Search results for: business environment and entrepreneurial development

Authors: Oyenike M. Olanrewaju, Faith O. Echobu, Aderemi G. Adesoji, Emmy Danny Ajik, Joseph Nda Ndabula, Stephen Lucas

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Nutrients are required for any soil with which plants thrive to improve efficient growth and productivity. Amongst these nutrients required for proper plant productivity are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK). Due to factors like leaching, nutrients uptake by plants, soil erosion and evaporation, these elements tend to be in low quantity and the need to replenish them arises. But these replenishment of soil nutrients cannot be done without a timely soil test to enable farmers to know the amount of each element in short quantity and evaluate the amount required to be added. Though wet soil analysis is good but it comes with a lot of challenges ranging from soil test gargets availability to the technical knowledge of how to conduct such soil test by the common farmer. Internet of things test kit was developed to fill in the gaps created by wet soil analysis, as it can test for N, P, K, soil temperature and soil moisture in a given soil at the time of test. In this implementation, sample test was carried out within 0.2 hectares of land divided into smaller plots. The kits perform adequately well as the range of values obtained across the segments were within a very close range.

Keywords: Internet of Things, soil nutrients, test kit, soil temperature

Procedia PDF Downloads 59

Authors: Cesar Eduardo Hernández Curiel, Victor Hugo Benítez Baltazar, Jesús Horacio Pacheco Ramírez

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This paper is devoted to present the advances in the design of a prototype that is able to supervise the complex behavior of water quality parameters such as pH and temperature, via a real-time monitoring system. The current water quality tests that are performed in government water quality institutions in Mexico are carried out in problematic locations and they require taking manual samples. The water samples are then taken to the institution laboratory for examination. In order to automate this process, a water quality monitoring system based on wireless sensor networks is proposed. The system consists of a sensor node which contains one pH sensor, one temperature sensor, a microcontroller, and a ZigBee radio, and a base station composed by a ZigBee radio and a PC. The progress in this investigation shows the development of a water quality monitoring system. Due to recent events that affected water quality in Mexico, the main motivation of this study is to address water quality monitoring systems, so in the near future, a more robust, affordable, and reliable system can be deployed.

Keywords: pH measurement, water quality monitoring, wireless sensor networks, ZigBee

Procedia PDF Downloads 381

Authors: Felyppe Blum Goncalves, Juliana Sebastiany

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In line with Brazilian legislation on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the world of work, known as the 'quota law' (Law 8213/91) and in accordance with the prerogatives of the United Nations Convention on Human Rights of people with disabilities, which was ratified by Brazil through Federal Decree No. 6.949 of August 25, 2009, the SESI National Department, through Working Groups, structured the product Affordable Industry. This methodology aims to prepare the industries for the adequate process of inclusion of people with disabilities, as well as the development of an organizational culture that values and respects human diversity. All industries in Brazil with 100 or more employees must comply with current legislation, but due to the lack of information and guidance on the subject, they end up having difficulties in this process. The methodology brings solutions for companies through the professional qualification of the disabled person, preparation of managers, training of human resources teams and employees. It also advocates the survey of the architectural accessibility of the factory and the identification of the possibilities of inclusion of people with disabilities, through the compatibility between work and job requirements, preserving safety, health, and quality of life.

Keywords: inclusion, app, disability, management

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Prakriti Diwan, S. Saraf

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The present study involves preparation and evaluation of microparticles of diclofenac sodium. The microparticles were prepared by the emulsion solvent evaporation techniques using ethylcellulose polymer. Four different batches of microspheres were prepared by varying the concentration of polymer from 50% to 80% w/w. The microspheres were characterized for drug content, percentage yield and encapsulation efficiency, particle size analysis and surface morphology. Microsphere prepared with high drug content produces higher percentage yield and encapsulation efficiency values. It was observed the increase in concentration of the polymer, increases the mean particle size of the microspheres. The effect of polymer concentration on the in vitro release of diclofenac from the microspheres was also studied. The production microparticles yield showed 98.74%, mean particle size 956.32µm and loading efficiency 97.15%. The results were found that microparticles prepared had slower release than microparticles (p>0.05). Therefore, it may be concluded that drug loaded microparticles are suitable delivery systems for diclofenac sodium.

Keywords: diclofenac sodium, emulsion solvent evaporation, ethylcellulose, microparticles

Procedia PDF Downloads 280

Authors: Yanhua Ma, Lu Zhai, Xinchen Wang, Hongyu Liang

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In this paper, by understanding the development status of the human-machine interface in today's automobile cab, a subjective and objective evaluation system for evaluating the optimization of human-machine interface matching in automobile cab was established. The man-machine interface of the car cab was divided into a software interface and a hard interface. Objective evaluation method of software human factor analysis is used to evaluate the hard interface matching; The analytic hierarchy process is used to establish the evaluation index system for the software interface matching optimization, and the multi-level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to evaluate hard interface machine. This article takes Dongfeng Sokon (DFSK) C37 model automobile as an example. The evaluation method given in the paper is used to carry out relevant analysis and evaluation, and corresponding optimization suggestions are given, which have certain reference value for designers.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, fuzzy comprehension evaluation method, human-machine interface, matching optimization, software human factor analysis

