Search results for: Douglas I. Walker

Authors: Brianna Douglas

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A literary Meta-Analysis was conducted in order to form a proactive solution to the systematic issue of international human trafficking stemming from the Asia-Pacific region. This approach seeks to resolve the low economic prospect for women in the region, along with other identified drivers, to mitigate human trafficking before it begins. Through the reallocation of aid in agriculture, implementation of an education-for-education model, and provision of access to market information to the women in rural regions, the retraction of both the supply and international demand curves of trafficked humans is possible; resulting in the shutdown of the market as a whole. This report provides a basic and adaptable proposal to mitigation the selling of Asia Pacific women within international trafficking schemes with byproduct effects of increasing food, sustainability and decreasing government spending.

Keywords: human trafficking, agricultural development, Asia Pacific, women's empowerment

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Authors: Felicia Wong Yen Myan, James Walker

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Development of micro topographies usually begins with the fabrication of a master stamp. Fabrication of such small structures can be technically challenging and expensive. These techniques are often used for applications where patterns only cover a small surface area (e.g. semiconductors, microfluidic channels). This research investigated the use of benchtop lithography to fabricate patterns with average widths of 50 and 100 microns on silicon wafer substrates. Further development of this method will attempt to layer patterns to create hierarchical structures. Photomasks consisted of patterns printed onto transparency films with a high resolution printer and a fully patterned 10cm by 10cm area has been successfully developed. UV exposure was carried out with a self-made array of ultraviolet LEDs that was positioned a distance above a glass diffuser. Observations under a light microscope and SEM showed that developed patterns exhibit an adequate degree of fidelity with patterns from the master stamp.

Keywords: lithography, antifouling, marine, microtopography

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Authors: Jean-Pierre Lomaliza, Kwang-Seok Moon, Hanhoon Park

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It is well-known that Ramer Douglas Peucker (RDP) algorithm greatly depends on the method of choosing starting points. Therefore, this paper focuses on finding such starting points that will optimize the results of RDP algorithm. Specifically, this paper proposes a curve approximation algorithm that finds flat points, called essential points, of an input curve, divides the curve into corner-like sub-curves using the essential points, and applies the RDP algorithm to the sub-curves. The number of essential points play a role on optimizing the approximation results by balancing the degree of shape information loss and the amount of data reduction. Through experiments with curves of various types and complexities of shape, we compared the performance of the proposed algorithm with three other methods, i.e., the RDP algorithm itself and its variants. As a result, the proposed algorithm outperformed the others in term of maintaining the original shapes of the input curve, which is important in various applications like pattern recognition.

Keywords: curve approximation, essential point, RDP algorithm

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Authors: Douglas A. Menezes, Isabel D. Nunes, Ulrich Schiel

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Most Virtual Learning Environments do not provide support mechanisms for the integrated planning, construction and follow-up of Instructional Design supported by Learning Analytic results. The present work aims to present an authoring tool that will be responsible for constructing the structure of an Instructional Design (ID), without the data being altered during the execution of the course. The visual interface aims to present the critical situations present in this ID, serving as a support tool for the course follow-up and possible improvements, which can be made during its execution or in the planning of a new edition of this course. The model for the ID is based on High-Level Petri Nets and the visualization forms are determined by the specific kind of the data generated by an e-course, a population of students generating sequentially dependent data.

Keywords: educational data visualization, high-level petri nets, instructional design, learning analytics

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Authors: Matthew O. Ikuabe, Ayodeji E. Oke, Clinton O. Aigbavboa, Douglas O. Aghimien

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The use of technological innovations have been touted to be beneficial in the delivery of construction projects. Particularly, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is widely regarded to be of immense advantage for the management of construction projects. This study focused on evaluating the barriers to the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for the delivery of construction projects. Using Gauteng Provincein South Africa as the study area, questionnaire was used in eliciting responses from construction professionals, which made up the population of the study. Retrieved data was analysed using Mean Item Score and One-Sample t-test. Findings from the study showed that the most significant barriers to the deployment of RFID for construction project delivery are high cost and lack of awareness. Conclusively, the study made recommendations that would aid in the abatement of the barriers to the use of RFID technology for construction project delivery.

