Search results for: research management

Authors: Maria Altamirano, Alfonso Duran

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Biostimulation has recently become important in order to improve the stability and performance of the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. This strategy involves the addition of nutrients or supplements to improve the rate of degradation of a native microbial consortium. With the aim of biostimulate sytrophism between secondary fermenting bacteria and methanogenic archaea, improving metabolite degradation and efficient conversion to methane, the addition of conductive materials, mainly carbon based have been studied. This research seeks to highlight the effect that coconut biochar (CBC) has on the metanogenic conversion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), analyzing the surface chemistry properties that give biochar its capacity to serve as a redox mediator in the anaerobic digestion process. The biochar characterization techniques were electrical conductivity (EC) scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier Transform Infrared Transmission Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Cyclic Voltammetry (CV). Effect of coconut biochar addition was studied using Authomatic Methane Potential Test System (AMPTS II) applying a one-way variance analysis to determine the dose that leads to higher methane performance. The surface chemistry of the CBC could confer properties that enhance the AD process, such as the presence of alkaline and alkaline earth metals and their hydrophobicity that may be related to their buffering capacity and the adsorption of polar and non-polar compounds, such as NH4+ and CO2. It also has aromatic functional groups, just as quinones, whose potential as a redox mediator has been demonstrated and its morphology allows it to form an immobilizing matrix that favors a closer activity among the syntrophic microorganisms, which directly contributed in the oxidation of secondary metabolites and the final reduction to methane, whose yield is increased by 39% compared to controls, with a CBC dose of 1 g/L.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biochar, biostimulation, syntrophic metabolism

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Authors: Tingke Wu, Man Yuan

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“National Territorial Planning (2016-2030)” was issued by the State Council of China in 2017. As an important initiative of putting it into effect, territorial planning at provincial level makes overall arrangement of territorial development, resources and environment protection, comprehensive renovation and security system construction. Hubei province, as the pivot of the “Rise of Central China” national strategy, is now confronted with great opportunities and challenges in territorial development, protection, and renovation. Territorial spatial pattern experiences long time evolution, influenced by multiple internal and external driving forces. It is not clear what are the main causes of its formation and what are effective ways of optimizing it. By analyzing land use data in 2016, this paper reveals present status of territory in Hubei. Combined with economic and social data and construction information, driving forces of territorial spatial pattern are then analyzed. Research demonstrates that the three types of territorial space aggregate distinctively. The four aspects of driving forces include natural background which sets the stage for main functions, population and economic factors which generate agglomeration effect, transportation infrastructure construction which leads to axial expansion and significant provincial strategies which encourage the established path. On this basis, targeted strategies for optimizing territory spatial pattern are then put forward. Hierarchical protection pattern should be established based on development intensity control as respect for nature. By optimizing the layout of population and industry and improving the transportation network, polycentric network-based development pattern could be established. These findings provide basis for Hubei Territorial Planning, and reference for future territorial planning in other provinces.

Keywords: driving forces, Hubei, optimizing strategies, spatial pattern, territory

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Authors: Nattaporn Khanoonkon, Rangrong Yoksan, Amod A. Ogale

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Polyethylene (PE) is one of the most petroleum-based thermoplastic materials used in many applications including packaging due to its cheap, light-weight, chemically inert and capable to be converted into various shapes and sizes of products. Although PE is a commercially potential material, its non-biodegradability caused environmental problems. At present, bio-based polymers become more interesting owing to its bio-degradability, non-toxicity, and renewability as well as being eco-friendly. Thermoplastic starch (TPS) is a bio-based and biodegradable plastic produced from the plasticization of starch under applying heat and shear force. In many researches, TPS was blended with petroleum-based polymers including PE in order to reduce the cost and the use of those polymers. However, the phase separation between hydrophobic PE and hydrophilic TPS limited the amount of TPS incorporated. The immiscibility of two different polarity polymers can be diminished by adding compatibilizer. PE-based compatibilizers, e.g. polyethylene-grafted-maleic anhydride, polyethylene-co-vinyl alcohol, etc. have been applied for the PE/TPS blend system in order to improve their miscibility. Until now, there is no report about the utilization of starch-based compatibilizer for PE/TPS blend system. The aims of the present research were therefore to synthesize a new starch-based compatibilizer, i.e. stearic acid-grafted starch (SA-g-starch) and to study the effect of SA-g-starch on chemical interaction, morphological properties, tensile properties and water vapor as well as oxygen barrier properties of the PE/TPS blend films. PE/TPS blends without and with incorporating SA-g-starch with a content of 1, 3 and 5 part(s) per hundred parts of starch (phr) were prepared using a twin screw extruder and then blown into films using a film blowing machine. Incorporating 1 phr and 3 phr of SA-g-starch could improve miscibility of the two polymers as confirmed from the reduction of TPS phase size and the good dispersion of TPS phase in PE matrix. In addition, the blend containing SA-g-starch with contents of 1 phr and 3 phr exhibited higher tensile strength and extensibility, as well as lower water vapor and oxygen permeabilities than the naked blend. The above results suggested that SA-g-starch could be potentially applied as a compatibilizer for the PE/TPS blend system.

Keywords: blend, compatibilizer, polyethylene, thermoplastic starch

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Authors: Md Rezaul Karim, Farha Taznin

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The purpose of this study was to assess and describe the individual and household characteristics of farmers, to measure the attitude of farmers towards climate adaptation farming practices and to explore the individual and household factors contributing in predicting their attitude towards climate adaptation farming practices. Data were collected through personal interviews using a pre-tested interview schedule. The data collection was done at Biral Upazila under Dinajpur district in Bangladesh from 1st November to 15 December 2018. Besides descriptive statistical parameters, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r), multiple regression and step-wise multiple regression analysis were used for the statistical analysis. Findings indicated that the highest proportion (77.6 percent) of the farmers had moderately favorable attitudes, followed by only 11.2 percent with highly favorable attitudes and 11.2 percent with slightly favorable attitudes towards climate adaptation farming practices. According to the computed correlation coefficients (r), among the 10 selected factors, five of them, such as education of household head, farm size, annual household income, organizational participation, and information access by extension services, had a significant relationship with the attitude of farmers towards climate-smart practices. The step-wise multiple regression results showed that two characteristics as education of household head and information access by extension services, contributed 26.2% and 5.1%, respectively, in predicting farmers' attitudes towards climate adaptation farming practices. In addition, more than two-thirds of farmers cited their opinion to the problems in response to ‘price of vermi species is high and it is not easily available’ as 1st ranked problem, followed by ‘lack of information for innovative climate-smart technologies’. This study suggests that policy implications are necessary to promote extension education and information services and overcome the obstacles to climate adaptation farming practices. It further recommends that research study should be conducted in diverse contexts of nationally or globally.

