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Climate change model as a decision support tool for water resources management in northern Iraq: a case study of Greater Zab River
No full textThe northern region of Iraq heavily depends on rivers, such as the Greater Zab, for water supply and irrigation. Thus, river water management in light of future climate change is of paramount importance in the region. In this study, daily rainfall and temperature obtained from the Greater Zab catchment, for 1961–2008, were used in building rainfall and evapotranspiration models using LARS-WG and multiple linear regressions, respectively. A rainfall–runoff model, in the form of autoregressive model with exogenous factors, has been developed using observed flow, rainfall and evapotranspiration data. The calibrated rainfall–runoff model was subsequently used to investigate the impacts of climate change on the Greater Zab flows for the near (2011–2030), medium (2046–2065), and far (2080–2099) futures. Results from the impacts model showed that the catchment is projected to suffer a significant reduction in total annual flow in the far future; with more severe drop during the winter and spring seasons in the range of 25 to 65%. This would have serious ramifications for the current agricultural activities in the catchment. The results could be of significant benefits for water management planners in the catchment as they can be used in allocating water for different users in the catchment
A systematic review exploring how young people use online forums for support around mental health issues
No full textObjective: Young people are increasingly looking to the Internet for support. One area that has received limited attention to date is the way in which this group uses online forums to support mental health difficulties. This paper therefore reviews the literature that has been conducted in this area with a view to examining the opportunities and challenges that service users associate with such support.Methods: A systematic review of electronic databases was undertaken to find the empirical research investigating how young people experience using online forums for support around mental health issues. The retrieved papers were reviewed for relevance and assessed for quality before being examined for key themes.Findings: 21 relevant papers were found. The meta-synthesis identified three themes associated with the opportunities (1) Obtaining emotional and Informational Support, (2) Fostering therapeutic Change, and (3) The practical advantages of the medium, and three themes associated with the challenges (1) Technological difficulties (2) User safety, and (3) Communication problems.Conclusion: This review concludes that online forums can be incredibly useful places for young people to seek out support for mental health issues. The environment provides unique advantages and disadvantages, with the technology proving to be both a help and hindrance
Response of natural sisal reinforced polyester composites to three-point and four-point bending
No full textIn engineering, prevention of failure of materials is of cardinal importance. Once failure can be predicted and anticipated fairly correctly, timely corrective measures can be taken to avert catastrophes. This way, costs would be reduced and profits maximized. Some of the difficult materials to predict the failure for are natural fibre reinforced composites due to the fact that fibres do not all fail at the same time with load value. Some fibres fail earlier than others, thereby exhibiting lesser failure values than theoretically calculated. In this research, polyester resin was reinforced with natural sisal using the hand lay-up process. Three types of reinforcement mats were used. Two were handmade while one was machine made. Composites of varying sisal volume fractions were made. Pressure of 15 – 20 bar was applied to the slates for 15 minutes before allowing them to cure at room temperature for 24 hours. Pressure was applied in order to eliminate air bubbles and also to ensure an even and flat resultant surface. Test specimens from the resultant composites were subjected to three-point and four-point bending to determine the Young's modulus, E. The results revealed that E values for all the composites were lower that what was theoretically calculated from the volume fractions; the hand-made mats resulted in lower E values than the machine-made mat; it was also observed that the higher the volume fraction, the higher the E value obtained experimentally
An overview of sustainable practices in food processing supply chain environments
No full textClimate change has been a great challenge that the world is facing, it is a menace to the society and it is causing more damage than expected. The researchers are working tirelessly to reduce its impact on the planet in order to save the future. Mitigation of greenhouse gas emission and other sustainable practices is encouraged every day to make the world a better place to live Sustainable practice has been identified as one of the major tools to control this greenhouse gas emission especially in the emergent nations where industrialisation is now growing rapidly. This paper discusses and analyses the food security and food processing industry in the emergent nations. It also reviews literature on food processing, supply chain environments, sustainability and sustainable practices in relation to how these could help in promoting the sustainable development and environmental protection goals in the emergent nations
Leisure in Worktown
No full textThe Worktown archive offers a unique insight into the contribution of leisure to well-being as part of the everyday life of the individual and the neighbourhood community. It shows how in a new phase of modernity of the cinema and wireless, people were not passive consumers but retained agency in the construction of their own leisure lives. This chapter provides an outline commentary on inter-war practices and understandings of leisure and compares them to those of the present as digital media create new means of forming on-line communities and social identity through leisure
Influence of plasma pre-treatment of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) micropowders on the mechanical and tribological performance of polyethersulfone (PESU)-PTFE and impact modified polyamide (PA66)-PTFE compounds
