Search results for: the important architectural complex of Wang-An Hua-Zhai settlement

Authors: Nélio Veiga, Paula Ferreira, Tiago Correia, Maria J. Correia, Carlos Pereira, Odete Amaral, Ilídio J. Correia

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Introduction: The application of fissure sealants is considered to be an important primary prevention method used in dental medicine. However, the formation of microleakage gaps between tooth enamel and the fissure sealant applied is one of the most common reasons of dental caries development in teeth with fissure sealants. The association between various dental biomaterials may limit the major disadvantages and limitations of biomaterials functioning in a complementary manner. The present study consists in the incorporation of a cariostatic agent – silver diamine fluoride (SDF) – in a resin-based fissure sealant followed by the study of release kinetics by spectrophotometry analysis of the association between both biomaterials and assessment of the inhibitory effect on the growth of the reference bacterial strain Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) in an in vitro study. Materials and Methods: An experimental in vitro study was designed consisting in the entrapment of SDF (Cariestop^® 12% and 30%) into a commercially available fissure sealant (Fissurit^®), by photopolymerization and photocrosslinking. The same sealant, without SDF was used as a negative control. The effect of the sealants on the growth of S. mutans was determined by the presence of bacterial inhibitory halos in the cultures at the end of the incubation period. In order to confirm the absence of bacteria in the surface of the materials, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) characterization was performed. Also, to analyze the release profile of SDF along time, spectrophotometry technique was applied. Results: The obtained results indicate that the association of SDF to a resin-based fissure sealant may be able to increase the inhibition of S. mutans growth. However, no SDF release was noticed during the in vitro release studies and no statistical significant difference was verified when comparing the inhibitory halo sizes obtained for test and control group.  Conclusions: In this study, the entrapment of SDF in the resin-based fissure sealant did not potentiate the antibacterial effect of the fissure sealant or avoid the immediate development of dental caries. The development of more laboratorial research and, afterwards, long-term clinical data are necessary in order to verify if this association between these biomaterials is effective and can be considered for being used in oral health management. Also, other methodologies for associating cariostatic agents and sealant should be addressed.

Keywords: biomaterial, fissure sealant, primary prevention, silver diamine fluoride

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Authors: Rose Vanessa Bandeira Reidel, Bernardo Melai, Pier Luigi Cioni, Luisa Pistelli

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Ziziphus jujuba Miller is a common species of the Ziziphus genus (Rhamnaceae family) native to the tropics and subtropics known for its edible fruits, fresh consumed or used in healthy food, as flavoring and sweetener. Many phytochemicals and biological activities are described for this species. In this work, the aroma profiles emitted in vivo by whole fresh organs (leaf, bud flower, flower, green and red fruits) were analyzed separately by mean of solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The emitted volatiles from different plant parts were analysed using Supelco SPME device coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, 100µm). Fresh plant material was introduced separately into a glass conical flask and allowed to equilibrate for 20 min. After the equilibration time, the fibre was exposed to the headspace for 15 min at room temperature, the fibre was re-inserted into the needle and transferred to the injector of the CG and CG-MS system, where the fibre was desorbed. All the data were submitted to multivariate statistical analysis, evidencing many differences amongst the selected plant parts and their developmental stages. A total of 144 compounds were identified corresponding to 94.6-99.4% of the whole aroma profile of jujube samples. Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons were the main chemical class of compounds in leaves also present in similar percentage in flowers and bud flowers where (E, E)-α-farnesene was the main constituent in all cited plant parts. This behavior can be due to a protection mechanism against pathogens and herbivores as well as resistance to abiotic factors. The aroma of green fruits was characterized by high amount of perillene while the red fruits release a volatile blend mainly constituted by different monoterpenes. The terpenoid emission of flesh fruits has important function in the interaction with animals including attraction of seed dispersers and it is related to a good quality of fruits. This study provides for the first time the chemical composition of the volatile emission from different Ziziphus jujuba organs. The SPME analyses of the collected samples showed different patterns of emission and can contribute to understand their ecological interactions and fruit production management.

Keywords: Rhamnaceae, aroma profile, jujube organs, HS-SPME, GC-MS

Procedia PDF Downloads 259

Authors: S. Somerset, D. J. Hoare

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Participation in sport is linked to better mental and physical health in children and adults. Studies have shown children who participate in sports benefit from improved social skills, self-confidence, communication skills and a better quality of life. Children who participate in sports from a young age are also more likely to continue to have active lifestyles during adulthood. This is an important consideration with a nation where physical activity levels are declining and the incidences of obesity are rising. Getting children active and keeping them active can provide long term health benefits to the individual but also a potential reduction in health costs in the future. This systematic review aims to identify the barriers to participation in sport for children aged up to 18 years and encompasses both qualitative and quantitative studies. The bibliographic databases, EMBASE, Medline, CINAHL and SportDiscus were searched. Additional hand searches were carried out on review articles found in the searches to identify any studies that may have been missed. Studies involving children up to 18 years without additional needs focusing on barriers to participation in sport were included. Randomised control trials, policy guidelines, studies with sport as an intervention, studies focusing on the female athlete triad, tobacco abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, pre exercise testing, and cardiovascular disease were excluded. Abstract review, full paper review and quality appraisal were conducted by two researchers. A consensus meeting took place to resolve any differences at the abstract, full text and data extraction / quality appraisal stages. The CASP qualitative studies appraisal tool and the CASP cohort studies tool (excluding question 3 and 4 which refer to interventions) were used for quality appraisal in this review. The review identified several salient barriers to participation in sport for children. These barriers ranged from the uniform worn during school physical education lessons to the weather during participation in sport. The most commonly identified barriers in the review include parental support, time allocation, location of the activity and the cost of the activity. Therefore, it would be beneficial for a greater provision to be made within the school environment for children to participate sport. This can reduce the cost and time commitment required from parents to encourage participation. This would help to increase activity levels of children, which ultimately can only be a good thing.

Keywords: barrier, children, participation, sport

Procedia PDF Downloads 365

Authors: Armana Huq, Wahidur Rahman, Sanwar Kader

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Inland waterways in Bangladesh play an important role in providing comfortable and low-cost transportation. However, a maritime accident takes away many lives and creates unwanted hazards every year. This article deals with a comprehensive review of inland waterway accidents in Bangladesh. Additionally, it includes a comparative study between international and local inland research studies based on maritime accidents. Articles from inland waterway areas are analyzed in-depth to make a comprehensive overview of the nature of the academic work, accident and risk management process and different statistical analyses. It is found that empirical analysis based on the available statistical data dominates the research domain. For this study, major maritime accident-related works in the last four decades in Bangladesh (1981-2020) are being analyzed for preparing a bibliometric analysis. A study of maritime accidents of passenger's vessels during (1995-2005) indicates that the predominant causes of accidents in the inland waterways of Bangladesh are collision and adverse weather (77%), out of which collision due to human error alone stands (56%) of all accidents. Another study refers that the major causes of waterway accidents are the collision (60.3%) during 2005-2015. About 92% of this collision occurs due to direct contact with another vessel during this period. Rest 8% of the collision occurs by contact with permanent obstruction on waterway roots. The overall analysis of another study from the last 25 years (1995-2019) shows that one of the main types of accidents is collisions, with about 50.3% of accidents being caused by collisions. The other accident types are cyclone or storm (17%), overload (11.3%), physical failure (10.3%), excessive waves (5.1%), and others (6%). Very few notable works are available in testing or comparing the methods, proposing new methods for risk management, modeling, uncertainty treatment. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the evolution of marine accident-related research domain regarding inland waterway of Bangladesh and attempts to introduce new ideas and methods to abridge the gap between international and national inland maritime-related work domain which can be a catalyst for a safer and sustainable water transportation system in Bangladesh. Another fundamental objective of this paper is to navigate various national maritime authorities and international organizations to implement risk management processes for shipping accident prevention in waterway areas.

