Search results for: Professional development

Authors: O. M. Omar, G. D. Abd Elhameed, A. M. Heniegal H. A. Mohamadien

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Green concrete are generally composed of recycling materials as hundred or partial percent substitutes for aggregate, cement, and admixture in concrete. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, efforts are needed to develop environmentally friendly construction materials. Using of fly ash based geopolymer as an alternative binder can help reduce CO2 emission of concrete. The binder of geopolymer concrete is different from the ordinary Portland cement concrete. Geopolymer Concrete specimens were prepared with different concentration of NaOH solution M10, M14, and, M16 and cured at 60ºC in duration of 24 hours and 8 hours, in addition to the curing in direct sunlight. Thus, it is necessary to study the effects of the geopolymer binder on the behavior of concrete. Concrete is made by using geopolymer technology is environmental friendly and could be considered as part of the sustainable development. In this study, the Local Alkaline Activator in Egypt and crashed stone as coarse aggregate in fly ash based-geopolymer concrete was investigated. This paper illustrates the development of mechanical properties. Since the gained compressive strength for geopolymer concrete at 28 days was in the range of 22.5MPa – 43.9MPa.

Keywords: Geopolymer, molarity, sodium hydroxide, sodium silicate.

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Authors: Salma I. Dwidar, Amal A. Abdelsattar

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Alexandria city is one of the greatest cities in the world. It confronted different civilizations throughout the ages due to its special geographical location and climate which left many archaeological areas of great heritage (Ptolemaic, Greek, Romanian, especially sunken monuments, Coptic, Islamic, and finally, the Modern). Also, Alexandria city contains areas with different patterns of urban planning, both Hellenistic and compacted planning which merited the diversity in planning. Despite the magnitude of this city, which contains all the elements of tourism, the city was not included in the tourism map of Egypt properly comparing with similar cities in Egypt. This paper discusses the importance of heritage areas in Alexandria and the relationship between heritage areas and modern buildings. It highlights the absence of a methodology to deal with heritage areas as touristic areas. Also, the paper aims to develop multiple touristic routes to visit archaeological areas and other sights of significance in Alexandria. The research methodology is divided into two main frameworks. The first framework is a historical study of the urban development of Alexandria and the most important remaining monuments throughout the ages, as well as an analytical study of sunken monuments and their importance in increasing the rate of tourism. Moreover, it covers a study of the importance of the Library of Alexandria and its effect on the international focus of the city. The second framework focuses on the proposal of some tourism routes to visit the heritage areas, archaeological monuments, sunken monuments and the sights of Alexandria. The study concludes with the proposal of three tourism routes. The first route, which is the longest one, passes by all the famous monuments of the city as well as its modern sights. The second route passes through the heritage areas, sunken monuments, and Library of Alexandria. The third route includes the sunken monuments and Library of Alexandria. These three tourism routes will ensures the touristic development of the city which leads to the economic growth of the city and the country.

Keywords: Archeological buildings, heritage buildings, heritage tourism, planning of Islamic cities.

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Authors: Un-Hwan Park, Jun-Hyeok Heo, In-Sung Lee, Tae-Hyeon Oh, Dae-Gyu Park

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Automotive interior material consisting of several material layers has the sound-absorbing function. It is difficult to predict sound absorbing coefficient because of several material layers. So, many experimental tunings are required to achieve the target of sound absorption. Therefore, while the car interior materials are developed, so much time and money is spent. In this study, we present a method to predict the sound absorbing performance of the material with multi-layer using physical properties of each material. The properties are predicted by Foam-X software using the sound absorption coefficient data measured by impedance tube. Then, we will compare and analyze the predicted sound absorption coefficient with the data measured by scaled reverberation chamber and impedance tubes for a prototype. If the method is used instead of experimental tuning in the development of car interior material, the time and money can be saved, and then, the development effort can be reduced because it can be optimized by simulation.

Keywords: Multi-layer nonwoven, sound absorption coefficient, scaled reverberation chamber, impedance tubes.

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Authors: Touba Amirazodi

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Rapid process of urbanism development has increased the demand for some infrastructures such as supplying potable water, electricity network and transportation facilities and etc. Nonefficiency of the existing system with parallel managements of urban traffic management has increased the gap between supply and demand of traffic facilities. A sustainable transport system requires some activities more important than air pollution control, traffic or fuel consumption reduction and the studies show that there is no unique solution for solving complicated transportation problems and solving such a problem needs a comprehensive, dynamic and reliable mechanism. Sustainable transport management considers the effects of transportation development on economic efficiency, environmental issues, resources consumption, land use and social justice and helps reduction of environmental effects, increase of transportation system efficiency as well as improvement of social life and aims to enhance efficiency, goods transportation, provide services with minimum access problems that cannot be realized without reorganization of strategies, policies and plans.

