Search results for: curriculum structure

Authors: Rohit Sharma, Fabio Cozzi

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A 3C-2D PIV technique was applied to investigate the swirling flow generated by an axial plus tangential type swirl generator. This work is focused on the near-exit region of an isothermal swirling jet to characterize the effect of swirl on the flow field and to identify the large coherent structures both in unconfined and confined conditions for geometrical swirl number, S_g = 4.6. Effects of the Reynolds number on the flow structure were also studied. The experimental results show significant effects of the confinement on the mean velocity fields and its fluctuations. The size of the recirculation zone was significantly enlarged upon confinement compared to the free swirling jet. Increasing in the Reynolds number further enhanced the recirculation zone. The frequency characteristics have been measured with a capacitive microphone which indicates the presence of periodic oscillation related to the existence of precessing vortex core, PVC. Proper orthogonal decomposition of the jet velocity field was carried out, enabling the identification of coherent structures. The time coefficients of the first two most energetic POD modes were used to reconstruct the phase-averaged velocity field of the oscillatory motion in the swirling flow. The instantaneous minima of negative swirl strength values calculated from the instantaneous velocity field revealed the presence of two helical structures located in the inner and outer shear layers and this structure fade out at an axial location of approximately z/D = 1.5 for unconfined case and z/D = 1.2 for confined case. By phase averaging the instantaneous swirling strength maps, the 3D helical vortex structure was reconstructed.

Keywords: acoustic probes, 3C-2D particle image velocimetry (PIV), precessing vortex core (PVC), recirculation zone (RZ)

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Authors: Mimoun Melliti

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This research paper investigates the promises, challenges, and perspectives associated with teaching STEM subjects in English within Tunisian higher education institutions. The study explores the potential benefits of English-medium instruction in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (henceforth STEM) education, with a special focus on enhanced global competitiveness, improved English language proficiency, and increased access to international resources and collaborations. Additionally, it examines the various challenges faced by educators and students, such as language shift/barriers, curriculum adaptation, faculty training, and student support. Through a comprehensive analysis of promises and challenges, this paper aims to provide insights and recommendations for effectively implementing English medium instruction (henceforth EMI) of STEM in Tunisian higher education institutions. The paper concludes with a recommended action plan for the proper introduction of EMI of STEM in Tunisia.

Keywords: EMI;, STEM education, EFL, language reforms

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Authors: Maria Luiza Fulga, Georgeta Truca, Mihaela Alexandru, Andriescu Mariana, Crin Marcean

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The significance of nursing as a subject in the post-secondary healthcare curriculum is a major. We aimed to enable our students to assess the patient's risk, to establish prevention measures and to adapt to a specific learning context, in order to acquire the skills and abilities necessary for the nursing profession. In order to achieve these objectives, during the three years of study, teachers put an emphasis on acquiring communication skills, because in our country after the first cycle of hospital accreditation concluded in 2016, the National Authority for Quality of Health Management has introduced the criteria for the implementation and application of the nursing process according to the accreditation standards. According to these requirements, the nurse has to carry out the nursing assessment, based on communication as a distinct component, so that they can identify nursing diagnoses and implement the nursing plan. In this respect, we, the teachers, have refocused, by approaching various teaching strategies and preparing students for the real context of learning and applying what they learn. In the educational process, the tutors in the hospitals have an important role to play in acquiring professional skills. Students perform their activity in the hospital in accordance with the curriculum, in order to verify the practical applicability of the theoretical knowledge acquired in the school classes and also have the opportunity to acquire their skills in a real learning context. In clinical education, the student nurse learns in the middle of a guidance team which includes a practice tutor, who is a nurse that takes responsibility for the practical/clinical learning of the students in their field of activity. In achieving this objective, the tutor's abilities involve pedagogical knowledge, knowledge for the good of the individual and nursing theory, in order to be able to guide clinical practice in accordance with current requirements. The aim of this study is to find out the students’ confidence level in practice tutors in hospitals, the students’ degree of satisfaction in the pedagogical skills of the tutors and the practical applicability of the theoretical knowledge. In this study, we used as a method of investigation a student satisfaction questionnaire regarding the clinical practice in the hospital and the sample of the survey consisted of 100 students aged between 20 and 50 years, from the first, second and third year groups, with the General Nurse specialty (nurses responsible for general care), from 'Fundeni' Healthcare Post-Secondary School, Bucharest, Romania. Following the analysis of the data provided, we arrived the conclusion that the hospital tutor needs to improve his/her pedagogical skills, the knowledge of nursing diagnostics, and the implementation of the nursing plan, so that the applicability of the theoretical notions would be increased. Future plans include the pedagogical training of the medical staff, as well as updating the knowledge needed to implement the nursing process in order to meet current requirements.

Keywords: clinical training, nursing process, pedagogical skills, tutor

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Authors: Verónica Díaz Quezada

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Despite the wide variety of educational resources on the market and the advances produced in the technological field, the practice of teaching continues to be supported mainly by textbooks. This article reports on descriptive research with qualitative methodology carried out on secondary school mathematics teachers in a region of Chile, in order to describe the use and the indicators of appreciation that teachers have on the textbooks distributed by the official body to public educational establishments. Data were collected through an open response opinion questionnaire. According to the results, among the texts available for the annual performance of their teaching work, the expository and technological books predominate, to the detriment of comprehensive books. The exhibition structure favors master expositions and repetitive exercises, while, with the technological structure, a productive exercise is attempted, proposing numerous applications with the intention of giving meaning to the different mathematical rules and procedures. In relation to the indicators of appreciation that teachers have regarding the use of mathematics textbooks, the suitability and quality of the teaching resources are verified as the most satisfying characteristic.

