Search results for: hand dysfunction

Authors: Jan Van Uden

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The paper reviews classical agency-theory and its contributions to the analysis of complex business negotiations and gives an approach for the modification of the basic agency-model in order to examine the negotiation specific dimensions of agency-problems. By illustrating fundamental potentials for the modification of agency-theory in context of business negotiations the paper highlights recent empirical research that investigates agent-based negotiations and inter-team constellations. A general theoretical analysis of complex negotiation would be based on a two-level approach. First, the modification of the basic agency-model in order to illustrate the organizational context of business negotiations (i.e., multi-agent issues, common-agencies, multi-period models and the concept of bounded rationality). Second, the application of the modified agency-model on complex business negotiations to identify agency-problems and relating areas of risk in the negotiation process. The paper is placed on the first level of analysis – the modification. The method builds on the one hand on insights from behavior decision research (BRD) and on the other hand on findings from agency-theory as normative directives to the modification of the basic model. Through neoclassical assumptions concerning the fundamental aspects of agency-relationships in business negotiations (i.e., asymmetric information, self-interest, risk preferences and conflict of interests), agency-theory helps to draw solutions on stated worst-case-scenarios taken from the daily negotiation routine. As agency-theory is the only universal approach able to identify trade-offs between certain aspects of economic cooperation, insights obtained provide a deeper understanding of the forces that shape business negotiation complexity. The need for a modification of the basic model is illustrated by highlighting selected issues of business negotiations from agency-theory perspective: Negotiation Teams require a multi-agent approach under the condition that often decision-makers as superior-agents are part of the team. The diversity of competences and decision-making authority is a phenomenon that overrides the assumptions of classical agency-theory and varies greatly in context of certain forms of business negotiations. Further, the basic model is bound to dyadic relationships preceded by the delegation of decision-making authority and builds on a contractual created (vertical) hierarchy. As a result, horizontal dynamics within the negotiation team playing an important role for negotiation success are therefore not considered in the investigation of agency-problems. Also, the trade-off between short-term relationships within the negotiation sphere and the long-term relationships of the corporate sphere calls for a multi-period perspective taking into account the sphere-specific governance-mechanisms already established (i.e., reward and monitoring systems). Within the analysis, the implementation of bounded rationality is closely related to findings from BRD to assess the impact of negotiation behavior on underlying principal-agent-relationships. As empirical findings show, the disclosure and reservation of information to the agent affect his negotiation behavior as well as final negotiation outcomes. Last, in context of business negotiations, asymmetric information is often intended by decision-makers acting as superior-agents or principals which calls for a bilateral risk-approach to agency-relations.

Keywords: business negotiations, agency-theory, negotiation analysis, interteam negotiations

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Authors: Tsungming Wu

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The present paper investigates the use of linking adverbials between native male speakers and female speakers in their presentation. From previous studies, overuse of linking adverbials may be an indicator of the low proficiency level in English. In this study, female speakers are found to use more linking adverbials in general. However, the overuse of linking adverbials found in female speakers’ speeches does not imply female speakers’ lower English proficiency, but imply different approaches that male and female speakers adopt in dealing with their presentation tasks. Female speakers are found to be more interactional, leading to their more uses of interactive devices in the presenting process. On the other hand, male speakers take different approaches in dealing with their tasks. Male speakers try to be authoritative and amicable at the same time, resulting in the uses of both interactive devices and distancing devices in their speeches. The paper specifically presents and compares the use of the linking adverbial items, actually and so, in male speakers’ and female speakers’ speeches.

Keywords: LAs, linking adverbial, low proficiency, overuse

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Authors: Mohamed Hassan Abdullahi

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Decomposition is used as a synthesis tool in several physical systems. It can also be used for tearing and restructuring, which is large-scale system analysis. On the other hand, the commutativity of series-connected systems has fascinated the interest of researchers, and its advantages have been emphasized in the literature. The presentation looks into the necessary conditions for decomposing any third-order discrete-time linear time-varying system into a commutative pair of first- and second-order systems. Additional requirements are derived in the case of nonzero initial conditions. MATLAB simulations are used to verify the findings. The work is unique and is being published for the first time. It is critical from the standpoints of synthesis and/or design. Because many design techniques in engineering systems rely on tearing and reconstruction, this is the process of putting together simple components to create a finished product. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that regarding sensitivity to initial conditions, some combinations may be better than others. The results of this work can be extended for the decomposition of fourth-order discrete-time linear time-varying systems into lower-order commutative pairs, as two second-order commutative subsystems or one first-order and one third-order commutative subsystems.

