarian cancers, somatic sequence mutations, cancer stem cell (CSC), potential protein, biomarker, genomic analysis, FGF18 biomarker

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Authors: Tsega Asresa Mengistu, Getahun Tigistu

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Computer vision is an artificial intelligence subfield that allows computers and systems to retrieve meaning from digital images. It is applied in various fields of study self-driving cars, video surveillance, agriculture, Quality control, Health care, construction, military, and everyday life. Aromatic and medicinal plants are botanical raw materials used in cosmetics, medicines, health foods, and other natural health products for therapeutic and Aromatic culinary purposes. Herbal industries depend on these special plants. These plants and their products not only serve as a valuable source of income for farmers and entrepreneurs, and going to export not only industrial raw materials but also valuable foreign exchange. There is a lack of technologies for the classification and identification of Aromatic and medicinal plants in Ethiopia. The manual identification system of plants is a tedious, time-consuming, labor, and lengthy process. For farmers, industry personnel, academics, and pharmacists, it is still difficult to identify parts and usage of plants before ingredient extraction. In order to solve this problem, the researcher uses a deep learning approach for the efficient identification of aromatic and medicinal plants by using a convolutional neural network. The objective of the proposed study is to identify the aromatic and medicinal plant Parts and usages using computer vision technology. Therefore, this research initiated a model for the automatic classification of aromatic and medicinal plants by exploring computer vision technology. Morphological characteristics are still the most important tools for the identification of plants. Leaves are the most widely used parts of plants besides the root, flower and fruit, latex, and barks. The study was conducted on aromatic and medicinal plants available in the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research center. An experimental research design is proposed for this study. This is conducted in Convolutional neural networks and Transfer learning. The Researcher employs sigmoid Activation as the last layer and Rectifier liner unit in the hidden layers. Finally, the researcher got a classification accuracy of 66.4 in convolutional neural networks and 67.3 in mobile networks, and 64 in the Visual Geometry Group.

Keywords: aromatic and medicinal plants, computer vision, deep convolutional neural network

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Authors: H. Kamide, T. Arai

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This study aims to clarify factors of courtesy to things and the effect of courtesy on a sense of unity with things based on the teaching of Buddha. The teaching of Buddha explains when dealing with things in a courteous manner carefully, the border between selves and the external world disappears, then both are united. This is an example in Buddhist way that explains the connections with all existences, and in the modern world, it is also a lesson that humans should not let matters go to waste and treat them politely. In order to reveal concrete ways to practice courtesy to things, we clarify the factors of courtesy (Study 1) and examine the effect of courtesy on the sense of unity with the things (Study 2). In Study 1, 100 Japanese (mean age=54.39, SD=15.04, 50% female) described freely about what is courtesy to things that they use daily. These descriptions were classified, and 25 items were made asking for the degree of courtesy to the things. Then different 678 Japanese (mean age=44.72, SD=13.14, 50% female) answered the 25 items on 7-point about tools they use daily. An exploratory factor analysis revealed two factors. The first factor (α=.97) includes 'I deal with the thing carefully' and 'I clean up the thing after use'. This factor reflects how gently people care about things. The second factor (α=.96) includes 'A sense of self-control has come to me through using the thing' and 'I have got inner strength by taking care of the thing'. The second factor reflects how people learn by dealing with things carefully. In this Study 2, 200 Japanese (mean age=49.39, SD=11.07, 50% female) answered courtesy about things they use daily and the degree of sense of unity with the things using the inclusion of other in the self scale, replacing 'Other' with 'Your thing'. The ANOVA was conducted to examine the effect of courtesy (high/low level of two factors) on the score of sense of unity. The results showed the main effect of care level. People with a high level of care have a stronger sense of unity with the thing. The tendency of an interaction effect is also found. The condition with a high level of care and a high level of learning enhances the sense of unity more than the condition of a low level of care and high level in learning. Study 1 found that courtesy is composed of care and learning. That is, courtesy is not only active care to the things but also to learn the meaning of the things and grow personally with the things. Study 2 revealed that people with a high level of care feel a stronger sense of unity and also people with both a high level of care and learn tend to do so. The findings support the idea of the teaching of Buddha. In the future, it is necessary to examine a combined effect of care and learning.