Keywords: factors, attitude, climate adaptation, farming practices, Bangladesh

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Authors: Ilse Gonzalez-Rivera, Rolando Diaz-Loving

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Family, and parents in particular, are the main agents of socialization of children since they transmit values, beliefs, and cultural norms based on their own guidelines, so that children acquire the knowledge on how to interact with others in terms of the interaction with their parents. One way to measure socialization parenting is through parenting styles. Parenting styles are the set of parental behaviors that have a direct effect on the development of specific behaviors of children. The ideal parenting style depends on the cultural characteristics where people develop. In Mexico, the hierarchical structure of the family is built on a model in which men are dominant over women and their power is legitimized. This research explores the effect of parenting styles and the culture of the ambivalent sexism in the Mexican population. 150 men and 150 women participated. The instrument of individualism-collectivism was used to measure culture; participants also answered the instrument of ambivalent sexism and the parenting styles questionnaire. Regression analyses were done using sexism as the dependent variable and individualism-collectivism and parenting styles as independent variables. In addition, an analysis of variance between parental styles and gender of the participants was performed. The results indicate that the permissive style and authoritarian style are predictors of ambivalent sexism and higher levels of collectivism predict higher levels of sexism in both men and women. It is also found that parents tend to use authoritarian parenting style with women and permissive style with males. These results confirm the findings of other studies that indicate that parenting is an important variable that influences the interaction of adults. On the other hand, the effect of collectivism on sexism may be related to the fact that gender Mexican rules are rigid and for people with higher levels of collectivism, the social rules are more important than individual interests. In conclusion, these results indicate that both culture and parenting styles contribute to the maintenance of the status quo and prejudice towards women. Therefore, it is necessary to create proposals that break with this cultural paradigm and to further develop democratic styles of parenting with the aim of reducing prejudice and the legitimization of gender roles.

Keywords: culture, gender, parenting style, sexism

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Authors: Isa Raquel Alves Soeiro, Cristina Isabel Branco de Sá

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In Portugal, since 2008, there has been a requirement to export the Standard Audit File for Tax Purposes (SAF-T) standard file (in XML format). This file thus gathers tax-relevant information from a company relating to a specific period of taxation. There are two types of SAF-T files that serve different purposes: the SAF-T of revenues and the SAF-T of accounting, which requires taxpayers and accounting firms to invest in order to adapt the accounting programs to the legal requirements. The implementation of the SAF-T accounting file aims to facilitate the collection of relevant tax data by tax inspectors as support of taxpayers' tax returns for the analysis of accounting records or other information with tax relevance (Portaria No. 321-A/2007 of March 26 and Portaria No. 302/2016 of December 2). The main objective of this research project is to verify, through quantitative analysis, what is the cost of compliance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in the district of Leiria in the introduction and implementation of the tax obligation of SAF-T - Standard Audit File for Tax Purposes of accounting. The information was collected through a questionnaire sent to a population of companies selected through the SABI Bureau Van Dijk database in 2020. Based on the responses obtained to the questionnaire, the companies were divided into two groups: Group 1 -companies who are self-employed and whose main activity is accounting services; and Group 2 -companies that do not belong to the accounting sector. In general terms, the conclusion is that there are no statistically significant differences in the costs of complying with the accounting SAF-T between the companies in Group 1 and Group 2 and that, on average, the internal costs of both groups represent the largest component of the total cost of compliance with the accounting SAF-T. The results obtained show that, in both groups, the total costs of complying with the SAF-T of accounting are regressive, which appears to be similar to international studies, although these are related to different tax obligations. Additionally, we verified that the variables volume of business, software used, number of employees, and legal form explain the differences in the costs of complying with accounting SAF-T in the Leiria district SME.

Keywords: compliance costs, SAF-T accounting, SME, Portugal

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Authors: Cecilia Sosa, Fernanda Figueroa, Leonardo Calzada

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Biosphere reserves (BR) are considered as the main strategy for biodiversity and ecosystems conservation. Mexican BR are mainly inhabited by rural communities who strongly depend on forests and their resources. Even though the dual objective of conservation and development has been sought in BR, land cover change is a common process in these areas, while most rural communities are highly marginalized, partly as a result of restrictions imposed by conservation to the access and use of resources. Achieving ecosystems conservation and social development face serious challenges. Factors such as financial support for development projects (public/private), environmental conditions, infrastructure and regional economic conditions might influence both land use change and wellbeing. Examining the temporal trends of conservation and development in BR is central for the evaluation of outcomes for these conservation strategies. In this study, we analyzed changes in primary vegetation cover (as a proxy for conservation) and the index of marginalization (as a proxy for development) in Mexican BR (2000-2015); we also explore the influence of various factors affecting these trends, such as conservation-development projects financial support (public or private), geographical distribution in ecoregions (as a proxy for shared environmental conditions) and in economic zones (as a proxy for regional economic conditions). We developed a spatial analysis at the municipal scale (2,458 municipalities nationwide) in ArcGIS, to obtain road densities, geographical distribution in ecoregions and economic zones, the financial support received, and the percent of municipality area under protection by protected areas and, particularly, by BR. Those municipalities with less than 25% of area under protection were regarded as part of the protected area. We obtained marginalization indexes for all municipalities and, using MODIS in Google Earth Engine, the number of pixels covered by primary vegetation. We used a linear mixed model in RStudio for the analysis. We found a positive correlation between the marginalization index and the percent of primary vegetation cover per year (r=0.49-0.5); i.e., municipalities with higher marginalization also show higher percent of primary vegetation cover. Also, those municipalities with higher area under protection have more development projects (r=0.46) and some environmental conditions were relevant for percent of vegetation cover. Time, economic zones and marginalization index were all important. Time was particularly, in 2005, when both marginalization and deforestation decreased. Road densities and financial support for conservation-development projects were irrelevant as factors in the general correlation. Marginalization is still being affected by the conservation strategies applied in BR, even though that this management category considers both conservation and development of local communities as its objectives. Our results suggest that roads densities and support for conservation-development projects have not been a factor of poverty alleviation. As better conservation is being attained in the most impoverished areas, we face the dilemma of how to improve wellbeing in rural communities under conservation, since current strategies have not been able to leave behind the conservation-development contraposition.

