Search results for: Kardashev scale

Authors: Digdem M. Siyez, Bariscan Ozturk, Erol Esen, Ender Siyez, Yelda Kagnici, Bahar Baran

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Infertility is a reproductive disease identified with the absence of pregnancy after regular unprotected sexual intercourse that has been lasting for 12 months or more. Some of the factors that cause infertility, which has been considered as a social and societal issue since the first days of the humankind, are preventable. These are veneral diseases, age, the frequency of the intercourse and its timing, drug use, bodyweight, environmental and professional conditions. Having actual information about the reproductive health is essential to take protective and preventive measures, and it is accepted as the most effective way to reduce the rate of infertility. However, during the literature review, it has been observed that there are so few studies that focus on the prevention of the infertility. The aim of this study is to develop a psycho-education program to reduce infertility among university students and also to evaluate the program’s effectiveness. It is believed that this program will increase the information level about infertility among the university students, help them to adopt healthy attitudes, develop life skills, create awareness about the risk factors and also contribute to the literature. Throughout the study, first, the contents of sexual/reproductive health programs developed for university students were examined by the researches. Besides, “Views about Reproductive Health Psycho-education Program Survey” was developed and applied to 10221 university students from 21 universities. In accordance with the literature and the university students’ views about reproductive health psycho-education program consisting of 9 sessions each of which lasts for 90 minutes was developed. The pilot program was carried out with 16 volunteer undergraduate students attending to a state university. During the evaluation of the pilot study, at the end of each session “Session Evaluation Form” and at the end of the entire program “Program Evaluation Form” were administered to the participants. Besides, one week after the end of the program, a focus group with half of the group, and individual interviews with the rest were conducted. Based on the evaluations, it was determined that the session duration is enough, the teaching methods meet the expectation, the techniques applied are appropriate and clear, and the materials are adequate. Also, an extra session was added to psycho-education program based on the feedbacks of the participants. In order to evaluate program’s effectiveness, Solomon control group design will be used. According to this design, the research has 2 experiment groups and 2 control groups. The participants who voluntarily participated in the research after the announcement of the psycho-education program were divided into experiment and control groups. In the experiment 1 and control 1 groups, “Personal Information Test”, “Infertility Information Test” and “Infertility Attitude Scale”, “Self Identification Inventory” and “Melbourne Decision Scale” were administered as a preliminary test. Currently, at the present stage, psycho-education still continues. After this 10-week program, the same tests will be administered again as the post-tests. The decision upon which statistical method will be applied in the analysis will be made afterwards according to whether the data meets the presuppositions or not.

Keywords: infertility, prevention, psycho-education, reproductive health

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Authors: Robert E. Kenney, Richard B. Aguilar, Efrain Antunez, Gregory Schor-Haskin, Rafael Rey, Catie Falcon, Luis Arce

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This study sought to explore the effect of Sarapin injections on chronic knee pain (CKP). Many adults suffer from CKP which is most often attributed to osteoarthritis. Current treatment regimens for CKP involve the use NSAIDS medications, injections with steroids/analgesic, platelet rich plasma injections, or orthopedic surgical interventions. Sarapin is a commercially available homeopathic aqueous extract from the pitcher plant. Studies on the use of Sarapin as a treatment for cervical, thoracic, and lumbosacral facet joint nerve blocks have been performed with mixed results. There is little available evidence on the use of Sarapin in CKP. This study examines the effect of a series of 3 weekly injections of aqueous Sarapin in 95 elderly patients with CKP in a primary care setting. Cano Health, a primary care group, identified 95 successive patients with CKP from its multimodal physiotherapy program for chronic pain. Patients underwent evaluation by a clinician, underwent diagnostic Xrays of the knees, and the treatment plan with three weekly Sarapin injections was discussed. A pain and functional limitation survey (a modified Lower Extremity Functional Scale (mLEFS)) was administered prior to initiating treatment (Entry Survey (ES)). Each patient received an intraarticular injection of 2 cc of aqueous Sarapin with 1cc 1% lidocaine during weeks 1, 2 and 3. The mLEFS was administered again at week 4, one week after the third Sarapin injection (Exit Survey (ExS)). Demographics: Mean Age 62 +/- 9.8; 73% female; 89% Hispanic/Latino; mean time between ES and ExS was 27.5 +/-8.2 days. Survey: The mLEFS was based on a published Lower Extremity Functional Scale and each patient rated their pain or functional limitation from 0 (no difficulty) to 5 (severe difficulty) for 10 questions. Answers were summed and compared. Maximum score for severe difficulty would be 50 points. Results: Mean pain/functional scores: ES was 30.3 +/-12.1 and ExS was 19.5 +/- 12.5. This represents a relative improvement of 35.7% (P<0.00001). A total of 81% (77/95) of the patients showed improvement in symptoms at week four as assessed by the mLEFS. There were 11 patients who reported an increase in their survey scores while 7 patients reported no change. When evaluating the cohort that reported improvement, the ES was 30.9 +/-11.4 and ExS was 16.3 +/-9.8 yielding a 47.2% relative improvement (P<0.00001). Injections were well tolerated, and no adverse events were reported. Conclusions: In this cohort of 95 elderly patients with CKP, treatment with 3 weekly injections of Sarapin significantly improved pain and function as assessed by a mLEFS survey. The majority (81%) of patients responded positively to therapy, 12% had worsening symptoms and 7% reported no change. The use of intraarticular injections of Sarapin for CKP was shown to be an effective modality of treatment. Sarapin’s low cost, tolerability, and ease of use make it an attractive alternative to NSAIDS, steroids, PRP or surgical intervention for this common debilitating condition.

