Search results for: base of support

Authors: Sheeba Farhan

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This study is conducted to explore the predictive relationship of perceived stress and self-esteem with social support of students and to explore the factors, which contribute to develop or enhance the level of stress in students of private universities in Karachi-Pakistan. After literature review following hypotheses were formulated; 1)social support would predict perceived stress of students of business administration of private organizations of Higher education, 2) social support would predict the self-esteem of students of private organizations of Higher education, 3) there will be a relationship of perceived stress and self-esteem of students of private organizations of Higher education, 4) there will be a relationship of self esteem and social support of students of private organizations of Higher education. Sample of the study is comprise of 100 students of private organizations of Higher education in Karachi- Pakistan (i.e. males= 50 & females= 50). The age range of participants is 18-26 years. The measures, used in the study are: Demographic information form, a semi structured interview form, Rosenberg self esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and perceived stress scale (Cohen, Kamarck, and Mermelstein, 1983) and multidimensional scale of perceived social support (Zimet, 1988) Descriptive statistics is used for getting a better statistical view of characteristics of sample. Regression analysis is used to explore the predictive relationship of study related stress and self esteem with academic achievement of students of private organizations of Higher education. Percentages and ratios were calculated to explore the level of perceived stress with respect to Socio-demographic characteristics in students of private organizations of Higher education. Finding shows that social support is significantly associated with the higher level of self-esteem among students of graduation but insignificantly associated with stress that has been experienced by them. These results are correlated with a wide variety of studies in which social support has proposed to be a predictor of well being for the students.

Keywords: private universities of Karachi-Pakistan, Self-esteem, social support, stress

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Authors: Ahmed Ouammi

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This paper presents an integrated decision framework to support decision makers in the selection and optimal allocation of wind power plants in the electric grid. The developed approach intends to maximize the benefice related to the project investment during the planning period. The proposed decision model considers the main cost components, meteorological data, environmental impacts, operation and regulation constraints, and territorial information. The decision framework is expressed as a stochastic constrained optimization problem with the aim to identify the suitable locations and related optimal wind turbine technology considering the operational constraints and maximizing the benefice. The developed decision support system is applied to a case study to demonstrate and validate its performance.

Keywords: decision support systems, electric power grid, optimization, wind energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: M. Hosseini, N. Ghorbani Amirabad, M. Zhian

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Seismic design codes accept structural and nonstructural damages after the sever earthquakes (provided that the building is prevented from collapse), so that in many cases demolishing and reconstruction of the building is inevitable, and this is usually very difficult, costly and time consuming. Therefore, designing and constructing of buildings in such a way that they can be easily repaired after earthquakes, even major ones, is quite desired. For this purpose giving the possibility of rocking or see-saw motion to the building structure, partially or as a whole, has been used by some researchers in recent decade .the central support which has a main role in creating the possibility of see-saw motion in the building’s structural system. In this paper, paying more attention to the key role of the central fuse and support, an innovative energy dissipater which can act as the central fuse and support of the building with seesaw motion is introduced, and the process of reaching an optimal geometry for that by using finite element analysis is presented. Several geometric shapes were considered for the proposed central fuse and support. In each case the hysteresis moment rotation behavior of the considered fuse were obtained under simultaneous effect of vertical and horizontal loads, by nonlinear finite element analyses. To find the optimal geometric shape, the maximum plastic strain value in the fuse body was considered as the main parameter. The rotational stiffness of the fuse under the effect of acting moments is another important parameter for finding the optimum shape. The proposed fuse and support can be called Yielding Curved Bars and Clipped Hemisphere Core (YCB&CHC or more briefly YCB) energy dissipater. Based on extensive nonlinear finite element analyses it was found out the using rectangular section for the curved bars gives more reliable results. Then, the YCB energy dissipater with the optimal shape was used in a structural model of a 12 story regular building as its central fuse and support to give it the possibility of seesaw motion, and its seismic responses were compared to those of a the building in the fixed based conditions, subjected to three-components acceleration of several selected earthquakes including Loma Prieta, Northridge, and Park Field. In building with see-saw motion some simple yielding-plate energy dissipaters were also used under circumferential columns.The results indicated that equipping the buildings with central and circumferential fuses result in remarkable reduction of seismic responses of the building, including the base shear, inter story drift, and roof acceleration. In fact by using the proposed technique the plastic deformations are concentrated in the fuses in the lowest story of the building, so that the main body of the building structure remains basically elastic, and therefore, the building can be easily repaired after earthquake.