Keywords: Sustainable Urban Transport, Environment, Social Justice, Air Pollution

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Authors: Rujijan Vichivanives, Kittiya Poonsilp, Canasanan Wanavijit

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This research aims to create mobile tools to analyze rice disease quickly and easily. The principle of object-oriented software engineering and objective-C language were used for software development methodology and the principle of decision tree technique was used for analysis method. Application users can select the features of rice disease or the color appears on the rice leaves for recognition analysis results on iOS mobile screen. After completing the software development, unit testing and integrating testing method were used to check for program validity. In addition, three plant experts and forty farmers have been assessed for usability and benefit of this system. The overall of users’ satisfaction was found in a good level, 57%. The plant experts give a comment on the addition of various disease symptoms in the database for more precise results of the analysis. For further research, it is suggested that image processing system should be developed as a tool that allows users search and analyze for rice diseases more convenient with great accuracy.

Keywords: Rice disease, analysis system, mobile application, iOS operating system.

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Authors: Mariana Lima, Rodrigo Silva, Victor Stange, Teodiano Bastos

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Due to the high reliability reached by DNA tests, since the 1980s this kind of test has allowed the identification of a growing number of criminal cases, including old cases that were unsolved, now having a chance to be solved with this technology. Currently, the use of genetic profiling databases is a typical method to increase the scope of genetic comparison. Forensic laboratories must process, analyze, and generate genetic profiles of a growing number of samples, which require time and great storage capacity. Therefore, it is essential to develop methodologies capable to organize and minimize the spent time for both biological sample processing and analysis of genetic profiles, using software tools. Thus, the present work aims the development of a software system solution for laboratories of forensics genetics, which allows sample, criminal case and local database management, minimizing the time spent in the workflow and helps to compare genetic profiles. For the development of this software system, all data related to the storage and processing of samples, workflows and requirements that incorporate the system have been considered. The system uses the following software languages: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in Web technology, with NodeJS platform as server, which has great efficiency in the input and output of data. In addition, the data are stored in a relational database (MySQL), which is free, allowing a better acceptance for users. The software system here developed allows more agility to the workflow and analysis of samples, contributing to the rapid insertion of the genetic profiles in the national database and to increase resolution of crimes. The next step of this research is its validation, in order to operate in accordance with current Brazilian national legislation.

Keywords: Database, forensic genetics, genetic analysis, sample management, software solution.

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Authors: Jayant Sakhardande, Pratik Pattanayak, Mita Bhowmick

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An efficient reintegration of the disabled people in the family and society should be fulfilled; hence it is strongly needful to assist their diminished functions or to replace the totally lost functions. Assistive technology helps in neutralizing the impairment. Recent advancements in embedded systems have opened up a vast area of research and development for affordable and portable assistive devices for the visually impaired. Granted there are many assistive devices on the market that are able to detect obstacles, and numerous research and development currently in process to alleviate the cause, unfortunately the cost of devices, size of devices, intrusiveness and higher learning curve prevents the visually impaired from taking advantage of available devices. This project aims at the design and implementation of a detachable unit which is robust, low cost and user friendly, thus, trying to aggrandize the functionality of the existing white cane, to concede above-knee obstacle detection. The designed obstruction detector uses ultrasound sensors for detecting the obstructions before direct contact. It bestows haptic feedback to the user in accordance with the position of the obstacle.

Keywords: Visually impaired, Ultrasonic sensors, Obstruction detector, Mobility aid

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Authors: Anna Lower, Michal Lower, Robert Masztalski, Agnieszka Szumilas

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The paper presents a method in which the expert knowledge is applied to fuzzy inference model. Even a less experienced person could benefit from the use of such a system, e.g. urban planners, officials. The analysis result is obtained in a very short time, so a large number of the proposed locations can also be verified in a short time. The proposed method is intended for testing of locations of car parks in a city. The paper shows selected examples of locations of the P&R facilities in cities planning to introduce the P&R. The analyses of existing objects are also shown in the paper and they are confronted with the opinions of the system users, with particular emphasis on unpopular locations. The results of the analyses are compared to expert analysis of the P&R facilities location that was outsourced by the city and the opinions about existing facilities users that were expressed on social networking sites. The obtained results are consistent with actual users’ feedback. The proposed method proves to be good, but does not require the involvement of a large experts team and large financial contributions for complicated research. The method also provides an opportunity to show the alternative location of P&R facilities. Although the results of the method are approximate, they are not worse than results of analysis of employed experts. The advantage of this method is ease of use, which simplifies the professional expert analysis. The ability of analyzing a large number of alternative locations gives a broader view on the problem. It is valuable that the arduous analysis of the team of people can be replaced by the model's calculation. According to the authors, the proposed method is also suitable for implementation on a GIS platform.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic inference, P&R facilities, P&R location.

