Search results for: typically developing

Authors: Volker Landersheim, Daria Manushyna, Thinh Pham, Dai-Duong Tran, Thomas Geury, Omar Hegazy, Steven Wilkins

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Air pollution is one of the emerging problems in our society. Targets of reduction of CO₂ emissions address low-carbon and resource-efficient transport. (Plug-in) hybrid electric propulsion concepts offer the possibility to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and emissions for public transport vehicles (e.g., bus application). In this context, typically, diesel engines are used to form the hybrid propulsion system of the vehicle. Though the technological development of diesel engines experience major advantages, some challenges such as the high amount of particle emissions remain relevant. Gaseous fuels (i.e., compressed natural gases (CNGs) or liquefied petroleum gases (LPGs) represent an attractive alternative to diesel because of their composition. In the framework of the research project 'Optimised Real-world Cost-Competitive Modular Hybrid Architecture' (ORCA), which was funded by the EU, two different hybrid-electric propulsion concepts have been investigated: one using a diesel engine as internal combustion engine and one using CNG as fuel. The aim of the current study is to analyze specific benefits for the aforementioned hybrid propulsion systems for predefined driving scenarios with regard to emissions and total cost of ownership in bus application. Engine models based on experimental data for diesel and CNG were developed. For the purpose of designing optimal energy management strategies for each propulsion system, maps-driven or quasi-static models for specific engine types are used in the simulation framework. An analogous modelling approach has been chosen to represent emissions. This paper compares the two concepts regarding their CO₂ and NOx emissions. This comparison is performed for relevant bus missions (urban, suburban, with and without zero-emission zone) and with different energy management strategies. In addition to the emissions, also the downsizing potential of the combustion engine has been analysed to minimize the powertrain TCO (pTCO) for plug-in hybrid electric buses. The results of the performed analyses show that the hybrid vehicle concept using the CNG engine shows advantages both with respect to emissions as well as to pTCO. The pTCO is 10% lower, CO₂ emissions are 13% lower, and the NOx emissions are more than 50% lower than with the diesel combustion engine. These results are consistent across all usage profiles under investigation.

Keywords: bus transport, emissions, hybrid propulsion, pTCO, CNG

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Authors: Wojciech Dąbrowski, Joanna Bąk, Laurent Solliec

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Nowadays technical and technological progress and constant development of methods and devices applied to sanitary engineering is indispensable. Issues related to sanitary engineering involve flow measurements for water and wastewater. The precise measurement is very important and pivotal for further actions, like monitoring. There are many methods and techniques of flow measurement in the area of sanitary engineering. Weirs and flumes are well–known methods and common used. But also there are alternative methods. Some of them are very simple methods, others are solutions using high technique. The old–time method combined with new technique could be more useful than earlier. Paper describes substitute method of flow gauging (California pipe method) and proposal of modification of this method used for inclined pipe. Examination of possibility of improving and developing old–time methods is direction of the investigation.

Keywords: California pipe, sewerage, flow rate measurement, water, wastewater, improve, modification, hydraulic monitoring, stream

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Authors: Kashmir Johal

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Within a wider context of improving whole-life effectiveness of gas and oil fields, we have been researching how to generate power local to the wellhead. (Provision of external power to a subsea wellhead can be prohibitively expensive and results in uneconomic fields. This has been an oil/gas industry challenge for many years.) We have been developing a possible approach to “local” power generation and have been conducting technical, environmental, (and economic) research to develop a viable approach. We sought to create a workable design for a new type of power generation system that makes use of differential pressure that can exist between the sea surface and a gas (or oil reservoir). The challenge has not just been to design a system capable of generating power from potential energy but also to design it in such a way that it anticipates and deals with the wide range of technological, environmental, and chemical constraints faced in such environments. We believe this project shows the enormous opportunity in deriving clean, economic, and zero emissions renewable energy from offshore sources. Since this technology is not currently available, a patent has been filed to protect the advancement of this technology.