Keywords: courtesy, things, sense of unity, the teaching of Buddha

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Authors: Marine Kobalava

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The article analyzes the level of Georgia's tourism potential usage during the pandemic. The conclusion is drawnthat Georgia, as a tourism brand, is in a significant crisis at this stage, revenues from this sector have been substantially reduced, communication with potential customers is interrupted, no international marketing and PR communication strategies have been developed for the post-pandemic period. In order to rehabilitate the tourism industry of Georgia, it is considered vital to take measures using international marketing and PR communication strategies adjusted to the needs of the sectorthat will improve the use of tourism potential and stimulate the development of the sector. The goal of the research is to identify the factors hindering the use of tourism potential in the direction of international marketing and PR communication strategies in the post-pandemic period and to develop recommendations on ways to solve them. Research methods. The paper uses various theoretical and methodological tools of research, including Bibliographic research has been conducted on the main research issues; Analysis, synthesis, induction, and other methods are used to select and group data, identify similarities and differences, and identify trends; Endogenous and exogenous factors affecting the field of tourism have been studied by means of SWOT and PESTEL analyzes. A comparison model is used to analyze the strategy documents. Primary accounting materials are obtained from the National Statistics Office and the relevant ministries. Based on the results of the research, the directions of correct positioning of tourism products and marketing communication in the post-pandemic period have been developed. It is substantiated that a short-term international marketing strategy should include: probable goals of communication, maintaining a position on a potential traveler's “radar,” focusing communication on key motivating factors (gastronomy, winemaking, folklore, protected areas, mountainous regions). From a marketing point of view, it is important: holding international marketing events, compiling a list of target countries, formation of stimulus mechanisms, development of incentive programs for international tour operators, etc. The paper draws conclusions about the problems of using the tourism potential, recommendations on ways to solve this problems through international marketing and PR communication strategies are offered

Keywords: PR communication, international marketing strategy, tourism potential, post-pandemic period

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Authors: Philipp Wenger, Michael Beltle, Stefan Tenbohlen, Uwe Riechert

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The integration of renewable energy introduces new challenges to the transmission grid, as the power generation is located far from load centers. The associated necessary long-range power transmission increases the demand for high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines and DC distribution grids. HVDC gas-insulated switchgears (GIS) are considered being a key technology, due to the combination of the DC technology and the long operation experiences of AC-GIS. To ensure long-term reliability of such systems, insulation defects must be detected in an early stage. Operational experience with AC systems has proven evidence, that most failures, which can be attributed to breakdowns of the insulation system, can be detected and identified via partial discharge (PD) measurements beforehand. In AC systems the identification of defects relies on the phase resolved partial discharge pattern (PRPD). Since there is no phase information within DC systems this method cannot be transferred to DC PD diagnostic. Furthermore, the behaviour of e.g. free-moving particles differs significantly at DC: Under the influence of a constant direct electric field, charge carriers can accumulate on particles’ surfaces. As a result, a particle can lift-off, oscillate between the inner conductor and the enclosure or rapidly bounces at just one electrode, which is known as firefly motion. Depending on the motion and the relative position of the particle to the electrodes, broadband electromagnetic PD pulses are emitted, which can be recorded by ultra-high frequency (UHF) measuring methods. PDs are often accompanied by light emissions at the particle’s tip which enables optical detection. This contribution investigates PD characteristics of free moving metallic particles in a commercially available 300 kV SF6-insulated HVDC-GIS. The influences of various defect parameters on the particle motion and the PD characteristic are evaluated experimentally. Several particle geometries, such as cylinder, lamella, spiral and sphere with different length, diameter and weight are determined. The applied DC voltage is increased stepwise from inception voltage up to UDC = ± 400 kV. Different physical detection methods are used simultaneously in a time-synchronized setup. Firstly, the electromagnetic waves emitted by the particle are recorded by an UHF measuring system. Secondly, a photomultiplier tube (PMT) detects light emission with a wavelength in the range of λ = 185…870 nm. Thirdly, a high-speed camera (HSC) tracks the particle’s motion trajectory with high accuracy. Furthermore, an electrically insulated electrode is attached to the grounded enclosure and connected to a current shunt in order to detect low frequency ion currents: The shunt measuring system’s sensitivity is in the range of 10 nA at a measuring bandwidth of bw = DC…1 MHz. Currents of charge carriers, which are generated at the particle’s tip migrate through the gas gap to the electrode and can be recorded by the current shunt. All recorded PD signals are analyzed in order to identify characteristic properties of different particles. This includes e.g. repetition rates and amplitudes of successive pulses, characteristic frequency ranges and detected signal energy of single PD pulses. Concluding, an advanced understanding of underlying physical phenomena particle motion in direct electric field can be derived.

