Search results for: cost of education

Authors: Nachawit Tikul

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This study aimed to determine low-income housing adaptations for flooding, which causes living problems and housing damage, and the results from improvement. Three low-income settlements in Chiang Mai which experienced different flood types, i.e. flash floods in Samukeepattana, drainage floods in Bansanku, and river floods in Kampangam, were chosen for the study. Almost all of the residents improved their houses to protect the property from flood damage by changing building materials to flood damage resistant materials for walls, floors, and other parts of the structure that were below the base of annual flood elevation. They could only build some parts of their own homes, so hiring skilled workers or contractors was still important. Building materials which have no need for any special tools and are easy to access and use for construction, as well as low cost, are selected for construction. The residents in the three slums faced living problems for only a short time and were able to cope with them. This may be due to the location of the three slums near the city where assistance is readily available. But the housing and the existence in the slums can endure only the regular floods and residence still have problems in unusual floods, which have been experienced 1-2 times during the past 10 years. The residents accept the need for evacuations and prepare for them. When faced with extreme floods, residence have evacuated to the nearest safe place such as schools and public building, and come back to repair the houses after the flood. These are the distinguishing characteristics of low-income living which can withstand serious situations due to the simple lifestyle. Therefore, preparation of living areas for use during severe floods and encouraging production of affordable flood resistant materials should be areas of concern when formulating disaster assistance policies for low income people.

Keywords: Flooding, low-income settlement, housing, adaptation.

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Authors: Patricia B. Cruz, Catrina Jean G. Valenzuela, Analyn N. Yumang

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Nearly a hundred per million of the Filipino population is diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). The early stage of CKD has no symptoms and can only be discovered once the patient undergoes urinalysis. Over the years, different methods were discovered and used for the quantification of the urinary albumin such as the immunochemical assays where most of these methods require large machinery that has a high cost in maintenance and resources, and a dipstick test which is yet to be proven and is still debated as a reliable method in detecting early stages of microalbuminuria. This research study involves the use of the liquid chromatography concept in microfluidic instruments with biosensor as a means of separation and detection respectively, and linear regression to quantify human urinary albumin. The researchers’ main objective was to create a miniature system that quantifies and detect patients’ urinary albumin while reducing the amount of volume used per five test samples. For this study, 30 urine samples of unknown albumin concentrations were tested using VITROS Analyzer and the microfluidic system for comparison. Based on the data shared by both methods, the actual vs. predicted regression were able to create a positive linear relationship with an R² of 0.9995 and a linear equation of y = 1.09x + 0.07, indicating that the predicted values and actual values are approximately equal. Furthermore, the microfluidic instrument uses 75% less in total volume – sample and reagents combined, compared to the VITROS Analyzer per five test samples.

Keywords: Chronic kidney disease, microfluidics, linear regression, VITROS analyzer, urinary albumin.

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Authors: Aldalalah, M. Osamah, Soon Fook Fong & Ababneh, W. Ziad

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of modality principles in instructional software among first grade pupils- achievements in the learning of Arabic Language. Two modes of instructional software were systematically designed and developed, audio with images (AI), and text with images (TI). The quasi-experimental design was used in the study. The sample consisted of 123 male and female pupils from IRBED Education Directorate, Jordan. The pupils were randomly assigned to any one of the two modes. The independent variable comprised the two modes of the instructional software, the students- achievement levels in the Arabic Language class and gender. The dependent variable was the achievements of the pupils in the Arabic Language test. The theoretical framework of this study was based on Mayer-s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. Four hypotheses were postulated and tested. Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) showed that pupils using the (AI) mode performed significantly better than those using (TI) mode. This study concluded that the audio with images mode was an important aid to learning as compared to text with images mode.

Keywords: Cognitive theory of Multimedia Learning, ModalityPrinciple, Multimedia, Arabic Language learning

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Authors: Dilshad G.A. Ganjo, Ahmed I. Khwakaram

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An attempt was made for availability of wastewater reuse/reclamation for irrigation purposes using phytoremediation “the low cost and less technology", using six local aquatic macrophytes “e.g. T. angustifolia, B. maritimus, Ph. australis, A. donax, A. plantago-aquatica and M. longifolia (Linn)" as biological waste purifiers. Outdoor experiments/designs were conducted from May 03, 2007 till October 15, 2008, close to one of the main sewage channels of Sulaimani City/Iraq*. All processes were mainly based on conventional wastewater treatment processes, besides two further modifications were tested, the first was sand filtration pots, implanted by individual species of experimental macrophytes and the second was constructed wetlands implanted by experimental macrophytes all together. Untreated and treated wastewater samples were analyzed for their key physico-chemical properties (only heavy metals Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu with particular reference to removal efficiency by experimental macrophytes are highlighted in this paper). On the other hand, vertical contents of heavy metals were also evaluated from both pots and the cells of constructed wetland. After 135 days, macrophytes were harvested and heavy metals were analyzed in their biomass (roots/shoots) for removal efficiency assessment (i.e. uptake/ bioaccumulation rate). Results showed that; removal efficiency of all studied heavy metals was much higher in T. angustifolia followed by Ph. Australis, B. maritimus and A. donax in triple experiment sand pots. Constructed wetland experiments have revealed that; the more replicated constructed wetland cells the highest heavy metal removal efficiency was indicated.

