Search results for: internal audit

Authors: Sıdıka Kaya, Gülay Sain Güven, Seda Karsavuran, Onur Toka

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This study is part of an ongoing research project supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) under Project Number 114K404, and participation to this conference was supported by Hacettepe University Scientific Research Coordination Unit under Project Number 10243. Evaluation of hospital readmissions is gaining importance in terms of quality and cost, and is becoming the target of national policies. In Turkey, the topic of hospital readmission is relatively new on agenda and very few studies have been conducted on this topic. The aim of this study was to determine 30-day readmission rates and risk factors for readmission. Whether readmission was planned, related to the prior admission and avoidable or not was also assessed. The study was designed as a ‘prospective cohort study.’ 472 patients hospitalized in internal medicine departments of a university hospital in Turkey between February 1, 2015 and April 30, 2015 were followed up. Analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics version 22.0 and SPSS Modeler 16.0. Average age of the patients was 56 and 56% of the patients were female. Among these patients 95 were readmitted. Overall readmission rate was calculated as 20% (95/472). However, only 31 readmissions were unplanned. Unplanned readmission rate was 6.5% (31/472). Out of 31 unplanned readmission, 24 was related to the prior admission. Only 6 related readmission was avoidable. To determine risk factors for readmission we constructed Chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) decision tree algorithm. CHAID decision trees are nonparametric procedures that make no assumptions of the underlying data. This algorithm determines how independent variables best combine to predict a binary outcome based on ‘if-then’ logic by portioning each independent variable into mutually exclusive subsets based on homogeneity of the data. Independent variables we included in the analysis were: clinic of the department, occupied beds/total number of beds in the clinic at the time of discharge, age, gender, marital status, educational level, distance to residence (km), number of people living with the patient, any person to help his/her care at home after discharge (yes/no), regular source (physician) of care (yes/no), day of discharge, length of stay, ICU utilization (yes/no), total comorbidity score, means for each 3 dimensions of Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale (patient’s personal status, patient’s knowledge, and patient’s coping ability) and number of daycare admissions within 30 days of discharge. In the analysis, we included all 95 readmitted patients (46.12%), but only 111 (53.88%) non-readmitted patients, although we had 377 non-readmitted patients, to balance data. The risk factors for readmission were found as total comorbidity score, gender, patient’s coping ability, and patient’s knowledge. The strongest identifying factor for readmission was comorbidity score. If patients’ comorbidity score was higher than 1, the risk for readmission increased. The results of this study needs to be validated by other data–sets with more patients. However, we believe that this study will guide further studies of readmission and CHAID is a useful tool for identifying risk factors for readmission.

Keywords: decision tree, hospital, internal medicine, readmission

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Authors: N. AlShaya, R. Alhomidan, S. Alromizan, W. Labib

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Plant-based natural fibers are used more increasingly in construction materials. It is done to reduce the pressure on the built environment, which has been increased dramatically due to the increases world population and their needs. Plant-based natural fibers are abundant in many countries. Despite the low-cost of such environmental friendly renewable material, it has the ability to enhance the mechanical properties of construction materials. This paper presents an extensive discussion on the use of plant-based natural fibers as reinforcement for cement-based composites, with a particular emphasis upon fiber types; fiber characteristics, and fiber-cement composites performance. It also covers a thorough overview on the main factors, affecting the properties of plant-based natural fiber cement composite in it fresh and hardened state. The feasibility of using plant-based natural fibers in producing various construction materials; such as, mud bricks and blocks is investigated. In addition, other applications of using such fibers as internal curing agents as well as durability enhancer are also discussed. Finally, recommendation for possible future work in this area is presented.

Keywords: natural fibres, cement composites, construction materia, sustainability, stregth, durability

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Authors: Enayatallah Najari, Ali Noorzad, Mehdi Siavoshnia

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One of the most decent and low-cost options in soft clayey soil improvement is using stone columns to reduce the settlement and increase the bearing capacity which is used for different ways to do this in various projects with diverse conditions. In the current study, it is tried to evaluate this improvement method in 4 different weak soils with diverse properties like specific gravity, permeability coefficient, over consolidation ratio (OCR), poison’s ratio, internal friction angle and bulk modulus by using ABAQUS 3D finite element software. Increment and decrement impacts of each mentioned factor on settlement and lateral displacement of weak soil beds are analyzed. In analyzed models, the properties related to sand columns and geosynthetic cover are assumed to be constant with their optimum values, and just soft clayey soil parameters are considered to be variable. It’s also demonstrated that OCR value can play a determinant role in soil resistance.

Keywords: stone columns, geosynthetic, finite element, 3D analysis, soft soils

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Authors: Baqir Khawari

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This study has been undertaken to investigate the impact of remittances on household poverty and inequality using OLS and Logit Models with a strictly multi-random sampling method. The result of the OLS model reveals that if the per capita international remittances increase by 1%, then it is estimated that the per capita income will increase by 0.071% and 0.059% during 2019/20 and 2020/21, respectively. In addition, a 1% increase in external remittances results in a 0.0272% and 0.025% reduction in per capita depth of poverty and a 0.0149% and 0.0145% decrease in severity of poverty during 2019/20 and 2020/21, respectively. It is also shown that the effect of external remittances on poverty is greater than internal remittances. In terms of inequality, the result represents that remittances reduced the Gini coefficient by 2% and 7% during 2019/20 and 2020/21, respectively. Further, it is bold that COVID-19 negatively impacts the amount of received remittances by households, thus resulting in a reduction in the size of the effect of remittances. Therefore, a concerted effort of effective policies and governance and international assistance is imperative to address this prolonged problem.

