Search results for: Elia Ruiz Pachón

Authors: Edgard Gnansounoua, Pavel Vaskan, Elia Ruiz Pachón

Abstract:

This work addresses the economic and environmental performance of integrated biorefineries based on sugarcane juice and residues in the context of Brazil. We have considered four multiproduct scenarios; two from existing Brazilian sugar mills and the others from ethanol autonomous distilleries. They are integrated biorefineries producing first (1G) and second (2G) generation ethanol, sugar, molasses (for animal feed) and electricity. We show the results for the analysis and comparison of the different scenarios using a techno-economic value-based approach and LCA methodology. We have found that all the analysed scenarios show positive values of Climate change and Fossil depletion reduction as compared to the reference systems. However the scenario producing only ethanol shows less efficiency in Human toxicity, Freshwater ecotoxicity and Freshwater eutrophication impacts. The best economic configuration is provided by the scenario with the largest ethanol production. On the other hand, the best environmental performance is presented by the scenario with full integration sugar – 1G2G ethanol production. The integration of 2G based residues in a 1G ethanol production plant leads to positive environmental impacts compared to the conventional 1G industrial plant but proves to be more expensive.

Keywords: sugarcane, biorefinery, 1G/2G bioethanol integration, LCA, Brazil

Procedia PDF Downloads 336

Authors: Juan Sebastián Hernández

Abstract:

The Nevado del Ruíz volcano, located between the limits of the Departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, presented an unstable behaviour in the course of the year 2020, this volcanic activity led to secondary effects on the crust, which is why the prediction of deformations becomes the task of geoscientists. In the course of this article, the use of tropospheric variables such as evapotranspiration, UV aerosol index, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, methane, surface temperature, among others, is used to train a set of neural networks that can predict the behaviour of the resulting phase of an unrolled interferogram with the DInSAR technique, whose main objective is to identify and characterise the behaviour of the crust based on the environmental conditions. For this purpose, variables were collected, a generalised linear model was created, and a set of neural networks was created. After the training of the network, validation was carried out with the test data, giving an MSE of 0.17598 and an associated r-squared of approximately 0.88454. The resulting model provided a dataset with good thematic accuracy, reflecting the behaviour of the volcano in 2020, given a set of environmental characteristics.

Keywords: crustal deformation, Tropomi, neural networks (ANN), volcanic activity, DInSAR

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: María del Carmen Recio-Ruiz, Ramiro Ruiz-Rosas, Juana María Rosas, José Rodríguez-Mirasol, Tomás Cordero

Abstract:

At the present time, conventional fossil fuels show environmental and sustainability disadvantages with regard to renewables energies. Producing energy and chemicals from biomass is an interesting alternative for substitution of conventional fossil sources with a renewable feedstock while enabling zero net greenhouse gases emissions. Pyrolysis is a well-known process to produce fuels and chemicals from biomass. In this work, conventional and fast pyrolysis of different agro-industrial residues (almond shells, hemp hurds, olive stones, and Kraft lignin) was studied. Both processes were carried out in a fixed bed reactor under nitrogen flow and using different operating conditions to analyze the influence of temperature (400-800 ºC) and heating rate (10 and 20 ºC/minfor conventional pyrolysis and 50 ºC/s for fast pyrolysis)on the yields, products distribution, and composition of the different fractions. The results showed that for both conventional and fast pyrolysis, the solid fraction yield decreased with temperature, while the liquid and gas fractions increased. In the case of the fast pyrolysis, a higher content of liquid fraction than that obtained in conventional pyrolysis could be observed due to cracking reactions occur at a lesser extent. With respect to the composition of de non-condensable fraction, the main gases obtained were CO, CO₂ (mainly at low temperatures), CH₄, and H₂ (mainly at high temperatures).

Keywords: bio-oil, biomass, conventional pyrolysis, fast pyrolysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 170

Authors: Stefano A. Denes, Riccardo Tieghi, Giovanni Elia

Abstract:

The buccal fat pad is a well-established tool in oral and maxillofacial surgery and its use has proved of value for the closure of oroantral communications. Oroantral communication may be a common complication after sequestrectomy in "Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws". We report a clinical case of a 70-year-old female patient in bisphosphonate therapy presented with right maxillary sinusitis and oroantral communication after implants insertion. The buccal fat pad was used to close the defect. The case had an uneventful postoperative healing without dehiscence, infection and necrosis. We postulate that the primary closure of the site with buccal fat pad may ensure a sufficient blood supply and adequate protection for an effective bone-healing response to occur.

