Search results for: hybrid air quality model

Authors: Mhenga Agneta, Li Zhaomin, Zhang Chao

Abstract:

When velocity is high enough, gas can entrain fluid and carry to the surface, but as time passes by, velocity drops to a critical point where fluids will start to hold up in the tubing and cause liquid loading which prevents gas production and may lead to the death of the well. Foam injection is widely used as one of the methods to unload liquid. Since wells have different characteristics, it is not guaranteed that foam can be applied in all of them and bring successful results. This research presents a technology to optimize the efficiency of foam to unload liquid by air compression. Two methods are used to explain optimization; (i) mathematical formulas are used to solve and explain the myth of how density and critical velocity could be minimized when air is compressed into foaming agents, then the relationship between flow rates and pressure increase which would boost up the bottom hole pressure and increase the velocity to lift liquid to the surface. (ii) Experiments to test foam carryover capacity and stability as a function of time and surfactant concentration whereby three surfactants anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), nonionic Triton 100 and cationic hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTAB) were probed. The best foaming agents were injected to lift liquid loaded in a created vertical well model of 2.5 cm diameter and 390 cm high steel tubing covered by a transparent glass casing of 5 cm diameter and 450 cm high. The results show that, after injecting foaming agents, liquid unloading was successful by 75%; however, the efficiency of foaming agents to unload liquid increased by 10% with an addition of compressed air at a ratio of 1:1. Measured values and calculated values were compared and brought about ± 3% difference which is a good number. The successful application of the technology indicates that engineers and stakeholders could bring water flooded gas wells back to production with optimized results by firstly paying attention to the type of surfactants (foaming agents) used, concentration of surfactants, flow rates of the injected surfactants then compressing air to the foaming agents at a proper ratio.

Keywords: air compression, foaming agents, gas well, liquid loading

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Emmanuel Benjamin, Matthias Blum

Abstract:

Purpose – We address smallholder farmers’ restricted possibilities to adopt sustainable technologies which have direct and indirect benefits. Smallholders often face little asset endowment due to small farm size und insecure property rights, therefore experiencing constraints in adopting agricultural innovation. A program involving payments for ecosystem services (PES) benefits poor smallholder farmers in developing countries in many ways and has been suggested as a means of easing smallholder farmers’ financial constraints. PES may also provide additional mainstay which can eventually result in more favorable credit contract terms due to the availability of collateral substitute. Results of this study may help to understand the barriers, motives and incentives for smallholders’ participation in PES and help in designing a strategy to foster participation in beneficial programs. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a random utility model and a logistic regression approach to investigate factors that influence agroforestry adoption. We investigate non-monetary factors, such as information spillover, that influence the decision to adopt such conservation strategies. We collected original data from non-government-run agroforestry mitigation programs with PES that have been implemented in the Mount Kenya region. Preliminary Findings – We find that spread of information, existing networks and peer involvement in such programs drive participation. Conversely, participation by smallholders does not seem to be influenced by education, land or asset endowment. Contrary to some existing literature, we found weak evidence for a positive correlation between the adoption of agroforestry with PES and age of smallholder, e.g., one increases with the other, in the Mount Kenyan region. Research implications – Poverty alleviation policies for developing countries should target social capital to increase the adoption rate of modern technologies amongst smallholders.

Keywords: agriculture innovation, agroforestry adoption, smallholders, payment for ecosystem services, Sub-Saharan Africa

Procedia PDF Downloads 378

Authors: Mane Darbinyan, Lusine Hayrapetyan, Elen Matevosyan

Abstract:

Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) has been created to help students get ready for the workforce, and over the past 25 years, it has grown significantly, offering a variety of technologies to support academic, institutional, and administrative services. However, this is still challenging, especially considering the labor market's rapid change. While choosing a career, people face various obstacles because they do not take into consideration their own preferences, which might lead to many other problems like shifting jobs, work stress, occupational infirmity, reduced productivity, and manual error. Besides preferences, people should properly evaluate their technical and non-technical skills, as well as their personalities. Professional counseling has become a difficult undertaking for counselors due to the wide range of career choices brought on by changing technological trends. It is necessary to close this gap by utilizing technology that makes sophisticated predictions about a person's career goals based on their personality. Hence, there is a need to create an automated model that would help in decision-making based on user inputs. Improving career guidance can be achieved by embedding machine learning into the career consulting ecosystem. There are various systems of career guidance that work based on the same logic, such as the classification of applicants, matching applications with appropriate departments or jobs, making predictions, and providing suitable recommendations. Methodologies like KNN, Neural Networks, K-means clustering, D-Tree, and many other advanced algorithms are applied in the fields of data and compute some data, which is helpful to predict the right careers. Besides helping users with their career choice, these systems provide numerous opportunities which are very useful while making this hard decision. They help the candidate to recognize where he/she specifically lacks sufficient skills so that the candidate can improve those skills. They are also capable to offer an e-learning platform, taking into account the user's lack of knowledge. Furthermore, users can be provided with details on a particular job, such as the abilities required to excel in that industry.

Keywords: career guidance system, machine learning, career prediction, predictive decision, data mining, technical and non-technical skills

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: Vladislav Grigorovitch, Marina Grigorovitch, David Pearlmutter, Erez Gal

Abstract:

The concept of “electric island” is involved with achieving the balance between the self-power generation ability of each educational institution and energy consumption demand. Photo-Voltaic (PV) solar system installed on the roofs of educational buildings is a common way to absorb the available solar energy and generate electricity for self-consumption and even for returning to the grid. The main objective of this research is to develop and implement an “electric island” monitoring infrastructure for promoting energy efficiency in educational buildings. A microscale monitoring methodology will be developed to provide a platform to estimate energy consumption performance classified by rooms and subspaces rather than the more common macroscale monitoring of the whole building. The monitoring platform will be established on the experimental sites, enabling an estimation and further analysis of the variety of environmental and physical conditions. For each building, separate measurement configurations will be applied taking into account the specific requirements, restrictions, location and infrastructure issues. The direct results of the measurements will be analyzed to provide deeper understanding of the impact of environmental conditions and sustainability construction standards, not only on the energy demand of public building, but also on the energy consumption habits of the children that study in those schools and the educational and administrative staff that is responsible for providing the thermal comfort conditions and healthy studying atmosphere for the children. A monitoring methodology being developed in this research is providing online access to real-time data of Interferential Therapy (IFTs) from any mobile phone or computer by simply browsing the dedicated website, providing powerful tools for policy makers for better decision making while developing PV production infrastructure to achieve “electric islands” in educational buildings. A detailed measurement configuration was technically designed based on the specific conditions and restriction of each of the pilot buildings. A monitoring and analysis methodology includes a large variety of environmental parameters inside and outside the schools to investigate the impact of environmental conditions both on the energy performance of the school and educational abilities of the children. Indoor measurements are mandatory to acquire the energy consumption data, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide and other air quality conditions in different parts of the building. In addition to that, we aim to study the awareness of the users to the energy consideration and thus the impact on their energy consumption habits. The monitoring of outdoor conditions is vital for proper design of the off-grid energy supply system and validation of its sufficient capacity. The suggested outcomes of this research include: 1. both experimental sites are designed to have PV production and storage capabilities; 2. Developing an online information feedback platform. The platform will provide consumer dedicated information to academic researchers, municipality officials and educational staff and students; 3. Designing an environmental work path for educational staff regarding optimal conditions and efficient hours for operating air conditioning, natural ventilation, closing of blinds, etc.