Keywords: renewable, energy, power, offshore

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Authors: Leyli Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hoda Mortazavi Alavi, Amirhossein Habibzadeh

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At present, the atmospheric and environmental factors impose massive damages to buildings. Thus, to reduce these damages, researchers pay more attention on qualitative and quantitative characteristic of buildings materials. Condensation is one of the problems in Contemporary Sustecture Design. It could cause serious damages to the frontage, interior and structural elements of buildings. As a result, taking preventative steps to avoid condensation from occurring in buildings will help prevent avoidable and costly problems in the future. Hence, the aim of this paper is to answer the question: “Does the use of advanced materials cause the reduction of condensation formed on the walls?" In response to those flaws, this paper considered similar articles and selected 20 buildings randomly from contemporary architecture of developing countries which have been built in recent decade from 2002 to 2012, to find out the mutual relation between the usage of advanced materials and level of condensation damages. This consideration shows that by using advanced materials, we will have fewer damages.

Keywords: condensation, advanced materials, contemporary sustecture, moisture

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Authors: Aliyu Aminu Baba

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Ethnic entrepreneurship is defined as a set of connections and regular patterns of interaction among people sharing common national background or migration experience. The disadvantage faced by ethnic minority on paid labour induced them to become self-employed. Also, enclaves motivates trading, creativity, innovation are all to provide specific service or products to certain people. These ethnic minorities are African –Caribbean, Indians, Pakistanis, Banghaladashi and Chinese. For policy development ethnic diversity was among the problem of developing policy in United Kingdom. The study finds that there is a danger in treating all ethnic minority businesses as homogeneous rather than heterogeneous. The diversity is due to religious beliefs, culture and race. This indicates that there is a wide range have shortfall in addressing the peculiarities of ethnic minority businesses in policy formulation. Also, there are differences between ethnic minorities in accessing finance. It is recommended that diversity and peculiarities between ethnic minorities should be considered in policy formulation.

Keywords: ethnic entrepreneurship, finance, policy implication, diversity

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Authors: E. Hronyecz

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Guaranteeing the independence of the V4 Member States, the protection of their national values and their citizens, and the security of the Central and Eastern European region requires the development of military capabilities in terms of the capabilities of nations. As a result, European countries have begun developing capabilities and forces, within which nations are seeking to strengthen the capabilities of their armies and make their interoperability more effective. One aspect of this is the upgrading of military equipment, personnel equipment, and other human resources. Based on the author's preliminary researches - analyzing the scientific literature, the relevant statistical data and conducting of professional consultations with the experts of the research field – it can clearly claimed for all four states of Visegrad Group that a change of direction in the field of defense has been noticeable since the second half of the last decade. Collective defense came to the forefront again; the military training, professionalism, and radical modernization of technical equipment becoming crucial.

Keywords: armed forces, cooperation, development, Visegrad Group

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Authors: Yan Jia China

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The ruins is a kind of historical intention, which is also the current real existence of developing city. Zen culture of ancient China has a profound esthetic emotion, similarly, the west establish the concept of aesthetics of relic along with the Romanism’s (such as Rousseau etc.) sentiment to historical ruins at the end of 18th century. Nowadays, with the decline of traditional industrial society as well as the rise of post-industrial age, contemporary society must face the ruins and garbage problem which is left by industrial society. Commencing from the perspective of emotion and memory, this paper analyzes the importance for emotional needs as well as their existing status of several projects, such as the Capital Steelworks in Beijing (industrial devastation), the Shibati old section in Chongqing (urban slums) and the Old Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem (ruins of war). It emphasizes urban design which is started from emotion and the sustainable development of city memory through managing the urban ruins which is criticized by people with the perspective of ecology and art.

Keywords: cultural heritage, urban ruins, ecology, emotion, sustainable urban memory

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Authors: Vakhtang Charaia

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The article focuses on the role of FDI in Georgia’s economic development for the last decade. To attract as much FDI as possible a proper investment climate should be on the place-institutional, policy and regulatory environment. Well-developed investment climate is the chance and motivation for both, local economy and foreign companies, to generate maximum income, create new work places and improve the quality of life. FDI trend is one of the best indicators of country’s economic sustainability and its attractiveness. Especially for small and developing countries, the amount of FDI matters, therefore, most of such countries are trying to compete with each other through improving their investment climate according to different world famous indexes. As a result of impressive reforms since 2003, Georgian economy was benefited with large invasion of FDI. However, the level of per capita GDP is still law in comparison to Eastern European countries and it should be improved. The main idea of the paper is to show a real linkage between FDI and employment ration, on the case of Georgian economy.