Keywords: Aquatic Macrophytes, Heavy Metals (Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu), Phytoremediation and Removal Efficiency.

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Authors: Mamoon M. Atout

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The Middle East Gulf region has witnessed rapid growth and development in many areas over the last two decades. The development of the real-estate sector, construction industry and infrastructure projects are a major share of the development that has participated in the civilization of the countries of the Gulf. Construction industry projects were planned and managed by different types of experts, who came from all over the world having different types of experiences in construction management and industry. Some of these projects were completed on time, while many were not, due to many accumulating factors. Many accumulated factors are considered as the principle reason for the problem experienced at the project construction stage, which reflected negatively on the project success. Specific causes of delay have been identified by construction managers to avoid any unexpected delays through proper analysis and considerations to some implications such as risk assessment and analysis for many potential problems to ensure that projects will be delivered on time. Construction management implications were adopted and considered by project managers who have experience and knowledge in applying the techniques of the system of engineering construction management. The aim of this research is to determine the benefits of the implications of construction management by the construction team and level of considerations of the techniques and processes during the project development and construction phases to avoid any delay in the projects. It also aims to determine the factors that participate to project completion delays in case project managers are not well committed to their roles and responsibilities. The results of the analysis will determine the necessity of the applications required by the project team to avoid the causes of delays that help them deliver projects on time, e.g. verifying tender documents, quantities and preparing the construction method of the project.

Keywords: Construction management, control process, cost control, planning and scheduling, roles and responsibilities.

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Authors: Raymond Xu, Ashley Hua, Andrew Wang, Yuru Lin

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During COVID-19, the depression rate has increased dramatically. Young adults are most vulnerable to the mental health effects of the pandemic. Lower-income families have a higher ratio to be diagnosed with depression than the general population, but less access to clinics. This research aims to achieve early depression detection at low cost, large scale, and high accuracy with an interdisciplinary approach by incorporating clinical practices defined by American Psychiatric Association (APA) as well as multimodal AI framework. The proposed approach detected the nine depression symptoms with Natural Language Processing sentiment analysis and a symptom-based Lexicon uniquely designed for young adults. The experiments were conducted on the multimedia survey results from adolescents and young adults and unbiased Twitter communications. The result was further aggregated with the facial emotional cues analyzed by the Convolutional Neural Network on the multimedia survey videos. Five experiments each conducted on 10k data entries reached consistent results with an average accuracy of 88.31%, higher than the existing natural language analysis models. This approach can reach 300+ million daily active Twitter users and is highly accessible by low-income populations to promote early depression detection to raise awareness in adolescents and young adults and reveal complementary cues to assist clinical depression diagnosis.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, depression detection, facial emotion recognition, natural language processing, mental disorder.

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Authors: L. Heidari, M. Jalili Ghazizade

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This paper aims to determine the best environmental and economic scenario for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management of the Maku city by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The functional elements of this study are collection, transportation, and disposal of MSW in Maku city. Waste composition and density, as two key parameters of MSW, have been determined by field sampling, and then, the other important specifications of MSW like chemical formula, thermal energy and water content were calculated. These data beside other information related to collection and disposal facilities are used as a reliable source of data to assess the environmental impacts of different waste management options, including landfills, composting, recycling and energy recovery. The environmental impact of MSW management options has been investigated in 15 different scenarios by Integrated Waste Management (IWM) software. The photochemical smog, greenhouse gases, acid gases, toxic emissions, and energy consumption of each scenario are measured. Then, the environmental indices of each scenario are specified by weighting these parameters. Economic costs of scenarios have been also compared with each other based on literature. As final result, since the organic materials make more than 80% of the waste, compost can be a suitable method. Although the major part of the remaining 20% of waste can be recycled, due to the high cost of necessary equipment, the landfill option has been suggested. Therefore, the scenario with 80% composting and 20% landfilling is selected as superior environmental and economic scenario. This study shows that, to select a scenario with practical applications, simultaneously environmental and economic aspects of different scenarios must be considered.

Keywords: IWM software, life cycle assessment, Maku, municipal solid waste management.