Keywords: Sarapin, intraarticular, chronic knee pain, osteoarthritis

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Authors: M. Capocelli, A. Caputo, M. De Falco, D. Mazzei, V. Piemonte

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This paper presents the experimental results and the related modeling of a thermal energy storage (TES) facility, ideated and realized by ENEA and realizing the thermocline with an innovative geometry. Firstly, the thermal energy exchange model of an equivalent shell & tube heat exchanger is described and tested to reproduce the performance of the spiral exchanger installed in the TES. Through the regression of the experimental data, a first-order thermocline model was also validated to provide an analytical function of the thermocline, useful for the performance evaluation and the comparison with other systems and implementation in simulations of integrated systems (e.g. power plants). The experimental data obtained from the plant start-up and the short-cut modeling of the system can be useful for the process analysis, for the scale-up of the thermal storage system and to investigate the feasibility of its implementation in actual case-studies.

Keywords: CSP plants, thermal energy storage, thermocline, mathematical modelling, experimental data

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Authors: Soulef Amamria, Mohamed Sadok Bensalem, Mohamed Ghanmi

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The structural and sedimentological study of fault-related- folds in the Southern Tunisian Atlas is distinguished by a special geometry of the gravitational structures. This distinct geometry is observable in the example of a flap structure in Jebel Ben Zannouch with the formation of a stuck syncline. This geometry can be explained by the mechanism of major thrusting in Orbata anticline in the occidental extremity of Gafsa chains, with asymmetrical flank dips and hinge migration kinematics. These kinematics was originally controlled by the Breakthrough structure; the study of this special geometry of gravity flap structure depends on the sedimentation domain, shortening ratios, and erosion speed. This study constitutes one of the complete examples of kinematic model validation on a field scale.

Keywords: fault-related-folds, southern Tunisian Atlas, flap structure, breakthrough

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Authors: Aravind J.

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Passive design can be referred to a way of designing buildings that takes advantage of the prevailing climate and natural energy resources. Which will be a key to reduce the increasing energy usage in commercial buildings. Most of the small scale commercial buildings made are merely a thermal mass inbuilt with active systems to bring lively conditions. By bringing the passive design strategies for energy efficiency in commercial buildings will reduce the usage of active systems. Thus the energy usage can be controlled through analysis of daylighting and improved living conditions in the indoor spaces by using passive techniques. And comparative study on different passive design systems and conventional methods will be approached for commercial buildings in hot and humid region. Possible effects of existing risks implied with solution for those problems is also a part of the paper. The result will be carried on with the design programme to prove the workability of the strategies.

Keywords: passive design, energy efficiency, commercial buildings, hot and humid climate

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Authors: Devineni Vijay Bhaskar, Yendluri Raja

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We recommend a model for traffic sign detection stranded on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). We first renovate the unique image into the gray scale image through with support vector machines, then use convolutional neural networks with fixed and learnable layers for revealing and understanding. The permanent layer can reduction the amount of attention areas to notice and crop the limits very close to the boundaries of traffic signs. The learnable coverings can rise the accuracy of detection significantly. Besides, we use bootstrap procedures to progress the accuracy and avoid overfitting problem. In the German Traffic Sign Detection Benchmark, we obtained modest results, with an area under the precision-recall curve (AUC) of 99.49% in the group “Risk”, and an AUC of 96.62% in the group “Obligatory”.

Keywords: convolutional neural network, support vector machine, detection, traffic signs, bootstrap procedures, precision-recall curve

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Authors: Xiaoying Guo, Xiangyun Wang

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Access rates is a key indicator of reflecting the popularity of web pages. Having high access rates are very important for web pages, especially for news web pages, online shopping sites and searching engines. In this paper, we analyzed the influences of visual fluency and cognitive fluency on access rates of Chinese web pages. Firstly, we conducted an experiment of scoring the web pages. Twenty-five subjects were invited to view top 50 web pages of China, and they were asked to give a score in a 5-point Likert-scale from four aspects, including complexity, comfortability, familiarity and usability. Secondly, the obtained results was analyzed by correlation analysis and factor analysis in R. By factor analysis; we analyzed the contributions of visual fluency and cognitive fluency to the access rates. The results showed that both visual fluency and cognitive fluency affect the access rate of web pages. Compared to cognitive fluency, visual fluency play a more important role in user’s accessing of web pages.

