Search results for: business process model and notation

Authors: Dragan Zivotic, Mirjana Ilic, Aleksandra Perovic, Predrag Gavrilovic

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As with the provision of other services, the service quality perception is one of the key factors that the modern manager must pay attention to. Countries in which the state regulation is in transition also have specific features in providing fitness services. Identification of the dimensions in which the most significant different service quality perception between different types of fitness centers, enables managers to profile the offer according to the wishes and expectations of users. The aim of the paper was the comparison of the quality of services perception in the field of fitness in Serbia between three categories of fitness centers: the privately owned centers, the publicly owned centers, and the Public-private partnership centers. For this research 350 respondents of both genders (174 men and 176 women) were interviewed, aged between 18 and 68 years, being beneficiaries of fitness services for at least 1 year. Administered questionnaire with 100 items provided information about the 15 basic areas in which they expressed the service quality perception in the gym. The core sample was composed of 212 service users in private fitness centers, 69 service users in public fitness centers and 69 service users in the public-private partnership. Sub-samples were equal in representation of women and men, as well as by age and length of use of fitness services. The obtained results were subject of univariate analysis with the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric analysis of variance. Significant differences between the analyzed sub-samples were not found solely in the areas of rapid response and quality outcomes. In the multivariate model, the results were processed by backward stepwise discriminant analysis that extracted 3 areas that maximize the differences between sub-samples: material and technical basis, secondary facilities and coaches. By applying the classification function 93.87% of private centers services users, 62.32% of public centers services users and 85.51% of the public-private partnership centers users of services were correctly classified (total 86.00%). These results allow optimizing the allocation of the necessary resources in profiling offers of a fitness center in order to optimally adjust it to the user’s needs and expectations.

Keywords: fitness, quality perception, management, public ownership, private ownership, public-private partnership, discriminative analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 295

Authors: Neşe Alkan

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Purpose: The point that applied/clinical psychology, which is the practice and research discipline of the mental health field, has reached today can be summarized as the necessity of handling the psychological well-being of people from multiple perspectives and the goal of moving it to a higher level. Clients' subjective assessment of their own condition and wellbeing is an integral part of evidence-based interventions. There is a need for tools through which clients can evaluate the effectiveness of the psychotherapy/intervention performed with them and their contribution to the wellbeing and wellbeing of this process in a valid and reliable manner. The aim of this research is to meet this need, to test the reliability and validity of the index in Turkish, and explore its usability in the practices of both researchers and psychotherapists. Method: A total of 213 adults aged between 18-54, 69.5% working and 29.5% university students, were included in the study. Along with their demographic information, the participants were administered a set of scales: wellbeing, life satisfaction, spiritual satisfaction, shopping addiction, and loneliness, namely via an online platform. The construct validity of the wellbeing scale was tested with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, convergent and discriminant validity were tested with two-way full and partial correlation analyses and, measurement invariance was tested with one-way analysis of variance. Results: Factor analyzes showed that the scale consisted of six dimensions as it is in its original structure. The internal consistency of the scale was found to be Cronbach α = .82. Two-way correlation analyzes revealed that the wellbeing scale total score was positively correlated with general life satisfaction (r = .62) and spiritual satisfaction (r = .29), as expected. It was negatively correlated with loneliness (r = -.51) and shopping addiction (r = -.15). While the scale score did not vary by gender, previous illness, or nicotine addiction, it was found that the total wellbeing scale scores of the participants who had used antidepressant medication during the past year were lower than those who did not use antidepressant medication (F(1,204) = 7.713, p = .005). Conclusion: It has been concluded that the 12-item wellbeing scale consisting of six dimensions can be used in research and health sciences practices as a valid and reliable measurement tool. Further research which examines the reliability and validity of the scale in different widely used languages such as Spanish and Chinese is recommended.

Keywords: wellbeing, intervention effectiveness, reliability and validity, effectiveness

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Authors: Daral Maesincee, Jompol Thongpaen

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Thus far, most of the decisions made within the walls of Thai higher education (HE) institutions have primarily been supply-oriented. With the current supply-driven, itemized HE financing systems, the nation is struggling to systemically produce high-quality manpower that serves the market’s needs, often resulting in education mismatches and unemployment – particularly in science, technology, and innovation (STI)-related fields. With the COVID-19 pandemic challenges widening the education inequality (accessibility and quality) gap, HE becomes even more unobtainable for underprivileged students, permanently leaving some out of the system. Therefore, Thai HE needs a new financing system that produces the “right people” for the “right occupations” through the “right ways,” regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds, and encourages the creation of non-degree courses to tackle these ongoing challenges. The “Demand-Side Financing for Thai Higher Education” policy aims to do so by offering a new paradigm of HE resource allocation via two main mechanisms: i) standardized formula-based unit-cost subsidizations that is specific to each study field and ii) student loan programs that respond to the “demand signals” from the labor market and the students, that are in line with the country’s priorities. Through in-dept reviews, extensive studies, and consultations with various experts, education committees, and related agencies, i) the method of demand signal analysis is identified, ii) the unit-cost of each student in the sample study fields is approximated, iii) the method of budget analysis is formulated, iv) the interagency workflows are established, and v) a supporting information database is created to suggest the number of graduates each HE institution can potentially produce, the study fields and skillsets that are needed by the labor market, the employers’ satisfaction with the graduates, and each study field’s employment rates. By responding to the needs of all stakeholders, this policy is expected to steer Thai HE toward producing more STI-related manpower in order to uplift Thai people’s quality of life and enhance the nation’s global competitiveness. This policy is currently in the process of being considered by the National Education Transformation Committee and the Higher Education Commission.

Keywords: demand-side financing, higher education resource, human capital, higher education

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Authors: Asinguza P. Allan

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The Advocacy for Better Health aims to equip citizens with enabling environment and systems to effectively advocate for strong action plans to improve health services. This is because the 2020 Government target for Uganda to transform into a middle income country will be achieved if investment is made in keeping the population healthy and productive. Citizen participation as an important foundation for change has been emphasized to gather data through participatory rural appraisal and inform evidence-based advocacy for recruitment and motivation of human resources. Citizens conduct problem ranking during advocacy forums on staffing levels and health worker absenteeism. Citizens prioritised inadequate number of midwives and absenteeism. On triangulation, health worker to population ratio in Uganda remains at 0.25/1,000 which is far below the World Health Organization (WHO) threshold of 2.3/1,000. Working with IntraHealth, the project advocated for recruitment of critical skilled staff (doctors and midwives) and scale up health workers motivation strategy to reduce Uganda’s Neonatal Mortality Rate of 22/1,000 and Maternal Mortality Ratio of 320/100,000. Government has committed to increase staffing to 80% by 2018 (10 districts have passed ordinances and revived use of duty rosters to address health worker absenteeism. On the other hand, the better health advocacy debate has been elevated with need to increase health sector budget allocations from 8% to 10%. The project has learnt that building a body of evidence from citizens enhances the advocacy agenda. Communities will further monitor government commitments to reduce Neonatal Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Ratio. The project has learnt that interface meeting between duty bearers and the community allows for immediate feedback and the process is a strong instrument for empowerment. It facilitates monitoring and performance evaluation of services, projects and government administrative units (like district assemblies) by the community members themselves. This, in turn, makes the human resources in health to be accountable, transparent and responsive to communities where they work. This, in turn, promotes human resource performance.

