Search results for: medium grade manganese ore
2432 Mulberry Leave: An Efficient and Economical Adsorbent for Remediation of Arsenic (V) and Arsenic (III) Contaminated Water
Authors: Saima Q. Memon, Mazhar I. Khaskheli
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The aim of present study was to investigate the efficiency of mulberry leaves for the removal of both arsenic (III) and arsenic (V) from aqueous medium. Batch equilibrium studies were carried out to optimize various parameters such as pH of metal ion solution, volume of sorbate, sorbent doze, and agitation speed and agitation time. Maximum sorption efficiency of mulberry leaves for As (III) and As (V) at optimum conditions were 2818 μg.g-1 and 4930 μg.g-1, respectively. The experimental data was a good fit to Freundlich and D-R adsorption isotherm. Energy of adsorption was found to be in the range of 3-6 KJ/mole suggesting the physical nature of process. Kinetic data followed the first order rate, Morris-Weber equations. Developed method was applied to remove arsenic from real water samples.Keywords: arsenic removal, mulberry, adsorption isotherms, kinetics of adsorption
Procedia PDF Downloads 2752431 Use of Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor for Tank Bottom Protection
Authors: Muhammad Arsalan Khan Sherwani
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The use of Volatile Corrosion Inhibitors (VCI) to protect Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) bottom plates against soil-side corrosion is one of the emerging corrosion prevention methods, specifically for tanks constructed on oily sand pad. Oily sand pad and the presence of air gaps underneath the bottom plates lead to severe corrosion and high metal thickness loss. In such cases, the cathodic protection cannot be fully considered as effective due to Cathodic Protection (CP) current shielding. These situations sometimes result in serious failures on multiple fronts, such as; containment losses, system shutdowns, extensive repairs, environmental impact and safety concerns in case of flammable fluids. Recently, East West Pipeline Department (EWPD) of Saudi Aramco has deployed this technology to one of the crude oil storage tanks, which showed high metal thickness loss during its out of service inspection. Soil-side corrosion rustled in major repairs of bottom plates and ultimately caused enormous unplanned activities in term of time as well as cost. This paper mainly focuses on the methodology of VCI installation, corrosion monitoring system and the expected results of protection.Keywords: Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor, Soil Side Corrosion, External Corrosion, Above Grade Storage Tank
Procedia PDF Downloads 732430 Antimicrobial Activity of 2-Nitro-1-Propanol and Lauric Acid against Gram-Positive Bacteria
Authors: Robin Anderson, Elizabeth Latham, David Nisbet
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Propagation and dissemination of antimicrobial resistant and pathogenic microbes from spoiled silages and composts represents a serious public health threat to humans and animals. In the present study, the antimicrobial activity of the short chain nitro-compound, 2-nitro-1-propanol (9 mM) as well as the medium chain fatty acid, lauric acid, and its glycerol monoester, monolaurin, (each at 25 and 17 µmol/mL, respectfully) were investigated against select pathogenic and multi-drug resistant antimicrobial resistant Gram-positive bacteria common to spoiled silages and composts. In an initial study, we found that growth rates of a multi-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (expressing resistance against erythromycin, quinupristin/dalfopristin and tetracycline) and Staphylococcus aureus strain 12600 (expressing resistance against erythromycin, linezolid, penicillin, quinupristin/dalfopristin and vancomycin) were more than 78% slower (P < 0.05) by 2-nitro-1-propanol treatment during culture (n = 3/treatment) in anaerobically prepared ½ strength Brain Heart Infusion broth at 37oC when compared to untreated controls (0.332 ± 0.04 and 0.108 ± 0.03 h-1, respectively). The growth rate of 2-nitro-1-propanol-treated Listeria monocytogenes was also decreased by 96% (P < 0.05) when compared to untreated controls cultured similarly (0.171 ± 0.01 h-1). Maximum optical densities measured at 600 nm were lower (P < 0.05) in 2-nitro-1-propanol-treated cultures (0.053 ± 0.01, 0.205 ± 0.02 and 0.041 ± 0.01, respectively) than in untreated controls (0.483 ± 0.02, 0.523 ± 0.01 and 0.427 ± 0.01, respectively) for E. faecalis, S. aureus and L. monocytogenes, respectively. When tested against mixed microbial populations during anaerobic 24 h incubation of spoiled silage, significant effects of treatment with 1 mg 2-nitro-1-propanol (approximately 9.5 µmol/g) or 5 mg lauric acid/g (approximately 25 µmol/g) on populations of wildtype Enterococcus and Listeria were not observed. Mixed populations treated with 5 mg monolaurin/g (approximately 17 µmol/g) had lower (P < 0.05) viable cell counts of wildtype enterococci than untreated controls after 6 h incubation (2.87 ± 1.03 versus 5.20 ± 0.25 log10 colony forming units/g, respectively) but otherwise significant effects of monolaurin were not observed. These results reveal differential susceptibility of multi-drug resistant enterococci and staphylococci as well as L. monocytogenes to the inhibitory activity of 2-nitro-1-propanol and the medium chain fatty acid, lauric acid and its glycerol monoester, monolaurin. Ultimately, these results may lead to improved treatment technologies to preserve the microbiological safety of silages and composts.Keywords: 2-nitro-1-propanol, lauric acid, monolaurin, gram positive bacteria
Procedia PDF Downloads 1082429 Geostatistical Analysis of Contamination of Soils in an Urban Area in Ghana
Authors: S. K. Appiah, E. N. Aidoo, D. Asamoah Owusu, M. W. Nuonabuor
