Search results for: Maria Soledad Prats Moya

Authors: Soledad Natalia M. Dalisay, Mylene De Guzman

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In archipelagic countries like the Philippines, many communities thrive along coastal areas. The sea is the community members’ main source of livelihood and the site of many cultural activities. For these communities, the sea is their life and livelihood. Nevertheless, the sea also poses a hazard during the rainy season when typhoons frequent their communities. Coastal communities often encounter threats from storm surges and flooding that are common when there are typhoons. During such periods, disaster evacuation programs are implemented. However, in many instances, evacuation has been the bane of local government officials implementing such programs in their communities as resistance from community members is often encountered. Such resistance is often viewed by program implementers as due to the fact that people were hard headed and ignorant of the potential impacts of living in hazard prone areas. This paper argues that it is not for these reasons that people refused to evacuate. Drawing from data collected from fieldwork done in three sites in Central Philippines affected by super typhoon Haiyan, this study aimed to provide a contextualized understanding of peoples’ refusal to heed disaster evacuation warnings. This study utilized the multi-sited ethnography approach with in-depth episodic interviews, focus group discussions, participatory risk mapping and key informant interviews in gathering data on peoples’ experiences and insights specifically on evacuation during typhoon Haiyan. This study showed that people have priorities and considerations vital in their social lives that they are protecting in their refusal to leave their homes for pre-emptive evacuation. It is not that they are not aware of the risks when the face the hazard. It is more that they had faith in the local knowledge and strategies that they have developed since the time of their ancestors as a result of living and engaging with hazards in their areas for as long as they could remember. The study also revealed that risk in encounters with hazards was gendered. Furthermore, previous engagement with local government officials and the manner in which the pre-emptive evacuation programs were implemented had cast doubt on the value of such programs in saving their lives. Life in the designated evacuation areas can be as dangerous if not more compared with living in their coastal homes. There seems to be the impression that in the evacuation program of the government, people were being moved from hazard zones to death zones. Thus, this paper ends with several recommendations that may contribute to building more responsive evacuation programs that aim to build people’s resilience while taking into consideration the local moral world in communities in identified hazard zones.

Keywords: coastal communities, disaster evacuation, disaster risk perception, social and cultural responses to hazards

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Authors: Maria C. Proença, Maria T. Rebelo, Marília Antunes, Maria J. Alves, Hugo Osório, Sofia Cunha, REVIVE team

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The environment of the mosquitoes complex Culex pipiens sl. in Portugal mainland is evaluated based in its abundance, using a data set georeferenced, collected during seven years (2006-2012) from May to October. The suitability of the different regions can be delineated using the relative abundance areas; the suitablility index is directly proportional to disease transmission risk and allows focusing mitigation measures in order to avoid outbreaks of vector-borne diseases. The interest in the Culex pipiens complex is justified by its medical importance: the females bite all warm-blooded vertebrates and are involved in the circulation of several arbovirus of concern to human health, like West Nile virus, iridoviruses, rheoviruses and parvoviruses. The abundance of Culex pipiens mosquitoes were documented systematically all over the territory by the local health services, in a long duration program running since 2006. The environmental factors used to characterize the vector habitat are land use/land cover, distance to cartographed water bodies, altitude and latitude. Focus will be on the mosquito females, which gonotrophic cycle mate-bloodmeal-oviposition is responsible for the virus transmission; its abundance is the key for the planning of non-aggressive prophylactic countermeasures that may eradicate the transmission risk and simultaneously avoid chemical ambient degradation. Meteorological parameters such as: air relative humidity, air temperature (minima, maxima and mean daily temperatures) and daily total rainfall were gathered from the weather stations network for the same dates and crossed with the standardized females’ abundance in a geographic information system (GIS). Mean capture and percentage of above average captures related to each variable are used as criteria to compute a threshold for each meteorological parameter; the difference of the mean capture above/below the threshold was statistically assessed. The meteorological parameters measured at the net of weather stations all over the country are averaged by month and interpolated to produce raster maps that can be segmented according to the meaningful thresholds for each parameter. The intersection of the maps of all the parameters obtained for each month show the evolution of the suitable meteorological conditions through the mosquito season, considered as May to October, although the first and last month are less relevant. In parallel, mean and above average captures were related to the physiographic parameters – the land use/land cover classes most relevant in each month, the altitudes preferred and the most frequent distance to water bodies, a factor closely related with the mosquito biology. The maps produced with these results were crossed with the meteorological maps previously segmented, in order to get an index of suitability for the complex Culex pipiens evaluated all over the country, and its evolution from the beginning to the end of the mosquitoes season.