Keywords: advocacy, empowerment, evidence, human resources

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Hajar Zarei, AliAkbar Zarenejadatashgah, Vuk Uskoković, Hiroshi Watabe

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The reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by radiation in nuclear diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy could damage the structure of the proteins in noncancerous cells surrounding the tumor. The critical factor in many age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer, Parkinson, or Huntington diseases, is the oxidation of proteins by the ROS as molecular triggers of the given pathologies. Our studies by spectroscopic experiments showed doses close to therapeutic ones (1 to 5 Gy) could lead to changes of secondary and tertiary structures in BSA protein macromolecule as a protein model as well as the aggregation of polypeptide chain but without the fragmentation. For this reason, we investigated the radioprotective effects of natural (vitamin C and E) and synthetic materials (CNPs and FIOMPs) on the structural changes in BSA protein induced by gamma irradiation at a therapeutic dose (3Gy). In the presence of both vitamins and synthetic materials, the spectroscopic studies revealed that irradiated BSA was protected from the structural changes caused by ROS, according to in vitro research. The radioprotective property of CNPs and FIOMPs arises from enzyme mimetic activities (catalase, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase) and their antioxidant capability against hydroxyl radicals. In the case of FIOMPs, a porous structure also leads to increased ROS recombination with each other in the same radiolytic track and subsequently decreased encounters with BSA. The hydrophilicity of vitamin C resulted in the major scavenging of ROS in the solvent, whereas hydrophobic vitamin E localized on the nonpolar patches of the BSA surface, where it did not only neutralize them thanks to the moderate BSA binding constant but also formed a barrier for diffusing ROS. To the best of our knowledge, there has been a persistent lack of studies investigating the radioactive effect of mentioned materials on proteins. Therefore, the results of our studies can open a new widow for application of these common dietary ingredients and new synthetic NPs in improving the safety of radiotherapy.

Keywords: reactive oxygen species, spectroscopy, bovine serum albumin, gamma radiation, radioprotection

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Authors: Tara Moore

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Madagascar is one of the regions of the world with the highest biodiversity, with more than 600 new species discovered in just the last decade. In parallel with its record-breaking biodiversity, Madagascar is also the tenth poorest country in the world. The resultant socio-economic pressures are leading to a highly threatened environment. In particular, deforestation is at the core of biodiversity and ecosystem loss, primarily from slash and burn agriculture and illegal rosewood tree harvesting. Effective policy response is imperative for improved conservation in Madagascar. However, these changes cannot come from the current, unstable government institutions. After a violent and politically turbulent coup in 2009, any effort to defend Madagascar's biodiversity has been eclipsed by the high corruption of government bodies. This paper presents three policy options designed for a private donor to invest in conservation in Madagascar. The first proposed policy consists of payments for ecosystem services model, which involves paying local Malagasy women to reforest nearby territories. The second option is a micro-irrigation system proposal involving relocating local Malagasy out of the threatened forest region. The final proposition is captive breeding funding for the Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group, which could then lead to new reintroductions in the threatened northeastern rainforests. In the end, all three options present feasible, impactful options for a conservation-minded major donor. Ideally, the policy change would involve a combination of all three options, as each provides necessary development and conservation re-structuring goals. Option one, payments for ecosystem services, would be the preferred choice if there were only enough funding for one project. The payments for ecosystem services project both support local populations and promotes sustainable development while reforesting the threatened Marojejy National Park. Regardless of the chosen policy solution, any support from a donor will make a huge impact if it supports both sustainable development and biodiversity conservation.

Keywords: captive breeding, cnservation policy, lemur conservation, Madagascar conservation, payments for ecosystem services

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Authors: V. Morenov, E. Leusheva

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Power supplying of well drilling on oil and gas fields at ambient air low temperatures is characterized by increased requirements of electric and heat energy. Power costs for heating of production facilities, technological and living objects may several times exceed drilling equipment electric power consumption. Power supplying of prospecting and exploitation drilling objects is usually done by means of local electric power structures based on diesel power stations. In the meantime, exploitation of oil fields is accompanied by vast quantities of extracted associated petroleum gas, and while developing gas fields there are considerable amounts of natural gas and gas condensate. In this regard implementation of gas-powered self-sufficient power units functioning on produced crude products for power supplying is seen as most potential. For these purposes gas turbines (GT) or gas reciprocating engines (GRE) may be used. In addition gas-powered units are most efficiently used in cogeneration mode - combined heat and power production. Conducted research revealed that GT generate more heat than GRE while producing electricity. One of the latest GT design are microturbines (MT) - devices that may be efficiently exploited in combined heat and power mode. In conditions of ambient air low temperatures and high velocity wind sufficient heat supplying is required for both technological process, specifically for drilling mud heating, and for maintaining comfortable working conditions at the rig. One of the main heat regime parameters are the heat losses. Due to structural peculiarities of the rig most of the heat losses occur at cold air infiltration through the technological apertures and hatchways and heat transition of isolation constructions. Also significant amount of heat is required for working temperature sustaining of the drilling mud. Violation of circulation thermal regime may lead to ice build-up on well surfaces and ice blockages in armature elements. That is why it is important to ensure heating of the drilling mud chamber according to ambient air temperature. Needed heat power will be defined by heat losses of the chamber. Noting heat power required for drilling structure functioning, it is possible to create combined heat and power complex based on MT for satisfying consumer power needs and at the same time lowering power generation costs. As a result, combined power supplying scheme for multiple well drilling utilizing heat of MT flue gases was developed.