Keywords: buccal fat pad, oroantral communication, oral surgery, dehiscence

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Luciano Garelli, Marco Schauer, Jorge D’Elia, Mario A. Storti, Sabine C. Langer

Abstract:

This paper discuss a coupling strategy of two different software packages to provide fluid structure interaction (FSI) analysis. The basic idea is to combine the advantages of the two codes to create a powerful FSI solver for two and three dimensional analysis. The fluid part is computed by a program called PETSc-FEM, a software developed at Centro de Investigación de Métodos Computacionales (CIMEC). The structural part of the coupled process is computed by the research code elementary Parallel Solver (elPaSo) of the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institut für Konstruktionstechnik (IK).

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics (CFD), fluid structure interaction (FSI), finite element method (FEM), software

Procedia PDF Downloads 538

Authors: Seham Elia Moussa Shenouda

Abstract:

The relationship between development and human rights has long been the subject of academic debate. To understand the dynamics between these two concepts, various principles are adopted, from the right to development to development-based human rights. Despite the initiatives taken, the relationship between development and human rights remains unclear. However, the overlap between these two views and the idea that efforts should be made in the field of human rights have increased in recent years. It is then evaluated whether the right to sustainable development is acceptable or not. The article concludes that the principles of sustainable development are directly or indirectly recognized in various human rights instruments, which is a good answer to the question posed above. This book therefore cites regional and international human rights agreements such as , as well as the jurisprudence and interpretative guidelines of human rights institutions, to prove this hypothesis.

Keywords: sustainable development, human rights, the right to development, the human rights-based approach to development, environmental rights, economic development, social sustainability human rights protection, human rights violations, workers’ rights, justice, security

Procedia PDF Downloads 13

Authors: María del Carmen Recio-Ruiz, Ramiro Ruiz-Rosas, Juana María Rosas, José Rodríguez-Mirasol, Tomás Cordero

Abstract:

Nowadays, fossil resources are main precursors for fuel production. Due to their contribution to the greenhouse effect and their future depletion, there is a constant search for environmentally friendly feedstock alternatives. Biomass residues constitute an interesting replacement for fossil resources because of their zero net CO₂ emissions. One of the main routes to convert biomass into energy and chemicals is pyrolysis. In this work, conventional pyrolysis of different biomass residues highly available such as almond shells, hemp hurds, olive stones, and Kraft lignin, was studied. In a typical experiment, the biomass was crushed and loaded into a fixed bed reactor under continuous nitrogen flow. The influence of temperature (400-800 ºC) and heating rate (10 and 20 ºC/min) on the pyrolysis yield and composition of the different fractions has been studied. In every case, the mass yields revealed that the solid fraction decreased with temperature, while liquid and gas fractions increased due to depolymerization and cracking reactions at high temperatures. The composition of every pyrolysis fraction was studied in detail. The results showed that the composition of the gas fraction was mainly CO, CO₂ when working at low temperatures, and mostly CH₄ and H₂at high temperatures. The solid fraction developed an incipient microporosity, with narrow micropore volume of 0.21 cm³/g. Regarding the liquid fraction, pyrolysis of almond shell, hemp hurds, and olive stones led mainly to a high content in aliphatic acids and furans, due to the high volatile matter content of these biomass (>74 %wt.), and phenols to a lesser degree, which were formed due to the degradation of lignin at higher temperatures. However, when Kraft lignin was used as bio-oil precursor, the presence of phenols was very prominent, and aliphatic compounds were also detected in a lesser extent.

