Search results for: solid state joining processes

Authors: Aliya Grig, Konstantin Sokolov, Igor Shatalin

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The report describes the methodology for collecting data and building an ML model for determining the personality psychotype using profiling and personality traits methods based on several short messages of a user communicating on an arbitrary topic with a chitchat bot. In the course of the experiments, the minimum amount of text was revealed to confidently determine aspects of personality. Model accuracy - 85%. Users' language of communication is English. AI for a personalized communication with a user based on his mood, personality, and current emotional state. Features investigated during the research: personalized communication; providing empathy; adaptation to a user; predictive analytics. In the report, we describe the processes that captures both structured and unstructured data pertaining to a user in large quantities and diverse forms. This data is then effectively processed through ML tools to construct a knowledge graph and draw inferences regarding users of text messages in a comprehensive manner. Specifically, the system analyzes users' behavioral patterns and predicts future scenarios based on this analysis. As a result of the experiments, we provide for further research on training AI models to be empathetic, creating personalized communication for a user

Keywords: AI, empathetic, chatbot, AI models

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Authors: Afrouz Yousefi, Mohtada Sadrzadeh

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The widespread presence of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) poses a significant concern due to their ability to accumulate in living organisms and their persistence in the environment, thanks to their robust carbon-fluorine (C-F) bonds, which require substantial energy to break (485 kJ/mol). The prevalence of toxic PFAS compounds can be highly detrimental to ecosystems, wildlife, and human health. Ongoing efforts are dedicated to investigating methods for fully breaking down and eliminating PFAS from the environment. Among the various techniques employed, advanced oxidation processes have shown promise in completely breaking down emerging contaminants in wastewater. However, the drawback lies in the relatively slow reaction rates of these processes and the substantial energy input required, which currently impedes their widespread commercial adoption. We developed a hybrid process, comprising electro-Fenton as an advanced oxidation process and membrane distillation, to simultaneously degrade organic PFAS pollutants and extract pure water from the mixture. In this study, environmentally persistent perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), as an emerging contaminant, was used to study the effectiveness of the electro-Fenton/membrane distillation hybrid system. The PFOA degradation studies were conducted in two modes: electro-Fenton and electro-Fenton coupled with membrane distillation. High-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV), ion-chromatography (measuring fluoride ion concentration), total organic carbon (TOC) decay, mineralization current efficiency (MCE), and specific energy consumption (SEC) were evaluated for a single EF and hybrid EF-MD processes. In contrast to a single EF reaction, TOC decay improved significantly in the EF-MD process. Overall, the MCE of hybrid processes surpassed 100% while it remained under 50% for a single EF reaction. Calculations of specific energy consumption (SEC) demonstrated a substantial decrease of nearly one-third in energy usage when integrating the EF reaction with the MD process.

Keywords: water treatment, PFAS, membrane distillation, electro-Fenton, advanced oxidation

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Authors: Pablo Ampuero, Claudia Labarca

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The current research paper assesses how the narrative of Chilean businesspeople about China shapes a new Orientalism Analyses on the role of non-state actors in foreign policy that have hitherto theorized about Orientalism as a narrative of hegemonic power. Hence, it has been instrumental to the efforts of imperialist powers to justify their mission civilisatrice. However, such conceptualization can seldom explain new complexities of international interactions at the height of globalization. Hence, we assessed the case of Chile, a small Latin American country, and its relationship with China, its largest trading partner. Through a discourse analysis of interviews with Chilean businesspeople engaged in the Chinese market, we could determine that Chile is building an Orientalist image of China. This new business Orientalism reinforces a relation of alterity based on commercial opportunities, traditional values, and natural dispositions. Hence, the perception of the Chinese Other amongst Chilean business people frames a new set of representations as part of the essentially commercial nature of current bilateral relations. It differs from previous frames, such as the racial bias frame of the early 20^th century, or the anti-communist frame in reaction to Mao’s leadership. As in every narrative of alterity, there is not only a construction of the Other but also a definition of the Self. Consequently, this analysis constitutes a relevant case of the role of non-state actors in asymmetrical bilateral relations, where the non-state actors of the minor power build and act upon an Orientalist frame, which is not representative of its national status in the relation. This study emerges as a contribution on the relation amongst non-state actors in asymmetrical relations, where the smaller power’s business class acts on a negative prejudice of its interactions with its counterpart. The research builds upon the constructivist approach to international relations, linking the idea of Nation Branding with Orientalism in the case of Chile-China relations.

Keywords: new business Orientalism, small power, framing, Chile-China relations

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Authors: Cynthia E. Nwobodo, A. E. Agwu

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The study was carried out in Benue State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents from two agricultural zones in the State. Data was collected using interview schedule. Descriptive statistics was used in data analysis. Findings showed that youth farmers in the area had positive attitude to climate change adaptation and mitigation as shown by their response to a set of positive and negative statement including: the youth are very important stakeholders in climate change issues (M= 2.91), youths should be encouraged to be climate change conscious (2.90), everybody should be involved in planting trees not just the government (M= 2.89), I will be glad to participate in climate change seminars (M= 2.89) among others. Findings on information seeking behavior indicate that majority (80.8 %) of the respondents sought climate change information from radio at an average of 19.78 times per month, 53.3 % sought from friends and neighbours at an average of 12.55 times per month and 42.5 % sought from family members at an average of 12.55 times per month among others. It was recommended that Youth farmers should be made important stakeholders in climate change policies and programmes since they have a very positive attitude to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Keywords: adaptation, mitigation, attitude, climate change, youth farmers

