4101 research outputs found
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Are SMEs ready for Industry 4.0 technologies: an exploratory study of I 4.0 technological impacts
No full textFourth Industrial revolution, Industry 4.0– A rapidly growing world of digitization that opens the doorway for new era of automation plays a crucial role within the industry which requires a constant research and improvements to achieve and sustain themselves in current world of competitive market. Implementation of industry 4.0 technologies pioneer for a profit maximization with cost reduction and has even realized to show a significant refinement in improved sustainability. Global Market leading organisations are positioning themselves with world of digitisation to their end consumers utilising the digital marketing, e-commerce and customer experience virtually driving towards a completely new era of digital ecosystem. Supply chain management (SCM) within the small and medium enterprises (SME’s) plays an important role in supporting the global manufacturing economies. SME’s lacks the understanding and significance of transforming themselves with the extremely complex digital supply chain systems that may leads to losses if they don’t embrace now for innovations and implement the latest technological advancements. This paper aims to examine the current trends and impacts of latest technologies within the SME’s with the view of key factors of Industry 4.0
Students as Partners in E-Content Creation: A case study exploring student-staff partnership for learning and student engagement using digital applications for co-creation of e-learning materials.
No full textIn order to enable learners to take control of their learning needs and actively contribute in their learning processes, educators can partner with students in various reciprocal student-staff partnership (SSP) settings where students can be co-creators, co-producers, curators or co-deliverers of the curriculum. This case study, undertaken to enhance the curriculum as part of teaching qualification, places emphasis on educators partnering with first-year undergraduate students over e-content creation within an existing module using readily accessible digital applications in order to promote active learning in students and improve student engagement. The extent to which SSP as an approach to the creation of e-learning materials using digital applications, enhanced learning and student engagement in an existing module, was evaluated. Results indicated, students’ perceived SSP to be an excellent platform for learning, actively engaging in the classroom as well as for developing various skills. However, some concerns were expressed with regards to overcoming the power hierarchy barrier within an SSP initiative
No Association was Detected between Polymorphism of COL1A2 Genes and Occurrence of Dental Fluorosis Among the Subjects Living in a Fluorosis-Endemic Area of India
No full textObjective: To determine any genetic association of COL1A2 polymorphism and the occurrence of dental fluorosis within an Indian human dental fluorosis population.Material and Methods: Fifty-six (56) subjects from two groups i.e. cases with dental fluorosis from the Pavagada population (n=29) and a control group (n=27) without fluorosis, were explored. The ages ranged between 15 and 76 years (mean 50.8 years) were included, and the male to female ratio was 70:30. The severity of dental fluorosis was graded using WHO’s Thylstrup-Fejerskov index (TF), and the concentration of fluoride was determined by a fluoride ion selective electrode (ISE). Genomic DNA was extracted using the standard phenol-chloroform method. The rs412777 and rs414408 polymorphism in COL1A2 were genotyped using the Sanger sequence method.Results: Genotype distributions for rs412777 within each group were: AA 41%, AC 51%, and CC 7% for dental fluorosis participants, and AA 56%, AC 46%, and CC 0% for the control participants.Conclusions: The rs412777 and rs414408 polymorphisms in the COL1A2gene showed no significant association between COL1A2 and the occurrence of dental fluorosis amongst this Indian population
The Artistry of Neil Gaiman: Finding Light in the Shadows ed. by Joseph Michael Sommers and Kyle Eveleth (review)
No full textEvaluation of bandwidth resource allocation using dynamic LSP and LDP in MPLS for wireless networks
No full textFairness in bandwidth resource allocation is of high significance to the advancement in mobile and wireless technologies. It is likely that starvation of bandwidth due to some scheduling scheme would not be an appropriate option for the future development in the communication systems. However, there is need to consider an implementation that would lead to good network performance and avoid unguaranteed bandwidth delivery. This paper will be focusing on the evaluating performance of Bandwidth Allocation using Dynamic Label Switching Paths (LSPs) Tunnelling and Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) signaling in MPLS network. This will make provision for bandwidth allocation and reservation possible. An appropriate bandwidth allocation would have positive impact on throughput as well as the delay. It is an extension of the existing network model designed using network simulator. The results of an IP (Internet Protocol) Network without MPLS enabled is compared with MPLS model network. Furthermore, implementation of dynamic and static LSPs models are presented. In addition, there are models of bandwidth estimation, bandwidth allocation, delay and jitter. Therefore, performance metrics used in this respect are throughput, end-to-end delay and packet delay variation of the multimedia services (Voice and Video conferencing). These confirmed that the modified models have been improved as compared with the baseline.Show full item recor
Andrea Handley in conversation with Jerome Carson
No full textPurpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Andrea Handley.
Design/methodology/approach
In this case study, Andrea gives a short account of her background and is then interviewed by Jerome.
Findings
Andrea outlines a number of issues from her childhood that led to her later mental health problems.
Research limitations/implications
Individual case studies are of course just the story of one person's difficulties. For too long in psychiatry, case studies were written by professionals about their lives and problems. First person accounts allow the individual to tell their own narrative.
Practical implications
Andrea is not the first person to talk about the delay in access to mental health services. As she notes, 16 years on, she is still waiting for that referral! She notes that a friend of her could not wait even the three months that she had been and tragically took her own life.
Social implications
So much of Andrea's story is overshadowed by loss, especially the death of her brother when she was a teenager. As a society, we are no as well "prepared" for death, as older generations. The coronavirus pandemic is bringing our mortality home to all of us.