Keywords: commutativity, decomposition, discrete time-varying systems, systems

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Authors: Djelloul Benatiallah

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Due to the current high consumption and recent industry growth, the depletion of fossil and natural energy supplies like oil, gas, and uranium is declining. Due to pollution and climate change, there needs to be a swift switch to renewable energy sources. Research on renewable energy is being done to meet energy needs. Solar energy is one of the renewable resources that can currently meet all of the world's energy needs. In most parts of the world, solar energy is a free and unlimited resource that can be used in a variety of ways, including photovoltaic systems for the generation of electricity and thermal systems for the generation of heatfor the residential sector's production of hot water. In this article, we'll conduct a comparison. The first step entails identifying the two empirical models that will enable us to estimate the daily irradiations on a horizontal plane. On the other hand, we compare it using the data obtained from measurements made at the Adrar site over the four distinct seasons. The model 2 provides a better estimate of the global solar components, with an absolute mean error of less than 7% and a correlation coefficient of more than 0.95, as well as a relative coefficient of the bias error that is less than 6% in absolute value and a relative RMSE that is less than 10%, according to a comparison of the results obtained by simulating the two models.

Keywords: solar radiation, renewable energy, fossil, photovoltaic systems

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Authors: Margarita Ivanova, Julia Dao, Andrew Friedman, Neil Kasaci, Rekha Gopal, Ozlem Goker-Alpan

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In Fabry disease (FD), α-galactosidase A (α-Gal A) deficiency leads to the accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (Lyso-Gb3 and Gb3), triggering a pathologic cascade that causes the severity of organs damage. The heart is one of the several organs with high sensitivity to the α-Gal A deficiency. A subgroup of patients with significant residual of α-Gal A activity with primary cardiac involvement is occasionally referred to as “cardiac variant.” The cardiovascular complications are most frequently encountered, contributing substantially to morbidity, and are the leading cause of premature death in male and female patients with FD. The deposition of Lyso-Gb-3 and Gb-3 within the myocardium affects cardiac function with resultant progressive cardiovascular pathology. Gb-3 and Lyso-Gb-3 accumulation at the cellular level trigger a cascade of events leading to end-stage fibrosis. In the cardiac tissue, Lyso-Gb-3 deposition is associated with the increased release of inflammatory factors and transforming growth factors. Infiltration of lymphocytes and macrophages into endomyocardial tissue indicates that inflammation plays a significant role in cardiac damage. Moreover, accumulated data suggest that chronic inflammation leads to multisystemic FD pathology even under enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). NF-κB activation plays a subsequent role in the inflammatory response to cardiac dysfunction and advanced heart failure in the general population. TNFalpha/NF-κB signaling protects the myocardial evoking by ischemic preconditioning; however, this protective effect depends on the concentration of TNF-α. Thus, we hypothesize that TNF-α is a critical factor in determining the grade of cardio-pathology. Cardiac hypertrophy corresponds to the expansion of the coronary vasculature to maintain a sufficient supply of nutrients and oxygen. Coronary activation of angiogenesis and fibrosis plays a vital role in cardiac vascularization, hypertrophy, and tissue remodeling. We suggest that the interaction between the inflammatory pathways and cardiac vascularization is a bi-directional process controlled by secreted cytokines and growth factors. The co-coordination of these two processes has never been explored in FD. In a cohort of 40 patients with FD, biomarkers associated with inflammation and cardio hypertrophic remodeling were studied. FD patients were categorized into three groups based on LVmass/DSA, LVEF, and ECG abnormalities: FD with no cardio complication, FD with moderate cardio complication, and severe cardio complication. Serum levels of NF-kB, TNFalpha, Il-6, Il-2, MCP1, ING-gamma, VEGF, IGF-1, TGFβ, and FGF2 were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Among the biomarkers, MCP-1, INF-gamma, VEGF, TNF-alpha, and TGF-beta were elevated in FD patients. Some of these biomarkers also have the potential to correlate with cardio pathology in FD. Conclusion: The study provides information about the role of inflammatory pathways and biomarkers of cardio hypertrophic remodeling in FD patients. This study will also reveal the mechanisms that link intracellular accumulation of Lyso-GB-3 and Gb3 to the development of cardiomyopathy with myocardial thickening and resultant fibrosis.

Keywords: biomarkers, Fabry disease, inflammation, growth factors

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Authors: Roman Marsalek

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Preparation of nano-particles of cerium oxide and adsorption of bovine serum albumine on them were studied. Particle size distribution and influence of pH on zeta potential of prepared CeO2 were determined. Average size of prepared cerium oxide nano-particles was 9 nm. The simultaneous measurements of the bovine serum albumine adsorption and zeta potential determination of the (adsorption) suspensions were carried out. The adsorption isotherms were found to be of typical Langmuir type; values of the bovine serum albumin adsorption capacities were calculated. Increasing of pH led to decrease of zeta potential and decrease of adsorption capacity of cerium oxide nano-particles. The maximum adsorption capacity was found for strongly acid suspension (am=118 mg/g). The samples of nanoceria with positive zeta potential adsorbed more bovine serum albumine on the other hand, the samples with negative zeta potential showed little or no protein adsorption. Surface charge or better say zeta potential of CeO2 nano-particles plays the key role in adsorption of proteins on such type of materials.

