Search results for: organizational values

Authors: Khlif Hamadi

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Supply chain integration has become a potentially valuable way of securing shared information and improving supply chain performance since competition is no longer between organizations but among supply chains. This research conceptualizes and develops three dimensions of supply chain integration (integration with customers, integration with suppliers, and the interorganizational integration) and tests the relationships between supply chain integration, information sharing, and supply chain performance. Furthermore, the four types of information sharing namely; information sharing with customers, information sharing with suppliers, inter-functional information sharing, and intra-organizational information sharing; and the four constructs of Supply Chain Performance represents expenses of costs, asset utilization, supply chain reliability, and supply chain flexibility and responsiveness. The theoretical and practical implications of the study, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

Keywords: supply chain integration, supply chain management, information sharing, supply chain performance

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Authors: Nur Aisyah Jalalludin, Arwindra Rizqiawan, Goro Fujita

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In this study, we aim to demonstrate a microgrid system experimental simulation for an easy understanding of a large-scale microgrid system. This model is required for industrial training and learning environments. However, in order to create an exact representation of a microgrid system, the laboratory-scale system must fulfill the requirements of a grid-connected inverter, in which power values are assigned to the system to cope with the intermittent output from renewable energy sources. Aside from that, during changes in load capacity, the grid-connected system must be able to supply power from the utility grid side and microgrid side in a balanced manner. Therefore, droop control is installed in the inverter’s control board to maintain equal power sharing in both sides. This power control in a stand-alone condition and droop control in a grid-connected condition must be implemented in order to maintain a stabilized system. Based on the experimental results, power control and droop control can both be applied in the system by comparing the experimental and reference values.

Keywords: droop control, droop characteristic, grid-connected inverter, microgrid, power control

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Authors: Asim Alsharif, Christophe Pinna, Hassan Ghadbeigi

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The development of next-generation advanced high strength steels (AHSS) used in the automotive industry requires a better understanding of local deformation and damage development at the scale of their microstructures. This work is focused on dual-phase DP1000 steels and involves micro-mechanical tensile testing inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) combined with digital image correlation (DIC) to quantify the heterogeneity of deformation in both ferrite and martensite and its evolution up to fracture. Natural features of the microstructure are used for the correlation carried out using Davis LaVision software. Strain localization is observed in both phases with tensile strain values up to 130% and 110% recorded in ferrite and martensite respectively just before final fracture. Damage initiation sites have been observed during deformation in martensite but could not be correlated to local strain values. A finite element (FE) model of the microstructure has then been developed using Abaqus to map stress distributions over representative areas of the microstructure by forcing the model to deform as in the experiment using DIC-measured displacement maps as boundary conditions. A MATLAB code has been developed to automatically mesh the microstructure from SEM images and to map displacement vectors from DIC onto the FE mesh. Results show a correlation of damage initiation at the interface between ferrite and martensite with local principal stress values of about 1700MPa in the martensite phase. Damage in ferrite is now being investigated, and results are expected to bring new insight into damage development in DP steels.

Keywords: advanced high strength steels, digital image correlation, finite element modelling, micro-mechanical testing

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Authors: P. Muñiz, R. Del Pino-García , M.D. Rivero-Pérez, J. García-Lomillo, M. L. González-SanJosé

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Grape, wine and wine pomace could improve the antioxidant status in the vasculature in terms of plasma antioxidant capacity and oxidation biomarkers, partly due to their high content in polyphenols. The current study aimed to evaluate the protection of a powdered product obtained from wine pomace (WPP) against oxidative damage associated to diabetes. Streptozotocin-induced diabetic (STZ) male Wistar rats and non-diabetic control (C) rats initially weighting 300±10 mg were supplemented with 100 mg of WPP or vehicle for 4 weeks. Blood glucose levels and body weight (BW) were measured weekly. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) assessed using the ABTS method, and F2α-Isoprostanes (F2-IsoPs) quantified by GC-MS were measured in plasma collected at the end of this experiment. Blood glucose levels tended to increase in the STZ group along the study. Supplementation maintained relatively stable during the whole experiment the blood glucose values in STZ+WPP rats. A weight loss of BW in STZ rats respect to C rats was observed after 4 weeks, whereas the decrease in BW of STZ+WPP group showed a tendency to improve at the end of the study. TAC values significantly decreased around 11% only in plasma of STZ rats. The rest of groups showed plasma TAC values about 8 mM Trolox. Increased levels of F2-IsoPs (around 25%) were also observed in plasma of STZ rats compared to the supplemented rats, revealing a protective effect of WPP against lipid peroxidation. In conclusion, 4-week supplementation with a product derived from winery by-products improved weight loss, plasma TAC, and lipid oxidation biomarkers in Type I diabetic rats.

