Search results for: automation control technology

Authors: Flavio Campos

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This paper describes an implementation of a STEM curriculum program using robotics as a technological resource at a private school in Brazil. Emphasized the pedagogic and didactic aspects and brings a discussion about STEM curriculum and the perspective of using robotics and the relation between curriculum, science and technologies into the learning process. The results indicate that STEM curriculum integration with robotics as a technological resource in K-12 students learning process has complex aspects, such as relation between time/space, the development of educators and the relation between robotics and other subjects. Therefore, the comprehension of these aspects could indicate some steps that we should consider when integrating STEM basis and robotics into curriculum, which can improve education for science and technology significantly.

Keywords: STEM curriculum, educational robotics, constructionist approach, education and technology

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Authors: Amit Kumar, Rajdeep Chakrabarty, Ganesh Gupta

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This paper illustrates the detailed accreditation process of Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) for accrediting engineering and Technology programs. ABET is a non-governmental agency that accredits engineering and technology, applied and natural sciences, and computing sciences programs. ABET was founded on 10th May 1932 and was founded by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. International industries accept ABET accredited institutes having the highest standards in their academic programs. In this accreditation, there are eight criteria in general; criterion 1 describes the student outcome evaluations, criteria 2 measures the program's educational objectives, criteria 3 is the student outcome calculated from the marks obtained by students, criteria 4 establishes continuous improvement, criteria 5 focus on curriculum of the institute, criteria 6 is about faculties of this institute, criteria 7 measures the facilities provided by the institute and finally, criteria 8 focus on institutional support towards staff of the institute. In this paper, we focused on the calculative part of each criterion with equations and suitable examples, the files and documentation required for each criterion, and the total workflow of the process. The references and the values used to illustrate the calculations are all taken from the samples provided at ABET's official website. In the final section, we also discuss the criterion-wise score weightage followed by evaluation with timeframe and deadlines.

Keywords: Engineering Accreditation Committee, Computing Accreditation Committee, performance indicator, Program Educational Objective, ABET Criterion 1 to 7, IEEE, National Board of Accreditation, MOOCS, Board of Studies, stakeholders, course objective, program outcome, articulation, attainment, CO-PO mapping, CO-PO-SO mapping, PDCA cycle, degree certificates, course files, course catalogue

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Authors: Seyong Jeong, Jinmo Park, Jinhyoun Park, Boram Kim, Kyoungsoo Ahn

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Energy management in the maritime industry is being required by economics and in conformity with new legislative actions taken by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the European Union (EU). In response, the various performance monitoring methodologies and data collection practices have been examined by different stakeholders. While many assorted advancements in operation and technology are applicable, their adoption in the shipping industry stays small. This slow uptake can be considered due to many different barriers such as data analysis problems, misreported data, and feedback problems, etc. This study presents a conceptual design of an energy management system (EMS) and proposes the methodology to resolve the limitations (e.g., data normalization using naval architectural evaluation, management of misrepresented data, and feedback from shore to ship through management of performance analysis history). We expect this system to make even short-term charterers assess the ship performance properly and implement sustainable fleet control.

Keywords: data normalization, energy management system, naval architectural evaluation, ship performance analysis

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Authors: Sogol Zarafshan

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The present study aimed to identify important factors affecting the effectiveness of quality control circles in a hospital, as well as rank them using a combination of fuzzy VIKOR and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA). The study population consisted of five academic members and five experts in the field of nursing working in a hospital, who were selected using a purposive sampling method. Also, a sample of 107 nurses was selected through a simple random sampling method using their employee codes and the random-number table. The required data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire which consisted of 12 factors. The validity of this questionnaire was confirmed through giving the opinions of experts and academic members who participated in the present study, as well as performing confirmatory factor analysis. Its reliability also was verified (α=0.796). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 and LISREL 8.8, as well as VIKOR–GRA and IPA methods. The results of ranking the factors affecting the effectiveness of quality control circles showed that the highest and lowest ranks were related to ‘Managers’ and supervisors’ support’ and ‘Group leadership’. Also, the highest hospital performance was for factors such as ‘Clear goals and objectives’ and ‘Group cohesiveness and homogeneity’, and the lowest for ‘Reward system’ and ‘Feedback system’, respectively. The results showed that although ‘Training the members’, ‘Using the right tools’ and ‘Reward system’ were factors that were of great importance, the organization’s performance for these factors was poor. Therefore, these factors should be paid more attention by the studied hospital managers and should be improved as soon as possible.

Keywords: Quality control circles, Fuzzy VIKOR, Grey Relational Analysis, Importance–Performance Analysis

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Authors: Rudranil Das

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Wrapping is a basic textile technique; it is having a great quality of decorative view. Since long back it has been embellishing life of people and their culture in different forms. It links cultures, beliefs, thoughts, technology, and above all, people. Through etymology we can study the movement of the word power of wrapping undoubtedly but in depth analyze it could provide many concepts of structural ability. Only in India, more than 105 different processes exist in the way of saree [a type of women attire] wrapping. Then many more other clothing we found in allover world which connects this technique and construction too. One of the main objectives of this study is to enrich wrapping explanation and come up with surfaces by this technique. The deliberate more fragile and stretchable structural framework makes it more appropriate in different users according to their necessity. Developments of design and technology could create new industry segment and generate a marginalized employment for the people too.