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Authors: Rizwan Hameed, Obaidullah Nadeem

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Master plan is a tool to guide and manage the growth of cities in a planned manner. The soul of a master plan lies in its implementation framework. If not implemented, people are trapped in a mess of urban problems and laissez-faire development having serious long term repercussions. Unfortunately, Master Plans prepared for several major cities of Pakistan could not be fully implemented due to host of reasons and Lahore is no exception. Being the second largest city of Pakistan with a population of over 7 million people, Lahore holds the distinction that the first ever Master Plan in the country was prepared for this city in 1966. Recently in 2004, a new plan titled `Integrated Master Plan for Lahore-2021- has been approved for implementation. This paper provides a comprehensive account of the weaknesses and constraints in the plan preparation process and implementation strategies of Master Plans prepared for Lahore. It also critically reviews the new Master Plan particularly with respect to the proposed implementation framework. The paper discusses the prospects and pre-conditions for successful implementation of the new Plan in the light of historic analysis, interviews with stakeholders and the new institutional context under the devolution plan.

Keywords: City District Government, Implementation of plan, Lahore Development Authority, Master Planning.

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Authors: Deepak Goswami, Padma Lochan Hazarika, Kandarpa Kumar Sarma

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The customary practice of identifying industrial sickness is a set traditional techniques which rely upon a range of manual monitoring and compilation of financial records. It makes the process tedious, time consuming and often are susceptible to manipulation. Therefore, certain readily available tools are required which can deal with such uncertain situations arising out of industrial sickness. It is more significant for a country like India where the fruits of development are rarely equally distributed. In this paper, we propose an approach based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to deal with industrial sickness with specific focus on a few such units taken from a less developed north-east (NE) Indian state like Assam. The proposed system provides decision regarding industrial sickness using eight different parameters which are directly related to the stages of sickness of such units. The mechanism primarily uses certain signals and symptoms of industrial health to decide upon the state of a unit. Specifically, we formulate an ANN based block with data obtained from a few selected units of Assam so that required decisions related to industrial health could be taken. The system thus formulated could become an important part of planning and development. It can also contribute towards computerization of decision support systems related to industrial health and help in better management.

Keywords: Industrial, Health, Classification, ANN, MLP, MSE.

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Authors: Alireza Saviz, Sedigheh Zarei

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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is an integral part of an open and effective international economic system and a major catalyst to development. Developing countries, emerging economies and countries in transition have come increasingly to see FDI as a source of economic development modernization, income growth and employment. FDI is an important vehicle for the transfer of technology, contributing relatively more to growth than domestic investment. Exploratory research is being conducted here. The data for the study is collected from secondary sources like research papers, journals, websites and reports. This paper aim was to generate knowledge on Iran’s situation through these factors after lifting sanction in comparison to Turkey. Although the most important factors that influence foreign investor decisions vary depending on the countries, sectors, years, and the objective of investor, nowadays governments should pay more attention to human resources education, marketing, infrastructure and administrative process in order to attracting foreign investors. A proper understanding of these findings will help governments to create appropriate policies in order to encourage more foreign investors

Keywords: FDI, foreign investor, comparative study, host country.

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Authors: S. X. Sun, Q. Wang

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With the rapid development of industrialization, countries in different stages of development in the world have gradually begun to pay attention to the impact of air pollution on health and the environment. Air control in developed countries is an effective reference for air control in developing countries. Artificial intelligence and other technologies also play a positive role in the prediction of air pollution. By comparing the annual changes of pollution in London and Beijing, this paper concludes that the pollution in developed cities is relatively low and stable, while the pollution in Beijing is relatively heavy and unstable, but is clearly improving. In addition, by analyzing the changes of major pollutants in Beijing in the past eight years, it is concluded that all pollutants except O3 show a significant downward trend. In addition, all pollutants except O3 have certain correlation. For example, PM10 and PM2.5 have the greatest influence on air quality index (AQI). Python, which is commonly used by artificial intelligence, is used as the main software to establish two models, support vector machine (SVM) and linear regression. By comparing the two models under the same conditions, it is concluded that SVM has higher accuracy in pollution prediction. The results of this study provide valuable reference for pollution control and prediction in developing countries.

Keywords: Air pollution, particulate matter, AQI, correlation coefficient, air pollution prediction.

