Search results for: potential problem

Authors: Hong Nguyen Thi Hai, Ryota Konda, Dat Kieu Tuan, Cao Tran Thanh, Khang Phung Van, Hau Tran Tin, Harry Wu

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Melaleuca cajuputi is a moderately fast-growing species and considered as a multi-purpose tree as it provides fuelwood, piles and frame poles in construction, leaf essential oil and honey. It occurs in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and South-East Asia. M. cajuputi plantation can be harvested on 6-7 year rotations for wood products. Its timber can also be used for pulp and paper, fiber and particle board, producing quality charcoal and potentially sawn timber. However, most reported M. cajuputi breeding programs have been focused on oil production rather than wood production. In this study, breeding program of M. cajuputi aimed to improve wood production was examined by estimating genetic parameters for growth (tree height, diameter at breast height (DBH), and volume), stem form, stiffness (modulus of elasticity (MOE)), bark thickness and bark ratio in a half-sib family progeny trial including 80 families in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. MOE is one of the key wood properties of interest to the wood industry. Non-destructive wood stiffness was measured indirectly by acoustic velocity using FAKOPP Microsecond Timer and especially unaffected by bark mass. Narrow-sense heritability for the seven traits ranged from 0.13 to 0.27 at age 7 years. MOE and stem form had positive genetic correlations with growth while the negative correlation between bark ratio and growth was also favorable. Breeding for simultaneous improvement of multiple traits, faster growth with higher MOE and reduction of bark ratio should be possible in M. cajuputi. Index selection based on volume and MOE showed genetic gains of 31 % in volume, 6 % in MOE and 13 % in stem form. In addition, heritability and age-age genetic correlations for growth traits increased with time and optimal early selection age for growth of M. cajuputi based on DBH alone was 4 years. Selected thinning resulted in an increase of heritability due to considerable reduction of phenotypic variation but little effect on genetic variation.

Keywords: acoustic velocity, age-age correlation, bark thickness, heritability, Melaleuca cajuputi, stiffness, thinning effect

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Authors: Awatif Habeeb Al-Shamare

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The number of social media users amongst special education teachers and parents of children with Down Syndrome (DS) is increasing annually. This is also the case in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). However, according to the best of the author’s knowledge, there are no qualitative studies which testify to the true nature of the interaction between teachers and parents when using social media, nor the role of social media in supporting and assisting parents and teachers with regards to the children’s educational needs in KSA. Therefore, this ongoing study aims to identify the role of social media in supporting parents and teachers of DS students, with a special emphasis on early intervention services in KSA. By bridging the knowledge gap on social media and special education in KSA and presenting socially relevant and applied information on the topic, this research provides a theoretical and practical base for the establishment of appropriate and effective programmes between the ministries of Information and Special Education in particular. A qualitative approach was selected because it was the most suitable approach for exploring the participants’ experiences, which could not be determined through scientific tests. Interviewing, chosen as the research instrument, allowed the researcher to obtain a detailed understanding of the topic linked to the study objectives. Initially, a pilot study was conducted at the Daycare Center in May 2016. Its aim was to examine and refine the methodology and assess whether the questions were understood with the potential for re-drafting them, if necessary. The main study consists of five teachers and five mothers with experience of using social media and with links to the Daycare Center. Thematic Analysis has been chosen for analysing the findings because it is a flexible method that allows themes to emerge from the data. Results of the current study are still in the initial stages, but the preliminary findings are as follows: (1) social media is an important tool in encouraging parents and teachers to access the necessary information and knowledge about, and experience in, early intervention services; (2) it acts as a support network for the parents; (3) it helps raise awareness about DS and the need for early intervention; (4) it can be used to put pressure on the government for an expansion in early intervention services, and finally (5) its use can be problematic in that parents and teachers face some difficulties and challenges when using the different platforms. It can be concluded that social media plays a significant role in the lives of teachers and parents with special needs children in KSA.

Keywords: down syndrome, early intervention services, social media, support parents and teachers

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Authors: Daniela Pellin, Wilson Engelmann

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

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

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Authors: Mohammad R. Jalali, Mohammad M. Jalali

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The earliest theories of sloshing waves and solitary waves based on potential theory idealisations and irrotational flow have been extended to be applicable to more realistic domains. To this end, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods are widely used. Three-dimensional CFD methods such as Navier-Stokes solvers with volume of fluid treatment of the free surface and Navier-Stokes solvers with mappings of the free surface inherently impose high computational expense; therefore, considerable effort has gone into developing depth-averaged approaches. Examples of such approaches include Green–Naghdi (GN) equations. In Cartesian system, GN velocity profile depends on horizontal directions, x-direction and y-direction. The effect of vertical direction (z-direction) is also taken into consideration by applying weighting function in approximation. GN theory considers the effect of vertical acceleration and the consequent non-hydrostatic pressure. Moreover, in GN theory, the flow is rotational. The present study illustrates the application of GN equations to propagation of sloshing waves and solitary waves. For this purpose, GN equations solver is verified for the benchmark tests of Gaussian hump sloshing and solitary wave propagation in shallow basins. Analysis of the free surface sloshing of even harmonic components of an initial Gaussian hump demonstrates that the GN model gives predictions in satisfactory agreement with the linear analytical solutions. Discrepancies between the GN predictions and the linear analytical solutions arise from the effect of wave nonlinearities arising from the wave amplitude itself and wave-wave interactions. Numerically predicted solitary wave propagation indicates that the GN model produces simulations in good agreement with the analytical solution of the linearised wave theory. Comparison between the GN model numerical prediction and the result from perturbation analysis confirms that nonlinear interaction between solitary wave and a solid wall is satisfactorilly modelled. Moreover, solitary wave propagation at an angle to the x-axis and the interaction of solitary waves with each other are conducted to validate the developed model.

Keywords: Green–Naghdi equations, nonlinearity, numerical prediction, sloshing waves, solitary waves

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Authors: David Edgar

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To understand how the brain’s subconscious and conscious functions, we must conquer the physics of Unity, which leads to duality’s algorithm. Where the subconscious (bottom-up) and conscious (top-down) processes function together to produce and consume intelligence, we use terms like ‘time is relative,’ but we really do understand the meaning. In the brain, there are different processes and, therefore, different observers. These different processes experience time at different rates. A sensory system such as the eyes cycles measurement around 33 milliseconds, the conscious process of the frontal lobe cycles at 300 milliseconds, and the subconscious process of the thalamus cycle at 5 milliseconds. Three different observers experience time differently. To bridge observers, the thalamus, which is the fastest of the processes, maintains a synchronous state and entangles the different components of the brain’s physical process. The entanglements form a synchronous cohesion between the brain components allowing them to share the same state and execute in the same measurement cycle. The thalamus uses the shared state to control the firing sequence of the brain’s linear subconscious process. Sharing state also allows the brain to cheat on the amount of sensory data that must be exchanged between components. Only unpredictable motion is transferred through the synchronous state because predictable motion already exists in the shared framework. The brain’s synchronous subconscious process is entirely based on energy conservation, where prediction regulates energy usage. So, the eyes every 33 milliseconds dump their sensory data into the thalamus every day. The thalamus is going to perform a motion measurement to identify the unpredictable motion in the sensory data. Here is the trick. The thalamus conducts its measurement based on the original observation time of the sensory system (33 ms), not its own process time (5 ms). This creates a data payload of synchronous motion that preserves the original sensory observation. Basically, a frozen moment in time (Flat 4D). The single moment in time can then be processed through the single state maintained by the synchronous process. Other processes, such as consciousness (300 ms), can interface with the synchronous state to generate awareness of that moment. Now, synchronous data traveling through a separate faster synchronous process creates a theoretical time tunnel where observation time is tunneled through the synchronous process and is reproduced on the other side in the original time-relativity. The synchronous process eliminates time dilation by simply removing itself from the equation so that its own process time does not alter the experience. To the original observer, the measurement appears to be instantaneous, but in the thalamus, a linear subconscious process generating sensory perception and thought production is being executed. It is all just occurring in the time available because other observation times are slower than thalamic measurement time. For life to exist in the physical universe requires a linear measurement process, it just hides by operating at a faster time relativity. What’s interesting is time dilation is not the problem; it’s the solution. Einstein said there was no universal time.