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Authors: Hazlina Hamdan, Fatimah Yusof, Dasimah Omar, Faizul Abdullah, Naasah Nasrudin, Ishak Che Abullah

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In the globalization context and competitiveness, the role of a university is further enhanced. University is no longer confined to traditional roles. Universities need to interact with others in order to be relevant and progressive. Symbiosis relationships between the university and industry are very significant because the relationship between those two can foster economic development of a nation. In a world of fast changing technology and competition, it is necessary for the university to collaborate with industry to combine efforts fostering the diffusion of knowledge, increasing research and development, patenting innovation and commercializing products. It has become increasingly accepted that the necessity of close university-industry interactions as a mean of national economic prosperity. Therefore, this paper is aim to examine the level of linkages in university-industry interactions to which promotes the regional economic growth and development. This paper will explore the formation of linkages between the Higher Education Institution (University Technology MARA) and industries located in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. It will present the university-industry linkages with emphasis on the type of linkages existed, the benefits of having such linkages to promote regional economic development and finally the constraints that might impede the linkages and potentials to enhance the linkages towards economic growth and development.

Keywords: Industry, Interaction, Linkages, Regional development, University

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Authors: Luciana C. Ramos, Leandro J. Sousa, Antônio Ferreira da Silva, Valéria Gomes Oliveira Falcão, Suzana T. Cunha Lima

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The commercial production of biodiesel using microalgae demands a high-energy input for harvesting biomass, making production economically unfeasible. Methods currently used involve mechanical, chemical, and biological procedures. In this work, a flocculation system is presented as a cost and energy effective process to increase biomass production of Phaeodactylum tricornutum. This diatom is the only species of the genus that present fast growth and lipid accumulation ability that are of great interest for biofuel production. The algae, selected from the Bank of Microalgae, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Bahia (Brazil), have been bred in tubular reactor with photoperiod of 12 h (clear/dark), providing luminance of about 35 μmol photons m^-2s^-1, and temperature of 22 °C. The medium used for growing cells was the Conway medium, with addition of silica. The seaweed growth curve was accompanied by cell count in Neubauer camera and by optical density in spectrophotometer, at 680 nm. The precipitation occurred at the end of the stationary phase of growth, 21 days after inoculation, using two methods: centrifugation at 5000 rpm for 5 min, and electro-flocculation at 19 EPD and 95 W. After precipitation, cells were frozen at -20 °C and, subsequently, lyophilized. Biomass obtained by electro-flocculation was approximately four times greater than the one achieved by centrifugation. The benefits of this method are that no addition of chemical flocculants is necessary and similar cultivation conditions can be used for the biodiesel production and pharmacological purposes. The results may contribute to improve biodiesel production costs using marine microalgae.

Keywords: Biomass, diatom, flocculation, microalgae.

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Authors: S. Studente, S. Ellis, S. F. Garivaldis

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We report upon a study introducing a chatbot to develop learning communities at a London University, with a largely international student base. The focus of the chatbot was twofold; to ease the transition for students into their first year of university study, and to increase study engagement. Four learning communities were created using the chatbot; level 3 foundation, level 4 undergraduate, level 6 undergraduate and level 7 post-graduate. Students and programme leaders were provided with access to the chat bot via mobile app prior to their study induction and throughout the autumn term of 2019. At the end of the term, data were collected via questionnaires and focus groups with students and teaching staff to allow for identification of benefits and challenges. Findings indicated a positive correlation between study engagement and engagement with peers. Students reported that the chatbot enabled them to obtain support and connect to their programme leader. Both staff and students also made recommendation on how engagement could be further enhanced using the bot in terms of; clearly specified purpose, integration with existing university systems, leading by example and connectivity. Extending upon these recommendations, a second pilot study is planned for September 2020, for which the focus will be upon improving attendance rates, student satisfaction and module pass rates.

Keywords: Chatbot, e-learning, learning communities, student engagement.

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Authors: Hao-Hsi Tseng, Hsin-Yun Lee, Yu-Cheng Kuo

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In order to understand whether there is a better than the learning function of learning methods and improve the CAD Courses for enterprise’s design human resource development, this research is applied in learning practical learning computer graphics software. In this study, Revit building information model for learning content, design of two different modes of learning curriculum to learning, learning functions, respectively, and project learning. Via a post-test, questionnaires and student interviews, etc., to study the effectiveness of a comparative analysis of two different modes of learning. Students participate in a period of three weeks after a total of nine-hour course, and finally written and hands-on test. In addition, fill in the questionnaire response by the student learning, a total of fifteen questionnaire title, problem type into the base operating software, application software and software-based concept features three directions. In addition to the questionnaire, and participants were invited to two different learning methods to conduct interviews to learn more about learning students the idea of two different modes. The study found that the ad hoc short-term courses in learning, better learning outcomes. On the other hand, functional style for the whole course students are more satisfied, and the ad hoc style student is difficult to accept the ad hoc style of learning.

