Search results for: structural engineering design
4244 Experimental Analysis for the Inlet of the Brazilian Aerospace Vehicle 14-X B
Authors: João F. A. Martos, Felipe J. Costa, Sergio N. P. Laiton, Bruno C. Lima, Israel S. Rêgo, Paulo P. G. Toro
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Nowadays, the scramjet is a topic that has attracted the attention of several scientific communities (USA, Australia, Germany, France, Japan, India, China, Russia), that are investing in this in this type of propulsion system due its interest to facilitate access to space and reach hypersonic speed, who have invested in this type of propulsion due to the interest in facilitating access to space. The Brazilian hypersonic scramjet aerospace vehicle 14-X B is a technological demonstrator of a hypersonic airbreathing propulsion system based on the supersonic combustion (scramjet) intended to be tested in flight into the Earth's atmosphere at 30 km altitude and Mach number 7. The 14-X B has been designed at the Prof. Henry T. Nagamatsu Laboratory of Aerothermodynamics and Hypersonics of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IEAv) in Brazil. The IEAv Hypersonic Shock Tunnel, named T3, is a ground-test facility able to reproduce the flight conditions as the Mach number as well as pressure and temperature in the test section close to those encountered during the test flight of the vehicle 14-X B into design conditions. A 1-m long stainless steel 14-X B model was experimentally investigated at T3 Hypersonic Shock Tunnel, for freestream Mach number 7. Static pressure measurements along the lower surface of the 14-X B model, along with high-speed schlieren photographs taken from the 5.5° leading edge and the 14.5° deflection compression ramp, provided experimental data that were compared to the analytical-theoretical solutions and the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The results show a good qualitative agreement, and in consequence demonstrating the importance of these methods in the project of the 14-X B hypersonic aerospace vehicle.Keywords: 14-X, CFD, hypersonic, hypersonic shock tunnel, scramjet
Procedia PDF Downloads 3494243 Digital Self-Identity and the Role of Interactivity in Psychiatric Assessment and Treatment
Authors: Kevin William Taylor
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This work draws upon research in the fields of games development and mental health treatments to assess the influence that interactive entertainment has on the populous, and the potential of technology to affect areas of psychiatric assessment and treatment. It will use studies to establish the evolving direction of interactive media in the development of ‘digital self-identity,’ and how this can be incorporated into treatment to the benefit of psychiatry. It will determine that this approach will require collaborative production between developers and psychiatrists in order to ensure precise goals are met, improving the success of serious gaming for psychiatric assessment and treatment. Analysis documents the reach of video games across a growing global community of gamers, highlighting cases of the positives and negatives of video game usage. The games industry is largely oblivious to the psychological negatives, with psychiatrists encountering new conditions such as gaming addiction, which is now recognized by the World Health Organization. With an increasing amount of gamers worldwide, and an additional time per day invested in online gaming and character development, the concept of virtual identity as a means of expressing the id needs further study to ensure successful treatment. In conclusion, the assessment and treatment of game-related conditions are currently reactionary, and while some mental health professionals have begun utilizing interactive technologies to assist with the assessment and treatment of conditions, this study will determine how the success of these products can be enhanced. This will include collaboration between software developers and psychiatrists, allowing new avenues of skill-sharing in interactive design and development. Outlining how to innovate approaches to engagement will reap greater rewards in future interactive products developed for psychiatric assessment and treatment.Keywords: virtual reality, virtual identity, interactivity, psychiatry
Procedia PDF Downloads 1394242 Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship-Business Startup for Effective Post-retirement Life Management Among Pre-retirees in Universities in Edo State, Nigeria
Authors: Obose Angela Oriazowanlan
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The role of entrepreneurship in preventing poverty and mitigating other post-retirement challenges has been acknowledged to be crucial for effective post-retirement life management, but financial constraints could constitute a bane to pre-retirees’ entrepreneurial intentions. Therefore, the study determined the financial knowledge that could spur their intentions and readiness for a business start that could enable them to surmount post-retirement life challenges. Two research questions guided the study. The descriptive survey research design was adopted and the population comprised all the pre-retirees in universities in Edo State. 250 respondents were randomly selected using the simple random sampling technique from three purposive selected universities. Primary data were gathered through the use of a structured questionnaire, which was validated and tested to have a reliability coefficient value of 0.84. The descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and test the respondents’ homogeneity. The findings revealed, among others, that the respondents perceived the benefits of entrepreneurship-business startups to ensure their effective post-retirement life management but intended to rely totally on their retirement savings benefits with the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for business startups. Based on the findings, it was recommended, among others, that pre-retirees should make contingency savings plans and that the employers and government should provide them with financial education in order to acquaint them with relevant financial knowledge to access other forms of business financing such as loans, bank overdraft, angel investors, venture capital and government grants among others prior to final disengagement.Keywords: financial knowledge, entrepreneurial intentions, availability of business funds, business investment and fulfilled post-retirement living.
