Search results for: recent lake sediment

Authors: Baohua Yu

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Despite widely reported 'Mainland-Hong Kong conflicts', recent years have witnessed progressive growth in the numbers of Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong’s universities. This research investigated Mainland Chinese students’ intercultural communication in relation to cross-cultural adaptation in a major university in Hong Kong. The features of intercultural communication examined in this study were competence in the second language (L2) communication and L2 Willingness to Communicate (WTC), while the features of cross-cultural adaptation examined were socio-cultural, psychological and academic adaptation. Based on a questionnaire, structural equation modelling was conducted among a sample of 196 Mainland Chinese students. Results showed that the competence in L2 communication played a significant role in L2 WTC, which had an influential effect on academic adaptation, which was itself identified as a mediator between the psychological adaptation and socio-cultural adaptation. Implications for curriculum design for courses and instructional practice on international students are discussed.

Keywords: L2 willingness to communicate, competence in L2 communication, psychological adaptation, socio-cultural adaptation, academic adaptation, structural equation modelling

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Authors: Linda Torresin

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This paper is devoted to the Russian as a Foreign Language (RFL) textbook, which is understood as a fundamental element of the RFL system. The aim of the study is to explore the role of the RFL textbook in modern RFL teaching theories and practices. It is suggested that the RFL textbook is not a secondary factor but contributes to the advancement and rewriting of both RFL theories and practices. This study applies to the RFL textbook theory's recent pedagogical developments in education. Therefore, the RFL system is conceived as a complex adaptive system whose elements (teacher, textbook, students, etc.) interact in a dynamic network of interconnections. In particular, the author shows that the textbook plays a central role in the RFL system since it may change and even renew RFL teaching from both theoretical and practical perspectives. On the one hand, in fact, the use of an RFL textbook may impact teaching theories: that is, the textbook may either consolidate preexisting theories or launch new approaches. On the other hand, the RFL textbook may also influence teaching practices by reinforcing the preexisting ones or encouraging teachers to try new strategies instead. All this allows the RFL textbook, within the RFL complex adaptive system, to exert an influence on the specific teaching contexts in which Russian is taught, interacting with the other elements of the system itself. Through its findings, this paper contributes to the advancement of research on RFL textbook theory.

Keywords: adaptive system, foreign language textbook, teaching Russian as a foreign language, textbook of Russian as a foreign language

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Authors: Basiliyos Tilahun Betru, Charles Awono Onana, Bernabe Batchakui

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Recommender systems have become increasingly popular in recent years, and are utilized in numerous areas. Nowadays many web services provide several information for users and recommender systems have been developed as critical element of these web applications to predict choice of preference and provide significant recommendations. With the help of the advantage of deep learning in modeling different types of data and due to the dynamic change of user preference, building a deep model can better understand users demand and further improve quality of recommendation. In this paper, deep neural network models for recommender system are evaluated. Most of deep neural network models in recommender system focus on the classical collaborative filtering user-item setting. Deep learning models demonstrated high level features of complex data can be learned instead of using metadata which can significantly improve accuracy of recommendation. Even though deep learning poses a great impact in various areas, applying the model to a recommender system have not been fully exploited and still a lot of improvements can be done both in collaborative and content-based approach while considering different contextual factors.

Keywords: big data, decision making, deep learning, recommender system

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Authors: Rusnardi Rahmat Putra, Junji Kiyono, Aiko Furukawa

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Several powerful earthquakes have struck Padang during recent years, one of the largest of which was an M 7.6 event that occurred on September 30, 2009 and caused more than 1000 casualties. Following the event, we conducted a 12-site microtremor array investigation to gain a representative determination of the soil condition of subsurface structures in Padang. From the dispersion curve of array observations, the central business district of Padang corresponds to relatively soft soil condition with Vs30 less than 400 m/s. because only one accelerometer existed, we simulated the 2009 Padang earthquake to obtain peak ground acceleration for all sites in Padang city. By considering the damage data of the 2009 Padang earthquake, we produced seismic risk vulnerability estimation of non-engineered houses for rock, medium and soft soil condition. We estimated the loss ratio based on the ground response, seismic hazard of Padang and the existing damaged to non-engineered structure houses due to Padang earthquake in 2009 data for several return periods of earthquake events.