Keywords: barriers, construction, project delivery, RFID

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Authors: Stephanie K. Douglas, Gordon R. Haley

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Organizations face increasing disruptions, changes, and uncertainties through the rapid shifts in the economy and business environment. A capacity for resilience is necessary for organizations to survive and thrive in such adverse conditions. Learning is an essential component of an organization's capability for building resilience. Strategic human resource management is a principal component of learning and organizational resilience. To achieve organizational resilience, human resource management strategies must support individual knowledge, skills, and ability development through organizational learning. This study aimed to contribute to the comprehensive knowledge of the relationship between strategic human resource management and organizational learning to build organizational resilience. The organizational learning dimensions of knowledge acquisition, knowledge distribution, knowledge interpretation, and organizational memory can be fostered through human resource management strategies and then aggregated to the organizational level to build resilience.

Keywords: human resource development, human resource management, organizational learning, organizational resilience

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Authors: Muriel Canas-Walker

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The 2012 TV series "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is one of the most popular and influential historical dramas on Chinese television and is regularly discussed on Chinese social media such as Weibo. Set in the Qing dynasty, the 76 episodes series features palace intrigues focused on female characters. In the Forbidden City, concubines must survive the cruelty of an extreme polygamy system, constantly competing against each other. The patriarchal oppression of the women sequestred in the harem relies on fierce female competition and does not leave much room for compassion. Using Michel Foucault’s theory of power, feminist theories, and visual anthropology, this paper analyzes the complex relationships between the female characters, from their rise to power to their fall from grace, from alliances to betrayals, from sorority to sororicide. This analysis aims to understand what makes this series particularly popular with young female audiences in China and explain its importance in Chinese media.

Keywords: Chinese TV Drama, feminism, popular culture, Theory of Power

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Authors: Ayodeji Emmanuel Oke, Mathew O. Ikuabe, Clinton O. Aigbavboa, Douglas O. Aghimien

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The call for sustainable construction has received significant drive in recent time considering the overwhelming impacts of its adoption. However, not much has been deliberated on this subject with regards to the roles of organisational leadership in delivering sustainable construction. To this end, the study empirically scrutinised the roles of organisational leadership in delivering sustainable construction. The study adopted a quantitative approach while construction professionals formed the population of the study. A well-articulated questionnaire was used in eliciting responses from the respondents, while appropriate methods of data analysis were used. Findings from the study depicted that the major role of organisational leadership in the delivery of sustainable construction is acting as sustainability integrators. Equally revealed are the internal and external factors affecting organisational leadership in delivering sustainable construction. The study concluded by emphasizing the core roles for delivering sustainable construction by organisational leadership and further recommended that sustainable construction should serve as a prominent and focal organisation goal by organisational leadership when steering the organisation towards meeting its objectives

Keywords: organisational leadership, project delivery, roles, sustainable construction

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Authors: Evariste Boj, Jan Schee

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We present the temperature anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation due to the inhomogeneity region constructed on a 3-brane in the framework of a Randall-Sundrum one brane immersed into a 5D bulk $AdS_5$ spacetime. We employ the Brane-World Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) cosmological model to describe the cosmic expansion on the brane. The inhomogeneity is modeled by the static, spherically symmetric spacetime that replaces the spherically symmetric part of a dust-filled universe and is connected to the FLRW spacetime through the junction conditions. As the vacuum region expands it induces an additional frequency shift to a CMBR photon passing through this inhomogeneity in comparison to the case of a photon propagating through a pure FLRW spacetime. This frequency shift is associated with the effective temperature change of the CMBR in the corresponding direction. We give an estimate of the CMBR effective temperature changes with the change of the value of the tidal charge parameter.