Keywords: sustainability, electric island, IOT, smart building

Procedia PDF Downloads 175

Authors: Teerapong Lorchitamnuay, Thirarut Worapishet

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In the present digital age, today's customers explore various channels before finalizing a purchase, with abundant options and information at their disposal. Despite this, there is a strong digital interconnectedness. With just a few mouse clicks, customers can gather comprehensive information about a product, free from the influence of a salesperson. Salespeople must embrace cutting-edge technology to truly redefine the essence of selling if they are to thrive in this digital era. The significance of customer-salesperson communication in companies is becoming increasingly evident. It prompts the inquiry of how companies can modify or reshape their sales teams' approaches to effectively respond to evolving customer preferences and effectively manage external shifts, all in pursuit of sustaining and expanding their enterprises. Research highlights that digital and intercultural skills are the latest competencies sought by customers from salespeople in today's fast-paced world prior to making purchases of products and services. This study seeks to examine the pivotal influences of these salesperson skills in achieving customer satisfaction. The research design encompasses the analysis of descriptive statistics and quantitative data through a regression model. Data were gathered from an online convenience survey involving 260 respondents who are customers of an air express service provider in Thailand and who engage with salespeople in a traditional manner. The findings underscore that intercultural skills have a substantial impact on customer satisfaction in the digital era, particularly concerning adaptability, foreign language proficiency, active listening, and empathy skills. Organizations should focus on nurturing beneficial habits among their salespeople; since it signifies this effort, it should extend beyond just the frontline but should extend to encompass backline units and high-level management, ensuring that everyone possesses the same customer-oriented skills. The conclusions drawn from this research provide valuable insights, affirming that digital and intercultural skills can empower organizations to optimize their workforce's competencies, thereby achieving customer satisfaction in the digital age.

Keywords: customer behavior, customer satisfaction, digital era, digital skill, intercultural skill

Procedia PDF Downloads 82

Authors: Bartosz Kedra, Robert Malkowski

Abstract:

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

Procedia PDF Downloads 319

Authors: A. Kalaei, A. H. W. Ngan

Abstract:

In this study, a mesoscopic continuum dislocation dynamics (CDD) approach is applied to simulate the intergranular slip transfer. The CDD scheme applies an efficient kinematics equation to model the evolution of the “all-dislocation density,” which is the line-length of dislocations of each character per unit volume. As the consideration of every dislocation line can be a limiter for the simulation of slip transfer in large scales with a large quantity of participating dislocations, a coarse-grained, extensive description of dislocations in terms of their density is utilized to resolve the effect of collective motion of dislocation lines. For dynamics closure, namely, to obtain the dislocation velocity from a velocity law involving the effective glide stress, mutual elastic interaction of dislocations is calculated using Mura’s equation after singularity removal at the core of dislocation lines. The developed scheme for slip transfer can therefore resolve the effects of the elastic interaction and pile-up of dislocations, which are important physics omitted in coarser models like crystal plasticity finite element methods (CPFEMs). Also, the length and timescales of the simulationareconsiderably larger than those in molecular dynamics (MD) and discrete dislocation dynamics (DDD) models. The present work successfully simulates that, as dislocation density piles up in front of a grain boundary, the elastic stress on the other side increases, leading to dislocation nucleation and stress relaxation when the local glide stress exceeds the operation stress of dislocation sources seeded on the other side of the grain boundary. More importantly, the simulation verifiesa phenomenological misorientation factor often used by experimentalists, namely, the ease of slip transfer increases with the product of the cosines of misorientation angles of slip-plane normals and slip directions on either side of the grain boundary. Furthermore, to investigate the effects of the critical stress-intensity factor of the grain boundary, dislocation density sources are seeded at different distances from the grain boundary, and the critical applied stress to make slip transfer happen is studied.

Keywords: grain boundary, dislocation dynamics, slip transfer, elastic stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 120

Authors: Pedram Saadati, Zahra Nazari

Abstract:

Today, the role and importance of financial technology businesses in Iran have increased significantly. Although, in Iran, there is no Islamic or non-Islamic personal financial planning field of study in the universities or educational centers, the profession of personal financial planning is not defined, and there is no software introduced in this regard for advisors or consumers. The largest sales network of financial services in Iran belongs to the insurance industry, and there is an untapped market for international companies in Iran that can contribute to 130 thousand representatives in the insurance industry and 28 million families by providing training and personal financial advisory software. To the best of the author's knowledge, despite the lack of previous internal studies in this field, the present study investigates the level of readiness of the salesforce of the insurance industry to accept this career and its technology. The statistical population of the research is made up of managers, insurance sales representatives, assistants and heads of sales departments of insurance companies. An 18-minute video was prepared that introduced and taught the job of Islamic personal financial planning and explained its difference from its non-Islamic model. This video was provided to the respondents. The data collection tool was a research-made questionnaire. To investigate the factors affecting technology acceptance and job change, independent T descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation were used, and Friedman's test was used to rank the effective factors. The results indicate the mental perception and very positive attitude of the insurance industry activists towards the usefulness of this job and its technology, and the studied sample confirmed the intention of training in this knowledge. Based on research results, the change in the customer's attitude towards the insurance advisor and the possibility of increasing income are considered as the reasons for accepting. However, Restrictions on using investment opportunities due to Islamic financial services laws and the uncertainty of the position of the central insurance in this regard are considered as the most important obstacles.

Keywords: fintech, insurance, personal financial planning, wealth management

Procedia PDF Downloads 45

Authors: Mane Darbinyan, Lusine Hayrapetyan, Elen Matevosyan

Abstract:

Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) has been created to help students get ready for the workforce, and over the past 25 years, it has grown significantly, offering a variety of technologies to support academic, institutional, and administrative services. However, this is still challenging, especially considering the labor market's rapid change. While choosing a career, people face various obstacles because they do not take into consideration their own preferences, which might lead to many other problems like shifting jobs, work stress, occupational infirmity, reduced productivity, and manual error. Besides preferences, people should evaluate properly their technical and non-technical skills, as well as their personalities. Professional counseling has become a difficult undertaking for counselors due to the wide range of career choices brought on by changing technological trends. It is necessary to close this gap by utilizing technology that makes sophisticated predictions about a person's career goals based on their personality. Hence, there is a need to create an automated model that would help in decision-making based on user inputs. Improving career guidance can be achieved by embedding machine learning into the career consulting ecosystem. There are various systems of career guidance that work based on the same logic, such as the classification of applicants, matching applications with appropriate departments or jobs, making predictions, and providing suitable recommendations. Methodologies like KNN, neural networks, K-means clustering, D-Tree, and many other advanced algorithms are applied in the fields of data and compute some data, which is helpful to predict the right careers. Besides helping users with their career choice, these systems provide numerous opportunities which are very useful while making this hard decision. They help the candidate to recognize where he/she specifically lacks sufficient skills so that the candidate can improve those skills. They are also capable of offering an e-learning platform, taking into account the user's lack of knowledge. Furthermore, users can be provided with details on a particular job, such as the abilities required to excel in that industry.