Keywords: migration, remittances, poverty, inequality, COVID-19, Afghanistan

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Authors: A. Eghbali, M. Goodarzi, M. Hagh Panahi

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In this article process of direct extrusion of axisymmetric bimetallic tube with conic die profile and constant Mandrel by upper bound method has been analyzed and finite element method is simulated. Deformation area is divided into six smaller deformation areas and are calculated by presenting two generalized velocity field and applicable input and output sections separately (velocity profile with logarithmic curve for input section and spherical velocity profile for materials output ) for each die profile in spherical coordinate system strain rate values in every deformation area. After internal power, shearing power and material friction power is obtained, extrusion force is calculated. The results of upper bound analysis method with given results from other researcher's experiments and simulation by finite parts method (Abaqus software) are compared for conic die.

Keywords: extrusion, upper bound, axisy metric, deformation velocity field

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Authors: Hamed Saremi, Suzan Taghavy, Seyed Mohammad Hanif Sanjari, Mostafa Kahali

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One of the challenges in manufacturing and service companies to provide a product or service is recognized Brand to consumers in target markets. They provide most of their processes under the same capacity. But the constant threat of devastating internal and external resources to prevent a rise Brands and more companies are recognizing the stages are bankrupt. This paper has tried to identify and analyze effective indicators of brand equity and focuses on indicators and presents a model of intelligent create a model to prevent possible damage. In this study, the identified indicators of brand equity are based on literature study and according to expert opinions, set of indicators By techniques DEMATEL Then to used Multi-Step Adaptive Neural-Fuzzy Inference system (ANFIS) to design a multi-stage intelligent system for assessment of brand equity.

Keywords: brand, cosmetic product, ANFIS, DEMATEL

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Authors: Ronak Khosravi, Mahmood Abbasi Layegh, Siamak Haghipour, Avin Esmaili

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In this paper, a study on classification of musical woodwind instruments using a small set of features selected from a broad range of extracted ones by the sequential forward selection method was carried out. Firstly, we extract 42 features for each record in the music database of 402 sound files belonging to five different groups of Flutes (end blown and internal duct), Single –reed, Double –reed (exposed and capped), Triple reed and Quadruple reed. Then, the sequential forward selection method is adopted to choose the best feature set in order to achieve very high classification accuracy. Two different classification techniques of support vector machines and relevance vector machines have been tested out and an accuracy of up to 96% can be achieved by using 21 time, frequency and coefficient features and relevance vector machine with the Gaussian kernel function.

Keywords: coefficient features, relevance vector machines, spectral features, support vector machines, temporal features

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Authors: Mouhoubi Nedjima, Sassi Boudemagh Souad, Chouabbia Khedidja

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Cities grow, large or small; they seek to gain a place in the market competition, which talks to sell a product that is the city itself. The metropolis are large cities enjoying a legal status and assets providing their dominions elements on a territory larger than their range, do not escape this situation. Thus, the search for promising tool metropolises better development and durability meet the challenges as economic, social and environmental is timely. The urban project is a new way to build the city; it is involved in the metropolises of two ways, either to manage the crisis and to meet the internal needs of the metropolis, or by creating a regional attractiveness with their potential. This communication will address the issue of urban project as a tool that has and should find a place in the panoply of existing institutional tools. Based on the example of the modernization project of the metropolis of eastern Algeria "Constantine", we will examine what the urban project can bring to a city, the extent of its impact but also the relationship between the visions actors so metropolization a success.

Keywords: urban project, metropolis, institutional tools, Constantine

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Authors: Wenqing Fan, Yixuan Cheng, Wei Huang

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The diversity and complexity of modern IT systems make it almost impossible for internal teams to find vulnerabilities in all software before the software is officially released. The emergence of threat intelligence and vulnerability reporting policy has greatly reduced the burden on software vendors and organizations to find vulnerabilities. However, to prove the existence of the reported vulnerability, it is necessary but difficult for security incident response team to build a deliberated vulnerable environment from the vulnerability report with limited and incomplete information. This paper presents a structured, standardized, machine-oriented vulnerability intelligence format, that can be used to automate the orchestration of Deliberated Vulnerable Environment (DVE). This paper highlights the important role of software configuration and proof of vulnerable specifications in vulnerability intelligence, and proposes a triad model, which is called DIR (Dependency Configuration, Installation Configuration, Runtime Configuration), to define software configuration. Finally, this paper has also implemented a prototype system to demonstrate that the orchestration of DVE can be automated with the intelligence.

