Search results for: hybrid renewable energy system

Authors: Sandra Biewers Grimm

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International studies such as Pisa have shown an increasing social inequality in the education system, which is determined in particular by social origin and migration status. This is especially the case in the Luxembourg school system, which creates challenges for many young people due to the multilingualism in the country. While the international and also the national debate on education in the immediate aftermath of the publications of the Pisa results mainly focused on the further development of school-based learning venues and formal educational processes, it initially remained largely unclear what role exactly out-of-school learning venues and non-formal and informal learning processes could play in this further development. This has changed in the meantime. Both in the political discourses and in the scientific disciplines, those voices have become louder that draw attention to the important educational function and the enormous educational potential of out-of-school learning places as a response to the crisis of the formal education system and more than this. Youth work as an actor and approach of non-formal education is particularly in demand here. Due to its principles of self-education, participation and openness, it is considered to have a special potential in supporting the acquisition of important key competencies. In this context, the study "Educational experiences in non-formal settings" at CCY takes a differentiated look behind the scenes of education-oriented youth work and describes on the basis of empirical data what and how young people learn in youth centers and which significance they attach to these educational experiences for their subjective life situation. In this sense, the aim of the study is to reconstruct the subjective educational experiences of young people in Open Youth Work as well as to explore the value that these experiences have for young people. In doing so, it enables scientifically founded conclusions about the educational potential of youth work from the user's perspective. Initially, the study focuses on defining the concept of education in the context of non-formal education and thus sets a theoretical framework for the empirical analysis. This socio-educational term of education differs from the relevant conception of education in curricular, formal education as the acquisition of knowledge. It also differs from the operationalization of education as competence, or the differentiation into cultural, social and personal or into factual, social or methodological competence, which is often used in the European context and which has long been interpreted as a "social science reading of the question of education" (XX). Now the aim is to define a "broader" concept of education that goes beyond the normative and educational policy dimensions of a "non-formal education" and includes the classical socio-educational dimensions. Furthermore, the study works with different methods of empirical social research: In addition to ethnographic observation and an online survey, group discussions were conducted with the young people. The presentation gives an insight into the context, the methodology and the results of this study.

Keywords: non-formal education, youth research, qualitative research, educational theory

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Authors: Elison Eduardo Jardim Bierhals, Claudineia Brazil, Rafael Haag, Elton Rossini

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This work aims to validate and make the projections of solar energy for the Brazilian period from 2025 to 2100. As the plants designed by the HadGEM2-AO (Global Hadley Model 2 - Atmosphere) General Circulation Model UK Met Office Hadley Center, belonging to Phase 5 of the Intercomparison of Coupled Models (CMIP5). The simulation results of the model are compared with monthly data from 2006 to 2013, measured by a network of meteorological sections of the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET). The performance of HadGEM2-AO is evaluated by the efficiency coefficient (CEF) and bias. The results are shown in the table of maps and maps. HadGEM2-AO, in the most pessimistic scenario, RCP 8.5 had a very good accuracy, presenting efficiency coefficients between 0.94 and 0.98, the perfect setting being Solar radiation, which indicates a horizontal trend, is a climatic alternative for some regions of the Brazilian scenario, especially in spring.

Keywords: climate change, projections, solar radiation, scenarios climate change

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Authors: Sachin S. Patil, Mohan I. Mehta, Sandip J. Sutar, Akshay B. Patil, Shreyas S. Kirwai, Suresh Arangi

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MnS is the most commonly found inclusion in steel, which is desirable for machinability of alloy steels but only up to a certain limit, beyond which it weakens fatigue properties of steel. In present work, the effect of sulfur content and its inclusions on the fatigue behavior of AISI 4140 steel is studied (sulfur content 0.002% and 0.016%). Metallurgical analysis, Mechanical testing and Rotating Bending Fatigue (RBF) test were carried out. With the increase in sulfur content, ductility and toughness of the material decrease significantly and large scatter is observed in UTS and impact energy values. From the results of RBF testing, it can be observed that increase in sulfur content from 0.002% to 0.016% has a negligible effect on the endurance strength of AISI 4140 for similar hardness level. Fractography analysis was carried out to study the failure modes in testing.

Keywords: AISI 4140, sulfur content, MnS inclusion, rotating bending fatigue

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Authors: Rajinikanth Siddalingam, Poonguzhali Subramanian

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The present study aims to prepare and evaluate the self-nano emulsifying drug delivery (SNEDDS) system to enhance the dissolution rate of a poorly soluble drug dutasteride. The formulation was prepared using capryol PGMC, Cremophor EL, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) 400 as oil, surfactant and co-surfactant, respectively. The pseudo-ternary phase diagrams with presence and absence of drug were plotted to find out the nano emulsification range and also to evaluate the effect of dutasteride on the emulsification behavior of the phases. Prepared SNEDDS formulations were evaluated for its particle size distribution, nano emulsifying properties, robustness to dilution, self-emulsification time, turbidity measurement, drug content and in-vitro dissolution. The optimized formulations are further evaluated for heating cooling cycle, centrifugation studies, freeze-thaw cycling, particle size distribution and zeta potential were carried out to confirm the stability of the formed SNEDDS formulations. The particle size, zeta potential and polydispersity index of the optimized formulation found to be 35.45 nm, -15.45 and 0.19, respectively. The in vitro results are revealed that the prepared formulation enhanced the dissolution rate of dutasteride significantly as compared with pure drug. The in vivo studies in was conducted using rats and the results are revealed that SNEDDS formulation has enhanced the bioavailability of dutasteride drug significantly as compared with raw drug. Based the results, it was concluded that the dutasteride-loaded SNEDDS shows potential to enhance the dissolution of dutasteride, thus improving the bioavailability and therapeutic effects.