Keywords: rocking mechanism, see-saw motion, finite element analysis, hysteretic behavior

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Authors: Olivia Borgue, Massimo Panarotto, Ola Isaksson

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This article presents a neural networks-based strategy for reducing the need for support structures when designing for additive manufacturing (AM). Additive manufacturing is a relatively new and immature industrial technology, and the information to make confident decisions when designing for AM is limited. This lack of information impacts especially the early stages of engineering design, for instance, it is difficult to actively consider the support structures needed for manufacturing a part. This difficulty is related to the challenge of designing a product geometry accounting for customer requirements, manufacturing constraints and minimization of support structure. The approach presented in this article proposes an automatized geometry modification technique for reducing the use of the support structures while designing for AM. This strategy starts with a neural network-based strategy for shape recognition to achieve product classification, using an STL file of the product as input. Based on the classification, an automatic part geometry modification based on MATLAB© is implemented. At the end of the process, the strategy presents different geometry modification alternatives depending on the type of product to be designed. The geometry alternatives are then evaluated adopting a QFD-like decision support tool.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, engineering design, geometry modification optimization, neural networks

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Authors: Nazim Habibov, Alena Auchynnikava, Lida Fan

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The exploration of the relationship between social trust and the support of the welfare system in transitional countries has attracted growing interests in recent decades. This study estimates the effects of interpersonal and institutional trust on the support of the welfare system in 27 countries in Eastern Europe the former Soviet Union. We estimate the data sets from the Life-in-Transition Survey 2010 and 2016 with binomial regression models. The results indicate that both interpersonal and institutional trust have positive effects on the support for the welfare system in all the three areas under investigation: helping the needy, public healthcare and public education, both in the less developed countries of the former Soviet Union and in the more developed Eastern European countries. Furthermore, the positive effects of interpersonal and institutional trust on support for helping the needy, public healthcare and public education were found to grow over time. In conclusion, this study confirms that interpersonal and institutional trusts have positive effects for the public support of the welfare system in these transitional countries under investigation, regardless of their level of development.

Keywords: central and eastern Europe, former Soviet union, international social welfare policy, comparative social welfare policy

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Authors: Mercedeh Malekzadeh

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Scrap tires are the source of wastes that cause the environmental problems. The major components of these tires are rubber and carbon black. These components can be used again for different applications by utilizing physical and chemical processes. Pyrolysis is a way that converts rubber portion of scrap tires to oil and gas and the carbon black recovers to pyrolytic carbon black. This pyrolytic carbon black can be used to reinforce rubber and metal, coating preparation, electronic thermal manager and so on. The porous structure of this carbon black also makes it as a suitable choice for heavy metals removal from water. In this work, the application of base treated pyrolytic carbon black was studied as an adsorbent for chromium (III) removal from water in a batch process. Pyrolytic carbon blacks in two natural and base treated forms were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive analysis x-ray. The effects of adsorbent dosage, contact time, initial concentration of chromium (III) and pH were considered on the adsorption process. The adsorption capacity was 19.76 mg/g. Maximum adsorption was seen after 120 min at pH=3. The equilibrium data were considered and better fitted to Langmuir model. The adsorption kinetic was evaluated and confirmed with the pseudo second order kinetic. Results have shown that the base treated pyrolytic carbon black obtained from scrap tires can be used as a cheap adsorbent for removal of chromium (III) from the water.

Keywords: chromium (III), pyrolytic carbon, scrap tire, water

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Authors: H. Parveen Begam, M. A. Maluk Mohamed

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Mobile Grid Computing is an environment that allows sharing and coordinated use of diverse resources in dynamic, heterogeneous and distributed environment using different types of electronic portable devices. In a grid environment the security issues are like authentication, authorization, message protection and delegation handled by GSI (Grid Security Infrastructure). Proving better security between mobile devices and grid infrastructure is a major issue, because of the open nature of wireless networks, heterogeneous and distributed environments. In a mobile grid environment, the individual computing devices may be resource-limited in isolation, as an aggregated sum, they have the potential to play a vital role within the mobile grid environment. Some adaptive methodology or solution is needed to solve the issues like authentication of a base station, security of information flowing between a mobile user and a base station, prevention of attacks within a base station, hand-over of authentication information, communication cost of establishing a session key between mobile user and base station, computing complexity of achieving authenticity and security. The sharing of resources of the devices can be achieved only through the trusted relationships between the mobile hosts (MHs). Before accessing the grid service, the mobile devices should be proven authentic. This paper proposes the dynamic certificate based mutual authentication protocol between two mobile hosts in a mobile grid environment. The certificate generation process is done by CA (Certificate Authority) for all the authenticated MHs. Security (because of validity period of the certificate) and dynamicity (transmission time) can be achieved through the secure service certificates. Authentication protocol is built on communication services to provide cryptographically secured mechanisms for verifying the identity of users and resources.