Procedia PDF Downloads 394241 Metal-Organic Frameworks-Based Materials for Volatile Organic Compounds Sensing Applications: Strategies to Improve Sensing Performances
Authors: Claudio Clemente, Valentina Gargiulo, Alessio Occhicone, Giovanni Piero Pepe, Giovanni Ausanio, Michela Alfè
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Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions represent a serious risk to human health and the integrity of the ecosystems, especially at high concentrations. For this reason, it is very important to continuously monitor environmental quality and develop fast and reliable portable sensors to allow analysis on site. Chemiresistors have become promising candidates for VOC sensing as their ease of fabrication, variety of suitable sensitive materials, and simple sensing data. A chemoresistive gas sensor is a transducer that allows to measure the concentration of an analyte in the gas phase because the changes in resistance are proportional to the amount of the analyte present. The selection of the sensitive material, which interacts with the target analyte, is very important for the sensor performance. The most used VOC detection materials are metal oxides (MOx) for their rapid recovery, high sensitivity to various gas molecules, easy fabrication. Their sensing performance can be improved in terms of operating temperature, selectivity, and detection limit. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted a lot of attention also in the field of gas sensing due to their high porosity, high surface area, tunable morphologies, structural variety. MOFs are generated by the self-assembly of multidentate organic ligands connecting with adjacent multivalent metal nodes via strong coordination interactions, producing stable and highly ordered crystalline porous materials with well-designed structures. However, most MOFs intrinsically exhibit low electrical conductivity. To improve this property, MOFs can be combined with organic and inorganic materials in a hybrid fashion to produce composite materials or can be transformed into more stable structures. MOFs, indeed, can be employed as the precursors of metal oxides with well-designed architectures via the calcination method. The MOF-derived MOx partially preserved the original structure with high surface area and intrinsic open pores, which act as trapping centers for gas molecules, and showed a higher electrical conductivity. Core-shell heterostructures, in which the surface of a metal oxide core is completely coated by a MOF shell, forming a junction at the core-shell heterointerface, can also be synthesized. Also, nanocomposite in which MOF structures are intercalated with graphene related materials can also be produced, and the conductivity increases thanks to the high mobility of electrons of carbon materials. As MOF structures, zinc-based MOFs belonging to the ZIF family were selected in this work. Several Zn-based materials based and/or derived from MOFs were produced, structurally characterized, and arranged in a chemo resistive architecture, also exploring the potentiality of different approaches of sensing layer deposition based on PLD (pulsed laser deposition) and, in case of thermally labile materials, MAPLE (Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation) to enhance the adhesion to the support. The sensors were tested in a controlled humidity chamber, allowing for the possibility of varying the concentration of ethanol, a typical analyte chosen among the VOCs for a first survey. The effect of heating the chemiresistor to improve sensing performances was also explored. Future research will focus on exploring new manufacturing processes for MOF-based gas sensors with the aim to improve sensitivity, selectivity and reduce operating temperatures.Keywords: chemiresistors, gas sensors, graphene related materials, laser deposition, MAPLE, metal-organic frameworks, metal oxides, nanocomposites, sensing performance, transduction mechanism, volatile organic compounds
Procedia PDF Downloads 524240 Mapping Cultural Continuity and the Creation of a New Architectural Heritage in the 21st Century: The Case of Ksar Tafilelt, M’Zab Valley
Authors: Hadjer Messabih
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The M’zab architecture has preserved its identity that was able to endure for centuries conserving practically the same way of life and the same building techniques since the 11th century. Even more, the newly built ksar Tafilelt is also designed to meet the local tradition. In 1996, a community led project was initiated to build a “new ksar” named Tafilelt based on a traditional form of community-led cooperative housing. It is a unique experience in the field of community housing that reproduces traditional architectural patterns while addressing contemporary ways of life with their expected modern comfort. This research is based on the hypothesis that the process of producing ksar Tafilelt is culturally responsive to a conservative community that was characterized by certain values which were transmitted to this ksar manifesting as cultural continuity. It aims at investigating what type of cultural continuity manifests itself in the co-production of ksar Tafilelt and the way the settlement and its houses are produced and inhabited, as well as the new emerging values and adaptive transition in social relations. The research methodology is based on a combination of questionnaires, in depth interviews, photography, and site visit to record and demonstrate how these buildings respond to peoples’ needs. Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) is also employed in order to understand the lessons that can be learned from this project. Finally, this study proves that the cultural continuity that was transmitted from the Ibadi community is sill manifested in ksar Tafilelt, which provided strong religious bonds and a strong sense of community. The research findings have resulted in a number of lessons and principles that can be learnt from the project of ksar Tafilelt which can inform future practices of housing provision and design in Algeria and other countries.Keywords: community-led cooperative housing, conservative community, cultural continuity, post occupancy evaluation
Procedia PDF Downloads 1354239 Modeling the Human Harbor: An Equity Project in New York City, New York USA
Authors: Lauren B. Birney
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The envisioned long-term outcome of this three-year research, and implementation plan is for 1) teachers and students to design and build their own computational models of real-world environmental-human health phenomena occurring within the context of the “Human Harbor” and 2) project researchers to evaluate the degree to which these integrated Computer Science (CS) education experiences in New York City (NYC) public school classrooms (PreK-12) impact students’ computational-technical skill development, job readiness, career motivations, and measurable abilities to understand, articulate, and solve the underlying phenomena at the center of their models. This effort builds on the partnership’s successes over the past eight years in developing a benchmark Model of restoration-based Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education for urban public schools and achieving relatively broad-based implementation in the nation’s largest public school system. The Billion Oyster Project Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (BOP-CCERS STEM + Computing) curriculum, teacher professional developments, and community engagement programs have reached more than 200 educators and 11,000 students at 124 schools, with 84 waterfront locations and Out of School of Time (OST) programs. The BOP-CCERS Partnership is poised to develop a more refined focus on integrating computer science across the STEM domains; teaching industry-aligned computational methods and tools; and explicitly preparing students from the city’s most under-resourced and underrepresented communities for upwardly mobile careers in NYC’s ever-expanding “digital economy,” in which jobs require computational thinking and an increasing percentage require discreet computer science technical skills. Project Objectives include the following: 1. Computational Thinking (CT) Integration: Integrate computational thinking core practices across existing middle/high school BOP-CCERS STEM curriculum as a means of scaffolding toward long term computer science and computational modeling outcomes. 