Search results for: Green’s relations
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3450

Search results for: Green’s relations

1710 Corporate Social Responsibility vs Corporate Social Reactivity: An Exploration of Corporate Social Responsibility Planning in a Multinational Oil and Gas in Indonesia

Authors: Endang Ghani Ashfiya

Abstract:

This study explores corporate social responsibility (CSR) planning in a downstream business of multinational oil and gas company in Indonesia from managerial perspectives. The institutional logic is employed in this research to gain a comprehensive understanding of the way the MNC manages the socio-cultural aspects in the host countries, especially in the process of translation and adaptation of the company’s CSR global guidelines. The interviews are conducted with fifteen managers in that company, both at the top managerial level and operational level. In the beginning, this research explains the Indonesian society’s conception of CSR from the managerial standpoints. The society’s understanding of the CSR concept becomes the fundamental foundations of the company in developing CSR programs. This study found the company’s approach to its CSR in two ways. First, proactive CSR which reflects the global CSR guidelines. Second, reactive CSR which do not show any explicit relations to the global guidelines, but conform with society’s demands. The findings stimulate discussions regarding the power of an MNC vis-à-vis the socio-cultural implication in society’s demand for CSR.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility planning, Indonesia, institutional logic, multinational company, oil and gas company, socio-cultural aspects

Procedia PDF Downloads 153
1709 A Patent Trend Analysis for Hydrogen Based Ironmaking: Identifying the Technology’s Development Phase

Authors: Ebru Kaymaz, Aslı İlbay Hamamcı, Yakup Enes Garip, Samet Ay

Abstract:

The use of hydrogen as a fuel is important for decreasing carbon emissions. For the steel industry, reducing carbon emissions is one of the most important agendas of recent times globally. Because of the Paris Agreement requirements, European steel industry studies on green steel production. Although many literature reviews have analyzed this topic from technological and hydrogen based ironmaking, there are very few studies focused on patents of decarbonize parts of the steel industry. Hence, this study focus on technological progress of hydrogen based ironmaking and on understanding the main trends through patent data. All available patent data were collected from Questel Orbit. The trend analysis of more than 900 patent documents has been carried out by using Questel Orbit Intellixir to analyze a large number of data for scientific intelligence.

Keywords: hydrogen based ironmaking, DRI, direct reduction, carbon emission, steelmaking, patent analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 144
1708 A Study of Environmental Investment on the Sustainable Development in United States

Authors: K. Y. Chen, Y. N. Jia, H. Chua, C. W. Kan

Abstract:

In United States (US), the environmental policy went through two stages that are government control period and market mechanism period. In the government control period in the 1970s, environmental problems in U.S. are treated by mandatory direct control method, including promulgation of laws, formulation of emission standards and mandatory installation of pollution treatment equipment. After the 1980s, the environmental policy in U.S. went into the second stage, in which the government strengthened the incentives and coordination effects of market. Since then, environmental governance had been partially replaced by means of economic regulation of the market. Green Tax Policy and Marketable Pollution Permits are good examples of government's economic interventions. U.S. Federal Government regards environmental industry as high-tech industry which is promoted in this period. Therefore, in the paper, we aim to analyse the effect of environmental investment on the sustainable development in the US. Acknowledgment: Authors would like to thank the financial support from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for this work.

Keywords: United States, public environmental investment, analysis, sustainable development

Procedia PDF Downloads 249
1707 Antifungal Activity of Processed Sulfur Solution as Potential Eco-Friendly Disinfectant against Saprolegnia parasitica and Its Safety in Freshwater-Farmed Fish

Authors: Hye-Hyun Lee, Hyo-Kon Chun, Kyung-Hee Kim Kim, Mi-Hee Kim, Saet-Byul Chu, Sang-Jong Lee, Seung-Hyeop Lee, Seung-Won Yi

Abstract:

Some chemicals such as malachite green, methylene blue, and copper sulfate had been used frequently as disinfectants controlling fungal infection in aquaculture. However, their carcinogenicity, mutagenicity and teratogenicity were reported in mammals. After their accumulation in food fish and its consumers was confirmed, concerns about public health has resulted in enhanced monitoring and increased demand for eco-friendly treatments. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate safety to fish and efficacy of sulfur solution processed by effective microorganisms (EM-PSS) against Saprolegnia parasitica, for use of a potential aquatic fungicidal disinfectant. The natural sulfur purchased from Kawah Ijen volcano, East Java, Indonesia was processed by the liquid mixture consisting of following twelve effective microorganisms (Rapha-el®; Lbiotech, Jeonnam, Korea), Lactobacillus parafarraginis, L. paracasei, L. harbinensis, L. buchneri, L. perolens, L. rhamnosus, L. vaccinostercus, Acetobacter lovaniensis, A. peroxydans, Pichia fermentans, Candida ethanolica, Saccharomycopsis schoenii isolated from fermentation process of oriental medicinal herbs including green tea, privet, and puer tea. The material was applied to in vitro antifungal activity test for Saprolegnia parasitica using agar dilution method. In addition, an acute toxicity test was performed on carp (Cyprinus carpio), eel (Anguilla japonica), and mud fish (Misgurnus mizolepis) for 96 hours. After three species of fish (n=15) were accustomed to experimental water environment for three days, the EM-PSS was added to each tank as final concentrations to be 0 to 500 ppm. The fish were taken into necropsy, and the histological sections of the gill, liver, and spleen were counter-stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H-E). And hence, no observed effect concentration (NOEC) of the solution was used for taking a medicinal bath for mudfish infected by Saprolegnia parasitica in practice. The result of in vitro antifungal activity test showed the growth inhibition of the fungus at 100 ppm, which and the lower concentrations occurred no fatal case in any fish species tested until the end of the examination. The 125 ppm of the solution, however, resulted in 13.3 %, 13.3 %, and 6.3 % of mortality in carp, eel, and mudfish, respectively. But both 250 and 500 ppm of the solution leaded lethality to all population of each fish species within 24 hours. Besides, H-E staining also showed no specific evidence for toxicity in fish at lesser than 100 ppm of EM-PSS. On the other hand, as a result of field application of the solution, no growth of fungal mycelium was found in fish bodies from gross observation 5 days post treatment. In conclusion, 100ppm of EM-PSS resulted in inhibition and treatment of Saprolegnia parasitica infection. In addition, the use of EM-PSS lower than 100 ppm is safe for fish. Therefore, EM-PSS could be used as aquatic fungicide, and also may be possible to be a potential eco-friendly disinfectant in aquaculture.

Keywords: antifungal activity, effective microorganism, toxicity, saprolegnia, processed sulfur solution

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1706 Collective Bargaining Agreement with Its Related Factors and Employees’ Perceived Productivity: The Case of an Academic Institution in Davao City, Philippines

Authors: Amylyn F. Labasano, M. S. Econ

Abstract:

The study predicts the impact of collective bargaining agreement and its related factors on employees’ perceived productivity in terms of union-management relation’s climate, income, fringe benefits, and job satisfaction of the employees. It also determines whether there are significant differences in the employees’ perceived productivity based on the demographic characteristics of the respondents. The results revealed that the relationship climate which exists between the union and the management is found to have significant adverse effect on the average unpaid hours spent by employees working within the college. On the other hand, the total monthly wage earnings of employees have negative effect on the average hours an employee spent in bringing his work home while job satisfaction positively influences the overall productivity level of employees. The result further shows significant differences in the productivity level of employees across civil status and current designation.

Keywords: perceived productivity, collective bargaining agreement, union, union-management relations climate, income, fringe benefits, job satisfaction

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1705 Competencies and Training Needs for School Sport Managers in the North West Province, South Africa

Authors: Elriena Eksteen, Yolandi Willemse, Dawie D. J. Malan, Suria Ellis

Abstract:

It is important to understand which competencies are needed for managerial and administrative effectiveness of school sport managers with regard to the design, delivery and direction of school sport programmes. The purpose of this study was to determine the competencies and training needs for secondary school sport managers in the North West Province. Data were gathered from 79 school sport managers in the North West Province by means of a validated self-compiled questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis and a dependent t-test were used to compare which competencies school sport managers perceive as important in their work with the competencies they actually perform. Functional competencies and core competencies were both found to be important for managing school sport effectively. There were statistically significant differences between the perceived importance of competencies and the frequency with which competencies were actually performed. Respondents attached greater importance to functional and core competencies than the proportion of time spent actually performing them. Furthermore, results indicated the need to train teachers in managing sport finance, sport facilities and human resources, as well as presenting workshops in public relations, sport marketing and sport organisation.