Keywords: neural synchronization, natural intelligence, 99.95% IoT data transmission savings, artificial subconscious intelligence (ASI)

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Authors: Cita Ayeni

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Amidst numerous arguments on reasons for low Human Development (low HDI) in Nigeria ranging from corruption, incompetence of the government and its agencies, mismanagement of funds, terrorism, violence, and crime in the country, just to mention a few. There have been several actions by agencies of the government that for years has threatened the security and development of the citizens, and the country in a broader sense. This paper analyses the activities of SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) as a government agency with a mandate to tackling the high rate of crime in the country but instead have been marred with allegations of violence, killings, extortion, harsh treatment, and terror of the Nigerian citizenry, predominantly the youths. This paper establishes the effect of these actions of the agency on human development in Nigeria, hindering the capacity of the Nigerian youths to earn a decent living due to constant terrorism, extortion, and extrajudicial activities, which in numerous cases resulted in maiming and death, thus instigating fear in the vast majority. This research further analyses the executive order by the then Acting President of Nigeria (Vice-President) that overhauled the agency following many years of continuous public outcry, complaint, grievance, and protest. This work establishes that this order carried out in the absence of the President was to a large extent enough to stop these violations, thereby resulting in little or no recorded complaint or grievance by the public, as many of the officials involved in the gruesome activities were said to have been put away. This would pave way and give freedom to the youths to realize their potentials free from intimidation, violence, and fear from the agencies created to protect them, and on the other hand refocus the new agency FSARS (Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad) on its real mandate in collaboration with independent organizations acting as a check to its actions. This work thus depicts how direct executive orders on policies pertaining to individual insecurities, on youths in this case, in a country can be a potential drive to increased human development.

Keywords: special anti-robbery squad, Nigerian youths, overhaul, insecurities, human development

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Authors: Rajkumar Ghosh

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This paper focuses on the structural analysis of Chaura Thrust in Himachal Pradesh, India. It investigates mylonitised zones under microscopic observation, characterizes the box fold and its signature in the regional geology of Himachal Himalaya, and documents the Higher Himalayan Out-of-Sequence Thrust (OOST) in the region. The study aims to provide field evidence and documentation for Chaura Thrust (CT), which was previously considered a blind thrust. The research methodology involves geological field observation, microscopic studies, and strain analysis of oriented samples collected along the Jhakri-Chaura transect. The study presents findings such as the activation ages of MCT and STDS, the identification of mylonitised zones and various types of crenulated schistosity, and the manifestation of box folds and OOST. The presence of meso- and micro-scale box folds around Chaura suggests structural upliftment, while kink folds and shear sense indicators were identified. The research highlights the importance of microscopic studies and contributes to the understanding of the structural analysis of CT and its implications in the regional geology of the Himachal Himalaya. Mylonitised zones with S-C fabric were observed under the microscope, along with dynamic and bulging recrystallization and sub-grain formation. Various types of crenulated schistosity were documented, including a rare case of crenulation cleavage and sigmoid Muscovite occurring together. The conclusions emphasize the non-blind nature of Chaura Thrust, the characterization of box folds, the activation timing of different thrusts, and the significance of microscopic observations. Jhakri/Chaura/Sarahan thrusts are the zone of tectonic imbrication that transport Higher Himalayan gneissic rock on Rampur Quartzite. The evidence of frequent earthquakes and landslides in the Jhakri region confirm the study of morphometric conclusion that there is considerable neo-tectonic activity along an active fault in the Sutlej river basin. The study also documents the presence of OOST in Himachal Pradesh and its potential impact on strain accumulation.

Keywords: Main Central Thrust, Jhakri Thrust, Chaura Thrust, Higher Himalaya, Out-of-Sequence Thrust, Sarahan Thrust

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Authors: Oluwayemisi D. Ishola, Lekan Ajijola

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Nigeria faces a demographic challenge characterized by a burgeoning youth population and an escalating fertility rate. A notable decline in the use of modern contraceptives among adolescent girls and young women compounds the challenge. The youthful demographic stands at a critical juncture in the nation's pursuit to fulfill its pledge of achieving a 27% modern contraceptive rate by 2030, embodying the potential to translate this ambitious commitment into a tangible reality. This research undertook a multi-dimensional examination to scrutinize contraceptive ideational disparities among adolescents and young women in Nigeria, with a particular emphasis on ideational factors. The data underpinning this study were drawn from a cross-sectional household survey carried out in the Nigerian states of Edo, Ogun, Plateau, and Niger between October 2019 and January 2020. The survey encompassed 2,857 sexually active women aged 15-24 years. Employing an ideational framework focusing on behavior that accentuates psychosocial factors, the study dissected nine unique ideational variables into three principal domains: social, cognitive, and emotional. Multivariate logistics regression analyses were used to assess associations between ideational elements and contraceptive use within the total sample and specific age brackets (adolescents of 15-19 years and youth of 20-24 years). For this study, a p-value less than 0.05 was considered indicative of statistical significance. The study's results revealed significant associations between the ideational variables and contraceptive use in total sample and among adolescent and youth, ranging from p < .05 to p < .001. The influence of each domain's predictors on Family Planning (FP) manifested variations when assessed separately and across the different age groups. Notably, cognitive and emotional domains were found to be the strongest predictor of contraceptive use when compared with social domains in the general sample and among youth. This study’s findings highlight the complex interplay of social, cognitive, and emotional factors in contraceptive use among young individuals. Understanding these dynamics is crucial in developing effective strategies to overcome barriers and improve access to contraceptive services among young women in Nigeria.