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Urbanization remains one of the unique predominant factors which is linked to the destruction of urban environment and its associated cases of soil contamination by heavy metals through the natural and anthropogenic activities. These activities are important sources of toxic heavy metals such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and lead (Pb), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn). Often, these heavy metals lead to increased levels in some areas due to the impact of atmospheric deposition caused by their proximity to industrial plants or the indiscriminately burning of substances. Information gathered on potentially hazardous levels of these heavy metals in soils leads to establish serious health and urban agriculture implications. However, characterization of spatial variations of soil contamination by heavy metals in Ghana is limited. Kumasi is a Metropolitan city in Ghana, West Africa and is challenged with the recent spate of deteriorating soil quality due to rapid economic development and other human activities such as “Galamsey”, illegal mining operations within the metropolis. The paper seeks to use both univariate and multivariate geostatistical techniques to assess the spatial distribution of heavy metals in soils and the potential risk associated with ingestion of sources of soil contamination in the Metropolis. Geostatistical tools have the ability to detect changes in correlation structure and how a good knowledge of the study area can help to explain the different scales of variation detected. To achieve this task, point referenced data on heavy metals measured from topsoil samples in a previous study, were collected at various locations. Linear models of regionalisation and coregionalisation were fitted to all experimental semivariograms to describe the spatial dependence between the topsoil heavy metals at different spatial scales, which led to ordinary kriging and cokriging at unsampled locations and production of risk maps of soil contamination by these heavy metals. Results obtained from both the univariate and multivariate semivariogram models showed strong spatial dependence with range of autocorrelations ranging from 100 to 300 meters. The risk maps produced show strong spatial heterogeneity for almost all the soil heavy metals with extremely risk of contamination found close to areas with commercial and industrial activities. Hence, ongoing pollution interventions should be geared towards these highly risk areas for efficient management of soil contamination to avert further pollution in the metropolis.Keywords: coregionalization, heavy metals, multivariate geostatistical analysis, soil contamination, spatial distribution
Procedia PDF Downloads 3002428 Development of a Bus Information Web System
Authors: Chiyoung Kim, Jaegeol Yim
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Bus service is often either main or the only public transportation available in cities. In metropolitan areas, both subways and buses are available whereas in the medium sized cities buses are usually the only type of public transportation available. Bus Information Systems (BIS) provide current locations of running buses, efficient routes to travel from one place to another, points of interests around a given bus stop, a series of bus stops consisting of a given bus route, and so on to users. Thanks to BIS, people do not have to waste time at a bus stop waiting for a bus because BIS provides exact information on bus arrival times at a given bus stop. Therefore, BIS does a lot to promote the use of buses contributing to pollution reduction and saving natural resources. BIS implementation costs a huge amount of budget as it requires a lot of special equipment such as road side equipment, automatic vehicle identification and location systems, trunked radio systems, and so on. Consequently, medium and small sized cities with a low budget cannot afford to install BIS even though people in these cities need BIS service more desperately than people in metropolitan areas. It is possible to provide BIS service at virtually no cost under the assumption that everybody carries a smartphone and there is at least one person with a smartphone in a running bus who is willing to reveal his/her location details while he/she is sitting in a bus. This assumption is usually true in the real world. The smartphone penetration rate is greater than 100% in the developed countries and there is no reason for a bus driver to refuse to reveal his/her location details while driving. We have developed a mobile app that periodically reads values of sensors including GPS and sends GPS data to the server when the bus stops or when the elapsed time from the last send attempt is greater than a threshold. This app detects the bus stop state by investigating the sensor values. The server that receives GPS data from this app has also been developed. Under the assumption that the current locations of all running buses collected by the mobile app are recorded in a database, we have also developed a web site that provides all kinds of information that most BISs provide to users through the Internet. The development environment is: OS: Windows 7 64bit, IDE: Eclipse Luna 4.4.1, Spring IDE 3.7.0, Database: MySQL 5.1.7, Web Server: Apache Tomcat 7.0, Programming Language: Java 1.7.0_79. Given a start and a destination bus stop, it finds a shortest path from the start to the destination using the Dijkstra algorithm. Then, it finds a convenient route considering number of transits. For the user interface, we use the Google map. Template classes that are used by the Controller, DAO, Service and Utils classes include BUS, BusStop, BusListInfo, BusStopOrder, RouteResult, WalkingDist, Location, and so on. We are now integrating the mobile app system and the web app system.Keywords: bus information system, GPS, mobile app, web site
Procedia PDF Downloads 2162427 Domestic Wastewater Treatment by Microalgae – Removal of Nitrogen
Authors: A. Siham Dehmani, B. Djamal Zerrouki