Keywords: Development, education, human resource, learning.

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Authors: M. Sitoe, O. Zacarias

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University education is influenced by several factors that range from the adoption of strategies to strengthen the whole process to the academic performance improvement of the students themselves. This work uses data mining techniques to develop a predictive model to identify students with a tendency to evasion and retention. To this end, a database of real students’ data from the Department of University Admission (DAU) and the Department of Mathematics and Informatics (DMI) was used. The data comprised 388 undergraduate students admitted in the years 2009 to 2014. The Weka tool was used for model building, using three different techniques, namely: K-nearest neighbor, random forest, and logistic regression. To allow for training on multiple train-test splits, a cross-validation approach was employed with a varying number of folds. To reduce bias variance and improve the performance of the models, ensemble methods of Bagging and Stacking were used. After comparing the results obtained by the three classifiers, Logistic Regression using Bagging with seven folds obtained the best performance, showing results above 90% in all evaluated metrics: accuracy, rate of true positives, and precision. Retention is the most common tendency.

Keywords: Evasion and retention, cross validation, bagging, stacking.

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Authors: Ahmad Hashim, Mohd Sani Madon

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This study was conducted to determine the objectivity, reliability and validity of the 90º push-ups test protocol among male and female students of Sports Science Program, Faculty of Sports Science and Coaching Sultan Idris University of Education. Samples (n = 300), consisted of males (n = 168) and females (n = 132) students were randomly selected for this study. Researchers tested the 90º push-ups on the sample twice in a single trial, test and re-test protocol in the bench press test. Pearson-Product Moment Correlation method's was used to determine the value of objectivity, reliability and validity testing. The findings showed that the 900 pushups test protocol showed high consistency between the two testers with a value of r = .99. Likewise, The reliability value between test and re-test for the 90º push-ups test for the male (r=.93) and female (r=.93) students was also high. The results showed a correlation between 90º push-ups test and bench press test for boys was r = .64 and girls was r = .28. This finding indicates that the use of the 90º push-ups to test muscular strength and endurance in the upper body of males has a higher validity values than female students.

Keywords: Arm and shoulder girdle strength and endurance, 900 push-ups, bench press

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Authors: Alexander V. Libin, Manon Schladen, Assya Pascalev, Nawar Shara, Miriam Philmon, Yuri Millo, Joseph Verbalis

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Chronic conditions carry with them strong emotions and often lead to charged relationships between patients and their health providers and, by extension, patients and health researchers. Persons are both autonomous and relational and a purely cognitive model of autonomy neglects the social and relational basis of chronic illness. Ensuring genuine informed consent in research requires a thorough understanding of how participants perceive a study and their reasons for participation. Surveys may not capture the complexities of reasoning that underlies study participation. Contradictory reasons for participation, for instance an initial claim of altruism as rationale and a subsequent claim of personal benefit (therapeutic misconception), affect the quality of informed consent. Individuals apply principles through the filter of personal values and lived experience. Authentic autonomy, and hence authentic consent to research, occurs within the context of patients- unique life narratives and illness experiences.

Keywords: ethical dilemmas, open source technology, patient education, psychology of decision making

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Authors: Vedansh Gupta, Allyson Lutz, Ameen Razavi, Fatemeh Shirazi

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The agriculture industry is especially vulnerable to forecasted water shortages. In the fresh and fresh-cut produce sector, conventional flume-based washing with recirculation exhibits high water demand. This leads to a large water footprint and possible cross-contamination of pathogens. These can be alleviated through advanced water reuse processes, such as membrane technologies including reverse osmosis (RO). Water reuse technologies effectively remove dissolved constituents but can easily foul without pre-treatment. Biological treatment is effective for the removal of organic compounds responsible for fouling, but not at the low temperatures encountered at most produce processing facilities. This study showed that the Microvi MicroNiche Engineering (MNE) technology effectively removes organic compounds (> 80%) at low temperatures (6-8 °C) from wash water. The MNE technology uses synthetic microorganism-material composites with negligible solids production, making it advantageously situated as an effective bio-pretreatment for RO. A preliminary technoeconomic analysis showed 60-80% savings in operation and maintenance costs (OPEX) when using the Microvi MNE technology for organics removal. This study and the accompanying economic analysis indicated that the proposed technology process will substantially reduce the cost barrier for adopting water reuse practices, thereby contributing to increased food safety and furthering sustainable water reuse processes across the agricultural industry.

Keywords: Biological pre-treatment, innovative technology, vegetable processing, water reuse, agriculture, reverse osmosis, MNE biocatalysts.