Keywords: CMBR, Randall-Sundrum model, Rees-Sciama effect, Braneworld

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Authors: Kevlin Govender, Anthony Walker, Glen Bright

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Mass customization is an area of increased importance and the development of rapid tooling applications is pivotal to the success of mass customization. This paper presents a laminated object manufacturing (LOM) process for rapid tooling. The process is termed 3D metal laminate printing and utilizes domestic-grade aluminum foil and epoxy for layered manufacturing. A detailed explanation of the process is presented to produce complex metal laminated composite parts. Aluminum-epoxy composite specimens were manufactured from 0.016mm aluminum and subjected to tensile tests to determine the mechanical properties of the manufactured composite in relation to solid metal specimens. The fracture zone of the specimens was analyzed under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to characterize the fracture mode and study the interfacial bonding of the manufactured laminate specimens.

Keywords: 3D metal laminate printer, aluminum-epoxy composite, laminated object manufacturing, rapid tooling

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Authors: Matevž Breška, Iztok Peruš, Vlado Stankovski

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Systematic overview of existing Ground Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs) has been published by Douglas. The number of earthquake recordings that have been used for fitting these equations has increased in the past decades. The current PF-L database contains 3550 recordings. Since the GMPEs frequently model the peak ground acceleration (PGA) the goal of the present study was to refit a selection of 44 of the existing equation models for PGA in light of the latest data. The algorithm Levenberg-Marquardt was used for fitting the coefficients of the equations and the results are evaluated both quantitatively by presenting the root mean squared error (RMSE) and qualitatively by drawing graphs of the five best fitted equations. The RMSE was found to be as low as 0.08 for the best equation models. The newly estimated coefficients vary from the values published in the original works.

Keywords: Ground Motion Prediction Equations, Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, refitting PF-L database, peak ground acceleration

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Authors: Daniel Walker, Adam Qureshi, David Marchant, Alex Bahrami Balani

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The present study aimed to assess the impact of concussion and physical pain on depression and health-related quality of life. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies' Depression Scale, and scores of health-related quality of life were measured by health-related quality of life short form-12. Data analysis of 67 participants (concussed 32 vs. 35 non-concussed) revealed that (i) 52% were displaying depressive symptoms (concussed 30% vs. non-concussed 22%) (ii) concussion had a significant effect on depressive symptoms when controlling for pain but no effect on the quality of life scores when controlling the same variable (iii) pain had a significant effect on depressive symptoms and quality of life. With this, both concussion and physical pain seem to have a negative impact on mental health; however, individuals may only recognise a reduction in quality of life with increased physical pain, hence a deterioration in mental well-being could be disregarded as a factor of health-related quality of life.

Keywords: depression, quality of life, concussion, physical pain

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Authors: Carlos Alberto Santamaria Velasco

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The study object of this chapter analyzes the case of the Centro Regional para la Calidad Empresarial (CreCE) starting from an analysis of the theoretical discussion about the universities as actors of the development and generation of enterprises. As well as the promotion of the entrepreneurial culture that they carry out in their environment of influence as part of the linkage and extension actions that have as one of their substantive functions, in addition to teaching and research. The objective is to know the theoretical discussion and the state of art about the entrepreneurial universities from the institutional theory of Douglas North, carrying out a theoretical analysis of the formal and informal factors from the universities linking the specific case of the CReCE. A literature review was carried out in the main journals in the topic of entrepreneurship, about the factors that influence the creation and development of entrepreneurial universities, complementing research in the study of a particular case, CreCE, and how this affects in the transformation of the CUVALLES(Centro Universitario de los Valles) in its way towards an entrepreneurial university.

Keywords: entrepreneurial university, institutional theory, university, entrepreneurial universities

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Authors: Regan Harper, Song Yang, Douglas Adams

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During the historically unprecedent time of Covid-19 pandemic, we survey college students with social issue generators to measure their core discussion groups. For the total 191 students, we elicit 847 conversation partners (alters) with our five social issue generators such as school closing, facemasks, collegiate sports, race and policing, and social inequality, producing an average of 4.43 alters per respondent. The core discussion groups of our sample are very gender balanced, with female alters slightly outnumbering male alters. However, the core discussion groups are racially homogenous, consisting of mostly white students (around or above 80 percent). Explanatory analyses reveal that gender and race of respondents significantly impact the size, gender composition, and racial composition of their core discussion networks. We discuss those major findings and implications of future studies in our conclusion section.