Keywords: mobile grid computing, certificate authority (CA), SSL/TLS protocol, secured service certificates

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Authors: Rukhsana Kausar, Issam Malki

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The integration and assimilation of ethnic minority immigrants (EMIs) and their subsequent generations remains a serious unsettled issue in most of the host countries. This study conducts the labour market gender analysis to investigate specifically whether second generation of ethnic minority immigrants in the UK is gaining access to professional and managerial employment and advantaged occupational positions on par with their native counterparts. The data used to examine the labour market achievements of EMIs is taken from Labour Force Survey (LFS) for the period 2014-2018. We apply a multivalued treatment under ignorability as proposed by Cattaneo (2010), which refers to treatment effects under the assumptions of (i) selection – on – observables and (ii) common support. We report estimates of Average Treatment Effect (ATE), Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET), and Potential Outcomes Means (POM) using three estimators, including the Regression Adjustment (RA), Augmented Inverse Probability Weighting (AIPW) and Inverse Probability Weighting- Regression Adjustment (IPWRA). We consider two cases: the case with four categories where the first-generation natives are the base category, the second case combine all natives as a base group. Our findings suggest the following. Under Case 1, the estimated probabilities and differences across groups are consistently similar and highly significant. As expected, first generation natives have the highest probability for higher career attainment among both men and women. The findings also suggest that first generation immigrants perform better than the remaining two groups, including the second-generation natives and immigrants. Furthermore, second generation immigrants have higher probability to attain higher professional career, while this is lower for a managerial career. Similar conclusions are reached under Case 2. That is to say that both first – generation and second – generation immigrants have a lower probability for higher career and managerial attainment. First – generation immigrants are found to perform better than second – generation immigrants.

Keywords: immigrnats, second generation, occupational attainment, ethnicity

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Authors: Xiaogang Li, Jieqiong Miao

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As for the problem of the grey forecasting model prediction accuracy is low, an improved grey prediction model is put forward. Firstly, use trigonometric function transform the original data sequence in order to improve the smoothness of data , this model called SGM( smoothness of grey prediction model), then combine the improved grey model with support vector machine , and put forward the grey support vector machine model (SGM - SVM).Before the establishment of the model, we use trigonometric functions and accumulation generation operation preprocessing data in order to enhance the smoothness of the data and weaken the randomness of the data, then use support vector machine (SVM) to establish a prediction model for pre-processed data and select model parameters using genetic algorithms to obtain the optimum value of the global search. Finally, restore data through the "regressive generate" operation to get forecasting data. In order to prove that the SGM-SVM model is superior to other models, we select the battery life data from calce. The presented model is used to predict life of battery and the predicted result was compared with that of grey model and support vector machines．For a more intuitive comparison of the three models, this paper presents root mean square error of this three different models .The results show that the effect of grey support vector machine (SGM-SVM) to predict life is optimal, and the root mean square error is only 3.18%. Keywords: grey forecasting model, trigonometric function, support vector machine, genetic algorithms, root mean square error

Keywords: Grey prediction model, trigonometric functions, support vector machines, genetic algorithms, root mean square error

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Authors: Salman Hameed

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In this paper, a self-tuning fuzzy PI controller (STFPIC) is proposed for thyristor controlled series capacitor (TCSC) to improve power system dynamic performance. In a STFPIC controller, the output scaling factor is adjusted on-line by an updating factor (α). The value of α is determined from a fuzzy rule-base defined on error (e) and change of error (Δe) of the controlled variable. The proposed self-tuning controller is designed using a very simple control rule-base and the most natural and unbiased membership functions (MFs) (symmetric triangles with equal base and 50% overlap with neighboring MFs). The comparative performances of the proposed STFPIC and the standard fuzzy PI controller (FPIC) have been investigated on a multi-machine power system (namely, 4 machine two area system) through detailed non-linear simulation studies using MATLAB/SIMULINK. From the simulation studies it has been found out that for damping oscillations, the performance of the proposed STFPIC is better than that obtained by the standard FPIC. Moreover, the proposed STFPIC as well as the FPIC have been found to be quite effective in damping oscillations over a wide range of operating conditions and are quite effective in enhancing the power carrying capability of the power system significantly.

Keywords: genetic algorithm, power system stability, self-tuning fuzzy controller, thyristor controlled series capacitor

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Authors: Si Chen, Caroline Wiltshire, Bin Li

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This study statistically models the surface f0 contour and the underlying pitch target of a well-studied third sandhi tone of Mandarin Chinese. Although the growth curve analysis on the surface f0 contours indicates non-neutralization of this sandhi tone (T3) and the base T2, their underlying pitch targets do show neutralization. These results in Mandarin are also consistent with the perception of native speakers, where they cannot distinguish the third T3 from the base T2, compensating contextual variation. It is possible to use the proposed statistical procedure of testing underlying pitch targets to verify tone sandhi processes in other tonal languages.