Keywords: current shunt, free moving particles, high-speed imaging, HVDC-GIS, UHF

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Authors: Breanna Macumber, Victor A. Huayamave, Emir A. Vela, Wangdo Kim, Tamara T. Chamber, Esteban Centeno

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Spina bifida is a type of neural tube defect that affects the nervous system and can lead to problems such as total leg paralysis. Treatment requires physical therapy and rehabilitation. Robotic exoskeletons have been used for rehabilitation to train muscle movement and assist in injury recovery; however, current models focus on the adult populations and not on the infant population. The proposed framework aims to couple a musculoskeletal infant model with a robotic exoskeleton using vacuum-powered artificial muscles to provide rehabilitation to infants affected by spina bifida. The study that drove the input values for the robotic exoskeleton used motion capture technology to collect data from the spontaneous kicking movement of a 2.4-month-old infant lying supine. OpenSim was used to develop the musculoskeletal model, and Inverse kinematics was used to estimate hip joint angles. A total of 4 kicks (A, B, C, D) were selected, and the selection was based on range, transient response, and stable response. Kicks had at least 5° of range of motion with a smooth transient response and a stable period. The robotic exoskeleton used a Vacuum-Powered Artificial Muscle (VPAM) the structure comprised of cells that were clipped in a collapsed state and unclipped when desired to simulate infant’s age. The artificial muscle works with vacuum pressure. When air is removed, the muscle contracts and when air is added, the muscle relaxes. Bench testing was performed using a 6-month-old infant mannequin. The previously developed exoskeleton worked really well with controlled ranges of motion and frequencies, which are typical of rehabilitation protocols for infants suffering with spina bifida. However, the random kicking motion in this study contained high frequency kicks and was not able to accurately replicate all the investigated kicks. Kick 'A' had a greater error when compared to the other kicks. This study has the potential to advance the infant rehabilitation field.

Keywords: musculoskeletal modeling, soft robotics, rehabilitation, pediatrics

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Authors: Cui Long (Allen)

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The role of the Arctic in world politics and international relations has increased significantly over the past decades. With its large natural resources, the Arctic region has important geopolitical, strategic, and economic significance. All this determines the interest in it not only of the Arctic states but also of states located far from the Arctic. One of these states is the People's Republic of China. Relations between China and Russia in recent decades have been built on the basis of strategic partnership. Joint projects in the Arctic have become the most important priority area of this partnership. These are projects in the transport and energy fields. A large number of works by Russian scientists are devoted to the Sino-Russian Arctic cooperation. Most authors consider cooperation as a guarantee of stability for China and Russia in a globalized world. However, there are authors who believe that there are separate contradictions in the relations between the Arctic and non-Arctic countries. In their opinion, China sometimes acts as a competitor, and its activities become expansionist. In general, according to the Russian authors, Sino-Russian cooperation is mutually beneficial and is under development. China and Russia have a long way to go in the issue of sustainable development of the Arctic.

Keywords: People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, Arctic, historiography

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Authors: Pooja Seth, Shruti Aggarwal

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The Europium (Eu) doped (0.02-0.1 wt %) lithium fluoride (LiF) crystal in the form of multicrystalline sheet was gown by the edge defined film fed growth (EFG) technique. Crystals were grown in argon gas atmosphere using graphite crucible and stainless steel die. The systematic incorporation of Eu inside the host LiF lattice was confirmed by X-ray diffractometry. Thermoluminescence (TL) glow curve was recorded on annealed (AN) crystals after irradiation with a gamma dose of 15 Gy. The effect of different concentration of Eu in enhancing the thermoluminescence (TL) intensity of LiF was studied. The normalized peak height of the Eu-doped LiF crystal was nearly 12 times that of the LiF crystals. The optimized concentration of Eu in LiF was found to be 0.05wt% at which maximum TL intensity was observed with main TL peak positioned at 185 °C. At higher concentration TL intensity decreases due to the formation of precipitates in the form of clusters or aggregates. The nature of the energy traps in Eu doped LiF was analysed through glow curve deconvolution. The trap depth was found to be in the range of 0.2 – 0.5 eV. These results showed that doping with Eu enhances the TL intensity by creating more defect sites for capturing of electron and holes during irradiation which might be useful for dosimetry application.