Keywords: blood glucose, grape polyphenols, F2α-isoprostanes, type I diabetes, oxidative stress

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Authors: Rifqi Alfadhillah Sentosa, Hasbi Fikru Syabi, Stephen

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West Java is a province in Indonesia which has a number of volcanoes. One of those volcanoes is Mt. Ciremai, located administratively at Kuningan and Majalengka District, and is known for its significant geothermal potential in Java Island. This research aims to assume geothermal prospects at Mt. Ciremai using Fault and Fracture Density (FFD) Method, which is correlated to the geochemistry of geothermal manifestations around the mountain. This FFD method is using SRTM data to draw lineaments, which are assumed associated with fractures and faults in the research area. These faults and fractures were assumed as the paths for reservoir fluids to reached surface as geothermal manifestations. The goal of this method is to analyze the density of those lineaments found in the research area. Based on this FFD Method, it is known that area with high density of lineaments located on Mt. Kromong at the northern side of Mt. Ciremai. This prospect area is proven by its higher geothermometer values compared to geothermometer values calculated at the south area of Mt. Ciremai.

Keywords: geothermal prospect, fault and fracture density, Mt. Ciremai, surface manifestation

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Authors: Choki, Supatchai Boonpratham, Suwannee Luppanapornlarp

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The objective of this study was to find a correlation between cephalometric measurements and visual perception of facial profile in skeletal type II patients. In this study, 250 lateral cephalograms of female patients from age, 20 to 22 years were analyzed. The profile outlines of all the samples were hand traced and transformed into silhouettes by the principal investigator. Profile ratings were done by 9 orthodontists on Visual Analogue Scale from score one to ten (increasing level of convexity). 37 hard issue and soft tissue cephalometric measurements were analyzed by the principal investigator. All the measurements were repeated after 2 weeks interval for error assessment. At last, the rankings of visual perceptions were correlated with cephalometric measurements using Spearman correlation coefficient (P < 0.05). The results show that the increase in facial convexity was correlated with higher values of ANB (A point, nasion and B point), AF-BF (distance from A point to B point in mm), L1-NB (distance from lower incisor to NB line in mm), anterior maxillary alveolar height, posterior maxillary alveolar height, overjet, H angle hard tissue, H angle soft tissue and lower lip to E plane (absolute correlation values from 0.277 to 0.711). In contrast, the increase in facial convexity was correlated with lower values of Pg. to N perpendicular and Pg. to NB (mm) (absolute correlation value -0.302 and -0.294 respectively). From the soft tissue measurements, H angles had a higher correlation with visual perception than facial contour angle, nasolabial angle, and lower lip to E plane. In conclusion, the findings of this study indicated that the correlation of cephalometric measurements with visual perception was less than expected. Only 29% of cephalometric measurements had a significant correlation with visual perception. Therefore, diagnosis based solely on cephalometric analysis can result in failure to meet the patient’s esthetic expectation.

Keywords: cephalometric measurements, facial profile, skeletal type II, visual perception

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Authors: Shosh Kazaz, Shmuel Banai, Vered Zilberberg

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Optimizing high business performance and employee's well-being simultaneously often challenges organizations. 'TIP' intervention enables achieving them both as the given project demonstrates. Increasing outcomes and improving performance were the initial motivators for this explorative project, followed by a request of the head of the Cardiology department: 'I know we are the best at our clinical practice, but we need to take it further and break our own glass ceiling.' Two guided interventions were conducted in two different units within the department, designed to implement advanced managerial and business-oriented tools, along with 'soft tools' based on coaching psychology and particularly wellness coaching. The organ department multi-disciplinary teams were assembled, aiming to manage and lead the process: mapping the patients' flow, creating solutions, implementing, assessing, improving and assimilating them. Approximately four months later, without additional external resources, meaningful results emerged by the teams in terms of business and performance: shortening the hospitalization length at a given procedure (from 7 to 2.1 days); increasing the availability of Catheterization laboratory by 16% daily – resulting profitability raise; improving patients' journey and experience. A year later, those results are maintained. Furthermore, interviews with the participants revealed positive perceptions regarding the department; a higher sense of joyfulness, connectedness, belonging and a better department climate were reported. Additionally, participants reported a higher sense of fulfillment as opposed to their earliest skepticism and cynicism about their ability to enhance outcomes without more resources (budget and/or manpower), experiencing a mindset change toward the possibility of leading personal and professional growth processes. These reports were supported by analyzing a set of questionnaires that the participants completed, parallel to a control group of non-participating colleagues. Although the assessment was taken a year after the completion of the project and during 'covid-19th-3rd national quarantine, the results indicated a significant impact on several personal parameters associated with wellness, compared to the control group. The participants were higher in self-efficacy and organizational commitment; men were higher in resilience and optimism and women were higher in well-being. In conclusion, the 'TIP' relatively short intervention integrates advanced managerial and wellness coaching tools, empowers organizational resources: Team, Individual and Process and by that generates multi-impact measurable results in terms of employee's wellness parameters along with business performance and patient care.