Keywords: visual fluency, cognitive fluency, visual complexity, usability

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Authors: Mustafa Kara, Yasemin Kilic, Bahattin Murat Demir, Ümit Ustaoglu, Cavit Unal

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This paper reports utilization of different kind of construction and demolition wastes (C&D) in the production of bricks at industrial scale. Plastered brick waste and tile wastes were collected from ISTAÇ Co. Compost and Recovery Plant, Istanbul, Turkey. Plastered brick waste and tile waste are mixed with brick clay in the proportion of 0-30% and fired at 900ºC. The physical and mechanical properties of the produced bricks were determined and evaluated according to IKIZLER Brick Company Production values, Brick Industry Association (BIA) and Turkish Standards (TS). The resulted showed that plastered brick waste and tile waste can be used to produce good quality brick for various engineering applications in construction and building. The replacement of brick clay by plastered brick waste and tile waste at the levels of 30% has good effects on the compressive strength of the bricks.

Keywords: commercial brick, construction and demolition waste, manufacturing, recycling

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Authors: Oluwagbenga O. Isaac Orimoogunje, Omolola Helen Oshosanya

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The study examined land management in a typical watershed in southwestern Nigeria with a view to ascertaining its impact on land suitability analysis for rice cultivation and production. The study applied the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), weighted overlay analysis (WOA), multi-criteria decision-making techniques, and suitability map calculations within a Geographic Information System environment. Five main criteria were used, and these include climate, topography, soil fertility, macronutrients, and micronutrients. A consistency ratio (CR) of 0.067 was obtained for rice cultivation. The results showed that 95% of the land area is suitable for rice cultivation, with pH units ranging between 4.6 and 6.0, organic matter of 1.4–2.5 g kg-1 and base saturation of more than 80%. The study concluded that the Ofiki watershed is a potential site for large-scale rice cultivation in a sustainable capacity.

Keywords: land management, land characteristics, land suitability, rice production, watershed

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Authors: Shahriyar Keshtgar, Mahmoud Reza Heyhat, Sasan Bagheri, Ebrahim Gholami, Seyed Naser Raiisosadat

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The eastern Iranian range is a Z-shaped sigmoidal outcrop appearing with a NS-trending general strike on the satellite images, has already been known as the Sistan suture zone, recently identified as the product of an orogenic event introduced either by the Paleogene or Sistan orogen names. The flysch sedimentary basin of eastern Iran was filled by a huge volume of fine-grained Eocene turbiditic sediments, smaller amounts of pelagic deposits and Cretaceous ophiolitic slices, which are entirely remnants of older accretionary prisms appeared in a fold-thrust belt developed onto a subduction zone under the Lut/Afghan block, portions of the Cimmerian superterrane. In these ranges, there are Triassic sedimentary and carbonate sequences (equivalent to Nayband and Shotori Formations) along with scattered outcrops of Permian limestones (equivalent to Jamal limestone) and greenschist-facies metamorphic rocks, probably belonging to the basement of the Lut block, which have tectonic contacts with younger rocks. Moreover, the younger Eocene detrital-volcanic rocks were also thrusted onto the Cretaceous or younger turbiditic deposits. The first generation folds (parallel folds) and thrusts with slaty cleavage appeared parallel to the NE edge of the Lut block. Structural analysis shows that the most vergence of thrusts is toward the southeast so that the Permo-Triassic units in Lut have been thrusted on the younger rocks, including older (probably Jurassic) granites. Additional structural studies show that the regional transport direction in this deformation event is from northwest to the southeast where, from the outside to the inside of the orogen in the Sechengi area. Younger thrusts of the second deformation event were either directly formed as a result of the second deformation event, or they were older thrusts that reactivated and folded so that often, two sets or more slickenlines can be recognized on the thrust planes. The recent thrusts have been redistributed in directions nearly perpendicular to the edge of the Lut block and parallel to the axial surfaces of the northwest second generation large-scale folds (radial folds). Some of these younger thrusts follow the out-of-the-syncline thrust system. The both axial planes of these folds and associated penetrative shear cleavage extended towards northwest appeared with both northeast and southwest dips parallel to the younger thrusts. The large-scale buckling with the layer-parallel stress field has created this deformation event. Such consecutive deformation events perpendicular to each other cannot be basically explained by the simple linear orogen models presented for eastern Iran so far and are more consistent with the oroclinal buckling model.