Keywords: self-emulsifying drug delivery system, dutasteride, enhancement of bioavailability, dissolution enhancement

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Authors: Jeanne Grace, Melkamu D. Kassa

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Background: Despite the recognized benefits of physical exercise, including a reduction of health risk factor indicators, illness and deaths related to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, and cancer, the extent of its recognition and use as a prevention strategy by healthcare professionals working in Ethiopian referral hospitals is unknown. Objective: This study explored healthcare professionals’ use of physical exercise as a non-communicable disease prevention strategy in the Ethiopian public sector healthcare system. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a self-administered questionnaire was conducted after being piloted to ensure validity and reliability. For the study, 312 participants were selected from 13 purposively selected Ethiopian referral hospitals, these being 99 physicians who were purposively selected and 213 nurses who were proportionately and randomly selected. Results: The results indicated that three-quarters (78%) of healthcare professionals working in Ethiopian hospitals are not using physical exercise as a strategy to prevent NCDs. Increased specialization (AOR = 20.203, p < 0.001), longer service years (AOR = 0.041, p = 0.014), young age (AOR = 19.871, p < 0.001), and being male (AOR = 0.269, p < 0.001), were predictors of using physical exercise as a strategy for the prevention of NCDs. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals’ utilization of physical exercise as a strategy for NCDs prevention was inadequate in Ethiopia. Given the increasing burden of NCD disease in Ethiopia, training nurses, physicians and medical managers have to acknowledge the use of physical exercise as an NCD prevention strategy. The results of this study highlight the importance of formulating physical exercise intervention strategies for NCDs patients, and the need to incorporate training for healthcare professionals on the type, intensity, duration, and frequency of physical exercise to prevent NCDs in the Ethiopian healthcare system.

Keywords: exercise, medical managers, nurses, physicians

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Authors: J. R. Büttler, T. Pham

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Basic understanding of interfacial mechanisms is of importance for the development of polymer composites. For this purpose, we need techniques to analyze the quality of interphases, their chemical and physical interactions and their strength and fracture resistance. In order to investigate the interfacial phenomena in detail, advanced characterization techniques are favorable. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) using a rheological system is a sensitive tool. T-peel tests were performed with this system, to investigate the temperature-dependent peel behavior of woven textile composites. A model system was made of polyamide (PA) woven fabric laminated with films of polypropylene (PP) or PP modified by grafting with maleic anhydride (PP-g-MAH). Firstly, control measurements were performed with solely PP matrixes. Polymer melt investigations, as well as the extensional stress, extensional viscosity and extensional relaxation modulus at -10°C, 100 °C and 170 °C, demonstrate similar viscoelastic behavior for films made of PP-g-MAH and its non-modified PP-control. Frequency sweeps have shown that PP-g-MAH has a zero phase viscosity of around 1600 Pa·s and PP-control has a similar zero phase viscosity of 1345 Pa·s. Also, the gelation points are similar at 2.42*104 Pa (118 rad/s) and 2.81*104 Pa (161 rad/s) for PP-control and PP-g-MAH, respectively. Secondly, the textile composite was analyzed. The extensional stress of PA66 fabric laminated with either PP-control or PP-g-MAH at -10 °C, 25 °C and 170 °C for strain rates of 0.001 – 1 s^-1 was investigated. The laminates containing the modified PP need more stress for T-peeling. However, the strengthening effect due to the modification decreases by increasing temperature and at 170 °C, just above the melting temperature of the matrix, the difference disappears. Independent of the matrix used in the textile composite, there is a decrease of extensional stress by increasing temperature. It appears that the more viscous is the matrix, the weaker the laminar adhesion. Possibly, the measurement is influenced by the fact that the laminate becomes stiffer at lower temperatures. Adhesive lap-shear testing at room temperature supports the findings obtained with the T-peel test. Additional analysis of the textile composite at the microscopic level ensures that the fibers are well embedded in the matrix. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging of a cross section of the composite shows no gaps between the fibers and matrix. Measurements of the water contact angle show that the MAH grafted PP is more polar than the virgin-PP, and that suggests a more favorable chemical interaction of PP-g-MAH with PA, compared to the non-modified PP. In fact, this study indicates that T-peel testing by DMTA is a technique to achieve more insights into polymeric textile composites.

Keywords: dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, interphase, polyamide, polypropylene, textile composite

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Authors: Menglu Yang, Ani Beybutyan, Rocio Pina, Miguel Angel Soria

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Domestic violence against women is one of the most serious social problems in the world. Attitudes toward domestic violence against women play an important role in the perpetration of violence against women, the way that victims respond to the violence, and how the community responds to violence against women. China and Spain are countries which have been influenced by the culture which males hold power and dominance over the female for a long time. However, as more connected with other European countries, the legal enforcement related to domestic violence against women developed earlier in Spain, and consequently, social awareness of violence against women evolved differently in two countries. The present study aimed to explore and compare the attitudes toward domestic violence against women across China and Spain, and their influence factors, such as gender equality attitudes and coercive control. Totally 506 participants, 255 from China and 251 from Spain completed questionnaires, including attitudes toward domestic violence against women, definition of violence behavior, justification for violence, gender equity attitudes, and coercive control. Results demonstrated that Chinese participants were less aware of domestic violence against women issue but more agreed that such issue was a crime than Spanish participants. In addition to cultural difference, gender equality attitudes, coercive control, gender, and age also affected attitudes toward domestic violence against women. Our findings imply attitudes toward domestic violence against women differ from countries along with the difference in gender equity attitudes and coercive control; such a difference may arise from cultural, traditional belief and current justice system influence. Despite the developed justice system, male dominance culture may lead to maintain the belief that domestic violence is domestic and private issue which police and justice force may not get involved.