2. Data Science and Data Analytics: Enabling Researchers to perform interviews with Teachers, students, community members, partners, stakeholders, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) industry Professionals. Collaborative analysis and data collection were also performed. As a centerpiece, the BOP-CCERS partnership will expand to include a dedicated computer science education partner. New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), Computer Science for All (CS4ALL) NYC will serve as the dedicated Computer Science (CS) lead, advising the consortium on integration and curriculum development, working in tandem. The BOP-CCERS Model™ also validates that with appropriate application of technical infrastructure, intensive teacher professional developments, and curricular scaffolding, socially connected science learning can be mainstreamed in the nation’s largest urban public school system. This is evidenced and substantiated in the initial phases of BOP-CCERS™. The BOP-CCERS™ student curriculum and teacher professional development have been implemented in approximately 24% of NYC public middle schools, reaching more than 250 educators and 11,000 students directly. BOP-CCERS™ is a fully scalable and transferable educational model, adaptable to all American school districts. In all settings of the proposed Phase IV initiative, the primary beneficiary group will be underrepresented NYC public school students who live in high-poverty neighborhoods and are traditionally underrepresented in the STEM fields, including African Americans, Latinos, English language learners, and children from economically disadvantaged households. In particular, BOP-CCERS Phase IV will explicitly prepare underrepresented students for skilled positions within New York City’s expanding digital economy, computer science, computational information systems, and innovative technology sectors.Keywords: computer science, data science, equity, diversity and inclusion, STEM education
Procedia PDF Downloads 534238 A Conceptual Framework for Vulnerability Assessment of Climate Change Impact on Oil and Gas Critical Infrastructures in the Niger Delta
Authors: Justin A. Udie, Subhes C. Bhatthacharyya, Leticia Ozawa-Meida
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The impact of climate change is severe in the Niger Delta and critical oil and gas infrastructures are vulnerable. This is partly due to lack of specific impact assessment framework to assess impact indices on both existing and new infrastructures. The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for the assessment of climate change impact on critical oil and gas infrastructure in the region. Comparative and documentary methods as well as analysis of frameworks were used to develop a flexible, integrated and conceptual four dimensional framework underpinning; 1. Scoping – the theoretical identification of inherent climate burdens, review of exposure, adaptive capacities and delineation of critical infrastructure; 2. Vulnerability assessment – presents a systematic procedure for the assessment of infrastructure vulnerability. It provides real time re-scoping, practical need for data collection, analysis and review. Physical examination of systems is encouraged to complement the scoped data and ascertain the level of exposure to relevant climate risks in the area; 3. New infrastructure – consider infrastructures that are still at developmental level. It seeks to suggest the inclusion of flexible adaptive capacities in original design of infrastructures in line with climate threats and projections; 4. The Mainstreaming Climate Impact Assessment into government’s environmental decision making approach. Though this framework is designed specifically for the estimation of exposure, adaptive capacities and criticality of vulnerable oil and gas infrastructures in the Niger Delta to climate burdens; it is recommended for researchers and experts as a first-hand generic and practicable tool which can be used for the assessment of other infrastructures perceived as critical and vulnerable. The paper does not provide further tools that synch into the methodological approach but presents pointers upon which a pragmatic methodology can be developed.Keywords: adaptation, assessment, conceptual, climate, change, framework, vulnerability
Procedia PDF Downloads 3114237 Elaboration and Validation of a Survey about Research on the Characteristics of Mentoring of University Professors’ Lifelong Learning
Authors: Nagore Guerra Bilbao, Clemente Lobato Fraile
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This paper outlines the design and development of the MENDEPRO questionnaire, designed to analyze mentoring performance within a professional development process carried out with professors at the University of the Basque Country, Spain. The study took into account the international research carried out over the past two decades into teachers' professional development, and was also based on a thorough review of the most common instruments used to identify and analyze mentoring styles, many of which fail to provide sufficient psychometric guarantees. The present study aimed to gather empirical data in order to verify the metric quality of the questionnaire developed. To this end, the process followed to validate the theoretical construct was as follows: The formulation of the items and indicators in accordance with the study variables; the analysis of the validity and reliability of the initial questionnaire; the review of the second version of the questionnaire and the definitive measurement instrument. Content was validated through the formal agreement and consensus of 12 university professor training experts. A reduced sample of professors who had participated in a lifelong learning program was then selected for a trial evaluation of the instrument developed. After the trial, 18 items were removed from the initial questionnaire. The final version of the instrument, comprising 33 items, was then administered to a sample group of 99 participants. The results revealed a five-dimensional structure matching theoretical expectations. Also, the reliability data for both the instrument as a whole (.98) and its various dimensions (between .91 and .97) were very high. The questionnaire was thus found to have satisfactory psychometric properties and can therefore be considered apt for studying the performance of mentoring in both induction programs for young professors and lifelong learning programs for senior faculty members.Keywords: higher education, mentoring, professional development, university teaching
Procedia PDF Downloads 1744236 Low Overhead Dynamic Channel Selection with Cluster-Based Spatial-Temporal Station Reporting in Wireless Networks
Authors: Zeyad Abdelmageid, Xianbin Wang
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Choosing the operational channel for a WLAN access point (AP) in WLAN networks has been a static channel assignment process initiated by the user during the deployment process of the AP, which fails to cope with the dynamic conditions of the assigned channel at the station side afterward. However, the dramatically growing number of Wi-Fi APs and stations operating in the unlicensed band has led to dynamic, distributed, and often severe interference. This highlights the urgent need for the AP to dynamically select the best overall channel of operation for the basic service set (BSS) by considering the distributed and changing channel conditions at all stations. Consequently, dynamic channel selection algorithms which consider feedback from the station side have been developed. Despite the significant performance improvement, existing channel selection algorithms suffer from very high feedback overhead. Feedback latency from the STAs, due to the high overhead, can cause the eventually selected channel to no longer be optimal for operation due to the dynamic sharing nature of the unlicensed band. This has inspired us to develop our own dynamic channel selection algorithm with reduced overhead through the proposed low-overhead, cluster-based station reporting mechanism. The main idea behind the cluster-based station reporting is the observation that STAs which are very close to each other tend to have very similar channel conditions. Instead of requesting each STA to report on every candidate channel while causing high overhead, the AP divides STAs into clusters then assigns each STA in each cluster one channel to report feedback on. With the proper design of the cluster based reporting, the AP does not lose any information about the channel conditions at the station side while reducing feedback overhead. The simulation results show equal performance and, at times, better performance with a fraction of the overhead. We believe that this algorithm has great potential in designing future dynamic channel selection algorithms with low overhead.Keywords: channel assignment, Wi-Fi networks, clustering, DBSCAN, overhead
Procedia PDF Downloads 1114235 Transit-Oriented Development as a Tool for Building Social Capital
Authors: Suneet Jagdev