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Domestic wastewater contains high concentrations of nitrogen, which can affect public health and cause harmful ecological impacts. The potential of microalgae as a source of renewable energy based on wastewater has received increasing interest worldwide in recent decades. The microalgae cultivation in wastewater has two advantages: wastewater treatment and algal biomass production. Our work aimed to remove nitrogen from municipal wastewater. Wastewater samples were taken from the wastewater treatment station located in Ouargla and used as a medium for the cultivation of chlorella microalgae strains inside a photobioreactor. Analysis of different parameters was done every 2 days along the period of the cultivation (10 days). The average removal efficiencies of nitrogen were maintained at 95%. Our results show the potential of integrating nutrient removal from wastewater by microalgae as a secondary wastewater treatment processes.Keywords: biomass, microalgae, treatment, wastewater
Procedia PDF Downloads 4222426 A Structural Equation Model of Risk Perception of Rockfall for Revisit Intention
Authors: Ya-Fen Lee, Yun-Yao Chi
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The study aims to explore the relationship between risk perceptions of rockfall and revisit intention using a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis. A total of 573 valid questionnaires are collected from travelers to Taroko National Park, Taiwan. The findings show the majority of travellers have the medium perception of rockfall risk, and are willing to revisit the Taroko National Park. The revisit intention to Taroko National Park is influenced by hazardous preferences, willingness-to-pay, obstruction and attraction. The risk perception has an indirect effect on revisit intention through influencing willingness-to-pay. The study results can be a reference for mitigation the rockfall disaster.Keywords: risk perception, rockfall, revisit intention, structural equation modelling
Procedia PDF Downloads 4352425 Capacity Loss at Midblock Sections of Urban Arterials Due to Pedestrian Crossings
Authors: Ashish Dhamaniya, Satish Chandra
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Pedestrian crossings at grade in India are very common and pedestrian cross the carriageway at undesignated locations where they found the path to access the residential and commercial areas. Present paper aims to determine capacity loss on 4-lane urban arterials due to such crossings. Base capacity which is defined as the capacity without any influencing factor is determined on 4-lane roads by collecting speed-flow data in the field. It is observed that base capacity is varying from 1636 pcu/hr/lane to 2043 pcu/hr/lane which is attributed to the different operating conditions at different sections. The variation in base capacity is related with the operating speed on the road sections. Free flow speed of standard car is measured in the field and 85th percentile of this speed is reported as operating speed. Capacity of the 4-lane road sections with different pedestrian cross-flow is also determined and compared with the capacity of base section. The difference in capacity values is reported as capacity loss due to the average number of pedestrian crossings in one hour. It has been observed that capacity of 4-lane road section reduces from 18 to 30 percent with pedestrian cross-flow of 800 to 1550 peds/hr. A model is proposed between capacity loss and pedestrian cross-flow from the observed data.Keywords: capacity, free flow speed, pedestrian, urban arterial, transport
Procedia PDF Downloads 4492424 Behaviour of Polypropylene Fiber Reinforced Concrete under Dynamic Impact Loads
Authors: Masoud Abedini, Azrul A. Mutalib
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A study of the used of additives which mixed with concrete in order to increase the strength and durability of concrete was examined to improve the quality of many aspects in the concrete. This paper presents a polypropylene (PP) fibre was added into concrete to study the dynamic response under impact load. References related to dynamic impact test for sample polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete (PPFRC) is very limited and there is no specific research and information related to this research. Therefore, the study on the dynamic impact of PPFRC using a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) was done in this study. Provided samples for this study was composed of 1.0 kg/m³ PP fibres, 2.0 kg/m³ PP fibres and plain concrete as a control samples. This PP fibre contains twisted bundle non-fibrillating monofilament and fibrillating network fibres. Samples were prepared by cylindrical mould with three samples of each mix proportion, 28 days curing period and concrete grade 35 Mpa. These samples are then tested for dynamic impact by SHPB at 2 Mpa pressure under the strain rate of 10 s-1. Dynamic compressive strength results showed an increase of SC1 and SC2 samples than the control sample which is 13.22 % and 76.9 % respectively with the dynamic compressive strength of 74.5 MPa and 116.4 MPa compared to 65.8 MPa. Dynamic increased factor (DIF) shows that, sample SC2 gives higher value with 4.15 than others samples SC1 and SC3 that gives the value of 2.14 and 1.97 respectively.Keywords: polypropylene fiber, Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar, impact load, dynamic compressive strength
Procedia PDF Downloads 5502423 Possible Reasons for and Consequences of Generalizing Subgroup-Based Measurement Results to Populations: Based on Research Studies Conducted by Elementary Teachers in South Korea
Authors: Jaejun Jong
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Many teachers in South Korea conduct research to improve the quality of their instruction. Unfortunately, many researchers generalize the results of measurements based on one subgroup to other students or to the entire population, which can cause problems. This study aims to determine examples of possible problems resulting from generalizing measurements based on one subgroup to an entire population or another group. This study is needed, as teachers’ instruction and class quality significantly affect the overall quality of education, but the quality of research conducted by teachers can become questionable due to overgeneralization. Thus, finding potential problems of overgeneralization can improve the overall quality of education. The data in this study were gathered from 145 sixth-grade elementary school students in South Korea. The result showed that students in different classes could differ significantly in various ways; thus, generalizing the results of subgroups to an entire population can engender erroneous student predictions and evaluations, which can lead to inappropriate instruction plans. This result shows that finding the reasons for such overgeneralization can significantly improve the quality of education.Keywords: generalization, measurement, research methodology, teacher education