Keywords: DIR triad model, DVE, vulnerability intelligence, vulnerability recurrence

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Authors: Sneha Samal, Iva Petrikova, Bohdana Marvalova

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Influence of grain size, shape and grain boundary diffusion at high temperature oxidation of pure metal is investigated as the function of microstructure evolution in this article. The oxidized scale depends on the geometrical parameter of the metal-scale system and grain shape, size, diffusion through boundary layers and influence of the contamination. The creation of the inner layer and the morphological structure develops from the internal stress generated during the growth of the scale. The oxidation rate depends on the cation and anion mobile transport of the metal in the inward and outward direction of the diffusion layer. Oxidation rate decreases with decreasing the grain size of the pure metal, whereas zinc deviates from this principle. A strong correlation between the surface roughness evolution, grain size, crystalline properties and oxidation mechanism of the oxidized metal was established.

Keywords: high temperature oxidation, pure metals, grain size, shape and grain boundary

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Authors: Sulasmi Sudirman, Rachmadanty Mujah Hartika

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Traffic violence is currently a big issue in Indonesia. However, the road users perceived risk that is caused by traffic violence is low. The lack of safety driving awareness is one of the factors that road users committed to traffic violence. There are several lists of common traffic violence in Indonesia such as lack of physical fitness, not wearing helmet, unfasten seatbelt, breaking through the traffic light, not holding a driving license, and some more violence. This research sought to explore the perception of road users toward traffic violence. The participants were road users in Makassar, Indonesia who were using cars and motorbikes. The method of the research was a qualitative approach by using a personal interview to collect data. The research showed that there three main ideas of perceiving traffic violence which are motives, environment that supported traffic violence, and reinforcement. The road users committed traffic violence had particular motive, for example, rushing. The road users committed to traffic violence when other road users and significant other did the same. The road users committed traffic violence when the police were not there to give a ticket. It can be concluded that the perception of road users toward traffic violence determined by internal aspect, the social aspect, and regulation.

Keywords: perception, road users, traffic, violence

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Authors: Ahlyum Mun, Ji-Young Moon, Moon-Seok Yoon, Dong-Jin Baek, Doo-Seok Seo, Oun-Kyong Moon

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There is a growing public concern over the standards of farm animal welfare, with higher standards of food safety. In addition, the recent low incidence of Avian Influenza in laying hens among certificated farms is receiving attention. In this study, we introduce animal welfare systems covering the rearing, transport and slaughter of farm animals in South Korea. The concepts of animal welfare farm certification are based on ensuring the five freedoms of animal. The animal welfare is also achieved by observing the condition of environment including shelter and resting area, feeding and water and the care for the animal health. The certification of farm animal welfare is handled by the Animal Protection & Welfare Division of Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (APQA). Following the full amendment of Animal Protection Law in 2011, animal welfare farm certification program has been implemented since 2012. The certification system has expanded to cover laying hen, swine, broiler, beef cattle and dairy cow, goat and duck farms. Livestock farmers who want to be certified must apply for certification at the APQA. Upon receipt of the application, the APQA notifies the applicant of the detailed schedule of the on-site examination after reviewing the document and conducts the on-site inspection according to the evaluation criteria of the welfare standard. If the on-site audit results meet the certification criteria, APQA issues a certificate. The production process of certified farms is inspected at least once a year for follow-up management. As of 2017, a total of 145 farms have been certified (95 laying hen farms, 12 swine farms, 30 broiler farms and 8 dairy cow farms). In addition, animal welfare transportation vehicles and slaughterhouses have been designated since 2013 and currently 6 slaughterhouses have been certified. Animal Protection Law has been amended so that animal welfare certification marks can be affixed only to livestock products produced by animal welfare farms, transported through animal welfare vehicles and slaughtered at animal welfare slaughterhouses. The whole process including rearing–transportation- slaughtering completes the farm animal welfare system. APQA established its second 5-year animal welfare plan (2014-2019) that includes setting a minimum standard of animal welfare applicable to all livestock farms, transportation vehicles and slaughterhouses. In accordance with this plan, we will promote the farm animal welfare policy in order to truly advance the Korean livestock industry.

Keywords: animal welfare, farm animal, certification system, South Korea

Procedia PDF Downloads 381

Authors: Alexi Colleen F. Lim, Inna Felicia I. Agoncillo, Quenniejoy T. Dizon, Jennifer Joyce T. Eti, Carlota Aileen H. Monares, Neil Roy B. Rosales, Joshua F. Santillan, Alyssa Francesca D. S. Tanchuling, Josefina A. Tuazon, Mary Joan Therese C. Valera-Kourdache