Keywords: career guidance system, machine learning, career prediction, predictive decision, data mining, technical and non-technical skills

Procedia PDF Downloads 66

Authors: Godwin Dennison, C. E. Boulind, O. Gould, B. de Lacy Costello, J. Allison, P. White, P. Ewings, A. Wicaksono, N. J. Curtis, A. Pullyblank, D. Jayne, J. A. Covington, N. Ratcliffe, N. K. Francis

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Background: Colorectal symptoms are common but only infrequently represent serious pathology, including colorectal cancer (CRC). A large number of invasive tests are presently performed for reassurance. We investigated the feasibility of urinary volatile organic compound (VOC) testing as a potential triage tool in patients fast-tracked for assessment for possible CRC. Methods: A prospective, multi-centre, observational feasibility study was performed across three sites. Patients referred on NHS fast-track pathways for potential CRC provided a urine sample which underwent Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS) and Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) analysis. Patients underwent colonoscopy and/or CT colonography and were grouped as either CRC, adenomatous polyp(s), or controls to explore the diagnostic accuracy of VOC output data supported by an artificial neural network (ANN) model. Results: 558 patients participated with 23 (4.1%) CRC diagnosed. 59% of colonoscopies and 86% of CT colonographies showed no abnormalities. Urinary VOC testing was feasible, acceptable to patients, and applicable within the clinical fast track pathway. GC-MS showed the highest clinical utility for CRC and polyp detection vs. controls (sensitivity=0.878, specificity=0.882, AUROC=0.884). Conclusion: Urinary VOC testing and analysis are feasible within NHS fast-track CRC pathways. Clinically meaningful differences between patients with cancer, polyps, or no pathology were identified therefore suggesting VOC analysis may have future utility as a triage tool. Acknowledgment: Funding: NIHR Research for Patient Benefit grant (ref: PB-PG-0416-20022).

Keywords: colorectal cancer, volatile organic compound, gas chromatography mass spectrometry, field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry, selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Camelia Vizireanu, Daniela Istrati, Alina Georgiana Profir, Rodica Mihaela Dinica

Abstract:

Globally, there is a great interest in promoting the consumption of fruit and vegetables to improve health. Due to the content of essential compounds such as antioxidants, important amounts of fruits and vegetables should be included in the daily diet. Juices are good sources of vitamins and can also help increase overall fruit and vegetable consumption. Starting from this trend (introduction into the daily diet of vegetables and fruits) as well as the desire to diversify the range of functional products for both adults and children, a fermented juice was made using probiotic microorganisms based on root vegetables, with potential beneficial effects in the diet of children, vegetarians and people with lactose intolerance. The three vegetables selected for this study, red beet, carrot, and celery bring a significant contribution to functional compounds such as carotenoids, flavonoids, betalain, vitamin B and C, minerals and fiber. By fermentation, the functional value of the vegetable juice increases due to the improved stability of these compounds. The combination of probiotic microorganisms and vegetable fibers resulted in a nutrient-rich synbiotic product. The stability of the nutritional and sensory qualities of the obtained synbiotic product has been tested throughout its shelf life. The evaluation of the physico-chemical changes of the synbiotic drink during storage confirmed that: (i) vegetable juice enriched with honey and vegetable pulp is an important source of nutritional compounds, especially carbohydrates and fiber; (ii) microwave treatment used to inhibit pathogenic microflora did not significantly affect nutritional compounds in vegetable juice, vitamin C concentration remained at baseline and beta-carotene concentration increased due to increased bioavailability; (iii) fermentation has improved the nutritional quality of vegetable juice by increasing the content of B vitamins, polyphenols and flavonoids and has a good antioxidant capacity throughout the shelf life; (iv) the FTIR and Raman spectra have highlighted the results obtained using physicochemical methods. Based on the analysis of IR absorption frequencies, the most striking bands belong to the frequencies 3330 cm⁻¹, 1636 cm⁻¹ and 1050 cm⁻¹, specific for groups of compounds such as polyphenols, carbohydrates, fatty acids, and proteins. Statistical data processing revealed a good correlation between the content of flavonoids, betalain, β-carotene, ascorbic acid and polyphenols, the fermented juice having a stable antioxidant activity. Also, principal components analysis showed that there was a negative correlation between the evolution of the concentration of B vitamins and antioxidant activity. Acknowledgment: This study has been founded by the Francophone University Agency, Project Réseau régional dans le domaine de la santé, la nutrition et la sécurité alimentaire (SaIN), No. at Dunarea de Jos University of Galati 21899/ 06.09.2017 and by the Sectorial Operational Programme Human Resources Development of the Romanian Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports trough the Financial Agreement POSDRU/159/1.5/S/132397 ExcelDOC.

Keywords: bioactive compounds, fermentation, synbiotic drink from vegetables, stability during storage

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Daniel Faraj, Arabella Raupach, Charlotte Hespe, Helen Wilcox, Kristie-Lee Anning

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Aim: International child sponsorship programs comprise a considerable proportion of global aid accessible to the general population. Team Philippines (TP), a healthcare and welfare initiative run in association with the University of Notre Dame Sydney since 2013, leads a holistic sponsorship program for thirty children from Calauan, Philippines. To date, empirical research has not been performed on the overall success and impact of the TP child sponsorship program. As such, this study aims to evaluate its effectiveness in improving pediatric outcomes. Methods: Study cohorts comprised thirty sponsored and twenty-nine age- and gender-matched non-sponsored children. Data were extracted from the TP Medical Director database and lifestyle questionnaires for July-November 2019. Outcome measures included anthropometry, markers of medical health, dental health, exercise, and diet. Statistical analyses were performed in SPSS. Results: Sponsorship resulted in fewer medical diagnoses and prescription medications, superior dental health, and improved diet. Further, sponsored children may show a clinically significant trend toward improved physical health. Sponsorship did not affect growth and development metrics or levels of physical activity. Conclusions: The TP child sponsorship program significantly impacts positive pediatric health outcomes in the Calauan community. The strength of the program lies in its holistic, sustainable, and community-based model, which is enabled by effective international child sponsorship. This study further supports the relationship between supporting early livelihood and improved health in the pediatric population.

Keywords: child health, public health, health status disparities, healthcare disparities, social determinants of health, morbidity, community health services, culturally competent care, medically underserved areas, population health management, Philippines

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Authors: Asma Ameur, Dhafer Malouche

Abstract:

Nowadays, user comments on the Internet have an important impact on hotel bookings. This confirms that the e-reputation issue can influence the likelihood of customer loyalty to a hotel. In this way, e-reputation has become a real differentiator between hotels. For this reason, we have a unique opportunity in the opinion mining field to analyze the comments. In fact, this field provides the possibility of extracting information related to the polarity of user reviews. This sentimental study (Opinion Mining) represents a new line of research for analyzing the unstructured textual data. Knowing the score of e-reputation helps the hotelier to better manage his marketing strategy. The score we then obtain is translated into the image of hotels to differentiate between them. Therefore, this present research highlights the importance of hotel satisfaction ‘scoring. To calculate the satisfaction score, the sentimental analysis can be manipulated by several techniques of machine learning. In fact, this study treats the extracted textual data by using the Artificial Neural Networks Approach (ANNs). In this context, we adopt the aforementioned technique to extract information from the comments available in the ‘Trip Advisor’ website. This actual paper details the description and the modeling of the ANNs approach for the scoring of online hotel reviews. In summary, the validation of this used method provides a significant model for hotel sentiment analysis. So, it provides the possibility to determine precisely the polarity of the hotel users reviews. The empirical results show that the ANNs are an accurate approach for sentiment analysis. The obtained results show also that this proposed approach serves to the dimensionality reduction for textual data’ clustering. Thus, this study provides researchers with a useful exploration of this technique. Finally, we outline guidelines for future research in the hotel e-reputation field as comparing the ANNs with other technique.