Keywords: competencies, functional competencies, core competencies, school sport manager, training needs

Procedia PDF Downloads 427
1704 The Influence of High Temperatures on HVFA Concrete Columns by NDT Methods

Authors: D. Jagath Kumari, K. Srinivasa Rao

Abstract:

Quality assurance of the structures subjected to high temperatures is now enforcing measure for the Structural Engineers. The existing relations between strength and nondestructive measurements have been established under normal conditions are not suitable to concretes that have been exposed to high temperatures. The scope of the work is to investigate the influence of high temperatures of short durations on the residual properties of reinforced HVFA concrete columns that affect the strength by non-destructive tests (NDT). Fly ash concrete is increasingly used in the design of normal strength, high strength and high performance concretes. In this paper, the authors revealed the influence of high temperatures on HVFA concrete columns. These columns are heated from 100oC to 800oC with increments of 100oC and allowed to cool to room temperature by two methods one is air cooling method and the other immediate water quenching method. All the specimens were tested identically, before heating and after heating for compressive strength and material integrity by rebound hammer and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) meter respectively. HVFA concrete retained more residual strength by water quenching method than air-cooling method.

Keywords: HVFA concrete, NDT methods, residual strength, non-destructive tests

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1703 Understanding Context and Its Effects in the Implementation of Modern Foreign Language Curriculum in Vietnam

Authors: Ngoc T. Bui

Abstract:

The key issue for teachers of a modern foreign language is the creation of a pedagogic environment, and this means that an understanding of context is vital. A pedagogic environment addresses the following: time, feedback, relations with other people, curriculum integration, forms of knowledge, resources and control in the pedagogic relationship. In this light, the multiple case study of the implementation of a modern foreign language curriculum focuses on exploring Vietnamese contexts and participants’ perceptions of factors that may affect their implementation process in order to examine thoroughly how the communicative language teaching (CLT) curriculum is being implemented in second language classrooms. A mixed methods approach is utilized to investigate contextual and personal factors that may affect teachers’ implementation of curriculum and pedagogical reform in Vietnam. This project therefore has the capability to inform stakeholders of useful information and identify further changes and measures to solve potential problems to ensure the achievement of the curriculum goals. The expected outcomes may also lead to intercultural language teaching guidelines to support english as a foreign language (EFL) teachers with curriculum design, planning and how to create pedagogic environment to best implement it.

Keywords: communicative language teaching, context, curriculum implementation, modern foreign language, pedagogic environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 269
1702 Family Relationships among Users and Non Users of Social Media

Authors: Sawsan Kamal Kalil El Galad, Heba Shafik Ibrahim Mohamed, Rania Ismail Moussa

Abstract:

New developments in the technological world have made the internet an innovative way for individuals and families to communicate. Social media sites help in fulfilling communication needs and wants of their users. The use of social media may have an effect on the family relation either in a positive or negative manner. This study aimed to investigate the family relationships among users and non users of social media. The study followed a cross- sectional descriptive comparative research design. It was conducted on 360 employees, at Damanhour University in Elbeheira, Egypt. Brief Family Relationship Scale (BFRS) was used to collect the data of this study. The results revealed that the mean score of the social media users is slightly increased in relation to the non users of social media mean score with no significant difference between both groups. It was concluded that using social media for short time has no effect on the family relationship, sitting with family in daily base satisfy the social and emotional needs of its member and enhance family relations. Recommendations encompassed that the time spent on social media should be assessed regularly to prevent being isolated from the family members. Educational programs to increase the parent’s awareness how to deal with their children regarding social media and its risks.

Keywords: social media, family relationships, communication needs, culture

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1701 Modeling Drying and Pyrolysis of Moist Wood Particles at Slow Heating Rates

Authors: Avdhesh K. Sharma

Abstract:

Formulation for drying and pyrolysis process in packed beds at slow heating rates is presented. Drying of biomass particles bed is described by mass diffusion equation and local moisture-vapour-equilibrium relations. In gasifiers, volatilization rate during pyrolysis of biomass is modeled by using apparent kinetic rate expression, while product compositions at slow heating rates is modeled using empirical fitted mass ratios (i.e., CO/CO2, ME/CO2, H2O/CO2) in terms of pyrolysis temperature. The drying module is validated fairly with available chemical kinetics scheme and found that the testing zone in gasifier bed constituted of relatively smaller particles having high airflow with high isothermal temperature expedite the drying process. Further, volatile releases more quickly within the shorter zone height at high temperatures (isothermal). Both, moisture loss and volatile release profiles are found to be sensitive to temperature, although the influence of initial moisture content on volatile release profile is not so sensitive.