Keywords: suitability index, Culex pipiens, habitat evolution, GIS model

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Authors: Kamila Troper, Pedro Mestre, Maria Lurdes Menano, Joana Mendonça, Maria João Costa, Sandra Demel

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Introduction: Visual impairment is a problem that has an influence on hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. Although it is possible for a Visually Impaired person to do most jobs, the right training, technological assistance, and emotional support are essential. Ergonomics be able to solve many of the problems/issues with the relative ease of positioning, lighting and design of the workplace. A little forethought can make a tremendous difference to the ease with which a person with an impairment function. Objectives: Review the main ergonomic adaptation measures reported in the literature in order to promote better working conditions and safety measures for the visually impaired. Methodology: This was an exploratory-descriptive, qualitative literature systematic review study. The main databases used were: PubMed, BIREME, LILACS, with articles and studies published between 2000 and 2021. Results: Based on the principles of the theoretical references of ergonomic analysis of work, the main restructuring of the physical space of the workstations were: Accessibility facilities and assistive technologies; A screen reader that captures information from a computer and sends it in real-time to a speech synthesizer or Braille terminal; Installations of software with voice recognition, Monitors with enlarged screens; Magnification software; Adequate lighting, magnifying lenses in addition to recommendations regarding signage and clearance of the places where the visually impaired pass through. Conclusions: Employability rates for people with visual impairments(both those who are blind and those who have low vision)are low and continue to be a concern to the world and for researchers as a topic of international interest. Although numerous authors have identified barriers to employment and proposed strategies to remediate or circumvent those barriers, people with visual impairments continue to experience high rates of unemployment.

Keywords: ergonomic adaptations, visual impairments, ergonomic analysis of work, systematic review

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Authors: Ana María Rojas Chaparro, Cristian Camilo Sarmiento Chaves

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Given the growing importance of logistics as a discipline for efficient management of materials flow and information, the adoption of tools that permit to create facilities in making decisions based on a global perspective of the system studied has been essential. The article shows how from a concepts-based model is possible to organize and represent in appropriate way the reality, showing accurate and timely information, features that make this kind of models an ideal component to support an information system, recognizing that information as relevant to establish particularities that allow get a better performance about the evaluated sector.

Keywords: system, information, conceptual model, logistics

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Authors: Cristina Núñez, Rufina Bastida, Elena Labisbal, Alejandro Macías, María T. Pereira, José M. Vila

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A highly selective quinoline-based fluorescent sensor L was designed in order to functionalize gold nanoparticles (GNPs@L). The cytotoxicity of compound L and GNPs@L on the MCF-7 breast cancer cells was explored and it was observed that L and GNPs@L compounds induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cancer cells. The cellular uptake of the hybrid system GNPs@L was studied using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM).

Keywords: cytotoxicity, fluorescent probes, nanoparticles, quinoline

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Authors: Maria Da Glória Diniz De Almeida, Andreia M. P. Salgado

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This paper aims to present the creation of a mentoring program to be applied in developing future junior industrial engineers acting professionally. Its objective is to contribute to a better professional performance as engineers. It is a case-study for the RIP region (including the cities of Resende, Itatiaia and Porto Real), which is located in an industrial area in Rio de Janeiro State, in Brazil. As a result, 87% of mentors and mentees approved the program as efficient, based on the initial targets.

Keywords: mentoring program, mentors and mentees, student professional development, young engineers education

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Authors: Manuela Amorim, Cláudia S. Marques, Maria Conceição Calhau, Hélder J. Pinheiro, Maria Manuela Pintado

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Recently it has been recognized peptides from different food sources with biological activities. However, no relevant study has proven the potential of brewer yeast peptides in the modulation of gut microbiota. The importance of human intestinal microbiota in maintaining host health is well known. Probiotics, prebiotics and the combination of these two components, can contribute to support an adequate balance of the bacterial population in the human large intestine. The survival of many bacterial species inhabiting the large bowel depends essentially on the substrates made available to them, most of which come directly from the diet. Some of these substrates can be selectively considered as prebiotics, which are food ingredients that can stimulate beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacilli or Bifidobacteria growth in the colon. Moreover, conventional food can be used as vehicle to intake bioactive compounds that provide those health benefits and increase people well-being. In this way, the main objective of this work was to study the potential prebiotic activity of brewer yeast peptide extract (BYP) obtained via hydrolysis of yeast proteins by cardosins present in Cynara cardunculus extract for possible use as a functional ingredient. To evaluate the effect of BYP on the modulation of gut microbiota in diet-induced obesity model, Wistar rats were fed either with a standard or a high-fat diet. Quantified via 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) expression by quantitative PCR (qPCR), genera of beneficial bacteria (Lactobacillus spp. and Bifidobacterium spp.) and three main phyla (Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria) were assessed. Results showed relative abundance of Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp. and Bacteroidetes was significantly increased (P < 0.05) by BYP. Consequently, the potential health-promoting effects of WPE through modulation of gut microbiota were demonstrated in vivo. Altogether, these findings highlight the possible intervention of BYP as gut microbiota enhancer, promoting healthy life style, and the incorporation in new food products, leads them bringing associated benefits endorsing a new trend in the improvement of new value-added food products.