Keywords: adolescents, contraception, ideation, youth

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Authors: Julia Wicker, Alexander Lang

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The shortage of skilled workers is no longer unique to Europe; Australia now faces similar challenges, particularly in the field of project management. Project managers, essential to the success of a wide range of industries, frequently operate under intense stress and, as a result, may choose to leave their positions before the completion of their projects. This trend poses significant risks to project continuity, budget stability, and the long-term success of organizations. Consequently, it is crucial to explore strategies aimed at improving the retention of project managers, with a specific focus on fostering intrinsic motivation -an essential factor for achieving sustained success and commitment within project-based roles. The aim of this paper is to investigate retention strategies from other industries to identify effective practices that could be adapted to the unique challenges faced by project managers. In particular, the paper draws inspiration from the volunteer sector, an industry also heavily reliant on intrinsic motivation to drive commitment and performance. By examining how the volunteer sector sustains retention through a focus on intrinsic motivation, this paper seeks to highlight potential parallels and offer actionable insights for improving the retention of project managers. The paper includes an overview of the current landscape of retention challenges in project management, highlighting key factors that contribute to early departures and their impacts on organizations. This is followed by an analysis of interviews conducted with both active volunteers and those who have left their roles, leading to the development of a model that categorizes different types of volunteers and explores their behaviours. The model identifies specific reasons for volunteer terminating their assignments and proposes strategies to mitigate these issues. The paper then adapts these volunteer retention strategies to address the challenges faced by project managers, concluding with actionable recommendations for fostering an intrinsically motivated and resilient project management workforce. Ultimately, this research aims to contribute to broader efforts in mitigating skilled workforce shortages by offering sustainable retention strategies.

Keywords: skilled workforce shortages, retention challenges in project management, retention strategies in the volunteering sector, retention strategies for project managers

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Authors: Jesús M. Martín, Francisco Corona, Dolores Hidalgo

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Landfills present long-term threats to soil, air, groundwater and surface water due to the formation of greenhouse gases (methane gas and carbon dioxide) and leachate from decomposing garbage. The composition of leachate differs from site to site and also within the landfill. The leachates alter with time (from weeks to years) since the landfilled waste is biologically highly active and their composition varies. Mainly, the composition of the leachate depends on factors such as characteristics of the waste, the moisture content, climatic conditions, degree of compaction and the age of the landfill. Therefore, the leachate composition cannot be generalized and the traditional treatment models should be adapted in each case. Although leachate composition is highly variable, what different leachates have in common is hazardous constituents and their potential eco-toxicological effects on human health and on terrestrial ecosystems. Since leachate has distinct compositions, each landfill or dumping site would represent a different type of risk on its environment. Nevertheless, leachates consist always of high organic concentration, conductivity, heavy metals and ammonia nitrogen. Leachate could affect the current and future quality of water bodies due to uncontrolled infiltrations. Therefore, control and treatment of leachate is one of the biggest issues in urban solid waste treatment plants and landfills design and management. This work presents a treatment model that will be carried out "in-situ" using a cost-effective novel technology that combines solar evaporation/condensation plus forward osmosis. The plant is powered by renewable energies (solar energy, biomass and residual heat), which will minimize the carbon footprint of the process. The final effluent quality is very high, allowing reuse (preferred) or discharge into watercourses. In the particular case of this work, the final effluents will be reused for cleaning and gardening purposes. A minority semi-solid residual stream is also generated in the process. Due to its special composition (rich in metals and inorganic elements), this stream will be valorized in ceramic industries to improve the final products characteristics.

Keywords: forward osmosis, landfills, leachate valorization, solar evaporation

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Authors: Shan Wang, Fahad Alhathal, Daniel Hobson

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User-centered design skills play an important role in crafting a positive and intuitive user experience for software applications. Embracing a user-centric design approach involves understanding the needs, preferences, and behaviors of the end-users throughout the design process. This mindset not only enhances the usability of the software but also fosters a deeper connection between the digital product and its users. This paper encompasses a 6-month knowledge exchange collaboration project between an academic institution and an external industry in 2023, aims to improve the user experience of a digital platform utilized for a knowledge management tool, to understand users' preferences for features, identify sources of frustration, and pinpoint areas for enhancement. This research conducted one of the most effective methods to implement user-centered design through co-design workshops for testing user onboarding experiences that involve the active participation of users in the design process. More specifically, in January 2023, we organized eight workshops with a diverse group of 11 individuals. Throughout these sessions, we accumulated a total of 11 hours of qualitative data in both video and audio formats. Subsequently, we conducted an analysis of user journeys, identifying common issues and potential areas for improvement. This analysis was pivotal in guiding the knowledge management software in prioritizing feature enhancements and design improvements. Employing a user-centered design thinking process, we developed a series of graphic design solutions in collaboration with the software management tool company. These solutions were targeted at refining onboarding user experiences, workplace interfaces, and interactive design. Some of these design solutions were translated into tangible interfaces for the knowledge management tool. By actively involving users in the design process and valuing their input, developers can create products that are not only functional but also resonate with the end-users, ultimately leading to greater success in the competitive software landscape. In conclusion, this paper not only contributes insights into designing onboarding user experiences for software within a co-design approach but also presents key theories on leveraging the user-centered design process in software design to enhance overall user experiences.

Keywords: user experiences, co-design, design process, knowledge management tool, user-centered design

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Authors: Jocelyn Jones, Louise Southalan, Lindey Andrews, Mandy Wilson, Emma Vieira, Jackie Oakley, Dorothy Bagshaw, Alice V. Brown, Patrick Egan, Duc Dau, Lucy Spanswick

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Working with people experiencing homelessness requires careful use of methods that support them to comfortably share their experiences. This is particularly important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the traditional owners of Australia, who have experienced intergenerational and compounding trauma since colonisation. Aboriginal cultures regularly experience research fatigue and distrust in research’s potential for impact. They often view research as an extraction -a process of taking the knowledge that empowers the research team and its institution, rather than benefiting those being researched. Through a partnership between an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation and a university research institute, we conducted a community-driven research project with 70-90 Aboriginal people experiencing homelessness in Perth, Western Australia. The project aimed to listen to and advocate for the voices of those who are experiencing homelessness, guided by the Aboriginal community. In consultation with Aboriginal Elders, we selected methods that are considered culturally safe, including those who would prefer to express their experiences creatively. This led us to run a series of Photovoice workshops -an established method that supports people to share their experiences through photography. This method treats participants as experts and is regularly used with marginalised groups across the world. We detail our experience and lessons in using Photovoice with Aboriginal community members experiencing homelessness. This includes the ways the method needed to be moulded to community needs and driven by their individual choices, such as being dynamic in the length of time participants would spend with us, how we would introduce the method to them, and providing support workers for participants when taking photos. We also discuss lessons in establishing and retaining engagement and how the method was successful in supporting participants to comfortably share their stories. Finally, we outline the insights into homelessness that the method offered, including highlighting the difficulty experienced by participants in transitioning from homelessness to accommodation and the diversity of hopes people who have experienced homelessness have for the future.