Keywords: foreign direct investment, employment, economic growth, taxes, corruption, sustainable development

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Authors: Bae Yu been, Choi Sung won, Lee Ju yeon, Yang Dan Bi

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The purpose of this study is to develop a self-help therapy program for bipolar disorder (BD). Psychosocial treatment is adjunct to pharmacotherapy for BD, however, it is limited and they demand high costs. Therefore, the objective of the study is to overcome these limitations by developing the self-treatment for BD. The study was examined the efficacy of the self-treatment program for BD. A randomized controlled trial compared the self-help therapy (ST) intervention with a treatment as usual (TAU) group. ST group has conducted the program for 8 weeks (16 sessions). Mood chart, Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder Questionnaire, Attitudes toward seeking professional help Scale, BIS, CERQ, YMRS, MADRS were used by pre, post, and follow up. The efficacy of the self-help therapy was analyzed by using mixed ANOVAs. There were significant differences in the rate of occurrence of mania or depression between the two groups. ST group reported stable moods on mood chart, and reductions in mood symptoms and improvements in quality of life and treatment adherence. This study was confirmed applicable to BD to the self-help therapy for patients with BD conducted first in Korea.

Keywords: self help therapy, bipolar disorder, self help, self therapy

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Authors: Z. Hamed, K. Sa'deya, E. Abdelrasheed, I. Mahamid

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The construction industry is one of the main sectors that play basic role in the urban and rural development of a society. It provides important ingredients for the development of an economy. However, many construction projects experience extensive cost overrun. This study was conducted to identify the causes of cost overrun in building construction contracts in Al Madinah, Saudi Arabia and test the importance of these causes from contractors' perspective. To achieve the study objectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted to identify and rank cost overrun causes from the perspective of contractors. The findings found that the top five cost overrun causes are: lack of experience in the line of work, lack of labor productivity, delay in payments, rework and material waste. It is hoped that the findings will guide efforts to improve the performance of construction industry in Saudi Arabia and other developing countries.

Keywords: building, contractor, cost increase, cost overrun

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Authors: Dung Nguyen, Yu Wei, Eric Henderson

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Analytical tools have been used for decades to assist in the development of forest plans. In 2016, a new decision support system, PRISM, was jointly developed by United States Forest Service (USFS) Northern Region and Colorado State University to support the forest planning process. Prism has a friendly user interface with functionality for database management, model development, data visualization, and sensitivity analysis. The software is tailored for USFS planning, but it is flexible enough to support planning efforts by other forestland owners and managers. Here, the core capability of PRISM and its applications in developing plans for several United States national forests are presented. The strengths of PRISM are also discussed to show its potential of being a preferable tool for managers and experts in the domain of forest management and planning.

Keywords: decision support, forest management, forest plan, graphical user interface, software

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Authors: Pallavi Thacker, H. P. Mathur

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This paper tries to find out from the available literature the status of Competitive Advantage. It has been stated a number of times that firms must strive to attain sustainable competitive advantage; but is the concept of sustainability of advantage still valid in this new diversified and too-rapidly changing world? The paper reaches a conclusion that the answer is “no”. Gone is the time when once attained position could easily be retained forever or at-least for a substantial amount of time. We live in a time which is very much globalised. We are used to a high level of competition from all directions. Technological advances, developed human capital, flexibility and end number of factors make the sustenance of competitive advantage difficult. This paper analyses competitive advantage from the view points of Michael Porter (who talks about sustainability) and Rita Gunther McGrath (who says competitive advantage can no more be sustained). It uses many examples and evidences from papers, journals and news. A research in this area is very much required (especially in a developing country like India) so that industries, firms and people can find out the suitable strategies that match with the changing times.

Keywords: competitive advantage, sustainable, transient, globalisation

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Authors: Chandralal Shrestha

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In the developing countries like Nepal, the community based forest management approach has often been glorified as one of the best forest management alternatives to maximize the forest benefits. Though the approach has succeeded to construct a local level institution and conserve the forest biodiversity, how the local communities perceived about the forest benefits, the question always remains silent among the researchers and policy makers. The paper aims to explore the understanding of forest benefits from the perspective of local communities who used the forests in terms of institutional stability, equity and livelihood opportunity, and ecological stability. The paper revealed that the local communities have mixed understanding over the forest benefits. The institutional and ecological activities carried out by the local communities indicated that they have better understanding over the forest benefits. However, inequality while sharing the forest benefits, low pricing strategy and its negative consequences in valuation of forest products and limited livelihood opportunities indicated the poor understanding.