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Rapid urbanization has resulted in informal settlements on the periphery of nearly all big cities in the developing world due to lack of affordable housing options in the city. Residents of these communities have to travel long distances to get to work or search for jobs in these cities, and women, children and elderly people are excluded from urban opportunities. Affordable and safe public transport facilities can help them expand their possibilities. The aim of this research is to identify social capital as another important element of livable cities that can be protected and nurtured through transit-oriented development, as a tool to provide real resources that can help these transit-oriented communities become self-sustainable. Social capital has been referred to the collective value of all social networks and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other. It is one of the key component responsible to build and maintain democracy. Public spaces, pedestrian amenities and social equity are the other essential part of Transit Oriented Development models that will be analyzed in this research. The data has been collected through the analysis of several case studies, the urban design strategies implemented and their impact on the perception and on the community´s experience, and, finally, how these focused on the social capital. Case studies have been evaluated on several metrics, namely ecological, financial, energy consumption, etc. A questionnaire and other tools were designed to collect data to analyze the research objective and reflect the dimension of social capital. The results of the questionnaire indicated that almost all the participants have a positive attitude towards this dimensions of building a social capital with the aid of transit-oriented development. Statistical data of the identified key motivators against against demographic characteristics have been generated based on the case studies used for the paper. The findings suggested that there is a direct relation between urbanization, transit-oriented developments, and social capital.Keywords: better opportunities, low-income settlements, social capital, social inclusion, transit oriented development
Procedia PDF Downloads 3274234 Analysing the Moderating Effect of Customer Loyalty on Long Run Repurchase Intentions
Authors: John Akpesiri Olotewo
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One of the controversies in existing marketing literatures is on how to retain existing and new customers to have repurchase intention in the long-run; however, empirical answer to this question is scanty in existing studies. Thus, this study investigates the moderating effect of consumer loyalty on long-run repurchase intentions in telecommunication industry using Lagos State environs. The study adopted field survey research design using questionnaire to elicit responses from 250 respondents who were selected using random and stratified random sampling techniques from the telecommunication industry in Lagos State, Nigeria. The internal consistency of the research instrument was verified using the Cronbach’s alpha, the result of 0.89 implies the acceptability of the internal consistency of the survey instrument. The test of the research hypotheses were analyzed using Pearson Product Method of Correlation (PPMC), simple regression analysis and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Science version 20.0 (SPSS). The study confirmed that customer satisfaction has a significant relationship with customer loyalty in the telecommunication industry; also Service quality has a significant relationship with customer loyalty to a brand; loyalty programs have a significant relationship with customer loyalty to a network operator in Nigeria and Customer loyalty has a significant effect on the long run repurchase intentions of the customer. The study concluded that one of the determinants of long term profitability of a business entity is the long run repurchase intentions of its customers which hinges on the level of brand loyalty of the customer. Thus, it was recommended that service providers in Nigeria should improve on factors like customer satisfaction, service quality, and loyalty programs in order to increase the loyalty of their customer to their brands thereby increasing their repurchase intentions.Keywords: customer loyalty, long run repurchase intentions, brands, service quality and customer satisfaction
Procedia PDF Downloads 2294233 Smart Wheel Chair: A Design to Accommodate Vital Sign Monitoring
Authors: Stephanie Nihan, Jayson M. Fadrigalan, Pyay P. San, Steven M. Santos, Weihui Li
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People of all ages who use wheelchairs are left with the inconvenience of not having an easy way to take their vital signs. Typically, patients are required to visit the hospital in order to take the vital signs. VitalGO is a wheel chair system that equipped with medical devices to take vital signs and then transmit data to a mobile application for convenient, long term health monitoring. The vital signs include oxygen saturation, heart rate, and blood pressure, breathing rate and body temperature. Oxygen saturation and heart rate are monitored through pulse oximeter. Blood pressure is taken through a radar sensor. Breathing rate is derived through thoracic impedance while body temperature is measured through an infrared thermometer. The application receives data through bluetooth and stores in a database for review in a simple graphical interface. The application will have the ability to display this data over various time intervals such as a day, week, month, 3 months, 6 months and a year. The final system for the mobile app can also provide an interface for both the user and their physician(s) to record notes or keep record of daily symptoms that a patient might be having. The user’s doctor will be granted access by the user to view the patient information for assistance with a more accurate diagnosis. Also, this wheelchair accessory conveniently includes a foldable table/desk as somewhere to place an electronic device that may be used to access the app. The foldable table will overall contribute to the wheelchair user’s increased comfort and will give them somewhere to place food, a book, or any other form of entertainment that would normally be hard to juggle on their lap.Keywords: wheel chair, vital sign, mobile application, telemedicine
Procedia PDF Downloads 3274232 Appropriate Technology: Revisiting the Movement in Developing Countries for Sustainability
Authors: Jayshree Patnaik, Bhaskar Bhowmick
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The economic growth of any nation is steered and dependent on innovation in technology. It can be preferably argued that technology has enhanced the quality of life. Technology is linked both with an economic and a social structure. But there are some parts of the world or communities which are yet to reap the benefits of technological innovation. Business and organizations are now well equipped with cutting-edge innovations that improve the firm performance and provide them with a competitive edge, but rarely does it have a positive impact on any community which is weak and marginalized. In recent times, it is observed that communities are actively handling social or ecological issues with the help of indigenous technologies. Thus, "Appropriate Technology" comes into the discussion, which is quite prevalent in the rural third world. Appropriate technology grew as a movement in the mid-1970s during the energy crisis, but it lost its stance in the following years when people started it to describe it as an inferior technology or dead technology. Basically, there is no such technology which is inferior or sophisticated for a particular region. The relevance of appropriate technology lies in penetrating technology into a larger and weaker section of community where the “Bottom of the pyramid” can pay for technology if they find the price is affordable. This is a theoretical paper which primarily revolves around how appropriate technology has faded and again evolved in both developed and developing countries. The paper will try to focus on the various concepts, history and challenges faced by the appropriate technology over the years. Appropriate technology follows a documented approach but lags in overall design and diffusion. Diffusion of technology into the poorer sections of community remains unanswered until the present time. Appropriate technology is multi-disciplinary in nature; therefore, this openness allows having a varied working model for different problems. Appropriate technology is a friendly technology that seeks to improve the lives of people in a constraint environment by providing an affordable and sustainable solution. Appropriate technology needs to be defined in the era of modern technological advancement for sustainability.Keywords: appropriate technology, community, developing country, sustainability
Procedia PDF Downloads 2574231 Effect of Freeze-Thaw (F-T) Processes on the Engineering and Textural Properties of Nevşehir Stone (Nevşehir / Turkey)
Authors: İsmail İnce, Mustafa Fener
