Search results for: attractive index

Authors: Eduardo Ruiz-Corzo, Luis Rodrigo Valencia Perez, Jorge Francisco Barragan Lopez

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The article shows the pressing conditions of marginalization prevailing in the Sierra Gorda, in the northern state of Queretaro, so it is essential to identify business options that generate a complementary source of income in a sustainable manner, in accordance with the fact that the area is a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. In this sense, the study identifies the enormous scenic richness of the area, the growing demand for leisure activities of the urban centers and the multifunctionality that adds, in a complementary way, the traditional activities that up to now have achieved the quality of life levels. From the application of the 43 interviews and 183 surveys, confirms the fact that the post-visit perception exceeds the expectations of the visitors emerges and affirms that the image that has been projected is attractive and timely. In order to understand how the current model of tourism promoted in the region is working, there is a need to evaluate it in a theoretical-methodological framework considering sustainable development assumptions. In order to determine the degree of contribution to business development, strengthening of social capital, and enjoyment and appreciation of cultural and natural heritage in the region.

Keywords: marginalization, rural tourism, multifunctionality, sustainability, revenue

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Mokhtar Arazpour

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Objectives: Recently a new kind of stance control knee joint has been developed called the 'sensor lock.' This study aimed to develop and evaluate 'sensor lock', which could potentially solve the problems of walking parameters and gait symmetry in subjects with quadriceps weakness. Methods: Nine subjects with quadriceps weakness were enrolled in this study. A custom-made knee ankle foot orthosis (KAFO) with the same set of components was constructed for each participant. Testing began after orthotic gait training was completed with each of the KAFOs and subjects demonstrated that they could safely walk with crutches. Subjects rested 30 minutes between each trial. The 10 meters walking test is used to assess walking speed in meters/second (m/s). The total time taken to ambulate 6 meters (m) is recorded to the nearest hundredth of a second. 6 m is then divided by the total time (in seconds) taken to ambulate and recorded in m/s. The 6 Minutes Walking Test was used to assess walking endurance in this study. Participants walked around the perimeter of a set circuit for a total of six minutes. To evaluate Physiological cost index (PCI), the subjects were asked to walk using each type of KAFOs along a pre-determined 40 m rectangular walkway at their comfortable self-selected speed. A stopwatch was used to calculate the speed of walking by measuring the time between starting and stopping time and the distance walked. Results: The use of a KAFO fitted with the “sensor lock” knee joint resulted in improvements to walking speed, distance walked and physiological cost index when compared with the knee joint in lock mode. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the use of a KAFO with the “sensor lock” knee joint could provide significant benefits for subjects with a quadriceps weakness when compared to a KAFO with the knee joint in lock mode.

Keywords: stance control knee joint, knee ankle foot orthosis, quadriceps weakness, walking, energy consumption

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Ismail Seçer

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of anxiety sensitivity in adolescents on anxiety disorder and childhood depression. Mood disorders and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents can be given examples of important research topics in recent years. The participants of the study consist of 670 students in Erzurum and Erzincan city centers. The participants of the study were 670 secondary and high school students studying in city centers of Erzurum and Erzincan. The participants were chosen based on convenience sampling. The participants were between the ages of 13 and 18 (M=15.7, Ss= 1.35) and 355 were male and 315 were female. The data were collected through Anxiety Sensitivity Index and Anxiety and Depression Index for Children and Adolescents. For data analysis, Correlation analysis and Structural Equation Model were used. In this study, correlational descriptive survey was used. This model enables the researcher to make predictions related to different variables based on the information obtained from one or more variables. Therefore, the purpose is to make predictions considering anxiety disorder and childhood depression based on anxiety sensitivity. For this purpose, latent variable and structural equation model was used. Structural equation model is an analysis method which enables the identification of direct and indirect effects by determining the relationship between observable and latent variables and testing their effects on a single model. CFI, RMR, RMSEA and SRMR, which are commonly accepted fit indices in structural equation model, were used. The results revealed that anxiety sensitivity impacts anxiety disorder and childhood depression through direct and indirect effects in a positive way. The results are discussed in line with the relevant literature. This finding can be considered that anxiety sensitivity can be a significant risk source in terms of children's and adolescents’ anxiety disorder experience. This finding is consistent with relevant research highlighting that in case the anxiety sensitivity increases then the obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attack increase too. The adolescents’ experience of anxiety can be attributed to anxiety sensitivity.

Keywords: anxiety sensitivity, anxiety, depression, structural equation

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: Kalai Lamia, Jilani Faouzi

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Measuring and controlling risk is one of the most attractive issues in finance. With the persistence of uncontrolled and erratic stocks movements, volatility is perceived as a barometer of daily fluctuations. An objective measure of this variable seems then needed to control risks and cover those that are considered the most important. Non-linear autoregressive modeling is our first evaluation approach. In particular, we test the presence of “persistence” of conditional variance and the presence of a degree of a leverage effect. In order to resolve for the problem of “asymmetry” in volatility, the retained specifications point to the importance of stocks reactions in response to news. Effects of shocks on volatility highlight also the need to study the “long term” behaviour of conditional variance of stocks returns and articulate the presence of long memory and dependence of time series in the long run. We note that the integrated fractional autoregressive model allows for representing time series that show long-term conditional variance thanks to fractional integration parameters. In order to stop at the dynamics that manage time series, a comparative study of the results of the different models will allow for better understanding volatility structure over the Tunisia stock market, with the aim of accurately predicting fluctuation risks.