Keywords: clustering, consumer behavior, data mining, e-reputation, machine learning, neural network, online hotel ‘reviews, opinion mining, scoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Sabina Klimek

Abstract:

In general, entrepreneurs are viewed as agents of change whose goal is to ensure that resources are efficiently utilized. They are very important in the global economy; they create wealth and provide jobs. At the same time, many policymakers say that women entrepreneurs are a ‘special group’ worthy of their own research and policies. The status of Polish women has been changing as well, even though, to a large extent, it is still defined by the double role that women are expected to fill according to the dominant stereotypical model of family life. However, in the past decade, Polish women’s economic activities have experienced rapid growth and today are at a high level. In the article, the author presents the results of a survey conducted among women entrepreneurs in Poland concerning the functioning of their enterprises, motivation in setting up a company, and barriers that hinder them in business. The questionnaire (300 questionnaires were provided) and case studies carried out by the author have proven that female entrepreneurs in Poland are characterized by commonalities. Mostly they run small or micro-enterprises, operate in larger cities, are well-educated, and run service companies. Their main motivation to run their own business is mostly indicated by their need for independence. However, one of their biggest barriers and hesitations is the apprehension of non-payment. Entrepreneurs want to develop their companies, go to foreign markets and implement new solutions. They are not afraid of the future; they are only trying to create it. Detailed hypothesis, which reads as follows. The author additionally conducted a macroeconomic analysis calculating what part of GDP in Poland is produced by female entrepreneurs. The results of the study presented in this article prove that female entrepreneurship in Poland has a stable impact on the economy of the country, and women entrepreneurs produce over 13% of the national GDP. After years of growth in the number of female entrepreneurs in Poland, there has been a period of stabilization. However, there has also been a reduction in the number of self-employed people as well as the number of women in total employment. In the article, the author analyses the reasons for decreasing number of self-employed women and the total employment of women in Poland and provides suggestions for steps and incentives that should be made in order to encourage female entrepreneurship to grow in the country.

Keywords: women entrepreneurship, women in business, women entrepreneurship in Poland, Poland, GDP of Poland

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Authors: Liz Carmem Silva-Pereira, Raffael Alencar Mesquita Rodrigues, Francisco Helton Mendes Barbosa, Emerson de Freitas Ferreira

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Due to the Covid-19 pandemic declared in March 2020 by the World Health Organization, the way of social coexistence across the planet was affected, especially in educational processes, from the implementation of the remote modality as a teaching strategy. This teaching-learning modality caused a change in the routine and learning of basic education students, which resulted in serious consequences for the return to face-to-face teaching in 2021. 2022, at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Pará (IFPA) – Campus Paragominas had their training process severely affected, having studied the initial half of their training in the remote modality, which compromised the carrying out of practical classes, technical visits and field classes, essential for the student formation on the environmental technician. With the objective of promoting the recomposition of these students' learning after returning to the face-to-face modality, an educational strategy was developed in the last period of the course. As teaching methodologies were used for research as an educational principle, the integrative project and the parallel recovery action applied jointly, aiming at recomposing the basic knowledge of the natural sciences, together with the technical knowledge of the environmental area applied to the course. The project assisted 58 finalist students of the environmental technical course. A research instrument was elaborated with parameters of evaluation of the environmental quality for study in 19 collection points, in the Uraim River urban hydrographic basin, in the Paragominas City – Pará – Brazilian Amazon. Students were separated into groups under the professors' and laboratory assistants’ orientation, and in the field, they observed and evaluated the places' environmental conditions and collected physical data and water samples, which were taken to the chemistry and biology laboratories at Campus Paragominas for further analysis. With the results obtained, each group prepared a technical report on the environmental conditions of each evaluated point. This work methodology enabled the practical application of theoretical knowledge received in various disciplines during the remote teaching modality, contemplating the integration of knowledge, people, skills, and abilities for the best technical training of finalist students. At the activity end, the satisfaction of the involved students in the project was evaluated, through a form, with the signing of the informed consent term, using the Likert scale as an evaluation parameter. The results obtained in the satisfaction survey were: on the use of research projects within the disciplines attended, 82% of satisfaction was obtained; regarding the revision of contents in the execution of the project, 84% of satisfaction was obtained; regarding the acquired field experience, 76.9% of satisfaction was obtained, regarding the laboratory experience, 86.2% of satisfaction was obtained, and regarding the use of this methodology as parallel recovery, 71.8% was obtained of satisfaction. In addition to the excellent performance of students in acquiring knowledge, it was possible to remedy the deficiencies caused by the absence of practical classes, technical visits, and field classes, which occurred during the execution of the remote teaching modality, fulfilling the desired educational recomposition.

Keywords: integrative project, parallel recovery, research as an educational principle, teaching-learning

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Authors: Bukra Kalayci, Geraldine Brennan

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Introduction: Over the last decade, a proliferation of literature related to textile and fashion business in the context of sustainable production and consumption has emerged. However, the economic and environmental benefits of solid waste recovery have not been comprehensively searched. Therefore at the end-of-life or end-of-use textile waste management remains a gap. Solid textile waste reuse and recycling principles of the circular economy need to be developed to close the disposal stage of the textile supply chain. The environmental problems associated with the over-production and –consumption of textile products arise. Together with growing population and fast fashion culture the share of solid textile waste in municipal waste is increasing. Focusing on post-consumer textile waste literature, this research explores the opportunities, obstacles and enablers or success factors associated with closed-loop textile business systems. Methodology: A systematic literature review was conducted in order to identify best practices and gaps from the existing body of knowledge related to closed-loop post-consumer textile waste initiatives over the last decade. Selected keywords namely: ‘cradle-to-cradle ‘, ‘circular* economy* ‘, ‘closed-loop* ‘, ‘end-of-life* ‘, ‘reverse* logistic* ‘, ‘take-back* ‘, ‘remanufacture* ‘, ‘upcycle* ‘ with the combination of (and) ‘fashion* ‘, ‘garment* ‘, ‘textile* ‘, ‘apparel* ‘, clothing* ‘ were used and the time frame of the review was set between 2005 to 2017. In order to obtain a broad coverage, Web of Knowledge and Science Direct databases were used, and peer-reviewed journal articles were chosen. The keyword search identified 299 number of papers which was further refined into 54 relevant papers that form the basis of the in-depth thematic analysis. Preliminary findings: A key finding was that the existing literature is predominantly conceptual rather than applied or empirical work. Moreover, the enablers or success factors, obstacles and opportunities to implement closed-loop systems in the textile industry were not clearly articulated and the following considerations were also largely overlooked in the literature. While the circular economy suggests multiple cycles of discarded products, components or materials, most research has to date tended to focus on a single cycle. Thus the calculations of environmental and economic benefits of closed-loop systems are limited to one cycle which does not adequately explore the feasibility or potential benefits of multiple cycles. Additionally, the time period textile products spend between point of sale, and end-of-use/end-of-life return is a crucial factor. Despite past efforts to study closed-loop textile systems a clear gap in the literature is the lack of a clear evaluation framework which enables manufacturers to clarify the reusability potential of textile products through consideration of indicators related too: quality, design, lifetime, length of time between manufacture and product return, volume of collected disposed products, material properties, and brand segment considerations (e.g. fast fashion versus luxury brands).