Keywords: functional ingredients, gut microbiota, prebiotics, brewer yeast peptide extract

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Authors: Stanimira Ntermentzieva

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Gender studies in post-communist Eastern Europe emerged in the early 1990s after the collapse of the communist regime. It can be explained by a series of cultural and political factors. However, Bulgarian female composers’ contribution to Western art music has not been studied. This field shows us some aspects of the impact of globalization on gender issues. This paper outlines the female composers in the establishment of the modern Bulgarian state and society. It is dedicated to the Bulgarian award-winning female composers who studied in Western European and American universities in the 1990s. Many of them migrated to these regions as part of a great migration in which Bulgaria lost 2.3 to three million of its population and strived to modernize Bulgarian music. Nowadays, the Union of Bulgarian Composers has 262 members, but only 19 of them are women. The Grammy-awarded Penka Kouneva (b. 1967) is one of the few female composers in Hollywood. She composed and orchestrated film scores, music for video games and television. Anna-Maria Ravnopolska-Dean (b. 1960) is a Bulgarian/American harpist, arranger, composer, pedagogue and TV host. She wrote pieces for harp and chamber ensembles. Maria Panayotova (b. 1976) studied composition in the USA. Alexandra Fol (b. 1981) and Vania Angelova (b. 1954) work in Canada and are recipients of grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, among others. Afroditi Katmeridou, born in Bulgaria in 1956 by Greek parents, was the first woman who wrote electroacoustic music. One of the well-known contemporary composers is the British/Bulgarian Dobrinka Tabakova (b. 1980). She moved with her family to the United Kingdom when she was 11 and studied Composition at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Her album String Paths was nominated for a Grammy award. Many female composers made a successful career in EU countries: Albena Petrovic-Vratchanska (Luxemburg), Yuliana Tochkova-Patrouilleau (France), Dariana Kumanova (Italy), Tveta Dimitrova (Austria), Ivajla Kirova (Germany), Alexandra Karastoyanova-Hermentin (Austria) and more.

Keywords: balgarian music, female composers, gender studies, western art music, migration

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Authors: Maycon dos Santos, Marivane Turim Koschevic, Karina Sayuri Ueda, Marcello Lima Bertuci, Farayde Matta Fackhouri, Silvia Maria Martelli

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The use of cellulose nanocrystals as reinforcing agents in polymer nanocomposites is promising. In this study, we tested four different methods of mercerization were divided into two stages. The sample was treated in 5% NaOH solution for 30 minutes at 50 ° C in the first stage and 30vol H2O2 for 2 hours at 50 ° C in the second step, which showed better results. For the extraction of the sample obtained nanocrystals positive result was that the solution was treated with H2SO4 60% (w / w) for 1 hour at 50 ° C. The results were positive and showed that it is possible to extract CNC at low temperatures.

Keywords: soy pods, cellulose nanocrystals, temperature, acid concentration

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Authors: Patricia Calvo, Francisco M. Sánchez, María J. Rodríguez

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Nowadays, food intake is becoming more irregular due to changes in family organization and lifestyle. Snacking is part of the day-to-day lives of people, however, most of the snacks have a high saturated fat, salt and refined sugar content; these dietary factors are believed to have negative health consequences. For this reason, there has been an increase in consumer demand for healthy, natural and convenient foods, so the development of a significant portion of new products focuses on improving the nutritional value of food snacks through modification its nutritional composition. In this paper, a new product made from vegetables has been designed. This new product would be an ideal food format to include ingredients with positive health benefits.

Keywords: healthy, pepper, dried, carotenes, polyphenols

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Authors: Maria Clapham, Krysta Thomason

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This study examined how age and gender of a leader affect characterizations of leaders across cultures. Participants from around the world were randomly assigned to rate one of the following types of leaders: successful leader, female leader over age 50, female leader under age 40, male leader over age 50, or male leader under age 40. Ratings of these leaders on communal, agentic, task-oriented, relationship-oriented, and transformational leadership characteristics were compared across four world regions: Asia, Europe, Latin America, and USA/Canada. Results suggest some similarities and differences in characterizations of leaders across cultures.

