Search results for: EEDI–energy efficiency design index

Authors: Diana Santiago, Tania Lisboa, Sophie Lee, Alexander P. Demos, Monica C. S. Vasconcelos

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Memorization has long been recognized as an arduous and anxiety-evoking task for musicians, and yet, it is an essential aspect of performance. Research shows that musicians are often not taught how to memorize. While memorization and practice strategies of professionals have been studied, little research has been done to examine how student musicians learn to practice and memorize music in different cultural settings. We present the process of developing and testing a questionnaire of music memorization and musical practice for student musicians in the UK and Brazil. A survey was developed for a cross-cultural research project aiming at examining how young orchestral musicians (aged 7–18 years) in different learning environments and cultures engage in instrumental practice and memorization. The questionnaire development included members of a UK/US/Brazil research team of music educators and performance science researchers. A pool of items was developed for each aspect of practice and memorization identified, based on literature, personal experiences, and adapted from existing questionnaires. Item development took the varying levels of cognitive and social development of the target populations into consideration. It also considered the diverse target learning environments. Items were initially grouped in accordance with a single underlying construct/behavior. The questionnaire comprised three sections: a demographics section, a section on practice (containing 29 items), and a section on memorization (containing 40 items). Next, the response process was considered and a 5-point Likert scale ranging from ‘always’ to ‘never’ with a verbal label and an image assigned to each response option was selected, following effective questionnaire design for children and youths. Finally, a pilot study was conducted with young orchestral musicians from diverse learning environments in Brazil and the United Kingdom. Data collection took place in either one-to-one or group settings to facilitate the participants. Cognitive interviews were utilized to establish response process validity by confirming the readability and accurate comprehension of the questionnaire items or highlighting the need for item revision. Internal reliability was investigated by measuring the consistency of the item groups using the statistical test Cronbach’s alpha. The pilot study successfully relied on the questionnaire to generate data about the engagement of young musicians of different levels and instruments, across different learning and cultural environments, in instrumental practice and memorization. Interaction analysis of the cognitive interviews undertaken with these participants, however, exposed the fact that certain items, and the response scale, could be interpreted in multiple ways. The questionnaire text was, therefore, revised accordingly. The low Cronbach’s Alpha scores of many item groups indicated another issue with the original questionnaire: its low level of internal reliability. Several reasons for each poor reliability can be suggested, including the issues with item interpretation revealed through interaction analysis of the cognitive interviews, the small number of participants (34), and the elusive nature of the construct in question. The revised questionnaire measures 78 specific behaviors or opinions. It can be seen to provide an efficient means of gathering information about the engagement of young musicians in practice and memorization on a large scale.

Keywords: cross-cultural, memorization, practice, questionnaire, young musicians

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Authors: Arzyana Sunkar, Yanto Santosa, Siti Badriyah Rushayati

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Indonesia has experienced annual forest fires that have rapidly destroyed and degraded its forests. Fires in the peat swamp forests of Riau Province, have set the stage for problems to worsen, this being the ecosystem most prone to fires (which are also the most difficult, to extinguish). Despite various efforts to curb deforestation, and forest degradation processes, severe forest fires are still occurring. To find an effective solution, the basic causes of the problems must be identified. It is therefore critical to have an in-depth understanding of the underlying causal factors that have contributed to deforestation and forest degradation as a whole, in order to attain reductions in their rates. An assessment of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation was carried out, in order to design and implement measures that could slow these destructive processes. Research was conducted in Giam Siak Kecil–Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve (GSKBB BR), in the Riau Province of Sumatera, Indonesia. A biosphere reserve was selected as the study site because such reserves aim to reconcile conservation with sustainable development. A biosphere reserve should promote a range of local human activities, together with development values that are in line spatially and economically with the area conservation values, through use of a zoning system. Moreover, GSKBB BR is an area with vast peatlands, and is experiencing forest fires annually. Various factors were analysed to assess the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in GSKBB BR; data were collected from focus group discussions with stakeholders, key informant interviews with key stakeholders, field observation and a literature review. Landsat satellite imagery was used to map forest-cover changes for various periods. Analysis of landsat images, taken during the period 2010-2014, revealed that within the non-protected area of core zone, there was a trend towards decreasing peat swamp forest areas, increasing land clearance, and increasing areas of community oil-palm and rubber plantations. Fire was used for land clearing and most of the forest fires occurred in the most populous area (the transition area). The study found a relationship between the deforested/ degraded areas, and certain distance variables, i.e. distance from roads, villages and the borders between the core area and the buffer zone. The further the distance from the core area of the reserve, the higher was the degree of deforestation and forest degradation. Research findings suggested that agricultural expansion may be the direct cause of deforestation and forest degradation in the reserve, whereas socio-economic factors were the underlying driver of forest cover changes; such factors consisting of a combination of socio-cultural, infrastructural, technological, institutional (policy and governance), demographic (population pressure) and economic (market demand) considerations. These findings indicated that local factors/problems were the critical causes of deforestation and degradation in GSKBB BR. This research therefore concluded that reductions in deforestation and forest degradation in GSKBB BR could be achieved through ‘local actor’-tailored approaches such as community empowerment

Keywords: Actor-led solution, community empowerment, drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve

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Authors: Bukra Kalayci, Geraldine Brennan

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

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

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Authors: Richard McGregor, Carmen Reaiche, Stephen Boyle

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Cyber threats are a relatively recent phenomenon and offer cyber insurers a dynamic and intelligent peril. As individuals en mass become increasingly digitally dependent, Personal Cyber Insurance (PCI) offers an attractive option to mitigate cyber risk at a personal level. This abstract proposes a literature review that conceptualises a framework for siting Personal Cyber Insurance (PCI) within the context of cyberspace. The lack of empirical research within this domain demonstrates an immediate need to define the scope of PCI to allow cyber insurers to understand personal cyber risk threats and vectors, customer awareness, capabilities, and their associated needs. Additionally, this will allow cyber insurers to conceptualise appropriate frameworks allowing effective management and distribution of PCI products and services within a landscape often in-congruent with risk attributes commonly associated with traditional personal line insurance products. Cyberspace has provided significant improvement to the quality of social connectivity and productivity during past decades and allowed enormous capability uplift of information sharing and communication between people and communities. Conversely, personal digital dependency furnish ample opportunities for adverse cyber events such as data breaches and cyber-attacksthus introducing a continuous and insidious threat of omnipresent cyber risk–particularly since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and wide-spread adoption of ‘work-from-home’ practices. Recognition of escalating inter-dependencies, vulnerabilities and inadequate personal cyber behaviours have prompted efforts by businesses and individuals alike to investigate strategies and tactics to mitigate cyber risk – of which cyber insurance is a viable, cost-effective option. It is argued that, ceteris parabus, the nature of cyberspace intrinsically provides characteristic peculiarities that pose significant and bespoke challenges to cyber insurers, often in-congruent with risk attributes commonly associated with traditional personal line insurance products. These challenges include (inter alia) a paucity of historical claim/loss data for underwriting and pricing purposes, interdependencies of cyber architecture promoting high correlation of cyber risk, difficulties in evaluating cyber risk, intangibility of risk assets (such as data, reputation), lack of standardisation across the industry, high and undetermined tail risks, and moral hazard among others. This study proposes a thematic overview of the literature deemed necessary to conceptualise the challenges to issuing personal cyber coverage. There is an evident absence of empirical research appertaining to PCI and the design of operational business models for this business domain, especially qualitative initiatives that (1) attempt to define the scope of the peril, (2) secure an understanding of the needs of both cyber insurer and customer, and (3) to identify elements pivotal to effective management and profitable distribution of PCI - leading to an argument proposed by the author that postulates that the traditional general insurance customer journey and business model are ill-suited for the lineaments of cyberspace. The findings of the review confirm significant gaps in contemporary research within the domain of personal cyber insurance.

Keywords: cyberspace, personal cyber risk, personal cyber insurance, customer journey, business model

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Authors: Mary T. McKinley

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As socio-economic globalization impacts education and turns knowledge into a commodity, institutions of higher education are becoming more intentional about infusing a global and intercultural perspective into education via the recruitment of international students. Coming from dissimilar cultures, many of these students are evaluated and held accountable to Euro-American values of independence, self-reliance, and autonomy. Not surprisingly, these students often experience culture shock with deleterious effects on their mental health and academic functioning. Thus, it is critical to understand the experiences of international students with the hope that such knowledge will keep the field of psychology from promulgating Eurocentric ideals and values and prevent the training of these students as good-enough White therapists. Using a critical narrative inquiry framework, this study elicits stories about the challenges encountered by international students as they navigate their clinical training in the presence of acculturative stress and potentially different worldviews. With its emphasis on story-telling as meaning making, narrative research design is hinged on the assumption that people are interpretive beings who make meaning of themselves and their world through the language of stories. Also, dominant socially-constructed narratives play a central role in creating and maintaining hegemonic structures that privilege certain individuals and ideologies at the expense of others. On this premise, narrative inquiry begins with an exploration of the experiences of participants in their lived stories. Bounded narrative segments were read, interpreted, and analyzed using a critical events approach. Throughout the process, issues of reliability and researcher bias were addressed by keeping a reflective analytic memo, as well as triangulating the data using peer-reviewers and check-ins with participants. The findings situate culture at the epicenter of international students’ acculturation challenges as well as their resiliency in psychology doctoral programs. It was not uncommon for these international students to experience ethical dilemmas inherent in learning content that conflicted with their cultural beliefs and values. Issues of cultural incongruence appear to be further exacerbated by visible markers for differences like speech accent and clothing attire. These stories also link the acculturative stress reported by international students to the experiences of perceived racial discrimination and lack of support from the faculty, administration, peers, and the society at large. Beyond the impact on the international students themselves, there are implications for internationalization in psychology with the goal of equipping doctoral programs to be better prepared to meet the needs of their international students. More than ever before, programs need to liaise with international students’ services and work in tandem to meet the unique needs of this population of students. Also, there exists a need for multiculturally competent supervisors working with international students with varying degrees of acculturation. In addition to making social justice and advocacy salient in students’ multicultural training, it may be helpful for psychology doctoral programs to be more intentional about infusing cross-cultural theories, indigenous psychotherapies, and/or when practical, the possibility for geographically cross-cultural practicum experiences in the home countries of international students while taking into consideration the ethical issues for virtual supervision.