Keywords: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, photovoice, homelessness, community-led research

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Authors: Khaled M. Khader, Mamdouh I. Elimy, Omayma A. Nada

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Sustainable development is the nominal goal of most countries at present. In general, fossil fuels are the development mainstay of most world countries. Regrettably, the fossil fuel consumption rate is very high, and the world is facing the problem of conventional fuels depletion soon. In addition, there are many problems of environmental pollution resulting from the emission of harmful gases and vapors during fuel burning. Thus, clean, renewable energy became the main concern of most countries for filling the gap between available energy resources and their growing needs. There are many renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and wave energy. Energy can be obtained from the motion of sea waves almost all the time. However, power generation from solar or wind energy is highly restricted to sunny periods or the availability of suitable wind speeds. Moreover, energy produced from sea wave motion is one of the cheapest types of clean energy. In addition, renewable energy usage of sea waves guarantees safe environmental conditions. Cheap electricity can be generated from wave energy using different systems such as oscillating bodies' system, pendulum gate system, ocean wave dragon system and oscillating water column device. In this paper, a multi-criteria model has been developed using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to support the decision of selecting the most effective system for generating power from sea waves. This paper provides a widespread overview of the different design alternatives for sea wave energy converter systems. The considered design alternatives have been evaluated using the developed AHP model. The multi-criteria assessment reveals that the off-shore Oscillating Water Column (OWC) system is the most appropriate system for generating power from sea waves. The OWC system consists of a suitable hollow chamber at the shore which is completely closed except at its base which has an open area for gathering moving sea waves. Sea wave's motion pushes the air up and down passing through a suitable well turbine for generating power. Improving the power generation capability of the OWC system is one of the main objectives of this research. After investigating the effect of some design modifications, it has been concluded that selecting the appropriate settings of some effective design parameters such as the number of layers of Wells turbine fans and the intermediate distance between the fans can result in significant improvements. Moreover, simple dynamic analysis of the Wells turbine is introduced. Furthermore, this paper strives for comparing the theoretical and experimental results of the built experimental prototype.

Keywords: renewable energy, oscillating water column, multi-criteria selection, Wells turbine

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Authors: Altab Hossain, Shakerul Islam, Golamur R. Khan, Abu Zafar M. Salahuddin

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An effective identification of breakdowns is of premier importance for the safe and reliable operation of Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) and its associated facilities. A great number of monitoring and diagnosis methodologies are applied and used worldwide in areas such as industry, automobiles, hospitals, and power plant to detect and reduce human disasters. The potential consequences of several hazardous activities may harm the society using nuclear and its associated facilities. Hence, one of the most popular and effective methods to ensure safety and monitor the entire nuclear facility and imply risk-free operation without human interference during the hazardous situation is using a robot. Therefore, in this study, an advanced autonomous robot has been designed and developed that can monitor several parameters in the NPP to ensure the safety and do some risky job in case of nuclear disaster. The robot consisted of autonomous track following unit, data processing and transmitting unit can follow a straight line and take turn as the bank greater than 90 degrees. The developed robot can analyze various parameters such as temperature, altitude, radiation, obstacle, humidity, detecting fire, measuring distance, ultrasonic scan and taking the heat of any particular object. It has an ability to broadcast live stream and can record the document to its own server memory. There is a separate control unit constructed with a baseboard which processes the recorded data and a transmitter which transmits the processed data. To make the robot user-friendly, the code is developed such a way that a user can control any of robotic arm as per types of work. To control at any place and without the track, there is an advanced code has been developed to take manual overwrite. Through this process, administrator who has logged in permission to Dynamic Host Client Protocol (DHCP) can make the handover of the control of the robot. In this process, this robot is provided maximum nuclear security from being hacked. Not only NPP, this robot can be used to maximize the real-time monitoring system of any nuclear facility as well as nuclear material transportation and decomposition system.

Keywords: nuclear power plant, radiation, dynamic host client protocol, nuclear security

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Authors: Alice V. Brown, Patrick Egan, Dorothy Bagshaw, Jackie Oakley, Emma Vieira, Louise Southalan, Duc Dau, Lucy Spanswick, Lindey Andrews, Mandy Wilson, Jocelyn Jones

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Western Australia has recently adopted a 10-year plan to end homelessness across its State, with sections of the plan focused particularly on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. In 2022, we engaged with 70-90 Aboriginal people experiencing homelessness in Perth, Western Australia, through qualitative interviews and creative methods, listening to their experiences of homelessness and their views on how services, State plans, and policies could better support them. This research was driven by the Aboriginal community through a Community Ownership Group of 16 Aboriginal Elders, elected by Elders’ groups, from across the Perth metropolitan area. The Community Ownership Group met every six weeks across the 15-month project timeline to guide the research team, endorse methods chosen, and provide richer context to research findings to ensure they adequately represent the experiences of Aboriginal people. These meetings were audio-recorded when possible and documented through meeting notes, verbal and visual minutes, and film, providing insights into homelessness from the perspective of Aboriginal Elders. In this paper, we compare the views of those experiencing homelessness with the views of the Aboriginal Elders -many of whom have experienced homelessness firsthand- and literature regarding how those experiencing homelessness can be better supported. We detail the ‘survival-directed thinking’ of those we engaged with who was in the throes of homelessness, leading them to focus more on immediate solutions such as food and housing. We then compare these narratives to Elders’ views that have been more regularly focused on connection to culture and long-term plans for healing homelessness, alongside immediate outreach -views also reflected in the literature. Through these comparisons, we highlight the importance of engaging both with those currently experiencing homelessness as well as with Aboriginal Elders as important cultural caretakers and authorities. We demonstrate how these varied voices uncover both long and short-term perspectives on how homelessness can be better managed in policy and service provision. We also highlight the potential role Aboriginal Elders can play in supporting the Aboriginal homeless community and their transition into housing.

Keywords: Aboriginal and Torres strait islander peoples, aboriginal elders, homelessness, community-led research

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Authors: Paul Shize Li, Frank Alber

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A fundamental task of clinical genomics is to unravel the functions of genes and their associations with disorders. Although experimental biology has made efforts to discover and elucidate the molecular mechanisms of individual genes in the past decades, still about 40% of human genes have unknown functions, not to mention the diseases they may be related to. For those biologists who are interested in a particular gene with unknown functions, a powerful computational method tailored for inferring the functions and disease relevance of uncharacterized genes is strongly needed. Studies have shown that genes strongly linked to each other in multiple biological networks are more likely to have similar functions. This indicates that the densely connected subgraphs in multiple biological networks are useful in the functional and phenotypic annotation of uncharacterized genes. Therefore, in this work, we have developed an integrative network approach to identify the frequent local clusters, which are defined as those densely connected subgraphs that frequently occur in multiple biological networks and consist of the query gene that has few or no disease or function annotations. This is a local clustering algorithm that models multiple biological networks sharing the same gene set as a three-dimensional matrix, the so-called tensor, and employs the tensor-based optimization method to efficiently find the frequent local clusters. Specifically, massive public gene expression data sets that comprehensively cover dynamic, physiological, and environmental conditions are used to generate hundreds of gene co-expression networks. By integrating these gene co-expression networks, for a given uncharacterized gene that is of biologist’s interest, the proposed method can be applied to identify the frequent local clusters that consist of this uncharacterized gene. Finally, those frequent local clusters are used for function and disease annotation of this uncharacterized gene. This local tensor clustering algorithm outperformed the competing tensor-based algorithm in both module discovery and running time. We also demonstrated the use of the proposed method on real data of hundreds of gene co-expression data and showed that it can comprehensively characterize the query gene. Therefore, this study provides a new tool for annotating the uncharacterized genes and has great potential to assist clinical genomic diagnostics.