Keywords: modeling downdraft gasifier, drying, pyrolysis, moist woody biomass

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1700 In Silico Analysis of Small Heat Shock Protein Gene Family by RNA-Seq during Tomato Fruit Ripening

Authors: Debora P. Arce, Flavia J. Krsticevic, Marco R. Bertolaccini, Joaquín Ezpeleta, Estela M. Valle, Sergio D. Ponce, Elizabeth Tapia

Abstract:

Small Heat Shock Proteins (sHSPs) are low molecular weight chaperones that play an important role during stress response and development in all living organisms. Fruit maturation and oxidative stress can induce sHSP synthesis both in Arabidopsis and tomato plants. RNA-Seq technology is becoming widely used in various transcriptomics studies; however, analyzing and interpreting the RNA-Seq data face serious challenges. In the present work, we de novo assembled the Solanum lycopersicum transcriptome for three different maturation stages (mature green, breaker and red ripe). Differential gene expression analysis was carried out during tomato fruit development. We identified 12 sHSPs differentially expressed that might be involved in breaker and red ripe fruit maturation. Interestingly, these sHSPs have different subcellular localization and suggest a complex regulation of the fruit maturation network process.

Keywords: sHSPs, maturation, tomato, RNA-Seq, assembly

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1699 Removal of an Acid Dye from Water Using Cloud Point Extraction and Investigation of Surfactant Regeneration by pH Control

Authors: Ghouas Halima, Haddou Boumedienne, Jean Peal Cancelier, Cristophe Gourdon, Ssaka Collines

Abstract:

This work concerns the coacervate extraction of industrial dye, namely BezanylGreen - F2B, from an aqueous solution by nonionic surfactant “Lutensol AO7 and TX-114” (readily biodegradable). Binary water/surfactant and pseudo-binary (in the presence of solute) phase diagrams were plotted. The extraction results as a function of wt.% of the surfactant and temperature are expressed by the following four quantities: percentage of solute extracted, E%, residual concentrations of solute and surfactant in the dilute phase (Xs,w, and Xt,w, respectively) and volume fraction of coacervate at equilibrium (Фc). For each parameter, whose values are determined by a design of experiments, these results are subjected to empirical smoothing in three dimensions. The aim of this study is to find out the best compromise between E% and Фc. E% increases with surfactant concentration and temperature in optimal conditions, and the extraction extent of TA reaches 98 and 96 % using TX-114 and Lutensol AO7, respectively. The effect of sodium sulfate or cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) addition is also studied. Finally, the possibility of recycling the surfactant is proved.

Keywords: extraction, cloud point, non ionic surfactant, bezanyl green

Procedia PDF Downloads 126
1698 Using Data-Driven Model on Online Customer Journey

Authors: Ing-Jen Hung, Tzu-Chien Wang

Abstract:

Nowadays, customers can interact with firms through miscellaneous online ads on different channels easily. In other words, customer now has innumerable options and limitless time to accomplish their commercial activities with firms, individualizing their own online customer journey. This kind of convenience emphasizes the importance of online advertisement allocation on different channels. Therefore, profound understanding of customer behavior can make considerable benefit from optimizing fund allocation on diverse ad channels. To achieve this objective, multiple firms utilize numerical methodology to create data-driven advertisement policy. In our research, we aim to exploit online customer click data to discover the correlations between each channel and their sequential relations. We use LSTM to deal with sequential property of our data and compare its accuracy with other non-sequential methods, such as CART decision tree, logistic regression, etc. Besides, we also classify our customers into several groups by their behavioral characteristics to perceive the differences between all groups as customer portrait. As a result, we discover distinct customer journey under each customer portrait. Our article provides some insights into marketing research and can help firm to formulate online advertising criteria.

Keywords: LSTM, customer journey, marketing, channel ads

Procedia PDF Downloads 121
1697 Energy and Economic Analysis of Heat Recovery from Boiler Exhaust Flue Gas

Authors: Kemal Comakli, Meryem Terhan

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In this study, the potential of heat recovery from waste flue gas was examined in 60 MW district heating system of a university, and fuel saving was aimed by using the recovered heat in the system as a source again. Various scenarios are intended to make use of waste heat. For this purpose, actual operation data of the system were taken. Besides, the heat recovery units that consist of heat exchangers such as flue gas condensers, economizers or air pre-heaters were designed theoretically for each scenario. Energy analysis of natural gas-fired boiler’s exhaust flue gas in the system, and economic analysis of heat recovery units to predict payback periods were done. According to calculation results, the waste heat loss ratio from boiler flue gas in the system was obtained as average 16%. Thanks to the heat recovery units, thermal efficiency of the system can be increased, and fuel saving can be provided. At the same time, a huge amount of green gas emission can be decreased by installing the heat recovery units.

