Search results for: sport career transition

Authors: Kajori Banerjee, Laxmi Kant Dwivedi

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India is a part of the ongoing globalization, contemporary convergence, industrialization and technical advancement that is taking place world-wide. Some of the manifestations of this evolution is rapid demographic, socio-economic, epidemiological and health transition. There has been a considerable increase in non-communicable diseases due to change in lifestyle. This study aims to assess the direction of burden of disease and compare the pressure of infectious diseases against cardio-vascular, endocrine, metabolic and nutritional diseases. The change in prevalence in a ten-year period (2004-2014) is further decomposed to determine the net contribution of various socio-economic and demographic covariates. The present study uses the recent 71st (2014) and 60th (2004) rounds of National Sample Survey. The pressure of infectious diseases against cardio-vascular (CVD), endocrine, metabolic and nutritional (EMN) diseases during 2004-2014 is calculated by Prevalence Rates (PR), Hospitalization Rates (HR) and Case Fatality Rates (CFR). The prevalence of non-communicable diseases are further used as a dependent variable in a logit regression to find the effect of various social, economic and demographic factors on the chances of suffering from the particular disease. Multivariate decomposition technique further assists in determining the net contribution of socio-economic and demographic covariates. This paper upholds evidences of stagnation of the burden of communicable diseases (CD) and rapid increase in the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD) uniformly for all population sub-groups in India. CFR for CVD has increased drastically in 2004-2014. Logit regression indicates the chances of suffering from CVD and EMN is significantly higher among the urban residents, older ages, females, widowed/ divorced and separated individuals. Decomposition displays ample proof that improvement in quality of life markers like education, urbanization, longevity of life has positively contributed in increasing the NCD prevalence rate. In India’s current epidemiological phase, compression theory of morbidity is in action as a significant rise in the probability of contracting the NCDs over the time period among older ages is observed. Age is found to play a vital contributor in increasing the probability of having CVD and EMN over the study decade 2004-2014 in the nationally representative sample of National Sample Survey.

Keywords: cardio-vascular disease, case-fatality rate, communicable diseases, hospitalization rate, multivariate decomposition, non-communicable diseases, prevalence rate

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Authors: Clementine Colpaert, Boris L. Nikitenko

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The Upper Jurassic foraminiferal assemblages of the East European Platform have been strongly investigated through the 20th century with biostratigraphical and in smaller degree palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographical purposes. Over the Late Jurassic, the platform was a shallow epicontinental sea that extended from Tethys to the Artic through the Pechora Sea and further toward the northeast in the West Siberian Sea. Foraminiferal assemblages of the Russian Sea were strongly affected by sea-level changes and were controlled by alternated Boreal to Peritethyan influences. The central part of the East European Platform displays very rich and diverse foraminiferal assemblages. Two sections have been analyzed; the Makar'yev Section in the Moscow Depression and the Gorodishi Section in the Yl'yanovsk Depression. Based on the evolution of foraminiferal assemblages, palaeoenvironment has been reconstructed, and sea-level changes have been refined. The aim of this study is to understand palaeoceanographical changes throughout the Oxfordian – Kimmeridgian of the central part of the Russian Sea. The Oxfordian was characterized by a general transgressive event with intermittency of small regressive phases. The platform was connected toward the south with Tethys and Peritethys. During the Middle Oxfordian, opening of a pathway of warmer water from the North-Tethys region to the Boreal Realm favoured the migration of planktonic foraminifera and the appearance of new benthic taxa. It is associated with increased temperature and primary production. During the Late Oxfordian, colder water inputs associated with the microbenthic community crisis may be a response to the closure of this warm-water corridor and the disappearance of planktonic foraminifera. The microbenthic community crisis is probably due to the increased sedimentation rate in the transition from the maximum flooding surface to a second-order regressive event, increasing productivity and inputs of organic matter along with sharp decrease of oxygen into the sediment. It is following during the Early Kimmeridgian by a replacement of foraminiferal assemblages. The almost all Kimmeridgian is characterized by the abundance of many common with Boreal and Subboreal Realm. Connections toward the South began again dominant after a small regressive event recorded during the Late Kimmeridgian and associated with the abundance of many common taxa with Subboreal Realm and Peritethys such as Crimea and Caucasus taxa. Foraminiferal assemblages of the East European Platform are strongly affected by palaeoecological changes and may display a very good model for biofacies typification under Boreal and Subboreal environments. The East European Platform appears to be a key area for the understanding of Upper Jurassic big scale palaeoceanographical changes, being connected with Boreal to Peritethyan basins.

Keywords: foraminifera, palaeoceanography, palaeoecology, upper jurassic

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Authors: Arun Perumbilavil Anand

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For the past few years, the state of Kerala has been witnessing a large inflow of migrant workers from other states of the country, which emerged as a result of demographic transition and Gulf emigration. The in-migration patterns in Kerala have changed over the time with the migrants having a higher residence history bringing their families to the state, thereby making the process more complicated and divergent in its approach. These developments have led to an increase in the young migrant population at least in some parts of the state, which has opened up doubts and questions related to their future in the host society. At this juncture, the study ponders into the factors that are associated with the assimilation and wellbeing of migrant children in the society of Kerala. As one of the objectives, the study also analyzed the influence and role played by the educational institutions (both public and private) in meeting the needs and aspirations of both the children and their parents. The study gains significance as it tries to identify various impediments that hinder the cognitive skill formation and behaviour patterns of the migrant children in the host society. Data and Methodology: The study is based on the primary data collected through a series of interviews and interactions held with parents, children, and teachers of different educational institutions, including both public and private. The primary survey also made use of research techniques like observation, in-depth interviews, and case study method. The study was conducted in schools in the Kanjikode area of the Palakkad district in Kerala. The findings of the study are on the basis of a survey conducted in four schools and 40 migrant children. Findings: The study found that majority of the children have wholly integrated and assimilated into the host society. The influence of the peer group was quite visible in giving stimulus to the assimilation process. Most of the children do not have any emotional or cultural sentiments attached to their state of origin, and they consider Kerala as their ‘home state’ and the local language (Malayalam) as their ‘mother tongue'. The study could also find that the existing education system in the host society fails to meet the needs and aspirations of migrants as well as that of their children. On a comparative scale, to some extent, private schools have succeeded in fulfiling the special requirements of the migrant children. An interesting point that the study could pinpoint at is that the children of the migrants show better health conditions and wellbeing than compared to the natives, which is usually addressed as an epidemiologic paradox. As a concluding remark, the study recommends the inclusion concept of inclusive education into the education system of the state with giving due emphasis on those who are at higher risk of being excluded or marginalized, along with fostering increased interaction between diverse groups.

Keywords: assimilation, Kerala, migrant children, well-being

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Authors: Xue Bai, Ranran He, Chang Liu

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Care planning before the onset of intensive care needs can benefit older adults’ psychological well-being and increases families’ ability to manage caregiving crises and cope with care transitions. Effective care planning requires collaborative ‘team-work’ in families. However, future care planning has not been substantially examined in intergenerational or family contexts, let alone among immigrant families who have to face particular challenges in parental caregiving. From a family systems perspective, this study intends to explore the extent, processes, and contents of intergenerational care planning of Mainland immigrant ageing families in Hong Kong and to examine the intergenerational congruence and discrepancies in the care planning process. Adopting a qualitative research design, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 adult child-older parent pairs and another 33 adult children. In total, 50 adult children who migrated to Hong Kong after the age of 18 with more than three years’ work experience in Hong Kong had at least one parent aged over 55 years old who was not a Hong Kong resident and considered his/herself as the primary caregiver of the parent were recruited. Seventeen ageing parents of the recruited adult children were invited for dyadic interviews. Scarcity of caregiving resources in the context of cross-border migration, intergenerational discrepancies in care planning stages, both generations’ struggle and ambivalence toward filial care, intergenerational transmission of care values, and facilitating role of accumulated family capital in care preparation were primary themes concluded from participants’ narratives. Compared with ageing parents, immigrant adult children generally displayed lower levels of care planning. Although with a strong awareness of parents’ future care needs, few adult children were found engaged in concrete planning activities. This is largely due to their uncertainties toward future life and career, huge work and living pressure, the relatively good health status of their parents, and restrictions of public welfare policies in the receiving society. By contrast, children’s cross-border migration encouraged ageing parents to have early and clear preparation for future care. Ageing parents mostly expressed low filial care expectations when realizing the scarcity of family caregiving resources in the cross-border context. Even though they prefer in-person support from children, most of them prepare themselves for independent ageing to prioritize the next generation’s needs or choose to utilize paid services, welfare systems, friend networks, or extended family networks in their sending society. Adult children were frequently found caught in the dilemma of desiring to provide high quality and in-person support for their parents but lacking sufficient resources. Notably, a salient pattern of intergenerational transmission in terms of family and care values and ideal care arrangement emerged from intergenerational care preparation. Moreover, the positive role of accumulated family capital generated by a reunion in care preparation and joint decision-making were also identified. The findings of the current study will enhance professionals’ and service providers’ awareness of intergenerational care planning in cross-border migration contexts, inform services to alleviate unpreparedness for elderly care and intergenerational discrepancies concerning care arrangements and broaden family services to encompass intergenerational care planning interventions. Acknowledgment: This study is supported by a General Research Grant from the Research Grants Council of the HKSAR, China (Project Number: 15603818).