Procedia PDF Downloads 932422 The Mineralogy of Shales from the Pilbara and How Chemical Weathering Affects the Intact Strength
Authors: Arturo Maldonado
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In the iron ore mining industry, the intact strength of rock units is defined using the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS). This parameter is very important for the classification of shale materials, allowing the split between rock and cohesive soils based on the magnitude of UCS. For this research, it is assumed that UCS less than or equal to 1 MPa is representative of soils. Several researchers have anticipated that the magnitude of UCS reduces with weathering progression, also since UCS is a directional property, its magnitude depends upon the rock fabric orientation. Thus, the paper presents how the UCS of shales is affected by both weathering grade and bedding orientation. The mineralogy of shales has been defined using Hyper-spectral and chemical assays to define the mineral constituents of shale and other non-shale materials. Geological classification tools have been used to define distinct lithological types, and in this manner, the author uses mineralogical datasets to recognize and isolate shales from other rock types and develop tertiary plots for fresh and weathered shales. The mineralogical classification of shales has reduced the contamination of lithology types and facilitated the study of the physical factors affecting the intact strength of shales, like anisotropic strength due to bedding orientation. The analysis of mineralogical characteristics of shales is perhaps the most important contribution of this paper to other researchers who may wish to explore similar methods.Keywords: rock mechanics, mineralogy, shales, weathering, anisotropy
Procedia PDF Downloads 592421 Academic Influence of Social Network Sites on the Collegiate Performance of Technical College Students
Authors: Jameson McFarlane, Thorne J. McFarlane, Leon Bernard
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Social network sites (SNS) is an emerging phenomenon that is here to stay. The popularity and the ubiquity of the SNS technology are undeniable. Because most SNS are free and easy to use people from all walks of life and from almost any age are attracted to that technology. College age students are by far the largest segment of the population using SNS. Since most SNS have been adapted for mobile devices, not only do you find students using this technology in their study, while working on labs or on projects, a substantial number of students have been found to use SNS even while listening to lectures. This study found that SNS use has a significant negative impact on the grade point average of college students particularly in the first semester. However, this negative impact is greatly diminished by the end of the third semester partly because the students have adjusted satisfactorily to the challenges of college or because they have learned how to adequately manage their time. It was established that the kinds of activities the students are engaged in during the SNS use are the leading factor affecting academic performance. Of those activities, using SNS during a lecture or while studying is the foremost contributing factor to lower academic performance. This is due to “cognitive” or “information” bottleneck, a condition in which the students find it very difficult to multitask or to switch between resources leading to inefficiency in information retention and thus, educational performance.Keywords: social network sites, social network analysis, regression coefficient, psychological engagement
Procedia PDF Downloads 1792420 Precursor Muscle Cell’s Phenotype under Compression in a Biomimetic Mechanical Niche
Authors: Fatemeh Abbasi, Arne Hofemeier, Timo Betz
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Muscle growth and regeneration critically depend on satellite cells (SCs) which are muscle stem cells located between the basal lamina and myofibres. Upon damage, SCs become activated, enter the cell cycle, and give rise to myoblasts that form new myofibres, while a sub-population self-renew and re-populate the muscle stem cell niche. In aged muscle as well as in certain muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy, some of the SCs lose their regenerative ability. Although it is demonstrated that the chemical composition of SCs quiescent niche is different from the activated niche, the mechanism initially activated in the SCs remains unknown. While extensive research efforts focused on potential chemical activation, no such factor has been identified to the author’s best knowledge. However, it is substantiated that niche mechanics affects SCs behaviors, such as stemness and engraftment. We hypothesize that mechanical stress in the healthy niche (homeostasis) is different from the regenerative niche and that this difference could serve as an early signal activating SCs upon fiber damage. To investigate this hypothesis, we develop a biomimetic system to reconstitute both, the mechanical and the chemical environment of the SC niche. Cells will be confined between two elastic polyacrylamide (PAA) hydrogels with controlled elastic moduli and functionalized surface chemistry. By controlling the distance between the PAA hydrogel surfaces, we vary the compression forces exerted by the substrates on the cells, while the lateral displacement of the upper hydrogel will create controlled shear forces. To establish such a system, a simplified system is presented. We engineered a sandwich-like configuration of two elastic PAA layer with stiffnesses between 1 and 10 kPa and confined a precursor myoblast cell line (C2C12) in between these layers. Our initial observations in this sandwich model indicate that C2C12 cells show different behaviors under mechanical compression if compared to a control one-layer gel without compression. Interestingly, this behavior is stiffness-dependent. While the shape of C2C12 cells in the sandwich consisting of two stiff (10 kPa) layers was much more elongated, showing almost a neuronal phenotype, the cell shape in a sandwich situation consisting of one stiff and one soft (1 kPa) layer was more spherical. Surprisingly, even in proliferation medium and at very low cell density, the sandwich situation stimulated cell differentiation with increased striation and myofibre formation. Such behavior is commonly found for confluent cells in differentiation medium. These results suggest that mechanical changes in stiffness and applied pressure might be a relevant stimulation for changes in muscle cell behavior.Keywords: C2C12 cells, compression, force, satellite cells, skeletal muscle