Keywords: adsorption, BSA, cerium oxide nanoparticles, zeta potential, albumin

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Authors: Amelia J. McFarland, Andrew K. Davey, Shailendra Anoopkumar-Dukie

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Microglia are the resident macrophage population of the central nervous system (CNS), contributing to both innate and adaptive immune response, and brain homeostasis. Activation of microglia occurs in response to a multitude of pathogenic stimuli in their microenvironment; this induces morphological and functional changes, resulting in a state of acute neuroinflammation which facilitates injury resolution. Adequate microglial function is essential for the health of the neuroparenchyma, with microglial dysfunction implicated in numerous CNS pathologies. Given the critical role that these macrophage-derived cells play in CNS homeostasis, there is a high demand for microglial models suitable for use in neuroscience research. The isolation of primary human microglia, however, is both difficult and costly, with microglial activation an unwanted but inevitable result of the extraction process. Consequently, there is a need for the development of alternative experimental models which exhibit morphological, biochemical and functional characteristics of human microglia without the difficulties associated with primary cell lines. In this study, our aim was to evaluate whether THP-1 human peripheral blood monocytes would display microglial-like qualities following an induced differentiation, and, therefore, be suitable for use as surrogate microglia. To achieve this aim, THP-1 human peripheral blood monocytes from acute monocytic leukaemia were differentiated with a range of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) concentrations (50-200 nM) using two different protocols: a 5-day continuous PMA exposure or a 3-day continuous PMA exposure followed by a 5-day rest in normal media. In each protocol and at each PMA concentration, microglial-like cell morphology was assessed through crystal violet staining and the presence of CD-14 microglial / macrophage cell surface marker. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Escherichia coli (055: B5) was then added at a range of concentrations from 0-10 mcg/mL to activate the PMA-differentiated THP-1 cells. Functional microglial-like behavior was evaluated by quantifying the release of prostaglandin (PG)-E2 and pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α using mediator-specific ELISAs. Furthermore, production of global reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) were determined fluorometrically using dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) and diaminofluorescein diacetate (DAF-2-DA) respectively. Following PMA-treatment, it was observed both differentiation protocols resulted in cells displaying distinct microglial morphology from 10 nM PMA. Activation of differentiated cells using LPS significantly augmented IL-1β, TNF-α and PGE2 release at all LPS concentrations under both differentiation protocols. Similarly, a significant increase in DCFH-DA and DAF-2-DA fluorescence was observed, indicative of increases in ROS and NO production. For all endpoints, the 5-day continuous PMA treatment protocol yielded significantly higher mediator levels than the 3-day treatment and 5-day rest protocol. Our data, therefore, suggests that the differentiation of THP-1 human monocyte cells with PMA yields a homogenous microglial-like population which, following stimulation with LPS, undergo activation to release a range of pro-inflammatory mediators associated with microglial activation. Thus, the use of PMA-differentiated THP-1 cells represents a suitable microglial model for in vitro research.

Keywords: differentiation, lipopolysaccharide, microglia, monocyte, neuroscience, THP-1

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Authors: G. B. Manjunatha

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Natural fibers have been considerable demand in recent years due to their ecofriendly and renewable nature. The advantages of low density, acceptable specific properties, better thermal and insulate properties with low cost.In the present study, hybrid composite associating Sheep wool fiber and glass fiber reinforced with epoxy were developed and investigated the effect of stacking sequence on physical and chemical properties. The hybrid composite was designed for engineering applications as an alternative material to glass fiber composites. The hybrid composite laminates were fabricated by using hand lay-up technique at total fiber volume fraction of 60% (Sheep wool fiber 30% and Glass fiber 30%) and 40% reinforcement. The specimen preparation and testing were conducted as per American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. Three different stacking are used. The result shows that tensile and bending tests of sequence of glass fiber between sheep wool fiber have high strength and maximum bending compared to other sequence of composites. At the same time better moisture and chemical absorption were observed.

Keywords: hybrid composites, mechanical properties, polymer composites, stacking sequence

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Authors: Flavio Contrera, Paulo Cesar Gregorio

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Recent political developments and government control actions in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic draw attention to the contrast between the duties of government and the demands of democratic representation. Elected by mobilizing far-right issues, Trump and Bolsonaro moved away from the WHO guidelines but had to accommodate demands on the health and on the social protection system on the one hand and demands from the economic sector on the other. This study used the MARPOR Project method to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the issue and ideological congruence between the electoral and governmental arena in both the Trump and Bolsonaro Administrations. Findings reveal issue congruence between arenas in "National Way of Life: Positive", "Law and Order," and "Technology and Infrastructure" for Donald Trump, and "Welfare State Expansion" for Bolsonaro. Ideological estimation results show that Trump and Bolsonaro positioned to the right in their presidential elections, initially moved to the center-right. However, welfare policies actions at high frequency during the COVID-19 pandemic moved the ideological estimations of both governments to the center-left, despite their denial rhetoric.