Keywords: concept, existence, philosophical attachment, technological advancement

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Authors: Abdu Feroz Maluleke

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Digital literacy skills among first-year university students has been under scrutiny in recent years. This is largely due to the pressure faced by the South African higher education sector as the battle to integrate educational technologies into the teaching curriculum. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the digital literacy skills of first-year students at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa. A positivism quantitative research methodology will be employed to collect data from 468 first-year students at a higher education institution through a validated questionnaire. Descriptive analyses, T-tests, ANOVA, and Spearman's correlation will be conducted using SPSS. Anticipated findings suggest that various demographic factors, such as previous school, self-efficacy, and age, significantly influence learners' digital literacy competency. Furthermore, the projected findings highlight the importance of rural secondary schools adopting and implementing technological pedagogies in their curriculum. This research aims to make a substantial contribution to the development of ICT adoption guidelines for the secondary school curriculum, which would aid the basic educational sector in South Africa.

Keywords: technology acceptance model, digital literacy skills, secondary schools, south africa

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Authors: Jaehyung Jung, Kiman Kim, Heesang Eum

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Solar cell is one of the main technologies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG). Thereby, accurate estimation of greenhouse gas reduction by solar cell technology is crucial to consider strategic applications of the solar cell. The bottom-up approach using operating data such as operation time and efficiency is one of the methodologies to improve the accuracy of the estimation. In this study, alternative GHG reductions from solar cell technology were estimated by a bottom-up approach to indirect emission source (scope 2) in Korea, 2015. In addition, the scenario-based analysis was conducted to assess the effect of technological change with respect to efficiency improvement and rate of operation. In order to estimate GHG reductions from solar cell activities in operating condition levels, methodologies were derived from 2006 IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories and guidelines for local government greenhouse inventories published in Korea, 2016. Indirect emission factors for electricity were obtained from Korea Power Exchange (KPX) in 2011. As a result, the annual alternative GHG reductions were estimated as 21,504 tonCO2eq, and the annual average value was 1,536 tonCO2eq per each solar cell technology. Those results of estimation showed to be 91% levels versus design of capacity. Estimation of individual greenhouse gases (GHGs) showed that the largest gas was carbon dioxide (CO2), of which up to 99% of the total individual greenhouse gases. The annual average GHG reductions from solar cell per year and unit installed capacity (MW) were estimated as 556 tonCO2eq/yr•MW. Scenario analysis of efficiency improvement by 5%, 10%, 15% increased as much as approximately 30, 61, 91%, respectively, and rate of operation as 100% increased 4% of the annual GHG reductions.

Keywords: bottom-up approach, greenhouse gas (GHG), reduction, scenario, solar cell

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Authors: Chidambaram Thamaraiselvan, Carlos Dosoretz

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This work will explore the influence of low voltage electric field, both alternating (AC) and direct (DC) currents, on biofouling control to highly electrically conductive self-supporting carbon nanotubes (CNT) membranes at conditions which encourage bacterial growth. A mutant strain of Pseudomonas putida S12 was used a model bacterium. The antibiofouling studies were performed with flow-through mode connecting an electric circuit in resistive mode. Major emphasis was placed on AC due to its ability of repulsing and inactivating bacteria. The observations indicate that an AC potential >1500 mV, 1 kHz frequency, 100 Ω external resistance on ground side and pulse wave above the offset (+0.45) almost completely prevented attachment of bacteria (>98.5%) and bacterial inactivation (95.3±2.5%). Findings suggest that at the conditions applied, direct electron transfer might be dominant in a decrease of cell viability. AC resulted more effective than DC, both in terms of biofouling reduction compared to cathodic DC and in terms of cell inactivation compared to anodic DC. This electrically polarized CNT membranes offer a viable antibiofouling strategy to hinder biofouling and simplify membrane care during filtration.

Keywords: bacterial attachment, biofouling control, low electric potential, water treatment

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Authors: Jesús M. Martín, Francisco Corona, Dolores Hidalgo

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Landfills present long-term threats to soil, air, groundwater and surface water due to the formation of greenhouse gases (methane gas and carbon dioxide) and leachate from decomposing garbage. The composition of leachate differs from site to site and also within the landfill. The leachates alter with time (from weeks to years) since the landfilled waste is biologically highly active and their composition varies. Mainly, the composition of the leachate depends on factors such as characteristics of the waste, the moisture content, climatic conditions, degree of compaction and the age of the landfill. Therefore, the leachate composition cannot be generalized and the traditional treatment models should be adapted in each case. Although leachate composition is highly variable, what different leachates have in common is hazardous constituents and their potential eco-toxicological effects on human health and on terrestrial ecosystems. Since leachate has distinct compositions, each landfill or dumping site would represent a different type of risk on its environment. Nevertheless, leachates consist always of high organic concentration, conductivity, heavy metals and ammonia nitrogen. Leachate could affect the current and future quality of water bodies due to uncontrolled infiltrations. Therefore, control and treatment of leachate is one of the biggest issues in urban solid waste treatment plants and landfills design and management. This work presents a treatment model that will be carried out "in-situ" using a cost-effective novel technology that combines solar evaporation/condensation plus forward osmosis. The plant is powered by renewable energies (solar energy, biomass and residual heat), which will minimize the carbon footprint of the process. The final effluent quality is very high, allowing reuse (preferred) or discharge into watercourses. In the particular case of this work, the final effluents will be reused for cleaning and gardening purposes. A minority semi-solid residual stream is also generated in the process. Due to its special composition (rich in metals and inorganic elements), this stream will be valorized in ceramic industries to improve the final products characteristics.