Keywords: thermoluminescence, defects, gamma radiation, crystals

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Authors: William Castillo, Hugo Viza, Arturo Vargas

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The Pacific Alliance is a trade bloc that is composed of four emerging economies: Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico. These economies have gained macroeconomic stability in the past decade and as a consequence present future economic progress. Under this positive scenario, international business firms have flourished. However, the literature in this region has been widely unexamined. Therefore, it is critical to fill this theoretical gap, especially considering that Latin America is starting to become a global player and it possesses a different institutional context than developed markets. This paper analyzes the effect of international entrepreneurial orientation and institutionalism on international performance, for the Pacific Alliance small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). The literature considers international entrepreneurial orientation to be a powerful managerial capability – along the resource based view- that firms can leverage to obtain a satisfactory international performance. Thereby, obtaining a competitive advantage through the correct allocation of key resources to exploit the capabilities here involved. Entrepreneurial Orientation is defined around five factors: innovation, proactiveness, risk-taking, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy. Nevertheless, the institutional environment – both local and foreign, adversely affects International Performance; this is especially the case for emerging markets with uncertain scenarios. In this way, the study analyzes an Entrepreneurial Orientation, key endogenous variable of international performance, and Institutionalism, an exogenous variable. The survey data consists of Pacific Alliance SMEs that have foreign operations in at least another country in the trade bloc. Findings are still in an ongoing research process. Later, the study will undertake a structural equation modeling (SEM) using the variance-based partial least square estimation procedure. The software that is going to be used is the SmartPLS. This research contributes to the theoretical discussion of a largely postponed topic: SMEs in Latin America, that has had limited academic research. Also, it has practical implication for decision-makers and policy-makers, providing insights into what is behind international performance.

Keywords: institutional theory, international entrepreneurial orientation, international performance, SMEs, Pacific Alliance

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Authors: Adebisi David Alade

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In pre-colonial West Africa, the deadliness of the climate vis-a- vis malaria and other tropical diseases to Europeans turned the region into the “white man’s grave.” Thus, immediately after the partition of Africa in 1885, civilisatrice and mise en valeur not only became a pretext for the establishment of colonial rule; from a medical point of view, the control and possible eradication of disease in the continent emerged as one of the first concerns of the European colonizers. Though geared toward making Africa exploitable, historical evidence suggests that some colonial Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) policies and projects reduced certain tropical diseases in some West African communities. Exploring some of these disease control interventions by way of historical revisionism, this paper challenges the orthodox interpretation of colonial sanitation and public health measures in West Africa. This paper critiques the deployment of race and class as analytical tools for the study of colonial WASH projects, an exercise which often reduces the complexity and ambiguity of colonialism to the binary of colonizer and the colonized. Since West Africa presently ranks high among regions with Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), it is imperative to decentre colonial racism and economic exploitation in African history in order to give room for Africans to see themselves in other ways. Far from resolving the problem of NTDs by fiat in the region, this study seeks to highlight important blind spots in African colonial history in an attempt to prevent post-colonial African leaders from throwing away the baby with the bath water. As scholars researching colonial sanitation and public health in the continent rarely examine its complex meaning and content, this paper submits that the outright demonization of colonial rule across space and time continues to build ideological wall between the present and the past which not only inhibit fruitful borrowing from colonial administration of West Africa, but also prevents a wide understanding of the challenges of WASH policies and projects in most West African states.