Keywords: inland waterways, safety, bibliometric analysis, risk management, accidents

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Afshin Kadri

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Using Renewable Energy Resources (RES) as a type of DG unit is developing in distribution systems. The connection of these generation units to existing AC distribution systems changes the structure and some of the operational aspects of these grids. Most of the RES requires to power electronic-based interfaces for connection to AC systems. These interfaces consist of at least one DC/AC conversion unit. Nowadays, grid-connected inverters must have the required feature to support the grid under sag voltage conditions. There are two curves in these conditions that show the magnitude of the reactive component of current as a function of voltage drop value and the required minimum time value, which must be connected to the grid. This feature is named low voltage ride-through (LVRT). Implementing this feature causes problems in the operation of the inverter that increases the amplitude of high-frequency components of the injected current and working out of maximum power point in the photovoltaic panel connected inverters are some of them. The important phenomenon in these conditions is ripples in the DC bus voltage that affects the operation of the inverter directly and indirectly. The losses of DC bus capacitors which are electrolytic capacitors, cause increasing their temperature and decreasing its lifespan. In addition, if the inverter is connected to the photovoltaic panels directly and has the duty of maximum power point tracking, these ripples cause oscillations around the operating point and decrease the generating energy. Using a bidirectional converter in the DC bus, which works as a buck and boost converter and transfers the ripples to its DC bus, is the traditional method to eliminate these ripples. In spite of eliminating the ripples in the DC bus, this method cannot solve the problem of reliability because it uses an electrolytic capacitor in its DC bus. In this work, a control method is proposed which uses the bidirectional converter as the fourth leg of the inverter and eliminates the DC bus ripples using an injection of unbalanced currents into the grid. Moreover, the proposed method works based on constant power control. In this way, in addition, to supporting the amplitude of grid voltage, it stabilizes its frequency by injecting active power. Also, the proposed method can eliminate the DC bus ripples in deep voltage drops, which cause increasing the amplitude of the reference current more than the nominal current of the inverter. The amplitude of the injected current for the faulty phases in these conditions is kept at the nominal value and its phase, together with the phase and amplitude of the other phases, are adjusted, which at the end, the ripples in the DC bus are eliminated, however, the generated power decreases.

Keywords: renewable energy resources, voltage drop value, DC bus ripples, bidirectional converter

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Gela Gelashvili, David Gelenidze, Sulkhan Nanobashvili, Irakli Nanobashvili, George Tavkhelidze, Tsiuri Sitchinava

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Development of new highly efficient plasma arc combustion system of pulverized coal is presented. As it is well-known, coal is one of the main energy carriers by means of which electric and heat energy is produced in thermal power stations. The quality of the extracted coal decreases very rapidly. Therefore, the difficulties associated with its firing and complete combustion arise and thermo-chemical preparation of pulverized coal becomes necessary. Usually, other organic fuels (mazut-fuel oil or natural gas) are added to low-quality coal for this purpose. The fraction of additional organic fuels varies within 35-40% range. This decreases dramatically the economic efficiency of such systems. At the same time, emission of noxious substances in the environment increases. Because of all these, intense development of plasma combustion systems of pulverized coal takes place in whole world. These systems are equipped with Non-Transferred Plasma Arc Torches. They allow practically complete combustion of pulverized coal (without organic additives) in boilers, increase of energetic and financial efficiency. At the same time, emission of noxious substances in the environment decreases dramatically. But, the non-transferred plasma torches have numerous drawbacks, e.g. complicated construction, low service life (especially in the case of high power), instability of plasma arc and most important – up to 30% of energy loss due to anode cooling. Due to these reasons, intense development of new plasma technologies that are free from these shortcomings takes place. In our proposed system, pulverized coal-air mixture passes through plasma arc area that burns between to carbon electrodes directly in pulverized coal muffler burner. Consumption of the carbon electrodes is low and does not need a cooling system, but the main advantage of this method is that radiation of plasma arc directly impacts on coal-air mixture that accelerates the process of thermo-chemical preparation of coal to burn. To ensure the stability of the plasma arc in such difficult conditions, we have developed a power source that provides fixed current during fluctuations in the arc resistance automatically compensated by the voltage change as well as regulation of plasma arc length over a wide range. Our combustion system where plasma arc acts directly on pulverized coal-air mixture is simple. This should allow a significant improvement of pulverized coal combustion (especially low-quality coal) and its economic efficiency. Preliminary experiments demonstrated the successful functioning of the system.

Keywords: coal combustion, plasma arc, plasma torches, pulverized coal

Procedia PDF Downloads 162

Authors: Hakima Althalb

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Petroleum contamination of sandy soils is a severe environmental problem in Libya, but relatively little work has been carried out to optimize the bioremediation of such heavily contaminated soil, particularly at a pilot scale. The purpose of this research was to determine the potential for the microbial-based bioremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soil obtained from an oil refinery in Libya and to assess the potential of both ozonation and phytoremediation (both applied after initial bioremediation) to reduce residual hydrocarbon levels. Plots containing 500 kg soil (triplicates) (contaminated soil diluted with clean soil 50% volume) were set up, (designated as Land Treatment Units; LTUs) containing five different nutrient levels and mixtures (Urea + NPK (nitrogen; phosphor; potassium) mixtures) to obtain C:N:P ratios 100:10:1, and monitored for 90 days. Hydrocarbon levels, microbial numbers, and toxicity (EC50 using luminescent microbial based tests) were assessed. Hydrocarbon levels in non-diluted and diluted soil ranged from 20 733-22 366 mg/kg and from 16 000-17 000 mg/kg respectively. Although all the land treatment units revealed a significant hydrocarbon reduction over time, the highest reduction in hydrocarbon levels obtained was around 60%. For example, 63% hydrocarbon removal was observed using a mixture of urea and NPK with a C:N:P ratio of 100:10:1). Soil toxicity (as assessed using luminescence based toxicity assays) reduced in line with the reduction in total petroleum hydrocarbons observed. However, as relatively high residual TPH (total petroleum hydrocarbon) levels (ranging from 6033-14166mg/kg) were still present after initial bioremediation two ‘post-treatments’ (phytoremediation and ozonation) were attempted to remove residual hydrocarbons remaining. Five locally grown (agriculturally important) plant species were tested. The germination of all plants examined was strongly inhibited (80-100%) and seedlings failed to grow well in the contaminated soil, indicating that the previously bioremediated soils were still toxic to the plants. Subsequent ozonation followed by another bioremediation of soil was more successful than phytoremediation. But even the most promising successful treatment in this study (ozonation for 6 hours at 25ppm followed by bioremediation) still only removed approximately 31% of the residual hydrocarbons. Overall, this work showed that the bioremediation of such highly contaminated soils is difficult and that a combination of treatments would be required to achieve successful remediation. Even after initial dilution and bioremediation the soils remained toxic to plant growth and were therefore not suitable for phytoremediation.

Keywords: bioremediation, petroleum hydrocarbons, ozone, phytoremediation

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Josiane N. Muller, Allan K. R. Galardo, Tatiane A. Barbosa, Evan P. Ferro, Wellington M. Dos Santos, Ana Paula S. A. Correa, Edinaldo C. Rego, Jose B. P. Lima

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The susceptibility status of an insect population to any larvicide depends on several factors such includes genetic constitution, environmental conditions and others. The mosquito Aedes aegypti is the primary vector of three important viral diseases, Zika, Dengue, and Chikungunya. The frequent outbreaks of those diseases in different parts of Brazil demonstrate the importance of testing the susceptibility of vectors in different environments. Since the control of this mosquito leads to the control of disease, alternatives for vector control that value the different Brazilian environmental conditions are needed for effective actions. The aim of this study was to evaluate a new commercial formulation of Bacillus thuringiensis israelenses (DengueTech: Brazilian innovative technology) in the Brazilian Legal Amazon considering the climate conditions. Semi-field tests were conducted in the Institute of Scientific and Technological Research of the State of Amapa in two different environments, one in a shaded area and the other exposed to sunlight. The mosquito larvae were exposed to larvicide concentration and a control; each group was tested in three containers of 40 liters each. To assess persistence 50 third instar larvae of Aedes aegypti laboratory lineages (Rockefeller) and 50 larvae of Aedes aegypti collected in the municipality of Macapa, Brazil’s Amapa state, were added weekly and after 24 hours the mortality was assessed. In total 16 tests were performed, where 12 were done with replacement of water (1/5 of the volume, three times per week). The effectiveness of the product was determined through mortality of ≥ 80%, as recommend by the World Health Organization. The results demonstrated that high-water temperatures (26-35 °C) on the containers influenced the residual time of the product, where the maximum effect achieved was 21 days in the shaded area; and no effectiveness of 60 days was found in any of the tests, as expected according to the larvicide company. The test with and without water replacement did not present significant differences in the mortality rate. Considering the different environments and climate, these results stimulate the need to test larvicide and its effectiveness in specific environmental settings in order to identify the parameters required for better results. Thus, we see the importance of semi-field researches considering the local climate conditions for a successful control of Aedes aegypti.

