Abstract: This paper will seek to clarify important key terms
such as home schooling and home education as well as the legalities
attached to such terms. It will reflect on the recent proposed changes
to terminology in NSW, Australia. The various pedagogical
approaches to home education will be explored including their
prominence in the Australian context. There is a strong focus on
literature from Australia. The historical background of home
education in Australia will be explained as well as the difference
between distance education and home education. The future of home
education in Australia will be discussed.
Abstract: The effects of flame-holder position, the ratio of flame
holder diameter to combustion chamber diameter and injection angle
on fuel propulsive droplets sizing and effective mass fraction have
been studied by a cold flow. We named the mass of fuel vapor inside
the flammability limit as the effective mass fraction. An empty
cylinder as well as a flame-holder which are a simulator for duct
combustion has been considered. The airflow comes into the cylinder
from one side and injection operation will be done by four nozzles
which are located on the entrance of cylinder. To fulfill the
calculations a modified version of KIVA-3V code which is a
transient, three-dimensional, multiphase, multi component code for
the analysis of chemically reacting flows with sprays, is used.
Abstract: This paper is based on a large questionnaire study. The
paper presents how all participants and subgroups (upper- and
lower-level white-collar workers) answered the question, “Have you
had an ache, pain, or numbness, which you associate with desktop
computer use, in the different body parts during the last 12 months?’
14.6% of participants (19.4% of women and 8.2% of men) reported
that they had often or very often physical symptoms in the neck. Even
if our results cannot prove a causal relation of symptoms with
computer use, show that workers believe that computer use can
influence their wellbeing: this is important when devising treatment
modalities to decrease these physical symptoms.
Abstract: The efficient and economic allocation of resources is
one main goal in the field of production planning and control.
Nowadays, a new variable gains in importance throughout the
planning process: Energy. Energy-efficiency has already been widely
discussed in literature, but with a strong focus on reducing the overall
amount of energy used in production. This paper provides a brief
systematic approach, how energy-supply-orientation can be used for
an energy-cost-efficient production planning and thus combining the
idea of energy-efficiency and energy-flexibility.
Abstract: Superabsorbent polymers received much attention and
are used in many fields because of their superior characters to
traditional absorbents, e.g., sponge and cotton. So, it is very
important but challenging to prepare highly and fast-swelling
superabsorbents. A reliable, efficient and low-cost technique for
removing heavy metal ions from wastewater is the adsorption using
bio-adsorbents obtained from biological materials, such as
polysaccharides-based hydrogels superabsorbents. In this study, novel multi-functional superabsorbent composites
type semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (Semi-IPNs) were
prepared via graft polymerization of acrylamide onto chitosan
backbone in presence of gelatin, CTS-g-PAAm/Ge, using potassium
persulfate and N,N’-methylene bisacrylamide as initiator and
crosslinker, respectively. These hydrogels were also partially
hydrolyzed to achieve superabsorbents with ampholytic properties
and uppermost swelling capacity. The formation of the grafted
network was evidenced by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
(ATR-FTIR) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). The porous
structures were observed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).
From TGA analysis, it was concluded that the incorporation of the Ge
in the CTS-g-PAAm network has marginally affected its thermal
stability. The effect of gelatin content on the swelling capacities of
these superabsorbent composites was examined in various media
(distilled water, saline and pH-solutions). The water absorbency was
enhanced by adding Ge in the network, where the optimum value was
reached at 2 wt. % of Ge. Their hydrolysis has not only greatly
optimized their absorption capacity but also improved the swelling
kinetic.These materials have also showed reswelling ability. We
believe that these super-absorbing materials would be very effective
for the adsorption of harmful metal ions from wastewater.
Abstract: This paper describes a novel sensor device, a pressure
pulse wave meter, which uses a bidirectional condenser microphone.
The microphone work as a microphone as well as a sensor with high
gain over a wide frequency range; they are also highly reliable and
economic. Currently aging is becoming a serious social issue in Japan causing
increased medical expenses in the country. Hence, it is important for
elderly citizens to check health condition at home, and to care the
health conditions through daily monitoring. Given this circumstances,
we developed a novel pressure pulse wave meter based on a
bidirectional condenser microphone: this device is used as a measuring
instrument of health conditions.
