Search results for: class division
680 Enhance Construction Visual As-Built Schedule Management Using BIM Technology
Authors: Shu-Hui Jan, Hui-Ping Tserng, Shih-Ping Ho
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Construction project control attempts to obtain real-time as-built schedule information and to eliminate project delays by effectively enhancing dynamic schedule control and management. Suitable platforms for enhancing an as-built schedule visually during the construction phase are necessary and important for general contractors. As the application of building information modeling (BIM) becomes more common, schedule management integrated with the BIM approach becomes essential to enhance visual construction management implementation for the general contractor during the construction phase. To enhance visualization of the updated as-built schedule for the general contractor, this study presents a novel system called the Construction BIM-assisted Schedule Management (ConBIM-SM) system for general contractors in
Keywords: building information modeling (BIM), construction schedule management, as-built schedule management, BIM schedule updating mechanism
Procedia PDF Downloads 365679 A Geometrical Multiscale Approach to Blood Flow Simulation: Coupling 2-D Navier-Stokes and 0-D Lumped Parameter Models
Authors: Azadeh Jafari, Robert G. Owens
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In this study, a geometrical multiscale approach which means coupling together the 2-D Navier-Stokes equations, constitutive equations and 0-D lumped parameter models is investigated. A multiscale approach, suggest a natural way of coupling detailed local models (in the flow domain) with coarser models able to describe the dynamics over a large part or even the whole cardiovascular system at acceptable computational cost. In this study we introduce a new velocity correction scheme to decouple the velocity computation from the pressure one. To evaluate the capability of our new scheme, a comparison between the results obtained with Neumann outflow boundary conditions on the velocity and Dirichlet outflow boundary conditions on the pressure and those obtained using coupling with the lumped parameter model has been performed. Comprehensive studies have been done based on the sensitivity of numerical scheme to the initial conditions, elasticity and number of spectral modes. Improvement of the computational algorithm with stable convergence has been demonstrated for at least moderate Weissenberg number. We comment on mathematical properties of the reduced model, its limitations in yielding realistic and accurate numerical simulations, and its contribution to a better understanding of microvascular blood flow. We discuss the sophistication and reliability of multiscale models for computing correct boundary conditions at the outflow boundaries of a section of the cardiovascular system of interest. In this respect the geometrical multiscale approach can be regarded as a new method for solving a class of biofluids problems, whose application goes significantly beyond the one addressed in this work.Keywords: geometrical multiscale models, haemorheology model, coupled 2-D navier-stokes 0-D lumped parameter modeling, computational fluid dynamics
Procedia PDF Downloads 351678 Partial Replacement for Cement and Coarse Aggregate in Concrete by Using Egg Shell Powder and Coconut Shell
Authors: A. K. Jain, M. C. Paliwal
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The production of cement leads to the emission of large amounts of carbon-dioxide gas into the atmosphere which is a major contributor for the greenhouse effect and the global warming; hence it is mandatory either to quest for another material or partly replace it with some other material. According to the practical demonstrations and reports, Egg Shell Powder (ESP) can be used as a binding material for different field applications as it contains some of the properties of lime. It can partially replace the cement and further; it can be used in different proportion for enhancing the performance of cement. It can be used as a first-class alternative, for material reuse and waste recycling practices. Eggshell is calcium rich and analogous to limestone in chemical composition. Therefore, use of eggshell waste for partial replacement of cement in concrete is feasible. Different studies reveal that plasticity index of the soil can be improved by adding eggshell wastes in all the clay soil and it has wider application in construction projects including earth canals and earthen dams. The scarcity of aggregates is also increasing nowadays. Utilization of industrial waste or secondary materials is increasing in different construction applications. Coconut shell was successfully used in the construction industry for partial or full replacement for coarse aggregates. The use of coconut shell gives advantage of using waste material to partially replace the coarse aggregate. Studies carried on coconut shell indicate that it can partially replace the aggregate. It has good strength and modulus properties along with the advantage of high lignin content. It absorbs relatively low moisture due to its low cellulose content. In the paper, study carried out on eggshell powder and coconut shell will be discussed. Optimum proportions of these materials to be used for partial replacement of cement and aggregate will also be discussed.Keywords: greenhouse, egg shell powder, binding material, aggregates, coconut shell, coarse aggregates
Procedia PDF Downloads 237677 A Study on Hierarchy and Popularity of Foreign TV Series with Different Origin Countries among Chinese Audiences from a Uses and Gratification Perspective
Authors: Terigele
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Cultural products are always shelved into different classes of a hierarchy that separates so-called highbrow and lowbrow cultures. This study illustrated that audiences might even construct a hierarchy according to the origin countries when consuming certain products. Chinese audiences now have access to TV series from all around the world thanks to the internet. TV series from different origin countries show some particular features in terms of length, theme, plots, accessibility, seriousness etc. Their audiences were therefore stereotyped because of what they watch. Based on in-depth interviews with 20 participants, this research has following findings: 1) Most popular origin countries of foreign TV series in China are Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and European countries in a descending order. Korean TV series are most popular because they are less serious and more accessible compared to others. 2) In the hierarchy of the TV series, European TV series stand on the top followed by British and American TV series. Japanese TV series are also categorized into highbrow class. Korean TV series are at the bottom and always seen as lowbrow cultural products. 3) Most audiences consume TV series from more than one origin countries and have different needs when watching them. Participants reported that they watch European TV series because those TV series are more artistic than their counterparts and of great quality. They watch British and American TV series mainly to improve their English and to learn about the culture. They find Japanese TV series very enjoyable with a large variety of themes and impressive lines. Audiences watch Korean TV series mostly to entertain and kill time. 4) Audiences do care about cultural taste. Especially those who watch European, British and American TV series usually tend to consider audiences who watch nothing but Korean TV series to be shallow. On the other hand, Korean TV series’ audiences seem to care less about the hierarchy of the TV series. Even when they discuss the hierarchy, they tend to accept the judgments with ironies and jokes. Future studies can dig deeply into the genre and content of TV series with different origin countries and also investigate more about the psychology of audiences regarding the gender, age, education, socioeconomic status etc.Keywords: foreign TV series, hierarchy, popularity, uses and gratification
Procedia PDF Downloads 236676 The Development of Integrated Real-Life Video and Animation with Addie Based on Constructive for Improving Students’ Mastery Concept in Rotational Dynamics
Authors: Silka Abyadati, Dadi Rusdiana, Enjang Akhmad Juanda