Keywords: deforestation, local development, marginalization, protected areas

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Authors: Faisal Mahroogi, Mahmoud Bady, Yaser H. Alahmadi, Ahmed Alsisi, Sunny Narayan, Muhammad Usman Kaisan

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia established Saudi Vision 2030, an initiative of the government with the goal of promoting more socioeconomic as well as cultural diversity. The kingdom, which is dedicated to sustainable development and clean energy, uses cutting-edge approaches to address energy-related issues, including the circular carbon economy (CCE) and a more varied energy mix. In order for Saudi Arabia to achieve its Vision 2030 goal of having a net zero future by 2060, sustainability is essential. By addressing the energy and climate issues of the modern world with responsibility and innovation, Vision 2030 is turning into a global role model for the transition to a sustainable future. As per the Ambitions of the National Environment Strategy of the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Agriculture, and Water (MEWA), raising environmental compliance across all sectors and reducing pollution and adverse environmental impacts are critical focus areas. As a result, the current study presents an experimental analysis of the performance and exhaust emissions of a diesel engine running mostly on waste cooking oil (WCO). A one-cylinder direct-injection diesel engine with constant speed and natural aspiration is the engine type utilized. Research was done on how the engine performed and emission parameters when fueled with a mixture of 10% butanol, 10% diesel, 10% WCO, and 10% diethyl ether (D70B10W10DD10). The study's findings demonstrated that engine emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and carbon monoxide (CO) varied significantly depending on the load being applied. The brake thermal efficiency, cylinder pressure, and the brake power of the engine were all impacted by load change.

Keywords: ICE, waste cooking oil, fuel additives, butanol, combustion, emission characteristics

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Authors: Pratik Dhabal Deo, Manoj P.

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With the increasing number of social media users, the amount of video content available has also significantly increased. Currently, the number of smartphone users is at its peak, and many are increasingly using their smartphones as their main photography and recording devices. There have been a lot of developments in the field of Video Quality Assessment (VQA) and metrics like VMAF, SSIM etc. are said to be some of the best performing metrics, but the evaluation of these metrics is dominantly done on professionally taken video contents using professional tools, lighting conditions etc. No study particularly pinpointing the performance of the metrics on the contents taken by users on very commonly available devices has been done. Datasets that contain a huge number of videos from different high-end devices make it difficult to analyze the performance of the metrics on the content from most used devices even if they contain contents taken in poor lighting conditions using lower-end devices. These devices face a lot of distortions due to various factors since the spectrum of contents recorded on these devices is huge. In this paper, we have presented an analysis of the objective VQA metrics on contents taken only from most used devices and their performance on them, focusing on full-reference metrics. To carry out this research, we created a custom dataset containing a total of 90 videos that have been taken from three most commonly used devices, and android smartphone, an IOS smartphone and a DSLR. On the videos taken on each of these devices, the six most common types of distortions that users face have been applied on addition to already existing H.264 compression based on four reference videos. These six applied distortions have three levels of degradation each. A total of the five most popular VQA metrics have been evaluated on this dataset and the highest values and the lowest values of each of the metrics on the distortions have been recorded. Finally, it is found that blur is the artifact on which most of the metrics didn’t perform well. Thus, in order to understand the results better the amount of blur in the data set has been calculated and an additional evaluation of the metrics was done using HEVC codec, which is the next version of H.264 compression, on the camera that proved to be the sharpest among the devices. The results have shown that as the resolution increases, the performance of the metrics tends to become more accurate and the best performing metric among them is VQM with very few inconsistencies and inaccurate results when the compression applied is H.264, but when the compression is applied is HEVC, SSIM and VMAF have performed significantly better.

Keywords: distortion, metrics, performance, resolution, video quality assessment

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Authors: Abu Yousuf, Maksudur Rahman Khan, Ahasanul Karim, Amirul Islam, Minhaj Uddin Monir, Sharmin Sultana, Domenico Pirozzi

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Traditional biodiesel feedstock like edible oils or plant oils, animal fats and cooking waste oil have been replaced by microbial oil in recent research of biodiesel synthesis. The well-known community of microbial oil producers includes microalgae, oleaginous yeast and seaweeds. Conventional transesterification of microbial oil to produce biodiesel is lethargic, energy consuming, cost-ineffective and environmentally unhealthy. This process follows several steps such as microbial biomass drying, cell disruption, oil extraction, solvent recovery, oil separation and transesterification. Therefore, direct transesterification of biodiesel synthesis has been studying for last few years. It combines all the steps in a single reactor and it eliminates the steps of biomass drying, oil extraction and separation from solvent. Apparently, it seems to be cost-effective and faster process but number of difficulties need to be solved to make it large scale applicable. The main challenges are microbial cell disruption in bulk volume and make faster the esterification reaction, because water contents of the medium sluggish the reaction rate. Several methods have been proposed but none of them is up to the level to implement in large scale. It is still a great challenge to extract maximum lipid from microbial cells (yeast, fungi, algae) investing minimum energy. Electroporation technique results a significant increase in cell conductivity and permeability caused due to the application of an external electric field. Electroporation is required to alter the size and structure of the cells to increase their porosity as well as to disrupt the microbial cell walls within few seconds to leak out the intracellular lipid to the solution. Therefore, incorporation of electroporation techniques contributed in direct transesterification of microbial lipids by increasing the efficiency of biodiesel production rate.

Keywords: biodiesel, electroporation, microbial lipids, transesterification

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Authors: Peter Pomlenyi, Orsolya Semperger, Gergely Hegedus

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The purpose of the project is to develop a complex composite component with visible class ‘A’ surface. It is going to integrate more functions, including continuous fiber reinforcement, foam core, injection molded ribs, and metal inserts. Therefore we are going to produce recyclable structural composite part from thermoplastic polymer in serial production with short cycle time for automotive applications. Our design of the process line is determined by the principles of Industry 4.0. Accordingly, our goal is to map in details the properties of the final product including the mechanical properties in order to replace metal elements used in automotive industry, with special regard to the effect of each manufacturing process step on the afore mentioned properties. Period of the project is 3 years, which lasts from the 1st of December 2016 to the 30th November 2019. There are four consortium members in the R&D project evopro systems engineering Ltd., Department of Polymer Engineering of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Research Centre for Natural Sciences of Hungarian Academy of Sciences and eCon Engineering Ltd. One of the most important result that we can obtain short cycle time (up to 2-3 min) with in-situ polymerization method, which is an innovation in the field of thermoplastic composite production. Because of the mentioned method, our fully automated production line is able to manufacture complex thermoplastic composite parts and satisfies the short cycle time required by the automotive industry. In addition to the innovative technology, we are able to design, analyze complex composite parts with finite element method, and validate our results. We are continuously collecting all the information, knowledge and experience to improve our technology and obtain even more accurate results with respect to the quality and complexity of the composite parts, the cycle time of the production, and the design and analyzing method of the composite parts.