Keywords: mathematics, secondary school, teachers, textbooks

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Authors: Tzong-Ying Hao, Mohammad T. Rahmani

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The Torre Central building is a 9-story shear wall structure located in Santiago, Chile, and has been instrumented since 2009. Events of different intensity (ambient vibrations, weak and strong earthquake motions) have been recorded, and thus the building can serve as a full-scale benchmark to evaluate the structural health monitoring method developed. The first part of this article presents an analysis of inter-story drifts, and of changes in the first system frequencies (estimated from the relative displacement response of the 8th-floor with respect to the basement from recorded data) as baseline indicators of the occurrence of damage. During 2010 Chile earthquake the system frequencies were detected decreasing approximately 24% in the EW and 27% in NS motions. Near the end of shaking, an increase of about 17% in the EW motion was detected. The structural health monitoring (SHM) method based on changes in wave traveling time (wave method) within a layered shear beam model of structure is presented in the second part of this article. If structural damage occurs the velocity of wave propagated through the structure changes. The wave method measures the velocities of shear wave propagation from the impulse responses generated by recorded data at various locations inside the building. Our analysis and results show that the detected changes in wave velocities are consistent with the observed damages. On this basis, the wave method is proven for actual implementation in structural health monitoring systems.

Keywords: Chile earthquake, damage detection, earthquake response, impulse response, layered shear beam, structural health monitoring, Torre Central building, wave method, wave travel time

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Authors: Mahdi Sadeghian, Mahmoud Hassanlourad, Alireza Ardakani, Reza Dinarvand

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In this research, the behavior of monopiles, under lateral loads, was investigated with vertical and oblique piles by Finite Element Method. In engineering practice when soil-pile interaction comes to the picture some simplifications are applied to reduce the design time. As a simplified replacement of soil and pile interaction analysis, pile could be replaced by a column. The height of the column would be equal to the free length of the pile plus a portion of the embedded length of it. One of the important factors studied in this study was that columns with an equivalent length (free length plus a part of buried depth) could be used instead of soil and pile modeling. The results of the analysis show that the more internal friction angle of the soil increases, the more the bearing capacity of the soil is achieved. This additional length is 6 to 11 times of the pile diameter in dense soil although in loose sandy soil this range might increase.

Keywords: Depth of fixity, Lateral bearing capacity, Oblique pile, Pile group, Soil-structure interaction

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Authors: Emiru Birhane, Tesfay Gidey, Haftu Abrha, Abrha Brhan, Amanuel Zenebe, Girmay Gebresamuel, Florent Noulèkoun

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Dracaena ombet and Dobera glabra are two of the most rare and endangered tree species in dryland areas. Unfortunately, their sustainability is being compromised by different anthropogenic and natural factors. However, the impacts of ongoing land use and climate change on the population structure and distribution of the species are less explored. This study was carried out in the grazing lands and hillside areas of the Desa'a dry Afromontane forest, northern Ethiopia, to characterize the population structure of the species and predict the impact of climate change on their potential distributions. In each land-use type, abundance, diameter at breast height, and height of the trees were collected using 70 sampling plots distributed over seven transects spaced one km apart. The geographic coordinates of each individual tree were also recorded. The results showed that the species populations were characterized by low abundance and unstable population structure. The latter was evinced by a lack of seedlings and mature trees. The study also revealed that the total abundance and dendrometric traits of the trees were significantly different between the two land uses. The hillside areas had a denser abundance of bigger and taller trees than the grazing lands. Climate change predictions using the MaxEnt model highlighted that future temperature increases coupled with reduced precipitation would lead to significant reductions in the suitable habitats of the species in northern Ethiopia. The species' suitable habitats were predicted to decline by 48–83% for D. ombet and 35–87% for D. glabra. Hence, to sustain the species populations, different strategies should be adopted, namely the introduction of alternative livelihoods (e.g., gathering NTFP) to reduce the overexploitation of the species for subsistence income and the protection of the current habitats that will remain suitable in the future using community-based exclosures. Additionally, the preservation of the species' seeds in gene banks is crucial to ensure their long-term conservation.

Keywords: grazing lands, hillside areas, land-use change, MaxEnt, range limitation, rare and endangered tree species

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Authors: M. S. Gaafar, S. Y. Marzouk

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Sodium borosilicate glasses doped with different content of NdF3 mol % have been prepared by rapid quenching method. Ultrasonic velocities (both longitudinal and shear) measurements have been carried out at room temperature and at ultrasonic frequency of 4 MHz. Elastic moduli, Debye temperature, softening temperature and Poisson's ratio have been obtained as a function of NdF3 modifier content. Results showed that the elastic moduli, Debye temperature, softening temperature and Poisson's ratio have very slight change with the change of NdF3 mol % content. Based on FTIR spectroscopy and theoretical (Bond compression) model, quantitative analysis has been carried out in order to obtain more information about the structure of these glasses. The study indicated that the structure of these glasses is mainly composed of SiO4 units with four bridging oxygens (Q4), and with three bridging and one nonbridging oxygens (Q3).