Keywords: asymmetry volatility, clustering, stylised facts, leverage effect

Procedia PDF Downloads 284

Authors: M. R. Rouhi, S. Shafiei, A. Taghavipour, H. Adibi-Asl, A. Doosthoseini

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This research targets at alleviating the problem of range anxiety associated with the battery electric vehicles (BEVs) by considering mechanical and control aspects of the powertrain. In this way, all the energy consuming components and their effect on reducing the range of the BEV and battery life index are identified. On the other hand, an appropriate control strategy is designed to guarantee the performance of the BEV and the extended electric range which is evaluated by an extensive simulation procedure and a real-world driving schedule.

Keywords: battery, electric vehicles, ultra-capacitor, model predictive control

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Santosh B. Phad, Priyanka V. Janbandhu, Dhananjay W. Bansod

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Population Ageing is a growing concern for the social scientists. There is a higher level of aged male participation compared to elderly females. Now, the critical question is whether participation in work improves the quality of life among the elderly and the impact of working status on the mental well-being of the elderly. While examining these research questions, the present paper focuses on the workforce participation of the elderly and the reasons behind it, additionally, determines the association between employment status and the mental well-being of the elderly. The present study has a base of two data sources. First one is Census of India data, 2001 and 2011, and another one is – the Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE), a survey conducted in 2007. To capture the trend of workforce participation elderly Census data is significant and to obtain other information associated with this issue the SAGE data is studied. The research piece consists of univariate and bivariate analysis along with some statistical methods like principal component analysis (PCA) and regression modeling – to investigate the association between workforce participation of elderly and subjective well-being (SWB). The results show that the percentage of elderly participating in the labor market is gradually reducing, but the share of working elderly has increased within the group of overall workers. i.e., the ratio of aged workers to non-aged workers is rising. The findings from survey data specify that there is a considerable share of the elderly in the labor market; three-fourths of the employed elderly enrolled the workforce unwillingly. They are in need of some earnings mainly to afford the medical expenses on their health or the health of their spouse, also to support their family members who are economically inactive. Apart from need, duration of working is another vital aspect for the elderly, whereas more than 80 percent of the elderly are working for six hours or more, and most of them engaged in self-employment. However, more than one-third of the working elderly falls into a negative cluster of the subjective well-being (SWB) index, and it is consistent with the result of the discriminant analysis. Here, the SWB index calculated from the 12 items and the reliability score of these items is 0.89.

Keywords: ageing, workforce, census of India, SAGE

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Authors: Myriam Ferreira

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Websites and social networks allow museums to divulge their works by new and attractive means. Besides, these technologies provide tools to generate a new history of art’s contents and promote visits to their installations. At the same time, museums are proposing more and more activities to families, children and young people. However, these activities usually take place in the museum’s physical installations, while websites and social networks seem to be mainly targeted to adults. The problem is that being children and young people digital natives, they feel apart from museums, so they need a presence of museums in digital means to feel attracted to them. Some institutions are making efforts to fill this vacuum. In this paper, resources designed specifically for children and teenagers have been selected from websites and social networks of five Spanish Museums: Prado Museum, Thyssen Museum, Guggenheim Museum, America Museum and Cerralbo Museum. After that, we have carried out an investigation in a school with children and teenagers between 11 and 15 years old. Those young people have been asked about their valuation of those web pages and social networks, with quantitative-qualitative questions. The results show that the least rated resources were videos and social networks because they were considered ‘too serious’, while the most rated were games and augmented reality. These ratings confirm theoretical papers that affirm that the future of technologies applied to museums is edutainment and interaction.

Keywords: children, museums, social networks, teenagers, websites

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Authors: Sanchari Mukhopadhyay

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Today, almost the entire realm of human activities are becoming increasingly dependent on the power of information, where through ICTs it is now possible to cater distances and avail various services at a few clicks. In principle, ICTs are thus expected to blur location-specific differences and affiliations of development and bring in an inclusive society at the wake of globalization. However, eventually researchers and policy analysts realized that ICTs are also generating inequality in spite of the hope for an integrated world and widespread social well-being. Regarding this unevenness, location plays a major role as often ICT development is seen to be concentrated into pockets, leaving behind large tracks as underprivileged. Thus, understanding the spatial pattern of ICT development and distribution is significant in relation to exploring the extent to which ICTs are fulfilling the promises or reassuring the existing divisions. In addition, it is also profoundly crucial to investigate how regions are connecting and competing both locally and globally. The focus of the research paper is to evaluate the spatial structure of ICT led development in India. Thereby, it attempts to understand the state level (four selected states) pattern of ICT penetration, the pattern of diffusion across districts with respect to large urban centres and the rural-urban disparity of technology adoption. It also tries to assess the changes in access dynamisms of ICTs as one move away from a large metropolitan city towards the periphery. In brief, the analysis investigates into the tendency towards the uneven growth of development through the identification of the core areas of ICT advancement within the country and its diffusion from the core to the periphery. In order to assess the level of ICT development and rural-urban disparity across the districts of selected states, two indices named ICT Development Index and Rural-Urban Digital Divide Index have been constructed. The study mostly encompasses the latest Census (2011) of the country and TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) in some cases.