Keywords: coaching, health and wellness, health management, leadership and well-being

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Authors: Ghulam Mustafa, Richard Glavee-Geo

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This study examined the relationship between traditional variables of organizational structure (formalization and centralization), employee work related self-efficacy and employee subjective performance. The study further explored the moderating role of formalization and centralization on the link between employee self-efficacy and job performance. Five hypotheses were tested using a sample of employees from a large public organization in Pakistan. The results indicated a significant positive relationship between employee self-efficacy and job performance. Regarding the direct effects of formalization and centralization on self-efficacy, the results showed that formalization relates positively while centralization has a negative impact on self-efficacy. However, the results revealed no empirical evidence to confirm the hypotheses that formalization and centralization strengthen or weaken the relationship between self-efficacy and job performance.

Keywords: centralization, formalization, job performance, self-efficacy

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Authors: Suraini Mohd Rhouse, Noor Lela Ahmad, Nek Kamal Yeop Yunus, Rosfizah Md Taib

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This article aims to explore the importance of trust to women entrepreneurs. In particular, the research uses a social constructionist lens to examine ways in which women entrepreneurs construct trust in relation to their various stakeholders. A semi-structured interview was used to gather the data. The findings suggest women highlight the importance of trust in order to establish customer satisfaction that can further develop customer loyalty. In addition, aspect of trust with the employees is seen as vital for building organizational commitment to the business organization. Women also see the trust dimension in terms of their relationships with financial providers in order to gain approval for financial resources. This article contributes to the literature on the value of trust to women’s business environments.

Keywords: qualitative, social constructionist, trust, women entrepreneurship

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Authors: Ouchemoukh Salim, Amessis-Ouchemoukh Nadia, Guenaoui Nawel, Moumeni Lynda, Zaidi Hicham, Otmani Amar, Sadou Dyhia

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Honey is a hive food rich in carbohydrates and water and it also has a lot of nutrients (enzymes, minerals, organic acids, phytochemicals...). It is used in different nutritional and therapeutic fields. Algerian honey was studied for its physicochemical parameters, nutritional values (moisture, brix, pH, electrical conductivity, and amounts of HMF, proteins, proline, total phenolic compounds and flavonoids) and some biological activities (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and enzymatic anti-browning). The antioxidant activities of the samples were estimated using different methods (ABTS, DPPH free radicals scavenging, reducing power, and chelating ferrous activity). All honeys were acidic (3.45≤pH≤4.65). The color varied from mimosa yellow to dark brown. The specific rotation was levorotatory in most honey samples, and the electrical conductivity, hydroxymethylfurfural, and proline values agreed with the international honey requirements. For anti-inflammatory activity, the results showed that the inhibiting capacity of the denaturation of the BSA of the honey analyzed varied from 15 to 75 % with a maximum of activity at the concentration of 0,5 mg/ml. All honey exhibited enzymatic anti-browning on different slices of fruits. In fact, the results showed that the controls have the greatest browning unit compared to the honeys studied and PPO and POD enzymes had the lowest enzyme activity. High significant correlations were found between the color of honey, its antioxidant content and its biological activities (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and enzymatic anti-browning). The dark color of honey is a good indicator of the best biological properties, therefore, the best nutritional and therapeutic values.

Keywords: honey, physico-chemical parameters, bioactive compounds, biological properties

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Authors: Aneta Oblouková, Eva Vítková

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The article deals with the issue of water and sewerage charge rate prices in the Czech Republic. The research is specifically focused on the analysis of the development of the average prices of water and sewerage charge rate in the Czech Republic in the years 1994-2021 and on the validation of the chosen methodology relevant for the prediction of the development of the average prices of water and sewerage charge rate in the Czech Republic. The research is based on data collection. The data for this research was obtained from the Czech Statistical Office. The aim of the paper is to validate the relevance of the mathematical linear trend estimate technique for the calculation of the predicted average prices of water and sewerage charge rates. The real values of the average prices of water and sewerage charge rates in the Czech Republic in the years 1994-2018 were obtained from the Czech Statistical Office and were converted into a mathematical equation. The same type of real data was obtained from the Czech Statistical Office for the years 2019-2021. Prediction of the average prices of water and sewerage charge rates in the Czech Republic in the years 2019-2021 were also calculated using a chosen method -a linear trend estimation technique. The values obtained from the Czech Statistical Office and the values calculated using the chosen methodology were subsequently compared. The research result is a validation of the chosen mathematical technique to be a suitable technique for this research.