Procedia PDF Downloads 1242419 Entrepreneurship in Nigeria-Funding and Financing Strategies
Authors: Yusuf Abdullahi
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The contribution of entrepreneurship in the economic development cannot be over-emphasized neither it should be underestimated for any reason as this is already a known fact that it plays an important role as a change agent and as a prime mover of economy. In developed or underdeveloped economy, the essence of entrepreneurship is highly significant as this exist in both private as well as public sectors of any economy. The roles of entrepreneurship are worldly acclaimed but yet as laudable as these roles there can be no significant success by any entrepreneur except with availability of finance. Nonetheless, mere availability of finance also cannot guarantee the success of an enterprise but there must be in place appropriate financial strategies for the funding/investment needs of an enterprise. Thus, little has been said when it comes to strategies needed to access various sources of finance. This paper, therefore, establishes appropriate strategies to obtain funds sources of finance by both small and as well as medium enterprises.Keywords: entrepreneurship, Nigeria, financial strategies, economic development
Procedia PDF Downloads 4822418 Bioconversion of Orange Wastes for Pectinase Production Using Aspergillus niger under Solid State Fermentation
Authors: N. Hachemi, A. Nouani, A. Benchabane
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The influence of cultivation factors such as content of ammonium sulfate, glucose and water in the culture medium and particle size of dry orange waste, on their bioconversion for pectinase production was studied using complete factorial design. a polygalacturonase (PG) was isolated using ion exchange chromatography under gradient elution 0-0,5 m/l NaCl (column equilibrate with acetate buffer pH 4,5), subsequently by sephadex G75 column chromatography was applied and the molecular weight was obtained about 51,28 KDa . Purified PG enzyme exhibits a pH and temperature optima of activity at 5 and 35°C respectively. Treatment of apple juice by purified enzyme extract yielded a clear juice, which was competitive with juice yielded by pure Sigma Aldrich Aspergillus niger enzyme.Keywords: bioconversion, orange wastes, optimization, pectinase
Procedia PDF Downloads 3822417 Investigating Nanocrystalline CaF2:Tm for Carbon Beam and Gamma Radiation Dosimetry
Authors: Kanika Sharma, Shaila Bahl, Birendra Singh, Pratik Kumar, S. P. Lochab, A. Pandey
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In the present investigation, initially nano-particles of CaF2 were prepared by the chemical co-precipitation method and later the prepared salt was activated by thulium (0.1 mol%) using the combustion technique. The final product was characterized and confirmed by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Further, the thermoluminescence (TL) properties of the nanophosphor were studied by irradiating it with 1.25 MeV of gamma radiation and 65 MeV of carbon (C6+) ion beam. For gamma rays, two prominent TL peaks were observed with a low temperature peak at around 1070C and a high temperature peak at around 1570C. Furthermore, the nanophosphor maintained a linear TL response for the entire range of studied doses i.e. 10 Gy to 2000 Gy for both the temperature peaks. Moreover, when the nanophosphor was irradiated with 65 MeV of C6+ ion beam the shape and structure of the glow curves remained spectacularly similar and the nanophosphor displayed a linear TL response for the full range of studied fluences i.e. 5*1010 ions/cm2 to 1 *1012 ions/ cm2. Finally, various tests like reproducibility test and batch homogeneity were also carried out to define the final product. Thus, co-precipitation method followed by combustion technique was successful in effectively producing dosimetric grade CaF2:Tm for dosimetry of gamma as well as carbon (C6+) beam.Keywords: gamma radiation, ion beam, nanocrystalline, radiation dosimetry
Procedia PDF Downloads 1842416 Numerical Simulation and Laboratory Tests for Rebar Detection in Reinforced Concrete Structures using Ground Penetrating Radar
Authors: Maha Al-Soudani, Gilles Klysz, Jean-Paul Balayssac
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The aim of this paper is to use Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) as a non-destructive testing (NDT) method to increase its accuracy in recognizing the geometric reinforced concrete structures and in particular, the position of steel bars. This definition will help the managers to assess the state of their structures on the one hand vis-a-vis security constraints and secondly to quantify the need for maintenance and repair. Several configurations of acquisition and processing of the simulated signal were tested to propose and develop an appropriate imaging algorithm in the propagation medium to locate accurately the rebar. A subsequent experimental validation was used by testing the imaging algorithm on real reinforced concrete structures. The results indicate that, this algorithm is capable of estimating the reinforcing steel bar position to within (0-1) mm.Keywords: GPR, NDT, Reinforced concrete structures, Rebar location.