Keywords: ICT development, diffusion, core-periphery, digital divide

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Lauren Currell, Gemma Hurst

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Introduction: The present study experimentally investigated the impact of attractive Instagram images on female’s body image. It also examined whether physical appearance perfectionism and cognitive coping predicted body image following upward comparisons to idealised bodies on Instagram. Methods: One-hundred and fifty-eight females (mean age 24.35 years) were randomly assigned to an experimental (where they compared their bodies to those of Instagram models) or control condition (where they critiqued landscape painting). All participants completed measures on physical appearance perfectionism, cognitive coping, and pre- and post-measures of body image. Results: Comparing one’s body to idealised bodies on Instagram resulted in increased appearance and weight dissatisfaction and decreased confidence, compared to the control condition. Physical appearance perfectionism and cognitive coping both predicted body image outcomes for the experimental condition. Discussion: Clinical implications, such as the prevention and treatment of body dissatisfaction, are discussed. Strengths and limitations of the current study are also noted, and suggestions for future research are provided.

Keywords: perfectionism, cognitive coping, body image, social media

Procedia PDF Downloads 72

Authors: A. Bárbara Cattozatto Fortunato, D. de Lucca Soave, E. Pinheiro de Mello, M. Piasentini Oliva, V. Tavares de Moraes, G. Wolf Lebrão, D. Fernandes Parra, S. Marraccini Giampietri Lebrão

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Due to increasing environmental pressure for biodegradable products, especially in polymeric materials, in order to meet the demands of the biological cycles of the circular economy, new materials have been developed as a sustainability strategy. This study proposes a composite material developed from the biodegradable polymer PLA Ecovio® (polylactic acid - PLA) with natural sisal fibers, where the soybean ester was used as a plasticizer, which can aid in adhesion between the materials and fibers, making the most attractive final composite from an environmental point of view. The composites were obtained by extrusion. The materials tests were produced and submitted to biodegradation tests. Through the biodegradation tests, it can be seen that the biodegradable polymer composition with 5% sisal fiber presented about 12.4% more biodegradability compared to the polymer without fiber addition. It has also been found that the plasticizer was not a compatible with fibers and the polymer. Finally, fibers help to anticipate the decomposition process of the material when subjected to conditions of a landfill. Therefore, its intrinsic properties are not affected during its use, only the biodegradation process begins after its exposure to landfill conditions.

Keywords: biocomposites, sisal, polilactic acid, Polylactic Acid (PLA)

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Authors: Kalpeshkumar Patel, Nikita Manvi

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The paper is an attempt to understand the influence and depiction of power in an urban space by throwing light across a few examples across the architectural timeline. Power has been the medium through which ideologies function, as witnessed across the timeline. The center to understand this ideology is to apprehend how power is formed, captured, owned, traded, and distorted. Every urban space has power embedded in it, either for the people who are imposing it or for the public who are receiving it. The most fundamental question in the issue of power is who – who will judge, whose tastes will matter and whose interests are being served. Power is expressed and reinforced by regular means, a boundary and gates, a parade route, a dominant landmark, play of shape or scale in elevation, ceremonial axis, boulevards and avenues, the vista, bilateral symmetry, or regular order. Even if people accept the psychological efficacy of these forms, the way they perceive them may vary depending on the subject. They are cold devices of power used to make some people submit to others. Yet it is also true that these symbolic forms are attractive because they speak to the deep emotions of people. They do indeed give us a sense of security, stability and continuity, awe and pride. The Urban Space for mass assembly is an idea that continues to seduce dictators and democracies. It is a tradition as old as an agora and as manipulative as Baroque Rome.

Keywords: urban space, aggrandization, city planning, landscape, supremacy, democratic

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Authors: Shu Yin, Zhiyang Ding, Jianzhong Huang, Xiaojun Ruan, Xiaomin Zhu, Xiao Qin

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Since large-scale and data-intensive applications have been widely deployed, there is a growing demand for high-performance storage systems to support data-intensive applications. Compared with traditional storage systems, next-generation systems will embrace dedicated processor to reduce computational load of host machines and will have hybrid combinations of different storage devices. The advent of flash- memory-based solid state disk has become a critical role in revolutionizing the storage world. However, instead of simply replacing the traditional magnetic hard disk with the solid state disk, it is believed that finding a complementary approach to corporate both of them is more challenging and attractive. This paper explores an idea of active storage, an emerging new storage configuration, in terms of the architecture and design, the parallel processing capability, the cooperation of other machines in cluster computing environment, and a disk configuration, the hybrid combination of different types of disk drives. Experimental results indicate that the proposed HcDD achieves better I/O performance and longer storage system lifespan.