Keywords: borosilicate glasses, ultrasonic velocity, elastic moduli, FTIR spectroscopy, bond compression model

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Authors: Choo Fatt Foo

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The Five Aggregates is core to Buddhism teaching. According to Buddhism, human beings and all sentient beings are made up of nothing but the Five Aggregates. If that is the case, the Five Aggregates must be found in all natural sciences. So far, there has not been any systematic connection between the Five Aggregates and natural sciences. This study aims at identifying traces of the Five Aggregates in various levels of natural sciences and pointing possible directions for future research. The following areas are briefly explored to identify the connection with the Five Aggregates: physics, chemistry, organic chemistry, DNA, cell, and human body and brain. Traces of the Five Aggregates should be found in each level of this hierarchy of natural sciences for human and sentient beings to be said to be made up of the Five Aggregates. This study proposes a hierarchical structure of nature cutting every level with the Five Aggregates and the Four Great Elements as its basis. The structure proposed by this study would revolutionize how we look at nature. Hopefully, better understanding of sciences in this manner will steer the application of scientific methods and technology towards a brighter future with compassion and tolerance.

Keywords: the five aggregates, Buddhism, four great elements, physics, calabi-yau manifold

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Authors: F. Farzan Nasab, H. J. M. Geijselaers, I. Baran, A. De Boer

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A method is introduced for the coupled skin-rib optimization of a wing box where mass minimization is the objective and local buckling is the constraint. The structure is made of composite materials where continuity of plies in multiple adjacent panels (blending) has to be satisfied. Blending guarantees the manufacturability of the structure; however, it is a highly challenging constraint to treat and has been under debate in recent research in the same area. To fulfill design guidelines with respect to symmetry, balance, contiguity, disorientation and percentage rule of the layup, a reference for the stacking sequences (stacking sequence table or SST) is generated first. Then, an innovative fully gradient-based optimization approach in relation to a specific SST is introduced to obtain the optimum thickness distribution all over the structure while blending is fulfilled. The proposed optimization approach aims to turn the discrete optimization problem associated with the integer number of plies into a continuous one. As a result of a wing box deflection, a rib is subjected to load values which vary nonlinearly with the amount of deflection. The bending stiffness of a skin affects the wing box deflection and thus affects the load applied to a rib. This indicates the necessity of a coupled skin-rib optimization approach for a more realistic optimized design. The proposed method is examined with the optimization of the layup of a composite stiffened skin and rib of a wing torsion box subjected to in-plane normal and shear loads. Results show that the method can successfully prescribe a valid design with a significantly cheap computation cost.

Keywords: blending, buckling optimization, composite panels, wing torsion box

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Authors: Jiao Li

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Language teachers have been expected to play diversified new roles in times of educational changes. Considering the critical role that materials play in teaching and learning, language teachers have been increasingly involved in developing materials. Using identity as an analytic lens, this study aims to explore language teachers’ experiences as materials developers in China, focusing on the challenges they face and responses to them. It will adopt a multimethod approach. At the first stage, about 12 language teachers who have developed or are developing materials will be interviewed to have a broad view of their experiences. At the second stage, three language teachers who are developing materials will be studied by collecting interview data, policy documents, and data obtained from online observation of their group meetings so as to gain a deeper understanding of their experiences in materials development. It is expected that this study would have implications for teacher development, materials development, and curriculum development as well.

Keywords: educational changes, teacher development, teacher identity, teacher learning, materials development

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Authors: Ebru Aktepe Erkoç, Atilla Uluğ

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In this research which has been prepared to show the relationship between Gökova Bay’s morphotectonic structure and seismicity, it is clear that there are many active faults in the region. The existence of a thick sedimentary accumulation since Late Quaternary times is obvious as a result of the geophysical workings in the region and the interpretation of seismic data which has been planning to be taken from the Bay. In the regions which have been tectonically active according to the interpretation of the taken data, the existence of the successive earthquakes in the last few years is remarkable. By analyzing large earthquakes affecting the areas remaining inside the sediments in West Anatolian Collapse System, this paper aims to reveal the fault systems constituting earthquakes with the information obtained from this study and to determine seismicity of the present residential areas right next to them. It is also aimed to anticipate the measures to be taken against possible earthquake hazards, to identify these areas posing a risk in terms of residential and urban planning and to determine at least partly the characteristics of the basin.

Keywords: Gökova Bay, sedimentation, seismic, West Anatolian

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Authors: Soroush Maddah, Houra Asgarian, Mahdi Navidbakhsh

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In the present paper, the problem of pulsatile micropolar blood flow through an elastic artery has been studied. An arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation for the governing equations has been produced to model the fully-coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) and has been solved numerically using finite difference scheme by exploiting a mesh generation technique which leads to a uniformly spaced grid in the computational plane. Effect of the variations of cardiac output and wall artery module of elasticity on blood pressure with blood-pressure regulating drugs like Atenolol has been determined. Also, a numerical model has been produced to define precisely the effects of various dosages of a drug on blood flow in arteries without the numerous experiments that have many mistakes and expenses.

