Search results for: technological advancement capabilities

Authors: C. Salis, D. Zedda, M. F. Wilson

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The IDEA project was conceived for teachers who are interested in enhancing their capacity to effectively implement the use of specific technologies in their teaching practice. Participating teachers are coached and supported as they explore technologies applied to the educational context. They access tools such as the technological platform developed by our team. Among the platform functionalities, teachers access an instructional systems design (ISD) tool (learning designer) that was adapted to the needs of our project. The tool is accessible from computers or mobile devices and used in association with other technologies to create new, meaningful learning environments. The objective of an instructional systems design is to guarantee the quality and effectiveness of education and to enhance learning. This goal involves both teachers who want to become more efficient in transferring knowledge or skills and students as the final recipient of their teaching. The use of Blooms’s taxonomy enables teachers to classify the learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity, thus making it possible to highlight the kind of knowledge teachers would like their students to reach. The fact that the instructional design features can be visualized through the IDEA platform is a guarantee for those who are looking for specific educational materials to be used in their lessons. Despite the benefits offered, a number of teachers are reluctant to use ISD because the preparatory work of having to thoroughly analyze the teaching/learning objectives, the planning of learning material, assessment activities, etc., is long and felt to be time-consuming. This drawback is minimized using a learning designer, as the tool facilitates to reuse of the didactic contents having a clear view of the processes of analysis, planning, and production of educational or testing materials uploaded on our platform. In this paper, we shall present the feedback of the teachers who used our tool in their didactic.

Keywords: educational benefits, educational quality, educational technology, ISD tool

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Authors: Babak Mohajeri

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In recent years, the conventional business model of ownership has been changed towards accessibility in a variety of markets. Two trends can be observed in the evolution of this rental-like business model. Firstly, the technological development that enables the emergence of new business models. These new business models increasingly become agile and flexible. For example Spotify, an online music stream company provides consumers access to over millions of music tracks, conveniently through the smartphone, tablet or computer. Similarly, Car2Go, the car sharing company accesses its members with flexible and nearby sharing cars. The second trend is the increasing communication and connections via social networks. This trend enables a shift to peer-to-peer accessibility based business models. Conventionally, companies provide access for their customers to own companies products or services. In peer-to-peer model, nonetheless, companies facilitate access and connection across their customers to use other customers owned property or skills, competencies or services .The is so-called the sharing economy business model. The aim of this study is to investigate into a new and emerging type of the sharing economy model in which role of customers and service providers may dramatically change. This new model is called Collaborative Service Networks. We propose a mechanism for Collaborative Service Networks business model. Uber and Airbnb, two successful growing companies, have been selected for our case studies and their business models are analyzed. Finally, we study the emergence of the collaborative service networks in the manufacturing domain. Our finding results to a new manufacturing paradigm called social manufacturing.

Keywords: sharing economy, collaborative service networks, social manufacturing, manufacturing development

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Authors: Ju-Hong Lee, Ching-Wei Liao

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Owing to close antenna spacing between antenna sensors within a compact space, a part of data in one antenna sensor would outflow to other antenna sensors when the antenna sensors in an antenna array operate simultaneously. This phenomenon is called mutual coupling effect (MCE). It has been shown that the performance of antenna array systems can be degraded when the antenna sensors are in close proximity. Especially, in a systems equipped with massive antenna sensors, the degradation of beamforming performance due to the MCE is significantly inevitable. Moreover, it has been shown that even a small angle error between the true direction angle of the desired signal and the steering angle deteriorates the effectiveness of an array beamforming system. However, the true direction vector of the desired signal may not be exactly known in some applications, e.g., the application in land mobile-cellular wireless systems. Therefore, it is worth developing robust techniques to deal with the problem due to the MCE and steering angle error for array beamforming systems. In this paper, we present an efficient technique for performing adaptive beamforming with robust capabilities against the MCE and the steering angle error. Only the data vector received by an antenna array is required by the proposed technique. By using the received array data vector, a correlation matrix is constructed to replace the original correlation matrix associated with the received array data vector. Then, the mutual coupling matrix due to the MCE on the antenna array is estimated through a recursive algorithm. An appropriate estimate of the direction angle of the desired signal can also be obtained during the recursive process. Based on the estimated mutual coupling matrix, the estimated direction angle, and the reconstructed correlation matrix, the proposed technique can effectively cure the performance degradation due to steering angle error and MCE. The novelty of the proposed technique is that the implementation procedure is very simple and the resulting adaptive beamforming performance is satisfactory. Simulation results show that the proposed technique provides much better beamforming performance without requiring complicated complexity as compared with the existing robust techniques.

Keywords: adaptive beamforming, mutual coupling effect, recursive algorithm, steering angle error

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Authors: R. Meier, M. Pander

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In accordance with the industry 4.0 concept, manufacturing process steps as well as the materials themselves are going to be more and more digitalized within the next years. The “digital twin” representing the simulated and measured dataset of the (semi-finished) product can be used to control and optimize the individual processing steps and help to reduce costs and expenditure of time in product development, manufacturing, and recycling. In the present work, two material characterization methods based on Lamb waves were evaluated and compared. For demonstration purpose, both methods were shown at a standard industrial product - copper ribbons, often used in photovoltaic modules as well as in high-current microelectronic devices. By numerical approximation of the Rayleigh-Lamb dispersion model on measured phase velocities second order elastic constants (Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio) were determined. Furthermore, the effective third order elastic constants were evaluated by applying elastic, “non-destructive”, mechanical stress on the samples. In this way, small microstructural variations due to mechanical preconditioning could be detected for the first time. Both methods were compared with respect to precision and inline application capabilities. Microstructure of the samples was systematically varied by mechanical loading and annealing. Changes in the elastic ultrasound transport properties were correlated with results from microstructural analysis and mechanical testing. In summary, monitoring the elastic material properties of plate-like structures using Lamb waves is valuable for inline and non-destructive material characterization and manufacturing process control. Second order elastic constants analysis is robust over wide environmental and sample conditions, whereas the effective third order elastic constants highly increase the sensitivity with respect to small microstructural changes. Both Lamb wave based characterization methods are fitting perfectly into the industry 4.0 concept.