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This study aims to investigate the students’ mastery concepts enhancement between students who are studying by using Integrated Real-Life Video and Animation (IRVA) and students who are studying without using IRVA. The development of IRVA is conducted by five stages: Analyze, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation (ADDIE) based on constructivist for Rotational Dynamics material in Physics learning. A constructivist model-based learning used is Interpretation Construction (ICON), which has the following phases: 1) Observation, 2) Construction interpretation, 3) Contextualization prior knowledge, 4) Conflict cognitive, 5) Learning cognitive, 6) Collaboration, 7) Multiple interpretation, 8) Multiple manifestation. The IRVA is developed for the stages of observation, cognitive conflict and cognitive learning. The sample of this study consisted of 32 students experimental group and a control group of 32 students in class XI of the school year 2015/2016 in one of Senior High Schools Bandung. The study was conducted by giving the pretest and posttest in the form of 20 items of multiple choice questions to determine the enhancement of mastery concept of Rotational Dynamics. Hypothesis testing is done by using T-test on the value of N-gain average of mastery concepts. The results showed that there is a significant difference in an enhancement of students’ mastery concepts between students who are studying by using IRVA and students who are studying without IRVA. Students in the experimental group increased by 0.468 while students in the control group increased by 0.207.Keywords: ADDIE, constructivist learning, Integrated Real-Life Video and Animation, mastery concepts, rotational dynamics
Procedia PDF Downloads 223675 Facilitating Written Biology Assessment in Large-Enrollment Courses Using Machine Learning
Authors: Luanna B. Prevost, Kelli Carter, Margaurete Romero, Kirsti Martinez
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Writing is an essential scientific practice, yet, in several countries, the increasing university science class-size limits the use of written assessments. Written assessments allow students to demonstrate their learning in their own words and permit the faculty to evaluate students’ understanding. However, the time and resources required to grade written assessments prohibit their use in large-enrollment science courses. This study examined the use of machine learning algorithms to automatically analyze student writing and provide timely feedback to the faculty about students' writing in biology. Written responses to questions about matter and energy transformation were collected from large-enrollment undergraduate introductory biology classrooms. Responses were analyzed using the LightSide text mining and classification software. Cohen’s Kappa was used to measure agreement between the LightSide models and human raters. Predictive models achieved agreement with human coding of 0.7 Cohen’s Kappa or greater. Models captured that when writing about matter-energy transformation at the ecosystem level, students focused on primarily on the concepts of heat loss, recycling of matter, and conservation of matter and energy. Models were also produced to capture writing about processes such as decomposition and biochemical cycling. The models created in this study can be used to provide automatic feedback about students understanding of these concepts to biology faculty who desire to use formative written assessments in larger enrollment biology classes, but do not have the time or personnel for manual grading.Keywords: machine learning, written assessment, biology education, text mining
Procedia PDF Downloads 271674 Development of Highly Repellent Silica Nanoparticles Treatment for Protection of Bio-Based Insulation Composite Material
Authors: Nadia Sid, Alan Taylor, Marion Bourebrab
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The construction sector is on the critical path to decarbonise the European economy by 2050. In order to achieve this objective it must enable reducing its CO2 emission by 90% and its energy consumption by as much as 50%. For this reason, a new class of low environmental impact construction materials named “eco-material” are becoming increasingly important in the struggle against climate change. A European funded collaborative project ISOBIO coordinated by TWI is aimed at taking a radical approach to the use of bio-based aggregates to create novel construction materials that are usable in high volume in using traditional methods, as well as developing markets such as exterior insulation of existing house stocks. The approach taken for this project is to use finely chopped material protected from bio-degradation through the use of functionalized silica nanoparticles. TWI is exploring the development of novel inorganic-organic hybrid nano-materials, to be applied as a surface treatment onto bio-based aggregates. These nanoparticles are synthesized by sol-gel processing and then functionalised with silanes to impart multifunctionality e.g. hydrophobicity, fire resistance and chemical bonding between the silica nanoparticles and the bio-based aggregates. This talk will illustrate the approach taken by TWI to design the functionalized silica nanoparticles by using a material-by-design approach. The formulation and synthesize process will be presented together with the challenges addressed by those hybrid nano-materials. The results obtained with regards to the water repellence and fire resistance will be displayed together with preliminary public results of the ISOBIO project. (This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 641927).Keywords: bio-sourced material, composite material, durable insulation panel, water repellent material
Procedia PDF Downloads 232673 Resistance of Haemonchus spp. to Albendazole, Fenbendazole and Levamisole in 4 Goat Farms of Antioquia, Colombia
Authors: Jose D. Zapata-Torres, Esteban Naranjo-Gutiérrez, Angela M. Martínez-Valencia, Jenny J. Chaparro-Gutiérrez, David Villar-Argaiz
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Reports of drug resistance have been made in every livestock host and to every anthelmintic class. In some regions of world, the extremely high prevalence of multi-drug resistance in nematodes of sheep and goats threatens the viability of small-ruminant industries. In the region of Antioquia, Colombia, no reports of nematode resistance have been documented due to a lack of veterinary diagnostic laboratories. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of albendazole, fenbendazole, and levamisole to control gastrointestinal nematodes in goat farms of Antioquia by doing fecal egg count reduction tests. A total of 139 crossbreed goats from four separate farms were sampled for feces prior to, and 14 days following anthelmintc treatments. Individual fecal egg counts were performed using the modified three chamber McMaster technique. The anthelmintics administered at day 0 were albendazole (farm 1, n=63), fenbendazole (farm 2, n=20), and levamisole (farm 3 and 4, n= 37, and 19). Larval cultures were used to identify the genus of nematodes using Baermann`s technique and the morphological keys for identification of L3 in small ruminants. There was no difference in fecal egg counts between 0 and 14, with means (±SD) of 1681,5 ± 2121,5 and 1715,12 ± 1895,4 epg (eggs per gram), respectively. The egg count reductions for each anthelmintic and farm were 25,86% for albendazole (farm 1), 0% for fenbendazole (farm 2), 0% (farm 3), and 5,5% (farm 4) for levamisole. The genus of nematodes identified was predominantly Haemonchus spp., with 70,27% and 82,81% for samples from day 0 and 14, respectively. These results provide evidence of a total state of resistance to 3 common anthelmintics. Further research is needed to design integrate management programs to control nematodes in small ruminants in Colombia.Keywords: anthelmintics, goat, haemonchus, resistance
Procedia PDF Downloads 519672 Wind Tunnel Tests on Ground-Mounted and Roof-Mounted Photovoltaic Array Systems
Authors: Chao-Yang Huang, Rwey-Hua Cherng, Chung-Lin Fu, Yuan-Lung Lo