Keywords: Aedes aegypti, bioassay, larvicida, vector control

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Authors: Bojana Ž. Bajić, Siniša N. Dodić, Vladimir S. Puškaš, Jelena M. Dodić

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Increasing industrialization as a response to the demands of the consumer society greatly exploits resources and generates large amounts of waste effluents in addition to the desired product. This means it is a priority to implement technologies with the maximum utilization of raw materials and energy, minimum generation of waste effluents and/or their recycling (secondary use). Considering the process conditions and the nature of the raw materials used by the vegetable oil industry, its wastewaters can be used as substrates for the biotechnological production which requires large amounts of water. This way the waste effluents of one branch of industry become raw materials for another branch which produces a new product while reducing wastewater pollution and thereby reducing negative environmental impacts. Vegetable oil production generates wastewaters during the process of rinsing oils and fats which contain mainly fatty acid pollutants. The vegetable oil industry generates large amounts of waste effluents, especially in the processes of degumming, deacidification, deodorization and neutralization. Wastewaters from the vegetable oil industry are generated during the whole year in significant amounts, based on the capacity of the vegetable oil production. There are no known alternative applications for these wastewaters as raw materials for the production of marketable products. Since the literature has no data on the potential negative impact of fatty acids on the metabolism of the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris, these wastewaters were considered as potential raw materials for the biotechnological production of xanthan. In this research, vegetable oil industry wastewaters were used as the basis for the cultivation media for xanthan production with Xanthomonas campestris ATCC 13951. Examining the process of biosynthesis of xanthan on vegetable oil industry wastewaters as the basis for the cultivation media was performed to obtain insight into the possibility of its use in the aforementioned biotechnological process. Additionally, it was important to experimentally determine the absence of substances that have an inhibitory effect on the metabolism of the production microorganism. Xanthan content, rheological parameters of the cultivation media, carbon conversion into xanthan and conversions of the most significant nutrients for biosynthesis (carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus sources) were determined as indicators of the success of biosynthesis. The obtained results show that biotechnological production of the biopolymer xanthan by bacterium Xanthomonas campestris on vegetable oil industry wastewaters based cultivation media simultaneously provides preservation of the environment and economic benefits which is a sustainable solution to the problem of wastewater treatment.

Keywords: biotechnology, sustainable bioprocess, vegetable oil industry wastewaters, Xanthomonas campestris

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Mary M. Park

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Hollywood has had a long and enduring history of showcasing the United States military to civilian audiences, and the portrayals of soldiers in films have had a definite impact on the civilian perception of the US military. The growing gap between the civilian population and the military in the US has led to certain stereotypes of military personnel to proliferate, especially in the area of militarized masculinity, which has often been harmful to the psychological and spiritual wellbeing of military personnel. Examining Hollywood's portrayal of soldiers can serve to enhance our understanding of how civilians may be influenced in their perception of military personnel. Moreover, it can provide clues as to how male military personnel may also be influenced by Hollywood films as they form their own military identity. The post 9/11 era has seen numerous high budget films lionizing a particular type of soldier, the 'warrior-hero', who adheres to a traditional form of hegemonic masculinity and exhibits traits such as physical strength, bravery, stoicism, and an eagerness to fight. This paper examines how the portrayal of the 'warrior-hero' perpetuates a negative stereotype that soldiers are a blend of superheroes and emotionless robots and, therefore, inherently different from civilians. This paper examines the portrayal of militarized masculinity in three of the most successful war films of the post-9/11 era; Black Hawk Down (2001), The Hurt Locker (2008), and American Sniper (2014). The characters and experiences of the soldiers depicted in these films are contrasted with the lived experiences of soldiers during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Further, there is an analysis of popular films depicting ancient warriors, such as Troy (2004) and 300 (2007), which were released during the early years of the War on Terror. This paper draws on the concept of hegemonic militarised masculinity by leading scholars and feminist international relations theories on militarized masculinity. This paper uses veteran testimonies collected from a range of public sources, as well as previous studies on the link between traditional masculinity and war-related mental illness. This paper concludes that the seemingly exclusive portrayal of soldiers as 'warrior-heroes' in films in the post-9/11 era is misleading and damaging to civil-military relations and that the reality of the majority of soldiers' experiences is neglected in Hollywood films. As civilians often believe they are being shown true depictions of the US military in Hollywood films, especially in films that portray real events, it is important to find the differences between the idealized fictional 'warrior-heroes' and the reality of the soldiers on the ground in the War on Terror.

Keywords: civil-military relations, gender studies, militarized masculinity, social pyschology

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Authors: Teemu Saressalo

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This article examines the evolution of the Israel Defence Forces’ information operation activities during an eight-year timespan from the 2006 war with Hezbollah to more recent operations such as Pillar of Defence and Protective Edge. To this end, the case study will show a change in the Israel Defence Forces’ activities in the information domain. In the 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel inflicted enormous damage on the Lebanese infrastructure, leaving more than 1,200 people dead and 4,400 injured. Casualties among Hezbollah, Israel’s main adversary, were estimated to range from 250 to 700 fighters. Damage to the Lebanese infrastructure was estimated at over USD 2.5bn, with almost 2,000 houses and buildings damaged and destroyed. Even this amount of destruction did not force Hezbollah to yield and while both sides were claiming victory in the war, Israel paid a heavier price in political backlashes and loss of reputation, mainly due to failures in the media and the way in which the war was portrayed and perceived in Israel and abroad. Much of this can be credited to Hezbollah’s efficient use of the media, and Israel’s failure to do so. Israel managed the next conflict it was engaged in completely differently – it had learnt its lessons and built up new ways to counter its adversary’s propaganda and media operations. In Operation Cast Lead at the turn of 2009, Hamas, Israel’s adversary and Gaza’s dominating faction, was not able to utilize the media in the same way that Hezbollah had. By creating a virtual and physical barrier around the Gaza Strip, Israel almost totally denied its adversary access to the worldwide media, and by restricting the movement of journalists in the area, Israel could let its voice be heard above all. The operation Cast Lead began with a deception operation, which caught Hamas totally off guard. The 21-day campaign left the Gaza Strip devastated, but did not cause as much protest in Israel during the operation as the 2006 war did, mainly due to almost total Israeli dominance in the information dimension. The most important outcome from the Israeli perspective was the fact that Operation Cast Lead was assessed to be a success and the operation enjoyed domestic support along with support from many western nations, which had condemned Israeli actions in the 2006 war. Later conflicts have shown the same tendency towards virtually total dominance in the information domain, which has had an impact on target audiences across the world. Thus, it is clear that well-planned and conducted information operations are able to shape public opinion and influence decision-makers, although Israel might have been outpaced by its rivals.