Keywords: cross-cultural differences, domestic violence, public attitudes, violence against women

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Authors: Syed Asif Ali Naqvi, Muhammad Azeem Tufail

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Inadequate sanitation causes direct costs of treating illnesses and loss of income through reduced productivity. This study estimated the economic cost of health (ECH) due to poor sanitation and factors determining the lack of access to latrine for the rural, backward hamlets and slums of district Faisalabad, Pakistan. Cross sectional data were collected and analyzed for the study. As the population under study was homogenous in nature, it is why a simple random sampling technique was used for the collection of data. Data of 440 households from 4 tehsils were gathered. The ordinary least square (OLS) model was used for health cost analysis, and the Probit regression model was employed for determining the factors responsible for inaccess to toilets. The results of the study showed that condition of toilets, situation of sewerage system, access to adequate sanitation, Cholera, diarrhea and dysentery, Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) maintenance, source of medical treatment can plausibly have a significant connection with the dependent variable. Outcomes of the second model showed that the variables of education, family system, age, and type of dwelling have positive and significant sway with the dependent variable. Variable of age depicted an insignificant association with access to toilets. Variable of monetary expenses would negatively influence the dependent variable. Findings revealed the fact, health risks are often exacerbated by inadequate sanitation, and ultimately, the cost on health also surges. Public and community toilets for youths and social campaigning are suggested for public policy.

Keywords: sanitation, toilet, economic cost of health, water, Punjab

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Authors: Huey-Kuo Chen

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This paper applies directional marginal productivity model to study the shadow price of emissions by transportation modes in the years of 2011 and 2013 with the aim to provide a reference for policy makers to improve the emission of pollutants. One input variable (i.e., energy consumption), one desirable output variable (i.e., vehicle kilometers traveled) and three undesirable output variables (i.e., carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides) generated by road transportation modes were used to evaluate directional marginal productivity and directional shadow price for 18 transportation modes. The results show that the directional shadow price (DSP) of SOx is much higher than CO2 and NOx. Nevertheless, the emission of CO2 is the largest among the three kinds of pollutants. To improve the air quality, the government should pay more attention to the emission of CO2 and apply the alternative solution such as promoting public transportation and subsidizing electric vehicles to reduce the use of private vehicles.

Keywords: marginal productivity, road transportation modes, shadow price, undesirable outputs

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Authors: Roussin Lontio Fomekong, John Lambi Ngolui, Arnaud Dercorte

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Current years have seen increased interest in the synthesis of p/n metal oxide-based nano composites and their great potential in advanced applications, such as opto electronics, photo catalysis and gas sensors. The superior functional performances of the system combining p-type and n-types semiconducting oxyde in comparison to the corresponding single-phase metal oxides are mainly ascribed to the build-up of an inner electric field at the p/n junction interface.

Keywords: nanocomposite, semiconductors, p-n, heterojunction

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Authors: Maria Evnevich

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In modern conditions, in most markets, price competition is becoming less effective. On the one hand, there is a gradual decrease in the level of marginality in main traditional sectors of the economy, so further price reduction becomes too ‘expensive’ for the company. On the other hand, the effect of price reduction is leveled, and the reason for this phenomenon is likely to be informational. As a result, it turns out that even if the company reduces prices, making its products more accessible to the buyer, there is a high probability that this will not lead to increase in sales unless additional large-scale advertising and information campaigns are conducted. Similarly, a large-scale information and advertising campaign have a much greater effect itself than price reductions. At the same time, the cost of mass informing is growing every year, especially when using the main information channels. The article presents generalization, systematization and development of theoretical approaches and best practices in the field of customer focus approach to business management and in the field of relationship marketing in the modern digital economy. The research methodology is based on the synthesis and content-analysis of sociological and marketing research and on the study of the systems of working with consumer appeals and loyalty programs in the 50 largest client-oriented companies in Russia. Also, the analysis of internal documentation on customers’ purchases in one of the largest retail companies in Russia allowed to identify if buyers prefer to buy goods for complex purchases in one retail store with the best price image for them. The cost of attracting a new client is now quite high and continues to grow, so it becomes more important to keep him and increase the involvement through marketing tools. A huge role is played by modern digital technologies used both in advertising (e-mailing, SEO, contextual advertising, banner advertising, SMM, etc.) and in service. To implement the above-described client-oriented omnichannel service, it is necessary to identify the client and work with personal data provided when filling in the loyalty program application form. The analysis of loyalty programs of 50 companies identified the following types of cards: discount cards, bonus cards, mixed cards, coalition loyalty cards, bank loyalty programs, aviation loyalty programs, hybrid loyalty cards, situational loyalty cards. The use of loyalty cards allows not only to stimulate the customer to purchase ‘untargeted’, but also to provide individualized offers, as well as to produce more targeted information. The development of digital technologies and modern means of communication has significantly changed not only the sphere of marketing and promotion, but also the economic landscape as a whole. Factors of competitiveness are the digital opportunities of companies in the field of customer orientation: personalization of service, customization of advertising offers, optimization of marketing activity and improvement of logistics.