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Solar energy is one of the replaceable choices to reduce the CO2 emission produced by conventional power plants in the modern society. As an island which is frequently visited by strong typhoons and earthquakes, it is an urgent issue for Taiwan to make an effort in revising the local regulations to strengthen the safety design of photovoltaic systems. Currently, the Taiwanese code for wind resistant design of structures does not have a clear explanation on photovoltaic systems, especially when the systems are arranged in arrayed format. Furthermore, when the arrayed photovoltaic system is mounted on the rooftop, the approaching flow is significantly altered by the building and led to different pressure pattern in the different area of the photovoltaic system. In this study, L-shape arrayed photovoltaic system is mounted on the ground of the wind tunnel and then mounted on the building rooftop. The system is consisted of 60 PV models. Each panel model is equivalent to a full size of 3.0 m in depth and 10.0 m in length. Six pressure taps are installed on the upper surface of the panel model and the other six are on the bottom surface to measure the net pressures. Wind attack angle is varied from 0° to 360° in a 10° interval for the worst concern due to wind direction. The sampling rate of the pressure scanning system is set as high enough to precisely estimate the peak pressure and at least 20 samples are recorded for good ensemble average stability. Each sample is equivalent to 10-minute time length in full scale. All the scale factors, including timescale, length scale, and velocity scale, are properly verified by similarity rules in low wind speed wind tunnel environment. The purpose of L-shape arrayed system is for the understanding the pressure characteristics at the corner area. Extreme value analysis is applied to obtain the design pressure coefficient for each net pressure. The commonly utilized Cook-and-Mayne coefficient, 78%, is set to the target non-exceedance probability for design pressure coefficients under Gumbel distribution. Best linear unbiased estimator method is utilized for the Gumbel parameter identification. Careful time moving averaging method is also concerned in data processing. Results show that when the arrayed photovoltaic system is mounted on the ground, the first row of the panels reveals stronger positive pressure than that mounted on the rooftop. Due to the flow separation occurring at the building edge, the first row of the panels on the rooftop is most in negative pressures; the last row, on the other hand, shows positive pressures because of the flow reattachment. Different areas also have different pressure patterns, which corresponds well to the regulations in ASCE7-16 describing the area division for design values. Several minor observations are found according to parametric studies, such as rooftop edge effect, parapet effect, building aspect effect, row interval effect, and so on. General comments are then made for the proposal of regulation revision in Taiwanese code.Keywords: aerodynamic force coefficient, ground-mounted, roof-mounted, wind tunnel test, photovoltaic
Procedia PDF Downloads 129671 Enhancing Secondary School Mathematics Retention with Blended Learning: Integrating Concepts for Improved Understanding
Authors: Felix Oromena Egara, Moeketsi Mosia
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The study aimed to evaluate the impact of blended learning on mathematics retention among secondary school students. Conducted in the Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria, the research involved 1,235 senior class one (SS 1) students. Employing a non-equivalent control group pre-test-post-test quasi-experimental design, a sample of 70 students was selected from two secondary schools with ICT facilities through purposive sampling. Random allocation of students into experimental and control groups was achieved through balloting within each selected school. The investigation included three assessment points: pre-Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT), post-MAT, and post-post-MAT (retention), administered systematically by the researchers. Data collection utilized the established MAT instrument, which demonstrated a high reliability score of 0.86. Statistical analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 28, with mean and standard deviation addressing study questions and analysis of covariance scrutinizing hypotheses at a significance level of .05. Results revealed significantly greater improvements in mathematics retention scores among students exposed to blended learning compared to those instructed through conventional methods. Moreover, noticeable differences in mean retention scores were observed, with male students in the blended learning group exhibiting notably higher performance. Based on these findings, recommendations were made, advocating for mathematics educators to integrate blended learning, particularly in geometry teaching, to enhance students’ retention of mathematical concepts.Keywords: blended learning, flipped classroom model, secondary school students, station rotation model
Procedia PDF Downloads 34670 Microwave-Assisted 3D Porous Graphene for Its Multi-Functionalities
Authors: Jung-Hwan Oh, Rajesh Kumar, Il-Kwon Oh
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Porous graphene has extensive potential applications in variety of fields such as hydrogen storage, CO oxidation, gas separation, supercapacitors, fuel cells, nanoelectronics, oil adsorption, and so on. However, the generation of some carbon atoms vacancies for precise small holes have been not extensively studied to prevent the agglomerates of graphene sheets and to obtain porous graphene with high surface area. Recently, many research efforts have been presented to develop physical and chemical synthetic approaches for porous graphene. But physical method has very high cost of manufacture and chemical method consumes so many hours for porous graphene. Herein, we propose a porous graphene contained holes with atomic scale precision by embedding metal nano-particles through microwave irradiation for hydrogen storage and CO oxidation multi- functionalities. This proposed synthetic method is appropriate for fast and convenient production of three dimensional nanostructures, which have nanoholes on the graphene surface in consequence of microwave irradiation. The metal nanoparticles are dispersed quickly on the graphene surface and generated uniform nanoholes on the graphene nanosheets. The morphological and structural characterization of the porous graphene were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission scanning electron microscopy (TEM) and RAMAN spectroscopy, respectively. The metal nanoparticle-embedded porous graphene exhibits a microporous volume of 2.586cm3g-1 with an average pore radius of 0.75 nm. HR-TEM analysis was carried out to further characterize the microstructures. By investigating the RAMAN spectra, we can understand the structural changes of graphene. The results of this work demonstrate a possibility to produce a new class of porous graphene. Furthermore, the newly acquired knowledge for the diffusion into graphene can provide useful guidance for the development of the growth of nanostructure.Keywords: CO oxidation, hydrogen storage, nanocomposites, porous graphene
Procedia PDF Downloads 366669 Creating a Child Friendly Environment as a Curriculum Model for Early Years Teaching
Authors: Undiyaundeye Florence Atube, Ugar Innocent A.
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Young children are active learners who use all their senses to build concepts and ideas from their experiences. The process of learning, the content and the outcomes, is vital for young children. They need time to explore whether they are satisfied with what is learnt. Of all levels of education, early childhood education is considered to be most critical for the social, emotional, cognitive and physical development. For this reason, the teachers for early years need to play a significant role in the teaching and learning process through the provision of a friendly environment in the school. A case study approach was used in this study. The information was gathered through various methods like class observation, field notes, documents analysis, group processes, and semi structured interviews. The group processes participants and interviewees were taken from some stakeholders such as parents, students, teachers, and head teachers from public schools, to have a broad and comprehensive analysis, informal interaction with different stakeholders and self-reflection was used to clarify aspects of varying issues and findings. The teachers’ roles in developing a child friendly environment in personal capacity to learning were found to improve a pupils learning ability. Prior to early child development education, learning experiences and pedagogical content knowledge played a vital role in engaging teachers in developing their thinking and teaching practice. Children can be helped to develop independent self-control and self-reliance with careful planning and development of the child’s experience with sensitive and appropriate interaction by the educator to propel eagerness to learn through the provision of a friendly environment.Keywords: child friendly environment, early childhood, education and development, teaching, learning and the curriculum
Procedia PDF Downloads 366668 Reconstruction of the 'Bakla' as an Identity
Authors: Oscar H. Malaco Jr.