Abstract: The environmental, cultural, social, and technological
changes have led higher education institutes to question their
traditional roles. Many declarations and frameworks highlight the
importance of fulfilling social responsibility of higher education
institutes. The study aims at developing a framework of university
social responsibility and sustainability (USR&S) with focus on South
Valley University (SVU) as a case study of Egyptian Universities.
The study used meetings with 12 vice deans of community services
and environmental affairs on social responsibility and environmental
issues. The proposed framework integrates social responsibility with
strategic management through the establishment and maintenance of
the vision, mission, values, goals and management systems;
elaboration of policies; provision of actions; evaluation of services
and development of social collaboration with stakeholders to meet
current and future needs of the community and environment. The
framework links between different stakeholders internally and
externally using communication and reporting tools. The results show
that SVU integrates social responsibility and sustainability in its
strategic plans. It has policies and actions however fragmented and
lack of appropriate structure and budgeting. The proposed framework
could be valuable for researchers and decision makers of the
Egyptian Universities. The study proposed recommendations and
highlighted building on the results and conducting future research.
Abstract: Studying stress and strain trends in the femur and
recognizing femur failure mechanism is very important for
preventing hip fracture in the elderly. The aim of this study was to
identify high stress and strain regions in the femur during normal
walking and falling to find the mechanical behavior and failure
mechanism of the femur. We developed a finite element model of the
femur from the subject’s quantitative computed tomography (QCT)
image and used it to identify potentially high stress and strain regions
during the single-leg stance and the sideways fall. It was found that
fracture may initiate from the superior region of femoral neck and
propagate to the inferior region during a high impact force such as
sideways fall. The results of this study showed that the femur bone is
more sensitive to strain than stress which indicates the effect of
strain, in addition to effect of stress, should be considered for failure
analysis.
Abstract: The study is in application and analysis of two tourism
management tools that can contribute to making public managers
decision: the Barometer of Tourism Sustainability (BTS) and the
Ecological Footprint (EF). The results have shown that BTS allows
you to have an integrated view of the tourism system, awakening to
the need for planning of appropriate actions so that it can achieve the
positive scale proposed (potentially sustainable). Already the
methodology of ecological tourism footprint is an important tool to
measure potential impacts generated by tourism to tourist reality.
Abstract: Contemporary theories of sustainability, concerning
the natural and built environment, have recently introduced an
environmental attitude towards the architectural design that, in turn,
affects the practice of conservation and reuse of the existing building
stock. This paper presents an environmentally friendly approach
towards the conservation of vernacular architecture and it is based on
the results of a research program which involved the investigation of
sustainable design elements of traditional buildings in Cyprus. The
research in question showed that Cypriot vernacular architecture gave
more emphasis on cooling rather than heating strategies. Another
notable finding of the investigation was the great importance given to
courtyards as they enhance considerably, and in various ways, the
microclimatic conditions of the immediate environment with
favorable results throughout the year. Moreover, it was shown that
the reduction in temperature fluctuation observed in the closed and
semi-open spaces, compared to the respective temperature fluctuation
of the external environment -due to the thermal inertia of the building
envelope- helps towards the achievement of more comfortable living
conditions within traditional dwellings. This paper concludes with a
proposal of a sustainable approach towards the conservation of the
existing environment and the introduction of new environmental
criteria for the conservation of traditional buildings, beyond the
aesthetic, morphological and structural ones that are generally
applied.
Abstract: Sodium formate is the chemical substance used for
food additive. Catalase is the important antioxidative enzyme in
protecting the cell from oxidative damage by reactive oxygen species
(ROS). The resultant level of oxidative stress in sodium formatetreated
lymphocytes was investigated. The sodium formate
concentrations of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mg/mL were treated in
human lymphocytes for 12 hours. After 12 treated hours, catalase
activity change was measured in sodium formate-treated
lymphocytes. The results showed that the sodium formate
concentrations of 0.4 and 0.6 mg/mL significantly decreased catalase
activities in lymphocytes (P < 0.05). The change of catalase activity
in sodium formate-treated lymphocytes may be the oxidative damage
marker for detect sodium formate exposure in human.