Keywords: customer focus, digital economy, loyalty program, relationship marketing

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Authors: Bu Kyung Park

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Background: The survival rate of pediatric cancer patients has been increased. Thus, the needs of long-term management and follow-up education after discharge continue to grow. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of pediatric cancer patients and their families from first diagnosis to returning their social life. The ultimate goal of this study was to assess which information and intervention did pediatric cancer patients and their families required and needed, so that this could provide fundamental information for developing educational content of web-based intervention program for pediatric cancer patients. Research Approach: This study was based on a descriptive qualitative research design using semi-structured focus group interview. Participants: Twelve pediatric cancer patients and 12 family members participated in a total six focus group interview sessions. Methods: All interviews were audiotaped after obtaining participants’ approval. The recordings were transcribed. Qualitative Content analysis using the inductive coding approach was performed on the transcriptions by three coders. Findings: Eighteen categories emerged from the six main themes: 1) Information needs, 2) Support system, 3) Barriers to treatment, 4) Facilitators to treatment, 5) Return to social life, 6) Healthcare system issues. Each theme had both pediatric cancer patients’ codes and their family members’ codes. Patients and family members had high information needs through the whole process of treatment, not only the first diagnosis but also after completion of treatment. Hospitals provided basic information on chemo therapy, medication, and various examinations. However, they were more likely to rely on information from other patients and families by word of mouth. Participants’ information needs were different according to their treatment stage (e.g., first admitted patients versus cancer survivors returning to their social life). Even newly diagnosed patients worried about social adjustment after completion of all treatment, such as return to school and diet and physical activity at home. Most family members had unpleasant experiences while they were admitted in hospitals and concerned about healthcare system issues, such as medical error and patient safety. Conclusions: In conclusion, pediatric cancer patients and their family members wanted information source which can provide tailored information based on their needs. Different information needs with patients and their family members based on their diagnosis, progress, stage of treatment were identified. Findings from this study will be used to develop a patient-centered online health intervention program for pediatric cancer patients. Pediatric cancer patients and their family members had variety fields of education needs and soak the information from various sources. Web-based health intervention program for them is required to satisfy their inquiries to provide reliable information.

Keywords: focus group interview, family caregivers, pediatric cancer patients, qualitative content analysis

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Authors: M. C. Teng, M. C. Ke, C. Y. Yang, S. S. Ke

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There are more than one thousand times a year of felt earthquakes in Taiwan. Because earthquakes are disaster threats to urban infrastructure, they often disrupt infrastructure services. For example, the highway system is very important to transportation infrastructure; however, it is vulnerable to earthquakes and typhoons in Taiwan. When a highway system is damaged by disaster, it will create a major impact on post-disaster communications and emergency relief and affect disaster relief works. In a study case on September 18th, 2022, the Taitung Chihshang earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale with a depth of 7 km, caused one death; 171 people were injured and had a significant urban infrastructure impact. Hualien and Taitung areas have a large number of surface ruptures, road disruptions due to the collapses, over ten cases of bridges failure or closed, partial railroad section service shutdown, building collapses, and casualties. Taitung Chihshang earthquake, the peak ground acceleration is 585 gal (cm/s²), and the seismic intensity is Level 6 Upper(6+)in Chishang, Taitung County. After the earthquakes, we conducted on-site disaster investigation works in the disaster area; the disaster investigation works included a public and private building survey, a transportation facility survey, a total of ten damaged bridges, and one railroad station damaged were investigated in this investigation. The results showed that the affected locations were mainly concentrated along the Chihshang fault and the Yuli fault in the Huatung Longitudinal Valley. We recorded and described the impact and assessed its influence region in terms of its susceptibility to and the consequences of earthquake attacks. In addition, a lesson is learned from this study regarding the key issues after the Taitung Chihshang earthquake.

Keywords: earthquake, infrastructure, disaster investigation, lesson learned

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Authors: Abdulwakeel B. Raji

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This paper introduces a concept of an intelligent virtual learning environment that involves communication between learners and an artificially intelligent teaching agent in an attempt to replicate classroom learning interactions. The benefits of this technology over current e-learning practices is that it creates a virtual classroom where real time adaptive learning interactions are made possible. This is a move away from the static learning practices currently being adopted by e-learning systems. Over the years, artificial intelligence has been applied to various fields, including and not limited to medicine, military applications, psychology, marketing etc. The purpose of e-learning applications is to ensure users are able to learn outside of the classroom, but a major limitation has been the inability to fully replicate classroom interactions between teacher and students. This study used comparative surveys to gain information and understanding of the current learning practices in Nigerian universities and how they compare to these practices compare to the use of a developed e-learning system. The study was conducted by attending several lectures and noting the interactions between lecturers and tutors and as an aftermath, a software has been developed that deploys the use of an artificial intelligent teaching-agent alongside an e-learning system to enhance user learning experience and attempt to create the similar learning interactions to those found in classroom and lecture hall settings. Dialogflow has been used to implement a teaching-agent, which has been developed using JSON, which serves as a virtual teacher. Course content has been created using HTML, CSS, PHP and JAVASCRIPT as a web-based application. This technology can run on handheld devices and Google based home technologies to give learners an access to the teaching agent at any time. This technology also implements the use of definite clause grammars and natural language processing to match user inputs and requests with defined rules to replicate learning interactions. This technology developed covers familiar classroom scenarios such as answering users’ questions, asking ‘do you understand’ at regular intervals and answering subsequent requests, taking advanced user queries to give feedbacks at other periods. This software technology uses deep learning techniques to learn user interactions and patterns to subsequently enhance user learning experience. A system testing has been undergone by undergraduate students in the UK and Nigeria on the course ‘Introduction to Database Development’. Test results and feedback from users shows that this study and developed software is a significant improvement on existing e-learning systems. Further experiments are to be run using the software with different students and more course contents.