Keywords: congruence, COVID-19, Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro

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Authors: Jawad Ul Haq, Evan Mazur, Ahmed Qureshi, Mohamed Al-Hussein

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The uses of wood in furniture, building, bridges and aluminum in transportation and construction, make aluminum and forest economy a prominent matter in North America. Machines available to date to cut the aforementioned materials are mostly industry oriented with complex structure and operations which require special training and skill. Furthermore, requirements such as pneumatics, 3-phase supply are associated with cost, maintenance, and safety hazards. Power saws are very useful tools used to cut and shape materials; however, they can cause serious hand injuries. Operator’s hands in table saw are vulnerable as they are used to guide pieces into the saw. Apart from hands, saw operator is also prone to material being kicked back out of the saw or sustain eye or respiratory injuries due to rapidly flying sawdust and other debris. In this paper, design of an automatic saw cutting machine has been proposed to ensure safety, portability, usage at domestic level and capability to cut both aluminum and wood. This paper demonstrates detailed Mechanical design in SOLIDWORKS and Control Systems using Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), based on the aforementioned design objectives.

Keywords: programmable logic controller, saw cutting, control, automation

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Authors: Baghdad Said

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Differential equations of fractional order have proved to be important tools to describe many physical phenomena and have been used in diverse fields such as engineering, mathematics as well as other applied sciences. On the other hand, the theory of differential equations involving the Stieltjes derivative (SD) with respect to a non-decreasing function is a new class of differential equations and has many applications as a unified framework for dynamic equations on time scales and differential equations with impulses at fixed times. The aim of this paper is to investigate the existence, uniqueness, and generalized Ulam-Hyers-Rassias stability (UHRS) of solutions for a boundary value problem of sequential fractional differential equations (SFDE) containing (SD). This study is based on the technique of noncompactness measures (MNCs) combined with Monch-Krasnoselski fixed point theorems (FPT), and the results are proven in an appropriate Banach space under sufficient hypotheses. We also give an illustrative example. In this work, we introduced a class of (SFDE) and the results are obtained under a few hypotheses. Future directions connected to this work could focus on another problem with different types of fractional integrals and derivatives, and the (SD) will be assumed under a more general hypothesis in more general functional spaces.

Keywords: SFDE, SD, UHRS, MNCs, FPT

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Authors: Orla Muldoon, Tamaryn Nicolson, Mike Quayle, Aisling O'Donnell

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Psychology most often considers the role of experience and behaviour in shaping health at the individual level. On the other hand epidemiology has long considered risk at the wider group or structural level. Here we use the social identity approach to integrate group-level risk with individual level behaviour. Using a social identity approach we demonstrate that group or macro-level factors impact implicitly and profoundly in everyday ways at the level of individuals, via social identities. We illustrate how identities related to race, gender and inequality intersect to affect HIV/AIDS risk and AIDS treatment behaviours; how social identity processes drive stigmatising consequences of HIV and AIDS, and promote positive and effective interventions. We conclude by arguing that the social identity approach offers the field an explanatory framework that conceptualizes how social and political forces intersect with individual identity and agency to affect human health.

Keywords: social identity approach, HIV/AIDS, Africa, HIV risk, race, gender

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Authors: Rajkishore Nayak, Tarun Panwar, Majo George

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The study focuses on investigating the factors that influence the growth of fashion and textile manufacturing in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. This paper endeavours to identify, analyse and evaluate the critical factors associated with the growth of fashion and textile manufacturing in SSA countries. This research has done a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) analysis based on the available literature and the knowledge of authors in garment manufacturing and export. It was found that the SSA countries have shown little growth in fashion and textile manufacturing and export from the starting of the year 2000. Unlike the developing countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, the total export to the US, the EU and other parts of the world has declined. On the other hand, the total supply of fashion and textiles to the domestic market has been in rise. However, the local communities still need to rely on other countries to meet their demand. Availability of cheaper imported clothes from other countries such as Bangladesh, China and Vietnam have made it difficult for the local manufacturers to produce at a cheaper price.

Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa, developing countries, apparel industry, fashion and textile, sustainable fashion

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Authors: Haluk Eren, Ümit Çelik

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Recent developments in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have begun to attract intense interest. UAVs started to use for many different applications from military to civilian use. Some online retailer and logistics companies are testing the UAV delivery. UAVs have great potentials to reduce cost and time of deliveries and responding to emergencies in a short time. Despite these great positive sides, just a few works have been done for routing of UAVs for package deliveries. As known, transportation of goods from one place to another may have many hazards on delivery route due to falling hazards that can be exemplified as ground objects or air obstacles. This situation refers to wide-range insurance concept. For this reason, deliveries that are made with drones get into the scope of shipping insurance. On the other hand, air traffic was taken into account in the absence of unmanned aerial vehicle. But now, it has been a reality for aerial fields. In this study, the main goal is to conduct risk analysis of package delivery services using drone, based on delivery routes.