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Authors: Suttipong Boonphadung, Thassanant Unnanantn

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This research focused on comparing the critical thinking of the teacher students before and after using Miller’s Model learning activities and investigating their opinions. The sampling groups were (1) fourth year 33 student teachers majoring in Early Childhood Education and enrolling in semester 1 of academic year 2013 (2) third year 28 student teachers majoring in English and enrolling in semester 2 of academic year 2013 and (3) third year 22 student teachers majoring in Thai and enrolling in semester 2 of academic year 2013. The research instruments were (1) lesson plans where the learning activities were settled based on Miller’s Model (2) critical thinking assessment criteria and (3) a questionnaire on opinions towards Miller’s Model based learning activities. The statistical treatment was mean, deviation, different scores and T-test. The result unfolded that (1) the critical thinking of the students after the assigned activities was better than before and (2) the students’ opinions towards the critical thinking improvement activities based on Miller’s Model ranged from the level of high to highest.

Keywords: Critical thinking, Miller’s model, Opinions.

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Authors: Blessing Ojeme, Frederick Quinn, Russell Karls, Shannon Quinn

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The detection and segmentation of mitochondria from fluorescence microscopy is crucial for understanding the complex structure of the nervous system. However, the constant fission and fusion of mitochondria and image distortion in the background make the task of detection and segmentation challenging. Although there exists a number of open-source software tools and artificial intelligence (AI) methods designed for analyzing mitochondrial images, the availability of only a few combined expertise in the medical field and AI required to utilize these tools poses a challenge to its full adoption and use in clinical settings. Motivated by the advantages of automated methods in terms of good performance, minimum detection time, ease of implementation, and cross-platform compactibility, this study proposes a fully automated framework for the detection and segmentation of mitochondria using both image shape information and descriptive statistics. Using the low-cost, open-source Python and OpenCV library, the algorithms are implemented in three stages: pre-processing; image binarization; and coarse-to-fine segmentation. The proposed model is validated using the fluorescence mitochondrial dataset. Ground truth labels generated using Labkit were also used to evaluate the performance of our detection and segmentation model using precision, recall and rand index. The study produces good detection and segmentation results and reports the challenges encountered during the image analysis of mitochondrial morphology from the fluorescence mitochondrial dataset. A discussion on the methods and future perspectives of fully automated frameworks concludes the paper.

Keywords: 2D, Binarization, CLAHE, detection, fluorescence microscopy, mitochondria, segmentation.

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Authors: Adnan A. Ugla, Hassan J. Khaudair, Ahmed R. J. Almusawi

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Shaped Metal Deposition (SMD) in additive layered manufacturing technique is a promising alternative to traditional manufacturing used for manufacturing large, expensive metal components with complex geometry in addition to producing free structures by building materials in a layer by layer technique. The present paper is a comprehensive review of the literature and the latest rapid manufacturing technologies of the SMD technique. The aim of this paper is to comprehensively review the most prominent facts that researchers have dealt with in the SMD techniques especially those associated with the cold wire feed. The intent of this study is to review the literature presented on metal deposition processes and their classifications, including SMD process using Wire + Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) which divides into wire + tungsten inert gas (TIG), metal inert gas (MIG), or plasma. This literary research presented covers extensive details on bead geometry, process parameters and heat input or arc energy resulting from the deposition process in both cases MIG and Tandem-MIG in SMD process. Furthermore, SMD may be done using Single Wire-MIG (SW-MIG) welding and SMD using Double Wire-MIG (DW-MIG) welding. The present review shows that the method of deposition of metals when using the DW-MIG process can be considered a distinctive and low-cost method to produce large metal components due to high deposition rates as well as reduce the input of high temperature generated during deposition and reduce the distortions. However, the accuracy and surface finish of the MIG-SMD are less as compared to electron and laser beam.

Keywords: Shaped metal deposition, additive manufacturing, double-wire feed, cold feed wire.

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Authors: Zulaikha Reesha Rashaad

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One of the major factors which can contribute greatly to success of catering businesses is to employ food and beverage staff having sound hygiene knowledge. Individuals having sound knowledge of hygiene has a higher chance of following safe food practices in food production. One of the leading causes of food poisoning and food borne illnesses has been identified as lack of hygiene knowledge among food and beverage staff working in catering establishments and restaurants. This research aims to analyze the hygiene knowledge among food and beverage staff working in top five restaurants of Male’, in relation to their age, educational background, occupation and training. The research uses quantitative and descriptive methods in data collection and in data analysis. Data was obtained through random sampling technique with self-administered survey questionnaires which was completed by 60 respondents working in 5 different restaurants operating at top level in Male’. The respondents of the research were service staff and chefs working in these restaurants. The responses to the questionnaires have been analyzed by using SPSS. The results of the research indicated that age, education level, occupation and training correlated with hygiene knowledge perception scores.

Keywords: Food and beverage staff, food poisoning, food production, hygiene knowledge.