Keywords: forward osmosis, landfills, leachate valorization, solar evaporation

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Authors: Aria Vitkova, Hanna Sykulska-Lawrence

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In recent years, Europa has been one of the major focus points in astrobiology due to its high potential of harbouring life in the vast ocean underneath its icy crust. However, the detection of life on Europa faces many challenges due to the harsh environmental conditions and mission constraints. Raman spectroscopy is a highly capable and versatile in-situ characterisation technique that does not require any sample preparation. It has only been used on Earth to date; however, recent advances in optical and laser technology have also allowed it to be considered for extraterrestrial exploration. So far, most efforts have been focused on the exploration of Mars, the most imminent planetary target. However, as an emerging technology with high miniaturization potential, Raman spectroscopy also represents a promising tool for the exploration of Europa. In this study, the capabilities of Raman technology in terms of life detection on Europa are explored and assessed. Spectra of biosignatures identified as high priority molecular targets for life detection on Europa were acquired at various excitation wavelengths and conditions analogous to Europa. The effects of extremely low temperatures and low concentrations in water ice were explored and evaluated in terms of the effectiveness of various configurations of Raman instruments. Based on the findings, a design of a miniaturized Raman instrument optimized for in-situ detection of life on Europa is proposed.

Keywords: astrobiology, biosignatures, Europa, life detection, Raman Spectroscopy

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Authors: Agord M. Pinto Jr., Yuzo Iano, Leandro T. Manera, Raphael R. N. Souza

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This paper describes an optimization tool-based design strategy for a Current Mode Logic CML divide-by-2 circuit. Representing a building block for output frequency generation in a RFID protocol based-frequency synthesizer, the circuit was designed to minimize the power consumption for driving of multiple loads with unbalancing (at transceiver level). Implemented with XFAB XC08 180 nm technology, the circuit was optimized through MunEDA WiCkeD tool at Cadence Virtuoso Analog Design Environment ADE.

Keywords: divide-by-2 circuit, CMOS technology, PLL phase locked-loop, optimization tool, CML current mode logic, RF transceiver

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Authors: A. Goma Amira, U. E. Mahrous

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Measuring the effect of perinatal lead exposure on learning ability of offspring is considered as a sensitive and selective index for providing an early marker for central nervous system damage produced by this toxic metal. A total of 35 Sprague-Dawley adult rats were used to investigate the effect of lead acetate toxicity on behavioral patterns of adult female rats and learning ability of offspring. Rats were allotted into 4 groups, group one received 1g/l lead acetate (n=10), group two received 1.5g/l lead acetate (n=10), group three received 2g/l lead acetate in drinking water (n=10), and control group did not receive lead acetate (n=5) from 8th day of pregnancy till weaning of pups. The obtained results revealed a dose-dependent increase in the feeding time, drinking frequency, licking frequency, scratching frequency, licking litters, nest building, and retrieving frequencies, while standing time increased significantly in rats treated with 1.5g/l lead acetate than other treated groups and control. On the contrary, lying time decreased gradually in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, movement activities were higher in rats treated with 1g/l lead acetate than other treated groups and control. Furthermore, time spent in closed arms was significantly lower in rats given 2g/l lead acetate than other treated groups, while they spent significantly much time spent in open arms than other treated groups which could be attributed to occurrence of adaptation. Furthermore, number of entries in open arms was-dose dependent. However, the ratio between open/closed arms revealed a significant decrease in rats treated with 2g/l lead acetate than the control group.

Keywords: lead toxicity, rats, learning ability, behavior

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Authors: Christian Andrä, Pauline Hähner, Sebastian Ludyga

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Introduction: In the recent past, discussions on the importance of physical activity for child development have contributed to a growing interest in executive functions, which refer to cognitive processes. By controlling, modulating and coordinating sub-processes, they make it possible to achieve superior goals. Major components include working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility. While executive functions can be trained easily in school children, there are still research deficits regarding the trainability during preschool age. Methodology: This quasi-experimental study with pre- and post-design analyzes 23 children [age: 5.0 (mean value) ± 0.7 (standard deviation)] from four different sports groups. The intervention group was made up of 13 children (IG: 4.9 ± 0.6), while the control group consisted of ten children (CG: 5.1 ± 0.9). Between pre-test and post-test, children from the intervention group participated special games that train executive functions (i.e., changing rules of the game, introduction of new stimuli in familiar games) for ten units of their weekly sports program. The sports program of the control group was not modified. A computer-based version of the Eriksen Flanker Task was employed in order to analyze the participants’ inhibition ability. In two rounds, the participants had to respond 50 times and as fast as possible to a certain target (direction of sight of a fish; the target was always placed in a central position between five fish). Congruent (all fish have the same direction of sight) and incongruent (central fish faces opposite direction) stimuli were used. Relevant parameters were response time and accuracy. The main objective was to investigate whether children from the intervention group show more improvement in the two parameters than the children from the control group. Major findings: The intervention group revealed significant improvements in congruent response time (pre: 1.34 s, post: 1.12 s, p<.01), while the control group did not show any statistically relevant difference (pre: 1.31 s, post: 1.24 s). Likewise, the comparison of incongruent response times indicates a comparable result (IG: pre: 1.44 s, post: 1.25 s, p<.05 vs. CG: pre: 1.38 s, post: 1.38 s). In terms of accuracy for congruent stimuli, the intervention group showed significant improvements (pre: 90.1 %, post: 95.9 %, p<.01). In contrast, no significant improvement was found for the control group (pre: 88.8 %, post: 92.9 %). Vice versa, the intervention group did not display any significant results for incongruent stimuli (pre: 74.9 %, post: 83.5 %), while the control group revealed a significant difference (pre: 68.9 %, post: 80.3 %, p<.01). The analysis of three out of four criteria demonstrates that children who took part in a special sports program improved more than children who did not. The contrary results for the last criterion could be caused by the control group’s low results from the pre-test. Conclusion: The findings illustrate that inhibition can be trained as early as in preschool age. The combination of familiar games with increased requirements for attention and control processes appears to be particularly suitable.