Keywords: lamb waves, industry 4.0, process control, elasticity, acoustoelasticity, microstructure

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Authors: Yunbin Deng

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Most existing applications of automatic speech recognition relies on cooperative subjects at a short distance to a microphone. Standoff speech recognition using microphone arrays can extend the subject to sensor distance somewhat, but it is still limited to only a few feet. As such, most deployed applications of standoff speech recognitions are limited to indoor use at short range. Moreover, these applications require air passway between the subject and the sensor to achieve reasonable signal to noise ratio. This study reports long range (50 feet) automatic speech recognition experiments using a Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) sensor. This study shows that the LDV sensor modality can extend the speech acquisition standoff distance far beyond microphone arrays to hundreds of feet. In addition, LDV enables 'listening' through the windows for uncooperative subjects. This enables new capabilities in automatic audio and speech intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) for law enforcement, homeland security and counter terrorism applications. The Polytec LDV model OFV-505 is used in this study. To investigate the impact of different vibrating materials, five parallel LDV speech corpora, each consisting of 630 speakers, are collected from the vibrations of a glass window, a metal plate, a plastic box, a wood slate, and a concrete wall. These are the common materials the application could encounter in a daily life. These data were compared with the microphone counterpart to manifest the impact of various materials on the spectrum of the LDV speech signal. State of the art deep neural network modeling approaches is used to conduct continuous speaker independent speech recognition on these LDV speech datasets. Preliminary phoneme recognition results using time-delay neural network, bi-directional long short term memory, and model fusion shows great promise of using LDV for long range speech recognition. To author’s best knowledge, this is the first time an LDV is reported for long distance speech recognition application.

Keywords: covert speech acquisition, distant speech recognition, DSR, laser Doppler vibrometer, LDV, speech intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, ISR

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Authors: Ipek Gunay, Efe B. Orman, Metin Ozer, Bekir Salih, Ali R. Ozkaya

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Phthalocyanines with macrocyclic ring containing at least three heteroatoms have nine or more membered structures. Metal-free phthalocyanines react with metal salts to obtain chelate complexes. This is one of the most important features of metal-free phthalocyanine as ligand structure. Although phthalocyanines have very similar properties with porphyrins, they have some advantages such as lower cost, easy to prepare, and chemical and thermal stability. It’s known that Pc compounds have shown one-electron metal-and/or ligand-based reversible or quasi-reversible reduction and oxidation processes. The redox properties of phthalocyanines are critically related to the desirable properties of these compounds in their technological applications. Thus, Pc complexes have also been receiving increasing interest in the area of fuel cells due to their high electrocatalytic activity in dioxygen reduction and fuel cell applications. In this study, novel phthalocyanine complexes coordinated with Fe(II) and Co (II) to be used as catalyst were synthesized. Aiming this goal, a new nitrile ligand was synthesized starting from 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxy benzyl alcohol and 4-nitrophthalonitrile in the presence of K2CO3 as catalyst. After the isolation of the new type of nitrile and metal complexes, the characterization of mentioned compounds was achieved by IR, H-NMR and UV-vis methods. In addition, the electrochemical behaviour of Pc complexes was identified by cyclic voltammetry, square wave voltammetry and in situ spectroelectrochemical measurements. Furthermore, the catalytic performances of Pc complexes for oxygen reduction were tested by dynamic voltammetry measurements, carried out by the combined system of rotating ring-disk electrode and potentiostat, in a medium similar to fuel-cell working conditions.

Keywords: phthalocyanine, electrocatalysis, electrochemistry, in-situ spectroelectrochemistry

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Authors: Sachin, Shantanu Arya, Gunjan Mehta, Md. Shamim Ansari

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The cross-modal influence of visual information on speech perception can be illustrated by the McGurk effect which is an illusion of hearing of syllable /ta/ when a listener listens one syllable, e.g.: /pa/ while watching a synchronized video recording of syllable, /ka/. The McGurk effect is an excellent tool to investigate multisensory integration in speech perception in both normal hearing and hearing impaired populations. As the visual cue is unaffected by noise, individuals with hearing impairment rely more than normal listeners on the visual cues.However, when non congruent visual and auditory cues are processed together, audiovisual interaction seems to occur differently in normal and persons with hearing impairment. Therefore, this study aims to observe the audiovisual interaction in speech perception in Cochlear Implant users compares the same with normal hearing children. Auditory stimuli was routed through calibrated Clinical audiometer in sound field condition, and visual stimuli were presented on laptop screen placed at a distance of 1m at 0 degree azimuth. Out of 4 presentations, if 3 responses were a fusion, then McGurk effect was considered to be present. The congruent audiovisual stimuli /pa/ /pa/ and /ka/ /ka/ were perceived correctly as ‘‘pa’’ and ‘‘ka,’’ respectively by both the groups. For the non- congruent stimuli /da/ /pa/, 23 children out of 35 with normal hearing and 9 children out of 35 with cochlear implant had a fusion of sounds i.e. McGurk effect was present. For the non-congruent stimulus /pa/ /ka/, 25 children out of 35 with normal hearing and 8 children out of 35 with cochlear implant had fusion of sounds.The children who used cochlear implants for less than three years did not exhibit fusion of sound i.e. McGurk effect was absent in this group of children. To conclude, the results demonstrate that consistent fusion of visual with auditory information for speech perception is shaped by experience with bimodal spoken language during early life. When auditory experience with speech is mediated by cochlear implant, the likelihood of acquiring bimodal fusion is increased and it greatly depends on the age of implantation. All the above results strongly support the need for screening children for hearing capabilities and providing cochlear implants and aural rehabilitation as early as possible.