Keywords: colonial rule, disease control, neglected tropical diseases, WASH

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Authors: Hiromi Takafuji

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It is a well-known fact that health care and welfare are the foundation of human activities, and human service professionals such as nurses and child care workers support these activities. COVID-19 pandemic has made the severity of the working environment in these fields even more known. It is high time to discuss the work of human service workers for the sustainable development of the human environment. Early turnover has been recognized as a long-standing issue in these fields. In Japan, the attrition rate within three years of graduation for these occupations has remained high at about 40% for more than 20 years. One of the reasons for this is Reality Shock: RS, which refers to the stress caused by the gap between pre-employment expectations and the post-employment reality experienced by new workers. The purpose of this study was to academically elucidate the mechanism of RS among human service professionals and to contribute to countermeasures against it. Firstly, to explore the structure of the relationship between professionalism and workers' RS, an exploratory interview survey was conducted and analyzed by text mining and content analysis. The results showed that the expectation of professionalism influences RS as a pre-employment job expectation. Next, the expectations of professionalism were quantified and categorized, and the responses of a total of 282 human service work professionals, nurses, child care workers, and caregivers; were finalized for data analysis. The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, multiple regression analysis, and structural equation modeling techniques. The results revealed that self-control orientation and authority orientation by qualification had a direct positive significant impact on RS. On the other hand, interpersonal helping orientation and altruistic orientation were found to have a direct negative significant impact and an indirect positive significant impact on RS.; we were able to clarify the structure of work expectations that affect the RS of welfare professionals, which had not been clarified in previous studies. We also explained the limitations, practical implications, and directions for future research.

Keywords: human service professional, new hire turnover, SEM, reality shock

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Authors: Metin Çenesi̇z, Büşra Şahi̇n

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The sustainability of aquaculture is possible through the conscious use of resources and minimization of environmental impacts. These can be achieved through science-based planning, ecosystem-based management, strict observations and controls. The ideal water temperature for rainbow trout, which are intensively farmed in the Black Sea Region of Turkey, should be below 20 oC. In summer, the water temperature exceeds this value in some dams where production is carried out. For this reason, it has become obligatory to transfer to dams where the water temperature is low in order to provide suitable temperature conditions. There are many factors that may cause stress to trout during transportation. Some of these stress factors are starvation of the fish for a while to avoid contamination of the water, mobility and noise during transportation and loading, dissolved oxygen content and composition of the water in the transportation tanks, etc. The starvation stress caused by starvation/lack of food during transportation causes a certain amount of loss of macronutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats in the tissues. This situation causes changes in metabolic activities and the energy balance of fish species. In this study, oxidant-antioxidant values and stress markers of rainbow trout starved before transplantation will be evaluated.

Keywords: oncorhynchus mykiss, starvation stress, TAS, TOS

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Authors: Bireswar Paul, Amitava Datta

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Indoor air environment is a big concern in the last few decades in the developing countries, with increased focus on monitoring the air quality. In this work, an experimental study has been conducted to establish the existence of carbon nanoparticles below the size range of 10 nm in the non-sooting zone of a LPG/air partially premixed flame. Mainly, four optical techniques, UV absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering and TEM have been used to characterize and measure the size of carbon nanoparticles in the sampled materials collected from the inner surface of the flame front. The existence of the carbon nanoparticles in the sampled material has been confirmed with the typical nature of the absorption and fluorescence spectra already reported in the literature. The band gap energy shows that the particles are made up of three to six aromatic rings. The size measurement by DLS technique also shows that the particles below the size range of 10 nm. The results of DLS are also corroborated by the TEM image of the same material. 

Keywords: indoor air, carbon nanoparticle, lpg, partially premixed flame, optical techniques

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Authors: Kunal D. Bhagat, Truong V. Vu, John C. Wells, Hideyuki Takakura, Yu Kawano, Fumio Ogawa

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Hollow germanium alloy quasi-spheres of diameters 1 to 2 mm with a relatively smooth inner and outer surface have been produced. The germanium was first melted at around 1273 K and then exuded from a coaxial nozzle into an inert atmosphere by argon gas supplied to the inner nozzle. The falling spheres were cooled by water spray and collected in a bucket. The spheres had a horn type of structure on the outer surface, which might be caused by volume expansion induced by the density difference between solid and gas phase. The frequency of the sphere formation was determined from the videos to be about 133 Hz. The outer diameter varied in the range of 1.3 to 1.8 mm with a wall thickness in the range of 0.2 to 0.5 mm. Solid silicon spheres are used for spherical silicon solar cells (S₃CS), which have various attractive features. Hollow S₃CS promise substantially higher energy conversion efficiency if their wall thickness can be kept to 0.1–0.2 mm and the inner surface can be passivated. Our production of hollow germanium spheres is a significant step towards the production of hollow S₃CS with, we hope, higher efficiency and lower material cost than solid S₃CS.