Keywords: decolonizing pedagogies, international students, multiculturalism, psychology doctoral programs

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Authors: Sonja Giese, Tess N. Peacock

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South African based Innovation Edge is experimenting with technology to drive positive behavior change, enable data-driven decision making, and scale quality early years services. This paper uses five case studies to illustrate how technology can be used in resource-constrained environments to first, encourage parenting practices that build early language development (using a stage-based mobile messaging pilot, ChildConnect), secondly, to improve the quality of ECD programs (using a mobile application, CareUp), thirdly, how to affordably scale services for the early detection of visual and hearing impairments (using a mobile tool, HearX), fourthly, how to build a transparent and accountable system for the registration and funding of ECD (using a blockchain enabled platform, Amply), and finally enable rapid data collection and feedback to facilitate quality enhancement of programs at scale (the Early Learning Outcomes Measure). ChildConnect and CareUp were both developed using a design based iterative research approach. The usage and uptake of ChildConnect and CareUp was evaluated with qualitative and quantitative methods. Actual child outcomes were not measured in the initial pilots. Although parents who used and engaged on either platform felt more supported and informed, parent engagement and usage remains a challenge. This is contrast to ECD practitioners whose usage and knowledge with CareUp showed both sustained engagement and knowledge improvement. HearX is an easy-to-use tool to identify hearing loss and visual impairment. The tool was tested with 10000 children in an informal settlement. The feasibility of cost-effectively decentralising screening services was demonstrated. Practical and financial barriers remain with respect to parental consent and for successful referrals. Amply uses mobile and blockchain technology to increase impact and accountability of public services. In the pilot project, Amply is being used to replace an existing paper-based system to register children for a government-funded pre-school subsidy in South Africa. Early Learning Outcomes Measure defines what it means for a child to be developmentally ‘on track’ at aged 50-69 months. ELOM administration is enabled via a tablet which allows for easy and accurate data collection, transfer, analysis, and feedback. ELOM is being used extensively to drive quality enhancement of ECD programs across multiple modalities. The nature of ECD services in South Africa is that they are in large part provided by disconnected private individuals or Non-Governmental Organizations (in contrast to basic education which is publicly provided by the government). It is a disparate sector which means that scaling successful interventions is that much harder. All five interventions show the potential of technology to support and enhance a range of ECD services, but pathways to scale are still being tested.

Keywords: assessment, behavior change, communication, data, disabilities, mobile, scale, technology, quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Joshua Kaufman, Felix Tan, Morgan Monroe, Ayman Abouraddy

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Textiles and clothing have been a staple of human existence for millennia, yet the basic structure and functionality of textile fibers and yarns has remained unchanged. While color and appearance are essential characteristics of a textile, an advancement in the fabrication of yarns that allows for user-controlled dynamic changes to the color or appearance of a garment has been lacking. Touch-activated and photosensitive pigments have been used in textiles, but these technologies are passive and cannot be controlled by the user. The technology described here allows the owner to control both when and in what pattern the fabric color-change takes place. In addition, the manufacturing process is compatible with mass-producing the user-controlled, color-changing yarns. The yarn fabrication utilizes a fiber spinning system that can produce either monofilament or multifilament yarns. For products requiring a more robust fabric (backpacks, purses, upholstery, etc.), larger-diameter monofilament yarns with a coarser weave are suitable. Such yarns are produced using a thread-coater attachment to encapsulate a 38-40 AWG metal wire inside a polymer sheath impregnated with thermochromic pigment. Conversely, products such as shirts and pants requiring yarns that are more flexible and soft against the skin comprise multifilament yarns of much smaller-diameter individual fibers. Embedding a metal wire in a multifilament fiber spinning process has not been realized to date. This research has required collaboration with Hills, Inc., to design a liquid metal-injection system to be combined with fiber spinning. The new system injects molten tin into each of 19 filaments being spun simultaneously into a single yarn. The resulting yarn contains 19 filaments, each with a tin core surrounded by a polymer sheath impregnated with thermochromic pigment. The color change we demonstrate is distinct from garments containing LEDs that emit light in various colors. The pigment itself changes its optical absorption spectrum to appear a different color. The thermochromic color-change is induced by a temperature change in the inner metal wire within each filament when current is applied from a small battery pack. The temperature necessary to induce the color change is near body temperature and not noticeable by touch. The prototypes already developed either use a simple push button to activate the battery pack or are wirelessly activated via a smart-phone app over Wi-Fi. The app allows the user to choose from different activation patterns of stripes that appear in the fabric continuously. The power requirements are mitigated by a large hysteresis in the activation temperature of the pigment and the temperature at which there is full color return. This was made possible by a collaboration with Chameleon International to develop a new, customized pigment. This technology enables a never-before seen capability: user-controlled, dynamic color and pattern change in large-area woven and sewn textiles and fabrics with wide-ranging applications from clothing and accessories to furniture and fixed-installation housing and business décor. The ability to activate through Wi-Fi opens up possibilities for the textiles to be part of the ‘Internet of Things.’ Furthermore, this technology is scalable to mass-production levels for wide-scale market adoption.

Keywords: activation, appearance, color, manufacturing

Procedia PDF Downloads 260

Authors: Mohosina Jabin Toma, Gerald Tembrevilla, Marina Milner-Bolotin

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Science education in Bangladesh is losing its appeal at an alarming rate due to the lack of science laboratory equipment, excessive teacher-student ratio, and outdated teaching strategies. Research-based educational technologies aim to address some of the problems faced by teachers who have limited access to laboratory resources, like many Bangladeshi teachers. Physics Education Technology (PhET) research team has been developing science and mathematics interactive simulations to help students develop deeper conceptual understanding. Still, PhET simulations are rarely used in Bangladesh. The purpose of this study is to explore Bangladeshi teachers’ challenges in learning to implement PhET-enhanced pedagogies and examine teachers’ views on PhET’s pedagogical opportunities in secondary science education. Since it is a new technology for Bangladesh, seven workshops on PhET were conducted in Dhaka city for 129 in-service and pre-service teachers in the winter of 2023 prior to data collection. This study followed an explanatory mixed method approach that included a pre-and post-workshop survey and five semi-structured interviews. Teachers participated in the workshops voluntarily and shared their experiences at the end. Teachers’ challenges were also identified from workshop discussions and observations. The interviews took place three to four weeks after the workshop and shed light on teachers’ experiences of using PhET in actual classroom settings. The results suggest that teachers had difficulty handling new technology; hence, they recommended preparing a booklet and Bengali YouTube videos on PhET to assist them in overcoming their struggles. Teachers also faced challenges in using any inquiry-based learning approach due to the content-loaded curriculum and exam-oriented education system, as well as limited experience with inquiry-based education. The short duration of classes makes it difficult for them to design PhET activities. Furthermore, considering limited access to computers and the internet in school, teachers think PhET simulations can bring positive changes if used in homework activities. Teachers also think they lack pedagogical skills and sound content knowledge to take full advantage of PhET. They highly appreciated the workshops and proposed that the government designs some teacher training modules on how to incorporate PhET simulations. Despite all the challenges, teachers believe PhET can enhance student learning, ensure student engagement and increase student interest in STEM Education. Considering the lack of science laboratory equipment, teachers recognized the potential of PhET as a supplement to hands-on activities for secondary science education in Bangladesh. They believed that if PhET develops more curriculum-relevant sims, it will bring revolutionary changes to how Bangladeshi students learn science. All the participating teachers in this study came from two organizations, and all the workshops took place in urban areas; therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to all secondary science teachers. A nationwide study is required to include teachers from diverse backgrounds. A further study can shed light on how building a professional learning community can lessen teachers’ challenges in incorporating PhET-enhanced pedagogy in their teaching.

Keywords: educational technology, inquiry-based learning, PhET interactive simulations, PhET-enhanced pedagogies, science education, science laboratory equipment, teacher professional development

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Authors: Siham Boulaknadel

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Every culture has its share of a rich history of storytelling in oral, visual, and textual form. The Amazigh language, as many languages, has its own which has entertained and informed across centuries and cultures, and its instructional potential continues to serve teachers. According to many researchers, listening to stories draws attention to the sounds of language and helps children develop sensitivity to the way language works. Stories including repetitive phrases, unique words, and enticing description encourage students to join in actively to repeat, chant, sing, or even retell the story. This kind of practice is important to language learners’ oral language development, which is believed to correlate completely with student’s academic success. Today, with the advent of multimedia, digital storytelling for instance can be a practical and powerful learning tool. It has the potential in transforming traditional learning into a world of unlimited imaginary environment. This paper reports on a research project on development of multimedia Storytelling Website using traditional Amazigh oral narratives called “tell me a story”. It is a didactic tool created for the learning of good moral values in an interactive multimedia environment combining on-screen text, graphics and audio in an enticing environment and enabling the positive values of stories to be projected. This Website developed in this study is based on various pedagogical approaches and learning theories deemed suitable for children age 8 to 9 year-old. The design and development of Website was based on a well-researched conceptual framework enabling users to: (1) re-play and share the stories in schools or at home, and (2) access the Website anytime and anywhere. Furthermore, the system stores the students work and activities over the system, allowing parents or teachers to monitor students’ works, and provide online feedback. The Website contains following main feature modules: Storytelling incorporates a variety of media such as audio, text and graphics in presenting the stories. It introduces the children to various kinds of traditional Amazigh oral narratives. The focus of this module is to project the positive values and images of stories using digital storytelling technique. Besides development good moral sense in children using projected positive images and moral values, it also allows children to practice their comprehending and listening skills. Reading module is developed based on multimedia material approach which offers the potential for addressing the challenges of reading instruction. This module is able to stimulate children and develop reading practice indirectly due to the tutoring strategies of scaffolding, self-explanation and hyperlinks offered in this module. Word Enhancement assists the children in understanding the story and appreciating the good moral values more efficiently. The difficult words or vocabularies are attached to present the explanation, which makes the children understand the vocabulary better. In conclusion, we believe that the interactive multimedia storytelling reveals an interesting and exciting tool for learning Amazigh. We plan to address some learning issues, in particularly the uses of activities to test and evaluate the children on their overall understanding of story and words presented in the learning modules.

