Search results for: integrated coastal resource management program

Authors: Eugene Y. J. Aw, J. W. Koh, S. H. Chew, K. E. Chua, Lionel L. J. Ang, Algernon C. S. Hong, Danette S. E. Tan, Grace H. B. Foo, K. Q. Hong, L. M. Cheng, M. L. Leong

Abstract:

This paper presents a novel rapid soil classification technique that combines computer vision with four-probe soil electrical resistivity method and cone penetration test (CPT), to improve the accuracy and productivity of on-site classification of excavated soil. In Singapore, excavated soils from local construction projects are transported to Staging Grounds (SGs) to be reused as fill material for land reclamation. Excavated soils are mainly categorized into two groups (“Good Earth” and “Soft Clay”) based on particle size distribution (PSD) and water content (w) from soil investigation reports and on-site visual survey, such that proper treatment and usage can be exercised. However, this process is time-consuming and labour-intensive. Thus, a rapid classification method is needed at the SGs. Computer vision, four-probe soil electrical resistivity and CPT were combined into an innovative non-destructive and instantaneous classification method for this purpose. The computer vision technique comprises soil image acquisition using industrial grade camera; image processing and analysis via calculation of Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) textural parameters; and decision-making using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Complementing the computer vision technique, the apparent electrical resistivity of soil (ρ) is measured using a set of four probes arranged in Wenner’s array. It was found from the previous study that the ANN model coupled with ρ can classify soils into “Good Earth” and “Soft Clay” in less than a minute, with an accuracy of 85% based on selected representative soil images. To further improve the technique, the soil strength is measured using a modified mini cone penetrometer, and w is measured using a set of time-domain reflectometry (TDR) probes. Laboratory proof-of-concept was conducted through a series of seven tests with three types of soils – “Good Earth”, “Soft Clay” and an even mix of the two. Validation was performed against the PSD and w of each soil type obtained from conventional laboratory tests. The results show that ρ, w and CPT measurements can be collectively analyzed to classify soils into “Good Earth” or “Soft Clay”. It is also found that these parameters can be integrated with the computer vision technique on-site to complete the rapid soil classification in less than three minutes.

Keywords: Computer vision technique, cone penetration test, electrical resistivity, rapid and non-destructive, soil classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Lina Wu

Abstract:

The excessive discharge of nitrogen in sewage greatly intensifies the eutrophication of water bodies and poses a threat to water quality. Nitrogen pollution control has become a global concern. Currently, the problem of water pollution in China is still not optimistic. As a typical high ammonia nitrogen organic wastewater, landfill leachate is more difficult to treat than domestic sewage because of its complex water quality, high toxicity, and high concentration.Many studies have shown that the autotrophic anammox bacteria in nature can combine nitrous and ammonia nitrogen without carbon source through functional genes to achieve total nitrogen removal, which is very suitable for the removal of nitrogen from leachate. In addition, the process also saves a lot of aeration energy consumption than the traditional nitrogen removal process. Therefore, anammox plays an important role in nitrogen conversion and energy saving. The process composed of short-range nitrification and denitrification coupled an ammo ensures the removal of total nitrogen and improves the removal efficiency, meeting the needs of the society for an ecologically friendly and cost-effective nutrient removal treatment technology. Continuous flow process for treating late leachate [an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASB), anoxic/oxic (A/O)–anaerobic ammonia oxidation reactor (ANAOR or anammox reactor)] has been developed to achieve autotrophic deep nitrogen removal. In this process, the optimal process parameters such as hydraulic retention time and nitrification flow rate have been obtained, and have been applied to the rapid start-up and stable operation of the process system and high removal efficiency. Besides, finding the characteristics of microbial community during the start-up of anammox process system and analyzing its microbial ecological mechanism provide a basis for the enrichment of anammox microbial community under high environmental stress. One research developed partial nitrification-Anammox (PN/A) using an internal circulation (IC) system and a biological aerated filter (BAF) biofilm reactor (IBBR), where the amount of water treated is closer to that of landfill leachate. However, new high-throughput sequencing technology is still required to be utilized to analyze the changes of microbial diversity of this system, related functional genera and functional genes under optimal conditions, providing theoretical and further practical basis for the engineering application of novel anammox system in biogas slurry treatment and resource utilization.

Keywords: nutrient removal and recovery, leachate, anammox, partial nitrification

Procedia PDF Downloads 51

Authors: Amy Y. Wang, Eko L. Yi

Abstract:

Can vicarious experiences of workplace ostracism affect employees’ willingness to voice? Given the increasingly interdependent nature of the modern workplace in which employees rely on social interactions to fulfill organizational goals, workplace ostracism –the extent to which an individual perceives that he or she is ignored or excluded by others in the workplace– has garnered significant interest from scholars and practitioners alike. Extending beyond conventional studies that largely focus on the perspectives and outcomes of ostracized targets, we address the indirect effects of workplace ostracism on third-party employees embedded in the same social context. Using a social information processing approach, we propose that the ostracism of coworkers acts as political information that influences third-party employees in their decisions to engage in risky and discretionary behaviors such as employee voice. To make sense of and to navigate through experiences of workplace ostracism, we posit that both political understanding and political skill allow third party employees to minimize the risks and uncertainty of voicing. This conceptual model was tested by a study involving 154 supervisor-subordinate dyads of a publicly listed bio-technology firm located in Mainland China. Each supervisor and their direct subordinates composed of a work team; each team had a minimum of two subordinates and a maximum of four subordinates. Human resources used the master list to distribute the ID coded questionnaires to the matching names. All studied constructs were measured using existing scales proved effective in previous literature. Hypotheses were tested using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Hierarchal Multiple Regression. All three hypotheses were supported which showed that employees were less likely to engage in voice behaviors when their coworkers reported having experienced ostracism in the workplace. Results also showed a significant three-way interaction between political understanding and political skill on the relationship between coworkers’ ostracism and employee voice, indicating that political savviness is a valuable resource in mitigating ostracism’s negative and indirect effects. Our results illustrated that an employee’s coworkers being ostracized indeed adversely impacted his or her own voice behavior. However, not all individuals reacted passively to the social context; rather, we found that politically savvy individuals – possessing both political understanding and political skill – and their voice behaviors were less impacted by ostracism in their work environment. At the same time, we found that having only political understanding or only political skill was significantly less effective in mitigating ostracism’s negative effects, suggesting a necessary duality of political knowledge and political skill in combatting ostracism. Organizational implications, recommendations, and future research ideas are also discussed.