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Natural stones used as building materials are exposed to various direct or indirect atmospheric effects depending on the climatic and seasonal conditions. Stones deteriorate partially or fully as a result of these effects. Freezing and thawing (F-T) process is the most important interaction. Nevşehir is located in the Central Anatolia region in Turkey and it has a typical continental climate with cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers. Effects of freeze-thaw processes were widely observed on the building stones used in the region. Pyroclastic rocks, which are named as Nevşehir stone in the region, have been used in most of these buildings. The purpose of this study is to investigate the variations in engineering and textural properties of Nevşehir stone during different F-T cycles.Keywords: Nevşehir stone, freeze-thaw, engineering properties, textural properties
Procedia PDF Downloads 9654230 Reimagining the Management of Telco Supply Chain with Blockchain
Authors: Jeaha Yang, Ahmed Khan, Donna L. Rodela, Mohammed A. Qaudeer
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Traditional supply chain silos still exist today due to the difficulty of establishing trust between various partners and technological barriers across industries. Companies lose opportunities and revenue and inadvertently make poor business decisions resulting in further challenges. Blockchain technology can bring a new level of transparency through sharing information with a distributed ledger in a decentralized manner that creates a basis of trust for business. Blockchain is a loosely coupled, hub-style communication network in which trading partners can work indirectly with each other for simpler integration, but they work together through the orchestration of their supply chain operations under a coherent process that is developed jointly. A Blockchain increases efficiencies, lowers costs, and improves interoperability to strengthen and automate the supply chain management process while all partners share the risk. Blockchain ledger is built to track inventory lifecycle for supply chain transparency and keeps a journal of inventory movement for real-time reconciliation. State design patterns are used to capture the life cycle (behavior) of inventory management as a state machine for a common, transparent and coherent process which creates an opportunity for trading partners to become more responsive in terms of changes or improvements in process, reconcile discrepancies, and comply with internal governance and external regulations. It enables end-to-end, inter-company visibility at the unit level for more accurate demand planning with better insight into order fulfillment and replenishment.Keywords: supply chain management, inventory trace-ability, perpetual inventory system, inventory lifecycle, blockchain, inventory consignment, supply chain transparency, digital thread, demand planning, hyper ledger fabric
Procedia PDF Downloads 864229 Precious Gold and Diamond Accessories Versus False Fashion Diamond and Stained Accessories
Authors: Felib Ayman Shawky Salem
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This paper includes fast fashion verses sustainable fashion or slow fashion Indian based consumers. The expression ‘Fast fashion’ is generally referred to low-cost clothing collections that considered first hand copy of luxury brands, sometime interchangeably used with ‘mass fashion’. Whereas slow fashion or limited fashion which are consider to be more organic or eco-friendly. "Sustainable fashion is ethical fashion and here the consumer is just not design conscious but also social-environment conscious". Paper will deal with desire of young Indian consumer towards such luxury brands present in India, and their understanding of sustainable fashion, how to maintain the equilibrium between never newer fashion, style, and fashion sustainability. The green fashion market is growing rapidly as eco-friendly consumers are willing to expand their organic lifestyle to include clothing. With an increasing share of fashion consumers globally, Indian consumers are observed to consider the social and environmental ethics while making purchasing decisions. While some research clearly identifies the efforts of responsible consumers towards green fashion, some argue that fashion-orientated consumers who are sensitive towards environment do not actively participate towards supporting green fashion. This study aims to analyze the current perception of green fashion among Indian consumers. A small-scale exploratory study is conducted where consumers’ perception of green fashion is examined followed by an analysis of translation of this perception into purchase decision making. This research paper gives insight into consumer awareness on green fashion and provides scope towards the expansion of ethical fashion consumptionKeywords: diamond, inclusions, temperature gradient, HPHT synthetic fibers, polyamide fibers, fiber volume, compressive strength. gold nano clusters, copper ions, wool keratin, fluorescence
Procedia PDF Downloads 234228 Trainees' Perception of Virtual Learning Skills in Setting up the Simulator Welding Technology
Authors: Mohd Afif Md Nasir, Mohd Faizal Amin Nur, Jamaluddin Hasim, Abd Samad Hasan Basari, Mohd Halim Sahelan
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This study is aimed to investigate the suitability of Computer-Based Training (CBT) as one of the approaches in skills competency development at the Centre of Instructor and Advanced Skills Training (CIAST) Shah Alam Selangor and National Youth Skills Institute (NYSI) Pagoh Muar Johor. This study has also examined the perception among trainees toward Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) as to realize the development of skills in Welding Technology. The significance of the study is to create a computer-based skills development approach in welding technology among new trainees in CIAST and IKBN as well as to cultivate the element of general skills among them. This study is also important in elevating the number of individual knowledge workers (K-Workers) working in manufacturing industry in order to achieve the national vision which is to be an industrial nation in the year 2020. The design is a survey of research which using questionnaires as the instruments and is conducted towards 136 trainees from CIAST and IKBN. Data from the questionnaires is proceeding in a Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) in order to find the frequency, mean and chi-square testing. The findings of the study show the welding technology skills have developed in the trainees as a result of the application of the Virtual Reality simulator at a high level (mean=3.90) and the respondents agreed the skills could be embedded through the application of the Virtual Reality simulator (78.01%). The Study also found that there is a significant difference between trainee skill characteristics through the application of the Virtual Reality simulator (p<0.05). Thereby, the Virtual Reality simulator is suitable to be used in the development of welding skills among trainees through the skills training institute.Keywords: computer-based training, virtual learning environment, welding technology, virtual reality simulator, virtual learning environment
Procedia PDF Downloads 4224227 State Rescaling of the Urban Development in Hong Kong after the Reunification: A Case Study of the Planning Process of the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link
Authors: Zhihua Xu
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In the era of globalization, the urban question is increasingly being posed in the form of a scale question. Scale theory provides a new perspective for analyzing various dynamics and their influences on urban development. After the reunification, how the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) interacts with the actors at various scales and carries out state rescaling are the keys to exploring the issue of urban development and governance in Hong Kong. This paper examines the entire planning process of the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, from project conception, design, to consultation, and fund application, to identify the actors at different scales involved in the process, and analyze the modes and consequences of their interaction. This study shows that after the reunification, the Hong Kong SAR Government takes the initiative to scale up to expand its hinterland. Intergovernmental institutional cooperation is an important mode of state rescaling for the Hong Kong SAR government. Meanwhile, the gradually growing civil society plays an important role in the rescaling of urban development. Local actors use scalar politics to construct discourses and take actions at multiple scales to challenge the government’s proposal and trigger a discussion on the project throughout the Hong Kong society. The case study of Hong Kong can deepen the understanding of state rescaling of territorial organizations in the context of institutional transformation and enrich the theoretical connotation of state rescaling. It also helps the Mainland government to better understand the case of Hong Kong and formulate appropriate.Keywords: Hong Kong, state rescaling, scalar politics, Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link, urban governance