Keywords: Amazigh language, e-learning, storytelling, language teaching

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Authors: Adedayo B. Adegbaju, Carel B. Schoeman, Ilse M. Schoeman

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The unique urban contexts that emanated from the apartheid history of South Africa informed the transport landscape of the City of Johannesburg. Apartheid‘s divisive spatial planning and land use management policies promoted sprawling and separated workers from job opportunities. This was further exacerbated by poor funding of public transport and road designs that encouraged the use of private cars. However, the democratization of the country in 1994 and the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup provided a new impetus to the city’s public transport-oriented urban planning inputs. At the same time, the state’s new approach to policy formulations that entails the provision of public transport as one of the tools to end years of marginalization and inequalities soon began to largely reflect in planning decisions of other spheres of government. The Rea Vaya BRT and the Gautrain were respectively implemented by the municipal and provincial governments to demonstrate strong political will and commitment to the new policy direction. While the Gautrain was implemented to facilitate elite movement within Gauteng and to crowd investments and economic growths around station nodes, the BRT was provided for previously marginalized public transport users to provide a sustainable alternative to the dominant minibus taxi. The aim of this research is to evaluate the spatial impacts of the Gautrain and Rea Vaya BRT on the City of Johannesburg and to inform future outcomes by determining the existing potentials. By using the case study approach with a focus on the BRT and fast rail in a metropolitan context, the triangulation research method, which combines various data collection methods, was used to determine the research outcomes. The use of interviews, questionnaires, field observation, and databases such as REX, Quantec, StatsSA, GCRO observatory, national and provincial household travel surveys, and the quality of life surveys provided the basis for data collection. The research concludes that the Gautrain has demonstrated that viable alternatives to the private car can be provided, with its satisfactory feedbacks from users; while some of its station nodes (Sandton, Rosebank) have shown promises of transit-oriented development, one of the project‘s key objectives. The other stations have been unable to stimulate growth due to reasons like non-implementation of their urban design frameworks and lack of public sector investment required to attract private investors. The Rea Vaya BRT continues to be expanded in spite of both its inability to induce modal change and its low ridership figures. The research identifies factors like the low peak to base ratio, pricing, and the city‘s disjointed urban fabric as some of the reasons for its below-average performance. By drawing from the highlights and limitations, the study recommends that public transport provision should be institutionally integrated across and within spheres of government. Similarly, harmonization of the funding structure, better understanding of users’ needs, and travel patterns, underlined with continuity of policy direction and objectives, will equally promote optimal outcomes.

Keywords: bus rapid transit, Gautrain, Rea Vaya, sustainable transport, spatial and transport planning, transit oriented development

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Authors: Stephan Boehm, Julia Engel, Judith Eisser

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During the last decade communication in the Internet transformed from a broadcast to a conversational model by supporting more interactive features, enabling user generated content and introducing social media networks. Another important trend with a significant impact on electronic commerce is a massive usage shift from desktop to mobile devices. However, a presentation of product- or service-related information accumulated on websites, micro pages or portals often remains the pivot and focal point of a customer journey. A more recent change of user behavior –especially in younger user groups and in Asia– is going along with the increasing adoption of messaging applications supporting almost real-time but asynchronous communication on mobile devices. Mobile apps of this type cannot only provide an alternative for traditional one-to-one communication on mobile devices like voice calls or short messaging service. Moreover, they can be used in mobile commerce as a new marketing and sales channel, e.g., for product promotions and direct marketing activities. This requires a new way of customer interaction compared to traditional mobile commerce activities and functionalities provided based on mobile web-sites. One option better aligned to the customer interaction in mes-saging apps are so-called chatbots. Chatbots are conversational programs or dialog systems simulating a text or voice based human interaction. They can be introduced in mobile messaging and social media apps by using rule- or artificial intelligence-based imple-mentations. In this context, a comparative analysis is conducted to examine the impact of using traditional websites or chatbots for promoting a product in an impulse purchase situation. The aim of this study is to measure the impact on the customers’ user experi-ence and emotions. The study is based on a random sample of about 60 smartphone users in the group of 20 to 30-year-olds. Participants are randomly assigned into two groups and participate in a traditional website or innovative chatbot based mobile com-merce scenario. The chatbot-based scenario is implemented by using a Wizard-of-Oz experimental approach for reasons of sim-plicity and to allow for more flexibility when simulating simple rule-based and more advanced artificial intelligence-based chatbot setups. A specific set of metrics is defined to measure and com-pare the user experience in both scenarios. It can be assumed, that users get more emotionally involved when interacting with a system simulating human communication behavior instead of browsing a mobile commerce website. For this reason, innovative face-tracking and analysis technology is used to derive feedback on the emotional status of the study participants while interacting with the website or the chatbot. This study is a work in progress. The results will provide first insights on the effects of chatbot usage on user experiences and emotions in mobile commerce environments. Based on the study findings basic requirements for a user-centered design and implementation of chatbot solutions for mobile com-merce can be derived. Moreover, first indications on situations where chatbots might be favorable in comparison to the usage of traditional website based mobile commerce can be identified.

Keywords: chatbots, emotions, mobile commerce, user experience, Wizard-of-Oz prototyping

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Authors: M. Velana, G. Rinkenauer

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Nowadays, nurses are facing unprecedented amounts of pressure due to the ongoing global health demands. Work-related stress can cause a high physical and psychological workload, which can lead, in turn, to burnout. On the physiological level, stress triggers an initial activation of the sympathetic nervous and adrenomedullary systems resulting in increases in cardiac activity. Furthermore, activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis provokes endocrine and immune changes leading to the release of cortisol and cytokines in an effort to re-establish body balance. Based on the current state of the literature, it has been identified that resilience and mindfulness exercises among nurses can effectively decrease stress and improve mood. However, it is still unknown what relaxation techniques would be suitable for and to what extent would be effective to decrease psychophysiological arousal deriving from either a physiological or a psychological stressor. Moreover, although cardiac activity and cortisol are promising candidates to examine the effectiveness of relaxation to reduce stress, it still remains to shed light on the role of cytokines in this process so as to thoroughly understand the body’s response to stress and to relaxation. Therefore, the main aim of the present study is to develop a comprehensive experimental paradigm and assess different relaxation techniques, namely progressive muscle relaxation and a mindfulness exercise originating from cognitive therapy by means of biofeedback, under highly controlled laboratory conditions. An experimental between-subject design will be employed, where 120 participants will be randomized either to a physiological or a psychological stress-related experiment. Particularly, the cold pressor test refers to a procedure in which the participants have to immerse their non-dominant hands into ice water (2-3 °C) for 3 min. The participants are requested to keep their hands in the water throughout the whole duration. However, they can immediately terminate the test in case it would be barely tolerable. A pre-test anticipation phase and a post-stress period of 3 min, respectively, are planned. The Trier Social Stress Test will be employed to induce psychological stress. During this laboratory stressor, the participants are instructed to give a 5-min speech in front of a committee of communication specialists. Before the main task, there is a 10-min anticipation period. Subsequently, participants are requested to perform an unexpected arithmetic task. After stress exposure, the participants will perform one of the relaxation exercises (treatment condition) or watch a neutral video (control condition). Electrocardiography, salivary samples, and self-report will be collected at different time points. The preliminary results deriving from the pilot study showed that the aforementioned paradigm could effectively induce stress reactions and that relaxation might decrease the impact of stress exposure. It is of utmost importance to assess how the human body responds under different stressors and relaxation exercises so that an evidence-based intervention could be transferred in a clinical setting to improve nurses’ general health. Based on suggestive future laboratory findings, the research group plans to conduct a pilot-level randomized study to decrease stress and promote well-being among nurses who work in the stress-riddled environment of a hospital located in Northern Germany.

Keywords: nurses, psychophysiology, relaxation, stress

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Authors: Eunice Oluwakemi Chukwuma-Nwuba

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Nigeria is a developing country with an increasing rate of graduate unemployment. This has triggered successive government administrations to promote the variety of programmes to address the situation. However, none of these efforts yielded the desired outcome. Accordingly, in 2006 the government included entrepreneurship module in the curriculum of universities as a compulsory general programme for all undergraduate courses. This is in the hope that the programme will help to promote entrepreneurial mind-set and new venture creation among graduates and as a result reduce the rate of graduate unemployment. The study explores the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in promoting entrepreneurship. This study is significant in view of the endemic graduate unemployment in Nigeria and the social consequences such as youth restiveness and militancy. It is guided by the theory of planned behaviour. It employed the two-stage structural equation modelling (AMOS) to model entrepreneurial intentions as a function of innovative teaching methods, traditional teaching methods and culture Personal attitude and subjective norm are proposed to mediate the relationships between the exogenous and the endogenous variables. The first stage was tested using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) framework to confirm that the two groups assign the same meaning to the scale items and to obtain goodness-of-fit indices. The multi-group confirmatory factor analysis included the tests of configural, metric and scalar invariance. With the attainment of full configural invariance and partial metric and scalar invariance, the second stage – the structural model was applied hypothesising that, the entrepreneurial intentions of graduates (respondents who have participated in the compulsory entrepreneurship programme) will be higher than those of undergraduates (respondents who are yet to participate in the programme). The study uses the quasi-experimental design. The samples comprised 409 graduates (experimental group) and 402 undergraduates (control group) from six federal universities in Nigeria. Our findings suggest that personal attitude is positively related with entrepreneurial intentions, largely confirming prior literature. However, unlike previous studies, our results indicate that subjective norm has significant direct and indirect impact on entrepreneurial intentions indicating that reference people of the participants have important roles to play in their decision to be entrepreneurial. Furthermore, unlike the assertions in prior studies, the result suggests that traditional teaching methods have indirect effect on entrepreneurial intentions supporting that since personal characteristics can change in an educational situation, an education purposively directed at entrepreneurship might achieve similar results if not better. This study has implication for practice and theory. The research extends to the theoretical understanding of the formation of entrepreneurial intentions and explains the role of the reference others in relation to how graduates perceive entrepreneurship. Further, the study adds to the body of knowledge on entrepreneurship education in Nigeria universities and provides a developing country perspective. It proposes further research in the exploration of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions of graduates from across the country’s universities as necessary and imperative.