Keywords: virtual learning, natural language processing, definite clause grammars, deep learning, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Yi-Guang Li, Suresh Sampath

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Gas turbine performance degrades over time, and the degradation is greatly affected by environmental, ambient, and operating conditions. The engines may degrade slowly under favorable conditions and result in a waste of engine life if a scheduled maintenance scheme is followed. They may also degrade fast and fail before a scheduled overhaul if the conditions are unfavorable, resulting in serious secondary damage, loss of engine availability, and increased maintenance costs. To overcome these problems, gas turbine owners are gradually moving from scheduled maintenance to condition-based maintenance, where condition monitoring is one of the key supporting technologies. This paper presents an integrated adaptive GPA diagnostics and performance monitoring system developed at Cranfield University for gas turbine gas path condition monitoring. It has the capability to predict the performance degradation of major gas path components of gas turbine engines, such as compressors, combustors, and turbines, using gas path measurement data. It is also able to predict engine key performance parameters for condition monitoring, such as turbine entry temperature that cannot be directly measured. The developed technology has been implemented into digital twin computer Software, Pythia, to support the condition monitoring of gas turbine engines. The capabilities of the integrated GPA condition monitoring system are demonstrated in three test cases using a model gas turbine engine similar to the GE aero-derivative LM2500 engine widely used in power generation and marine propulsion. It shows that when the compressor of the model engine degrades, the Adaptive GPA is able to predict the degradation and the changing engine performance accurately using gas path measurements. Such a presented technology and software are generic, can be applied to different types of gas turbine engines, and provide crucial engine health and performance parameters to support condition monitoring and condition-based maintenance.

Keywords: gas turbine, adaptive GPA, performance, diagnostics, condition monitoring

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Authors: Asad Yousuf

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Purpose: The aim of the present study was to audit treatment planning system beam dataset for small field output factors against standard dataset produced by radiological physics center (RPC) from a multicenter study. Such data are crucial for validity of special techniques, i.e., IMRT or stereotactic radiosurgery. Materials/Method: In this study, multiple small field size output factor datasets were measured and calculated for 6 to 18 MV x-ray beams using the RPC recommend methods. These beam datasets were measured at 10 cm depth for 10 × 10 cm2 to 2 × 2 cm2 field sizes, defined by collimator jaws at 100 cm. The measurements were made with a Landauer’s nanoDot OSLDs whose volume is small enough to gather a full ionization reading even for the 1×1 cm2 field size. At our institute the beam data including output factors have been commissioned at 5 cm depth with an SAD setup. For comparison with the RPC data, the output factors were converted to an SSD setup using tissue phantom ratios. SSD setup also enables coverage of the ion chamber in 2×2 cm2 field size. The measured output factors were also compared with those calculated by Eclipse™ treatment planning software. Result: The measured and calculated output factors are in agreement with RPC dataset within 1% and 4% respectively. The large discrepancies in TPS reflect the increased challenge in converting measured data into a commissioned beam model for very small fields. Conclusion: OSLDs are simple, durable, and accurate tool to verify doses that delivered using small photon beam fields down to a 1x1 cm2 field sizes. The study emphasizes that the treatment planning system should always be evaluated for small field out factors for the accurate dose delivery in clinical setting.

Keywords: small field dosimetry, optically stimulated luminescence, audit treatment, radiological physics center

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Authors: Daniela Pellin, Wilson Engelmann

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Brazil has sought to accelerate your development through technology and innovation as a response to the global influences, which has received in internal management practices. For this, it had edited the Brazilian Law of Innovation 13.243/2016. However observing the Law overestimated economic aspects the respective application will not consider the stakeholders and the technological risks because there is no legal treatment. The economic exploitation and the technological risks must be controlled by limits of democratic system to find better social development to contribute with the economics agents for making decision to conform with global directions. The research understands this is a problem to face given the social particularities of the country because there has been the literal import of the North American Triple Helix Theory consolidated in developed countries and the negative consequences when applied in developing countries. Because of this symptomatic scenario, it is necessary to create adjustment to conduct the management of the law besides social democratic interests to increase the country development. For this, therefore, the Government will have to adopt some conducts promoting side by side with universities, civil society and companies, informational transparency, catch of partnerships, create a Confort Letter document for preparation to ensure the operation, joint elaboration of a Manual of Good Practices, make accountability and data dissemination. Also the Universities must promote informational transparency, drawing up partnership contracts and generating revenue, development of information. In addition, the civil society must do data analysis about proposals received for discussing to give opinion related. At the end, companies have to give public and transparent information about investments and economic benefits, risks and innovation manufactured. The research intends as a general objective to demonstrate that the efficiency of the propeller deployment will be possible if the innovative decision-making process goes through the institutional logic. As specific objectives, the American influence must undergo some modifications to better suit the economic-legal incentives to potentiate the development of the social system. The hypothesis points to institutional model for application to the legal system can be elaborated based on emerging characteristics of the country, in such a way that technological risks can be foreseen and there will be global conformity with attention to the full development of society as proposed by the researchers.The method of approach will be the systemic-constructivist with bibliographical review, data collection and analysis with the construction of the institutional and democratic model for the management of the Law.

Keywords: development, governance of law, institutionalization, triple helix

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Authors: Anood Al-Shibli

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Designing a learner corpus is not an easy task to accomplish because dealing with learners’ language has many variables which might affect the results of any study based on learners’ language production (spoken and written). Also, it is very essential to systematically design a learner corpus especially when it is aimed to be a reference to language research. Therefore, designing the Omani Learner Corpus (OLEC) has undergone many explicit and systematic considerations. These criteria can be regarded as the foundation to design any learner corpus to be exploited effectively in language use and language learning studies. Added to that, OLEC is manually error-annotated corpus. Error-annotation in learner corpora is very essential; however, it is time-consuming and prone to errors. Consequently, a navigating tool is designed to help the annotators to insert errors’ codes in order to make the error-annotation process more efficient and consistent. To assure accuracy, error annotation procedure is followed to annotate OLEC and some preliminary findings are noted. One of the main results of this procedure is creating an error-annotation system based on the Omani learners of English language production. Because OLEC is still in the first stages, the primary findings are related to only one level of proficiency and one error type which is verb related errors. It is found that Omani learners in OLEC has the tendency to have more errors in forming the verb and followed by problems in agreement of verb. Comparing the results to other error-based studies indicate that the Omani learners tend to have basic verb errors which can found in lower-level of proficiency. To this end, it is essential to admit that examining learners’ errors can give insights to language acquisition and language learning and most errors do not happen randomly but they occur systematically among language learners.