Keywords: Hamas, Hezbollah, information operations, Israel Defence Forces

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: Alberto Jiménez-Vargas, Manuel de Jesús Palacios-Gallegos, Miguel Ángel Hernández-López, Rafael Campos-Amezcua, Julio Cesar Solís-Sanchez

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An optimal wind turbine blade design must be able of capturing as much energy as possible from the wind source available at the area of interest. Many times, an optimal design means the use of large quantities of material and complicated processes that make the wind turbine more expensive, and therefore, less cost-effective. For the construction and installation of a wind turbine, the blades may cost up to 20% of the outline pricing, and become more important due to they are part of the rotor system that is in charge of transmitting the energy from the wind to the power train, and where the static and dynamic design loads for the whole wind turbine are produced. The aim of this work is the develop of a blade fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation that allows the identification of the major damage zones during the normal production situation, and thus better decisions for design and optimization can be taken. The simulation is a dynamic case, since we have a time-history wind velocity as inlet condition instead of a constant wind velocity. The process begins with the free-use software NuMAD (NREL), to model the blade and assign material properties to the blade, then the 3D model is exported to ANSYS Workbench platform where before setting the FSI system, a modal analysis is made for identification of natural frequencies and modal shapes. FSI analysis is carried out with the two-way technic which begins with a CFD simulation to obtain the pressure distribution on the blade surface, then these results are used as boundary condition for the FEA simulation to obtain the deformation levels for the first time-step. For the second time-step, CFD simulation is reconfigured automatically with the next time-step inlet wind velocity and the deformation results from the previous time-step. The analysis continues the iterative cycle solving time-step by time-step until the entire load case is completed. This work is part of a set of projects that are managed by a national consortium called “CEMIE-Eólico” (Mexican Center in Wind Energy Research), created for strengthen technological and scientific capacities, the promotion of creation of specialized human resources, and to link the academic with private sector in national territory. The analysis belongs to the design of a rotor system for a 5 kW wind turbine design thought to be installed at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Keywords: blade, dynamic, fsi, wind turbine

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Authors: Catherine Peyrols Wu

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Intercultural interactions are becoming increasingly common in organizations and life. These interactions are often the stage of miscommunication and conflict. In management research, these problems are commonly attributed to cultural differences in values and interactional norms. As a result, the notion that intercultural competence can minimize these challenges is widely accepted. Cultural differences, however, are not the only source of a challenge during intercultural interactions. The need to rely on a lingua franca – or common language between people who have different mother tongues – is another important one. In theory, a lingua franca can improve communication and ease coordination. In practice however, disparities in people’s ability and confidence to communicate in the language can exacerbate tensions and generate inefficiencies. In this study, we draw on power theory to develop a model of disparities in language competence and conflict in a multicultural work context. Specifically, we hypothesized that differences in language competence between interaction partners would be positively related to conflict such that people would report greater conflict with partners who have more dissimilar levels of language competence and lesser conflict with partners with more similar levels of language competence. Furthermore, we proposed that cultural intelligence (CQ) an intercultural competence that denotes an individual’s capability to be effective in intercultural situations, would weaken the relationship between disparities in language competence and conflict such that people would report less conflict with partners who have more dissimilar levels of language competence when the interaction partner has high CQ and more conflict when the partner has low CQ. We tested this model with a sample of 135 undergraduate students working in multicultural teams for 13 weeks. We used a round-robin design to examine conflict in 646 dyads nested within 21 teams. Results of analyses using social relations modeling provided support for our hypotheses. Specifically, we found that in intercultural dyads with large disparities in language competence, partners with the lowest level of language competence would report higher levels of interpersonal conflict. However, this relationship disappeared when the partner with higher language competence was also high in CQ. These findings suggest that communication in a lingua franca can be a source of conflict in intercultural collaboration when partners differ in their level of language competence and that CQ can alleviate these effects during collaboration with partners who have relatively lower levels of language competence. Theoretically, this study underscores the benefits of CQ as a complement to language competence for intercultural effectiveness. Practically, these results further attest to the benefits of investing resources to develop language competence and CQ in employees engaged in multicultural work.

Keywords: cultural intelligence, intercultural interactions, language competence, multicultural teamwork

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Authors: Jacqueline M. Dias, Amina A Khowaja

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Clinical education is one of the most important components of a nursing curriculum as it develops the students’ cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills. Clinical teaching ensures the integration of knowledge into practice. As the numbers of students increase in the field of nursing coupled with the faculty shortage, clinical preceptors are the best choice to ensure student learning in the clinical settings. The clinical preceptor role has been introduced in the undergraduate nursing programme. In Pakistan, this role emerged due to a faculty shortage. Initially, two clinical preceptors were hired. This study will explore clinical preceptors views and experiences of precepting Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) students in an undergraduate program. A case study design was used. As case studies explore a single unit of study such as a person or very small number of subjects; the two clinical preceptors were fundamental to the study and served as a single case. Qualitative data were obtained through an iterative process using in depth interviews and written accounts from reflective journals that were kept by the clinical preceptors. The findings revealed that the clinical preceptors were dedicated to their roles and responsibilities. Another, key finding was that clinical preceptors’ prior knowledge and clinical experience were valuable assets to perform their role effectively. The clinical preceptors found their new role innovative and challenging; it was stressful at the same time. Findings also revealed that in the clinical agencies there were unclear expectations and role ambiguity. Furthermore, clinical preceptors had difficulty integrating theory into practice in the clinical area and they had difficulty in giving feedback to the students. Although this study is localized to one university, generalizations can be drawn from the results. The key findings indicate that the role of a clinical preceptor is demanding and stressful. Clinical preceptors need preparation prior to precepting students on clinicals. Also, institutional support is fundamental for their acceptance. This paper focuses on the views and experiences of clinical preceptors undertaking a newly established role and resonates with the literature. The following recommendations are drawn to strengthen the role of the clinical preceptors: A structured program for clinical preceptors is needed along with mentorship. Clinical preceptors should be provided with formal training in teaching and learning with emphasis on clinical teaching and giving feedback to students. Additionally, for improving integration of theory into practice, clinical modules should be provided ahead of the clinical. In spite of all the challenges, ten more clinical preceptors have been hired as the faculty shortage continues to persist.

Keywords: baccalaureate nursing education, clinical education, clinical preceptors, nursing curriculum

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Masanori Kimura

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Due to the decline of the 18-year-old population, Japanese universities have a tendency to convert their form of employment from tenured positions to fixed-term positions for newly hired teachers. The advantage of this is that universities can be more flexible in their employment plans in case they fail to fill the enrollment of quotas of prospective students or they need to supplement teachers who can engage in other academic fields or research areas where new demand is expected. The most serious disadvantage of this, however, is that if secure positions cannot be provided to faculty members, there is the possibility that coherence of education and continuity of research supported by the university cannot be achieved. Therefore, the question of this presentation is as follows: Are universities aiming to give first priority to management, or are they trying to prioritize educational and research rather than management? To answer this question, the author examined the number of job offerings for college foreign language teachers posted on the JREC-IN (Japan Research Career Information Network, which is run by Japan Science and Technology Agency) website from April 2012 to October 2015. The results show that there were 1,002 and 1,056 job offerings for tenured positions and fixed-term contracts respectively, suggesting that, overall, today’s Japanese universities show a tendency to give first priority to management. More detailed examinations of the data, however, show that the tendency slightly varies depending on the types of universities. National universities which are supported by the central government and state universities which are supported by local governments posted more job offerings for tenured positions than for fixed-term contracts: national universities posted 285 and 257 job offerings for tenured positions and fixed-term contracts respectively, and state universities posted 106 and 86 job offerings for tenured positions and fixed-term contracts respectively. Yet the difference in number between the two types of employment status at national and state universities is marginal. As for private universities, they posted 713 job offerings for fixed-term contracts and 616 offerings for tenured positions. Moreover, 73% of the fixed-term contracts were offered for low rank positions including associate professors, lectures, and so forth. Generally speaking, those positions are offered to younger teachers. Therefore, this result indicates that private universities attempt to cut their budgets yet expect the same educational effect by hiring younger teachers. Although the results have shown that there are some differences in personal strategies among the three types of universities, the author argues that all three types of universities may lose important human resources that will take a pivotal role at their universities in the future unless they urgently review their employment strategies.