Keywords: intergenerational care planning, mainland immigrants in Hong Kong, migrant family, older adults

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Authors: Şule Yanık, Hasan Gürgür

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It is thought that it is important for disabled children to have the opportunity to benefit preschool education that smoothens transition process to formal education, and for the constitution of a precondition for their success. Within this context, it is important for the disabled in Turkey to be evaluated medically firstly and then educational-wise in order for them to benefit early inclusive education. Thus, disabled people are both diagnosed in hospitals and at Guidance and Research Centers (GRC) attached to Ministry of Education educational-wise. It is seen that standard evaluation tools are used and evaluations are done by special education teachers (SET) in order for educational diagnosis and evaluation (EDAE) to be realized. The literature emphasizes the importance of informal evaluation tools as well as formal ones. According to this, it is thought that another party, besides students in EDAE process and SETs, is family, because families are primary care takers for their children, and that the most correct and real information can be obtained via families beside results of educational evaluation processes (EEP). It is thought that obtaining opinions of families during EEP is important to be able to exhibit the present EDAE activities in Turkey, materialize any existing problems, and increase quality of the process. Within this context, the purpose of this study is to exhibit experiences regarding EDAE processes of 10 families having preschool children with hearing loss (CHL). The process of research is designed to be descriptive based on qualitative research paradigms. Data were collected via semi-structured interview questions, and the themes were obtained. As a result, it is seen that families, after they realize the hearing loss of their children, do not have any information regarding the subject, and that they consult to an ear-nose-throat doctor or an audiologist for support. It is seen that families go to hospitals for medical evaluation which is a pre-requisite for benefiting early education opportunities. However, during this process, as some families do not have any experience of having a CHL, it is seen that they are late for medical evaluation and hearing aids. Moreover, families stated that they were directed to GRC via audiologists for educational evaluation. Families stated that their children were evaluated regarding language, academic and psychological development in proportion with their ages in GRC after they were diagnosed medically. However, families stated that EEP realized in GRC was superficial, short and lacked detail. It is seen that many families were not included in EEP process, whereas some families stated that they were asked questions because their children are too small to answer. Regarding the benefits of EEP for themselves and their children, families stated that GRC had to give a report to them for benefiting the free support of Special Education and Rehabilitation Center, and that families had to be directed to inclusive education. As a result, it is seen that opinions of families regarding EDAE processes at GRC indicate inefficiency of the process as it is short and superficial, regardless being to the point.

Keywords: children with hearing loss, educational diagnosis and evaluation, guidance and research center, inclusion

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Authors: Folajinmi Oluwasina, Towolawi Adetayo, Kate Ssamula, Penninah Iutung, Daniel Reijer

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Objective: Routine HIV screening has been promoted as an essential component of efforts to reduce incidence, morbidity, and mortality. The objectives of this study were to identify the optimal annual volume needed to realize the public health goals of HIV screening in the AIDS Healthcare Foundation supported hospitals and establish an implementation process to realize that optimal annual volume. Methods: Starting in 2011 a program was established to routinize HIV screening within communities and government hospitals. In 2016 Five-years of HIV screening data were reviewed to identify the optimal annual proportions of age-eligible patients screened to realize the public health goals of reducing new diagnoses and ending late-stage diagnosis (tracked as concurrent HIV/AIDS diagnosis). Analysis demonstrated that rates of new diagnoses level off when 42% of age-eligible patients were screened, providing a baseline for routine screening efforts; and concurrent HIV/AIDS diagnoses reached statistical zero at screening rates of 70%. Annual facility based targets were re-structured to meet these new target volumes. Restructuring efforts focused on right-sizing HIV screening programs to align and transition programs to integrated HIV screening within standard medical care and treatment. Results: Over one million patients were screened for HIV during the five years; 16, 033 new HIV diagnoses and access to care and treatment made successfully for 82 % (13,206), and concurrent diagnosis rates went from 32.26% to 25.27%. While screening rates increased by 104.7% over the 5-years, volume analysis demonstrated that rates need to further increase by 62.52% to reach desired 20% baseline and more than double to reach optimal annual screening volume. In 2011 facility targets for HIV screening were increased to reflect volume analysis, and in that third year, 12 of the 19 facilities reached or exceeded new baseline targets. Conclusions and Recommendation: Quantifying targets against routine HIV screening goals identified optimal annual screening volume and allowed facilities to scale their program size and allocate resources accordingly. The program transitioned from utilizing non-evidence based annual volume increases to establishing annual targets based on optimal volume analysis. This has allowed efforts to be evaluated on the ability to realize quantified goals related to the public health value of HIV screening. Optimal volume analysis helps to determine the size of an HIV screening program. It is a public health tool, not a tool to determine if an individual patient should receive screening.

Keywords: HIV screening, optimal volume, HIV diagnosis, routine

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Authors: Natalia Oli, Abhinav Vaidya, Katja Pahkala, Gabriele Eiben, Alexandra Krettek

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The nutritional transition towards a high fat and energy dense diet, decreasing physical activity level, and poor cardiovascular health knowledge contributes to a rising burden of cardiovascular diseases in Nepal. Dietary and physical activity behaviors are formed early in life and influenced by family, particularly by mothers in the social context of Nepal. The purpose of this study was to explore knowledge, attitude and behavior of mothers regarding diet and physical activity of their pre-school children. Cross-sectional study was conducted in the semi-urban area of Duwakot and Jhaukhel communities near the capital Kathmandu. Between August and November 2014, nine trained enumerators interviewed all mothers having children aged 2 to 7 years in their homes. Questionnaire contained information about mothers’ socio-demographic characteristics; their knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding diet and physical activity as well as their children’s diet and physical activity. Knowledge, attitude and behavior responses were scored. SPSS version 22.0 was used for data analyses. Out of the 1,052 eligible mothers, 962 consented to participate in the study. The mean age was 28.9 ± 4.5 years. The majority of them (73%) were housewives. Mothers with higher education and income had higher knowledge, attitude, and behavior scores (All p < 0.001) whereas housewives and farmers had low knowledge score (p < 0.001). They, along with laborers, also exhibited lower attitude (p<0.001) and behavior scores (p < 0.001). Children’s diet score increased with mothers’ level of education (p <0.001) and income (p=0.041). Their physical activity score, however, declined with increasing level of their mothers’ education (p < 0.001) and income (p < 0.001). Children’s overall behavior score correlated poorly with mothers’ knowledge (r = 0.009, p=0.003), attitude (r =0.012, p=0.001), and behavior (r = 0.007, p= 0.008). Such poor correlation can be due to existence of the barriers among mothers. Mothers reported such barriers as expensive healthy food, difficulty to give up favorite food, taste preference of others family members and lack of knowledge on healthy food. Barriers for physical activity were lack of leisure time, lack of parks and playgrounds, being busy by caring for children and old people, feeling lazy and embarrassed in front of others. Additionally, among the facilitators for healthy lifestyle, mentioned by mothers, were better information, family eating healthy food and supporting physical activity, advice of medical personnel regarding healthy lifestyle and own ill health. The study demonstrated poor correlation of mothers’ knowledge and attitude with children’s behavior regarding diet and physical activity. Hence improving mothers’ knowledge or attitude may not be enough to improve dietary and physical activity habits of their children. Barriers and facilitators that affect mothers’ practices towards their children should also be addressed due to future intervention.