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Authors: Saeid Khajehmandali, Fattah Mollakarimi, Zohreh Seyf

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There was a high rate of corrosion in Pyrolysis Gasoline Hydrogenation (PGH) unit of Arak Petrochemical Company (ARPC), and it caused some operational problem in this plant. A commercial chemical had been used as anti-corrosion in the depentanizer column overhead in order to control the corrosion rate. Injection of commercial corrosion inhibitor caused some operational problems such as fouling in some heat exchangers. It was proposed to replace this commercial material with another more effective trouble free, and well-known additive by R&D and operation specialists. At first, the system was simulated by commercial simulation software in electrolytic system to specify low pH points inside the plant. After a very comprehensive study of the situation and technical investigations ,ammonia / monoethanol amine solution was proposed as neutralizer or corrosion inhibitor to be injected in a suitable point of the plant. For this purpose, the depentanizer column and its accessories system was simulated again in case of this solution injection. According to the simulation results, injection of new anticorrosion substance has no any side effect on C5 cut product and operating conditions of the column. The corrosion rate will be cotrolled, if the pH remains at the range of 6.5 to 8 . Aactual plant test run was also carried out by injection of ammonia / monoethanol amine solution at the rate of 0.6 Kg/hr and the results of iron content of water samples and corrosion test coupons confirmed the simulation results. Now, ammonia / monoethanol amine solution is injected to a suitable pint inside the plant and corrosion rate has decreased significantly.

Keywords: Corrosion, Pyrolysis Gasoline, Simulation, Corrosion test copoun.

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Authors: Chau-Kuang Chen, John Hughes, Jr., A. Dexter Samuels

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The prediction models for the United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE) Steps 1 and 2 performances were constructed by the Monte Carlo simulation modeling approach via linear regression. The purpose of this study was to build robust simulation models to accurately identify the most important predictors and yield the valid range estimations of the Steps 1 and 2 scores. The application of simulation modeling approach was deemed an effective way in predicting student performances on licensure examinations. Also, sensitivity analysis (a/k/a what-if analysis) in the simulation models was used to predict the magnitudes of Steps 1 and 2 affected by changes in the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Basic Science Subject Board scores. In addition, the study results indicated that the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) Verbal Reasoning score and Step 1 score were significant predictors of the Step 2 performance. Hence, institutions could screen qualified student applicants for interviews and document the effectiveness of basic science education program based on the simulation results.

Keywords: Prediction Model, Sensitivity Analysis, Simulation Method, USMLE.

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Authors: Mohamed Ghorab

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Local generated and distributed system for thermal and electrical energy is sighted in the near future to reduce transmission losses instead of the centralized system. Distributed Energy Resources (DER) is designed at different sizes (small and medium) and it is incorporated in energy distribution between the hubs. The energy generated from each technology at each hub should meet the local energy demands. Economic and environmental enhancement can be achieved when there are interaction and energy exchange between the hubs. Network energy system and CO₂ optimization between different six hubs presented Canadian community level are investigated in this study. Three different scenarios of technology systems are studied to meet both thermal and electrical demand loads for the six hubs. The conventional system is used as the first technology system and a reference case study. The conventional system includes boiler to provide the thermal energy, but the electrical energy is imported from the utility grid. The second technology system includes combined heat and power (CHP) system to meet the thermal demand loads and part of the electrical demand load. The third scenario has integration systems of CHP and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) where the thermal waste energy from the CHP system is used by ORC to generate electricity. General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) is used to model DER system optimization based on energy economics and CO₂ emission analyses. The results are compared with the conventional energy system. The results show that scenarios 2 and 3 provide an annual total cost saving of 21.3% and 32.3 %, respectively compared to the conventional system (scenario 1). Additionally, Scenario 3 (CHP & ORC systems) provides 32.5% saving in CO₂ emission compared to conventional system subsequent case 2 (CHP system) with a value of 9.3%.  

Keywords: Distributed energy resources, network energy system, optimization, microgeneration system.

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Authors: Nuralam Sam, Irawan Yusuf, Irfan Idris, Endi Adnan

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Frozen shoulder (FS) is an insidious, painful condition caused by an inflammatory condition that causes fibrosis of the glenohumeral joint capsule, which causes progressive stiffness and restriction of the active and passive range of motion (ROM) of the shoulder. The studies of FS are still limited. This single-blinded randomized controlled trial involved participants with FS. The study participants were divided into two groups. The Prolotherapy group was the study group, and the Normal Saline (NS) group was the control group. Both groups were given injections at weeks 0, 2, 4, and 6. Matrix Metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and Tissue Inhibitor Metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) were measured at week six and week 12 after the last injection. The Disabilities of The Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) Score and ROM were measured at weeks 0, 2, 4, and 6 before and after injection and week 12. Comparative analysis was performed using repeated measures Paired T-Test, and data processing to assess correlation was using ANOVA. The result showed a significant decrease in The Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) score in prolotherapy injection patients in each measurement week (p < 0.05). While the measurement of ROM, each direction of shoulder motion showed a significant difference in average each week, from week 0 to week 6 (p < 0.05). Dextrose prolotherapy injection results significantly improved the functional outcome of the shoulder joint and ROM. They did not show significant results in assessing the specific biomarker, MMP-1, and TIMP-1, in tissue repair. This study suggests an alternative to injection prolotherapy in FS patients; it has minimal adverse effects and is efficient in time and cost.