Keywords: combined heat, combined power, drilling, electric supply, gas-powered units, heat supply

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Authors: Risheka Suthantirakumar, Eilish Pearson, Jacqueline Woodman

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Background: Previous research has found a variety of rates and reasons for choosing medically unindicated elective repeat cesarean section (ERCS). Understanding the frequency and reasoning of ERCS, especially when unwarranted, could help healthcare professionals better tailor their advice and service. Therefore, our study conducted meta-analyses and qualitative analyses to identify the reasons and rates worldwide for choosing this procedure over the trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC), also referred to in published literature as vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC). Methods: We conducted a systematic review of published literature available on PubMed, EMBASE, and science.gov and conducted a blinded peer review process to assess eligibility. Search terms were created in collaboration with experts in the field. An inclusion and exclusion criteria were established prior to reviewing the articles. Included studies were limited to those published in English due to author constraints, although no international boundaries were used in the search. No time limit for the search was used in order to portray changes over time. Results: Our qualitative analyses found five consistent themes across international studies, which were socioeconomic and cultural differences, previous cesarean experience, perceptions of risk with vaginal birth, patients’ perceptions of future benefits, and medical advice and information. Our meta-analyses found variable rates of ERCS across international borders and within national populations. The average rate across all studies was 44% (CI 95% 36-51). Discussion: The studies included in our qualitative analysis demonstrated similar repetitive themes, which give validity to the findings across the studies included. We consider the rate variation across and within national populations to be partially a result of differing inclusion and eligibility assessment between different studies and argue that a proforma be utilized for future research to be comparable.

Keywords: elective cesarean section, VBAC, TOLAC, maternal choice

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Authors: M. Mutoti, J. Gumbo, A. Jideani

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Cyanobacteria or blue green algae have been part of the human diet for thousands of years. Cyanobacteria can multiply quickly in surface waters and form blooms when favorable conditions prevail, such as high temperature, intense light, high pH, and increased availability of nutrients, especially phosphorous and nitrogen, artificially released by anthropogenic activities. Consumption of edible cyanotoxins such as Spirulina may reduce risks of cataracts and age related macular degeneration. Sulfate polysaccharides exhibit antitumor, anticoagulant, anti-mutagenic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and even antiviral activity against HIV, herpes, and hepatitis. In humans, exposure to cyanotoxins can occur in various ways; however, the oral route is the most important. This is mainly through drinking water, or by eating contaminated foods; it may even involve ingesting water during recreational activities. This paper seeks to present a review on cyanobacteria/cyanotoxin contamination of water and food and implications for human health. In particular, examining the water quality used during maize seed that passes through mill grinding processes. In order to fulfil the objective, this paper starts with the theoretical framework on cyanobacteria contamination of food that will guide review of the present paper. A number of methods for decontaminating cyanotoxins in food is currently available. Therefore, physical, chemical, and biological methods for treating cyanotoxins are reviewed and compared. Furthermore, methods that are utilized for detecting and identifying cyanobacteria present in water and food were also informed in this review. This review has indicated various routes through which humans can be exposed to cyanotoxins. Accumulation of cyanotoxins, mainly microcystins, in food has raised an awareness of the importance of food as microcystins exposure route to human body. Therefore, this review demonstrates the importance of expanding research on cyanobacteria/cyanotoxin contamination of water and food for water treatment and water supply management, with focus on examining water for domestic use. This will help providing information regarding the prevention or minimization of contamination of water and food, and also reduction or removal of contamination through treatment processes and prevention of recontamination in the distribution system.

Keywords: biofilm, cyanobacteria, cyanotoxin, food contamination

Procedia PDF Downloads 166

Authors: Rai Friedman

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The recent migrant crisis has revealed an unmet demand for increased international protection and promotion of migrant rights. Europe has found itself at the centre of the migration crisis, being the recipient to the largest number of asylum-seekers since the conclusion of the second World War. Rather than impart a unified humanitarian lens of offering legal protections, the Schengen territory is devising new, preventative measures to confront the influx of asylum-seekers. This paper will focus on the refugee crisis in Europe as it relates to the Central Mediterranean route. To do so, it will outline the increased need for international protection for migrant rights through analyzing historic human rights treaties and conventions; the formation of the current composition of the Schengen area; the evolutionary changes in policies and legal landscapes throughout Europe and the Central Mediterranean route; the vernacular transformation surrounding refugees, migrants, and asylum-seekers; and expose the gaps in international protection. It will also discuss Europe’s critical position, both geographically and conceptually, critiquing the notion of European victimization. Lastly, it will discuss the increased harm of preventative border measures and argue for tangible sustainability solutions through economic programming models in highly vulnerable countries. To do so, this paper will observe a case study in Algeria that has conceded to an economic programming model for forced migrants. In 2017 amid worker shortages, Algeria announced it would grant African migrants’ legal status to become agriculturalists and construction workers. Algeria is one of the few countries along the Central Mediterranean route that has adopted a law to govern foreign nationals’ conditions of entry, stay and circulation. Thereafter, it will provide recommendations for solutions for forced migration along the Central Mediterranean route and advocate for strengthened protections under international law.

Keywords: refugees, migrants, human rights, middle east, Africa, mediterranean, international humanitarian law, policy

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Stefan Andersson, Balram Panjwani, Bernd Wittgens, Jan Erik Olsen

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Polycyclic Aromatic hydrocarbons are organic compounds consisting of only hydrogen and carbon aromatic rings. PAH are neutral, non-polar molecules that are produced due to incomplete combustion of organic matter. These compounds are carcinogenic and interact with biological nucleophiles to inhibit the normal metabolic functions of the cells. Norways, the most important sources of PAH pollution is considered to be aluminum plants, the metallurgical industry, offshore oil activity, transport, and wood burning. Stricter governmental regulations regarding emissions to the outer and internal environment combined with increased awareness of the potential health effects have motivated Norwegian metal industries to increase their efforts to reduce emissions considerably. One of the objective of the ongoing industry and Norwegian research council supported "SCORE" project is to reduce potential PAH emissions from an off gas stream of a ferroalloy furnace through controlled combustion. In a dedicated combustion chamber. The sizing and configuration of the combustion chamber depends on the combined properties of the bulk gas stream and the properties of the PAH itself. In order to achieve efficient and complete combustion the residence time and minimum temperature need to be optimized. For this design approach reliable kinetic data of the individual PAH-species and/or groups thereof are necessary. However, kinetic data on the combustion of PAH are difficult to obtain and there is only a limited number of studies. The paper presents an evaluation of the kinetic data for some of the PAH obtained from literature. In the present study, the oxidation is modelled for pure PAH and also for PAH mixed with process gas. Using a perfectly stirred reactor modelling approach the oxidation is modelled including advanced reaction kinetics to study influence of residence time and temperature on the conversion of PAH to CO2 and water. A Chemical Reactor Network (CRN) approach is developed to understand the oxidation of PAH inside the combustion chamber. Chemical reactor network modeling has been found to be a valuable tool in the evaluation of oxidation behavior of PAH under various conditions.