Keywords: community based forest management, forest benefits, lowland, Nepal

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Authors: V. K. Stalin, V. Paneerselvam, M. Bharath, M. Kirithika

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In developing countries like India due to the rapid urbanization, large amount of waste materials are produced every year. These waste materials can be utilized in the improvement of problematic soils. Stone column is one of the best methods to improve soft clay deposits. In this study, load tests were conducted to ensure the suitability of waste as column materials. The variable parameters studied are material, number of column and encasement. The materials used for the study are stone aggregate, copper slag, construction waste, for one, two and three number of columns with geotextile and geogrid encasement. It was found that the performance of waste as column material are comparable to that of conventional stone column with and without encasement. Hence, it is concluded that the copper slag and construction waste may be used as a column material in place of conventional stone aggregate to improve the soft clay advantage being utilization of waste.

Keywords: stone column, geocomposite, construction waste, copper slag

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Authors: Khosru M. Salim, Md. Jasim Uddin, Mohammad Rejwan Uddin

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Developing countries like Bangladesh has huge population lives in the rural areas out of electricity. They are using manually operated tube well for collecting underground water to meet their daily demand. A human labour is required to lift water from tube well. Sometimes, it is impossible for a elementary school going child to operate a tube well in the school. Solar powered water pump could be a sustainable water pumping solution in the rural area of Bangladesh. To minimize the cost, a 0.5 horse power solar water pump is designed considering the requirement of water for a typical house hold in this research. A prototype of the 0.5 hp capacity system is implemented and tested in the rooftop of the university lab to validate the performances. Based on the experimental data, the performance of the system is analyzed and presented in this paper.

Keywords: water pump, solar photovoltaic module, performance analysis, feasibility study

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Authors: G. Lingam, N. Lingam, K. Raghuwaiya

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In Fiji, notable among the recent spate of educational reforms has been the Ministry of Education’s (MoEs) requirement that all schools undertake a process of school strategic planning. This preliminary study explores perceptions of a sample of Fijian teachers on the way this exercise has been conducted in their schools. The analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data indicates that school leaders’ lack of knowledge and skills in school strategic planning is a major limitation. As an unsurprising consequence, the process(es) schools adopted did not conform to what the literature suggests as best planning practices. School leaders need more training to ensure they are better prepared to carry out this strategic planning effectively, especially in widening the opportunities for all who have a stake in education to contribute to the process. Implications of the findings are likely to be pertinent to other developing contexts within and beyond the Pacific region for the training of school leaders to ensure they are better equipped to orchestrate and benefit from educational reforms thrust upon them.

Keywords: school strategic planning, educational reforms, Fijian schools, Ministry of Education

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Authors: H. Agbaria, A. Salman, M. Huleihel, G. Beck, D. H. Rich, S. Mordechai, J. Kapelushnik

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Viral and bacterial infections are responsible for variety of diseases. These infections have similar symptoms like fever, sneezing, inflammation, vomiting, diarrhea and fatigue. Thus, physicians may encounter difficulties in distinguishing between viral and bacterial infections based on these symptoms. Bacterial infections differ from viral infections in many other important respects regarding the response to various medications and the structure of the organisms. In many cases, it is difficult to know the origin of the infection. The physician orders a blood, urine test, or 'culture test' of tissue to diagnose the infection type when it is necessary. Using these methods, the time that elapses between the receipt of patient material and the presentation of the test results to the clinician is typically too long ( > 24 hours). This time is crucial in many cases for saving the life of the patient and for planning the right medical treatment. Thus, rapid identification of bacterial and viral infections in the lab is of great importance for effective treatment especially in cases of emergency. Blood was collected from 50 patients with confirmed viral infection and 50 with confirmed bacterial infection. White blood cells (WBCs) and plasma were isolated and deposited on a zinc selenide slide, dried and measured under a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscope to obtain their infrared absorption spectra. The acquired spectra of WBCs and plasma were analyzed in order to differentiate between the two types of infections. In this study, the potential of FTIR microscopy in tandem with multivariate analysis was evaluated for the identification of the agent that causes the human infection. The method was used to identify the infectious agent type as either bacterial or viral, based on an analysis of the blood components [i.e., white blood cells (WBC) and plasma] using their infrared vibrational spectra. The time required for the analysis and evaluation after obtaining the blood sample was less than one hour. In the analysis, minute spectral differences in several bands of the FTIR spectra of WBCs were observed between groups of samples with viral and bacterial infections. By employing the techniques of feature extraction with linear discriminant analysis (LDA), a sensitivity of ~92 % and a specificity of ~86 % for an infection type diagnosis was achieved. The present preliminary study suggests that FTIR spectroscopy of WBCs is a potentially feasible and efficient tool for the diagnosis of the infection type.