Keywords: arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian, Atenolol, fluid structure interaction, micropolar fluid, pulsatile blood flow

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Authors: Petr Homola, Roman Růžek

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Laser beam micro-drilling (LBMD) is one of the most important non-contact machining processes of materials that are difficult to machine by means oeqf conventional machining methods used in various industries. The paper is focused on LBMD knock-down effect on Ti-6Al-4V (Grade 5) titanium alloy sheets properties. Two various process configurations were verified with a focus on laser damages in back-structure parts affected by the process. The effects of the LBMD on the material properties were assessed by means of tensile and fatigue tests and fracture surface analyses. Fatigue limit of LBMD configurations reached a significantly lower value between 15% and 30% of the static strength as compared to the reference raw material with 58% value. The farther back-structure configuration gives a two-fold fatigue life as compared to the closer LBMD configuration at a given stress applied.

Keywords: fatigue, fracture surface, laser beam micro-drilling, titanium alloy

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Authors: Mikhail Bouniaev

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The paper reviews design and implementation of a Calculus Course required for the Biomedical Competency Based Program developed as a joint project between The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and the University of Texas’ Institute for Transformational Learning, from the theoretical perspective as presented in scholarly work on active learning, formative assessment, and on-line teaching. Following a four stage curriculum development process (objective, content, delivery, and assessment), and theoretical recommendations that guarantee effectiveness and efficiency of assessment in active learning, we discuss the practical recommendations on how to incorporate a strong formative assessment component to address disciplines’ needs, and students’ major needs. In design and implementation of this project, we used Constructivism and Stage-by-Stage Development of Mental Actions Theory recommendations.

Keywords: active learning, assessment, calculus, cognitive demand, mathematics, stage-by-stage development of mental action theory

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Authors: Quoc Hung Le Pham

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In the field of language study, classifier is an interesting research feature. In the world’s languages, some languages have classifier system, some do not. Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese languages are a rich classifier system, however, because of the language system, the cognitive, cultural differences, so that the syntactic structure of classifier of them also dissimilar. When using Mandarin Chinese classifiers must collocate with nouns or verbs, in the lexical category it is not like nouns or verbs, belong to the open class. But some scholars believe that Mandarin Chinese measure words are similar to English and other Indo European languages. The word hanging on the structure and word formation (suffix), is a closed class. Compared to other languages, such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and other Asian languages are still belonging to the classifier language’s second type, this type of language is classifier, it is in the majority of quantity must exist, and following deictic, anaphoric or quantity appearing together, not separation between its modified noun, also known as numeral classifier language. Main syntactic structure of Chinese classifiers are as follows: ‘quantity+measure+noun’, ‘pronoun+measure+noun’, ‘pronoun+quantity+measure+noun’, ‘prefix+quantity+measure +noun’, ‘quantity +adjective + measure +noun’, ‘ quantity (above 10 whole number), + duo (多)measure +noun’, ‘ quantity (around 10) + measure + duo (多) +noun’. Main syntactic structure of Vietnamese classifiers are: ‘quantity+measure+noun’, ‘ measure+noun+pronoun’, ‘quantity+measure+noun+pronoun’, ‘measure+noun+prefix+ quantity’, ‘quantity+measure+noun+adjective', ‘duo (多) +quanlity+measure+noun’, ‘quantity+measure+adjective+pronoun (quantity word could not be 1)’, ‘measure+adjective+pronoun’, ‘measure+pronoun’. In daily life, classifiers are commonly used, if Chinese learners failed to standardize this using catergory, because the negative impact might occur on their verbal communication. The richness of the Chinese classifier system contributes to the complexity in the study of the system by foreign learners, especially in the inter language of Vietnamese learners. As above mentioned, Vietnamese language also has a rich system of classifiers, however, the basic structure order of two languages are similar but both still have differences. These similarities and dissimilarities between Chinese and Vietnamese classifier systems contribute significantly to the common errors made by Vietnamese students while they acquire Chinese, which are distinct from the errors made by students from the other language background. This article from a comparative perspective of language, has an orientation towards Chinese and Vietnamese languages commonly used in classifiers semantics and structural form two aspects. This comparative study aims to identity Vietnamese students while learning Chinese classifiers may face some negative transference of mother language, beside that through the analysis of the classifiers questionnaire, find out the causes and patterns of the errors they made. As the preliminary analysis shows, Vietnamese students while learning Chinese classifiers made some errors such as: overuse classifier ‘ge’(个); misuse the other classifiers ‘*yi zhang ri ji’(yi pian ri ji), ‘*yi zuo fang zi’(yi jian fang zi), ‘*si zhang jin pai’(si mei jin pai); homonym words ‘dui, shuang, fu, tao’ (对、双、副、套), ‘ke, li’ (颗、粒).

Keywords: acquisition, classifiers, negative transfer, Vietnamse learners

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Authors: H. Yanar, G. Purcek, H. H. Ayar