Keywords: thrust, tectonic vergence, orocline buckling, sechangi, eastern iranian ranges

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Authors: J. H. Boonzaaier, A. C. Brent

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South Africa, a water scarce country, experiences the phenomenon that its life supporting natural water resources is seriously threatened by the users that are totally dependent on it. South Africa is globally applauded to have of the best and most progressive water laws and policies. There are however growing concerns regarding natural water resource quality deterioration and a critical void in the management of natural resources and compliance to policies due to increasing institutional uncertainties and failures. These are in accordance with concerns of many South African researchers and practitioners that call for a change in paradigm from talk to practice and a more constructive, practical approach to governance challenges in the management of water resources. A qualitative theory-building case study through longitudinal action research was conducted from 2014 to 2017. The research assessed whether a strategic positioned institutional agent can be parlayed to facilitate and execute WRM on catchment level by engaging multiple stakeholders in a polycentric setting. Through a critical realist approach a distinction was made between ex ante self-deterministic human behaviour in the realist realm, and ex post governance-management in the constructivist realm. A congruence analysis, including Toulmin’s method of argumentation analysis, was utilised. The study evaluated the unique case of a self-steering local water management institution, the Impala Water Users Association (WUA) in the Pongola River catchment in the northern part of the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Exploiting prevailing water resource threats, it expanded its ancillary functions from 20,000 to 300,000 ha. Embarking on WRM activities, it addressed natural water system quality assessments, social awareness, knowledge support, and threats, such as: soil erosion, waste and effluent into water systems, coal mining, and water security dimensions; through structured engagement with 21 different catchment stakeholders. By implementing a proposed polycentric governance-management model on a catchment scale, the WUA achieved to fill the void. It developed a foundation and capacity to protect the resilience of the natural environment that is critical for freshwater resources to ensure long-term water security of the Pongola River basin. Further work is recommended on appropriate statutory delegations, mechanisms of sustainable funding, sufficient penetration of knowledge to local levels to catalyse behaviour change, incentivised support from professionals, back-to-back expansion of WUAs to alleviate scale and cost burdens, and the creation of catchment data monitoring and compilation centres.

Keywords: institutional agent, water governance, polycentric water resource management, water resource management

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Authors: Nurul Qalbi Awaliyah, Rosmala Rauf, Indrawan, Suherman

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Zakat is a certain amount of property which shall be issued by Moslems and given to groups who deserve it (the poor and so on) according to the conditions set by the sharia. This research aims to know the effectiveness of the management of zakat on Dompet Dhuafa in Makasar. The type of research used is quantitative research with descriptive research method. Data collection was done through the dissemination of Likert scale and measurement of the now. The samples were analyzed by as much as 68 and analyzed using SPSS 18.0. The results of the analysis of data obtained at the level of effectiveness of management of zakat in Makassar from all aspects based on SPSS has a mean 140.04 median, minimum, 141 122, and a maximum of 164. The value of all the indicators of assessment of the effectiveness of the management of zakat on Dompet Dhuafa in Makassar has an average score of (M) of 112.5 and standard deviation (SD) of 37.5. The results show that the level of effectiveness of management of zakat in Makassar city is in the category of effective percentage 85,3%. Based on the results it can be concluded that management of zakat on Dompet Dhuafa in Makassar city has been implemented effectively.

Keywords: Dompet Duafa, effectiveness, management, Zakat

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Authors: Safak Akdemir

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The main purpose of this research is to evaluate the relationships between childhood traumas and dissociative experiences, self-perceptions and early maladaptive schemas in male convicts convicted of sexual assault crimes in prison. In our study, male convicts in prison for the crime of sexual assault constitute the experimental group, and the participants matched with this experimental group in terms of education, age and gender constitute the control group. The experimental group of the research consists of 189 male individuals who are convicted in the Ministry of Justice, General Directorate of Prisons, Istanbul/Maltepe L Type Closed Prison. The control group of this study consists of 147 adult males matched with the experimental group in terms of age, gender and education parameters. A total of 336 adult male individuals are included in the sample of this study. 46% of the experimental group were convicted of only sexual assault, 54% of them were convicted of both sexual assault and murder, injury and drug crimes. Total of five data collection tools, namely the Personal Information Form created by S. A. & E. O., Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form (YSQ-SF3), were completed. DES cut-off score of 99 (52.39%) of 189 convicts in the experimental group and 12 (8.17%) of 147 people in the control group was found to be 30 and above, and this result indicates the presence of pathological dissociative experiences. 180 (95.23%) of the sexual assault convicts in the experimental group had at least one childhood trauma, 154 (81.48%) were emotional neglect, 140 (74.07%) were emotional abuse, 121 (64.02%) were physical neglect, 91 (4814%) physical abuse and 70 (37.03%) sexual abuse. 168 (88.88%) of the experimental group reported multiple type of trauma and 12 (6.34%) reported single type of trauma. While the childhood traumas, isolation, abandonment and emotional deprivation schema levels of the convicts with a DES cut-off score of 30 and above are higher than the convicts with a DES cut-off score of 30 and above, their self-esteem is lower than this group. Experimental group while childhood traumas, dissociative experiences and early maladaptive schemas are higher than the control group, their self-esteem levels are lower. Dissociative experiences, abandonment and emotional deprivation early maladaptive schemas are more common in convicts aged between 18-30 years compared to convicts aged 31 and over. In addition, dissociative experiences and early maladaptive schemas of male convicts who reported physical and sexual abuse were higher than those who did not report physical and sexual abuse, while their self-esteem was at a lower level. As a result, in terms of psychotraumatology and clinical forensic psychology, dissociative disorders developed under the influence of chronic childhood traumas, with clinical interviews and psychometric measurements to be made in terms of forensic psychiatry; it is of fundamental importance to evaluate it in terms of neurosis-psychosis distinction, disability retirement, custody, malpractice, criminal and legal capacity criteria.