Keywords: circular fashion, closed loop business, product service systems, solid textile waste elimination

Procedia PDF Downloads 199

Authors: Fan Wei, Tang Yipeng

Abstract:

The outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 has been raging around the world, which has severely affected people's work and life. In today's post-pandemic era, although the pandemic has been effectively controlled, people still need to maintain social distancing at all times to prevent the further spread of the virus. Based on this, social distancing in the context of the pandemic has aroused widespread attention from scholars. At present, most studies exploring the influencing factors of social distancing are studying the negative impact of social distancing on the physical and mental state of special groups from the inter-individual level, and their more focus on the forced complete social distancing during the severe period of the pandemic. Few studies have focused on the impact of social distancing on working groups in the post-pandemic era from the within-individual level. In order to explore this problem, this paper constructs a cross-level moderating model based on resource conservation theory from the perspective of psychological resources. A total of 81 subjects were recruited to fill in the three-stage questionnaires each day for 10 working days, and 661valid questionnaires were finally obtained. Through the empirical tests, the following conclusions were finally obtained: (1) At the within-individual level, daily social distancing is positively correlated with the second day’s recovery, and the individual’s low sociability regulates the relationship between social distancing and recovery. The indirect effect of daily social distancing through recovery has positive relationship employees’ work engagement and work-goal progress only when the individual has low sociability. For individuals with high sociability, none of these paths are significant. (2) At the within-individual level, there is a significant relationship between individual's recovery and work engagement and work-goal progress, indicating that the recovery of resources can produce positive work outcomes. According to the results, this study believes that in the post-pandemic era, social distancing can not only effectively prevent and control the pandemic but also have positive impacts. Employees can use the time and energy originally saved for social activities through social distancing to invest in things that can provide resources and help them recover.

Keywords: social distancing, recovery, work engagement, work goal progress, sociability

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Authors: Pei-Shan Liang

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Objective: This article explores the care experience of a terminal lung cancer patient who developed lower limb paralysis after surgery for aortic dissection. The patient, diagnosed with aortic dissection during chemotherapy for lung cancer, faced post-surgical lower limb paralysis, leading to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness as they approached death with reduced mobility. Methods: The nursing period was from July 19 to July 27, during which the author, alongside the intensive care team and palliative care specialists, conducted a comprehensive assessment through observation, direct care, conversations, physical assessments, and medical record review. Gordon's eleven functional health patterns were used for a holistic evaluation, identifying four nursing health issues: "pain related to terminal lung cancer and invasive procedures," "decreased cardiac tissue perfusion due to hemodynamic instability," "impaired physical mobility related to lower limb paralysis," and "hopelessness due to the unpredictable prognosis of terminal lung cancer." Results: The medical team initially focused on symptom relief, administering Morphine 5mg in 0.9% N/S 50ml IVD q6h for pain management and continuing chemotherapy as prescribed. Open communication was employed to address the patient's physical, psychological, and spiritual concerns. Non-pharmacological interventions, including listening, caring, companionship, opioid medication, and distraction techniques like comfortable positioning and warm foot baths, were used to alleviate pain, reducing the pain score to 3 on the numeric rating scale and easing respiratory discomfort. The palliative care team was also involved, guiding the patient and family through the "Four Paths of Life," helping the patient achieve a good end-of-life experience and the family to experience a peaceful life. This process also served to promote the concept of palliative care, enabling more patients and families to receive high-quality and dignified care. The patient was encouraged to express inner anxiety through drawing or writing, which helped reduce the hopelessness caused by psychological distress and uncertainty about the disease's prognosis, as assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, reaching a level of mild anxiety but acceptable without affecting sleep. Conclusion: What left a deep impression during the care process was the need for intensive care providers to consider the patient's psychological state, not just their physical condition, when the patient's situation changes. Family support and involvement often provide the greatest solace for the patient, emphasizing the importance of comfort and dignity. This includes oral care to maintain cleanliness and comfort, frequent repositioning to alleviate pressure and discomfort, and timely removal of invasive devices and unnecessary medications to avoid unnecessary suffering. The nursing process should also address the patient's psychological needs, offering comfort and support to ensure that they can face the end of life with peace and dignity.

Keywords: intensive care, lung cancer, aortic dissection, lower limb paralysis

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Authors: Yasemin Akar, Jan G. Wissink, Herlina Herlina

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The effect of various levels of contamination on the interfacial air–water gas transfer velocity is studied by Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS). The interfacial gas transfer is driven by isotropic turbulence, introduced at the bottom of the computational domain, diffusing upwards. The isotropic turbulence is generated in a separate, concurrently running the large-eddy simulation (LES). The flow fields in the main DNS and the LES are solved using fourth-order discretisations of convection and diffusion. To solve the transport of dissolved gases in water, a fifth-order-accurate WENO scheme is used for scalar convection combined with a fourth-order central discretisation for scalar diffusion. The damping effect of the surfactant contamination on the near surface (horizontal) velocities in the DNS is modelled using horizontal gradients of the surfactant concentration. An important parameter in this model, which corresponds to the level of contamination, is ReMa⁄We, where Re is the Reynolds number, Ma is the Marangoni number, and We is the Weber number. It was previously found that even small levels of contamination (ReMa⁄We small) lead to a significant drop in the interfacial gas transfer velocity KL. It is known that KL depends on both the Schmidt number Sc (ratio of the kinematic viscosity and the gas diffusivity in water) and the surface divergence β, i.e. K_L∝√(β⁄Sc). Previously it has been shown that this relation works well for surfaces with low to moderate contamination. However, it will break down for β close to zero. To study the validity of this dependence in the presence of surface contamination, simulations were carried out for ReMa⁄We=0,0.12,0.6,1.2,6,30 and Sc = 2, 4, 8, 16, 32. First, it will be shown that the scaling of KL with Sc remains valid also for larger ReMa⁄We. This is an important result that indicates that - for various levels of contamination - the numerical results obtained at low Schmidt numbers are also valid for significantly higher and more realistic Sc. Subsequently, it will be shown that - with increasing levels of ReMa⁄We - the dependency of KL on β begins to break down as the increased damping of near surface fluctuations results in an increased damping of β. Especially for large levels of contamination, this damping is so severe that KL is found to be underestimated significantly.