Keywords: arallel storage system, hybrid storage system, data inten- sive, solid state disks, reliability

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Authors: M. J. Alcedo, K. Ito, K. Maeda

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A stockperson has a significant influence on the productivity and welfare of their animals. This influence may be good or bad depending on their stockmanship competence. In this study, stockmanship competence (SC) is defined as the capacity of the stockperson to ensure the welfare of their animals by providing their animal’s needs. The study was conducted to evaluate the stockmanship competence of backyard goat raisers and to examine its relationship to productivity and economic profitability. This was made possible by interviewing 101 backyard goat raisers who have undergone farmer livestock school on integrated goat management (FLS IGM) in Region I, Philippines on September 3-30, 2012 and March 4-17, 2013. Secondary data needed were gathered from the local government agencies involved. Data on stockmanship, goat productivity and farmer’s income before and after attending FLS-IGM were gathered through a semi-structured interview. Questions for stockamnship were based on the Philippine recommends on goat production, tips on goat raising and other scientific literature. Stockmanship competence index score (SCIS) was computed by summing the raw scores derived from each components of SC divided by the total number of components. Pearson correlation through SPSS was used to see the relationship between SC, productivity and income. Result showed that majority raised native and upgraded goats. The computed mean SCIS before and after undergoing FLS-IGM was 38.53% and 75.81%, respectively, an improvement of 49.17%. Both index scores resulted in significant differences in productivity and income. The median mature weight and mortality rate of goats before FLS-IGM, where SC was low, was 14 kg and 50% respectively. On the other hand, after stockmanship had improved, the median mature weight increased to 19 kgs and mortality rate decreased to 11.11%. Likewise, fewer goat diseases were observed by farmers as compared before. With regards to income, there was 127.34% difference on the median net income derived by farmers. Result implies that improved stockmanship competence can lead not only to increased productivity and income of backyard goat raisers but also welfare of the animal.

Keywords: stockmanship, backyard goat production, animal welfare, Philippines

Procedia PDF Downloads 299

Authors: Nickolay Jelev, Andy Keane, Carren Holden, András Sóbester

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In aircraft design, the jump from the conceptual to preliminary design stage introduces a level of complexity which cannot be realistically handled by a single optimiser, be that a human (chief engineer) or an algorithm. The design process is often partitioned along disciplinary lines, with each discipline given a level of autonomy. This introduces a number of challenges including, but not limited to: coupling of design variables; coordinating disciplinary teams; handling of large amounts of analysis data; reaching an acceptable design within time constraints. A number of classical Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation (MDO) architectures exist in academia specifically designed to address these challenges. Their limited use in the industrial aircraft design process has inspired the authors of this paper to develop an alternative strategy based on well established ideas from Decision Support Systems. The proposed rule based architecture sacrifices possibly elusive guarantees of convergence for an attractive return in simplicity. The method is demonstrated on analytical and aircraft design test cases and its performance is compared to a number of classical distributed MDO architectures.

Keywords: Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation, Rule Based Architecture, Aircraft Design, Decision Support System

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Authors: L. Bouzina, A. Bensafi, M. Duval, C. Mathis, M. Rawiso

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We study the stability and structural properties of mixtures of model nanoparticles and non-adsorbing polymers in the 'protein limit', where the size of polymers exceeds the particle size substantially. We have synthesized in institute (Charles Sadron Strasbourg) model nanoparticles by coating fullerene C60 molecules with low molecular weight polystyrene (PS) chains (6 PS chains with a degree of polymerization close to 25 and 50 are grafted on each fullerene C60 molecule. We will present a Small Angle Neutron scattering (SANS) study of Tetrahydrofuran (THF) solutions involving long polystyrene (PS) chains and fullerene (C60) nanoparticles. Long PS chains and C60 nanoparticles with different arm lengths were synthesized either hydrogenated or deuteriated. They were characterized through Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) and Quasielastic Light Scattering (QLS). In this way, the solubility of the C60 nanoparticles in the usual good solvents of PS was controlled. SANS experiments were performed by use of the contrast variation method in order to measure the partial scattering functions related to both components. They allow us to obtain information about the dispersion state of the C60 nanoparticles as well as the average conformation of the long PS chains. Specifically, they show that the addition of long polymer chains leads to the existence of an additional attractive interaction in between soft nanoparticles.

Keywords: fulleren nanoparticles, polymer, small angle neutron scattering, solubility

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Authors: A. El-S. Makled, M. K. Al-Tamimi

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Ignition phenomena are of great interest area over the past many years, and it has a direct impact on many propulsion and combustion applications. The direct goal of the paper is to realize and evaluate a functioning ignition method, shut-off, throttling and re-start operations for the hybrid rocket motor. A small-scale hybrid rocket motor (SSHRM) is designed, manufactured, demonstrated at various operating conditions and finally equipped for laboratory firing tests with high level of safety. Various solid fuel grains as Polymethyle-methacrylate (PMMA) and Polyethylene (PE) are selected, and it is decided to use the commercial gaseous oxygen (GO2) for its availability and low cost. Examine different types of ignition methods, pyrotechnic charge, fuse wire, heat wire and finally hot oxidizer method by using the heat exchanger, which are proposed as very safe ignition methods. Finally; recognize phenomena of throttling and re-start operations. Ignition by hot GO2 impingement is proved to be a very attractive ignition method for laboratory SSHRM, for its high safety, reliability and acceptable delay time. Finally; the throttling and re-start operations are demonstrated several times and can be carried out more easily with hot air ignition method.