Keywords: crime, sexual assault, criminology, rape crimes, dissocitative disorders, maladative schemas

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Authors: Upasna Bhandari, Indranil Saha, Deepak John Mathew

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The green fashion market is growing rapidly as eco-friendly consumers are willing to expand their organic lifestyle to include clothing. With an increasing share of fashion consumers globally, Indian consumers are observed to consider the social and environmental ethics while making purchasing decisions. While some research clearly identifies the efforts of responsible consumers towards green fashion, some argue that fashion-orientated consumers who are sensitive towards environment do not actively participate towards supporting green fashion. This study aims to analyze the current perception of green fashion among Indian consumers. A small-scale exploratory study is conducted where consumers’ perception of green fashion is examined followed by an analysis of translation of this perception into purchase decision making. This research paper gives insight into consumer awareness on green fashion and provides scope towards the expansion of ethical fashion consumption within the demography of India.

Keywords: consumer perception, environmental attitudes, fashion retailing, green fashion, sustainability

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Authors: Teguh Sugiarto

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Background: The research aims to explore if there is fraud in a financial statement, use the Act stated that Benford's distribution all digits must compare the number will follow the trend of lower number. Research methods: This research uses all the analysis number being in Benford's law. After receiving the results of the analysis of all the digits, the author makes a distinction between implementation using the scale above and below 5%, the rate of occurrence of difference. With the number which have differences in the range of 5%, then can do the follow-up and the detection of the onset of fraud against the financial statements. The findings: From the research that has been done can be drawn the conclusion that the average of all numbers appear in the financial statements, and compare the rates of occurrence of numbers according to the characteristics of Benford's law. About the existence of errors and fraud in the financial statements of PT medco Energy Tbk did not occur. Conclusions: The study concludes that Benford's law can serve as indicator tool in detecting the possibility of in financial statements to case studies of PT Medco Energy Tbk for the fiscal year 2000-2010.

Keywords: Benford law, first digits, all digits number Benford law, financial statement

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Authors: A. Mourtzikou, D. Sygkridou, T. Georgakopoulos, G. Katsagounos, E. Stathatos

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Over 60% highly transparent quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with dimension of 50x50 cm² were fabricated via inkjet printing process using nanocomposite inks as raw materials and tested under outdoor illumination conditions. The cells were electrically characterized, and their possible application to the shell of greenhouses was also examined. The panel design was in Z-interconnection, where the working electrode was inkjet printed on one conductive glass and the counter electrode on a second glass in a sandwich configuration. Silver current collective fingers were printed on the glasses to make the internal electrical connections. In that case, the adjacent cells were connected in series via silver fingers and finally insulated using a UV curing resin to protect them from the corrosive (I^-/I₃^-) redox couple of the electrolyte.

Keywords: Dye-sensitized solar panels, inkjet printing, quasi-solid state electrolyte, semi-transparency, scale up

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Authors: Lozano Paul

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Coupled Membrane Separation Technology (CMST), including Cross Flow Microfiltration (CFM) and Reverse Osmosis (RO), are used to concentrate microalgae biomass or/and to extract and concentrate water-soluble metabolites produced during micro-algae production cycle, as well as water recycling. Micro-algae biomass was produced using different feeding mixtures of ingredients: pure chemical origin compounds and natural/ecological water-extracted components from available local plants. Micro-algae was grown either in conventional plastic bags (100L/unit) or in small-scale innovative bioreactors (75L). Biomass was concentrated as CFM retentate using a P19-60 ceramic membrane (0.2μm pore size), and water-soluble micro-algae metabolites left in the CFM filtrate were concentrated by RO. Large volumes of water (micro-algae culture media) of were recycled by the CMTS for another biomass production cycle.

Keywords: extraction, membrane process, microalgae, natural compound

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Authors: Swastik Karmakar, Prasanta Das, Shital K. Chattopadhyay

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An efficient synthesis of symmetrical 2, 2′-Di-substituted 3, 3′-bisindolylarylmethanes (BIAMs) having different aryl and hetero-aryl moieties has been developed by Ag(I)-catalyzed indolyzation and a sequential deoxygenative addition involving o-alkynylanilines and aryl/hetero-aryl aldehydes as substrates. Alkyne and carbonyl units could be activated by Ag (I) simultaneously which results in a domino 5-endo-dig indole annulation, addition of C3 of this indole nucleus to the carbonyl carbon in addition to second indole annulation, and its dehydroxylative addition to the same carbonyl carbon to furnish BIAMs in excellent yield. As 3, 3′-bisindolylmethanes (BIMs) are biologically significant scaffolds, this moiety with further substitutions at the indole core could find some important use in medicinal chemistry. The methodology developed is atom-economic and involves more accessible silver salts, which could be useful for large-scale synthesis.

