Search results for: connected components

Authors: Elmo Thiago Lins Cöuras Ford, Valentina Alessandra Carvalho do Vale, José Ubiragi de Lima Mendes

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The study of the aerodynamics is related to the improvement in the acting of airplanes and automobiles with the objective of being reduced the effect of the attrition of the air on structures, providing larger speeds and smaller consumption of fuel. The application of the knowledge of the aerodynamics not more limits to the aeronautical and automobile industries. In that way, being tried the new demands with relationship to the aerodynamic study in the most several areas of the engineering, this work presents the stages of the project and construction of a wind tunnel for application in aerodynamic rehearsals. Among the several configurations of existent wind tunnels, opted to build open circuit, due to smaller construction complexity and installation; operational simplicity and cost reduced. Belonging to the type blower, to take advantage of a larger efficiency of the motor; and with diffusion so that flowed him of air it wins speed before reaching the section of rehearsals. The guidelines for project were: didactic practices: study of the layer it limits and analyze of the drainages on proof bodies with different geometries. For the pressure variation in the test section a connected manometer used a pitot tube. Quantitative and qualitative results showed to be satisfactory.

Keywords: wind tunnel, aerodynamics, air, airplane

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Authors: Hamdi Amroun, Yacine Benziani, Mehdi Ammi

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In this paper, we want to determine whether the accurate prediction of nicotine concentration can be obtained by using a network of smart objects and an e-cigarette. The approach consists of, first, the recognition of factors influencing smoking cessation such as physical activity recognition and participant’s behaviors (using both smartphone and smartwatch), then the prediction of the configuration of the e-cigarette (in terms of nicotine concentration, power, and resistance of e-cigarette). The study uses a network of commonly connected objects; a smartwatch, a smartphone, and an e-cigarette transported by the participants during an uncontrolled experiment. The data obtained from sensors carried in the three devices were trained by a Long short-term memory algorithm (LSTM). Results show that our LSTM-based model allows predicting the configuration of the e-cigarette in terms of nicotine concentration, power, and resistance with a root mean square error percentage of 12.9%, 9.15%, and 11.84%, respectively. This study can help to better control consumption of nicotine and offer an intelligent configuration of the e-cigarette to users.

Keywords: Iot, activity recognition, automatic classification, unconstrained environment

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Authors: Emigdio Mendoza, Patricia Fernandez, Cristian Gomez

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Magnesium alloys have generated great interest for several industrial applications because their high specific strength and low density make them a very attractive alternative for the manufacture of various components; however, these alloys present a limitation with their hexagonal crystal structure that limits the deformation mechanisms at room temperature likewise the molding components alternatives, it is for this reason that severe plastic deformation processes have taken a huge relevance recently because these, allow high deformation rates to be applied that induce microstructural changes where the deficiency in the sliding systems is compensated with crystallographic grains reorientations or crystal twinning. The present study reports a statistical analysis of process temperature, number of passes and shear angle with respect to the shear stress in severe plastic deformation process denominated 'Equal Channel Angular Sheet Drawing (ECASD)' applied to the magnesium alloy AZ31B through Python Statsmodels libraries, additionally a Post-Hoc range test is performed using the Tukey statistical test. Statistical results show that each variable has a p-value lower than 0.05, which allows comparing the average values of shear stresses obtained, which are in the range of 7.37 MPa to 12.23 MPa, lower values in comparison to others severe plastic deformation processes reported in the literature, considering a value of 157.53 MPa as the average creep stress for AZ31B alloy. However, a higher stress level is required when the sheets are processed using a shear angle of 150°, due to a higher level of adjustment applied for the shear die of 150°. Temperature and shear passes are important variables as well, but there is no significant impact on the level of stress applied during the ECASD process. In the processing of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets, ECASD technique is evidenced as a viable alternative in the modification of the elasto-plastic properties of this alloy, promoting the weakening of the basal texture, which means, a better response to deformation, whereby, during the manufacture of parts by drawing or stamping processes the formation of cracks on the surface can be reduced, presenting an adequate mechanical performance.