Keywords: Bio-oil, biomass, conventional pyrolysis, lignocellulosic

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: Mohammad Reza Ostad Ali Naghi Kashani, Esfanji Elia

Abstract:

Nowadays, the amounts of companies which tend to have an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application are increasing particularly in developing countries like Iran. ERP projects are expensive, time consuming, and complex, in addition the failure rate is high among these projects. It is important to know whether these projects could meet their goals or not. Furthermore, the area which should be improved should be identified. In this paper we made a framework to evaluate ERP projects success implementation. First, based on literature review we made a framework based on BSC model, financial, customer, processes, learning and knowledge, because of the importance of change management it was added to model. Then an organization was divided in three layers. We choose corporate, managerial, and operational levels. Then to find criteria to assess each aspect, we use Delphi method in two rounds. And for the second round we made a questionnaire and did some statistical tasks on them. Based on the statistical results some of them are accepted and others are rejected.

Keywords: ERP, BSC, ERP project evaluation, IT projects

Procedia PDF Downloads 304

Authors: Mario Gianni, Manuel A. Ruiz Garcia, Fiora Pirri

Abstract:

In this work, we present a Bayesian non-parametric approach to model the motion control of ATVs. The motion control model is based on a Dirichlet Process-Gaussian Process (DP-GP) mixture model. The DP-GP mixture model provides a flexible representation of patterns of control manoeuvres along trajectories of different lengths and discretizations. The model also estimates the number of patterns, sufficient for modeling the dynamics of the ATV.

Keywords: Dirichlet processes, gaussian mixture models, learning motion patterns, tracked robots for urban search and rescue

Procedia PDF Downloads 431

Authors: Ejay Nsugbe, Andrew Starr, Ian Jennions, Cristobal Ruiz-Carcel

Abstract:

This works investigates the possibility of using Acoustic Emissions (AE) to estimate the Particle Size Distribution (PSD) of a mixture of particles that comprise of particles of different densities and geometry. The experiments carried out involved the mixture of a set of glass and polyethylene particles that ranged from 150-212 microns and 150-250 microns respectively and an experimental rig that allowed the free fall of a continuous stream of particles on a target plate which the AE sensor was placed. By using a time domain based multiple threshold method, it was observed that the PSD of the particles in the mixture could be estimated.

Keywords: acoustic emissions, particle sizing, process monitoring, signal processing

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Jenny Paola Forero Pachón, Sonia Cristina Gamboa Sarmiento, Luis Carlos Gómez Flórez

Abstract:

The Colombian government has defined an e-government strategy to take advantage of Information Technologies (IT) in order to contribute to the building of a more efficient, transparent and participative State that provides better services to citizens and businesses. In this regard, the Justice sector is one of the government sectors where IT has generated more expectation considering that the country has a judicial processes backlog. This situation has led to the search for alternative forms of access to justice that speed up the process while providing a low cost for citizens. To this end, the Colombian government has authorized the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution methods (ADR), a remedy where disputes can be resolved more quickly compared to judicial processes while facilitating greater communication between the parties, without recourse to judicial authority. One of these methods is conciliation, which includes a special modality that takes advantage of IT for the development of itself known as virtual conciliation. With this option the conciliation is supported by information systems, applications or platforms and communications are provided through it. This paper evaluates the level of maturity in how the service of virtual conciliation is under the framework of this strategy. This evaluation is carried out considering Shahkooh's 5-phase model for e-government. As a result, it is evident that in the context of conciliation, maturity does not reach the necessary level in the model so that it can be considered as virtual conciliation; therefore, it is necessary to define strategies to maximize the potential of IT in this context.

Keywords: alternative dispute resolution, e-government, evaluation of maturity, Shahkooh model, virtual conciliation

Procedia PDF Downloads 240

Authors: Maria Christofi, George Plastiras, Rafaella Elia, Vaggelis Tsiourtis, Theocharis Theocharides, Miltiadis Katsaros

Abstract:

The rapidly expanding urban areas of the world constitute a challenge of how we need to make the transition to "the next urbanization", which will be defined by new analytical tools and new sources of data. This paper is about the production of a spatial application, the ‘FUMapp’, where space and its initiative will be available literally, in meters, but also abstractly, at a sensed level. While existing spatial applications typically focus on illustrations of the urban infrastructure, the suggested application goes beyond the existing: It investigates how our environment's perception adapts to the alterations of the built environment through a dataset construction of biophysical measurements (eye-tracking, heart beating), and physical metrics (spatial characteristics, size of stimuli, rhythm of mobility). It explores the intersections between architecture, cognition, and computing where future design can be improved and identifies the flexibility and livability of the ‘available space’ of specific examined urban paths.