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Authors: Marek Maruszczak

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Gamified applications have been used successfully in education for years. The rapid development of technologies such as augmented reality and image recognition increases their availability and reduces their prices. Thus, there is an increasing possibility and need for a wide use of such applications in education. The main purpose of this article is to present the effects of work on a mobile application with augmented reality, the aim of which is to motivate tourists to pay more attention to the attractions and increase the likelihood of moving from one attraction to the next while visiting the Palácio Nacional de Sintra in Portugal. Work on the application was carried out together with the employees of Parques de Sintra from 2019 to 2021. Their effect was the preparation of a mobile application using augmented reality and image recognition. The application was tested on the palace premises by both Parques de Sintra employees and tourists visiting Palácio Nacional de Sintra. The collected conclusions allowed for the formulation of good practices and guidelines that can be used when designing gamified apps for the purpose of cultural education.

Keywords: augmented reality, cultural education, gamification, image recognition, mobile games

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Rohin Rameswarapu, Sameer Valsangkar

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Background: Globally, musculoskeletal disorders are the largest single cause of work-related illnesses accounting for over 33% of all newly reported occupational illnesses. Risk factors for MSD need to be delineated to suggest means for amelioration. Material and methods: In this current cross-sectional study, the prevalence of MSDs among workers in an electrical company assembly line, the socio-demographic and job characteristics associated with MSD were obtained through a semi-structured questionnaire. A quantitative assessment of the physical risk factors through the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) tool, and measurement of psychosocial risk factors through a Likert scale was obtained. Statistical analysis was conducted using Epi-info software and descriptive and inferential statistics including chi-square and unpaired t test were obtained. Results: A total of 263 workers consented and participated in the study. Among these workers, 200 (76%) suffered from MSD. Most of the workers were aged between 18–27 years and majority of the workers were women with 198 (75.2%) of the 263 workers being women. A chi square test was significant for association between male gender and MSD with a P value of 0.007. Among the MSD positive group, 4 (2%) had a grand score of 5, 10 (5%) had a grand score of 6 and 186 (93%) had a grand score of 7 on RULA. There were significant differences between the non-MSD and MSD group on five out of the seven psychosocial domains, namely job demand, job monotony, co-worker support, decision control and family and environment domains. Discussion: The current cross-sectional study demonstrates a high prevalence of MSD among assembly line works with inherent physical and psychosocial risk factors and recommends that not only physical risk factors, addressing psychosocial risk factors through proper ergonomic means is also essential to the well-being of the employee.

Keywords: musculoskeletal disorders, India, occupational health, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA)

Procedia PDF Downloads 337

Authors: Vibha Venkataramu, B. V. Venkatarama Reddy

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Natural river sand is the most preferred choice as fine aggregate in masonry mortars. Uncontrolled mining of sand from riverbeds for several decades has had detrimental effects on the environment. Several countries across the world have put strict restrictions on sand mining from riverbeds. However, in countries like India, the huge infrastructural boom has made the local construction industry to look for alternative materials to sand. This study aims at understanding the suitability of granulated blast furnace slag (GBS) as fine aggregates in masonry mortars. Apart from characterising the material properties of GBS, such as particle size distribution, pH, chemical composition, etc., of GBS, tests were performed on the mortars with GBS as fine aggregate. Additionally, the properties of five brick tall, stack bonded masonry prisms with various types of GBS mortars were studied. The mortars with mix proportions 1: 0: 6 (cement: lime: fine aggregate), 1: 1: 6, and 1: 0: 3 were considered for the study. Fresh and hardened properties of mortar, such as flow and compressive strength, were studied. To understand the behaviour of GBS mortars on masonry, tests such as compressive strength and flexure bond strength were performed on masonry prisms made with a different type of GBS mortars. Furthermore, the elastic properties of masonry with GBS mortars were also studied under compression. For comparison purposes, the properties of corresponding control mortars with natural sand as fine aggregate and masonry prisms with sand mortars were also studied under similar testing conditions. From the study, it was observed the addition of GBS negatively influenced the flow of mortars and positively influenced the compressive strength. The GBS mortars showed 20 to 25 % higher compressive strength at 28 days of age, compared to corresponding control mortars. Furthermore, masonry made with GBS mortars showed nearly 10 % higher compressive strengths compared to control specimens. But, the impact of GBS on the flexural strength of masonry was marginal.