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Authors: Leili Nekounazar

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Since 2009, when the Green movement, Iran’s most significant political uprising in post-Islamic revolution materialized, the term 'soft war' has become an integral part of the Iranian regime’s lexicon when addressing the media propaganda waged by the west and the regime’s so-called 'enemies'. Iran’s authorities describe soft war as a western campaign aiming at undermining the revolutionary values by covert activities, deploying cultural tools and purposeful dissemination of information. With this respect, Internet and in particular, the social media networks, and oppositional radio-television broadcasts have been considered as the west’s soft war conduits. With the rising of the underground fashion industry in the past couple of years that does not conform to the compulsory dress codes prescribed by the state, the Islamic regime expands the soft war narrative to include any undesired fashion-related activities and frames the rising fashion industry as a cultural war intoxicating the Iranian-Islamic identity. Accordingly, fashion products created by the Iranian fashion intermediators have been attributed to the westerners and outsiders and are regarded as the matter of national security. This study examines the reactive and proactive measures deployed by the Iranian regime to control the rise of fashion industry. It further puts under the scrutiny how the state as a part of its proactive measure shapes the narrative of 'soft war' in relation to fashion in Iran and explores how the notion of soft war has been articulated in relation to the modeling and fashion in the state’s political rhetoric. Through conducting a content analysis of the authorities’ statements, it describes how the narrative of soft war assists the state policing the fashion industry.

Keywords: censorship, fashion, Iran, soft war

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Authors: A. Olusegun Egunjobi, Samson Sunday Adekunte

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This study investigated the teachers’ and learners’ ICT-readiness assessment for agricultural science instruction in secondary schools in Ogun State, Nigeria. However, the sample population of 6 and 120 agricultural science teachers and learners were randomly selected respectively from 3 public and 3 private senior secondary schools in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design of ex post-facto type was adopted for the study. Two structured questionnaires tagged Teachers’ and Learners’ Questionnaires on ICT-Readiness for Agricultural Science Instruction TQICTRASI and LQICTRASI respectively were used for data collection. The two questionnaires were subjected to Cronbach alpha coefficient with the results 0.86 and 0.82 respectively. Five research hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that teachers in private senior secondary school (SSS) were more ready and prepared than their counterparts in public SSS with the result t-value = 4.25 greater than t-critical = 2.77, df = 4 at p<0.05. Also, learners in private SSS were more prepared and ready for the utilisation of ICT-facilities for agricultural science instruction with the result t-value = 3.51 greater than t-critical = 1.98, df = 118 at p<0.05. However, male and female learners in both private and public SSS were equally prepared and ready for the ICT-facilities utilisation for agricultural science instruction, thus, there were no significant differences in their ICT-readiness. Therefore, the study proffered that, both male and female teachers and learners should be more ICT-compliant and always ready to upgrade their skills and knowledge in ICT-facilities, utilisation for agricultural science instruction and even for other school subjects particularly in Ogun State and in generally in Nigeria.

Keywords: ICT-readiness, teachers’ and learners’ assessment, private and public senior secondary schools, agricultural science instruction

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Authors: Chaiyakrit Raoupatham, Ram Hari Dhakal, Chalermchai Wanichlamlert

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This paper is aimed to introduce the solution of concrete slump recovery using chemical admixture type-F (superplasticizer, naphthalene base) to the practice, in order to solve unusable concrete problem due to concrete loss its slump, especially for those tropical countries that have faster slump loss rate. In the other hand, randomly adding superplasticizer into concrete can cause concrete to segregate. Therefore, this paper also develops the estimation model used to calculate amount of second dose of superplasticizer need for concrete slump recovery. Fresh properties of ordinary Portland cement concrete with volumetric ratio of paste to void between aggregate (paste content) of 1.1-1.3 with water-cement ratio zone of 0.30 to 0.67 and initial superplasticizer (naphthalene base) of 0.25%- 1.6% were tested for initial slump and slump loss for every 30 minutes for one and half hour by slump cone test. Those concretes with slump loss range from 10% to 90% were re-dosed and successfully recovered back to its initial slump. Slump after re-dosed was tested by slump cone test. From the result, it has been concluded that, slump loss was slower for those mix with high initial dose of superplasticizer due to addition of superplasticizer will disturb cement hydration. The required second dose of superplasticizer was affected by two major parameter, which were water-cement ratio and paste content, where lower water-cement ratio and paste content cause an increase in require second dose of superplasticizer. The amount of second dose of superplasticizer is higher as the solid content within the system is increase, solid can be either from cement particles or aggregate. The data was analyzed to form an equation use to estimate the amount of second dosage requirement of superplasticizer to recovery slump to its original.

Keywords: estimation model, second superplasticizer dosage, slump loss, slump recovery

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Authors: Ting Pan, Jiacheng Wang, Pengcheng Lin, Ying Chen, Songping Mo

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Phase change materials (PCMs) are widely used in latent heat thermal energy storage because of their good properties such as high energy storage density and constant heat-storage/release temperature. Microencapsulation techniques can prevent PCMs from leaking during the liquid-solid phase transition and enhance thermal properties. This technique has been widely applied in architectural materials, thermo-regulated textiles, aerospace fields, etc. One of the most important processes during the synthesis of microcapsules is to form a stable emulsion of the PCM core and reactant solution for the formation of the shell of the microcapsules. The use of surfactants is usually necessary for the formation of a stable emulsion system because of the difference in hydrophilia/lipophilicity of the PCM and the solvent. Unfortunately, the use of surfactants may cause pollution to the environment. In this study, modified kaolinite was used as an emulsion stabilizer for the microencapsulation of octodecane as PCM. Microcapsules were synthesized by phase inversion emulsification method, and the shell of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) was formed through free radical polymerization. The morphologies, crystalloid phase, and crystallization properties of microcapsules were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and Fourier transforms infrared spectrometer (FTIR). The thermal properties and thermal stability were investigated by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and a thermogravimetric analyzer (TG). The FT-IR, XRD results showed that the octodecane was well encapsulated in the PMMA shell. The SEM results showed that the microcapsules were spheres with an average size of about 50-100nm. The DSC results indicated that the latent heat of the microcapsules was 152.64kJ/kg and 164.23kJ/kg. The TG results confirmed that the microcapsules had good thermal stability due to the PMMA shell. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the modified kaolinite can be used as an emulsifier for the synthesis of PCM microcapsules, which is valid for reducing part of the possible pollution caused by the utilization of surfactants.