Keywords: core discussion groups, social issue generators, ego-centric network, Covid-19 pandemic

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Authors: A. M. Naraghi, V. Gonzalez, M. O'Sullivan, C. G. Walker, M. Poshdar, F. Ying, M. Abdelmegid

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Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and Agent Based Simulation (ABS) are two simulation approaches that have been proposed to support decision-making in the construction industry. Despite the wide use of these simulation approaches in the construction field, their applications for production and material planning is still limited. This is largely due to the dynamic and complex nature of construction material supply chain systems. Moreover, managing the flow of construction material is not well integrated with site logistics in traditional construction planning methods. This paper presents a hybrid of DES and ABS to simulate on-site and off-site material supply processes. DES is applied to determine the best production scenarios with information of on-site production systems, while ABS is used to optimize the supply chain network. A case study of a construction piling project in New Zealand is presented illustrating the potential benefits of using the proposed hybrid simulation model in construction material flow planning. The hybrid model presented can be used to evaluate the impact of different decisions on construction supply chain management.

Keywords: construction supply-chain management, simulation modeling, decision-support tools, hybrid simulation

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Authors: Ahmed Metawea, Rodrigo Soto, Majeida Kharejesh, Gavin Walker, Ahmad B. Albadarin

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In this study, towards a green approach, we have investigated the effect of operating conditions of solvent assessed twin-screw extruder (TSE) for the production of 4, 4-bipyridine (1-dimensional coordinated polymer (1D)) based coordinated polymer using cobalt nitrate as a metal precursor with molar ratio 1:1. Different operating parameters such as solvent percentage, screw speed and feeding rate are considered. The resultant product is characterized using offline characterization methods, namely Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM) in order to investigate the product purity and surface morphology. A lower feeding rate increased the product’s quality as more resident time was provided for the reaction to take place. The most important influencing factor was the amount of liquid added. The addition of water helped in facilitating the reaction inside the TSE by increasing the surface area of the reaction for particles

Keywords: MOFS, multivariate analysis, process optimization, chemometric

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Authors: Douglas W. Scott

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The Allemande from J. S. Bach's Partita for solo flute (BWV 1013) presents many unique challenges for any flautist, especially in terms of segmentation analysis required to select breathing places in the first half. Without claiming to identify a 'correct' solution to this problem, this paper analyzes the section in terms of a set of techniques based around a statistical property commonly (if not ubiquitously) found in music, namely Zipf’s law. Specifically, the paper considers violations of this expected profile at various levels of analysis, an approach which has yielded interesting insights in previous studies. The investigation is then grounded by considering four actual solutions to the problem found in recordings made by different flautists, which opens up the possibility of expanding Zipfian analysis to include a consideration of inter-onset-intervals (IOIs). It is found that significant deviations from the expected Zipfian distributions can reveal and highlight stylistic choices made by different performers.

Keywords: inter-onset-interval, Partita for solo flute, BWV 1013, segmentation analysis, Zipf’s law

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Authors: Oliver Kinnane, Aidan Reilly, John Grimes, Sara Pavia, Rosanne Walker

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Unwanted sound reflection can create acoustic discomfort and lead to problems of speech comprehensibility. Contemporary building techniques enable highly finished internal walls resulting in sound reflective surfaces. In contrast, sustainable construction materials using natural and vegetal materials, are often more porous and absorptive. Hemp shiv is used as an aggregate and when mixed with lime binder creates a low-embodied-energy concrete. Cement replacements such as ground granulated blast slag (GGBS), a byproduct of other industrial processes, are viewed as more sustainable alternatives to high-embodied-energy cement. Hemp concretes exhibit good hygrothermal performance. This has focused much research attention on them as natural and sustainable low-energy alternatives to standard concretes. A less explored benefit is the acoustic absorption capability of hemp-based concretes. This work investigates hemp-lime-GGBS concrete specifically, and shows that it exhibits high levels of sound absorption.