Keywords: Frozen Shoulder, ROM, DASH Score, prolotherapy, MMP-1, TIMP-1.

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Authors: Kadio Valere R. Angaman, Birahim Bouna Niang

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Land degradation is a serious problem in developing countries including Cote d’Ivoire, which has its economy focused on agriculture. It occurs in all kinds of ecosystems over the world. However, the drivers of land degradation vary from one region to another, and from one ecosystem to another. Thus, identifying these drivers is an essential prerequisite to develop and implement appropriate policies to reverse the trend of land degradation in the country, especially in the trays ecosystem. Using the binary logistic model with primary data obtained through 780 farmers surveyed, we analyze and identify the drivers of land degradation in the trays ecosystem. The descriptive statistics show that 52% of farmers interviewed have stated facing land degradation in their farmland. This high rate shows the extent of land degradation in this ecosystem. Also, the results obtained from the binary logit regression reveal that land degradation is significantly influenced by a set of variables such as sex, education, slope, erosion, pesticide, agricultural activity, deforestation, and temperature. The drivers identified are mostly local, as a result, the government must implement some policies and strategies that facilitate and incentive the adoption of sustainable land management practices by farmers to reverse the negative trend of land degradation.

Keywords: Drivers, land degradation, trays ecosystem, sustainable land management.

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Authors: Anitha Narasimhan, Aarthy Anandan, Madhan Karky, C. N. Subalalitha

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Games can be the excellent tools for teaching a language. There are few e-learning games in Indian languages like word scrabble, cross word, quiz games etc., which were developed mainly for educational purposes. This paper proposes a Tamil word game called, “Porul”, which focuses on education as well as on players’ thinking and decision-making skills. Porul is a multiple choice based quiz game, in which the players attempt to answer questions correctly from the given multiple options that are generated using a unique algorithm called the Option Selection algorithm which explores the semantics of the question in various dimensions namely, synonym, rhyme and Universal Networking Language semantic category. This kind of semantic exploration of the question not only increases the complexity of the game but also makes it more interesting. The paper also proposes a Scoring Algorithm which allots a score based on the popularity score of the question word. The proposed game has been tested using 20,000 Tamil words.

Keywords: Porul game, Tamil word game, option selection, flash card, scoring, algorithm.

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Authors: V. H. Mankar, T. S. Das, S. K. Sarkar

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In this paper, we have proposed a novel blind watermarking architecture towards its hardware implementation in VLSI. In order to facilitate this hardware realization, cellular automata (CA) concept is introduced. The CA has been already accepted as an attractive structure for VLSI implementation because of its modularity, parallelism, high performance and reliability. The hardware realizable multiresolution spread spectrum watermarking techniques are very few in numbers in spite of their best ever resiliency against signal impairments. This is because of the computational cost and complexity associated with their different filter banks and lifting techniques. The concept of cellular automata theory in order to form a new transform domain technique i.e. Cellular Automata Transform (CAT) have been incorporated. Since CA provides spreading sequences having very low cross-correlation properties, the CA based pseudorandom sequence generator is considered in the present work. Considering the watermarking technique as a digital communication process, an error control coding (ECC) must be incorporated in the data hiding schemes. Besides the hardware implementation of entire CA based data hiding technique, the individual blocks of the algorithm using CA provide the best result than that of some other methods irrespective of the hardware and software technique. The Cellular Automata Transform, CA based PN sequence generator, and CA ECC are the requisite blocks that are developed not only to meet the reliable hardware requirements but also for the basic spread spectrum watermarking features. The proposed algorithm shows statistical invisibility and resiliency against various common signal-processing operations. This algorithmic design utilizes the existing allocated bandwidth in the data transmission channel in a more efficient manner.

Keywords: Cellular automata, watermarking, error control coding, PN sequence, VLSI.