Keywords: PAH, PSR, energy recovery, ferro alloy furnace

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Authors: Mst Shapna Akter, Hossain Shahriar

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One of the most important challenges in the field of software code audit is the presence of vulnerabilities in software source code. Every year, more and more software flaws are found, either internally in proprietary code or revealed publicly. These flaws are highly likely exploited and lead to system compromise, data leakage, or denial of service. C and C++ open-source code are now available in order to create a largescale, machine-learning system for function-level vulnerability identification. We assembled a sizable dataset of millions of opensource functions that point to potential exploits. We developed an efficient and scalable vulnerability detection method based on deep neural network models that learn features extracted from the source codes. The source code is first converted into a minimal intermediate representation to remove the pointless components and shorten the dependency. Moreover, we keep the semantic and syntactic information using state-of-the-art word embedding algorithms such as glove and fastText. The embedded vectors are subsequently fed into deep learning networks such as LSTM, BilSTM, LSTM-Autoencoder, word2vec, BERT, and GPT-2 to classify the possible vulnerabilities. Furthermore, we proposed a neural network model which can overcome issues associated with traditional neural networks. Evaluation metrics such as f1 score, precision, recall, accuracy, and total execution time have been used to measure the performance. We made a comparative analysis between results derived from features containing a minimal text representation and semantic and syntactic information. We found that all of the deep learning models provide comparatively higher accuracy when we use semantic and syntactic information as the features but require higher execution time as the word embedding the algorithm puts on a bit of complexity to the overall system.

Keywords: cyber security, vulnerability detection, neural networks, feature extraction

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Authors: Qianhui Li, Christoph H. Bruecker

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Atherosclerotic plaques are typically found where flow separation and variations of shear stress occur. Although helical flow patterns and flow separations have been recorded in the aorta, their relation has not been clearly clarified and especially in the condition of artificial heart valve prostheses. Therefore, an experimental study is performed to investigate the hemodynamic performance of different mechanical heart valves (MHVs), i.e. the SJM Regent bileaflet mechanical heart valve (BMHV) and the Lapeyre-Triflo FURTIVA trileaflet mechanical heart valve (TMHV), in a transparent model of the human aorta under a physiological pulsatile right-hand helical flow condition. A typical systolic flow profile is applied in the pulse-duplicator to generate a physiological pulsatile flow which thereafter flows past an axial turbine blade structure to imitate the right-hand helical flow induced in the left ventricle. High-speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements are used to map the flow evolution. A circular open orifice nozzle inserted in the valve plane as the reference configuration initially replaces the valve under investigation to understand the hemodynamic effects of the entered helical flow structure on the flow evolution in the aortic arch. Flow field analysis of the open orifice nozzle configuration illuminates the helical flow effectively delays the flow separation at the inner radius wall of the aortic arch. The comparison of the flow evolution for different MHVs shows that the BMHV works like a flow straightener which re-configures the helical flow pattern into three parallel jets (two side-orifice jets and the central orifice jet) while the TMHV preserves the helical flow structure and therefore prevent the flow separation at the inner radius wall of the aortic arch. Therefore the TMHV is of better hemodynamic performance and reduces the pressure loss.

Keywords: flow separation, helical aortic flow, mechanical heart valve, particle image velocimetry

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Authors: Denise Levy, Anna Lucia C. H. Villavicencio

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Food irradiation is a processing and preservation technique to eliminate insects and parasites and reduce disease-causing microorganisms. Moreover, the process helps to inhibit sprouting and delay ripening, extending fresh fruits and vegetables shelf-life. Nevertheless, most Brazilian consumers seem to misunderstand the difference between irradiated food and radioactive food and the general public has major concerns about the negative health effects and environmental contamination. Society´s judgment and decision making are directly linked to perceived benefits and risks. The web-based project entitled ‘Scientific information about food irradiation: Internet as a tool to approach science and society’ was created by the Nuclear and Energetic Research Institute (IPEN), in order to offer an interdisciplinary approach to science education, integrating economic, ethical, social and political aspects of food irradiation. This project takes into account that, misinformation and unfounded preconceived ideas impact heavily on the acceptance of irradiated food and purchase intention by the Brazilian consumer. Taking advantage of the potential value of the Internet to enhance communication and education among general public, a research study was carried out regarding the possibilities and trends of Information and Communication Technologies among the Brazilian population. The content includes concepts, definitions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about processes, safety, advantages, limitations and the possibilities of food irradiation, including health issues, as well as its impacts on the environment. The project counts on eight self-instructional interactive web courses, situating scientific content in relevant social contexts in order to encourage self-learning and further reflections. Communication is a must to improve public understanding of science. The use of information technology for quality scientific divulgation shall contribute greatly to provide information throughout the country, spreading information to as many people as possible, minimizing geographic distances and stimulating communication and development.

Keywords: food irradiation, multimedia learning tools, nuclear science, society and education

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Authors: C. A. Roberts, J. G. Andrae, S. R. Smith, M. H. Poore, C. A. Young, D. W. Hancock, G. J. Pent

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To the author’s best knowledge, there are no published reports of effective methods for teaching fescue toxicosis and grass endophyte technology in the USA. To address this need, a group of university scientists, industry representatives, government agents, and livestock producers formed an organization called the Alliance for Grassland Renewal. One goal of the Alliance was to develop a teaching method that could be employed across all regions in the USA and all sectors of the agricultural community. The first step in developing this method was identification of experts who were familiar with the science and management of fescue toxicosis. The second step was curriculum development. Experts wrote a curriculum that addressed all aspects of toxicosis and management, including toxicology, animal nutrition, pasture management, economics, and mycology. The curriculum was created for presentation in lectures, laboratories, and in the field. The curriculum was in that it could be delivered across state lines, regardless of peculiar, in-state recommendations. The curriculum was also unique as it was unanimously supported by private companies otherwise in competition with each other. The final step in developing this teaching method was formulating a delivery plan. All experts, including university, industry, government, and production, volunteered to travel from any state in the USA, converge in one location, teach a 1-day workshop, then travel to the next location. The results of this teaching method indicate widespread success. Since 2012, experts across the entire USA have converged to teach Alliance workshops in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, with ongoing workshops in Arkansas and Tennessee. Data from post-workshop surveys indicate that instruction has been effective, as at least 50% of the participants stated their intention to adopt the endophyte technology presented in these workshops. The teaching method developed by the Alliance for Grassland Renewal has proved to be effective, and the Alliance continues to expand across the USA.