Keywords: kaolinite, microencapsulation, PCM, thermal energy storage

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Authors: Leyla Noroozbabaee, David Nickerson

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We introduce a modular, consistent, reusable bond graph model of the renal nephron’s proximal convoluted tubule (PCT), which can reproduce biological behaviour. In this work, we focus on ion and volume transport in the proximal convoluted tubule of the renal nephron. Modelling complex systems requires complex modelling problems to be broken down into manageable pieces. This can be enabled by developing models of subsystems that are subsequently coupled hierarchically. Because they are based on a graph structure. In the current work, we define two modular subsystems: the resistive module representing the membrane and the capacitive module representing solution compartments. Each module is analyzed based on thermodynamic processes, and all the subsystems are reintegrated into circuit theory in network thermodynamics. The epithelial transport system we introduce in the current study consists of five transport membranes and four solution compartments. Coupled dissipations in the system occur in the membrane subsystems and coupled free-energy increasing, or decreasing processes appear in solution compartment subsystems. These structural subsystems also consist of elementary thermodynamic processes: dissipations, free-energy change, and power conversions. We provide free and open access to the Python implementation to ensure our model is accessible, enabling the reader to explore the model through setting their simulations and reproducibility tests.

Keywords: Bond Graph, Epithelial Transport, Water Transport, Mathematical Modeling

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Authors: Chane-Yu Lai, Xiang-Yu Huang

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This study conducted an assessment of sampling result by using the new development rotation filtration device (RFD) filled with porous media filters integrating the method of cyclone centrifugal spins. The testing system established for the experiment used corn oil and potassium sodium tartrate tetrahydrate (PST) as challenge aerosols and were produced by using an Ultrasonic Atomizing Nozzle, a Syringe Pump, and a Collison nebulizer. The collection efficiency of RFD for oil aerosol was assessed by using an Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (APS) and a Fidas® Frog. The results of RFD for the liquid particles condition indicated the cutoff size was 1.65 µm and 1.02 µm for rotation of 0 rpm and 9000 rpm, respectively, under an 80 PPI (pores per inch）foam with a thickness of 80 mm, and sampling velocity of 13.5 cm/s. As the experiment increased the foam thickness of RFD, the cutoff size reduced from 1.62 µm to 1.02 µm. However, when increased the foam porosity of RFD, the cutoff size reduced from 1.26 µm to 0.96 µm. Moreover, as increased the sampling velocity of RFD, the cutoff size reduced from 1.02 µm to 0.76 µm. These discrepancies of above cutoff sizes of RFD all had statistical significance (P < 0.05). The cutoff size of RFD for three experimental conditions of generated liquid oil particles, solid PST particles or both liquid oil and solid PST particles was 1.03 µm, 1.02 µm, or 0.99 µm, respectively, under a 80 PPI foam with thickness of 80 mm, rotation of 9000 rpm, and sampling velocity of 13.5 cm/s. In addition, under the best condition of the experiment, two hours of sampling loading, the RFD had better collection efficiency for particle diameter greater than 0.45 µm, under a 94 PPI nickel mesh with a thickness of 68 mm, rotation of 9000 rpm, and sampling velocity of 108.3 cm/s. The experiment concluded that increased the thickness of porous media, face velocity, and porosity of porous media of RFD could increase the collection efficiency of porous media for sampling oil particles. Moreover, increased the rotation speed of RFD also increased the collection efficiency for sampling oil particles. Further investigation is required for those above operation parameters for RFD in this study in the future.

Keywords: oil aerosol, porous media filter, rotation, filtration

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Authors: Piotr Kunecki, Magdalena Wdowin

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The fly ash produced as waste in the process of conventional coal combustion was utilized in the hybrid synthesis of zeolites X and A from Faujasite (FAU) and Linde Type A (LTA) frameworks, respectively. The applied synthesis method included modification together with the crystallization stage. The sorbent modification was performed by introducing metals into the zeolite structure in order to create an ability to form stable bonds with elemental mercury (Hg0). The use of waste in the form of fly ash as a source of silicon and aluminum, as well as the proposed method of zeolite synthesis, fits the circular economy idea. The effect of zeolite modification on Hg0 removal from a simulated gas stream was studied empirically using prototype installation designed to test the effectiveness of sorption by solid-state sorbents. Both derived zeolites X and A modified with silver nitrate revealed significant mercury uptake during a 150-minute sorption experiment. The amount of elemental mercury removed in the experiment ranged from 5.69 to 6.01 µg Hg0/1g of sorbent for zeolites X and from 4.47 to 4.86 µg Hg0/1g of sorbent for zeolites A. In order to confirm the effectiveness of the sorbents towards mercury bonding, the possible re-emission effect was tested as well. Derived zeolites X and A did not show mercury re-emission after the sorption process, which confirms the stable bonding of Hg0 in the structure of synthesized zeolites. The proposed hybrid synthesis method possesses the potential to be implemented for both fly ash utilization as well as the time and energy-saving production of aluminosilicate, porous materials with high Hg0 removal efficiency. This research was supported by National Science Centre, Poland, grant no 2021/41/N/ST5/03214.