Keywords: local tensor clustering, query gene, gene co-expression network, gene annotation

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Authors: Nazlı Çetindağ, Pelin Yılmaz Çetiner, Metin Mert İlgün, Emine Birci, Gizemnur Yıldız Uysal, Özcan Hatipoğlu, Ehsan Tuzcuoğlu, Gökhan Sır

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Stressing the importance of water conservation, emphasizing the need for efficient management of household water, and underlining the significance of alternative solutions are important. In this context, advanced solutions based on technologies such as the advanced oxidation process have emerged as promising methods for treating household wastewater. Evaluating household water usage holds critical importance for the sustainability of water resources. Researchers and experts are examining various technological approaches to effectively treat and reclaim water for reuse. In this framework, the advanced oxidation process has proven to be an effective method for the removal of various organic and inorganic pollutants in the treatment of household wastewater. In this study, performance will be evaluated by comparing it with the reference case. This international criterion simulates the washing of home textile products, determining various performance parameters. The specially designed stain strips, including sebum, carbon black, blood, cocoa, and red wine, used in experiments, represent various household stains. These stain types were carefully selected to represent challenging stain scenarios, ensuring a realistic assessment of washing performance. Experiments conducted under different temperatures and program conditions successfully demonstrate the practical applicability of the advanced oxidation process for treating household wastewater. It is important to note that both adherence to standards and the use of real-life stain types contribute to the broad applicability of the findings. In conclusion, this study strongly supports the effectiveness of treating household wastewater with the advanced oxidation process in terms of washing performance under both standard and practical application conditions. The study underlines the importance of alternative solutions for sustainable water resource management and highlights the potential of the advanced oxidation process in the treatment of household water, contributing significantly to optimizing water usage and developing sustainable water management solutions.

Keywords: advanced oxidation process, household water usage, household appliance waste water, modelling, water reuse

Procedia PDF Downloads 65

Authors: Revaz Gvelesiani

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The problem of compliance between the state economic policy and entrepreneurial policy of businesses is primarily manifested in the contradictions related to the congruence between entrepreneurship development and self-development strategies. Among various types (financial, monetary, social, etc.) of the state economic policy aiming at the development of entrepreneurship, economic order policy is of special importance. Its goal is to set the framework for both public and private economic activities and achieve coherence between the societal value system and the formation of the economic order framework. Economic order policy, in its turn, involves intrinsic contradiction between the social and the competitive order. Competitive order is oriented on the principle of success, while social order _ on the criteria of need satisfaction, which contradicts, at least partly, to the principles of success. Thus within the economic order policy, on the one hand, the state makes efforts to form social order and expand its frontiers, while, on the other hand, market is determined to establish functioning competitive order and ensure its realization. Locating the adequate spaces for and setting the rational border between the state (social order) and the private (competitive order) activities, represents the phenomenon of the decisive importance from the entrepreneurship development strategy standpoint. In the countries where the above mentioned spaces and borders are “set” correctly, entrepreneurship agents (small, medium-sized and large businesses) achieve great success by means of seizing the respective segments and maintaining the leading positions in the internal, the European and the world markets for a long time. As for the entrepreneurship self-development strategy, above all, it involves: •market identification; •interactions with consumers; •continuous innovations; •competition strategy; •relationships with partners; •new management philosophy, etc. The analysis of compliance between the entrepreneurship strategy and entrepreneurship culture should be the reference point for any kind of internationalization in order to avoid shocks of cultural nature and the economic backwardness. Stabilization can be achieved only when the employee actions reflect the existing culture and the new contents of culture (targeted culture) is turned into the implicit consciousness of the personnel. The future leaders should learn how to manage different cultures. Entrepreneurship can be managed successfully if its strategy and culture are coherent. However, not rarely enterprises (organizations) show various forms of violation of both personal and team actions. If personal and team non-observances appear as the form of influence upon the culture, it will lead to global destruction of the system and structure. This is the entrepreneurship culture pathology that complicates to achieve compliance between the entrepreneurship strategy and entrepreneurship culture. Thus, the intrinsic contradictions of entrepreneurship development and self-development strategies complicate the task of reaching compliance between the state economic policy and the company entrepreneurship policy: on the one hand, there is a contradiction between the social and the competitive order within economic order policy and on the other hand, the contradiction exists between entrepreneurship strategy and entrepreneurship culture within entrepreneurship policy.

Keywords: economic order policy, entrepreneurship, development contradictions, self-development contradictions

Procedia PDF Downloads 328

Authors: Riko Wahyudi, Rezky Lasekti Wicaksono, Ayu Satya Damayanti, Ridhasepta Multi Kenrosa

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Implementing Forest Management Unit (FMU) is considered as the best solution for forest management in developing countries. However, when FMU has been formed, many parties then blame the FMU and assume it is not working on. Currently, there are two main issues that make FMU not be functional i.e. institutional and financial issues. This paper is addressing financial issues to make FMUs in Aceh Province can be functional. A mixed financing scheme is proposed here, both direct and indirect financing. The direct financing scheme derived from two components i.e. public funds and businesses. Non-tax instruments of intergovernmental fiscal transfer (IFT) system and FMU’s businesses are assessed. Meanwhile, indirect financing scheme is conducted by assessing public funds within villages around forest estate as about 50% of total villages in Aceh Province are located surrounding forest estate. Potential instruments under IFT system are forest and mining utilization royalties. In order to make these instruments become direct financing for FMU, interventions on allocation and distribution aspects of them are conducted. In the allocation aspect, alteration in proportion of allocation is required as the authority to manage forest has shifted from district to province. In the distribution aspect, Government of Aceh can earmark usage of the funds for FMUs. International funds for climate change also encouraged to be domesticated and then channeled through these instruments or new instrument under public finance system in Indonesia. Based on FMU’s businesses both from forest products and forest services, FMU can impose non-tax fees for each forest product and service utilization. However, for doing business, the FMU need to be a Public Service Agency (PSA). With this status, FMU can directly utilize the non-tax fees without transferring them to the state treasury. FMU only need to report the fees to Ministry of Finance. Meanwhile, indirect financing scheme is conducted by empowering villages around forest estate as villages in Aceh Province is receiving average village fund of IDR 800 million per village in 2017 and the funds will continue to increase in subsequent years. These schemes should be encouraged in parallel to establish a mixed financing scheme in order to ensure sustainable financing for FMU in Aceh Province, Indonesia.

Keywords: forest management, public funds, mixed financing, village

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: J. Nyenhuis, J. Drelich

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This research study was designed to determine if food crops could be bio-fortified with micro-nutrients by growing sprouts on mineral fortified fiber mats. Diets high in processed foods have been found to lack essential micro-nutrients for optimum human development and overall health. Some micro-nutrients such as copper (Cu) have been found to enhance the inflammatory response through its oxidative functions, thereby having a role in cardiovascular disease (CVD), metabolic syndrome (MetS), diabetes and related complications. Recycled cellulose fibers and clay saturated with micro-nutrient ions can be converted to a novel mineral-metal hybrid material in which the fiber mat becomes a carrier of essential micro-nutrients. The reduction of ionic to metallic copper was accomplished using hydrogen at temperatures ranging from 400o to 600oC. Copper particles with diameters ranging from ~1 to 400-500 nm reside on the recycled fibers that make up the mats. Seeds purchased from a commercial, organic supplier were germinated on the specially engineered cellulose fiber mats that incorporated w10 wt% clay fillers saturated with either copper particles or ionic copper. After the appearance of the first leaves, the sprouts were dehydrated and analyzed for Cu content. Nutrient analysis showed 1.5 to 1.6 increase in Cu of the sprouts grown on the fiber mats with copper particles, and 2.3 to 2.5 increase on mats with ionic copper as compared to the control samples. The antibacterial properties of materials saturated with copper ions at room temperature and at temperatures up to 400°C have been verified with halo method tests against Escherichia Coli in previous studies. E. coli is a known pathogenic risk in sprout production. Copper exhibits excellent antibacterial properties when tested on S. aureus, a pathogenic gram-positive bacterium. This has also been confirmed for the fiber-copper hybrid material in this study. This study illustrates the potential for the use of engineered mats as a viable way to increase the micro-nutrient composition of locally-grown food crops and the need for additional research to determine the uptake, nutritional implications and risks of micro-nutrient bio-fortification.