Keywords: cochlear implant, congruent stimuli, mcgurk effect, non-congruent stimuli

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Authors: O. D. Adegbehingbe, S. D. Eyono Obono

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The education sector is constantly faced with rapid changes in technologies in terms of ensuring that the curriculum is up to date and in terms of making sure that students are aware of these technological changes. This challenge can be seen as the motivation for this study, which is to examine the factors affecting computing students’ awareness of the latest Information Technologies (ICTs). The aim of this study is divided into two sub-objectives which are: the selection of relevant theories and the design of a conceptual model to support it as well as the empirical testing of the designed model. The first objective is achieved by a review of existing literature on technology adoption theories and models. The second objective is achieved using a survey of computing students in the four universities of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Data collected from this survey is analyzed using Statistical package for the Social Science (SPSS) using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Pearson correlations. The main hypothesis of this study is that there is a relationship between the demographics and the prior conditions of the computing students and their awareness of general ICT trends and of Digital Switch Over (DSO) a new technology which involves the change from analog to digital television broadcasting in order to achieve improved spectrum efficiency. The prior conditions of the computing students that were considered in this study are students’ perceived exposure to career guidance and students’ perceived curriculum currency. The results of this study confirm that gender, ethnicity, and high school computing course affect students’ perceived curriculum currency while high school location affects students’ awareness of DSO. The results of this study also confirm that there is a relationship between students prior conditions and their awareness of general ICT trends and DSO in particular.

Keywords: education, information technologies, IDT, awareness

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Authors: Shirka Kassam Jwasshaka

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Graduates from higher educational institutions in Nigeria need to leave with the necessary skills to be independent in the emergence work environment. The goal of this study is to develop a framework of digital skills that Nigerian graduates in building construction need to be proficient in various digital skills to comfortably fit into the global advances in a technological labour market. The descriptive survey design was used in this investigation. The study's population consisted of building construction experts selected from different sites within the North Central geographical zones of Nigeria. Using random sampling approaches, 120 seasoned experts were chosen. Three research questions raised by the researchers guided the study. The data was gathered using a 60-item, structured questionnaire. The questions were formulated around three key skill areas such as digital skills related to ICT, digital skills related to general workforce, and basic digital literacy skills that students should have. A building construction specialist validated the questionnaire. Winstep in conjunction with SPSS was used to determine the Cronbach Alpha reliability of the items' internal consistency and person separation,item measure, item fit based on PTMEA CORR, polarity items, misfit items, unidimensionality, and a person-item map. The Cronbach Coefficient reliability of items for the three sub constructs was 0.70. The results showed nearly every sub component within the three areas of digital skills was regarded as significant to be learn by experts. The researchers recommended among other things, that all parties involved in the education sector should work together to develop a curriculum that covers digital skills which can meet employer’s' needs.

Keywords: lifelong learning, digital skill, framework, building technology

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Authors: Gülnar Bayramoğlu Barman

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Since the industrial revolution, technological developments and increased population have caused environmental damages. To protect the nature and architectural environment, firstly, green architecture, ecological architecture and then sustainability occurred. This term has been proposed not to be a new term but a response to environmental disturbances caused by human activities and it is re-conceptualization of architecture. Sustainable architecture or sustainability is lot more extensive than ecological and green architecture. It contains the imbalance between environmental problems that is natural environment and consumption that occurred all around the world. An important part of sustainability debate focused on urban planning and design for more sustainable forms and patterns. In particular, it is discussed that planning and design of urban areas have a major effect on transport and therefore can help reduce car usage, emissions, global warming and climate change. There are many planning and design approaches and movement that introduce certain criteria and strategies to prevent car dependency and encourage people to use public transportation and walking. However, when review the literature, it is seen that planning movements, such as New Urbanism and Transit Oriented Development originated and were implemented mostly in West European and North American Cities. The purpose of this study is to find out whether all those criteria, principles and strategies are also relevant planning approaches for more non-western cities like Baku, which has a very different planning background and therefore possibly different urban form and transport issues. In order to answer the above mentioned question, planning and design approaches in the literature and these recent planning movements were studied and a check list was formed which indicate planning and design approaches that can help attain a more sustainable transport outcome. The checklist was then applied to the case of Baku.

Keywords: sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable transportation, transport, urban design

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Authors: Meenakshi

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Background: The complications during pregnancy are the major cause of morbidity and deaths among women in the reproductive age group. Childbearing is the most important phase in women’s lives that occur mainly in the adolescent and adult years. Maternal health, thus is an important issue as this as this is important phase is also productive time for women as they strive fulfill their capabilities as an individual, mothers, family members and also as a citizen. The objective of the study is to document the coverage of ANC and its determinants among domestic workers. Method: A survey of 300 domestic workers were carried in Delhi. Only respondents in the age group (15-49) and whose recent birth was of 5 years preceding the survey were included. Socio-demographic data and information on maternal health was collected from these respondents Information on ANC was collected from total 300 respondents. Standard of living index were composed based on households assists and similarly autonomy index was computed based on women decision making power in the households taking certain key variables. Cross tabulations were performed to obtain frequency and percentages. Potential socio-economic determinants of utilization of ANC among domestic workers were examined using binary logistic regressions. Results: Out of 300 domestic workers survey, only 70.7 per cent per cent received ANC. Domestic workers who married at age 18 years and above are 4 times more likely to utilize antenatal services during their last birth (***p< 0.01). Comparison to domestic workers with number of living children two or less, domestic workers with number of living children more than two are less likely to utilize antenatal care services (**p< 0.05). Domestic workers belonging to Other Backward Castes are more likely to utilize antenatal care services than domestic workers belonging to scheduled tribes ((**p< 0.05). Conclusion: The level of utilization of maternal health services are less among domestic workers is less, as they spend most of their time at the employers household. Though demonstration effect do have impact on their life styles but utilization of maternal health services is poor. Strategies and action are needed to improve the utilization of maternal health services among this section of workers as they are vulnerable because of no proper labour legislations.

Keywords: antenatal care, domestic workers, health services, maternal health, women’s health

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Authors: U. V. Okpala

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Flood is an overflow of water that submerges or ‘drowns’ land. In developing countries it occurs as a result of blocking of natural and man-made drainages and poor maintenance of water dams/reservoirs which seldom give way after persistent heavy down pours. In coastal lowlands and swamp lands, flooding is aided mainly by blocked channels and indiscriminate sand fling of coastal swamp areas and natural drainage channel for urban development/constructions. In this paper, the causes of flood and possible scientific, technological, political, economic and social impacts of flood disaster on the environment a case study of Anambra State have been studied. Often times flooding is caused by climate change, especially in the developed economy where scientific mitigating options are highly employed. Researchers have identified Green Houses Gases (GHG) as the cause of global climate change. The recent flood disaster in Anambra State which caused physical damage to structures, social dislocation, contamination of clean drinking water, spread of water-borne diseases, shortage of crops and food supplies, death of non-tolerant tree species, disruption in transportation system, serious economic loss and psychological trauma is a function of climate change. There is need to encourage generation of renewable energy sources, use of less carbon intensive fuels and other energy efficient sources. Carbon capture/sequestration, proper management of our drainage systems and good maintenance of our dams are good option towards saving the environment.