Keywords: biophysical data, flexibility of urban, livability, next urbanization, spatial application

Procedia PDF Downloads 121

Authors: Carlos Arias-Alcaide, Cristina Soguero-Ruiz, Paloma Santos-Álvarez, Adrián García-Romero, Inmaculada Mora-Jiménez

Abstract:

Analysing clinical data with computers in such a way that have an impact on the practitioners’ workflow is a challenge nowadays. This paper provides a first approach for monitoring the health status of COVID-19 patients through the use of some biomarkers (blood tests) and the simplest Naïve Bayes classifier. Data of two Spanish hospitals were considered, showing the potential of our approach to estimate reasonable posterior probabilities even some days before the event.

Keywords: Bayesian model, blood biomarkers, classification, health tracing, machine learning, posterior probability

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Vicario Marina, Ruiz Elena, Peredo Ruben, Bustos Eduardo

Abstract:

the development group of Educational Computing of the National Polytechnic (IPN) in Mexico has been developing interactive resources at preschool level in an effort to improve learning in the Child Development Centers (CENDI). This work describes both a didactic architecture and a strategy for teaching English with digital stories using interactive resources available through a Web repository designed to be used in mobile platforms. It will be accessible initially to 500 children and worldwide by the end of 2015.

Keywords: instructional design, interactive resources, digital educational resources, story based English teaching, preschool education

Procedia PDF Downloads 452

Authors: E. Ruíz, W. Aperador

Abstract:

In this article evaluates the protective effect of the concrete alternative obtained from the fly ash and iron and steel slag mixed in binary form and were placed on structural steel ASTM A 706. The study was conducted comparatively with specimens exposed to natural conditions free of chloride ion. The effect of chloride ion on the specimens was generated of form accelerated under controlled conditions (3.5% NaCl and 25 ° C temperature). The Impedance data were acquired over a range of 1 mHz to 100 kHz. At frequencies high is found the response of the interface means of the exposure-concrete and to frequency low the response of the interface corresponding to concrete-steel.

Keywords: alternative concrete, corrosion, alkaline activation, impedance spectroscopy

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: G. M. Dominguez Almaraz, J. A. Ruiz Vilchez, M. A. Sanchez Miranda

Abstract:

Ultrasonic fatigue tests have been carried out in the maraging 300 steel. Experimental results show that fatigue endurance under this modality of testing is closely related to the nature and geometrical properties of inclusions present in this alloy. A model was proposed to correlate the ultrasonic fatigue endurance with the nature and geometrical properties of the crack initiation inclusion. Scanning Electron Microscopy analyses were obtained on the fracture surfaces, in order to assess the crack initiation inclusion and to introduce these parameters in the proposed model, with good agreement for the fatigue life prediction.

Keywords: inclusions, ultrasonic fatigue, maraging 300 steel, crack initiation

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Alan Ruiz-Padilla, Brando Villalobos-Villalobos, Yeniley Ruiz-Noa, Claudia Mendoza-Macías, Claudia Palafox-Sánchez, Miguel Marín-Rosales, Álvaro Cruz, Rubén Rangel-Salazar

Abstract:

Introduction: In patients with rheumatoid arthritis, resistance or poor response to disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) may be a reflection of the increase in g-P. The expression of g-P may be important in mediating the effluence of DMARD from the cell. In addition, P-glycoprotein is involved in the transport of cytokines, IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4, from normal lymphocytes activated to the surrounding extracellular matrix, thus influencing the activity of RA. The involvement of P-glycoprotein in the transmembrane transport of cytokines can serve as a modulator of the efficacy of DMARD. It was shown that a number of lymphocytes with glycoprotein P activity is increased in patients with RA; therefore, P-glycoprotein expression could be related to the activity of RA and could be a predictor of poor response to therapy. Objective: To evaluate in RA patients, if the G2677T/A MDR1 polymorphisms is associated with differences in the rate of therapeutic response to disease-modifying antirheumatic agents in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Material and Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted. Fifty seven patients with RA were included. They had an active disease according to DAS-28 (score >3.2). We excluded patients receiving biological agents. All the patients were followed during 6 months in order to identify the rate of therapeutic response according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria. At the baseline peripheral blood samples were taken in order to identify the G2677T/A MDR1 polymorphisms using PCR- Specific allele. The fragment was identified by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels stained with ethidium bromide. For statistical analysis, the genotypic and allelic frequencies of MDR1 gene polymorphism between responders and non-responders were determined. Chi-square tests as well as, relative risks with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were computed to identify differences in the risk for achieving therapeutic response. Results: RA patients had a mean age of 47.33 ± 12.52 years, 87.7% were women with a mean for DAS-28 score of 6.45 ± 1.12. At the 6 months, the rate of therapeutic response was 68.7 %. The observed genotype frequencies were: for G/G 40%, T/T 32%, A/A 19%, G/T 7% and for A/A genotype 2%. Patients with G allele developed at 6 months of treatment, higher rate for therapeutic response assessed by ACR20 compared to patients with others alleles (p=0.039). Conclusions: Patients with G allele of the - G2677T/A MDR1 polymorphisms had a higher rate of therapeutic response at 6 months with DMARD. These preliminary data support the requirement for a deep evaluation of these and other genotypes as factors that may influence the therapeutic response in RA.

Keywords: pharmacogenetics, MDR1, P-glycoprotein, therapeutic response, rheumatoid arthritis

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Ocotlán Díaz-Parra, Jorge A. Ruiz-Vanoye, Alejandro Fuentes-Penna, Beatriz Bernabe-Loranca, Patricia Ambrocio-Cruz, José J. Hernández-Flores

Abstract:

The Maritime Platform Transport Problem of Solid, Special and Dangerous Waste consist of to minimize the monetary value of carry different types of waste from one location to another location using ships. We offer a novel mathematical, the characterization of the problem and the use CPLEX to find the optimal values to solve the Solid, Special and Hazardous Waste Transportation Problem of offshore platforms instances of Mexican state-owned petroleum company (PEMEX). The set of instances used are WTPLib real instances and the tool CPLEX solver to solve the MPTPSSDW problem.

Keywords: oil platform, transport problem, waste, solid waste

Procedia PDF Downloads 451

Authors: Elia Caldini, Cláudia N. Battlehner, Marcelo A. Ferreira, Rolf Gemperli, Nivaldo Alonso, Luiz P. Vana

Abstract:

The advent of dermal regenerate templates has fostered major advances in the treatment of acute burns and their sequelae, in the last two decades. Both data on morphological aspects of the newly-formed tissue, and clinical trials comparing different templates, are still lacking. The goal of this study was to prospectively analyze the outcome of patients treated with two of the existing templates, followed by thin skin autograft. They are both made of bovine collagen, one includes a superficial silicone layer. Surgery was performed on patients with impaired mobility resulting from burn sequelae (n = 12 per template). Negative pressure therapy was applied post-surgically; patients were monitored for 12 months. Data on scar skin quality (Vancouver and POSAS evaluation scales), rate of joint mobility recovery, and graft contraction were recorded. Improvement in mobility and skin quality were demonstrated along with graft contraction, in all patients. The silicone-coupled template showed the best performance in all aspects.

Keywords: dermal regeneration template, artificial skin, skin quality, scar contracture

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Jefferson Camacho Mejia, Jenny Paola Forero Pachon, Luis Carlos Gomez Florez

Abstract:

The innumerable possibilities offered by the use of Information Technology (IT) in the development of different socio-economic activities has made a change in the social paradigm and the emergence of the so-called information and knowledge society. The Colombian government, aware of this reality, has been promoting the use of IT as part of the E-government strategy adopted in the country. However, it is well known that the use of IT implies the existence of certain threats that put the security of information in the digital environment at risk. One of the priorities of the Colombian government is to improve access to alternative justice through IT, in particular, access to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR): conciliation, arbitration and friendly composition; by means of which it is sought that the citizens directly resolve their differences. To this end, a trend has been identified in the use of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) systems, which extend the benefits of ADR to the digital environment through the use of IT. This article presents a process for the analysis of information security risks associated with the incorporation of ODR systems in the context of conciliation in Colombia, based on four fundamental stages identified in the literature: (I) Identification of assets, (II) Identification of threats and vulnerabilities (III) Estimation of the impact and 4) Estimation of risk levels. The methodological design adopted for this research was the grounded theory, since it involves interactions that are applied to a specific context and from the perspective of diverse participants. As a result of this investigation, the activities to be followed are defined to carry out an analysis of information security risks, in the context of the conciliation in Colombia supported by ODR systems, thus contributing to the estimation of the risks to make possible its subsequent treatment.

Keywords: alternative dispute resolution, conciliation, information security, online dispute resolution systems, process, risk analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Erika Ruiz, Nestor Ortiz

Abstract:

Lean philosophy has evolved over time and has been implemented both in manufacturing and services, more recently lean has been integrated in the companies of the health sector. Currently it is important to understand the successful way to implement this philosophy and try to identify barriers and enablers to the sustainability of lean healthcare. The main purpose of this research is to identify the barriers and enablers in the implementation of Lean Healthcare based on case studies of Colombian healthcare centers. In order to do so, we conducted semi-structured interviews based on a maturity model. The main results indicate that the success of Lean implementation depends on its adaptation to contextual factors. In addition, in the Colombian context were identified new factors such as organizational culture, management models, integration of the care and administrative departments and triple helix relationship.

Keywords: barriers, enablers, implementation, lean healthcare, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 343

Authors: I. Nava-Arenas, N. Ruiz-Ordaz, C. J. Galindez-Mayer, M. L. Luna-Guido, S. L. Ruiz-López, A. Cabrera-Orozco, D. Nava-Arenas

Abstract:

Among the most important herbicides, the organochlorine compounds are of considerable interest due to their recalcitrance to the chemical, biological, and photolytic degradation, their persistence in the environment, their mobility, and their bioacummulation. The most widely used herbicides in North America are primarily 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), the triazines (atrazine and simazine), and to a lesser extent diuron. The contamination of soils and water bodies frequently occurs by mixtures of these xenobiotics. For this reason, in this work, the operational stability to changes in the composition of the medium supplied to an aerobic biofilm reactor was studied. The reactor was packed with fragments of volcanic rock that retained a complex microbial film, able to degrade a mixture of organochlorine herbicides atrazine, simazine, diuron and 2,4-D, and whose members have microbial genes encoding the main catabolic enzymes atzABCD, tfdACD and puhB. To acclimate the attached microbial community, the biofilm reactor was fed continuously with a mineral minimal medium containing the herbicides (in mg•L-1): diuron, 20.4; atrazine, 14.2, simazine, 11.4, and 2,4-D, 59.7, as carbon and nitrogen sources. Throughout the bioprocess, removal efficiencies of 92-100% for herbicides, 78-90% for COD, 92-96% for TOC and 61-83% for dehalogenation were reached. In the microbial community, the genes encoding catabolic enzymes of different herbicides tfdACD, puhB and, occasionally, the genes atzA and atzC were detected. After the acclimatization, the triazine herbicides were eliminated from the mixture formulation. Volumetric loading rates of the mixture 2,4-D and diuron were continuously supplied to the reactor (1.9-21.5 mg herbicides •L-1 •h-1). Along the bioprocess, the removal efficiencies obtained were 86-100% for the mixture of herbicides, 63-94% for for COD, 90-100% for COT, and dehalogenation values of 63-100%. It was also observed that the genes encoding the enzymes in the catabolism of both herbicides, tfdACD and puhB, were consistently detected; and, occasionally, the atzA and atzC. Subsequently, the triazine herbicide atrazine and simazine were restored to the medium supply. Different volumetric charges of this mixture were continuously fed to the reactor (2.9 to 12.6 mg herbicides •L-1 •h-1). During this new treatment process, removal efficiencies of 65-95% for the mixture of herbicides, 63-92% for COD, 66-89% for TOC and 73-94% of dehalogenation were observed. In this last case, the genes tfdACD, puhB and atzABC encoding for the enzymes involved in the catabolism of the distinct herbicides were consistently detected. The atzD gene, encoding the cyanuric hydrolase enzyme, could not be detected, though it was determined that there was partial degradation of cyanuric acid. In general, the community in the biofilm reactor showed some catabolic stability, adapting to changes in loading rates and composition of the mixture of herbicides, and preserving their ability to degrade the four herbicides tested; although, there was a significant delay in the response time to recover to degradation of the herbicides.