Keywords: Czech Republic, linear trend estimation, price prediction, water and sewerage charge rate

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Authors: Laura Mion

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Concepts of quality assurance and management are now part of the organizational culture of the Universities. Quality Assurance (QA) systems are, in large part, provided for by national regulatory dictates or supranational indications (such as, for example, at European level are, the ESG Guidelines "European Standard Guidelines"), but their specific definition, in terms of guiding principles, requirements and methodologies, are often delegated to the national evaluation agencies or to the autonomy of individual universities. For this reason, the experiences of implementation of QA systems in different countries and in different universities is an interesting source of information to understand how quality in universities is understood, pursued and verified. The literature often deals with the treatment of the experiences of implementation of QA systems in the individual areas in which the University's activity is carried out - teaching, research, third mission - but only rarely considers quality systems with a systemic and integrated approach, which allows to correlate subjects, actions, and performance in a virtuous circuit of continuous improvement. In particular, it is interesting to understand how to relate the results and uses of the QA in the triple distinction of university activities, identifying how one can cause the performance of the other as a function of an integrated whole and not as an exploit of specific activities or processes conceived in an abstractly atomistic way. The aim of the research is, therefore, to investigate which experiences of "integrated" QA systems are present on the international scene: starting from the experience of European countries that have long shared the Bologna Process for the creation of a European space for Higher Education (EHEA), but also considering experiences from emerging countries that use QA processes to develop their higher education systems to keep them up to date with international levels. The concept of "integration", in this research, is understood in a double meaning: i) between the different areas of activity, in particular between the didactic and research areas, and possibly with the so-called "third mission" "ii) the functional integration between those involved in quality assessment and management and the governance of the University. The paper will present the results of a systematic review conducted according with a method of an integrative review aimed at identifying best practices of quality assurance systems, in individual countries or individual universities, with a high level of integration. The analysis of the material thus obtained has made it possible to grasp common and transversal elements of QA system integration practices or particularly interesting elements and strengths of these experiences that can, therefore, be considered as winning aspects in a QA practice. The paper will present the method of analysis carried out, and the characteristics of the experiences identified, of which the structural elements will be highlighted (level of integration, areas considered, organizational levels included, etc.) and the elements for which these experiences can be considered as best practices.

Keywords: quality assurance, university, integration, country

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Authors: Jayisha Das Jaya, Nafis As Sami, Nazia Jahan, Tamanna Jerin, Mohammed Russedul Islam

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This paper contains continuous research which helps to analyze polypropylene modified bituminous mix and its impact characteristics with respect to original bitumen. Three percentages of polypropylene varying from (1-3) % of the weight of bitumen have been used to alter bitumen’s performance. The temperature of 170°C has been maintained during the blending of polypropylene with bitumen. It was performed by a wet process as it has certain advantages over the dry process. A rough estimate of 210 rpm rotation speed was set to prepare the blend in a mixer for 30 minutes producing homogeneous mixture. The blended mix shows a change in physical properties in comparison with the original bitumen content. Modification shows that for a 1% increment of polypropylene, softening point increases by 1 degree, penetration values decrease gradually to 55.6, 54, 52.5, ductility values decrease gradually to 87,76, 63 and specific gravity remains the same. Then Marshall mix design is performed with 60/70 penetration grade bitumen contents varying from (4-6) % with .5% intervals. Marshall stability and flow test results indicate the increase in stability and decrease in flow.

Keywords: bitumen, marshall, polypropylene, temperature

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Authors: Ahmed M. Al-Mutarreb, Shiferaw R. Jufar

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Global shale gas resource assessment is still in its preliminary stage in most of the countries including the development of shale gas reservoirs in Malaysia. This project presents the main geochemical and mineral characteristics of few Malaysian’s shale samples which contribute on evaluating shale gas reserve world resource evaluations. Three shale samples from the western part of Peninsular Malaysia (Batu-Caja, Kuala Lumpur, and Johor Baru shale formations) were collected for this study. Total organic carbon wt.%, thermal maturity, kerogen type, mineralogy and adsorption/desorption characteristics are measured at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS laboratories. Two samples show good potential in TOC results exhibited > 2wt.% exceeding the minimum values of Shale gas potential, while the third revealed < 1.5wt. Mineralogical compositions for the three samples are within the acceptable range percentage% of quartz and clays compared to shale plays in USA. This research’s results are promising and recommend to continue exploring and assessing unconventional shale gas reserves values in these areas.