Keywords: culture, gender, leadership, stereotyping

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Authors: Maria Lopez-Ibarra, Ana Velazquez-Wong, Lucelli Yañez-Gutierrez, Maria Araujo-Solis, Fabio Salamanca-Gomez, Alfonso Mendez-Tenorio, Haydeé Rosas-Vargas

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Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are the most common congenital abnormalities. These conditions can occur as both an element of distinct chromosomal malformation syndromes or as non-syndromic forms. Their etiology is not fully understood. Genetic variants such copy number variants have been associated with CHD. The aim of our study was to analyze these genomic variants in peripheral blood from Mexican children diagnosed with non-syndromic CHD. We included 16 children with atrial and ventricular septal defects and 5 healthy subjects without heart malformations as controls. To exclude the most common heart disease-associated syndrome alteration, we performed a fluorescence in situ hybridization test to identify the 22q11.2, responsible for congenital heart abnormalities associated with Di-George Syndrome. Then, a microarray based comparative genomic hybridization was used to identify global copy number variants. The identification of copy number variants resulted from the comparison and analysis between our results and data from main genetic variation databases. We identified copy number variants gain in three chromosomes regions from pediatric patients, 4q13.2 (31.25%), 9q34.3 (25%) and 20q13.33 (50%), where several genes associated with cellular, biosynthetic, and metabolic processes are located, UGT2B15, UGT2B17, SNAPC4, SDCCAG3, PMPCA, INPP6E, C9orf163, NOTCH1, C20orf166, and SLCO4A1. In addition, after a hierarchical cluster analysis based on the fluorescence intensity ratios from the comparative genomic hybridization, two congenital heart disease groups were generated corresponding to children with atrial or ventricular septal defects. Further analysis with a larger sample size is needed to corroborate these copy number variants as possible biomarkers to differentiate between heart abnormalities. Interestingly, the 20q13.33 gain was present in 50% of children with these CHD which could suggest that alterations in both coding and non-coding elements within this chromosomal region may play an important role in distinct heart conditions.

Keywords: aCGH, bioinformatics, congenital heart diseases, copy number variants, fluorescence in situ hybridization

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Authors: Iris Maria Velez Osorio

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There has been in the last decade a concern about the environment, particularly about clean and enough water for human consumption but, some enterprises had some trouble to understand the limited resources in the environment. This research tries to understand how some industries are better oriented to the preservation of the environment through investment for strategic management of scarce resources and try in the best way possible, the contaminants. It was made an industry classification since four different group of theories for Corporate Social Responsibility agree with variables of: investment in environmental care, water protection, and residues treatment finding different levels of commitment with CSR.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, environment, strategic management, water

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Authors: Valeria Minucciani, Maria Maddalena Margaria

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While mathematical tools that make digital architecture possible are very sophisticated and advanced, theoretical development of digital architecture (intended as a discipline that integrates or replaces the real architecture) is not. The fashion show, that involves interiors architecture, exhibit design and scenography, has been exploiting for ten years the opportunities offered by digital technologies. To gain greater visibility and to reach a wider audience, high-level experimentations have been performed. The aim of this paper is in investigating, through the analysis of some cases of virtual fashion shows, the 'architectural' impact of the virtual conception of interior space.

Keywords: digital interiors, exhibit, fashion catwalk, architectural theory

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Authors: Silvia Rocha, Flavio Tiago, Maria Teresa Tiago, Sandra Faria, Joao Couto

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The Azores have a tourist potential that has been developing, especially after an increase in promotion and the liberalization of airspace. However, there is still a gap with regard to the understanding of tourists from North America. Previous studies referred to the existence of two basic types of touristic flows: Emigrants and locals. Looking to help fill this gap, a study of travelers from North America was conducted. Using cluster analysis, it was determined the existence of three segments: nostalgic, regular and frequent. The recognition of these three segments is important to determine the necessary adjustments in tourist offerings to this market.

Keywords: tourism, diaspora, nostalgia, culture

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Authors: Maria V. Morozova, Yulia V. Emelyanova, Anastasia A. Levina, Elena S. Buyanova, Zoya A. Mikhaylovskaya, Sofia A. Petrova

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The solid solutions of lanthanum niobates substituted by yttrium, bismuth and tungsten were synthesized. The structure of the solid solutions is either LaNbO4-based monoclinic or BiNbO4-based triclinic. The series where niobium is substituted by tungsten on B site reveals phase-modulated structure. The values of cell parameters decrease with increasing the dopant concentration for all samples except the tungsten series although the latter show higher total conductivity.