Keywords: biodegradation, biofilm reactor, microbial community, organochlorine herbicides

Procedia PDF Downloads 422

Authors: Erika Ruíz, Luis Amaya, Diego Carreño

Abstract:

The main objective of this study is to design a mathematical model for the logistics of mining collection centers in the northern region of the department of Boyacá (Colombia), determining the structure that facilitates the flow of products along the supply chain. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to define a suitable design of the distribution network, taking into account the products, customer’s characteristics and the availability of information. Likewise, some other aspects must be defined, such as number and capacity of collection centers to establish, routes that must be taken to deliver products to the customers, among others. This research will use one of the operation research problems, which is used in the design of distribution networks known as Location Routing Problem (LRP).

Keywords: location routing problem, logistic, mining collection, model

Procedia PDF Downloads 202

Authors: Joel S. Mtebe, Aron Kondoro, Mussa M. Kissaka, Elia Kibga

Abstract:

Sub-Saharan Africa is described as the second fastest growing mobile phone penetration in the world more than in the United States or the European Union. Mobile phones have been used to provide a lot of opportunities to improve people’s lives in the region such as in banking, marketing, entertainment, and paying various bills such as water, TV, and electricity. However, the potential of using mobile phones to enhance teaching and learning has not been explored. This study presents an experience of developing and delivering SMS quizzes questions that were used to assess mastery of the subject content knowledge of science and mathematics secondary school teachers in Tanzania. The SMS quizzes were used as a follow up support mechanism to 500 teachers who participated in a project to upgrade subject content knowledge of science and mathematics subjects. Quizzes of 10-15 questions were sent to teachers each week for 8 weeks and the results were analyzed using SPSS. The results showed that chemistry and biology had better performance compared to mathematics and physics. Teachers reported some challenges that led to poor performance, invalid answers, and non-responses and they are presented. This research has several practical implications for those who are implementing or planning to use mobile phones for teaching and learning especially in rural secondary schools in sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords: mobile learning, elearning, educational technolgies, SMS, secondary education, assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: J. Daniel Sanchez Ruiz

Abstract:

The paper explains why and how a research criterion was included within an accreditation system for undergraduate engineering programs, in spite of not being a common practice of accreditation agencies at a global level. This paper is divided into three parts. The first presents the context and the motivations that led the Institute for Quality and Accreditation of Computing, Engineering and Technology Programs (ICACIT) to add a research criterion. The second describes the criterion adopted and the feedback received during 2017 accreditation cycle. The third, the author proposes changes to the accreditation criteria that respond in a pertinent way to the results-based accreditation model and the national context. The author seeks to reconcile an outcome based accreditation model, aligned with the established by the International Engineering Alliance, with the particular context of higher education in Peru.

Keywords: accreditation, engineering education, quality assurance, research

Procedia PDF Downloads 271

Authors: Jefferson Camacho Mejía, Jenny Paola Forero Pachón, Luis Carlos Gómez Flórez

Abstract:

Action research is a qualitative research methodology, which leads the researcher to delve into the problems of a community in order to understand its needs in depth and finally, to propose actions that lead to a change of social paradigm. Although this methodology had its beginnings in the human sciences, it has attracted increasing interest and acceptance in the field of information systems research since the 1990s. The countless possibilities offered nowadays by the use of Information Technologies (IT) in the development of different socio-economic activities have meant a change of social paradigm and the emergence of the so-called information and knowledge society. According to this, governments, large corporations, small entrepreneurs and in general, organizations of all kinds are using IT to virtualize their processes, taking them from the physical environment to the digital environment. However, there is a potential risk for organizations related with exposing valuable information without an appropriate framework for protecting it. This paper shows progress in the development of a methodological design to manage the information security risks associated with the IT-based processes virtualization, by applying the principles of the action research methodology and it is the result of a systematic review of the scientific literature. This design consists of seven fundamental stages. These are distributed in the three stages described in the action research methodology: 1) Observe, 2) Analyze and 3) Take actions. Finally, this paper aims to offer an alternative tool to traditional information security management methodologies with a view to being applied specifically in the planning stage of IT-based process virtualization in order to foresee risks and to establish security controls before formulating IT solutions in any type of organization.