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Authors: F. H. Abanda, B. Kamsu-Foguem, J. H. M. Tah

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Construction cost estimation is one of the most important aspects of construction project design. For generations, the process of cost estimating has been manual, time-consuming and error-prone. This has partly led to most cost estimates to be unclear and riddled with inaccuracies that at times lead to over- or underestimation of construction cost. The development of standard set of measurement rules that are understandable by all those involved in a construction project, have not totally solved the challenges. Emerging Building Information Modelling (BIM) technologies can exploit standard measurement methods to automate cost estimation process and improve accuracies. This requires standard measurement methods to be structured in ontological and machine readable format; so that BIM software packages can easily read them. Most standard measurement methods are still text-based in textbooks and require manual editing into tables or Spreadsheet during cost estimation. The aim of this study is to explore the development of an ontology based on New Rules of Measurement (NRM) commonly used in the UK for cost estimation. The methodology adopted is Methontology, one of the most widely used ontology engineering methodologies. The challenges in this exploratory study are also reported and recommendations for future studies proposed.

Keywords: BIM, Construction projects, Cost estimation, NRM, Ontology.

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Authors: David Dewar

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The paper reviews the relationship between spatial and transportation planning in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region of Sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that most urbanisation in the region has largely occurred subsequent to the 1950s and, accordingly, urban development has been profoundly and negatively affected by the (misguided) spatial and institutional tenets of modernism. It demonstrates how a considerable amount of the poor performance of these settlements can be directly attributed to this. Two factors in particular about the planning systems are emphasized: the way in which programmatic land-use planning lies at the heart of both spatial and transportation planning; and the way on which transportation and spatial planning have been separated into independent processes. In the final section, the paper identifies ways of improving the planning system. Firstly, it identifies the performance qualities which Southern African settlements should be seeking to achieve. Secondly, it focuses on two necessary arenas of change: the need to replace programmatic land-use planning practices with structuralspatial approaches; and it makes a case for making urban corridors a spatial focus of integrated planning, as a way of beginning the restructuring and intensification of settlements which are currently characterised by sprawl, fragmentation and separation

Keywords: Corridors, modernism, programmatic planning, structural-spatial planning

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Authors: Sanjeev Sharma, Suman Lata

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With the availability of diverse printed, electronic literature and web sites on medical and health related information, it is impossible for the medical professional to get the information he seeks in the shortest possible time. For all these problems information literacy is the only solution. Thus, information literacy is recognized as an important aspect of medical education. In the present study, an attempt has been made to know the information literacy skills of the faculty and students at medical colleges of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh. The scope of the study was confined to the 12 selected medical colleges of three States (Haryana, Punjab, and Chandigarh). The findings of the study were based on the data collected through 1018 questionnaires filled by the respondents of the medical colleges. It was found that Online Medical Websites (such as WebMD, eMedicine and Mayo Clinic etc.) were frequently used by 63.43% of the respondents of Chandigarh which is slightly more than Haryana (61%) and Punjab (55.65%). As well, 30.86% of the respondents of Chandigarh, 27.41% of Haryana and 27.05% of Punjab were familiar with the controlled vocabulary tool; 25.14% respondents of Chandigarh, 23.80% of Punjab, 23.17% of Haryana were familiar with the Boolean operators; 33.05% of the respondents of Punjab, 28.19% of Haryana and 25.14% of Chandigarh were familiar with the use and importance of the keywords while searching an electronic database; and 51.43% of the respondents of Chandigarh, 44.52% of Punjab and 36.29% of Haryana were able to make effective use of the retrieved information. For accessing information in electronic format, 47.74% of the respondents rated their skills high, while the majority of respondents (76.13%) were unfamiliar with the basic search technique i.e. Boolean operator used for searching information in an online database. On the basis of the findings, it was suggested that a comprehensive training program based on medical professionals information needs should be organized frequently. Furthermore, it was also suggested that information literacy may be included as a subject in the health science curriculum so as to make the medical professionals information literate and independent lifelong learners.

Keywords: Information, information literacy, medical colleges, medical professionals.