Keywords: profile, Padang earthquake, microtremor array, seismic vulnerability

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Authors: N. O. Muniz, F. A. Vechietti, L. Treccani, K. Rezwan, Luis Alberto dos Santos

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Developing new technologies in the manufacture of biomaterials is a major challenge for researchers in the tissue engineering area. Many in vitro and in vivo studies have revealed the significance of the porous structure of the biomaterials on the promotion of bone ingrowth. The use of Rapid Prototyping in the manufacture of ceramics in the biomedical area has increased in recent years and few studies are conducted on obtaining alumina pieces. The aim of this work was the study of alumina pieces obtained by 3D printing and uniaxial dry pressing (DP) in order to evaluate porosity achieved by this two different techniques. Also, the influence of the powder drying process was determined. The row alumina powders were drying by freeze drying and oven. Apparent porosity, apparent density, retraction after thermal treatment were evaluated. The porosity values obtained by DP, regardless of method of drying powders, were much lower than those obtained by RP as expected. And for the prototyped samples, the method of powder drying significantly influenced porosities, reached 48% for drying oven versus 65% for freeze-drying. Therefore, the method of 3D printing, using different powder drying, allows a better control over the porosity.

Keywords: rapid prototyping, freeze-drying, porosity, alumina

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Authors: Christopher Lama, Alix Rieser, Aleksandra Molchanova, Charles Thangaraj

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New technologies like Tesla’s Dojo have made high-performance embedded computing more available. Although automobile computing has developed and benefited enormously from these more recent technologies, the costs are still high, prohibitively high in some cases for broader adaptation, particularly for the after-market and enthusiast markets. This project aims to implement a Raspberry Pi-based low-power (under one hundred Watts) highly mobile computing cluster for a neural network. The computing cluster built from off-the-shelf components is more affordable and, therefore, makes wider adoption possible. The paper describes the design of the neural network, Raspberry Pi-based cluster, and applications the cluster will run. The neural network will use input data from sensors and cameras to project a live view of the road state as the user drives. The neural network will be trained to predict traffic behavior and generate warnings when potentially dangerous situations are predicted. The significant outcomes of this study will be two folds, firstly, to implement and test the low-cost cluster, and secondly, to ascertain the effectiveness of the predictive AI implemented on the cluster.

Keywords: CS pedagogy, student research, cluster computing, machine learning

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Authors: Nike Jacobs, Elizelle Juanee Cilliers

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In recent decades there has been an increasing strive towards broader sustainable planning practices. A wide range of literature suggests that nature-based solutions (including Green Infrastructure planning) may lead towards socio-economically and environmentally sustainable urban communities. Such research is however mainly based on practices from the Global North with very little reference to the Global South. This study argues that there is a need for Global North knowledge to be translated to Global South context, and interpreted within this unique environment, acknowledging historical and cultural differences between Global North and Global South, and ultimately providing unique solutions for the unique urban reality. This research primarily focuses on nature-based solutions for sustainable urban communities and considers a broad literature review on Global North knowledge regarding such, substantiated by an analysis of purposefully selected case studies. The investigation identifies best practices which could be translated and place such in the context of current Global South perspectives.

Keywords: global south, green infrastructure planning, nature-based solutions, sustainable urbanism, urban sustainability

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Authors: Maryam Hashemi, Nematollah Razmi, Rasool Madani

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M. paratuberculosis is a slow growing mycobactin dependent mycobacterial species known to be the causative agent of Johne’s disease in all species of domestic ruminants worldwide. JD is characterized by gradual weight loss; decreased milk production. Excretion of the organism may occur for prolonged periods (1 to 2.5 years) before the onset of clinical disease. In recent years, researchers focus on identification a specific antigen of MAP to use in diagnosis test and preparation of effective vaccine. In this paper, for production of polyclonal antibody against proteins of Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis cell wall a rabbit immunization at a certain time period with antigen. After immunization of the animal, blood samples were collected from the rabbit for producing enriched serum. Antibodies were purified with ion exchange chromatography. For exact measurement of interaction, western blotting test was used and as it is demonstrated in the study, sharp bands appear in nitrocellulose paper and specific bands were 50 and 150 KD molecular weight. These were indicating immunodominant proteins.

