Search results for: lingual expressions (linguistic terms) given by all experts are used as initial attribute evaluations since they are the most natural and convenient representation of experts' evaluations. Then lingual evaluations are converted into trapezoidal fuzzy numbers

Authors: Mohamed Loutou, Mohamed Hajjaji, Mohamed Ait Babram, Mohammed Mansori, Rachid Hakkou, Claude Favotto

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More than 26,4 million tons of phosphates are produced by the phosphates industries in Morocco (2010), generating huge amounts of sludge by flocculation during the ore beneficiation. They way are stored at the end of the process in open air ponds. Its accumulation and storage may have an impact on several scales such as ground water and human being. For this purpose, an efficient way to use it the field of the ceramic is proposed. The as received sludge and a clay-rich sediment have been studied in terms of chemical, mineralogical and micro-structural side using various analytical methods. Several formulations have been performed by mixing the sludge with the binder shaped in the form of granules. After being dried at 105 °C, the samples were heated in the range of 900-1200 °C. As well as the ceramic properties (firing shrinkage, water absorption, total porosity and compressive strength) the micro structure has been investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The relations between properties and the operating factors were formulated using the design of experiments (DOE). Gehlenite was the only phase neo-formed in the sintering samples. SEM micrographs revealed the presence of nano metric stains. Based on RSM results, all factors had positive effects on Firing shrinkage, compressive strength and total porosity. However, they manifested opposite effects on density and water absorption.

Keywords: phosphate sludge, clay, ceramic properties, granule

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Authors: Bijit Kalita, K. V. N. Surendra

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Rotating disk is one of the most indispensable parts of a rotating machine. Rotating disk has found many applications in the diverging field of science and technology. In this paper, we have taken into consideration the problem of a heavy spinning disk mounted on a rotor system acted upon by boundary traction. Finite element modelling is used at various loading condition to determine the mixed mode stress intensity factors. The effect of combined shear and normal traction on the boundary is incorporated in the analysis under the action of gravity. The variation near the crack tip is characterized in terms of the stress intensity factor (SIF) with an aim to find the SIF for a wide range of parameters. The results of the finite element analyses carried out on the compressed disk of a belt pulley arrangement using fracture mechanics concepts are shown. A total of hundred cases of the problem are solved for each of the variations in loading arc parameter and crack orientation using finite element models of the disc under compression. All models were prepared and analyzed for the uncracked disk, disk with a single crack at different orientation emanating from shaft hole as well as for a disc with pair of cracks emerging from the same center hole. Curves are plotted for various loading conditions. Finally, crack propagation paths are determined using kink angle concepts.

Keywords: crack-tip deformations, static loading, stress concentration, stress intensity factor

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Authors: Dilek Yalız Solmaz

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Meta-cognition is an important factor for educating conscious individuals who are aware of their cognitive processes. With this respect, the purposes of this article is to find out the perceived metacognition level of Physical Education and Sports School students at Anadolu University and to identify whether metacognition levels display significant differences in terms of various variables. 416 Anadolu University Physical Education and Sports School students were formed the research universe. "The Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30)" developed by Cartwright-Hatton and Wells and later developed the 30-item short form (MCQ-30) was used. The MCQ-30 which was adapted into Turkish by Tosun and Irak is a four-point agreement scale. In the data analysis, arithmethic mean, standard deviation, t-test and ANOVA were used. There is no statistical difference between mean scores of uncontrollableness and danger, cognitive awareness, cognitive confidence and the positive beliefs of girls and boys students. There is a statistical difference between mean scores of the need to control thinking. There is no statistical difference according to departments of students between mean scores of uncontrollableness and danger, cognitive awareness, cognitive confidence, need to control thinking and the positive beliefs. There is no statistical difference according to grade level of students between mean scores of the positive beliefs, cognitive confidence and need to control thinking. There is a statistical difference between mean scores of uncontrollableness and danger and cognitive awareness.

Keywords: meta cognition, physical education, sports school students, thinking

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Authors: Dadang Gunawan, I. Dewa Ketut Kertawidana, Lufthi Noorfitriyani

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For the last 5 years, there is the never-ending violent act and increased cases regarding aggressive behavior among high school students in Bogor, Indonesia. Those cases caused harm to many people, even death, and lead to the continuation circle of violence. This research was conducted to evaluate the effect of using peace education and media literacy in enhancing student’s understanding about aggression, as an effort to prevent aggressive behavior. In terms of methodology, this research was done by quasi-experiment with one group pretest and post-test design. A number of 38 students who were at risk of aggressive behavior from 3 vocational high school were involved to receive a 10 learning session about peace and media literacy. The aggression questionnaire was used to identify participants, supported by student’s record in school. To collect data, the questionnaire for measuring understanding about aggression has been developed and was used after the validity and reliability of this questionnaire tested. Post-test was carried out after the session ended. Data were analyzed using t-test. The finding result showed that the mean score of student’s understanding of aggression was increased, therefore learning session of peace education and media literacy is significantly effective to enhance student’s understanding of aggression. It also showed a meaningful difference of understanding between male and female student’s whereas female students have a better understanding of aggression.

Keywords: aggressive behavior prevention, aggression, media literacy, peace education, peacebuilding

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Authors: Carlos Alberto Rivera-corredor, Angie Dayana Vargas-Ceballos, Edison Gilpavas, Izabela Dobrosz-Gómez, Miguel Ángel Gómez-García