Keywords: entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial intention, structural equation modeling, theory of planned behaviour

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Authors: Rama Umesh Pandey, Jyoti Yadav

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Flooding is one of the waterborne disasters that causes extensive destruction in urban areas. Developing countries are at a higher risk of such damage and more than half of the global flooding events take place in Asian countries including India. Urban flooding is more of a human-induced disaster rather than natural. This is highly influenced by the anthropogenic factors, besides metrological and hydrological causes. Unplanned urbanization and poor management of cities enhance the impact manifold and cause huge loss of life and property in urban areas. It is an irony that urban areas have been facing water scarcity in summers and flooding during monsoon. This paper is an attempt to highlight the factors responsible for flooding in a city especially from an urban planning perspective and to suggest mitigating measures through spatial planning interventions. Analysis has been done in two stages; first is to assess the impacts of previous flooding events and second to analyze the factors responsible for flooding at macro and micro level in cities. Bhopal, a city in Central India having nearly two million population, has been selected for the study. The city has been experiencing flooding during heavy rains in monsoon. The factors responsible for urban flooding were identified through literature review as well as various case studies from different cities across the world and India. The factors thus identified were analyzed for both macro and micro level influences. For macro level, the previous flooding events that have caused huge destructions were analyzed and the most affected areas in Bhopal city were identified. Since the identified area was falling within the catchment of a drain so the catchment area was delineated for the study. The factors analyzed were: rainfall pattern to calculate the return period using Weibull’s formula; imperviousness through mapping in ArcGIS; runoff discharge by using Rational method. The catchment was divided into micro watersheds and the micro watershed having maximum impervious surfaces was selected to analyze the coverage and effect of physical infrastructure such as: storm water management; sewerage system; solid waste management practices. The area was further analyzed to assess the extent of violation of ‘building byelaws’ and ‘development control regulations’ and encroachment over the natural water streams. Through analysis, the study has revealed that the main issues have been: lack of sewerage system; inadequate storm water drains; inefficient solid waste management in the study area; violation of building byelaws through extending building structures ether on to the drain or on the road; encroachments by slum dwellers along or on to the drain reducing the width and capacity of the drain. Other factors include faulty culvert’s design resulting in back water effect. Roads are at higher level than the plinth of houses which creates submersion of their ground floors. The study recommends spatial planning interventions for mitigating urban flooding and strategies for management of excess rain water during monsoon season. Recommendations have also been made for efficient land use management to mitigate water logging in areas vulnerable to flooding.

Keywords: mitigating strategies, spatial planning interventions, urban flooding, violation of development control regulations

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Authors: S. Candamano, A. Iorfida, L. Pagnotta, F. Crea

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Basalt fabric reinforced cementitious composites (FRCM) have attracted great attention because they result in being effective in structural strengthening and eco-efficient. In this study, authors investigate their mechanical behavior when an alkali-activated binder, with tuned properties and containing high amounts of industrial by-products, such as ground granulated blast furnace slag, is used. Reinforcement is made up of a balanced, coated bidirectional fabric made out of basalt fibres and stainless steel micro-wire, with a mesh size of 8x8 mm and an equivalent design thickness equal to 0.064 mm. Mortars mixes have been prepared by maintaining constant the water/(reactive powders) and sand/(reactive powders) ratios at 0.53 and 2.7 respectively. Tensile tests were carried out on composite specimens of nominal dimensions equal to 500 mm x 50 mm x 10 mm, with 6 embedded rovings in the loading direction. Direct shear tests (DST), aimed to the stress-transfer mechanism and failure modes of basalt-FRCM composites, were carried out on brickwork substrate using an externally bonded basalt-FRCM composite strip 10 mm thick, 50 mm wide and a bonded length of 300 mm. Mortars exhibit, after 28 days of curing, a compressive strength of 32 MPa and a flexural strength of 5.5 MPa. Main hydration product is a poorly crystalline CASH gel. The constitutive behavior of the composite has been identified by means of direct tensile tests, with response curves showing a tri-linear behavior. The first linear phase represents the uncracked (I) stage, the second (II) is identified by crack development and the third (III) corresponds to cracked stage, completely developed up to failure. All specimens exhibit a crack pattern throughout the gauge length and failure occurred as a result of sequential tensile failure of the fibre bundles, after reaching the ultimate tensile strength. The behavior is mainly governed by cracks development (II) and widening (III) up to failure. The main average values related to the stages are σI= 173 MPa and εI= 0.026% that are the stress and strain of the transition point between stages I and II, corresponding to the first mortar cracking; σu = 456 MPa and εu= 2.20% that are the ultimate tensile strength and strain, respectively. The tensile modulus of elasticity in stage III is EIII= 41 GPa. All single-lap shear test specimens failed due to composite debonding. It occurred at the internal fabric-to-matrix interface, and it was the result of fracture of the matrix between the fibre bundles. For all specimens, transversal cracks were visible on the external surface of the composite and involved only the external matrix layer. This cracking appears when the interfacial shear stresses increase and slippage of the fabric at the internal matrix layer interface occurs. Since the external matrix layer is bonded to the reinforcement fabric, it translates with the slipped fabric. Average peak load around 945 N, peak stress around 308 MPa, and global slip around 6 mm were measured. The preliminary test results allow affirming that Alkali Activated Binders can be considered a potentially valid alternative to traditional mortars in designing FRCM composites.

Keywords: alkali activated binders, basalt-FRCM composites, direct shear tests, structural strengthening

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Authors: Saif Al Ghafri, Thomas Hughes, Armand Karimi, Kumarini Seneviratne, Jordan Oakley, Michael Johns, Eric F. May

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Knowledge of the thermophysical properties of complex mixtures at extreme conditions of pressure and temperature have always been essential to the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) industry’s evolution because of the tremendous technical challenges present at all stages in the supply chain from production to liquefaction to transport. Each stage is designed using predictions of the mixture’s properties, such as density, viscosity, surface tension, heat capacity and phase behaviour as a function of temperature, pressure, and composition. Unfortunately, currently available models lead to equipment over-designs of 15% or more. To achieve better designs that work more effectively and/or over a wider range of conditions, new fundamental property data are essential, both to resolve discrepancies in our current predictive capabilities and to extend them to the higher-pressure conditions characteristic of many new gas fields. Furthermore, innovative experimental techniques are required to measure different thermophysical properties at high pressures and over a wide range of temperatures, including near the mixture’s critical points where gas and liquid become indistinguishable and most existing predictive fluid property models used breakdown. In this work, we present a wide range of experimental measurements made for different binary and ternary mixtures relevant to LNG processing, with a particular focus on viscosity, surface tension, heat capacity, bubble-points and density. For this purpose, customized and specialized apparatus were designed and validated over the temperature range (200 to 423) K at pressures to 35 MPa. The mixtures studied were (CH4 + C3H8), (CH4 + C3H8 + CO2) and (CH4 + C3H8 + C7H16); in the last of these the heptane contents was up to 10 mol %. Viscosity was measured using a vibrating wire apparatus, while mixture densities were obtained by means of a high-pressure magnetic-suspension densimeter and an isochoric cell apparatus; the latter was also used to determine bubble-points. Surface tensions were measured using the capillary rise method in a visual cell, which also enabled the location of the mixture critical point to be determined from observations of critical opalescence. Mixture heat capacities were measured using a customised high-pressure differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The combined standard relative uncertainties were less than 0.3% for density, 2% for viscosity, 3% for heat capacity and 3 % for surface tension. The extensive experimental data gathered in this work were compared with a variety of different advanced engineering models frequently used for predicting thermophysical properties of mixtures relevant to LNG processing. In many cases the discrepancies between the predictions of different engineering models for these mixtures was large, and the high quality data allowed erroneous but often widely-used models to be identified. The data enable the development of new or improved models, to be implemented in process simulation software, so that the fluid properties needed for equipment and process design can be predicted reliably. This in turn will enable reduced capital and operational expenditure by the LNG industry. The current work also aided the community of scientists working to advance theoretical descriptions of fluid properties by allowing to identify deficiencies in theoretical descriptions and calculations.