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Homosexuality has been adapted as the universal concept that defines the deviations from the heteronormative parameters of society. Sexual orientation and gender identities have been used in a concretely separate manner the same way as the dynamics between man and woman, male and female, gender and sex operate. These terms are all products of human beings’ utilization of language. Language has proven its power to define and determine the status and the categories of the subjects in society. This tool developed by human beings provides a definition of their own specific cultural community and their individual selves that either claim or oppugn their space in the social hierarchy. The label ‘bakla’ is reasoned as an identity which is a reaction to the spectral disposition of gender and sexuality in the Philippine society. To expose the Filipino constitutes of bakla is the major attempt of this study. Through the methods of Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino Psychology), namely Pagtatanung-tanong (asking questions) and Pakikipagkuwentuhan (story-telling), the utterances of the bakla were gathered and analyzed in a rhetorical and ideological manner. Furthermore, the Dramatistic Pentad of Kenneth Burke was adapted as a methodology and also utilized as a perspective of analysis. The results suggest that the bakla as an identity carries the hurdles of class. The performativity of the bakla is proven to be a cycle propelled by their guilt to be identified and recognized as subjects in a society where heteronormative power contests their gender and sexual expressions as relatively aberrational to the binary gender and sexual roles. The labels, hence, are potent structures that control the disposition of the bakla in the society, reflecting an aspect of the disposition of Filipino identities. After all, performing kabaklaan in the Philippine society is interplay between resistance and conformity to the hegemonic dominions as a result of imperial attempts to universalize the concept of homosexuality between and among distant cultural communities.Keywords: gender identity, sexual orientation, rhetoric, performativity
Procedia PDF Downloads 433667 Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(2-[[4-(Dimethylamino)Benzylidene] Amino]Phenol) in Organic Medium: Investigation of Thermal Stability, Conductivity, and Antimicrobial Properties
Authors: Nuray Yilmaz Baran, Mehmet Saçak
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Schiff base polymers are one class of conjugated polymers, also called as poly(azomethines). They have drawn the attention of researchers in recent years due to their some properties such as, optoelectronic, semiconductive, and photovoltaic, antimicrobial activities and high thermal stability. In this study, Poly(2-[[4-(dimethylamino)benzylidene]amino] phenol) P(2-DBAP), which is a Schiff base polymer, was synthesized by an oxidative polycondensation reaction of -[[4-(dimethylamino)benzylidene]amino]phenol (2-DBAP) with oxidants NaOCl, H₂O₂ and O₂ in various organic medium. At the end of the polymerizations carried out at various temperatures and time, maximum conversion of the monomer to the polymer could be obtained as around 93.7 %. The structures of the monomer and polymer were characterized by UV-Vis, FTIR and ¹HNMR techniques. Thermal analysis of the polymer was identified by TG-DTG and DTA techniques, and the thermal degradation behavior was supported by Thermo-IR spectra recorded in the temperature range of 25-800 °C. The number average molecular weight (Mn), weight average molecular weight (Mw) and polydispersity index (PDI) of the polymer were found to be 26337, 9860 g/mol 2.67, respectively. The change of electrical conductivity value of the P(2-DBAP) doped with iodine vapor at different temperatures and time was investigated its maximum was measured by increasing 10¹⁰ fold as 2 x10⁻⁴ Scm⁻¹ after doping for 48 h at 60 °C. Antibacterial and antifungal activities of P(2-DBAP) Schiff base and its polymer were also investigated against Sarcina lutea, Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus Faecalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus subtilis, and Candida albicans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, respectively.Keywords: conductive properties, polyazomethines, polycondensation reaction, Schiff base polymers, thermal stability
Procedia PDF Downloads 283666 Effectiveness of the New Perilaryngeal Airway (CobraPLA™) in Comparison with the Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA™) to Improve Airway Sealing Pressures among Obese and Overweight Patients
Authors: Siamak Yaghoubi, Mohammad Reza Abootorabi, Hamid Kayalha
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Objective: The study was aimed to evaluate the applicability of the Cobra Perilaryngeal Airway (Cobra PLATM) for patients under general anesthesia and also compare result with the Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA). Methods: Seventy three obese and overweight patients were included in the study. The patients were randomly assigned to either LMA or Cobra PLATM. Time required for intubation, successful intubation attempt, airway sealing pressure, the incidences of complications including blood staining, sore throat and dysphagia were assessed and noted. Results: Thirty six and thirty seven patients were allocated randomly to either LMA or Cobra PLATM, respectively. Most of the patients were male and were in Mallampati Class II airway in both groups. The first attempt and overall insertion success for the Cobra PLATM was significantly more frequent compared to the LMA (p<0.05). Tube insertion was more successful (Cobra PLATM, 94%; LMA™, 77%; P = 0.027) with the Cobra PLATM. The insertion times were similar with the Cobra PLATM and LMA™ (Cobra PLATM, 29.94±16.35s; LMA™, 27.00±7.88s). The airway sealing pressure in the Cobra PLATM (24.80±0.90 H2O) was significantly more than LMA™ (19.13 ±0.58 H2O, p<0.001). Sore throat was more frequent in the LMA™ groups that did not reach statistical significance (Fisher’s exact test, P = 0.33). Incidences of blood staining on airway tube were seen for both groups that was higher in the Cobra PLATM group (Fisher’s exact test, P = 0.02). Incidence of dysphagia was not different between the two groups. Conclusion: The CobraPLA™ was found to be safe and low complications, better airway sealing and high rate of the first insertion success for suing in obese and overweight patients. The study recommended using the CobraPLA™ as a rescue device in an emergency situation among obese and overweight patients.Keywords: CobraPLA™, flexible laryngeal mask airway, obese patients, perilaryngeal airway
Procedia PDF Downloads 372665 Increasing Creativity in Virtual Learning Space for Developing Creative Cities
Authors: Elham Fariborzi, Hoda Anvari Kazemabad
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Today, ICT plays an important role in all matters and it affects the development of creative cities. According to virtual space in this technology, it use especially for expand terms like smart schools, Virtual University, web-based training and virtual classrooms that is in parallel with the traditional teaching. Nowadays, the educational systems in different countries such as Iran are changing and start increasing creativity in the learning environment. It will contribute to the development of innovative ideas and thinking of the people in this environment; such opportunities might be cause scientific discovery and development issues. The creativity means the ability to generate ideas and numerous, new and suitable solutions for solving the problems of real and virtual individuals and society, which can play a significant role in the development of creative current physical cities or virtual borders ones in the future. The purpose of this paper is to study strategies to increase creativity in a virtual learning to develop a creative city. In this paper, citation/ library study was used. The full description given in the text, including how to create and enhance learning creativity in a virtual classroom by reflecting on performance and progress; attention to self-directed learning guidelines, efficient use of social networks, systematic discussion groups and non-intuitive targeted controls them by involved factors and it may be effective in the teaching process regarding to creativity. Meanwhile, creating a virtual classroom the style of class recognizes formally the creativity. Also the use of a common model of creative thinking between student/teacher is effective to solve problems of virtual classroom. It is recommended to virtual education’ authorities in Iran to have a special review to the virtual curriculum for increasing creativity in educational content and such classes to be witnesses more creative in Iran's cities.Keywords: virtual learning, creativity, e-learning, bioinformatics, biomedicine
Procedia PDF Downloads 353664 Action Research: The Goal Setting Intervention Promotes Students' Academic Achievement of the Bachelors of Early Childhood Education Program During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Mashaal Hooda