Keywords: endophyte, Epichloe coenophiala, ergot alkaloids, fescue toxicosis, tall fescue

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Authors: Laura Beckmann, Sabrina Rutter, Isabell Van Ackeren, Nina Bremm, Esther Dominique Klein, Kathrin Racherbäumer

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Current evidence demonstrates that schools in socially disadvantaged contexts are often characterized by lower school performance and lower educational qualifications among the student body, compared to schools in more privileged socio-spacial contexts. At the same time, national and international findings on schools with structural and social challenges show that certain school and classroom development strategies, as well as human and material resources, can significantly contribute to improved school performance of students. The aim of this contribution is to present a 6-year mixed-methods study (Talent Schools in North Rhine-Westphalia), which is designed as a school experiment addressing the well-acknowledged inequality of educational opportunities in the German school system. Started in the year 2019 and funded by the Ministry for School and Education of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the study targets schools in socio-spatially disadvantaged areas, which have increasingly been the focus of both public debate and educational policy. In the German-speaking countries, however, there is little knowledge available on the structure and design of complex strategies for school and classroom development that describe successful approaches to the further development of schools in disadvantaged locations in a process-oriented manner. Given these shortcomings, the present study aims at a longitudinal analysis of school and classroom development processes within 60 ‘talent schools’, whereby concrete micro-progressions within individual schools are documented and aggregated to general processes that may either impede or promote development. The main research question is the following: With the help of which strategies and (teaching) concepts, with which use of resources and with which forms of cooperation can schools contribute to the development of student achievement, including educational qualifications and transition rates in education and employment? Thus, the ‘talent schools’ may serve as examples of how social background can successfully be decoupled from educational success at schools with special structural and procedural challenges. The major chances and challenges of this project will be discussed.

Keywords: educational inequality, school development, student achievement, mixed-methods study

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Authors: Masoud Ghaemi, MohammadJafar Hedayati, Faezeh Yousefzadeh, Hoseinali Heydarzadeh

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According to the statistics of the International Committee on Large Dams, internal erosion and piping (scour) are major causes of the destruction of earth-fill dams. If such dams are constructed in narrow valleys, the valley walls will increase the arching of the dam body due to the transfer of vertical and horizontal stresses, so the occurrence of hydraulic fracturing in these embankments is more likely. Roudbar Dam in Lorestan is a clay-core pebble earth-fill dam constructed in a relatively narrow valley in western Iran. Three years after the onset of impoundment, there has been a fall in dam behavior. Evaluation of the dam behavior based on the data recorded on the instruments installed inside the dam body and foundation confirms the occurrence of internal erosion in the lower and adjacent parts of the core on the left support (abutment). The phenomenon of hydraulic fracturing is one of the main causes of the onset of internal erosion in this dam. Accordingly, the main objective of this paper is to evaluate the validity of this hypothesis. To evaluate the validity of this hypothesis, the dam behavior during construction and impoundment has been first simulated with a three-dimensional numerical model. Then, using validated empirical equations, the safety factor of the occurrence of hydraulic fracturing phenomenon upstream of the dam score was calculated. Then, using the artificial neural network, the failure time of the given section was predicted based on the maximum stress trend created. The study results show that steep slopes of valley walls, sudden changes in coefficient, and differences in compressibility properties of dam body materials have caused considerable stress transfer from core to adjacent valley walls, especially at its lower levels. This has resulted in the coefficient of confidence of the occurrence of hydraulic fracturing in each of these areas being close to one in each of the empirical equations used.

Keywords: arching, artificial neural network, FLAC3D, hydraulic fracturing, internal erosion, pore water pressure

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Authors: Chiung-Yao Huang, Yu-Cheng Lin, Chiung-Hui Chen

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This study seeks to examine perceived environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) with a focus on negative environmental questions, related to intention of ethical investment intention after a environmental failure recovery. An empirical test was employed to test the hypotheses. We manipulated the information on negative ECSR activities of a hypothetical firm in a experimental design with a failure recovery treatment. The company’s negative ECSR recovery was depicted in a positive perspective (depicting a follow-up strong social action), whereas in the negative ECSR treatment it was described in a negative perspective (depicting a follow-up non social action). In both treatments, information about other key characteristics of the focal company were kept constant. Investors’ intentions to invest in the company’s stock were evaluated by multi-item scales. Results indicate that positive ECSR recovery information about a firm enhances investors’ intentions to invest in the company’s stock. In addition, perceived moral intensity has a significant impact on the intention of ethical investment and that perceived moral intensity also serves as a key moderating variable in the relationship between negative ECSR and the intention of ethical investment. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed. Practical implications: The results suggest that managers may need to be aware of perceived moral intensity as a key variable in restoring the intention of ethical investment. The results further suggest that perceived moral intensity has a direct, and it also has an moderating influence between ECSR and the intention of ethical investment. Originality/value: In an attempt to deepen the understanding of how investors perceptions of firm environmental CSR are connected with other investor‐related outcomes through ECSR recovery, the present research proposes a comprehensive model which encompasses ECSR and other key relationship constructs after a ECSR failure and recovery.

Keywords: ethical investment, Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility(ECSR), ECSR recovery, moral intensity

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Authors: A. Hakem, Y. Bouafia

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Characterization of materials used for various mechanical components is of great importance in their design. Several studies were conducted by various authors in order to improve their physical and/or chemical properties in general and mechanical or metallurgical properties in particular. The foundry alloy AlSi7Zn3Cu2Mg is one of the main components constituting the various mechanisms for the implementation of applications and various industrial projects. Obtaining a reliable product is not an easy task; several results proposed by different authors show sometimes results that can contradictory. Due to their high mechanical characteristics, these alloys are widely used in engineering. Silicon improves casting properties and magnesium allows heat treatment. It is thus possible to obtain various degrees of hardening and therefore interesting compromise between tensile strength and yield strength, on one hand, and elongation, on the other hand. These mechanical characteristics can be further enhanced by a series of mechanical treatments or heat treatments. Their light weight coupled with high mechanical characteristics, aluminum alloys are very much used in cars and aircraft industry. The present study is focused on the influence of heat treatments which cause significant micro structural changes, usually hardening by variation of annealing temperatures by increments of 10°C and 20°C on the evolution of the main elastic characteristics, the resistance, the ductility and the structural characteristics of AlSi7Zn3Cu2Mg foundry alloy cast in sand by gravity. These elastic properties are determined in three directions for each specimen of dimensions 200x150x20 mm³ by the ultrasonic method based on acoustic or elastic waves. The hardness, the micro hardness and the structural characteristics are evaluated by a non-destructive method. The aim of this work is to study the hardening ability of AlSi7Zn3Cu2Mg alloy by considering ten states. To improve the mechanical properties obtained with the raw casting, one should use heat treatment for structural hardening; the addition of magnesium is necessary to increase the sensitivity to this specific heat treatment: Treatment followed by homogenization which generates a diffusion of atoms in a substitution solid solution inside a hardening furnace at 500°C during 8h, followed immediately by quenching in water at room temperature 20 to 25°C, then an ageing process for 17h at room temperature and at different annealing temperature (150, 160, 170, 180, 190, 240, 200, 220 and 240°C) for 20h in an annealing oven. The specimens were allowed to cool inside the oven.