Keywords: fly ash, synthetic zeolites, elemental mercury removal, sorption, simulated gas stream

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Authors: Young-Min Kang

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M-type Sr-hexaferrites (SrFe12O19) is one of the most utilized materials in permanent magnets due to their low price, outstanding chemical stability, and appropriate hard magnetic properties. For a M-type Sr-hexaferrite with a saturation magnetization (MS) of ~74.0 emu/g the practical limits of remanent flux density (Br) and maximum energy product (BH) max are ~4.6 kG and ~5.3 MGOe. Meanwhile, W-type hexaferrite (SrFe18O27) with higher MS ~81emu/g can be a good candidate for the development of enhanced ferrite magnet. However the W-type hexaferrite is stable at the temperature over 1350 ºC in air, and thus it is hard to control grain size and the coercivity. We report here high-MS M-W composite hexaferrites synthesized at 1250 ºC in air by doping Ca, Co, Mn, and Zn into the hexaferrite structures. The hexaferrites samples of stoichiometric SrFe12O19 (SrM) and Ca-Co-Mn-Zn doped hexaferrite (Sr0.7Ca0.3Fen-0.6Co0.2Mn0.2Zn0.2Oa) were prepared by conventional solid state reaction process with varying Fe content (10 ≤ n ≤ 17). Analysis by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) were performed for phase identification and microstructural observation respectively. Magnetic hysteresis curves were measured using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) at room temperature (300 K). Single M-type phase could be obtained in the non-doped SrM sample after calcinations at the range of 1200 ºC ~ 1300 ºC, showing MS in the range of 72 ~ 72.6 emu/g. The Ca-Co-Mn-Zn doped SrM with Fe content, 10 ≤ n ≤ 13, showed both M and W-phases peaks in the XRD after respective calcinations at 1250 ºC. The sample with n=13 showed the MS of 70.7, 75.3, 78.0 emu/g, respectively, after calcination at 1200, 1250, 1300 ºC. The high MS over that of non-doped SrM (~72 emu/g) is attributed to the volume portion of W-phase. It is also revealed that the high MS W-phase could not formed if only one of the Ca, Co, Zn is missed in the substitution. These elements are critical to form the W-phase at the calcinations temperature of 1250 ºC, which is 100 ºC lower than the calcinations temperature for non-doped Sr-hexaferrites.

Keywords: M-type hexaferrite, W-type hexaferrite, saturation magnetization, low-temperature synthesis

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Authors: Tiffany Chuang

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The study of inequality in urban space has typically emphasized class and race as dimensions of stratification, but a small and growing body of work also pays attention to exclusionary processes based on moral grounds, as is the case with mainstream disapproval of sexually oriented businesses and red-light districts. However, many sexually-oriented businesses co-exist with similar non-sexually oriented businesses in the tourism and broader entertainment industries. Furthermore, regulators and tourism- and entertainment industries are acknowledged by regulators and ordinary citizens as important contributors to the economy, and in the case of aspiring global cities, to urban prestige. Under such circumstances, it is important to examine how policymakers, residents, and other stakeholders distinguish between sexually oriented and non-sexually oriented businesses, as well as how such efforts shape moral geographies in urban settings. To address this question, this paper introduces the concept of permeable industries to describe businesses that, by their very nature of providing adult entertainment along with a measure of privacy and discretion, facilitate easy interchange between their officially sanctioned purposes and illicit or stigmatised uses, most notably by the sex industry. The permeability and ambiguity surrounding the sexual- and non-sexual activities in such establishments is in fact, a source of tension that generates energetic boundary-drawing exercises that designate legitimate from illegitimate establishments. This paper draws on three years of ethnographic fieldwork, qualitative research, and archival research (1920—2020) on Joo Chiat, a neighborhood in the city-state of Singapore. It then analyzes how middle-class residents reacted to the sudden influx of sexually oriented businesses in the early 2000s, turning the once-quiet residential and commercial neighborhood into a semi-red-light district staffed by migrant Asian women. Ironically, the red-light district had been inadvertently precipitated by the state’s neoliberal policies in the 1990s to cultivate suburban neighborhoods as decentralized tourist attractions while loosening social regulations in pursuit of global city ambitions. Residents mobilized around the discourse of “sleaze”, using it to draw symbolic boundaries while advocating for regulatory boundaries between sexually oriented and non-sexually oriented businesses in the neighborhood. Since the concept of “sleaze” was informed by middle-class distaste for low-status sex work, the result of residents’ efforts was a state-endorsed moral geography that excluded sexually-oriented businesses while tolerating adult-oriented entertainment businesses that dovetailed with global city aspirations. This study contributes to the study of urban inequality by demonstrating the importance of boundary work in reproducing respectability politics, which in turn shapes the urban geographies of moral worth.

Keywords: moral geography, boundary work, respectability politics, entertainment businesses

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Authors: Omolara Lade, David Oloke

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Ibadan City suffers serious water supply problems; cases of dry taps are common in virtually every part of the City. The scarcity of piped water has made communities find alternative water sources; groundwater sources being a ready source. These wells are prone to pollution due to the close proximity of septic tanks to wells, disposal of solid or liquid wastes in pits, abandoned boreholes or even stream channels and landfills. Storms and floods in Ibadan have increased with consequent devastating effects claiming over 120 lives and displacing 600 people on August 2011 alone. In this study, an analysis of the water demand and sources of supply for the city was carried out through questionnaire survey and collection of data from City’s main water supply - Water Corporation of Oyo State (WCOS), groundwater sources were explored and 30 years rainfall data were collected from Meteorological station in Ibadan. 1067 questionnaire were administered at household level with a response rate of 86.7 %. A descriptive analysis of the survey revealed that 77.1 % of the respondents did not receive water at all from WCOS while 83.8 % depend on groundwater sources. Analysis of data from WCOS revealed that main water supply is inadequate as < 10 % of the population water demand was met. Rainfall intensity is highest in June with a mean value of 188 mm, which can be harvested at community—based level and used to complement the population water demand. Rainwater harvesting if planned, and managed properly will become a valuable alternative source of managing urban flood and alleviating water scarcity in the city.