Keywords: hemp, hempcrete, acoustic absorption, GGBS

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Authors: Cynthia Pope

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Though traditional art has been strong on showcasing aesthetics to imbue pleasantries, modern public art has been breaking trends to push citizens beyond the pleasure of seeing beauty. Contemporary public sculpture, in particular, has been the impetus of provoking questions about community standards, identity, and race relations. A phenomenon involving Scaffold, a sculpture by artist Sam Durant, became the focal point of contention within Minneapolis, Minnesota, recently. With intentions to better understand the power public sculpture has to disrupt community identity, in this book, It will use primarily rhetorical theory to explain how all parties involved—The Walker Art Museum, the Dakota Nation, Durant, and local citizens—participated in a controversy touching on racial politics, identity, culture, history and public art. This mixed-methods case study examines the public artifact contextually through historical and cultural frameworks. Findings in this project will reveal Scaffold to be represented as a tool of empowered Caucasians to the exclusion of marginalized people. This project also informs the fields of public rhetoric and political identity, marginalized voices, and community and social justice initiatives to include the difficult topic of race and identity.

Keywords: public art controversy, technical communication, community narrative, ambient rhetoric

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Authors: Douglas Shabe

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The world of the performing musician is one of high pressure that comes from the expected high standards they have to live up to and that they expect from themselves. The pressure that musicians put themselves under can manifest itself in physical problems such as focal dystonia. Knowledge of the contributing factors and potential rehabilitation strategies cannot only give players hope for recovery but also the information to prevent it from happening in the first place. This dissertation presents a multiple case study of two performing brass musicians who developed focal dystonia of the embouchure, also known as embouchure dystonia, combined with an autoethnography of the author’s experience of battling embouchure dystonia and our attempts at recovery. Extensive research into the current state of focal dystonia research was done to establish a base of knowledge. That knowledge was used to develop interview questions for the two participants and interpret the findings of the qualitative data collected. The research knowledge, as well as the qualitative data from the case studies, was also used to interpret the author’s experience. The author determined that behavioral, environmental, and psychological factors were of prime importance in the subjects’ development of focal dystonia and that modifications of those factors are essential for the best chance at recovery.

Keywords: focal dystonia, embouchure dystonia, music teaching and learning, music education

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Authors: Niesha Douglas, Lisa Merriweather, Cathy Howell, Anna Sancyzk

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Many studies explain that mentoring in an academic setting contributes to student success and retention. However, in the United States, where the population is diverse and filled with multiple ethnic groups, mentoring has become too generalized and fails to offer a unique individualized experience for underrepresented minorities (URM). The purpose of this paper is to describe the findings of an ongoing qualitative study that investigates the relationships among STEM doctoral faculty and URM students. Several faculty from three different predominately white institutions (PWI) in the Southeastern region of the United States were interviewed and engaged in open dialogue about their experiences with mentoring. The data collection included semi-structured interviews that took place in the classroom (pre-COVID-19) as well as virtually. The theoretical framework draws on the idea of Critical Race Theory and how cultural, social constructs interfere with effective mentoring for URM Doctoral STEM students. The findings in this study suggest that though the faculty and several years of experience mentoring students, there were some gaps in understanding the needs of URM students and how mentoring is a unique relationship that should be specialized for each student and should not fit into one mold.

Keywords: culture, critical race theory, mentoring, STEM

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Authors: Ekrem Erdem, Can Tansel Tugcu

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Improved resource efficiency of production is a key requirement for sustainable growth, worldwide. In this regards, by considering the energy and tourism as the extra inputs to the classical Coub-Douglas production function, this study aims at investigating the efficiency changes in the North African countries. To this end, the study uses panel data for the period 1995-2010 and adopts the Malmquist index based on the data envelopment analysis. Results show that tourism increases technical and scale efficiencies, while it decreases technological and total factor productivity changes. On the other hand, when the production function is augmented by the energy input, technical efficiency change decreases, while the technological change, scale efficiency change and total factor productivity change increase. Thus, in order to satisfy the needs for sustainable growth, North African governments should take some measures for increasing the contribution that the tourism makes to economic growth and some others for efficient use of resources in the energy sector.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, economic efficiency, North African countries, sustainable growth

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Authors: Sally J. Price, Greg F. Walker, Weiyi Liu, Craig R. Bunt