Keywords: impedance spectroscopy, LaNbO4, lanthanum ortho-niobates, solid electrolyte

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Authors: Lucas B. Naves, Maria José Abreu

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Reprocessing single-use device has attracted interesting on the medical environment over the last decades. The reprocessing technique was sought in order to reduce the cost of purchasing the new medical device, which can achieve almost double of the price of the reprocessed product. In this manuscript, we have done a literature review, aiming the reuse of medical device that was firstly designed for single use only, but has become, more and more, effective on its reprocessing procedure. We also show the regulation, the countries which allows this procedure, the classification of these device and also the most important issue concerning the re-utilization of medical device, how to minimizing the risk of gram positive and negative bacteria, avoid cross-contamination, hepatitis B (HBV), and C (HCV) virus, and also human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Keywords: reusing, reprocessing, single-use medical device, HIV, hepatitis B and C

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Authors: Carlo Bianchini, Lorenzo Catena

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The appearance of 3D scanners and then, more recently, of image-based systems that generate point clouds directly from common digital images have deeply affected the survey process in terms of both capturing and 2D/3D modelling. In this context, low cost and mobile systems are increasingly playing a key role and actually paving the way to the democratization of what in the past was the realm of few specialized technicians and expensive equipment. The application of Google Tango on the ancient church of Santa Maria delle Vigne in Pratica di Mare – Rome presented in this paper is one of these examples.

Keywords: the architectural survey, augmented/mixed/virtual reality, Google Tango project, image-based 3D capturing

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Authors: María L. Jalón, Feargal Brennan

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A non-stationary stochastic optimization methodology is applied to an OWC (oscillating water column) to find the design that maximizes the wave energy extraction. Different temporal cycles are considered to represent the long-term variability of the wave climate at the site in the optimization problem. The results of the non-stationary stochastic optimization problem are compared against those obtained by a stationary stochastic optimization problem. The comparative analysis reveals that the proposed non-stationary optimization provides designs with a better fit to reality. However, the stationarity assumption can be adequate when looking at averaged system response.

Keywords: non-stationary stochastic optimization, oscillating water, temporal variability, wave energy

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Authors: Prabhvir Singh Marway, Kai Lok Chan, Maria-Ruxandra Jinga, Rachel Bok Ying Lee, Matthew Bok Kit Lee, Krishan Nandapalan, Sze Yi Beh, Harry Carr, Christopher Kui

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We piloted a structured series of online workshops on the 3D segmentation of anatomical structures from CT scans. 33 participants were recruited from four UK universities for two-day workshops between 2020 and 2021. Open-source software (3D-Slicer) was used. We hypothesized that active participation via real-time screen-sharing and voice-communication via Discord would enable improved engagement and learning, despite national lockdowns. Written feedback indicated positive learning experiences, with subjective measures of anatomical understanding and software confidence improving.

Keywords: medical education, workshop, segmentation, anatomy

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Authors: John Christian Lequiron, Gerry Bagtasa, Olivia Cabrera, Leoncio Amadore, Tolentino Moya

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Changes in air surface temperature play an important role in the Philippine’s economy, industry, health, and food production. While increasing global mean temperature in the recent several decades has prompted a number of climate change and variability studies in the Philippines, most studies still focus on rainfall and tropical cyclones. This study aims to investigate the trend and variability of observed air surface temperature and determine its major influencing factor/s in the Philippines. A non-parametric Mann-Kendall trend test was applied to monthly mean temperature of 17 synoptic stations covering 56 years from 1960 to 2015 and a mean change of 0.58 °C or a positive trend of 0.0105 °C/year (p < 0.05) was found. In addition, wavelet decomposition was used to determine the frequency of temperature variability show a 12-month, 30-80-month and more than 120-month cycles. This indicates strong annual variations, interannual variations that coincide with ENSO events, and interdecadal variations that are attributed to PDO and CO2 concentrations. Air surface temperature was also correlated with smoothed sunspot number and galactic cosmic rays, the results show a low to no effect. The influence of ENSO teleconnection on temperature, wind pattern, cloud cover, and outgoing longwave radiation on different ENSO phases had significant effects on regional temperature variability. Particularly, an anomalous anticyclonic (cyclonic) flow east of the Philippines during the peak and decay phase of El Niño (La Niña) events leads to the advection of warm southeasterly (cold northeasterly) air mass over the country. Furthermore, an apparent increasing cloud cover trend is observed over the West Philippine Sea including portions of the Philippines, and this is believed to lessen the effect of the increasing air surface temperature. However, relative humidity was also found to be increasing especially on the central part of the country, which results in a high positive trend of heat index, exacerbating the effects on human discomfort. Finally, an assessment of gridded temperature datasets was done to look at the viability of using three high-resolution datasets in future climate analysis and model calibration and verification. Several error statistics (i.e. Pearson correlation, Bias, MAE, and RMSE) were used for this validation. Results show that gridded temperature datasets generally follows the observed surface temperature change and anomalies. In addition, it is more representative of regional temperature rather than a substitute to station-observed air temperature.