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The rationale for conducting this action research was to increase students' Academic Achievement (AA) contexts of studying/researching by employing the Goal Setting intervention (GS). The purposive sample consisted of 10 female undergraduate students at a university in Dubai. The intervention was introduced through workshop classes conducted online. The pre-intervention consisted of discussions concentrating on participants' research contexts amidst a pandemic. The GS moderators were implemented in the class, followed by scaffolding and mentoring interactions and self-reflective accounts of students' actions and feelings of using the intervention to better plan and structure their dissertation tasks. The research incorporated a Mixed Methods Methodology (MMM). Quantitative data collection took place through surveys, while qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Triangulation of the emergent themes showed a positive increase in students achievable GS, self-regulatory study skills, feedback-seeking behaviours, research organisation and synthesis, self-reflection and Academic Resilient (AR) attitudes amalgamate to enhance students' AA outcomes. Though, students' intrinsic motivational levels to study and research observed minor changes only. Nonetheless, the pebble in the shoe was removed as students AA contexts improved in undertaking better actionable steps for their research. Therefore, the GS intervention enabled students to set, balance, and achieve academic goals while catering to their academic anxieties, mental health concerns, and adaptability to the e-learning platforms amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the wide-scale changes the pandemic brought to the teaching and learning communities, the GS intervention served as a targeted intervention to help students maintain their achievement contexts in a goal-oriented way.Keywords: academic achievement, acadeic resilience, COVID-19, goal setting
Procedia PDF Downloads 139663 Increased Cytolytic Activity of Effector T-Cells against Cholangiocarcinoma Cells by Self-Differentiated Dendritic Cells with Down-Regulation of Interleukin-10 and Transforming Growth Factor-β Receptors
Authors: Chutamas Thepmalee, Aussara Panya, Mutita Junking, Jatuporn Sujjitjoon, Nunghathai Sawasdee, Pa-Thai Yenchitsomanus
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Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is an aggressive malignancy of bile duct epithelial cells in which the standard treatments, including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy are partially effective. Many solid tumors including CCA escape host immune responses by creating tumor microenvironment and generating immunosuppressive cytokines such as interleukin-10 (IL-10) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). These cytokines can inhibit dendritic cell (DC) differentiation and function, leading to decreased activation and response of effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cells for cancer cell elimination. To overcome the effects of these immunosuppressive cytokines and to increase ability of DC to activate effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, we generated self-differentiated DCs (SD-DCs) with down-regulation of IL-10 and TGF-β receptors for activation of effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Human peripheral blood monocytes were initially transduced with lentiviral particles containing the genes encoding GM-CSF and IL-4 and then secondly transduced with lentiviral particles containing short-hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) to knock-down mRNAs of IL-10 and TGF-β receptors. The generated SD-DCs showed up-regulation of MHC class II (HLA-DR) and co-stimulatory molecules (CD40 and CD86), comparable to those of DCs generated by convention method. Suppression of IL-10 and TGF-β receptors on SD-DCs by specific shRNAs significantly increased levels of IFN-γ and also increased cytolytic activity of DC-activated effector T cells against CCA cell lines (KKU-213 and KKU-100), but it had little effect to immortalized cholangiocytes (MMNK-1). Thus, SD-DCs with down-regulation of IL-10 and TGF-β receptors increased activation of effector T cells, which is a recommended method to improve DC function for the preparation of DC-activated effector T cells for adoptive T-cell therapy.Keywords: cholangiocarcinoma, IL-10 receptor, self-differentiated dendritic cells, TGF-β receptor
Procedia PDF Downloads 133662 Multi-Objective Optimal Design of a Cascade Control System for a Class of Underactuated Mechanical Systems
Authors: Yuekun Chen, Yousef Sardahi, Salam Hajjar, Christopher Greer
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This paper presents a multi-objective optimal design of a cascade control system for an underactuated mechanical system. Cascade control structures usually include two control algorithms (inner and outer). To design such a control system properly, the following conflicting objectives should be considered at the same time: 1) the inner closed-loop control must be faster than the outer one, 2) the inner loop should fast reject any disturbance and prevent it from propagating to the outer loop, 3) the controlled system should be insensitive to measurement noise, and 4) the controlled system should be driven by optimal energy. Such a control problem can be formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem such that the optimal trade-offs among these design goals are found. To authors best knowledge, such a problem has not been studied in multi-objective settings so far. In this work, an underactuated mechanical system consisting of a rotary servo motor and a ball and beam is used for the computer simulations, the setup parameters of the inner and outer control systems are tuned by NSGA-II (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm), and the dominancy concept is used to find the optimal design points. The solution of this problem is not a single optimal cascade control, but rather a set of optimal cascade controllers (called Pareto set) which represent the optimal trade-offs among the selected design criteria. The function evaluation of the Pareto set is called the Pareto front. The solution set is introduced to the decision-maker who can choose any point to implement. The simulation results in terms of Pareto front and time responses to external signals show the competing nature among the design objectives. The presented study may become the basis for multi-objective optimal design of multi-loop control systems.Keywords: cascade control, multi-Loop control systems, multiobjective optimization, optimal control
Procedia PDF Downloads 144661 Design of an Automatic Bovine Feeding Machine
Authors: Huseyin A. Yavasoglu, Yusuf Ziya Tengiz, Ali Göksenli
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In this study, an automatic feeding machine for different type and class of bovine animals is designed. Daily nutrition of a bovine consists of grass, corn, straw, silage, oat, wheat and different vitamins and minerals. The amount and mixture amount of each of the nutrition depends on different parameters of the bovine. These parameters are; age, sex, weight and maternity of the bovine, also outside temperature. The problem in a farm is to constitute the correct mixture and amount of nutrition for each animal. Faulty nutrition will cause an insufficient feeding of the animal concluding in an unhealthy bovine. To solve this problem, a new automatic feeding machine is designed. Travelling of the machine is performed by four tires, which is pulled by a tractor. The carrier consists of eight bins, which each of them carries a nutrition type. Capacity of each unit is 250 kg. At the bottom of each chamber is a sensor measuring the weight of the food inside. A funnel is at the bottom of each chamber by which open/close function is controlled by a valve. Each animal will carry a RFID tag including ID on its ear. A receiver on the feeding machine will read this ID and by given previous information by the operator (veterinarian), the system will detect the amount of each nutrition unit which will be given to the selected animal for feeding. In the system, each bin will open its exit gate by the help of the valve under the control of PLC (Programmable Logic Controller). The amount of each nutrition type will be controlled by measuring the open/close time. The exit canals of the bins are collected in a reservoir. To achieve a homogenous nitration, the collected feed will be mixed by a worm gear. Further the mixture will be transported by a help of a funnel to the feeding unit of the animal. The feeding process can be performed in 100 seconds. After feeding of the animal, the tractor pulls the travelling machine to the next animal. By the help of this system animals can be feeded by right amount and mixture of nutritionKeywords: bovine, feeding, nutrition, transportation, automatic