Procedia PDF Downloads 5042415 The Role of Recruitment and Selection in Financial Performance of Enterprises in Kosovo
Authors: Arta Jashari, Enver Kutllovci
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Abstract— The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of recruitment and selection practice and performance in medium service enterprises in Kosovo. A total of 110 managers from public and private sector was analyzed. Our empirical results show that enterprises in Kosovo use recruitment and selection practice and they know how important is to have the right people with skills and knowledge accordingly with the job requirements. The outcome of Pearson correlation analysis provides evidence that recruitment and selection practice, positively and significantly influence the financial performance. Also, our results show a significant relationship between the education of managers and the use of the recruitment and selection practice. From our results we can conclude and suggest that with a good recruiting and selection, the organization will fill with a group of potentially qualified candidates who will be able to fulfill the enterprises objective.Keywords: Human Resource, Kosovo, Recruitment and Selection, Performance
Procedia PDF Downloads 1652414 Hydrogen Embrittlement Properties of the Hot Stamped Carbon Steels
Authors: Mitsuhiro Okayasu, Lele Yang, Koji Shimotsu
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The effects of microstructural characteristics on the mechanical and hydrogen embrittlement properties of 1,800MPa grade hot stamping carbon steel were investigated experimentally. The tensile strength increased with increasing the hot stamping temperature until around 921°C, but that decreased with increasing the temperature in more than 921°C due to the increment of the size of lath martensite and prior austenite. With the hot stamping process, internal strain was slightly created in the sample, which led to the slight increment of the hardness value although no clear change of the microstructural formation was detected. Severity of hydrogen embrittlement was investigated using the hot stamped carbon steels after the immersion in a hydrogen gas, and that was directly attributed to the infiltration of the hydrogen into their grain boundaries. The high strength carbon steel with tiny lath martensite microstructure could make severe hydrogen brittleness as the hydrogen was strongly penetrated in the grain boundaries in the hydrogen gas for a month. Because of weak embrittlement for the as-received carbon (ferrite and pearlite), hydrogen embrittlement is caused by the high internal strain and high dislocation density. The hydrogen embrittlement for carbon steel is attributed to amount of the hydrogen immersed in-between grain boundaries, which is caused by the dislocation density and internal strain.Keywords: hydrogen embrittlement, hot stamping process, carbon steel, mechanical property
Procedia PDF Downloads 2012413 Design and Construction of an Intelligent Multiplication Table for Enhanced Education and Increased Student Engagement
Authors: Zahra Alikhani Koopaei
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In the fifth lesson of the third-grade mathematics book, students are introduced to the concept of multiplication. However, some students showed a lack of interest in learning this topic. To address this, a simple electronic multiplication table was designed with the aim of making the concept of multiplication entertaining and engaging for students. It provides them with moments of excitement during the learning process. To achieve this goal, a device was created that produced a bell sound when two wire ends were connected. Each wire end was connected to a specific number in the multiplication table, and the other end was linked to the corresponding answer. Consequently, if the answer is correct, the bell will ring. This study employs interactive and engaging methods to teach mathematics, particularly to students who have previously shown little interest in the subject. By integrating game-based learning and critical thinking, we observed an increase in understanding and interest in learning multiplication compared to before using this method. This further motivated the students. As a result, the intelligent multiplication table was successfully designed. Students, under the instructor's supervision, could easily construct the device during the lesson. Through the implementation of these operations, the concept of multiplication was firmly established in the students' minds. Engaging multiple intelligences in each student enhances a more stable and improved understanding of the concept of multiplication.Keywords: intelligent multiplication table, design, construction, education, increased interest, students
Procedia PDF Downloads 692412 The Role of Parental Health Beliefs in Seeking an Eye Examination for Their Child
Authors: Dua Masarwa, Yulia Niazov, Merav Ben Natan, Dina Mostovoy
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Background: the aimed to explore the role of parental health beliefs in parent seeking of eye examinations for their children, using the Health Belief Model. Methods: In this quantitative correlational survey study, 100 parents who presented to Barzilai University Medical Center in July 2021 to perform an eye examination to their child completed a questionnaire. Results: Only 29.6% of the parents knew that a vision screening is performed in first grade, and 10% of the parents were unsure about where to find local eye care for their kids. Moreover, 19% of the parents indicated that they were concerned that their child would be prescribed glasses unnecessarily, and 10% believed that wearing glasses would weaken their child's eyes. Various parental health beliefs regarding children's eye examinations were found associated with parent seeking of eye examinations for their child. Thus, perceived susceptibility (r = 0.52, p < 0.01), perceived benefits (r = 0.39, p < 0.01), and perceived barriers (r=-0.31, p < 0.01) are associated with parent seeking of eye examinations for their child. Also, parents' level of knowledge was associated with seeking eye examinations for their child (r = 0.20, p < 0.01). Conclusion: Parent perceptions of the child's susceptibility to vision problems and perceived barriers to seeking eye examinations predicted parents seeking of eye examinations for their child. Interventions aimed at increasing timely eye examinations among children should focus on raising parent awareness of vision problems in childhood, dispelling misconceptions, and providing parents with practical information regarding available services.Keywords: children, parents, eye examination, health beliefs, vision problems