Keywords: employee voice, organizational politics, social information processing, workplace ostracism

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Şeyda Kaya

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility perception and organizational commitment among Turkish cabin crew. At the same time, the social responsibility perception and organizational commitment scores of the participants were compared according to their gender, age, education level, title, and work experience. In the globalizing world, businesses have developed some innovative marketing methods in order to survive and strengthen their place in the market. Nowadays, consumers who are connected to the brand with an emotional bond rather than being just consumers. Corporate Social Responsibility Projects, on the one hand, provide social benefit, on the other hand, increase the brand awareness of businesses by providing credibility in the eyes of consumers. The rapid increase of competition, requires businesses to use their human resources, which is the most important resource to sustain their existence, in the most effective and efficient way. For this reason, the concept of ‘Organizational Commitment’ has become an important research topic for business and academics. Although there are studies in the literature to determine the effect of the perception of corporate social Responsibility on Organizational Commitment in Banking and Finance and Tourism sectors, there are no studies conducted specifically for the Turkish aviation sector to our best knowledge. Personal information form, CSR scale, Importance of CSR scale, Organizational commitment scale were used as data collection tools in the research. CSR Scale created by Türker (2006). was used to find out how employees felt about CSR. Importance of CSR Scale through a subscale of the Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility (PRESOR) that Etheredge (1999) converted into a two-factor framework, the significance of social responsibility for employees was assessed. Organizational Commitment Scale, Mowday, Steers, and Porter (1979) created the OCQ, which uses 15 measures to evaluate global commitment to the organization. As a result of the study, there is a significant positive relationship between the participants' CSR scale sub-dimensions, CSR to Employees, CSR to Customers, CSR to Society, CSR to Government, CSR to Natural Environment, CSR to Next Generation, CSR to Governmental Organizations, Importance of CSR, and Organizational Commitment scores. As a result; as the participants' Corporate Social Responsibility scores increase, their organizational commitment increases. To summarize the findings of our study, the scores obtained from the CSR scale and the scores obtained from the Organizational Commitment scale were found to have a positive and significant relationship. In other words, if the participants value the corporate social responsibility projects of the institution they work for and think that they spare time and effort, the importance they attach to the corporate social responsibility projects and their organizational commitment to the institution they work for, increase. Similarly, the scores obtained from the Importance of CSR and the scores obtained from the Organizational Commitment scale also have a positive and significant relationship. As the importance given to corporate social responsibility projects by the participants increases, their organizational commitment to the institution they work for also increases.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, organizational commitment, Turkish cabin crew, aviation

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Comfort Aina

Abstract:

Modern English, as we all know it to be a foreign language to many, will require training and re-training on the path of the teacher and learners alike. As a teacher, you cannot give that which you do not have. Teachers, many of whom are non-native speakers, are required to be competent in solving problems occurring in the teaching and learning processes. They should be conscious of up to date information about new approaches, methods, techniques as well as they should be capable in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) and, of course, should work on the improvement of their language components and competence. For teachers to be successful in these goals, they need to be encouraged and motivated. So, for EFL teachers to be successful, they are enrolled to in-service teacher training, ICT training, some of the training they undergo and the benefits accrued to it will be the focus of the paper.

Keywords: training, management, method, english language, EFL teachers

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Eslam Mohammed Abdelkader, Mohamed Marzouk, Tarek Zayed

Abstract:

Infrastructure systems are crucial to every aspect of life on Earth. Existing Infrastructure is subjected to degradation while the demands are growing for a better infrastructure system in response to the high standards of safety, health, population growth, and environmental protection. Bridges play a crucial role in urban transportation networks. Moreover, they are subjected to high level of deterioration because of the variable traffic loading, extreme weather conditions, cycles of freeze and thaw, etc. The development of Bridge Management Systems (BMSs) has become a fundamental imperative nowadays especially in the large transportation networks due to the huge variance between the need for maintenance actions, and the available funds to perform such actions. Deterioration models represent a very important aspect for the effective use of BMSs. This paper presents a probabilistic time-based model that is capable of predicting the condition ratings of the concrete bridge decks along its service life. The deterioration process of the concrete bridge decks is modeled using semi-Markov process. One of the main challenges of the Markov Chain Decision Process (MCDP) is the construction of the transition probability matrix. Yet, the proposed model overcomes this issue by modeling the sojourn times based on some probability density functions. The sojourn times of each condition state are fitted to probability density functions based on some goodness of fit tests such as Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Anderson Darling, and chi-squared test. The parameters of the probability density functions are obtained using maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). The condition ratings obtained from the Ministry of Transportation in Quebec (MTQ) are utilized as a database to construct the deterioration model. Finally, a comparison is conducted between the Markov Chain and semi-Markov chain to select the most feasible prediction model.

Keywords: bridge management system, bridge decks, deterioration model, Semi-Markov chain, sojourn times, maximum likelihood estimation

Procedia PDF Downloads 212

Authors: Ozlem Oral, Emre Taskin, Aysel Yuce, Serap Dokmeci, Devrim Gozuacik

Abstract:

Autophagy is an evolutionary conserved lysosome-dependent catabolic pathway, responsible for the degradation of long-lived proteins, abnormal aggregates and damaged organelles which cannot be degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Lysosomes degrade the substrates through the activity of lysosomal hydrolases and lysosomal membrane-bound proteins. Mutations in the coding region of these proteins cause malfunctional lysosomes, which contributes to the pathogenesis of lysosomal storage diseases. Gaucher disease is a lysosomal storage disease resulting from the mutation of a lysosomal membrane-associated glycoprotein called glucocerebrosidase and its cofactor saposin C. The disease leads to intracellular accumulation of glucosylceramide and other glycolipids. Because of the essential role of lysosomes in autophagic degradation, Gaucher disease may directly be linked to this pathway. In this study, we investigated the expression of autophagy and/or lysosome-related genes and proteins in fibroblast cells isolated from patients with different mutations. We carried out confocal microscopy analysis and examined autophagic flux by utilizing the differential pH sensitivities of RFP and GFP in mRFP-GFP-LC3 probe. We also evaluated lysosomal pH by active lysosome staining and lysosomal enzyme activity. Beside lysosomes, we also performed proteasomal activity and cell death analysis in patient samples. Our data showed significant attenuation in the expression of key autophagy-related genes and accumulation of their proteins in mutant cells. We found decreased the ability of autophagosomes to fuse with lysosomes, associated with elevated lysosomal pH and reduced lysosomal enzyme activity. Proteasomal degradation and cell death analysis showed reduced proteolytic activity of the proteasome, which consequently leads to increased susceptibility to cell death. Our data indicate that the major degradation pathways are affected by multifunctional lysosomes in mutant patient cells and may underlie in the mechanism of clinical severity of Gaucher patients. (This project is supported by TUBITAK-3501-National Young Researchers Career Development Program, Project No: 112T130).