Keywords: Ibadan, rainwater harvesting, sustainable water, urban flooding

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Authors: O. S. Asaolu, A. Bolorunduro

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Background: Unwanted, mistimed and unintended pregnancy is an important public health issue and the most common cause of maternal mortality in developing countries. Unintended pregnancy is a potential hazard for every sexually active woman as it most times ends in unsafe abortion. The study aimed at assessing the pre-conception contraceptive use, prevalence of unintended pregnancies and the non-contraceptive factors associated with unintended pregnancy amongst currently married women in Osun state. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study among randomly selected 341 currently married pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Ilesa town of Osun state was conducted in 5 health facilities. A random selection of 5 of the 22 health facilities in the state was done. Data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire and all completed questionnaires were analyzed with SPSS. Result: About two-fifth of the currently pregnant women (40%) who has never used an FP method reported that their current pregnancy was unintended. The results indicate that age of women, age at first sex, substance use, total children ever born of children, religion, and extramarital affairs were key predictors of unintended pregnancy. Women who have higher parity are more likely to experience unintended pregnancy compared to women with lower parity (odds ratio, 0.25). Furthermore, those women who don’t engage in extra marital affairs were less likely to experience unintended pregnancy (odds ratio, 0.3) compared to those who do not. Contribution to knowledge: The predicted probability, using logistic regression, has shown that women who engage in extramarital affairs and women with high parity are more likely to have unintended pregnancy. Conclusion: Behaviour change programs should aim to reduce unintended pregnancy by focusing mostly on identified factors so that the need for abortion is decreased and the overall well-being of the family is maintained and enhanced.

Keywords: unintended pregnancy, factors, pregnant women, Nigeria

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Authors: Galit Harel

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This article describes the long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a young woman who had experienced trauma during her childhood. The details of the trauma were unknown, as all memory of the trauma had been repressed. Past trauma is analyzable through a prism of transference, dreaming and dreams, mental states, and thinking processes that offer an opportunity to explore and analyze the influence of both reality and fantasy on the patient. The presented case describes a therapeutic process that strives to discover hidden meanings through the unconscious system and illustrates the movement from unconscious to conscious during exploration of the patient’s personal trauma in treatment. The author discusses the importance of classical and contemporary psychoanalytic models of childhood sexual trauma through the discovery of manifest and latent content, unconscious fantasies, and actual events of trauma. It is suggested that the complexity of trauma is clarified by the tension between these models and by the inclusion of aspects of both of them for a complete understanding.

Keywords: dreams, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, thinking processes, transference, trauma

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Authors: Micheal O. Alabi

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Additive manufacturing (AM) is the official industry standard term (ASTM F2792) for all applications of the technology which is also known as 3D printing technology. It is defined as the process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, and it is usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies. This technology has gained significant interest within the academic, research institute and industry because of its ability to create complex geometries with customizable material properties. Despite the late adoption of the technology, additive manufacturing has been active in South Africa for past 21 years and it is predicted that additive manufacturing technology will play a significant and game-changing role in the fourth industrial revolution and in particular it promises to play an ever-growing role in efforts to re-industrialize the economy of South Africa. At the end of 2006, there are approximately ninety 3D printers in South Africa and in 2015 it was estimated that there are 3500 additive manufacturing systems and 3D printers in circulation in South Africa. A reasonable number of these additive manufacturing machines are in the high end of the market, in science councils and higher education institutions and this shows that the future of additive manufacturing in South Africa is very brighter compared to other African countries. This paper reviews the past and current industrial applications of additive manufacturing in South Africa from the academic research and industry perspective and what are the benefits of this technology to manufacturing companies and industrial sectors in the country.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, 3D printing technology, industrial applications, manufacturing

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Authors: Safia Hocine, Djamil Aïssani

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Risk models, recently studied in the literature, are becoming increasingly complex. It is rare to find explicit analytical relations to calculate the ruin probability. Indeed, the stability issue occurs naturally in ruin theory, when parameters in risk cannot be estimated than with uncertainty. However, in most cases, there are no explicit formulas for the ruin probability. Hence, the interest to obtain explicit stability bounds for these probabilities in different risk models. In this paper, we interest to the stability bounds of the univariate classical risk model established using the regenerative processes approach. By adopting an algorithmic approach, we implement this approximation and determine numerically the bounds of ruin probability in the case of large claims (heavy-tailed distribution).