Abstract: The rapid growth of multimedia technology demands
the secure and efficient access to information. This fast growing lose
the confidence of unauthorized duplication. Henceforth the protection
of multimedia content is becoming more important. Watermarking
solves the issue of unlawful copy of advanced data. In this paper,
blind video watermarking technique has been proposed. A luminance
layer of selected frames is interlaced into two even and odd rows of
an image, further it is deinterlaced and equalizes the coefficients of
the two shares. Color watermark is split into different blocks, and the
pieces of block are concealed in one of the share under the wavelet
transform. Stack the two images into a single image by introducing
interlaced even and odd rows in the two shares. Finally, chrominance
bands are concatenated with the watermarked luminance band. The
safeguard level of the secret information is high, and it is
undetectable. Results show that the quality of the video is not
changed also yields the better PSNR values.
Abstract: This study suggests the estimation method of stress
distribution for the beam structures based on TLS (Terrestrial Laser
Scanning). The main components of method are the creation of the
lattices of raw data from TLS to satisfy the suitable condition and
application of CSSI (Cubic Smoothing Spline Interpolation) for
estimating stress distribution. Estimation of stress distribution for the
structural member or the whole structure is one of the important
factors for safety evaluation of the structure. Existing sensors which
include ESG (Electric strain gauge) and LVDT (Linear Variable
Differential Transformer) can be categorized as contact type sensor
which should be installed on the structural members and also there are
various limitations such as the need of separate space where the
network cables are installed and the difficulty of access for sensor
installation in real buildings. To overcome these problems inherent in
the contact type sensors, TLS system of LiDAR (light detection and
ranging), which can measure the displacement of a target in a long
range without the influence of surrounding environment and also get
the whole shape of the structure, has been applied to the field of
structural health monitoring. The important characteristic of TLS
measuring is a formation of point clouds which has many points
including the local coordinate. Point clouds are not linear distribution
but dispersed shape. Thus, to analyze point clouds, the interpolation is
needed vitally. Through formation of averaged lattices and CSSI for
the raw data, the method which can estimate the displacement of
simple beam was developed. Also, the developed method can be
extended to calculate the strain and finally applicable to estimate a
stress distribution of a structural member. To verify the validity of the
method, the loading test on a simple beam was conducted and TLS
measured it. Through a comparison of the estimated stress and
reference stress, the validity of the method is confirmed.
Abstract: Brownfields are one of the most important problems
that must be solved by today's cities. The topic of this article is
description of developing a comprehensive transformation of postindustrial
area of the former iron factory national cultural heritage
lower Vítkovice. City of Ostrava used to be industrial superpower of
the Czechoslovak Republic, especially in the area of coal mining and
iron production, after declining industrial production and mining in
the 80s left many unused areas of former factories generally
brownfields and backfields. Since the late 90s we are observing how
the city officials or private entities seeking to remedy this situation.
Regeneration of brownfields is a very expensive and long-term
process. The area is now rebuilt for tourists and residents of the city
in the entertainment, cultural, and social center. It was necessary do
the reconstruction of the industrial monuments. Equally important
was the construction of new buildings, which helped reusing of the
entire complex. This is a unique example of transformation of
technical monuments and completion of necessary new objects, so
that the area could start working again and reintegrate back into the
urban system.
Abstract: The reduction of phosphorus and sulfur in engine oil
are the main topics of this paper. Very reproducible boundary
lubrication tests were conducted as part of Design of Experiment
software (DOE) to study the behavior of fluorinated catalyst iron
fluoride (FeF3), and polutetrafluoroethylene or Teflon (PTFE) in
developing environmentally friendly (reduced P and S) anti-wear
additives for future engine oil formulations. Multi-component
Chevron fully formulated oil (GF3) and Chevron plain oil were used
with the addition of PTFE and catalyst to characterize and analyze
their performance. Lower phosphorus blends were the goal of the
model solution. Experiments indicated that new sub-micron FeF3
catalyst played an important role in preventing breakdown of the
tribofilm.
Abstract: It is a major challenge to build a bridge superstructure
that has long-term durability and low maintenance requirements. A
solution to this challenge may be to use new materials or to
implement new structural systems. Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP)
composites have continued to play an important role in solving some
of persistent problems in infrastructure applications because of its
high specific strength, light weight, and durability. In this study, the
concept of the hybrid FRP-concrete structural systems is applied to a
bridge superstructure. The hybrid FRP-concrete bridge superstructure
is intended to have durable, structurally sound, and cost effective
hybrid system that will take full advantage of the inherent properties
of both FRP materials and concrete. In this study, two hybrid FRP-concrete
bridge systems were investigated. The first system consists
of trapezoidal cell units forming a bridge superstructure. The second
one is formed by arch cells. The two systems rely on using cellular
components to form the core of the bridge superstructure, and an
outer shell to warp around those cells to form the integral unit of the
bridge. Both systems were investigated analytically by using finite
element (FE) analysis. From the rigorous FE studies, it was
concluded that first system is more efficient than the second.