Keywords: shale gas characterizations, geochemical properties, Malaysia, shale gas reserve

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Authors: Gökhan Yüksel, Serdar Akça, İlker Kalkan

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The present study is an attempt to demonstrate the significant levels of contribution of the moment-resisting beam-column connections with side plates to the earthquake behavior of special steel moment frames. To this end, the moment-curvature relationships of a regular beam-column connection and its SidePlate counterpart were determined with the help of finite element analyses. The connection stiffness and deformability values from these finite element analyses were used in the linear time-history analyses of an example structural steel frame under three different seismic excitations. The top-story lateral drift, base shear, and overturning moment values in two orthogonal directions were obtained from these time-history analyses and compared to each other. The results revealed the improvements in the system response with the use of SidePlate connections. The paper ends with crucial recommendations for the plan and design of further studies on this very topic.

Keywords: seismic detailing, special moment frame, steel structures, beam-column connection, earthquake-resistant design

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Authors: Ahmet Koyuncu, Abdullah Berkan Erdogmus, Orkun Dogu, Sinan Uygur

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Thermoelectric modules are integrated to electronic components to keep their temperature in specific values in electronic cooling applications. They can be used in different ambient temperatures. The cold side temperatures of thermoelectric modules depend on their hot side temperatures, operation currents, and heat loads. Performance curves of thermoelectric modules are given at most two different hot surface temperatures in product catalogs. Characteristic properties are required to select appropriate thermoelectric modules in thermal design phase of projects. Generally, manufacturers do not provide characteristic material property values of thermoelectric modules to customers for confidentiality. Common commercial software applied like ANSYS ICEPAK, FloEFD, etc., include thermoelectric modules in their libraries. Therefore, they can be easily used to predict the effect of thermoelectric usage in thermal design. Some software requires only the performance values in different temperatures. However, others like ICEPAK require three temperature-dependent equations for material properties (Seebeck coefficient (α), electrical resistivity (β), and thermal conductivity (γ)). Since the number and the variety of thermoelectric modules are limited in this software, definitions of characteristic material properties of thermoelectric modules could be required. In this manuscript, the method of derivation of characteristic material properties from the datasheet of thermoelectric modules is presented. Material characteristics were estimated from two different performance curves by experimentally and numerically in this study. Numerical calculations are accomplished in ICEPAK by using a thermoelectric module exists in the ICEPAK library. A new experimental setup was established to perform experimental study. Because of similar results of numerical and experimental studies, it can be said that proposed equations are approved. This approximation can be suggested for the analysis includes different type or brand of TEC modules.

Keywords: electrical resistivity, material characteristics, thermal conductivity, thermoelectric coolers, seebeck coefficient

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Authors: Lazhar Belkhiri, Ammar Tiri, Lotfi Mouni

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Water resources present to the public order of the world a very important problem for the protection and management of water quality given the complexity of water quality data sets. In this study, the water quality index (WQI) and irrigation water quality index (IWQI) were calculated in order to evaluate the surface water quality for drinking and irrigation purposes based on nine hydrochemical parameters. In order to separate the variables that are the most responsible for the spatial differentiation, the discriminant analysis (DA) was applied. The results show that the surface water quality for drinking is poor quality and very poor quality based on WQI values, however, the values of IWQI reflect that this water is acceptable for irrigation with a restriction for sensitive plants. Consequently, the discriminant analysis DA method has shown that the following parameters pH, potassium, chloride, sulfate, and bicarbonate are significant discrimination between the different stations with the spatial variation of the surface water quality, therefore, the results obtained in this study provide very useful information to decision-makers

Keywords: surface water quality, drinking and irrigation purposes, water quality index, discriminant analysis

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Authors: A. Lashkari, H. Khalafi, H. Khazeminejad, S. Khakshourniya

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In this paper, a numerical model is presented. The model is used to analyze a steady state thermo-hydraulic and reactivity insertion transient in TRR reference cores respectively. The model predictions are compared with the experiments and PARET code results. The model uses the piecewise constant and lumped parameter methods for the coupled point kinetics and thermal-hydraulics modules respectively. The advantages of the piecewise constant method are simplicity, efficiency and accuracy. A main criterion on the applicability range of this model is that the exit coolant temperature remains below the saturation temperature, i.e. no bulk boiling occurs in the core. The calculation values of power and coolant temperature, in steady state and positive reactivity insertion scenario, are in good agreement with the experiment values. However, the model is a useful tool for the transient analysis of most research reactor encountered in practice. The main objective of this work is using simple calculation methods and benchmarking them with experimental data. This model can be used for training proposes.