Keywords: plastic deformation, strain, sheet drawing, magnesium

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Authors: M. A. Badr, M. N. El Kordy, A. N. Mohib, M. M. Ibrahim

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The basic objective of the research is to study the effect of hybrid wind energy on the cost of generated electricity considering the cost of reduction CO₂ emissions. The system consists of small wind turbine(s), storage battery bank and a diesel generator (W/D/B). Using an optimization software package, different system configurations are investigated to reach optimum configuration based on the net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE) as economic optimization criteria. The cost of avoided CO₂ is taken into consideration. The system is intended to supply the electrical load of a small community (gathering six families) in a remote Egyptian area. The investigated system is not connected to the electricity grid and may replace an existing conventional diesel powered electric supply system to reduce fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions. The simulation results showed that W/D energy system is more economic than diesel alone. The estimated COE is 0.308$/kWh and extracting the cost of avoided CO₂, the COE reached 0.226 $/kWh which is an external benefit of wind turbine, as there are no pollutant emissions through operational phase.

Keywords: hybrid wind turbine systems, remote areas electrification, simulation of hybrid energy systems, techno-economic study

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Authors: Liang Qin, Hanan M. D. Habbi

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A robust sensorless speed for permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) has been presented for estimation of stator flux components and rotor speed based on The Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The model of PMSM and its EKF models are modeled in Matlab /Sirnulink environment. The proposed EKF speed estimation method is also proved insensitive to the PMSM parameter variations. Simulation results demonstrate a good performance and robustness.

Keywords: DTC, Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), PMSM, sensorless control, anti-windup PI

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Authors: Ari Lindeman, Melina Maunula, Jani Kiviranta, Ronja Pölkki

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The aim of this paper is to build a vision of the utilization of creative industry competences in industrial and services firms connected to Kymenlaakso region, Finland, smart specialization focus areas. Research indicates that creativity and the use of creative industry’s inputs can enhance innovation and competitiveness. Currently creative methods and services are underutilized in regional businesses and the added value they provide is not well grasped. Methodologically, the research adopts a qualitative exploratory approach. Data is collected in multiple ways including a survey, focus groups, and interviews. Theoretically, the paper contributes to the discussion about the use creative industry competences in regional development, and argues for building regional creative economy ecosystems in close co-operation with regional strategies and traditional industries rather than as treating regional creative industry ecosystem initiatives separate from them. The practical contribution of the paper is the creative vision for the use of regional authorities in updating smart specialization strategy as well as boosting industrial and creative & cultural sectors’ competitiveness. The paper also illustrates a research-based model of vision building.

Keywords: business, cooperation, creative economy, regional development, vision

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Authors: T. J. Hasanova, C. N. Imamalieva

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The problem about the movement of the rigid cylinder keeping the vertical position under the influence of running superficial waves in a liquid is considered. The indignation of a falling wave caused by the presence of the cylinder which moves is thus considered. Special decomposition on a falling harmonious wave is used. The problem dares an operational method. For a finding of the original decision, Considering that the image denominator represents a tabular function, Voltaire's integrated equation of the first sort which dares a numerical method is used. Cylinder movement in the continuous environment under the influence of waves is considered in work. Problems are solved by an operational method, thus originals of required functions are looked for by the numerical definition of poles of combinations of transcendental functions and calculation of not own integrals. Using specificity of a task below, Decisions are under construction the numerical solution of the integrated equation of Volter of the first sort that does not create computing problems of the complex roots of transcendental functions connected with search.

Keywords: rigid cylinder, linear interpolation, fluctuations, Voltaire's integrated equation, harmonious wave

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Authors: Jorge Martinez-Garcia, Ingrid Stelzner, Joerg Stelzner, Damian Gwerder, Philipp Schuetz

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Tree-ring analysis is an important part of the quality assessment and the dating of (archaeological) wood samples. It provides quantitative data about the whole anatomical ring structure, which can be used, for example, to measure the impact of the fluctuating environment on the tree growth, for the dendrochronological analysis of archaeological wooden artefacts and to estimate the wood mechanical properties. Despite advances in computer vision and edge recognition algorithms, detection and counting of annual rings are still limited to 2D datasets and performed in most cases manually, which is a time consuming, tedious task and depends strongly on the operator’s experience. This work presents an image processing approach to detect the whole 3D tree-ring structure directly from X-ray computed tomography imaging data. The approach relies on a modified Canny edge detection algorithm, which captures fully connected tree-ring edges throughout the measured image stack and is validated on X-ray computed tomography data taken from six wood species.