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Majority of leading causes of mortality in the Philippines are NCDs, which are preventable through control of known risk factors such as smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, and alcohol. Sugar-sweetened beverages such as soda and energy drinks also contribute to NCD risk and are of concern particularly for youth. This study provides baseline data on beverage consumption of university students in Manila with the focus on alcohol and soda. It further aims to identify factors affecting consumption. Specific objectives include: (1) to describe beverage consumption practices of university students in Manila; and (2) to determine factors promoting excessive consumption of alcohol and soda including demographic characteristics, attitude, interpersonal and environmental variables. Methods: The study employed correlational design with randomly selected students from two universities in Manila. Students 18 years or older who agreed to participate were included after obtaining ethical clearance. The study had two instruments: (1) World Health Organization’s Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) was used with permission, to determine excessive alcohol consumption; and (2) a questionnaire to obtain information regarding soda and energy drink consumption. Results: Out of 400 students surveyed, 70% were female and 78.75% were 18-20 years old (mean=19.79; SD=3.76). Among them, 51.50% consumed alcohol, with 30.10% excessive drinkers. Soda consumption is 91.50% with 37.70% excessive consumers. For energy drinks, 36.75% consume this and only 4.76% drink excessively. Using logistic regression, students who were more likely to be excessive alcohol drinkers belonged to non-health courses (OR=2.21) and purchased alcohol from bars (OR=7.84). Less likely to drink excessively are students who do not drink due to stress (OR=0.05) and drink when it is accessible (OR=0.02). Excessive soda consumption was less likely for female students (OR=0.28), those who drink when it is accessible (OR=0.14), do not drink soda during stressful situations (OR=0.19), and do not use soda as hangover treatment (OR=0.15). Conclusion: Excessive alcohol consumption was greater among students in Manila (30.10%) than in US (20%). Drinking alcohol with friends was not related to excessive consumption but availability in bars was. It is expected that health sciences students are less likely to engage in excessive alcohol as they are more aware of its ill effects. Prevalence of soda consumption in Manila (91.50%) is markedly higher compared to 24.5% in the US. These findings can inform schools in developing appropriate health education interventions and policies. For greater understanding of these behaviors and factors, further studies are recommended to explore knowledge and other factors that may promote excessive consumption.

Keywords: alcohol consumption, beverage consumption, energy drinks consumption, soda consumption, university students

Procedia PDF Downloads 259

Authors: Saeedullah J. Mandokhail, Meer H. Khan, Muhibullah Kakar

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The studies on the mechanical behavior of randomly distributed short fiber soil composite are relatively new technique in geotechnical engineering. In this paper, mechanically treated rice straw (MTRS) fiber is used to improve the engineering properties of clay. Clay was mixed with 0 %, 0.5 %, 1 % and 2 % of MTRS fiber to analyze the effect of MTRS fiber on properties of soil. It was found that the plasticity index of soil decreases with increase in the MTRS fiber. Cohesion and angle of internal friction of soil were also found to increase with limiting increase in the amount of MTRS fiber and then decreases. The maximum dry density slightly decreases and the optimum moisture content slightly increases with increasing amount of MTRS fibers.

Keywords: cohesion, friction angle, optimum moisture content, rice straw fiber, short fiber

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Authors: Majid Samavatian, Reza Gholamipour, Vahid Samavatian

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This study addresses the role of rejuvenation on the fluctuation of atomic-level stresses and nanoscale topological heterogeneity in ZrCuNiAl bulk metallic glass (BMG). Based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) results, the rejuvenation process leads to an increase in nanoscale spatial heterogeneity manifested by the intensification of the local viscoelastic response of the BMG nanostructure. It means that the rejuvenation process induces more loose-packing structures which behave towards an external load in a viscoelastic way. Hence, it is suggested that the alteration of such heterogeneity may be attributed to the variation of positional atomic rearrangement during the evolution of structural rejuvenation. On the other side, the synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicate that the rejuvenation intensifies the variation of internal stresses at the atomic level. This conclusion unfolds that the increase of atomic-level stresses during rejuvenation induces structural disordering and nanoscale heterogeneity in the amorphous material.

Keywords: bulk metallic glass, heterogeneity, rejuvenation, nanostructure

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: P. Altay, G. Kartal, B. Kizilkaya, S. Kahraman, N. C. Gursoy

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Biopolishing is applied to remove the fuzz or pills on the fiber or fabric surface which will reduce its tendency to pill or fuzz after repetitive launderings. After biopolishing process, the fuzzes ripped by cellulase enzymes cannot be thoroughly removed from fabric surface, they remain on the fabric or fiber surface; accordingly disturb the user and lead to decrease in productivity of drying process. The main objective of this study is to develop a method for removing weakened fuzz fibers and surface pills from biofinished fabric surface before drying process. Fuzzes in the lattice structure of fabric were completely removed from the internal structure of the fabric by air blowing. The presence of fuzzes leads to problems with formation of pilling and faded appearance; the removal of fuzzes from the fabric results in reduced tendency to pill formation, cleaner, smoother and softer surface, improved handling properties of fabric with maintaining original color.

Keywords: biopolishing, fuzz fiber, weakened fiber, biofinished cotton fabric

Procedia PDF Downloads 361

Authors: Jeong-Min Lee, Hyunwoo Song, Yonseok Kim, Junghan Yun, Jungin Byun, Jae-Mean Koo, Chang-Sung Seok

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The Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC) prevents heat directly transferring from the high-temperature flame to the substrate. Top coat and bond coat compose the TBC and top coat consists of a ceramic and bond coat increases adhesion between the top coat and the substrate. The TBC technology drops the substrate surface temperature by about 150~200°C. In addition, the TBC system has a cooling system to lower the blade temperature by the air flow inside the blade. Then, as a result, the thermal gradient occurs inside the blade by cooling. Also, the internal stress occurs due to the difference in thermal expansion. In this paper, the finite element analyses (FEA) were performed and stress changes were derived according to the thermal gradient of the TBC system. The stress was increased due to the cooling, but difference of the stress between the top coat and bond coat was decreased. So, delamination in the interface between top coat and bond coat.