Keywords: alkyne, 3, 3′-Bisindolylarylmethanes, carbonyl, domino, 5-endo-dig indole annulation, silver catalyst

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Authors: Amanda M. McLeroy, Tiera Tanksley

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The 2020 movement for Black Lives, ignited by anti-Black police brutality and exemplified by the public execution of George Floyd, underscored the dual potential of social media for political activism and perilous exposure to traumatic content for Black students. This study employs Critical Race Technology Theory (CRTT) to scrutinize algorithmic anti-blackness and its impact on Black youth's lives and educational experiences. The research investigates the consequences of vicarious exposure to police brutality on social media among Black adolescents through qualitative interviews and quantitative scale data. The findings reveal an unprecedented surge in exposure to viral police killings since 2020, resulting in profound physical, socioemotional, and educational effects on Black youth. CRTT forms the theoretical basis, challenging the notion of digital technologies as post-racial and neutral, aiming to dismantle systemic biases within digital systems. Black youth, averaging over 13 hours of daily social media use, face constant exposure to graphic images of Black individuals dying. The study connects this exposure to a range of physical, socioemotional, and mental health consequences, emphasizing the urgent need for understanding and support. The research proposes questions to explore the extent of police brutality exposure and its effects on Black youth. Qualitative interviews with high school and college students and quantitative scale data from undergraduates contribute to a nuanced understanding of the impact of police brutality exposure on Black youth. Themes of unprecedented exposure to viral police killings, physical and socioemotional effects, and educational consequences emerge from the analysis. The study uncovers how vicarious experiences of negative police encounters via social media lead to mistrust, fear, and psychosomatic symptoms among Black adolescents. Implications for educators and counselors are profound, emphasizing the cultivation of empathy, provision of mental health support, integration of media literacy education, and encouragement of activism. Recognizing family and community influences is crucial for comprehensive support. Professional development opportunities in culturally responsive teaching and trauma-informed approaches are recommended for educators. In conclusion, creating a supportive educational environment that addresses the emotional impact of social media exposure to police brutality is crucial for the well-being and development of Black adolescents. Counselors, through safe spaces and collaboration, play a vital role in supporting Black youth facing the distressing effects of social media exposure to police brutality.

Keywords: black youth, mental health, police brutality, social media

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Authors: Zhidong Zhang, Zhi-Chao Zhang

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In this study, three Chinese versions of the Achenbach systems of empirically based assessment (ASEBA) scales were used to examine adolescent psychological and behavioral problems. These three scales are CBCL, TRF, and YSR. In order to further understand the robustness of these scales, their reliability and construct validity have been examined. Each scale consists of about 113 items plus relevant background variables. These 113 items were further classified into 8 psychological and behavioral problems: emotionally reactive, anxious/depressed, somatic complaints, withdrawn, attention problems, aggressive behavior, social problems, thought problems, and association problems. The study explored the item and construct correlation relations and the correlations between the corresponding constructs among three scales. The results indicated that the associations between item and constructs varied. The construct validities were very robust.

Keywords: ASEBA, construct validity, psychological and behavioral problems, reliability

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Authors: Prajakta Bhadgaonkar

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Forgiveness is taught since birth in Indian tradition. However, delivering a disabled child is a trauma for the parents. They keep on blaming themselves for the fault, which they are not responsible. Hence, due to lack of forgiving oneself the quality of life of both parent and child gets affected. In forgiveness, person tries to relieve oneself from the feeling of hatred towards oneself or other person. Forgiveness helps move ahead in the life. Hence, one can handle problem more efficiently resulting into better quality of life. In this study, the 30 parents of children with intellectual disability were contacted to find out quality of life. They were administered standardized measure of quality of life (QOL). The children were between 6 to 8 years of age. Out of these 30 parents, 12 parents (7 females and 5 males) were given forgiveness therapy for three months span. After every one month, the QOL scale was administered. At the end of three months, the significant difference was observed in quality of life of parents of children with intellectual disability. Genderwise there was no significant difference between male and female on quality of life.

Keywords: children with intellectual disability, forgiveness, parents, quality of life

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Authors: Aniket Aaba Kadam, Manish Mangesh Panchal, Roushan Ashit Sharma

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This project focuses on the design and development of a lab-scale hybrid rocket motor to accurately determine the regression rate of a fuel/oxidizer combination consisting of solid paraffin and gaseous oxygen (GOX). Hybrid motors offer the advantage of on-demand thrust control over both solid and liquid systems in certain applications. The thermodynamic properties of the propellant combination were calculated using NASA CEA at different chamber pressures and corresponding O/F values to determine initial operating conditions with suitable peak temperatures and optimal O/F values. The project also includes the design of the injector orifice and the determination of the final design configurations of the motor casing, pressure control setup, and valve configuration. This research will be valuable in advancing the understanding of paraffin-based propulsion and improving the performance of hybrid rocket motors.