Keywords: hollow spheres, semiconductor, compound jet, dropping method

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Authors: Salma Aboussalam, Karima Khalil, Khalid Elkalay

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To describe the structure, functioning, and state of the Moroccan Mediterranean Sea ecosystem, an Ecopath mass balance model has been applied. The model is based on 31 functional groups, containing 21 fishes, 7 invertebrates, 2 primary producers, and one dead group (detritus), which are considered in this work to explore the trophic interaction. The system's average trophic transfer efficiency was 23%. Both the total primary production and total respiration were calculated to be >1, suggesting that more energy is produced than respired in the system. The structure of our system is based on high respiration and consumption flows. Indicators of ecosystem stability and development showed low values of the Finn cycle index (13.97), system omnivory index (0.18), and average Finn path length (3.09), suggesting that our system is disturbed and has a more linear than web-like trophic structure. The keystone index and mixed trophic impact analysis indicated that other demersal invertebrates, zooplankton, and cephalopods had a tremendous impact on other groups and were recognized as keystone species.

Keywords: Ecopath, food web, trophic flux, Moroccan Mediterranean Sea

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Authors: M. K. Kim, C. H. Shin, W. G. Park

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Recently, natural gas resources are issued due to alternative and eco-friendly energy policies, and development of even unconventional gas resources including tight gas, coal bed methane and shale gas is being rapidly expanded from North America all over the world. For developing these gas reservoirs, it is necessary to investigate reservoir characteristics by using reservoir simulation. In reservoir simulation, calculation of permeability of fractured zone is very important to predict the gas production. However, it is difficult to accurately calculate the permeability by using conventional methods which use analytic solution for laminar flow. The flow in gas reservoirs exhibits complex flow behavior such as slip around the wall roughness effect and turbulence because the size of the apertures of fractures is ranged over various scales from nano-scale to centi-scale. Therefore, it is required to apply new reservoir flow analysis methods which can accurately consider complex gas flow owing to the geometric characteristics and distributions of various pores and flow paths within gas reservoirs. Hence, in this study, the flow characteristics and the relation between each characteristic variable was investigated and multi-effect was quantified when the fractures are compounded for devising a new calculation model of permeability of fractured zone in gas reservoirs by using CFD.

Keywords: fractured zone, gas reservoir, permeability, CFD

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Khaoula Bensaida, Osama Eljamal

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The electrical energy generation through Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) using microorganisms is a renewable and sustainable approach. It creates truly an efficient technology for power production and wastewater treatment. MFC is an electrochemical device which turns wastewater into electricity. The most important part of MFC is microbes. Nano zero-valent Iron NZVI technique was successfully applied in degrading the chemical pollutants and cleaning wastewater. However, the use of NZVI for enhancing the current production is still not confirmed yet. This study aims to confirm the effect of these particles on the current generation by using MFC. A constructed microbial fuel cell, which utilizes domestic wastewater, has been considered for wastewater treatment and bio-electricity generation. The two electrodes were connected to an external resistor (200 ohms). Experiments were conducted in two steps. First, the MFC was constructed without adding NZVI particles (Control) while at a second step, nanoparticles were added with a concentration of 50mg/L. After 20 hours, the measured voltage increased to 5 and 8mV, respectively. To conclude, the use of zero-valent iron in an MFC system can increase electricity generation.

Keywords: bacterial growth, electricity generation, microbial fuel cell MFC, nano zero-valent iron NZVI.

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Zian Cheak Tiu, Harith Ahmad, Sulaiman Wadi Harun

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A simple multi-wavelength passively Q-switched Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is demonstrated using low cost multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) based saturable absorber (SA), which is prepared using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a host polymer. The multi-wavelength operation is achieved based on nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) effect by incorporating 50 m long photonic crystal fiber (PCF) in the ring cavity. The EDFL produces a stable multi-wavelength comb spectrum for more than 14 lines with a fixed spacing of 0.48 nm. The laser also demonstrates a stable pulse train with the repetition rate increases from 14.9 kHz to 25.4 kHz as the pump power increases from the threshold power of 69.0 mW to the maximum pump power of 133.8 mW. The minimum pulse width of 4.4 µs was obtained at the maximum pump power of 133.8 mW while the highest energy of 0.74 nJ was obtained at pump power of 69.0 mW.