Keywords: gas turbine blade, Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC), thermal gradient, Finite Element Analysis (FEA)

Procedia PDF Downloads 591

Authors: Kaouther Jaouadi, Jihene Bettaieb, Amira Bennour, Ghassen Kharroubi, Sadok Salem, Afif Ben Salah

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In Tunisia, chronic cutaneous leishmaniasis due to Leishmania (L) tropica is an important health problem. Its spreading has not been fully elucidated. Information on sandfly vectors, as well as their associated Leishmania species, is of paramount importance since vector dispersion is one of the major factors responsible for pathogen dissemination. In total, 650 sandflies were captured between June and August 2015 using sticky paper traps in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid, a classical focus of L. major in the Central-West of Tunisia. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the internal transcribed spacer 1 and sequencing were used for Leishmania detection and identification. Ninety-seven unfed females were tested for the presence of Leishmania parasite DNA. Six Phlebotomus sergenti were found positive for L. tropica. This finding enhances the understanding of the cycle extension of L. tropica outside its original focus of Tataouine in the South-East of the country.

Keywords: cutaneous leishmaniasis, Leishmania tropica, sandflies, Tunisia

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: S. Chee Choy, Pauline Swee Choo Goh, Yow Lin Liew

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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the English version and a Malay translation of the 21-item Learner Awareness Questionnaire for its application to assess student learning in higher education. The Learner Awareness Questionnaire, originally written in English, is a quantitative measure of how and why students learn. The questionnaire gives an indication of the process and motives to learn using four scales: survival, establishing stability, approval, and loving to learn. Data in the present study came from 680 university students enrolled in various programs in Malaysia. The Malay version of the questionnaire supported a similar four-factor structure and internal consistency to the English version. The four factors of the Malay version also showed moderate to strong correlations with those of the English versions. The results suggest that the Malay version of the questionnaire is similar to the English version. However, further refinement for the questions is needed to strengthen the correlations between the two questionnaires.

Keywords: student learning, learner awareness, questionnaire development, instrument validation

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Authors: Jalpit B. Prajapati, Ketankumar G. Patel

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Palm oil may be employed in diesel engine as an alternative fuel. Biofuel has so far been backed by government policies in the quest for low carbon fuel in the near future and promises to ensure energy security through partially replacing fossil fuels. This paper presents an experimental investigation of performance and emission characteristics by using palm oil in diesel engine. The properties of palm oil can be compared favorably with the characteristics required for internal combustion engine fuels especially diesel engine. Experiments will be performed for fixed compression ratio i.e. 18 using biodiesel-diesel blends i.e. B0, B10, B20, B30, B40, B50 with load variation from no load to full load and compared with base cases i.e. engine using diesel as a fuel. The parameters studied in performance characteristics are brake power, brake specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency, in emission characteristics are carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide. After experimental results B20 (20% palm oil and 80% diesel) is best in performance, but NOx formation is little higher in B20.

Keywords: palm biodiesel, performance, emission, diesel-biodiesel blend

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Authors: Hamid Rezaei, Xiaotao Bi, C. Jim Lim, Anthony Lau, Shahab Sokhansanj

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A one-dimensional heat transfer model coupled with the kinetic information has been used to predict the overall pyrolysis mass loss of a single wood particle. The kinetic parameters were determined experimentally and the regime and characteristics of the conversion were evaluated in terms of the particle size and reactor temperature. The order of overall mass loss changed from n=1 at temperatures lower than 350 °C to n=0.5 at temperatures higher that 350 °C. Conversion time analysis showed that particles larger than 0.5 mm were controlled by internal thermal resistances. The valid range of particle size to use the simplified lumped model depends on the fluid temperature around the particles. The critical particle size was 0.6-0.7 mm for the fluid temperature of 500 °C and 0.9-1.0 mm for the fluid temperature of 100 °C. Experimental pyrolysis of moist particles did not show distinct drying and pyrolysis stages. The process was divided into two hypothetical drying and pyrolysis dominated zones and empirical correlations are developed to predict the rate of mass loss in each zone.

Keywords: pyrolysis, kinetics, model, single particle

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Authors: Haitham J. M. Odeh

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This paper introduced an analysis of the effect of tunneling near pile foundations. Accomplished by three-dimensional finite element modeling. The numerical simulation is conducted using Abaqus finite element software. By examining different Tunnel-pile scenarios. The paper presents the tunnel induced pile responses, Such as pile settlement, pile internal forces, and the comments made on changing the vertical and transversal location of the tunnel related to the piles, the study contains two pile-supported structure cases, single and a group of piles. A comprehensive comparison between real case study results and numerical simulation is presented. The results of the analysis reveal the critical and safe location of tunnel construction and the positive effect of a group of piles existing instead of single piles. Also, demonstrates the changes in pile responses by changing the tunnel location.