Keywords: bio-fortification, copper nutrient analysis, micro-nutrient uptake, sprouts and mineral-fortified mats

Procedia PDF Downloads 354

Authors: Renzhi Qi, Zhaoping Zhong

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Under the dual pressure of the global energy crisis and environmental pollution, avoiding the consumption of non-renewable fossil fuels based on carbon as the energy carrier and developing and utilizing non-carbon energy carriers are the basic requirements for the future new energy economy. Electrocatalyst for water splitting plays an important role in building sustainable and environmentally friendly energy conversion. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essentially limited by the slow kinetics of multi-step proton-electron transfer, which limits the efficiency and cost of water splitting. In this work, CeO₂@NiCo-NRGO/NF hybrid materials were prepared using nickel foam (NF) and nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (NRGO) as conductive substrates by multi-step hydrothermal method and were used as highly efficient catalysts for OER. The well-connected nanosheet array forms a three-dimensional (3D) network on the substrate, providing a large electrochemical surface area with abundant catalytic active sites. The doping of CeO₂ in NiCo-NRGO/NF electrocatalysts promotes the dispersion of substances and its synergistic effect in promoting the activation of reactants, which is crucial for improving its catalytic performance against OER. The results indicate that CeO₂@NiCo-NRGO/NF only requires a lower overpotential of 250 mV to drive the current density of 10 mA cm-2 for an OER reaction of 1 M KOH, and exhibits excellent stability at this current density for more than 10 hours. The double layer capacitance (Cdl) values show that CeO₂@NiCo-NRGO/NF significantly affects the interfacial conductivity and electrochemically active surface area. The hybrid structure could promote the catalytic performance of oxygen evolution reaction, such as low initial potential, high electrical activity, and excellent long-term durability. The strategy for improving the catalytic activity of NiCo-LDH can be used to develop a variety of other electrocatalysts for water splitting.

Keywords: CeO₂, reduced graphene oxide, NiCo-layered double hydroxide, oxygen evolution reaction

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Authors: V. Ivanov, J. Chu, V. Stabnikov

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Different biotechnological methods for the production of construction materials and for the performance of construction processes in situ are developing within a new scientific discipline of Construction Biotechnology. The aim of this research was to develop and test new biotechnologies and biotechnological grouts for the minimization of the hydraulic conductivity of the fractured rocks and porous soil. This problem is essential to minimize flow rate of groundwater into the construction sites, the tunneling space before and after excavation, inside levies, as well as to stop water seepage from the aquaculture ponds, agricultural channels, radioactive waste or toxic chemicals storage sites, from the landfills or from the soil-polluted sites. The conventional fine or ultrafine cement grouts or chemical grouts have such restrictions as high cost, viscosity, sometime toxicity but the biogrouts, which are based on microbial or enzymatic activities and some not expensive inorganic reagents, could be more suitable in many cases because of lower cost and low or zero toxicity. Due to these advantages, development of biotechnologies for biogrouting is going exponentially. However, most popular at present biogrout, which is based on activity of urease- producing bacteria initiating crystallization of calcium carbonate from calcium salt has such disadvantages as production of toxic ammonium/ammonia and development of high pH. Therefore, the aim of our studies was development and testing of new biogrouts that are environmentally friendly and have low cost suitable for large scale geotechnical, construction, and environmental applications. New microbial biotechnologies have been studied and tested in the sand columns, fissured rock samples, in 1 m3 tank with sand, and in the pack of stone sheets that were the models of the porous soil and fractured rocks. Several biotechnological methods showed positive results: 1) biogrouting using sequential desaturation of sand by injection of denitrifying bacteria and medium following with biocementation using urease-producing bacteria, urea and calcium salt decreased hydraulic conductivity of sand to 2×10-7 ms-1 after 17 days of treatment and consumed almost three times less reagents than conventional calcium-and urea-based biogrouting; 2) biogrouting using slime-producing bacteria decreased hydraulic conductivity of sand to 1x10-6 ms-1 after 15 days of treatment; 3) biogrouting of the rocks with the width of the fissures 65×10-6 m using calcium bicarbonate solution, that was produced from CaCO3 and CO2 under 30 bars pressure, decreased hydraulic conductivity of the fissured rocks to 2×10-7 ms-1 after 5 days of treatment. These bioclogging technologies could have a lot of advantages over conventional construction materials and processes and can be used in geotechnical engineering, agriculture and aquaculture, and for the environmental protection.

Keywords: biocementation, bioclogging, biogrouting, fractured rocks, porous soil, tunneling space

Procedia PDF Downloads 208

Authors: Paulina Zavistanaviciute, Vita Krungleviciute, Elena Bartkiene

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Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are microbial supplements that increase the nutritional, therapeutic, and safety value of food and feed. Often LAB strains are incubated in an expensive commercially available de Man-Rogosa-Sharpe (MRS) medium; the cultures are centrifuged, and the cells are washing with sterile water. Potato juice and apple juice industry bio-products are industrial wastes which may constitute a source of digestible nutrients for microorganisms. Due to their low cost and good chemical composition, potato juice and apple juice production bio- products could have a potential application in LAB encapsulation. In this study, pure LAB (P. acidilactici and P. pentosaceus) were multiplied in a crushed potato juice and apple juice industry bio-products medium. Before using, bio-products were sterilized and filtered. No additives were added to mass, except apple juice industry bioproducts were diluted with sterile water (1/5; v/v). The tap of sterilised mass, and LAB cell suspension (5 mL), containing of 8.9 log10 colony-forming units (cfu) per mL of the P. acidilactici and P. pentosaceus was used to multiply the LAB for 72 h. The final colony number in the potato juice and apple juice bio- products substrate was on average 9.60 log10 cfu/g. In order to stabilize the LAB, several methods of dehydration have been tested: lyophilisation (MilrockKieffer Lane, Kingston, USA) and dehydration in spray drying system (SD-06, Keison, Great Britain). Into the spray drying system multiplied LAB in a crushed potato juice and apple juice bio-products medium was injected in peristaltic way (inlet temperature +60 °C, inlet air temperature +150° C, outgoing air temperature +80 °C, air flow 200 m3/h). After lyophilisation (-48 °C) and spray drying (+150 °C) the viable cell concentration in the fermented potato juice powder was 9.18 ± 0.09 log10 cfu/g and 9.04 ± 0.07 log10 cfu/g, respectively, and in apple mass powder 8.03 ± 0.04 log10 cfu/g and 7.03 ± 0.03 log10 cfu/g, respectively. Results indicated that during the storage (after 12 months) at room temperature (22 +/- 2 ºC) LAB count in dehydrated products was 5.18 log10 cfu/g and 7.00 log10 cfu/g (in spray dried and lyophilized potato juice powder, respectively), and 3.05 log10 cfu/g and 4.10 log10 cfu/g (in spray dried and lyophilized apple juice industry bio-products powder, respectively). According to obtained results, potato juice could be used as alternative substrate for P. acidilactici and P. pentosaceus cultivation, and by drying received powders can be used in food/feed industry as the LAB starters. Therefore, apple juice industry by- products before spray drying and lyophilisation should be modified (i. e. by using different starches) in order to improve its encapsulation.