Keywords: growth curve analysis, Mandarin Chinese, tone sandhi, underlying pitch target

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Authors: M. R. Ashok, S. Srivatsan, S. Vignesh

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Common replacement for glass in composites is the Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics (GFRP). The GFRP has its own advantages for being a good alternative. The purpose of this research is to find a suitable enhancement for the commonly used composite Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics (GFRP). The goal is to enhance the material properties of the composite by providing a suitable matrix with Al base. The various mechanical tests are performed to analyze and compare the improvement in the mechanical properties of the composite. As a result, this material can be used as an alternative for the commonly used GFRP in various fields with increased effectiveness in its functioning.

Keywords: alloy based composites, composite materials, glass fiber reinforced plastics, sSuper composites

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Authors: Margarita Zavala, Gabriel Chavira, José González, Jorge Orozco, Julio Rolón, Roberto Pichardo

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Adolescence is a neuralgic stage in the formation of every human being, generally this stage is when the middle school level is studied. In 2006, Mexico incorporated 'mentoring' space to assist students in their integration and participation in life. In public middle schools, it is sometimes difficult to be aware of situations that affect students because of the number of them and traditional records management. With this, they lose the opportunity to provide timely support as a preventive way. In order to provide this support, it is required to know the students by detecting the relevant information that has greater impact on their learning process. This research is looking to check if it is possible to identify student’s relevant information to detect when it is at risk, and then to propose a model to manage in a proper way such information.

Keywords: adolescence, mentoring, middle school students, mentoring system support

Procedia PDF Downloads 442

Authors: Majid Habib Khan, Jinwei Zhao, Xinhong Hei, Liu Jiedong, Rana Shahzad Noor, Muhammad Imran

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Deep learning is increasingly employed in image classification, yet the scarcity and high cost of labeled data for training remain a challenge. Limited samples often lead to overfitting due to biased sample distribution. This paper introduces a dynamic distribution calibration method for few-shot learning. Initially, base and new class samples undergo normalization to mitigate disparate feature magnitudes. A pre-trained model then extracts feature vectors from both classes. The method dynamically selects distribution characteristics from base classes (both adjacent and remote) in the embedding space, using a threshold value approach for new class samples. Given the propensity of similar classes to share feature distributions like mean and variance, this research assumes a Gaussian distribution for feature vectors. Subsequently, distributional features of new class samples are calibrated using a corrected hyperparameter, derived from the distribution features of both adjacent and distant base classes. This calibration augments the new class sample set. The technique demonstrates significant improvements, with up to 4% accuracy gains in few-shot classification challenges, as evidenced by tests on miniImagenet and CUB datasets.

Keywords: deep learning, computer vision, image classification, few-shot learning, threshold

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Authors: Iulia Crisan

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Objective: The present study investigates the cross-cultural validity of three North-American performance validity indicators (PVTs) by comparing base rates of failure (BRF) in Romanian and Canadian disability applicants. Methods: Three PVTs (Test of Memory Malingering Trial 1 [TOMM-1], Rey Fifteen Item Test free recall [Rey-15 FR], and Rey FR+Recognition [Rey COMB]) were administered to a heterogeneous Romanian clinical sample (N Ro =54) and a similar Canadian sample (N Can = 52). Patients were referred for assessment to determine the severity of their cognitive deficits. Results: We compared the BRF in both samples at various cutoffs. BRF on TOMM-1 at ≤ 43 was similar (Ro = 33.3% vs. Can = 40.4%); at ≤40, Ro = 22.2% vs. Can = 25.0%. Likewise, comparable BRF were observed on Rey-15 FR at ≤ 8 (Ro = 7.4% vs. Can = 11.5%) and ≤ 11 (Ro = 27.8% vs. Can = 23.1%). However, the Romanian sample produced significantly higher failure rates on the Rey COMB at variable cutoffs (p <.05), possibly because Romanian patients were significantly older than the Canadian sample. Conclusion: Our findings offer proof of concept for the cross-cultural validity of the TOMM and Rey-15 FR. At the same time, they serve as a reminder that the generalizability of PVT cutoffs to different populations should not be assumed but verified empirically. Employing the TOMM as a criterion measure for newly developed PVTs is discussed.

Keywords: performance validity indicators, cross-cultural validity, failure base rates, clinical samples, cognitive dysfunction, TOMM-1, Rey-15, Rey COMB

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Authors: Pahirangan Sivapatham, , Esser Barbara