Keywords: heat recovery from flue gas, energy analysis of flue gas, economical analysis, payback period

Procedia PDF Downloads 288
1696 Status Check: Journey of India’s Energy Sustainability through Renewable Sources

Authors: Santosh Ghosh, Vinod Kumar Yadav, Vivekananda Mukherjee, Ishta Garg

Abstract:

India, akin to the rest of the world today, is grappling with balancing act between ever increasing demand for energy and alarmingly high level of green house gas emission, which is inevitable corollary of energy production in the conventional way. Researchers and energy policy makers around the world are now focusing on renewable energy (RE) technologies to find solution to this crisis. In India various agencies at both national and state level has been set up and bestowed with responsibility of development of renewable energy technologies, viz. Ministry of New Renewable Energy (MNRE), National Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. (NVVNL), Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) and RE Development Agencies in respective states. In the present work, the preparedness of India in terms of forming institutional and policy frame work briefly discussed. Status of implementation of RE technologies state wise and of India as a whole, critically reviewed.

Keywords: energy policy, energy sustainability, renewable energy, IREDA

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1695 Customer Relations and Use of Online Shopping Sites

Authors: Bahar Urhan Torun, Havva Nur Tarakcı

Abstract:

At the present time, online marketing has become the common target of small and full-scale organizations. Today’s humanbeing who has to spend most of their time in front of the computer because of his job, prefers to socialize by internet due to the easy access to technology. So online marketing area expands day by day. All business organizations from the smallest to the biggest are in a race in order to get a cut from the virtual market share in an extreme competitive environment. However these organizations which use the internet to reach more consumers cannot determine their target group accurately, so this is the biggest handicap of online marketing sales nowadays. The aim of this study is to determine some significant elements about need for communicating efficiently with the consumer on the internet on online marketing. The strategies that can be used in order to increase sales and the limitations of virtual environment where cannot be communicated with the consumer face to face are argued in this study’s scope. As a consequence it is thought that to study on this subject because of lacking and also being limited efficiency of researches and outputs. Within this scope suggesting some proposals about how to communicate efficiently with the consumer and also offering the consumers’ demands efficiently is the essential objective of this study.

Keywords: online marketing, competition, consumer, communication

Procedia PDF Downloads 268
1694 The Concept of Neurostatistics as a Neuroscience

Authors: Igwenagu Chinelo Mercy

Abstract:

This study is on the concept of Neurostatistics in relation to neuroscience. Neuroscience also known as neurobiology is the scientific study of the nervous system. In the study of neuroscience, it has been noted that brain function and its relations to the process of acquiring knowledge and behaviour can be better explained by the use of various interrelated methods. The scope of neuroscience has broadened over time to include different approaches used to study the nervous system at different scales. On the other hand, Neurostatistics based on this study is viewed as a statistical concept that uses similar techniques of neuron mechanisms to solve some problems especially in the field of life science. This study is imperative in this era of Artificial intelligence/Machine leaning in the sense that clear understanding of the technique and its proper application could assist in solving some medical disorder that are mainly associated with the nervous system. This will also help in layman’s understanding of the technique of the nervous system in order to overcome some of the health challenges associated with it. For this concept to be well understood, an illustrative example using a brain associated disorder was used for demonstration. Structural equation modelling was adopted in the analysis. The results clearly show the link between the techniques of statistical model and nervous system. Hence, based on this study, the appropriateness of Neurostatistics application in relation to neuroscience could be based on the understanding of the behavioural pattern of both concepts.

Keywords: brain, neurons, neuroscience, neurostatistics, structural equation modeling

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1693 Opportunities for Effective Conflict Management Caused by Global Crises

Authors: Marine Kobalava

Abstract:

The article analyzes current global crises in the world, explains the causes of crises, substantiates that in the main cases the process accompanying the crisis are conflict situations. The paper argues that crises can become predictable if threats are identified and addressed by a company, organization, corporation, and others. Accordingly, mechanisms for the neutralization of conflict potential are proposed, the need to develop a communication strategy and create and redistribute information flows is justified. Conflict situations are assessed according to the types of crisis and it is considered that the conflict can become a prerequisite for the crisis. The paper substantiates the need to differentiate theories of crises and conflicts. Based on the evaluative judgment, conflict management measures are proposed taking into account institutionalization, conflict resolution norms and rules. The paper identifies the potential for conflicts created in the context of global crises and suggests local ways and mechanisms for their effective management. The involvement of the company's Public relations (PR) and relevant communication from the qualified staff is considered important. Conclusions are drawn on the problems of effective conflict management caused by global crises and recommendations for conflict resolution have been proposed.