Keywords: higher education, management, employment status, foreign language education

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Authors: Orkide Donma, Mustafa M. Donma

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Obesity may lead to growing serious health problems throughout the world. Vitamin D appears to play a role in cardiovascular and metabolic health. Vitamin D deficiency may add to derangements in human metabolic systems, particularly those of children. Childhood obesity is associated with an increased risk of chronic and sophisticated diseases. The aim of this study is to investigate associations as well as possible differences related to parameters affected by obesity and their relations with vitamin D status in obese (OB) and morbid obese (MO) children. This study included a total of 78 children. Of them, 41 and 37 were OB and MO, respectively. WHO BMI-for age percentiles were used for the classification of obesity. The values above 99 percentile were defined as MO. Those between 95 and 99 percentiles were included into OB group. Anthropometric measurements were recorded. Basal metabolic rates (BMRs) were measured. Vitamin D status is determined by the measurement of 25-hydroxy cholecalciferol [25- hydroxyvitamin D3, 25(OH)D] using high-performance liquid chromatography. Vitamin D status was evaluated as deficient, insufficient and sufficient. Values < 20.0 ng/ml, values between 20-30 ng/ml and values > 30.0 ng/ml were defined as vitamin D deficient, insufficient and sufficient, respectively. Optimal 25(OH)D level was defined as ≥ 30 ng/ml. SPSSx statistical package program was used for the evaluation of the data. The statistical significance degree was accepted as p < 0.05. Mean ages did not differ between the groups. Significantly increased body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (C) and neck C as well as significantly decreased fasting blood glucose (FBG) and vitamin D values were observed in MO group (p < 0.05). In OB group, 37.5% of the children were vitamin D deficient, and in MO group the corresponding value was 53.6%. No difference between the groups in terms of lipid profile, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and insulin values was noted. There was a severe statistical significance between FBG values of the groups (p < 0.001). Important correlations between BMI, waist C, hip C, neck C and both SBP as well as DBP were found in OB group. In MO group, correlations only with SBP were obtained. In a similar manner, in OB group, correlations were detected between SBP-BMR and DBP-BMR. However, in MO children, BMR correlated only with SBP. The associations of vitamin D with anthropometric indices as well as some lipid parameters were defined. In OB group BMI, waist C, hip C and triglycerides (TRG) were negatively correlated with vitamin D concentrations whereas none of them were detected in MO group. Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to the complications associated with childhood obesity. Loss of correlations between obesity indices-DBP, vitamin D-TRG, as well as relatively lower FBG values, observed in MO group point out that the emergence of MetS components starts during obesity state just before the transition to morbid obesity. Aside from its deficiency state, associations of vitamin D with anthropometric measurements, blood pressures and TRG should also be evaluated before the development of morbid obesity.

Keywords: children, morbid obesity, obesity, vitamin D

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Authors: Mona G. Alharbi

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A new family of methionine-sulfoxide reductase (Msr) was recently discovered and was named free methionine sulfoxide reductase (fRMsr). This family includes enzymes with a reductase activity toward the free R isomer of a methionine sulfoxide substrate. The fRMsrs have a GAF domain topology, a domain, which was previously identified as having in some cases a cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity. The classification of fRMsrs as GAF domains revealed a new function can be added to the GAF domain family. Interestingly the four members identified in the fRMsr family share the GAF domain structure and the presence of three conserved cysteines in the active site with free R methionine sulfoxide substrate specificity. This thesis presents the crystal structures of reduced, free Met-SO substrate-bound and MES-bound forms of a new fRMsr from Burkholderia pseudomallei (BPSL2418). BPSL2418 was cloned, overexpressed and purified to enable protein crystallization. The crystallization trials for reduced, Met-SO-bound and MES-bound forms of BPSL2418 were prepared and reasonable crystals of each form were produced. The crystal structures of BPSL2418MES, BPSL2418Met-SO and BPSL2418Reduced were solved at 1.18, 1.4 and 2.0Å, respectively by molecular replacement. The BPSL2418MES crystal belongs to space group P 21 21 21 while BPSL2418Met-SO and BPSL2418Reduced crystals belong to space group P 1 21 1. All three forms share the GAF domain structure of six antiparallel β-strands and four α-helices with connecting loops. The antiparallel β-strands (β1, β2, β5 and β6) are located in the center of the BPSL2418 structure flanked on one side by a three α-helices (α1, α2 and α4) and on the other side by a (loop1, β3, loop2, α3, β4 loop4) unit where loop4 forms a capping flap and covers the active site. The structural comparison of the three forms of BPSL2418 indicates that the catalytically important cysteine is CYS109, where the resolving cysteine is CYS75, which forms a disulfide bond with CYS109. They also suggest that the third conserved cysteine in the active site, CYS85, which is located in α3, is a non-essential cysteine for the catalytic function but it may play a role in the binding of the substrate. The structural comparison of the three forms reveals that conformational changes appear in the active site particularly involving loop4 and CYS109 during catalysis. The 3D structure of BPSL2418 shows strong structure similarity to fRMsrs enzymes, which further suggests that BPSL2418 acts as a free Met-R-SO reductase and shares the catalytic mechanism of fRMsr family.

Keywords: Burkholderia pseudomallei, GAF domain protein, methionine sulfoxide reductase, protein crystallization

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Authors: Samaneh Mashayekhi

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Cream (whipped cream) is one of the dairy products that can be used in desserts, pastries, cakes, and ice creams. In this product, some parameters such as taste and flavor, quality stability, whipping ability, and stability of foam after whipping are very important. The objective of this study is applicable of Farsi gum and sodium caseinate in 3 biopolymer ratios (1:1, 1:2, and 2:1) and 0.15, 0.30, and 0.45 %wt. concentrations in whipped cream formulation. Sample without hydrocolloids was considered as a control. Before whipping, viscosity of all creams was increased continuously with increasing shear rate. In addition, the viscosity was increased with the increasing hydrocolloids addition (in constant shear rate). Microscopic observations showed that polydispersity of systems before whipping. Overrun of F, FC11, and FC21 samples were increased (with increasing total hydrocollid concentration 0.15 to 0.30 % wt.); then decreased this parameter with increasing to 0.45 % wt. concentration. However, mean comparison of FC12 samples overrun showed that this value was increased with increasing total hydrocolloids concentration. 0.45FC21 sample had significantly (P<0.05) highest overrun (118.44±9.11). Synersis of whipped cream samples are reduced with hydrocolloid addition. B sample had significantly (P<0.05) highest serum separation (16.66±0.80%), and 0.45FC12 had a low one (5.94±0.19%) in compered with others synersis. Mean comparison of hardness and adhesiveness of whipped cream revealed that Farsi gum addition alone and in combination with sodium caseinate increased the previous textural characteristics. Results exhibited that 0.4FG12 had significantly (P<0.05) highest hardness (267.00±18.38 g).Mean comparison of droplet size of cream sample before whipping displaced that hydrocolloid addition had no significant effect (P>0.05), and mean droplet size of the samples ranged between 1.93-2.16 µm. Generally, the mean droplet size of whipped cream increased after whipping with increasing hydrocolloid concentration (0.15-0.45 % wt.). Color parameter analysis showed that Farsi gum addition alone and in combination with sodium caseinate had no significant effect (P>0.05) on these parameters (Lightness, Redness, and Yellowness). Based on sensory evaluation results, appearance, color, flavor, and taste of whipped creams not influenced by hydrocolloids addition; but 0.45FC12 sample had higher value. Based on the above results, Farsi gum had suggested to potential application in a whipped cream formulation; however, further research need to foundingof their functionality.