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Hexavalent chromium, Cr (VI) is present in the effluents from different industries such as electroplating, mining, leather tanning, etc. This compound is of great academic and industrial concern because of its toxic and carcinogenic behavior. Its dumping to both environmental and public health for animals and humans causes serious problems in water sources. The amount of Cr (VI) in industrial wastewaters ranges from 0.5 to 270,000 mgL-1. According to the Colombian standard for water quality (NTC-813-2010), the maximum allowed concentration for the Cr (VI) in drinking water is 0.05 mg L-1. To comply with this limit, it is essential that industries treat their effluent to reduce the Cr (VI) to acceptable levels. Numerous methods have been reported for the treatment removing metal ions from aqueous solutions such as: reduction, ion exchange, electrodialysis, etc. Adsorption has become a promising method for the purification of metal ions in water, since its application corresponds with an economic and efficient technology. The absorbent selection and the kinetic and thermodynamic study of the adsorption conditions are key to the development of a suitable adsorption technology. The Ce0.25Zr0.75O2.nH2O presents higher adsorption capacity between a series of hydrated mixed oxides Ce1-xZrxO2 (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1). This work presents the kinetic and thermodynamic study of Cr (VI) adsorption on Ce0.25Zr0.75O2.nH2O. Experiments were performed under the following experimental conditions: initial Cr (VI) concentration = 25, 50 and 100 mgL-1, pH = 2, adsorbent charge = 4 gL-1, stirring time = 60 min, temperature=20, 28 and 40 °C. The Cr (VI) concentration was spectrophotometrically estimated by the method of difenilcarbazide with monitoring the absorbance at 540 nm. The Cr (VI) adsorption over hydrated Ce0.25Zr0.75O2.nH2O models was analyzed using pseudo-first and pseudo-second order kinetics. The Langmuir and Freundlich models were used to model the experimental data. The convergence between the experimental values and those predicted by the model, is expressed as a linear regression correlation coefficient (R2) and was employed as the model selection criterion. The adsorption process followed the pseudo-second order kinetic model and obeyed the Langmuir isotherm model. The thermodynamic parameters were calculated as: ΔH°=9.04 kJmol-1,ΔS°=0.03 kJmol-1 K-1, ΔG°=-0.35 kJmol-1 and indicated the endothermic and spontaneous nature of the adsorption process, governed by physisorption interactions.

Keywords: adsorption, hexavalent chromium, kinetics, thermodynamics

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Authors: Liga Priecina, Daina Karklina

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Antioxidants are became the most analyzed substances in last decades. Antioxidants act as in activator for free radicals. Spices and vegetables are one of major antioxidant sources. Most common antioxidants in vegetables and spices are vitamin C, E, phenolic compounds, carotenoids. Therefore, it is important to get some view about antioxidant changes in spices and vegetables during processing. In this article was analyzed nine fresh and dried spices and vegetables- celery (Apium graveolens), parsley (Petroselinum crispum), dill (Anethum graveolens), leek (Allium ampeloprasum L.), garlic (Allium sativum L.), onion (Allium cepa), celery root (Apium graveolens var. rapaceum), pumpkin (Curcubica maxima), carrot (Daucus carota)- grown in Latvia 2013. Total carotenoids and phenolic compounds and their antiradical scavenging activity were determined for all samples. Dry matter content was calculated from moisture content. After drying process carotenoid content significantly decreases in all analyzed samples, except one -carotenoid content increases in parsley. Phenolic composition was different and depends on sample – fresh or dried. Total phenolic, flavonoid and phenolic acid content increases in dried spices. Flavan-3-ol content is not detected in fresh spice samples. For dried vegetables- phenolic acid content decreases significantly, but increases flavan-3-ols content. The higher antiradical scavenging activity was observed in samples with higher flavonoid and phenolic acid content.

Keywords: antiradical scavenging activity, carotenoids, phenolic compounds, spices, vegetables

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Authors: Aileen O'loughlin

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‘Is Everybody Going WeLL?’ (IEGW?) is a 33-hour classroom-based initiative created to a) explore values and how they impact on well-being, b) encourage adolescents to connect with their community, and c) provide them with the education to encourage and maintain a lifetime love of physical activity (PA) to ensure beneficial effects on their personal well-being. This initiative is also aimed at achieving sustainable education and aligning with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals numbers 3 and 4. The classroom is a unique setting in which adolescents’ PA participation can be positively influenced through fun PA policies and initiatives. The primary purpose of this research is to evaluate a range of psychosocial and PA outcomes following the 33-hour education programme. This research examined the impact of a PA and well-being programme consisting of either a 60minute or 80minute class, depending on the timetable structure of the school, delivered once a week. Participant outcomes were measured using validated questionnaires regarding Self-esteem, Mental Health Literacy (MHL) and Daily Physical Activity Participation. These questionnaires were administered at three separate time points; baseline, mid-intervention, and post intervention. Semi-structured interviews with participating teachers regarding adherence and participants’ attitudes were completed post-intervention. These teachers were randomly selected for interview. This perspective analytical cohort study included 235 post-primary school students between 11-13 years of age (100 boys and 135 girls) from five public Irish post-primary schools. Three schools received the intervention only; a 33hour interactive well-being learning unit, one school formed a control group and one school had participants in both the intervention and control group. Participating schools were a convenience sample. Data presented outlines baseline data collected pre-participation (0 hours completed). N = 18 junior certificate students returned all three questionnaires fully completed for a 56.3% return rate from 1 school, Intervention School #3. 94.4% (n = 17) of participants enjoy taking part in some form of PA, however only 5.5% (n = 1) of the participants took part in PA every day of the previous 7 days and only 5.5% (n = 1) of those surveyed participated in PA every day during a normal week. 55% (n = 11) had a low level of self-esteem, 50% (n = 9) fall within the normal range of self-esteem, and n = 0 surveyed demonstrated a high level of self-esteem. Female participants’ Mean score was higher than their male counterparts when MHL was compared. Correlation analyses revealed a small association between Self-esteem and Happiness (r = 0.549). Positive correlations were also revealed between MHL and Happiness, MHL and Self-esteem and Self-esteem and 60+ minutes of PA completed daily. IEGW? is a classroom-based with simple methods easy to implement, replicate and financially viable to both public and private schools. It’s unique dataset will allow for the evaluation of a societal approach to the psycho-social well-being and PA participation levels of adolescents. This research is a work in progress and future work is required to learn how to best support the implementation of ‘Is Everybody Going WeLL?’ as part of the school curriculum.