Keywords: hybrid rocket motor, ignition system, re-start phenomena, throttling

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Authors: N. Flores-Martinez, G. Franceschin, T. Gaudisson, J.-M. Greneche, R. Valenzuela-Monjaras, S. Ammar

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Tailoring bulk materials keeping their nanoscale properties is the daydream of material scientists. But especially in magnetism, this single desire can revolutionize our everyday life. Now, thanks to the methods of synthesis, based on the combination of colloidal chemistry (CC) to flash sintering (FS), customizing magnets becomes each time more 'easy', 'cheap' and 'clean'. Although by CC we can obtain straightway nanopowders with good magnetic featuring, like exchange bias (EB) phenomenon, it does not result so attractive for applications. Since a solid material is simple to manipulate and integrate in a device, many consolidation methods have been tested aiming to keep the nanopowders characteristics after consolidation. Unfortunately, the lack of structural crystalline arrangement and the grain growth worsen the magnetic properties. In this work, we exhibit, for the first-time author’s best knowledge, the EB in sintered ceramics, starting from CoFe₂O₄-core@CoO-shell NPs obtained by CC. Despite the fact that EB field is about 28 mT in ceramics and it is not yet considered for applications, this work opens an alternative in the permanent magnets fabrication through a FS method, the spark plasma sintering, starting from CC synthesized nanopowders.

Keywords: core-shell nanoparticles, exchange bias, nanostructured ceramics, spark plasma sintering

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Authors: Saloni Pandya, Nikhil Sharma, Ajanta Sachan

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Expansive soils in the unsaturated state are part of vadose zone and encountered in several arid and semi-arid parts of the world. Influence of high temperature, low precipitation and alternate cycles of wetting and drying are responsible for the chemical weathering of rocks, which results in the formation of expansive soils. Shrinkage-swelling (expansive) soils cover a substantial portion of area in India. Damages caused by expansive soils to various geotechnical structures are alarming. Matric suction develops in unsaturated soil due to capillarity and surface tension phenomena. Matric suction influences the geometric arrangement of soil skeleton, which induces the volume change behaviour of expansive soil. In the present study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the role of matric suction in the mechanism behind swelling characteristics of expansive soil. Four different soils have been collected from different parts of India for the current research. Soil sample S1, S2, S3 and S4 were collected from Nagpur, Bharuch, Bharuch-Dahej highway and Ahmedabad respectively. DFSI (Differential Free Swell Index) of these soils samples; S1, S2, S3, and S4; were determined to be 134%, 104%, 70% and 30% respectively. X-ray diffraction analysis of samples exhibited that percentage of Montmorillonite mineral present in the soils reduced with the decrease in DFSI. A series of constant volume swell pressure tests and in-contact filter paper tests were performed to evaluate swelling pressure and matric suction of all four soils at 30% saturation and 1.46 g/cc dry density. Results indicated that soils possessing higher DFSI exhibited higher matric suction as compared to lower DFSI expansive soils. Significant influence of matric suction on swelling pressure of expansive soils was observed with varying DFSI values. Higher matric suction of soil might govern the water uptake in the interlayer spaces of Montmorillonite mineral present in expansive soil leading to crystalline swelling.

Keywords: differential free swell index, expansive soils, matric suction, swelling pressure

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Authors: Adesola O. Orimoloye, Edward Gobina

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Membrane separation technology is still considered as an emerging technology in the mining sector and does not yet have the widespread acceptance that it has in other industrial sectors. Underground Coal Gasification (UCG), wherein coal is converted to gas in-situ, is a safer alternative to mining method that retains all pollutants underground making the process environmentally friendly. In-situ combustion of coal for power generation allows access to more of the physical global coal resource than would be included in current economically recoverable reserve estimates. Where mining is no longer taking place, for economic or geological reasons, controlled gasification permits exploitation of the deposit (again a reaction of coal to form a synthesis gas) of coal seams in situ. The oxygen supply stage is one of the most expensive parts of any gasification project but the use of membranes is a potentially attractive approach for producing oxygen-enriched air. In this study, a variety of cost-effective membrane materials that gives an optimal amount of oxygen concentrations in the range of interest was designed and tested at diverse operating conditions. Oxygen-enriched atmosphere improves the combustion temperature but a decline is observed if oxygen concentration exceeds optimum. Experimental result also reveals the preparatory method, apparatus and performance of the fabricated membrane.

Keywords: membranes, oxygen-enrichment, gasification, coal

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Authors: Sandeep Kumar, Mahesh Kumar Jat, Rajib Sarkar

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Soil reinforced with randomly distributed fibers is an attractive means to improve the performance of soil in a cost effective manner. Static and dynamic characterization of fiber reinforced soil have become important to evaluate adequate performance for all classes of geotechnical engineering problems. Present study investigates the behaviour of fiber reinforced cohesionless soil through numerical simulation of triaxial specimen. The numerical model has been validated with the existing literature of laboratory triaxial compression testing. A parametric study has been done to find out optimum fiber content for shear resistance. Cyclic triaxial testing has been simulated and the stress-strain response of fiber-reinforced sand has been examined considering different combination of fiber contents. Shear modulus values and damping values of fiber-reinforced sand are evaluated. It has been observed from results that for 1.0 percent fiber content shear modulus increased 2.28 times and damping ratio decreased 4.6 times. The influence of amplitude of cyclic strain, confining pressure and frequency of loading on the dynamic properties of fiber reinforced sand has been investigated and presented.