Keywords: T-RTM technology, composite, automotive, class A surface

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Authors: Ana Maria Reis D'Azevedo Breda, Catarina Maria Neto da Cruz

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The Japanese art of origami provides a rich context for designing exploratory mathematical activities for children and young people. By folding a simple sheet of paper, fascinating and surprising planar and spatial configurations emerge. Equally surprising is the unfolding process, which also produces striking patterns. The procedure of folding, unfolding, and folding again allows the exploration of interesting geometric patterns. When adequately and systematically done, we may deduce some of the mathematical rules ruling origami. As the child/youth folds the sheet of paper repeatedly, he can physically observe how the forms he obtains are transformed and how they relate to the pattern of the corresponding unfolding, creating space for the understanding/discovery of mathematical principles regulating the folding-unfolding process. As part of a 2023 Summer Academy organized by a Portuguese university, a session entitled “Folding, Thinking and Generalizing” took place. Twenty-three students attended the session, all enrolled in the 2nd cycle of Portuguese Basic Education and aged between 10 and 12 years old. The main focus of this session was to foster the development of critical cognitive and socio-emotional skills among these young learners using origami. These skills included creativity, critical analysis, mathematical reasoning, collaboration, and communication. Employing a qualitative, descriptive, and interpretative analysis of data collected during the session through field notes and students’ written productions, our findings reveal that structured origami-based activities not only promote student engagement with mathematical concepts in a playful and interactive but also facilitate the development of socio-emotional skills, which include collaboration and effective communication between participants. This research highlights the value of integrating origami into educational practices, highlighting its role in supporting comprehensive cognitive and emotional learning experiences.

Keywords: skills, origami rules, active learning, hands-on activities

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Authors: Manisha Massey, Mariette Berndsen, Helen McLaren

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The existing body of literature concerning the incidence, prevalence, and experiences of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) lacked cultural inclusivity, primarily reflecting Euro-centric perspectives. This study investigated and reviewed the existing literature to understand the experiences of women of color from South Asia, addressing the gap in understanding how culture and diversity impact CSA. While individualist cultures emphasize autonomy, collectivist societies prioritize interdependence. South Asia's diverse intersections, including gender, caste, religion, and class, have intensified child sexual exploitation, challenging assumed homogeneity and safety. Additionally, the power exploitation in the space of abuse and grooming supplementing with the prevalence of honor violence makes disclosures of sexual abuse for children daunting and unsafe in these cultures. This scoping review examined the connection between CSA, psychological trauma, re-traumatization, and shame among adult South Asian women from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Despite distinct borders, these countries share historical, linguistic, and traditional ties. Following PRISMA guidelines, the review employed thematic analysis. Findings underscored cultural factors' influence on CSA incidence, help-seeking barriers, and treatment challenges. The pivotal role of shame (sharam) and honor (izzat) in disclosure and healing processes was highlighted. The study emphasized the need for culturally sensitive interventions while noting limited literature on re-traumatisation. Incorporating a culturally informed perspective, this research aims to decolonize trauma therapy by contributing to the CSA discourse, shedding light on its intricate interaction with trauma, shame, and healing among South Asian women.

Keywords: Childhood sexual abuse, decolonizing psychology, trauma, re-trauma, shame

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Authors: Parvin Samadi Pakchin, Reza Saber, Hossein Ghanbari, Yadollah Omidi

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Ovarian cancer is one of the leading cause of mortality among the gynecological malignancies, and it remains the one of the most prevalent cancer in females worldwide. Tumor markers are biochemical molecules in blood or tissues which can indicates cancers occurrence in the human body. So, the sensitive and specific detection of cancer markers typically recruited for diagnosing and evaluating cancers. Recently extensive research efforts are underway to achieve a simple, inexpensive and accurate device for detection of cancer biomarkers. Compared with conventional immunoassay techniques, electrochemical immunosensors are of great interest, because they are specific, simple, inexpensive, easy to handling and miniaturization. Moreover, in the past decade nanotechnology has played a crucial role in the development of biosensors. In this study, a signal-off electrochemical immunosensor for the detection of CA125 antigen has been developed using chitosan-gold nanoparticles (CS-AuNP) and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) composites. Toluidine blue (TB) is used as redox probe which is immobilized on the electrode surface. CS-AuNP is synthesized by a simple one step method that HAuCl4 is reduced by NH2 groups of chitosan. The CS-AuNP-MWCNT modified electrode has shown excellent electrochemical performance compared with bare Au electrode. MWCNTs and AuNPs increased electrochemical conductivity and accelerate electrons transfer between solution and electrode surface while excessive amine groups on chitosan lead to the effective loading of the biological material (CA125 antibody) and TB on the electrode surface. The electrochemical, immobilization and sensing properties CS-AuNP-MWCNT-TB modified electrodes are characterized by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, differential pulse voltammetry and square wave voltammetry with Fe(CN)63−/4−as an electrochemical redox indicator.

Keywords: signal-off electrochemical biosensor, CA125, ovarian cancer, chitosan-gold nanoparticles

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Authors: Tai Mei Kin, Omar Abdull Kareem

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In light of globalization, educational reform has become a top priority for many countries. However, the task of leading change effectively requires a multidimensional set of competencies. Over the past two decades, technical competencies of principal change leadership have been extensively analysed and discussed. Comparatively, little research has been conducted in Malaysian education context on non-technical competencies or popularly known as emotional intelligence, which is equally crucial for the success of change. This article provides a validation of the Principal Change Leadership Non-Technical Competencies (PCLnTC) Scale, a tool that practitioners can easily use to assess school principals’ level of change leadership non-technical competencies that facilitate change and maximize change effectiveness. The overall coherence of the PCLnTC model was constructed by incorporating three theories: a)the change leadership theory whereby leading change is the fundamental role of a leader; b)competency theory in which leadership can be taught and learned; and c)the concept of emotional intelligence whereby it can be developed, fostered and taught. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to determine the underlying factor structure of PCLnTC model. Before conducting EFA, five important pilot test approaches were conducted to ensure the validity and reliability of the instrument: a)reviewed by academic colleagues; b)verification and comments from panel; c)evaluation on questionnaire format, syntax, design, and completion time; d)evaluation of item clarity; and e)assessment of internal consistency reliability. A total of 335 teachers from 12 High Performing Secondary School in Malaysia completed the survey. The PCLnTCS with six points Liker-type scale were subjected to Principal Components Analysis. The analysis yielded a three-factor solution namely, a)Interpersonal Sensitivity; b)Flexibility; and c)Motivation, explaining a total 74.326 per cent of the variance. Based on the results, implications for instrument revisions are discussed and specifications for future confirmatory factor analysis are delineated.