Procedia PDF Downloads 2074226 Screening of Different Exotic Varieties of Potato through Adaptability Trial for Local Cultivation
Authors: Arslan Shehroz, Muhammad Amjad Ali, Amjad Abbas, Imran Ramzan, Muhammad Zunair Latif
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Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the 4th most important food crop of the world after wheat, rice and maize. It is the staple food in many European countries. Being rich in starch (one of the main three food ingredients) and having the highest productivity per unit area, has great potential to address the challenge of the food security. Processed potato is also used as chips and crisps etc as ‘fast food’. There are many biotic and abiotic factors which check the production of potato and become hurdle in achievement production potential of potato. 20 new varieties along with two checks were evaluated. Plant to plant and row to row distances were maintained as 20 cm and 75 cm, respectively. The trial was conducted according to the randomized complete block design with three replications. Normal agronomic and plant protection measures were carried out in the crop. It is revealed from the experiment that exotic variety 171 gave the highest yield of 35.5 t/ha followed by Masai with 31.0 t/ha tuber yield. The check variety Simply Red 24.2 t/ha yield, while the lowest tuber yield (1.5 t/ha) was produced by the exotic variety KWS-06-125. The maximum emergence was shown by the Variety Red Sun (89.7 %). The lowest emergence was shown by the variety Camel (71.7%). Regarding tuber grades, it was noted that the maximum Ration size tubers were produced by the exotic variety Compass (3.7%), whereas 11 varieties did not produce ration size tubers at all. The variety Red Sun produced lowest percentage of small size tubers (12.7%) whereas maximum small size tubers (93.0%) were produced by the variety Jitka. Regarding disease infestation, it was noted that the maximum scab incidence (4.0%) was recorded on the variety Masai, maximum rhizoctonia attack (60.0%) was recorded on the variety Camel and maximum tuber cracking (0.7%) was noted on the variety Vendulla.Keywords: check variety, potato, potential and yield, trial
Procedia PDF Downloads 3744225 Post-Pandemic Public Space, Case Study of Public Parks in Kerala
Authors: Nirupama Sam
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COVID-19, the greatest pandemic since the turn of the century, presents several issues for urban planners, the most significant of which is determining appropriate mitigation techniques for creating pandemic-friendly and resilient public spaces. The study is conducted in four stages. The first stage consisted of literature reviews to examine the evolution and transformation of public spaces during pandemics throughout history and the role of public spaces during pandemic outbreaks. The second stage is to determine the factors that influence the success of public spaces, which was accomplished by an analysis of current literature and case studies. The influencing factors are categorized under comfort and images, uses and activity, access and linkages, and sociability. The third stage is to establish the priority of identified factors for which a questionnaire survey of stakeholders is conducted and analyzing of certain factors with the help of GIS tools. COVID-19 has been in effect in India for the last two years. Kerala has the highest daily COVID-19 prevalence due to its high population density, making it more susceptible to viral outbreaks. Despite all preventive measures taken against COVID-19, Kerala remains the worst-affected state in the country. Finally, two live case studies of the hardest-hit localities, namely Subhash bose park and Napier Museum park in the Ernakulam and Trivandrum districts of Kerala, respectively, were chosen as study areas for the survey. The responses to the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS for determining the weights of the influencing factors. The spatial success of the selected case studies was examined using the GIS interpolation model. Following the overall assessment, the fourth stage is to develop strategies and guidelines for planning public spaces to make them more efficient and robust, which further leads to improved quality, safety and resilience to future pandemics.Keywords: urban design, public space, covid-19, post-pandemic, public spaces
Procedia PDF Downloads 1284224 The Relationship Between Quality of Life, Psychological Distress and Coping Strategies of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS in Cairo, Egypt
Authors: Sumaia Jawad, Shalaweh Salem, Walid Kamal, Nicolette Roman
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Background: HIV patients have many social problems like depression, which adversely affects their quality of life. HIV infection is linked to psychological distress such as anxiety. In terms of coping styles, avoidant emotion-focused strategies such as fatalism, wishful thinking and self-blame are associated with higher levels of psychological distress in persons with HIV. In Cairo, Egypt current services are not adapted to provide advice and psychological support to people living with HIV to help them develop problem-solving skills to cope with the stress of living with HIV. Yet, no studies have examined the relationship between quality of life, psychological distress and coping strategies of persons living with HIV/AIDS in Egypt. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between quality of life, psychological distress and coping strategies of persons living with HIV/AIDS in Cairo, Egypt. Methods: This study used a quantitative methodology with a cross-sectional correlational design. The data was collected using: Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) and Cope Inventory. The sample consisted of 202 participants who accessed the National AIDS Program (NAP). The data was analysed using the Statistical Program for Social Science V23 (SPSS). Results: The results show that psychological distress and certain coping styles such as substance abuse and behavioural disengagement negatively predict the quality of life of patients with HIV/AIDS. Positive predictors included coping styles such as active coping, self-distraction, venting, positive reframing, humor, acceptance, and religion. Conclusions: It would probably be best to reduce psychological distress and increase coping styles in order to improve the quality of life of patients with HIV/AIDS.Keywords: HIV/AIDS, quality of life, psychological distress, coping strategies
Procedia PDF Downloads 4024223 Injury Patterns and Outcomes in Alcohol Intoxicated Trauma Patients Admitted at Level I Apex Trauma Centre of a Developing Nation
Authors: G. Kaushik, A. Gupta, S. Lalwani, K. D. Soni, S. Kumar, S. Sagar
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Objective: Alcohol is a leading risk factor associated with the disability and death due to RTI. Present study aims to demonstrate the demographic profile, injury pattern, physiological parameters of victims of trauma following alcohol consumption arriving in the emergency department (ED) and mortality in alcohol intoxicated trauma patients admitted to Apex Trauma Center in Delhi. Design and Methods: Present study was performed in randomly selected 182 alcohol breath analyzer tested RTI patients from the emergency department of Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Center (JPNATC), All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi for over a period of 3 months started from September 2013 to November 2013. Results: A total 182 RTI patients with blunt injury were selected between 30-40 years of age and equally distributed to male and female group. Of these, 93 (51%) were alcohol negative and 89 (49%) were alcohol positive. In 89 alcohol positive patients, 47 (53%) had Artificial Airway as compared to 17 (18%), (p < 0.001) in the other group. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score was lower (p < 0.001) and higher Injury Severity Score (ISS) was observed in alcohol positive group as compared to other group (p < 0.03). Increased number of patients (58%) were admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU), in alcohol positive group (p < 0.001) and they were in ICU for longer time compare to other group (p < 0.001). The alcohol positive patients were on ventilator support for longer duration as compared to non-alcoholic group (p < 0.001). Mortality rate was higher in alcohol intoxicated patients as compared to non-alcoholic RTI patients, however, the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: This study revealed that GCS, mean ISS, ICU stay, ventilation time etc. might have considerable impact on mortality in alcohol intoxicated patients as compared to non-alcoholic group.Keywords: road traffic injuries, alcohol, trauma, emergency department
Procedia PDF Downloads 3134222 Factors Influencing the Use of Psychoactive Substance among Senior Secondary Students in Ibadan South-West Local Government, Oyo State, Nigeria