Keywords: viral infection, bacterial infection, linear discriminant analysis, plasma, white blood cells, infrared spectroscopy

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Authors: Dhahri Maher, Aouinet Hana

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The presence of bubbles in the boundary layer introduces corrections into the log law, which must be taken into account. In this work, a logarithmic wall law was presented for bubbly two phase flows. The wall law presented in this work was based on the postulation of additional turbulent viscosity associated with bubble wakes in the boundary layer. The presented wall law contained empirical constant accounting both for shear induced turbulence interaction and for non-linearity of bubble. This constant was deduced from experimental data. The wall friction prediction achieved with the wall law was compared to the experimental data, in the case of a turbulent boundary layer developing on a vertical flat plate in the presence of millimetric bubbles. A very good agreement between experimental and numerical wall friction prediction was verified. The agreement was especially noticeable for the low void fraction when bubble induced turbulence plays a significant role.

Keywords: bubbly flows, log law, boundary layer, CFD

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Authors: Michael W. Markowitz

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A central element of higher education today is the “core” or “general education” curriculum: that configuration of courses that often encompasses the essence of liberal arts education. Ensuring that such offerings reflect the mission and values of the institution is a challenge faced by most college and universities, often more than once. This paper presents an action model of program planning designed to structure the processes of developing, implementing and revising core curricula in a manner consistent with key institutional goals and objectives. Through presentation of a case study from a university in the United States, the elements of needs assessment, stakeholder investment and collaborative compromise are shown as key components of a planning strategy that can produce a general education program that is comprehensive, academically rigorous, assessable and mission consistent. The paper concludes with recommendations for both the implementation and evaluation of such programs in practice.

Keywords: academic assessment, academic program planning, curriculum development, general education reform

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Authors: Shamill Amedot Udonwa, Phyllis S. Y. Chong, Lim S. L. Julia, Wee-Joo Chng

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In this paper, we investigated how PRL-3 expression in H929 and U266 cells affects the efficacy of drug treatment. H929 and U266 cells were treated with Bortezomib (BTZ) of different concentrations, and it was observed that H929 cells were resistant to BTZ, while U266 cells were not viable. Investigations into how BTZ targets these cells were conducted, and it was observed that BTZ affects the PARP-Caspase3 pathway as well as PRL-3-Leo1 pathways. These pathways regulate cell proliferation and cell cycle, respectively. Hence, we are able to show the mechanism of how BTZ affects cells and also the role PRL-3 plays on downstream oncogenes such as cyclin-D1 and c-MYC. More importantly, this investigation into PRL-3 in BTZ resistance will be highly applicable in the future as the first clinical trials of PRL-3 antibody (PRL3-zumab) are ongoing at the National University Hospital, Singapore (NUHS). This would mean that understanding the mechanism of resistance through PRL-3, which has yet to be studied, will demonstrate the potential of PRL-3 in developing novel strategies to improve the treatment of MM.

Keywords: drug resistance, hematology, multiple myeloma, oncogene

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Authors: Tony Mann

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This paper sets out the case for involving and engaging employees/workers/stakeholders/staff in any significant change that is being considered by the senior executives of the organization. It establishes the rationale, the approach, the methodology of engagement and the benefits of a participative approach. It challenges the new norm of imposing change for fear of resistance and instead suggests that involving people has better outcomes and a longer-lasting impact. Various strategic models are introduced and illustrated to explain how the process can be most effective. The paper highlights one model in particular (the Process Iceberg® Organizational Change model) that has proven to be instrumental in developing effective change. Its use is demonstrated in its various forms and explains why so much change fails to address the key elements and how we can be more productive in managing change. ‘Participation’ in change is too often seen as negative, expensive and unwieldy. The paper aims to show that another model: UIA=O+E, can offset the difficulties and, in fact, produce much more positive and effective change.