Keywords: bio-products, encapsulation, lactic acid bacteria, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Jagannath Koravadi, Archith Gupta

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In a world with constantly growing energy prices, and growing concerns about the global climate changes caused by increased energy consumption, it is becoming more and more essential to save energy wherever possible. Refrigeration systems are one of the major and bulk energy consuming systems now-a-days in industrial sectors, residential sectors and household environment. Refrigeration systems with considerable cooling requirements consume a large amount of electricity and thereby contribute greatly to the running costs. Therefore, a great deal of attention is being paid towards improvement of the performance of the refrigeration systems in this regard throughout the world. The Coefficient of Performance (COP) of a refrigeration system is used for determining the system's overall efficiency. The operating cost to the consumer and the overall environmental impact of a refrigeration system in turn depends on the COP or efficiency of the system. The COP of a refrigeration system should therefore be as high as possible. Slight modifications in the technical elements of the modern refrigeration systems have the potential to reduce the energy consumption, and improvements in simple operational practices with minimal expenses can have beneficial impact on COP of the system. Thus, the challenge is to determine the changes that can be made in a refrigeration system in order to improve its performance, reduce operating costs and power requirement, improve environmental outcomes, and achieve a higher COP. The opportunity here, and a better solution to this challenge, will be to incorporate modifications in conventional refrigeration systems for saving energy. Energy efficiency, in addition to improvement of COP, can deliver a range of savings such as reduced operation and maintenance costs, improved system reliability, improved safety, increased productivity, better matching of refrigeration load and equipment capacity, reduced resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, better working environment, and reduced energy costs. The present work aims at fabricating a working model of a refrigerator that will provide for effective heat recovery from superheated refrigerant with the help of an efficient de-superheater. The temperature of the refrigerant and water in the de-super heater at different intervals of time are measured to determine the quantity of waste heat recovered. It is found that the COP of the system improves by about 6% with the de-superheater and the power input to the compressor decreases by 4 % and also the refrigeration capacity increases by 4%.

Keywords: coefficiency of performance, de-superheater, refrigerant, refrigeration capacity, heat recovery

Procedia PDF Downloads 320

Authors: Flavia Magliacani

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The urbanization of the last decades and its resulting urban growth entail problems both for environmental and economic sustainability. From this perspective, sustainable settlement development requires a horizontal decrease in the existing urban structure in order to enhance its greater concentration. Hence, new stratifications of the city fabric and architectural strategies ensuring high-density settlement models are possible solutions. However, although increasing housing density is necessary, it is not sufficient. Guaranteeing the quality of living is, indeed, equally essential. In order to meet this objective, many other factors come to light, namely the relationship between private and public spaces, the proximity to services, the accessibility of public transport, the local lifestyle habits, and the social needs. Therefore, how to safeguard both quality and density in human habitats? The present paper attempts to answer the previous main research question by addressing several sub-questions: Which architectural types meet the dual need for urban density and housing quality? Which project criteria should be taken into consideration by good design practices? What principles are desirable for future planning? The research will analyse different architectural responses adopted in four European cities: Paris, Lion, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. In particular, it will develop a qualitative and comparative study of two specific architectural solutions which integrate housing density and quality living. On the one hand, the so-called 'self-contained city' model, on the other hand, the French 'Habitat Dense Individualisé' one. The structure of the paper will be as follows: the first part will develop a qualitative evaluation of some case studies, emblematic examples of the two above said architectural models. The second part will focus on the comparison among the chosen case studies. Finally, some conclusions will be drawn. The methodological approach, therefore, combines qualitative and comparative research. Parameters will be defined in order to highlight potential and criticality of each model in light of an interdisciplinary view. In conclusion, the present paper aims at shading light on design approaches which ensure a right balance between density and quality of the urban living in contemporary European cities.

Keywords: density, future design, housing quality, human habitat

Procedia PDF Downloads 106

Authors: Radwa Mabrook

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Virtual Reality (VR) content creation is a complex and an expensive process, which requires multi-disciplinary teams of content creators. Grant schemes from technology companies help media organisations to explore the VR potential in journalism and factual storytelling. Media organisations try to do as much as they can in-house, but they may outsource due to time constraints and skill availability. Journalists, game developers, sound designers and creative artists work together and bring in new cultures of work. This study explores the collaborative experimental nature of VR content creation, through tracing every actor involved in the process and examining their perceptions of the VR work. The study builds on Actor Network Theory (ANT), which decomposes phenomena into their basic elements and traces the interrelations among them. Therefore, the researcher conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with VR content creators between November 2017 and April 2018. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques allowed the researcher to recruit fact-based VR content creators from production studios and media organisations, as well as freelancers. Interviews lasted up to three hours, and they were a mix of Skype calls and in-person interviews. Participants consented for their interviews to be recorded, and for their names to be revealed in the study. The researcher coded interviews’ transcripts in Nvivo software, looking for key themes that correspond with the research questions. The study revealed that VR content creators must be adaptive to change, open to learn and comfortable with mistakes. The VR content creation process is very iterative because VR has no established work flow or visual grammar. Multi-disciplinary VR team members often speak different languages making it hard to communicate. However, adaptive content creators perceive VR work as a fun experience and an opportunity to learn. The traditional sense of competition and the strive for information exclusivity are now replaced by a strong drive for knowledge sharing. VR content creators are open to share their methods of work and their experiences. They target to build a collaborative network that aims to harness VR technology for journalism and factual storytelling. Indeed, VR is instilling collaborative and experimental cultures in journalism.