Keywords: building materials, fine aggregate, granulated blast furnace slag in mortars, masonry properties

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Authors: Ibrahim Obeidat

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Reaching a fully-connected network of mobile nodes in rural areas got a great attention between network researchers. This attention rose due to the complexity and high costs while setting up the needed infrastructures for these networks, in addition to the low transmission range these nodes has. Terranet technology, as an example, employs ad-hoc mesh network where each node has a transmission range not exceed one kilometer, this means that every two nodes are able to communicate with each other if they are just one kilometer far from each other, otherwise a third-party will play the role of the “relay”. In Terranet, and as an idea to reduce network setup cost, every node in the network will be considered as a router that is responsible of forwarding data between other nodes which result in a decentralized collaborative environment. Most researches on Terranet presents the idea of how to encourage mobile nodes to become more cooperative by letting their devices in “ON” state as long as possible while accepting to play the role of relay (router). This research presents the issue of finding the percentage of nodes in ad-hoc mesh network within rural areas that should play the role of relay at every time slot, relating to what is the actual area coverage of nodes in order to have the network reach the fully-connectivity. Far from our knowledge, till now there is no current researches discussed this issue. The research is done by making an implementation that depends on building adjacency matrix as an indicator to the connectivity between network members. This matrix is continually updated until each value in it refers to the number of hubs that should be followed to reach from one node to another. After repeating the algorithm on different area sizes, different coverage percentages for each size, and different relay percentages for several times, results extracted shows that for area coverage less than 5% we need to have 40% of the nodes to be relays, where 10% percentage is enough for areas with node coverage greater than 5%.

Keywords: ad-hoc mesh networks, network connectivity, mobile ad-hoc networks, Terranet, adjacency matrix, simulator, wireless sensor networks, peer to peer networks, vehicular Ad hoc networks, relay

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Authors: Yuet Wah Echo Yeung

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Practice learning is an important component of social work education. Practice educators are charged with the responsibility to support and enable learning while students are on placement. They also play a key role in teaching students to integrate theory and practice, as well as assessing their performance. Current literature highlights the structural factors that make it difficult for practice educators to create a positive learning environment for students. Practice educators find it difficult to give sufficient attention to their students because of the lack of workload relief, the increasing emphasis on managerialism and bureaucratisation, and a range of competing organisational and professional demands. This paper reports the challenges practice educators face and how they manage these challenges in this context. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with thirteen practice educators who support students in statutory and voluntary social care settings in the Northwest of England. Interviews were conducted between April and July 2017 and each interview lasted about 40 minutes. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. All practice educators are experienced social work practitioners with practice experience ranging from 6 to 42 years. On average they have acted as practice educators for 13 years and all together have supported 386 students. Our findings reveal that apart from the structural factors that impact how practice educators perform their roles, they also faced other challenges when supporting students on placement. They include difficulty in engaging resistant students, complexity in managing power dynamics in the context of practice learning, and managing the dilemmas of fostering a positive relationship with students whilst giving critical feedback. Suggestions to enhance the practice educators’ role include support from organisations and social work teams; effective communication with university tutors, and a forum for practice educators to share good practice and discuss placement issues.

Keywords: social work education, placement challenges, practice educator, practice learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Hasan Türe, Kader Terzioglu, Evren Tunca

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Contamination of aqueous environment by heavy metal ions is a serious and complex problem, owing to their hazards to human being and ecological systems. The treatment methods utilized for removing metal ions from aqueous solution include membrane separation, ion exchange and chemical precipitation. However, these methods are limited by high operational cost. Recently, biobased beads are considered as promising biosorbent to remove heavy metal ions from water. The aim of present study was to characterize the alginate/perlite composite beads and to investigate the adsorption performance of obtained beads for removing Pb (II) from aqueous solution. Alginate beads were synthesized by ionic gelation methods and different amount of perlite (aljinate:perlite=1, 2, 3, 4, 5 wt./wt.) was incorporated into alginate beads. Samples were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effects of perlite level, the initial concentration of Pb (II), initial pH value of Pb(II) solution and effect of contact time on the adsorption capacity of beads were investigated by using batch method. XRD analysis indicated that perlite includes silicon or silicon and aluminum bearing crystalline phase. The diffraction pattern of perlite containing beads is similar to that of that perlite powder with reduced intensity. SEM analysis revealed that perlite was embedded into alginate polymer and SEM-EDX (Energy-Dispersive X-ray) showed that composite beads (aljinate:perlite=1) composed of C (41.93 wt.%,), O (43.64 wt.%), Na (10.20 wt.%), Al (0.74 wt.%), Si (2.72 wt.%) ve K (0.77 wt.%). According to TGA analysis, incorporation of perlite into beads significantly improved the thermal stability of the samples. Batch experiment indicated that optimum pH value for Pb (II) adsorption was found at pH=7 with 1 hour contact time. It was also found that the adsorption capacity of beads decreased with increases in perlite concentration. The results implied that alginate/perlite composite beads could be used as promising adsorbents for the removal of Pb (II) from wastewater. Acknowledgement: This study was supported by TUBITAK (Project No: 214Z146).

Keywords: alginate, adsorption, beads, perlite

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: Yue He, Youn Young Shim, Ji Hye Kim, Jae Youl Cho, Martin J. T. Reaney

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Recently, pulse cooking water (a.k.a. Aquafaba) has been used as an important and cost-effective alternative to eggs in gluten-free, vegan cooking and baking applications. The aquafaba (AQ) is primarily due to its excellent ability to stabilize foams and emulsions in foods. However, the functional ingredients of this excellent AQ are usually discarded with the compound release. This study developed a high-functional food material, AQ, using functional soybean AQ that has not been studied in Korea. A zero-waste and cost-effective hybrid process were used to produce oil emulsifiers from Korean soybeans. The treatment technique was implemented using a small number of efficient steps. Aquafaba from Backtae had the best emulsion properties (92%) and has the potential to produce more stable food oil emulsions. Therefore, this study is expected to be utilized in the development of the first gluten-free, vegan product for vegetarians and consumers with animal protein allergies, utilizing wastewater from cooked soybeans as a source of plant protein that can replace animal protein.