Keywords: whipped cream, farsi gum, sodium caseinate, overrun, droplet size, texture analysis, sensory evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Adem Peker, Yüksel Eroğlu, İsmail Ay

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As the information and communication technologies have become embedded in everyday life of adolescents, both their possible benefits and risks to adolescents are being identified. The information and communication technologies provide opportunities for adolescents to connect with peers and to access to information. However, as with other social connections, users of information and communication devices have the potential to meet and interact with in harmful ways. One emerging example of such interaction is cyber bullying. Cyber bullying occurs when someone uses the information and communication technologies to harass or embarrass another person. Cyber bullying can take the form of malicious text messages and e-mails, spreading rumours, and excluding people from online groups. Cyber bullying has been linked to psychological problems for cyber bullies and victims. Therefore, it is important to determine how internet addiction contributes to cyber bullying. Building on this question, this study takes a closer look at the relationship between internet addiction and cyber bullying. For this purpose, in this study, based on descriptive relational model, it was hypothesized that loss of control, excessive desire to stay online, and negativity in social relationships, which are dimensions of internet addiction, would be associated positively with cyber bullying and victimization. Participants were 383 high school students (176 girls and 207 boys; mean age, 15.7 years). Internet addiction was measured by using Internet Addiction Scale. The Cyber Victim and Bullying Scale was utilized to measure cyber bullying and victimization. The scales were administered to the students in groups in the classrooms. In this study, stepwise regression analyses were utilized to examine the relationships between dimensions of internet addiction and cyber bullying and victimization. Before applying stepwise regression analysis, assumptions of regression were verified. According to stepwise regression analysis, cyber bullying was predicted by loss of control (β=.26, p<.001) and negativity in social relationships (β=.13, p<.001). These variables accounted for 9 % of the total variance, with the loss of control explaining the higher percentage (8 %). On the other hand, cyber victimization was predicted by loss of control (β=.19, p<.001) and negativity in social relationships (β=.12, p<.001). These variables altogether accounted for 8 % of the variance in cyber victimization, with the best predictor loss of control (7 % of the total variance). The results of this study demonstrated that, as expected, loss of control and negativity in social relationships predicted cyber bullying and victimization positively. However, excessive desire to stay online did not emerge a significant predictor of both cyberbullying and victimization. Consequently, this study would enhance our understanding of the predictors of cyber bullying and victimization since the results proposed that internet addiction is related with cyber bullying and victimization.

Keywords: cyber bullying, internet addiction, adolescents, regression

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Authors: Yagya Murti Aryal, Bipin Adhikari, Pradeep Gyawali

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The Lesser Himalaya zone of Nepal consists of thrusting and folding belts, which play an important role in the sustainable management of groundwater in the Himalayan regions. The study area is located in the Dolakha and Ramechhap Districts of Bagmati Province, Nepal. Geologically, these districts are situated in the Lesser Himalayas and partly encompass the Higher Himalayan rock sequence, which includes low-grade to high-grade metamorphic rocks. Following the Gorkha Earthquake in 2015, numerous springs dried up, and many others are currently experiencing depletion due to the distortion of the natural groundwater flow. The primary objective of this study is to identify potential groundwater areas and determine suitable sites for artificial groundwater recharge. Two distinct statistical approaches were used to develop models: The Frequency Ratio (FR) and Shannon Entropy (SE) methods. The study utilized both primary and secondary datasets and incorporated significant role and controlling factors derived from field works and literature reviews. Field data collection involved spring inventory, soil analysis, lithology assessment, and hydro-geomorphology study. Additionally, slope, aspect, drainage density, and lineament density were extracted from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) using GIS and transformed into thematic layers. For training and validation, 114 springs were divided into a 70/30 ratio, with an equal number of non-spring pixels. After assigning weights to each class based on the two proposed models, a groundwater potential map was generated using GIS, classifying the area into five levels: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. The model's outcome reveals that over 41% of the area falls into the low and very low potential categories, while only 30% of the area demonstrates a high probability of groundwater potential. To evaluate model performance, accuracy was assessed using the Area under the Curve (AUC). The success rate AUC values for the FR and SE methods were determined to be 78.73% and 77.09%, respectively. Additionally, the prediction rate AUC values for the FR and SE methods were calculated as 76.31% and 74.08%. The results indicate that the FR model exhibits greater prediction capability compared to the SE model in this case study.

Keywords: groundwater potential mapping, frequency ratio, Shannon’s Entropy, Lesser Himalaya Zone, sustainable groundwater management

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Authors: Muhammad Sufyan, Muhammad J. Arif, Muhammad Arshad, Usman Shoukat

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In Pakistan, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is seriously attacked by the wheat ‎aphid. Naturally, bio control agents play an important role in managing wheat aphid. However, association ‎among pest, natural enemies and host plant is highly affected by food resource ‎concentration and predator/parasitoid factor of any ecosystem. The present ‎study was conducted to estimate the effect of different dose levels of macro ‎and micronutrients on the aphid population and its entomophagous insect ‎on wheat and their tri-trophic association. The experiment was laid out in ‎RCBD with six different combinations of macro and micronutrients and a control treatment. The data was initiated from the second week of ‎the February till the maturity of the crop. Data regarding aphid population and ‎coccinellids counts were collected on weekly basis and subjected to analysis of ‎variance and mean comparison. The data revealed that aphid ‎population was at peak in the last week of March. Coccinellids population ‎increased side by side with aphid population and declined after second week of ‎April. Aphid parasitism was maximum 25% on recommended dose of Double and ‎Flasher and minimum 8.67% on control treatment. Maximum aphid population was observed on first April with 687.2 specimens. However, this maximum population was shown against the application of Double + Flasher treatment. The minimum aphid population was recorded after the application of HiK Gold + Flasher recommended dose on 15th April. The coccinellids population was at peak level at on 8th April and against the treatment double recommended dose of HiK gold + Flasher. Amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium percentage dry leaves ‎components was maximum (2.33, 0.18 and 2.62 % dry leaves. respectively) in ‎plots treated with recommended double dose mixture of Double + Flasher and ‎Hi-K Gold + Flasher while it was minimum (1.43, 0.12 and 1.77 dry leaves ‎respectively) in plots where no nutrients applied. The result revealed that maximum parasitism was at recommended level of micro and macro nutrients application.‎ Maximum micro nutrients zinc, copper, manganese, iron and boron found with values 46.67 ppm, 21.81 ppm, 62.35 ppm, 152.69 ppm and 36.78 respectively. The result also showed that Over application of macro and micro nutrients should be avoided because it do not help in pest control, conversely it may cause stress on plant. The treatment Double and Flasher recommended dose ratio is almost comparable with recommended dose and present studies confirm its usefulness on wheat.

Keywords: entomophagous insects, macro and micro nutrients, tri-trophic, wheat aphid

Procedia PDF Downloads 233

Authors: Priya Saha, Sourav Dey Roy Jr., Debotosh Bhattacharjee, Mita Nasipuri, Barin Kumar De, Mrinal Kanti Bhowmik

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Biometric face recognition technology (FRT) has gained a lot of attention due to its extensive variety of applications in both security and non-security perspectives. It has come into view to provide a secure solution in identification and verification of person identity. Although other biometric based methods like fingerprint scans, iris scans are available, FRT is verified as an efficient technology for its user-friendliness and contact freeness. Accurate facial feature localization plays an important role for many facial analysis applications including biometrics and emotion recognition. But, there are certain factors, which make facial feature localization a challenging task. On human face, expressions can be seen from the subtle movements of facial muscles and influenced by internal emotional states. These non-rigid facial movements cause noticeable alterations in locations of facial landmarks, their usual shapes, which sometimes create occlusions in facial feature areas making face recognition as a difficult problem. The paper proposes a new hybrid based technique for automatic landmark detection in both neutral and expressive frontal and near frontal face images. The method uses the concept of thresholding, sequential searching and other image processing techniques for locating the landmark points on the face. Also, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) based software is designed that could automatically detect 16 landmark points around eyes, nose and mouth that are mostly affected by the changes in facial muscles. The proposed system has been tested on widely used JAFFE and Cohn Kanade database. Also, the system is tested on DeitY-TU face database which is created in the Biometrics Laboratory of Tripura University under the research project funded by Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Govt. of India. The performance of the proposed method has been done in terms of error measure and accuracy. The method has detection rate of 98.82% on JAFFE database, 91.27% on Cohn Kanade database and 93.05% on DeitY-TU database. Also, we have done comparative study of our proposed method with other techniques developed by other researchers. This paper will put into focus emotion-oriented systems through AU detection in future based on the located features.