Keywords: aluminum, foundry alloy, magnesium, mechanical characteristics, silicon

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Authors: Khalil Boukfoussa

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It is important to provide students with food that contains complete nutrients to provide them with mental and physical energy during the school day. Especially since the time students spend in school is equivalent to 50% of their time during the day, which increases the importance of proper nutrition in schools and makes it an ideal way to inculcate the foundations of a healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits. Proper nutrition is one of the most important things that affect the health and process of growth and development in children, in addition to being a key factor in supporting the ability to focus, supporting mental abilities and developing the student’s academic achievement. In addition to the importance of a healthy diet for the development and growth of the child's body, proper nutrition can significantly contribute to protecting the body from catching viruses and helping it to pass the winter safely. Effective food control systems in different countries are essential to protect the health and safety of domestic consumers. These systems are also crucial in enabling countries to ensure the safety and quality of food entering international trade and to ensure that imported food conforms to national requirements. The current global food trade environment places significant obligations on both importing and exporting countries to strengthen their food control systems and to apply and implement risk-based food control strategiesConsumers are becoming more interested in the way food is produced, processed and marketed, and are increasingly demanding that governments assume greater responsibility for consumer protection and food safety. In many countries, food control is weak because of the abundance of legislation, the multiplicity of jurisdictions and weaknesses in control, monitoring and enforcement. The following guidelines seek to advise national authorities on strategies to strengthen food control systems to protect public health, prevent fraud and fraud, avoid food contamination and help facilitate trade. These Guidelines will assist authorities in selecting the most appropriate food control system options in terms of legislation, infrastructure and enforcement mechanisms. The document clarifies the broad principles that govern food control systems and provides examples of the infrastructure and methods by which national systems can operate

Keywords: food, nutrision, school, safty

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Authors: Spase Janevski

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We, as designers, should be aware of the consequences of our material selection, at the early stages of the design process. Some of the designer’s decisions can have a very significant impact on design for sustainability. The influence of this concept has led to years of research studies into eco-friendly materials and their potentials for creating new sustainable products. In order to answer the question, 'how cork has become a design trend', this paper will present an overview of the implications of the concept of design for sustainability on the potential uses of cork material. A decade ago, cork as a material had an association with wine stoppers, but with the evolution of sustainable product design as part of the concept of design for sustainability, cork now offers product designers a wide range of new materials and applications. The purpose of this paper is to show how the phenomenon of sustainability has had an impact on the progress of the material which is currently not being an integral component of the design material palette. At the beginning, the nature of the relationship between cork and sustainability will be explained through the following stages: 1) fundamental understanding of the concept of Design for Sustainability and the importance of material selection for sustainable product design, and 2) the importance of cork oak trees for the environment and the environmental impacts of cork products. In order to examine and present the influence of the sustainability on the innovation in cork applications, the paper will provide a historical overview of designing with cork. The overview will consist of four stages: 1) pre-industrial period - the period when ancient nations used cork and amphoras to store their wine; 2) industrial period - emergence and industrialization of well-known wine stoppers; 3) post-industrial period - commercializing cork products in the area of floors and coverings and first developments in industrial research; and 4) the period when large cork realized the importance of sustainability and started to focus more markedly on research and development. The existence of new cork materials, the investigation in new applications and the investment in new innovations have proved that the sustainability approach has had a great influence on the revival of this material. In addition, the paper will present some of the new cork innovative materials and applications and their potentials for designing promising and sustainable solutions with additive manufacturing technologies, such as 3D printing. Lastly, the paper will introduce some questions for further study, such as the environmental impacts of the new hybrid materials and the gap between cork industry and cork research and development teams. The paper concludes by stating that cork is not only a material for wine stoppers anymore, thanks to the awareness of the concept of design for sustainability.

Keywords: cork, design for sustainability, innovation, sustainable materials

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Authors: Anna Rinaldi, Pierfrancesco Dellino

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COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy can be observed at different rates in different countries. In June 2021, 1,068 people were surveyed in France and Italy to inquire about individual potential acceptance, focusing on time preferences in a risk-return framework: having the vaccination today, in a month, and in 3 months; perceived risks of vaccination and COVID-19; and expected benefit of the vaccine. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to understand how everyday stimuli like fact-based news about vaccines impact an audience's acceptance of vaccination. The main experiment involved two groups of participants and two different articles about vaccine-related thrombosis taken from two Italian newspapers. One article used a more abstract description and language, and the other used a more anecdotal description and concrete language; each group read only one of these articles. Two other groups were assigned categorization tasks; one was asked to complete a concrete categorization task, and the other an abstract categorization task. Individual preferences for vaccination were found to be variable and unstable over time, and individual choices of accepting, refusing, or delaying could be affected by the way news is written. In order to understand these dynamic preferences, the present work proposes a new model based on seven categories of human behaviors that were validated by a neural network. A treatment effect was observed: participants who read the articles shifted to vaccine hesitancy categories more than participants assigned to other treatments and control. Furthermore, there was a significant gender effect, showing that the type of language leading to a lower hesitancy rate for men is correlated with a higher hesitancy rate for women and vice versa. This outcome should be taken into consideration for an appropriate gender-based communication campaign aimed at achieving herd immunity. The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05582564 (17/10/2022).

Keywords: vaccine hesitancy, risk elicitation, neural network, covid19

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Authors: Allan Kiptanui Kimisto, Geoffrey Odhiambo Ongondo, Anastasia Wairimu Muia, Cyrus Ndungu Kimani

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The major challenge to proper sewage sludge treatment processes is the poor understanding of sludge microbiome diversities. This study applied the whole-genome. shotgun metagenomics technique to profile the microbial composition of sewage sludge in two active digestion lagoons at the Nyeri-Kangemi Wastewater Treatment Plant in Nyeri County, Kenya. Total microbial community DNA was extracted from samples using the available ZymoBIOMICS™ DNA Miniprep Kit and sequenced using Shotgun metagenomics. Samples were analyzed using MG-RAST software (Project ID: mgp100988), which allowed for comparing taxonomic diversity before β-diversities studies for Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryotes. The study identified 57 phyla, 145 classes, 301 orders, 506 families, 963 genera, and 1980 species. Bacteria dominated the microbes and comprised 28 species, 51 classes, 110 orders, 243 families, 597 genera, and 1518 species. The Bacteroides(6.77%) were dominant, followed by Acinetobacter(1.44%) belonging to the Gammaproteobacteria and Acidororax (1.36%), Bacillus (1.24%) and Clostridium (1.02%) belonging to Betaproteobacteria. Archaea recorded 5 phyla, 13 classes, 19 orders, 29 families, 60 genera,and87 species, with the dominant genera being Methanospirillum (16.01%), methanosarcina (15.70%), and Methanoregula(14.80%) and Methanosaeta (8.74%), Methanosphaerula(5.48%) and Methanobrevibacter(5.03%) being the subdominant group. The eukaryotes were the least in abundance and comprised 24 phyla, 81 classes, 301 orders, 506 families, 963 genera, and 980 species. Arabidopsis (4.91%) and Caenorhabditis (4.81%) dominated the eukaryotes, while Dityostelium (3.63%) and Drosophila(2.08%) were the subdominant genera. All these microbes play distinct roles in the anaerobic treatment process of sewage sludge. The local sludge microbial composition and abundance variations may be due to age difference differences between the two digestion lagoons in operation at the plant and the different degradation rales played by the taxa. The information presented in this study can help in the genetic manipulation or formulation of optimal microbial ratios to improve their effectiveness in sewage sludge treatment. This study recommends further research on how the different taxa respond to environmental changes over time and space.