Keywords: facilitation, stakeholders, buy-in, digital workshops

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Authors: Lukholo Raxangana

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Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)-era teaching offers in-service mathematics teachers opportunities to use blended approaches to engage learners while teaching mathematics. This study explores in-service high school teachers' experiences with a blended teaching approach to mathematics. This qualitative case study involved eight pre-service teachers from four selected schools in the Sedibeng West District of the Gauteng Province. The study used the community of inquiry model as its analytical framework for data analysis. Data collection was through semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions to explore in-service teachers' experiences with the influence of blended teaching (BT) on learning mathematics. The study results are the impact of load-shedding, benefits of BT, and perceptions of in-service and hindrances of BT. Based on these findings, the study recommends that further research should focus on developing data-free BT tools to assist during load-shedding, regardless of location.

Keywords: bended teaching, teachers, in-service, and mathematics

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Authors: Zsolt János Viharos, Krisztián Balázs Kis, Imre Paniti, Gábor Belső, Péter Németh, János Farkas

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The paper presents the results and industrial applications in the production setup period estimation based on industrial data inherited from the field of polymer cutting. The literature of polymer cutting is very limited considering the number of publications. The first polymer cutting machine is known since the second half of the 20th century; however, the production of polymer parts with this kind of technology is still a challenging research topic. The products of the applying industrial partner must met high technical requirements, as they are used in medical, measurement instrumentation and painting industry branches. Typically, 20% of these parts are new work, which means every five years almost the entire product portfolio is replaced in their low series manufacturing environment. Consequently, it requires a flexible production system, where the estimation of the frequent setup periods' lengths is one of the key success factors. In the investigation, several (input) parameters have been studied and grouped to create an adequate training information set for an artificial neural network as a base for the estimation of the individual setup periods. In the first group, product information is collected such as the product name and number of items. The second group contains material data like material type and colour. In the third group, surface quality and tolerance information are collected including the finest surface and tightest (or narrowest) tolerance. The fourth group contains the setup data like machine type and work shift. One source of these parameters is the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) but some data were also collected from Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings. The number of the applied tools is one of the key factors on which the industrial partners’ estimations were based previously. The artificial neural network model was trained on several thousands of real industrial data. The mean estimation accuracy of the setup periods' lengths was improved by 30%, and in the same time the deviation of the prognosis was also improved by 50%. Furthermore, an investigation on the mentioned parameter groups considering the manufacturing order was also researched. The paper also highlights the manufacturing introduction experiences and further improvements of the proposed methods, both on the shop floor and on the quotation preparation fields. Every week more than 100 real industrial setup events are given and the related data are collected.

Keywords: artificial neural network, low series manufacturing, polymer cutting, setup period estimation

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Authors: Asaolu Olugbenga Stephen, Afolabi Olusegun Temitope

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Lack of proper solid waste management is one of the main causes of environmental pollution and degradation in many cities, especially in developing countries. The aim of this study was to estimate the quantity of waste generated per capita per day, determine the composition and identify the potentials for recycling of waste generated. Characterization of wastes from selected households in the residential areas was done for over a 7 day period. The weight of each sorted category of waste was recorded in a structured database that calculated the proportion of each waste component. The results indicated that 85.4% of the sampled waste characterized was found to be recyclable; with an estimated average waste generated of 1.82kg/capita/day. The various solid waste fractions were organic (64.6%), plastics (15.6%), metals (9.2%), glass materials (1.6%) and unclassified (8.9%). It was concluded from this study that a large proportion of the waste generated from OAU campus residential area was recyclable and that there is a need to enact policy on waste recycling within the university campus.

Keywords: recycling, household wastes, residential, solid waste management

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Authors: Jagriti Mishra, Vasundhara Chaudhary

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Introduction: The case highlights various issues and challenges faced by Khanna Enterprises while conceptualizing and execution of launching Active Leisure wear in the domestic market, where different steps involved in the range planning and production have been elaborated. Although Khanna Enterprises was an established company which dealt in the production of knitted and woven garments, they took the risk of launching a new concept- Active Leisure wear for Millennials. Methodology: It is based on primary and secondary research where data collection has been done through survey, in-depth interviews and various reports, forecasts, and journals. Findings: The research through primary and secondary data and execution of active leisure wear substantiated the acceptance, not only by the millennials but also by the generation X. There was a demand of bigger sizes as well as more muted colours. Conclusion: The sales data paved the way for future product development in tune with the strengths of Khanna Enterprises.