Keywords: aerial package delivery, insurance estimation, territory risk map, unmanned aerial vehicle, route risk estimation, drone risk assessment, drone package delivery

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Authors: Edi Artono, Budi Tamtomo, Gema Wahyudi Purnama

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The world energy demand increasing extreamly high time by time, including domestic demand. That is impossible to avoid because energy a country demand proportional to surge in the number of residents, economic growth and addition of industrial sector. Domestic Oil and gas conventional reserves depleted naturally while production outcome from reservoir also depleted time to time. In the other hand, new reserve did not discover significantly to replace it all. Many people are investigating to looking for new alternative energy to answer the challenge. There are several option to solve energy fossil needed problem using Unconventional Hydrocarbon. There are four aspects to consider as a management reference in order that Unconventional Hydrocarbon business can work properly, divided to: 1. Legal aspect, 2. Environmental aspect, 3. Technical aspect and 4. Economy aspect. The economic aspect as the key to whether or not a project can be implemented or not in Oil and Gas business scheme, so do Unconventional Hydorcarbon business scheme. The support of regulation are needed to buttress Unconventional Hydorcarbon business grow up and make benefits contribute to Government.

Keywords: alternative energy, unconventional hydrocarbon, regulation support, management strategy

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Authors: Llham Lhoume, Rachid Tadili, Nora Arbaoui

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One of the most crucial ways to combat food insecurity is to minimize crop losses, food drying is one of the most organic, effective, low-cost and energy-efficient food preservation methods. In this regard, we undertake in this study an experimental evaluation and analysis of the thermal performance of different natural convection drying systems: a solar greenhouse dryer, an indirect solar dryer with a single compartment and a solar dryer with two compartments. These systems have been implemented at the Solar Energy and Environment Laboratory of Mohammed V University (Morocco). The objective of this work is to study the feasibility of converting a solar greenhouse into a solar dryer for use during the summer. On the other hand, to study the thermal performances of this greenhouse dryer by comparing it with other solar dryers. The experimental study showed that the drying of verbena leaves took 6 hours in the indirect dryer 1, 3 hours in the indirect dryer, 2 and 4 hours in the greenhouse dryer, but the amortization period of the solar greenhouse dryer is lower than the other two solar dryers. The results of this study provide key information on the implementation and performance of these systems for drying a food of great global interest.

Keywords: solar energy, drying, agriculture, biotechnologie

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Authors: Chethana V. Casiker, Jagadishakumara B., Sunil G. M., Chaithra K., M. Soubadra Devy

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A majority of the world’s food crops depends on insects for pollination, among which bees are the most dominant taxon. Bees pollinate vegetables, fruits and oilseeds which are rich in essential micronutrients. Besides being a prerequisite for a nutritionally secure diet, agrarian economies such as India depend heavily on pollination for good yield and quality of the product. As cities all over the world expand rapidly, large tracts of green spaces are being built up. This, along with high usage of agricultural chemicals has reduced floral diversity and shrunk bee habitats. Indeed, pollinator decline is being reported from various parts of the world. Further, the FAO has reported a huge increase in the area of land under cultivation of pollinator-dependent crops. In the light of increasing demand for pollination and disappearing natural habitats, it is critical to understand whether and how urban spaces can support pollinators. To this end, this study investigates the influence of landscape and local habitat quality on bee community dynamics. To capture the dynamics of expanding cityscapes, the study employs a space for time substitution, wherein a transect along the gradient of urbanization substitutes a timeframe of increasing urbanization. This will help understand how pollinators would respond to changes induced by increasing intensity of urbanization in the future. Bengaluru, one of the fastest growing cities of Southern India, is an excellent site to study impacts associated with urbanization. With sites moving away from the Bengaluru’s centre and towards its peripheries, this study captures the changes in bee species diversity and richness along a gradient of urbanization. Bees were sampled under different land use types as well as in different types of vegetation, including plantations, croplands, fallow land, parks, lake embankments, and private gardens. The relationship between bee community metrics and key drivers such as a percentage of built-up area, land use practices, and floral resources was examined. Additionally, data collected using questionnaire interviews were used to understand people’s perceptions towards and level of dependence on pollinators. Our results showed that urban areas are capable of supporting bees. In fact, a greater diversity of bees was recorded in urban sites compared to adjoining rural areas. This suggests that bees are able to seek out patchy resources and survive in small fragments of habitat. Bee abundance and species richness correlated positively with floral abundance and richness, indicating the role of vegetation in providing forage and nesting sites which are crucial to their survival. Bee numbers were seen to decrease with increase in built-up area demonstrating that impervious surfaces could act as deterrents. Findings from this study challenge the popular notion of cities being biodiversity-bare spaces. There is indeed scope for conserving bees in urban landscapes, provided that there are city-scale planning and local initiative. Bee conservation can go hand in hand with efforts such as urban gardening and terrace farming that could help cities urbanize sustainably.