Keywords: shotgun metagenomics, sludge, bacteria, archaea, eukaryotes

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Authors: Jocelyn Jones, Louise Southalan, Lindey Andrews, Mandy Wilson, Emma Vieira, Jackie Oakley, Dorothy Bagshaw, Alice V. Brown, Patrick Egan, Duc Dau, Lucy Spanswick

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Working with people experiencing homelessness requires careful use of methods that support them to comfortably share their experiences. This is particularly important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the traditional owners of Australia, who have experienced intergenerational and compounding trauma since colonisation. Aboriginal cultures regularly experience research fatigue and distrust in research’s potential for impact. They often view research as an extraction -a process of taking the knowledge that empowers the research team and its institution, rather than benefiting those being researched. Through a partnership between an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation and a university research institute, we conducted a community-driven research project with 70-90 Aboriginal people experiencing homelessness in Perth, Western Australia. The project aimed to listen to and advocate for the voices of those who are experiencing homelessness, guided by the Aboriginal community. In consultation with Aboriginal Elders, we selected methods that are considered culturally safe, including those who would prefer to express their experiences creatively. This led us to run a series of Photovoice workshops -an established method that supports people to share their experiences through photography. This method treats participants as experts and is regularly used with marginalised groups across the world. We detail our experience and lessons in using Photovoice with Aboriginal community members experiencing homelessness. This includes the ways the method needed to be moulded to community needs and driven by their individual choices, such as being dynamic in the length of time participants would spend with us, how we would introduce the method to them, and providing support workers for participants when taking photos. We also discuss lessons in establishing and retaining engagement and how the method was successful in supporting participants to comfortably share their stories. Finally, we outline the insights into homelessness that the method offered, including highlighting the difficulty experienced by participants in transitioning from homelessness to accommodation and the diversity of hopes people who have experienced homelessness have for the future.

Keywords: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, photovoice, homelessness, community-led research

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Authors: Lauren B. Birney

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Summer STEM Institute for Middle and High School Students at Pace University The STEM Collaboratory NYC® Summer Fellows Institute takes place on Pace University’s New York City campus during July and provides the following key features for all participants: (i) individual meetings with Pace faculty to discuss and refine future educational goals; (ii) mentorship, guidance, and new friendships with program leaders; and (iii) guest lectures from professionals in STEM disciplines and businesses. The Summer STEM Institute allows middle school and high school students to work in teams to conceptualize, develop, and build native mobile applications that teach and reinforce skills in the sciences and mathematics. These workshops enhance students’STEM problem solving techniques and teach advanced methods of computer science and engineering. Topics include: big data and analytics at the Big Data lab at Seidenberg, Data Science focused on social and environmental advancement and betterment; Natural Disasters and their Societal Influences; Algal Blooms and Environmental Impacts; Green CitiesNYC; STEM jobs and growth opportunities for the future; renew able energy and sustainable infrastructure; and climate and the economy. In order to better align the existing Summer STEM, Institute with the CCERS model and expand the overall network, Pace is actively recruiting new content area specialists from STEM industries and private sector enterprises to participate in an enhanced summer institute in order to1) nurture student progress and connect summer learning to school year curriculum, 2) increase peer-to-peer collaboration amongst STEM professionals and private sector technologists, and 3) develop long term funding and sponsorship opportunities for corporate sector partners to support CCERS schools and programs directly.

Keywords: environmental restoration science, citizen science, data science, STEM

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Authors: Ranjan Banerjee, W. D. Gunawardana

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The free vibration and flutter analysis plays a major part in aircraft design which is indeed, a mandatory requirement. In particular, high aspect ratio transport airliner wings are prone to free vibration and flutter problems that must be addressed during the design process as demanded by the airworthiness authorities. The purpose of this paper is to carry out a detailed free vibration and flutter analysis for a wide range of high aspect ratio aircraft wings and generate design curves to provide useful visions and understandings of aircraft design from an aeroelastic perspective. In the initial stage of the investigation, the bending and torsional stiffnesses of a number of transport aircraft wings are looked at and critically examined to see whether it is possible to express the stiffness distributions in polynomial form, but in a sufficiently accurate manner. A similar attempt is made for mass and mass moment of inertia distributions of the wing. Once the choice of stiffness and mass distributions in polynomial form is made, the high aspect ratio wing is idealised by a series of bending-torsion coupled beams from a structural standpoint. Then the dynamic stiffness method is applied to compute the natural frequencies and mode shape of the wing. Next the wing is idealised aerodynamically and to this end, unsteady aerodynamic of Theodorsen type is employed to represent the harmonically oscillating wing. Following this step, a normal mode method through the use of generalised coordinates is applied to formulate the flutter problem. In essence, the generalised mass, stiffness and aerodynamic matrices are combined to obtain the flutter matrix which is subsequently solved in the complex domain to determine the flutter speed and flutter frequency. In the final stage of the investigation, an exhaustive parametric study is carried out by varying significant wing parameters to generate design curves which help to predict the free vibration and flutter behaviour of high aspect ratio transport aircraft wings in a generic manner. It is in the aeroelastic context of aircraft design where the results are expected to be most useful.