Keywords: flooding, climate change, carbon capture, energy systems

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Authors: P. Larpsomboonchai

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Agro-industry is one of major industries that has strong impacts on national economic incomes, growth, stability, and sustainable development. Moreover, this industry also has strong influences on social, cultural and political issues. Furthermore, this industry, as producing primary and secondary products, is facing challenges from such diverse factors such as demand inconsistency, intense international competition, technological advancements and new competitors. In order to maintain and to improve industry’s competitiveness in both domestics and international markets, science and technology are key factors. Besides hard sciences and technologies, modern industrial engineering concepts such as Just in Time (JIT) Total Quality Management (TQM), Quick Response (QR), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Lean can be very effective to supportant to increase efficiency and effectiveness of these agricultural products on world stage. Onion is one of Thailand’s major export products which brings back national incomes. But, it also facing challenges in many ways. This paper focused its interests in onion packing process and its related activities such as storage and shipment from one of major packing plant and storage in Mae Wang District, Chiang Mai, Thailand, by applying Toyota Production System (TPS) or Lean concepts, to improve process capability throughout the entire packing and distribution process which will be profitable for the whole onion supply chain. And it will be beneficial to other related agricultural products in Thailand and other ASEAN countries.

Keywords: packing process, Toyota Production System (TPS), lean concepts, waste reduction, lean in agro-industries activities

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Authors: Abel Sichinava

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The need for organ transplantation is vigorously increasing worldwide. The numbers on the waiting lists grow, but the number of donors is not keeping up with the demand even though there is a legal possibility of decreasing the gap between the demand and supply. Most countries around the globe are facing an organ donation problem (living or deceased); however, the extent of the problem differs based on how well developed a country is. The determining issues seem to be centered on how aware the society is about the concept of organ donation, as well as cultural and religious factors. Even if people are aware of the benefits of organ donation, they may still have fears that keep them from being in complete agreement with the idea. Some believe that in the case of deceased organ donation: “the brain dead human body may recover from its injuries” or “the sick might get less appropriate treatment if doctors know they are potential donors.” In the case of living organ donations, people sometimes fear that after the donation, “it might reduce work efficiency, cause health deterioration or even death.” Another major obstacle in the organ shortage is a lack of a well developed ethical framework. In reality, there are truly an immense number of people on the waiting list, and they have only two options in order to receive a suitable organ. First is the legal way, which is to wait until their turn. Sadly, numerous patients die while on the waiting list before an appropriate organ becomes available for transplant. The second option is an illegal way: seeking an organ in a country where they can possibly get. To tell the truth, in people’s desire to live, they may choose the second option if their resources are sufficient. This process automatically involves “organ brokers.” These are people who get organs from vulnerable poor people by force or betrayal. As mentioned earlier, the high demand and low supply leads to human trafficking. The subject of the study was the large number of society from different backgrounds of their belief, culture, nationality, level of education, socio-economic status. The great majority of them interviewed online used “Google Drive Survey” and others in person. All statistics and information gathered from trusted sources annotated in the reference list and above mentioned considerable testimonies shared by the respondents are the fundamental evidence of a lack of the well developed ethical framework. In conclusion, the continuously increasing number of people on the waiting list and an irrelevant ethical framework, lead people to commit to atrocious, dehumanizing crimes. Therefore, world society should be equally obligated to think carefully and make vital decisions together for the advancement of an organ donations and its ethical framework.

Keywords: donation, ethical framwork, organ, transplant

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Authors: Hsin Lee, Hsuan Lee

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Legal artificial intelligence (LegalAI) has been increasing applications within legal systems, propelled by advancements in natural language processing (NLP). Compared with general documents, legal case documents are typically long text sequences with intrinsic logical structures. Most existing language models have difficulty understanding the long-distance dependencies between different structures. Another unique challenge is that while the Judiciary of Taiwan has released legal judgments from various levels of courts over the years, there remains a significant obstacle in the lack of labeled datasets. This deficiency makes it difficult to train models with strong generalization capabilities, as well as accurately evaluate model performance. To date, models in Taiwan have yet to be specifically trained on judgment data. Given these challenges, this research proposes a Longformer-based pre-trained language model explicitly devised for retrieving similar judgments in Taiwanese legal documents. This model is trained on a self-constructed dataset, which this research has independently labeled to measure judgment similarities, thereby addressing a void left by the lack of an existing labeled dataset for Taiwanese judgments. This research adopts strategies such as early stopping and gradient clipping to prevent overfitting and manage gradient explosion, respectively, thereby enhancing the model's performance. The model in this research is evaluated using both the dataset and the Average Entropy of Offense-charged Clustering (AEOC) metric, which utilizes the notion of similar case scenarios within the same type of legal cases. Our experimental results illustrate our model's significant advancements in handling similarity comparisons within extensive legal judgments. By enabling more efficient retrieval and analysis of legal case documents, our model holds the potential to facilitate legal research, aid legal decision-making, and contribute to the further development of LegalAI in Taiwan.

Keywords: legal artificial intelligence, computation and language, language model, Taiwanese legal cases

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Authors: S. I. Usenko, V. N. Golubeva, I. A. Konopkina, I. V. Astakhova, O. V. Vakhnina, A. A. Korableva, A. A. Kalinina, K. B. Zhogova

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Gold can be determined in natural objects and manufactured articles of different origin. The up-to-date status of research and problems of high gold level determination in alloys and manufactured articles are described in detail in the literature. No less important is the task of this metal determination in minerals, process products and waste pieces. The latters, as objects of gold content chemical analysis, are most hard-to-study for two reasons: Because of high requirements to accuracy of analysis results and because of difference in chemical and phase composition. As a rule, such objects are characterized by compound, variable and very often unknown matrix composition that leads to unpredictable and uncontrolled effect on accuracy and other analytical characteristics of analysis technique. In this paper, the methods for the determination of gold are described, using flame atomic-absorption spectrophotometry and gravimetric analysis technique. The techniques are aimed at gold determination in a solution for gold etching (KJ+J2), in the technological mixture formed after cleaning stainless steel members of vacuum-deposit installation with concentrated nitric and hydrochloric acids as well as in gold-containing powder resulted from liquid wastes reprocessing. Optimal conditions for sample preparation and analysis of liquid and solid waste specimens of compound and variable matrix composition were chosen. The boundaries of relative resultant error were determined for the methods within the range of gold mass concentration from 0.1 to 30g/dm3 in the specimens of liquid wastes and mass fractions from 3 to 80% in the specimens of solid wastes.