Procedia PDF Downloads 292411 Entrepreneurship Success in Jordan
Authors: Atef Aladwan
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This research will focus on stimulating greater freedom and facilitating small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan to create jobs, as it is emerging as a key development issue. It will highlight the importance of integrating SMEs into development strategies. Jordan has potentially a large market for its products as a result of proximity to developed country markets, signing of various free trades agreements with European countries, cheap energy sources and vast sovereign funds willing to invest in the development of local enterprises. It is beginning to be accepted by governments that SMEs rather than government need to be the main player in domestic economic activity, especially as providers of employment opportunities, and hence generators of sources of income for many households. To foster SME development, it is generally recognised that reforms are needed in Jordan in order to bring about a more globally competitive and business-friendly environment.Keywords: SMEs, competitiveness, entrepreneurship, jordan, development
Procedia PDF Downloads 4232410 A Unified Ghost Solid Method for the Elastic Solid-Solid Interface
Authors: Abouzar Kaboudian, Boo Cheong Khoo
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The Ghost Solid Method (GSM) based algorithms have been extensively used for numerical calculation of wave propagation in the limit of abrupt changes in materials. In this work, we present a unified version of the GSMs that can be successfully applied to both abrupt as well as smooth changes of the material properties in a medium. The application of this method enables us to use the previously-matured numerical algorithms which were developed to be applied to homogeneous mediums, with only minor modifications. This method is developed for one-dimensional settings and its extension to multi-dimensions is briefly discussed. Various numerical experiments are presented to show the applicability of this unified GSM to wave propagation problems in sharply as well as smoothly varying mediums.Keywords: elastic solid, functionally graded material, ghost solid method, solid-solid interaction
Procedia PDF Downloads 4142409 Synthesized Doped TiO2 Photocatalysts for Mineralization of Quinalphos from Aqueous Streams
Authors: Nidhi Sharotri, Dhiraj Sud
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Water pollution by pesticides constitutes a serious ecological problem due to their potential toxicity and bioaccumulation. The widespread use of pesticides in industry and agriculture along with their resistance to natural decomposition, biodegradation, chemical and photochemical degradation under typical environmental conditions has resulted in the emergence of these chemicals and their transformed products in natural water. Among AOP’s, heterogeneous photocatalysis using TiO2 as photocatalyst appears as the most emerging destructive technology for mineralization of the pollutant in aquatic streams. Among the various semiconductors (TiO2, ZnO, CdS, FeTiO3, MnTiO3, SrTiO2 and SnO2), TiO2 has proven to be the most efficient photocatalyst for environmental applications due to its biological and chemical inertness, high photo reactivity, non-toxicity, and photo stability. Semiconductor photocatalysts are characterized by an electronic band structure in which valence band and conduction band are separated by a band gap, i.e. a region of forbidden energy. Semiconductor based photocatalysts produces e-/h+ pairs which have been employed for degradation of organic pollutants. The present paper focuses on modification of TiO2 photocatalyst in order to shift its absorption edge towards longer wavelength to make it active under natural light. Semiconductor TiO2 photocatalysts was prepared by doping with anion (N), cation (Mn) and double doped (Mn, N) using greener approach. Titanium isopropoxide is used as titania precursor and ethanedithiol, hydroxyl amine hydrochloride, manganous chloride as sulphur, nitrogen and manganese precursors respectively. Synthesized doped TiO2 nanomaterials are characterized for surface morphology (SEM, TEM), crystallinity (XRD) and optical properties (absorption spectra and band gap). EPR data confirms the substitutional incorporation of Mn2+ in TiO2 lattice. The doping influences the phase transformation of rutile and anatase phase crystal and thereby the absorption spectrum changes were observed. The effect of variation of reaction parameters such as solvent, reaction time and calcination temperature on the yield, surface morphology and optical properties was also investigated. The TEM studies show the particle size of nanomaterials varies from 10-50 nm. The calculated band gap of nanomaterials varies from 2.30-2.60 eV. The photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant organophosphate pesticide (Quinalphos) has been investigated by studying the changes in UV absorption spectrum and the promising results were obtained under visible light. The complete mineralization of quinalphos has occurred as no intermediates were recorded after 8 hrs of degradation confirmed from the HPLC studies.Keywords: quinalphos, doped-TiO2, mineralization, EPR
Procedia PDF Downloads 3282408 Design Channel Non Persistent CSMA MAC Protocol Model for Complex Wireless Systems Based on SoC
Authors: Ibrahim A. Aref, Tarek El-Mihoub, Khadiga Ben Musa
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This paper presents Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) communication model based on SoC design methodology. Such model can be used to support the modelling of the complex wireless communication systems, therefore use of such communication model is an important technique in the construction of high performance communication. SystemC has been chosen because it provides a homogeneous design flow for complex designs (i.e. SoC and IP based design). We use a swarm system to validate CSMA designed model and to show how advantages of incorporating communication early in the design process. The wireless communication created through the modeling of CSMA protocol that can be used to achieve communication between all the agents and to coordinate access to the shared medium (channel).Keywords: systemC, modelling, simulation, CSMA