Keywords: pile responses, single pile, group of piles, pile-tunnel interaction

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Authors: Mohua Dutta

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The primary aim of this research paper is to investigate the forced urban migration of Dalits in India who are fleeing caste persecution in rural areas. This paper examines the relationship between caste and rural-to-urban internal migration in India using a literary text, Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance, highlighting the challenges faced by Dalits in rural areas that force them to migrate to urban areas. Despite the prevalence of such discussions in Dalit autobiographies written in vernacular languages, there is a lack of discussion regarding caste migration in Indian English Literature, including this present text, as evidenced by the existing critical interpretations of the novel, which this paper seeks to rectify. The primary research question is how urban migration affects caste system in India and why rural-to-urban caste migration occurs. The purpose of this paper is to better understand the reasons for Dalit migration, the challenges they face in rural and urban areas, and the lingering influence of caste in both rural and urban areas. The study reveals that the promise of mobility and emancipation provided by class operations drives rural-to-urban caste migration in India, but it also reveals that caste marginalization in rural areas is closely linked to class marginalization and other forms of subalternity in urban areas. Moreover, the caste system persists in urban areas as well, making Dalit migrants more vulnerable to social, political, and economic discrimination. The reason for this is that, despite changes in profession and urban migration, the trapped structure of caste capital and family networks exposes migrants to caste and class oppressions. To reach its conclusion, this study employs a variety of methodologies. Discourse analysis is used to investigate the current debates and narratives surrounding caste migration. Critical race theory, specifically intersectional theory and social constructivism, aids in comprehending the complexities of caste, class, and migration. Mistry's novel is subjected to textual analysis in order to identify and interpret references to caste migration. Secondary data, such as theoretical understanding of the caste system in operation and scholarly works on caste migration, are also used to support and strengthen the findings and arguments presented in the paper. The study concludes that rural-to-urban caste migration in India is primarily motivated by the promise of socioeconomic mobility and emancipation offered by urban spaces. However, the caste system persists in urban areas, resulting in the continued marginalisation and discrimination of Dalit migrants. The study also highlights the limitations of urban migration in providing true emancipation for Dalit migrants, as they remain trapped within caste and family network structures. Overall, the study raises awareness of the complexities surrounding caste migration and its impact on the lives of India's marginalised communities. This study contributes to the field of Migration Studies by shedding light on an often-overlooked issue: Dalit migration. It challenges existing literary critical interpretations by emphasising the significance of caste migration in Indian English Literature. The study also emphasises the interconnectedness of caste and class, broadening understanding of how these systems function in both rural and urban areas.

Keywords: rural-to-urban caste migration in india, internal migration in india, caste system in india, dalit movement in india, rooster coop of caste and class, urban poor as subalterns

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Authors: Sunaitan Al Mutairi

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A perfect start is a key factor for project completion on time. The study examined the effects of delayed mobilization of resources during the initial phases of the project. This paper mainly highlights the identification and categorization of all delays during the initial construction phase and their root cause analysis with corrective/control measures for the Kuwait Oil Company oil and gas projects. A relatively good percentage of the delays identified during the project execution (Contract award to end of defects liability period) attributed to mobilization/preliminary activity delays. Data analysis demonstrated significant increase in average project delay during the last five years compared to the previous period. Contractors had delays/issues during the initial phase, which resulted in slippages and progressively increased, resulting in time and cost overrun. Delays/issues not mitigated on time during the initial phase had very high impact on project completion. Data analysis of the delays for the past five years was carried out using trend chart, scatter plot, process map, box plot, relative importance index and Pareto chart. Construction of any project inside the Gathering Centers involves complex management skills related to work force, materials, plant, machineries, new technologies etc. Delay affects completion of projects and compromises quality, schedule and budget of project deliverables. Works executed as per plan during the initial phase and start-up duration of the project construction activities resulted in minor slippages/delays in project completion. In addition, there was a good working environment between client and contractor resulting in better project execution and management. Mainly, the contractor was on the front foot in the execution of projects, which had minimum/no delays during the initial and construction period. Hence, having a perfect start during the initial construction phase shall have a positive influence on the project success. Our research paper studies each type of delay with some real example supported by statistic results and suggests mitigation measures. Detailed analysis carried out with all stakeholders based on impact and occurrence of delays to have a practical and effective outcome to mitigate the delays. The key to improvement is to have proper control measures and periodic evaluation/audit to ensure implementation of the mitigation measures. The focus of this research is to reduce the delays encountered during the initial construction phase of the project life cycle.