Keywords: immunodominant, paratuberculosis, Western blotting, cell wall proteins, protein purification

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Authors: Essardi Omar, Razzouk Redouane

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The concept of freedom requires notice of countries all over the world to consider welfare and the quality of life. Despite, many economics efforts in the field of development literature, they have often failed to incorporate the ideas of freedom and rights into their theoretical and empirical work. However, with Amartya Sen’s approach of capability and researches, we can provide a basis for moving forward in theory and measure of development. Indeed, with an approach based on the correlation and the analysis of data, particularly on the tool of principle component analysis, we are going to study assessments of World Bank, Freedom House, Fraster institute, and MINEFE experts. Our empirical objective is to reveal the existence of the institutional and freedom characteristics related to the development of the emergent countries. In order to help us to explain the recent performance reached by Central and Eastern Europe and Latine America in compared with the case of countries of North Africa. To do this, first we will try to build indicators based on dilemma liberties /institutions. Second we will introduce institutional variables and freedom variables to make comparisons in freedom, quality of institutions and development in the countries observed.

Keywords: freedoms, institutions, development, approach of capability, principle component analysis

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Authors: Chyi Jaw

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Prior literature on innovation diffusion or acceptance has almost exclusively concentrated on consumers’ positive attitudes and behaviors for new products/services. Consumers’ negative attitudes or behaviors to innovations have received relatively little marketing attention, but it happens frequently in practice. This study discusses consumer psychological factors when they try to learn or use new technologies. According to recent research, technological innovation acceptance has been considered as a dynamic or mediated process. This research argues that consumers can experience inertia and emotions in the initial use of new technologies. However, given such consumer psychology, the argument can be made as to whether the inclusion of consumer inertia (routine seeking and cognitive rigidity) and emotions increases the predictive power of new technology acceptance model. As data from the empirical study find, the process is potentially consumer emotion changing (independent of performance benefits) because of technology complexity and consumer inertia, and impact innovative technology use significantly. Finally, the study presents the superior predictability of the hypothesized model, which let managers can better predict and influence the successful diffusion of complex technological innovations.

Keywords: cognitive rigidity, consumer emotions, new technology acceptance, routine seeking, technology complexity

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Authors: Abdul Hadi Bin Abdol Rahim, Alhassan Salami Tijani

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Hydrogen produced by means of polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer (PEME) is one of the most promising methods due to clean and renewable energy source. In the process, some energy loss due to mass transfer through a PEM is caused by diffusion, electro-osmotic drag, and the pressure difference between the cathode channel and anode channel. In PEME water molecules and ionic particles transferred between the electrodes from anode to cathode, Extensive mixing of the hydrogen and oxygen at anode channel due to gases cross-over must be avoided. In recent times the consciousness of safety issue in high pressure PEME where the oxygen mix with hydrogen at anode channel could create, explosive conditions have generated a lot of concern. In this paper, the steady state and simulation analysis of gases crossover in PEME on the temperature and pressure effect are presented. The simulations have been analysis in MATLAB based on the well-known Fick’s Law of molecular diffusion. The simulation results indicated that as temperature increases, there is a significant decrease in operating voltage.

Keywords: diffusion, gases crosover, steady state, Fick’s law

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Authors: Anas Abdulrahman A. Almiman

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In recent decades, efforts to combat extremism have focused on non-physical dimensions, as various countries have attempted to raise security awareness or promote authentic and moderate Islamic education. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the most successful and unique cases because it has focused on the immunization of Islamic intellectual security to combat extremism. This study aims to define the concept and importance of Islamic intellectual security in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through a descriptive-analytical study. It describes the potential role of Islamic intellectual security immunization in reducing extremism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1979 to 2019, identifying various factors that connect Islamic intellectual security immunization to extremism reduction. One such factor is the MISK Foundation’s forums and conferences intended to raise Islamic intellectual security and reduce intellectual deviation, thus reducing extremism. It concludes that the common significant factor for Islamic intellectual deviation is direct commands and prohibitions. This study supports the efforts made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to immunize Islamic intellectual security and fight extremism as a consequence.