Keywords: hybrid rocket, NASA CEA, injector, thrust control

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Authors: Sara Fayez Fawzy Mikhael

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Inclusive education services for students with Autism remains in its early developmental stages in Thailand. Despite many more children with autism are attending schools since the Thai government introduced the Education Provision for People with Disabilities Act in 2008, the services students with autism and their families receive are generally lacking. This quantitative study used Attitude and Preparedness to Teach Students with Autism Scale (APTSAS) to investigate 110 primary school teachers’ attitude and preparedness to teach students with autism in the general education classroom. Descriptive statistical analysis of the data found that student behavior was the most significant factor in building teachers’ negative attitudes students with autism. The majority of teachers also indicated that their pre-service education did not prepare them to meet the learning needs of children with autism in particular, those who are non-verbal. The study is significant and provides direction for enhancing teacher education for inclusivity in Thailand.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, thailandsports activates, movement skills, motor skills

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Authors: M. V. Shivaani, P. K. Jain, Surendra S. Yadav

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Risk management has been gaining extensive focus from international organizations like Committee of Sponsoring Organizations and Financial Stability Board, and, the foundation of such an effective and efficient risk management system lies in a strong risk governance structure. In view of this, an attempt (perhaps a first of its kind) has been made to develop a risk governance index, which could be used as proxy for quality of risk governance structures. The index (normative framework) is based on eleven variables, namely, size of board, board diversity in terms of gender, proportion of executive directors, executive/non-executive status of chairperson, proportion of independent directors, CEO duality, chief risk officer (CRO), risk management committee, mandatory committees, voluntary committees and existence/non-existence of whistle blower policy. These variables are scored on a scale of 1 to 5 with the exception of the variables, namely, status of chairperson and CEO duality (which have been scored on a dichotomous scale with the score of 3 or 5). In case there is a legal/statutory requirement in respect of above-mentioned variables and there is a non-compliance with such requirement a score of one has been envisaged. Though there is no legal requirement, for the larger part of study, in context of CRO, risk management committee and whistle blower policy, still a score of 1 has been assigned in the event of their non-existence. Recognizing the importance of these variables in context of risk governance structure and the fact that the study basically focuses on risk governance, the absence of these variables has been equated to non-compliance with a legal/statutory requirement. Therefore, based on this the minimum score is 15 and the maximum possible is 55. In addition, an attempt has been made to explore the determinants of this index. For this purpose, the sample consists of non-financial companies (429) that constitute S&P CNX500 index. The study covers a 10 years period from April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2015. Given the panel nature of data, Hausman test was applied, and it suggested that fixed effects regression would be appropriate. The results indicate that age and size of firms have significant positive impact on its risk governance structures. Further, post-recession period (2009-2015) has witnessed significant improvement in quality of governance structures. In contrast, profitability (positive relationship), leverage (negative relationship) and growth (negative relationship) do not have significant impact on quality of risk governance structures. The value of rho indicates that about 77.74% variation in risk governance structures is due to firm specific factors. Given the fact that each firm is unique in terms of its risk exposure, risk culture, risk appetite, and risk tolerance levels, it appears reasonable to assume that the specific conditions and circumstances that a company is beset with, could be the biggest determinants of its risk governance structures. Given the recommendations put forth in the paper (particularly for regulators and companies), the study is expected to be of immense utility in an important yet neglected aspect of risk management.

Keywords: corporate governance, ERM, risk governance, risk management

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Authors: Hiroki Shinkawa, Tadaaki Tomiie

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Many interventions for social skills acquisition aim to decrease the gap between social skills deficits in the individual and normative social skills; nevertheless little is known of typical social skills according to age difference in students. In this study, we developed new quintet of Hokkaido Social Skills Inventory (HSSI) in order to identify age-appropriate social skills for school adaptation. First, we selected 13 categories of social skills for school adaptation from previous studies, and created questionnaire items through discussion by 25 teachers in all three levels from elementary schools to senior high schools. Second, the factor structures of five versions of the social skills scale were investigated on 2nd grade (n = 1,864), 4th grade (n = 1,936), 6th grade (n = 2,085), 7th grade (n = 2,007), and 10th grade (n = 912) students, respectively. The exploratory factor analysis showed that a number of constructing factors of social skills increased as one’s grade in school advanced. The results in the present study can be useful to characterize the age-appropriate social skills for school adaptation.

Keywords: social skills, age difference, children, adolescents

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Authors: Hamed Khezrzadeh

Abstract:

Many investigations on the micromechanical structure of materials indicate that there exist fractal patterns at the micro scale in some of the main construction and industrial materials. A recently presented micro-fractal theory brings together the well-known periodic homogenization and the fractal geometry to construct an appropriate model for determination of the mechanical properties of particle reinforced composite materials. The proposed multi-step homogenization scheme considers the mechanical properties of different constituent phases in the composite together with the interaction between these phases throughout a step-by-step homogenization technique. In the proposed model the interaction of different phases is also investigated. By using this method the effect of fibers grading on the mechanical properties also could be studied. The theory outcomes are compared to the experimental data for different types of particle-reinforced composites which very good agreement with the experimental data is observed.