Keywords: action research, information security, information technology, methodological design, process virtualization, risk management

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Mario Gianni, Federico Nardi, Federico Ferri, Filippo Cantucci, Manuel A. Ruiz Garcia, Karthik Pushparaj, Fiora Pirri

Abstract:

In this paper, we describe a Mixed-Initiative Operational Model (MIOM) which directly intervenes on the state of the functionalities embedded into a robot for Urban Search&Rescue (USAR) domain applications. MIOM extends the reasoning capabilities of the vehicle, i.e. mapping, path planning, visual perception and trajectory tracking, with operator knowledge. Especially in USAR scenarios, this coupled initiative has the main advantage of enhancing the overall performance of a rescue mission. In-field experiments with rescue responders have been carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of this operational model.

Keywords: mixed-initiative planning and control, operator control interfaces for rescue robotics, situation awareness, urban search, rescue robotics

Procedia PDF Downloads 345

Authors: I. Ramirez D. Edgar, J. Angeles H. José, Ruiz C. Osvaldo, H. Jacobo A. Victor, Ortiz P. Armando

Abstract:

Knowledge of bone mechanical properties is important for bone substitutes design and fabrication, and more efficient prostheses development. The aim of this study is to characterize the viscoelastic behavior of bone specimens, through stress relaxation and fatigue tests performed to trabecular bone samples from bovine femoral heads. Relaxation tests consisted on preloading the samples at five different magnitudes and evaluate them for 1020 seconds, adjusting the results to a KWW mathematical model. Fatigue tests consisted of 700 load cycles and analyze their status at the end of the tests. As a conclusion we have that between relaxation stress and each preload there is linear relation and for samples with initial Young´s modulus greater than 1.5 GPa showed no effects due fatigue test loading cycles.

Keywords: bone viscoelasticity, fatigue test, stress relaxation test, trabecular bone properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 468

Authors: Sharon Diaz Ruiz

Abstract:

The population of Latinx adult English language learners (ELLs) in the United States will increase in the next few years and become even more racially and linguistically diverse. Our classrooms reflect these demographic changes; therefore, there will always be the need to identify language teaching practices that would allow educators to meet this linguistic diversity. This qualitative study explores Latinx adult English language learners' perceptions of culturally responsive teaching strategies. Participants in this study will be enrolled in an English developmental course for the Fall of 2022. The data collection process will consist of overt observation during five presentations/activities, including culturally inclusive readings and student reflections. The teaching materials selected will align with the course module's goals and objectives. The result of this investigation will shed light on the gap in the literature documenting the application of culturally responsive pedagogy to Latino adult language learners.

Keywords: emergent bilinguals, adult learners, Latinx learners, ELL

Procedia PDF Downloads 85

Authors: Jorge A. Ruiz-Vanoye, Ocotlán Díaz-Parra, Alejandro Fuentes-Penna, Daniel Vélez-Díaz, Edith Olaco García

Abstract:

In this paper, we present the use of the discriminant analysis to select evolutionary algorithms that better solve instances of the vehicle routing problem with time windows. We use indicators as independent variables to obtain the classification criteria, and the best algorithm from the generic genetic algorithm (GA), random search (RS), steady-state genetic algorithm (SSGA), and sexual genetic algorithm (SXGA) as the dependent variable for the classification. The discriminant classification was trained with classic instances of the vehicle routing problem with time windows obtained from the Solomon benchmark. We obtained a classification of the discriminant analysis of 66.7%.

Keywords: Intelligent Transportation Systems, data-mining techniques, evolutionary algorithms, discriminant analysis, machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 449