Keywords: global crises, conflict situations, conflict identification, conflict management, conflict potential

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1692 Difficulties Faced by the Sports Clubs in the Sultanate of Oman

Authors: Majid Al-Busafi, Almur Al-Hashmi

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to identify the difficulties of planning and organizational, technical and finance facing sports clubs in the Sultanate of Oman. To answer the research questions, the researchers set up and developed a questionnaire as a major tool for the study. The researchers also conducted field visits to targeted clubs, collecting documents and publications related to the current situation of these clubs. The study sample (totaling 231) was selected of boards members of sports clubs and federations, executive staff of the Ministry of Sports Affairs, sports clubs and federations, and the media. The results indicated that the order of the difficulties faced by sports clubs is as follows: planning difficulties, the financial difficulties, technical difficulties and fourth and finally organizational difficulties. The study recommended the need to develop long-term plans and a timetable for the activities of the federations or the clubs. It is also important not to ignore to plan the qualification activities for the workers in the federations and clubs. Finally, there is a need to develop regulated forms of relations between members in the clubs. This study makes an original contribution to knowledge as it addresses needs in a country with no clear clubs systems and is informed by case studies from other countries, two of which have similar cultural contexts.

Keywords: sports club, sports federation, difficulties, plans

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1691 Capacity Loss of Urban Arterial Roads under the Influence of Bus Stop

Authors: Sai Chand, Ashish Dhamaniya, Satish Chandra

Abstract:

Curbside bus stops are provided on urban roads when sufficient land is not available to construct bus bays. The present study demonstrates the effect of curbside bus stops on midblock capacity of an urban arterial road. Data were collected on seven sections of 6-lane urban arterial roads in New Delhi. Three sections were selected without any side friction to estimate the base value of capacity. Remaining four sections were with curbside bus stop. Speed and volume data were collected in field and these data were used to estimate the capacity of a section. The average base midblock capacity of a 6–lane divided urban road was found to be 6314 PCU/hr which was further referred as base capacity. Effect of curbside bus stop on midblock capacity of urban road was evaluated by comparing the capacity of a section with curbside bus stop with that of the base capacity. Finally, a mathematical relation has been developed between bus frequency and capacity loss. Also a relation has been suggested between dwell time and capacity loss. The developed relations would be very useful for practising engineers to estimate capacity loss due to bus stop.

Keywords: bus frequency, bus stops, capacity loss, urban arterial

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1690 Process Modified Geopolymer Concrete: A Sustainable Material for Green Construction Technology

Authors: Dibyendu Adak, Saroj Mandal

Abstract:

The fly ash based geopolymer concrete generally requires heat activation after casting, which has been considered as an important limitation for its practical application. Such limitation can be overcome by a modification in the process at the time of mixing of ingredients (fly and activator fluid) for geopolymer concrete so that curing can be made at ambient temperature. This process modified geopolymer concrete shows an appreciable improvement in structural performance compared to conventional heat cured geopolymer concrete and control cement concrete. The improved durability performance based on water absorption, sulphate test, and RCPT is also noted. The microstructural properties analyzed through Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) techniques show the better interaction of fly ash and activator solution at early ages for the process modified geopolymer concrete. This accelerates the transformation of the amorphous phase of fly ash to the crystalline phase.

Keywords: fly ash, geopolymer concrete, process modification, structural properties, durability, micro-structures

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1689 The Role of Uncertainty in the Integration of Environmental Parameters in Energy System Modeling

Authors: Alexander de Tomás, Miquel Sierra, Stefan Pfenninger, Francesco Lombardi, Ines Campos, Cristina Madrid

Abstract:

Environmental parameters are key in the definition of sustainable energy systems yet excluded from most energy system optimization models. Still, decision-making may be misleading without considering them. Environmental analyses of the energy transition are a key part of industrial ecology but often are performed without any input from the users of the information. This work assesses the systemic impacts of energy transition pathways in Portugal. Using the Calliope energy modeling framework, 250+ optimized energy system pathways are generated. A Delphi study helps to identify the relevant criteria for the stakeholders as regards the environmental assessment, which is performed with ENBIOS, a python package that integrates life cycle assessment (LCA) with a metabolic analysis based on complex relations. Furthermore, this study focuses on how the uncertainty propagates through the model’s consortium. With the aim of doing so, a soft link between the Calliope/ENBIOS cascade and Brightway’s data capabilities is built to perform Monte Carlo simulations. These findings highlight the relevance of including uncertainty analysis as a range of values rather than informing energy transition results with a single value.