Keywords: ring recognition, edge detection, X-ray computed tomography, dendrochronology

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Authors: Anastasia Rita Widiarti, Agus Harjoko, Marsono, Sri Hartati

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This paper presents the results of a study to test whether the Javanese character manuscript image preprocessing model that have been more widely applied, can also be applied to segment of the Batak characters manuscripts. The treatment process begins by converting the input image into a binary image. After the binary image is cleaned of noise, then the segmentation lines using projection profile is conducted. If unclear histogram projection is found, then the smoothing process before production indexes line segments is conducted. For each line image which has been produced, then the segmentation scripts in the line is applied, with regard of the connectivity between pixels which making up the letters that there is no characters are truncated. From the results of manuscript preprocessing system prototype testing, it is obtained the information about the system truth percentage value on pieces of Pustaka Batak Podani Ma AjiMamisinon manuscript ranged from 65% to 87.68% with a confidence level of 95%. The value indicates the truth percentage shown the initial processing model in Javanese characters manuscript image can be applied also to the image of the Batak characters manuscript.

Keywords: connected component, preprocessing, manuscript image, projection profiles

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Authors: Fekadu Gadissa, Kassahun Tesfaye, Kifle Dagne, Mulatu Geleta

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‘Ethiopian dinich’ also called ‘Ethiopian potato’ is one of the economically important ‘orphan’ edible tuber crops indigenous to Ethiopia. We evaluated the morphological and agronomic traits performances of 174 samples from Ethiopia at multiple locations using 12 qualitative and 16 quantitative traits, recorded at the correct growth stages. We observed several morphotypes and phenotypic variations for qualitative traits along with a wide range of mean performance values for all quantitative traits. Analysis of variance for each quantitative trait showed a highly significant (p<0.001) variation among the collections with eventually non-significant variation for environment-traits interaction for all but flower length. A comparatively high phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation was observed for plant height, days to flower initiation, days to 50% flowering and tuber number per hill. Moreover, the variability and coefficients of variation due to genotype-environment interaction was nearly zero for all the traits except flower length. High genotypic coefficients of variation coupled with a high estimate of broad sense heritability and high genetic advance as a percent of collection mean were obtained for tuber weight per hill, number of primary branches per plant, tuber number per hill and number of plants per hill. Association of tuber yield per hectare of land showed a large magnitude of positive phenotypic and genotypic correlation with those traits. Principal components analysis revealed 76% of the total variation for the first six principal axes with high factor loadings again from tuber number per hill, number of primary branches per plant and tuber weight. The collections were grouped into four clusters with the weak region (zone) of origin based pattern. In general, there is high genetic-based variability for ‘Ethiopian dinich’ improvement and conservation. DNA based markers are recommended for further genetic diversity estimation for use in breeding and conservation.

Keywords: agro-morphological traits, Ethiopian dinich, genetic diversity, variance components

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Authors: Amal Maazoun, Abderrazak Mezghani, Ali Ben Moussa

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Aerogel consists of a ramified and inter-connected solid skeleton enclosing a very important number of nano-sized pores filled with air that occupies most of the volume and makes very low density. The thermal conductivity of this material can reach lower values than those of any other material, and it changes with the type of the aerogel and its composition. So, in order to explain the causes of the super-insulation of our material and to determine the factors in which depends on its conductivity we used a numerical simulation. We have developed a numerical code that generates random fractal structure of silica aerogel with pre-defined concentration, properties of the backbone and the gas in the pores as well as the size of the particles. The calculation of the conductivity at any point of domain shows that it is not constant and that it depends on the pore size and the location in the pore. A numerical method based on resolution by inversion of block tridiagonal matrices is used to calculate the equivalent thermal conductivity of the whole fractal structure. The average conductivity calculated for each concentration is in good agreement with those of typical aerogels. And we found that the equivalent thermal conductivity of a silica aerogel depends strongly not only on the porosity but also on the tortuosity of the solid backbone.

Keywords: aerogel, fractal structure, numerical study, porous media, thermal conductivity

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Authors: John McDowall, Lucy Lightfoot

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Stigma constitutes a significant barrier to the recovery and social integration of individuals affected by mental illness. Although there is some debate in the literature regarding the definition and utility of stigma as a concept, it is widely accepted that it comprises three components: stereotypical beliefs, prejudicial reactions, and discrimination. Stereotypical beliefs describe the cognitive knowledge-based component of stigma, referring to beliefs (often negative) about members of a group that is based on cultural and societal norms (e.g. ‘People with anxiety are just weak’). Prejudice refers to the affective/evaluative component of stigma and describes the endorsement of negative stereotypes and the resulting negative emotional reactions (e.g. ‘People with anxiety are just weak, and they frustrate me’). Discrimination refers to the behavioural component of stigma, which is arguably the most problematic, as it exerts a direct effect on the stigmatized person and may lead people to behave in a hostile or avoidant way towards them (i.e. refusal to hire them). Research exploring anti-stigma initiatives focus primarily on an educational approach, with the view that accurate information will replace misconceptions and decrease stigma. Many approaches take a biogenetic stance, emphasising brain and biochemical deficits - the idea being that ‘mental illness is an illness like any other.' While this approach tends to effectively reduce blame, it has also demonstrated negative effects such as increasing prognostic pessimism, the desire for social distance and perceptions of stereotypes. In the present study 144 participants were split into three groups and read one of three vignettes presenting causal explanations for Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD): One explanation emphasized biogenetic factors as being important in the etiology of GAD, another emphasised psychosocial factors (e.g. aversive life events, poverty, etc.), and a third stressed the adaptive features of the disorder from an evolutionary viewpoint. A variety of measures tapping the various components of stigma were administered following the vignettes. No difference in stigma measures as a function of causal explanation was found. People who had contact with mental illness in the past were significantly less stigmatising across a wide range of measures, but this did not interact with the type of causal explanation.