Keywords: education, life-long learning, physical activity, psychosocial well-being

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Authors: Silvia Boschetti, Jakub Binter, Robin Kopecký, Lenka PříPlatová, Jaroslav Flegr

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A strict dichotomy was present between religion and science, but recently, cognitive science focusses on the impact of supernatural beliefs on cognitive processes such as pattern recognition. It has been hypothesized that cognitive and perceptual processes have been under evolutionary pressures that ensured amplified perception of patterns, especially when in stressful and harsh conditions. The pattern detection in religious and non-religious individuals after induction of negative, anxious mood shall constitute a cornerstone of the general role of anxiety, cognitive bias, leading towards or against the by-product hypothesis, one of the main theories on the evolutionary studies of religion. The apophenia (tendencies to perceive connection and meaning on unrelated events) and perception of visual patterns (or pateidolia) are of utmost interest. To capture the impact of culture and upbringing, a comparative study of two European countries, the Czech Republic (low organized religion participation, high esoteric belief) and Italy (high organized religion participation, low esoteric belief), are currently in the data collection phase. Outcomes will be presented at the conference. A battery of standardized questionnaires followed by pattern recognition tasks (the patterns involve color, shape, and are of artificial and natural origin) using an experimental method involving the conditioning of (controlled, laboratory-induced) stress is taking place. We hypothesize to find a difference between organized religious belief and personal (esoteric) belief that will be alike in both of the cultural environments.

Keywords: culture, esoteric belief, pattern perception, religiosity

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Authors: D. M. Samartsev, A. G. Copping

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As with all industries, architects are using increasing amounts of automation within practice, with approaches such as generative design and use of AI becoming more commonplace. However, the discourse on the rate at which the architectural design process is being automated is often personal and lacking in objective figures and measurements. This results in confusion between people and barriers to effective discourse on the subject, in turn limiting the ability of architects, policy makers, and members of the public in making informed decisions in the area of design automation. This paper proposes the use of a framework to quantify the progress of automation within the design process. The use of a reductionist analysis of the design process allows it to be quantified in a manner that enables direct comparison across different times, as well as locations and projects. The methodology is informed by the design of this framework – taking on the aspects of a systematic review but compressed in time to allow for an initial set of data to verify the validity of the framework. The use of such a framework of quantification enables various practical uses such as predicting the future of the architectural industry with regards to which tasks will be automated, as well as making more informed decisions on the subject of automation on multiple levels ranging from individual decisions to policy making from governing bodies such as the RIBA. This is achieved by analyzing the design process as a generic task that needs to be performed, then using principles of work breakdown systems to split the task of designing an entire building into smaller tasks, which can then be recursively split further as required. Each task is then assigned a series of milestones that allow for the objective analysis of its automation progress. By combining these two approaches it is possible to create a data structure that describes how much various parts of the architectural design process are automated. The data gathered in the paper serves the dual purposes of providing the framework with validation, as well as giving insights into the current situation of automation within the architectural design process. The framework can be interrogated in many ways and preliminary analysis shows that almost 40% of the architectural design process has been automated in some practical fashion at the time of writing, with the rate at which progress is made slowly increasing over the years, with the majority of tasks in the design process reaching a new milestone in automation in less than 6 years. Additionally, a further 15% of the design process is currently being automated in some way, with various products in development but not yet released to the industry. Lastly, various limitations of the framework are examined in this paper as well as further areas of study.

Keywords: analysis, architecture, automation, design process, technology

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Authors: Ayushi Mishra

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Migrant construction workers or construction labors are one of the majority of the working population in our urban and rural areas. Even after being the majority, their involvement in the upbringing of the economy is hardly ever documented or recognized. Non-permanent or migrant workers face loads of exploitations and susceptibilities than other informal sector workers in India which in turn has affected the productivity of the labors. The relation of their employment and migration and the links of these dynamics to their housing and other basic needs in the city are mostly unstated. Even the urban planning and housing policies do not make thoughtful provision for them, they forcing them to live in extremely wretched conditions. And even if the policies are made, it frequently happens that they are not implemented. As the issue is very much prevalent in today’s time in India with so many large-scale and labor extensive projects going on, this study focuses on the assessment of the gap between the existing government policies and the current scenario of the construction workers in ongoing projects of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. A few of the policies for construction workers conditions a lot of things, out of which only a few are functional which makes this study to assess the reason behind the unorganized living condition and poor physical, the social and mental health of construction workers of Vijayawada. In present, the dignity of construction labors is compromised every day on construction sites, in terms of work and basic rights which leads to many other problems in future. So to work for the betterment of this community, knowledge on the differences is very much required and hence this study is a little effort to replenish the difference and compare the policies with the existing conditions of construction labors in Vijayawada.

Keywords: construction, labours, policy, productivity

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Authors: Adel Menchawy, Noha Labib

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Many cities have quarters that confer on them sense of identity and place through its cultural history. They are often vital part of the cities charm and appeal, their functional and visual qualities are important to the city’s image and identity. Brownfield sites present an important part of our built landscape. They provide tangible and intangible links to our past and have great potential to play significant roles in the future of our cities, towns and rural environments. Brownfield sites are places that were previously industrial factories or areas that might have had waste kept at that location or been exposed to many types of hazards. Thus its redevelopment revitalizes and strengthens towns and communities as it helps in economic growth, builds community pride and protects public health and the environment Three case studies are discussed in this paper; the first one is the city of Sterling which was developed and revitalized entirely and became a city with identity after it was derelict, the Second is the city of Castlefield with was a place no one was eager to visit now it became a touristic area. And finally the city of Cleveland which adopted a strategy that transferred it from being a polluted, derelict place into a mixed use development city Brownfield revitalization offers a great opportunity to transfer the city from being derelict, useless and contaminated into a place where tourists would love to come. Also it will increase the economy of the place, increase the social level, it can improve energy efficiency, reduce natural consumption, clean air, water and land and take advantage of existing buildings and sites and transfers them into an adaptive reuse after being remediated

Keywords: Brownfield Revitalization, Sustainable Brownfield, Historical conservation, Adaptive reuse