Keywords: air surface temperature, carbon dioxide, ENSO, galactic cosmic rays, smoothed sunspot number

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Authors: Maria Hussin, Malik Zawwar Hussain, Mubashrah Saddiqa

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We present a trigonometric scheme to approximate a circular arc with its two end points and two end tangents/unit tangents. A rational cubic trigonometric Bézier curve is constructed whose end control points are defined by the end points of the circular arc. Weight functions and the remaining control points of the cubic trigonometric Bézier curve are estimated by variational approach to reproduce a circular arc. The radius error is calculated and found less than the existing techniques.

Keywords: control points, rational trigonometric Bézier curves, radius error, shape measure, weight functions

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Authors: G. Patricia Abdel Rahim, Jairo Arbey Rodriguez M, María Guadalupe Moreno Armenta

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The present study shows the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of magnesium (Mg) and bismuth (Bi) in a supercell (1X1X5). For both materials were studied in five crystalline structures: rock salt (NaCl), cesium chloride (CsCl), zinc-blende (ZB), wurtzite (WZ), and nickel arsenide (NiAs), using the Density Functional Theory (DFT), the Generalized Gradient Approximation (GGA), and the Full Potential Linear Augmented Plane Wave (FP-LAPW) method. By means of fitting the Murnaghan's state equation we determine the lattice constant, the bulk modulus and it's derived with the pressure. Also we calculated the density of states (DOS) and the band structure.

Keywords: bismuth, magnesium, pseudo-potential, supercell

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Authors: Maria V. Morozova, Zoya A. Mikhaylovskaya, Elena S. Buyanova, Sofia A. Petrova, Ksenia V. Arishina, Robert G. Zaharov

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The present work is devoted to the investigation of two series of doped bismuth molybdates: Bi₂₆-₂ₓMn₂ₓMo₁₀O₆₉-d and Bi₂₆Mo₁₀-₂yMn₂yO₆₉-d. Complex oxides were synthesized by conventional solid state technology and by co-precipitation method. The products were identified by powder diffraction. The powders and ceramic samples were examined by means of densitometry, laser diffraction, and electron microscopic methods. Porosity of the ceramic materials was estimated using the hydrostatic method. The electrical conductivity measurements were carried out using impedance spectroscopy method.

Keywords: bismuth molybdate, columnar structures, impedance spectroscopy, oxygen ionic conductors

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Authors: Marta Fernández Batalla, José María Santamaría García, Maria Lourdes Jiménez Rodríguez, Roberto Barchino Plata, Adriana Cercas Duque, Enrique Monsalvo San Macario

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Background: Primary Care Nursing is taking more autonomy in clinical decisions. One of the most frequent therapies to solve is related to the problems of maintaining a sufficient supply of food. Nursing diagnoses related to food are addressed by the nurse-family and community as the first responsible. Objectives and interventions are set according to each patient. To improve the goal setting and the treatment of these care problems, a technological tool is developed to help nurses. Objective: To evaluate the computational tool developed to support the clinical decision in feeding problems. Material and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out at the Meco Health Center, Madrid, Spain. The study population consisted of four specialist nurses in primary care. These nurses tested the tool on 30 people with ‘need for nutritional therapy’. Subsequently, the usability of the tool and the satisfaction of the professional were sought. Results: A simple and convenient computational tool is designed for use. It has 3 main entrance fields: age, size, sex. The tool returns the following information: BMI (Body Mass Index) and caloric consumed by the person. The next step is the caloric calculation depending on the activity. It is possible to propose a goal of BMI or weight to achieve. With this, the amount of calories to be consumed is proposed. After using the tool, it was determined that the tool calculated the BMI and calories correctly (in 100% of clinical cases). satisfaction on nutritional assessment was ‘satisfactory’ or ‘very satisfactory’, linked to the speed of operations. As a point of improvement, the options of ‘stress factor’ linked to weekly physical activity. Conclusion: Based on the results, it is clear that the computational tools of decision support are useful in the clinic. Nurses are not only consumers of computational tools, but can develop their own tools. These technological solutions improve the effectiveness of nutrition assessment and intervention. We are currently working on improvements such as the calculation of protein percentages as a function of protein percentages as a function of stress parameters.