Keywords: generalised anxiety disorder, discrimination, prejudice, stigma

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Authors: Pakorn Uttayopas, Chawalit Kittichaikarn

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This paper presents an experimental investigation for the characteristics of an energy harvesting device exploiting flow-induced vibration in a wind tunnel. A stationary bluff body is connected with a downstream tip body via an aluminium cantilever beam. Various lengths of aluminium cantilever beam and different shapes of downstream tip body are considered. The results show that the characteristics of the energy harvester’s vibration depend on both the length of the aluminium cantilever beam and the shape of the downstream tip body. The highest ratio between vibration amplitude and bluff body diameter was found to be 1.39 for an energy harvester with a symmetrical triangular tip body and L/D₁ = 5 at 9.8 m/s of flow speed (Re = 20077). Using this configuration, the electrical energy was extracted with a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric beam with different load resistances, of which the optimal value could be found on each Reynolds number. The highest power output was found to be 3.19 µW, at 9.8 m/s of flow speed (Re = 20077) and 27 MΩ of load resistance.

Keywords: downstream structures, energy harvesting, flow-induced vibration, piezoelectric material, wind tunnel

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Authors: Saeed Farivar, Mohsen Kahrom

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The purpose of this work is to develop a physical simulation model for the purpose of studying the effect of various design parameters on the performance of packaged-liquid chillers. This paper presents a steady-state model for predicting the performance of package-Liquid chiller over a wide range of operation condition. The model inputs are inlet conditions; geometry and output of model include system performance variable such as power consumption, coefficient of performance (COP) and states of refrigerant through the refrigeration cycle. A computer model that simulates the steady-state cyclic performance of a vapor compression chiller is developed for the purpose of performing detailed physical design analysis of actual industrial chillers. The model can be used for optimizing design and for detailed energy efficiency analysis of packaged liquid chillers. The simulation model takes into account presence of all chiller components such as compressor, shell-and-tube condenser and evaporator heat exchangers, thermostatic expansion valve and connection pipes and tubing’s by thermo-hydraulic modeling of heat transfer, fluids flow and thermodynamics processes in each one of the mentioned components. To verify the validity of the developed model, a 7.5 USRT packaged-liquid chiller is used and a laboratory test stand for bringing the chiller to its standard steady-state performance condition is build. Experimental results obtained from testing the chiller in various load and temperature conditions is shown to be in good agreement with those obtained from simulating the performance of the chiller using the computer prediction model. An entropy-minimization-based optimization analysis is performed based on the developed analytical performance model of the chiller. The variation of design parameters in construction of shell-and-tube condenser and evaporator heat exchangers are studied using the developed performance and optimization analysis and simulation model and a best-match condition between the physical design and construction of chiller heat exchangers and its compressor is found to exist. It is expected that manufacturers of chillers and research organizations interested in developing energy-efficient design and analysis of compression chillers can take advantage of the presented study and its results.

Keywords: optimization, packaged liquid chiller, performance, simulation

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Authors: German Osma, Gabriel Ordonez