Keywords: contamination, gas transfer, surfactants, turbulence

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Authors: K. C. Apil, Keshab Sharma, Bigul Pokharel

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Kathmandu Valley, capital city of Nepal houses numerous historical monuments as well as religious structures which are as old as from the 4th century A.D. The city alone is home to seven UNESCO’s world heritage sites including various public squares and religious sanctums which are often regarded as living heritages by various historians and archeological explorers. Recently on April 25, 2015, the capital city including other nearby locations was struck with Gorkha earthquake of moment magnitude (Mw) 7.8, followed by the strongest aftershock of moment magnitude (Mw) 7.3 on May 12. This study reports structural failures and collapse of heritage structures in Kathmandu Valley during the earthquake and presents preliminary findings as to the causes of failures and collapses. Field reconnaissance was carried immediately after the main shock and the aftershock, in major heritage sites: UNESCO world heritage sites, a number of temples and historic buildings in Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square, and Bhaktapur Durbar Square. Despite such catastrophe, a significant number of heritage structures stood high, performing very well during the earthquake. Preliminary reports from archeological department suggest that 721 of such structures were severely affected, whereas numbers within the valley only were 444 including 76 structures which were completely collapsed. This study presents recorded accelerograms and geology of Kathmandu Valley. Structural typology and architecture of the heritage structures in Kathmandu Valley are briefly described. Case histories of damaged heritage structures, the patterns, and the failure mechanisms are also discussed in this paper. It was observed that performance of heritage structures was influenced by the multiple factors such as structural and architecture typology, configuration, and structural deficiency, local ground site effects and ground motion characteristics, age and maintenance level, material quality etc. Most of such heritage structures are of masonry type using bricks and earth-mortar as a bonding agent. The walls' resistance is mainly compressive, thus capable of withstanding vertical static gravitational load but not horizontal dynamic seismic load. There was no definitive pattern of damage to heritage structures as most of them behaved as a composite structure. Some structures were extensively damaged in some locations, while structures with similar configuration at nearby location had little or no damage. Out of major heritage structures, Dome, Pagoda (2, 3 or 5 tiered temples) and Shikhara structures were studied with similar variables. Studying varying degrees of damages in such structures, it was found that Shikhara structures were most vulnerable one where Dome structures were found to be the most stable one, followed by Pagoda structures. The seismic performance of the masonry-timber and stone masonry structures were slightly better than that of the masonry structures. Regular maintenance and periodic seismic retrofitting seems to have played pivotal role in strengthening seismic performance of the structure. The study also recommends some key functions to strengthen the seismic performance of such structures through study based on structural analysis, building material behavior and retrofitting details. The result also recognises the importance of documentation of traditional knowledge and its revised transformation in modern technology.

Keywords: Gorkha earthquake, field observation, heritage structure, seismic performance, masonry building

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Authors: Stephen Wagman

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This paper identifies three common structures in English sentences that are important for understanding academic texts, regardless of the characteristics or background of the readers or whether they are reading English as a second or a foreign language. Adapting a model from the Humanities, the explication of texts used in literary studies, the paper analyses sample sentences to reveal structures that enable the reader not only to decide which words are necessary for understanding the main ideas but to make the decision without knowing the meaning of the words. By their very syntax noun structures point to the key word for understanding them. As a rule, the key noun is followed by easily identifiable prepositions, relative pronouns, or verbs and preceded by single adjectives. With few exceptions, the modifiers are unnecessary for understanding the idea of the sentence. In addition, sentences are often structured by lists in which the items frequently consist of parallel groups of words. The principle of a list is that all the items are similar in meaning and it is not necessary to understand all of the items to understand the point of the list. This principle is especially important when the items are long or there is more than one list in the same sentence. The similarity in meaning of these items enables readers to reduce sentences that are hard to grasp to an understandable core without excessive use of a dictionary. Finally, the idea of subordination and the identification of the subordinate parts of sentences through connecting words makes it possible for readers to focus on main ideas without having to sift through the less important and more numerous secondary structures. Sometimes a main idea requires a subordinate one to complete its meaning, but usually, subordinate ideas are unnecessary for understanding the main point of the sentence and its part in the development of the argument from sentence to sentence. Moreover, the connecting words themselves indicate the functions of the subordinate structures. These most frequently show similarity and difference or reasons and results. Recognition of all of these structures can not only enable students to read more efficiently but to focus their attention on the development of the argument and this rather than a multitude of unknown vocabulary items, the repetition in lists, or the subordination in sentences are the one necessary element for comprehension of academic articles.

Keywords: development of the argument, lists, noun structures, subordination

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Authors: C. O. Igberi, M. U. Amadi

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This research paper on the impact of import restriction on rice production in Nigeria is aimed at finding/proffering valid solutions to the age long problem of rice self-sufficiency, through a better understanding of policy measures used in the past, in this case, the effectiveness of rice import restriction of the early 90’s. It tries to answer the questions of; import restriction boosting domestic rice production and the macroeconomic determining factors of Gross Domestic Rice Product (GDRP). The research probe is investigated through literature and analytical frameworks, such that time series data on the GDRP, Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF), average foreign rice producers’ prices(PPF), domestic producers’ prices (PPN) and the labour force (LABF) are collated for analysis (with an import restriction dummy variable, POL1). The research objectives/hypothesis are analysed using; Cointegration, Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), Impulse Response Function (IRF) and Granger Causality Test(GCT) methodologies. Results show that in the short-run error correction specification for GDRP, a percentage (1%) deviation away from the long-run equilibrium in a current quarter is only corrected by 0.14% in the subsequent quarter. Also, the rice import restriction policy had no significant effect on the GDRP at this time. Other findings show that the policy period has, in fact, had effects on the PPN and LABF. The choice variables used are valid macroeconomic factors that explain the GDRP of Nigeria, as adduced from the IRF and GCT, and in the long-run. Policy recommendations suggest that the import restriction is not disqualified as a veritable tool for improving domestic rice production, rather better enforcement procedures and strict adherence to the policy dictates is needed. Furthermore, accompanying policies which drive public and private capital investment and accumulation must be introduced. Also, employment rate and labour substitution in the agricultural sector should not be drastically changed, rather its welfare and efficiency be improved.

Keywords: import restriction, gross domestic rice production, cointegration, VECM, Granger causality, impulse response function

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Authors: Pauliasi Tony Fakahau

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This paper provides an overview of the impact of the revenue reform programme on vulnerable communities in the Kingdom of Tonga. Economic turmoil and mismanagement during the late 1990s forced the government to seek technical and financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank to undertake a comprehensive Economic and Public Sector Reform (EPSR) programme. The EPSR is a Western model recommended by donor agencies as the solution to Tonga’s economic challenges. The EPSR programme included public sector reform, private sector growth, and revenue generation. Tax reform was the main tool for revenue generation, which set out to strengthen tax compliance and administration as well as implement a value-added consumption tax. The EPSR is based on Western values and ideology but failed to recognise that Tongan cultural values are important to the local community. Two participant groups were interviewed. Participant group one consisted of 51 people representing vulnerable communities. Participant group two consisted of six people from the government and business sector who were from the elite of Tongan society. The Kakala Research Methodology provided the framework for the research, and the Talanoa Research Method was used to conduct semi-structured interviews in the homes of the first group and in the workplaces of the second group. The research found a heavy burden of the consumption tax on the purchasing power of participant group one (vulnerable participants), having an impact on nearly every financial transaction they made. Participant group ones’ main financial priorities were kavenga fakalotu (obligations to the church), kavenga fakafāmili (obligations to the family) and kavenga fakafonua (obligations to cultural events for the village, nobility, and royalty). The findings identified inequalities of the revenue reform, especially from consumption tax, for vulnerable people and communities compared to the elite of society. The research concluded that government and donor agencies need ameliorating policies to reduce the burden of tax on vulnerable groups more susceptible to the impact of revenue reform.