Keywords: extremism, intellectual security immunization , Saudi Arabia, Islamic

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Authors: Steven Wright

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This paper argues that there is an opportunity for PCH to further expand its relevance within the Canadian policy context by taking advantage of the growing international trend of using social indicators for public policy evaluation. Within the mandate and vision of PCH, there is an incomplete understanding of the value that the arts and culture provide for Canadians, specifically with regard to four social indicators: community development, civic engagement, life satisfaction, and work-life balance. As will be shown, culture and the arts have a unique role to play in such quality of life indicators, and there is an opportunity for PCH to aid in the development of a comprehensive national framework that includes these indicators. This paper lays out approach to understanding how social indicators may be included in the Canadian context by first illustrating recent trends in policy evaluation on a national and international scale. From there, a theoretical analysis of the connection between cultural policy and social indicators is provided. The second half of the paper is dedicated to explaining the shortcomings of Canadian cultural policy evaluation in terms of its tendency to justify expenditures related to arts and cultural activities in purely economic terms, and surveying how other governments worldwide are leading the charge in this regard.

Keywords: social indicators, evaluation, cultural policy, arts

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Authors: Muhammad B. Al Amin, Nyimas S. Rika, Dwi F. Yanto, Marcelina

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Siti Khadijah retention pond is located beside of Siti Khadijah Islamic Hospital on Demang Lebar Daun Street in Palembang City. This retention pond is functioned as storage for runoff from drainage channels in the surrounding area before entering Sekanak River, which is one of Musi River tributaries. However, in recent years, the developments in the surrounding area into paved area trigger to increase runoff discharge that causes the pond can no longer store it adequately. This study aimed to investigate the hydraulic performance of drainage system in the area around Siti Khadijah retention pond. A SWMM model was used to simulate runoff discharge into the pond and out from the pond, so the water level fluctuation within the pond and its capacity could be determined. Besides that, the water depth within drainage channels was simulated as well. The results showed that capacity of retention pond and some drainage channels already inadequate, so the area around it potentially to be flooded. Thus, it is necessary to increase the capacity of the retention pond and drainage channels.

Keywords: flood, retention pond, SWMM, urban drainage system

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Authors: Yuichi Kida, Takuro Kida

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In a new smart society supported by the recent development of 5G and 6G Communication systems, the im- portance of wireless power transmission is increasing. These systems contain discrete sampling systems in the middle of the transmission path and equivalent circuit representation of lossless or lossy power transmission through these systems is an important issue in circuit theory. In this paper, for the given weight function, we show that a lossless power transmission system with the given weight is expressed by an equivalent circuit representation of the Kida’s optimal signal prediction system followed by a reactance multi-port circuit behind it. Further, it is shown that, when the system is lossy, the system has an equivalent circuit in the form of connecting a multi-port positive-real circuit behind the Kida’s optimal signal prediction system. Also, for the convenience of the reader, in this paper, the equivalent circuit expression of the reactance multi-port circuit and the positive- real multi-port circuit by Cauer and Ohno, whose information is currently being lost even in the world of the Internet.

Keywords: signal prediction, pseudo inverse matrix, artificial intelligence, power transmission

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Authors: Xing Wang, Lin Feng, Lingling E., Hongchen Liu

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In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) there is poorer quality osseointegration than in non-diabetic (n-DM) patients, and the success of dental implants is less. Recent studies have demonstrated that insulin could stimulate bone cells to produce and accelerate implant osseointegration in DM patients.This raised the question whether insulin could provide local bone anabolic effects in non-diabetic patients. In this study,48 SD rats were divided into four groups randomly: DM group, DM+insulin group, n-DM group, n-DM + insulin group. All rats were implanted the titanium implant near the epiphyseal end of tibia, then the DM + insulin and n-DM + insulin group received twice-daily subcutaneous injections of insulin (10U/day).Two,four and eight weeks after implantation, rats were killed in batches. Histomorphometry and immunohistochemistry were used to evaluate bone formation and osseointegration. The amount of newly formed bone, Implant–bone contact and the expression of OCN,RUNX2 in the DM+insulin, n-DM and n-DM+insulin group were significantly more than in the DM group (p<0.05). Compared with the n-DM group,the Implant–bone contact and expression of OCN,RUNX2 were significantly increased in n-DM+insulin group (p< 0.05). Taken together,these observations provide evidence that insulin has the potential to increase bone formation and osseointegration around implant not only in diabetic subjects but also in non-diabetic subject.