Keywords: biometrics, face recognition, facial landmarks, image processing

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Authors: Robson da Cunha Santos, Caio Cezar R. Bonifacio, Diego Mureb Quesada, Gerson Gomes Cunha

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The paper is related to the safety of oil wells and environmental preservation on the planet, because they require great attention and commitment from oil companies and people who work with these equipments. This must occur from drilling the well until it is abandoned in order to safeguard the environment and prevent possible damage. The project had as main objective the constitution resulting from comparatives made among books, articles and publications with information gathered in technical visits to operational bases of Petrobras. After the visits, the information from methods of utilization and present managements, which were not available before, became available to the general audience. As a result, it is observed a huge flux of incorrect and out-of-date information that comprehends not only bibliographic archives, but also academic resources and materials. During the gathering of more in-depth information on the manufacturing, assembling, and use aspects of DHSVs, several issues that were previously known as correct, customary issues were discovered to be uncertain and outdated. Information of great importance resulted in affirmations about subjects as the depth of the valve installation that was before installed to 30 meters from the seabed (mud line). Despite this, the installation should vary in conformity to the ideal depth to escape from area with the biggest tendency to hydrates formation according to the temperature and pressure. Regarding to valves with nitrogen chamber, in accordance with books, they have their utilization linked to water line ≥ 700 meters, but in Brazilian exploratory fields, their use occurs from 600 meters of water line. The valves used in Brazilian fields are able to be inserted to the production column and self-equalizing, but the use of screwed valve in the column of production and equalizing is predominant. Although these valves are more expensive to acquire, they are more reliable, efficient, with a bigger shelf life and they do not cause restriction to the fluid flux. It follows that based on researches and theoretical information confronted to usual forms used in fields, the present project is important and relevant. This project will be used as source of actualization and information equalization that connects academic environment and real situations in exploratory situations and also taking into consideration the enrichment of precise and easy to understand information to future researches and academic upgrading.

Keywords: down hole safety valve, security devices, installation, oil-wells

Procedia PDF Downloads 275

Authors: J. D. García Espinel, Paula Pérez Sánchez, Carlos Egea Ruiz, Carlos Lardín Mifsut, Andrés López-Aranguren Oliver

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This paper shortly describes three main actuations over a Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) for reducing its energy consumption: Optimization of the biological reactor in the aeration stage by including new control algorithms and introducing new efficient equipment, the installation of an innovative hybrid system with zero Grid injection (formed by 100kW of PV energy and 5 kW of mini-wind energy generation) and an intelligent management system for load consumption and energy generation control in the most optimum way. This project called RENEWAT, involved in the European Commission call LIFE 2013, has the main objective of reducing the energy consumptions through different actions on the processes which take place in a WWTP and introducing renewable energies on these treatment plants, with the purpose of promoting the usage of treated waste water for irrigation and decreasing the C02 gas emissions. WWTP is always required before waste water can be reused for irrigation or discharged in water bodies. However, the energetic demand of the treatment process is high enough for making the price of treated water to exceed the one for drinkable water. This makes any policy very difficult to encourage the re-use of treated water, with a great impact on the water cycle, particularly in those areas suffering hydric stress or deficiency. The cost of treating waste water involves another climate-change related burden: the energy necessary for the process is obtained mainly from the electric network, which is, in most of the cases in Europe, energy obtained from the burning of fossil fuels. The innovative part of this project is based on the implementation, adaptation and integration of solutions for this problem, together with a new concept of the integration of energy input and operative energy demand. Moreover, there is an important qualitative jump between the technologies used and the alleged technologies to use in the project which give it an innovative character, due to the fact that there are no similar previous experiences of a WWTP including an intelligent discrimination of energy sources, integrating renewable ones (PV and Wind) and the grid.

Keywords: aeration system, biological reactor, CO2 emissions, energy efficiency, hybrid systems, LIFE 2013 call, process optimization, renewable energy sources, wasted water treatment plants

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Authors: Tobias Schnabel

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Naphthalene and naphthalene similar compounds are a common problem in the indoor air of buildings from the 1960s and 1970s in Germany. Often tar containing roof felt was used under the concrete floor to prevent humidity to come through the floor. This tar containing roof felt has high concentrations of PAH (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) and naphthalene. Naphthalene easily evaporates and contaminates the indoor air. Especially after renovations and energetically modernization of the buildings, the naphthalene concentration rises because no forced air exchange can happen. Because of this problem, it is often necessary to change the floors after renovation of the buildings. The MFPA Weimar (Material research and testing facility) developed in cooperation a project with LEJ GmbH and Reichmann Gebäudetechnik GmbH. It is a technical solution for the disintegration of naphthalene in naphthalene, similar compounds in indoor air with photocatalytic reforming. Photocatalytic systems produce active oxygen species (hydroxyl radicals) through trading semiconductors on a wavelength of their bandgap. The light energy separates the charges in the semiconductor and produces free electrons in the line tape and defect electrons. The defect electrons can react with hydroxide ions to hydroxyl radicals. The produced hydroxyl radicals are a strong oxidation agent, and can oxidate organic matter to carbon dioxide and water. During the research, new titanium oxide catalysator surface coatings were developed. This coating technology allows the production of very porous titan oxide layer on temperature stable carrier materials. The porosity allows the naphthalene to get easily absorbed by the surface coating, what accelerates the reaction of the heterogeneous photocatalysis. The photocatalytic reaction is induced by high power and high efficient UV-A (ultra violet light) Leds with a wavelength of 365nm. Various tests in emission chambers and on the reformer itself show that a reduction of naphthalene in important concentrations between 2 and 250 µg/m³ is possible. The disintegration rate was at least 80%. To reduce the concentration of naphthalene from 30 µg/m³ to a level below 5 µg/m³ in a usual 50 ² classroom, an energy of 6 kWh is needed. The benefits of the photocatalytic indoor air treatment are that every organic compound in the air can be disintegrated and reduced. The use of new photocatalytic materials in combination with highly efficient UV leds make a safe and energy efficient reduction of organic compounds in indoor air possible. At the moment the air cleaning systems take the step from prototype stage into the usage in real buildings.

Keywords: naphthalene, titandioxide, indoor air, photocatalysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: Rishi Richa, N. C. Shahi, J. P. Pandey, S. S. Kautkar

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Citrus fruits rank third in area and production after banana and mango in India. Sweet oranges are the second largest citrus fruits cultivated in the country. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand are the main sweet orange-growing states. Citrus fruits occupy a leading position in the fruit trade of Uttarakhand, is casing about 14.38% of the total area under fruits and contributing nearly 17.75 % to the total fruit production. Malta is grown in most of the hill districts of the Uttarakhand. Malta common is having high acceptability due to its attractive colour, distinctive flavour, and taste. The excellent quality fruits are generally available for only one or two months. However due to its less shelf-life, Malta can not be stored for longer time under ambient conditions and cannot be transported to distant places. Continuous loss of water adversely affects the quality of Malta during storage and transportation. Method of picking, packaging, and cold storage has detrimental effects on moisture loss. The climatic condition such as ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind condition (aeration) and microbial attack greatly influences the rate of moisture loss and quality. Therefore, different agro-climatic zone will have different moisture loss pattern. The rate of moisture loss can be taken as one of the quality parameters in combination of one or more parameter such as RH, and aeration. The moisture contents of the fruits and vegetables determine their freshness. Hence, it is important to maintain initial moisture status of fruits and vegetable for prolonged period after the harvest. Keeping all points in views, effort was made to store Malta at ambient condition. In this study, the response surface method and experimental design were applied for optimization of independent variables to enhance the shelf life of four months stored malta. Box-Benkhen design, with, 12 factorial points and 5 replicates at the centre point were used to build a model for predicting and optimizing storage process parameters. The independent parameters, viz., scavenger (3, 4 and 5g), polythene thickness (75, 100 and 125 gauge) and fungicide concentration (100, 150 and 200ppm) were selected and analyzed. 5g scavenger, 125 gauge and 200ppm solution of fungicide are the optimized value for storage which may enhance life up to 4months.