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The production of metal-rubber spares for vehicles is a sequential process that consists in the transformation of raw material through cutting activities and chemical and thermal treatments, which demand electricity and fossil fuels. The energy efficiency analysis for these cases is mostly focused on studying of each machine or production step, but is not common to study of the quality of the production process achieves from aggregated value viewpoint, which can be used as a quality measurement for determining of impact on the environment. In this paper, the theory of exergetic cost is used for determining of aggregated exergy to three metal-rubber spares, from an exergy analysis and thermoeconomic analysis. The manufacturing processing of these spares is based into batch production technique, and therefore is proposed the use of this theory for discontinuous flows from of single models of workstations; subsequently, the complete exergy model of each product is built using flowcharts. These models are a representation of exergy flows between components into the machines according to electrical, mechanical and/or thermal expressions; they determine the demanded exergy to produce the effective transformation in raw materials (aggregated exergy value), the exergy losses caused by equipment and irreversibilities. The energy resources of manufacturing process are electricity and natural gas. The workstations considered are lathes, punching presses, cutters, zinc machine, chemical treatment tanks, hydraulic vulcanizing presses and rubber mixer. The thermoeconomic analysis was done by workstation and by spare; first of them describes the operation of the components of each machine and where the exergy losses are; while the second of them estimates the exergy-aggregated value for finished product and wasted feedstock. Results indicate that exergy efficiency of a mechanical workstation is between 10% and 60% while this value in the thermal workstations is less than 5%; also that each effective exergy-aggregated value is one-thirtieth of total exergy required for operation of manufacturing process, which amounts approximately to 2 MJ. These troubles are caused mainly by technical limitations of machines, oversizing of metal feedstock that demands more mechanical transformation work, and low thermal insulation of chemical treatment tanks and hydraulic vulcanizing presses. From established information, in this case, it is possible to appreciate the usefulness of theory of exergetic cost for analyzing of aggregated value in manufacturing processes.

Keywords: exergy-aggregated value, exergy efficiency, thermoeconomics, exergy modeling

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Authors: William Whiteley, Jens Gregor

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In recent developments of direct neural network based positron emission tomography (PET) reconstruction, two prominent architectures have emerged for converting measurement data into images: 1) networks that contain fully-connected layers; and 2) networks that primarily use a convolutional encoder-decoder architecture. In this paper, we present a multi-modal direct PET reconstruction method called MDPET, which is a hybrid approach that combines the advantages of both types of networks. MDPET processes raw data in the form of sinograms and histo-images in concert with attenuation maps to produce high quality multi-slice PET images (e.g., 8x440x440). MDPET is trained on a large whole-body patient data set and evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively against target images reconstructed with the standard PET reconstruction benchmark of iterative ordered subsets expectation maximization. The results show that MDPET outperforms the best previously published direct neural network methods in measures of bias, signal-to-noise ratio, mean absolute error, and structural similarity.

Keywords: deep learning, image reconstruction, machine learning, neural network, positron emission tomography

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Authors: Sabah Mohammed, Jinan Fiaidhi, Darien Sawyer

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Describing clinical cases according to a clinical charting standard that enforces interoperability and enables connected care services can save lives in the event of a medical emergency or provide efficient and effective interventions for the benefit of the patients through the integration of bedside and bench side clinical research. This article presented a multi-tenant extension to the problem-oriented medical record that we have prototyped previously upon using the GraphQL Application Programming Interface to represent the notion of a problem list. Our implemented extension enables physicians and patients to collaboratively describe the patient case via using multi chatbots to collaboratively describe the patient case using the SOAP charting standard. Our extension also connects the described SOAP patient case with the HL7 FHIR (Health Interoperability Resources) medical record for connecting the patient case to the bench data.

Keywords: problem-oriented medical record, graphQL, chatbots, SOAP

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Authors: Piotr Wadolowski, Grzegorz Krzesinski, Piotr Gutowski

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The aim of the presented work is to recognize the impact of mini-plate application approach on the stress and displacement within the stabilization devices and surrounding bones. The mini-plate osteosynthesis technique is widely used by craniofacial surgeons as an improved replacement of wire connection approach. Many different types of metal plates and screws are used to the physical connection of fractured bones. Below investigation is based on a clinical observation of patient hospitalized with mini-plate stabilization system. Analysis was conducted on a solid mandible geometry, which was modeled basis on the computed tomography scan of the hospitalized patient. In order to achieve most realistic connected system behavior, the cortical and cancellous bone layers were assumed. The temporomandibular joint was simplified to the elastic element to allow physiological movement of loaded bone. The muscles of mastication system were reduced to three pairs, modeled as shell structures. Finite element grid was created by the ANSYS software, where hexahedral and tetrahedral variants of SOLID185 element were used. A set of nonlinear contact conditions were applied on connecting devices and bone common surfaces. Properties of particular contact pair depend on screw - mini-plate connection type and possible gaps between fractured bone around osteosynthesis region. Some of the investigated cases contain prestress introduced to the mini-plate during the application, what responds the initial bending of the connecting device to fit the retromolar fossa region. Assumed bone fracture occurs within the mandible angle zone. Due to the significant deformation of the connecting plate in some of the assembly cases the elastic-plastic model of titanium alloy was assumed. The bone tissues were covered by the orthotropic material. As a loading were used the gauge force of magnitude of 100N applied in three different locations. Conducted analysis shows significant impact of mini-plate application methodology on the stress distribution within the miniplate. Prestress effect introduces additional loading, which leads to locally exceed the titanium alloy yield limit. Stress in surrounding bone increases rapidly around the screws application region, exceeding assumed bone yield limit, what indicate the local bone destruction. Approach with the doubled mini-plate shows increased stress within the connector due to the too rigid connection, where the main path of loading leads through the mini-plates instead of plates and connected bones. Clinical observations confirm more frequent plate destruction of stiffer connections. Some of them could be an effect of decreased low cyclic fatigue capability caused by the overloading. The executed analysis prove that the mini-plate system provides sufficient support to mandible fracture treatment, however, many applicable solutions shifts the entire system to the allowable material limits. The results show that connector application with the initial loading needs to be carefully established due to the small material capability tolerances. Comparison to the clinical observations allows optimizing entire connection to prevent future incidents.