Keywords: fractal geometry, homogenization, micromehcanics, particulate composites

Procedia PDF Downloads 291

Authors: Samwail Fahmi Francis Yacoub

Abstract:

Inclusive education services for students with Autism remains in its early developmental stages in Thailand. Despite many more children with autism are attending schools since the Thai government introduced the Education Provision for People with Disabilities Act in 2008, the services students with autism and their families receive are generally lacking. This quantitative study used Attitude and Preparedness to Teach Students with Autism Scale (APTSAS) to investigate 110 primary school teachers’ attitude and preparedness to teach students with autism in the general education classroom. Descriptive statistical analysis of the data found that student behavior was the most significant factor in building teachers’ negative attitudes students with autism. The majority of teachers also indicated that their pre-service education did not prepare them to meet the learning needs of children with autism in particular, those who are non-verbal. The study is significant and provides direction for enhancing teacher education for inclusivity in Thailand.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, movement skills, motor skills, children, behavior.

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: Yen-Fen Shen, Meng-Fan Li

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The study aims to investigate the effect of full-body vertical rhythmic training on fatigue, physical activity, and quality of life among middle-aged and elderly hemodialysis patients. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research method and recruited 43 long-term hemodialysis patients from a medical center in northern Taiwan, with 23 and 20 participants in the experimental and control groups, respectively. The experimental group received full-body vertical rhythmic training as an intervention, while the control group received standard hemodialysis care without any intervention. Both groups completed the measurements by using "Fatigue Scale", "Physical Activity Scale" and "Chinese version of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire" before and after the study. The experimental group underwent a 10-minute full-body vertical rhythmic training three times per week, which lasted for eight weeks before receiving regular hemodialysis treatment. The data were analyzed by SPSS 25 software, including descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, percentages, means, and standard deviations, as well as inferential statistics, including chi-square, independent samples t-test, and paired samples t-test. The study results are summarized as follows: 1. There were no significant differences in demographic variables, fatigue, physical activity, and quality of life between the experimental and control groups in the pre-test. 2. After the intervention of the “full-body vertical rhythmic training,” the experimental group showed significantly better results in the category of "feeling tired and fatigued in the lower back", "physical functioning role limitation", "bodily pain", "social functioning", "mental health", and "impact of kidney disease on life quality." 3. The paired samples t-test results revealed that the control group experienced significant differences between the pre-test and post-test in the categories of feeling tired and fatigued in the lower back, bodily pain, social functioning mental health, and impact of kidney disease on life quality, with scores indicating a decline in life quality. Conversely, the experimental group only showed a significant worsening in bodily pain" and the impact of kidney disease on life quality, with lower change values compared to the control group. Additionally, there was an improvement in the condition of "feeling tired and fatigued in the lower back" for the experimental group. Conclusion: The intervention of the “full-body vertical rhythmic training” had a certain positive effect on the quality of life of the experimental group. While it may not entirely enhance patients' quality of life, it can mitigate the negative impact of kidney disease on certain aspects of the body. The study provides clinical practice, nursing education, and research recommendations based on the results and discusses the limitations of the research.

Keywords: hemodialysis, full-body vertical rhythmic training, fatigue, physical activity, quality of life

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Authors: Spartak Makovskyi, Volodymir Klochykhin, Valery Zakharchenko, Konstantyn Balushok, Eduard Tsyvirko, Anatoly Shalomeyev

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A highly efficient, cost-effective grain refinement technique for ML5 magnesium alloy with a commercially pure carbon nanopowder has been proposed. An experimental casting of testing specimens with incremental additions of a carbon nanopowder (0.001 - 0.1 wt.% ) was performed. It has been found that the carbon nanoparticle inoculation of the alloy structure is efficient in a narrow concentration range. The additions of 0.005-0.01 wt. % the grain refiner in the alloy resulted in a maximum increase of ductility properties (appr. Twofold) and improved tensile strength. However, further expansion of the grain refiner content led to the deterioration of the alloy's mechanical properties. In particular, the introduction of 0.1 wt.% of the nanocarbon and more caused internal defects in the metal. The carbon nanoparticle inoculation is a promising way of improving the properties of the Mg-Al-Zn alloys for critical lightweight aerospace applications on an industrial scale.

Keywords: carbon nanopowder, inoculation, melt, tensile strength

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Yessi Nirwana Kurniadi, Nira Yunita Permata

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Coastline is vulnerable to coastal erosion which damage infrastructure and buildings. Floating breakwaters are applied in order to minimize material cost but still can reduce wave height. In this paper, we investigated floating breakwater anchored by piles based on experimental study in the laboratory with model scale 1:8. Two type of floating model were tested with several combination wave height, wave period and surface water elevation to determined transmission coefficient. This experimental study proved that floating breakwater with piles can prevent wave height up to 27 cm. The physical model shows that ratio of depth to wave length is less than 0.6 and ratio of model width to wave length is less than 0.3. It is confirmed that if those ratio are less than those value, the transmission coefficient is 0.5. The result also showed that the first type model of floating breakwater can reduce wave height by 60.4 % while the second one can reduce up to 55.56 %.

Keywords: floating breakwater, experimental study, pile, transimission coefficient

Procedia PDF Downloads 529