Keywords: Malta fruit, scavenger, packaging, shelf life

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Ashenafi Beyene Fanta, Daniel Makina

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Economic theory predicts that finance promotes economic growth. Although the finance-growth link is among the most researched areas in financial economics, our understanding of the link between the two is still incomplete. This is caused by, among others, wrong econometric specifications, using weak proxies of financial development, and inability to address the endogeneity problem. Studies on the finance growth link in South Africa consistently report economic growth driving financial development. Early studies found that economic growth drives financial development in South Africa, and recent studies have confirmed this using different econometric models. However, the monetary aggregate (i.e. M2) utilized used in these studies is considered a weak proxy for financial development. Furthermore, the fact that the models employed do not address the endogeneity problem in the finance-growth link casts doubt on the validity of the conclusions. For this reason, the current study examines the finance growth link in South Africa using data for the period 1990 to 2011 by employing a generalized method of moments (GMM) technique that is capable of addressing endogeneity, simultaneity and omitted variable bias problems. Unlike previous cross country and country case studies that have also used the same technique, our contribution is that we account for the development of bond markets and non-bank financial institutions rather than being limited to stock market and banking sector development. We find that bond market development affects economic growth in South Africa, and no similar effect is observed for the bank and non-bank financial intermediaries and the stock market. Our findings show that examination of individual elements of the financial system is important in understanding the unique effect of each on growth. The observation that bond markets rather than private credit and stock market development promotes economic growth in South Africa induces an intriguing question as to what unique roles bond markets play that the intermediaries and equity markets are unable to play. Crucially, our results support observations in the literature that using appropriate measures of financial development is critical for policy advice. They also support the suggestion that individual elements of the financial system need to be studied separately to consider their unique roles in advancing economic growth. We believe that our understanding of the channels through which bond market contribute to growth would be a fertile ground for future research.

Keywords: bond market, finance, financial sector, growth

Procedia PDF Downloads 427

Authors: Peniah Mabaso-Shamano

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The paper evaluates Shona terms that were created to teach Phonetics and Phonology courses at Great Zimbabwe University (GZU). The phonetics and phonology terms to be discussed in this paper were created using different processes and strategies such as translation, borrowing, neologising, compounding, transliteration, circumlocution among many others. Most phonetics and phonology terms are alien to Shona and as a result, there are no suitable Shona equivalents. The lecturers and students for these courses have a mammoth task of creating terminology for the different modules offered in Shona and other Zimbabwean indigenous languages. Most linguistic reference books are written in English. As such, lecturers and students translate information from English to Shona, a measure which is proving to be too difficult for them. A term creation workshop was held at GZU to try to address the problem of lack of terminology in indigenous languages. Different indigenous language practitioners from different tertiary institutions convened for a two-day workshop at GZU. Due to the 'specialized' nature of phonetics and phonology, it was too difficult to come up with 'proper' indigenous terms. The researcher will consult tertiary institutions lecturers who teach linguistics courses and linguistics students to get their views on the created terms. The people consulted will not be the ones who took part in the term creation workshop held at GZU. The selected participants will be asked to evaluate and back-translate some of the terms. In instances where they feel the terms created are not suitable or user-friendly, they will be asked to suggest other terms. Since the researcher is also a linguistics lecturer, her observation and views will be important. From her experience in using some of the terms in teaching phonetics and phonology courses to undergraduate students, the researcher noted that most of the terms created have shortcomings since they are not user-friendly. These shortcomings include terms longer than the English terms as some terms are translated to Shona through a whole statement. Most of these terms are neologisms, compound neologisms, transliterations, circumlocutions, and blends. The paper will show that there is overuse of transliterated terms due to the lack of Shona equivalents for English terms. Most single English words were translated into compound neologisms or phrases after attempts to reduce them to one word terms failed. In other instances, circumlocution led to the problem of creating longer terms than the original and as a result, the terms are not user-friendly. The paper will discuss and evaluate the different phonetics and phonology terms created and the different strategies and processes used in creating them.

Keywords: blending, circumlocution, term creation, translation

Procedia PDF Downloads 150

Authors: Sudip Mondal, Biswanath Mondal, Sudit S. Mukhopadhyay, Apurba Dey

Abstract:

Bioactive materials improve devices for a long lifespan but have mechanical limitations. Mechanical characterization is one of the very important characteristics to evaluate the life span and functionality of the scaffold material. After implantation of scaffold material the primary stage rejection of scaffold occurs due to non biocompatible effect of host body system. The second major problems occur due to the effect of mechanical failure. The mechanical and biocompatibility failure of the scaffold materials can be overcome by the prior evaluation of the scaffold materials. In this study chemically treated Labeo rohita scale is used for synthesizing hydroxyapatite (HAp) biomaterial. Thermo-gravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) is carried out to ensure thermal stability. The chemical composition and bond structures of wet ball-milled calcined HAp powder is characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. Fish scale derived apatite materials consists of nano-sized particles with Ca/P ratio of 1.71. The biocompatibility through cytotoxicity evaluation and MTT assay are carried out in MG63 osteoblast cell lines. In the cell attachment study, the cells are tightly attached with HAp scaffolds developed in the laboratory. The result clearly suggests that HAp material synthesized in this study do not have any cytotoxic effect, as well as it has a natural binding affinity for mammalian cell lines. The synthesized HAp powder further successfully used to develop porous scaffold material with suitable mechanical property of ~0.8GPa compressive stress, ~1.10 GPa a hardness and ~ 30-35% porosity which is acceptable for implantation in trauma region for animal model. The histological analysis also supports the bio-affinity of processed HAp biomaterials in Wistar rat model for investigating the contact reaction and stability at the artificial or natural prosthesis interface for biomedical function. This study suggests the natural sourced fish scale-derived HAp material could be used as a suitable alternative biomaterial for tissue engineering application in near future.

Keywords: biomaterials, hydroxyapatite, scaffold, mechanical property, tissue engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 457

Authors: Damian Czubak

Abstract:

The Białowieża Forest is a very valuable natural area, included in the World Natural Heritage at UNESCO, where, due to infestation by the bark beetle (Ips typographus), norway spruce (Picea abies) have deteriorated. This catastrophic scenario led to an increase in fire danger. This was due to the occurrence of large amounts of dead wood and grass cover, as light penetrated to the bottom of the stands. These factors in a dry state are materials that favour the possibility of fire and the rapid spread of fire. One of the objectives of the study was to monitor the quantitative and qualitative changes of combustible material on the permanent decay plots of spruce stands from 2012-2022. In addition, the size of the area with highly flammable vegetation was monitored and a classification of the stands of the Białowieża Forest by flammability classes was made. The key factor that determines the potential fire hazard of a forest is combustible material. Primarily its type, quantity, moisture content, size and spatial structure. Based on the inventory data on the areas of forest districts in the Białowieża Forest, the average fire load and its changes over the years were calculated. The analysis was carried out taking into account the changes in the health status of the stands and sanitary operations. The quantitative and qualitative assessment of fallen timber and fire load of ground cover used the results of the 2019 and 2021 inventories. Approximately 9,000 circular plots were used for the study. An assessment was made of the amount of potential fuel, understood as ground cover vegetation and dead wood debris. In addition, monitoring of areas with vegetation that poses a high fire risk was conducted using data from 2019 and 2021. All sub-areas were inventoried where vegetation posing a specific fire hazard represented at least 10% of the area with species characteristic of that cover. In addition to the size of the area with fire-prone vegetation, a very important element is the size of the fire load on the indicated plots. On representative plots, the biomass of the land cover was measured on an area of 10 m2 and then the amount of biomass of each component was determined. The resulting element of variability of ground covers in stands was their flammability classification. The classification developed made it possible to track changes in the flammability classes of stands over the period covered by the measurements.

Keywords: classification, combustible material, flammable vegetation, Norway spruce

Procedia PDF Downloads 94