Keywords: microelectronics waste pieces, gold, sample preparation, atomic-absorption spectrophotometry, gravimetric analysis technique

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Authors: M. Nita-Lazar, E. Manea, C. Bumbac, A. Banciu, C. Stoica

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The population and economic growth have generated a significant new number of pollutant compounds which have to be degraded before reaching the environment. The wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been the last barrier between the domestic and/or industrial wastewaters and the environment. At present, the conventional WWTPs have very high operational costs, most of them linked to the aeration process (60-65% from total energy costs related to wastewater treatment). In addition, they have had a low efficiency in pollutants removal such as pharmaceutical and other resilient anthropogenic compounds. In our study, we have been focused on new wastewater treatment strategies to enhance the efficiency of pollutants removal and decrease the wastewater treatment operational costs. The usage of mixed microalgae-bacteria granules technology generated high efficiency and low costs by a better harvesting and less expensive aeration. The intertrophic relationships between microalgae and bacteria have been characterized by the structure of the population community to their metabolic relationships. The results, obtained by microscopic studies, showed well-organized and stratified microalgae-bacteria granules where bacteria have been enveloped in the microalgal structures. Moreover, their population community structure has been modulated as well as their nitrification, denitrification processes (analysis based on qPCR genes expression) by the type of the pollutant compounds and amounts. In conclusion, the understanding and modulation of intertrophic relationships between microalgae and bacteria could be an economical and technological viable alternative to the conventional wastewater treatment. Acknowledgements: This research was supported by grant PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2016-0865 from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation CNCS/CCCDI-UEFISCDI.

Keywords: activated sludge, bacteria, granules, microalgae

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Authors: Zenah Gheblawi, Susan Armijo-Olivo, Elisa B. Pelai, Vaishali Sharma, Musa Tashfeen, Angela Fung, Francisca Claveria

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Due to physiological differences between men and women, pain is experienced differently between the two sexes. Chronic pain disorders, notably temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), disproportionately affect women in diagnosis, and pain severity in opposition of their male counterparts. TMDs are a type of musculoskeletal disorder that target the masticatory muscles, temporalis muscle, and temporomandibular joints, causing considerable orofacial pain which can usually be referred to the neck and back. Therapeutic methods are scarce, and are not TMD-centered, with the latest research suggesting that subjects with chronic musculoskeletal pain disorders have abnormal alterations in the grey matter of their brains which can be remedied with exercise, and thus, decreasing the pain experienced. The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of exercise therapy in TMD female patients experiencing chronic jaw pain and to assess the consequential effects on brain activity. In a randomized controlled trial, the effectiveness of an exercise program to improve brain alterations and clinical outcomes in women with TMD pain will be tested. Women with chronic TMD pain will be randomized to either an intervention arm or a placebo control group. Women in the intervention arm will receive 8 weeks of progressive exercise of motor control training using visual feedback (MCTF) of the cervical muscles, twice per week. Women in the placebo arm will receive innocuous transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation during 8 weeks as well. The primary outcomes will be changes in 1) pain, measured with the Visual Analogue Scale, 2) brain structure and networks, measured by fractional anisotropy (brain structure) and the blood-oxygen level dependent signal (brain networks). Outcomes will be measured at baseline, after 8 weeks of treatment, and 4 months after treatment ends and will determine effectiveness of MCTF in managing TMD, through improved clinical outcomes. Results will directly inform and guide clinicians in prescribing more effective interventions for women with TMD. This study is underway, and no results are available at this point. The results of this study will have substantial implications on the advancement in understanding the scope of plasticity the brain has in regards with pain, and how it can be used to improve the treatment and pain of women with TMD, and more generally, other musculoskeletal disorders.

Keywords: exercise therapy, musculoskeletal disorders, physical therapy, rehabilitation, tempomandibular disorders

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Authors: H. Haryati, A. Nor Azura

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Over the turn of the century, the advertising landscape has evolved significantly, from print media to digital media. In line with the shift to the advanced science and technology dramatically shake the framework of societies Fifth Industrial Revolution (IR5.0), technological endeavors have increased exponentially, which influenced user interaction more inspiring through online advertising that intentionally leads to buying behavior. Users are more accustomed to interactive content that responds to their actions. Thus, immersive experience has transformed into a new engagement experience To centennials. The purpose of this paper is to investigate pleasure and arousal as the fundamental elements of consumer emotions and affective responses to marketing stimuli. A quasi-experiment procedure will be adopted in the research involving 40 undergraduate students in Nilai, Malaysia. This study employed a 2 (celebrity endorser vs. Social media influencer) X 2 (high and low visual complexity) factorial between-subjects design. Participants will be exposed to a printed version depicting a fashion product endorsed by a celebrity and social media influencers, presented in high and low levels of visual complexity. While the questionnaire will be Distributing during the lab test session is used to control their honesty, real feedback, and responses through the latest Instagram design and engagement. Therefore, the research aims to define the immersive experience on Instagram and the interaction between pleasure and arousal. An advertisement that evokes pleasure and arousal will be likely getting more attention from the target audience. This is one of the few studies comparing the endorses in Instagram advertising. Also, this research extends the existing knowledge about the immersive visual complexity in the context of social media advertising.