Keywords: autophagy, Gaucher's disease, glucocerebrosidase, mutant fibroblasts

Procedia PDF Downloads 324

Authors: Shuang Chen, Zongqian Shi, Jiajia Sun, Mingjia Li

Abstract:

Microfluidics is a technology that small amounts of fluids are manipulated using channels with dimensions of tens to hundreds of micrometers. At present, this significant technology is required for several applications in some fields, including disease diagnostics, genetic engineering, and environmental monitoring, etc. Among these fields, manipulation of microparticles and cells in microfluidic device, especially separation, have aroused general concern. In magnetic field, the separation methods include positive and negative magnetophoresis. By comparison, negative magnetophoresis is a label-free technology. It has many advantages, e.g., easy operation, low cost, and simple design. Before the separation of particles or cells, focusing them into a single tight stream is usually a necessary upstream operation. In this work, the focusing of diamagnetic particles in ferrofluid microflows with a single set of overhead permanent magnets is investigated numerically. The geometric model of the simulation is based on the configuration of previous experiments. The straight microchannel is 24mm long and has a rectangular cross-section of 100μm in width and 50μm in depth. The spherical diamagnetic particles of 10μm in diameter are suspended into ferrofluid. The initial concentration of the ferrofluid c₀ is 0.096%, and the flow rate of the ferrofluid is 1.8mL/h. The magnetic field is induced by five identical rectangular neodymium−iron− boron permanent magnets (1/8 × 1/8 × 1/8 in.), and it is calculated by equivalent charge source (ECS) method. The flow of the ferrofluid is governed by the Navier–Stokes equations. The trajectories of particles are solved by the discrete phase model (DPM) in the ANSYS FLUENT program. The positions of diamagnetic particles are recorded by transient simulation. Compared with the results of the mentioned experiments, our simulation shows consistent results that diamagnetic particles are gradually focused in ferrofluid under magnetic field. Besides, the diamagnetic particle focusing is studied by varying the flow rate of the ferrofluid. It is in agreement with the experiment that the diamagnetic particle focusing is better with the increase of the flow rate. Furthermore, it is investigated that the diamagnetic particle focusing is affected by other factors, e.g., the width and depth of the microchannel, the concentration of the ferrofluid and the diameter of diamagnetic particles.

Keywords: diamagnetic particle, focusing, microfluidics, permanent magnet

Procedia PDF Downloads 130

Authors: Joel Podgorski, Manouchehr Amini, Annette Johnson, Michael Berg

Abstract:

One-third of the world’s population relies on groundwater for its drinking water. Natural geogenic arsenic and fluoride contaminate ~10% of wells. Prolonged exposure to high levels of arsenic can result in various internal cancers, while high levels of fluoride are responsible for the development of dental and crippling skeletal fluorosis. In poor urban and rural settings, the provision of drinking water free of geogenic contamination can be a major challenge. In order to efficiently apply limited resources in the testing of wells, water resource managers need to know where geogenically contaminated groundwater is likely to occur. The Groundwater Assessment Platform (GAP) fulfills this need by providing state-of-the-art global arsenic and fluoride contamination hazard maps as well as enabling users to create their own groundwater quality models. The global risk models were produced by logistic regression of arsenic and fluoride measurements using predictor variables of various soil, geological and climate parameters. The maps display the probability of encountering concentrations of arsenic or fluoride exceeding the World Health Organization’s (WHO) stipulated concentration limits of 10 µg/L or 1.5 mg/L, respectively. In addition to a reconsideration of the relevant geochemical settings, these second-generation maps represent a great improvement over the previous risk maps due to a significant increase in data quantity and resolution. For example, there is a 10-fold increase in the number of measured data points, and the resolution of predictor variables is generally 60 times greater. These same predictor variable datasets are available on the GAP platform for visualization as well as for use with a modeling tool. The latter requires that users upload their own concentration measurements and select the predictor variables that they wish to incorporate in their models. In addition, users can upload additional predictor variable datasets either as features or coverages. Such models can represent an improvement over the global models already supplied, since (a) users may be able to use their own, more detailed datasets of measured concentrations and (b) the various processes leading to arsenic and fluoride groundwater contamination can be isolated more effectively on a smaller scale, thereby resulting in a more accurate model. All maps, including user-created risk models, can be downloaded as PDFs. There is also the option to share data in a secure environment as well as the possibility to collaborate in a secure environment through the creation of communities. In summary, GAP provides users with the means to reliably and efficiently produce models specific to their region of interest by making available the latest datasets of predictor variables along with the necessary modeling infrastructure.

Keywords: arsenic, fluoride, groundwater contamination, logistic regression

Procedia PDF Downloads 348

Authors: Peter Akayuure

Abstract:

Geometry is considered an important strand in mathematics due to its wide-ranging utilitarian value and because it serves as a building block for understanding other aspects of undergraduate mathematics, including algebra and calculus. Matters regarding students’ geometric thinking have therefore long been pursued by mathematics researchers and educators globally via different theoretical lenses, curriculum reform efforts, and innovative instructional practices. However, so far, studies remain inconclusive about the instructional platforms that effectively promote geometric thinking. At the University of Education, Winneba, an undergraduate geometry course was designed and delivered on UEW Learning Management System (LMS) using Moodle platform. This study utilizes van Hiele’s theoretical lens to examine the entry and exit’s geometric thinking behaviours of prospective teachers who took the undergraduate geometry course in the LMS platform. The study was a descriptive survey that involved an intact class of 280 first-year students enrolled to pursue a bachelor's in mathematics education at the university. The van Hiele’s Geometric thinking test was used to assess participants’ entry and exit behaviours, while semi-structured interviews were used to obtain data for triangulation. Data were analysed descriptively and displayed in tables and charts. An Independent t-test was used to test for significant differences in geometric thinking behaviours between those who entered the university with a diploma certificate and with senior high certificate. The results show that on entry, more than 70% of the prospective teachers operated within the visualization level of van Hiele’s geometric thinking. Less than 20% reached analysis and abstraction levels, and no participant reached deduction and rigor levels. On exit, participants’ geometric thinking levels increased markedly across levels, but the difference from entry was not significant and might have occurred by chance. The geometric thinking behaviours of those enrolled with diploma certificates did not differ significant from those enrolled directly from senior high school. The study recommends that the design principles and delivery of undergraduate geometry course via LMS should be structured and tackled using van Hiele’s geometric thinking levels to serve as means of bridging the existing learning gaps of undergraduate students.

Keywords: geometric thinking, van Hiele’s, UEW learning management system, undergraduate geometry

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Hong Nguyen Thi Hai, Ryota Konda, Dat Kieu Tuan, Cao Tran Thanh, Khang Phung Van, Hau Tran Tin, Harry Wu

Abstract:

Melaleuca cajuputi is a moderately fast-growing species and considered as a multi-purpose tree as it provides fuelwood, piles and frame poles in construction, leaf essential oil and honey. It occurs in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and South-East Asia. M. cajuputi plantation can be harvested on 6-7 year rotations for wood products. Its timber can also be used for pulp and paper, fiber and particle board, producing quality charcoal and potentially sawn timber. However, most reported M. cajuputi breeding programs have been focused on oil production rather than wood production. In this study, breeding program of M. cajuputi aimed to improve wood production was examined by estimating genetic parameters for growth (tree height, diameter at breast height (DBH), and volume), stem form, stiffness (modulus of elasticity (MOE)), bark thickness and bark ratio in a half-sib family progeny trial including 80 families in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. MOE is one of the key wood properties of interest to the wood industry. Non-destructive wood stiffness was measured indirectly by acoustic velocity using FAKOPP Microsecond Timer and especially unaffected by bark mass. Narrow-sense heritability for the seven traits ranged from 0.13 to 0.27 at age 7 years. MOE and stem form had positive genetic correlations with growth while the negative correlation between bark ratio and growth was also favorable. Breeding for simultaneous improvement of multiple traits, faster growth with higher MOE and reduction of bark ratio should be possible in M. cajuputi. Index selection based on volume and MOE showed genetic gains of 31 % in volume, 6 % in MOE and 13 % in stem form. In addition, heritability and age-age genetic correlations for growth traits increased with time and optimal early selection age for growth of M. cajuputi based on DBH alone was 4 years. Selected thinning resulted in an increase of heritability due to considerable reduction of phenotypic variation but little effect on genetic variation.