Keywords: attitude, behavior, diet, knowledge, mothers, physical activity

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Authors: Giorgi Gaprindashvili

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One of the best examples, in evolution of the public procurement, from post-soviet countries are reforms carried out in Georgia, which brought them close to international standards of procurement. In Georgia, public procurement legislation started functioning in 1998. The reform has passed several stages and came in the form as it is today. It should also be noted, that countries with economy in transition, including Georgia, implemented all the reforms in public procurement based on recommendations and support of World Bank, the United Nations and other international organizations. The first law on public procurement in Georgia was adopted on December 9, 1998 which aimed regulation of the procurement process of budget-organizations, transparent and competitive environment for private companies to access state funds legally. The priorities were identified quite clearly in the wording of the law, but operation/function of this law could not be reached on its level, because of some objective and subjective reasons. The high level of corruption in all levels of governance, can be considered as a main obstacle reason and of course, it is natural, that it had direct impact on the procurement process, as well as on transparency and rational use of state funds. This circumstances were the reasons that reforms in this sphere continued, to improve procurement process, in particular, the first wave of reforms began in 2001. Public procurement agency carried out reform with World Bank with main purpose of smartening the procurement legislation and its harmonization with international treaties and agreements. Also with the support of World Bank various activities were carried out to raise awareness of participants involved in procurement system. Further major changes in the legislation were filed in May 2005, which was also directed towards the improvement and smarten of the procurement process. The third wave of the reform began in 2010, which more or less guaranteed the transparency of the procurement process, which later became the basis for the rational spending of state funds. The reform of the procurement system completely changed the procedures. Carried out reform in Georgia resulted in introducing new electronic tendering system, which benefit the transparency of the process, after this became the basis for the further development of a competitive environment, which become a prerequisite for the state rational spending. Increased number of supplier organizations participating in the procurement process resulted in reduction of the estimated cost and the actual cost from 20% up to 40%, it is quite large saving for the procuring organizations and allows them to use the freed-up funds for their other needs. Assessment of the reforms in Georgia in the field of public procurement can be concluded, that proper regulation of the sector and relevant policy may proceed to rational and transparent spending of the budget from country’s state institutions. Also, the business sector has the opportunity to work in competitive market conditions and to make a preliminary analysis, which is a prerequisite for future strategy and development.

Keywords: public administration, public procurement, reforms, transparency

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Authors: Maryam Mostafaee, Hassan Sadeghi Naeini, Sara Mostowfi

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Today’s Knowledge management (KM), plays an important role in organizations. Basically, knowledge management is in the relation of using it for taking advantage of work forces in an organization for forwarding the goals and demand of that organization used at the most. The purpose of knowledge management is not only to manage existing documentation, information, and Data through an organization, but the most important part of KM is to control most important and key factor of those information and Data. For sure it is to chase the information needed for the employees in the right time of needed to take from genuine source for bringing out the best performance and result then in this matter the performance of organization will be at most of it. There are a lot of definitions over the objective of management released. Management is the science that in force the accurate knowledge with repeating to the organization to shape it and take full advantages for reaching goals and targets in the organization to be used by employees and users, but the definition of Knowledge based on Kalinz dictionary is: Facts, emotions or experiences known by man or group of people is ‘ knowledge ‘: Based on the Merriam Webster Dictionary: the act or skill of controlling and making decision about a business, department, sport team, etc, based on the Oxford Dictionary: Efficient handling of information and resources within a commercial organization, and based on the Oxford Dictionary: The art or process of designing manufactured products: the scale is a beautiful work of industrial design. When knowledge management performed executive in universities, discovery and create a new knowledge be facilitated. Make procedures between different units for knowledge exchange. College's officials and employees understand the importance of knowledge for University's success and will make more efforts to prevent the errors. In this strategy, is explored factors and affective trends and manage of it in University. In this research, Iranian universities for a time being analyzed that over usage of knowledge management, how they are behaving and having understood this matter: 1. Discovery of knowledge management in Iranian Universities, 2. Transferring exciting knowledge between faculties and unites, 3. Participate of employees for getting and using and transferring knowledge, 4.The accessibility of valid sources, 5. Researching over factors and correct processes in the university. We are pointing in some examples that we have already analyzed which is: -Enabling better and faster decision-making, -Making it easy to find relevant information and resources, -Reusing ideas, documents, and expertise, -Avoiding redundant effort. Consequence: It is found that effectiveness of knowledge management in the Industrial design field is low. Based on filled checklist by Education officials and professors in universities, and coefficient of effectiveness Calculate, knowledge management could not get the right place.

Keywords: knowledge management, industrial design, educational curriculum, learning performance

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Authors: J. Van Engeland, C. Lavigne, S. De Jaeger

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In the light of the transition towards a more circular economy, recovery of products, parts or materials will gain in importance. Additionally, the EU proximity principle related to waste management and emissions generated by transporting large amounts of end-of-life products, shift attention to local recovery networks. The Flemish inter-communal cooperation for municipal solid waste management Meetjesland (IVM) is currently investigating the set-up of such a network. More specifically, the network encompasses the recycling of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is collected in separate containers. When these containers are full, a truck should transport them to the processor which can recycle the PVC into new products. This paper proposes a model to optimize the container collection. The containers are located at different Civic Amenity sites (CA sites) in a certain region. Since people can drop off their waste at these CA sites, the containers will gradually fill up during a planning horizon. If a certain container is full, it has to be collected and replaced by an empty container. The collected waste is then transported to a single processor. To perform this collection and transportation of containers, the responsible firm has a set of vehicles stationed at a single depot and different personnel crews. A vehicle can load exactly one container. If a trailer is attached to the vehicle, it can load an additional container. Each day of the planning horizon, the different crews and vehicles leave the depot to collect containers at the different sites. After loading one or two containers, the crew has to drive to the processor for unloading the waste and to pick up empty containers. Afterwards, the crew can again visit sites or it can return to the depot to end its collection work for that day. All along the collection process, the crew has to respect the opening hours of the sites. In order to allow for some flexibility, a crew is allowed to wait a certain amount of time at the gate of a site until it opens. The problem described can be modelled as a variant to the PVRP-TW (Periodic Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows). However, a vehicle can at maximum load two containers, hence only two subsequent site visits are possible. For that reason, we will refer to the model as a model for building tactical waste collection schemes. The goal is to a find a schedule describing which crew should visit which CA site on which day to minimize the number of trucks and the routing costs. The model was coded in IBM CPLEX Optimization studio and applied to a number of test instances. Good results were obtained, and specific suggestions concerning route and truck costs could be made. For a large range of input parameters, collection schemes using two trucks are obtained.

Keywords: container collection, crew scheduling, mixed integer linear programming, waste management

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Authors: Fred Alinda, Marjorie Negesa, Gerald Karyeija

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Like elsewhere in the world, youth unemployment remains a big problem more so to the most educated youth and female. In Rwanda, unemployment is estimated at 13.2% among youth graduates compared to 10.9% and 2.6 among secondary and primary graduates respectively. Though empirical evidence elsewhere associate youth unemployment with education level, relevance of skills and access to business support opportunities, mixed evidence still exist on the significance of these factors to youth employment. As youth employment strategies in countries like Rwanda continue to recognize the potential role university education can play to enhance employment, there is a need to understand the catalysts or barriers. This paper, therefore, draws empirical evidence from a survey on the influence of education qualification, skills relevance and access to business support opportunities on employment of the youth university graduates in Masaka sector, Rwanda. The analysis tested four hypotheses; access to university education significantly affects youth employment, Relevance of university education significantly contributes to youth employment; access to business support opportunities significantly contributes to youth employment, and significant gender differences exist in the employment of youth university graduates. A cross-section survey was used in lieu of the need to explore the prevailing status of youth employment and contributing factors across the sector. A questionnaire was used to collect data on a large sample of 269 youth to allow statistical analysis. This was beefed up with qualitative views of leaders and technical officials in the sector. The youth University graduates were selected using simple random sampling while the leaders and technical officials were selected purposively. Percentages were used to describe respondents in line with the variables under while a regression model for youth employment was fitted to determine the significant factors. The model results indicated a significant influence (p<0.05) of gender, education level and access to business support opportunities on employment of youth university graduates. This finding was also affirmed by the qualitative views of key informants. Qualitative views pointed to the fact that university education generally equipped the youth with skills that enabled their transition into employment mainly for a salary or wage. The skills were, however, deficient in technical and practical aspects. In addition, the youth generally lacked limited access to business support opportunities particularly guarantees for loans, business advisory, and grants for business as well as training in business skills that would help them gain salaried employment or transit into self-employment. The study findings bear an implication on the strategy for catalyzing youth employment through university education. The findings imply that university education should be embraced but with greater emphasis on or supplementation with specialized training in practical and technical skills as well as extending business support opportunities to the youth. This will accelerate the contribution of university education to youth employment.