Originality/value
Patricia Deegan once asked, "How much loss could a human heart hold?" In this moving account Andrea lets us see the huge losses she has sustained and yet she is still determined to try and help others who are suffering. Hers is truly a remarkable life
Investigation and optimization for depth of cut and surface roughness for control depth milling in Titanium Ti6AL4V with abrasive water jet cutting
No full textAbrasive water jet (AWJ) cutting has been widely used in industries because of its precise cutting tech- nique. However, the effectiveness of AWJ cutting is dependent on machine operating parameters and the material properties. In this research AWJ cutting was applied on Titanium Ti6AL4V Grade 5 material to investigate the effects on depth of cut (DoC) and roughness. Taguchi L 27 experiments were conducted at three levels with operating parameters such as water pressure, transverse speed, abrasive mass flow rate, abrasive orifice size; a novel approach of ratio 3:1 was adopted with nozzle and orifice diameter to accommodate more parameters for investigation and to inspect the variation of these parameters in real time. Minitab 2017 software was used to simulate the influencing parameters with ANOVA. (GRA) Grey relational analysis linked with Taguchi technique represents a novel approach to optimization. It is a normalization estimation technique extended to elucidate the complex multi -performance character- istics. GRA is used for optimizing the process parameter which helped in determining the optimal param- eters for roughness and depth of cut, ANOVA was used for analyzing the effect of independent variables on dependent variables, as per ANOVA the P values and the S/N ration rank indicated that water pressure was the most influencing parameter for surface roughness and transverse speed was the most influencing parameter for the depth of cut. The prediction of cutting depth through GRA optimization proved a valu- able tool for the controlled depth milling (CDM) in Ti6Al4V material. (c) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer -review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2nd International Con- ference on Recent Advances in Materials & Manufacturing Technologies
Facing the fear: resilience and social support in veterans and civilians with PTSD
No full textPurposeThis study aims to investigate the effects of resilience and social support on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a sample of 121 veterans (n = 56) and civilians (n = 65).Design/methodology/approachGender, age and marital status were collected, along with occupation for civilians and the unit served with, rank, length of time deployed, overall months active and location for veterans. The trauma experiences scale for civilians, the PTSD checklist for civilian and military, Resilience Research Centre's Adult Resilience Measure-28, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and the Deployment Risk and Resiliency Inventory-2 scales were used.FindingsThe results revealed for both samples, resilience and social support (except unit support for veterans) impacted PTSD symptoms. However, social support did not mediate the relationship between resilience and PTSD.Originality/valueThe originality of this research stems from the incorporation of both a civilian and military sample by comparing their levels of PTSD, resilience and social support
The sensitivity of countermovement jump, creatine kinase and urine osmolality to 90-min of competitive match-play in elite English Championship football players 48-h post-match
No full textPurpose: Examine changes from 90-minutes of competitive match-play in countermovement jump (CMJ), creatine kinase (CK) and urine osmolality (Uosm) in elite football players over a season and their association to match external load.Methods: Eighteen football players participated. CMJ, CK and Uosm were collected 24-h pre-match and 48-h post-match. Match-performance data was examined using Prozone®.Results: Post-match CK concentrations increased 49 % (ES: 0.66), while CMJ flight-time (FT), flight time: contraction time ratio (FT:CT), take-off velocity (TV) and average power (AP) decreased 2.4-7.4 % post-match (ES: 0.39-0.63). CMJ height post-match reduced 4.2 % (ES: 0.35). CMJ FT and AP showed associations with high intensity distance covered (HID), high intensity number (HIN), explosive sprints (EXS) and medium intensity accelerations (r = -0.395 to -0.496). Changes in CMJ FT also displayed associations to total sprint distance (TSD), total sprint number (TSN) and medium intensity decelerations (r = -0.395 to -0.446, P < 0.05). Increases in CMJ CT were associated with HIN (r = 0.39), and CMJ AF with HIN, EXS and medium accelations/decelerations (r = -0.397 to 0.459) completed during the match.Conclusion: CMJ outputs from the push-off phase and countermovement phase were sensitive to change in neuromuscular fatigue. CK concentrations were sensitive to match-play demands. This helps practitioners determine player readiness and has implications for individual recovery strategies
Hydroxypropyl modified /organosolv lignin - biobased polyamide blend filaments as carbon fibre precursors
No full textHydroxypropyl modified lignin (TcC) and organosolv lignin (TcA) were melt blended with two types of bio-based polyamides (PA) (PA1010 and PA1012) before being melt spun into filaments. With a lignin/bio-PA ratio 50/50 wt.%, the filaments could be continuously produced and spooled having tensile strengths ≥20 MPa and moduli ≥500MPa. The influence of each polyamide blended with each lignin on structural (FTIR), thermal (DSC, TGA, DMA), mechanical, rheological and morphological properties of the resultant extrudates and/or filaments were studied. The melting point of each polyamide was reduced in the presence of TcA and TcC lignin and, shifts in the glass transition temperature (Tg) and FTIR characteristic peaks occurred, which suggests that the selected polyamides and lignins are compatible with each other.The improved lignin/polyamide compatibilities were further supported by Pukanszky interfacial adhesion modelling. Despite the evidence for strong interactions, heterogeneous morphologies were observed in the resulting blends and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to determine dispersed lignin domain sizes which decreased when stronger lignin/polyamide interactions resulted.As a possible indicator of carbonisation efficiencies, blends were subjected to a simulated stabilisation/cross-linking process and subsequent TGA char residues were higher than those theoretically calculated at 880oC, indicating that the bio-polyamide acted as a char-promoting agent for the lignin besides being a good blending partner. Overall, this study has indicated that the developed lignin/bio-polyamide filaments have potential as melt-extrudable precursors for carbon fibre production