Keywords: bee, landscape ecology, urbanization, urban pollination

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Authors: Mohammed Albahttiti, Eliana Aguilar

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A push for sustainability in the concrete industry is increasing. Cow manure itself is becoming a problem and having the potential solution to use it in concrete as a cementitious replacement would be an ideal solution. For cow manure ash to become a well-rounded substitute, it would have to meet the right criteria to progress in becoming a more popular idea in the concrete industry. This investigation primarily focuses on how the replacement of cow manure ash affects the air content and air void distribution in concrete. In order to assess these parameters, the Super Air Meter (SAM) was used to test concrete in this research. In addition, multiple additional tests were performed, which included the slump test, temperature, and compression test. The strength results of the manure ash in concrete were promising. The manure showed compression strength results that are similar to that of the other supplementary cementitious materials tested. On the other hand, concrete samples made with cow manure ash showed 2% air content loss and an increasing SAM number proportional to cow manure content starting at 0.38 and increasing to 0.8. In conclusion, while the use of cow manure results in loss of air content, it results in compressive strengths similar to other supplementary cementitious materials.

Keywords: air content, biomass ash, cow manure ash, super air meter, supplementary cementitious materials

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Authors: Khaled Abu Awwad, Abdussalam Shibani, Michel Ghostin

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In the last few years, building information modelling (BIM) has been acknowledged as a new technology capable of transforming the construction sector to a collaborated industry. The implementation of BIM in the United Kingdom (UK) construction sector has increased significantly in the last decade, particularly after the UK government mandated the use of BIM in all public projects by 2016. Despite this, there are many indicators that BIM implementation is the main concern for large companies, while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are lagging behind in adopting and implementing this new technology. This slow adoption of BIM leads to an uncompetitive disadvantage in public projects and possible private projects. On the other hand, there is limited research focusing on the implementation of BIM Level 2 within SMEs. Therefore, the aim of this study is to bridge this gap and provide a conceptual framework to aid SMEs in implementing BIM Level 2. This framework is a result of interpreting qualitative data obtained by conducting semi-structured interviews with BIM experts in the UK construction industry.

Keywords: building information modelling, critical success factors, small and medium-sized enterprises, United Kingdom

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Authors: Ju-Chun Chien

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The main purpose of this study was to figure out employees’ attitudes toward the new performance appraisal program and to examine whether three different types of appraisal processes differentially affected job satisfaction and employee engagement. The second purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between performance appraisal reform, job satisfaction, and employee engagement. A large polyester and textile corporation had 2046 non-operational employees in February 2014. The valid participants were 1474 (72.04%) in this study. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, one-way MANOVA, Pearson correlation, Content Validity Index, the exploratory factor analysis, and reliability analysis. The general results showed that employees who received the new performance appraisal program viewed the program more positively and showed more job satisfaction than those who did not. In particular, the implementation effects of this new performance appraisal program were most highly rated by employees who used the KPI to evaluate their job performance. Moreover, employees’ attitudes toward the new performance appraisal program were positively related to their job satisfaction and work engagement. On the other hand, most employees regarded themselves as engaged workers. To sum up, the HR department of this company has made an effective contribution to performance appraisal reforms.

Keywords: change management, employee engagement, job satisfaction, performance appraisal reform

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Authors: Zehor Ktitni

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In pragmatics, politeness is regarded as a feature of paramount importance to successful interpersonal relationships. On the other hand, emails have recently become one of the indispensable means of communication in educational settings. This research puts email communication at the core of the study and analyses it from a politeness perspective. More specifically, it endeavours to look closely at how the concept of (im)politeness is reflected through students’ emails. To this end, a corpus of Algerian supervisees’ email threads, exchanged with their Irish supervisors, was compiled. Leech’s model of politeness (2014) was selected as the main theoretical framework of this study, in addition to making reference to Brown and Levinson’s model (1987) as it is one of the most influential models in the area of pragmatic politeness. Further, some follow-up interviews are to be conducted with Algerian students to reinforce the results derived from the corpus. Initial findings suggest that Algerian Ph.D. students’ emails tend to include more politeness markers than impoliteness ones, they heavily make use of academic titles when addressing their supervisors (Dr. or Prof.), and they rely on hedging devices in order to sound polite.