Keywords: education, employment, self-employment, youth

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Authors: Tauqir A. Moughal, Fusheng Yu, Abeer Mazher

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Land-cover and land-use change information are important because of their practical uses in various applications, including deforestation, damage assessment, disasters monitoring, urban expansion, planning, and land management. Therefore, developing change detection methods for remote sensing images is an important ongoing research agenda. However, detection of change through optical remote sensing images is not a trivial task due to many factors including the vagueness between the boundaries of changed and unchanged regions and spatial dependence of the pixels to its neighborhood. In this paper, we propose a binary change detection technique for bi-temporal optical remote sensing images. As in most of the optical remote sensing images, the transition between the two clusters (change and no change) is overlapping and the existing methods are incapable of providing the accurate cluster boundaries. In this regard, a methodology has been proposed which uses the fuzzy c-means clustering to tackle the problem of vagueness in the changed and unchanged class by formulating the soft boundaries between them. Furthermore, in order to exploit the neighborhood information of the pixels, the input patterns are generated corresponding to each pixel from bi-temporal images using 3×3, 5×5 and 7×7 window. The between images and within image spatial dependence of the pixels to its neighborhood is quantified by using Pearson product moment correlation and Moran’s I statistics, respectively. The proposed technique consists of two phases. At first, between images and within image spatial correlation is calculated to utilize the information that the pixels at different locations may not be independent. Second, fuzzy c-means technique is used to produce two clusters from input feature by not only taking care of vagueness between the changed and unchanged class but also by exploiting the spatial correlation of the pixels. To show the effectiveness of the proposed technique, experiments are conducted on multispectral and bi-temporal remote sensing images. A subset (2100×1212 pixels) of a pan-sharpened, bi-temporal Landsat 5 thematic mapper optical image of Los Angeles, California, is used in this study which shows a long period of the forest fire continued from July until October 2009. Early forest fire and later forest fire optical remote sensing images were acquired on July 5, 2009 and October 25, 2009, respectively. The proposed technique is used to detect the fire (which causes change on earth’s surface) and compared with the existing K-means clustering technique. Experimental results showed that proposed technique performs better than the already existing technique. The proposed technique can be easily extendable for optical hyperspectral images and is suitable for many practical applications.

Keywords: burned area, change detection, correlation, fuzzy clustering, optical remote sensing

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Authors: Misagh Ghobadi, Rich Crane, Karen Hudson-Edwards, Clemens Vinzenz Ullmann

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Lithium is recognized as the critical energy metal of the 21st century, comparable in importance to coal in the 19th century and oil in the 20th century, often termed 'white gold'. Current global demand for lithium, estimated at 0.95-0.98 million metric tons (Mt) of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) annually in 2024, is projected to rise to 1.87 Mt by 2027 and 3.06 Mt by 2030. Despite anticipated short-term stability in supply and demand, meeting the forecasted 2030 demand will require the lithium industry to develop an additional capacity of 1.42 Mt of LCE annually, exceeding current planned and ongoing efforts. Brine resources constitute nearly 65% of global lithium reserves, underscoring the importance of exploring lithium recovery from underutilized sources, especially geothermal brines. However, conventional lithium extraction from brine deposits faces challenges due to its time-intensive process, low efficiency (30-50% lithium recovery), unsuitability for low lithium concentrations (<300 mg/l), and notable environmental impacts. Addressing these challenges, direct lithium extraction (DLE) methods have emerged as promising technologies capable of economically extracting lithium even from low-concentration brines (>50 mg/l) with high recovery rates (75-98%). However, most studies (70%) have predominantly focused on synthetic brines instead of native (natural/real), with limited application of these approaches in real-world case studies or industrial settings. This study aims to bridge this gap by investigating a geothermal brine sample collected from a real case study site in the UK. A Mn-based lithium-ion sieve (LIS) adsorbent was synthesized and employed to selectively extract lithium from the sample brine. Adsorbents with a Li:Mn molar ratio of 1:1 demonstrated superior lithium selectivity and adsorption capacity. Furthermore, the pristine Mn-based adsorbent was modified through transition metals doping, resulting in enhanced lithium selectivity and adsorption capacity. The modified adsorbent exhibited a higher separation factor for lithium over major co-existing cations such as Ca, Mg, Na, and K, with separation factors exceeding 200. The adsorption behaviour was well-described by the Langmuir model, indicating monolayer adsorption, and the kinetics followed a pseudo-second-order mechanism, suggesting chemisorption at the solid surface. Thermodynamically, negative ΔG° values and positive ΔH° and ΔS° values were observed, indicating the spontaneity and endothermic nature of the adsorption process.

Keywords: adsorption, critical minerals, DLE, geothermal brines, geochemistry, lithium, lithium-ion sieves

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Authors: Hannah Kuhar

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This paper delves into the attitudes of professional and semi-professional rugby union athletes in regard to socio-emotional vulnerability, or the willingness to express the full spectrum of human emotion in a social context. Like all humans, athletes of all sports regularly experience feelings of shame, powerlessness, and loneliness, and often feel unable to express such feelings due to factors including lack of situational support, absence of adequate expressive language and lack of resource. To this author’s knowledge, however, no previous research has considered the particular demographic of professional rugby union athletes, despite the sport’s immense popularity and economic contribution to global communities. Hence, this paper aims to extend previous research by exploring the experiences of professional rugby union athletes and their unwillingness and inability to express socio-emotional vulnerability. By having a better understanding of vulnerability in rugby and sports, this paper is able to contribute to the growing field of mental health and wellbeing research, particularly towards the emerging themes of resilience and belonging. Based on qualitative fieldwork conducted over a period of seven months across France and Australia, via the mechanisms of semi-structured interview and observation, this work uses the field theory framework of Pierre Bourdieu to construct an analysis of multidisciplinary thought. Approaching issues of gender, sexuality, physicality, education, and family, this paper shows that socio-emotional vulnerability is experienced by all players regardless of their background, in a variety of ways. Common themes and responses are drawn to show the universality of rugby’s pitfalls, which have previously been limited to specific demographics in isolation of their broader contexts. With the author themselves a semi-professional athlete, the provision of unique ‘insider’ access facilitates a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of first-hand athlete experiences, often unexplored within the context of the academic arena. The primary contention of this paper is to argue that by celebrating socio-emotional vulnerability, there becomes an opportunity to improve on-field team outcomes. Ultimately, players play better when they feel supported by their teammates, and this logic extends to the outcome of the team when socio-emotional team initiatives are widely embraced. The creation of such a culture requires deliberate and purposeful efforts, where player ownership and buy-in are high. Further study in this field may assist teams to better understand the elements which contribute to strong team culture and to strong results on the pitch.

Keywords: rugby, vulnerability, athletes, France, Bourdieu

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Authors: Salvana P. M. Costa, Tarcyla A. Gomes, Giovanna C. R. M. Schver, Leslie R. M. Ferraz, Cristovão R. Silva, Magaly A. M. Lyra, Danilo A. F. Fonte, Larissa A. Rolim, Amanda C. Q. M. Vieira, Miracy M. Albuquerque, Pedro J. Rolim-neto

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Efavirenz (EFV) is considered one of the most widely used anti-HIV drugs. However, it is classified as a drug class II (poorly soluble, highly permeable) according to the biopharmaceutical classification system, presenting problems of absorption in the gastrointestinal tract and thereby inadequate bioavailability for its therapeutic action. This study aimed to overcome these barriers by developing and obtaining solid dispersions (SD) in order to increase the EFZ bioavailability. For the development of SD with EFV, theoretical and practical studies were initially performed. Thus, there was a choice of a carrier to be used. For this, it was analyzed the various criteria such as glass transition temperature of the polymer, intra- and intermolecular interactions of hydrogen bonds between drug and polymer, the miscibility between the polymer and EFV. The choice of the obtainment method of the SD came from the analysis of which method is the most consolidated in both industry and literature. Subsequently, the choice of drug and carrier concentrations in the dispersions was carried out. In order to obtain DS to present the drug in its amorphous form, as the DS were obtained, they were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). SD are more stable the higher the amount of polymer present in the formulation. With this assumption, a SD containing 10% of drug was initially prepared and then this proportion was increased until the XRD showed the presence of EFV in its crystalline form. From this point, it was not produced SD with a higher concentration of drug. Thus, it was allowed to select PVP-K30, PVPVA 64 and the SOLUPLUS formulation as carriers, once it was possible the formation of hydrogen bond between EFV and polymers since these have hydrogen acceptor groups capable of interacting with the donor group of the drug hydrogen. It is worth mentioning also that the films obtained, independent of concentration used, were presented homogeneous and transparent. Thus, it can be said that the EFV is miscible in the three polymers used in the study. The SD and Physical Mixtures (PM) with these polymers were prepared by the solvent method. The EFV diffraction profile showed main peaks at around 2θ of 6,24°, in addition to other minor peaks at 14,34°, 17,08°, 20,3°, 21,36° and 25,06°, evidencing its crystalline character. Furthermore, the polymers showed amorphous nature, as evidenced by the absence of peaks in their XRD patterns. The XRD patterns showed the PM overlapping profile of the drug with the polymer, indicating the presence of EFV in its crystalline form. Regardless the proportion of drug used in SD, all the samples showed the same characteristics with no diffraction peaks EFV, demonstrating the behavior amorphous products. Thus, the polymers enabled, effectively, the formation of amorphous SD, probably due to the potential hydrogen bonds between them and the drug. Moreover, the XRD analysis showed that the polymers were able to maintain its amorphous form in a concentration of up to 80% drug.