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Authors: Abdelfatah Elsenosy, Mahmoud Ebrahim

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Background: Distal radius fractures are commonly encountered in orthopedic practice, especially in elderly patients. A number of clinical papers have supported the idea that anatomic restoration of the distal end of the radius is essential to gain superior results. Aim and objectives: The aim of the study is to systematically review the literature for the management of distal end radius in elderly persons (conservative treatment versus percutaneous wire fixation) as regards radiological and functional outcomes. Subjects and methods: Studies were identified from the Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases were searched until 2019 using combinations of the following search terms: distal radius fracture, conservative treatment, non-operative treatment, and nonsurgical treatment, surgical treatment, operative, elderly, and older. Reference lists of relevant studies were manually searched. Results: There was no statistical significance difference between CI and PKF groups’ frequency of complication in all of the selected studies. Based on the results, we recommend more analysis regarding every parameter of the radiographic and functional results and specific complications related to each fixation need to be accomplished, which requires more Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with high quality. Conclusion: Surgical treatment seems to be more effective distal radius fracture compared with conservative treatment when the radiographic outcomes were analyzed, and no significant differences were detected in the functional outcomes and complication rate.

Keywords: radius, fracture, surgical, RCTs, conservative, radiographic, outcomes, orthopedic

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Authors: Veniamin Boiarkin, Bruno Bogaz Zarpelão, Muttukrishnan Rajarajan

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The manufacturing sector is a vital component of most economies, which leads to a large number of cyberattacks on organisations, whereas disruption in operation may lead to significant economic consequences. Adversaries aim to disrupt the production processes of manufacturing companies, gain financial advantages, and steal intellectual property by getting unauthorised access to sensitive data. Access to sensitive data helps organisations to enhance the production and management processes. However, the majority of the existing data-sharing mechanisms are either susceptible to different cyber attacks or heavy in terms of computation overhead. In this paper, a privacy-preserving data-sharing scheme for smart utilities is proposed. First, a customer’s privacy adjustment mechanism is proposed to make sure that end-users have control over their privacy, which is required by the latest government regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation. Secondly, a local differential privacy-based mechanism is proposed to ensure the privacy of the end-users by hiding real data based on the end-user preferences. The proposed scheme may be applied to different industrial control systems, whereas in this study, it is validated for energy utility use cases consisting of smart, intelligent devices. The results show that the proposed scheme may guarantee the required level of privacy with an expected relative error in utility.

Keywords: data-sharing, local differential privacy, manufacturing, privacy-preserving mechanism, smart utility

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Authors: Hsin-Yueh Chang, Pin-Chen Liao, Jo-Shu Chang, Chun-Yen Chen

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Biofuel has drawn much attention as a potential substitute to fossil fuels. However, biodiesel from waste oil, oil crops or other oil sources can only satisfy partial existing demands for transportation. Due to the feature of being clean, green and viable for mass production, using microalgae as a feedstock for biodiesel is regarded as a possible solution for a low-carbon and sustainable society. In particular, Thraustochytrium sp. BM2, an indigenous heterotrophic microalga, possesses the potential for metabolizing glycerol to produce lipids. Hence, it is being considered as a promising microalgae-based oil source for biodiesel production and other applications. This study was to optimize the culture pH, scale up, assess the feasibility of producing microalgal lipid from crude glycerol and apply operation strategies following optimal results from shake flask system in a 5L stirred-tank fermenter for further enhancing lipid productivities. Cultivation of Thraustochytrium sp. BM2 without pH control resulted in the highest lipid production of 3944 mg/L and biomass production of 4.85 g/L. Next, when initial glycerol and corn steep liquor (CSL) concentration increased five times (50 g and 62.5 g, respectively), the overall lipid productivity could reach 124 mg/L/h. However, when using crude glycerol as a sole carbon source, direct addition of crude glycerol could inhibit culture growth. Therefore, acid and metal salt pretreatment methods were utilized to purify the crude glycerol. Crude glycerol pretreated with acid and CaCl₂ had the greatest overall lipid productivity 131 mg/L/h when used as a carbon source and proved to be a better substitute for pure glycerol as carbon source in Thraustochytrium sp. BM2 cultivation medium. Engineering operation strategies such as fed-batch and semi-batch operation were applied in the cultivation of Thraustochytrium sp. BM2 for the improvement of lipid production. In cultivation of fed-batch operation strategy, harvested biomass 132.60 g and lipid 69.15 g were obtained. Also, lipid yield 0.20 g/g glycerol was same as in batch cultivation, although with poor overall lipid productivity 107 mg/L/h. In cultivation of semi-batch operation strategy, overall lipid productivity could reach 158 mg/L/h due to the shorter cultivation time. Harvested biomass and lipid achieved 232.62 g and 126.61 g respectively. Lipid yield was improved from 0.20 to 0.24 g/g glycerol. Besides, product costs of three kinds of operation strategies were also calculated. The lowest product cost 12.42 $NTD/g lipid was obtained while employing semi-batch operation strategy and reduced 33% in comparison with batch operation strategy.

Keywords: heterotrophic microalga Thrasutochytrium sp. BM2, microalgal lipid, crude glycerol, fermentation strategy, biodiesel

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Authors: Sun-Ki Choi

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The U.S. student loan policy was initiated to improve the equality of educational opportunity and help low-income families to provide higher education opportunities for their children. However, with the increase in the average student loan amount, college graduates with student loans experience problems and restrictions in their early-career choices. This study examines the early career labor market choices of college graduates who obtained student loans to finance their higher education. In this study, National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) data for 2017 and 2019 was used to estimate the effects of student loans on the employment status and current job wages of graduates with student loans. In the analysis, two groups of workers, those with student loans and those without loans, were compared. Using basic models and Mahalanobis distance matching, it was found that graduates who rely on student loans to finance their education are more likely to participate in the labor market than those who do not. Moreover, in entry-level jobs, graduates with student loans receive lower salaries than those without student loans. College graduates make job-related decisions based on their current and future wages and fringe benefits. Graduates with student loans tend to demonstrate risk-averse behaviors due to their financial restrictions. Thus, student loan debt creates inequity in the early-career labor market for college graduates. Furthermore, this study has implications for policymakers and researchers in terms of the student loan policy.