Keywords: heavy-tailed distribution, large claims, regenerative process, risk model, ruin probability, stability

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Authors: Arun Perumbilavil Anand

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In the recent years, Kerala is witnessing a large inflow of migrants from different parts of the country. Though initially, the migrants were largely from the districts of Tamil Nadu and mostly of seasonal nature, but at a later period, the state started getting migrants from the far-off states like UP, Assam, Bengal, etc. Higher wages for unskilled labour, large opportunities for employment, the reluctance on the part of Kerala workers to do menial and hard physical work, and the shortage of local labour, paradoxically despite the high unemployment rate in the state, led to the massive influx of migrant labourers. This study takes a multi-dimensional overview of migrant labour in Kerala by encompassing factors such as channels of migration, nature of employment contracts entered into and the corresponding wages and benefits obtained by them. The study also analysed the circumstances that led to the large influx of migrants from different states of India. It further makes an attempt to examine the varying dimensions of living and working environment, and also the health conditions of migrants. The study is based on the empirical findings obtained as a result of the primary interviews conducted with migrants in the districts of Palakkad, Malappuram, and Ernakulam. The study concludes by noting that Kerala will inevitably have to depend on migrant labour and is likely to experience heavy in-migration of labour in future, provided that if the existing socioeconomic and demographic situations persist. Since, this is inevitable, the best way before the state is to prepare well in advance to receive and accommodate such migrant labour to lead a comfortable life in a hassle free environment, so that it would definitely play a vital role in further strengthening and sustaining the growth trajectory of not only Kerala’s economy but also the states of origin.

Keywords: Kerala, labour, migration, migrant workers

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Authors: Ana Nemsadze

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Contemporary era and society are called postindustrial era and postindustrial society and/or informational era and informational society. Today science intends to define concept of information and comprehend informations role and function in contemporary society. Organization of social environment and governance of public processes on the base of information and tools of communication are main characteristics of informational era. This was defined by technological changes which were accomplished in culture in the second half of twentieth century. Today Georgia as an independent state needs to create an informational discourse of the country and therefore it is very important to study political and social cases which accomplished in the country after collapse of the Soviet Union because they start to define the present and the future of the country. The purpose of this study is to analyze political cases of the latest history of Georgia in terms of culture and information, concretely to elucidate which political cases transformed social life of post Soviet Georgia most of all who accomplished these political cases which visual and verbal messages was each political case spread with. The research is conducted on the base of interview. Participants of the interview are people of various specializations. Their professional activity is related to reflections on culture and theme of visual communication. They are philosophers sociologists a journalist media researcher a politologist a painter. The participants of the interview enumerated political cases and characterized them separately. Every expert thinks that declaration of independence of Georgia is the most important fact among all facts which were implemented in Georgia after collapse of the Soviet Union. The research revealed important social and political cases. Most of the cases are related to independence and territorial integrity of the state. Presidents of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia Eduard Shevardnadze Mikheil Saakashvili Catholocos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta Tbilisi and Metropolitan bishop of Bichvinta and Tskhum Abkhazia Ilia II, businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili assumed dominating roles in cases. Verbal narrative of the cases accomplished during Zviad Gamsakhurdia presidential term expresses national freedom and visual part of cases of the same period expresses ruin of social-political structure. Verbal narrative of the cases accomplished during Eduard Sevardnadze presidential term expresses Free State and stability and reestablishment of Georgias political function in international relations and visual part of cases of the same period describes the most important moment of his presidential term and Eduard Shevardnadzes face appears too. Verbal narrative of the cases accomplished during Mikheil Saakashvilis presidential term expresses social renewal and visual part of cases of the same period describes August war and Mikheil Saakashvilis face appears too. The results of the study also reveal other details of visual verbal narrative of political and social cases of post Soviet Georgia. This gives a chance to start further reflection.

Keywords: culture, narrative, post soviet, visual communication

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Authors: Akiko Kondo, Akio Kondo

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We are facing regional problems to low birth rate and longevity in Japan. Under this situation, there are some local municipalities which lose their vitality. The aims of this study are to clarify the present state of local public transportation services in local municipalities and relation between local public transportation services and population quantitatively. We conducted a questionnaire survey concerning regional agenda in all local municipalities in Japan. We obtained responses concerning the present state of convenience in use of public transportation and local public transportation services. Based on the data gathered from the survey, it is apparent that we should some sort of measures concerning public transportation services. Convenience in use of public transportation becomes an object of public concern in many rural regions. It is also clarified that some local municipalities introduce a demand bus for the purpose of promotion of administrative and financial efficiency. They also introduce a demand taxi in order to secure transportation to weak people in transportation and eliminate of blank area related to public transportation services. In addition, we construct a population model which includes explanatory variables of present states of local public transportation services. From this result, we can clarify the relation between public transportation services and population quantitatively.

Keywords: public transportation, local municipality, regional analysis, regional issue

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Authors: Shing-Cheng Chang, Cheng-Hao Yang, Wen-Sheng Chang, Chih-Chia Lin, Chun-Han Li

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The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is a promising green technology which can achieve a high electrical efficiency. Due to the high operating temperature of SOFC stack, the off-gases at high temperature from anode and cathode outlets are introduced into an afterburner to convert the chemical energy into thermal energy by combustion. The heat is recovered to preheat the fresh air and fuel gases before they pass through the stack during the SOFC power generation system operation. For an afterburner of the SOFC system, the temperature control with a good thermal uniformity is important. A burner with a well-designed geometry usually can achieve a satisfactory performance. To design an afterburner for an SOFC system, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is adoptable. In this paper, the hydrogen combustion characteristics in an afterburner with simple geometry are studied by using CFD. The burner is constructed by a cylinder chamber with the configuration of a fuel gas inlet, an air inlet, and an exhaust outlet. The flow field and temperature distributions inside the afterburner under different fuel and air flow rates are analyzed. To improve the temperature uniformity of the afterburner during the SOFC system operation, the flow paths of anode/cathode off-gases are varied by changing the positions of fuels and air inlet channel to improve the heat and flow field synergy in the burner furnace. Because the air flow rate is much larger than the fuel gas, the flow structure and heat transfer in the afterburner is dominated by the air flow path. The present work studied the effects of fluid flow structures on the combustion characteristics of an SOFC afterburner by three simulation models with a cylindrical combustion chamber and a tapered outlet. All walls in the afterburner are assumed to be no-slip and adiabatic. In each case, two set of parameters are simulated to study the transport phenomena of hydrogen combustion. The equivalence ratios are in the range of 0.08 to 0.1. Finally, the pattern factor for the simulation cases is calculated to investigate the effect of gas inlet locations on the temperature uniformity of the SOFC afterburner. The results show that the temperature uniformity of the exhaust gas can be improved by simply adjusting the position of the gas inlet. The field synergy analysis indicates the design of the fluid flow paths should be in the way that can significantly contribute to the heat transfer, i.e. the field synergy angle should be as small as possible. In the study cases, the averaged synergy angle of the burner is about 85̊, 84̊, and 81̊ respectively.