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The impacts of the asphalt mix design, the properties of aggregates and quality differences in the same type of bitumen, as well as the dosage rate of reclaimed asphalt on the relevant material parameter of the analytical pavement design method are not known. Due to that, in this study, the influence of the above mentioned characteristics on relevant material parameters has been determined and analyzed by means of the analytical pavement calculations method. Therefore, material parameters for several asphalt mixes for asphalt wearing course, asphalt binder course and asphalt base course have been determined. Thereby several bitumens of the same type from different producer’s have been used. In addition, asphalt base course materials with three different dosages of reclaimed asphalt have been produced and tested. As material parameter according to the German analytical pavement design guide(RDO Asphalt), the stiffness’s at different temperatures and fatigue behavior have been determined. The findings of asphalt base course materials produced with several pen graded bitumen from different producers and different dosages of reclaimed asphalt indicate the distinct impact on fatigue behaviors and mechanical properties. The calculated test results of the analytical pavement design method show significant differences in the lifetimes. The pavement design calculation is to carry out by means of the actual material parameter. The calculated lifetime of the asphalt base course materials differentiates by the factor 3.2. The determining test results of bitumen characteristics meet the requirement according to the German Standards. But, further investigations of bitumen in different aging conditions show significant differences in their quality. The fatigue behavior and stiffness of asphalt pavement improves with increasing dosage of reclaimed asphalt. Furthermore, the type of aggregates used shows no significant influences.

Keywords: reclaimed asphalt pavement, quality differences in the bitumen, life time calculation, Asphalt mix with RAP

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Authors: Tiedan Huang, Chun Zhang, Caitlin Coe

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This study investigated the quality of instructional support for young Emergent Multilingual Learners (EMLs) in 50 Universal Prekindergarten (UPK) classroom in New York City (NYC). This is one of the first empirical studies examining the instructional support for this student population. We collected data using a mixed method of structured observations of teacher-child interactions in 50 classrooms, and surveys and interviews with program leaders and the teaching teams. We found that NYC’s UPK classrooms offered warm and supportive environments for EMLs. Nevertheless, in general, instructional support was relatively low. This study identified large mindset, knowledge, and practice gaps—and a real opportunity—among NYC early childhood professionals, specifically in the areas of providing adequate instructional and linguistic support for EMLs as well as partnering with families in capturing their cultural and home literacy assets. Consistent, rigorous, and meaningful use of data is necessary to support both EMLs’ language and literacy development and teachers’/leaders’ professional development.

Keywords: high quality instruction, culturally and linguistically responsive practices, professional development, workforce development

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Authors: Paivi Hietanen

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At family with children, divorce is a risk for a child to lose the relationship to the parent with whom the child doesn't live. A child has the right to the get care from both parents after the divorce. Even though your ex-spouse isn’t longer your companion, to the child he or she is still unique as a parent and parents must cooperate and support their child in the new family situation. To divorcee, it's necessary to understand the difference between the intimate relationship that ends and parenthood that continues. Cooperative parenting takes a lot of effort and flexibility for the parents to make joint custody work well. It is vital that parents get help to understand the situation from child points of view. When parent is facing divorce, and all the emotions that it brings along, can the child easily be forgotten. To help children, we must help parents to understand, that a relationship can end, parenthood cannot. As professionals, we should help the parents to see the significance and value of both parents to the child and try to support and protect parenthood-relationship between parents. The Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters have developed group models to work with parents during or after divorce. These support groups are led by professionals, but peer support is also used. These support groups have been held over 10 years and there are found from 20 different cities in Finland. Eroneuvo event (divorce advice) service is intended for parents who are considering or have already divorced. The Vanhemman neuvo (parents' council) is a peer support group that helps parents with post-divorce parenting issues. From these groups, parents receive information and peer support for matters related to divorcing and how to support the child and do co-parenting. At the groups and in given information for divorced parents, is used a method called the 'Irreversible triangle'. It's a way to picture the intimate relationship and parenthood after the divorce and what is the difference between these two things. 'Irreversible triangle' is used to help parents and professionals to understand, what happens if a child loses the relationship to the other parent or if parents co-parenting doesn't work well. From the largely collected feedback, group members tell that they feel themselves relieved after taking part of the group. Parents also experience that talking with other parents helps to survive. Group members learn to co-operate with the other parent, and they'll also learn to see the best interest of the child after the divorce. Parents would highly recommend these groups to other parents.

Keywords: child's right, co-parenting, parenthood after the divorce, peer support

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Authors: Nadia A. Mohamed, Magdy W. Sabaa, Ahmed H. H. El-Ghandour, Marwa M. Abdel-Aziz, Omayma F. Abdel-Gawad