Keywords: student loan, wage differential, unintended consequences, mahalanobis distance matching

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Authors: Milton Ixquiac, Erick Montenegro, Francisco Reynoso, Matthew Schmidt, Thomas Mazur, Tianyu Zhao, Hiram Gay, Geoffrey Hugo, Lauren Henke, Jeff Michael Michalski, Angel Velarde, Vicky de Falla, Franky Reyes, Osmar Hernandez, Edgar Aparicio Ruiz, Baozhou Sun

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Purpose: Radiotherapy departments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) like Guatemala have recently introduced intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). IMRT has become the standard of care in high-income countries (HIC) due to reduced toxicity and improved outcomes in some cancers. The purpose of this work is to show the agreement between the dosimetric results shown in the Dose Volume Histograms (DVH) to the objectives proposed in the adopted protocol. This is the initial experience with an O-ring Linac. Methods and Materials: An O-Linac Linac was installed at our clinic in Guatemala in 2019 and has been used to treat approximately 90 patients daily with IMRT. This Linac is a completely Image Guided Device since to deliver each radiotherapy session must take a Mega Voltage Cone Beam Computerized Tomography (MVCBCT). In each MVCBCT, the Linac deliver 9 UM, and they are taken into account while performing the planning. To start the standardization, the TG263 was employed in the nomenclature and adopted a hypofractionated protocol to treat ChestWall, including supraclavicular nodes achieving 40.05Gy in 15 fractions. The planning was developed using 4 semiarcs from 179-305 degrees. The planner must create optimization volumes for targets and Organs at Risk (OARs); the difficulty for the planner was the dose base due to the MVCBCT. To evaluate the planning modality, we used 30 chestwall cases. Results: The plans created manually achieve the protocol objectives. The protocol objectives are the same as the RTOG1005, and the DHV curves look clinically acceptable. Conclusions: Despite the O-ring Linac doesn´t have the capacity to obtain kv images, the cone beam CT was created using MV energy, the dose delivered by the daily image setup process still without affect the dosimetric quality of the plans, and the dose distribution is acceptable achieving the protocol objectives.

Keywords: hypofrationation, VMAT, chestwall, radiotherapy planning

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Authors: Ana Pego

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Environmental technologies were developed for decades. Clean technologies emerged a few years ago. In these perspectives, the use of cleantech technologies has become very important due the fact of new era of environmental feats. As such, the market itself has become more competitive, more collaborative towards a better use of clean technologies. This paper shows the importance of clean technologies in offshore energy sector in Portuguese market, its localization and its impact on economy. Clean technologies are directly related with renewable cluster and concomitant with economic and social resource optimization criteria, geographic aspects, climate change and soil features. Cleantech is related with regional development, socio-technical transitions in organisations. There are an economical and social combinations which allow specialisation of regions in activities, higher employment, reduce of energy costs, local knowledge spillover and, business collaboration and competitiveness. The methodology used will be quantitative (IO matrix for Portugal 2013) and qualitative (questionnaires to stakeholders). The mix of both methodologies will confirm whether the use of technologies will allow a positive impact on economic and social variables used on this model. It is expected a positive impact on Portuguese economy both in investment and employment taking in account the localization of offshore renewable activities. This means that the importance of offshore renewable investment in Portugal has a few points which should be pointed out: the increase of specialised employment, localization of specific activities in territory, and increase of value added in certain regions. The conclusion will allow researchers and organisation to compare the Portuguese model to other European regions in order to a better use of natural and human resources.

Keywords: cleantech, economic impact, localisation, territory dynamics

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Authors: Mohd Radzi Hilmi, Khairidzan Mohd Kamal, Che Azemin Mohd Zulfaezal, Ariffin Azrin Esmady

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Purpose: Corneal curvature (CC) is an important anterior segment parameter. This study compared CC measurements conducted with two optical devices in phakic eyes. Methods: Sixty phakic eyes of 30 patients were enrolled in this study. CC was measured three times with the optical biometer and topography-keratometer Tomey AO-2000 (Tomey Corporation, Nagoya, Japan), then with the standard partial optical coherence interferometry (PCI) IOL Master (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA) and data were statistically analysed. Results: The measurements resulted in a mean CC of 43.86 ± 1.57 D with Tomey AO-2000 and 43.84 ± 1.55 D with IOL Master. Distribution of data is normal, and no significance difference in CC values was detected (P = 0.952) between the two devices. Correlation between CC measurements was highly significant (r = 0. 99; P < 0.0001). The mean difference of CC values between devices was 0.017 D and 95% limit of agreement was -0.088 to 0.12. Duration taken for measurements with the standard biometer IOL Master was longer (55.17 ± 2.24 seconds) than with Tomey AO-2000 (39.88 ± 2.38 seconds) in automatic mode. Duration of manual measurement with Tomey AO-2000 in manual mode was the shortest (28.57 ± 2.71 seconds). Conclusion: In phakic eyes, CC measured with Tomey AO-2000 and IOL Master showed similar values, and high correlation was observed between these two devices. This shows that both devices can be used interchangeably. Tomey AO-2000 is better in terms of faster to operate and has its own topography systems.

Keywords: corneal topography, corneal curvature, IOL Master, Tomey AO2000

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Authors: F. S. Irwansyah, I. Farida, Y. Maulana

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Studying chemistry requires the ability to understand three levels of understanding in the form of macroscopic, submicroscopic and symbolic, but the lack of emphasis on the submicroscopic level leads to the understanding of chemical concepts becoming incomplete, due to the limitations of the tools capable of providing visualization of submicroscopic concepts. The purpose of this study describes the stages of making augmented reality learning media on the concept of molecular geometry and analyze the feasibility test result of augmented reality learning media on the concept of molecular geometry. This research uses Research and Development (R & D) method which produces a product of AR learning media on molecular geometry concept and test the effectiveness of the product. Research stages include concept analysis and learning indicators, design development, validation, feasibility, and limited testing. The stages of validation and limited trial are aimed to get feedback in the form of assessment, suggestion and improvement on learning aspect, material substance aspect, visual communication aspect and software engineering aspects and media feasibility in terms of media creation purpose to be used in learning. The results of the overall feasibility test obtained r-calculation 0,7-0,9 with the interpretation of high feasibility value, whereas the result of limited trial got the percentage of eligibility with the average value equal to 70,83-92,5%. This percentage indicates that AR's learning media product on the concept of molecular geometry, deserves to be used as a learning resource.