Keywords: feeding behavior health, nutrition therapy, primary care nursing, technology assessment

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Authors: Theresia Dwi Hastuti, Kristiana Haryanti, Agustine Eva Maria Soekesi

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Today's family business continues to grow in big cities and in rural areas throughout Indonesia in line with the development of the business world and global competition. This study aims to analyze the effect of company value, leadership, and ownership succession on the financial performance of the family business. The research method was carried out quantitatively with multiple regression. The respondent amounted to 63 entrepreneurs. This study found that company value, leadership succession, relationships, and communication affect the financial performance of the family business.

Keywords: company value, family business, financial performance, leadership succession, ownership succession

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Authors: Ivan Stanev, Maria Koleva

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Automated software development issues are addressed in this paper. Layers and packages of a Common Platform for Automated Programming (CPAP) are defined based on Service Oriented Architecture, Cloud computing, Knowledge based automated software engineering (KBASE) and Method of automated programming. Tools of seven leading companies (AWS of Amazon, Azure of Microsoft, App Engine of Google, vCloud of VMWare, Bluemix of IBM, Helion of HP, OCPaaS of Oracle) are analyzed in the context of CPAP. Based on the results of the analysis CPAP requirements are formulated

Keywords: automated programming, cloud computing, knowledge based software engineering, service oriented architecture

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Authors: J. I. Corcoles, J. D. Moya-Rico, A. Molina, J. F. Belmonte, J. A. Almendros-Ibanez

Abstract:

One of the most common heat exchangers technology in engineering processes is the use of double-pipe heat exchangers (DPHx), mainly in the food industry. To improve the heat transfer performance, several passive geometrical devices can be used, such as the wall corrugation of tubes, which increases the wet perimeter maintaining a constant cross-section area, increasing consequently the convective surface area. It contributes to enhance heat transfer in forced convection, promoting secondary recirculating flows. One of the most extended tools to analyse heat exchangers' efficiency is the use of computational fluid dynamic techniques (CFD), a complementary activity to the experimental studies as well as a previous step for the design of heat exchangers. In this study, a double pipe heat exchanger behaviour with two different inner tubes, smooth and spirally corrugated tube, have been analysed. Hence, experimental analysis and steady 3-D numerical simulations using the commercial code ANSYS Workbench v. 17.0 are carried out to analyse the influence of geometrical parameters for spirally corrugated tubes at turbulent flow. To validate the numerical results, an experimental setup has been used. To heat up or cool down the cold fluid as it passes through the heat exchanger, the installation includes heating and cooling loops served by an electric boiler with a heating capacity of 72 kW and a chiller, with a cooling capacity of 48 kW. Two tests have been carried out for the smooth tube and for the corrugated one. In all the tests, the hot fluid has a constant flowrate of 50 l/min and inlet temperature of 59.5°C. For the cold fluid, the flowrate range from 25 l/min (Test 1) and 30 l/min (Test 2) with an inlet temperature of 22.1°C. The heat exchanger is made of stainless steel, with an external diameter of 35 mm and wall thickness of 1.5 mm. Both inner tubes have an external diameter of 24 mm and 1 mm thickness of stainless steel with a length of 2.8 m. The corrugated tube has a corrugation height (H) of 1.1 mm and helical pitch (P) of 25 mm. It is characterized using three non-dimensional parameters, the ratio of the corrugation shape and the diameter (H/D), the helical pitch (P/D) and the severity index (SI = H²/P x D). The results showed good agreement between the numerical and the experimental results. Hence, the lowest differences were shown for the fluid temperatures. In all the analysed tests and for both analysed tubes, the temperature obtained numerically was slightly higher than the experimental results, with values ranged between 0.1% and 0.7%. Regarding the pressure drop, the maximum differences between the values obtained numerically, and the experimental values were close to 16%. Based on the experimental and the numerical results, for the corrugated tube, it can be highlighted that the temperature difference between the inlet and the outlet of the cold fluid is 42%, higher than the smooth tube.