Keywords: immersive visual experience, instagram, pleasure, arousal

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Authors: Bartosz Kedra, Robert Malkowski

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This paper provides description and presentation of laboratory test unit built basing on 150 kVA power frequency converter and Simulink RealTime platform. Assumptions, based on criteria which load and generator types may be simulated using discussed device, are presented, as well as control algorithm structure. As laboratory setup contains transformer with thyristor controlled tap changer, a wider scope of setup capabilities is presented. Information about used communication interface, data maintenance, and storage solution as well as used Simulink real-time features is presented. List and description of all measurements are provided. Potential of laboratory setup modifications is evaluated. For purposes of Rapid Control Prototyping, a dedicated environment was used Simulink RealTime. Therefore, load model Functional Unit Controller is based on a PC computer with I/O cards and Simulink RealTime software. Simulink RealTime was used to create real-time applications directly from Simulink models. In the next step, applications were loaded on a target computer connected to physical devices that provided opportunity to perform Hardware in the Loop (HIL) tests, as well as the mentioned Rapid Control Prototyping process. With Simulink RealTime, Simulink models were extended with I/O cards driver blocks that made automatic generation of real-time applications and performing interactive or automated runs on a dedicated target computer equipped with a real-time kernel, multicore CPU, and I/O cards possible. Results of performed laboratory tests are presented. Different load configurations are described and experimental results are presented. This includes simulation of under frequency load shedding, frequency and voltage dependent characteristics of groups of load units, time characteristics of group of different load units in a chosen area and arbitrary active and reactive power regulation basing on defined schedule.

Keywords: MATLAB, power converter, Simulink Real-Time, thyristor-controlled tap changer

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Authors: Robert Vanderburg, Michael Cowling, Nicholas Gibson

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Mathematics is one of the core subjects taught in the Australian K-12 education system and is considered an important component for future studies in areas such as engineering and technology. In addition to this, Australia has been a world leader in distance education due to the vastness of its geographic landscape. Despite this, research is still needed on distance math instruction. Even though delivery of curriculum has given way to online studies, and there is a resultant push for computer-based (PC, tablet, smartphone) math instruction, much instruction still involves practice problems similar to those original curriculum packs, without the ability for students to self-regulate their learning using the full interactive capabilities of these devices. Given this need, this paper addresses issues students have during online instruction. This study consists of 32 students struggling with mathematics enrolled in a math tutorial conducted in an online setting. The study used a case study design to understand some of the blockades hindering the students’ success. Data was collected by tracking students practice and quizzes, tracking engagement of the site, recording one-on-one tutorials, and collecting data from interviews with the students. Results revealed that when students have cognitively straining tasks in an online instructional setting, the first thing to dissipate was their ability to self-regulate. The results also revealed that instructors could ameliorate the situation and provided useful data on strategies that could be used for designing future online tasks. Specifically, instructors could utilize cognitive dissonance strategies to reduce the cognitive drain of the tasks online. They could segment the instruction process to reduce the cognitive demands of the tasks and provide in-depth self-regulatory training, freeing mental capacity for the mathematics content. Finally, instructors could provide specific scheduling and assignment structure changes to reduce the amount of student centered self-regulatory tasks in the class. These findings will be discussed in more detail and summarized in a framework that can be used for future work.

Keywords: digital education, distance education, mathematics education, self-regulation

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Authors: R. Kerbachi, S. Chikhi, M. Boughedaoui

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The study presents an analysis of the Algerian vehicle fleet and resultant emissions. The emission measurement of air pollutants emitted by road transportation (CO, THC, NOX and CO2) was conducted on 17 light duty vehicles in real traffic. This sample is representative of the Algerian light vehicles in terms of fuel quality (gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas) and the technology quality (injection system and emission control). The experimental measurement methodology of unit emission of vehicles in real traffic situation is based on the use of the mini-Constant Volume Sampler for gas sampling and a set of gas analyzers for CO2, CO, NOx and THC, with an instrumentation to measure kinematics, gas temperature and pressure. The apparatus is also equipped with data logging instrument and data transfer. The results were compared with the database of the European light vehicles (Artemis). It was shown that the technological injection liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has significant impact on air pollutants emission. Therefore, with the exception of nitrogen oxide compounds, uncatalyzed LPG vehicles are more effective in reducing emissions unit of air pollutants compared to uncatalyzed gasoline vehicles. LPG performance seems to be lower under real driving conditions than expected on chassis dynamometer. On the other hand, the results show that uncatalyzed gasoline vehicles emit high levels of carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides. Overall, and in the absence of standards in Algeria, unit emissions are much higher than Euro 3. The enforcement of pollutant emission standard in developing countries is an important step towards introducing cleaner technology and reducing vehicular emissions.

Keywords: on-board measurements of unit emissions of CO, HC, NOx and CO2, light vehicles, mini-CVS, LPG-fuel, artemis, Algeria

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Authors: Ruel A. Welch

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Since the introduction of ServiceNow, the UK’s Science Museum Group’s (SMG) ICT service desk portal. There has not been an analysis of the tools available to SMG staff for just-in-time knowledge acquisition (knowledge management systems) and reporting ICT incidents with a focus on an aspect of professional identity, namely, gender. This study is conducted in the milieu of UK museums, galleries, arts, academic, charitable, and cultural heritage sectors. Numerous authors suggest that males and females experience ICT usage differently. Therefore, it is important for SMG to investigate the apparent disparities so that solutions can be derived to minimize this digital divide if one exists. It is acknowledged at SMG that there are challenges with keeping up with an ever-changing digital landscape. Subsequently, this entails the rapid upskilling of staff and developing an infrastructure that supports just-in-time technological knowledge acquisition and reporting technology-related issues. This problem was addressed by analyzing ServiceNow ICT incident reports and reports from knowledge articles from a six-month period from February to July. This study found a statistically significant relationship between gender and reporting an ICT incident. There is also a significant relationship between gender and the priority level of ICT incidents. Interestingly, there is no statistically significant relationship between gender and reading knowledge articles. Additionally, there is no statistically significant relationship between gender and reporting an ICT incident related to the knowledge article that was read by staff. The knowledge acquired from this study is useful to service desk management practice as it will help to inform the creation of future knowledge articles and ICT incident reporting processes.