Keywords: android, augmented reality, chemical learning, geometry

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Authors: Yunus Emre Karakaya, Sebahattin Devecioglu, Bilal Coban

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Today, information technology’s presence is felt in every field of life. Fields of education and sports sciences have their own share too. Especially developments in informatics technologies changed the perspectives of these fields. The altered technological conditions made distance education argumentative in these fields. Due to advantages distance education provides to students, they can access the desired education without concerns about time and place. Education facilities are seen to head for distance education in this manner and expedite the process. Distance education applications, which was first started to be applied in the mid-1800s, have been implemented in Turkey since 1970s and still continues today. In this study, the historical development of distance education in the world and Turkey and the problems athletes face in education were discussed. Accordingly, suggestions were made evaluating the importance and requirements of distance education in sports education facilities at higher education level. Additionally, Questions of “Is distance education important in sports education in Turkey?”, “What are the problems of athletes in the education field in Turkey?” and similar questions were attempted to be answered. Finally, in Turkey, distance sports education applications in universities should be launched to ensure that athletes’ educations are not deficit and unfinished. Within this framework, legal regulations should be implemented by “Council of Higher Education” to develop the distance sports education in Turkey and utilize distance education efficiently in solving the sports education problems. By ensuring the advancement of athletes with this method, it is expected for athletes to contribute to sports in the country in both government and the private sector in the medium and long terms. Individuals who participated in the distance sports education will set an example in extending the country’s youth to national and international fields.

Keywords: athletes, distance education, higher education, sports education, Turkey

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Authors: Claire Griffin

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Recent years have witnessed a surge in the use of innovative teaching approaches to support student engagement and higher-order learning within higher education. This paper seeks to explore the use of collaborative, interactive teaching and learning strategies to support student engagement in a final year undergraduate Developmental Psychology module. In particular, the use of the jigsaw method, in-class presentations and online discussion fora were adopted in a ‘lectorial’ style teaching approach, aimed at scaffolding learning, fostering social interdependence and supporting various levels of student engagement in higher education. Using the ‘Student Course Engagement Questionnaire’, the impact of such teaching strategies on students’ college classroom experience was measured, with additional qualitative student feedback gathered. Results illustrate the positive impact of the teaching methodologies on students’ levels of engagement, with positive implications emerging across the four engagement factors: skills engagement, emotional engagement, participation/interaction engagement and performance engagement. Thematic analysis on students’ qualitative comments also provided greater insight into the positive impact of the ‘lectorial’ teaching approach on students’ classroom experience within higher level education. Implications of the findings are presented in terms of informing effective teaching practices within higher education. Additional avenues for future research and strategy usage will also be discussed, in light of evolving practice and cutting edge literature within the field.

Keywords: learning, higher education, scaffolding, student engagement

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Authors: K. Mirudhula, R. Saravanan

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Bhavani basin is the fourth largest Sub Basin in the Cauvery basin. The entire command area of all three major canals that takes off from the Bhavani river falls within the Erode District i.e. Lower Bhavani Project (LBP), Kodiveri and Kalingarayan canals. The LBP canal is a major source of irrigation in Erode District. Many of these canals are unlined and leakage takes place from them. Thus the seepage from the canal helps in recharging the wells in the area, enabling to get adequate water supply for the crops when water was not released from Bhavanisagar Dam. In this study, the groundwater recharge is determined by groundwater flow modeling using Visual MODFLOW model. For this purpose, three major natural sources of groundwater recharge are taken into consideration such as rainfall infiltration, canal seepage and return flow of irrigation. The model was run and ZONEBUDGET gives an idea about the amount of recharge from lined/unlined canal to the field. Unlined canal helps to recharge the groundwater about 20% more than the lined canal. The analysis reveals that the annual rainfall also has rapidly changed in this region. In the LBP canal Head reach meets their requirement with available quantity of water from the canal system. Tail end reach does not receive the required quantity of water because of seepage loss and conveyance loss. Hence the lined canal can be provided for full length of the main canal. Branch canals and minor distributaries are suggested to maintain the canals with unlined canal system.

Keywords: lower Bhavani basin, erode, groundwater flow modeling, irrigation practice, lined canal system

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Authors: Boudjahem Ibtissem, Aouati Amel

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Thaumetopoea pityocampa is one of the major insect pests of pine forests in Algeria, the Mediterranean region, and central Europe. This pest is responsible for several natural and human damages these last years. The caterpillar can feed itself during the larval stage on several species of pine or cedar. The forests attack by the insect can reduce their resistance against other forest enemies, fires, or drought conditions. In this case, the tree becomes more vulnerable to other pests. To understand the eating behavior of the insect in its ecological conditions, and its nutritional preference, we realized a study of the abundance of winter nests of the pine processionary caterpillar in four different forests: Pinus halepensis; Pinus pinaster; Pinus pinea, and Cedrus atlantica. A count of the sites affected by the processionary caterpillar was carried out on a hundred trees from the forests in different regions in Algeria; Alkala region, Mila region, Annaba region, and Blida region; the total rate and average abundance are calculated for each forest. Ecological parameters are also estimated for each infestation. The results indicated a higher rate of infestation in Pinus halepensis trees (85%) followed by Cedrus atlantica (66%) and Pinus pinaster (50%) trees. The Pinus pinea forest is the least attacked region by the pine processionary caterpillar (23%). The abundance of the pine processionary caterpillar can be influenced by the height of the trees, the climate of the region, the age of the forest but also the quality of needles.