Keywords: insulin, diabetes mellitus, osseointegration, dental implants

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Authors: Fauzia Dianawati, Riska W. Purnomo

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Food and agricultural sector become the biggest sector contributing to inflation in Indonesia. Especially in Wonogiri district, red cayenne pepper was the biggest sector contributing to inflation on 2016. A national statistic proved that in recent five years red cayenne pepper has the highest average level of fluctuation among all commodities. Some factors, like supply chain, price disparity, production quantity, crop failure, and oil price become the possible factor causes high volatility level in red cayenne pepper price. Therefore, this research tries to find the key factor causing fluctuation on red cayenne pepper by using ARCH/GARCH method. The method could accommodate the presence of heteroscedasticity in time series data. At the end of the research, it is statistically found that the second level of supply chain becomes the biggest part contributing to inflation with 3,35 of coefficient in fluctuation forecasting model of red cayenne pepper price. This model could become a reference to the government to determine the appropriate policy in maintaining the price stability of red cayenne pepper.

Keywords: ARCH/GARCH, forecasting, red cayenne pepper, volatility, supply chain

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Azimeh Rajaee, Lingyun Zhao, Shi Wang, Yaqiang Liu

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In recent years many studies have been focused on bismuth-based nanoparticles as radiosensitizer and contrast agent in radiation therapy and imaging due to the high atomic number (Z = 82), high photoelectric absorption, low cost, and low toxicity. This study aims to introduce a new multifunctional bismuth-based nanoparticle as a theranostic agent for radiotherapy, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We synthesized bismuth ferrite (BFO, BiFeO3) nanoparticles by sol-gel method and surface of the nanoparticles were modified by Polyethylene glycol (PEG). After proved biocompatibility of the nanoparticles, the ability of them as contract agent in Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was investigated. The relaxation time rate (R2) in MRI and Hounsfield unit (HU) in CT imaging were increased with the concentration of the nanoparticles. Moreover, the effect of nanoparticles on dose enhancement in low energy was investigated by clonogenic assay. According to clonogenic assay, sensitizer enhancement ratios (SERs) were obtained as 1.35 and 1.76 for nanoparticle concentrations of 0.05 mg/ml and 0.1 mg/ml, respectively. In conclusion, our experimental results demonstrate that the multifunctional nanoparticles have the ability to employ as multimodal imaging and therapy to enhance theranostic efficacy.

Keywords: molecular imaging, nanomedicine, radiotherapy, theranostics

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Authors: Khalid Kaddoura, Tarek Zayed

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Sewer networks are constructed to protect the communities and the environment from any contact with the sewer mediums. Pipelines, being laterals or sewer mains, and manholes form the huge underground infrastructure in every urban city. Due to the sewer networks importance, the infrastructure asset management field has extensive advancement in condition assessment and rehabilitation decision models. However, most of the focus was devoted to pipelines giving little attention toward manholes condition assessment. In fact, recent studies started to emerge in this area to preserve manholes from any malfunction. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to propose a condition assessment model for sewer manholes. The model divides the manhole into several components and determines the relative importance weight of each component using the Analytic Network Process (ANP) decision-making method. Later, the condition of the manhole is computed by aggregating the condition of each component with its corresponding weight. Accordingly, the proposed assessment model will enable decision-makers to have a final index suggesting the overall condition of the manhole and a backward analysis to check the condition of each component. Consequently, better decisions are made pertinent to maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement actions.

Keywords: Analytic Network Process (ANP), condition assessment, decision-making, manholes

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Authors: David A. Padilla, Rodolfo Villamizar

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In recent years, closed loop control strategies have been developed in order to establish a healthy glucose profile in type 1 diabetic mellitus (T1DM) patients. However, the controller itself is unable to define a suitable reference trajectory for glucose. In this paper, a control strategy Is proposed where the shape of the reference trajectory is generated bases in the amount of carbohydrates present during the digestive process, due to the effect of carbohydrate intake. Since there no exists a sensor to measure the amount of carbohydrates consumed, an estimator is proposed. Thus this paper presents the entire process of designing a carbohydrate estimator, which allows estimate disturbance for a predictive controller (MPC) in a T1MD patient, the estimation will be used to establish a profile of reference and improve the response of the controller by providing the estimated information of ingested carbohydrates. The dynamics of the diabetic model used are due to the equations described by the UVA/Padova model of the T1DMS simulator, the system was developed and simulated in Simulink, taking into account the noise and limitations of the glucose control system actuators.