Keywords: amorphous form, Efavirenz, solid dispersions, solubility

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Authors: Ram V. Mohan, John Rivas-Murillo, Ahmed Mohamed, Wayne D. Hodo

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Cementitious materials, an excellent example of highly complex, heterogeneous material systems, are cement-based systems that include cement paste, mortar, and concrete that are heavily used in civil infrastructure; though commonly used are one of the most complex in terms of the material morphology and structure than most materials, for example, crystalline metals. Processes and features occurring at the nanometer sized morphological structures affect the performance, deformation/failure behavior at larger length scales. In addition, cementitious materials undergo chemical and morphological changes gaining strength during the transient hydration process. Hydration in cement is a very complex process creating complex microstructures and the associated molecular structures that vary with hydration. A fundamental understanding can be gained through multi-scale level modeling for the behavior and properties of cementitious materials starting from the material chemistry level atomistic scale to further explore their role and the manifested effects at larger length and engineering scales. This predictive modeling enables the understanding, and studying the influence of material chemistry level changes and nanomaterial additives on the expected resultant material characteristics and deformation behavior. Atomistic-molecular dynamic level modeling is required to couple material science to engineering mechanics. Starting at the molecular level a comprehensive description of the material’s chemistry is required to understand the fundamental properties that govern behavior occurring across each relevant length scale. Material chemistry level models and molecular dynamics modeling and simulations are employed in our work to describe the molecular-level chemistry features of calcium-silicate-hydrate (CSH), one of the key hydrated constituents of cement paste, their associated deformation and failure. The molecular level atomic structure for CSH can be represented by Jennite mineral structure. Jennite has been widely accepted by researchers and is typically used to represent the molecular structure of the CSH gel formed during the hydration of cement clinkers. This paper will focus on our recent work on the shear and compressive deformation and failure behavior of CSH represented by Jennite mineral structure that has been widely accepted by researchers and is typically used to represent the molecular structure of CSH formed during the hydration of cement clinkers. The deformation and failure behavior under shear and compression loading deformation in traditional hydrated CSH; effect of material chemistry changes on the predicted stress-strain behavior, transition from linear to non-linear behavior and identify the on-set of failure based on material chemistry structures of CSH Jennite and changes in its chemistry structure will be discussed.

Keywords: cementitious materials, deformation, failure, material chemistry modeling

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Authors: Piotr Wisniewski, Sławomir Dykas

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Condensation has a negative impact on turbomachinery efficiency in many energy processes.In technical applications, it is often impossible to dry the working fluid at the nozzle inlet. One of the most popular working fluid is atmospheric air that always contains water in form of steam, liquid, or ice crystals. Moreover, it always contains some amount of suspended particles which influence the phase change process. It is known that the phenomena of evaporation or condensation are connected with release or absorption of latent heat, what influence the fluid physical properties and might affect the machinery efficiency therefore, the phase transition has to be taken under account. This researchpresents an attempt to evaluate the impact of solid and liquid particles suspended in the air on the expansion of moist air in a low expansion rate, i.e., with expansion rate, P≈1000s⁻¹. The numerical study supported by analytical and experimental research is presented in this work. The experimental study was carried out using an in-house experimental test rig, where nozzle was examined for different inlet air relative humidity values included in the range of 25 to 51%. The nozzle was tested for a supersonic flow as well as for flow with shock waves induced by elevated back pressure. The Schlieren photography technique and measurement of static pressure on the nozzle wall were used for qualitative identification of both condensation and shock waves. A numerical model validated against experimental data available in the literature was used for analysis of occurring flow phenomena. The analysis of the suspended particles number, diameter, and character (solid or liquid) revealed their connection with heterogeneous condensation importance. If the expansion of fluid without suspended particlesis considered, the condensation triggers so called condensation wave that appears downstream the nozzle throat. If the solid particles are considered, with increasing number of them, the condensation triggers upwind the nozzle throat, decreasing the condensation wave strength. Due to the release of latent heat during condensation, the fluid temperature and pressure increase, leading to the shift of normal shock upstream the flow. Owing relatively large diameters of the droplets created during heterogeneous condensation, they evaporate partially on the shock and continues to evaporate downstream the nozzle. If the liquid water particles are considered, due to their larger radius, their do not affect the expanding flow significantly, however might be in major importance while considering the compression phenomena as they will tend to evaporate on the shock wave. This research proves the need of further study of phase change phenomena in supersonic flow especially considering the interaction of droplets with the aerodynamic waves in the flow.

Keywords: aerodynamics, computational fluid dynamics, condensation, moist air, multi-phase flows

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Authors: Said S. Almaiuof

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Integration Program Through Physical Education Lessons for The Influence of Some Physical Fitness Health-Related Components in Visual Handicapped Children. Propose of the study: The aim of this study is to design and evaluate a program for the physical education lesson to improve the cardio-respiratory endurance, considering the lesson of physical education as one of the educational means to achieve the society aims toward health and fitness, concerning the importance of the cardio-respiratory endurance as an essential one of the physical fitness health-related components. And this program tried to give them hand of help as a part of the society having the same rights as the rest of the society. Methodology: The researcher used the experimental method as a suitable method for this study and tested its hypothesis. The subject of the research selected randomly of the two classes from primary education in TRIPOLI-LIBYA, it was 28 boys (14-15) years old, then divided into groups, experimental group, n=13, which practiced the special exercises program and control group, n=15, which only practiced the normal school program. The selected child subjected to a medical examination in order to make sure that they are healthy, and the Vo2max measured by cycle ergometry and test some physical fitness makers before and after the program. Results: The study cleared that the experimental group developed in all physical variation in comparison with the control group which has a little development in a general balance only. Results are following: 1. The experimental group was successful more than the control group in all the research variation. 2. There were some improvements in time of keeping Balance in control group only. Discussion /conclusion: According to statistical analysis of data related to the values of the variables in this study; the suggested exercise program according to development the cardio respiratory endurance (CRE), and some physical fitness more than the program which already implemented in the school was less effective, just there is developing on keep balancing. It’s statistically significant (p<0.05) after applying this program. Improving the experimental group on (CRE), balance, running, sit and reach, from the suggested exercise program of what indicate the partaking program positive in improve those physical variables, and the selected exercises may contributed in improving the (CRE) for visual impairment and its pivotal in visual impairment children’s life. A health-related physical education curriculum can provide students with substantially more physical activity during physical education classes. The results show that the physical rehabilitation program for visual impairment children helped them in developing their defects due to the injury which means that this program should be in every organization having this part of people to increase their production and give them hand of help as a part of the society having the same rights as the rest of the society and to establish the idea of sport for all.

Keywords: visual handicapped, cardio-respiratory endurance, health, ergometry, education

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Authors: Dinesh Munjurulimana, Anil Tiwari, Tingwen Li, Carlos Pereira, Sreekanth Pannala, John Waters

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With the rapid transition to electric vehicles (EVs) across the globe, car manufacturers are in need of integrated and lightweight solutions for the battery packs of these vehicles. An integral part of a battery pack is the battery tray, which constitutes a significant portion of the pack’s overall weight. Based on the functional requirements, cost targets, and packaging space available, a range of materials –from metals, composites, and plastics– are often used to develop these battery trays. This paper considers the design and development of integrated thermoplastic-intensive battery trays, using the available packaging space from a representative EV battery pack. Presented as a proposed alternative are multiple concepts to integrate several connected systems such as cooling plates and underbody impact protection parts of a multi-piece incumbent battery pack. The resulting digital prototype was evaluated for several mechanical performance measures such as mechanical shock, drop, crush resistance, modal analysis, and torsional stiffness. The performance of this alternative design is then compared with the incumbent solution. In addition, insights are gleaned into how these novel approaches can be optimized to meet or exceed the performance of incumbent designs. Preliminary manufacturing feasibility of the optimal solution using injection molding and other commonly used manufacturing methods for thermoplastics is briefly explained. Then numerical and analytical evaluations are performed to show a representative Pareto front of cost vs. volume of the production parts. The proposed solution is observed to offer weight savings of up to 40% on a component level and part elimination of up to two systems in the battery pack of a typical battery EV while offering the potential to meet the required performance measures highlighted above. These conceptual solutions are also observed to potentially offer secondary benefits such as improved thermal and electrical isolations and be able to achieve complex geometrical features, thus demonstrating the ability to use the complete packaging space available in the vehicle platform considered. The detailed study presented in this paper serves as a valuable reference for researches across the globe working on the development of EV battery packs – especially those with an interest in the potential of employing alternate solutions as part of a mixed-material system to help capture untapped opportunities to optimize performance and meet critical application requirements.