Keywords: energy transition, energy modeling, uncertainty, sustainability

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1688 The Investigation on Pre-Service Teachers' Critical Thinking Dispositions in Terms of Several Variables

Authors: Cüneyit Akar, Mustafa Başaran, Ufuk Uluçınar

Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to examine the critical thinking dispositions of pre-service teachers in terms of several variables. In the line of this aim, we have investigated what their levels of critical thinking dispositions and whether there is any significant different in their critical thinking dispositions. Also, we have examined the relations between their critical thinking dispositions and their parents’ education statues, the number of their siblings, family income levels, and their religiosity level. 202 pre-service teachers who are studying at different departments at faculty of education at Uşak University participated in this research. In study, critical thinking dispositions scale by one of researchers was utilized and its validity and reliability was performed. The findings indicate that the level of their critical thinking dispositions was found to be .376 (arithmetic mean). On the other hand, we found that there is no significant difference in terms of their gender and the department at which they are studying. Furthermore, although there aren’t significant relationships between critical thinking dispositions and their mother education statues, their income levels, their religiosity levels and the number of their siblings; there is any significant positively at low level the relation between thinking dispositions and father educational statues. The findings obtained will be discussed together with literature and other research’ results.

Keywords: preservice teachers, critical thinking dispositions, pedagogy, education

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1687 Genetic and Environmental Variation in Reproductive and Lactational Performance of Holstein Cattle

Authors: Ashraf Ward

Abstract:

Effect of calving interval on 305 day milk yield for first three lactations was studied in order to increase efficiency of selection schemes and to more efficiently manage Holstein cows that have been raised on small farms in Libya. Results obtained by processing data of 1476 cows, managed in 935 small scale farms, pointed out that current calving interval significantly affects on milk production for first three lactations (p<0.05). Preceding calving interval affected 305 day milk yield (p<0.05) in second lactation only. Linear regression model accounted for 20-25 % of the total variance of 305 day milk yield. Extension of calving interval over 420, 430, 450 days for first, second and third lactations respectively, did not increase milk production when converted to 305 day lactation. Stochastic relations between calving interval and calving age and month are moderated. Values of Pierson’s correlation coefficients ranged 0.38 to 0.69. Adjustment of milk production in order to reduce effect of calving interval on total phenotypic variance of milk yield is valid for first lactation only. Adjustment of 305 day milk yield for second and third lactations in order to reduce effects of factors “calving age and month” brings about, at the same time, elimination of calving interval effect.

Keywords: milk yield, Holstien, non genetic, calving

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1686 Recovery of Wastewater Treated of Boumerdes Step for Irrigation

Authors: N. Ouslimani, M. T. Abadlia, S. Yakoub, F. Tebbani

Abstract:

Water has always been synonymous with life and growth. Blue gold is first essential to the survival of the human being whose body consists of more than 65% with the development of industrialization and consumption patterns; volumes of wastewater discharges have increased considerably whether industrial or domestic, waste water must be purified before discharge. Treatment, therefore, aims to reduce the pollution load which contain. The resources in Algeria are limited and unevenly distributed. Thus, to meet all the water needs of the country and to preserve the waters of good quality drinking water supply, one solution would be to use them according to their quality and to irrigate crops for the food or be directed to the irrigation of green areas or sports complex. The purification performance of this STEP has been established since the pH analyzed pollution criteria (7.36) and temperature (16°C), MES (10 mg / l), electrical conductivity (1122 / µs / cm), DBO5 (6mg / l), DCO (15mg / l) meet the discharge standards. Arguably the purified water discharged out of the boumerdes STEP comply with Algerian regulations and can be reused in agriculture. COD biodegradability of the coefficient / BOD5 is 2.5 (less than 3) indicates that of the effluent are biodegradable hence their urban origin.

Keywords: irrigation, recovery, treated, wastewater

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1685 Numerical Methods for Topological Optimization of Wooden Structural Elements

Authors: Daniela Tapusi, Adrian Andronic, Naomi Tufan, Ruxandra Erbașu, Ioana Teodorescu

Abstract:

The proposed theme of this article falls within the policy of reducing carbon emissions imposed by the ‘Green New Deal’ by replacing structural elements made of energy-intensive materials with ecological materials. In this sense, wood has many qualities (high strength/mass and stiffness/mass ratio, low specific gravity, recovery/recycling) that make it competitive with classic building materials. The topological optimization of the linear glulam elements, resulting from different types of analysis (Finite Element Method, simple regression on metamodels), tests on models or by Monte-Carlo simulation, leads to a material reduction of more than 10%. This article proposes a method of obtaining topologically optimized shapes for different types of glued laminated timber beams. The results obtained will constitute the database for AI training.