Keywords: afterburner, combustion, field synergy, solid oxide fuel cell

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Authors: Khalil Bachiri, Ali Yahyaouy, Nicoleta Rogovschi

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Improved user experience is a goal of contemporary recommender systems. Recommender systems are starting to incorporate reinforcement learning since it easily satisfies this goal of increasing a user’s reward every session. In this paper, we examine the most effective Reinforcement Learning agent tactics on the Movielens (1M) dataset, balancing precision and a variety of recommendations. The absence of variability in final predictions makes simplistic techniques, although able to optimize ranking quality criteria, worthless for consumers of the recommendation system. Utilizing the stochasticity of Leonard-Ornstein processes, our suggested strategy encourages the agent to investigate its surroundings. Research demonstrates that raising the NDCG (Discounted Cumulative Gain) and HR (HitRate) criterion without lowering the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process drift coefficient enhances the diversity of suggestions.

Keywords: recommender systems, reinforcement learning, deep learning, DDPG, Leonard-Ornstein process

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Authors: Umar Ubandawaki

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Political participation involves voluntary and deliberate efforts by the members of a political system to determine the kinds of political institution and individuals that will govern them and equally influence the mobilization and allocation of the available societal resources. Over the years, youths in Nigeria participated actively in political party rallies and voting to elect their leaders and representatives in governance. This paper examines categories and nature of participation in politics as well as factors that derived youths into politics in Sokoto State. Through the use of qualitative and quantitative data generated from focus group discussions, interviews and questionnaire, the paper find out that youth, in Sokoto State, have been induced in participatory activities that encourage political thuggery and manipulation of electoral outcomes. Moreover, they are neglected in the mobilization and allocation of the available resources of the society i.e they are denied dividends of good governance. The paper recommends that youths should be engaged into positive participatory activities for ensuring inclusiveness and promotion of good governance in Nigeria. It is hoped that this will enlighten youth and policy implementers on the constructive strategies in controlling youth’s participation in politics in Nigeria.

Keywords: democracy, governance, inclusivenes, participation and politic

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Authors: Flavia Kroetz

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From 1964 to 1985, Brazil was ruled by a dictatorial regime that, under the discourse of fight against terrorism and subversion, implemented cruel and atrocious practices against anyone who opposed the State ideology. At the same time, several Latin American countries faced dictatorial periods and experienced State repression through apparatuses of violence institutionalized in the very governmental structure. Despite the correspondence between repressive methods adopted by authoritarian regimes in States such as Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Peru and Uruguay, the mechanisms of democratic transition adopted with the end of each dictatorship were significantly different. While some States have found ways to deal with past atrocities through serious and transparent investigations of the crimes perpetrated in the name of repression, in others, as in Brazil, a culture of impunity remains rooted in society, manifesting itself in the widespread disbelief of the population in governmental and democratic institutions. While Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay are convincing examples of the possibility and importance of the prosecution of crimes such as torture, forced disappearance and murder committed by the State, El Salvador demonstrates the complete failure to punish or at least remove from power the perpetrators of serious crimes against civilians and political opponents. In a scenario of widespread violations of human rights, State violence becomes entrenched within society as a daily and even necessary practice. In Brazil, a lack of political and judicial will withstands the impunity of those who, during the military regime, committed serious crimes against human rights under the authority of the State. If the reproduction of violence is a direct consequence of the culture of denial and the rejection of everyone considered to be different, ‘the other’, then the adoption of transitional mechanisms that underpin the historical and political contexts of the time seems essential. Such mechanisms must strengthen democracy through the effective implementation of the rights to memory and to truth, the right to justice and reparations for victims and their families, as well as institutional changes in order to remove from power those who, when in power, could not distinguish between legality and authoritarianism. Against this background, this research analyses the importance of transitional justice for the restoration of democracy, considering the adoption of amnesty laws as a strategy to preclude criminal prosecution of offenses committed during dictatorial regimes. The study investigates the scope of Law No 6.683/79, the Brazilian amnesty law, which, according to a 2010 decision of the Brazilian Constitutional Supreme Court, granted amnesty to those responsible for political crimes and related crimes, committed between September 2, 1961 and August 15, 1979. Was the purpose of this Law to grant amnesty to violent crimes committed by the State? If so, is it possible to recognize the legitimacy of a Congress composed of indirectly elected politicians controlled by the dictatorship?