Keywords: acoustic velocity, age-age correlation, bark thickness, heritability, Melaleuca cajuputi, stiffness, thinning effect

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: Salima Agoun-Bahar, Ouzna Abrous-Belbachir, Souad Amelal

Abstract:

Industrial areas generally contain heavy metals; thus, negative consequences can appear in the medium and long term on the fauna and flora, but also on the food chain, which man constitutes the final link. The SONATRACH Company has become aware of the importance of environmental protection by setting up a rehabilitation program for polluted sites in order to avoid major ecological disasters and find both curative and preventive solutions. The aim of this work consists to study industrial pollution located around a crude oil storage tank in the Algiers refinery of Sidi R'cine and to select the plants which accumulate the most heavy metals for possible use in phytotechnology. Sampling of whole plants with their soil clod was realized around the pollution source at a depth of twenty centimeters, then transported to the laboratory to identify them. The quantification of heavy metals, lead, zinc, copper, and nickel was carried out by atomic absorption spectrophotometry with flame in the soil and at the level of the aerial and underground parts of the plants. Ten plant species were recorded in the polluted site, three of them belonging to the grass family with a dominance percentage higher than 50%, followed by three other species belonging to the Composite family represented by 12% and one species for each of the families Linaceae, Plantaginaceae, Papilionaceae, and Boraginaceae. Koeleria phleoïdes L. and Avena sterilis L. of the grass family seem to be the dominant plants, although they are quite far from the pollution source. Lead pollution of soils is the most pronounced for all stations, with values varying from 237.5 to 2682.5 µg.g⁻¹. Other peaks are observed for zinc (1177 µg.g⁻¹) and copper (635 µg.g⁻¹) at station 8 and nickel (1800 µg.g⁻¹) at station 10. Among the inventoried plants, some species accumulate a significant amount of metals: Trifolium sp and K.phleoides for lead and zinc, P.lanceolata and G.tomentosa for nickel, and A.clavatus for zinc. K.phloides is a very interesting species because it accumulates an important quantity of heavy metals, especially in its aerial part. This can be explained by its use of the phytoextraction technique, which will facilitate the recovery of the pollutants by the simple removal of shoots.

Keywords: heavy metals, industrial pollution, phytotechnology, rehabilitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 66

Authors: Sašo Pečnik, Borut Žalik

Abstract:

This paper presents a real-time visualization technique and filtering of classified LiDAR point clouds. The visualization is capable of displaying filtered information organized in layers by the classification attribute saved within LiDAR data sets. We explain the used data structure and data management, which enables real-time presentation of layered LiDAR data. Real-time visualization is achieved with LOD optimization based on the distance from the observer without loss of quality. The filtering process is done in two steps and is entirely executed on the GPU and implemented using programmable shaders.

Keywords: filtering, graphics, level-of-details, LiDAR, real-time visualization

Procedia PDF Downloads 308

Authors: Carmen Axisa, Louise Nash, Patrick Kelly, Simon Willcock

Abstract:

Introduction: Doctors experience high levels of burnout, stress and psychiatric morbidity. This can affect the health of the doctor and impact patient care. Study Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of a workshop intervention to promote wellbeing for Australian Physician Trainees. Methods: A workshop was developed in consultation with specialist clinicians to promote health and wellbeing for physician trainees. The workshop objectives were to improve participant understanding about factors affecting their health and wellbeing, to outline strategies on how to improve health and wellbeing and to encourage participants to apply these strategies in their own lives. There was a focus on building resilience and developing long term healthy behaviours as part of the physician trainee daily lifestyle. Trainees had the opportunity to learn practical strategies for stress management, gain insight into their behaviour and take steps to improve their health and wellbeing. The workshop also identified resources and support systems available to trainees. The workshop duration was four and a half hours including a thirty- minute meal break where a catered meal was provided for the trainees. Workshop evaluations were conducted at the end of the workshop. Sixty-seven physician trainees from Adult Medicine and Paediatric training programs in Sydney Australia were randomised into intervention and control groups. The intervention group attended a workshop facilitated by specialist clinicians and the control group did not. Baseline and post intervention measurements were taken for both groups to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the workshop. Forty-six participants completed all three measurements (69%). Demographic, personal and self-reported data regarding work/life patterns was collected. Outcome measures include Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Results: The workshop was well received by the physician trainees and workshop evaluations showed that the majority of trainees strongly agree or agree that the training was relevant to their needs (96%) and met their expectations (92%). All trainees strongly agree or agree that they would recommend the workshop to their medical colleagues. In comparison to the control group we observed a reduction in alcohol use, depression and burnout but an increase in stress, anxiety and secondary traumatic stress in the intervention group, at the primary endpoint measured at 6 months. However, none of these differences reached statistical significance (p > 0.05). Discussion: Although the study did not reach statistical significance, the workshop may be beneficial to physician trainees. Trainees had the opportunity to share ideas, gain insight into their own behaviour, learn practical strategies for stress management and discuss approach to work, life and self-care. The workshop discussions enabled trainees to share their experiences in a supported environment where they learned that other trainees experienced stress and burnout and they were not alone in needing to acquire successful coping mechanisms and stress management strategies. Conclusion: These findings suggest that physician trainees are a vulnerable group who may benefit from initiatives that promote wellbeing and from a more supportive work environment.

Keywords: doctors' health, physician burnout, physician resilience, wellbeing workshop

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: Semira Zeru Haileslassie

Abstract:

Lack of awareness and practices of PEP treatment were observed among respondents, but they had a better attitude towards PEP. To this end, a formal training for all respondents regarding PEP for HIV prior to their clinical attachments is of utmost importance. The training ought to incorporate a brief clarification with respect to the unpleasant impact of non-adherence that essentially incorporate destitute treatment result and most prominent hazard of resistance and few given as a major cause for non-compliance to PEP, common transient side-effects of PEP and its administrations ought to be cloister educated healthcare specialists to diminish its effect on adherence. Besides, the propensity of detailing needle adhere harm was destitute that needs endeavors to progress. Progressing the culture of detailing and making the detailing handle simple is very necessary. In reality, announcing such wounds as early as conceivable will educate others not to commit same issue once more and, for the most part, will empower stakeholders to intercede the issue sometime prior to it re-occur. At long last, as distant as get up and go utilize has cleared out with so numerous bothers, risk decrease is the foremost choice. With this, taking the increased significance of protective barriers so as to decrease the hazard of exposure to HIV, distinctive stakeholders (the healing center hardware supply chain director, the HIV/ Helps clinic, the clinic chief, hardware and supply quality confirmation group, and other authoritative bodies) ought to work together in co-ordination to secure the supply and guarantee the quality of those crucial protective barriers and to advance demand health laborers to continuously wear protective barriers when exposed to HIV hazard components as well as to dispose appropriately once done. At long last, we prescribe future examiners to conduct planned multicenter studies with extra goals (counting indicator investigation) for way better generalization and result. In spite of satisfactory information and favorable state of mind towards PEP for HIV in most of the respondents, this study uncovered that there were delays in starting, low utilization, and fragmented use of the prescribed PEP. So, health care staff need to progress their practice on PEP of HIV through diverse training program related to PEP of HIV.