Abstract: The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the
sustainable development in the Belgrade Metropolitan Region - BMA
(level NUTS 2) preliminary evaluating the three chosen components:
1) economic growth and developmental changes; 2) competitiveness;
and 3) territorial concentration and industrial specialization. First, we
identified the main results of development changes and economic
growth by applying Shift-share analysis on the metropolitan level.
Second, the empirical evaluation of competitiveness in the BMA is
based on the analysis of absolute and relative values of eight
indicators by Spider method. Paper shows that the consideration of
the national share, industrial mix and metropolitan/regional share in
total Shift share of the BMA, as well as economic/functional
specialization of the BMA indicate very strong process of
deindustrialization. Allocative component of the BMA economic
growth has positive value, reflecting the above-average sector
productivity compared to the national average. Third, the important
positive role of metropolitan/regional component in decomposition of
the BMA economic growth is highlighted as one of the key results.
Finally, comparative analysis of the industrial territorial
concentration in the BMA in relation to Serbia is based on location
quotient (LQ) or Balassa index as a valid measure. The results
indicate absolute and relative differences in decrease of industry
territorial concentration as well as inefficiency of utilizing territorial
capital in the BMA. Results are important for the increase of regional
competitiveness and territorial distribution in this area as well as for
improvement of sustainable metropolitan and sector policies,
planning and governance on this level.
Abstract: This study investigates the effects of the lead angle
and chip thickness variation on surface roughness during the
machining of compacted graphite iron using ceramic cutting tools
under dry cutting conditions. Analytical models were developed for
predicting the surface roughness values of the specimens after the
face milling process. Experimental data was collected and imported
to the artificial neural network model. A multilayer perceptron model
was used with the back propagation algorithm employing the input
parameters of lead angle, cutting speed and feed rate in connection
with chip thickness. Furthermore, analysis of variance was employed
to determine the effects of the cutting parameters on surface
roughness. Artificial neural network and regression analysis were
used to predict surface roughness. The values thus predicted were
compared with the collected experimental data, and the
corresponding percentage error was computed. Analysis results
revealed that the lead angle is the dominant factor affecting surface
roughness. Experimental results indicated an improvement in the
surface roughness value with decreasing lead angle value from 88° to
45°.
Abstract: Aging infrastructures became a serious social problem.
This brought out the increased need for the legislation of a new strict
guideline for infrastructure management. Although existing guidelines
provided basics of how to evaluate and manage the condition of
infrastructures, they needed improvements for their evaluation
procedures. Most guidelines mainly focused on the structural
condition of infrastructures and did not properly reflect service aspects
of infrastructures such as performance, public demand, capacity, etc.,
which were significantly valuable to public. Regardless of the
importance, these factors were often neglected in infrastructure
evaluations, because they were quite subjective and difficult to
quantify in rational manner. Thus, this study proposed a framework to
properly identify and evaluate the service indicators. This study
showed that service indicators could be grouped into two categories
and properly evaluated using AHP and Fuzzy. Overall, proposed
framework is expected to assist governmental agency in establishing
effective investment strategies for infrastructure improvements.
Abstract: Several parameters are established in order to measure
biodiesel quality. One of them is the iodine value, which is an
important parameter that measures the total unsaturation within a
mixture of fatty acids. Limitation of unsaturated fatty acids is
necessary since warming of higher quantity of these ones ends in
either formation of deposits inside the motor or damage of lubricant.
Determination of iodine value by official procedure tends to be very
laborious, with high costs and toxicity of the reagents, this study uses
artificial neural network (ANN) in order to predict the iodine value
property as an alternative to these problems. The methodology of
development of networks used 13 esters of fatty acids in the input
with convergence algorithms of back propagation of back
propagation type were optimized in order to get an architecture of
prediction of iodine value. This study allowed us to demonstrate the
neural networks’ ability to learn the correlation between biodiesel
quality properties, in this caseiodine value, and the molecular
structures that make it up. The model developed in the study reached
a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.99 for both network validation and
network simulation, with Levenberg-Maquardt algorithm.