Keywords: high-aspect ratio wing, flutter, dynamic stiffness method, free vibration, aeroelasticity

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Authors: Kevin Wang, Jian Ge, Yinan Zhao, Kevin Willis

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Kepler has discovered over 4000 exoplanets and candidates. However, current transit planet detection techniques based on the wavelet analysis and the Box Least Squares (BLS) algorithm have limited sensitivity in detecting minor planets with a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and long periods with only 3-4 repeated signals over the mission lifetime of 4 years. This paper presents a novel precise-period transit signal detection methodology based on a new Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) Fast Folding algorithm in conjunction with a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to detect low SNR and/or long-period transit planet signals. A comparison with BLS is conducted on both simulated light curves and real data, demonstrating that the new method has higher speed, sensitivity, and reliability. For instance, the new system can detect transits with SNR as low as three while the performance of BLS drops off quickly around SNR of 7. Meanwhile, the GPU Fast Folding method folds light curves 25 times faster than BLS, a significant gain that allows exoplanet detection to occur at unprecedented period precision. This new method has been tested with all known transit signals with 100% confirmation. In addition, this new method has been successfully applied to the Kepler of Interest (KOI) data and identified a few new Earth-sized Ultra-short period (USP) exoplanet candidates and habitable planet candidates. The results highlight the promise for GPU Fast Folding as a replacement to the traditional BLS algorithm for finding small and/or long-period habitable and Earth-sized planet candidates in-transit data taken with Kepler and other space transit missions such as TESS(Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and PLATO(PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars).

Keywords: algorithms, astronomy data analysis, deep learning, exoplanet detection methods, small planets, habitable planets, transit photometry

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Authors: Dor Oppenheim, Yael Edan, Guy Shani

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This paper presents an image analysis algorithm to detect and count yellow tomato flowers in a greenhouse with uneven illumination conditions, complex growth conditions and different flower sizes. The algorithm is designed to be employed on a drone that flies in greenhouses to accomplish several tasks such as pollination and yield estimation. Detecting the flowers can provide useful information for the farmer, such as the number of flowers in a row, and the number of flowers that were pollinated since the last visit to the row. The developed algorithm is designed to handle the real world difficulties in a greenhouse which include varying lighting conditions, shadowing, and occlusion, while considering the computational limitations of the simple processor in the drone. The algorithm identifies flowers using an adaptive global threshold, segmentation over the HSV color space, and morphological cues. The adaptive threshold divides the images into darker and lighter images. Then, segmentation on the hue, saturation and volume is performed accordingly, and classification is done according to size and location of the flowers. 1069 images of greenhouse tomato flowers were acquired in a commercial greenhouse in Israel, using two different RGB Cameras – an LG G4 smartphone and a Canon PowerShot A590. The images were acquired from multiple angles and distances and were sampled manually at various periods along the day to obtain varying lighting conditions. Ground truth was created by manually tagging approximately 25,000 individual flowers in the images. Sensitivity analyses on the acquisition angle of the images, periods throughout the day, different cameras and thresholding types were performed. Precision, recall and their derived F1 score were calculated. Results indicate better performance for the view angle facing the flowers than any other angle. Acquiring images in the afternoon resulted with the best precision and recall results. Applying a global adaptive threshold improved the median F1 score by 3%. Results showed no difference between the two cameras used. Using hue values of 0.12-0.18 in the segmentation process provided the best results in precision and recall, and the best F1 score. The precision and recall average for all the images when using these values was 74% and 75% respectively with an F1 score of 0.73. Further analysis showed a 5% increase in precision and recall when analyzing images acquired in the afternoon and from the front viewpoint.

Keywords: agricultural engineering, image processing, computer vision, flower detection

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Authors: M. Roberts Masillamani

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There is a phenomenal difference, as regard to the teaching methodology adopted at the urban and the rural area colleges. However, bright and talented student may be from rural back ground even. But there is huge dearth of the digitization in the rural areas and lesser developed countries. Today’s students need new skills to compete and successful in the future. Education should be combination of practical, intellectual, and social skills. What does this mean for rural classrooms and how can it be achieved. Rural colleges are not able to hire the best resources, since the best teacher’s aim is to move towards the city. If city is provided everywhere, then there will be no rural area. This is possible by forming university clusters (UC). The University cluster is a group of renowned and accredited universities coming together to bridge this dearth. The UC will deliver the live lectures and allow the students’ from remote areas to actively participate in the classroom. This paper tries to present a plan of action of providing a better live classroom teaching and learning system from the city to the rural and the lesser developed countries. This paper titled “University Clusters using ICT for teaching and learning” provides a true concept of opening live digital classroom windows for rural colleges, where resources are not available, thus reducing the digital divide. This is different from pod casting a lecture or distance learning and eLearning. The live lecture can be streamed through digital equipment to another classroom. The rural students can collaborate with their peers and critiques, be assessed, collect information, acquire different techniques in assessment and learning process. This system will benefit rural students and teachers and develop socio economic status. This will also will increase the degree of confidence of the Rural students and teachers. Thus bringing about the concept of ‘Train the Trainee’ in reality. An educational university cloud for each cluster will be built remote infrastructure facilities (RIF) for the above program. The users may be informed, about the available lecture schedules, through the RIF service. RIF with an educational cloud can be set by the universities under one cluster. This paper talks a little more about University clusters and the methodology to be adopted as well as some extended features like, tutorial classes, library grids, remote laboratory login, research and development.

Keywords: lesser developed countries, digital divide, digital learning, education, e-learning, ICT, library grids, live classroom windows, RIF, rural, university clusters and urban

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Authors: Iyad Al-Attar

Abstract:

Air filters are widely used in gas turbines applications to ensure that the large mass (500kg/s) of clean air reach the compressor. The continuous demand of high availability and reliability has highlighted the critical role of air filter performance in providing enhanced air quality. In addition to being challenged with different environments [tropical, coastal, hot], gas turbines confront wide array of atmospheric contaminants with various concentrations and particle size distributions that would lead to performance degradation and components deterioration. Therefore, the role of air filters is of a paramount importance since fouled compressor can reduce power output and availability of the gas turbine to over 70 % throughout operation. Consequently, accurate filter performance prediction is critical tool in their selection considering their role in minimizing the economic impact of outages. In fact, actual performance of Efficient Particulate Air [EPA] filters used in gas turbine tend to deviate from the performance predicted by laboratory results. This experimental work investigates the initial pressure drop and fractional efficiency curves of full-scale pleated V-shaped EPA filters used globally in gas turbine. The investigation involved examining the effect of different operational conditions such as flow rates [500 to 5000 m3/h] and design parameters such as pleat count [28, 30, 32 and 34 pleats per 100mm]. This experimental work has highlighted the underlying reasons behind the reduction in filter permeability due to the increase of flow rates and pleat density. The reasons, which led to surface area losses of filtration media, are due to one or combination of the following effects: pleat-crowding, deflection of the entire pleated panel, pleat distortion at the corner of the pleat and/or filtration medium compression. This paper also demonstrates that the effect of increasing the flow rate has more pronounced effect on filter performance compared to pleating density. This experimental work suggests that a valid comparison of the pleat densities should be based on the effective surface area, namely, the area that participates in the filtration process, and not the total surface area the pleat density provides. Throughout this study, optimal pleat count that satisfies both initial pressure drop and efficiency requirements may not have necessarily existed.

Keywords: filter efficiency, EPA Filters, pressure drop, permeability

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