Keywords: corrugated tube, heat exchanger, heat transfer, numerical simulation

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Authors: Soledad Coronel Poma, Lorena Alvarado Rodriguez

Abstract:

The purpose of this project is to design public space through urban-architectural strategies that help to the sustainable recovery of the Huayla estuary and the revival of tourism in this area. This design considers other sustainable and architectural ideas used in similar cases, along with national and international regulations for saving shorelines in danger. To understand the situation of this location, Puerto Bolivar is the main port of the Province of El Oro and of the south of the country, where 90,000 national and foreign tourists pass through all year round. For that reason, a physical-urban, social, and environmental analysis of the area was carried out through surveys and conversations with the community. This analysis showed that around 70% of people feel unsatisfied and concerned about the estuary and its surroundings. Crime, absence of green areas, bad conservation of shorelines, lack of tourists, poor commercial infrastructure, and the spread of informal commerce are the main issues to be solved. As an intervention project whose main goal is that residents and tourists have contact with native nature and enjoy doing local activities, three main strategies: mobility, ecology, and urban –architectural are proposed to recover the estuary and its surroundings. First of all, the design of this public space is based on turning the estuary location into a linear promenade that could be seen as a tourist corridor, which would help to reduce pollution, increase green spaces and improve tourism. Another strategy aims to improve the economy of the community through some local activities like fishing and sailing and the commerce of fresh seafood, both raw products and in restaurants. Furthermore, in support of the environmental approach, some houses are rebuilt as sustainable houses using local materials and rearranged into blocks closer to the commercial area. Finally, the planning incorporates the use of many plants such as palms, sameness trees, and mangroves around the area to encourage people to get in touch with nature. The results of designing this space showed an increase in the green area per inhabitant index. It went from 1.69 m²/room to 10.48 m²/room, with 12 096 m² of green corridors and the incorporation of 5000 m² of mangroves at the shoreline. Additionally, living zones also increased with the creation of green areas taking advantage of the existing nature and implementing restaurants and recreational spaces. Moreover, the relocation of houses and buildings helped to free estuary's shoreline, so people are now in more comfortable places closer to their workplaces. Finally, dock spaces are increased, reaching the capacity of the boats and canoes, helping to organize the area in the estuary. To sum up, this project searches the improvement of the estuary environment with its shoreline and surroundings that include the vegetation, infrastructure and people with their local activities, achieving a better quality of life, attraction of tourism, reduction of pollution and finally getting a full recovered estuary as a natural ecosystem.

Keywords: recover, public space, stuary, sustainable

Procedia PDF Downloads 107

Authors: Amanda Aliende da Matta, Maria del Pilar Fogueiras Bertomeu, Valeria de Ormaechea Otalora, Maria Paz Sandin Esteban, Miriam Comet Donoso

Abstract:

This communication presents proposed questions about the existential in research on the political participation of young women. The study follows a qualitative methodology, in particular, the applied hermeneutic phenomenological (AHP) method, and the general objective of the research is to give an account of the experience of political participation as a young woman. The study participants are women aged 18 to 35 who have experience in political participation. The techniques of data collection are the descriptive story and the phenomenological interview. Hermeneutic phenomenology as a research approach is based on phenomenological philosophy and applied hermeneutics. The ultimate objective of HP is to gain access to the meaning structures of lived experience by appropriating them, clarifying them, and reflectively making them explicit. Human experiences are always lived through existential: fundamental themes that are useful in exploring meaningful aspects of our life worlds. Everyone experiences the world through the existential of lived relationships, the lived body, lived space, lived time, and lived things. The phenomenological research, then, also tacitly asks about the existential. Existentials are universal themes useful for exploring significant aspects of our life world and of the particular phenomena under study. Four main existentials prove especially helpful as guides for reflection in the research process: relationship, body, space, and time. For example, in our case, we may ask ourselves how can the existentials of relationship, body, space, and time guide us in exploring the structures of meaning in the lived experience of political participation as a woman and a young person. The study is still not finished, as we are currently conducting phenomenological thematic analysis on the collected stories of lived experience. Yet, we have already identified some fragments of texts that show the existential in their experiences, which we will transcribe below. 1) Relationality - The experienced I-Other. It regards how relationships are experienced in our narratives about political participation as young women. One example would be: “As we had known each other for a long time, we understood each other with our eyes; we were all a little bit on the same page, thinking the same thing.” 2) Corporeality - The lived body. It regards how the lived body is experienced in activities of political participation as a young woman. One example would be: “My blood was boiling, but it was not the time to throw anything in their face, we had to look for solutions.”; “I had a lump in my throat and I wanted to cry.”. 3) Spatiality - The lived space. It regards how one experiences the lived space in political participation activities as a young woman. One example would be: “And the feeling I got when I saw [it] it's like watching everybody going into a mousetrap.” 4) Temporality - Lived time. It regards how one experiences the lived time in political participation activities as a young woman. One example would be: “Then, there were also meetings that went on forever…”

Keywords: applied hermeneutic phenomenology, existentials, hermeneutics, phenomenology, political participation

Procedia PDF Downloads 43