Keywords: LNG, thermophysical, viscosity, density, surface tension, heat capacity, bubble points, models

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Authors: S. Candamano, A. Iorfida, F. Crea, A. Macario

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Recently, basalt fabric reinforced cementitious composites (FRCM) have attracted great attention because they result to be effective in structural strengthening and cost/environment efficient. In this study, authors investigate their mechanical behavior when an inorganic matrix, belonging to the family of alkali-activated binders, is used. In particular, the matrix has been designed to contain high amounts of industrial by-products and waste, such as Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) and Fly Ash. Fresh state properties, such as workability, mechanical properties and shrinkage behavior of the matrix have been measured, while microstructures and reaction products were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Diffractometry. Reinforcement is made up of a balanced, coated bidirectional fabric made out of basalt fibres and stainless steel micro-wire, with a mesh size of 8x8 mm and an equivalent design thickness equal to 0.064 mm. Mortars mixes have been prepared by maintaining constant the water/(reactive powders) and sand/(reactive powders) ratios at 0.53 and 2.7 respectively. An appropriate experimental campaign based on direct tensile tests on composite specimens and single-lap shear bond test on brickwork substrate has been thus carried out to investigate their mechanical behavior under tension, the stress-transfer mechanism and failure modes. Tensile tests were carried out on composite specimens of nominal dimensions equal to 500 mm x 50 mm x 10 mm, with 6 embedded rovings in the loading direction. Direct shear tests (DST) were carried out on brickwork substrate using an externally bonded basalt-FRCM composite strip 10 mm thick, 50 mm wide and a bonded length of 300 mm. Mortars exhibit, after 28 days of curing, an average compressive strength of 32 MPa and flexural strength of 5.5 MPa. Main hydration product is a poorly crystalline aluminium-modified calcium silicate hydrate (C-A-S-H) gel. The constitutive behavior of the composite has been identified by means of direct tensile tests, with response curves showing a tri-linear behavior. Test results indicate that the behavior is mainly governed by cracks development (II) and widening (III) up to failure. The ultimate tensile strength and strain were respectively σᵤ = 456 MPa and ɛᵤ= 2.20%. The tensile modulus of elasticity in stage III was EIII= 41 GPa. All single-lap shear test specimens failed due to composite debonding. It occurred at the internal fabric-to-matrix interface, and it was the result of a fracture of the matrix between the fibre bundles. For all specimens, transversal cracks were visible on the external surface of the composite and involved only the external matrix layer. This cracking appears when the interfacial shear stresses increase and slippage of the fabric at the internal matrix layer interface occurs. Since the external matrix layer is bonded to the reinforcement fabric, it translates with the slipped fabric. Average peak load around 945 N, peak stress around 308 MPa and global slip around 6 mm were measured. The preliminary test results allow affirming that Alkali-Activated Materials can be considered a potentially valid alternative to traditional mortars in designing FRCM composites.

Keywords: Alkali-activated binders, Basalt-FRCM composites, direct shear tests, structural strengthening

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Authors: Sylvie Michel, Sylvie Gerbaix, Marc Bidan

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Artificial intelligence (AI) can be held accountable for its detrimental impacts. This question gains heightened relevance given AI's pervasive reach across various domains, magnifying its power and potential. The expanding influence of AI raises fundamental ethical inquiries, primarily centering on biases, responsibility, and transparency. This encompasses discriminatory biases arising from algorithmic criteria or data, accidents attributed to autonomous vehicles or other systems, and the imperative of transparent decision-making. This article aims to stimulate reflection on AI accountability, denoting the necessity to elucidate the effects it generates. Accountability comprises two integral aspects: adherence to legal and ethical standards and the imperative to elucidate the underlying operational rationale. The objective is to initiate a reflection on the obstacles to this "accountability," facing the challenges of the complexity of artificial intelligence's system and its effects. Then, this article proposes to mobilize Edgar Morin's complex thought to encompass and face the challenges of this complexity. The first contribution is to point out the challenges posed by the complexity of A.I., with fractional accountability between a myriad of human and non-human actors, such as software and equipment, which ultimately contribute to the decisions taken and are multiplied in the case of AI. Accountability faces three challenges resulting from the complexity of the ethical issues combined with the complexity of AI. The challenge of the non-neutrality of algorithmic systems as fully ethically non-neutral actors is put forward by a revealing ethics approach that calls for assigning responsibilities to these systems. The challenge of the dilution of responsibility is induced by the multiplicity and distancing between the actors. Thus, a dilution of responsibility is induced by a split in decision-making between developers, who feel they fulfill their duty by strictly respecting the requests they receive, and management, which does not consider itself responsible for technology-related flaws. Accountability is confronted with the challenge of transparency of complex and scalable algorithmic systems, non-human actors self-learning via big data. A second contribution involves leveraging E. Morin's principles, providing a framework to grasp the multifaceted ethical dilemmas and subsequently paving the way for establishing accountability in AI. When addressing the ethical challenge of biases, the "hologrammatic" principle underscores the imperative of acknowledging the non-ethical neutrality of algorithmic systems inherently imbued with the values and biases of their creators and society. The "dialogic" principle advocates for the responsible consideration of ethical dilemmas, encouraging the integration of complementary and contradictory elements in solutions from the very inception of the design phase. Aligning with the principle of organizing recursiveness, akin to the "transparency" of the system, it promotes a systemic analysis to account for the induced effects and guides the incorporation of modifications into the system to rectify deviations and reintroduce modifications into the system to rectify its drifts. In conclusion, this contribution serves as an inception for contemplating the accountability of "artificial intelligence" systems despite the evident ethical implications and potential deviations. Edgar Morin's principles, providing a lens to contemplate this complexity, offer valuable perspectives to address these challenges concerning accountability.

Keywords: accountability, artificial intelligence, complexity, ethics, explainability, transparency, Edgar Morin

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Authors: Meiyan Gao, Zongmin Wang, Haibo Yang, Qiuhua Liang

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Under the background of global climate change and rapid development of modern urbanization, the frequency of climate disasters such as extreme precipitation in cities around the world is gradually increasing. In this paper, Hi-PIMS model is used to simulate the "720" flood in Zhengzhou, and the continuous stages of flood resilience are determined with the urban flood stages are divided. The flood resilience curve under the influence of multiple factors were determined and the urban flood toughness was evaluated by combining the results of resilience curves. The flood resilience of urban unit grid was evaluated based on economy, population, road network, hospital distribution and land use type. Firstly, the rainfall data of meteorological stations near Zhengzhou and the remote sensing rainfall data from July 17 to 22, 2021 were collected. The Kriging interpolation method was used to expand the rainfall data of Zhengzhou. According to the rainfall data, the flood process generated by four rainfall events in Zhengzhou was reproduced. Based on the results of the inundation range and inundation depth in different areas, the flood process was divided into four stages: absorption, resistance, overload and recovery based on the once in 50 years rainfall standard. At the same time, based on the levels of slope, GDP, population, hospital affected area, land use type, road network density and other aspects, the resilience curve was applied to evaluate the urban flood resilience of different regional units, and the difference of flood process of different precipitation in "720" rainstorm in Zhengzhou was analyzed. Faced with more than 1,000 years of rainstorm, most areas are quickly entering the stage of overload. The influence levels of factors in different areas are different, some areas with ramps or higher terrain have better resilience, and restore normal social order faster, that is, the recovery stage needs shorter time. Some low-lying areas or special terrain, such as tunnels, will enter the overload stage faster in the case of heavy rainfall. As a result, high levels of flood protection, water level warning systems and faster emergency response are needed in areas with low resilience and high risk. The building density of built-up area, population of densely populated area and road network density all have a certain negative impact on urban flood resistance, and the positive impact of slope on flood resilience is also very obvious. While hospitals can have positive effects on medical treatment, they also have negative effects such as population density and asset density when they encounter floods. The result of a separate comparison of the unit grid of hospitals shows that the resilience of hospitals in the distribution range is low when they encounter floods. Therefore, in addition to improving the flood resistance capacity of cities, through reasonable planning can also increase the flood response capacity of cities. Changes in these influencing factors can further improve urban flood resilience, such as raise design standards and the temporary water storage area when floods occur, train the response speed of emergency personnel and adjust emergency support equipment.

Keywords: urban flood resilience, resilience assessment, hydrodynamic model, resilience curve

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Authors: Andrew Read, Alice Parry, Kate Woods

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Since the advent of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the search for medications that can reduce mortality and morbidity has been a global research priority. Several multi-center trials have recently demonstrated improved mortality associated with the use of Tocilizumab, an interleukin-6 receptor antagonist, in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. Initial data supported the administration in patients requiring respiratory support (non-invasive or invasive ventilation), but more recent data has shown benefit in all hypoxic patients. At the height of the second wave of COVID-19 infections in London, our hospital introduced the use of Tocilizumab for patients with severe COVID-19. Tocilizumab is licensed for use in chronic inflammatory conditions and has been associated with an increased risk of severe bacterial and fungal infections, as well as reactivation of chronic viral infections (e.g., hepatitis B). It is a specialist drug that suppresses the formation of C-reactive protein (CRP) for 6 – 12 weeks. It is not widely used by the general medical community. We aimed to assess Tocilizumab use in our hospital and to implement changes to the protocol as required to ensure administration was safe and appropriate. A retrospective study design was used to assess prescriptions over an initial 3-week period in both intensive care and on the medical wards. This amounted to a total of 13 patients. The initial data collection identified four key areas of concern: adherence to national and local inclusion & exclusion criteria; a collection of appropriate screening blood prior to administration; documentation of informed consent or best interest decision and documentation of Tocilizumab administration on patient discharge information, to alert future healthcare providers that typical measures of inflammation and infection, such as CRP, are unreliable for up to 3-months. Data were collected from electronic notes, blood results and observation charts, and cross referenced with pharmacy data. Initial results showed that all four key areas were completed in approximately 50% of cases. Of particular concern was adherence to exclusion criteria, such as current evidence of bacterial infection, and ensuring the correct screening blood was sent to exclude infections such as hepatitis. To remedy this and improve patient safety, the initial data was presented to relevant healthcare professionals. Subsequently, three interventions were introduced and education on each provided to hospital staff. An electronic ‘order set’ collating the appropriate screening blood was created simplifying the screening process. Pre-formed electronic documentation which can be inserted into the notes was created to provide a framework for consent discussions and reduce the time needed for junior doctors to complete this task. Additionally, a ‘Tocilizumab’ administration card was created and administered via pharmacy. This was distributed to each patient on discharge to ensure future healthcare professionals were aware of the potential effects of Tocilizumab administration, including suppression of CRP. Following these changes, repeat data collection over two months illustrated that each of the 4 safety aspects was met with a 100% success rate in every patient. Although this demonstrates good progress and effective interventions the challenge will be to maintain this progress. The audit data collection is ongoing