Keywords: thermal-hydraulic, research reactor, reactivity insertion, numerical modeling

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Authors: Silvio Araújo, Sérgio Maravilhas, Tamires Coutinho

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The aim of this paper is to present the experience of a project involving cooperation between the academic world and civil society to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism sector in the Chapada Diamantina region, in Bahia state, Brazil. It collaborates with studies on organizational strategies and the monitoring of economic indicators in times of crisis, using data analysis to investigate associations between the variables studied. As a result, the economic, structural, and systemic factors that determine the resumption of activities after the pandemic are presented, as well as the results obtained and the general expectations for tourism activities in the region. The conclusion is that, even with government support, from the Brazilian authorities, the undesirable effects of the externalities of the pandemic threaten not only competitiveness but also business continuity itself.

Keywords: Chapada Diamantina, competitiveness, COVID-19, tourism

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Authors: Juan Bojórquez, Henry E. Reyes, Edén Bojórquez, Alfredo Reyes-Salazar

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This paper addressed the use of Artificial Intelligence to obtain the structural reliability of reinforced concrete buildings. For this purpose, artificial neuronal networks (ANN) are developed to predict seismic demand hazard curves. In order to have enough input-output data to train the ANN, a set of reinforced concrete buildings (low, mid, and high rise) are designed, then a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis is made to obtain the seismic demand hazard curves. The results are then used as input-output data to train the ANN in a feedforward backpropagation model. The predicted values of the seismic demand hazard curves found by the ANN are then compared. Finally, it is concluded that the computer time analysis is significantly lower and the predictions obtained from the ANN were accurate in comparison to the values obtained from the conventional methods.

Keywords: structural reliability, seismic design, machine learning, artificial neural network, probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, seismic demand hazard curves

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Authors: Weidong Xia, Malgorzata Kolotylo, Xuan Tan

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This study examines the key factors that influence general practitioners’ learning and transfer of specialized arthritis knowledge and self-care techniques to patients during normal patient visits. Drawing on the theory of planed behavior and using matched survey data collected from general practitioners before and after training sessions provided by specialized orthopedic physicians, the study suggests that the general practitioner’s intention to use and transfer learned knowledge was influenced mainly by intrinsic motivation, organizational learning culture and absorptive capacity, but was not influenced by extrinsic motivation. The results provide both theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords: empirical study, healthcare knowledge management, patient self-care, physician knowledge transfer

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Authors: Augustine O. Ani, Ifeyinwa E. Ezemagu, Eunice A. Akuru

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A seven-week study was conducted to evaluate the response of grower turkeys to varying dietary levels of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) in a humid tropical environment. A total of 90 twelve weeks old male and female grower turkeys were randomly divided into five groups of 18 birds each in a completely randomized design (CRD) and assigned to five caloric (2.57-2.60 Mcal/kg ME) and isonitrogenous (19.95% crude protein) diets containing five levels (0, 15, 20, 25 and 30%) of MOLM, respectively. Each treatment was replicated three times with 6 birds per replicate housed in a deep litter pen of fresh wood shavings measuring 1.50m x 1.50m. Feed and water were provided to the birds' ad libitum. Parameters measured were: final live weight (FLW) daily weight gain (DWG), daily feed intake (DFI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin concentration (Hb), red blood cell (RBC) count, white blood cell (WBC) count, mean cell volume (MCV), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH) and mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), feed cost / kg weight gain and apparent nutrient retention. Results showed that grower turkeys fed 20% MOLM diet had significantly (p < 0.05) higher FLW and DWG values (4410.30 g and 34.49 g, respectively) and higher DM and NFE retention values (67.28 and 58.12%, respectively) than turkeys fed other MOLM diets. Feed cost per kg gain decreased significantly (p < 0.05) with increasing levels of MOLM in the diets. The PCV, Hb, WBC, MCV, MCH and MCHC values of grower turkeys fed 20% MOLM diet were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than those of grower turkeys fed other diets. It was concluded that a diet containing 20% MOLM is adequate for the normal growth of grower turkeys in the tropics.

Keywords: Diets, grower turkeys, Moringa oleifera leaf meal, response, tropical environment

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Authors: Dedjo Yao Simon, Takahiro Saito, Norikazu Inuzuka, Ikuo Sugiyama

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Abidjan city (Republic of Ivory Coast) is an emerging megacity and an urban coastal area where the number of floods reported is on a rapid increase due to climate change and unplanned urbanization. However, comprehensive disaster mitigation plans, policies, and financial resources are still lacking as the population ignores the extent and location of the flood zones; making them unprepared to mitigate the damages. Considering the existing condition, this paper aims to discuss an approach for flood risk reduction in Cocody Commune through value capture strategy and flood risk communication. Using geospatial techniques and hydrological simulation, we start our study by delineating flood zones and depths under several return periods in the study area. Then, through a questionnaire a field survey is conducted in order to validate the flood maps, to estimate the flood risk and to collect some sample of the opinion of residents on how the flood risk information disclosure could affect the values of property located inside and outside the flood zones. The results indicate that the study area is highly vulnerable to 5-year floods and more, which can cause serious harm to human lives and to properties as demonstrated by the extent of the 5-year flood of 2014. Also, it is revealed there is a high probability that the values of property located within flood zones could decline, and the values of surrounding property in the safe area could increase when risk information disclosure commences. However in order to raise public awareness of flood disaster and to prevent future housing promotion in high-risk prospective areas, flood risk information should be disseminated through the establishment of an early warning system. In order to reduce the effect of risk information disclosure and to protect the values of property within the high-risk zone, we propose that property tax increments in flood free zones should be captured and be utilized for infrastructure development and to maintain the early warning system that will benefit people living in flood prone areas. Through this case study, it is shown that combination of value capture strategy and risk communication could be an effective tool to educate citizen and to invest in flood risk reduction in emerging countries.