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Authors: Beata Ślusarczyk, Sebastian Kot

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In subjective terms, Polish SME sector occupies a prominent position in the national economic development, in which planning of the management strategies should be primarily based on identifying and meeting the innovation needs. As a research sample, there is chosen a printing sector of industry. SMEs share in printing sector in Poland is estimated at the level of 81% of all enterprises. In recent years, the printing industry achieved one of the highest levels of EU support in Poland. There is a relatively high increase in the development of technological innovations in equipment and the associated significant increase in production capacity. It can be also noticed that on average, every third enterprise belonging to the printing industry has implemented innovations, but not all of them effected in better economic results. Therefore, the aim of this article is to evaluate the impact of the implementation of innovation projects financed from the EU funds for performance of SMEs in the printing industry. As the results of research of EU funds co-financing effects on the development of innovation in the printing industry, it was specified that examined SMEs prefer to implement product innovation to receive a grant to the project at a level between 40% to 60%, the remaining part of the investment is usually covered with equity. The most common type of innovation had indicated a single implementation, related only to the change in process, technology, or organization. The relationship between variables of the EU funds and management of innovative activities was verified. It has been observed that the identified variables arising from the support in a form of the EU funds had a positive effect on the level of earned revenue, the increase in margin and in increase in employment as well. It was confirmed that the implemented innovations supported by the European funds have a positive impact on the performance of the printing companies. Although there is a risk that due to the decreasing demand for printing services such a high level of funding the companies in this sector will significantly increase competition in the long term, that may also contribute to the economic problems of the enterprises belonging to the analyzed branch.

Keywords: Innovations, SMEs, performance, results.

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Authors: Helen L. Hein, Joachim Schwarte

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As a pillar of sustainable development, ecology has become an important milestone in research community, especially due to global challenges like climate change. The ecological performance of products can be scientifically conducted with life cycle assessments. In the construction sector, significant amounts of CO₂ emissions are assigned to the energy used for building heating purposes. Therefore, sustainable construction materials for insulating purposes are substantial, whereby aerogels have been explored intensively in the last years due to their low thermal conductivity. Therefore, the WALL-ACE project aims to develop an aerogel-based thermal insulating plaster that would achieve minor thermal conductivities. But as in the early stage of development phases, a lot of information is still missing or not yet accessible, the ecological performance of innovative products bases increasingly on uncertain data that can lead to significant deviations in the results. To be able to predict realistically how meaningful the results are and how viable the developed products may be with regard to their corresponding respective market, these deviations however have to be considered. Therefore, a classification method is presented in this study, which may allow comparing the ecological performance of modern products with already established and competitive materials. In order to achieve this, an alternative calculation method was used that allows computing with lower and upper bounds to consider all possible values without precise data. The life cycle analysis of the considered products was conducted with an interval arithmetic based calculation method. The results lead to the conclusion that the interval solutions describing the possible environmental impacts are so wide that the result usability is limited. Nevertheless, a further optimization in reducing environmental impacts of aerogels seems to be needed to become more competitive in the future.

Keywords: Aerogel-based, insulating material, early develop¬ment phase, interval arithmetic.

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Authors: Masoud Nasri, Rahele Hekmatpanah

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Growing world population has fundamental impacts and often catastrophic on natural habitat. The immethodical consumption of energy, destruction of the forests and extinction of plant and animal species are the consequence of this experience. Urban sustainability and sustainable urban development, that is so spoken these days, should be considered as a strategy, goal and policy, beyond just considering environmental issues and protection. The desert-s climate has made a bunch of problems for its residents. Very hot and dry climate in summers of the Iranian desert areas, when there was no access to modern energy source and mechanical cooling systems in the past, made Iranian architects to design a natural ventilation system in their buildings. The structure, like a tower going upward the roof, besides its ornamental application and giving a beautiful view to the building, was used as a spontaneous ventilation system. In this paper, it has been tried to name the problems of the area and it-s inconvenience, then some answers has pointed out in order to solve the problems and as an alternative solution BADGIR (wind-catcher) has been introduced as a solution knowing that it has been playing a major role in dealing with the problems.

Keywords: Productivity, Sustainable development, hot aridzones, climate design, BADGIR (wind-catcher)

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Authors: Muhd Fadhil Nuruddin, Andri Kusbiantoro, Sobia Qazi, Nasir Shafiq

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The compressive strength development through polymerization process of alkaline solution and fly ash blended with Microwave Incinerated Rice Husk Ash (MIRHA) is described in this paper. Three curing conditions, which are hot gunny curing, ambient curing, and external humidity curing are investigated to obtain the suitable curing condition for cast in situ provision. Fly ash was blended with MIRHA at 3%, 5%, and 7% to identify the effect of blended mixes to the compressive strength and microstructure properties of geopolymer concrete. Compressive strength results indicated an improvement in the strength development with external humidity curing concrete samples compared to hot gunny curing and ambient curing. Blended mixes also presented better performance than control mixes. Improvement of interfacial transition zone (ITZ) and micro structure in external humidity concrete samples were also identified compared to hot gunny and ambient curing.