Keywords: executive functions, flanker task, inhibition, preschool children

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Authors: Evgeniia Surkova, Manal Assaad, Hleb Makeyeu, Juho Makio

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The main objective of STIMEY (Science, Technology, Innovation, Mathematics, Engineering for the Young) project is the delivery of a hybrid learning environment that combines multi-level components such as social media concepts, robotic artefacts, and radio, among others. It is based on a well-researched pedagogical framework to attract European youths to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education and careers. To develop and integrate these various components, STIMEY is executed in iterative research cycles leading to progressive improvements. Scrum was the development methodology of choice in the project, as studies indicated its benefits as an agile methodology in global software development, especially of e-learning and integrated learning projects. This paper describes the project partners’ experience with the Scrum framework, discussing the challenges faced in its implementation and the mitigation practices employed. The authors conclude with exploring user experience tools and principles for future research, as a novel direction in supporting the Scrum development team.

Keywords: e-learning, global software development, scrum, STEM education

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Authors: M. Fette, J. P. Wulfsberg, A. Herrmann, R. H. Ladstaetter

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Present and future lightweight design represents an important key to successful implementation of energy-saving, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly means of transport in the aerospace and automotive industry. In this context the use of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) which are distinguished by their outstanding mechanical properties at relatively low weight, promise significant improvements. Due to the reduction of the total mass, with the resulting lowered fuel or energy consumption and CO2 emissions during the operational phase, commercial aircraft and future vehicles will increasingly be made of CFRP. An auspicious technology for the efficient and economic production of high performance thermoset composites and hybrid structures for future lightweight applications is the combination of carbon fibre sheet moulding compound (SMC), tailored continuous carbon fibre reinforcements and metallic components in a one-shot pressing and curing process. This paper deals with a new hybrid composite technology for aerospace industries, which was developed with the help of a universal innovation and development system. This system supports the management of idea generation, the methodical development of innovative technologies and the achievement of the industrial readiness of these technologies.

Keywords: development system, hybrid composite, innovation system, prepreg, sheet moulding compound

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Authors: Prakash M.N, Mahesh G, Muhammed Rafi K.M, Shiju P. Nair

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Introduction: In launch vehicle missions, Reaction Control thrusters are being used for the three-axis stabilization of the vehicle during the coasting phases. A pressure-fed propulsion system is used for the operation of these thrusters due to its less complexity. In liquid stages, these thrusters are designed to draw propellant from the same tank used for the main propulsion system. So in order to regulate the propellant flow rates of these thrusters, flow control orifices are used in feed lines. These orifices are calibrated separately as per the flow rate requirement of individual thrusters for the nominal operating conditions. In some missions, it was observed that the thrusters were operated at higher thrust than nominal. This point was addressed through a series of cold flow and hot tests carried out in-ground and this paper elaborates the details of the same. Discussion: In order to find out the exact reason for this phenomenon, two flight configuration thrusters were identified and hot tested in the ground with calibrated orifices and feed lines. During these tests, the chamber pressure, which is directly proportional to the thrust, is measured. In both cases, chamber pressures higher than the nominal by 0.32bar to 0.7bar were recorded. The increase in chamber pressure is due to an increase in the oxidizer flow rate of both the thrusters. Upon further investigation, it is observed that the calibration of the feed line is done with ambient pressure downstream. But in actual flight conditions, the orifices will be subjected to operate with 10 to 11bar pressure downstream. Due to this higher downstream pressure, the flow through the orifices increases and thereby, the thrusters operate with higher chamber pressure values. Conclusion: As part of further investigatory tests, two numbers of fresh thrusters were realized. Orifice tuning of these thrusters was carried out in three different ways. In the first trial, the orifice tuning was done by simulating 1bar pressure downstream. The second trial was done with the injector assembled downstream. In the third trial, the downstream pressure equal to the flight injection pressure was simulated downstream. Using these calibrated orifices, hot tests were carried out in simulated vacuum conditions. Chamber pressure and flow rate values were exactly matching with the prediction for the second and third trials. But for the first trial, the chamber pressure values obtained in the hot test were more than the prediction. This clearly shows that the flow is detached in the 1st trial and attached for the 2nd & 3rd trials. Hence, the error in tuning the flow control orifices is pinpointed as the reason for this higher chamber pressure observed in flight.