Keywords: thermoplastics, lightweighting, part integration, electric vehicle battery packs

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Authors: Armin Solemanifar, Arthur Wilkinson, Kinjalkumar Patel

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Carbon fibre (CF) - polymer laminate composites have very low densities (approximately 40% lower than aluminium), high strength and high stiffness but in terms of toughness properties they often require modifications. For example, adding rubbers or thermoplastics toughening agents are common ways of improving the interlaminar fracture toughness of initially brittle thermoset composite matrices. The main aim of this project was to toughen CF-epoxy resin laminate composites using hybrid CF-fabrics incorporating Innegra™ a commercial highly-oriented polypropylene (PP) fibre, in which more than 90% of its crystal orientation is parallel to the fibre axis. In this study, the damage tolerance of hybrid (carbon-Innegra, CI) composites was investigated. Laminate composites were produced by resin-infusion using: pure CF fabric; fabrics with different ratios of commingled CI, and two different types of pure Innegra fabrics (Innegra 1 and Innegra 2). Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) was used to measure the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the composite matrix and values of flexural storage modulus versus temperature. Mechanical testing included drop-weight impact, compression-after-impact (CAI), and interlaminar (short-beam) shear strength (ILSS). Ultrasonic C-Scan imaging was used to determine the impact damage area and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to observe the fracture mechanisms that occur during failure of the composites. For all composites, 8 layers of fabrics were used with a quasi-isotropic sequence of [-45°, 0°, +45°, 90°]s. DMTA showed the Tg of all composites to be approximately same (123 ±3°C) and that flexural storage modulus (before the onset of Tg) was the highest for the pure CF composite while the lowest were for the Innegra 1 and 2 composites. Short-beam shear strength of the commingled composites was higher than other composites, while for Innegra 1 and 2 composites only inelastic deformation failure was observed during the short-beam test. During impact, the Innegra 1 composite withstood up to 40 J without any perforation while for the CF perforation occurred at 10 J. The rate of reduction in compression strength upon increasing the impact energy was lowest for the Innegra 1 and 2 composites, while CF showed the highest rate. On the other hand, the compressive strength of the CF composite was highest of all the composites at all impacted energy levels. The predominant failure modes for Innegra composites observed in cross-sections of fractured specimens were fibre pull-out, micro-buckling, and fibre plastic deformation; while fibre breakage and matrix delamination were a major failure observed in the commingled composites due to the more brittle behaviour of CF. Thus, Innegra fibres toughened the CF composites but only at the expense of reducing compressive strength.

Keywords: hybrid composite, thermoplastic fibre, compression strength, damage tolerance

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Authors: Ibrahim Musa, Mohammed Abdul-Aziz Mabrouk, Yusuf Tanko

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Introduction: Long term physical training affect the performance of athletes especially the females. Soccer which is a team sport, played in an outdoor field, require adequate oxygen transport system for the maximal aerobic power during exercise in order to complete 90 minutes of competitive play. Suboptimal haematological status has often been recorded in athletes with intensive physical activity. It may be due to the iron depletion caused by hemolysis or haemodilution results from plasma volume expansion. There is lack of data regarding the dynamics of red blood cell variables, in male football players. We hypothesized that, a long competitive season involving frequent matches and intense training could influence red blood cell variables, as a consequence of applying repeated physical loads when compared with sedentary. Methods: This cross sectional study was carried on 40 adult males (20 athletes and 20 non athletes) between 18-25 years of age. The 20 apparently healthy male non athletes were taken as sedentary and 20 male footballers comprise the study group. The university institutional review board (ABUTH/HREC/TRG/36) gave approval for all procedures in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Red blood cell (RBC) concentration, packed cell volume (PCV), and plasma volume were measured in fasting state and immediately after exercise. Statistical analysis was done by using SPSS/ win.20.0 for comparison within and between the groups, using student’s paired and unpaired “t” test respectively. Results: The finding from our study shows that, immediately after termination of exercise, the mean RBC counts and PCV significantly (p<0.005) decreased with significant increased (p<0.005) in plasma volume when compared with pre-exercised values in both group. In addition the post exercise RBC was significantly higher in untrained (261.10±8.5) when compared with trained (255.20±4.5). However, there was no significant differences in the post exercise hematocrit and plasma volume parameters between the sedentary and the footballers. Moreover, beside changes in pre-exercise values among the sedentary and the football players, the resting red blood cell counts and Plasma volume (PV %) was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the sedentary group (306.30±10.05 x 104 /mm3; 58.40±0.54%) when compared with football players (293.70±4.65 x 104 /mm3; 55.60±1.18%). On the other hand, the sedentary group exhibited significant (p < 0.05) decrease in PCV (41.60±0.54%) when compared with the football players (44.40±1.18%). Conclusions: It is therefore proposed that the acute football exercise induced reduction in RBC and PCV is entirely due to plasma volume expansion, and not of red blood cell hemolysis. In addition, the training status also influenced haematological indices of male football players differently from the sedentary at rest due to adaptive response. This is novel.

Keywords: Haematological Indices, Performance Status, Sedentary, Male Football Players

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Authors: Bronwyn Griffin, Caroline Acton, Tona Gillen, Roy Kimble

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Background: Bicycle riding is a common recreational activity enjoyed by many children throughout Australia that has been associated with the usual caveat of benefits related to exercise and recreation. Given Australia was the first country in the world to introduce cyclist helmet laws in 1991, very few publications have reviewed paediatric cycling injuries (fatal or non-fatal) since. Objectives: To identify trends in children (0-16 years) who required admission for greater than 24 hours following a bicycle-related injury (fatal and non-fatal) in Queensland. Further, to discuss changes that have occurred in paediatric cycling injury trends in Queensland since a prominent local study/publication in 1995. This paper aims to establish evidence to inform interventions promoting safer riding to parents, children and communities. Methods: Data on paediatric (0-16 years) cycling injuries in Queensland resulting in hospital admission more than 24 hours across three tertiary paediatric hospitals in Brisbane between November 2008-June 2015 was compiled by the Paediatric Trauma Data Registry for non-fatal injuries. The Child Death Review Team at the Queensland Families and Childhood Commission provided data on fatalities in children <17years from (June 2004 –June 2015). Comparing trends to a local study published in 1995 Results: Between 2008-2015 there were 197 patients admitted for greater than 24 hours following a cycling injury. The median age was 11 years, with males more frequently involved (n=139, 87%) compared to females. Mean length of stay was three days, with 47 (28%) children admitted to PICU, location of injury was most often the street (n=63, 37%). Between 2004 –2015 there were 15 fatalities (Incidence rate 0.25/100,000); all were male, 14/15 occurred on the street, with eight stated to have not been wearing a helmet, 11/15 children came from the least advantaged socio-economic group (SEIFA) compared to a local publication in 1995, finding of 94 fatalities between (1981-1992). Conclusions: There has been a notable decrease in incidence of fatalities between the two time periods with incidence rates dropping from 1.75-0.25/100,000. More statistics need to be run to ascertain if this is a true reduction or perhaps a decrease in children riding bicycles. Injuries that occur on the street that come in contact with a car remain of serious concern. The purpose of this paper is not to discourage bicycle riding among child and adolescent populations, rather, inform parents and the wider community about the risks associated with cycling in order to reduce injuries associated with this sport, whilst promoting safe cycling.

Keywords: paediatric, cycling, trauma, prevention, emergency

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Authors: S. V. Kuznetsov, M. N. Mayakova, V. Yu. Proydakova, V. V. Pavlov, A. S. Nizamutdinov, O. A. Morozov, V. V. Voronov, P. P. Fedorov

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Increase in the share of electricity received by conversion of solar energy results in the reduction of the industrial impact on the environment from the use of the hydrocarbon energy sources. One way to increase said share is to improve the efficiency of solar energy conversion in silicon-based solar panels. Such efficiency increase can be achieved by transferring energy from sunlight-insensitive areas of work of silicon solar panels to the area of their photoresistivity. To achieve this goal, a transition to new luminescent materials with the high quantum yield of luminescence is necessary. Improvement in the quantum yield can be achieved by quantum cutting, which allows obtaining a quantum yield of down conversion of more than 150% due to the splitting of high-energy photons of the UV spectral range into lower-energy photons of the visible and near infrared spectral ranges. The goal of present work is to test approach of excitation through sensibilization of 4f-4f fluorescence of Yb3+ by various RE ions absorbing in UV and Vis spectral ranges. One of promising materials for quantum cutting luminophores are fluorides. In our investigation we have developed synthesis of nano- and submicron powders of calcium fluoride and strontium doped with rare-earth elements (Yb: Ce, Yb: Pr, Yb: Eu) of controlled dimensions and shape by co-precipitation from water solution technique. We have used Ca(NO3)2*4H2O, Sr(NO3)2, HF, NH4F as precursors. After initial solutions of nitrates were prepared they have been mixed with fluorine containing solution by dropwise manner. According to XRD data, the synthesis resulted in single phase samples with fluorite structure. By means of SEM measurements, we have confirmed spherical morphology and have determined sizes of particles (50-100 nm after synthesis and 150-300 nm after calcination). Temperature of calcination appeared to be 600°C. We have investigated the spectral-kinetic characteristics of above mentioned compounds. Here the diffuse reflection and laser induced fluorescence spectra of Yb3+ ions excited at around 4f-4f and 4f-5d transitions of Pr3+, Eu3+ and Ce3+ ions in the synthesized powders are reported. The investigation of down conversion luminescence capability of synthesized compounds included measurements of fluorescence decays and quantum yield of 2F5/2-2F7/2 fluorescence of Yb3+ ions as function of Yb3+ and sensitizer contents. An optimal chemical composition of CaF2-YbF3- LnF3 (Ln=Ce, Eu, Pr), SrF2-YbF3-LnF3 (Ln=Ce, Eu, Pr) micro- and nano- powders according to criteria of maximal IR fluorescence yield is proposed. We suppose that investigated materials are prospective in solar panels improvement applications. Work was supported by Russian Science Foundation grant #17-73- 20352.