Keywords: exploratory factor analysis, principal change leadership non-technical competencies (PCLnTC), interpersonal sensitivity, flexibility, motivation

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Authors: M. Lim Haslip

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This quantitative study explores the correlation between child gender and father-child interactions. The author analyzes data from videotaped interactions between African-American fathers and their boy or girl toddler to explain how African-American fathers and toddlers interact with each other and whether these interactions differ by child gender. The purpose of this study is to investigate the research question: 'How, if at all, do fathers’ speech and gestures differ when interacting with their two-year-old sons versus daughters during free play?' The objectives of this study are to describe how child gender impacts African-American fathers’ verbal communication, examine how fathers gesture and speak to their toddler by gender, and to guide interventions for low-income African-American families and their children in early language development. This study involves a sample of 41 low-income African-American fathers and their 24-month-old toddlers. The videotape data will be used to observe 10-minute father-child interactions during free play. This study uses the already transcribed and coded data provided by Dr. Meredith Rowe, who did her study on the impact of African-American fathers’ verbal input on their children’s language development. The Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES program), created to study conversational interactions, was used for transcription and coding of the videotape data. The findings focus on the quantity of speech, diversity of speech, complexity of speech, and the quantity of gesture to inform the vocabulary usage, number of spoken words, length of speech, and the number of object pointings observed during father-toddler interactions in a free play setting. This study will help intervention and prevention scientists understand early language development in the African-American population. It will contribute to knowledge of the role of African-American fathers’ interactions on their children’s language development. It will guide interventions for the early language development of African-American children.

Keywords: parental engagement, early language development, African-American families, quantity of speech, diversity of speech, complexity of speech and the quantity of gesture

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Authors: Jaidev Tripathy

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A human generation’s lifestyle, behaviors, habits, and actions are governed heavily by homogenous mindsets. But the current scenario is witnessing a rapid gap in this homogeneity as a result of an intervention, or rather, the dominance of the digital revolution in the human lifestyle. The current mindset for mass production, employment, multi-tasking, rapid involvement, and stiff competition to stay above the rest has led to a major shift in human consciousness. Architecture, as an entity, is being perceived differently. The screens are replacing the skies. The pace at which operation and evolution is taking place has increased. It is paradoxical, that time seems to be moving faster despite the intention to save time. Parallelly, there is an evident shift in architectural typologies spanning across different generations. The architecture of today is now seems influenced heavily from here and there. Mass production of buildings and over-exploitation of resources giving shape to uninspiring algorithmic designs, ambiguously catering to multiple user groups, has become a prevalent theme. Borrow-and-steal replaces influence, and the diminishing depth in today’s designs reflects a lack of understanding and connection. The digitally dominated world, perceived as an aid to connect and network, is making humans less capable of real-life interactions and understanding. It is not wrong, but it doesn’t seem right either. The engagement level between human beings and the built environment is a concern which surfaces. This leads to a question: Does human engagement drive architecture, or does architecture drive human engagement? This paper attempts to relook at architecture's capacity and its relativity with pace to influence the conscious decisions of a human being. Secondary research, supported with case examples, helps in understanding the translation of human engagement with the built environment through physicality of architecture. The procedure, or theme, is pace and the role of slowness in the context of human behaviors, thus bridging the widening gap between the human race and the architecture themselves give shape to, avoiding a possible future dystopian world.

Keywords: junkspace, pace, perception, slowness

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Authors: Leixuri Aguirre, Iñaki Milton-Laskibar, Elizabeth Hijona, Luis Bujanda, Agnes M. Rimando, Maria P. Portillo

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Introduction: In recent years great attention has been paid by scientific community to phenolic compounds as active biomolecules naturally present in foodstuffs due to their beneficial effects on health. Pterostilbene is a resveratrol dimethylether derivative which shows higher biodisponibility. Objective. To analyze the effects of two doses of pterostilbene on several markers of thermogenic capacity in a model of genetic obesity, which shows reduced thermogenesis. Methods: The experiment was conducted with thirty Zucker (fa/fa) rats that were distributed in 3 experimental groups, the control group and two groups orally administered with pterostilbene at 15 and 30 mg/kg body weight/day for 6 weeks. Gene expression of Ucp1, Pgc-1α, Cpt1b, Pparα, Nfr1, Tfam and Cox-2 were assessed by RT-PCR, protein expression of UCP1 and GLUT4 by western blot and enzyme activity of carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1b and citrate synthase by spectrophotometry in interscapular brown adipose tissue (iBAT). Statistical analysis was performed by using one way ANOVA and Newman-Keuls as post-hoc test. Results: Pterostilbene did not change gene expression of Pgc-1α. However, significant increases were found in the expression of Ucp1, Pparα, Nfr-1 and Cox-2. Protein expression of UCP1 and GLUT4 was increased in animals treated with pterostilbene, as well as the activities of CPT-1b and CS. These effects were observed with both doses of pterostilbene, without differences between them. Conclusions: These results show that pterostilbene increases thermogenic and oxidative capacity of brown adipose tissue in obese rats. Whether these effects effectively contribute to the anti-obesity properties of these compound needs further research. Acknowledgments: MINECO-FEDER (AGL2015-65719-R), Basque Government (IT-572-13), University of the Basque Country (ELDUNANOTEK UFI11/32), Institut of Health Carlos III (CIBERobn). Iñaki Milton is a fellowship from the Basque Government.

Keywords: brown adipose tissue, pterostilbene, thermogenesis, uncoupling protein 1

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Authors: Faisal G. Khamis, Ghaleb A. El-Refae

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Many researchers have studied socioeconomic, health, and security variables in the developed countries; however, very few studies used multivariate analysis in developing countries. The current study contributes to the scarce literature about the determinants of the variance in socioeconomic, health, and security factors. Questions raised were whether the independent variables (IVs) of governorate and year impact the socioeconomic, health, and security dependent variables (DVs) in Jordan, whether the marginal mean of each DV in each governorate and in each year is significant, which governorates are similar in difference means of each DV, and whether these DVs vary. The main objectives were to determine the source of variances in DVs, collectively and separately, testing which governorates are similar and which diverge for each DV. The research design was time series and cross-sectional analysis. The main hypotheses are that IVs affect DVs collectively and separately. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance were carried out to test these hypotheses. The population of 12 governorates in Jordan and the available data of 15 years (2000–2015) accrued from several Jordanian statistical yearbooks. We investigated the effect of two factors of governorate and year on the four DVs of divorce rate, mortality rate, unemployment percentage, and crime rate. All DVs were transformed to multivariate normal distribution. We calculated descriptive statistics for each DV. Based on the multivariate analysis of variance, we found a significant effect in IVs on DVs with p < .001. Based on the univariate analysis, we found a significant effect of IVs on each DV with p < .001, except the effect of the year factor on unemployment was not significant with p = .642. The grand and marginal means of each DV in each governorate and each year were significant based on a 95% confidence interval. Most governorates are not similar in DVs with p < .001. We concluded that the two factors produce significant effects on DVs, collectively and separately. Based on these findings, the government can distribute its financial and physical resources to governorates more efficiently. By identifying the sources of variance that contribute to the variation in DVs, insights can help inform focused variation prevention efforts.