Keywords: politeness, email communication, corpus pragmatics, Algerian PhD supervisees, Irish supervisors

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Authors: Alyona Gencheva

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The most common way to study diagnostic results is using specialized programs at a stationary workplace. Magnetic Resonance Imaging is presented in a two-dimensional (2D) format, and Computed Tomography sometimes looks like a three-dimensional (3D) model that can be interacted with. The main idea of the research is to compare ways of displaying diagnostic results in virtual reality that can help a surgeon during or before an operation in augmented reality. During the experiment, the medical staff examined liver vessels in the abdominal area and heart boundaries. The search time and detection accuracy were measured on black-and-white and coloured scans. Usability testing in virtual reality shows convenient ways of interaction like hand input, voice activation, displaying risk to the patient, and the required number of scans. The results of the experiment will be used in the new C# program based on Magic Leap technology.

Keywords: augmented reality, computed tomography, magic leap, magnetic resonance imaging, usability testing, VTE risk

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Authors: Eun Ho Kim

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Innovations have conjured up a mode of treating GBM cancer cells in the newly diagnosed patients in a period of 4.9 months at an improved median OS, which brings along only a few minor side effects in the phase III of the clinical trial. This mode has been termed the Alternating Electric Fields (AEF). The study at hand is aimed at determining whether the AEF treatment is beneficial in sensitizing the GBM cancer cells through the process of increasing the AEF –induced senescence. The methodology to obtain the findings for this research ranged across various components, such as obtaining and testing SA-β-gal staining, flow cytometry, Western blotting, morphology, and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) / Computed Tomography (CT), immunohistochemical staining and microarray. The number of cells that displayed a senescence-specific morphology and positive SA-ß-Gal activity gradually increased up to 5 days. These results suggest that p16, p21 and p27 are essential regulators of AEF -induced senescence via NF-κB activation. The results showed that the AEF treatment is functional in enhancing the AEF –induced senescence in the GBM cells via an apoptosis- independent mechanism. This research concludes that this mode of treatment is a trustworthy protocol that can be effectively employed to overcome the limitations of the conventional mode of treatment on GBM.

Keywords: alternating electric fields, senescence, glioblastoma, cell death

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Authors: G. Blázquez, A. Gálvez-Pérez, M. Calero, I. Iáñez-Rodríguez, M. A. Martín-Lara, A. Pérez

Abstract:

The production of olive oil is considered as one of the most important agri-food industries. However, some of the by-products generated in the process are potential pollutants and cause environmental problems. Consequently, the management of these by-products is currently considered as a challenge for the olive oil industry. In this context, several technologies have been developed and tested. In this sense, the autohydrolysis of these by-products could be considered as a promising technique. Therefore, this study focused on autohydrolysis treatments of a solid residue from the olive oil industry denominated olive cake. This one comes from the olive pomace extraction with hexane. Firstly, a water washing was carried out to eliminate the water soluble compounds. Then, an experimental design was developed for the autohydrolysis experiments carried out in the hydrothermal pressure reactor. The studied variables were temperature (30, 60 and 90 ºC) and time (30, 60, 90 min). On the other hand, aliquots of liquid obtained fractions were analysed by HPLC to determine the fructose and sucrose contents present in the liquid fraction. Finally, the obtained results of sugars contents and the yields of the different experiments were fitted to a neuro-fuzzy and to a polynomial model.

Keywords: ANFIS, olive cake, polyols, saccharides

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Authors: Juliana V. Pereira, Adriana S. M. Batista, Jefferson P. Nascimento, Clascídia A. Furtado, Luiz O. Faria

Abstract:

The combination of the properties of graphene oxide (OG) and PVDF homopolymer makes their combined composite materials as multifunctional systems with great potential. Knowledge of the molecular structure is essential for better use. In this work, the degradation of PVDF polymer exposed to gamma irradiation in oxygen atmosphere in high dose rate has been studied and compared to degradation of PVDF/OG composites. The samples were irradiated with a Co-60 source at constant dose rate, with doses ranging from 100 kGy to 1,000 kGy. In FTIR data shown that the formation of oxidation products was at the both samples with formation of carbonyl and hydroxyl groups amongst the most prevalent products in the pure PVDF samples. In the other hand, the composites samples exhibit less presence of degradation products with predominant formation of carbonyl groups, these results also seen in the UV-Vis analysis. The results show that the samples of composites may have greater resistance to the irradiation process, since they have less degradation products than pure PVDF samples seen by spectroscopic techniques.

Keywords: gamma irradiation, PVDF, PVDF/OG composites, spectroscopic techniques

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Authors: Manthekeleng Linake, Fesi Liziwe

Abstract:

The ongoing argument over the use of English as a learning and teaching language in schools was examined in this study. The nature of the language proficiency gap is particularly relevant in light of the present emphasis on learning and educational quality in contemporary debates, as well as the education sustainable development goal. As a result, an interpretivist paradigm, a qualitative technique, and a case study-based research design were used in the work. Two school principals, two teachers, two members of the School Governing Body (SGB), and four learners were chosen using purposive sampling from two schools in the Amathole West Education District. The researchers were able to acquire in-depth information on the disputes surrounding the use of English as a language of learning and teaching by using semi-structured interview questions and focus groups. Despite knowing that they do not have the potential to do well in English, teachers found that despite appreciating the value of mother tongue and cultural identity, they prefer to use English as the language of teaching in schools. The findings, on the other hand, revealed that proponents of mother-language-based education argue that learning one's mother tongue is a human right.