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Plastics, due to their long lifespan, are becoming more of an environmental concern once their useful life has been completed. There are a vast array of different types of plastic, and they can be found in almost every ecosystem on earth and are of particular concern in terrestrial environments where they can become incorporated into the food chain. Hence bioplastics have become more of interest to manufacturers and the public recently as they have the ability to (bio)degrade in commercial and in home composting situations. However, tools in which to quantify how they degrade in response to environmental variables are still being developed -one such approach is texture analysis using a TA.XT Texture Analyser, Stable Microsystems, was used to determine the force required to break or punch holes in standard ASTM D638 Type IV 3D printed bioplastic “dogbones” depending on the thicknesses of them. Manufacturers’ recommendations for calibrating the Texture Analyser are one such approach for standardising results; however, an independent technique using dummy dogbones and a substitute for the bioplastic was used alongside the samples. This approach was unexpectedly more valuable than realised at the start of the trial as irregular results were later discovered with the substitute material before valuable samples collected from the field were lost due to possible machine malfunction. This work will show the value of having an independent approach to machine calibration for accurate sample analysis with a Texture Analyser when analysing bioplastic samples.

Keywords: bioplastic, degradation, environment, texture analyzer

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Authors: Douglas Yeboah, Monishka Narayan, Jai Singh

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One of the key parameters in determining the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic solar cells (OSCs) is the open-circuit voltage, however, it is still not well understood. In order to examine the performance of OSCs, it is necessary to understand the losses associated with the open-circuit voltage and how best it can be improved. Here, an analytical expression for the open-circuit voltage of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) OSCs is derived from the charge carrier densities without considering the drift-diffusion current. The open-circuit voltage thus obtained is dependent on the donor-acceptor band gap, the energy difference between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the hole quasi-Fermi level of the donor material, temperature, the carrier density (electrons), the generation rate of free charge carriers and the bimolecular recombination coefficient. It is found that open-circuit voltage increases when the carrier density increases and when the temperature decreases. The calculated results are discussed in view of experimental results and agree with them reasonably well. Overall, this work proposes an alternative pathway for improving the open-circuit voltage in BHJ OSCs.

Keywords: charge carrier density, open-circuit voltage, organic solar cells, temperature

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Authors: Karlijn Van Den Broek, Ian Walker, Christian Klöckner

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Campaigns aiming to induce energy-saving behaviour among householders use a wide range of approaches that address many different drivers thought to underpin this behaviour. However, little research has compared the relative importance of the different factors that influence energy behaviour, meaning campaigns are not informed about where best to focus resources. Therefore, this study applies the Comprehensive Action Determination Model (CADM) to compare the role of normative, intentional, habitual, and situational processes on energy-saving behaviour. An online survey on a sample of households (N = 247) measured the CADM variables and the data was analysed using structural equation modelling. Results showed that situational and habitual processes were best able to account for energy saving behaviour while normative and intentional processes had little predictive power. These findings suggest that policymakers should move away from motivating householders to save energy and should instead focus their efforts on changing energy habits and creating environments that facilitate energy saving behaviour. These findings add to the wider development in social and environmental psychology that emphasizes the importance of extra-personal variables such as the physical environment in shaping behaviour.

Keywords: energy consumption, behavioural modelling, environmental psychology theory, habits, values

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Authors: Muriel Canas-Walker

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Polygamy is a sensitive issue yet a surprisingly popular topic on television. In China, among other palace intrigues dramas, "The Legend of Zhen Huan" stands out in its harsh portrayal of sequestered concubines in the Forbidden City. In the United States the critically acclaimed "Big Love", set in the Mormon community, generated much discussion and controversy, both accademically and on social media. More recently "The Handmaid’s Tale", adapted from the famous novel by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, also contributed to the topic. All three dramas feature the plight of women caught in a polygamy system and are particularly popular with female audiences. Using Foucault’s theory of power, visual anthropology, and feminist perspective this paper aims at analyzing the treatment of this sensitive topic in the media and its reception. From the seemingly happy sister wives in "Big Love", to the fiercely competitive concubines in "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and the tragically coerced handmaids in "The Handmaid’s Tale", the lives of women in a polygamy system are inspiring to modern audiences. This paper’s objective is to understand how the treatment of polygamy is relevant to these audiences.