Keywords: collaborative culture, content creation, experimental culture, virtual reality

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: John Dimopoulos

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This proposal attempts a refabrication of Heidegger’s classic thing-being and object-being analysis in order to provide better ontological tools for understanding contemporary culture, technology, and society. In his work, Heidegger sought to understand and comment on the problem of technology in an era of rampant innovation and increased perils for society and the planet. Today we seem to be at another crossroads in this course, coming after postmodernity, during which dreams and dangers of modernity augmented with critical speculations of the post-war era take shape. The new era which we are now living in, referred to as hypermodernity by researchers in various fields such as architecture and cultural theory, is defined by the horizontal implementation of digital technologies, cybernetic networks, and mixed reality. Technology today is rapidly approaching a turning point, namely the point of no return for humanity’s supervision over its creations. The techno-scientific civilization of the 21st century creates a series of problems, progressively more difficult and complex to solve and impossible to ignore, climate change, data safety, cyber depression, and digital stress being some of the most prevalent. Humans often have no other option than to address technology-induced problems with even more technology, as in the case of neuron networks, machine learning, and AI, thus widening the gap between creating technological artifacts and understanding their broad impact and possible future development. As all technical disciplines and particularly design, become enmeshed in a matrix of digital hyper-objects, a conceptual toolbox that allows us to handle the new reality becomes more and more necessary. Weaponized design, prevalent in many fields, such as social and traditional media, urban planning, industrial design, advertising, and the internet in general, hints towards an increase in conflicts. These conflicts between tech companies, stakeholders, and users with implications in politics, work, education, and production as apparent in the cases of Amazon workers’ strikes, Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, Facebook and Microsoft data scandals, and more are often non-transparent to the wide public’s eye, thus consolidating new elites and technocratic classes and making the public scene less and less democratic. The new category proposed, weapon-being, is outlined in respect to the basic function of reducing complexity, subtracting materials, actants, and parameters, not strictly in favor of a humanistic re-orientation but in a more inclusive ontology of objects and subjects. Utilizing insights of Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and its schematization of technological objects, an outline for a radical ontology of technology is approached.

Keywords: design, hypermodernity, object-oriented ontology, weapon-being

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Authors: Muhammad Naveed, Sohail Yousaf, Zahir Ahmad Zahir, Birgit Mitter, Angela Sessitsch

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Most bacterial endophytes originate from the soil and enter plants via the roots followed by further spread through the inner tissues. The mechanisms allowing bacteria to colonize plants endophytically are still poorly understood for most bacterial and plant species. Specific bacterial functions are required for plant colonization, but also the plant itself is a determining factor as bacterial ability to establish endophytic populations is very often dependent on the plant genotype (cultivar) and inoculums density. The effect of inoculum density (107, 108, 109 CFU mL-1) of Burkholderia phytofirmans strain PsJN was evaluated on growth and endophytic colonization of different maize and potato cultivars under axenic and natural soil conditions. PsJN inoculation significantly increased maize seedling growth and tuber yield of potato at all inoculum density compared to uninoculated control. Under axenic condition, PsJN inoculation (108 CFU mL-1) significantly improved the germination, root/shoot length and biomass up to 62, 115, 98 and 135% of maize seedling compared to uninoculated control. In case of potato, PsJN inoculation (109 CFU mL-1) showed maximum response and significantly increased root/shoot biomass and tuber yield under natural soil condition. We confirmed that PsJN is able to colonize the rhizosphere, roots and shoots of maize and potato cultivars. The endophytic colonization increased linearly with increasing inoculum density (within a range of 8 x 104 – 3 x 107 CFU mL-1) and were highest for maize (Morignon) and potato (Romina) as compared to other cultivars. Efficient colonization of cv. Morignon and Romina by strain PsJN indicates the specific cultivar colonizing capacity of the bacteria. The findings of the study indicate the non-significant relationship between colonization and plant growth promotion in maize under axenic conditions. However, the inoculum level (109 CFU mL-1) that promoted colonization of rhizosphere and plant interior (endophytic) also best promoted growth and tuber yield of potato under natural soil conditions.

Keywords: crop genotype, inoculum density, Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN, colonization, growth, potato

Procedia PDF Downloads 486

Authors: Ravi Kant Anand, Nikkey Keshri

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The Great Barrier Reef of Australia is known for its beautiful landscapes and seascapes with ecological importance. This site was selected as a World Heritage site in 1981 and popularized internationally for tourism, recreational activities and fishing. But the major environmental hazards such as climate change, pollution, overfishing and shipping are making worst the site of marine ecosystem. Climate change is directly hitting on Great Barrier Reef through increasing level of sea, acidification of ocean, increasing in temperature, uneven precipitation, changes in the El Nino and increasing level of cyclones and storms. Apart from that pollution is second biggest factor which vanishing the coral reef ecosystem. Pollution including over increasement of pesticides and chemicals, eutrophication, pollution through mining, sediment runoff, loss of coastal wetland and oil spills. Coral bleaching is the biggest problem because of the environmental threatening agents. Acidification of ocean water reduced the formation of calcium carbonate skeleton. The floral ecosystem (including sea grasses and mangroves) of ocean water is the key source of food for fishes and other faunal organisms but the powerful waves, extreme temperature, destructive storms and river run- off causing the threat for them. If one natural system is under threat, it means the whole marine food web is affected from algae to whale. Poisoning of marine water through different polluting agents have been affecting the production of corals, breeding of fishes, weakening of marine health and increased in death of fishes and corals. In lieu of World Heritage site, tourism sector is directly affected and causing increasement in unemployment. Fishing sector also affected. Fluctuation in the temperature of ocean water affects the production of corals because it needs desolate place, proper sunlight and temperature up to 21 degree centigrade. But storms, El Nino, rise in temperature and sea level are induced for continuous reduction of the coral production. If we do not restrict the environmental problems of Great Barrier Reef than the best known ecological beauty with coral reefs, pelagic environments, algal meadows, coasts and estuaries, mangroves forests and sea grasses, fish species, coral gardens and the one of the best tourist spots will lost in upcoming years. My research will focus on the different environmental threats, its socio-economic impacts and different conservative measures.

Keywords: climate change, overfishing, acidification, eutrophication

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Authors: Ali H. Daraji, Jack M. Hale, Ye Jianqiao

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With the extensive use of high specific strength structures to optimise the loading capacity and material cost in aerospace and most engineering applications, much effort has been expended to develop intelligent structures for active vibration reduction and structural health monitoring. These structures are highly flexible, inherently low internal damping and associated with large vibration and long decay time. The modification of such structures by adding lightweight piezoelectric sensors and actuators at efficient locations integrated with an optimal control scheme is considered an effective solution for structural vibration monitoring and controlling. The size and location of sensor and actuator are important research topics to investigate their effects on the level of vibration detection and reduction and the amount of energy provided by a controller. Several methodologies have been presented to determine the optimal location of a limited number of sensors and actuators for small-scale structures. However, these studies have tackled this problem directly, measuring the fitness function based on eigenvalues and eigenvectors achieved with numerous combinations of sensor/actuator pair locations and converging on an optimal set using heuristic optimisation techniques such as the genetic algorithms. This is computationally expensive for small- and large-scale structures subject to optimise a number of s/a pairs to suppress multiple vibration modes. This paper proposes an efficient method to determine optimal locations for a limited number of sensor/actuator pairs for active vibration reduction of a flexible structure based on finite element method and Hamilton’s principle. The current work takes the simplified approach of modelling a structure with sensors at all locations, subjecting it to an external force to excite the various modes of interest and noting the locations of sensors giving the largest average percentage sensors effectiveness measured by dividing all sensor output voltage over the maximum for each mode. The methodology was implemented for a cantilever plate under external force excitation to find the optimal distribution of six sensor/actuator pairs to suppress the first six modes of vibration. It is shown that the results of the optimal sensor locations give good agreement with published optimal locations, but with very much reduced computational effort and higher effectiveness. Furthermore, it is shown that collocated sensor/actuator pairs placed in these locations give very effective active vibration reduction using optimal linear quadratic control scheme.

Keywords: optimisation, plate, sensor effectiveness, vibration control

Procedia PDF Downloads 232