Keywords: Cocody-Abidjan, flood, geospatial techniques, risk communication, value capture

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Authors: Mohammad R. Irshidat, Mohammed H. Al-Saleh, Mahmoud Al-Shoubaki

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This paper investigates the viability of using carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites modified with carbon nano tubes to strengthening reinforced concrete (RC) columns. Six RC columns was designed and constructed according to ASCE standards. The columns were wrapped using carbon fiber sheets impregnated with either neat epoxy or CNTs modified epoxy. These columns were then tested under concentric axial loading. Test results show that; compared to the unwrapped specimens; wrapping concrete columns with carbon fiber sheet embedded in CNTs modified epoxy resulted in an increase in its axial load resistance, maximum displacement, and toughness values by 24%, 109% and 232%, respectively. These results reveal that adding CNTs into epoxy resin enhanced the confinement effect, specifically, increased the axial load resistance, maximum displacement, and toughness values by 11%, 6%, and 19%, respectively compared with columns strengthening with carbon fiber sheet embedded in neat epoxy.

Keywords: CNT, epoxy, carbon fiber, RC columns

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Authors: Elcin Timur Cakmak, Ayse Oguzlar

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This study presents the results of the tweets sent by Twitter users on social media about the Russia-Ukraine war by bigram and trigram methods. On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a military operation against Ukraine, and all eyes were turned to this war. Many people living in Russia and Ukraine reacted to this war and protested and also expressed their deep concern about this war as they felt the safety of their families and their futures were at stake. Most people, especially those living in Russia and Ukraine, express their views on the war in different ways. The most popular way to do this is through social media. Many people prefer to convey their feelings using Twitter, one of the most frequently used social media tools. Since the beginning of the war, it is seen that there have been thousands of tweets about the war from many countries of the world on Twitter. These tweets accumulated in data sources are extracted using various codes for analysis through Twitter API and analysed by Python programming language. The aim of the study is to find the word sequences in these tweets by the n-gram method, which is known for its widespread use in computational linguistics and natural language processing. The tweet language used in the study is English. The data set consists of the data obtained from Twitter between February 24, 2022, and April 24, 2022. The tweets obtained from Twitter using the #ukraine, #russia, #war, #putin, #zelensky hashtags together were captured as raw data, and the remaining tweets were included in the analysis stage after they were cleaned through the preprocessing stage. In the data analysis part, the sentiments are found to present what people send as a message about the war on Twitter. Regarding this, negative messages make up the majority of all the tweets as a ratio of %63,6. Furthermore, the most frequently used bigram and trigram word groups are found. Regarding the results, the most frequently used word groups are “he, is”, “I, do”, “I, am” for bigrams. Also, the most frequently used word groups are “I, do, not”, “I, am, not”, “I, can, not” for trigrams. In the machine learning phase, the accuracy of classifications is measured by Classification and Regression Trees (CART) and Naïve Bayes (NB) algorithms. The algorithms are used separately for bigrams and trigrams. We gained the highest accuracy and F-measure values by the NB algorithm and the highest precision and recall values by the CART algorithm for bigrams. On the other hand, the highest values for accuracy, precision, and F-measure values are achieved by the CART algorithm, and the highest value for the recall is gained by NB for trigrams.

Keywords: classification algorithms, machine learning, sentiment analysis, Twitter

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Authors: Oscar Corredor, Alexander Guzman, Adan Leon

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Density is a bulk physical property that indicates the quality of a petroleum fraction. It is also a useful property to estimate various physicochemical properties of fraction and petroleum fluids; however, the determination of density of extra heavy residual (EHR) fractions by standard methodologies, (ASTM D70) shows limitations for samples with higher densities than 1.0879 g/cm3. For this reason, a dilution methodology was developed in order to determinate density for those particular fractions, 87 (EHR) fractions were obtained as products of the fractionation of Colombian typical Vacuum Distillation Residual Fractions using molecular distillation (MD) and extraction with Solvent N-hexane in Supercritical Conditions (SFEF) pilot plants. The proposed methodology showed reliable results that can be demonstrated with the standard deviation of repeatability and reproducibility values of 0.0031 and 0.0061 g/ml respectively. In the same way, it was possible to determine densities in fractions EHR up to 1.1647g/cm3 and °API values obtained were ten times less than the water reference value.