Keywords: polygamy, michel foucault, feminism, visual anthropology

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Authors: Esteban Tremoco

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This article aims to highlight some specificities of translating Science Fiction (SF literature) and, more particularly, its comic subgenre. Translating SF presupposes the translation of neologisms and gadget names of all kinds, while the translation of humor sometimes implies a need for the translator to slightly modify certain scenes or situations. In the French translation of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Jean Bonnefoy (Guide du routard galactique, 1982), the humorous dimension of the book is enhanced through certain choices made by the translator. One of the striking aspects of this translation is that almost all of the characters’ names have been translated, which is not the case in the German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese translations. While there may be translations of characters’ names outside of the SF literature, there is no denying that by translating them, Jean Bonnefoy added a humorous layer to Adams' work. This work belongs to science fiction literature thanks to gadgets resulting from futuristic technological innovations, but also the presence of space travel, extra-terrestrials and mysterious worlds, which are central elements in SF. These names of planets, aliens, and other gadgets have also been translated, adapted, or at least reinvented, by Jean Bonnefoy in order to amuse the French-speaking readership.

Keywords: translation, translation studies, humour, science fiction

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Authors: Jahedul Islam Chowdhury, Bao Kha Nguyen, David Thornhill, Roy Douglas, Stephen Glover

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Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is the most commonly used method for recovering energy from small sources of heat. The investigation of the ORC in supercritical condition is a new research area as it has a potential to generate high power and thermal efficiency in a waste heat recovery system. This paper presents a steady state ORC model in supercritical condition and its simulations with a real engine’s exhaust data. The key component of ORC, evaporator, is modelled using finite volume method, modelling of all other components of the waste heat recovery system such as pump, expander and condenser are also presented. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of mass flow rate and evaporator outlet temperature on the efficiency of the waste heat recovery process. Additionally, the necessity of maintaining an optimum evaporator outlet temperature is also investigated. Simulation results show that modification of mass flow rate is the key to changing the operating temperature at the evaporator outlet.

Keywords: Organic Rankine cycle, supercritical condition, steady state model, waste heat recovery

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Authors: Seon Soon Choi

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The essential purpose is to present the good fatigue crack propagation model describing a stochastic fatigue crack growth behavior in a rolled magnesium alloy, AZ31, under various load ratio conditions. Fatigue crack propagation experiments were carried out in laboratory air under four conditions of load ratio, R, using AZ31 to investigate the crack growth behavior. The stochastic fatigue crack growth behavior was analyzed using an interpolation of random variable, Z, introduced to an empirical fatigue crack propagation model. The empirical fatigue models used in this study are Paris-Erdogan model, Walker model, Forman model, and modified Forman model. It was found that the random variable is useful in describing the stochastic fatigue crack growth behaviors under various load ratio conditions. The good probabilistic model describing a stochastic fatigue crack growth behavior under various load ratio conditions was also proposed.

Keywords: magnesium alloys, fatigue crack propagation model, load ratio, interpolation of random variable

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Authors: Givi Kupatadze

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Backward economies are facing a challenge of achieving sustainable high economic growth rate. Dominant growth models represent a roadmap in framing economic development strategy. This paper examines a relevance of the dominant growth models for backward economies. Cobb-Douglas production function, the Harrod-Domar model of economic growth, the Solow growth model and general formula of gross domestic product are examined to undertake a comprehensive study of the dominant growth models. Deductive research method allows to uncover major weaknesses of the dominant growth models and to come up with practical implications for economic development strategy. The key finding of the paper shows, contrary to what used to be taught by textbooks of economics, that constant returns to scale property of the dominant growth models are a mere coincidence and its generalization over space and time can be regarded as one of the most unfortunate mistakes in the whole field of political economy. The major suggestion of the paper for backward economies is that understanding and considering taxonomy of economic activities based on increasing and diminishing returns to scale represent a cornerstone of successful economic development strategy.

Keywords: backward economies, constant returns to scale, dominant growth models, taxonomy of economic activities

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