Keywords: aquafaba, soybean, chickpea, emulsifiers, egg replacer, egg-free products

Procedia PDF Downloads 165

Authors: Doaa Abbas Zaher

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For the past two decades demand for knowledge has been increasing. Management of society’s knowledge has far reaching effects to economic growth through increased capacity to complete viable activities. Organizations use information technology to effect organizational change. This is a challenge for the less developed nations whose capacity to integrate knowledge in core functions is limited. This creates organizational problems as there is global competition amongst organizations. Cross-cultural perceptions influence difference knowledge Management. This study provides a cross-cultural analysis on the influence in knowledge culture in Japan and Saudi Arabia to effect change in organizations. Since different countries adopt different knowledge management strategies, this dictates the state of organizational development through enriched organizational culture. The research uses a mixed approach design to collect data from primary and secondary sources. Primary source will use the questionnaires while secondary sources uses case analysis from books, articles, reports, and journals. The study will take a period of three years to come up with a complete paper.

Keywords: knowledge management, organizational culture, information, society knowledge

Procedia PDF Downloads 340

Authors: Eric York, James Tadio, Silas Owusu Antwi

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Laundry wastewater contains a diverse range of chemical pollutants that can have detrimental effects on human health and the environment. In this study, simulation studies by Spyder Python software v 3.2 to assess the efficacy of biochar in removing PO₄³⁻ from wastewater were conducted. Through modeling and simulation, the mechanisms involved in the adsorption process of phosphate by biochar were studied by altering variables which is specific to the phosphate from common laundry phosphate detergents, such as the aqueous solubility, initial concentration, and temperature using the Dudinin Approach (DA). Results showed that the concentration equilibrate at near the highest concentrations for Sugar beet-120 mgL⁻¹, Tailing-85 mgL⁻¹, CaO- rich-50 mgL⁻¹, Eggshell and rice straw-48 mgL⁻¹, Undaria Pinnatifida Roots-190 mgL⁻¹, Ca-Alginate Granular Beads -240 mgL⁻¹, Laminaria Japonica Powder -900 mgL⁻¹, Pinesaw dust-57 mgL⁻¹, Ricehull-190 mgL⁻¹, sesame straw- 470 mgL⁻¹, Sugar Bagasse-380 mgL⁻¹, Miscanthus Giganteus-240 mgL⁻¹, Wood Bc-130 mgL⁻¹, Pine-25 mgL⁻¹, Sawdust-6.8 mgL⁻¹, Sewage Sludge-, Rice husk-12 mgL⁻¹, Corncob-117 mgL⁻¹, Maize straw- 1800 mgL⁻¹ while Peanut -Eucalyptus polybractea-, Crawfish equilibrated at near concentration. CO₂ activated Thalia, sewage sludge biochar, Broussonetia Papyrifera Leaves equilibrated just at the lower concentration. Only Soyer bean Stover exhibited a sharp rise and fall peak in mid-concentration at 2 mgL⁻¹ volume. The modelling results were consistent with experimental findings from the literature, ensuring the accuracy, repeatability, and reliability of the simulation study. The simulation study provided insights into adsorption for PO₄³⁻ from wastewater by biochar using concentration per volume that can be adsorbed ideally under the given conditions. Studies showed that applying the principle experimentally in real wastewater with all its complexity is warranted and not far-fetched.

Keywords: simulation studies, phosphate removal, biochar, adsorption, wastewater treatment

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Authors: S. Farzad, M. Ali Mandegari, J. F. Görgens

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The South African Sugar Industry, which has a significant impact on the national economy, is currently facing problems due to increasing energy price and low global sugar price. The available bagasse is already combusted in low-efficiency boilers of the sugar mills while bagasse is generally recognized as a promising feedstock for second generation bioethanol production. Establishment of biorefinery annexed to the existing sugar mills, as an alternative for the revitalization of sugar industry producing biofuel and electricity has been proposed and considered in this study. Since the scale is an important issue in the feasibility of the technology, this study has taken into account a typical sugar mill with 300 ton/hr sugar cane capacity. The biorefinery simulation is carried out using Aspen PlusTM V8.6, in which the sugar mill’s power and steam demand has been considered. Hence, sugar mills in South Africa can be categorized as highly efficient, efficient, and not efficient with steam consumption of 33, 40, and 60 tons of steam per ton of cane and electric power demand of 10 MW; three different scenarios are studied. The sugar cane bagasse and tops/trash are supplied to the biorefinery process and the wastes/residues (mostly lignin) from the process are burnt in the CHP plant in order to produce steam and electricity for the biorefinery and sugar mill as well. Considering the efficient sugar mill, the CHP plant has generated 5 MW surplus electric powers, but the obtained energy is not enough for self-sufficiency of the plant (Biorefinery and Sugar mill) due to lack of 34 MW heat. One of the advantages of second generation biorefinery is its low impact on the environment and carbon footprint, thus the plant should be self-sufficient in energy without using fossil fuels. For this reason, a portion of fresh bagasse should be sent to the CHP plant to meet the energy requirements. An optimization procedure was carried out to find out the appropriate portion to be burnt in the combustor. As a result, 20% of the bagasse is re-routed to the combustor which leads to 5 tons of LP Steam and 8.6 MW electric power surpluses.