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The ingredients of composite materials used for the production of composite brake pads play an important role in terms of safety braking performance of automobiles and trains. Therefore, the ingredients must be selected carefully and used in appropriate ratios in the matrix structure of the brake pad materials. In the present study, a non-asbestos organic composite brake pad materials containing binder resin, space fillers, solid lubricants, and friction modifier was developed, and its fillers content was optimized by adding natural rubber with different rate into the specified matrix structure in order to achieve the best combination of tribo-performance and mechanical properties. For this purpose, four compositions with different rubber content (2.5wt.%, 5.0wt.%, 7.5wt.% and 10wt.%) were prepared and then test samples with the diameter of 20 mm and length of 15 mm were produced to evaluate the friction and mechanical behaviors of the mixture. The friction and wear tests were performed using a pin-on-disc type test rig which was designed according to NF-F-11-292 French standard. All test samples were subjected to two different types of friction tests defined as periodic braking and continuous braking (also known as fade test). In this way, the coefficient of friction (CoF) of composite sample with different rubber content were determined as a function of number of braking cycle and temperature of the disc surface. The results demonstrated that addition of rubber into the matrix structure of the composite caused a significant change in the CoF. Average CoF of the composite samples increased linearly with increasing rubber content into the matrix. While the average CoF was 0.19 for the rubber-free composite, the composite sample containing 20wt.% rubber had the maximum CoF of about 0.24. Although the CoF of composite sample increased, the amount of specific wear rate decreased with increasing rubber content into the matrix. On the other hand, it was observed that the CoF decreased with increasing temperature generated in-between sample and disk depending on the increasing rubber content. While the CoF decreased to the minimum value of 0.15 at 400 °C for the rubber-free composite sample, the sample having the maximum rubber content of 10wt.% exhibited the lowest one of 0.09 at the same temperature. Addition of rubber into the matrix structure decreased the hardness and strength of the samples. It was concluded from the results that the composite matrix with 5 wt.% rubber had the best composition regarding the performance parameters such as required frictional and mechanical behavior. This composition has the average CoF of 0.21, specific wear rate of 0.024 cm³/MJ and hardness value of 63 HRX.

Keywords: brake pad composite, friction and wear, rubber, friction materials

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Authors: Ayomi Indika Irugalbandara

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Reproductive Health (RE) education among Sri Lankan Adolescents (comprising one fifth inner population) remains unsatisfactory despite 91.8% of them completing primary education & 56.2 % receiving post secondary level education. The main reason for this large population not receiving satisfactory RH education is traditional values and longstanding taboos surrounding sexuality. The current study was undertaken with there objectives. The relevance of achieving them being to formulate RH educational policies and programs that address a sizable and sensitive chunk of the population thereby achieving the goal of mental and social well being and not merely the absence of reproductive disease or infirmity. This research was a descriptive study, using random sampling technique, sample of the study consisting of 160 adolescent in the age group of 16-19, studying in government schools in Sri Lanka. Questionnaire was the main instrument of data collection, qualitative and quantitative techniques were used in data analysis. According to the data it was revealed that a majority has some idea about RH education. While this awareness had been provided by the school, the source of information had been Health and Physical Education. The entire sample mentioned that more RH information, than was provided, should be given and everybody wanted further knowledge regarding sexuality, and in depth information on it was essential. About 96 adolescents were of the opinion that their behavior was respectful to elders and 64 felt embarrassed while communicating with elders regarding RH issues. About their preferred sources of information, both genders named health providers as their first choice, followed by family members and friends. The internet was cited by a few boys; less than 5 percent cited religious figures. More than 50% of respondents had no knowledge about abortion and they were unaware of dangerous abortion. The practice of abortion was reported among zero percent. Although every member of the sample did not possess knowledge of the scientific process involved in abortion, all of them totally rejected the idea of destroying a foetus. Adolescence is a critical period in the life of girls and boys and sexuality education empowers young people to protect their health and well-being. Schools have the proper staff, and environment for learning. It might be stated that the greater segment of individuals entering adolescents and going through their adolescence are still in the school. This becomes the reason why it is mandatory that the school should be geared to handle this critical stage of the students. Adolescents or those approaching adolescence are best educated by the relevant parents, but this being quite a sensitive issue in the socio cultural context, it is somewhat doubtful whether all parents are prepared to handle this candidly, due either to lack of knowledge or absence of the appropriate state of mind. As such it is best that seminars/workshops be conducted to enlighten parents on handling HR issues related to their adolescent children. Apart from the awareness on HR provided through the school curriculum a greater impact can be brought about through street dramas, exhibitions etc. specific to HR. Finally the researcher would like to suggest that Sunday schools be harnessed for the provision of HR education linked with cultural values, ethics, and social well-being.

Keywords: reproductive health, awareness, perception, school curriculum

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Authors: Yu Pan, Jing Wu, Lingwan Shen

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Since the reform and opening, China's cities have developed rapidly, and the industrial structure has been constantly adjusted and optimized. A large number of industrial plants have lost their production functions and become idle buildings. The renovation projects for the old factory buildings are important parts of the urban renewal, and most of them are the cultural and creative industrial park projects. In this paper, a statistical analysis of renovation projects of the representative cultural and creative industrial parks in recent years was conducted. According to the user's spatial experience satisfaction survey, the physical and spatial factors affecting the space regeneration of the old factory were concluded. Thus the relationship between space regeneration and material, structure, internal and external space design has been derived. Finally, we summarized the general spatial processing model in which the contradiction between ‘new’ and ‘old’ can be grafted and transformed.