Keywords: timber, glued laminated timber, artificial-intelligence, environment, carbon emissions

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1684 Religious Identity in the Diaspora: Peculiarities of Religious Consciousness and Behavior of Armenians in Tbilisi and Tehran

Authors: Nelli R. Khachaturian

Abstract:

The development of modern societies is largely associated with ethno-religious processes. The study of diasporas through the prism of religious processes is primarily aimed at identifying the impact of religious consciousness and behavior on the processes of reproduction of ethnic identity. Most often, it is religion that is associated with ethnic culture and historical heritage. Due to the peculiarities of the country of residence, different segments of the same ethnic group may demonstrate different religious consciousness and behavior. This paper is devoted to a comparative analysis of the religious behavior and consciousness of the representatives of the Armenian communities of Tbilisi and Tehran, based on the data obtained from the large-scale ethnic-sociological studies realized from 2013 to 2017 in Tehran and Tbilisi in the context of various spheres of public relations. Such research experience is of interest not only for understanding the dynamics of ethno-religious processes in the diasporas but also for understanding the role of religion as one of the most important factors in the formation of the mechanisms of self-preservation of an ethnic group, its current state and development prospects in the context of its own, different ethnic and / or foreign religious (non-confessional) environment.

Keywords: Armenian ethnicity, Armenian diaspora, religious consciousness, religious behavior, Armenian community of Tbilisi, Armenian community of Tehran

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1683 Solar Aided Vacuum Desalination of Sea-Water

Authors: Miraz Hafiz Rossy

Abstract:

As part of planning to address shortfalls in fresh water supply for the world, Sea water can be a huge source of fresh water. But Desalinating sea water to get fresh water could require a lots of fossil fuels. To save the fossil fuel in terms of save the green world but meet the up growing need for fresh water, a very useful but energy efficient method needs to be introduced. Vacuum desalination of sea water using only the Renewable energy can be an effective solution to this issue. Taking advantage of sensitivity of water's boiling point to air pressure a vacuum desalination water treatment plant can be designed which would only use sea water as feed water and solar energy as fuel to produce fresh drinking water. The study indicates that reducing the air pressure to a certain value water can be boiled at very low temperature. Using solar energy to provide the condensation and the vacuum creation would be very useful and efficient. Compared to existing resources, desalination is considered to be expensive, but using only renewable energy the cost can be reduced significantly. Despite its very few drawbacks, it can be considered a possible solution to the world's fresh water shortages.

Keywords: desalination, scarcity of fresh water, water purification, water treatment

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1682 Emotion Recognition with Occlusions Based on Facial Expression Reconstruction and Weber Local Descriptor

Authors: Jadisha Cornejo, Helio Pedrini

Abstract:

Recognition of emotions based on facial expressions has received increasing attention from the scientific community over the last years. Several fields of applications can benefit from facial emotion recognition, such as behavior prediction, interpersonal relations, human-computer interactions, recommendation systems. In this work, we develop and analyze an emotion recognition framework based on facial expressions robust to occlusions through the Weber Local Descriptor (WLD). Initially, the occluded facial expressions are reconstructed following an extension approach of Robust Principal Component Analysis (RPCA). Then, WLD features are extracted from the facial expression representation, as well as Local Binary Patterns (LBP) and Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG). The feature vector space is reduced using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). Finally, K-Nearest Neighbor (K-NN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers are used to recognize the expressions. Experimental results on three public datasets demonstrated that the WLD representation achieved competitive accuracy rates for occluded and non-occluded facial expressions compared to other approaches available in the literature.

Keywords: emotion recognition, facial expression, occlusion, fiducial landmarks

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1681 Image-Based (RBG) Technique for Estimating Phosphorus Levels of Different Crops

Authors: M. M. Ali, Ahmed Al- Ani, Derek Eamus, Daniel K. Y. Tan

Abstract:

In this glasshouse study, we developed the new image-based non-destructive technique for detecting leaf P status of different crops such as cotton, tomato and lettuce. Plants were allowed to grow on nutrient media containing different P concentrations, i.e. 0%, 50% and 100% of recommended P concentration (P0 = no P, L; P1 = 2.5 mL 10 L-1 of P and P2 = 5 mL 10 L-1 of P as NaH2PO4). After 10 weeks of growth, plants were harvested and data on leaf P contents were collected using the standard destructive laboratory method and at the same time leaf images were collected by a handheld crop image sensor. We calculated leaf area, leaf perimeter and RGB (red, green and blue) values of these images. This data was further used in the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to estimate leaf P contents, which successfully classified these plants on the basis of leaf P contents. The data indicated that P deficiency in crop plants can be predicted using the image and morphological data. Our proposed non-destructive imaging method is precise in estimating P requirements of different crop species.

Keywords: image-based techniques, leaf area, leaf P contents, linear discriminant analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 380