Keywords: mandible fracture, mini-plate connection, numerical analysis, osteosynthesis

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Authors: A. De Serres-Lafontaine, S. Porlier, K. Poitras

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Introduction: Placement is, without doubt, a challenging experience for both foster children and biological parents who witness their child being removed from their care. Yet, few studies have examined parenting in such a context through critical parental skills such as parental sensitivity and commitment. Sensitivity is described as the capacity of parents to respond accurately to their child’s needs in a warm, predictable and consistent way, whereas commitment is the ability of the parent to get involved physically and emotionally in an enduring relationship with his child. The research confirms the important role of parental sensitivity and parental commitment on child development following placement in foster care. Nevertheless, these studies were mainly conducted with foster parents, and few studies have examined these components of parenthood with biological parents. Method: This study evolves in two times. At first, 17 parents participated throughout a 90-minutes interview. It allowed to collect information regarding the sociodemographic situation, contacts, placement trajectory. Parental sensitivity is observed during a supervised parent-child contact. The second time occurred one to two years later and implied an at-home 90-minutes interview where we updated the information from the first interview and were able to assess the level of parental commitment. In this ongoing part of the study, five parents have already participated in implying the rest of them remain to be interviewed in the coming months - from October through December 2018. Results: Descriptive analysis from the first part of the study suggests the examination of two groups: 11 children have been reunified whereas six are still in foster care. Qualitative analysis allows to compare themes of sensitivity and commitment regarding if the reunification project occurs or not. Preliminary analysis about thematic content shows key components of parental commitment through parent’s reveal of the way they nurture a relationship with their child. Furthermore, preliminary analysis suggests that parental sensitivity is not associated with family reunification (r = 0,11, p = 0,74). Further analysis will be assessed with the date from the second part of the study to examine the potential association between commitment and reunification. Discussion: Parental sensitivity and commitment are fundamental to the well-being of the child in a placement trajectory. They need to be understood better as two different complex concepts and as two parenting skills that might have a way of echoing to one another when engaged in a specific context. Above all, a more accurate comprehension of parenting in a placement trajectory allows to sustain adequate intervention practices for birth parents and could change the way parental adequacy is assessed when reaching for reunification.

Keywords: child welfare, foster care, intervention practices, parenthood

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Authors: Mehmet Cogal

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Students with disabilities perform historically lower than their peers on standardized assessments. There needs to be more work in the literature providing strategies to improve student scores on standardized assessments and how they are connected to teacher in-service programs. This quantitative causal-comparative study measured the impact of a teacher in-service program geared toward special education teachers. The study was conducted at a small public charter school serving grades 6-12 in Massachusetts. The students were given a pre and post-test before and after the teacher in-service program. Data were collected from 34 students’ reading scores in grades six, seven, eight, and 10. A paired t-test was conducted to measure if there was an increase in reading scores after the teacher in-service program. The study assumed that the teachers had implemented the strategies they learned during the teacher in-service program. The study also had limitations, including a small sample size, and the findings may not be generalized for the entire special education population. Although the study indicated no significant difference in the test scores, the teacher in-service programs and their effects on student achievement can still be further investigated.