Procedia PDF Downloads 336660 Using Complete Soil Particle Size Distributions for More Precise Predictions of Soil Physical and Hydraulic Properties
Authors: Habib Khodaverdiloo, Fatemeh Afrasiabi, Farrokh Asadzadeh, Martinus Th. Van Genuchten
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The soil particle-size distribution (PSD) is known to affect a broad range of soil physical, mechanical and hydraulic properties. Complete descriptions of a PSD curve should provide more information about these properties as opposed to having only information about soil textural class or the soil sand, silt and clay (SSC) fractions. We compared the accuracy of 19 different models of the cumulative PSD in terms of fitting observed data from a large number of Iranian soils. Parameters of the six most promising models were correlated with measured values of the field saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs), the mean weight diameter of soil aggregates (MWD), bulk density (ρb), and porosity (∅). These same soil properties were correlated also with conventional PSD parameters (SSC fractions), selected geometric PSD parameters (notably the mean diameter dg and its standard deviation σg), and several other PSD parameters (D50 and D60). The objective was to find the best predictions of several soil physical quality indices and the soil hydraulic properties. Neither SSC nor dg, σg, D50 and D60 were found to have a significant correlation with both Kfs or logKfs, However, the parameters of several cumulative PSD models showed statistically significant correlation with Kfs and/or logKfs (|r| = 0.42 to 0.65; p ≤ 0.05). The correlation between MWD and the model parameters was generally also higher than either with SSC fraction and dg, or with D50 and D60. Porosity (∅) and the bulk density (ρb) also showed significant correlation with several PSD model parameters, with ρb additionally correlating significantly with various geometric (dg), mechanical (D50 and D60), and agronomic (clay and sand) representations of the PSD. The fitted parameters of selected PSD models furthermore showed statistically significant correlations with Kfs,, MWD and soil porosity, which may be viewed as soil quality indices. Results of this study are promising for developing more accurate pedotransfer functions.Keywords: particle size distribution, soil texture, hydraulic conductivity, pedotransfer functions
Procedia PDF Downloads 268659 Ionian Sea Aquarium-Museum in Kefallinia Island, Greece: A Hub Developing the Underwater Natural and Cultural Resources in the Ionian Sea and Advancing the Ocean Literacy to the Public
Authors: Ferentinos George, Papatheodorou George, Belmonte Genuario, Geraga Maria, Christodoulou Dimitris, Fakiris Elias, Iatrou Margarita, Kordella Stravroula, Prevenios Michail, Mentogianis Vassilis, Sotiropoulos Makis
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The Ionian Sea Aquarium-Museum in Kefallinia Island, Greece and its twinning with that of Santa Maria al Bagno in the Salento peninsula, Italy, are recently established Hubs in the Ionian Sea funded by the European Territorial Cooperation Programme, Greece-Italy 2007-2013. The objectives of the Ionian Sea Aquarium-Museum are: (i) exhibiting to the public the underwater natural and cultural treasures of the seas surrounding the island, (ii) the functioning of a recreational/vocational hub for all educational levels but also for sea users and stakeholders, to raise their awareness of the seas and engage them in the European notion of the Blue Growth of the Seas and (iii) setting up diving parks in sites of natural and cultural importance. The natural heritage in the Aquarium-Museum is exhibited in five tanks displaying the two most important benthic habitats in the Mediterranean Sea, that is, the Posidonia oceanica and the Coralligene assemblages with the associated rich fauna. The cultural heritage is exhibited in: (i) Dioramas displaying scale model replicas of the three best preserved ancient and historic wrecks. -The Fiscardo Roman wreck dating between 1st cent B.C. and 2nd cent. A.D., which is one of the largest and best preserved in the Mediterranean Sea. -The HMS PERSEUS British submarine, which is known for the second deepest submarine escape from all sunken submarines in WW II, and -A wooden wreck, the Italian ship Alma probably, which was requisitioned by the German army and used for transporting supplies and ammunition. (ii) Documentaries: The first two present the complete story from launching to sinking of: the HMS PERSEUS British submarine, the SS Ardena which is associated with the Italian Aqui Division killed by the German forces in Kefallinia and made known from the book and film “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” and the third documentary deals with the birth place of seafaring in the world, which took place in the Greek. Archipelago by Neanderthals and modern humans between 115 and 35 thousand years ago. The Aquarium-Museum starts from next year (a) educational programmes for schools and tourists to discover the natural and cultural treasures around Kefallinia island, (b) recreational/vocational holiday activities centered on eco-diving and get involved in mapping and monitoring NATURA 2000 sites around the island and thus actively engaged in the Blue Growth of the seas and (c) summer schools aimed at under/post-graduate students, who are interested in marine archaeology and geo-habitat mapping and are looking for a job in the sustainable management of the seas. The exhibition themes in the Aquarium-Museum as well as the recreational /vocational and educational activities are prepared by the Oceanus Net laboratories of Patras University and were selected after surveying the seafloor using the latest state of art sonar and camera technologies.Keywords: aquarium-museum, cultural and natural treasures, ionian sea, Kefallinia Island
Procedia PDF Downloads 580658 Engineering Academics’ Strategies of Modelling Mathematical Concepts into Their Teaching of an Antenna Design
Authors: Vojo George Fasinu, Nadaraj Govender, Predeep Kumar
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An Antenna, which remains the hub of technological development in Africa had been found to be a course that is been taught and designed in an abstract manner in some universities. One of the reasons attached to this is that the appropriate approach of teaching antenna design is not yet understood by many engineering academics in some universities in South Africa. Also, another problem reported is the main difficulty encountered when interpreting and applying some of the mathematical concepts learned into their practical antenna design course. As a result of this, some engineering experts classified antenna as a mysterious technology that could not be described by anybody using mathematical concepts. In view of this, this paper takes it as its point of departure in explaining what an antenna is all about with a strong emphasis on its mathematical modelling. It also argues that the place of modelling mathematical concepts into the teaching of engineering design cannot be overemphasized. Therefore, it explains the mathematical concepts adopted during the teaching of an antenna design course, the Strategies of modelling those mathematics concepts, the behavior of antennas, and their mathematics usage were equally discussed. More so, the paper also sheds more light on mathematical modelling in South Africa context, and also comparative analysis of mathematics concepts taught in mathematics class and mathematics concepts taught in engineering courses. This paper focuses on engineering academics teaching selected topics in electronic engineering (Antenna design), with special attention on the mathematical concepts they teach and how they teach them when teaching the course. A qualitative approach was adopted as a means of collecting data in order to report the naturalistic views of the engineering academics teaching Antenna design. The findings of the study confirmed that some mathematical concepts are being modeled into the teaching of an antenna design with the adoption of some teaching approaches. Furthermore, the paper reports a didactical-realistic mathematical model as a conceptual framework used by the researchers in describing how academics teach mathematical concepts during their teaching of antenna design. Finally, the paper concludes with the importance of mathematical modelling to the engineering academics and recommendations for further researchers.Keywords: modelling, mathematical concepts, engineering, didactical, realistic model
Procedia PDF Downloads 176657 Design and Analysis of Semi-Active Isolation System in Low Frequency Excitation Region for Vehicle Seat to Reduce Discomfort
Authors: Andrea Tonoli, Nicola Amati, Maria Cavatorta, Reza Mirsanei, Behzad Mozaffari, Hamed Ahani, Akbar Karamihafshejani, Mohammad Ghazivakili, Mohammad Abuabiah