Keywords: biorefinery, sugarcane bagasse, sugar mill, energy analysis, bioethanol

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Authors: Aviva Lvan, Lipaz Shamoa-Nir

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Recently, has increased the research interest in modern fatherhood especially, the increasing involvement of fathers in the family. However, there is a little research evidence on fathers to children with special needs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of stress and coping style on involvement in school among fathers to children with special needs in inclusive education. We compared the fathers to children with special needs (N=72) with fathers to non-special needs children (N = 75), and found that higher stress levels, greater educational involvement and greater use of social support coping style, were found among fathers of children with special needs. In addition, mission coping style and emotional coping style predict involvement in the school and emotional coping style predicts high levels of stress. The above findings contribute to the investigation of changes in the perception of the role of fathers and their involvement in their children's lives especially, among fathers to children with special needs. From the applied aspect, the findings may increase the understanding of the role of fathers and their unique contribution to the social, emotional, and academic development of their children.

Keywords: coping style, educational involvement, special needs, stress

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Authors: Abongile Zweni

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As a post-apartheid strategy to redress the social imbalances of the past, local governments are tasked with the role of delivering crucial services to their constituents. Apart from political instability, evidence shows that managers in South African municipalities lack effective financial management skills and competencies. This resulted in a failure to fulfill its administrative obligations, particularly municipal financial management. Most municipalities have, however, failed in this role, which has led them to be placed under administration by the provincial government in terms of Section 139 of the constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Thus, this study proposed a leadership conceptual framework for effectively managing ever-eroding municipal finances in South Africa. The study adopted a desktop research approach to explore the key components of leadership and municipal financial management toward the development of the conceptual framework. The study fostered a better understanding of the need for transformation in relation to the current financial management practices and sustainability of a municipality. Moreover, the conceptual framework applies not only to municipalities but also to other government departments and public authorities in the country for financial management.

Keywords: leadership, municipal finance, financial performance, management skills, municipality

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Authors: Farid Arya, Trevor Hyde

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The development of vacuum glazing represents a significant advancement in the area of low heat loss glazing systems with the potential to substantially reduce building heating and cooling loads. Vacuum glazing consists of two or more glass panes hermetically sealed together around the edge with a vacuum gap between the panes. To avoid the glass panes from collapsing and touching each other under the influence of atmospheric pressure an array of support pillars is provided between the glass panes. A high level of thermal insulation is achieved by evacuating the spaces between the glass panes to a very low pressure which greatly reduces conduction and convection within the space; therefore heat transfer through this kind of glazing is significantly lower when compared with conventional insulating glazing. However, vacuum glazing is subject to inherent stresses due to atmospheric pressure and temperature differentials which can lead to fracture of the glass panes and failure of the edge seal. A flexible edge seal has been proposed to minimise the impact of these issues. In this paper, vacuum glazing system with rigid and flexible edge seals is theoretically studied and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

Keywords: flexible edge seal, stress, support pillar, vacuum glazing

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Authors: Shan Jiang

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Child aggression represents a significant global issue, with its familial determinants being crucial. Family is a vital context for child development, but prior research on the impact of parental assortative mating on child aggression is limited. This study investigates the effects of assortative mating on child aggression, elucidating the mediating mechanisms involved and examining gender-specific responses, within a substantial sample of 10,570 parents and their children, grades 1-6, in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. The findings indicate that children exhibit a significant increase in aggressive behaviors when maternal income surpasses paternal income, contrasted with families where the father's income is higher. The study identifies family communication, co-parenting quality, and parental problem-solving strategies as significant mediators in the relationship between parental income/education differences and child aggression. This research contributes to understanding the parental influence on child behavior within the family system and offers valuable implications for child protection policy and intervention strategies.