Keywords: error-annotation system, error-annotation manual, learner corpora, verbs related errors

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Authors: Said Rashid Aal Abdulsallam

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The purpose of this paper is to measure ISO 9001:2008 effectiveness and determines its impact on the performance dimensions in terms of service quality, operational performance and customer satisfaction from the perspectives of both service providers and receivers. The paper is based on an empirical study carried out on all the ISO 9001:2008 certified departments in the Ministry of Education in the Sultanate of Oman. Data were obtained from the certified departments and their equivalent clients through two structured online questionnaires. Exploratory factor analyses are applied to extract the underlying factors of the indicators of ISO 9001 objectives and performance dimensions. Multiple linear regression analyses are also applied in order to determine the impact of ISO 9001 effectiveness on the performance dimensions of the certified departments. The study sample includes all the ISO 9001 certified departments in the Ministry of Education. The study instruments used target both the service providers as well as the service receivers with the purpose of alleviating the subjective nature of the data collected from the service providers who may be biased in favour of ISO 9001 quality management system or their performance. The findings of the study verify the effectiveness of the application of ISO 9001:2008 quality management system. Additionally, the study reveals that the ISO 9001 certified departments have achieved the ISO 9001 the standard's objectives including prevention of nonconformities, continuous improvement and customer satisfaction focus at different rates. The study also proves that there is a significant relation between the achievement of the ISO 9001 standard objectives and the operational performance of the departments. Even though the operational performance service quality of the ISO 9001 certified departments has substantially improved from the perspective of the departments, the customer satisfaction has not notably increased from the perspective of the service receivers.

Keywords: iso 9001, customer satisfaction, operational performance, public organization, quality management

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Authors: Aseem Rajvanshi, Pankaj Kumar Pandey

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Increase in population has increased the demand of energy to fulfill all its needs. This will result in burden on fossil fuels especially crude oil. Waste oil due to its disposal problem creates environmental degradation. In this context, this paper studies utilization of waste cooking oil and waste motor sludge for making lubricating grease. Experimental studies have been performed by variation in time and concentration of mixture of waste cooking oil and waste motor sludge. The samples were analyzed using penetration test (ASTM D-217), dropping point (ASTM D-566), work penetration (ASTM D-217) and copper strip test (ASTM D-408). Among 6 samples, sample 6 gives the best results with a good drop point and a fine penetration value. The dropping point and penetration test values were found to be 205 °C and 315, respectively. The penetration value falls under the category of NLGI (National Lubricating Grease Institute) consistency number 1.

Keywords: crude oil, copper strip corrosion test, dropping point, penetration test

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Authors: Alibakhsh Kasaeian, Mohammad Sameti, Zahra Noori, Mona Rastgoo Bahambari

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Nowadays, the parabolic trough solar collector technology has become the most promising large-scale technology among various solar thermal generations. In this paper, a detailed numerical heat transfer model for a parabolic trough collector with nanofluid is presented based on the finite difference approach for which a MATLAB code was developed. The model was used to simulate the performance of a parabolic trough solar collector’s linear receiver, called a heat collector element (HCE). In this model, the heat collector element of the receiver was discretized into several segments in axial directions and energy balances were used for each control volume. All the heat transfer correlations, the thermodynamic equations and the optical properties were considered in details and the set of algebraic equations were solved simultaneously using iterative numerical solutions. The modeling assumptions and limitations are also discussed, along with recommendations for model improvement.

Keywords: heat transfer, nanofluid, numerical analysis, trough

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Authors: Sumara Khanzada

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This research investigated how much stress is induced by various study-related factors, in undergraduate students belonging to a renowned university in Karachi along with the unhealthy coping strategy the students use to manage the stress. The study related factors considered for the purpose of the study were curriculum and instruction based stress, teacher-student relationship, assessment system and different components related to academic work. A survey in which questionnaires were administered to hundred students was conducted. The data were analyzed quantitatively to determine the percentages of stress induced by the various factors. The study found that student-teacher relationship is the strongest factor that causes stress in the undergraduate students specifically when teachers do not deliver the lectures effectively and give assignments and presentations to students without clear guidelines and instructions. The second important factor that causes stress was the different components of academic life, such as, parental expectations and pressures to achieve one's goals. Assessment system was found to be the third key factor inducing stress and affecting students' cognitive and psychological functioning. The most commonly used unhealthy coping strategy for stress management was procrastination. In light of the findings, it is recommended that importance be given to teacher training to ensure that instruction is proper and healthy teacher student relationship exists. Effective support programs, workshops, seminars, and different awareness programs should be arranged for promoting awareness regarding mental health in educational institutions. Moreover, additional zero credit courses should be offered to teach students how to learn stress management and healthy coping skills. Sumara Khanzada Clinical Psychologist [email protected]

Keywords: Stress, coping stretigies, acadamic stress, relationship

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Authors: Eric Asare, Jamie Evans, Mark Newton, Emiliano Bilotti

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Two types of filler shapes (sphere and flakes) and three different sizes are employed to study the size effect on PTC. The composite is prepared using a mini-extruder with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as the matrix. A computer modelling is used to fit the experimental results. The percolation threshold decreases with decreasing filler size and this was observed for both the spherical particles as well as the flakes. This was caused by the decrease in interparticle distance with decreasing filler size. The 100 µm particles showed a larger PTC intensity compared to the 5 µm particles for the metal coated glass sphere and flake. The small particles have a large surface area and agglomeration and this makes it difficult for the conductive network to e disturbed. Increasing the filler content decreased the PTC intensity and this is due to an increase in the conductive network within the polymer matrix hence more energy is needed to disrupt the network.