Keywords: reaction control thruster, propellent, orifice, chamber pressure

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Authors: Ji Eun Shin, Byung Ho Jung, Dong Hoon Lim

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It is almost impossible to store or analyze big data increasing exponentially with traditional technologies. Hadoop is a new technology to make that possible. R programming language is by far the most popular statistical tool for big data analysis based on distributed processing with Hadoop technology. With RHadoop that integrates R and Hadoop environment, we implemented parallel multiple regression analysis with different sizes of actual data. Experimental results showed our RHadoop system was much faster as the number of data nodes increases. We also compared the performance of our RHadoop with lm function and big lm packages available on big memory. The results showed that our RHadoop was faster than other packages owing to paralleling processing with increasing the number of map tasks as the size of data increases.

Keywords: big data, Hadoop, parallel regression analysis, R, RHadoop

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Authors: Areej Al-Khabbaz, Swapna Goerge, Majedah Abdul-Rasoul

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Introduction: The most prevalent periodontal disease among children is gingivitis, and it usually becomes more severe in adolescence. A number of intervention studies suggested that resolution of periodontal inflammation can improve metabolic control in patients diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. Aim: to assess the effect of non-surgical periodontal therapy on glycemic control of children diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. Method: Twenty-eight children diagnosed with diabetes mellitus were recruited with established diagnosis diabetes for at least 1 year. Informed consent and child assent form were obtained from children and parents prior to enrolment. The dental examination for the participants was performed on the same week directly following their annual medical assessment. All patients had their glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c%) test one week prior to their annual medical and dental visit and 3 months following non-surgical periodontal therapy. All patients received a comprehensive periodontal examination The periodontal assessment included clinical attachment loss, bleeding on probing, plaque score, plaque index and gingival index. All patients were referred for non-surgical periodontal therapy, which included oral hygiene instruction and motivation followed by supra-gingival and subg-ingival scaling using ultrasonic and hand instruments. Statistical Analysis: Data were entered and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science software (SPSS, Chicago, USA), version 18. Statistical analysis of clinical findings was performed to detect differences between the two groups in term of periodontal findings and HbA1c%. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed in order to examine which factors were significant in multivariate analysis after adjusting for confounding between effects. The regression model used the dependent variable ‘Improved glycemic control’, and the independent variables entered in the model were plaque index, gingival index, bleeding %, plaque Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Result: A total of 28 children. The mean age of the participants was 13.3±1.92 years. The study participants were divided into two groups; Compliant group (received dental scaling) and non-complaints group (received oral hygiene instructions only). No statistical difference was found between compliant and non-compliant group in age, gender distribution, oral hygiene practice and the level of diabetes control. There was a significant difference between compliant and non-compliant group in term of improvement of HBa1c before and after periodontal therapy. Mean gingival index was the only significant variable associated with improved glycemic control level. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated that non-surgical mechanical periodontal therapy can improve HbA1c% control. The result of this study confirmed that children with diabetes mellitus who are compliant to dental care and have routine professional scaling may have better metabolic control compared to diabetic children who are erratic with dental care.

Keywords: children, diabetes, metabolic control, periodontal therapy

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Authors: Muhammad Sollehhuddin A. Jalil, Mohd Ibrahim Shapiai, Rubiyah Yusof

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Nowadays, ontology is common in many areas like artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, e-commerce, education and many more. Ontology is one of the focus areas in the field of Information Retrieval. The purpose of an ontology is to describe a conceptual representation of concepts and their relationships within a particular domain. In other words, ontology provides a common vocabulary for anyone who needs to share information in the domain. There are several ontology domains in various fields including engineering and non-engineering knowledge. However, there are only a few available ontology for engineering knowledge. Fuzzy logic as engineering knowledge is still not available as ontology domain. In general, fuzzy logic requires step-by-step guidelines and instructions of lab experiments. In this study, we presented domain ontology for Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) knowledge. We give Table of Content (ToC) with middle strategy based on the Uschold and King method to develop FLC ontology. The proposed framework is developed using Protégé as the ontology tool. The Protégé’s ontology reasoner, known as the Pellet reasoner is then used to validate the presented framework. The presented framework offers better performance based on consistency and classification parameter index. In general, this ontology can provide a platform to anyone who needs to understand FLC knowledge.

Keywords: engineering knowledge, fuzzy logic control ontology, ontology development, table of content

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Authors: Fangyuan Shao, Wei Liu, Deli Gao

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With the increasing speed of oil and gas exploration, development and production at home and abroad, the demand for drilling speed up technology is becoming more and more critical to reduce the development cost. Highly efficient and personalized PDC bit is important equipment in the bottom hole assembly (BHA). Therefore, improving the rock-breaking efficiency of PDC bits will help reduce drilling time and drilling cost. Advances in PDC bit technology have resulted in a leapfrogging improvement in the rate of penetration (ROP) of PDC bits over roller cone bits in soft to medium-hard formations. Recently, with the development of PDC technology, the diameter of the PDC tooth can be further expanded. The maximum diameter of the PDC cutter used in this paper is 22 mm. According to the theoretical calculation, under the same depth of cut (DOC), the 22mm-PDC cutter increases the exposure of the cutter, and the increase of PDC cutter diameter helps to increase the cutting area of the PDC cutter. In order to evaluate the cutting performance of the 22 mm-PDC cutter and the existing commonly used cutters, the 16 mm, 19 mm and 22 mm PDC cutter was selected put on a vertical turret lathe (VTL) in the laboratory for cutting tests under different DOCs. The DOCs were 0.5mm, 1.0 mm, 1.5 mm and 2.0 mm, 2.5 mm and 3 mm, respectively. The rock sample used in the experiment was limestone. Results of laboratory tests have shown the new 22 mm-PDC cutter technology greatly improved cutting efficiency. On the one hand, as the DOC increases, the mechanical specific energy (MSE) of all cutters decreases, which means that the cutting efficiency increases. On the other hand, under the same DOC condition, the larger the cutter diameter is, the larger the working area of the cutter is, which leads to higher the cutting efficiency. In view of the high performance of the 22 mm-PDC cutters, which was applied to carry out full-scale bit field experiments. The result shows that the bit with 22mm-PDC cutters achieves a breakthrough improvement of ROP than that with conventional 16mm and 19mm cutters in offset well drilling.