Keywords: Compressive Strength, alkaline solution, fly ash, geopolymer, ITZ, MIRHA

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Authors: Nina Kaufmans

Abstract:

Traditional treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that rely primarily on oral narratives are partially insufficient to prevent PTSD symptoms from recurrence. As a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, war conflicts, and economic crises, a rising proportion of users of mental health services express somatically based distress in addition to their existing mental health symptoms. Furthermore, the rapid increase in demand for mental health services has resulted in substantial burnout among mental health professionals, which may further impact the quality of services provided and the sustainability of professional life-work balance. This article examines the implications of current developments and challenges in mental health services demand and subsequent responses, as well as the effects of those responses on mental health professionals. The article examines the neurobiological mechanisms underlying traumatic experiences, then discusses the premises for "bottom-up," or somatically oriented, psychotherapy approaches, and concludes with suggestions for clinical skills and interventions to be used by practitioners who work with clients diagnosed with PTSD. In addition, we examine how somatically based psychotherapy interventions performed in sessions might reduce clinician burnout and improve their well-being. We examine how incorporating somatically based therapies into counseling will boost the efficacy of mental health recovery and maintain remission while providing mental health practitioners with chances for self-care.

Keywords: Somatic psychotherapy interventions, trauma counseling, preventing and treating burnout, adults with PTSD, bottom-up skills, the effectiveness of trauma treatment.

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Authors: V. Benidze

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After the Rose Revolution of 2003, Georgia has achieved an unparalleled socioeconomic success. However, economic growth since 2012 has been sluggish and certainly not enough to rapidly improve the county’s standard of living that still remains substantially low compared to that in developed nations. Recent poor economic performance has shown that some key challenges need to be addressed if Georgia is to achieve high future economic growth that will decrease the poverty rate and create a middle class in the country. This paper offers in detail analysis of the economic performance of Georgia since 2012 and identifies key challenges facing the country’s economy. The main challenge going forward will be transforming Georgia from a consumption-driven to a production-oriented economy. It is identified that mobilizing domestic investment through savings, attracting foreign investment in tradable sectors and expanding the country’s export base will be crucial in the facilitation of the above-mentioned structural transformation. As the outcome of the research, the paper suggests a strategy for accelerating Georgia’ future economic growth and offers recommendations based on the relevant conclusions.

Keywords: Challenges, development, economic growth, economic policy, Georgia.

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Authors: S. Boudali, A. M. Soliman, B. Abdulsalam, K. Ayed, D. E. Kerdal, S. Poncet

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This study investigates the potential of using crushed concrete as aggregates to produce green and sustainable concrete. Crushed concrete was sieved to powder fine recycled aggregate (PFRA) less than 80 µm and coarse recycled aggregates (CRA). Physical, mechanical, and microstructural properties for PFRA and CRA were evaluated. The effect of the additional rates of PFRA and CRA on strength development of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) was investigated. Additionally, the characteristics of interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between cement paste and recycled aggregate were also examined. Results show that concrete mixtures made with 100% of CRA and 40% PFRA exhibited similar performance to that of the control mixture prepared with 100% natural aggregate (NA) and 40% natural pozzolan (NP). Moreover, concrete mixture incorporating recycled aggregate exhibited a slightly higher later compressive strength than that of the concrete with NA. This was confirmed by the very dense microstructure for concrete mixture incorporating recycled concrete aggregates compared to that of conventional concrete mixture.

Keywords: Compressive strength, recycled concrete aggregates, microstructure, interfacial transition zone, powder fine recycled aggregate.

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Authors: Shuen-Tai Wang, Hsi-Ya Chang

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Cloud computing is becoming more and more matured over the last few years and consequently the demands for better cloud services is increasing rapidly. One of the research topics to improve cloud services is the desktop computing in virtualized environment. This paper aims at the development of an adaptive virtual desktop service in cloud computing platform based on our previous research on the virtualization technology. We implement cloud virtual desktop and application software streaming technology that make it possible for providing Virtual Desktop as a Service (VDaaS). Given the development of remote desktop virtualization, it allows shifting the user’s desktop from the traditional PC environment to the cloud-enabled environment, which is stored on a remote virtual machine rather than locally. This proposed effort has the potential to positively provide an efficient, resilience and elastic environment for online cloud service. Users no longer need to burden the platform maintenances and drastically reduces the overall cost of hardware and software licenses. Moreover, this flexible remote desktop service represents the next significant step to the mobile workplace, and it lets users access their desktop environments from virtually anywhere.

Keywords: Cloud Computing, Virtualization, Virtual Desktop, VDaaS.