Keywords: multi-wavelength Q-switched, multi-walled carbon nanotube, photonic crystal fiber

Procedia PDF Downloads 541

Authors: Azad Hussain, Shoaib Ali, M. Y. Malik, Saba Nazir, Sarmad Jamal

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This article reports a fundamental numerical investigation to analyze the impact of thermal radiations on MHD flow of differential type nanofluid past a porous plate. Here, viscosity is taken as function of temperature. Energy equation is deliberated in the existence of viscous dissipation. The mathematical terminologies of nano concentration, velocity and temperature are first cast into dimensionless expressions via suitable conversions and then solved by using Shooting technique to obtain the numerical solutions. Graphs has been plotted to check the convergence of constructed solutions. At the end, the influence of effective parameters on nanoparticle concentration, velocity and temperature fields are also deliberated in a comprehensive way. Moreover, the physical measures of engineering importance such as the Sherwood number, Skin friction and Nusselt number are also calculated. It is perceived that the thermal radiation enhances the temperature for both Vogel's and Reynolds' models but the normal stress parameter causes a reduction in temperature profile.

Keywords: MHD flow, differential type nanofluid, Porous medium, variable viscosity, thermal radiation

Procedia PDF Downloads 246

Authors: Margarida Porfírio Tomás, Paula Pereira, José Palma Oliveira

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Robotic grasping is advancing rapidly, but transferring techniques from rigid to deformable objects remains a challenge. Deformable and flexible items, such as food containers, demand nuanced handling due to their changing shapes. Bridging this gap is crucial for applications in food processing, surgical robotics, and household assistance. AGILEHAND, a Horizon project, focuses on developing advanced technologies for sorting, handling, and packaging soft and deformable products autonomously. These technologies serve as strategic tools to enhance flexibility, agility, and reconfigurability within the production and logistics systems of European manufacturing companies. Key components include intelligent detection, self-adaptive handling, efficient sorting, and agile, rapid reconfiguration. The overarching goal is to optimize work environments and equipment, ensuring both efficiency and safety. As new technologies emerge in the food industry, there will be some implications, such as labour force, safety problems and acceptance of the new technologies. To overcome these implications, AGILEHAND emphasizes the integration of social sciences and humanities, for example, the application of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The project aims to create a change management manual, that will outline strategies for developing digital skills and managing health and safety transitions. It will also provide best practices and models for organizational change. Additionally, AGILEHAND will design effective training programs to enhance employee skills and knowledge. This information will be obtained through a combination of case studies, structured interviews, questionnaires, and a comprehensive literature review. The project will explore how organizations adapt during periods of change and identify factors influencing employee motivation and job satisfaction. This project received funding from European Union’s Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement No101092043 (AGILEHAND).

Keywords: change management, technology acceptance model, organizational change, health and safety

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Authors: Minhyuk Heo, Jihwan Yun, Seonghun Park

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It has been reported that intervertebral fusion surgery, which removes most of the ligaments and muscles of the spine, increases the degenerative disease in adjacent spinal segments. Therefore, it is required to develop a lumbar interspinous process fixation device that minimizes the risks and side effects from the surgery. The objective of the current study is to design an interspinous process fixation device with simple structures in order to minimize soft tissue removal and operation time during intervertebral fusion surgery. For the design concepts of a lumbar fixation device, the principle of the ratchet was first applied on the joining parts of the device in order to shorten the operation time. The coil spring structure was selected for connecting parts between the spinous processes so that a normal range of motion in spinal segments is preserved and degenerative spinal diseases are not developed in the adjacent spinal segments. The stiffness of the spring was determined not to interrupt the motion of a lumbar spine. The designed value of the spring stiffness allows the upper part of the spring to move ~10° which is higher than the range of flexion and extension for normal lumbar spine (6°-8°), when a moment of 10Nm is applied on the upper face of L1. A finite element (FE) model composed of L1 to L5 lumbar spines was generated to verify the mechanical integrity and the dynamic stability of the designed lumbar fixation device and to further optimize the lumbar fixation device. The FE model generated above produced the same pressure value on intervertebral disc and dynamic behavior as the normal intact model reported in the literature. The consistent results from this comparison validates the accuracy in the modeling of the current FE model. Currently, we are trying to generate an abnormal model with defects in one or more components of the normal FE model above. Then, the mechanical integrity and the dynamic stability of the designed lumbar fixation device will be analyzed after being installed in the abnormal model and then the lumbar fixation device will be further optimized.