Keywords: polycrystalline diamond compact, 22 mm-PDC cutters, cutting efficiency, mechanical specific energy

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Authors: Paulino V. Tavares, Ana L. Romao

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Public governance, in general, is essential to qualify and educate, pedagogically, the decision-making process of the government in relation to the management of resources and the provision of public services, with transparency and active participation of individuals and citizens for the development of a more democratic environment, besides stimulating control and social empowerment, aiming at the development of the collectivity. In this context, the participation of society in the elaboration, execution, and control of public policies is prominent to strengthen public governance itself. With this, using a multidimensional approach with the application of two questionnaires to a universe of twenty Counselors of the Courts of Auditors (Brazil), twenty professionals of public administration (Brazil), twenty Government/Provincial Counselors (South Africa), and twenty South African professionals of public administration, the preliminary results indicate that the participation of civil society, for both countries, is very low in the elaboration, execution, and control of public policies. At the same time, about 70% of the answers obtained indicate, on average, three possible paths to increase the participation of civil society. With this, it is delineated that developing new horizons to strengthen both public policies how social participation is necessary, but, for both, it is important that governments and civil society, in their respective countries, have an awareness of the effective importance of this interaction.

Keywords: Brazil, civil society, participation, South Africa

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Authors: Olfat Shaker, Miriam Wadie, Reham Ali, Ayman Yosry

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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity and accounts for over 9% of cancer incidence worldwide. Silent information regulator 2 homolog 1 (SIRT1) gene is located in the nucleus and exert its effects via modulation of histone and non-histone targets. They function in the cell via histone deacetylase (HDAC) and/or adenosine diphosphate ribosyl transferase (ADPRT) enzymatic activity. The aim of this work was to study the relationship between SIRT1 polymorphism and its protein level in colorectal cancer patients in comparison to control cases. This study includes 2 groups: thirty healthy subjects (control group) & one hundred CRC patients. All subjects were subjected to: SIRT-1 serum level was measured by ELISA and gene polymorphisms of rs12778366, rs375891 and rs3740051 were detected by real time PCR. For CRC patients clinical data were collected (size, site of tumor as well as its grading, obesity) CRC patients showed high significant increase in the mean level of serum SIRT-1 compared to control group (P<0.001). Mean serum level of SIRT-1 showed high significant increase in patients with tumor size ≥5 compared to the size < 5 cm (P<0.05). In CRC patients, percentage of T allele of rs12778366 was significantly lower than controls, CC genotype and C allele C of rs 375891 were significantly higher than control group. In CRC patients, the CC genotype of rs12778366, was 75% in rectosigmoid and 25% in cecum & ascending colon. According to tumor size, the percentage of CC genotype was 87.5% in tumor size ≥5 cm. Conclusion: serum level of SIRT-1 and T allele, C allele of rs12778366 and rs 375891 respectively can be used as diagnostic markers for CRC patients.

Keywords: CRC, SIRT1, polymorphisms, ELISA

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Authors: George Nyori Makari, J. M. Ogola

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Over the past few decades, manufacturing has evolved from a more labor-intensive set of mechanical processes to a sophisticated set of information based technology processes. With the existence of various advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs), more and more functions or jobs are performed by these machines instead of human labour. This study was undertaken in order to research the extent of AMTs adoption in manufacturing companies in Kenya. In order to investigate a survey was conducted via questionnaires that were sent to 183 selected AMT manufacturing companies in Kenya. 92 companies responded positively. All the surveyed companies were found to have a measure of investment in at least two of the 14 types of AMTs investigated. In general the company surveyed showed that the level of AMT adoption in Kenya is very low with investments levels at a mean of 2.057 and integration levels at a mean of 1.639 in a scale of 1-5.