Keywords: education, patient safety , SARS-CoV-2, Tocilizumab

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Authors: Mamert Mbonimpa, Ousseynou Kanteye, Élysée Tshibangu Ngabu, Rachid Amrou, Abdelkabir Maqsoud, Tikou Belem

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The management of mine wastes (waste rocks and tailings) containing sulphide minerals such as pyrite and pyrrhotite represents the main environmental challenge for the mining industry. Indeed, acid mine drainage (AMD) can be generated when these wastes are exposed to water and air. AMD is characterized by low pH and high concentrations of heavy metals, which are toxic to plants, animals, and humans. It affects the quality of the ecosystem through water and soil pollution. Different techniques involving soil materials can be used to control AMD generation, including impermeable covers (compacted clays) and oxygen barriers. The latter group includes covers with capillary barrier effects (CCBE), a multilayered cover that include the moisture retention layer playing the role of an oxygen barrier. Once AMD is produced at a mine site, it must be treated so that the final effluent at the mine site complies with regulations and can be discharged into the environment. Active neutralization with lime is one of the treatment methods used. This treatment produces sludge that is usually stored in sedimentation ponds. Other sludge management alternatives have been examined in recent years, including sludge co-disposal with tailings or waste rocks, disposal in underground mine excavations, and storage in technical landfill sites. Considering the ability of AMD neutralization sludge to maintain an alkaline to neutral pH for decades or even centuries, due to the excess alkalinity induced by residual lime within the sludge, valorization of sludge in specific applications could be an interesting management option. If done efficiently, the reuse of sludge could free up storage ponds and thus reduce the environmental impact. It should be noted that mixtures of sludge and soils could potentially constitute usable materials in CCBE for the rehabilitation of acid-generating mine sites, while sludge alone is not suitable for this purpose. The high sludge water content (up to 300%), even after sedimentation, can, however, constitute a geotechnical challenge. Adding lime to the mixtures can reduce the water content and improve the geotechnical properties. The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of the sludge content (30, 40 and 50%) in sand-sludge mixtures (SSM) on their hydrogeotechnical properties (compaction, shrinkage behaviour, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and water retention curve). The impact of lime addition (dosages from 2% to 6%) on the moisture content, dry density after compaction and saturated hydraulic conductivity of SSM was also investigated. Results showed that sludge adding to sand significantly improves the saturated hydraulic conductivity and water retention capacity, but the shrinkage increased with sludge content. The dry density after compaction of lime-treated SSM increases with the lime dosage but remains lower than the optimal dry density of the untreated mixtures. The saturated hydraulic conductivity of lime-treated SSM after 24 hours of cure decreases by 3 orders of magnitude. Considering the hydrogeotechnical properties obtained with these mixtures, it would be possible to design CCBE whose moisture retention layer is made of SSM. Physical laboratory models confirmed the performance of such CCBE.

Keywords: mine waste, AMD neutralization sludge, sand-sludge mixture, hydrogeotechnical properties, mine site reclamation, CCBE

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Authors: Petra Gergelova, Sofia Ioannidou, Davide Arcella, Alexandra Tard, Polly E. Boon, Oliver Lindtner, Christina Tlustos, Jean-Charles Leblanc

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Objectives: To assess chronic dietary exposure to food additives in different European countries and population groups. Method and Design: The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food (ANS) estimates chronic dietary exposure to food additives with the purpose of re-evaluating food additives that were previously authorized in Europe. For this, EFSA uses concentration values (usage and/or analytical occurrence data) reported through regular public calls for data by food industry and European countries. These are combined, at individual level, with national food consumption data from the EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database including data from 33 dietary surveys from 19 European countries and considering six different population groups (infants, toddlers, children, adolescents, adults and the elderly). EFSA ANS Panel estimates dietary exposure for each individual in the EFSA Comprehensive Database by combining the occurrence levels per food group with their corresponding consumption amount per kg body weight. An individual average exposure per day is calculated, resulting in distributions of individual exposures per survey and population group. Based on these distributions, the average and 95th percentile of exposure is calculated per survey and per population group. Dietary exposure is assessed based on two different sets of data: (a) Maximum permitted levels (MPLs) of use set down in the EU legislation (defined as regulatory maximum level exposure assessment scenario) and (b) usage levels and/or analytical occurrence data (defined as refined exposure assessment scenario). The refined exposure assessment scenario is sub-divided into the brand-loyal consumer scenario and the non-brand-loyal consumer scenario. For the brand-loyal consumer scenario, the consumer is considered to be exposed on long-term basis to the highest reported usage/analytical level for one food group, and at the mean level for the remaining food groups. For the non-brand-loyal consumer scenario, the consumer is considered to be exposed on long-term basis to the mean reported usage/analytical level for all food groups. An additional exposure from sources other than direct addition of food additives (i.e. natural presence, contaminants, and carriers of food additives) is also estimated, as appropriate. Results: Since 2014, this methodology has been applied in about 30 food additive exposure assessments conducted as part of scientific opinions of the EFSA ANS Panel. For example, under the non-brand-loyal scenario, the highest 95th percentile of exposure to α-tocopherol (E 307) and ammonium phosphatides (E 442) was estimated in toddlers up to 5.9 and 8.7 mg/kg body weight/day, respectively. The same estimates under the brand-loyal scenario in toddlers resulted in exposures of 8.1 and 20.7 mg/kg body weight/day, respectively. For the regulatory maximum level exposure assessment scenario, the highest 95th percentile of exposure to α-tocopherol (E 307) and ammonium phosphatides (E 442) was estimated in toddlers up to 11.9 and 30.3 mg/kg body weight/day, respectively. Conclusions: Detailed and up-to-date information on food additive concentration values (usage and/or analytical occurrence data) and food consumption data enable the assessment of chronic dietary exposure to food additives to more realistic levels.

Keywords: α-tocopherol, ammonium phosphatides, dietary exposure assessment, European Food Safety Authority, food additives, food consumption data

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Authors: Katerina Zaharieva, Katya Milenova, Zara Cherkezova-Zheleva, Alexander Eliyas, Boris Kunev, Ivan Mitov

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The synthesized nanosized manganese ferrite-type of samples have been tested as photocatalysts in the reaction of oxidative degradation of model contaminant Reactive Black 5 (RB5) dye in aqueous solutions under UV irradiation. As it is known this azo dye is applied in the textile-coloring industry and it is discharged into the waterways causing pollution. The co-precipitation procedure has been used for the synthesis of manganese ferrite-type of materials: Sample 1 - Mn0.25Fe2.75O4, Sample 2 - Mn0.5Fe2.5O4 and Sample 3 - MnFe2O4 from 0.03M aqueous solutions of MnCl2•4H2O, FeCl2•4H2O and/or FeCl3•6H2O and 0.3M NaOH in appropriate amounts. The mechanochemical activation of co-precipitated ferrite-type of samples has been performed in argon (Samples 1 and 2) or in air atmosphere (Sample 3) for 2 hours at a milling speed of 500 rpm. The mechano-chemical treatment has been carried out in a high energy planetary ball mill type PM 100, Retsch, Germany. The mass ratio between balls and powder was 30:1. As a result mechanochemically activated Sample 4 - Mn0.25Fe2.75O4, Sample 5 - Mn0.5Fe2.5O4 and Sample 6 - MnFe2O4 have been obtained. The synthesized manganese ferrite-type photocatalysts have been characterized by X-ray diffraction method and Moessbauer spectroscopy. The registered X-ray diffraction patterns and Moessbauer spectra of co-precipitated ferrite-type of materials show the presence of manganese ferrite and additional akaganeite phase. The presence of manganese ferrite and small amounts of iron phases is established in the mechanochemically treated samples. The calculated average crystallite size of manganese ferrites varies within the range 7 – 13 nm. This result is confirmed by Moessbauer study. The registered spectra show superparamagnetic behavior of the prepared materials at room temperature. The photocatalytic investigations have been made using polychromatic UV-A light lamp (Sylvania BLB, 18 W) illumination with wavelength maximum at 365 nm. The intensity of light irradiation upon the manganese ferrite-type photocatalysts was 0.66 mW.cm-2. The photocatalytic reaction of oxidative degradation of RB5 dye was carried out in a semi-batch slurry photocatalytic reactor with 0.15 g of ferrite-type powder, 150 ml of 20 ppm dye aqueous solution under magnetic stirring at rate 400 rpm and continuously feeding air flow. The samples achieved adsorption-desorption equilibrium in the dark period for 30 min and then the UV-light was turned on. After regular time intervals aliquot parts from the suspension were taken out and centrifuged to separate the powder from solution. The residual concentrations of dye were established by a UV-Vis absorbance single beam spectrophotometer CamSpec M501 (UK) measuring in the wavelength region from 190 to 800 nm. The photocatalytic measurements determined that the apparent pseudo-first-order rate constants calculated by linear slopes approximating to first order kinetic equation, increase in following order: Sample 3 (1.1х10-3 min-1) < Sample 1 (2.2х10-3 min-1) < Sample 2 (3.3 х10-3 min-1) < Sample 4 (3.8х10-3 min-1) < Sample 6 (11х10-3 min-1) < Sample 5 (15.2х10-3 min-1). The mechanochemically activated manganese ferrite-type of photocatalyst samples show significantly higher degree of oxidative degradation of RB5 dye after 120 minutes of UV light illumination in comparison with co-precipitated ferrite-type samples: Sample 5 (92%) > Sample 6 (91%) > Sample 4 (63%) > Sample 2 (53%) > Sample 1 (42%) > Sample 3 (15%). Summarizing the obtained results we conclude that the mechanochemical activation leads to a significant enhancement of the degree of oxidative degradation of the RB5 dye and photocatalytic activity of tested manganese ferrite-type of catalyst samples under our experimental conditions. The mechanochemically activated Mn0.5Fe2.5O4 ferrite-type of material displays the highest photocatalytic activity (15.2х10-3 min-1) and degree of oxidative degradation of the RB5 dye (92%) compared to the other synthesized samples. Especially a significant improvement in the degree of oxidative degradation of RB5 dye (91%) has been determined for mechanochemically treated MnFe2O4 ferrite-type of sample with the highest extent of substitution of iron ions by manganese ions than in the case of the co-precipitated MnFe2O4 sample (15%). The mechanochemically activated manganese ferrite-type of samples show good photocatalytic properties in the reaction of oxidative degradation of RB5 azo dye in aqueous solutions and it could find potential application for dye removal from wastewaters originating from textile industry.