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The vibrations transmitted to the drivers and passengers through vehicle seat seriously effect on the level of their attention, fatigue and physical health and reduce the comfort and efficiency of the occupants. Recently, some researchers have focused on vibrations at low excitation frequency(0.5-5 Hz) which are considered to be the main risk factors for lumbar part of the backbone but they were not applicable to A and B-segment cars regarding to the size and weight. A semi-active system with two symmetric negative stiffness structures (NSS) in parallel to a positive stiffness structure and actuators has been proposed to attenuate low frequency excitation and makes system flexible regarding to different weight of passengers which is applicable for A and B-Segment cars. Here, the 3 degree of freedom system is considered, dynamic equation clearly is presented, then simulated in MATLAB in order to analysis of performance of the system. The design procedure is derived so that the resonance peak of frequency–response curve shift to the left, the isolating range is increased and especially, the peak of the frequency–response curve is minimized. According to ISO standard different class of road profile as an input is applied to the system to evaluate the performance of the system. To evaluate comfort issues, we extract the RMS value of the vertical acceleration acting on the passenger's body. Then apply the band-pass filter, which takes into account the human sensitivity to acceleration. According to ISO, this weighted acceleration is lower than 0.315 m/s^2, so the ride is considered as comfortable.Keywords: low frequency excitation, negative stiffness, seat vehicle, vibration isolation
Procedia PDF Downloads 422656 Embryonic Aneuploidy – Morphokinetic Behaviors as a Potential Diagnostic Biomarker
Authors: Banafsheh Nikmehr, Mohsen Bahrami, Yueqiang Song, Anuradha Koduru, Ayse K. Vuruskan, Hongkun Lu, Mallory Pitts, Tolga B. Mesen, Tamer M. Yalcinkaya
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The number of people who receive in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment has increased on a startling trajectory over the past two decades. Despite advances in this field, particularly the introduction of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and the preimplantation genetic screening (PGS), the IVF success remains low. A major factor contributing to IVF failure is embryonic aneuploidy (abnormal chromosome content), which often results in miscarriage and birth defects. Although PGS is often used as the standard diagnostic tool to identify aneuploid embryos, it is an invasive approach that could affect the embryo development, and yet inaccessible to many patients due its high costs. As such, there is a clear need for a non-invasive cost-effective approach to identify euploid embryos for single embryo transfer (SET). The reported differences between morphokinetic behaviors of aneuploid and euploid embryos has shown promise to address this need. However, current literature is inconclusive and further research is urgently needed to translate current findings into clinical diagnostics. In this ongoing study, we found significant differences between morphokinetic behaviors of euploid and aneuploid embryos that provides important insights and reaffirms the promise of such behaviors for developing non-invasive methodologies. Methodology—A total of 242 embryos (euploid: 149, aneuploid: 93) from 74 patients who underwent IVF treatment in Carolinas Fertility Clinics in Winston-Salem, NC, were analyzed. All embryos were incubated in an EmbryoScope incubator. The patients were randomly selected from January 2019 to June 2021 with most patients having both euploid and aneuploid embryos. All embryos reached the blastocyst stage and had known PGS outcomes. The ploidy assessment was done by a third-party testing laboratory on day 5-7 embryo biopsies. The morphokinetic variables of each embryo were measured by the EmbryoViewer software (Uniesense FertiliTech) on time-lapse images using 7 focal depths. We compared the time to: pronuclei fading (tPNf), division to 2,3,…,9 cells (t2, t3,…,t9), start of embryo compaction (tSC), Morula formation (tM), start of blastocyst formation (tSC), blastocyst formation (tB), and blastocyst expansion (tEB), as well as intervals between them (e.g., c23 = t3 – t2). We used a mixed regression method for our statistical analyses to account for the correlation between multiple embryos per patient. Major Findings— The average age of the patients was 35.04 yrs. The average patient age associated with euploid and aneuploid embryos was not different (P = 0.6454). We found a significant difference in c45 = t5-t4 (P = 0.0298). Our results indicated this interval on average lasts significantly longer for aneuploid embryos - c45(aneuploid) = 11.93hr vs c45(euploid) = 7.97hr. In a separate analysis limited to embryos from the same patients (patients = 47, total embryos=200, euploid=112, aneuploid=88), we obtained the same results (P = 0.0316). The statistical power for this analysis exceeded 87%. No other variable was different between the two groups. Conclusion— Our results demonstrate the importance of morphokinetic variables as potential biomarkers that could aid in non-invasively characterizing euploid and aneuploid embryos. We seek to study a larger population of embryos and incorporate the embryo quality in future studies.Keywords: IVF, embryo, euploidy, aneuploidy, morphokinteic
Procedia PDF Downloads 83655 Survey for Mango Seed Weevils and Pulp Weevil Sternochetus Species (Coleoptera:Curculionidae) on Mango, Mangifera indica in Shan State-South, Myanmar
Authors: Khin Nyunt Yee, Mu Mu Thein
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Detection survey of mango seed and Pulp weevils was undertaken at major mango production areas, Yat Sauk, Taunggyi, Nyaung Shwe and Hopong Townships, in Shan State (South) of Myanmar on two mango cultivars of Sein Ta Lone and Yinkwe from May to August 2016 to coincide with fruiting season to conduct a survey of mango seed and pulp weevils population. The total numbers of 6300 fruits of both mango cultivars were sampled. Among them, 2900 fruits from 5674 fruit bearing plants were collected for Sein Ta Lone cultivar of five well managed, one unmanaged orchards and Urban in Yatsauk Twonship, 400 fruits from only one well managed orchard in Taunggyi Township, 400 fruits from two managed orchards in Nyaung Shwe Township and 400 fruits from one managed orchard in Hopong Township from May to June. 2200 fruits were collected from 4043 fruit bearing plants for Yinkwe Cultivar of four well managed orchards, one unmanaged orchards and one wild tree only in Yat Sauk Township from July to August, 2016. Fruit sample size was 200 fruits /orchard, / wild or /volunteer trees as minimum number. The pulps of all randomly sampling fruits were longitudinal cut open into three slices on each side of fruit and seed were cut longitudinally to inspect the presence of mango weevils. The collected weevils were identified up to species level at Plant Quarantine Laboratory, Plant Protection Division, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Yangon, Myanmar. Mango Pulp and Seed weevils were found on Sein Ta Lone Mango Cultivar in three out of four surveyed Townships except Hopong with the level of infestation ranged from 0.0% to 3.5% of fruits per Township with 0.0% to 39.0% of fruits per orchard. The highest infestation rate per township was 3.5% of fruits (n=400 fruits) in Nyaung Shwe, then, at Yat Suak, the rate was 2.47% (n=2900 fruits). A well-managed orchard at Taung Gyi had 0.75% (n=400 fruits) whereas Hopong was free 0.0% (n=400). The weevils were also recorded on Yinkwe Mango Cultivar in Yatsauk Township where the infestation level was 12.63% of fruits (n=2200) with 0.0% to 67.0% of fruits per orchard. This high level of infestation was obtained by including an absolutely non Integrated Pest Management (non IPM) orchards in both survey with the infestation rates 63.0% of fruits (n=200) and 67.0% of fruits (n=200) respectively on Yinkwe cultivar. Two different species; mango pulp weevil, Sternochetus frigitus, and mango seed weevil Sternochetus olivieri (Faust) of family Curculionidae under the order Coleoptera were recorded. Sternochetus mangiferae was not found during these surveys. Three different developmental stages of mango seed and pulp weevils: larva, pupa and adult were first detected since the first survey in 3rd week of May and mostly were recorded as adult stages in the following surveys in June, July and August The number of Mango pulp weevil was statistically higher than that of mango seed weevils at P < 0.001%. More precise surveys should be carried out national wide to detect the mango weevils.Keywords: mango pulp weevil, Sternochetus frigitus, mango seed weevil Sternochetus olivieri, faust, Sternochetus mangiferae, fabricius, Sein Ta Lone, Yinkwe mango cultivars, Shan State (South) Myanmar
Procedia PDF Downloads 296654 Stress and Rhythm in the Educated Nigerian Accent of English
Authors: Nkereke M. Essien