Keywords: AMT adoption, AMT investments, AMT integration, companies in Kenya

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Authors: Yea-Pyng Lin

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Dignity is a core element of nursing care. Maintaining the dignity of patients is an important issue because the health and recovery of patients can be adversely affected by a lack of dignity in their care. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of a nursing dignity care program upon patients’ dignity in care. A quasi-experimental research design was implemented. Nurses were recruited by purposive sampling, and their patients were recruited by simple random sampling. Nurses in the experimental group received the nursing educational program on dignity care, while nurses in the control group received in-service education as usual. Data were collected via two instruments: the dignity in care scale for nurses and the dignity in care scale to patients, both of which were developed by the researcher. Both questionnaires consisted of three domains: agreement, importance, and frequencies of providing dignity care. A total of 178 nurses in the experimental group and 193 nurses in the control group completed the pretest and the follow-up evaluations at the first month, the third month, and the sixth month. The number of patients who were cared for by the nurses in the experimental group was 94 in the pretest. The number of patients in the post-test at the first, third, and sixth months were 91, 85, and 77, respectively. In the control group, 88 patients completed the II pretest, and 80 filled out the post-test at the first month, 77 at the third, and 74 at the sixth month. The major findings revealed the scores of agreement domain among nurses in the experimental group were found significantly different from those who in the control group at each point of time. The scores of importance domain between these two groups also displayed significant differences at pretest and the first month of post-test. Moreover, the frequencies of proving dignity care to patients were significant at pretest, the third month and sixth month of post-test. However, the experimental group had only significantly different from those who in the control group on the frequencies of receiving dignity care especially in the items of ‘privacy care,’ ‘communication care,’ and ‘emotional care’ for the patients. The results show that the nursing program on dignity care could increase nurses’ dignity care for patients in three domains of agreement, importance, and frequencies of providing dignity care. For patients, only the frequencies of receiving dignity care were significantly increased. Therefore, the nursing program on dignity care could be applicable for nurses’ in-service education and practice to enhance the ability of nurses to care for patient’s dignity.

Keywords: nurses, patients, dignity care, quasi-experimental, nursing education

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Authors: Bilal Ahmed, Muhammad Rafiq, Choongjae Im

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The tech-savvy Gen Z's transfer towards interactive concept learning is hammering the demand for online collaborative learning environments, renovating conventional education approaches. The authors propose a novel approach to enhance learning outcomes to improve retention in 3D interactive education by connecting virtual reality (VR) and non-VR devices in the classroom and distance learning. The study evaluates students' experiences with VR interconnectivity devices in human anatomy lectures using real-time 3D interactive data visualization. Utilizing the renowned "Guo & Pooles Inventory" and the "Flow for Presence Questionnaires," it used an experimental research design with a control and experimental group to assess this novel connecting strategy's effectiveness and significant potential for in-person and online educational settings during the sessions. The experimental group's interactions, engagement levels, and usability experiences were assessed using the "Guo & Pooles Inventory" and "Flow for Presence Questionnaires," which measure their sense of presence, engagement, and immersion throughout the learning process using a 5-point Likert scale. At the end of the sessions, we used the "Perceived Usability Scale" to find our proposed system's overall efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction. By comparing both groups, the students in the experimental group used the integrated VR environment and VR to non-VR devices, and their sense of presence and attentiveness was significantly improved, allowing for increased engagement by giving students diverse technological access. Furthermore, learners' flow states demonstrated increased absorption and focus levels, improving information retention and Perceived Usability. The findings of this study can help educational institutions optimize their technology-enhanced teaching methods for traditional classroom settings as well as distance-based learning, where building a sense of connection among remote learners is critical. This study will give significant insights into educational technology and its ongoing progress by analyzing engagement, interactivity, usability, satisfaction, and presence.

Keywords: interactive learning environments, human-computer interaction, virtual reality, computer- supported collaborative learning

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Authors: Meriem Mansouri, Fatiha Bendali Saoudi, Noureddine Soltani

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Biological control presents a means of control for the protection of the environment. Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis Berliner 1915 is an inseticide of biological origin because it is a bacterium of the Bacillaceae family. This biocide has a biological importance, because of its specific larvicidal action against Culicidae, blood-sucking insects, responsible for several diseases to humans and animals through the world. As well as, its high specificity for these insects. Also, the freshwater mites, this necessarily parasitic group for aquatic species such as the Physidae, also have an effective biological control against the Culicidae, because of their voracious predation to the larvae of these insects. The present work aims to study the effects of the biocide Bacillus thuringiensis var israelinsis, against non-target adults of water mites Eylais hamata Koenike, 1897, as well as its associated host species Physa marmorata Fitzinger, 1833. After 12 days of oral treatment of adults with lethal concentration (LC50:0.08µg/ml), determined from essays on 4th instar larvae of Culex pipiens (hematophagous insects). No adverse effect has been recorded for adult individuals of Eylais hamata, contrary, snail Physa marmorata were sensitive for this dose of Bti. In parallel, after treatment at the Bti by LC50, the enzyme stress bio marker glutathione S-transferase, was measured after 24, 48 and 72 hours. The enzymatic activity of GST has increased after 24 and 48 hours following treatment.

Keywords: biological control, Bacillus thuringiensis var israelinsis, culicidae, hydrachnidia, enzymatic activity

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Authors: Ivan Orozco

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Introduction: Forced contraception constitutes part of an effort to control the life and reproductive capacity of women through public health institutions. This phenomenon has affected many Mexican women historically and still persists nowadays. The notion of reproductive governmentality refers to the mechanisms through which different historical configurations of social actors (state institutions, churches, donor agents, NGOs, etc.) use legislative controls, economic incentives, moral mandates, direct coercion, and ethical incitements, to produce, monitor and control reproductive behaviors and practices. This research focuses on the use of these mechanisms by the Mexican State to control women's contraceptive practices in a public hospital. Method: An Institutional Ethnography was carried out, with the objective of knowing women's experiences from their own perspective, as they occur in their daily lives, but at the same time, discovering the structural elements that shape the discourses that promote women's contraception, even against their will. The fieldwork consisted in an observation of the dynamics between different participants within a public hospital and the conduction of interviews with the medical and nursing staff in charge of family planning services, as well as women attending the family planning office. Results: Public health institutions in Mexico are state tools to control and regulate reproduction. There are several strategies that are used for this purpose, for example, health personnel provide insufficient or misleading information to ensure that women agree to use contraceptives; health institutions provide economic incentives to the members of the health staff who reach certain goals in terms of contraceptive placement; young women are forced to go to the family planning service, regardless of the reason they went to the clinic; health campaigns are carried out, consisting of the application of contraceptives outside the health facilities, directly in the communities of people who visit the hospital less frequently. All these mechanisms seek for women to use contraceptives, from the women’s perspective; however, the reception of these discourses is ambiguous. While, for some women, the strategies become coercive mechanisms to use contraceptives against their will, for others, they represent an opportunity to take control over their reproductive lives. Conclusion: Since 1974, the Mexican government has implemented campaigns for the promotion of family planning methods as a means to control population growth. Although it is established in several legislations that the counselling must be carried out with a gender and human rights perspective, always respecting the autonomy of people, these research testify that health personnel uses different strategies to force some women to use contraceptive methods, thereby violating their reproductive rights.