Keywords: estimation, glucose control, predictive controller, MPC, UVA/Padova

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Authors: Majed M. Mustafa, Abdulrahman A. Altassan

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In recent years, ensuring accessibility for all individuals, particularly those with mobility impairments, has gained significant attention in Saudi Arabia. This research aims to evaluate wheelchair accessibility in shopping centers, malls, and stores across the kingdom, highlighting its critical role in promoting inclusivity and equal access. The study will focus on the availability and quality of ramps, automatic doors, lifts, accessible restrooms, and overall ease of navigation for wheelchair users. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the research will employ site assessments, user surveys, and interviews with facility managers to gather comprehensive data. Preliminary findings indicate that while some facilities have made strides in accessibility, there are still numerous areas requiring improvement. The study will provide targeted recommendations to enhance accessibility, ensuring that all users can navigate shopping environments with ease and dignity. Conclusively, this research underscores the need for continuous efforts and policy enhancements to achieve universal design standards in public spaces within Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: automatic doors, equal access, ramp quality, wheelchair accessibility

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Authors: Deretha Bester

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This article explores the recent military coups in Mali (August 2020) and Burkina Faso (January 2022), utilizing qualitative case study analyses to examine the pre-coup domestic contextual conditions that precipitated the events. By framing the research through the conceptual lens of state fragility, the research identifies key political, economic, and societal factors that converge to create an environment conducive for coups to occur. From the analyses, the study discusses several patterns that emerged, all revealing the significance of the core functions of governance. Through an in-depth exploration that brings the state back into the coup debate, the study provides rich insights into the complex dynamics of military intervention in political affairs, highlighting the urgency of understanding the underlying domestic factors that can lead to radical political changes. By illuminating these intricate dynamics, the article seeks to provide detailed insights needed to fully understand the challenges moulding the region's political terrain.

Keywords: governance failures, military coups, political dynamics, Sahel region, state fragility

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Authors: Ilham Ihoume, Rachid Tadili, Nora Arbaoui

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Recent innovations in economical heating systems have significantly boosted ‎agricultural production by effectively managing temperature drops in greenhouse ‎microclimates. These advancements enhance product profitability in terms of quality, ‎quantity, and growth duration. This study experimentally investigates the impact of a ‎solar heating system on the microclimate of an agricultural greenhouse, focusing on ‎zucchini (Cucurbita pepo). The System comprises a copper tube placed between double ‎roof glazing and a sensible heat storage system, converting solar energy during the day ‎and storing it for night-time release. A second control greenhouse without heating ‎allows for comparative analysis at various growth stages. During the cold season, the ‎experimental greenhouse showed a temperature increase of 3°C compared to the ‎control greenhouse and 5°C above external ambient air. The relative humidity in the ‎experimental greenhouse ranged from 69% to 70%, whereas the control greenhouse recorded 68% to 86%, and ambient air ‎was between 94% to 99%. The heating systems achieved an efficiency of 73%, and ‎zucchini plants in the experimental greenhouse developed fruit 13 days earlier than ‎those in the control greenhouse.‎

Keywords: solar energy, storage, energy managment, heating system

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Authors: Mohammad Lemar Zalmai, Mustafa Nabi Kocakaya, Cemil Akcay, Ekrem Manisali

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In recent years, the Building Information Modeling (BIM) approach has been developed expeditiously. As people see the benefits of this approach, it has begun to be used widely in construction projects and some countries made it mandatory to get more benefits from it. To promote the implementation of BIM in construction projects, it will be helpful to get some relevant information from surveys and interviews. The purpose of this study is to research the current adoption and implementation of BIM in public projects in Turkey. This study specified the challenges of BIM implementation in Turkey and proposed some solutions to overcome them. In this context, the challenges for BIM implementation and the factors that affect the BIM usage are determined based on previous academic researches and expert opinions by conducting interviews and questionnaire surveys. Several methods are used to process information in order to obtain weights of different factors to make BIM widespread in Turkey. This study concluded interviews' and questionnaire surveys' outcomes and proposed some suggestions to promote the implementation of BIM in Turkey. We believe research findings will be a good reference for boosting BIM implementation in Turkey.