Keywords: amnesty law, criminal justice, dictatorship, state violence

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Authors: Adel M. Al-Shutairi, Ahmed H. Al-Zahrani

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Tea is a popular beverage drunk by millions of people throughout the globe. Tea has considerable health advantages, in-cluding antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, chemopreventive, and anticarcinogenic properties. As a result of environmental pollution (atmospheric deposition) and the production process, tealeaves may also include a variety of dangerous substances, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In this study, graphene oxide reinforced chitosan/poly-nitroaniline polymer was prepared to develop a sensitive and reliable solid phase extraction method (SPE) for extraction of PAH7 in tea samples, followed by high-performance liquid chromatography- fluorescence detection. The prepared adsorbent was validated in terms of linearity, the limit of detection, the limit of quantification, recovery (%), accuracy (%), and precision (%) for the determination of the PAH7 (benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, Dibenzo[a,h]anthracene and Benzo[g,h,i]perylene) in tea samples. The concentration was determined in two types of tea commercially available in Saudi Arabia, including black tea and green tea. The maximum mean of Σ7PAHs in black tea samples was 68.23 ± 0.02 ug kg-1 and 26.68 ± 0.01 ug kg-1 in green tea samples. The minimum mean of Σ7PAHs in black tea samples was 37.93 ± 0.01 ug kg-1 and 15.26 ± 0.01 ug kg-1 in green tea samples. The mean value of benzo[a]pyrene in black tea samples ranged from 6.85 to 12.17 ug kg-1, where two samples exceeded the standard level (10 ug kg-1) established by the European Union (UE), while in green tea ranged from 1.78 to 2.81 ug kg-1. Low levels of Σ7PAHs in green tea samples were detected in comparison with black tea samples.

Keywords: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, CS, PNA and GO, black/green tea, solid phase extraction, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Fatemeh Yazdani

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This paper explores the student intake policies in high-performing private schools in Iran by studying both sides involved in the school choice processes, parents and the school leaders. It is based on in-depth interviews with 27 parents and private schools’ staff and principals supplemented by ethnographic observation in two private schools in Tehran. From the Bourdieusian point of view, this paper argues that the school leadership engineers the composition of private schools’ students via different gatekeeping strategies, and these strategies represent and reconstruct the school’s institutional habitus. It further explores the ways that parents who look for quality education among non-state education providers deal with the school's institutional habitus based on their familial habitus and possessed economic, social, and cultural capital. The conclusion highlights that investigating school choice as a reciprocal process between family and school leadership can shed more light on the ways that an exclusive environment has been created in some high-performing private schools for certain class strata maintaining a distance that needs to be kept from ‘others.’ In a broader sense, this paper engages into an exploration of social inequality reproduction through private education.

Keywords: institutional habitus, private education, school choice, social inequality, student intake

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Authors: Weiran An, Junyou Shi

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Health management has become one of the design goals in the research and development of new generation avionics systems, and is an important complement and development for the testability and fault diagnosis technology. Currently, the research and application for avionics system health dividing and diagnosis technology is still at the starting stage, lack of related technologies and methods reserve. In this paper, based on the health three-state dividing of avionics products, state lateral transfer coupling modeling and diagnosis reasoning method considering sub-health are researched. With the study of typical case application, the feasibility and correctness of the method and the software are verified.

Keywords: sub-health, diagnosis reasoning, three-valued coupled logic, extended dependency model, avionics

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Authors: Chaouki Ghenai

Abstract:

Computational fluid dynamics analysis of the burning of syngas fuels derived from biomass and plastic solid waste mixture through gasification process is presented in this paper. The syngas fuel is burned in gas turbine can combustor. Gas turbine can combustor with swirl is designed to burn the fuel efficiently and reduce the emissions. The main objective is to test the impact of the alternative syngas fuel compositions and lower heating value on the combustion performance and emissions. The syngas fuel is produced by blending Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) with Polyethylene (PE) waste via catalytic steam gasification (fluidized bed reactor). High hydrogen content syngas fuel was obtained by mixing 30% PE waste with PKS. The syngas composition obtained through the gasification process is 76.2% H2, 8.53% CO, 4.39% CO2 and 10.90% CH4. The lower heating value of the syngas fuel is LHV = 15.98 MJ/m3. Three fuels were tested in this study natural gas (100%CH4), syngas fuel and pure hydrogen (100% H2). The power from the combustor was kept constant for all the fuels tested in this study. The effect of syngas fuel composition and lower heating value on the flame shape, gas temperature, mass of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) per unit of energy generation is presented in this paper. The results show an increase of the peak flame temperature and NO mass fractions for the syngas and hydrogen fuels compared to natural gas fuel combustion. Lower average CO2 emissions at the exit of the combustor are obtained for the syngas compared to the natural gas fuel.

Keywords: CFD, combustion, emissions, gas turbine combustor, gasification, solid waste, syngas, waste to energy

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Authors: Chantal Hendriks, Harry Gibson, Anna Trett, Penny Hancock, Catherine Moyes

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The use of modern inputs for crop protection, such as insecticides, is strongly underestimated in Sub-Saharan Africa. Several studies measured toxic concentrations of insecticides in fruits, vegetables and fish that were cultivated in Sub-Saharan Africa. The use of agricultural insecticides has impact on human and environmental health, but it also has the potential to impact on insecticide resistance in malaria transmitting mosquitos. To analyse associations between historic use of agricultural insecticides and the distribution of insecticide resistance through space and time, the use and environmental fate of agricultural insecticides needs to be mapped through the same time period. However, data on the use and environmental fate of agricultural insecticides in Africa are limited and therefore risk maps on the spatiotemporal occurrence of agricultural insecticides are created using environmental data. Environmental data on crop density and crop type were used to select the areas that most likely receive insecticides. These areas were verified by a literature review and expert knowledge. Pesticide fate models were compared to select most dominant processes that are involved in the environmental fate of insecticides and that can be mapped at a continental scale. The selected processes include: surface runoff, erosion, infiltration, volatilization and the storing and filtering capacity of soils. The processes indicate the risk for insecticide accumulation in soil, water, sediment and air. A compilation of all available data for traces of insecticides in the environment was used to validate the maps. The risk maps can result in space and time specific measures that reduce the risk of insecticide exposure to non-target organisms.

Keywords: crop protection, pesticide fate, tropics, insecticide resistance

Procedia PDF Downloads 138