Keywords: construction activities delays, delay analysis for construction projects, mobilization delays, oil & gas projects delays

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Authors: Ibrahim Burki

Abstract:

Unfortunately, all organizations (Industrial and Humanitarian/ Non-governmental organizations) are prone to fraud and corruption in their supply chain management routines. The reputational and financial fallout can be disastrous. With the growing number of companies using suppliers based in the local market has certainly increased the threat of fraud as well as corruption. There are various potential threats like, poor or non-existent record keeping, purchasing of lower quality goods at higher price, excessive entertainment of staff by suppliers, deviations in communications between procurement staff and suppliers, such as calls or text messaging to mobile phones, staff demanding extended periods of notice before they allow an audit to take place, inexperienced buyers and more. But despite all the above-mentioned threats, this research paper emphasize upon the effectiveness of well-maintained vendor/s records and sorting/filtration of vendor/s to cut down the possible threats of corruption and fraud. This exercise is applied in a humanitarian organization of Pakistan but it is applicable to whole South Asia region due to the similarity of culture and contexts. In that firm, there were more than 550 (five hundred and fifty) registered vendors. As during the disasters or emergency phases requirements are met on urgent basis thus, providing golden opportunities for the fake companies or for the brother/sister companies of the already registered companies to be involved in the tendering process without declaration or even under some different (new) company’s name. Therefore, a list of required documents (along with checklist) was developed and sent to all of the vendor(s) in the current database and based upon the receipt of the requested documents vendors were sorted out. Furthermore, these vendors were divided into active (meeting the entire set criterion) and non-active groups. This initial filtration stage allowed the firm to continue its work without a complete shutdown that is only vendors falling in the active group shall be allowed to participate in the tenders by the time whole process is completed. Likewise only those companies or firms meeting the set criterion (active category) shall be allowed to get registered in the future along with a dedicated filing system (soft and hard shall be maintained), and all of the companies/firms in the active group shall be physically verified (visited) by the Committee comprising of senior members of at least Finance department, Supply Chain (other than procurement) and Security department.

Keywords: corruption reduction, fraud prevention, supplier management, industrial/humanitarian organizations

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Authors: Jinlu Ruan, Liang Chen, Bo Liu, Xiaoping Ouyang, Zhichao Zhu, Zhongbing Zhang, Shiyi He, Mengxuan Xu

Abstract:

Plastic scintillators play an important role in the measurement of a mixed neutron/gamma pulsed radiation, neutron radiography and pulse shape discrimination technology. In some research, these luminescent properties are necessary that photons produced by the interactions between a plastic scintillator and radiations can be detected as much as possible by the photoelectric detectors and more photons can be emitted from the scintillators along a specific direction where detectors are located. Unfortunately, a majority of these photons produced are trapped in the plastic scintillators due to the total internal reflection (TIR), because there is a significant light-trapping effect when the incident angle of internal scintillation light is larger than the critical angle. Some of these photons trapped in the scintillator may be absorbed by the scintillator itself and the others are emitted from the edges of the scintillator. This makes the light extraction of plastic scintillators very low. Moreover, only a small portion of the photons emitted from the scintillator easily can be detected by detectors effectively, because the distribution of the emission directions of this portion of photons exhibits approximate Lambertian angular profile following a cosine emission law. Therefore, enhancing the light extraction efficiency and adjusting the emission angular profile become the keys for improving the number of photons detected by the detectors. In recent years, photonic crystal structures have been covered on inorganic scintillators to enhance the light extraction efficiency and adjust the angular profile of scintillation light successfully. However, that, preparation methods of photonic crystals will deteriorate performance of plastic scintillators and even destroy the plastic scintillators, makes the investigation on preparation methods of photonic crystals for plastic scintillators and luminescent properties of plastic scintillators with photonic crystal structures inadequate. Although we have successfully made photonic crystal structures covered on the surface of plastic scintillators by a modified self-assembly technique and achieved a great enhance of light extraction efficiency without evident angular-dependence for the angular profile of scintillation light, the preparation of photonic crystal structures with large area (the diameter is larger than 6cm) and perfect periodic structure is still difficult. In this paper, large area photonic crystals on the surface of scintillators were prepared by nanoimprint lithography firstly, and then a conformal layer with material of high refractive index on the surface of photonic crystal by atomic layer deposition technique in order to enhance the stability of photonic crystal structures and increase the number of leaky modes for improving the light extraction efficiency. The luminescent properties of the plastic scintillator with photonic crystals prepared by the mentioned method are compared with those of the plastic scintillator without photonic crystal. The results indicate that the number of photons detected by detectors is increased by the enhanced light extraction efficiency and the angular profile of scintillation light exhibits evident angular-dependence for the scintillator with photonic crystals. The mentioned preparation of photonic crystals is beneficial to scintillation detection applications and lays an important technique foundation for the plastic scintillators to meet special requirements under different application backgrounds.

Keywords: angular profile, atomic layer deposition, light extraction efficiency, plastic scintillator, photonic crystal

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Authors: Gauravi Agarkar, Mahendra Rai

Abstract:

Endophytic fungi from medicinal plants are important source of numerous pharmacologically important compounds. In the present investigation, the endophytic fungi were isolated from three medicinal plants; Andrographis paniculata, Rauwolfia serpentina and Tridax procumbens. Endophytic Colletotrichum sp. were identified on the basis of cultural and morphological characteristics as well as internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence analysis. Antibacterial and antifungal activity of the ethyl acetate and methanol extract of endophytic Colletotrichum sp. was evaluated against seven different human pathogenic bacteria and six Candida sp. The extracts were effective and showed significant activity against all the test pathogens. In case of yeast Candida, the combined effect of extracts and standard antibiotic was enhanced greatly showing synergistic activity. Further, the extracts were assayed for Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal/Fungicidal Concentration (MBC/MFC) where, MIC values were in the range of 100-250 μg/ml. These results suggest that the endophytic Colletotrichum sp. isolated from the medicinal plants are capable of producing promising antimicrobial metabolites.