Authors: Olajumoke Temilola Fatimat, Fasasi Fausat Kikelomo, Ishola Ganiyat Folasayo, Omayeka Mary
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Psychoactive substances are chemical substances that affect the normal functioning of the brain and cause changes in behavior, mood, and consciousness. Psychoactive substance abuse constitutes one of the most important risk–taking behavior among adolescents and young adults in secondary schools. The study, therefore, assessed the factors influencing the use of psychoactive substances among senior secondary students in Ibadan South–West Local Government Area, Oyo State. A descriptive non-experimental design was adopted; purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 330 respondents, while questionnaires were used for data collection. The descriptive statistics of frequency count, percentages, inferential statistics of chi-square, and analysis of variance were used for the analysis. The results revealed that the majority of the respondents had heard of the term substance abuse before 226 (75.3%); it was also revealed that the majority of the respondents had good knowledge of psychoactive substances, 67.8%. There was no significant relationship between age and knowledge of psychoactive substances among senior secondary students, with a p-value of 0.199. The outcome of this study indicates that drug abuse is increasing day by day among secondary school students and may have greatly contributed to poor performance in examinations as well as undermining academic ability and performance among students. It was recommended that efforts should be made by the school authorities of the secondary schools in Ibadan South–West Local Government Area, Oyo State, and in Oyo State generally in collaboration with health personnel to educate adolescents on psychoactive substance abuse. This is to ensure that adolescents are adequately educated and updated on knowledge of psychoactive substance abuse.Keywords: factors, influence, psychoactive substance, secondary school
Procedia PDF Downloads 624221 Corpus-Based Model of Key Concepts Selection for the Master English Language Course "Government Relations"
Authors: Elena Pozdnyakova
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“Government Relations” is a field of knowledge presently taught at the majority of universities around the globe. English as the default language can become the language of teaching since the issues discussed are both global and national in character. However for this field of knowledge key concepts and their word representations in English don’t often coincide with those in other languages. International master’s degree students abroad as well as students, taught the course in English at their national universities, are exposed to difficulties, connected with correct conceptualizing of terminology of GR in British and American academic traditions. The study was carried out during the GR English language course elaboration (pilot research: 2013 -2015) at Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations (University), Russian Federation. Within this period, English language instructors designed and elaborated the three-semester course of GR. Methodologically the course design was based on elaboration model with the special focus on conceptual elaboration sequence and theoretical elaboration sequence. The course designers faced difficulties in concept selection and theoretical elaboration sequence. To improve the results and eliminate the problems with concept selection, a new, corpus-based approach was worked out. The computer-based tool WordSmith 6.0 was used with the aim to build a model of key concept selection. The corpus of GR English texts consisted of 1 million words (the study corpus). The approach was based on measuring effect size, i.e. the percent difference of the frequency of a word in the study corpus when compared to that in the reference corpus. The results obtained proved significant improvement in the process of concept selection. The corpus-based model also facilitated theoretical elaboration of teaching materials.Keywords: corpus-based study, English as the default language, key concepts, measuring effect size, model of key concept selection
Procedia PDF Downloads 2974220 Target-Triggered DNA Motors and their Applications to Biosensing
Authors: Hongquan Zhang
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Inspired by endogenous protein motors, researchers have constructed various synthetic DNA motors based on the specificity and predictability of Watson-Crick base pairing. However, the application of DNA motors to signal amplification and biosensing is limited because of low mobility and difficulty in real-time monitoring of the walking process. The objective of our work was to construct a new type of DNA motor termed target-triggered DNA motors that can walk for hundreds of steps in response to a single target binding event. To improve the mobility and processivity of DNA motors, we used gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as scaffolds to build high-density, three-dimensional tracks. Hundreds of track strands are conjugated to a single AuNP. To enable DNA motors to respond to specific protein and nucleic acid targets, we adapted the binding-induced DNA assembly into the design of the target-triggered DNA motors. In response to the binding of specific target molecules, DNA motors are activated to autonomously walk along AuNP, which is powered by a nicking endonuclease or DNAzyme-catalyzed cleavage of track strands. Each moving step restores the fluorescence of a dye molecule, enabling monitoring of the operation of DNA motors in real time. The motors can translate a single binding event into the generation of hundreds of oligonucleotides from a single nanoparticle. The motors have been applied to amplify the detection of proteins and nucleic acids in test tubes and live cells. The motors were able to detect low pM concentrations of specific protein and nucleic acid targets in homogeneous solutions without the need for separation. Target-triggered DNA motors are significant for broadening applications of DNA motors to molecular sensing, cell imagining, molecular interaction monitoring, and controlled delivery and release of therapeutics.Keywords: biosensing, DNA motors, gold nanoparticles, signal amplification
Procedia PDF Downloads 784219 Development of Interactional Competence: Listener Responses of Long-Term Stay Abroad Chinese L1 Speakers in Australian Universities
Authors: Wei Gao
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The current study investigates the change of listener responses in social conversations of the second language (L2) speakers who are staying abroad with Chinese L1 speakers in Australian universities and how their long-term stay abroad impacted their design for L2 recipient actions. There is a limited amount of empirical work on L2 English listener response acquisition, particularly regarding the influence of long-term stay abroad in English-speaking countries. Little is known whether the development of L2 listener responses and the improvement of interactional competence is affected by the prolonged residency in the target L2 country. Forty-eight participants were recruited, and they participated in the designed speaking task through Computer-Mediated Communication. Results showed that long-term stay abroad Chinese L1 speakers demonstrated an English-like pattern of listener responses in communication. Long-term stay abroad experience had a significant impact on L2 English listener responses production and organization in social conversation. Long-term stay abroad L1 Chinese speakers had an active and productive response in listenership than their non-stay abroad counterparts in terms of frequency and placement in producing listener responses. However, the L2 English listener response production only occurred to be partial in response tokens, such as backchannels and reactive expressions, also in resumptive openers' employment. This study shows that L2 English listener responses could be acquired during a long-term stay abroad in English-speaking countries but showed partial acquisition in collaborative finishes production. In addition, the most prominent finding was that Chinese L1 speakers changed their overall listener responses pattern from L1 Chinese to L2 English. The study reveals specific interactional changes in English L2 listener responses acquisition. It generates pedagogical implications for cross-cultural communication and L2 pragmatics acquisition during a long-term stay abroad.Keywords: listener responses, stay abroad, interactional competence, L2 pragmatics acquisition
Procedia PDF Downloads 794218 Analyzing the Association between Physical Activity and Sleep Quality in College Students: Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Fildzah Badzlina, Mega Puspa Sari