Keywords: HIV infection, prophylaxis, knowledge, attitude

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Nurulhikma Md Isa, Intan Elya Suka, Nur Farhana Roslan, Chew Bee Lynn

Abstract:

The evolutionarily conserved N-end rule pathway marks proteins for degradation by the Ubiquitin Proteosome System (UPS) based on the nature of their N-terminal residue. Proteins with a destabilizing N-terminal residue undergo a series of condition-dependent N-terminal modifications, resulting in their ubiquitination and degradation. Intensive research has been carried out in Arabidopsis previously. The group VII Ethylene Response Factor (ERFs) transcription factors are the first N-end rule pathway substrates found in Arabidopsis and their role in regulating oxygen sensing. ERFs also function as central hubs for the perception of gaseous signals in plants and control different plant developmental including germination, stomatal aperture, hypocotyl elongation and stress responses. However, nothing is known about the role of this pathway during fruit development and ripening aspect. The plant model system Arabidopsis cannot represent fleshy fruit model system therefore tomato is the best model plant to study. PROTEOLYSIS6 (PRT6) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase of the N-end rule pathway. Two homologs of PRT6 sequences have been identified in tomato genome database using the PRT6 protein sequence from model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Homology search against Ensemble Plant database (tomato) showed Solyc09g010830.2 is the best hit with highest score of 1143, e-value of 0.0 and 61.3% identity compare to the second hit Solyc10g084760.1. Further homology search was done using NCBI Blast database to validate the data. The result showed best gene hit was XP_010325853.1 of uncharacterized protein LOC101255129 (Solanum lycopersicum) with highest score of 1601, e-value 0.0 and 48% identity. Both Solyc09g010830.2 and uncharacterized protein LOC101255129 were genes located at chromosome 9. Further validation was carried out using BLASTP program between these two sequences (Solyc09g010830.2 and uncharacterized protein LOC101255129) to investigate whether they were the same proteins represent PRT6 in tomato. Results showed that both proteins have 100 % identity, indicates that they were the same gene represents PRT6 in tomato. In addition, we used two different RNAi constructs that were driven under 35S and Polygalacturonase (PG) promoters to study the function of PRT6 during tomato developmental stages and ripening processes.

Keywords: ERFs, PRT6, tomato, ubiquitin

Procedia PDF Downloads 240

Authors: Damtew Samson Zerihun

Abstract:

This paper primarily describes the concept of a hierarchical safety control (HSC) in discrete manufacturing to up-hold productivity with human intervention and machine failures using a systematic approach, through increasing the system availability and using additional knowledge on machines so as to improve the human machine collaboration (HMC). It also highlights the implemented PLC safety algorithm, in applying this generic concept to a concrete pro-duction line using a lab demonstrator called FATIE (Factory Automation Test and Integration Environment). Furthermore, the paper describes a model and provide a systematic representation of human-machine collabora-tion in discrete manufacturing and to this end, the Hierarchical Safety Control concept is proposed. This offers a ge-neric description of human-machine collaboration based on Finite State Machines (FSM) that can be applied to vari-ous discrete manufacturing lines instead of using ad-hoc solutions for each line. With its reusability, flexibility, and extendibility, the Hierarchical Safety Control scheme allows upholding productivity while maintaining safety with reduced engineering effort compared to existing solutions. The approach to the solution begins with a successful partitioning of different zones around the Integrated Manufacturing System (IMS), which are defined by operator tasks and the risk assessment, used to describe the location of the human operator and thus to identify the related po-tential hazards and trigger the corresponding safety functions to mitigate it. This includes selective reduced speed zones and stop zones, and in addition with the hierarchical safety control scheme and advanced safety functions such as safe standstill and safe reduced speed are used to achieve the main goals in improving the safe Human Ma-chine Collaboration and increasing the productivity. In a sample scenarios, It is shown that an increase of productivity in the order of 2.5% is already possible with a hi-erarchical safety control, which consequently under a given assumptions, a total sum of 213 € could be saved for each intervention, compared to a protective stop reaction. Thereby the loss is reduced by 22.8%, if occasional haz-ard can be refined in a hierarchical way. Furthermore, production downtime due to temporary unavailability of safety devices can be avoided with safety failover that can save millions per year. Moreover, the paper highlights the proof of the development, implementation and application of the concept on the lab demonstrator (FATIE), where it is realized on the new safety PLCs, Drive Units, HMI as well as Safety devices in addition to the main components of the IMS.

Keywords: discrete automation, hierarchical safety controller, human machine collaboration, programmable logical controller

Procedia PDF Downloads 369

Authors: Pavel H. Llamocca, Victoria Lopez

Abstract:

The main objective of our work is the comparative analysis of environmental data from Open Data bases, belonging to different governments. This means that you have to integrate data from various different sources. Nowadays, many governments have the intention of publishing thousands of data sets for people and organizations to use them. In this way, the quantity of applications based on Open Data is increasing. However each government has its own procedures to publish its data, and it causes a variety of formats of data sets because there are no international standards to specify the formats of the data sets from Open Data bases. Due to this variety of formats, we must build a data integration process that is able to put together all kind of formats. There are some software tools developed in order to give support to the integration process, e.g. Data Tamer, Data Wrangler. The problem with these tools is that they need data scientist interaction to take part in the integration process as a final step. In our case we don’t want to depend on a data scientist, because environmental data are usually similar and these processes can be automated by programming. The main idea of our tool is to build Hadoop procedures adapted to data sources per each government in order to achieve an automated integration. Our work focus in environment data like temperature, energy consumption, air quality, solar radiation, speeds of wind, etc. Since 2 years, the government of Madrid is publishing its Open Data bases relative to environment indicators in real time. In the same way, other governments have published Open Data sets relative to the environment (like Andalucia or Bilbao). But all of those data sets have different formats and our solution is able to integrate all of them, furthermore it allows the user to make and visualize some analysis over the real-time data. Once the integration task is done, all the data from any government has the same format and the analysis process can be initiated in a computational better way. So the tool presented in this work has two goals: 1. Integration process; and 2. Graphic and analytic interface. As a first approach, the integration process was developed using Java and Oracle and the graphic and analytic interface with Java (jsp). However, in order to open our software tool, as second approach, we also developed an implementation with R language as mature open source technology. R is a really powerful open source programming language that allows us to process and analyze a huge amount of data with high performance. There are also some R libraries for the building of a graphic interface like shiny. A performance comparison between both implementations was made and no significant differences were found. In addition, our work provides with an Official Real-Time Integrated Data Set about Environment Data in Spain to any developer in order that they can build their own applications.