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Eighteen carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCh) schiff bases and their reduced derivatives have been synthesized. They were characterized by spectral analyses (FT-IR and H1-NMR) and scanning electron microscopy observation. Their antibacterial activities against Streptococcus pneumoniae (RCMB 010010), Bacillis subtilis (RCMB 010067), as Gram positive bacteria and Escherichia coli (RCMB 010052) as Gram negative bacteria and the antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus (RCMB 02568), Geotricum candidum (RCMB 05097), and Candida albicans (RCMB 05031) were examined using agar disk diffusion method. The results demonstrate how the antibacterial and the antifungal activity are clearly affected by both the nature and position of the substituent groups in the aryl ring of the prepared derivatives. CMCh-4-nitroBenz Schiff base and its reduced form show higher antimicrobial activity comparing with other para substituted derivatives. CMCh-4-nitroBenz Schiff base: 18.3, 17, and 15.6 mm against Bacillis subtilis, Streptococcus pneumonia, and Escherichia coli respectively and 16.2, 17.3, and 16.4 mm against Aspergillus fumigates, Geotricum candidum, and Candida albicans respectively. CMCh-4-nitroBenz reduced form: 19.5, 18.7, and 16.2 mm against Bacillis subtilis, Streptococcus pneumonia, and Escherichia coli respectively and 17.5, 19.5, and 17.4 mm against Aspergillus fumigates, Geotricum candidum, and Candida albicans respectively. Also CMCh-3-bromoBenz show good results; CMCh-3-bromoBenz schiff base: 19.2, 16.9, and 14.6 mm Bacillis subtilis, Streptococcus pneumonia, and Escherichia coli respectively and 18.4, 17.6, and 15.9 mm against Aspergillus fumigates, Geotricum candidum, and Candida albicans respectively.

Keywords: chitosan, schiff base, minimum inhibition concentration, antimicrobial activity

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Authors: Ren-Jieh Kuo, Chun-Shou Huang

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The research of juice flavor forecasting has become more important in China. Due to the fast economic growth in China, many different kinds of juices have been introduced to the market. If a beverage company can understand their customers’ preference well, the juice can be served more attractively. Thus, this study intends to introduce the basic theory and computing process of grapes juice flavor forecasting based on support vector regression (SVR). Applying SVR, BPN and LR to forecast the flavor of grapes juice in real data, the result shows that SVR is more suitable and effective at predicting performance.

Keywords: flavor forecasting, artificial neural networks, Support Vector Regression, China

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Authors: Juiwen Liang, Choliang Chung

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In this study, the silicon-base oxide nanofibers with hollow structure were prepared using single-nozzle electrospinning and heat treatment. Firstly, precursor solution was prepared: the Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) dissolved in ethanol and to make sure the concentration of solution in appropriate using single-nozzle electrospinning to produce the nanofibers. Secondly, control morphology of the electrostatic spinning nanofibers was conducted, and design the temperature profile to created hollow nanofibers, exploring the morphology and properties of nanofibers. The characterized of nanofibers, following instruments were used: Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Photoluminescence (PL), X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The AFM was used to scan the nanofibers, and 3D Graphics were applied to explore the surface morphology of fibers. FE-SEM and TEM were used to explore the morphology and diameter of nanofibers and hollow nanofiber. The excitation and emission spectra explored by PL. Finally, XRD was used for identified crystallization of ceramic nanofibers. Using electrospinning technique followed by subsequent heat treatment, we have successfully prepared silicon-base oxide nanofibers with hollow structure. Thus, the microstructure and morphology of electrostatic spinning silicon-base oxide hollow nanofibers were explored. Major characteristics of the nanofiber in terms of crystalline, optical properties and crystal structure were identified.

Keywords: electrospinning, single-nozzle, hollow, nanofibers

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Authors: Annika Kjallman Alm, Ove Hellzen, Malin Rising-Homlstrom

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The concept of dementia‐friendly communities focuses on the lived experience of people who have dementia and is most relevant to addressing their needs and the needs of those people who live with and provide support for them. The goal of communities becoming dementia‐friendly is for dementia to be normalized and recognized as a disabling condition. People with dementia find being connected to self, to others, and to the environment by meaningful activities as important. According to the concept underlying dementia-friendly communities, people with dementia or cognitive decline can continue to live in the community if their residential community has sufficiently strong social capital. The aim of this study is to explore staff and leaders’ experiences in implementing interventions to enhance a more inclusive dementia-friendly community. A municipality in northern Sweden with a population of approx. 100 000 inhabitants decided to create a dementia friendly municipality. As part of the initiative, a Centre for support was established. The Centre offered support for both individuals and groups, did home visits, and provided information about Dementia. Interviews were conducted with staff who had undergone training in a structured form of multidimensional support, the PER-model®, and worked at the Centre for support. The staff consisted of registered nurses, occupational therapists, and specialized nurses who had worked there for more than five years, and all had training in dementia. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcribed data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results suggest that implementing the PER-model® of support for persons in the early stages of dementia and their next of kin added a much-needed form of support and perceived possibilities to enhance daily life in the early stages of dementia. The staff appreciated that the structure of PER-model® was evidenced based. They also realized that they never even considered that the person with dementia also needed support in the early stages but that they now had tools for that as well. Creating a dementia friendly municipality offering different kinds of support for all stages of dementia is a challenge. However, evidence-based tools and a broad spectrum of different types of support, whether individual or group, are needed to tailor to everyone’s needs. A conviction that all citizens are equal and should all be involved in the community is a strong motivator.