Keywords: tax reform, tonga vulnerable community revenue, revenue reform, public sector reform

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Authors: Roshanim Koris, Norashidah Mohamed Nor, Sharifah Azizah Haron, Normaz Wana Ismail, Syed Mohamed Aljunid Syed Junid, Amrizal Muhammad Nur, Asrul Akmal Shafie, Suraya Yusuff, Namaitijiang Maimaiti

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An ageing population has huge implications for virtually every aspect of Malaysian societies. The elderly consume a greater volume of healthcare facilities not because they are older, but because of they are sick. The chronic comorbidities and deterioration of cognitive ability would lead the elderly’s health to become worst. This study aims to provide a comprehensive estimate of the direct and indirect costs of health care used in a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling elderly with dementia and as well as the determinants of healthcare cost. A survey using multi-stage random sampling techniques recruited a final sample of 2274 elderly people (60 years and above) in the state of Johor, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was used to measure the cognitive capability among the elderly. Only the elderly with a score less than 19 marks were selected for further analysis and were classified as dementia. By using a two-part model findings also indicate household income and education level are variables that strongly significantly influence the healthcare cost among elderly with dementia. A number of visits and admission are also significantly affect healthcare expenditure. The comorbidity that highly influences healthcare cost is cancer and seeking the treatment in private facilities is also significantly affected the healthcare cost among the demented elderly. The level of dementia severity is not significant in determining the cost. This study is expected to attract the government's attention and act as a wake-up call for them to be more concerned about the elderly who are at high risk of having chronic comorbidities and cognitive problems by providing more appropriate health and social care facilities. The comorbidities are one of the factor that could cause dementia among elderly. It is hoped that this study will promote the issues of dementia as a priority in public health and social care in Malaysia.

Keywords: ageing population, dementia, elderly, healthcare cost, healthcare utiliztion

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Authors: Abdul Mutalib Md Jani, Abdul Hadi Mahmud, Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Ali

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The rapid growth of interest in surface modification of nanostructures materials that exhibit improved structural and functional properties is attracting more researchers. The unique properties of highly ordered nanoporous anodic aluminium oxide (NAAO) membrane have been proposed as a platform for biosensing applications. They exhibit excellent physical and chemical properties with high porosity, high surface area, tunable pore sizes and excellent chemical resistance. In this study, NAAO was functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) to prepared silane-modified NAAO. Amine functional groups are formed on the surface of NAAO during silanization and were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The synthesis of multi segment of peptide on NAAO surfaces can be realized by changing the surface chemistry of the NAAO membrane via click chemistry. By click reactions, utilizing alkyne terminated with amino group, various peptides tagged on NAAO can be envisioned from chiral natural or unnatural amino acids using standard coupling methods (HOBt, EDCI and HBTU). This strategy seemly versatile since coupling strategy of dipeptide with another amino acids, leading to tripeptide, tetrapeptide or pentapeptide, can be synthesized without purification. When an appropriate terminus is selected, multiple segments of amino acids can be successfully synthesized on the surfaces. The immobilized NAAO should be easily separated from the reaction medium by conventional filtration, thus avoiding complicated purification methods. Herein, we proposed to synthesize multi fragment peptide as a model for capturing and attaching various small biomolecules on NAAO surfaces and can be also applied as biosensing device, drug delivery systems and biocatalyst.

Keywords: nanoporous anodic aluminium oxide, silanization, peptide synthesise, click chemistry

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Authors: Dipankar Saha, J. P. Singh, C. B. Pandey

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Indian Thar desert being the seventh largest in the world is the main hot sand desert occupies nearly 385,000km2 and about 9% of the area of the country harbours several species likely the flora of 682 species (63 introduced species) belonging to 352 genera and 87 families. The degree of endemism of plant species in the Thar desert is 6.4 percent, which is relatively higher than the degree of endemism in the Sahara desert which is very significant for the conservationist to envisage. The advent and development of computer technology for digitization and data base management coupled with the rapidly increasing importance of biodiversity conservation resulted in the invention of biodiversity informatics as discipline of basic sciences with multiple applications. Aichi Target 19 as an outcome of Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) specifically mandates the development of an advanced and shared biodiversity knowledge base. Information on species distributions in space is the crux of effective management of biodiversity in the rapidly changing world. The efficiency of biodiversity management is being increased rapidly by various stakeholders like researchers, policymakers, and funding agencies with the knowledge and application of biodiversity informatics. Herbarium specimens being a vital repository for biodiversity conservation especially in climate change scenario the digitization process usually aims to improve access and to preserve delicate specimens and in doing so creating large sets of images as a part of the existing repository as arid plant information facility for long-term future usage. As the leaf characters are important for describing taxa and distinguishing between them and they can be measured from herbarium specimens as well. As a part of this activity, laminar characterization (leaves being the most important characters in assessing climate change impact) initially resulted in classification of more than thousands collections belonging to ten families like Acanthaceae, Aizoaceae, Amaranthaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Anacardeaceae, Apocynaceae, Asteraceae, Aristolochiaceae, Berseraceae and Bignoniaceae etc. Taxonomic diversity indices has also been worked out being one of the important domain of biodiversity informatics approaches. The digitization process also encompasses workflows which incorporate automated systems to enable us to expand and speed up the digitisation process. The digitisation workflows used to be on a modular system which has the potential to be scaled up. As they are being developed with a geo-referencing tool and additional quality control elements and finally placing specimen images and data into a fully searchable, web-accessible database. Our effort in this paper is to elucidate the role of BIs, present effort of database development of the existing botanical collection of institute repository. This effort is expected to be considered as a part of various global initiatives having an effective biodiversity information facility. This will enable access to plant biodiversity data that are fit-for-use by scientists and decision makers working on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the region and iso-climatic situation of the world.