Keywords: open data, R language, data integration, environmental data

Procedia PDF Downloads 315

Authors: Kriddikorn Kaewwongsri, Nikom Suvonvorn

Abstract:

In the deep south of Thailand, checkpoints for people verification are necessary for the security management of risk zones, such as official buildings in the conflict area. In this paper, we propose an automatic checkpoint system that verifies persons using information from ID cards and facial features. The methods for a person’s information abstraction and verification are introduced based on useful information such as ID number and name, extracted from official cards, and facial images from videos. The proposed system shows promising results and has a real impact on the local society.

Keywords: face comparison, card recognition, OCR, checkpoint system, authentication

Procedia PDF Downloads 321

Authors: Y. Mohammed, A. I. Kabuga

Abstract:

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have continued to be a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa especially with the recent resurgence of syphilis. Syphilis is a systemic disease caused by the bacterium, spirochete Treponema pallidum and has been reported as one of the common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Nigeria. Presence of genital ulcer disease from syphilis facilitates human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission and their ¬diagnosis is essential for the proper management. Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test is used as a screening test for the diagnosis of syphilis. However, unusual VDRL test results have been reported in HIV-infected persons with syphilis. There are reports showing higher than expected VDRL titers as well as biological false positive in most of the studies. A negative Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR) test or VDRL test result may not rule out syphilis in patients with HIV infection. For laboratory confirmation of syphilis, one specific Treponemal test, namely, Fluroscent Treponemal Antibody Absorption (FTA-ABS) test or Treponema Pallidum Haemagglutination Assay (TPHA) should be done along with VDRL. A prospective cross sectional study was conducted for 2 years from Jun, 2012 to Jun 2014 to determine the prevalence of syphilis in HIV-seroreactive patients at 5 selected HIV/AIDS treatment and counseling centers in Kano State, North Western, Nigeria. New HIV-Seroreactive patients who gave informed consent to participate in the study were recruited. Venereal Diseases Research Laboratory (VDRL) test for Syphilis screening was performed on the same sera samples which were collected for HIV testing. A total of 238 patients, 113 (47%) males and 125 (53%) females, were enrolled. In the present study, 238 HIV-seropositive patients were screened for syphilis by VDRL test. Out of these 238 cases, 72 (32%) patients were positive for TPHA and 8 (3.4%) patients were reactive for VDRL in various titers with an overall prevalence of 3.4%. All the eight patients who were reactive for VDRL test were also positive for TPHA test. In Conclusions, with high prevalence of syphilis among HIV-infected people from this study, it is recommended that serological testing for syphilis should be carried out in all patients with newly diagnosed HIV infection. Detection and treatment of STI should have a central role in HIV prevention and control. This will help in proper management of patients having STIs and HIV co infection.

Keywords: HIV, infections, STIs, syphilis

Procedia PDF Downloads 321

Authors: M. Roberts Masillamani

Abstract:

There is a phenomenal difference, as regard to the teaching methodology adopted at the urban and the rural area colleges. However, bright and talented student may be from rural back ground even. But there is huge dearth of the digitization in the rural areas and lesser developed countries. Today’s students need new skills to compete and successful in the future. Education should be combination of practical, intellectual, and social skills. What does this mean for rural classrooms and how can it be achieved. Rural colleges are not able to hire the best resources, since the best teacher’s aim is to move towards the city. If city is provided everywhere, then there will be no rural area. This is possible by forming university clusters (UC). The University cluster is a group of renowned and accredited universities coming together to bridge this dearth. The UC will deliver the live lectures and allow the students’ from remote areas to actively participate in the classroom. This paper tries to present a plan of action of providing a better live classroom teaching and learning system from the city to the rural and the lesser developed countries. This paper titled “University Clusters using ICT for teaching and learning” provides a true concept of opening live digital classroom windows for rural colleges, where resources are not available, thus reducing the digital divide. This is different from pod casting a lecture or distance learning and eLearning. The live lecture can be streamed through digital equipment to another classroom. The rural students can collaborate with their peers and critiques, be assessed, collect information, acquire different techniques in assessment and learning process. This system will benefit rural students and teachers and develop socio economic status. This will also will increase the degree of confidence of the Rural students and teachers. Thus bringing about the concept of ‘Train the Trainee’ in reality. An educational university cloud for each cluster will be built remote infrastructure facilities (RIF) for the above program. The users may be informed, about the available lecture schedules, through the RIF service. RIF with an educational cloud can be set by the universities under one cluster. This paper talks a little more about University clusters and the methodology to be adopted as well as some extended features like, tutorial classes, library grids, remote laboratory login, research and development.

Keywords: lesser developed countries, digital divide, digital learning, education, e-learning, ICT, library grids, live classroom windows, RIF, rural, university clusters and urban

Procedia PDF Downloads 472

Authors: Galuh Asri Bestari, Hajar Shofiyya

Abstract:

Double burden of malnutrition (DBM) has been a global problem in these last decades occurs in both developed and developing countries. Overweight in adults and stunting among preschool children have dramatically increased and become the main problems of malnutrition that should be solved immediately since they are directly related with the health status and productivity. Reformulation of food product by using the local sea resources called terasi shrimp (Acetes indicus) has a potential possibility in facing the DBM. A study was carried out in Indonesia to determine the acceptability of terasi shrimp powder through sensory evaluation. Terasi shrimps were processed into powder form through sun drying and pounding methods. The powder form was directly added in food as alternative seasonings and tested among stunted and normal preschool children. Meanwhile, a further processing method is given to the shrimp powder tested in overweight and normal-weighed adults. The shrimp powder was mixed with sago flour and formed into balls, then steamed for 15-20 minutes, and finally served as alternative snacks. Based on the sensory evaluation, the shrimp powder has a good acceptance in taste (54%), shape (60%), and color properties (63%), while the shrimp balls has a good acceptance in size (65%), shape (50%), color (48%), taste (40%), and texture (36%). Terasi shrimp powder can be stored for a month in room temperature. In addition, carried out chemical analysis revealed that terasi shrimp (Acetes indicus) has higher percentage of protein, calcium, and iron than other animal sources, but conversely contains zero sodium and very low percentage of fat. Terasi shrimp’s shell also contains a substance called chitosan which acts by forming gels in the intestinal tract to entrap lipids, thus interfering with their absorption. After going through some processing methods, the shrimp powder and balls did not show any significant changes in their nutrient contents. So that, terasi shrimp powder is good to be consumed not only by overweight adults, but also by children to support their optimum growth. Intervention of terasi shrimp powder should be implemented step by step from national up to global governance program to face the DBM.