Keywords: dementia, dementia-friendly, municipality, support

Procedia PDF Downloads 116

Authors: Margarita Zavala, Julio Rolón, Gabriel Chavira, José González, Jorge Orozco, Roberto Pichardo

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Adolescence is a neuralgic stage in the formation of every human being, generally at this stage is when the middle school level is studied. In 2006 in Mexico incorporated “mentoring" space to assist students in their integration and participation in life. In public middle schools, is sometimes difficult to be aware of situations that affect students because of the number of them and traditional records management. Whit this they lose the opportunity to provide timely support as a preventive way. In order to provide this support, it is required to know the students by detecting the relevant information that has greater impact on their learning process. This research is looking to check if it is possible to identify student’s relevant information to detect when it is at risk, and then to propose a model to manage in a proper way such information.

Keywords: adolescence, mentoring, middle school students, mentoring system support

Procedia PDF Downloads 381

Authors: Bit-Na Kwon, Hyun-Jee Yang, Dong-Hyun Ha, Hyoung-Kyu Song

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In this paper, an adaptive cooperative scheme in the cell edge is proposed. The proposed scheme considers the location of a user and applies the suitable cooperative scheme. In cellular systems, the performance of communication is degraded if the user is located in the cell edge. In conventional scheme, two base stations are used in order to obtain diversity gain. However, the performance of communication is not sufficiently improved since the distance between each base station and a user is still distant. Therefore, we propose a scheme that the relays are used and the cooperative scheme is adaptively applied according to the user location. Through simulation results, it is confirmed that the proposed scheme has better performance than the conventional scheme.

Keywords: adaptive transmission, cooperative communication, diversity gain, OFDM

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Authors: Z. H. Safari, M. Anbia, G. H. Kouzegari, R. Amirkhani

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Toluene and Nitro derivatives are widely used in industry particularly in various defense applications. Tri-nitro-toluene derivative is a powerful basic explosive material that is a basis upon which to compare equivalent explosive power of similar materials. The aim of this paper is to measure the explosive power of these hazardous substances in fuels having different shelf-life and therefore optimizing their storage and maintenance. The methodology involves measuring the amounts of di- nitro- toluene and tri-nitro-toluene in the aged samples at 90 ° C by gas chromatography. Results show no significant difference in the concentration of the TNT compound over a given time while there was a significant difference in DNT compound over the same period. The underlying reason is attributed to the simultaneous production of the material with destruction of stabilizer.

Keywords: dinitrotoluene, trinitrotoluene, double-base solid propellants, artificial aging

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Authors: David Tresner-Kirsch

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Reconciling patient medication lists from multiple sources is a critical task supporting the safe delivery of patient care. Manual reconciliation is a time-consuming and error-prone process, and recently attempts have been made to develop efficiency- and safety-oriented automated support for professionals performing the task. An important capability of any such support system is automated alignment – finding which medications from a list correspond to which medications from a different source, regardless of misspellings, naming differences (e.g. brand name vs. generic), or changes in treatment (e.g. switching a patient from one antidepressant class to another). This work describes a new algorithmic solution to this alignment task, using a greedy matching approach based on string similarity, edit distances, concept extraction and normalization, and synonym search derived from the RxNorm nomenclature. The accuracy of this algorithm was evaluated against a gold-standard corpus of 681 medication records; this evaluation found that the algorithm predicted alignments with 99% precision and 91% recall. This performance is sufficient to support decision support applications for medication reconciliation.

Keywords: clinical decision support, medication reconciliation, natural language processing, RxNorm

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Authors: Allison Streutker, Josephine Tan

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Universities across Canada have experienced unprecedented growth in international student enrollment from across the world. As cultural diversity in Canada and other countries increases, understanding the social support needs of all students is important for providing them with the assistance they need to thrive psychologically and academically. Those from individualistic cultural orientations tend to seek explicit social support, which involves expressly asking for assistance in times of stress. However, those from collectivistic cultural orientations are more likely to seek implicit social support, where encouragement is obtained from spending time among valued social groups without explicitly talking about problems. This study explored whether the relationship between the type of social support needs (implicit or explicit) and psychological and academic functioning might be moderated by cultural orientations (individualistic, collectivistic) among university students. Participants were 110 university students (70 women, 40 men; mean age = 24.8 years, SD = 6.6). They completed the Individualism and Collectivism Scale (ICS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL) which assesses implicit and explicit social support, Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) which yields positive and negative experience scores, Flourishing Scale (FS), and reported their grade point average (GPA) as a measure of academic performance. Moderated regression analysis demonstrated that, for those scoring lower on individualism, reporting lower level of implicit support predicted higher levels of perceived stress. For those scoring higher on individualism, lower levels of explicit social support predicted higher levels of perceived stress and a greater number of negative experiences. Generally, higher levels of implicit support were associated with greater satisfaction with life for all students, with the association becoming stronger among students with higher collectivism scores. No other significant findings were found. The results point to the value of considering the cultural orientations of students when designing programs to maintain and improve their sense of well-being.