Keywords: assortative mating, aggression, children, family

Procedia PDF Downloads 43

Authors: Nikolaus Wilke, Boaz Paz

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Museum staff, conservators, restorers, curators, registrars, art handlers but potentially also museum visitors are often exposed to the harmful effects of biocides, which have been applied to collections in the past for the protection and preservation of cultural heritage. Due to stable light, moisture, and temperature conditions, the biocidal active ingredients were preserved for much longer than originally assumed by chemists, pest controllers, and museum scientists. Given the requirements to minimize the use and handling of toxic substances and the obligations of employers regarding safe working environments for their employees, but also for visitors, the museum sector worldwide needs adequate decontamination solutions. Today there are millions of contaminated objects in museums. This paper introduces the results of a systematic investigation into the reduction rate of biocide contamination in various organic materials that were treated with the humidity and temperature controlled ICM (Integrated Contamination Management) method. In the past, collections were treated with a wide range, at times even with a combination of toxins, either preventively or to eliminate active insect or fungi infestations. It was only later that most of those toxins were recognized as CMR (cancerogenic mutagen reprotoxic) substances. Among them were numerous chemical substances that are banned today because of their toxicity. While the biocidal effect of inorganic salts such as arsenic (arsenic(III) oxide), sublimate (mercury(II) chloride), copper oxychloride (basic copper chloride) and zinc chloride was known very early on, organic tar distillates such as paradichlorobenzene, carbolineum, creosote and naphthalene were increasingly used from the 19th century onwards, especially as wood preservatives. With the rapid development of organic synthesis chemistry in the 20th century and the development of highly effective warfare agents, pesticides and fungicides, these substances were replaced by chlorogenic compounds (e.g. γ-hexachlorocyclohexane (lindane), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), pentachlorophenol (PCP), hormone-like derivatives such as synthetic pyrethroids (e.g., permethrin, deltamethrin, cyfluthrin) and phosphoric acid esters (e.g., dichlorvos, chlorpyrifos). Today we know that textile artifacts (costumes, uniforms, carpets, tapestries), wooden objects, herbaria, libraries, archives and historical wall decorations made of fabric, paper and leather were also widely treated with toxic inorganic and organic substances. The migration (emission) of pollutants from the contaminated objects leads to continuous (secondary) contamination and accumulation in the indoor air and dust. It is important to note that many of mentioned toxic substances are also material-damaging; they cause discoloration and corrosion. Some, such as DDT, form crystals, which in turn can cause micro tectonic, destructive shifting, for example, in paint layers. Museums must integrate sustainable solutions to address the residual biocide problems already in the planning phase. Gas and dust phase measurements and analysis must become standard as well as methods of decontamination.

Keywords: biocides, decontamination, museum collections, toxic substances in museums

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Authors: Aviv Yaniv, Ron Ben Arosh, Nadav Gasner, Michael Konviser, Arbel Yaniv

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This paper introduces two methods for the evaluation of Question Decomposition Meaning Representation (QDMR) as predicted by sequence-to-sequence model and COPYNET parser for natural language questions processing, motivated by the fact that previous evaluation metrics used for this task do not take into account some characteristics of the representation, such as partial ordering structure. To this end, several heuristics to extract such partial dependencies are formulated, followed by the hereby proposed evaluation methods denoted as Proportional Graph Matcher (PGM) and Conversion to Normal String Representation (Nor-Str), designed to better capture the accuracy level of QDMR predictions. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed evaluation methods and show the added value suggested by one of them- the Nor-Str, for better distinguishing between high and low-quality QDMR when predicted by models such as COPYNET. This work represents an important step forward in the development of better evaluation methods for QDMR predictions, which will be critical for improving the accuracy and reliability of natural language question-answering systems.

Keywords: NLP, question answering, question decomposition meaning representation, QDMR evaluation metrics

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Authors: Bin Su

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This study focuses on the impact of school building design factors on winter extra energy consumption which mainly includes space heating, water heating and other appliances related to winter indoor thermal conditions. A number of Auckland schools were randomly selected for the study which introduces a method of using real monthly energy consumption data for a year to calculate winter extra energy data of school buildings. The study seeks to identify the relationships between winter extra energy data related to school building design data related to the main architectural features, building envelope and elements of the sample schools. The relationships can be used to estimate the approximate saving in winter extra energy consumption which would result from a changed design datum for future school development, and identify any major energy-efficient design problems. The relationships are also valuable for developing passive design guides for school energy efficiency.

Keywords: building energy efficiency, building thermal design, building thermal performance, school building design

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Authors: Nelly S. Aggangan, Julieta A. Anarna

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Indigenous tree species are priority planting materials for the National Greening Program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Areas for reforestation are marginal grasslands where plant growth is stunted and seedling survival is low. This experiment was conducted to compare growth rates and seedling survival of seven indigenous reforestation species. Narra (Pterocarpus indicus), salago (Wikstroemia lanceolata), kisubeng (Sapindus saponaria), tuai (Biscofia javanica), batino (Alstonia macrophylla), bani (Pongamina pinnata) and ipil (Intsia bijuga) were inoculated with Mykovam® (mycorrhizal fungi) and Bio-N® (N2-fixing bacteria) during pricking. After five months in the nursery, the treated seedlings were planted in degraded upland acidic red soil in Cavinti, Laguna (Luzon). During outplanting, all mycorrhiza inoculated seedlings had 50-80% mycorrhizal roots while the control ones had 5-10% mycorrhizal roots. Mykovam increased height of narra, salago and kisubeng. Stem diameter was bigger in mycorrhizal salago than the control. After two years in the field, Mykovam®+Bio-N® inoculated narra, salago and bani gave 95% survival while non-mycorrhizal tuai gave the lowest survival (25%). Inoculated seedlings grew faster than the control. Highest height increase was in batino (103%), followed by bani (95%), ipil (59%), narra (58%), tuai (53%) and kisubeng was the lowest (10%). Stem diameter was increased by Mykovam® from 13-39% over the control. Highest stem diameter was obtained from narra (50%), followed by bani (40%), batino (36%), ipil (33%), salago (28%), kisubeng and tuai (12%) had the lowest. In conclusion, Mykovam® inoculated batino, bani, narra, salago and ipil can be selected to restore degraded upland acidic red soil in the Philippines.