Keywords: Thaumetopoea pityocampa, Pinus halepensis, needles, winter nests

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Authors: Alexander Zotov, Ilkin Osmanov, Emil Sakharov, Oleg Shelest, Aleksander Troitskiy, Robert Khabazov

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Objective: Thoracoscopic surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) includes two technologies in performing of operation. 1st strategy used is the AtriCure device (bipolar, nonirrigated, non clamping), 2nd strategy is- the Medtronic device (bipolar, irrigated, clamping). The study presents a comparative analysis of clinical outcomes of two strategies in thoracoscopic ablation of AF using AtriCure vs. Medtronic devices. Methods: In 2 center study, 123 patients underwent thoracoscopic ablation of AF for the period from 2016 to 2020. Patients were divided into two groups. The first group is represented by patients who applied the AtriCure device (N=63), and the second group is - the Medtronic device (N=60), respectively. Patients were comparable in age, gender, and initial severity of the condition. Among the patients, in group 1 were 65% males with a median age of 57 years, while in group 2 – 75% and 60 years, respectively. Group 1 included patients with paroxysmal form -14,3%, persistent form - 68,3%, long-standing persistent form – 17,5%, group 2 – 13,3%, 13,3% and 73,3% respectively. Median ejection fraction and indexed left atrial volume amounted in group 1 – 63% and 40,6 ml/m2, in group 2 - 56% and 40,5 ml/m2. In addition, group 1 consisted of 39,7% patients with chronic heart failure (NYHA Class II) and 4,8% with chronic heart failure (NYHA Class III), when in group 2 – 45% and 6,7%, respectively. Follow-up consisted of laboratory tests, chest Х-ray, ECG, 24-hour Holter monitor, and cardiopulmonary exercise test. Duration of freedom from AF, distant mortality rate, and prevalence of cerebrovascular events were compared between the two groups. Results: Exit block was achieved in all patients. According to the Clavien-Dindo classification of surgical complications fraction of adverse events was 14,3% and 16,7% (1st group and 2nd group, respectively). Mean follow-up period in the 1st group was 50,4 (31,8; 64,8) months, in 2nd group - 30,5 (14,1; 37,5) months (P=0,0001). In group 1 - total freedom of AF was in 73,3% of patients, among which 25% had additional antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs) therapy or catheter ablation (CA), in group 2 – 90% and 18,3%, respectively (for total freedom of AF P<0,02). At follow-up, the distant mortality rate in the 1st group was – 4,8%, and in the 2nd – no fatal events. Prevalence of cerebrovascular events was higher in the 1st group than in the 2nd (6,7% vs. 1,7% respectively). Conclusions: Despite the relatively shorter follow-up of the 2nd group in the study, applying the strategy using the Medtronic device showed quite encouraging results. Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy in the long-term period.

Keywords: atrial fibrillation, clamping, ablation, thoracoscopic surgery

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Authors: S. Alsubari, M. Y. M. Zuhri, S. M. Sapuan, M. R. Ishaks

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Sandwich structures based on cellular cores are increasingly being utilized as energy-absorbing components in the industry. However, determining ideal structural configurations remains challenging. This chapter compares the compression properties of flax fiber-reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) of empty honeycomb core, foam-filled honeycomb and double cell wall square interlocking core sandwich structure under quasi-static compression loading. The square interlocking core is fabricated through a slotting technique, whereas the honeycomb core is made using a corrugated mold that was initially used to create the corrugated core composite profile, which is then cut into corrugated webs and assembled to form the honeycomb core. The sandwich structures are tested at a crosshead displacement rate of 2 mm/min. The experimental results showed that honeycomb outperformed the square interlocking core in terms of their strength capability and SEA by around 14% and 34%, respectively. It is observed that the foam-filled honeycomb collapse in a progressive mode, exhibiting noticeable advantages over the empty honeycomb; this is attributed to the interaction between the honeycomb wall and foam filler. Interestingly, the average SEAs of foam-filled and empty honeycomb cores have no significant difference, around 8.7kJ/kg and 8.2kJ/kg, respectively. In contrast, its strength capability is clearly pronounced, in which the foam-filled core outperforms the empty counterparts by around 33%. Finally, the results for empty and foam-filled cores were significantly superior to aluminum cores published in the literature.

Keywords: compressive strength, flax, honeycomb core, specific energy absorption

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Authors: Mohammadreza Ashouria, Majid Motamedzadeb

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Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and Quick Exposure Check (QEC) are two general methods to assess the risk factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). This study aimed to compare ergonomic risk assessment outputs from QEC and REBA in terms of agreement in distribution of postural loading scores based on analysis of working postures. This cross-sectional study was conducted in an engine oil company in which 40 jobs were studied. A trained occupational health practitioner observed all jobs. Job information was collected to ensure the completion of ergonomic risk assessment tools, including QEC, and REBA. The result revealed that there was a significant correlation between final scores (r=0.731) and the action levels (r =0.893) of two applied methods. Comparison between the action levels and final scores of two methods showed that there was no significant difference among working departments. Most of the studied postures acquired low and moderate risk level in QEC assessment (low risk=20%, moderate risk=50% and High risk=30%) and in REBA assessment (low risk=15%, moderate risk=60% and high risk=25%).There is a significant correlation between two methods. They have a strong correlation in identifying risky jobs and determining the potential risk for incidence of WMSDs. Therefore, there is a possibility for researchers to apply interchangeably both methods, for postural risk assessment in appropriate working environments.