Keywords: building information modelling, BIM implementations, Turkish construction industry, Turkish government sector projects

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Authors: Ahlem Setrallah

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Environment has become a phenomenon directly linked to security in recent decades. This security aspect of environment is justified by the challenges that environment problems can have on human life and thus security especially within the scope of human security that is based mainly on the individual rather than on the state. Because Africa is not safe from the global warming and all its consequences on environment, this continent has witnessed many crises related to environment and that have had direct impact on security in Africa. One of those crises is environmental displacement or immigration which was caused by natural disasters like draught, desertification and food shortage to name but a few. This paper aims at shedding light at some important cases in the Africa focusing mainly on the Sahel region. The main research questions that we are trying to answer are the following: 1-What is the relationship between environment and forced immigration in the Sahel region? 2-What is the impact of environmental immigration on Security in the region? 3-How have the states in this region reacted to this crisis? 4-Is the measures taken by those states adequate or not? 5- How to remedy for the limitations of those measures? The paper is based on case study methodology as a way to better understand the relationship between security and environment using library research for data collection and analysis. This paper aims also at presenting some suggesting regarding possible ways of reducing the negative impact of environmental immigration.

Keywords: environment, refugees, Sahel region, security

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Authors: Anita Kéri

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Recent developments in the field of education have led to a renewed interest in teaching methodologies and practices. Gamification is fast becoming a key instrument in the education of new generations and besides other methods, serious games have become the center of attention. Ready-built serious games are available for most higher education institutions to buy and implement. However, monetary restraints and the unalterable nature of the games might deter most higher education institutions from the application of these serious games. Therefore, there is a continuously growing need for a customizable serious game that has been developed based on a concrete need analysis and experts’ opinion. There has been little evidence so far of serious games that have been created based on relevant and current need analysis from higher education institution teachers, professional practitioners and students themselves. Therefore, the aim of this current paper is to analyze the needs of higher education institution educators with special emphasis on their needs, the applicability of serious games in their classrooms, and exploring options for the development of a customizable serious game framework. The paper undertakes to analyze workshop discussions on implementing serious games in education and propose a customizable serious game framework applicable in the education of the new generation. Research results show that the most important feature of a serious game is its customizability. The fact that practitioners are able to manage different scenarios and upload their own content to a game seems to be a key to the increasingly widespread application of serious games in the classroom.

Keywords: education, gamification, game-based learning, serious games

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Ildiko Fekete-Kertesz, Jade Chaker, Sylvain Berthelot, Viktoria Feigl, Monika Molnar, Lidia Favier

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There has been growing concern about emerging micropollutants in recent years, because of the possible environmental and health risk posed by these substances, which are released into the environment as a consequence of anthropogenic activities. Among them pharmaceuticals are currently not considered under water quality regulations; however, their potential effect on the environment have become more frequent in recent years. Due to the fact that these compounds can be detected in natural water matrices, it can be concluded, that the currently applied water treatment processes are not efficient enough for their effective elimination. To date, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are considered as highly competitive water treatment technologies for the removal of those organic micropollutants not treatable by conventional techniques due to their high chemical stability and/or low biodegradability. AOPs such as (photo)chemical oxidation and heterogeneous photocatalysis have proven their potential in degrading harmful organic compounds from aqueous matrices. However, some of these technologies generate reaction by-products, which can even be more toxic to aquatic organisms than the parent compounds. Thus, target compound removal does not necessarily result in the removal of toxicity. Therefore, to evaluate process efficiency the determination of the toxicity and ecotoxicity of the reaction intermediates is crucial to estimate the environmental risk of such techniques. In this context, the present study investigates the effectiveness of TiO2 assisted photodegradation for the removal of emerging water contaminants. Two drugs named losartan (used in high blood pressure medication) and levetiracetam (used to treat epilepsy) were considered in this work. The photocatalytic reactions were carried out with a commercial catalyst usually employed in photocatalysis. Moreover, the toxicity of the by-products generated during the process was assessed with various ecotoxicological methods applying aquatic test organisms from different trophic levels. A series of experiments were performed to evaluate the toxicity of untreated and treated solutions applying the Aliivibrio fischeri bioluminescence inhibition test, the Tetrahymena pyriformis proliferation inhibition test, the Daphnia magna lethality and immobilization tests and the Lemna minor growth inhibition test. The applied ecotoxicological methodology indicated sensitively the toxic effects of the treated and untreated water samples, hence the applied test battery is suitable for the ecotoxicological characterization of TiO2 based photocatalytic water treatment technologies and the indication of the formation of toxic by-products from the parent chemical compounds. Obtained results clearly showed that the TiO2 assisted photodegradation was more efficient in the elimination of losartan than levetiracetam. It was also observed that the treated levetiracetam solutions had more severe effect on the applied test organisms. A possible explanation would be the production of levetiracetam by-products, which are more toxic than the parent compound. The increased toxicity and the risk of formation of toxic metabolites represent one possible limitation to the implementation of photocatalytic treatment using TiO2 for the removal of losartan and levetiracetam. Our results proved that, the battery of ecotoxicity tests used in this work can be a promising investigation tool for the environmental risk assessment of photocatalytic processes.