Keywords: feminist research, forced contraception, institutional ethnography, reproductive. governmentality

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Authors: Saeid Doaei

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Background: Obesity in adolescence is a primary risk factor for obesity in adulthood. The objective of this study was the assessment of the effect of a comprehensive lifestyle intervention on different anthropometric indices in 12 to 16 years old boy adolescents. Methods: 96 adolescent boys of two schools of District 5 of Tehran have participated in this study. The schools were randomly assigned as intervention school (n=53) and control school (n=43). The height and weight of students were measured with a calibrated tape line and digital scale respectively and their BMI were calculated. The amounts of body fat percent (BF) and body muscle (BM) percent were determined by Bio Impedance Analyzer (BIA) considering the age, gender and height of students at baseline and after intervention. The intervention was implemented in the intervention school, according to the Ottawa charter principles. Results: 12 weeks of intervention decreased body fat percent in the intervention group in comparison with the control group (decreased by 1.81 % in the intervention group and increased by .39 % in the control group, P < .01). However, weight, BMI and BM did not change significantly. Conclusion: The result of this study showed that the implementation of comprehensive intervention in obese adolescents may improve the body composition, although these changes may not be reflected in BMI. It is possible that BMI is not a good indicator in assessment of the success of obesity management intervention.

Keywords: obesity, childhood, BMI, nutrition

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Authors: Mustafa Midilli, Mustafa Salman, Omer Hakan Muglali, Tülay Ögretmen, Sena Cenesiz, Neslihan Ormanci

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This study examined the effects of zinc (Zn) from different sources and microbial phytase on the broiler performance, biochemical parameters and digestibility of nutrients when they were added to broiler diets containing low available phosphorus. A total of 875, 1-day-old male broilers of the Ross 308 strain were randomly separated into two control groups (positive and negative) and five treatment groups each containing 125 birds; each group was divided into 5 replicates of 25 birds. The positive control (PC) group was fed a diet containing adequate concentration (0.45%) of available phosphorus due to mineral premix (except zinc) and feeds. The negative control (NC) group was fed a basal diet including low concentration (0.30%) of available phosphorus due to mineral premix (except zinc) and feeds. The basal diet was supplemented with 0.30% phosphorus and 500 FTU phytase (PH); 0.30% phosphorus and organic zinc (OZ; 75mg/kg of Zn from Zn-proteinate); 0.30% phosphorus and inorganic zinc (IZ; 75 mg/kg of Zn from ZnSO4); 0.30% phosphorus, organic zinc and 500 FTU phytase (OZ + PH); and 0.30% phosphorus, inorganic zinc and 500 FTU phytase (IZ + PH) in the treatment groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. The lowest value for mean body weight was in the negative control group on a diet containing low available phosphorus. The use of supplementation with organic and inorganic zinc alone or in combination with microbial phytase significantly (P<0.05) increased the digestibility of Zn in the male broilers. Supplementation of those diets with OZ + PH or IZ + PH was very effective for increasing the body weight, body weight gain and the feed conversion ratio. In conclusion, the effects on broilers of diets with low phosphorus levels may be overcome by the addition of inorganic or organic zinc compounds in combination with microbial phytase.

Keywords: broiler, performance, phytase, phosphorus, zinc

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Authors: Boon Yih Mah

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Web-based Cognitive Writing Instruction (WeCWI) is a hybrid e-framework that consolidates instructional design and language development towards the development of a web-based instruction (WBI). WeCWI divides instructional design into macro and micro perspectives. In macro perspective, a 21st century educator is encouraged to disseminate knowledge and share ideas with in-class and global learners. By leveraging the virtue of technology, WeCWI aims to transform the educator into an aggregator, curator, publisher, social networker and finally, a web-based instructor. Since the most notable contribution of integrating technology is being a tool of teaching as well as a stimulus for learning, WeCWI focuses on the use of contemporary web tools based on the multiple roles played by the 21st century educator. The micro perspective draws attention to the pedagogical approaches focussing on three main aspects: reading, discussion, and writing. With the effective use of pedagogical approaches, technology adds new dimensions and expands the bounds of learning capacity. Lastly, WeCWI also imparts the fundamental theoretical concepts for web-based instructors’ awareness such as interactionism, e-learning interactional-based model, computer-mediated communication (CMC), cognitive theories, and learning style model.

Keywords: web-based cognitive writing instruction, WeCWI, instructional design, e-framework, web-based instructor

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