Keywords: biodiversity informatics, climate change, digitization, herbarium, laminar characters, web accessible interface

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Authors: Prajna Paramita Mohapatra, Pamu Dobbidi

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Lithium ferrite (LiFe5O8) has potential applications as a component of microwave magnetic devices such as circulators and monolithic integrated circuits. For efficient device applications, spinel ferrites in the form of thin films are highly required. It is necessary to improve their magnetic and dielectric behavior by optimizing the processing parameters during deposition. The lithium ferrite thin films are deposited on Pt/Si substrate using the pulsed laser deposition technique (PLD). As controlling the film thickness is the easiest parameter to tailor the strain, we deposited the thin films having different film thicknesses (160 nm, 200 nm, 240 nm) at oxygen partial pressure of 0.001 mbar. The formation of single phase with spinel structure (space group - P4132) is confirmed by the XRD pattern and the Rietveld analysis. The optical bandgap is decreased with the increase in thickness. FESEM confirmed the formation of uniform grains having well separated grain boundaries. Further, the film growth and the roughness are analyzed by AFM. The root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness is decreased from 13.52 nm (160 nm) to 9.34 nm (240 nm). The room temperature magnetization is measured with a maximum field of 10 kOe. The saturation magnetization is enhanced monotonically with an increase in thickness. The magnetic resonance linewidth is obtained in the range of 450 – 780 Oe. The dielectric response is measured in the frequency range of 104 – 106 Hz and in the temperature range of 303 – 473 K. With an increase in frequency, the dielectric constant and the loss tangent of all the samples decreased continuously, which is a typical behavior of conventional dielectric material. The real part of the dielectric constant and the dielectric loss is increased with an increase in thickness. The contribution of grain and grain boundaries is also analyzed by employing the equivalent circuit model. The highest dielectric constant is obtained for the film having a thickness of 240 nm at 104 Hz. The obtained results demonstrate that desired response can be obtained by tailoring the film thickness for the microwave magnetic devices.

Keywords: PLD, optical response, thin films, magnetic response, dielectric response

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Authors: N. W. I. A. Jayawardana, W. A. T. A. Jayalath, W. M. T. Madhujith, U. Ralapanawa, R. S. Jayasekera, S. A. S. B. Alagiyawanna, A. M. K. R. Bandara, N. S. Kalupahana

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There is mounting evidence to the effect that dietary and lifestyle changes affect the incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This study was conducted to investigate the association of diet, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and duration of sleep with overweight, obesity, hypertension and diabetes in a cohort of males from the Central Province of Sri Lanka. A total of 2694 individuals aged between 17 – 68 years (Mean = 31) were included in the study. Body Mass Index cutoff values for Asians were used to categorize the participants as normal, overweight and obese. The dietary data were collected using a food frequency questionnaire [FFQ] and data on the level of physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and sleeping hours were obtained using a self-administered validated questionnaire. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, random blood glucose levels were measured to determine the incidence of hypertension and diabetes. Among the individuals, the prevalence of overweight and obesity were 34% and 16.4% respectively. Approximately 37% of the participants suffered from hypertension. Overweight and obesity were associated with older age men (P<0.0001), frequency of smoking (P=0.0434), alcohol consumption level (P=0.0287) and the quantity of lipid intake (P=0.0081). Consumption of fish (P=0.6983) and salty snacks (P=0.8327), sleeping hours (P=0.6847) and the level of physical activity were not significantly (P=0.3301) associated with the incidence of overweight and obesity. Based on the fitted model, only age was significantly associated with hypertension (P < 0.001). Further, age (P < 0.0001), sleeping hours (P=0.0953) and consumption of fatty foods (P=0.0930) were significantly associated with diabetes. Age was associated with higher odds of pre diabetes (OR:1.089;95% CI:1.053,1.127) and diabetes (OR:1.077;95% CI:1.055,1.1) whereas 7-8 hrs. of sleep per day was associated with lesser odds of diabetes (OR:0.403;95% CI:0.184,0.884). High prevalence of overweight, obesity and hypertension in working-age males is a threatening sign for this area. As this population ages in the future and urbanization continues, the prevalence of above risk factors will likely to escalate.

Keywords: age, males, non-communicable diseases, obesity

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Authors: Javier Muro, Anja Linstadter, Florian Manner, Lisa Schwarz, Stephan Wollauer, Paul Magdon, Gohar Ghazaryan, Olena Dubovyk

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Monitoring the trade-off between biomass production and biodiversity in grasslands is critical to evaluate the effects of management practices across environmental gradients. New generations of remote sensing sensors and machine learning approaches can model grasslands’ characteristics with varying accuracies. However, studies often fail to cover a sufficiently broad range of environmental conditions, and evidence suggests that prediction models might be case specific. In this study, biomass production and biodiversity indices (species richness and Fishers’ α) are modeled in 150 grassland plots for three sites across Germany. These sites represent a North-South gradient and are characterized by distinct soil types, topographic properties, climatic conditions, and management intensities. Predictors used are derived from Sentinel-1 & 2 and a set of topoedaphic variables. The transferability of the models is tested by training and validating at different sites. The performance of feed-forward deep neural networks (DNN) is compared to a random forest algorithm. While biomass predictions across gradients and sites were acceptable (r2 0.5), predictions of biodiversity indices were poor (r2 0.14). DNN showed higher generalization capacity than random forest when predicting biomass across gradients and sites (relative root mean squared error of 0.5 for DNN vs. 0.85 for random forest). DNN also achieved high performance when using the Sentinel-2 surface reflectance data rather than different combinations of spectral indices, Sentinel-1 data, or topoedaphic variables, simplifying dimensionality. This study demonstrates the necessity of training biomass and biodiversity models using a broad range of environmental conditions and ensuring spatial independence to have realistic and transferable models where plot level information can be upscaled to landscape scale.

Keywords: ecosystem services, grassland management, machine learning, remote sensing

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Authors: Aidan Battison, Neliswa Mama

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Environmental pollution by ionic species has been identified as one of the biggest challenges to the sustainable development of communities. The widespread use of organic and inorganic chemical products and the release of toxic chemical species from industrial waste have resulted in a need for advanced monitoring technologies for environment protection, remediation and restoration. Some of the disadvantages of conventional sensing methods include expensive instrumentation, well-controlled experimental conditions, time-consuming procedures and sometimes complicated sample preparation. On the contrary, the development of fluorescent chemosensors for biological and environmental detection of metal ions has attracted a great deal of attention due to their simplicity, high selectivity, eidetic recognition, rapid response and real-life monitoring. Coumarin derivatives S1 and S2 (Scheme 1) containing 1,2,3-triazole moieties at position -3- have been designed and synthesized from azide and alkyne derivatives by CuAAC “click” reactions for the detection of metal ions. These compounds displayed a strong preference for Fe3+ ions with complexation resulting in fluorescent quenching through photo-induced electron transfer (PET) by the “sphere of action” static quenching model. The tested metal ions included Cd2+, Pb2+, Ag+, Na+, Ca2+, Cr3+, Fe3+, Al3+, Cd2+, Ba2+, Cu2+, Co2+, Hg2+, Zn2+ and Ni2+. The detection limits of S1 and S2 were determined to be 4.1 and 5.1 uM, respectively. Compound S1 displayed the greatest selectivity towards Fe3+ in the presence of competing for metal cations. S1 could also be used for the detection of Fe3+ in a mixture of CH3CN/H¬2¬O. Binding stoichiometry between S1 and Fe3+ was determined by using both Jobs-plot and Benesi-Hildebrand analysis. The binding was shown to occur in a 1:1 ratio between the sensor and a metal cation. Reversibility studies between S1 and Fe3+ were conducted by using EDTA. The binding site of Fe3+ to S1 was determined by using 13 C NMR and Molecular Modelling studies. Complexation was suggested to occur between the lone-pair of electrons from the coumarin-carbonyl and the triazole-carbon double bond.

Keywords: chemosensor, "click" chemistry, coumarin, fluorescence, static quenching, triazole

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