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Authors: Fei Peng, Jun Yuan, Chen Fan, Fan Jiang, Qian Sun, Yudi Liu

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Although Earth Station in Motion (ESIM) services are widely used and there is a huge market demand around the world, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) does not have unified conclusion for the use of ESIM yet. ESIM are Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) due to its mobile-based attributes, while multiple administrations want to use ESIM in Fixed Satellite Service (FSS). However, Radio Regulations (RR) have strict distinction between MSS and FSS. In this case, ITU has been very controversial because this kind of application will violate the RR Article and the conflict will bring risks to the global deployment. Thus, this paper illustrates the development of rules, regulations, standards concerning ESIM and the radio spectrum usage of ESIM in different regions around the world. Firstly, the basic rules, standard and definition of ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) is introduced. Secondly, the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) agenda item on radio spectrum allocation for ESIM, e.g. in C/Ku/Ka band, is introduced and multi-view on the radio spectrum allocation is elaborated, especially on 19.7-20.2 GHz & 29.5-30.0 GHz. Then, some ITU-R Recommendations and Reports are analyzed on the specific technique to enable these ESIM to communicate with Geostationary Earth Orbit Satellite (GSO) space stations in the FSS without causing interference at levels in excess of that caused by conventional FSS earth stations. Meanwhile, the opposite opinion on not allocating EISM service in FSS frequency band is also elaborated. Finally, based on the ESIM’s future application, the ITU-R standards development trend is forecasted. In conclusion, using radio spectrum resource in an equitable, rational and efficient manner is the basic guideline of ITU. Although it is not a good approach to obstruct the revise of RR when there is a large demand for radio spectrum resource in satellite industry, still the propulsion and global demand of the whole industry may face difficulties on the unclear application in modify rules of RR.

Keywords: Earth Station in motion, ITU standards, radio regulations, radio spectrum, satellite communication.

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Authors: Ricardo Mestre

Abstract:

The soundscape stands out as an agglomeration of sounds available in the world, associated with different contexts and origins, being a theme studied by various areas of knowledge, seeking to guide their benefits and their consequences, contributing to the welfare of society and other ecosystems. With the objective for a greater recognition of sound reality, through the selection and differentiation of sounds, the soundscape studies focus on the contribution for a better tuning of the world and to the balance and well-being of humanity. Sound environment, produced and created in various ways, can provide various sources of information, contributing to the orientation of the human being, alerting and manipulating him during his daily journey, like small notifications received on a cell phone or other device with these features. In this way, it becomes possible to give sound its due importance in relation to the processes of individual representation, in manners of social, professional and emotional life. Ensuring an individual representation means providing the human being with new tools for the long process of reflection by recognizing his environment, the sounds that represent him, and his perspective on his respective function in it. In order to provide more information about the importance of the sound environment inherent to the individual reality, one introduces the term sound instance, in order to refer to the whole sound field existing in the individual's life, which is divided into four distinct subfields, but essential to the process of individual representation, called sound matrix, sound cycles, sound traces and sound interference. Alongside volunteers we were able to create six representations of sound instances, based on the individual perception of his/her life, focusing on the present, past and future. With this investigation it was possible to determine that sound instance has a tool for self-recognition, considering the statements of opinion about the experience from the volunteers, reflecting about the three time lines, based on memories, thoughts and wishes.

Keywords: Sound instance, soundscape, sound art, self-recognition.

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Authors: S. N. S. Thein, H. L. Yang, Z. B. Liu

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There are many modes of transport. Among them, maritime transport is a major transportation mode of international trade. In the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burma), water transportation served as one of the most important modes of transport for country's exports and imports. Getting the accurate information and data-gathering activity are the most important aspects for any study field. Therefore, in this research, a historical review of the development of ports in Myanmar and how they have changed had been carried out. All the relevant literature and documents have also been reviewed, studied, and organized. The sources of collected data are from reports, journals, internet, as well as from the publications of authorized organizations and international associations. To get better understanding about real situation of maritime transport and logistics in Myanmar; current condition of existing ports, expansion and on-going projects, and future port development plans are described successively. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to build up a comprehensive picture of maritime transport and logistics, in addition to border trade within ASEAN and Myanmar. It will help for academic researchers, decision makers, and stakeholders for national planning as well as for the local and foreign investors to recognize current situation of maritime transport and logistics in Myanmar.

Keywords: ASEAN, border trade, logistics, maritime transport, ports of Myanmar.