Keywords: antimicrobial, colletotrichum, endophytic fungi, medicinal plants

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Authors: Anne-Loes K. Warps, Rob A. E. M. Tollenaar, Pieter J. Tanis, Jan Willem T. Dekker

Abstract:

Anastomotic leakage after colorectal cancer surgery remains a severe complication. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential to prevent further adverse outcomes. In the literature, it has been suggested that earlier reintervention is associated with better survival, but anastomotic leakage can occur with a highly variable time interval to index surgery. This study aims to evaluate the time-interval between rectal cancer resection with primary anastomosis creation and reoperation, in relation to short-term outcomes, stratified for the use of a defunctioning stoma. Methods: Data of all primary rectal cancer patients that underwent elective resection with primary anastomosis during 2013-2019 were extracted from the Dutch ColoRectal Audit. Analyses were stratified for defunctioning stoma. Anastomotic leakage was defined as a defect of the intestinal wall or abscess at the site of the colorectal anastomosis for which a reintervention was required within 30 days. Primary outcomes were new stoma construction, mortality, ICU admission, prolonged hospital stay and readmission. The association between time to reoperation and outcome was evaluated in three ways: Per 2 days, before versus on or after postoperative day 5 and during primary versus readmission. Results: In total 10,772 rectal cancer patients underwent resection with primary anastomosis. A defunctioning stoma was made in 46.6% of patients. These patients had a lower anastomotic leakage rate (8.2% vs. 11.6%, p < 0.001) and less often underwent a reoperation (45.3% vs. 88.7%, p < 0.001). Early reoperations (< 5 days) had the highest complication and mortality rate. Thereafter the distribution of adverse outcomes was more spread over the 30-day postoperative period for patients with a defunctioning stoma. Median time-interval from primary resection to reoperation for defunctioning stoma patients was 7 days (IQR 4-14) versus 5 days (IQR 3-13 days) for no-defunctioning stoma patients. The mortality rate after primary resection and reoperation were comparable (resp. for defunctioning vs. no-defunctioning stoma 1.0% vs. 0.7%, P=0.106 and 5.0% vs. 2.3%, P=0.107). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that early reinterventions after anastomotic leakage are associated with worse outcomes (i.e. mortality). Maybe the combination of a physiological dip in the cellular immune response and release of cytokines following surgery, as well as a release of endotoxins caused by the bacteremia originating from the leakage, leads to a more profound sepsis. Another explanation might be that early leaks are not contained to the pelvis, leading to a more profound sepsis requiring early reoperations. Leakage with or without defunctioning stoma resulted in a different type of reinterventions and time-interval between surgery and reoperation.

Keywords: rectal cancer surgery, defunctioning stoma, anastomotic leakage, time-interval to reoperation

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Authors: Saleh Alagla, Murya Habbash

Abstract:

The paper investigates whether the board of directors plays a monitoring role or not in CEO compensation for the UK firms during the eve of the recent financial crisis, 2004-2008. The use of heteroscedastic and autocorrelated error consistent estimation of the panel data shows, surprisingly, that four board characteristics variables are found to play a significant role in increasing the level of CEO compensation. This insightful result would suggest evidence of the managerial power theory in general and the cronyism hypothesis in particular. Moreover, the interesting evidence supporting managerial power perspective is that CEO-Chair duality reduces long-term compensation while increasing short-term compensation, thus suggesting that CEOs are risk averse who prefer short-term compensation to long-term compensation. Finally, consistent with the agency perspective board size is found to increase all compensation variables as expected.

Keywords: corporate governance, CEO compensation, board of directors, internal governance mechanisms, agency theory, managerial power theory, cronyism hypothesis

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Authors: El Korchi Ayoub, Cherif Raef

Abstract:

Interior noise in vehicles is an essential factor affecting occupant comfort. Over recent decades, much work has been done to develop simulation tools for vehicle NVH. At the medium high-frequency range, the statistical energy analysis method (SEA) shows significant effectiveness in predicting noise and vibration responses of mechanical systems. In this paper, the evaluation of the sound pressure level (SPL) inside an automobile cabin has been performed numerically using the statistical energy analysis (SEA) method. A test car cabin was performed using a monopole source as a sound source. The decay rate method was employed to obtain the damping loss factor (DLF) of each subsystem of the developed SEA model. These parameters were then used to predict the sound pressure level in the interior cabin. The results show satisfactory agreement with the directly measured SPL. The developed SEA vehicle model can be used in early design phases and allows the engineer to identify sources contributing to the total noise and transmission paths.

Keywords: SEA, SPL, DLF, NVH

Procedia PDF Downloads 77