Keywords: student achievement, standardized testing, teacher in-service, special education

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Authors: Lenka Morávková, Zuzana Sedláková, Jiří Vejražka, Věra Jandová, Pavel Izák

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The need to minimize the costs of biogas upgrading leads to a continuous search for new and more effective membrane materials. The improvement of biogas combustion efficiency is connected with polar gases removal from a feed stream. One of the possibilities is the use of water–swollen polyamide layer of thin film composite reverse osmosis membrane for simultaneous carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide removal. Transport properties and basic characteristics of a thin film composite membrane were compared in the term of appropriate water-swollen membrane choice for biogas upgrading. SEM analysis showed that the surface of the best performing composites changed significantly upon swelling by water. The surface changes were found to be a proof that the selective skin polyamide layer was swollen well. Further, the presence of a sufficient number of associative centers, namely amido groups, inside the upper layer of the hydrophilic thin composite membrane can play an important role in the polar gas separation from a non-polar gas. The next key factor is a high porosity of the membrane support.

Keywords: biogas upgrading, carbon dioxide separation, hydrogen sulphide separation, water-swollen membrane

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Authors: S. S. Dol

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Improvement in vehicle efficiency can reduce global fossil fuels consumptions. For that sole reason, Shell Global Corporation introduces Shell Eco-marathon where student teams require to design, build and test energy-efficient vehicles. Hence, this paper will focus on design processes and the development of a fuel economic vehicle which satisfying the requirements of the competition. In this project, three components are designed and analyzed, which are the body, chassis and powertrain of the vehicle. Optimum design for each component is produced through simulation analysis and theoretical calculation in which improvement is made as the project progresses.

Keywords: energy efficient, drag force, chassis, powertrain

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Authors: Naira Sahakyan, Margarit Petrosyan, Armen Trchounian

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One of the tasks in contemporary biotechnology, pharmacology and other fields of human activities is to obtain biologically active substances from plants. They are very essential in the treatment of many diseases due to their actually high therapeutic value without visible side effects. However, sometimes the possibility of obtaining the metabolites is limited due to the reduction of wild-growing plants. That is why the plant cell cultures are of great interest as alternative sources of biologically active substances. Besides, during the monitored cultivation, it is possible to obtain substances that are not synthesized by plants in nature. Isolated culture of Ajuga genevensis with high growth activity and ability of regeneration was obtained using MS nutrient medium. The agar-diffusion method showed that aqueous extracts of callus culture revealed high antimicrobial activity towards various gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis A1WT; B. mesentericus WDCM 1873; Staphylococcus aureus WDCM 5233; Staph. citreus WT) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli WKPM M-17; Salmonella typhimurium TA 100) microorganisms. The broth dilution method revealed that the minimal and half maximal inhibitory concentration values against E. coli corresponded to the 70 μg/mL and 140 μg/mL concentration of the extract respectively. According to the photochemiluminescent analysis, callus tissue extracts of leaf and root origin showed higher antioxidant activity than the same quantity of A. genevensis intact plant extract. A. genevensis intact plant and callus culture extracts showed no cytotoxic effect on K-562 suspension cell line of human chronic myeloid leukemia. The GC-MS analysis showed deep differences between the qualitative and quantitative composition of callus culture and intact plant extracts. Hexacosane (11.17%); n-hexadecanoic acid (9.33%); and 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (4.28%) were the main components of intact plant extracts. 10-Methylnonadecane (57.0%); methoxyacetic acid, 2-tetradecyl ester (17.75%) and 1-Bromopentadecane (14.55%) were the main components of A. genevensis callus culture extracts. Obtained data indicate that callus culture of A. genevensis can be used as an alternative source of biologically active substances.

Keywords: Ajuga genevensis, antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity, callus cultures

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Authors: K. Shim, J. N. Kim

Abstract:

This study investigates how consumers’ evaluations of a multinational corporation’s corporate social responsibility program connected to the perceived corporate authenticity and consumers’ pro-firm behavioral intention. With special attention to the two different types of CSR motives, business-oriented CSR motive and society-oriented motive, the current study empirically tests a theoretical model of a mediating role of corporate authenticity between perception of CSR motives and the consumers’ subsequent pro-firm behaviours. Results indicate significant mediation effects of corporate authenticity between perception of altruistic and societal CSR motives and consumers’ pro-firm behaviours. Unlike previous notions of the negative influence of self-interested motives on corporate authenticity, perceived strategic and business-oriented motives in CSR does not negatively affect the evalution of corporate authenticity when stakeholders have utilitarian ethical perspectives. Unlike the Korean participants, US participants are not willing to conduct pro-firm behaviors when they perceive strategic and business-oriented CSR motives. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: corporate authenticity, corporate social responsibility, CSR motives, strategic CSR, utilitarian ethics, kantian ethics

Procedia PDF Downloads 483

Authors: M. Macchiaroli, V. Pellecchia, L. Dolores

Abstract:

The water supply for production users (craft, commercial, industrial), understood as the set of water supply and wastewater collection services becomes an increasingly felt problem in a water scarcity regime. In fact, disputes are triggered between the different social parties for the fair and efficient use of water resources. Within this aspect, the problem arises of the different pricing of services between civil users and production users. Of particular interest is the question of defining the tariff classes depending on consumption levels. If for civil users, this theme is strongly permeated by social profiles (a topic dealt with by the author in a forthcoming research contribution) connected with the inalienability of the right to have water and with the reconciliation of the needs of the weakest groups of the population, for consumers in the production sector the logic adopted by the manager may be inspired by criteria of greater corporate rationality. This work illustrates the Italian regulatory framework and shows an optimization model of tariff classes in the production sector that reconciles the public objective of sustainable use of the resource and the needs of a production system in search of recovery after the depressing effects caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: decision making, economic evaluation, urban water management, water tariff

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Authors: Karl Mabiala Dondia, Jing Ma

Abstract:

In recent years, networks based on the 802.11 standards have gained a prolific deployment. The reason for this massive acceptance of the technology by both home users and corporations is assuredly due to the "plug-and-play" nature of the technology and the mobility. The lack of physical containment due to inherent nature of the wireless medium makes maintenance very challenging from a security standpoint. This study examines via continuous monitoring various predictable threats that 802.11 networks can face, how they are executed, where each attack may be executed and how to effectively defend against them. The key goal is to identify the key components of an effective wireless security policy.

Keywords: wireless LAN, IEEE 802.11 standards, continuous monitoring, security policy

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Authors: Steve Haberlin

Abstract:

United States college students are experiencing record-high stress and anxiety rates, and due to technological advances, there are more distractions in the classroom. With these challenges comes the need to explore additional, non-traditional pedagogical strategies that can help students de-stress, become centered, and feel more deeply connected to content. In addition, embedding contemplative practices, such as mindfulness meditation, in the higher education classroom could assist faculty in presenting a more holistic education that encourages students to develop self-awareness, emotional intelligence, compassion, interconnectedness, and other “non-academic” qualities. Brief meditation may help students de-stress, focus, and connect. A facilitation guide could also help faculty implement classroom meditation practices; however, additional research is needed to determine how to best train faculty, what meditation techniques work best with students, and how to handle resistance. In this paper, a two-phase study is presented that involves a mindfulness meditation intervention with 180 undergraduate students at a private college in the southeastern United States. Data were collected through qualitative surveys and journaling and analyzed for themes. Findings included a majority of students reporting improved calm, reduced stress, and increased focus and ability to transition to classroom instruction.

Keywords: college students, higher education, mindfulness meditation, stress

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Authors: Júlio Cesar Lopes de Oliveira, Carlos Henrique Gonçalves Treviso

Abstract:

The shortage of the automotive market in relation to options for sources of high power car audio systems, led to development of this work. Thus, we developed a source with stabilized voltage with 4320 W effective power. Designed to the voltage of 14.4 V and a choice of two currents: 30 A load option in battery banks and 300 A at full load. This source can also be considered as a source of general use dedicated commercial with a simple control circuit in analog form based on discrete components. The assembly of power circuit uses a methodology for higher power than the initially stipulated.

Keywords: DC-DC power converters, converters, power conversion, pulse width modulation converters

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Authors: Mustafa A. Al-Refai

Abstract:

This paper investigates the energy storage technologies that can potentially enhance the use of solar energy. Water electrolysis systems are seen as the principal means of producing a large amount of hydrogen in the future. Starting from the analysis of the models of the system components, a complete simulation model was realized in the Matlab-Simulink environment. Results of the numerical simulations are provided. The operation of electrolysis and photovoltaic array combination is verified at various insulation levels. It is pointed out that solar cell arrays and electrolysers are producing the expected results with solar energy inputs that are continuously varying.

Keywords: electrolyzer, simulink, solar energy, storage system

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Authors: Chukwuka E. V., Rowling J. K., Rushdie Salman

Abstract:

The field of electronic engineering encompasses the study and application of electrical systems, circuits, and devices. Engineers in this discipline design, analyze and optimize electronic components to develop innovative solutions for various industries. This abstract provides a brief overview of the diverse areas within electronic engineering, including analog and digital electronics, signal processing, communication systems, and embedded systems. It highlights the importance of staying abreast of advancements in technology and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration to address contemporary challenges in this rapidly evolving field.

Keywords: smart home engineering, energy efficiency, user-centric design, security frameworks

Procedia PDF Downloads 87