Keywords: Acetes indicus, alternative food, double burden of malnutrition, sensory evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 305

Authors: Andrei Bejan, Luminita Marin, Dalila Belei

Abstract:

Phenothiazine with electron-rich nitrogen and sulfur heteroatoms has a high electron-donating ability which promotes a good conjugation and therefore low band-gap with consequences upon charge carrier mobility improving and shifting of light emission in visible domain. Moreover, its non-planar butterfly conformation inhibits molecular aggregation and thus preserves quite well the fluorescence quantum yield in solid state compared to solution. Therefore phenothiazine and its derivatives are promising hole transport materials for use in organic electronic and optoelectronic devices as light emitting diodes, photovoltaic cells, integrated circuit sensors or driving circuits for large area display devices. The objective of this paper was to obtain a series of new phenothiazine derivatives by introduction of different electron withdrawing substituents as formyl, carboxyl and cyanoacryl units in order to create a push pull system which has potential to improve the electronic and optical properties. Bromine atom was used as electrono-donor moiety to extend furthermore the existing conjugation. The understudy compounds were structural characterized by FTIR and 1H-NMR spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Besides, the single crystal X-ray diffraction brought information regarding the supramolecular architecture of the compounds. Photophysical properties were monitored by UV-vis and photoluminescence spectroscopy, while the electrochemical behavior was established by cyclic voltammetry. The absorption maxima of the studied compounds vary in a large range (322-455 nm), reflecting the different electronic delocalization degree, depending by the substituent nature. In a similar manner, the emission spectra reveal different color of emitted light, a red shift being evident for the groups with higher electron withdrawing ability. The emitted light is pure and saturated for the compounds containing strong withdrawing formyl or cyanoacryl units and reach the highest quantum yield of 71% for the compound containing bromine and cyanoacrilic units. Electrochemical study show reversible oxidative and reduction processes for all the compounds and a close correlation of the HOMO-LUMO band gap with substituent nature. All these findings suggest the obtained compounds as promising materials for optoelectronic devices.

Keywords: electrochemical properties, phenothiazine derivatives, photoluminescence, quantum yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 329

Authors: Meredith Rossi, Lesley Lee, Mary Wear, Mary Van Baalen, Bradley Rhodes

Abstract:

The astronaut community is unique, and may be disproportionately exposed to occupational hazards not commonly seen in other communities. The extent to which the demands of the astronaut occupation and exposure to spaceflight-related hazards affect the health of the astronaut population over the life course is not completely known. A better understanding of the individual, population, and mission impacts of astronaut occupational exposures is critical to providing clinical care, targeting occupational surveillance efforts, and planning for future space exploration. The ability to characterize the risk of latent health conditions is a significant component of this understanding. Provision of health screening services to active and former astronauts ensures individual, mission, and community health and safety. Currently, the NASA-Johnson Space Center (JSC) Flight Medicine Clinic (FMC) provides extensive medical monitoring to active astronauts throughout their careers. Upon retirement, astronauts may voluntarily return to the JSC FMC for an annual preventive exam. However, current retiree monitoring includes only selected screening tests, representing an opportunity for augmentation. The potential long-term health effects of spaceflight demand an expanded framework of testing for former astronauts. The need is two-fold: screening tests widely recommended for other aging populations are necessary to rule out conditions resulting from the natural aging process (e.g., colonoscopy, mammography); and expanded monitoring will increase NASA’s ability to better characterize conditions resulting from astronaut occupational exposures. To meet this need, NASA has begun an extensive exploration of the overall approach, cost, and policy implications of expanding the medical monitoring of former NASA astronauts under the Astronaut Occupational Health program. Increasing the breadth of monitoring services will ultimately enrich the existing evidence base of occupational health risks to astronauts. Such an expansion would therefore improve the understanding of the health of the astronaut population as a whole, and the ability to identify, mitigate, and manage such risks in preparation for deep space exploration missions.

Keywords: astronaut, long-term health, NASA, occupational health, surveillance

Procedia PDF Downloads 533

Authors: Augustus K. Lebechi, Kenneth I. Ozoemena

Abstract:

Rechargeable zinc-air batteries (RZABs) have been described as one of the most viable next-generation ‘beyond-the-lithium-ion’ battery technologies with great potential for renewable energy storage. It is safe, with a high specific energy density (1086 Wh/kg), environmentally benign, and low-cost, especially in resource-limited African countries. For widespread commercialization, the sluggish oxygen reaction kinetics pose a major challenge that impedes the reversibility of the system. Hence, there is a need for low-cost and highly active bifunctional electrocatalysts. Manganese oxide catalysts on carbon conducting additives remain the best couple for the realization of such low-cost RZABs. In this work, hausmannite Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles were synthesized through the annealing method from commercial electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were synthesized via the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were synthesized via the electrospinning process with subsequent carbonization. Both Mn₃O₄ catalysts and the carbon conducting additives (MWCNT and CNF) were thoroughly characterized using X-ray powder diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Composite electrocatalysts (Mn₃O₄/CNT and Mn₃O₄/CNF) were investigated for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in an alkaline medium. Using the established electrocatalytic modalities for evaluating the electrocatalytic performance of materials (including double layer, electrochemical active surface area, roughness factor, specific current density, and catalytic stability), CNFs proved to be the most efficient conducting additive material for the Mn₃O₄ catalyst. From the DFT calculations, the higher performance of the CNFs over the MWCNTs is related to the ability of the CNFs to allow for a more favorable distribution of the d-electrons of the manganese (Mn) and enhanced synergistic effect with Mn₃O₄ for weaker adsorption energies of the oxygen intermediates (O*, OH* and OOH*). In a proof-of-concept, Mn₃O₄/CNF was investigated as the air cathode for rechargeable zinc-air battery (RZAB) in a micro-3D-printed cell configuration. The RZAB showed good performance in terms of open circuit voltage (1.77 V), maximum power density (177.5 mW cm-2), areal-discharge energy and cycling stability comparable to Pt/C (20 wt%) + IrO2. The findings here provide fresh physicochemical perspectives on the future design and utility of CNFs for developing manganese-based RZABs.

Keywords: bifunctional electrocatalyst, oxygen evolution reaction, oxygen reduction reactions, rechargeable zinc-air batteries.

Procedia PDF Downloads 64

Authors: E. Maistrou, P. Themelis, D. Kosmopoulos, K. Boulougoura, A. M. Konidi, K. Moretti

Abstract:

InterArch is an ongoing research project that is running since September 2020 and aims to propose a digital application for the enhancement of the cultural landscape, which emphasizes the contribution of physical space and time in digital data organization. The research case study refers to Ancient Messene in the Peloponnese, one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece. The project integrates an interactive approach to the natural environment, aiming at a manifold sensory experience. It combines the physical space of the archaeological site with the digital space of archaeological and cultural data while, at the same time, it embraces storytelling processes by engaging an interdisciplinary approach that familiarizes the user to multiple semantic interpretations. The research project is co‐financed by the European Union and Greek national funds, through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH - CREATE – INNOVATE (project code: Τ2ΕΔΚ-01659). It involves mutual collaboration between academic and cultural institutions and the contribution of an IT applications development company. New technologies and the integration of digital data enable the implementation of non‐linear narratives related to the representational characteristics of the art of collage. Various images (photographs, drawings, etc.) and sounds (narrations, music, soundscapes, audio signs, etc.) could be presented according to our proposal through new semiotics of augmented and virtual reality technologies applied in touch screens and smartphones. Despite the fragmentation of tangible or intangible references, material landscape formations, including archaeological remains, constitute the common ground that can inspire cultural narratives in a process that unfolds personal perceptions and collective imaginaries. It is in this context that cultural landscape may be considered an indication of space and historical continuity. It is in this context that history could emerge, according to our proposal, not solely as a previous inscription but also as an actual happening. As a rhythm of occurrences suggesting mnemonic references and, moreover, evolving history projected on the contemporary ongoing cultural landscape.