Keywords: millennials, range planning, production, active leisure wear

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Authors: Maria Komal, Zaineb Khalil, Mehreen Sirshar

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Due to the recent technological advancements, Games have become one of the most demanding applications. Gaming industry is rapidly growing and the key to success in this industry is the development of good quality games, which is a highly competitive issue. The ultimate goal of game developers is to provide player’s satisfaction by developing high-quality games. This research is the comprehensive survey of techniques followed by game industries to ensure games quality. After analysis of various techniques, it has been found that quality simulation according to ISO standards and play test methods are used to ensure games quality. Because game development requires cross-disciplined team, an increasing trend towards distributed game development has been observed. This paper evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of current methodologies used in game industry and draws a conclusion. We have also proposed quality parameters which can be used as a heuristic framework to identify those attributes which have high testing priorities.

Keywords: game development, computer games, video games, gaming industry, quality assurance, playability, user experience

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Authors: Maria Cecilia G. Cantos, Lorena W. Rabago, Bartolome T. Tanguilig III

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This paper describes a conducive and structured information exchange environment for the students of the College of Computer Studies in Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation in. The system was developed to help the students to check their academic result, manage profile, make self-enlistment and assist the students to manage their academic status that can be viewed also in mobile phones. Developing class schedules in a traditional way is a long process that involves making many numbers of choices. With Hill Climbing Algorithm, however, the process of class scheduling, particularly with regards to courses to be taken by the student aligned with the curriculum, can perform these processes and end up with an optimum solution. The proponent used Rapid Application Development (RAD) for the system development method. The proponent also used the PHP as the programming language and MySQL as the database.

Keywords: hill climbing algorithm, integrated system, mobile web-based, student information system

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Authors: Nalluri Lakshmi Ramu, C. Venkat Nihit, Narayana Kumar, Dillep

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Masonry bridges are the iconic heritage transportation infrastructure throughout the world. Continuous increase in traffic loads and speed have kept engineers in dilemma about their structural performance and capacity. Henceforth, research community has an urgent need to propose an effective methodology and validate on real-time bridges. The presented research aims to assess the structural health of an Eighty-year-old masonry railway bridge in India using wireless accelerometer sensors. The bridge consists of 44 spans with length of 24.2 m each and individual pier is 13 m tall laid on well foundation. To calculate the dynamic characteristic properties of the bridge, ambient vibrations were recorded from the moving traffic at various speeds and the same are compared with the developed three-dimensional numerical model using finite element-based software. The conclusions about the weaker or deteriorated piers are drawn from the comparison of frequencies obtained from the experimental tests conducted on alternative spans. Masonry is a heterogeneous anisotropic material made up of incoherent materials (such as bricks, stones, and blocks). It is most likely the earliest largely used construction material. Masonry bridges, which were typically constructed of brick and stone, are still a key feature of the world's highway and railway networks. There are 1,47,523 railway bridges across India and about 15% of these bridges are built by masonry, which are around 80 to 100 year old. The cultural significance of masonry bridges cannot be overstated. These bridges are considered to be complicated due to the presence of arches, spandrel walls, piers, foundations, and soils. Due to traffic loads and vibrations, wind, rain, frost attack, high/low temperature cycles, moisture, earthquakes, river overflows, floods, scour, and soil under their foundations may cause material deterioration, opening of joints and ring separation in arch barrels, cracks in piers, loss of brick-stones and mortar joints, distortion of the arch profile. Few NDT tests like Flat jack Tests are being employed to access the homogeneity, durability of masonry structure, however there are many drawbacks because of the test. A modern approach of structural health assessment of masonry structures by vibration analysis, frequencies and stiffness properties is being explored in this paper.