Keywords: ANOVA, crime, divorce, governorate, hypothesis test, Jordan, MANOVA, means, mortality, unemployment, year

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Authors: Sanpetchuda Krutkrua, Suphawatchara Malanond

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Competition law is not a new thing in Thailand. Thailand first passed the first competition law during the Second World War in order to stop business operator monopolizing food and basic living supplies. The competition law in Thailand has been amended several times during the past eighty years in order to make it suitable for the current economic and social condition. In 2017, Thailand enacted the current Trade Competition Act of B.E. 2560, which contain several changes to the regime in order to enhance a prevention of collusive practices and monopolization through both vertical restraints and horizontal restraints. Section 56 of the Act provides exemptions for the vertical relationship; i.e., the arrangement in form of complementary relationship, between business operators, franchising agreements between franchisor and franchisee, and licensing agreement between licensor and licensee. The key is that such agreements must not be excessive, create monopolization or attempt to monopolize, or cause any impacts the consumers regarding price, quality, quantity of the goods. The goal of the paper is to explore the extent of the exemption under Section 56 and its sequential regulations regarding vertical trade restraints in the case intellectual property licensing. The research will be conducted in form of a comparative analysis on exemptions for collusive practices under the United States Antitrust law and the Thai Competition Act of B.E. 2560. The United Antitrust law, fairly similar to the Thai Competition Act of B.E. 2561, views the intellectual property licensing to have pro-competitive benefits to the market as long as the intellectual property licensing agreement does not harm the competition amongst the business operators that could have or would have been competitors. The United States Antitrust law identifies the relationship between the parties of the agreement whether such agreement is horizontal or vertical or both. Even though the nature of licensing agreements is primarily vertical, the relationship between licensor and licensees can also be horizontal if they could have been potential competitors in the market as well. The United States Antitrust law frowns upon, if not prohibits, the horizontal restraints regarding the intellectual property licensing but does not impose the same restrictions on the vertical trade restraints regarding intellectual property licensing.

Keywords: antitrust, competition law, vertical restraint, intellectual property, intellectual property licensing, comparative law

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Authors: Sandra Cardoso, Gaspar Pais, Judite Neves, Sandra Cavaca, Fernando Araújo

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In 2021, Portugal has 63 emergency department (ED) visits per 100 people annually, the highest numbers in Europe. While EDs provide a critical service, high use is indicative of inappropriate and inefficient healthcare. In Portugal, all ED have the Manchester Triage System (MTS), a clinical risk management tool to enable that patients are seen in order of clinical priority. In 2023, more than 40% of the ED visits were of non-urgent conditions (blue and green), that could be better managed in primary health care (PHC), meaning wrong use of resources and lack of health literacy. From 2017, the country has a phone line, SNS24 (Contact Centre of the National Health Service), for triage, counseling, and referral service, 24 hours/7 days a week. The pilot project ‘Call before, save lives’ was implemented in the municipalities of Póvoa de Varzim and Vila do Conde (around 150.000 residents), in May 2023, by the executive board of the Portuguese Health Service, with the support of the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health, and local authorities. This geographical area has short travel times, 99% of the population a family doctor and the region is organized in a health local unit (HLU), integrating PHC and the local hospital. The purposes of this project included to increase awareness to contact SNS 24, before going to an ED, and non-urgent conditions oriented to a family doctor, reducing ED visits. The implementation of the project involved two phases, beginning with: i) development of campaigns using local influencers (fishmonger, model, fireman) through local institutions and media; ii) provision of telephone installed on site to contact SNS24; iii) establishment of open consultation in PHC; iv) promotion of the use of SNS24; v) creation of acute consultations at the hospital for complex chronic patients; and vi) direct referral for home hospitalization by PHC. The results of this project showed an excellent level of access to SNS24, an increase in the number of users referred to ED, with great satisfaction of users and professionals. The second phase, initiated in January 2024, for access to the ED, the need for prior referral was established as an admission rule, except for certain situations, as trauma patients. If the patient refuses, their registration in the ED and subsequent screening in accordance with the MTS must be ensured. When the patient is non-urgent, shall not be observed in the ED, provided that, according to his clinical condition, is guaranteed to be referred to PHC or to consultation/day hospital, through effective scheduling of an appointment for the same or the following day. In terms of results, 8 weeks after beginning of phase 2, we assist of a decrease in self-reported patients to ED from 59% to 15%, and a reduction of around 7% of ED visits. The key for this success was an effective public campaign that increases the knowledge of the right use of the health system, and capable of changing behaviors.

Keywords: contact centre of the national health service, emergency department visits, public campaign, health literacy, SNS24

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Authors: Vivian Polak, Lena Verdeli, Wendy Lou, Caroline Lovett

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Postnatal depression (PND) is a common complication of childbirth that increases the risk of future depressive episodes in women, postpartum depression in partners, as well as social, emotional, behavioural, language, and cognitive problems in offspring. Although psychotherapy, and in particular Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT-G), has been proven effective in treating PND, it remains largely inaccessible. However, research has indicated that online synchronous group therapy can be equally as effective as in-person therapy and is a more affordable and accessible modality of treatment. This study aimed to ascertain whether delivering IPT-G virtually when compared to treatment as usual, could more effectively reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms, enhance mother-infant attachment, improve the couple relationship, augment social support, improve overall functioning, and enhance the quality of life for women in rural and northern Ontario who are suffering from PND. By bridging the gap in access to mental health services during the postpartum period, this study seeks to improve the well-being of mothers and their families in rural and northern Ontario, Canada. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to determine whether virtual IPT-G plus treatment as usual would be more effective than treatment as usual alone in treating women with PND in Ontario, Canada. Preliminary results indicate that women who received virtual IPT-G had a clinically and statistically significant decrease in overall depressive symptoms compared to their counterparts who received only the treatment as usual. As such, providing online synchronous IPT-G in the perinatal period not only has the potential to improve women's outcomes in the present but also to decrease future health costs, reduce the burden on the educational and justice systems, and decrease the number of disability life years lost to postnatal depression.

Keywords: family wellbeing, group psychotherapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, postnatal depression, virtual psychotherapy

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Authors: Joanna Peksa, Faith Dillon-Lee

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Current developments in the Western economies have turned some universities into corporate institutions driven by practices of production and commodity. Academia is increasingly becoming integrated into national economies as a result of students paying fees and is consequently using business practices in student retention and engagement. With these changes, pedagogy status as a priority within the institution has been changing in light of these new demands. New strategies have blurred the boundaries that separate a student from a client. This led to a change of the dynamic, disrupting the traditional idea of the knowledge market, and emphasizing the corporate aspect of universities. In some cases, where students are seen primarily as a customer, the purpose of academia is no longer to educate but sell a commodity and retain fee-paying students. This paper considers opposing viewpoints on the commodification of higher education, reflecting on the reality of maintaining a pedagogic grounding in an increasingly commercialized sector. By analysing a case study of the Student Success Festival, an event that involved academic and marketing teams, the differences are considered between the respective visions of the pedagogic arm of the university and the corporate. This study argues that the initial concept of the event, based on the principles of gamification, independent learning, and cognitive criticality, was more clearly linked to a grounded pedagogic approach. However, when liaising with the marketing team in a crucial step in the creative process, it became apparent that these principles were not considered a priority in terms of their remit. While the study acknowledges in the power of pedagogy, the findings show that a pact of concord is necessary between different stakeholders in order for students to benefit fully from their learning experience. Nevertheless, while issues of power prevail and whenever power is unevenly distributed, reaching a consensus becomes increasingly challenging and further research should closely monitor the developments in pedagogy in the UK higher education.