Keywords: Azospirillum spp., Bio-N®, Mykovam®, nitrogen fixing bacteria, acidic red soil

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Authors: Suman Bala, Sunil Kamboj, Vipin Saini

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Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) analysis has been developed to relate antifungal activity of novel substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazole against Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger using computer assisted multiple regression analysis. The study has shown the better relationship between antifungal activities with respect to various descriptors established by multiple regression analysis. The analysis has shown statistically significant correlation with R² values 0.932 and 0.782 against Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger respectively. These derivatives were further subjected to molecular docking studies to investigate the interactions between the target compounds and amino acid residues present in the active site of glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase. All the synthesized compounds have better docking score as compared to standard fluconazole. Our results could be used for the further design as well as development of optimal and potential antifungal agents.

Keywords: 1, 3, 4-oxadiazole, QSAR, multiple linear regression, docking, glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase

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Authors: Krizette Ladera

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Fathers are there not only to provide the financial stability of a family but a father is also there to provide the love and support that usually people would see as the mother’s responsibility. To describe the lived experiences and how fathers make sense of their lived experiences with their children who have cerebral palsy is the main objective of the study. A qualitative research using a thematic analysis was used for the study. The qualitative research focused on the personal narratives, self-report and expression of the participant’s memory in terms of how they tell their stories. The interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to focus on the experience of the participants on how they will describe their experiences, and to also add on that the IPA will also attempt to describe and explain the meaning of human experiences using interview, specifically on the father who have a child that suffers from cerebral palsy. For the sampling technique, the snowball technique was used to gather participants from the referral of other participants. The five non-randomly selected fathers will be served as the participants for the research. A self-made interview with an open-ended question was used as the research instrument; it includes profiling of the respondent as well as their experiences in taking care of their child that suffers from cerebral palsy. In analyzing a data, the researcher used the thematic analysis where in the interview was made into a transcript, then it was organized and divided themes. After that, the relations of each themes, was identified and it was later documented and translated into written text format using thematic grouping. Finally, the researcher analyzed each data according to its themes and put it in a table to be presented in the result section of the study And as for the result of the study, the researcher was able to come up with the four (4) main themes that most of the participants experienced and those are: The experiences in finding out about the condition of the Child, disclosing the condition of the child to the family and its emotional effect, The experiences of living the day of day realities in providing the physical, financial, emotional and a well balanced environment to the child, and the religious perspectives of the fathers. Along with those four (4) themes comes the subtheme which explains the themes in a more detailed explanation.

Keywords: cerebral palsy, children, fathers, lived experiences

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Authors: Kaustubh Chakradeo, Michael Delves, Sofya Titarenko

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Malaria is a serious disease which affects hundreds of millions of people around the world, each year. If not treated in time, it can be fatal. Despite recent developments in malaria diagnostics, the microscopy method to detect malaria remains the most common. Unfortunately, the accuracy of microscopic diagnostics is dependent on the skill of the microscopist and limits the throughput of malaria diagnosis. With the development of Artificial Intelligence tools and Deep Learning techniques in particular, it is possible to lower the cost, while achieving an overall higher accuracy. In this paper, we present a VGG-based model and compare it with previously developed models for identifying infected cells. Our model surpasses most previously developed models in a range of the accuracy metrics. The model has an advantage of being constructed from a relatively small number of layers. This reduces the computer resources and computational time. Moreover, we test our model on two types of datasets and argue that the currently developed deep-learning-based methods cannot efficiently distinguish between infected and contaminated cells. A more precise study of suspicious regions is required.

Keywords: convolution neural network, deep learning, malaria, thin blood smears

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Authors: Pedro Felgueiras, Ana Miguel, Nélson Almeida, Raquel Silva