Keywords: English first additional language learners, social justice, human capabilities, language proficiency

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Authors: Rajamani Doraiswami, Lahouari Cheded

Abstract:

Fault diagnosis of Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV) system using an adaptive Kalman filter is proposed. The LPV model is comprised of scheduling parameters, and the emulator parameters. The scheduling parameters are chosen such that they are capable of tracking variations in the system model as a result of changes in the operating regimes. The emulator parameters, on the other hand, simulate variations in the subsystems during the identification phase and have negligible effect during the operational phase. The nominal model and the influence vectors, which are the gradient of the feature vector respect to the emulator parameters, are identified off-line from a number of emulator parameter perturbed experiments. A Kalman filter is designed using the identified nominal model. As the system varies, the Kalman filter model is adapted using the scheduling variables. The residual is employed for fault diagnosis. The proposed scheme is successfully evaluated on simulated system as well as on a physical process control system.

Keywords: identification, linear parameter-varying systems, least-squares estimation, fault diagnosis, Kalman filter, emulators

Procedia PDF Downloads 483

Authors: Takuya Sumi, Syoko Nukaya, Takashi Kaburagi, Hiroshi Tanaka, Kajiro Watanabe, Yosuke Kurihara

Abstract:

We propose an unconstrained measurement system for scratching motion based on mathematical model of unconstrained bed sensing method which could measure the bed vibrations due to the motion of the person on the bed. In this paper, we construct mathematical model of the unconstrained bed monitoring system, and we apply the unconstrained bed sensing method to the system for detecting scratching motion. The proposed sensors are placed under the three bed feet. When the person is lying on the bed, the output signals from the sensors are proportional to the magnitude of the vibration due to the scratching motion. Hence, we could detect the subject’s scratching motion from the output signals from ceramic sensors. We evaluated two scratching motions using the proposed system in the validity experiment as follows: First experiment is the subject’s scratching the right side cheek with his right hand, and; second experiment is the subject’s scratching the shin with another foot. As the results of the experiment, we recognized the scratching signals that enable the determination when the scratching occurred. Furthermore, the difference among the amplitudes of the output signals enabled us to estimate where the subject scratched.

Keywords: unconstrained bed sensing method, scratching, body movement, itchy, piezoceramics

Procedia PDF Downloads 395

Authors: Khaled R. Khater

Abstract:

The weight of the SPT hammer is standard (0.623kN). The locally manufacturer drilling rigs use hammers, sometimes deviating off the standard weight. This affects the field measured blow counts (Nf) consequentially, affecting most of correlations previously obtained, as they were obtained based on standard hammer weight. The literature presents energy corrections factor (η2) to be applied to the SPT total input energy. This research investigates the effect of the hammer weight variation, as a single parameter, on the field measured blow counts (Nf). The outcome is a correction factor (ηk), equation, and correction chart. They are recommended to adjust back the measured misleading (Nf) to the standard one as if the standard hammer is used. This correction is very important to be done in such cases where a non-standard hammer is being used because the bore logs in any geotechnical report should contain true and representative values (Nf), let alone the long records of correlations, already in hand. The study here-in is achieved by using laboratory physical model to simulate the SPT dripping hammer mechanism. It is designed to allow different hammer weights to be used. Also, it is manufactured to avoid and eliminate the energy loss sources. This produces a transmitted efficiency up to 100%.

Keywords: correction factors, hammer weight, physical model, standard penetration test

Procedia PDF Downloads 369

Authors: R. Bernaoui, P. Ohly

Abstract:

Our research shows the use of the mobile phone that consolidates the relationship between veterinarians, and that between breeders and veterinarians. On the other hand it asserts that the tool in question is a means of economic development. The results of our survey reveal a positive return to the veterinary community, which shows that the mobile phone has become an effective means of sustainable development through the transfer of a rapid and punctual information inheritance via social networks; including many Internet applications. Our results show that almost all veterinarians use the mobile phone for interprofessional communication. We therefore believe that the use of the mobile phone by livestock operators has greatly improved the working conditions, just as the use of this tool contributes to a better management of the exploitation as long as it allows limit travel but also save time. These results show that we are witnessing a growth in the use of mobile telephony technologies that impact is as much in terms of sustainable development. Allowing access to information, especially technical information, the mobile phone, and Information and Communication of Technology (ICT) in general, give livestock sector players not only security, by limiting losses, but also an efficiency that allows them a better production and productivity.

Keywords: algeria, breeder-veterinarian, digital heritage, networking

Procedia PDF Downloads 103