Keywords: solar cell, fluorides, down-conversion luminescence, maximum quantum yield

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Authors: Kevin Potoczny, Katsuichiro Goda

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The St. Lawrence lowlands extend from Ottawa to Quebec City and are known for large deposits of sensitive Leda clay. Leda clay deposits are responsible for many large landslides, such as the 1993 Lemieux and 2010 St. Jude (4 fatalities) landslides. Due to the large extent and sensitivity of Leda clay, regional hazard analysis for landslides is an important tool in risk management. A 2018 regional study by Farzam et al. on the susceptibility of Leda clay slopes to landslide hazard uses 1 arc second topographical data. A qualitative method known as Hazus is used to estimate susceptibility by checking for various criteria in a location and determine a susceptibility rating on a scale of 0 (no susceptibility) to 10 (very high susceptibility). These criteria are slope angle, geological group, soil wetness, and distance from waterbodies. Given the flat nature of St. Lawrence lowlands, the current assessment fails to capture local slopes, such as the St. Jude site. Additionally, the data did not allow one to analyze failure planes accurately. This study majorly improves the analysis performed by Farzam et al. in two aspects. First, regional assessment with high resolution data allows for identification of local locations that may have been previously identified as low susceptibility. This then provides the opportunity to conduct a more refined analysis on the failure plane of the slope. Slopes derived from 1 arc second data are relatively gentle (0-10 degrees) across the region; however, the 1- and 2-meter resolution 2022 HRDEM provided by NRCAN shows that short, steep slopes are present. At a regional level, 1 arc second data can underestimate the susceptibility of short, steep slopes, which can be dangerous as Leda clay landslides behave retrogressively and travel upwards into flatter terrain. At the location of the St. Jude landslide, slope differences are significant. 1 arc second data shows a maximum slope of 12.80 degrees and a mean slope of 4.72 degrees, while the HRDEM data shows a maximum slope of 56.67 degrees and a mean slope of 10.72 degrees. This equates to a difference of three susceptibility levels when the soil is dry and one susceptibility level when wet. The use of GIS software is used to create a regional susceptibility map across the St. Lawrence lowlands at 1- and 2-meter resolutions. Failure planes are necessary to differentiate between small and large landslides, which have so far been ignored in regional analysis. Leda clay failures can only retrogress as far as their failure planes, so the regional analysis must be able to transition smoothly into a more robust local analysis. It is expected that slopes within the region, once previously assessed at low susceptibility scores, contain local areas of high susceptibility. The goal is to create opportunities for local failure plane analysis to be undertaken, which has not been possible before. Due to the low resolution of previous regional analyses, any slope near a waterbody could be considered hazardous. However, high-resolution regional analysis would allow for more precise determination of hazard sites.

Keywords: hazus, high-resolution DEM, leda clay, regional analysis, susceptibility

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Authors: Ernest Nweke, Enkhtuya Bavuudorj

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The harsh realities of the scandalous failure of several notable corporations in the past two decades have inextricably resulted in a surge in corporate governance studies. Nevertheless, little or no attention has been paid to corporate governance studies in Mongolian firms and much less to the comprehension of the correlation among ownership structure, corporate governance mechanisms and trend of innovative activities. Innovation is the bed rock of enterprise success. However, the funding and support for innovative activities in many firms are to a great extent determined by the incentives provided by the firm’s internal and external governance mechanisms. Mongolia is an East Asian country currently undergoing a fast-paced transition from socialist to democratic system and it is a widely held view that private ownership as against public ownership fosters innovation. Hence, following the privatization policy of Mongolian Government which has led to the transfer of the ownership of hitherto state controlled and state directed firms to private individuals and organizations, expectations are high that sufficient motivation would be provided for firm managers to engage in innovative activities. This research focuses on the relationship between ownership structure, corporate governance on one hand and the level of innovation on the hand. The paper is empirical in nature and derives data from both reliable secondary and primary sources. Secondary data for the study was in respect of ownership structure of Mongolian listed firms and innovation trend in Mongolia generally. These were analyzed using tables, charts, bars and percentages. Personal interviews and surveys were held to collect primary data. Primary data was in respect of corporate governance practices in Mongolian firms and were collected using structured questionnaire. Out of a population of three hundred and twenty (320) companies listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE), a sample size of thirty (30) randomly selected companies was utilized for the study. Five (5) management level employees were surveyed in each selected firm giving a total of one hundred and fifty (150) respondents. Data collected were analyzed and research hypotheses tested using Chi-Square test statistic. Research results showed that corporate governance mechanisms were better and have significantly improved overtime in privately held as opposed to publicly owned firms. Consequently, the levels of innovation in privately held firms were considerably higher. It was concluded that a significant and positive relationship exists between private ownership and good corporate governance on one hand and the level of funding provided for innovative activities in Mongolian firms on the other hand.

Keywords: corporate governance, innovation, ownership structure, stock exchange

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Authors: Demelash Kassaye

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The Ethiopia case study reveals a unique model of community policing that has developed from a particular political context in which there is a history of violent political transition, a political structure characterized by ethnic federalism and a political ideology that straddles liberal capitalism and democracy on the one hand, and state-led development and centralized control on the other. The police see community policing as a way to reduce crime. Communities speak about community policing as an opportunity to take on policing responsibilities themselves. Both of these objectives are brought together in an overarching rhetoric of community policing as a way of ‘mobilizing for development’ – whereby the community cooperate with the police to reduce crime, which otherwise inhibits development progress. Community policing in Amhara has primarily involved the placement of Community Police Officers at the kebele level across the State. In addition, a number of structures have also been established in the community, including Advisory Councils, Conflict Resolving Committees, family police and the use of shoe shiner’s and other trade associations as police informants. In addition to these newly created structures, community policing also draws upon pre-existing customary actors, such as militia and elders. Conflict Resolving Committees, Community Police Officers and elders were reported as the most common first ports of call when community members experience a crime. The analysis highlights that the model of community policing in Amhara increased communities’ access to policing services, although this is not always attended by increased access to justice. Community members also indicate that public perceptions of the police have improved since the introduction of community policing, in part due to individual Community Police Officers who have, with limited resources, innovated some impressive strategies to improve safety in their neighborhoods. However, more broadly, community policing has provided the state with more effective surveillance of the population – a potentially oppressive function in the current political context. Ultimately, community policing in Amhara is anything but straightforward. It has been a process of attempting to demonstrate the benefits of newfound (and controversial) ‘democracy’ following years of dictatorship, drawing on generations of customary dispute resolution, providing both improved access to security for communities and an enhanced surveillance capacity for the state. For external actors looking to engage in community policing, this case study reveals the importance of close analysis in assessing potential merits, risks and entry points of programming. Factors found to be central in shaping the nature of community policing in the Amhara case include the structure of the political system, state-society relations, cultures dispute resolution and political ideology.

Keywords: community policing, community, militias, ethiopia

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Authors: Abderrahmane Soufi

Abstract:

The building sector is the largest consumer of energy in France, accounting for 44% of French consumption. To reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency, France implemented an energy transition law targeting 40% energy savings by 2030 in the tertiary building sector. Building simulation tools are used to predict the energy performance of buildings but the reliability of these tools is hampered by discrepancies between the real and simulated energy performance of a building. This performance gap lies in the simplified assumptions of certain factors, such as the behavior of occupants on air conditioning and heating, which is considered deterministic when setting a fixed operating schedule and a fixed interior comfort temperature. However, the behavior of occupants on air conditioning and heating is stochastic, diverse, and complex because it can be affected by many factors. Probabilistic models are an alternative to deterministic models. These models are usually derived from statistical data and express occupant behavior by assuming a probabilistic relationship to one or more variables. In the literature, logistic regression has been used to model the behavior of occupants with regard to heating and air conditioning systems by considering univariate logistic models in residential buildings; however, few studies have developed multivariate models for higher education and vocational training buildings in a Mediterranean climate. Therefore, in this study, occupant behavior on heating and air conditioning systems was modeled using logistic regression. Occupant behavior related to the turn-on heating and air conditioning systems was studied through experimental measurements collected over a period of one year (June 2023–June 2024) in three classrooms occupied by several groups of students in engineering schools and professional training. Instrumentation was provided to collect indoor temperature and indoor relative humidity in 10-min intervals. Furthermore, the state of the heating/air conditioning system (off or on) and the set point were determined. The outdoor air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed were collected as weather data. The number of occupants, age, and sex were also considered. Logistic regression was used for modeling an occupant turning on the heating and air conditioning systems. The results yielded a proposed model that can be used in building simulation tools to predict the energy performance of teaching buildings. Based on the first months (summer and early autumn) of the investigations, the results illustrate that the occupant behavior of the air conditioning systems is affected by the indoor relative humidity and temperature in June, July, and August and by the indoor relative humidity, temperature, and number of occupants in September and October. Occupant behavior was analyzed monthly, and univariate and multivariate models were developed.