Keywords: cultural heritage, digital data, landscape, archaeological sites, visitors’ itineraries

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: Ayanfulu Yekini

Abstract:

The hotel and tourism industry remains male-dominated, particularly in the upper echelons of management and ICT remained underutilized. While there is a massive revolution in this trend across the globe, it appears much progress has not been made in our nation Nigeria. This paper aimed at evaluating the relevance of ICT and Gender Participation to Sustainability of Hospitality and Tourism Industry in Nigeria. The research study was conducted in tourism organizations, travel agents, hotels, restaurants, resorts, professionals in tourism, travel and hospitality industry within Nigeria. The respondents are from the tourism/hospitality industries employees and entrepreneurs only.

Keywords: ICT, hotel, gender participation, Nigeria, tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 452

Authors: Sharmin Shahid, Zaher Zain

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to explore and examines the theoretical frameworks of ethical leadership style and affective organizational commitment. Additionally, to investigate the extent to which employee orientation and ethical guidance either strengthen or weaken on the relationship between ethical leadership style and affective commitment. The study will also measure the mediating effects of leader’s integrity either influence to inspire and revival employee’s affective commitment or not. The methodology of the study comprised sample of 237 managers, departmental heads, top-level executives, and professors of several financial institutions, banks, and universities in Bangladesh who are directly related with decision making process of respective organization. A cross sectional research design will be used to examine the direct, moderating, and mediating analysis among the research key variables. Data were gathered based on personal administered questionnaire. The findings of the study will be significance because it will provide the real scenario of leadership style which leads to financial and strategic success of any organizations. In addition, the results will be interesting enough to find out either ethical leadership style have positive relationship with affective commitment or not. Employee-orientation and ethical guidance is a moderator to improve leadership style and affective commitment, whereas, leader’s integrity mediates the relationships between leadership style and affective organizational commitment to do the right thing in the right way for the betterment of entire organizational success. Research limitations of the study are the data collected by self administered questionnaire, a method with well-known shortcomings. Second, the study concentrated on financial institutions, banks top executives, and universities professors in Bangladesh. An important implication of the research is that the interesting findings will give some insight to the leadership style and helps management to focus on their management and leadership efficacy, as that could improve their affective organizational commitment. The findings will be original and unique value adding with the existing literature on leadership studies. The study is based on a comprehensive literature review. The results will be based on a sample of financial institutions, banks, and universities in Bangladesh. The research findings are useful to academics and corporate leaders of financial institutions, banks, and universities all over the world.

Keywords: affective organizational commitment, Bangladesh, ethical guidance, ethical leadership style

Procedia PDF Downloads 321

Authors: Benjamin Beltzung, Marie Pelé, Julien P. Renoult, Cédric Sueur

Abstract:

To this day, it is not known if drawing is specifically human behavior or if this behavior finds its origins in ancestor species. An interesting window to enlighten this question is to analyze the drawing behavior in genetically close to human species, such as non-human primate species. A good candidate for this approach is the orangutan, who shares 97% of our genes and exhibits multiple human-like behaviors. Focusing on figurative aspects may not be suitable for orangutans’ drawings, which may appear as scribbles but may have meaning. A manual feature selection would lead to an anthropocentric bias, as the features selected by humans may not match with those relevant for orangutans. In the present study, we used deep learning to analyze the drawings of a female orangutan named Molly († in 2011), who has produced 1,299 drawings in her last five years as part of a behavioral enrichment program at the Tama Zoo in Japan. We investigate multiple ways to decipher Molly’s drawings. First, we demonstrate the existence of differences between seasons by training a deep learning model to classify Molly’s drawings according to the seasons. Then, to understand and interpret these seasonal differences, we analyze how the information spreads within the network, from shallow to deep layers, where early layers encode simple local features and deep layers encode more complex and global information. More precisely, we investigate the impact of feature complexity on classification accuracy through features extraction fed to a Support Vector Machine. Last, we leverage style transfer to dissociate features associated with drawing style from those describing the representational content and analyze the relative importance of these two types of features in explaining seasonal variation. Content features were relevant for the classification, showing the presence of meaning in these non-figurative drawings and the ability of deep learning to decipher these differences. The style of the drawings was also relevant, as style features encoded enough information to have a classification better than random. The accuracy of style features was higher for deeper layers, demonstrating and highlighting the variation of style between seasons in Molly’s drawings. Through this study, we demonstrate how deep learning can help at finding meanings in non-figurative drawings and interpret these differences.

Keywords: cognition, deep learning, drawing behavior, interpretability

Procedia PDF Downloads 165

Authors: S. Ozeri, D. Shmilovitz

Abstract:

Micro‐Turbine Generators (MTG) are small size power plants that consist of a high speed, gas turbine driving an electrical generator. MTGs may be fueled by either natural gas or kerosene and may also use sustainable and recycled green fuels such as biomass, landfill or digester gas. The typical ratings of MTGs start from 20 kW up to 200 kW. The primary use of MTGs is for backup for sensitive load sites such as hospitals, and they are also considered a feasible power source for Distributed Generation (DG) providing on-site generation in proximity to remote loads. The MTGs have the compressor, the turbine, and the electrical generator mounted on a single shaft. For this reason, the electrical energy is generated at high frequency and is incompatible with the power grid. Therefore, MTGs must contain, in addition, a power conditioning unit to generate an AC voltage at the grid frequency. Presently, this power conditioning unit consists of a rectifier followed by a DC/AC inverter, both rated at the full MTG’s power. The losses of the power conditioning unit account to some 3-5%. Moreover, the full-power processing stage is a bulky and costly piece of equipment that also lowers the overall system reliability. In this study, we propose a new type of power conditioning stage in which only a small fraction of the power is processed. A low power converter is used only to program the rotor current (i.e. the excitation current which is substantially lower). Thus, the MTG's output voltage is shaped to the desired amplitude and frequency by proper programming of the excitation current. The control is realized by causing the rotor current to track the electrical frequency (which is related to the shaft frequency) with a difference that is exactly equal to the line frequency. Since the phasor of the rotation speed and the phasor of the rotor magnetic field are multiplied, the spectrum of the MTG generator voltage contains the sum and the difference components. The desired difference component is at the line frequency (50/60 Hz), whereas the unwanted sum component is at about twice the electrical frequency of the stator. The unwanted high frequency component can be filtered out by a low-pass filter leaving only the low-frequency output. This approach allows elimination of the large power conditioning unit incorporated in conventional MTGs. Instead, a much smaller and cheaper fractional power stage can be used. The proposed technology is also applicable to other high rotation generator sets such as aircraft power units.

Keywords: gas turbine, inverter, power multiplier, distributed generation

Procedia PDF Downloads 238