Keywords: renovation of factory buildings, urban renewal, the cultural and creative industrial park, space regeneration, reconstruction mode

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Authors: Nalla Somaiah, Praveen Kumar

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Scaling of transistors and, hence, interconnects is very important for the enhanced performance of microelectronic devices. Scaling of devices creates significant complexity, especially in the multilevel interconnect architectures, wherein current crowding occurs at the corners of interconnects. Such a current crowding creates hot-spots at the respective corners, resulting in non-uniform temperature distribution in the interconnect as well. This non-uniform temperature distribution, which is exuberated with continued scaling of devices, creates a temperature gradient in the interconnect. In particular, the increased current density at corners and the associated temperature rise due to Joule heating accelerate the electromigration induced failures in interconnects, especially at corners. This has been the classic reliability issue associated with metallic interconnects. Herein, it is generally understood that electromigration induced damages can be avoided if the length of interconnect is smaller than a critical length, often termed as Blech length. Interestingly, the effect of non-negligible temperature gradients generated at these corners in terms of thermomigration and electromigration-thermomigration coupling has not attracted enough attention. Accordingly, in this work, the interplay between the electromigration and temperature gradient induced mass transport was studied using standard Blech structure. In this particular sample structure, the majority of the current is forcefully directed into the low resistivity metallic film from a high resistivity underlayer film, resulting in current crowding at the edges of the metallic film. In this study, 150 nm thick Cu metallic film was deposited on 30 nm thick W underlayer film in the configuration of Blech structure. Series of Cu thin strips, with lengths of 10, 20, 50, 100, 150 and 200 μm, were fabricated. Current density of ≈ 4 × 1010 A/m² was passed through Cu and W films at a temperature of 250ºC. Herein, along with expected forward migration of Cu atoms from the cathode to the anode at the cathode end of the Cu film, backward migration from the anode towards the center of Cu film was also observed. Interestingly, smaller length samples consistently showed enhanced migration at the cathode end, thus indicating the existence of inverse Blech length effect in presence of temperature gradient. A finite element based model showing the interplay between electromigration and thermomigration driving forces has been developed to explain this observation.

Keywords: Blech structure, electromigration, temperature gradient, thin films

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Authors: Chiang-Ho Cheng, An-Shik Yang, Hong-Yih Cheng

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This paper applies the MEMS technology to design and fabricate a micro-bubble generator by a piezoelectric actuator. Coupled with a nickel nozzle plate, an annular piezoelectric ceramic was utilized as the primary structure of the generator. In operations, the piezoelectric element deforms transversely under an electric field applied across the thickness of the generator. The surface of the nozzle plate can expand or contract because of the induction of radial strain, resulting in the whole structure to bend, and successively transport oxygen micro-bubbles into the blood flow for enhancing the oxygen content in blood. In the tests, a high magnification microscope and a high speed CCD camera were employed to photograph the time evolution of meniscus shape of gaseous bubbles dispensed from the micro-bubble generator for flow visualization. This investigation thus explored the bubble formation process including the influences of inlet gas pressure along with driving voltage and resonance frequency on the formed bubble extent.

Keywords: micro-bubble, oxygenator, nozzle, piezoelectric

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Authors: N. Dumitru, S. Dumitru, C. Copilusi, N. Ploscaru

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On this research, experimental analyses have been performed in order to determine the oil pump mechanism dynamics and stability from an oil unit mechanical structure. The experimental tests were focused on the vibrations which occur inside of the rod element during functionality of the oil pump unit. The oil pump mechanism dynamic parameters were measured and also determined through numerical computations. Entire research is based on the oil pump unit mechanical system virtual prototyping. For a complete analysis of the mechanism, the frequency dynamic response was identified, mainly for the mechanism driven element, based on two methods: processing and virtual simulations with MSC Adams aid and experimental analysis. In fact, through this research, a complete methodology is presented where numerical simulations of a mechanism with deformed elements are developed on a dynamic mode and these can be correlated with experimental tests.

Keywords: modal dynamic analysis, oil pump, vibrations, flexible elements, frequency response

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Authors: Nilson Rogério Da Silva, Ingrid Casagrande, Isabela Chicarelli Amaro Santos

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Introduction: People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may face difficulties in social inclusion in different segments of society, especially in entering and staying at work. In Brazil, although there is legislation that equates it to the condition of disability, the number of people at work is still low. The United Nations estimates that more than 80 percent of adults with autism are jobless. In Brazil, the scenario is even more nebulous because there is no control and tracking of accurate data on the number of individuals with autism and how many of these are inserted in the labor market. Pereira and Goyos (2019) found that there is practically no scientific production about people with ASD in the labor market. Objective: To describe the experience of people with ASD inserted in the work, facilities and difficulties found in the professional exercise and the strategies used to maintain the job. Methodology: The research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee. As inclusion criteria for participation, the professional should accept to participate voluntarily, be over 18 years of age and have had some experience with the labor market. As exclusion criteria, being under 18 years of age and having never worked in a work activity. Participated in the research of 04 people with a diagnosis of ASD, aged 22 to 32 years. For data collection, an interview script was used that addressed: 1) General characteristics of the participants; 2) Family support; 3) School process; 4) Insertion in the labor market; 5) Exercise of professional activity; (6) Future and Autism; 7) Possible coping strategies. For the analysis of the data obtained, the full transcription of the interviews was performed and the technique of Content Analysis was performed. Results: The participants reported problems in different aspects: In the school environment: difficulty in social relationships, and Bullying. Lack of adaptation to the school curriculum and the structure of the classroom; In the Faculty: difficulty in following the activities, ealizar group work, meeting deadlines and establishing networking; At work: little adaptation in the work environment, difficulty in establishing good professional bonds, difficulty in accepting changes in routine or operational processes, difficulty in understanding veiled social rules. Discussion: The lack of knowledge about what disability is and who the disabled person is leads to misconceptions and negatives regarding their ability to work and in this context, people with disabilities need to constantly prove that they are able to work, study and develop as a human person, which can be classified as ableism. The adaptations and the use of technologies to facilitate the performance of people with ASD, although guaranteed in national legislation, are not always available, highlighting the difficulties and prejudice. Final Considerations: The entry and permanence of people with ASD at work still constitute a challenge to be overcome, involving changes in society in general, in companies, families and government agencies.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder (ASD), work, disability, autism