Keywords: economic pressure, commodification, pedagogy, gamification, public service, marketization

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Authors: Toby Gibbs, Glen Craigie, Suwaree Yordchim

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Using the Speexx Online Language Training Program with Thai students has allowed us to evaluate their learning comprehension and track their progression through the English language program. Speexx sets the standard for excellence and innovation in web-based language training and online coaching services. The program is designed to improve the business communication skills of language learners for Thai students. Speexx consists of English lessons, exercises, tests, web boards, and supplementary lessons to help students practice English. The sample groups are 191 Thai sophomores studying Business English with the department of Humanities and Social Science. The data was received by standard deviation (S.D.) value from questionnaires and samples provided from the Speexx training program. The results found that most Thai sophomores fail the Speexx training program due to their learning comprehension of the English language is below average. With persisted efforts on new training methods, the success of the Speexx Language Training Program can break through the cultural barriers and help future students adopt English as a second language. The Speexx results revealed four main factors affecting the success as follows: 1) Future English training should be pursued in applied Speexx development. 2) Thai students didn’t see the benefit of having an Online Language Training Program. 3) There is a great need to educate the next generation of learners on the benefits of Speexx within the community. 4) A great majority of Thai Sophomores didn't know what Speexx was. A guideline for self-reliance planning consisted of four aspects: 1) Development planning: by arranging groups to further improve English abilities with the Speexx Language Training program and encourage using Speexx every day. Local communities need to develop awareness of the usefulness of Speexx and share the value of using the program among family and friends. 2) Humanities and Social Science staff should develop skills using this Online Language Training Program to expand on the benefits of Speexx within their departments. 3) Further research should be pursued on the Thai Students progression with Speexx and how it helps them improve their language skills with Business English. 4) University’s and Language centers should focus on using Speexx to encourage learning for any language, not just English.

Keywords: ability, comprehension, sophomore, speexx

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Authors: Abidemi C. Adegboye, Samuel Iweriebor

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The primary link between financial institutions and economic performance is the provision of resources by these institutions to businesses in order to drive enterprise expansion, sustainability, and development. In this study, the role of access to finance in driving innovations and productivity in Nigerian SMEs is investigated using the World Bank Enterprise Survey (ES) dataset. Innovation is defined based on the ES analysis using five compositions including product, method, organisational, use of foreign-licensed technology, and spending on R&D. The study considers finance in terms of source in meeting investment needs and in terms of access. Moreover, finance access is categorized as external and internal to a firm with each having different implications. The research methodology adopted a survey analysis based on the 2014 World Bank Enterprise Survey of 19 states in Nigeria. The survey comprised over 10,000 manufacturing and services firms, both at the small scale and medium scale levels. The logit estimation technique is used to estimate the relationships in the study. The results from the empirical analysis show that in general, access to finance drives SME innovation in Nigeria. In particular, ease of accessing bank loans and credit is shown to be the strongest positive force in driving all types of innovation among SMEs in Nigeria. In the same vein, the type of finance source for investment matters in terms of how it affects innovation: it is shown that both internal and external sources improve investment in product, process, and organisational innovation, but only external financing has effect on R&D spending and use of foreign licensed technology. Overall spending on R&D is only driven by access to external finance by the SMEs. For productivity, the results show that while structure of financing investment improves productivity, increased access to finance may actually lead to productivity decline among SMEs in Nigeria. There is a need for the financial system to evolve structures to increase fund availability to SMEs in Nigeria, especially for the purpose of innovation investment.

Keywords: access to finance, financing investment, innovation, productivity, SMEs

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Authors: Omid Giahi, Ebrahim Darvishi, Mahdi Akbarzadeh

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Introduction: Occupational low back pain (LBP) is one of the most prevalent work-related musculoskeletal disorders in which a lot of risk factors are involved that. The present study focuses on the relation between personal, psycho-social and occupational risk factors and LBP severity in industrial workers. Materials and Methods: This research was a case-control study which was conducted in Kurdistan province. 100 workers (Mean Age ± SD of 39.9 ± 10.45) with LBP were selected as the case group, and 100 workers (Mean Age ± SD of 37.2 ± 8.5) without LBP were assigned into the control group. All participants were selected from various industrial units, and they had similar occupational conditions. The required data including demographic information (BMI, smoking, alcohol, and family history), occupational (posture, mental workload (MWL), force, vibration and repetition), and psychosocial factors (stress, occupational satisfaction and security) of the participants were collected via consultation with occupational medicine specialists, interview, and the related questionnaires and also the NASA-TLX software and REBA worksheet. Chi-square test, logistic regression and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the data. For analysis of data, IBM Statistics SPSS 24 and Mplus6 software have been used. Results: 114 (77%) of the individuals were male and 86 were (23%) female. Mean Career length of the Case Group and Control Group were 10.90 ± 5.92, 9.22 ± 4.24, respectively. The statistical analysis of the data revealed that there was a significant correlation between the Posture, Smoking, Stress, Satisfaction, and MWL with occupational LBP. The odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) derived from a logistic regression model were 2.7 (1.27-2.24) and 2.5 (2.26-5.17) and 3.22 (2.47-3.24) for Stress, MWL, and Posture, respectively. Also, the SEM analysis of the personal, psycho-social and occupational factors with LBP revealed that there was a significant correlation. Conclusion: All three broad categories of risk factors simultaneously increase the risk of occupational LBP in the workplace. But, the risks of Posture, Stress, and MWL have a major role in LBP severity. Therefore, prevention strategies for persons in jobs with high risks for LBP are required to decrease the risk of occupational LBP.