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Authors: Antonio Natali, Ambra Molesini

Abstract:

In modern distributed software systems, the issue of communication among composing parts represents a critical point, but the idea of extending conventional programming languages with general purpose communication constructs seems difficult to realize. As a consequence, there is a (growing) gap between the abstraction level required by distributed applications and the concepts provided by platforms that enable communication. This work intends to discuss how the Model Driven Software Development approach can be considered as a mature technology to generate in automatic way the schematic part of applications related to communication, by providing at the same time high level specialized languages useful in all the phases of software production. To achieve the goal, a stack of languages (meta-meta¬models) has been introduced in order to describe – at different levels of abstraction – the collaborative behavior of generic entities in terms of communication actions related to a taxonomy of messages. Finally, the generation of platforms for communication is viewed as a form of specification of language semantics, that provides executable models of applications together with model-checking supports and effective runtime environments.

Keywords: Interactions, specific languages, meta-models, model driven development.

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Authors: Viktor Achter, Sebastian Breuers, Marc Seifert, Ulrich Lang, Joachim Götze, Bernd Reuther, Paul Müller

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Within the last years, several technologies have been developed to help building e-learning portals. Most of them follow approaches that deliver a vast amount of functionalities, suitable for class-like learning. The SuGI project, as part of the D-Grid (funded by the BMBF), targets on delivering a highly scalable and sustainable learning solution to provide materials (e.g. learning modules, training systems, webcasts, tutorials, etc.) containing knowledge about Grid computing to the D-Grid community. In this article, the process of the development of an e-learning portal focused on the requirements of this special user group is described. Furthermore, it deals with the conceptual and technical design of an e-learning portal, addressing the special needs of heterogeneous target groups. The main focus lies on the quality management of the software development process, Web templates for uploading new contents, the rich search and filter functionalities which will be described from a conceptual as well as a technical point of view. Specifically, it points out best practices as well as concepts to provide a sustainable solution to a relatively unknown and highly heterogeneous community.

Keywords: D-Grid, e-learning, e-science, Grid computing, SuGI.

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Authors: Chi-Shan Chen, Mao-Chou Hsu, Feng-Chuan Pan

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The incidence of oral cancer in Taiwan increased year by year. It replaced the nasopharyngeal as the top incurrence among head and neck cancers since 1994. Early examination and earlier identification for earlier treatment is the most effective medical treatment for these cancers. Although the government fully subsidized the expenses with tremendous promotion program for oral cancer screening, the citizen-s participation remained low. Purpose of this study is to understand the factors affecting the citizens- behavior intensions of taking an oral cancer screening. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study adopted four distinctive variables in explaining the captioned behavior intentions.700 questionnaires were dispatched with 500 valid responses or 71.4% returned by the citizens with an age 30 or above from the eastern counties of Taiwan. Test results has shown that attitude toward, subjective norms of, and perceived behavioral control over the oral cancer screening varied from some demographic factors to another. The study proofed that attitude toward, subjective norms of, and perceived behavioral control over the oral cancer screening had positive impacts on the corresponding behavior intention. The test concluded that the theory of planned behavior was appropriate as a theoretical framework in explaining the influencing factors of intentions of taking oral cancer screening. This study suggested the healthcare professional should provide high accessibility of screening services other than just delivering knowledge on oral cancer to promote the citizens- intentions of taking the captioned screening. This research also provided a practical implication to the healthcare professionals when formulating and implementing promotion instruments for lifting the screening rate of oral cancer.

Keywords: Theory of planned behavior, oral cancer, cancer screening

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Authors: E. J. Cilliers, Z. Goosen

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The impact that urban green spaces have on sustainability and quality of life is phenomenal. This is also true for the local South African environment. However, in reality green spaces in urban environments are decreasing due to growing populations, increasing urbanization and development pressure. This further impacts on the provision of child-friendly spaces, a concept that is already limited in local context. Child-friendly spaces are described as environments in which people (children) feel intimately connected to, influencing the physical, social, emotional, and ecological health of individuals and communities. The benefits of providing such spaces for the youth are well documented in literature. This research therefore aimed to investigate the concept of child-friendly spaces and its applicability to the South African planning context, in order to guide the planning of such spaces for future communities and use. Child-friendly spaces in the urban environment of the city of Durban, was used as local case study, along with two international case studies namely Mullerpier public playground in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Kadidjiny Park in Melville, Australia. The aim was to determine how these spaces were planned and developed and to identify tools that were used to accomplish the goal of providing successful child-friendly green spaces within urban areas. The need and significance of planning for such spaces was portrayed within the international case studies. It is confirmed that minimal provision is made for green space planning within the South African context, when there is reflected on the international examples. As a result international examples and disciples of providing child-friendly green spaces should direct planning guidelines within local context. The research concluded that child-friendly green spaces have a positive impact on the urban environment and assist in a child’s development and interaction with the natural environment. Regrettably, the planning of these child-friendly spaces is not given priority within current spatial plans, despite the proven benefits of such.

Keywords: Built environment, child-friendly spaces, green spaces. public places, urban area.

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