Keywords: lumbar interspinous process fixation device, finite element method, lumbar spine, kinematics

Procedia PDF Downloads 231

Authors: Chang Yu Chuan

Abstract:

Background and Aim: Pressure sore is not only the consequence of any gradual damage of the skin leading to tissue defects but also an important indicator of clinical care. If hospitalized patients develop pressure sores without proper care, it would result in delayed healing, wound infection, increase patient physical pain, prolonged hospital stay and even death, which would have a negative impact on the quality of care and also increase nursing manpower and medical costs. This project is aimed at decreasing the incidence of pressure sore in one ward of internal medicine. Our data showed 53 cases (0.61%) of pressure sore in 2015, which exceeded the average (0.5%) of Taiwan Clinical Performance Indicator (TCPI) for medical centers. The purpose of this project is to reduce the incidence rate of pressure sore in the ward. After data collection and analysis from January to December 2016, the reasons of developing pressure sore were found: 1. Lack of knowledge to prevent pressure among nursing staffs; 2. No relevant courses about preventing pressure ulcers and pressure wound care being held in this unit; 3. Low complete rate of pressure sore care education that family members should receive from nursing staffs; 4. Decompression equipment is not enough; 5. Lack of standard procedures for body-turning and positioning care. After team members brainstorming, several strategies were proposed, including holding in-service education, pressure sore care seed training, purchasing decompression mattress and memory pillows, designing more elements of health education tools, such as health education pamphlet, posters and multimedia films of body-turning and positioning demonstration, formulation and promotion of standard operating procedures. In this way, nursing staffs can understand the body-turning and positioning guidelines for pressure sore prevention and enhance the quality of care. After the implementation of this project, the pressure sore density significantly decreased from 0.61%(53 cases) to 0.45%(28 cases) in this ward. The project shows good results and good example for nurses working at the ward and helps to enhance quality of care.

Keywords: body-turning and positioning, incidence density, nursing, pressure sore

Procedia PDF Downloads 268

Authors: Amanda J. Burridge, Keith J. Edwards, Paul A. Wilkinson, Tom Batstone, Erik H. Murchie, Lorna McAusland, Ana Elizabete Carmo-Silva, Ivan Jauregui, Tracy Lawson, Silvere R. M. Vialet-Chabrand

Abstract:

The rate of genetic progress in wheat production must be improved to meet global food security targets. However, past selection for domestication traits has reduced the genetic variation in modern wheat cultivars, a fact that could severely limit the future rate of genetic gain. The genetic variation in agronomically important traits for the wild relatives and progenitors of wheat is far greater than that of the current domesticated cultivars, but transferring these traits into modern cultivars is not straightforward. Between the elite cultivars of wheat, photosynthetic capacity is a key trait for which there is limited variation. Early screening of wheat wild relative and progenitors has shown differences in photosynthetic capacity and efficiency not only between wild relative species but marked differences between the accessions of each species. By identifying wild relative accessions with improved photosynthetic traits and characterising the genetic variation responsible, it is possible to incorporate these traits into advanced breeding programmes by wide crossing and introgression programmes. To identify the potential variety of photosynthetic capacity and efficiency available in the secondary and tertiary genepool, a wide scale survey was carried out for over 600 accessions from 80 species including those from the genus Aegilops, Triticum, Thinopyrum, Elymus, and Secale. Genotype data were generated for each accession using a ‘Wheat Wild Relative’ Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) genotyping array composed of 35,000 SNP markers polymorphic between wild relatives and elite hexaploid wheat. This genotype data was combined with phenotypic measurements such as gas exchange (CO₂, H₂O), chlorophyll fluorescence, growth, morphology, and RuBisCO activity to identify potential breeding material with enhanced photosynthetic capacity and efficiency. The data and associated analysis tools presented here will prove useful to anyone interested in increasing the genetic diversity in hexaploid wheat or the application of complex genotyping data to plant breeding.

Keywords: wheat, wild relatives, pre-breeding, genomics, photosynthesis

Procedia PDF Downloads 230