Keywords: occupant behavior, logistic regression, behavior model, mediterranean climate, air conditioning, heating

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Authors: Bezhan Tutberidze

Abstract:

The Neogene-Quaternary volcanic rocks of the Javakheti Highland are products of post-collisional continental magmatism and are related to divergent and convergent margins of Eurasian-Afroarabian lithospheric plates. The studied area constitutes an integral part of the volcanic province of Central South Georgia. Three cycles of volcanic activity are identified here: 1. Late Miocene-Early Pliocene, 2. Late Pliocene-Early /Middle/ Pleistocene and 3. Late Pleistocene. An intense basic dolerite magmatic activity occurred within the time span of the Late Pliocene and lasted until at least Late /Middle/ Pleistocene. The age of the volcanogenic and volcanogenic-sedimentary formation was dated by geomorphological, paleomagnetic, paleontological and geochronological methods /1.7-1.9 Ma/. The volcanic area of the Javakheti Highland contains multiple dolerite Plateaus: Akhalkalaki, Gomarethi, Dmanisi, and Tsalka. Petrographic observations of these doleritic rocks reveal fairly constant mineralogical composition: olivine / Fo₈₇.₆₋₈₂.₇ /, plagioclase / Ab₂₂.₈ An₇₅.₉ Or₁.₃; Ab₄₅.₀₋₃₂.₃ An₅₂.₉₋₆₂.₃ Or₂.₁₋₅.₄/. The pyroxene is an augite and may exhibit a visible zoning: / Wo 39.7-43.1 En 43.5-45.2 Fs 16.8-11.7/. Opaque minerals /magnetite, titanomagnetite/ is abundant as inclusions within olivine and pyroxene crystals. The texture of dolerites exhibits intergranular, holocrystalline to ophitic to sub ophitic granular. Dolerites are most common vesicular rocks. Vesicles range in shape from spherical to elongated and in size from 0.5 mm to than 1.5-2 cm and makeup about 20-50 % of the volume. The dolerites have been subjected to considerable alteration. The secondary minerals in the geothermal field are: zeolite, calcite, chlorite, aragonite, clay-like mineral /dominated by smectites/ and iddingsite –like mineral; rare quartz and pumpellyite are present. These vesicles are filled by secondary minerals. In the chemistry, dolerites are the calc-alkalic transition to sub-alkaline with a predominance of Na₂O over K₂O. Chemical analyses indicate that dolerites of all plateaus of the Javakheti Highland have similar geochemical compositions, signifying that they were formed from the same magmatic source by crystallization of olivine basalis magma which less differentiated / ⁸⁷Sr \ ⁸⁶Sr 0.703920-0704195/. There is one argument, which is less convincing, according to which the dolerites/basalts of the Javakheti Highland are considered to be an activity of a mantle plume. Unfortunately, there does not exist reliable evidence to prove this. The petrochemical peculiarities and eruption nature of the dolerites of the Javakheti Plateau point against their plume origin. Nevertheless, it is not excluded that they influence the formation of dolerite producing primary basaltic magma.

Keywords: calc-alkalic, dolerite, Georgia, Javakheti Highland

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Authors: Iris Vural Gursel, Jonathan Moncada, Ernst Worrell, Andrea Ramirez

Abstract:

In order to achieve the transition from a fossil to bio-based economy, biomass needs to replace fossil resources in meeting the world’s energy and chemical needs. This calls for development of biorefinery systems allowing cost-efficient conversion of biomass to chemicals. In biorefinery systems, feedstock is converted to key intermediates called platforms which are converted to wide range of marketable products. The C6 sugars platform stands out due to its unique versatility as precursor for multiple valuable products. Among the different potential routes from C6 sugars to bio-based chemicals, 1,3-butadiene and ε-caprolactam appear to be of great interest. Butadiene is an important chemical for the production of synthetic rubbers, while caprolactam is used in production of nylon-6. In this study, ex-ante techno-economic performance of 1,3-butadiene and ε-caprolactam routes from C6 sugars were assessed. The aim is to provide insight from an early stage of development into the potential of these new technologies, and the bottlenecks and key cost-drivers. Two cases for each product line were analyzed to take into consideration the effect of possible changes on the overall performance of both butadiene and caprolactam production. Conceptual process design for the processes was developed using Aspen Plus based on currently available data from laboratory experiments. Then, operating and capital costs were estimated and an economic assessment was carried out using Net Present Value (NPV) as indicator. Finally, sensitivity analyses on processing capacity and prices was done to take into account possible variations. Results indicate that both processes perform similarly from an energy intensity point of view ranging between 34-50 MJ per kg of main product. However, in terms of processing yield (kg of product per kg of C6 sugar), caprolactam shows higher yield by a factor 1.6-3.6 compared to butadiene. For butadiene production, with the economic parameters used in this study, for both cases studied, a negative NPV (-642 and -647 M€) was attained indicating economic infeasibility. For the caprolactam production, one of the cases also showed economic infeasibility (-229 M€), but the case with the higher caprolactam yield resulted in a positive NPV (67 M€). Sensitivity analysis indicated that the economic performance of caprolactam production can be improved with the increase in capacity (higher C6 sugars intake) reflecting benefits of the economies of scale. Furthermore, humins valorization for heat and power production was considered and found to have a positive effect. Butadiene production was found sensitive to the price of feedstock C6 sugars and product butadiene. However, even at 100% variation of the two parameters, butadiene production remained economically infeasible. Overall, the caprolactam production line shows higher economic potential in comparison to that of butadiene. The results are useful in guiding experimental research and providing direction for further development of bio-based chemicals.

Keywords: bio-based chemicals, biorefinery, C6 sugars, economic analysis, process modelling

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: T. Lazzarini, M. Imbiki, P. E. Sutter, G. Borragan

Abstract:

While several strategies, such as the development of more efficient appliances, the financing of insulation programs or the rolling out of smart meters represent promising tools to reduce future energy consumption, their implementation relies on people’s decisions-actions. Likewise, engaging with consumers to reshape their behavior has shown to be another important way to reduce energy usage. For these reasons, integrating the human factor in the energy transition has become a major objective for researchers and policymakers. Digital education programs based on tangible and gamified user interfaces have become a new tool with potential effects to reduce energy consumption4. The B2020 program, developed by the firm “Économie d’Énergie SAS”, proposes a digital platform to encourage pro-environmental behavior change among employees and citizens. The platform integrates 160 eco-behaviors to help saving energy and water and reducing waste and CO2 emissions. A total of 13,146 citizens have used the tool so far to declare the range of eco-behaviors they adopt in their daily lives. The present work seeks to build on this database to identify the potential impact of adopted energy-saving behaviors (n=62) to reduce the use of energy in buildings. To this end, behaviors were classified into three categories regarding the nature of its implementation (Eco-habits: e.g., turning-off the light, Eco-actions: e.g., installing low carbon technology such as led light-bulbs and Home-Refurbishments: e.g., such as wall-insulation or double-glazed energy efficient windows). General Linear Models (GLM) disclosed the existence of a significantly higher frequency of Eco-habits when compared to the number of home-refurbishments realized by the platform users. While this might be explained in part by the high financial costs that are associated with home renovation works, it also contrasts with the up to three times larger energy-savings that can be accomplished by these means. Furthermore, multiple regression models failed to disclose the expected relationship between energy-savings and frequency of adopted eco behaviors, suggesting that energy-related practices are not necessarily driven by the correspondent energy-savings. Finally, our results also suggested that people adopting more Eco-habits and Eco-actions were more likely to engage in Home-Refurbishments. Altogether, these results fit well with a growing body of scientific research, showing that energy-related practices do not necessarily maximize utility, as postulated by traditional economic models, and suggest that other variables might be triggering them. Promoting home refurbishments could benefit from the adoption of complementary energy-saving habits and actions.

Keywords: energy-saving behavior, human performance, behavioral change, energy efficiency

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