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Authors: Victor Chomel, Maziyar Panahi, David Chavalarias

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Misinformation has taken an increasingly worrying place in social media. Propagation patterns are closely linked to the structure of communities. This study proposes a method of community analysis based on a combination of centrality indicators for the network and its main communities. The objective is to establish a link between the stability of the communities over time, the social ascension of its members internally, and the propagation of information in the community. To this end, data from the debates about global warming and political communities on Twitter have been collected, and several tens of millions of tweets and retweets have helped us better understand the structure of these communities. The quantification of this stability allows for the study of the propagation of information of any kind, including disinformation. Our results indicate that the most stable communities over time are the ones that enable the establishment of nodes capturing a large part of the information and broadcasting its opinions. Conversely, communities with a high turnover and social ascendancy only stabilize themselves strongly in the face of adversity and external events but seem to offer a greater diversity of opinions most of the time.

Keywords: community analysis, disinformation, misinformation, Twitter

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Authors: K. C. Rajan, H. B. Rijal, Kazui Yoshida, Masanori Shukuya

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The electricity consumption in the Japanese household sector has increased with higher rate than that of other sectors. This may be because of aging and information oriented society that requires more electrical appliances to make the life better and easier, under this circumstances, energy saving is one of the essential necessity in Japanese society. To understand the way of energy use and demand response of the residential occupants, it is important to understand the structure of energy used. Home Energy Management System (HEMS) may be used for understanding the pattern and the structure of energy used. HEMS is a visualization system of the energy usage by connecting the electrical equipment in the home and thereby automatically control the energy use in each device, so that the energy saving is achieved. Therefore, the HEMS can provide with the easiest way to understand the structure of energy use. The HEMS has entered the mainstream of the Japanese market. The objective of this study is to understand the pattern of energy saving and cost saving in different regions including Japan during HEMS use. To observe thermal comfort level of HEMS managed residential buildings in Japan, the field survey was made and altogether, 1534 votes from 37 occupants related to thermal comfort, occupants’ behaviors and clothing insulation were collected and analyzed. According to the result obtained, approximately 17.9% energy saving and 8.9% cost saving is possible if HEMS is applied effectively. We found the thermal sensation and overall comfort level of the occupants is high in the studied buildings. The occupants residing in those HEMS buildings are satisfied with the thermal environment and they have accepted it. Our study concluded that the significant reduction in Japanese residential energy use can be achieved by the proper utilization of the HEMS. Better thermal comfort is also possible with the use of HEMS if energy use is managed in a rationally effective manner.

Keywords: energy reduction, thermal comfort, HEMS utility, thermal environment

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Authors: Oluseun A. Sanuade, Sanlinn I. Kaka, Adesoji O. Akanji, Olukole A. Akinbiyi

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Prospect evaluation of ‘the ‘ADE’ field was done using 3D seismic data and well log data. The field is located in the offshore Niger Delta where water depth ranges from 450 to 800 m. The objectives of this study are to explore deeper prospects and to ascertain the kind of traps that are favorable for the accumulation of hydrocarbon in the field. Six horizons with major and minor faults were identified and mapped in the field. Time structure maps of these horizons were generated and using the available check-shot data the maps were converted to top structure maps which were used to calculate the hydrocarbon volume. The results show that regional structural highs that are trending in northeast-southwest (NE-SW) characterized a large portion of the field. These highs were observed across all horizons revealing a regional post-depositional deformation. Three prospects were identified and evaluated to understand the different opportunities in the field. These include stratigraphic pinch out and bi-directional downlap. The results of this study show that the field has potentials for new opportunities that could be explored for further studies.

Keywords: hydrocarbon, play, prospect, stratigraphy

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Mediha B. Sılaydın Aydın, Emine D. Kahraman

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One of the important impacts of climate change is the sea level rise. Turkey is a peninsula, so the coastal areas of the country are threatened by the problem of sea level rise. Therefore, the urbanized coastal areas are highly vulnerable to climate change. At the aim of enhancing spatial resilience of urbanized areas, this question arises: What should be the priority intervention subject in the urban planning process for a given city. To answer this question, by focusing on the problem of sea level rise, this study aims to determine spatial vulnerability typologies and levels of Turkey coastal cities based on morphological, physical and social characteristics. As a method, spatial vulnerability of coastal cities is determined by two steps as level and type. Firstly, physical structure, morphological structure and social structure were examined in determining spatial vulnerability levels. By determining these levels, most vulnerable areas were revealed as a priority in adaptation studies. Secondly, all parameters are also used to determine spatial typologies. Typologies are determined for coastal cities in order to use as a base for urban planning studies. Adaptation to climate change is crucial for developing countries like Turkey so, this methodology and created typologies could be a guide for urban planners as spatial directors and an example for other developing countries in the context of adaptation to climate change. The results demonstrate that the urban settlements located on the coasts of the Marmara Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean respectively, are more vulnerable than the cities located on the Black Sea’s coasts to sea level rise.