Keywords: positive temperature coefficient (PTC) effect, conductive polymer composite (CPC), electrical conductivity

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Authors: Ruitao Li, Zhili Dong, Nay Win Khun, Khiam Aik Khor

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In this study, microstructure and sintering mechanism as well as wear resistance properties of Ti/Al-Cr-Fe metal matrix composites (MMCs) fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) with Ti as matrix and Al-Cr-Fe as reinforcement were investigated. Phases and microstructure of the sintered samples were analyzed using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Wear resistance properties were tested by ball-on-disk method. An Al3Ti ring forms around each Al-Cr-Fe particle as the bonding layer between Ti and Al-Cr-Fe particles. The Al content in Al-Cr-Fe particles experiences a decrease from 70 at.% to 60 at.% in the sintering process. And these particles consist of quasicrystalline icosahedral AlCrFe and quasicrystal approximants γ-brass Al8(Cr,Fe)5 and Al9(Cr,Fe)4 in the sintered compact. The addition of Al-Cr-Fe particles into the Ti matrix can improve the microhardness by about 40% and the wear resistance is improved by more than 50% due to the increase in the microhardness and the change of wear mechanism.

Keywords: metal matrix composites, spark plasma sintering, phase transformation, wear

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Authors: Prasad Kalagura, B. Veeresh kumar

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We constructed an interface system that would allow a similarly paralyzed user to interact with a computer with almost full functional capability. A real-time tracking algorithm is implemented based on adaptive skin detection and motion analysis. The clicking of the mouse is activated by the user's eye blinking through a sensor. The keyboard function is implemented by voice recognition kit.

Keywords: embedded ARM7 processor, mouse pointer control, voice recognition

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Authors: Abraham Addo-Bediako, Sophy Nukeri, Tebatso Mmako

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Many freshwater ecosystems have been subjected to prolonged and cumulative pollution as a result of human activities such as mining, agricultural, industrial and human settlements in their catchments. The objective of this study was to investigate spatial variability of heavy metal pollution of sediments and possible sources of pollutants in two streams of the Olifants River System, South Africa. Stream sediments were collected and analysed for Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Nickel (Ni) and Zinc (Zn) concentrations using inductively coupled plasma-mass mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). In both rivers, As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn fell within the concentration ranges recommended by CCME and ANZECC, while the concentrations of Cr and Ni exceeded the standards; the results indicated that Cr and Ni in the sediments originated from human activities and not from natural geological background. The index of geo-accumulation (Igeo) was used to assess the degree of pollution. The results of the geo-accumulation index evaluation showed that Cr and Ni were present in the sediments of the rivers at moderately to extremely polluted levels, while As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn existed at unpolluted to moderately polluted levels. Generally, heavy metal concentrations increased along the gradient in the rivers. The high concentrations of Cr and Ni in both rivers are of great concern, as previously these two rivers were classified to be supplying the Olifants River with water of good quality. There is a critical need, therefore to monitor heavy metal concentrations and distributions, as well as a comprehensive plan to prevent health risks, especially those communities still reliant on untreated water from the rivers, as sediment pollution may pose a risk of secondary water pollution under sediment disturbance and/or changes in the geo-chemistry of sediments.

Keywords: geo-accumulation index, heavy metals, sediment pollution, water quality

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Authors: Tania Tzong, Chao-Yi Teng, Tzong-Yuan Wu

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Currently, Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) transmitted to humans by Aedes mosquitoes has distributed from Africa to Southeast Asia, South America, and South Europe. However, little is known about the antigenic targets for immunity, and there are no licensed vaccines or specific antiviral treatments for the disease caused by CHIKV. Baculovirus has been recognized as a novel vaccine vector with attractive characteristic features of an optional vaccine delivery vehicle. This approach provides the safety and efficacy of CHIKV vaccine. In this study, bi-cistronic recombinant baculoviruses vAc-CMV-CHIKV26S-Rhir-EGFP and vAc-CMV-pH-CHIKV26S-Lir-EGFP were produced. Both recombinant baculovirus can express EGFP reporter gene in insect cells to facilitate the recombinant virus isolation and purification. Examination of vAc-CMV-CHIKV26S-Rhir-EGFP and vAc-CMV-pH-CHIKV26S-Lir-EGFP showed that this recombinant baculovirus could induce syncytium formation in insect cells. Unexpectedly, the immunofluorescence assay revealed the expression of E1 and E2 of CHIKV structural proteins in insect cells infected by vAc-CMV-CHIKV26S-Rhir-EGFP. This result may imply that the CMV promoter can induce the transcription of CHIKV26S in insect cells. There are also E1 and E2 expression in mammalian cells transduced by vAc-CMV-CHIKV26S-Rhir-EGFP and vAc-CMV-pH-CHIKV26S-Lir-EGFP. The expression of E1 and E2 proteins of insect and mammalian cells was validated again by Western blot analysis. The vector construction with dual tandem promoters, which is polyhedrin and CMV promoter, has higher expression of the E1 and E2 of CHIKV structural proteins than the vector construction with CMV promoter only. Most of the E1 and E2 proteins expressed in mammalian cells were glycosylated. In the future, the expression of structural proteins of CHIKV in mammalian cells is expected can form virus-like particle, so it could be used as a vaccine for chikungunya virus.