Keywords: damping, fiber reinforced soil, numerical modelling, shear modulus

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Authors: Todor Nickolov Stoyanov

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These factors appear as a reason for difficulties in financing from programs for rural development of the European Union. Credit conditions for commercial banks are difficult to implement, and its interest rate is too high. One of the possibilities for short-term loans at preferential conditions for the small and medium-sized agricultural and forest owners is credit cooperative. After the changes, occurred in the country after 1990, the need to restore credit cooperatives raised. The purpose for the creation of credit cooperatives is to assist private agricultural and forest owners to take care for them, to assist in the expansion and strengthening of their farms, to increase the quality of life and to improve the local economy. It was found that: in Bulgaria there is a legal obstacle for credit cooperatives to expand their business in the deposit and lending sphere; private forest and agricultural owners need small loans to solve a small problem for a certain season; providing such loans is not attractive for banks, but it is extremely necessary for owners of small forests and lands; if a special law on credit cooperatives is adopted, as required by the Cooperatives Act, it will allow more local people to be members of such credit structures and receive the necessary loans. In conclusion, proposals to create conditions for the development of credit cooperatives in the country are made and positive results expected from the creation of credit cooperatives, are summarized.

Keywords: cooperatives, credit cooperatives, forestry, forest owners

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Authors: Raied Khayou

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The Hawza Al-'Ilmiyya is a network of religious seminaries in the Shia branch of Islam. This research mainly focuses on the oldest school located in Najaf, Iraq, because its core curriculum and main characteristics have been unchanged since the fourth century of Islam. Relying on a thorough literature review of Arabic and English publications, and interviews with current and previous students of the seminary, the current research outlines the factors proving how this seminary was crucial in keeping the Shia religious identity intact despite sometimes gruesome attempts of interference and persecution. There are several factors that helped the seminary to preserve its central importance. First, rooted in their theology, Shia Muslims believe that the Hawza Al-’Ilmiyya and its graduates carry a sacred authority. Secondly, the financial independence of the Seminary helped to keep it intact from any governmental or political meddling. Third, its unique teaching method, its matchless openness for new students, and its flexible curriculum made it attractive for many students who were interested in learning more about Shia theology and jurisprudence. The Hawza Al-‘Ilmiyya has the exclusive right to train clerics who hold the religious authority of Shia Islamic jurisprudence, and the seminary’s success in staying independent throughout history kept Shia Islamic theology independent, as well.

Keywords: Hawza Al'Ilmiyya, religious seminary, Shia Muslim education, Islamic jurisprudence

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Authors: Anna Crivellari, Valerio Cozzani

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Even though most of the electricity produced in the entire world still comes from fossil fuels, new policies are being implemented in order to promote a more sustainable use of energy sources. Offshore renewable resources have become increasingly attractive thanks to the huge entity of power potentially obtained. However, the intermittent nature of renewables often limits the capacity of the systems and creates mismatches between supply and demand. Hydrogen is foreseen to be a promising vector to store and transport large amounts of excess renewable power by using existing oil and gas infrastructure. In this work, an offshore hybrid energy system integrating wind energy conversion with hydrogen production was conceptually defined and applied to offshore gas platforms. A techno-economic analysis was performed by considering two different locations for the installation of the innovative power system, i.e., the North Sea and the Adriatic Sea. The water depth, the distance of the platform from the onshore gas grid, the hydrogen selling price and the green financial incentive were some of the main factors taken into account in the comparison. The results indicated that the use of well-defined indicators allows to capture specifically different cost and revenue features of the analyzed systems, as well as to evaluate their competitiveness in the actual and future energy market.

Keywords: cost analysis, energy efficiency assessment, hydrogen production, offshore wind energy

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Authors: Laura O’Halloran, Zhipeng Cao, Clare M. Kelly, Hugh Garavan, Robert Whelan

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Reaction time (RT) variability on cognitive tasks provides the index of the efficiency of executive control processes (e.g. attention and inhibitory control) and is considered to be a hallmark of clinical disorders, such as attention-deficit disorder (ADHD). Increased RT variability is associated with structural and functional brain differences in children and adults with various clinical disorders, as well as poorer task performance accuracy. Furthermore, the strength of functional connectivity across various brain networks, such as the negative relationship between the task-negative default mode network and task-positive attentional networks, has been found to reflect differences in RT variability. Although RT variability may provide an index of attentional efficiency, as well as being a useful indicator of neurological impairment, the brain substrates associated with RT variability remain relatively poorly defined, particularly in a healthy sample. Method: Firstly, we used the intra-individual coefficient of variation (ICV) as an index of RT variability from “Go” responses on the Stop Signal Task. We then examined the functional and structural neural correlates of ICV in a large sample of 14-year old healthy adolescents (n=1719). Of these, a subset had elevated symptoms of ADHD (n=80) and was compared to a matched non-symptomatic control group (n=80). The relationship between brain activity during successful and unsuccessful inhibitions and gray matter volume were compared with the ICV. A mediation analysis was conducted to examine if specific brain regions mediated the relationship between ADHD symptoms and ICV. Lastly, we looked at functional connectivity across various brain networks and quantified both positive and negative correlations during “Go” responses on the Stop Signal Task. Results: The brain data revealed that higher ICV was associated with increased structural and functional brain activation in the precentral gyrus in the whole sample and in adolescents with ADHD symptoms. Lower ICV was associated with lower activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and medial frontal gyrus in the whole sample and in the control group. Furthermore, our results indicated that activation in the precentral gyrus (Broadman Area 4) mediated the relationship between ADHD symptoms and behavioural ICV. Conclusion: This is the first study first to investigate the functional and structural correlates of ICV collectively in a large adolescent sample. Our findings demonstrate a concurrent increase in brain structure and function within task-active prefrontal networks as a function of increased RT variability. Furthermore, structural and functional brain activation patterns in the ACC, and medial frontal gyrus plays a role-optimizing top-down control in order to maintain task performance. Our results also evidenced clear differences in brain morphometry between adolescents with symptoms of ADHD but without clinical diagnosis and typically developing controls. Our findings shed light on specific functional and structural brain regions that are implicated in ICV and yield insights into effective cognitive control in healthy individuals and in clinical groups.