Keywords: cultural orientation, social support, university students, well-being

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Authors: Srishty Gulati, Anju Singh, Shrikant Kukreti

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The manifestation of structural polymorphism in DNA depends on the sequence and surrounding environment. Ample of folded DNA structures have been found in the cellular system out of which DNA hairpins are very common, however, are indispensable due to their role in the replication initiation sites, recombination, transcription regulation, and protein recognition. We enumerate this approach in our study, where the two base substitutions and change in temperature embark destabilization of DNA structure and misbalance the equilibrium between two structures of a sequence present at the overlapping region of the human COMT gene and MIR4761 gene. COMT and MIR4761 gene encodes for catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) enzyme and microRNAs (miRNAs), respectively. Environmental changes and errors during cell division lead to genetic abnormalities. The COMT gene entailed in dopamine regulation fosters neurological diseases like Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, velocardiofacial syndrome, etc. A 19-mer deoxyoligonucleotide sequence 5'-AGGACAAGGTGTGCATGCC-3' (COMT19) is located at exon-4 on chromosome 22 and band q11.2 at the intersection of COMT and MIR4761 gene. Bioinformatics studies suggest that this sequence is conserved in humans and few other organisms and is involved in recognition of transcription factors in the vicinity of 3'-end. Non-denaturating gel electrophoresis and CD spectroscopy of COMT sequences indicate the formation of hairpin type DNA structures. Temperature-dependent CD studies revealed an unusual shift in the slipped DNA-Hairpin DNA equilibrium with the change in temperature. Also, UV-thermal melting techniques suggest that the two base substitutions on the complementary strand of COMT19 did not affect the structure but reduces the stability of duplex. This study gives insight about the possibility of existing structurally polymorphic transient states within DNA segments present at the intersection of COMT and MIR4761 gene.

Keywords: base-substitution, catechol-o-methyltransferase (COMT), hairpin-DNA, structural polymorphism

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Authors: Fernando Doral

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Family businesses are a key phenomenon within the business landscape. Nevertheless, it involves two terms (“family” and “business”) which are nowadays rapidly evolving. Consequently, it isn't easy to diagnose if a family business will be a growing or decreasing phenomenon, which is the objective of this study. For that purpose, a sample of 50 Spanish-established companies from various sectors was taken. Different factors were identified for each enterprise, related to the profile of the founders, such as age, the number of sons and daughters, or support received from the family at the moment to start it up. That information was taken as an input for a clustering method to identify groups, which could help define the founders' profiles. That characterization was carried as a base to identify three factors whose evolution should be analyzed: family structures, business landscape and entrepreneurs' motivations. The analysis of the evolution of these three factors seems to indicate a negative tendency of family businesses. Therefore the consequent diagnosis of this study is to consider family businesses as a declining phenomenon.

Keywords: business diagnose, business trends, family business, family business founders

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Authors: Bilgen Ozluk, Ayfer Karaaslan

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Introduction: Adaptation to university life is a difficult process for students. In peer support, students are expected to help other students or sometimes adults using their helping skills. Therefore, it is expected that peer support will have significant effect on students’ adaptation to university life. Aim: This study was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of peer support on adaptation to university life in the first year students of the faculty of health sciences. Methods: The population consists of 340 first year university students receiving education in the departments of nursing, health management, social services, nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy and rehabilitation at an university located in the province of Konya. The sample of the study consisted of 274 students who voluntarily participated in the study. The data were collected between the dates 23 May 2016 and 3 June 2016. The data were collected using the socio-demographic information, the peer support scale and the university life adaptation scale. Ethical approvals for the study and permission from the university were taken. Numbers, percentages, averages, one-Way ANOVA, pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis have been used in assessing the data. Findings: When the problems most frequently encountered by students just starting the university were ordered, problems regarding their classes took the first place by 41.6%, socio-cultural problems took the second place by 38.7%, and economic problems took the third place by 37.6%. The mean total score of the Adaptation to University Life Scale was found to be 216.78±32.15. Considering that the lowest and highest scores that can be gained from the scale are 132 and 289 respectively, it was found that the adaptation to university life levels of the students were higher than the average. The mean adaptation to university life score of the nursing students was higher than those of the students of other departments. The mean score of ‘the Peer Support Scale’ was found to be 47.24±10.27. Considering that the lowest and highest scores that can be gained from the scale are 17 and 68 respectively, it was found that the peer support levels of the students were higher than the average. As a result of the regression analysis, it was found that 20% of the total variance regarding adaptation to university life was explained by peer support. Conclution: Receiving the support peer groups becomes highly important in the university adaptation process of first-year students. Peer support will create the means for easier completion of this difficult transition process.

Keywords: adaptation to university life, first years, peer support, university student

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