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Authors: Fatemeh Afsharnia, Mohammad Amin Asoodar, Abbas Abdeshahi, Afshin Marzban

Abstract:

A repairable mechanical system (as agricultural tractor) is subject to deterioration or repeated failure and needs a repair shops and also operator’s capability for the repair and maintenance operations. Data are based on field visits and interviews with 48MF 285 tractor operators from 14 villages collected in north of Khouzestan province. The results showed that most operators were lack the technical skill to service and repair tractors due to insufficient training, specific education and work experience. Inadequate repair and maintenance facilities, such as workshops, mechanics and spare parts depots cause delays in repair work in the survey areas. Farmers do not keep accurate service records and most of them disregard proper maintenance and service of their tractors, such as changing engine oil without following the manufacturer’s recommendations. Since, Repair and maintenance facilities should be established in village areas to guarantee timely repair in case of breakdowns and to make spare parts available at low price. The operators should keep service records accurately and adhere to maintenance and service schedules according to the manufacturer’s instructions. They should also be encouraged to do the service and maintain their tractors properly.

Keywords: Operators’ capability, Facilities availability, Repair and maintenance, MF 285 tractors.

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Authors: Marjan Mahdavi-Roshan, Arsalan Salari, Mahbobeh Gholipour

Abstract:

Hypertension is one of the important reasons of morbidity and mortality in countries, including Iran. It has been shown that hypertension is a consequence of the interaction of genetics and environment. Nutrients have important roles in the controlling of blood pressure. We assessed dietary habit and anthropometric status in patients with hypertension in the north of Iran, and that have special dietary habit and according to their culture. This study was conducted on 127 patients with newly recognized hypertension and the 120 normotensive participants. Anthropometric status was measured and demographic characteristics, and medical condition were collected by valid questionnaires and dietary habit assessment was assessed with 3-day food recall (two weekdays and one weekend). The mean age of participants was 58 ± 6.7 years. The mean level of energy intake, saturated fat, vitamin D, potassium, zinc, dietary fiber, vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus, copper and magnesium was significantly lower in the hypertensive group compared to the control (p < 0.05). After adjusting for energy intake, positive association was observe between hypertension and some dietary nutrients including; Cholesterol [OR: 1.1, P: 0.001, B: 0.06], fiber [OR: 1.6, P: 0.001, B: 1.8], vitamin D [OR: 2.6, P: 0.006, B: 0.9] and zinc [OR: 1.4, P: 0.006, B: 0.3] intake. Logistic regression analysis showed that there was not significant association between hypertension, weight and waist circumference. In our study, the mean intake of some nutrients was lower in the hypertensive individuals compared to the normotensive individual. Health training about suitable dietary habits and easier access to vitamin D supplementation in patients with hypertension are cost-effective tools to improve outcomes in Iran.

Keywords: Hypertension, dietary intake, weight, waist circumference, North of Iran.

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Authors: Zhepeng Rui, Zhenyu Gu, Caitilin de Bérigny

Abstract:

In the current study, we designed an interactive meditation and brain painting application to cultivate users’ creativity, promote meditation, reduce stress, and improve cognition while attempting to learn a foreign language. User tests and data analyses were conducted on 42 male and 42 female participants to better understand sex-associated psychological and aesthetic differences. Our method utilized brain-computer interfaces to import meditation and attention data to create artwork in meditation-based applications. Female participants showed statistically significantly different language learning outcomes following three meditation paradigms. The art style of brain painting helped females with language memory. Our results suggest that the most ideal methods for promoting memory attention were meditation methods and brain painting exercises contributing to language learning, memory concentration promotion, and foreign word memorization. We conclude that a short period of meditation practice can help in learning a foreign language. These findings provide insights into meditation, creative language education, brain-computer interface, and human-computer interactions.

Keywords: Brain-computer interface, creative thinking, meditation, mental health.

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Authors: G. Martino, F. Silva, E. Marchal

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The control over delivered iron ore blend characteristics is one of the most important aspects of the mining business. The iron ore price is a function of its composition, which is the outcome of the beneficiation process. So, end-to-end integrated planning of mine operations can reduce risks of penalties on the iron ore price. In a standard iron mining company, the production chain is composed of mining, ore beneficiation, and client supply. When mine planning and client supply decisions are made uncoordinated, the beneficiation plant struggles to deliver the best blend possible. Technological improvements in several fields allowed bridging the gap between departments and boosting integrated decision-making processes. Clusterization and classification algorithms over historical production data generate reasonable previsions for quality and volume of iron ore produced for each pile of run-of-mine (ROM) processed. Mathematical modeling can use those deterministic relations to propose iron ore blends that better-fit specifications within a delivery schedule. Additionally, a model capable of representing the whole production chain can clearly compare the overall impact of different decisions in the process. This study shows how flexibilization combined with a planning optimization model between the mine and the ore beneficiation processes can reduce risks of out of specification deliveries. The model capabilities are illustrated on a hypothetical iron ore mine with magnetic separation process. Finally, this study shows ways of cost reduction or profit increase by optimizing process indicators across the production chain and integrating the different plannings with the sales decisions.

Keywords: Clusterization and classification algorithms, integrated planning, optimization, mathematical modeling, penalty minimization.

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