No full textPolytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), (CF2-CF2)n exhibits a low coefficient of friction (CoF, 0.07 - 0.15) and is therefore widely used as an additive in polymer compounds to improve their friction and wear properties. However, its applications in polymer compounds are limited due to the PTFE’s inherent poor chemical reactivity, low wettability and poor adhesion with other polymers preventing the establishment of good interfacial bonding. To overcome this, the work introduces plasma treatment of PTFE micropowders in a low-pressure 2.45 GHz microwave plasma reactor, using NH3 and H2 as process gasses to chemically modify their surface by introducing surface nitrogen and oxygen polar groups leading to more hydrophilic surfaces. The presence of these functional groups enhances the surface energy of the plasma treated PTFE and enhances the compatibility with thermoplastic polymers. It must be emphasised that nearly all the literature existing on the surface functionalisation of PTFE focuses on the PTFE films only. The first publication from this research work, in the group of three, reports on the effects of the H2, NH3 plasma processing time (2.5, 10 h), resulting defluorination (1.13 for NH3/10h, 1.30 for H2/10h as compared to 1.86 for pristine PTFE) and measurement of changes in wettability and crystallinity of the PTFE micropowders. The resulting plasma modified PTFE micropowders were further used as dry lubricants to enhance the tribological and mechanical properties of amorphous polyethersulfone (PESU) and semi-crystalline α-olefin-copolymer impact-modified polyamide 66 (PA66i) polymer compounds resulting in the next two publications. At the same loading levels (10wt%) of PTFE, prepared using twin-screw compounding, the pinon- disc tribological measurements of the PESU-PTFE compounds revealed a lowCoF from 0.55 for pristine PESU to 0.20 along with corresponding reduction in the wear rates from 5.75 x 10-06 mm3/Nm (pristine PTFE) to 4.70 x 10-06 mm3/Nm (for H2 treated PTFE) to 3.42 x 10-06 mm3/Nm (for NH3 treated PTFE). In the PA66i matrix, the wear rates of the pristine and plasma treated PTFE were observed to be similar for the sliding speeds up to 2 m/s. However, at the higher sliding speeds, the benefits of plasma treatment became more apparent. At the sliding speed of 3 m/s, the wear rate of pristine PTFE-PA66i compound was 1.1 x 10-06 (± 0.2) mm3/Nm whereas the wear rate of H2 treated PTFE was 0.7 x 10-06 (± 0.1) mm3/Nm and the wear rate of NH3 treated PTFE was 0.6 x 10-06 (± 0.1) mm3/Nm. These improvements in the tribological and mechanical properties have been ascribed to the enhanced dispersion of PTFE in the host matrix with the plasma processing introduced functional polar groups providing enhanced intermolecular bonding (as confirmed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical-thermal analysis) between the components. Therefore, the incorporation of functional groups into PTFE micro-powders by plasma treatment is an effective and efficient route for enhancing the mechanical and tribological properties of engineering polymer compounds such as PESU-PTFE and PA66i- PTFE offering significant cost and environmental benefits over the existing e- beam and wet chemical technologies
The role of pharmacists in caring for young people with chronic illness
No full textPurposeTo explore the perceived and potential roles of pharmacists in the care of young people aged 10–24 years with chronic illness, through the exemplar of juvenile arthritis, from the perspectives of UK community and hospital pharmacists, health service commissioners, rheumatology health professionals, and lay advocates.Methods A sequential mixed methods study design comprises the following: focus groups with community and hospital pharmacists; telephone interviews with pharmacy and rheumatology stakeholders and commissioners; and multidisciplinary group discussions to prioritize roles generated by the first two qualitative phases.Results The high priority roles for pharmacists, identified by pharmacists and rheumatology staff, were developing generic health care skills among young people; transferring information effectively across care interfaces; building trusting relationships with young people; helping young people to find credible online health information; and the need to develop specialist expertise. Participants identified associated challenges for pharmacists in supporting young people with chronic illness. These challenges included parents collecting prescription refills alone, thus reducing opportunities to engage, and pharmacist isolation from the wider health care team.Conclusions This study has led to the identification of specific enhancements to pharmacy services for young people, which have received the endorsement of a wide range of stakeholders. These suggestions could inform the next steps in developing the contribution of community and hospital pharmacy to support young people with chronic illness in the optimal use of their medication
Contribution of additive manufacturing systems to Supply Chain
No full textThe current economic pressures have been challenging manufacturing SMEs that play a complicated role in the Supply Chain (SC); and innovation in the manufacturing supply chain which requires new approaches and technologies. Additive Manufacturing (AM) is considered by research studies as pioneering and disruptive technology that can drive such a transformation. This paper is aimed at investigating in what measures can additive manufacturing techniques adopted as an opportunity for the supply chain in SMEs. Initially, the literature review looks into needs and challenges of SMEs in the SC identifying solutions and strategies. The research further analyses AM's impact on the supply chain, evaluating benefits and drawbacks that AM delivers in this context. IT aims to examine the use of strategic maps, analytical tools and suitable tactical paths to implement and integrate this technology within supply chain. The paper describes the potential effects of the open sources networks and hence argues that a gradual integration of AM with traditional technologies is a plausible way for small manufacturers. However, there are several innovative approaches, and this scenario is rapidly evolving. Material and machines costs reduction could deliver significant changes. Therefore, further and updated investigations from a supply chain perspective are recommended, especially looking at practical cases and examples for this study within this context
The "Water Cooler" applied game
No full textMuch has been written about the theoretical potential of digital games to transform teaching and learning and to offer new forms of digital assessment; yet the education system in the United Kingdom (UK) is arguably still focused exclusively on the assessment and reward of individual effort and achievement. This can be at odds with the requirements of twenty-first century working environments and in the requirements for developing the personal employability characteristics of students. Engaging students in authentic collaborative project work that requires sophisticated and coordinated communication can present real challenges.Employers are demanding, as prerequisite, that graduates have highly developed communication and collaborative team working skills for opportunities in the digital industries such as Games Design, however Games Design students are often quite isolated in their personal industry related practice, working methods and their online lifestyles and lack the “soft skills” which would enable them to work successfully within a team. In this paper, the authors elaborate on how Hull School of Art and Design has attempted to address this problem through the implementation of an Applied Game, the “Watercooler Game”, for their Games Industry undergraduates. They present their reflections on the rationale behind the pedagogic approach, the decision to develop an applied game to address their pedagogic challenges and their experience of working with a commercial Games Developer in producing the game. The authors present the initial findings of their evaluation of game from a multidimensional perspective. The pedagogic approach (using applied games with a selected small cohort of students), the technical approach adopted by the developers of the game (an open source asset based approach) and the pedagogic efficacy of the game through evaluation of the learning objectives achieved by a cohort of seventy learners situated in the College’s School of Art and Design