Keywords: ADHD, fMRI, reaction-time variability, default mode, functional connectivity

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Authors: Taehoon Kwon, Hyeongrae Cho, Dirk Henkensmeier, Youngjong Kang, Chong Min Koo

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Ionic polymer actuators have been of interest in the bio-inspired artificial muscle devices. However, the relatively slow response and low power density were the obstacles for practical applications. In this study, ionic polymer actuators are fabricated with ionic polymer composite membranes based on sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) and copper(II) phthalocyanine tetrasulfonic acid (CuPCSA). CuPCSA is an organic filler with very high ion exchange capacity (IEC, 4.5 mmol H+/g) that can be homogeneously dispersed on the molecular scale into the SPAES membrane. SPAES/CuPCSA actuators show larger ionic conductivity, mechanical properties, bending deformation, exceptional faster response to electrical stimuli, and larger mechanical power density (3028 W m–3) than Nafion actuators. This outstanding actuation performance of SPAES/CuPCSA composite membrane actuators makes them attractive for next generation transducers with high power density, which are currently developed biomimetic devices such as endoscopic surgery.

Keywords: actuation performance, composite membranes, ionic polymer actuators, organic filler

Procedia PDF Downloads 259

Authors: Pankaj Singh Rawat, Rajeew Kumar, Pradeep Ram, Priyanka Pandey

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Wheat is an important cereal crop for food security. Boosting the wheat production and productivity is the major challenge across the nation. Good quality of seed is required for maintaining optimum plant stand which ultimately increases grain yield. Ensuring a good germination is one of the key steps to ensure proper plant stand and moisture assurance during seed germination may help to speed up the germination. The tiny size of nanoparticles may help in entry of water into seed without disturbing their internal structure. Considering above, a laboratory experiment was conducted during 2012-13 at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India. The completely randomized design was used for statistical analysis. The experiment was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the appropriate concentration of nanoparticles for seed treatment was screened. In second phase seed soaking hours of nanoparticles for better seed germination were standardized. Wheat variety UP2526 was taken as test crop. Four nanoparticles (TiO₂, ZnO, nickel and chitosan) were taken for study. The crop germination studies were done in petri dishes and standard package and practices were used to raise the seedlings. The germination studies were done by following standard procedure. In first phase of the experiment, seeds were treated with 50 and 300 ppm of nanoparticles and control was also maintained for comparison. In the second phase of experiment, seeds were soaked for 4 hours, 6 hours and 8 hours with 50 ppm nanoparticles of TiO₂, ZnO, nickel and chitosan along with control treatment to identify the soaking time for better seed germination. Experiment revealed that the application of nanoparticles help to enhance seed germination. The study revealed that seed treatment with  nanoparticles at 50 ppm concentration increases root length, shoot length, seedling length, shoot dry weight, seedling dry weight, seedling vigour index I and seedling vigour index II as compared to seed soaking at 300 ppm concentration. This experiment showed that seed soaking up to 4 hr was better as compared to 6 and 8 hrs. Seed soaking with nanoparticles specially TiO₂, ZnO, and chitosan proved to enhance germination and seedling growth indices of wheat crop.

Keywords: nanoparticles, seed germination, seed soaking, wheat

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Authors: Hasen Keder Edris, Ryuji Matsunaga, Toshi Yamanaka

Abstract:

The issue of climate change and its impact is a major contemporary global concern. Ethiopia is one of the countries experiencing adverse climate change impact including frequent extreme weather events that are exacerbating drought and water scarcity. Due to this reason, the government of Ethiopia develops a strategic document which focuses on the climate resilience green economy. One of the major components of the strategic framework is designed to improve community adaptation capacity and mitigation of drought. For effective implementation of the strategy, identification of regions relative vulnerability to drought is vital. There is a growing tendency of applying Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing technologies for collecting information on duration and severity of drought by direct measure of the topography as well as an indirect measure of land cover. This study aims to show an application of remote sensing technology and GIS for developing drought vulnerability index by taking lowland of Ethiopia as a case study. In addition, it assesses integrated Information Communication Technology (ICT) potential of Ethiopia lowland and proposes integrated solution. Satellite data is used to detect the beginning of the drought. The severity of drought risk prone areas of livestock keeping pastoral is analyzed through normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and ten years rainfall data. The change from the existing and average SPOT NDVI and vegetation condition index is used to identify the onset of drought and potential risks. Secondary data is used to analyze geographical coverage of mobile and internet usage in the region. For decades, the government of Ethiopia introduced some technologies and approach to overcoming climate change related problems. However, lack of access to information and inadequate technical support for the pastoral area remains a major challenge. In conventional business as usual approach, the lowland pastorals continue facing a number of challenges. The result indicated that 80% of the region face frequent drought occurrence and out of this 60% of pastoral area faces high drought risk. On the other hand, the target area mobile phone and internet coverage is rapidly growing. One of identified ICT solution enabler technology is telecom center which covers 98% of the region. It was possible to identify the frequently affected area and potential drought risk using the NDVI remote-sensing data analyses. We also found that ICT can play an important role in mitigating climate change challenge. Hence, there is a need to strengthen implementation efforts of climate change adaptation through integrated Remote Sensing and web based information dissemination and mobile alert of extreme events.