Keywords: climate change, coastal cities, vulnerability, urban land use planning

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: A. Volperts, G. Dobele, A. Zhurinsh, I. Kruusenberg, A. Plavniece, J. Locs

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Nowadays energy consumption constantly increases and development of effective and cheap electrochemical sources of power, such as fuel cells and electrochemical capacitors, is topical. Due to their high specific power, charge and discharge rates, working lifetime supercapacitor based energy accumulation systems are more and more extensively being used in mobile and stationary devices. Lignocellulosic materials are widely used as precursors and account for around 45% of the total raw materials used for the manufacture of activated carbon which is the most suitable material for supercapacitors. First part of our research is devoted to study of influence of main stages of wood thermochemical activation parameters on activated carbons porous structure formation. It was found that the main factors governing the properties of carbon materials are specific surface area, volume and pore size distribution, particles dispersity, ash content and oxygen containing groups content. Influence of activated carbons attributes on capacitance and working properties of supercapacitor are demonstrated. The correlation between activated carbons porous structure indices and electrochemical specifications of supercapacitors with electrodes made from these materials has been determined. It is shown that if synthesized activated carbons are used in supercapacitors then high specific capacitances can be reached – more than 380 F/g in 4.9M sulfuric acid based electrolytes and more than 170 F/g in 1 M tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate in acetonitrile electrolyte. Power specifications and minimal price of H₂-O₂ fuel cells are limited by the expensive platinum-based catalysts. The main direction in development of non-platinum catalysts for the oxygen reduction is the study of cheap porous carbonaceous materials which can be obtained by the pyrolysis of polymers including renewable biomass. It is known that nitrogen atoms in carbon materials to a high degree determine properties of the doped activated carbons, such as high electrochemical stability, hardness, electric resistance, etc. The lack of sufficient knowledge on the doping of the carbon materials calls for the ongoing researches of properties and structure of modified carbon matrix. In the second part of this study, highly porous activated carbons were synthesized using alkali thermochemical activation from wood, cellulose and cellulose production residues – craft lignin and sewage sludge. Activated carbon samples were doped with dicyandiamide and melamine for the application as fuel cell cathodes. Conditions of nitrogen introduction (solvent, treatment temperature) and its content in the carbonaceous material, as well as porous structure characteristics, such as specific surface and pore size distribution, were studied. It was found that efficiency of doping reaction depends on the elemental oxygen content in the activated carbon. Relationships between nitrogen content, porous structure characteristics and electrodes electrochemical properties are demonstrated.

Keywords: activated carbons, low-temperature fuel cells, nitrogen doping, porous structure, supercapacitors

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Authors: Tahar Djebbar Aziza

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The American society, like all societies, is fractured by social divisions between different groups of people. It is divided by race, class, gender, and other social and cultural characteristics. Social divisions affect the way and the manner welfare is delivered for citizens within the American society. The welfare state exists to guarantee the promotion of well –being for all the different components within a society without taking into account their age, gender, their ethnicity/race, or their social belonging (class). Race, class, and even gender issues are the main factors that affected the formal structure, the nature, as well as the evolution of the American welfare state and led to its uniqueness. They have affected the structure and the evolution of the American welfare state since its creation in the 1930s, and led to its uniqueness in an international level. This study aims therefore at enhancing the readers’ awareness of social divisions: race, class, gender and their implications for the distribution of welfare resources and life chances in the USA from the early 1930s to the late 1990s.

Keywords: African Americans, class, gender, minority groups, race, social divisions, social policy, U.S. welfare state

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Authors: Hafiz Arbab Sakandar

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Time-restricted intermittent fasting (TRIF) impacts host’s physiology and health. Plenty of health benefits have been reported for TRIF in animal models. However, limited studies have been conducted on humans especially in underdeveloped economies. Here, we designed a study to investigate the impact of TRIF/Ramadan fasting (16:8) on the modulation of gut-microbiome structure, metabolic pathways, and predicted metabolites and explored the correlation among them at different time points (during and after the month of Ramadan) in Pakistani Expats living in China. We observed different trends of Shannon-Wiener index in different subjects; however, all subjects showed substantial change in bacterial diversity with the progression of TRIF. Moreover, the changes in gut microbial structure by the end of TRIF were higher vis-a-vis in the beginning, significant difference was observed among individuals. Additionally, metabolic pathways analysis revealed that amino acid, carbohydrate and energy metabolism, glycan biosynthesis metabolism of cofactors and vitamins were significantly affected by TRIF. Pyridoxamine, glutamate, citrulline, arachidonic acid, and short chain fatty acid showed substantial difference at different time points based on the predicted metabolism. In conclusion, these results contribute to further our understanding about the key relationship among, dietary intervention (TRIF), gut microbiome structure and function. The preliminary results from study demonstrate significant potential for elucidating the mechanisms underlying gut microbiome stability and enhancing the effectiveness of microbiome-tailored interventions among the Pakistani populace. Nonetheless, extensive, and rigorous large-scale research on the Pakistani population is necessary to expound on the association between diet, gut microbiome, and overall health.

Keywords: gut microbiome, health, fasting, functionality

Procedia PDF Downloads 75