Keywords: chikungunya virus, virus-like particle, vaccines, baculovirus expression vector system

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Authors: Alireza Monzavi Chaleshtari, Mahnaz Aliakbari Dehkordi, Nazila Esmaeili, Ahmad Alipour, Amin Asadi Hieh

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Headache disorders are one of the most common disorders of the nervous system and are associated with suffering, disability, and financial costs for patients. Mindfulness as a lifestyle, in line with human nature, has the ability to affect the emotional system, i.e. thoughts, body sensations, raw emotions and action impulses of people. The aim of this study was to test the fit of structural model of mindfulness and severity of headache mediated by resilience and perfectionism in patients with migraine. Methods: The statistical population of this study included all patients with migraine referred to neurologists in Tehran in the spring and summer of 1401. The inclusion criteria were diagnosis of migraine by a neurologist, not having mental disorders or other physical diseases, and having at least a diploma. According to the number of research variables, 180 people were selected by convenience sampling method, which online answered the Ahvaz perfectionism questionnaire (AMQ), Connor and Davidson resilience questionnaire (CD-RISC), Ahvaz migraine headache questionnaire (APS) and 5-factor mindfulness questionnaire ((MAAS). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and Amos software. Results: The results showed that the direct pathways of mindfulness were not significant for severe headache (P <0.05), but other direct pathways - mindfulness to resilience, mindfulness to perfectionism, resilience to severe headache and perfectionism to severe headache), Was significant (P <0.01). After modifying and removing the non-significant paths, the final model fitted. Mediating variables Resilience and perfectionism mediated all paths of predictor variables to the criterion. Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, mindfulness in migraine patients reduces the severity of headache by promoting resilience and reducing perfectionism.

Keywords: migraine, headache severity, mindfulness, resilience, perfectionism

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Authors: Rainner Roweder

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Theme: The present paper aims to analyze the specificity of the judicial evidence linked to the subjects of dignity and personality rights, otherwise known as moral rights, in the determination of the truth and formation of the judicial reasoning in cases concerning these areas. This research is about the way courts in Brazilian domestic law search for truth and handles evidence in cases involving moral rights that are abundant and important in Brazil. The main object of the paper is to analyze the effectiveness of the evidence in the formation of judicial conviction in matters related to morally controverted rights, based on the Brazilian, and as a comparison, the Latin American legal systems. In short, the rights of dignity and personality are moral. However, the evidential legal system expects a rational demonstration of moral rights that generate judicial conviction or persuasion. Moral, in turn, tends to be difficult or impossible to demonstrate in court, generating the problem considered in this paper, that is, the study of the moral demonstration problem as proof in court. In this sense, the more linked to moral, the more difficult to be demonstrated in court that right is, expanding the field of judicial discretion, generating legal uncertainty. More specifically, the new personality rights, such as gender, and their possibility of alteration, further amplify the problem being essentially an intimate manner, which does not exist in the objective, rational evidential system, as normally occurs in other categories, such as contracts. Therefore, evidencing this legal category in court, with the level of security required by the law, is a herculean task. It becomes virtually impossible to use the same evidentiary system when judging the rights researched here; therefore, it generates the need for a new design of the evidential task regarding the rights of the personality, a central effort of the present paper. Methodology: Concerning the methodology, the Method used in the Investigation phase was Inductive, with the use of the comparative law method; in the data treatment phase, the Inductive Method was also used. Doctrine, Legislative, and jurisprudential comparison was the technique research used. Results: In addition to the peculiar characteristics of personality rights that are not found in other rights, part of them are essentially linked to morale and are not objectively verifiable by design, and it is necessary to use specific argumentative theories for their secure confirmation, such as interdisciplinary support. The traditional pragmatic theory of proof, for having an obvious objective character, when applied in the rights linked to the morale, aggravates decisionism and generates legal insecurity, being necessary its reconstruction for morally charged cases, with the possible use of the “predictive theory” ( and predictive facts) through algorithms in data collection and treatment.

Keywords: moral rights, proof, pragmatic proof theory, insufficiency, Brazil

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Authors: Temur Chilachava

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In work the new nonlinear mathematical model describing assimilation of the people (population) with some less widespread language by two states with two various widespread languages, taking into account demographic factor is offered. In model three subjects are considered: the population and government institutions with the widespread first language, influencing by means of state and administrative resources on the third population with some less widespread language for the purpose of their assimilation; the population and government institutions with the widespread second language, influencing by means of state and administrative resources on the third population with some less widespread language for the purpose of their assimilation; the third population (probably small state formation, an autonomy), exposed to bilateral assimilation from two rather powerful states. Earlier by us it was shown that in case of zero demographic factor of all three subjects, the population with less widespread language completely assimilates the states with two various widespread languages, and the result of assimilation (redistribution of the assimilated population) is connected with initial quantities, technological and economic capabilities of the assimilating states. In considered model taking into account demographic factor natural decrease in the population of the assimilating states and a natural increase of the population which has undergone bilateral assimilation is supposed. At some ratios between coefficients of natural change of the population of the assimilating states, and also assimilation coefficients, for nonlinear system of three differential equations are received the two first integral. Cases of two powerful states assimilating the population of small state formation (autonomy), with different number of the population, both with identical and with various economic and technological capabilities are considered. It is shown that in the first case the problem is actually reduced to nonlinear system of two differential equations describing the classical model "predator - the victim", thus, naturally a role of the victim plays the population which has undergone assimilation, and a predator role the population of one of the assimilating states. The population of the second assimilating state in the first case changes in proportion (the coefficient of proportionality is equal to the relation of the population of assimilators in an initial time point) to the population of the first assimilator. In the second case the problem is actually reduced to nonlinear system of two differential equations describing type model "a predator – the victim", with the closed integrated curves on the phase plane. In both cases there is no full assimilation of the population to less widespread language. Intervals of change of number of the population of all three objects of model are found. The considered mathematical models which in some approach can model real situations, with the real assimilating countries and the state formations (an autonomy or formation with the unrecognized status), undergone to bilateral assimilation, show that for them the only possibility to avoid from assimilation is the natural demographic increase in population and hope for natural decrease in the population of the assimilating states.

Keywords: nonlinear mathematical model, bilateral assimilation, demographic factor, first integrals, result of assimilation, intervals of change of number of the population

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