Keywords: aquatic micropollutants, ecotoxicology, nano titanium dioxide, photocatalysis, water treatment

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Authors: Saimir Heta, Ilma Robo, Dhimiter Papakozma, Eduart Kapaj, Vera Ostreni

Abstract:

Introduction: The biocompatible materials applied to the implant surfaces are the target of recent literature studies. Methodologies: Modification of implant surfaces in different ways such as application of additional ions, surface microstructure change, surface or laser ultrasound alteration, or application of various substances such as recombinant proteins are among the most affected by articles published in the literature. The study is of review type with the main aim of finding the different ways that the mesenchymal cell reaction to these materials is, according to the literature, in the same percentage positive to the osteointegration process. Results: It is emphasized in the literature that implant success as a key evaluation key has more to implement implant treatment protocol ranging from dental health amenity and subsequent of the choice of implant type depending on the alveolar shape of the ridge level. Conclusions: Osteointegration is a procedure that should initially be physiologically independent of the type of implant pile material. With this physiological process, it can not "boast" for implant success or implantation depending on the brand of the selected implant, as the breadth of synthetic or natural materials that promote osteointegration is relatively large.

Keywords: mesenchymal cells, implants, review, biocompatible materials

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Authors: Rebecca Owusu Coffie, Atakelty Hailu

Abstract:

Variants of production frontier models have emerged, however, only a limited number of them are applied in empirical research. Hence the effects of these alternative frontier models are not well understood, particularly within sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we apply recent advances in the production frontier to examine levels of technical efficiency and efficiency drivers. Specifically, we compare the heteroscedastic parametric and the semiparametric stochastic smooth coefficient (SPSC) models. Using rice production data from Ghana, our empirical estimates reveal that alternative specification of efficiency estimators results in either downward or upward bias in the technical efficiency estimates. Methodologically, we find that the SPSC model is more suitable and generates high-efficiency estimates. Within the parametric framework, we find that parameterization of both the mean and variance of the pre-truncated function is the best model. For the drivers of technical efficiency, we observed that longer farm distances increase inefficiency through a reduction in labor productivity. High soil quality, however, increases productivity through increased land productivity.

Keywords: pre-truncated, rice production, smooth coefficient, technical efficiency

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Authors: Abhishekkumar Ramasamy, Parameshwari

Abstract:

Chitosan is the deacyelitated derivative of chitin, the second most abundant biopolymer just after cellulose. Without doubt, its biomedical usages have gained more importance among the vast variety of chitosan applications owing to its good biocompatibility and biodegradability. In recent years, particular interest has been devoted to chitosan hydrogels as a promising alternative in competition with conventional sutures or bioadhesives. Different parameters such as acid type and concentration, and degree of deacetylation (DD%) of chitosan, were altered to modify hydrogel properties including viscosity, pH, cohesive strength, and tissue bioadhesiveness. In the current work, we have investigated the effectiveness of chitosan hydrogel encapsulated with tanexamic acid to stop bleeding. Chitosan film was obtained with solubilization of chitosan powder in aqueous acidic media. In vivo experiments have been conducted on rat and rabbit models that provide a convenient way to evaluate the efficacy of prepared samples. The arteries vein was punctured on the hind limb of the rat and the gauze was been applied on the punchered area. Bioadhesive strength as well as irritant effects were discussed. Samples with higher degree of deacetylation, including Chs-16 and Chs-19 that were dissolved in lactic media showed best sealing effect.

Keywords: chitosan, biocomaptibility, biodegradability, bioadhersive, deacetylation

Procedia PDF Downloads 344