Procedia PDF Downloads 4282407 Influence of Prestress Loss on Mechanical Performance of Fabricated Girder Bridge
Authors: Wu Xiaoguang, Liu Jiaxin, Fang Miaomiao, Wei Saidong
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There are many prestressed concrete prefabricated girder Bridges with small and medium span and the damage is serious. This paper mainly study the effect of prestress loss of prefabricated bridge bearing performance, through the establishment of ANSYS finite element model, from the condition of different prestress loss research, get the stress and strain data, draw curve, finally get the following conclusion: loss of prestress can reduce the ultimate bearing capacity of Bridges, the side span across the deflection value than the influence of times side span, the influence of the deflection in the midspan cross value. Therefore, the prestress loss and the effective prestress should be strictly considered in the design and construction process.Keywords: across the deflection, loss of prestress, prefabricated girder bridge, the main tensile stress
Procedia PDF Downloads 1482406 The Interleaving Effect of Subject Matter and Perceptual Modality on Students’ Attention and Learning: A Portable EEG Study
Authors: Wen Chen
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To investigate the interleaving effect of subject matter (mathematics vs. history) and perceptual modality (visual vs. auditory materials) on student’s attention and learning outcomes, the present study collected self-reported data on subjective cognitive load (SCL) and attention level, EEG data, and learning outcomes from micro-lectures. Eighty-one 7th grade students were randomly assigned to four learning conditions: blocked (by subject matter) micro-lectures with auditory textual information (B-A condition), blocked (by subject matter) micro-lectures with visual textual information (B-V condition), interleaved (by subject matter) micro-lectures with auditory textual information (I-A condition), and interleaved micro-lectures by both perceptual modality and subject matter (I-all condition). The results showed that although interleaved conditions may show advantages in certain indices, the I-all condition showed the best overall outcomes (best performance, low SCL, and high attention). This study suggests that interleaving by both subject matter and perceptual modality should be preferred in scheduling and planning classes.Keywords: cognitive load, interleaving effect, micro-lectures, sustained attention
Procedia PDF Downloads 1372405 Antigastritic Effect of Starch from Manihot utilissima on Male Wistar Rats Induced Aspirin
Authors: Naela Nabiela, Ahmad Hilmi Fahmi, M. Sukron, Ayu Elita Sari, Yusran, Suparmi
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Aspirin is one of NSAIDs (non-steroid inflammatory drugs), can cause gastric ulcer as an side effect of prolonged consumption. The effort to prevent the increase of gastric HCl level can by treating with amylopectin was reported that can cover the gastric mucose. However, the effect of amylopectin in starch from Manihot utilissima which is believed as traditional treatment gastric ulcer have not been clear yet. This study was conducted to determine the effect of starch formed as syrup to HCl level and gastric histopatology. This experiment post test only control group design used 42 male wistar rats divided into 7 groups. All groups, except first group, were induced by 60 mg/100gBW/day aspirin for 3 days. The following day for 2 days each group was treated by starch syrup at dosed 0.45% w/v, 0.9% w/v, 1.8% w/v, 0% w/v, and sucralfate. Respectively, HCl level were measured by acidi-alkalimetri titration method, while the gastric histopathology were prepared by hematoxylin-eosin staining. The result shows that aspirin induction can increase the HCl level as 0,00767 N. Starch syrup at dose 1.8% w/v was effective to reduce HCl level and the grade of second gastric necrosis. It can be conclude that starch syrup is potention as a treatment to cure gastric ulcer caused by NSAIDs side effect.Keywords: concentration of HCl stomach, gastric histopathology, gastritis, starch
Procedia PDF Downloads 4652404 The Correlation between Users’ Star Rating and Usability on Mobile Applications
Authors: Abdulmohsen A. AlBesher, Richard T. Stone
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Star rating for mobile applications is a very useful way to differentiate between the best and worst rated applications. However, the question is whether the rating reflects the level of usability or not. The aim of this paper is to find out if the user’ star ratings on mobile apps correlate with the usability of those apps. Thus, we tested three mobile apps, which have different star ratings: low, medium, and high. Participating in the study, 15 mobile phone users were asked to do one single task for each of the three tested apps. After each task, the participant evaluated the app by answering a survey based on the System Usability Scale (SUS). The results found that there is no major correlation between the star rating and the usability. However, it was found that the task completion time and the numbers of errors that may happen while completing the task were significantly correlated to the usability.Keywords: mobile applications, SUS, star rating, usability
Procedia PDF Downloads 3212403 Transient Heat Conduction in Nonuniform Hollow Cylinders with Time Dependent Boundary Condition at One Surface
Authors: Sen Yung Lee, Chih Cheng Huang, Te Wen Tu
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A solution methodology without using integral transformation is proposed to develop analytical solutions for transient heat conduction in nonuniform hollow cylinders with time-dependent boundary condition at the outer surface. It is shown that if the thermal conductivity and the specific heat of the medium are in arbitrary polynomial function forms, the closed solutions of the system can be developed. The influence of physical properties on the temperature distribution of the system is studied. A numerical example is given to illustrate the efficiency and the accuracy of the solution methodology.Keywords: analytical solution, nonuniform hollow cylinder, time-dependent boundary condition, transient heat conduction
Procedia PDF Downloads 505