Keywords: industrial workers occupational, low back pain, occupational risk factors, psychosocial factors

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Authors: Antonio Marques, Graça Guedes

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The Portuguese footwear industry had in the last five years a remarkable performance in the exportation values, the trade balance and others economic indicators. After a long period of difficulties and with a strong reduction of companies and employees since 1994 until 2009, the Portuguese footwear industry changed the strategy and is now a success case between the international players of footwear. Only the Italian industry sells footwear with a higher value than the Portuguese and the distance between them is decreasing year by year. This paper analyses how the Portuguese footwear companies innovate and make innovation, according the classification proposed by the Oslo Manual. Also analyses the strategy follow in the innovation process, as suggested by Freeman and Soete, and shows the linkage between the type of innovation and the strategy of innovation. The research methodology was qualitative and the strategy for data collection was the case study. The qualitative data will be analyzed with the MAXQDA software. The economic results of the footwear companies studied shows differences between all of them and these differences are related with the innovation strategy adopted. The companies focused in product and marketing innovation, oriented to their target market, have higher ratios “turnover per worker” than the companies focused in process innovation. However, all the footwear companies in this “low-tech” industry create value and contribute to a positive foreign trade of 1.310 million euros in 2013. The growth strategies implemented has the participation of the sectorial organizations in several innovative projects. And it’s obvious that cooperation between all of them is a critical element to the performance achieved by the companies and the innovation observed. Can conclude that the Portuguese footwear sector has in the last years an excellent performance (economic results, exportation values, trade balance, brands and international image) and his performance is strongly related with the strategy in innovation followed, the type of innovation and the networks in the cluster. A simplified model, called “Ace of Diamonds”, is proposed by the authors and explains the way how this performance was reached by the seven companies that participate in the study (two of them are the leaders in the setor), and if this model can be used in others traditional and “low-tech” industries.

Keywords: footwear, innovation, “low-tech” industry, Oslo manual

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Authors: Abdulaziz F. Ettir, Ghait Bashir, Tarek S. Duzan

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A proper well planning is very vital to achieve any successful drilling program on the basis of preventing, overcome all drilling problems and minimize cost operations. Since the hydraulic system plays an active role during the drilling operations, that will lead to accelerate the drilling effort and lower the overall well cost. Likewise, an improperly designed hydraulic system can slow drill rate, fail to clean the hole of cuttings, and cause kicks. In most cases, common sense and commercially available computer programs are the only elements required to design the hydraulic system. Drilling optimization is the logical process of analyzing effects and interactions of drilling variables through applied drilling and hydraulic equations and mathematical modeling to achieve maximum drilling efficiency with minimize drilling cost. In this paper, practical software adopted in this paper to define drilling optimization models including four different optimum keys, namely Opti-flow, Opti-clean, Opti-slip and Opti-nozzle that can help to achieve high drilling efficiency with lower cost. The used data in this research from vertical and horizontal wells were recently drilled in Waha Oil Company fields. The input data are: Formation type, Geopressures, Hole Geometry, Bottom hole assembly and Mud reghology. Upon data analysis, all the results from wells show that the proposed program provides a high accuracy than that proposed from the company in terms of hole cleaning efficiency, and cost break down if we consider that the actual data as a reference base for all wells. Finally, it is recommended to use the established Optimization calculations software at drilling design to achieve correct drilling parameters that can provide high drilling efficiency, borehole cleaning and all other hydraulic parameters which assist to minimize hole problems and control drilling operation costs.

Keywords: optimum keys, namely opti-flow, opti-clean, opti-slip and opti-nozzle

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Authors: Julia Terlet, Thomas H. Beach, Yacine Rezgui

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Urbanization, population growth, climate change and the current increase in water demand have made the adoption of innovative demand management strategies crucial to the water industry. Water conservation in urban areas has to be improved by encouraging consumers to adopt more sustainable habits and behaviours. This includes informing and educating them about their households’ water consumption and advising them about ways to achieve significant savings on a daily basis. This paper presents a study conducted in the context of the European FP7 WISDOM Project. By integrating innovative Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) frameworks, this project aims at achieving a change in water savings. More specifically, behavioural change will be attempted by implementing smart meters and in-home displays in a trial group of selected households within Cardiff (UK). Using this device, consumers will be able to receive feedback and information about their consumption but will also have the opportunity to compare their consumption to the consumption of other consumers and similar households. Following an initial survey, it appeared necessary to implement these in-home displays in a way that matches consumer's motivations to save water. The results demonstrated the importance of various factors influencing people’s daily water consumption. Both the relevant literature on the subject and the results of our survey therefore led us to include within the in-home device a variety of elements. It first appeared crucial to make consumers aware of the economic aspect of water conservation and especially of the significant financial savings that can be achieved by reducing their household’s water consumption on the long term. Likewise, reminding participants of the impact of their consumption on the environment by making them more aware of water scarcity issues around the world will help increasing their motivation to save water. Additionally, peer pressure and social comparisons with neighbours and other consumers, accentuated by the use of online social networks such as Facebook or Twitter, will likely encourage consumers to reduce their consumption. Participants will also be able to compare their current consumption to their past consumption and to observe the consequences of their efforts to save water through diverse graphs and charts. Finally, including a virtual water game within the display will help the whole household, children and adults, to achieve significant reductions by providing them with simple tips and advice to save water on a daily basis. Moreover, by setting daily and weekly goals for them to reach, the game will expectantly generate cooperation between family members. Members of each household will indeed be encouraged to work together to reduce their water consumption within different rooms of the house, such as the bathroom, the kitchen, or the toilets. Overall, this study will allow us to understand the elements that attract consumers the most and the features that are most commonly used by the participants. In this way, we intend to determine the main factors influencing water consumption in order to identify the measures that will most encourage water conservation in both the long and short term.

Keywords: behavioural change, ICT technologies, water consumption, water conservation

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Authors: R. Sekula

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Epoxy composites are broadly used as an electrical insulation for the high voltage applications since only such materials can fulfill particular mechanical, thermal, and dielectric requirements. However, properties of the final product are strongly dependent on proper manufacturing process with minimized material failures, as too large shrinkage, voids and cracks. Therefore, application of proper materials (epoxy, hardener, and filler) and process parameters (mold temperature, filling time, filling velocity, initial temperature of internal parts, gelation time), as well as design and geometric parameters are essential features for final quality of the produced components. In this paper, an approach for three-dimensional modeling of all molding stages, namely filling, curing and post-curing is presented. The reactive molding simulation tool is based on a commercial CFD package, and include dedicated models describing viscosity and reaction kinetics that have been successfully implemented to simulate the reactive nature of the system with exothermic effect. Also a dedicated simulation procedure for stress and shrinkage calculations, as well as simulation results are presented in the paper. Second part of the paper is dedicated to recent developments on formulations of functional composites for electrical insulation applications, focusing on thermally conductive materials. Concepts based on filler modifications for epoxy electrical composites have been presented, including the results of the obtained properties. Finally, having in mind tough environmental regulations, in addition to current process and design aspects, an approach for product re-design has been presented focusing on replacement of epoxy material with the thermoplastic one. Such “design-for-recycling” method is one of new directions associated with development of new material and processing concepts of electrical products and brings a lot of additional research challenges. For that, one of the successful products has been presented to illustrate the presented methodology.

Keywords: curing, epoxy insulation, numerical simulations, recycling

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