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The intention of this paper is to examine stress in the Educated Nigerian Accent of English (ENAE) with the aim of analyzing stress and rhythmic patterns of Nigerian English. Our aim also is to isolate differences and similarities in the stress patterns studied and also know what forms the accent of these Educated Nigerian English (ENE) which marks them off from other groups or English’s of the world, to ascertain and characterize it and to provide documented evidence for its existence. Nigerian stress and rhythmic patterns are significantly different from the British English stress and rhythmic patterns consequently, the educated Nigerian English (ENE) features more stressed syllables than the native speakers’ varieties. The excessive stressed of syllables causes a contiguous “Ss” in the rhythmic flow of ENE, and this brings about a “jerky rhythm’ which distorts communication. To ascertain this claim, ten (10) Nigerian speakers who are educated in the English Language were selected by a stratified Random Sampling technique from two Federal Universities in Nigeria. This classification belongs to the education to the educated class or standard variety. Their performance was compared to that of a Briton (control). The Metrical system of analysis was used. The respondents were made to read some words and utterance which was recorded and analyzed perceptually, statistically and acoustically using the one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The Turky-Kramer Post Hoc test, the Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Signed Ranks test, and the Praat analysis software were used in the analysis. It was revealed from our findings that the Educated Nigerian English speakers feature more stressed syllables in their productions by spending more time in pronouncing stressed syllables and sometimes lesser time in pronouncing the unstressed syllables. Their overall tempo was faster. The ENE speakers used tone to mark prominence while the native speaker used stress to mark pronounce, typified by the control. We concluded that the stress pattern of the ENE speakers was significantly different from the native speaker’s variety represented by the control’s performance.Keywords: accent, Nigerian English, rhythm, stress
Procedia PDF Downloads 232653 Microbial Electrochemical Remediation System: Integrating Wastewater Treatment with Simultaneous Power Generation
Authors: Monika Sogani, Zainab Syed, Adrian C. Fisher
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Pollution of estrogenic compounds has caught the attention of researchers as the slight increase of estrogens in the water bodies has a significant impact on the aquatic system. They belong to a class of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and are able to mimic hormones or interfere with the action of endogenous hormones. The microbial electrochemical remediation system (MERS) is employed here for exploiting an electrophototrophic bacterium for evaluating the capacity of biodegradation of ethinylestradiol hormone (EE2) under anaerobic conditions with power generation. MERS using electro-phototrophic bacterium offers a tailored solution of wastewater treatment in a developing country like India which has a huge solar potential. It is a clean energy generating technology as they require only sunlight, water, nutrients, and carbon dioxide to operate. Its main feature that makes it superior over other technologies is that the main fuel for this MERS is sunlight which is indefinitely present. When grown in light with organic compounds, these photosynthetic bacteria generate ATP by cyclic photophosphorylation and use carbon compounds to make cell biomass (photoheterotrophic growth). These cells showed EE2 degradation and were able to generate hydrogen as part of the process of nitrogen fixation. The two designs of MERS were studied, and a maximum of 88.45% decrease in EE2 was seen in a total period of 14 days in the better design. This research provides a better insight into microbial electricity generation and self-sustaining wastewater treatment facilities. Such new models of waste treatment aiming waste to energy generation needs to be followed and implemented for building a resource efficient and sustainable economy.Keywords: endocrine disrupting compounds, ethinylestradiol, microbial electrochemical remediation systems, wastewater treatment
Procedia PDF Downloads 109652 A Gamification Teaching Method for Software Measurement Process
Authors: Lennon Furtado, Sandro Oliveira
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The importance of an effective measurement program lies in the ability to control and predict what can be measured. Thus, the measurement program has the capacity to provide bases in decision-making to support the interests of an organization. Therefore, it is only possible to apply for an effective measurement program with a team of software engineers well trained in the measurement area. However, the literature indicates that are few computer science courses that have in their program the teaching of the software measurement process. And even these, generally present only basic theoretical concepts of said process and little or no measurement in practice, which results in the student's lack of motivation to learn the measurement process. In this context, according to some experts in software process improvements, one of the most used approaches to maintaining the motivation and commitment to software process improvements program is the use of the gamification. Therefore, this paper aims to present a proposal of teaching the measurement process by gamification. Which seeks to improve student motivation and performance in the assimilation of tasks related to software measurement, by incorporating elements of games into the practice of measurement process, making it more attractive for learning. And as a way of validating the proposal will be made a comparison between two distinct groups of 20 students of Software Quality class, a control group, and an experiment group. The control group will be the students that will not make use of the gamification proposal to learn software measurement process, while the experiment group, will be the students that will make use of the gamification proposal to learn software measurement process. Thus, this paper will analyze the objective and subjective results of each group. And as objective result will be analyzed the student grade reached at the end of the course, and as subjective results will be analyzed a post-course questionnaire with the opinion of each student about the teaching method. Finally, this paper aims to prove or refute the following hypothesis: If the gamification proposal to teach software measurement process does appropriate motivate the student, in order to attribute the necessary competence to the practical application of the measurement process.Keywords: education, gamification, software measurement process, software engineering
Procedia PDF Downloads 307651 LAMOS - Layered Amorphous Metal Oxide Gas Sensors: New Interfaces for Gas Sensing Applications
Authors: Valentina Paolucci, Jessica De Santis, Vittorio Ricci, Giacomo Giorgi, Carlo Cantalini
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Despite their potential in gas sensing applications, the major drawback of 2D exfoliated metal dichalcogenides (MDs) is that they suffer from spontaneous oxidation in air, showing poor chemical stability under dry/wet conditions even at room temperature, limiting their practical exploitation. The aim of this work is to validate a synthesis strategy allowing microstructural and electrical stabilization of the oxides that inevitably form on the surface of 2D dichalcogenides. Taking advantage of spontaneous oxidation of MDs in air, we report on liquid phase exfoliated 2D-SnSe2 flakes annealed in static air at a temperature below the crystallization temperature of the native a-SnO2 oxide. This process yields a new class of 2D Layered Amorphous Metal Oxides Sensors (LAMOS), specifically few-layered amorphous a-SnO2, showing excellent gas sensing properties. Sensing tests were carried out at low operating temperature (i.e. 100°C) by exposing a-SnO2 to both oxidizing and reducing gases (i.e. NO2, H2S and H2) and different relative humidities ranging from 40% to 80% RH. The formation of stable nanosheets of amorphous a-SnO2 guarantees excellent reproducibility and stability of the response over one year. These results pave the way to new interesting research perspectives out considering the opportunity to synthesize homogeneous amorphous textures with no grain boundaries, no grains, no crystalline planes with different orientations, etc., following gas sensing mechanisms that likely differ from that of traditional crystalline metal oxide sensors. Moreover, the controlled annealing process could likely be extended to a large variety of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) and Metal Chalcogenides (MCs), where sulfur, selenium, or tellurium atoms can be easily displaced by O2 atoms (ΔG < 0), enabling the synthesis of a new family of amorphous interfaces.Keywords: layered 2D materials, exfoliation, lamos, amorphous metal oxide sensors
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