Keywords: digital divide, ICT service desk practice, knowledge management systems, workplace learning

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Authors: Wittaya Apai, Satippong Rattanakam, Suttinee Likhittragulrung, Nuttanai Tungmunkongvorakul, Sompetch Jaroensuk

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The objective of this study was to find some alternative ways to decrease sulfur dioxide (SO₂) residue problem and prolong storage life in fresh longan for export. Office of Agricultural Research and Development Region 1, Chiang Mai province conducted the research and development from 2016-2018. A grade longan cv. Daw fruit with panicle attached was placed in 11.5 kg commercial perforated plastic basket. They had 5 selected treatments comprising of 3 baskets as replication for each treatment, i.e. 1.5% SO₂ fumigation prior to insert SO₂-generated pads (Uvasys®) (1.5% SO₂+SO₂ pad), dipping in 5% hydrochloric acid (HCl) mixed with 1% sodium metabisulfite (SMS) for 5 min (5% HCl +1% SMS), ozone (O₃) fumigation for 1 hours (h) prior to 1.5% SO₂ fumigation (O₃ 1 h+1.5% SO₂), 1.5% SO₂ fumigation prior to O₃ fumigation for 1 h (1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h) and 1.5% SO₂ fumigation alone as commercial treatment (1.5% SO₂). They were stored at 5 ˚C, 90% relative humidity (RH) for 40-80 days. The results found that the possible treatments were 1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h and 5% HCl +1% SMS respectively and prevented pericarp browning for 80 days at 5 ºC. There were no significant changes in some parameters in any treatments; 1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h and 1.5% SO₂ during storage, i.e., pericarp browning, flesh discoloration, disease incidence (%) and sensory evaluation during storage. Application 1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h had a tendency less both SO₂ residue in fruit and disease incidence (%) including brighter pericarp color as compared with commercial 1.5% SO₂ alone. Moreover, HCl 5%+SMS 1% showed the least SO₂ residue in whole fruit below codex tolerance at 50 mg/kg throughout period of time. The fruit treated with 1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h, 1.5% SO₂, 5% HCl+1% SMS, O₃ 1 h+1.5% SO₂, and 1.5% SO₂+SO₂ pad could prolong storage life for 40, 40, 40, 30 and 30 days respectively at 5°C, 90% RH. Thus, application 1.5% SO₂+O₃ 1 h and/or 5% HCl +1% SMS could be used for extending shelf life fresh longan exported to restricted countries due to less SO₂ residue and fruit quality was maintained as compared with the conventional method.

Keywords: longan, sulfur dioxide, ozone fumigation, sodium metabisulfite

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Authors: Anisa Gumel

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This study examines the present condition of solid waste management in Nigeria. The author explores the challenges and opportunities affecting municipal solid waste management in "Nigeria" and determines the most profound challenges by analysing the interdependence and interrelationship among identified variables. In this study, multiple stakeholders, including 15 waste management professionals interviewed online, were utilised to identify the difficulties and opportunities affecting municipal solid waste in Nigeria. The interviews were transcribed and coded using NVivo to produce pertinent variables. An online survey of Nigerian internet and social media users was done to validate statements made by experts on the identified variable. In addition, a panel of five experts participated in a focus group discussion to discover the most influential factors that influence municipal solid waste management in Nigeria by analysing the interrelationships as well as the driving and reliant power of variables. The results show significant factors affecting municipal solid waste in Nigeria, including inadequate funding, lack of knowledge, and absence of legislation, as well as behavioural, financial, technological, and legal concerns grouped into five categories. Some claims stated by experts in the interview are supported by the survey data, while others are not. In addition, the focus group reveals patterns, correlations, and driving forces between variables that have been analysed. This study will provide decision-makers with a roadmap for resolving important waste management concerns in Nigeria and managing scarce resources effectively. It will also help non-governmental organisations combat malaria in Nigeria and other underdeveloped nations. In addition, the work contributes to the literature for future scholars to consult.

Keywords: municipal solid waste, stakeholders, public, experts

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Authors: Torben Hansen

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While trust has long been regarded as one of the most critical variables for developing and maintaining well-functioning financial customer-seller relationships it can be suggested that trust not only relates to customer trust in individual companies (narrow-scope trust). Trust also relates to the broader business context in which consumers may carry out their financial behaviour (broad-scope trust). However, despite the well-recognized significance of trust in marketing research, only few studies have investigated the role of broad-scope trust in consumer financial behaviour. Moreover, as one of its many serious outcomes, the global financial crisis has elevated the need for an improved understanding of the role of broad-scope trust in consumer financial services markets. Only a minority of US and European consumers are currently confident in financial companies and ‘financial stability’ and ‘trust’ are now among the top reasons for choosing a bank. This research seeks to address this shortcoming in the marketing literature by investigating direct and moderating effects of broad-scope trust on consumer financial behaviour. Specifically, we take an ability-effort approach to consumer financial behaviour. The ability-effort approach holds the basic premise that the quality of consumer actions is influenced by ability factors, for example consumer knowledge and cognitive effort. Our study is based on two surveys. Survey 1 comprises 1,155 bank consumers, whereas survey 2 comprises 764 pension consumers. The results indicate that broad-scope trust negatively moderates relationships between knowledge and financial healthiness and between cognitive effort and financial healthiness. In addition, it is demonstrated that broad-scope trust negatively influences cognitive effort. Specifically, the results suggest that broad-scope trust contributes to the financial well-being of consumers with limited financial knowledge and processing capabilities. Since financial companies are dependent on customers to pay their loans and bills they have a greater interest in developing relations with consumers with a healthy financial behaviour than with the opposite. Hence, financial managers should be engaged with monitoring and influencing broad-scope trust. To conclude, by taking into account the contextual effect of broad-scope trust, the present study adds to our understanding of knowledge-effort-behaviour relationship in consumer financial markets.