Keywords: masonry bridges, condition assessment, wireless sensors, numerical analysis modal frequencies

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Authors: Aliya K. Salahova

Abstract:

Scientific thinking, characterized by purposeful knowledge-seeking and the harmonization of theory and facts, holds a crucial role in preparing young minds for an increasingly complex and technologically advanced world. This abstract presents a research study aimed at fostering scientific thinking in early childhood, focusing on children aged 5 to 9 years, through experiential learning in Kids Science Labs (STEM). The study utilized a longitudinal exploration design, spanning 240 weeks from September 2018 to April 2023, to evaluate the effectiveness of the Kids Science Labs program in developing scientific thinking skills. Participants in the research comprised 72 children drawn from local schools and community organizations. Through a formative psychology-pedagogical experiment, the experimental group engaged in weekly STEM activities carefully designed to stimulate scientific thinking, while the control group participated in daily art classes for comparison. To assess the scientific thinking abilities of the participants, a registration table with evaluation criteria was developed. This table included indicators such as depth of questioning, resource utilization in research, logical reasoning in hypotheses, procedural accuracy in experiments, and reflection on research processes. The data analysis revealed dynamic fluctuations in the number of children at different levels of scientific thinking proficiency. While the development was not uniform across all participants, a main leading factor emerged, indicating that the Kids Science Labs program and formative experiment exerted a positive impact on enhancing scientific thinking skills in children within this age range. The study's findings support the hypothesis that systematic implementation of STEM activities effectively promotes and nurtures scientific thinking in children aged 5-9 years. Enriching education with a specially planned STEM program, tailoring scientific activities to children's psychological development, and implementing well-planned diagnostic and corrective measures emerged as essential pedagogical conditions for enhancing scientific thinking abilities in this age group. The results highlight the significant and positive impact of the systematic-activity approach in developing scientific thinking, leading to notable progress and growth in children's scientific thinking abilities over time. These findings have promising implications for educators and researchers, emphasizing the importance of incorporating STEM activities into educational curricula to foster scientific thinking from an early age. This study contributes valuable insights to the field of science education and underscores the potential of STEM-based interventions in shaping the future scientific minds of young children.

Keywords: Scientific thinking, education, STEM, intervention, Psychology, Pedagogy, collaborative learning, longitudinal study

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: Kirsi Korkealehto

Abstract:

The purpose of this research was to investigate how the peer evaluation concept was perceived by language teachers developing online language courses. The online language courses in question were developed in language teacher teams within a nationwide KiVAKO-project funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. The participants of the project were 86 language teachers of 26 higher education institutions in Finland. The KiVAKO-project aims to strengthen the language capital at higher education institutions by building a nationwide online language course offering on a shared platform. All higher education students can study the courses regardless of their home institutions. The project covers the following languages: Chinese, Estonian, Finnish Sign Language, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish on the levels CEFR A1-C1. The courses were piloted in the autumn term of 2019, and an online peer evaluation session was organised for all project participating teachers in spring 2020. The peer evaluation utilised the quality criteria for online implementation, which was developed earlier within the eAMK-project. The eAMK-project was also funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture with the aim to improve higher education institution teachers’ digital and pedagogical competences. In the online peer evaluation session, the teachers were divided into Zoom breakout rooms, in each of which two pilot courses were presented by their teachers dialogically. The other language teachers provided feedback on the course on the basis of the quality criteria. Thereafter good practices and ideas were gathered to an online document. The breakout rooms were facilitated by one teacher who was instructed and provided a slide-set prior to the online session. After the online peer evaluation sessions, the language teachers were asked to respond to an online questionnaire for feedback. The questionnaire included three multiple-choice questions using the Likert-scale rating and two open-ended questions. The online questionnaire was answered after the sessions immediately, the questionnaire link and the QR-code to it was on the last slide of the session, and it was responded at the site. The data comprise online questionnaire responses of the peer evaluation session and the researcher’s observations during the sessions. The data were analysed with a qualitative content analysis method with the help of Atlas.ti programme, and the Likert scale answers provided results per se. The observations were used as complementary data to support the primary data. The findings indicate that the working in the breakout rooms was successful, and the workshops proceeded smoothly. The workshops were perceived as beneficial in terms of improving the piloted courses and developing the participants’ own work as teachers. Further, the language teachers stated that the collegial discussions and sharing the ideas were fruitful. The aspects to improve the workshops were to give more time for free discussions and the opportunity to familiarize oneself with the quality criteria and the presented language courses beforehand. The quality criteria were considered to provide a suitable frame for self- and peer evaluations.

Keywords: higher education, language learning, online learning, peer-evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 112