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Objective: Through the study of a clinical case of delusional somatic disorder secondary to phantogeusia, we aim to highlight the importance of considering psychosomatic conditions in differential diagnosis, as well as to emphasize the complexity of its comprehension, treatment, and respective impact on patients’ functioning. Methods: Bearing this in mind, we conducted a critical analysis of a case series based on patient observations, clinical data, and complementary diagnostic methods, as well as a non-systematic review of the literature on the subject. Results: A 61-year-old female patient with no history of psychiatric conditions. Family psychiatric history of mood disorder (depression), with psychotic features found in her mother. Medical history of many comorbidities affecting different organ systems (endocrine, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, ophthalmological). Documented neuroticism traits of personality. The patient’s family described a persistent concern about several physical symptoms across her life, with a continuous effort to obtain explanations about any sensation out of her normal perception. Since being subjected to endoscopy in 2018, she started complaints of persistent phantogeusia (acid taste) and developed excessive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors associated with this somatic symptom. The patient was evaluated by several medical specialties, and an extensive panel of medical exams was carried out, excluding any disease. Besides all the investigation and with no evidence of disease signs, acute anxiety, time, and energy dispended to this symptom culminated in severe psychosocial impairment. The patient was admitted to a psychiatric ward for investigation and treatment of this clinical picture, leading to the diagnosis of the delusional somatic disorder. In order to exclude the acute organic etiology of this psychotic disorder, an analytic panel was carried out with no abnormal results. In the context of a psychotic clinical picture, a CT scan was performed, which revealed a right cortical vascular lesion. Neuropsychological evaluation was made, with the description of cognitive functioning being globally normative. During treatment with an antipsychotic (pimozide), a complete remission of the somatic delusion was associated with the disappearance of gustative perception disturbance. In follow-up, a relapse of gustative sensation was documented, and her thoughts and speech were dominated by concerns about multiple somatic symptoms. Conclusion: In terms of abnormal bodily sensations, the oral cavity is one of the frequent sites of delusional disorder. Patients with these gustatory perception distortions complain about unusual sensations without corresponding abnormal findings in the oral area. Its pathophysiology has not been fully elucidated yet. In terms of its comprehensive psychopathology, this case was hypothesized as a paranoid development of a delusional somatic disorder triggered by a post-invasive procedure phantogeusia (which is described as a possible side effect of an endoscopy) in a patient with an anankastic personality. This case presents interesting psychopathology, reinforcing the complexity of psychosomatic disorders in terms of their etiopathogenesis, clinical treatment, and long-term prognosis.

Keywords: psychosomatics, delusional somatic disorder, phantogeusia, paranoid development

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Authors: Yunwei Zhang, Na Li, Yuhong Niu

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Bone tissue engineering scaffold was regarded as an important clinical technology of curing bony defect. The patent protection of bone tissue engineering scaffold had been paid more attention and strengthened all over the world. This study analyzed the future development trends of international technologies in the field of bone tissue engineering scaffold and its patent protection. This study used the methods of data classification and classification indexing to analyze 2718 patents retrieved in the patent database. Results showed that the patents coming from United States had a competitive advantage over other countiries in the field of bone tissue engineering scaffold. The number of patent applications by a single company in U.S. was a quarter of that of the world. However, the capability of R&D in China was obviously weaker than global level, patents mainly coming from universities and scientific research institutions. Moreover, it would be predicted that synthetic organic materials as new materials would be gradually replaced by composite materials. The patent technology protections of composite materials would be more strengthened in the future.

Keywords: bone tissue engineering, patent analysis, Scaffold material, patent protection

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Authors: Mengdi Zhang, Xufeng Liu, Zhenji Gao, Ying Li, Zhu Rao, Yi Huang

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As an open system, the earth is constantly undergoing the transformation and release of matter and energy. Fault zones are relatively discontinuous and fragile geological structures, and the release of material and energy inside the Earth is strongest in relatively weak fault zones. Earthquake events frequently occur in fault zones and are closely related to tectonic activity in these zones. In earthquake precursor observation, monitoring the spatiotemporal changes in the release of related gases near fault zones (such as radon gas, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, helium), and analyzing earthquake precursor anomalies, can be effective means to forecast the occurrence of earthquake events. Radon gas, as an inert radioactive gas generated during the decay of uranium and thorium, is not only a indicator for monitoring tectonic and seismic activity, but also an important topic for ecological and environmental health, playing a crucial role in uranium exploration. At present, research on soil radon gas mainly focuses on the measurement of soil gas concentration and flux in fault zone profiles, while research on the correlation between spatiotemporal concentration changes in the same region and its geological background is relatively little. In this paper, Tangshan area in north China is chosen as research area. An analysis was conducted on the seismic geological background of Tangshan area firstly. Then based on quantitative analysis and comparison of measurement radon concentrations of 2023 and 2010, combined with the study of seismic activity and environmental changes during the time period, the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and influencing factors were explored, in order to analyze the gas emission characteristics of the Tangshan fault zone and its relationship with fault activity, which aimed to be useful for the future work in earthquake monitor of Tangshan area.

Keywords: radon, Northern China, soil gas, earthquake

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Authors: Wongwarit Nipitwittaya

Abstract:

The objectives of this research is bringing folk song with the teaching of Western music were to examine to investigate, to compare, develop the skill, technique, knowledge of Thai folk song and to preserve folk song of Thailand to be known more widely also learn Thai culture from Thai folk song. Study by bringing Thailand folk song is widely known for learning with Western music in course brass performance. Bringing the melody of Thai folk music and changing patterns to western music notes for appropriate on brass performance. A sample was selected from brass students, using research by assessment of knowledge from test after used Thai folk song lesson. The lesson focus for scales and key signature in western music by divided into two groups, the one study by used research tools and another one used simple lesson and a collection of research until testing. The results of the study were as follows: 1. There are good development skill form research method 2. Sound recognition can be even better. The study was a qualitative research and data collection by observation.

Keywords: Thai folk song, brass instrument, key signature, western music

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