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To rest the body after a full day of activities, the body needs sleep. During sleep, the body's response to external stimuli will be reduced and relatively inactive so that it is used to optimize the body's biological functions that cannot be done when awake. College students often experience poor sleep quality because of the dense activities carried out during the day. In addition, the level of physical activity of college students is also relatively low. Based on previous research, college students who have low physical activity have poor sleep quality. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between physical activity and sleep quality in college students of the University of Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr. Hamka. This study used a cross-sectional research design with 107 respondents as research subjects. Samples were taken using the purposive sampling technique. The data was taken using a google form which was distributed to all college students in September 2021. The statistical test used was Chi-square. The results of this study showed that 85 (79.4%) college students experienced poor sleep quality during the Covid-19 Pandemic Period. Most respondents were 96 women (89.7%) and 32.7% (35 people) aged 20 years. In the pocket money category, most college students (71%) got pocket money less than 500.000 rupiahs per month. A total of 52 respondents (48.6%) had a moderate level of physical activity category. Poor sleep quality was more common in male students (90.9%) compared to female students (78.1%) (p>0.05). In the group with poor sleep quality, 88.9% of students were categorized in Rp. 500.001 to Rp. 1.000.000 for pocket money, 80.3% of students included in the category Rp. 500.000 or less, and 61.5% of students are included in the category of Rp. 1.000.000 or more. Poor sleep quality was more common among students in the age category 20 years (84.1%), compared to students in the age category > 20 years (71.1%). For the level of physical activity in the poor sleep quality group, 87% were included in the category of heavy physical activity, 82.7% included in the moderate level of physical activity, and 68.8% included in the category of low-level physical activity. There was no significant relationship between gender, pocket money, age, and physical activity with sleep quality (p>0.05).Keywords: college students, physical activity, sleep quality, university students
Procedia PDF Downloads 1344217 Deproteinization of Moroccan Sardine (Sardina pilchardus) Scales: A Pilot-Scale Study
Authors: F. Bellali, M. Kharroubi, Y. Rady, N. Bourhim
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In Morocco, fish processing industry is an important source income for a large amount of by-products including skins, bones, heads, guts, and scales. Those underutilized resources particularly scales contain a large amount of proteins and calcium. Sardina plichardus scales from resulting from the transformation operation have the potential to be used as raw material for the collagen production. Taking into account this strong expectation of the regional fish industry, scales sardine upgrading is well justified. In addition, political and societal demands for sustainability and environment-friendly industrial production systems, coupled with the depletion of fish resources, drive this trend forward. Therefore, fish scale used as a potential source to isolate collagen has a wide large of applications in food, cosmetic, and biomedical industry. The main aim of this study is to isolate and characterize the acid solubilize collagen from sardine fish scale, Sardina pilchardus. Experimental design methodology was adopted in collagen processing for extracting optimization. The first stage of this work is to investigate the optimization conditions of the sardine scale deproteinization on using response surface methodology (RSM). The second part focus on the demineralization with HCl solution or EDTA. And the last one is to establish the optimum condition for the isolation of collagen from fish scale by solvent extraction. The advancement from lab scale to pilot scale is a critical stage in the technological development. In this study, the optimal condition for the deproteinization which was validated at laboratory scale was employed in the pilot scale procedure. The deproteinization of fish scale was then demonstrated on a pilot scale (2Kg scales, 20l NaOH), resulting in protein content (0,2mg/ml) and hydroxyproline content (2,11mg/l). These results indicated that the pilot-scale showed similar performances to those of lab-scale one.Keywords: deproteinization, pilot scale, scale, sardine pilchardus
Procedia PDF Downloads 4404216 Sustainable Project Management: Driving the Construction Industry Towards Sustainable Developmental Goals
Authors: Francis Kwesi Bondinuba, Seidu Abdullah, Mewomo Cecilia, Opoku Alex
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Purpose: The purpose of this research is to develop a framework for understanding how sustainable project management contributes to the construction industry's pursuit of sustainable development goals. Study design/methodology/approach: The study employed a theoretical methodology to review existing theories and models that support Sustainable Project Management (SPM) in the construction industry. Additionally, a comprehensive review of current literature on SPM is conducted to provide a thorough understanding of this study. Findings: Sustainable Project Management (SPM) practices, including stakeholder engagement and collaboration, resource efficiency, waste management, risk management, and resilience, play a crucial role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the construction industry. Conclusion: Adopting Sustainable Project Management (SPM) practices in the Ghanaian construction industry enhances social inclusivity by engaging communities and creating job opportunities. The adoption of these practices faces significant challenges, including a lack of awareness and understanding, insufficient regulatory frameworks, financial constraints, and a shortage of skilled professionals. Recommendation: There should be a comprehensive approach to project planning and execution that includes stakeholders such as local communities, government bodies, and environmental organisations, the use of green building materials and technologies, and the implementation of effective waste management strategies, all of which will ensure the achievement of SDGs in Ghana's construction industry. Originality/value: This paper adds to the current literature by offering the various theories and models in Sustainable Project Management (SPM) and a detailed review of how Sustainable Project Management (SPM) contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Ghanaian Construction Industry.Keywords: sustainable development, sustainable development goals, construction industry, ghana, sustainable project management
Procedia PDF Downloads 144215 Synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄-AC/CeMOF for Improvement Photodegradation of Textile Dyes Under Visible-light: Optimization and Statistical Study
Authors: Esraa Mohamed El-Fawal
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A facile solvothermal procedure was applied to fabricate zinc ferrite nanoparticles (ZnFe₂O₄ NPs). Activated carbon (AC) derived from peanut shells is synthesized using a microwave through the chemical activation method. The ZnFe₂O₄-AC composite is then mixed with a cerium-based metal-organic framework (CeMOF) by solid-state adding to formulate ZnFe₂O₄-AC/CeMOF composite. The synthesized photo materials were tested by scanning/transmission electron microscope (SEM/TEM), Photoluminescence (PL), (XRD) X-Ray diffraction, (FTIR) Fourier transform infrared, (UV-Vis/DRS) ultraviolet-visible/diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The prepared ZnFe₂O₄-AC/CeMOFphotomaterial shows significantly boosted efficiency for photodegradation of methyl orange /methylene blue (MO/MB) compared with the pristine ZnFe₂O₄ and ZnFe₂O₄-AC composite under the irradiation of visible-light. The favorable ZnFe₂O₄-AC/CeMOFphotocatalyst displays the highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency of MB/MO (R: 91.5-88.6%, consecutively) compared with the other as-prepared materials after 30 min of visible-light irradiation. The apparent reaction rate K: 1.94-1.31 min-1 is also calculated. The boosted photocatalytic proficiency is ascribed to the heterojunction at the interface of prepared photo material that assists the separation of the charge carriers. To reach optimization, statistical analysis using response surface methodology was applied. The effect of independent parameters (such as A (pH), B (irradiation time), and (c) initial pollutants concentration on the response function (%)photodegradation of MB/MO dyes (as examples of azodyes) was investigated via using central composite design. At the optimum condition, the photodegradation efficiency (%) of the MB/MO is 99.8-97.8%, respectively. ZnFe2O₄-AC/CeMOF hybrid reveals good stability over four consecutive cycles.Keywords: azo-dyes, photo-catalysis, zinc ferrite, response surface methodology
Procedia PDF Downloads 157