Keywords: nanostructured manganese ferrite-type materials, photocatalytic activity, Reactive Black 5, water treatment

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Authors: Oscar Bareiro, Johannes Sackmann, Thomas Gries

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Carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites (CFRP) are used in a wide variety of applications due to its advantageous properties and design versatility. The braiding process enables the manufacture of components with good toughness and fatigue strength. However, failure mechanisms of CFRPs are complex and still present challenges associated with their maintenance and repair. Within the broad scope of structural health monitoring (SHM), strain monitoring can be applied to composite materials to improve reliability, reduce maintenance costs and safely exhaust service life. Traditional SHM systems employ e.g. fiber optics, piezoelectrics as sensors, which are often expensive, time consuming and complicated to implement. A cost-efficient alternative can be the exploitation of the conductive properties of fiber-based sensors such as carbon, copper, or constantan - a copper-nickel alloy – that can be utilized as sensors within composite structures to achieve strain monitoring. This allows the structure to provide feedback via electrical signals to a user which are essential for evaluating the structural condition of the structure. This work presents a strategy for the in-process integration of resistance-based sensors (Elektrisola Feindraht AG, CuNi23Mn, Ø = 0.05 mm) into textile preforms during its manufacture via the braiding process (Herzog RF-64/120) to achieve strain monitoring of braided composites. For this, flat samples of instrumented composite laminates of carbon fibers (Toho Tenax HTS40 F13 24K, 1600 tex) and epoxy resin (Epikote RIMR 426) were manufactured via vacuum-assisted resin infusion. These flat samples were later cut out into test specimens and the integrated sensors were wired to the measurement equipment (National Instruments, VB-8012) for data acquisition during the execution of mechanical tests. Quasi-static tests were performed (tensile, 3-point bending tests) following standard protocols (DIN EN ISO 527-1 & 4, DIN EN ISO 14132); additionally, dynamic tensile tests were executed. These tests were executed to assess the sensor response under different loading conditions and to evaluate the influence of the sensor presence on the mechanical properties of the material. Several orientations of the sensor with regards to the applied loading and sensor placements inside the laminate were tested. Strain measurements from the integrated sensors were made by programming a data acquisition code (LabView) written for the measurement equipment. Strain measurements from the integrated sensors were then correlated to the strain/stress state for the tested samples. From the assessment of the sensor integration approach it can be concluded that it allows for a seamless sensor integration into the textile preform. No damage to the sensor or negative effect on its electrical properties was detected during inspection after integration. From the assessment of the mechanical tests of instrumented samples it can be concluded that the presence of the sensors does not alter significantly the mechanical properties of the material. It was found that there is a good correlation between resistance measurements from the integrated sensors and the applied strain. It can be concluded that the correlation is of sufficient accuracy to determinate the strain state of a composite laminate based solely on the resistance measurements from the integrated sensors.

Keywords: braiding process, in-process sensor integration, instrumented composite material, resistance-based sensor, strain monitoring

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Authors: Melissa de Zeeuw, Peter Smolianov, Arnold Bohl

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This study was designed to help and improve international performance as well increase swimming participation in the Netherlands. Over 200 sources of literature on sport delivery systems from 28 Australasian, North and South American, Western and Eastern European countries were analyzed to construct a globally applicable model of high performance swimming integrated with mass participation, comprising of the following seven elements and three levels: Micro level (operations, processes, and methodologies for development of individual athletes): 1. Talent search and development, 2. Advanced athlete support. Meso level (infrastructures, personnel, and services enabling sport programs): 3. Training centers, 4. Competition systems, 5. Intellectual services. Macro level (socio-economic, cultural, legislative, and organizational): 6. Partnerships with supporting agencies, 7. Balanced and integrated funding and structures of mass and elite sport. This model emerged from the integration of instruments that have been used to analyse and compare national sport systems. The model has received scholarly validation and showed to be a framework for program analysis that is not culturally bound. It has recently been accepted as a model for further understanding North American sport systems, including (in chronological order of publications) US rugby, tennis, soccer, swimming and volleyball. The above model was used to design a questionnaire of 42 statements reflecting desired practices. The statements were validated by 12 international experts, including executives from sport governing bodies, academics who published on high performance and sport development, and swimming coaches and administrators. In this study both a highly structured and open ended qualitative analysis tools were used. This included a survey of swim coaches where open responses accompanied structured questions. After collection of the surveys, semi-structured discussions with Federation coaches were conducted to add triangulation to the findings. Lastly, a content analysis of Dutch Swimming’s website and organizational documentation was conducted. A representative sample of 1,600 Dutch Swim coaches and administrators was collected via email addresses from Royal Dutch Swimming Federation' database. Fully completed questionnaires were returned by 122 coaches from all key country’s regions for a response rate of 7,63% - higher than the response rate of the previously mentioned US studies which used the same model and method. Results suggest possible enhancements at macro level (e.g., greater public and corporate support to prepare and hire more coaches and to address the lack of facilities, monies and publicity at mass participation level in order to make swimming affordable for all), at meso level (e.g., comprehensive education for all coaches and full spectrum of swimming pools particularly 50 meters long), and at micro level (e.g., better preparation of athletes for a future outside swimming and better use of swimmers to stimulate swimming development). Best Dutch swimming management practices (e.g., comprehensive support to most talented swimmers who win Olympic medals) as well as relevant international practices available for transfer to the Netherlands (e.g., high school competitions) are discussed.

Keywords: sport development, high performance, mass participation, swimming

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Ana Violante, Jodie Maccarrone, Maria Fimiani

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In the United States, over 30 million people are hospitalized annually for conditions that require acute, 24-hour, supervised care. The experience of hospitalization can be traumatic, exposing the patient to loss of control, autonomy, and productivity. Furthermore, 40% of patients admitted to hospitals for general medical illness have a comorbid psychiatric diagnosis. Research suggests individuals admitted with psychiatric comorbidities experience poorer health outcomes, higher utilization rates and increased overall cost of care. Empirical work suggests hospital settings that include a consultation liaison (CL) service report reduced length of stay, lower costs per patient, improved medical staff and patient satisfaction and reduced readmission after 180 days. Despite the overall positive impact CL services can have on patient care, it is estimated that only 1% - 2.8% of hospital admits receive these services, and most research has been conducted by the field of psychiatry. Health psychologists could play an important role in increasing access to this valuable service, though the extent to which health psychologists participate in CL settings is not well known. Objective: Outline the preliminary findings from an empirical study to understand how many APPIC internship training programs offer adult consultation liaison rotations within inpatient hospital settings nationally, as well as describe the specific nature of these training experiences. Research Method/Design: Data was exported into Excel from the 2022-2023 APPIC Directory categorized as “health psychology” sites. It initially returned a total of 537 health training programs out 1518 total programs (35% of all APPIC programs). A full review included a quantitative and qualitative comprehensive review of the APPIC program summary, the site website, and program brochures. The quantitative review extracted the number of training positions; amount of stipend; location or state of program, patient, population, and rotation. The qualitative review examined the nature of the training experience. Results: 29 (5%) of all APPIC health psychology internship training programs (2%) respectively of all APPIC training internship programs offering internship CL training were identified. Of the 29 internship training programs, 16 were exclusively within a pediatric setting (55%), 11 were exclusively within an adult setting (38%), and two were a mix of pediatric and adult settings (7%). CL training sites were located to 19 states, offering a total of 153 positions nationally, with Florida containing the largest number of programs (4). Only six programs offered 12-month training opportunities while the rest offered CL as a major (6 month) to minor (3-4 month) rotation. The program’s stipend for CL training positions ranged from $25,000 to $62,400, with an average of $32,056. Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest CL training and services are currently limited. Training opportunities that do exist are mostly limited to minor, short rotations and governed by psychiatry. Health psychologists are well-positioned to better define the role of psychology in consultation liaison services and enhance and formalize existing training protocols. Future research should explore in more detail empirical outcomes of CL services that employ psychology and delineate the contributions of psychology from psychiatry and other disciplines within an inpatient hospital setting.