Keywords: climate changes, ICT, pastoral, remote sensing

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Authors: S. Bader, N. Essoukri Ben Amara

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With the technological development and rise of virtual worlds, these spaces are becoming more and more attractive for cybercriminals, hidden behind avatars and fictitious identities. Since access to these spaces is not restricted or controlled, some impostors take advantage of gaining unauthorized access and practicing cyber criminality. This paper proposes an identity management approach for securing access to virtual worlds. The major purpose of the suggested solution is to install a strong security mechanism to protect virtual identities represented by avatars. Thus, only legitimate users, through their corresponding avatars, are allowed to access the platform resources. Access is controlled by integrating an authentication process based on biometrics. In the request process for registration, a user fingerprint is enrolled and then encrypted into a watermark utilizing a cancelable and non-invertible algorithm for its protection. After a user personalizes their representative character, the biometric mark is embedded into the avatar through a watermarking procedure. The authenticity of the avatar identity is verified when it requests authorization for access. We have evaluated the proposed approach on a dataset of avatars from various virtual worlds, and we have registered promising performance results in terms of authentication accuracy, acceptation and rejection rates.

Keywords: identity management, security, biometrics authentication and authorization, avatar, virtual world

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Authors: Cecilia Sosa, Fernanda Figueroa, Leonardo Calzada

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Biosphere reserves (BR) are considered as the main strategy for biodiversity and ecosystems conservation. Mexican BR are mainly inhabited by rural communities who strongly depend on forests and their resources. Even though the dual objective of conservation and development has been sought in BR, land cover change is a common process in these areas, while most rural communities are highly marginalized, partly as a result of restrictions imposed by conservation to the access and use of resources. Achieving ecosystems conservation and social development face serious challenges. Factors such as financial support for development projects (public/private), environmental conditions, infrastructure and regional economic conditions might influence both land use change and wellbeing. Examining the temporal trends of conservation and development in BR is central for the evaluation of outcomes for these conservation strategies. In this study, we analyzed changes in primary vegetation cover (as a proxy for conservation) and the index of marginalization (as a proxy for development) in Mexican BR (2000-2015); we also explore the influence of various factors affecting these trends, such as conservation-development projects financial support (public or private), geographical distribution in ecoregions (as a proxy for shared environmental conditions) and in economic zones (as a proxy for regional economic conditions). We developed a spatial analysis at the municipal scale (2,458 municipalities nationwide) in ArcGIS, to obtain road densities, geographical distribution in ecoregions and economic zones, the financial support received, and the percent of municipality area under protection by protected areas and, particularly, by BR. Those municipalities with less than 25% of area under protection were regarded as part of the protected area. We obtained marginalization indexes for all municipalities and, using MODIS in Google Earth Engine, the number of pixels covered by primary vegetation. We used a linear mixed model in RStudio for the analysis. We found a positive correlation between the marginalization index and the percent of primary vegetation cover per year (r=0.49-0.5); i.e., municipalities with higher marginalization also show higher percent of primary vegetation cover. Also, those municipalities with higher area under protection have more development projects (r=0.46) and some environmental conditions were relevant for percent of vegetation cover. Time, economic zones and marginalization index were all important. Time was particularly, in 2005, when both marginalization and deforestation decreased. Road densities and financial support for conservation-development projects were irrelevant as factors in the general correlation. Marginalization is still being affected by the conservation strategies applied in BR, even though that this management category considers both conservation and development of local communities as its objectives. Our results suggest that roads densities and support for conservation-development projects have not been a factor of poverty alleviation. As better conservation is being attained in the most impoverished areas, we face the dilemma of how to improve wellbeing in rural communities under conservation, since current strategies have not been able to leave behind the conservation-development contraposition.

Keywords: deforestation, local development, marginalization, protected areas

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Authors: Gopi Kerekere Rangaraju, Madhu Puttegowda

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Natural fibres composites include coir, jute, bagasse, cotton, bamboo, and hemp. Natural fibers come from plants. These fibers contain lingo cellulose in nature. Natural fibers are eco-friendly; lightweight, strong, renewable, cheap, and biodegradable. The natural fibers can be used to reinforce both thermosetting and thermoplastic matrices. Thermosetting resins such as epoxy, polyester, polyurethane, and phenolic are commonly used composites requiring higher performance applications. They provide sufficient mechanical properties, in particular, stiffness and strength at acceptably low-price levels. Recent advances in natural fibers development are genetic engineering. The composites science offers significant opportunities for improved materials from renewable resources with enhanced support for global sustainability. Natural fibers composites are attractive to industry because of their low density and ecological advantages over conventional composites. These composites are gaining importance due to their non-carcinogenic and bio-degradable nature. Natural fibers composites are a very costeffective material, especially in building and construction, packaging, automobile and railway coach interiors, and storage devices. These composites are potential candidates for the replacement of high- cost glass fibers for low load bearing applications. Natural fibers have the advantages of low density, low cost, and biodegradability

Keywords: PMC, basalt, coir, carbon fibers

Procedia PDF Downloads 115