Keywords: cognitive effort, customer-seller relationships, financial healthiness, knowledge, trust

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Authors: Shashank Gupta, Iteash Agarwal, Vijayalaxmi Mogiligidda, Rajesh Kumar Krishnan, Sruthi Chennuri, Deepika Aggarwal, Anwesha Hoodati, Sheroy Cooper, Ranjan, Mohammad Bilal Sheik, Bhavya K. M., Manasa Hegde, M. Naveen Krishna, Amit Kumar Chauhan, Mallikarjun Korrapati, Sumit Singh, J. B. Singh, Sunil Sud, Sunil Gupta, Sidhartha Pant, Sankar, Neha Agrawal, Ashish Ranjan, Piyush Mohapatra, Roopak T., Arsh Ahmad, Nanjunda M., Dilip Singh

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Major research interests on quantum key distribution (QKD) are primarily focussed on increasing 1. point-to-point transmission distance (1000 Km), 2. secure key rate (Mbps), 3. security of quantum layer (device-independence). It is great to push the boundaries on these fronts, but these isolated approaches are neither scalable nor cost-effective due to the requirements of specialised hardware and different infrastructure. Current and future QKD network requires addressing different sets of challenges apart from distance, key rate, and quantum security. In this regard, we present ChaQra -a sub-quantum network with core features as 1) Crypto agility (integration in the already deployed telecommunication fibres), 2) Software defined networking (SDN paradigm for routing different nodes), 3) reliability (addressing denial-of-service with hybrid quantum safe cryptography), 4) upgradability (modules upgradation based on scientific and technological advancements), 5) Beyond QKD (using QKD network for distributed computing, multi-party computation etc). Our results demonstrate a clear path to create and accelerate quantum secure Indian subcontinent under the national quantum mission.

Keywords: quantum network, quantum key distribution, quantum security, quantum information

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Authors: Nongyao Intasaso, Atchara Rattanama, Navarat Pewnual

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This research is survey research purposed to study the factor affected to knowledge management efficiency of personnel in Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya, and study the problem of knowledge management affected to knowledge development of personnel in the university. The tool used in this study is structures questioner standardize rating scale in 5 levels. The sample selected by purposive sampling and there are 137 participation calculated in 25% of population. The result found that factor affected to knowledge management efficiency in the university included (1) result from the organization factor found that the university provided project or activity that according to strategy and mission of knowledge management affected to knowledge management efficiency in highest level (x̅ = 4.30) (2) result from personnel factor found that the personnel are eager for knowledge and active to learning to develop themselves and work (Personal Mastery) affected to knowledge management efficiency in high level (x̅ = 3.75) (3) result from technological factor found that the organization brought multimedia learning aid to facilitate learning process affected to knowledge management efficiency in high level (x̅ = 3.70) and (4) the result from learning factor found that the personnel communicated and sharing knowledge and opinion based on acceptance to each other affected to knowledge management efficiency in high level (x̅ = 3.78). The problem of knowledge management in the university included the personnel do not change their work behavior, insufficient of collaboration, lack of acceptance in knowledge and experience to each other, and limited budget. The solutions to solve these problems are the university should be support sufficient budget, the university should follow up and evaluate organization development based on knowledge using, the university should provide the activity emphasize to personnel development and assign the committee to process and report knowledge management procedure.

Keywords: knowledge management, efficiency, personnel, learning process

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Authors: Vitor Carneiro, Augusto Barata Da Rocha, Barbara Rangel, Jorge Lino Alves

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In the European Union countries, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME’s) have an important contribution to economic activity and to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The implementation of design practices in SME’s is often a difficult task due to resources limitations. Unlike large companies, their product development and innovation processes frequentlylack adequate planning and systematic procedures. Design management interest has grown exponentially in recent years, but as it is a recent topic there is an absence of systematic methodologies to implement design management in SME’s with little or no design experience. This work presents a contribution to improve and optimize the process of design integration and management in SME’s. A review analysis is presented to select relevant articles on the subject, review and classify the main published contributions. Based on the selected articles content it was possible to identify five main themes related to the subject under analysis: Design Function Organization, Design Management Integration, Design Management Capabilities, Managing Design Projects, and Tools and Methods. Design management is discussed from different perspectives depending on the focus on which it is placed, whether in a design or management perspective, leading to different visions and definitions: from a more upstream strand at the intersection of design and the organization's strategic management (strategic design management) to a more downstream strand related to project management and design process (design management operational). The review analysis of the selected articles allowed the identification of a high level of complexity of connections and parameters in the design management during the product development process in the context of SME’s. Within each group of the five main themes, several sub-themes, directly or indirectly related, should be considered.Sub-connections also occur between sub-themes of different themes creating a complex and intricate web of connections. This complexity of connections is often the main obstacle to conduct design management and product development efficiently. This work proposes a formulation of a systematic methodological approach to optimize the integrated project and the management and control of the product development process among SME's. The implementation of this formulation will improve the integration of design management in the product development and innovation process in SME’s.

Keywords: design management, product development, product innovation, SME’s.

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Authors: Yunjia Yang, Yakun Yan, Peng Li, Gordon Xu, Timothy Mahony, Neena Mitter, Karishma Mody

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Sheep flystrike is one of the most economically important diseases affecting the Australian sheep and wool industry (>356M/annually). Currently, control of Lucillia cuprina relies almost exclusively on chemicals controls and the parasite has developed resistance to nearly all control chemicals used in the past. It is therefore critical to develop an alternative solution for the sustainable control and management of flystrike. RNA interference (RNAi) technologies have been successfully explored in multiple animal industries for developing parasites controls. This research project aims to develop a RNAi based biological control for sheep blowfly. Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) has already proven successful against viruses, fungi and insects. However, the environmental instability of dsRNA is a major bottleneck with a protection window only lasting 5-7 days. Bentonite polymer (BenPol) technology can overcome this problem, as it can be tuned for controlled release of the dsRNA in the gut challenging pH environment of the blowfly larvae, prolonging its exposure time to and uptake by target cells. We have investigated four different BenPol carriers for their dsRNA loading capabilities of which three of them were able to afford dsRNA stability under multiple temperatures (4°C, 22°C, 40°C, 55°C) in the sheep serum. Based on stability results, we further tested dsRNA from potential targeted genes loaded with BenPol carrier in larvae feeding assay, and get three knockdowns. Our results, establish that the dsRNA when loaded on BenPol particles is stable unlike naked dsRNA which is rapidly degraded in the sheep serum. A stable nanoparticles delivery system that can protect and increase the inherent stability of the dsRNA molecules at higher temperatures in a complex biological fluid like serum, offers a great deal of promise for the future use of this approach for enhancing animal protection.

Keywords: RNA interference, Lucillia cuprina, polymer carriers, polymer stability

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