Keywords: observational method, QEC, REBA, musculoskeletal disorders

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Authors: Moustafa Osman Mohammed

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Integration sustainability outcomes give attention to construction ecology in the design review of urban environments to comply with Earth’s System that is composed of integral parts of the (i.e., physical, chemical and biological components). Naturally, exchange patterns of industrial ecology have consistent and periodic cycles to preserve energy flows and materials in Earth’s System. When engineering topology is affecting internal and external processes in system networks, it postulated the valence of the first-level spatial outcome (i.e., project compatibility success). These instrumentalities are dependent on relating the second-level outcome (i.e., participant security satisfaction). Construction ecology approach feedback energy from resources flows between biotic and abiotic in the entire Earth’s ecosystems. These spatial outcomes are providing an innovation, as entails a wide range of interactions to state, regulate and feedback “topology” to flow as “interdisciplinary equilibrium” of ecosystems. The interrelation dynamics of ecosystems are performing a process in a certain location within an appropriate time for characterizing their unique structure in “equilibrium patterns”, such as biosphere and collecting a composite structure of many distributed feedback flows. These interdisciplinary systems regulate their dynamics within complex structures. These dynamic mechanisms of the ecosystem regulate physical and chemical properties to enable a gradual and prolonged incremental pattern to develop a stable structure. The engineering topology of construction ecology for integration sustainability outcomes offers an interesting tool for ecologists and engineers in the simulation paradigm as an initial form of development structure within compatible computer software. This approach argues from ecology, resource savings, static load design, financial other pragmatic reasons, while an artistic/architectural perspective, these are not decisive. The paper described an attempt to unify analytic and analogical spatial modeling in developing urban environments as a relational setting, using optimization software and applied as an example of integrated industrial ecology where the construction process is based on a topology optimization approach.

Keywords: construction ecology, industrial ecology, urban topology, environmental planning

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Authors: Iwan Cony Setiadi, Aulia M. T. Nasution

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The multispectral imaging (MSI) technique has been used for skin analysis, especially for distant mapping of in-vivo skin chromophores by analyzing spectral data at each reflected image pixel. For ergonomic purpose, our multispectral imaging system is decomposed in two parts: a light source compartment based on LED with 11 different wavelenghts and a monochromatic 8-Bit CCD camera with C-Mount Objective Lens. The software based on GUI MATLAB to control the system was also developed. Our system provides 11 monoband images and is coupled with a software reconstructing hyperspectral cubes from these multispectral images. In this paper, we proposed a new method to build a hyperspectral reflectance cube based on artificial neural network algorithm. After preliminary corrections, a neural network is trained using the 32 natural color from X-Rite Color Checker Passport. The learning procedure involves acquisition, by a spectrophotometer. This neural network is then used to retrieve a megapixel multispectral cube between 380 and 880 nm with a 5 nm resolution from a low-spectral-resolution multispectral acquisition. As hyperspectral cubes contain spectra for each pixel; comparison should be done between the theoretical values from the spectrophotometer and the reconstructed spectrum. To evaluate the performance of reconstruction, we used the Goodness of Fit Coefficient (GFC) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE). To validate reconstruction, the set of 8 colour patches reconstructed by our MSI system and the one recorded by the spectrophotometer were compared. The average GFC was 0.9990 (standard deviation = 0.0010) and the average RMSE is 0.2167 (standard deviation = 0.064).

Keywords: multispectral imaging, reflectance cube, spectral reconstruction, artificial neural network

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Authors: Chi-Chang Lin, Jiun-Yan Chiu

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Periodontal disease, oral cancer relating trauma is the prominent factor devastating bone tissue that is crucial to reestablishing in clinical. As we know, common symptom, osteoporosis, and infection limiting the ability of the bone tissue to recover cause difficulty before implantation therapy. Regeneration of bone tissue is the fundamental therapy before surgical processes. To promote the growth of bone tissue, many commercial products still have sophisticated problems that need to overcome. Regrettably, there is no available material which is apparently preferable for releasing and controlling of loading dosage, or mitigating inflammation. In our study, a hydrogel-based composite membrane has been prepared by using Gellan gum (GG), gamma-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA) and glycerol with simple sol-gel method. GG is a natural material that is massively adopted in cartilage. Unfortunately, the strength of pure GG film is a manifest weakness especially under simulating body fluidic conditions. We utilize another biocompatible material, γ-PGA as cross-linker which can form tri-dimension structure that enhancing the strength. Our result indicated the strength of pure GG membrane can be obviously improved by cross-linked with γ-PGA (0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0 w/v%). Besides, blending with glycerol (0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 w/v%) can significantly improve membrane toughness that corresponds to practical use. The innovative composited hydrogel made of GG, γ-PGA, and glycerol is attested with neat results including elongation and biocompatibility that take the advantage of extension covering major trauma. Recommendations are made for treatment to build up the foundation of bone tissue that would help patients to escape from the suffering and shorten the amount of time in recovery.

Keywords: bone tissue, gellan gum, regeneration, toughness

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: Ismail Tas, Yusuf Ersoy Yildirim, Yavuz Fatih Fidantemiz, Aysegul Boyacioglu, Demet Uygan, Ozgur Ates, Erdinc Savasli, Oguz Onder, Murat Tugrul

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The biggest input of agricultural production is irrigation, water and energy. Although it varies according to the conditions in drip and sprinkler irrigation systems compared to surface irrigation systems, there is a significant amount of energy expenditure. However, this expense not only increases the user's control over the irrigation water but also provides an increase in water savings and water application efficiency. Thus, while irrigation water is used more effectively, it also contributes to reducing production costs. The Mobile Drip Irrigation System (MDIS) is a system in which new technologies are used, and it is one of the systems that are thought to play an important role in increasing the irrigation water utilization rate of plants and reducing water losses, as well as using irrigation water effectively. MDIS is currently considered the most effective method for irrigation, with the development of both linear and central motion systems. MDIS is potentially more advantageous than sprinkler irrigation systems in terms of reducing wind-induced water losses and reducing evaporation losses on the soil and plant surface. Another feature of MDIS is that the sprinkler heads on the systems (such as the liner and center pivot) can remain operational even when the drip irrigation system is installed. This allows the user to use both irrigation methods. In this study, the effect of MDIS and linear sprinkler irrigation method on sugar beet yield at different irrigation water levels will be revealed.

Keywords: MDIS, linear sprinkler, sugar beet, irrigation efficiency

Procedia PDF Downloads 87