Keywords: API, density, vacuum residual, molecular distillation, supercritical fluid extraction

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Authors: Wang Guangda, Ma Jun, Zhao Caiqi, Pan Rui

Abstract:

Wind load is the main control load of large statue structures. Due to the irregular plane and elevation and uneven outer contour, statues’ shape coefficient can not pick up from the current code. Currently a common practice is based on wind tunnel test. But this method is time-consuming and high cost. In this paper, based on the fundamental theory of CFD, using fluid dynamics software of Fluent 15.0, a few large statue structure of 40 to 70m high, which are located in china , including large fairy statues and large Buddha statues, are analyzed by numerical wind tunnel. The results are contrasted with the recommended values in load code and the wind tunnel test results respectively. Results show that the shape coefficient has a good reliability by the numerical wind tunnel method of this kind of building. This will has a certain reference value of wind load values for large statues’ structure.

Keywords: large statue structure, shape coefficient, irregular structure, wind tunnel test, numerical wind tunnel simulation

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Authors: Lidija Jevrić, Denis Kučević, Sanja Podunavac-Kuzmanović, Strahinja Kovačević, Milica Karadžić

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In the present study, the Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) was applied in order to determine the differences between the milk samples originating from a conventional dairy farm (CF) and an organic dairy farm (OF) in AP Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia. The clustering was based on the basis of the average values of saturated fatty acids (SFA) content and unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) content obtained for every season. Therefore, the HCA included the annual SFA and UFA content values. The clustering procedure was carried out on the basis of Euclidean distances and Single linkage algorithm. The obtained dendrograms indicated that the clustering of UFA in OF was much more uniform compared to clustering of UFA in CF. In OF, spring stands out from the other months of the year. The same case can be noticed for CF, where winter is separated from the other months. The results could be expected because the composition of fatty acids content is greatly influenced by the season and nutrition of dairy cows during the year.

Keywords: chemometrics, clustering, food engineering, milk quality

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Authors: Reza Khoshnood, Zahra Khoshnood, Ali Hajinajaf, Farzad Fahim, Behdokht Hajinajaf, Farhad Fahim

Abstract:

In 2013, 24 fish samples were taken from two fishery regions in Bandar-Abbas and Bandar-Lengeh, the fishing grounds north of Hormoz Strait (Persian Gulf) near the Iranian coastline. The two flat fishes were oriental sole (Euryglossa orientalis) and deep flounder (Psettodes erumei). Using the ROPME method (MOOPAM) for chemical digestion, Cd concentration was measured with a nonflame atomic absorption spectrophotometry technique. The average concentration of Cd in the edible muscle tissue of deep flounder was measured in Bandar-Abbas and was found to be 0.15±.06 µg g-1. It was 0.1±.05 µg.g-1 in Bandar-Lengeh. The corresponding values for oriental sole were 0.2±0.13 and 0.13±0.11 µg.g-1. The average concentration of Cd in the liver tissue of deep flounder in Bandar-Abbas was 0.22±.05 µg g-1 and that in Bandar-Lengeh was 0.2±0.04 µg.g-1. The values for oriental sole were 0.31±0.09 and 0.24±0.13 µg g-1 in Bandar-Abbas and Bandar-Lengeh, respectively.

Keywords: trace metal, Euryglossa orientalis, Psettodes erumei, Persian Gulf

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Authors: Yanwen Li, Shuguo Xie

Abstract:

In electromagnetic imaging, because of the diffraction limited system, the pixel values could change slowly near the edge of the image targets and they also change with the location in the same target. Using traditional digital image segmentation methods to segment electromagnetic gradient images could result in lots of errors because of this change in pixel values. To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel image segmentation and extraction algorithm based on Mean-Shift and dictionary learning. Firstly, the preliminary segmentation results from adaptive bandwidth Mean-Shift algorithm are expanded, merged and extracted. Then the overlap rate of the extracted image block is detected before determining a segmentation region with a single complete target. Last, the gradient edge of the extracted targets is recovered and reconstructed by using a dictionary-learning algorithm, while the final segmentation results are obtained which are very close to the gradient target in the original image. Both the experimental results and the simulated results show that the segmentation results are very accurate. The Dice coefficients are improved by 70% to 80% compared with the Mean-Shift only method.

Keywords: gradient image, segmentation and extract, mean-shift algorithm, dictionary iearning

Procedia PDF Downloads 250