Keywords: consultation liaison, health psychology, hospital setting, training

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Authors: Ankit Khurana

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The sufficient heat storage capacity or ability to dissipate heat is the most decisive parameter to have an effective and efficient functioning of Friction-based Brake Disc systems. The primary aim of the research was to analyse the effect of multiple coatings on lightweight disk rotors surface which not only alleviates the mass of vehicle & also, augments heat transfer. This research is projected to aid the automobile fraternity with an enunciated view over the thermal aspects in a braking system. The results of the project indicate that with the advent of modern coating technologies a brake system’s thermal curtailments can be removed and together with forced convection, heat transfer processes can see a drastic improvement leading to increased lifetime of the brake rotor. Other advantages of modifying the surface of a lightweight rotor substrate will be to reduce the overall weight of the vehicle, decrease the risk of thermal brake failure (brake fade and fluid vaporization), longer component life, as well as lower noise and vibration characteristics. A mathematical model was constructed in MATLAB which encompassing the various thermal characteristics of the proposed coatings and substrate materials required to approximate the heat flux values in a free and forced convection environment; resembling to a real-time braking phenomenon which could easily be modelled into a full cum scaled version of the alloy brake rotor part in ABAQUS. The finite element of a brake rotor was modelled in a constrained environment such that the nodal temperature between the contact surfaces of the coatings and substrate (Wrought Aluminum alloy) resemble an amalgamated solid brake rotor element. The initial results obtained were for a Plasma Electrolytic Oxidized (PEO) substrate wherein the Aluminum alloy gets a hard ceramic oxide layer grown on its transitional phase. The rotor was modelled and then evaluated in real-time for a constant ‘g’ braking event (based upon the mathematical heat flux input and convective surroundings), which reflected the necessity to deposit a conducting coat (sacrificial) above the PEO layer in order to inhibit thermal degradation of the barrier coating prematurely. Taguchi study was then used to bring out certain critical factors which may influence the maximum operating temperature of a multi-coated brake disc by simulating brake tests: a) an Alpine descent lasting 50 seconds; b) an Autobahn stop lasting 3.53 seconds; c) a Six–high speed repeated stop in accordance to FMVSS 135 lasting 46.25 seconds. Thermal Barrier coating thickness and Vane heat transfer coefficient were the two most influential factors and owing to their design and manufacturing constraints a final optimized model was obtained which survived the 6-high speed stop test as per the FMVSS -135 specifications. The simulation data highlighted the merits for preferring Wrought Aluminum alloy 7068 over Grey Cast Iron and Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite in coherence with the multiple coating depositions.

Keywords: lightweight brakes, surface modification, simulated braking, PEO, aluminum

Procedia PDF Downloads 387

Authors: Margarita Dufresne

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This study devoted to development TPS for small space re-usable launchers. We have used SIRIUS design for S1 prototype. Multiphysics coupling for hypersonic reactive flow and thermos-structural analysis with and without ablation is provided by -CCM+ and COMSOL Multiphysics and FASTRAN and ACE+. Flow around hypersonic flight vehicles is the interaction of multiple shocks and the interaction of shocks with boundary layers. These interactions can have a very strong impact on the aeroheating experienced by the flight vehicle. A real gas implies the existence of a gas in equilibrium, non-equilibrium. Mach number ranged from 5 to 10 for first stage flight.The goals of this effort are to provide validation of the iterative coupling of hypersonic physics models in STAR-CCM+ and FASTRAN with COMSOL Multiphysics and ACE+. COMSOL Multiphysics and ACE+ are used for thermal structure analysis to simulate Conjugate Heat Transfer, with Conduction, Free Convection and Radiation to simulate Heat Flux from hypersonic flow. The reactive simulations involve an air chemical model of five species: N, N2, NO, O and O2. Seventeen chemical reactions, involving dissociation and recombination probabilities calculation include in the Dunn/Kang mechanism. Forward reaction rate coefficients based on a modified Arrhenius equation are computed for each reaction. The algorithms employed to solve the reactive equations used the second-order numerical scheme is obtained by a “MUSCL” (Monotone Upstream-cantered Schemes for Conservation Laws) extrapolation process in the structured case. Coupled inviscid flux: AUSM+ flux-vector splitting The MUSCL third-order scheme in STAR-CCM+ provides third-order spatial accuracy, except in the vicinity of strong shocks, where, due to limiting, the spatial accuracy is reduced to second-order and provides improved (i.e., reduced) dissipation compared to the second-order discretization scheme. initial unstructured mesh is refined made using this initial pressure gradient technique for the shock/shock interaction test case. The suggested by NASA turbulence models are the K-Omega SST with a1 = 0.355 and QCR (quadratic) as the constitutive option. Specified k and omega explicitly in initial conditions and in regions – k = 1E-6 *Uinf^2 and omega = 5*Uinf/ (mean aerodynamic chord or characteristic length). We put into practice modelling tips for hypersonic flow as automatic coupled solver, adaptative mesh refinement to capture and refine shock front, using advancing Layer Mesher and larger prism layer thickness to capture shock front on blunt surfaces. The temperature range from 300K to 30 000 K and pressure between 1e-4 and 100 atm. FASTRAN and ACE+ are coupled to provide high-fidelity solution for hot hypersonic reactive flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer. The results of both approaches meet the CIRCA wind tunnel results.

Keywords: hypersonic, first stage, high speed compressible flow, shock wave, aerodynamic heating, conugate heat transfer, conduction, free convection, radiation, fastran, ace+, comsol multiphysics, star-ccm+, thermal protection system (tps), space launcher, wind tunnel

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Authors: Jayanta Basak, Somprakash Bandyopadhyay, Parama Bhaumik, Siuli Roy

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To solve the life and livelihood related problems of socially and economically backward rural women in India, several Women Self-Help Groups (WSHG) are formed in Indian villages. WSHGs are micro-communities (with 10-to 15 members) within a village community. WSHGs have been conceived not just to promote savings and provide credit, but also to act as a vehicle of change through the creation of women micro-entrepreneurs at the village level. However, in spite of huge investment and volume of people involved in the whole process, the success is still limited. Most of these entrepreneurial activities happen in small household workspaces where sales are limited to the inconsistent and unpredictable local markets. As a result, these entrepreneurs are perennially trapped in the vicious cycle of low risk taking ability, low investment capacity, low productivity, weak market linkages and low revenue. Market separation including customer-producer separation is one of the key problems in this domain. Researchers suggest that there are four types of market separation: (i) spatial, (ii) financial, (iii) temporal, and (iv) informational, which in turn impacts the nature of markets and marketing. In this context, a large group of intermediaries (the 'middleman') plays important role in effectively reducing the factors that separate markets by utilizing the resource of rural entrepreneurs, their products and thus, accelerate market development. The rural entrepreneurs are heavily dependent on these middlemen for marketing of their products and these middlemen exploit rural entrepreneurs by creating a huge informational separation between the rural producers and end-consumers in the market and thus hiding the profit margins. The objective of this study is to develop a transparent, online communities of purpose among rural and urban entrepreneurs using internet and web 2.0 technologies in order to decrease market separation and improve mutual awareness of available and potential products and market demands. Communities of purpose are groups of people who have an ability to influence, can share knowledge and learn from others, and be committed to achieving a common purpose. In this study, a cluster of SHG women located in a village 'Kandi' of West Bengal, India has been studied closely for six months. These women are primarily engaged in producing garments, soft toys, fabric painting on clothes, etc. These women were equipped with internet-enabled smart-phones where they can use chat applications in local language and common social networking websites like Facebook, Instagram, etc. A few handicraft experts and micro-entrepreneurs from the city (the 'seed') were included in their mobile messaging app group that enables the creation of a 'community of purpose' in order to share thoughts and ideas on product designs, market trends, and practices, and thus decrease the rural-urban market separation. After six months of regular group interaction in mobile messaging app among these rural-urban community members, it is observed that SHG women are empowered now to share their product images, design ideas, showcase, and promote their products in global marketplace using some common social networking websites through which they can also enhance and augment their community of purpose.

Keywords: communities of purpose, market separation, self-help group, social technologies

Procedia PDF Downloads 231

Authors: Yusuf Berkay Metinal, Gulden Gumusburun Ayalp

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Architectural education is characterized by its distinctive amalgamation of studio-based pedagogy and theoretical instruction. It offers students a comprehensive learning experience that blends practical skill development with critical inquiry and conceptual exploration. Design studios are central to this educational paradigm, which serve as dynamic hubs of creativity and innovation, providing students with immersive environments for experimentation and collaborative engagement. The physical presence and interactive dynamics inherent in studio-based learning underscore the indispensability of face-to-face instruction and interpersonal interaction in nurturing the next generation of architects. However, architectural education underwent a seismic transformation in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, precipitating an abrupt transition from traditional, in-person instruction to online education modalities. While this shift introduced newfound flexibility in terms of temporal and spatial constraints, it also brought many challenges to the fore. Chief among these challenges was maintaining effective communication and fostering meaningful collaboration among students in virtual learning environments. Besides these challenges, lack of peer learning emerged as a vital issue of the educational experience, particularly crucial for novice students navigating the intricacies of architectural practice. Nevertheless, the pivot to online education also laid bare a discernible decline in educational efficacy, prompting inquiries regarding the enduring viability of online education in architectural pedagogy. Moreover, as educational institutions grappled with the exigencies of remote instruction, discernible disparities between different institutional contexts emerged. While state universities often contended with fiscal constraints that shaped their operational capacities, private institutions encountered challenges from a lack of institutional fortification and entrenched educational traditions. Acknowledging the multifaceted nature of these challenges, this study endeavored to undertake a comprehensive inquiry into the dynamics of online education within architectural pedagogy by interrogating variables such as class level and type of university; the research aimed to elucidate demographic critical success factors that underpin the effectiveness of online education initiatives. To this end, a meticulously constructed questionnaire was administered to architecture students from diverse academic institutions across Turkey, informed by an exhaustive review of extant literature and scholarly discourse. The resulting dataset, comprising responses from 232 participants, underwent rigorous statistical analysis, including independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA, to discern patterns and correlations indicative of overarching trends and salient insights. In sum, the findings of this study serve as a scholarly compass for educators, policymakers, and stakeholders navigating the evolving landscapes of architectural education. By elucidating the intricate interplay of demographical factors that shape the efficacy of online education in architectural pedagogy, this research offers a scholarly foundation upon which to anchor informed decisions and strategic interventions to elevate the educational experience for future cohorts of aspiring architects.

Keywords: architectural education, COVID-19, distance education, online education

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