Flood Risk Reduction Model on Small Medium Enterprises

The main risk of flood for SMEs is the damage in production equipment and production site. As the business unit that suffered the most losses due to flood, flood risk for SMEs should be reduced. This study aimed to identify who are the stakeholders involved in the existing institutions, identify interests of stakeholders involved in flood risk reduction, analyzing the influence and dependence of stakeholders in reducing flood risk, analyzing the relationship between stakeholders in efforts to reduce flood risk, modeling relationships among stakeholders in efforts to reduce flood risk for small and medium enterprises in Klaten, Central Java, Indonesia. Mixed method approach, which is the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, was employed. Population of this study is SMEs in the flood-prone area in Klaten Regency. Structured interview was done to collect the data. Data analysis used stakeholder analysis based on the MICMAC and MACTOR program. The results of these study 13 stakeholders have crucial role in reducing flood risk. Their interests can be divided into humanity, main duty, safety, image, and income. In the effort of reducing the flood risks, BPBD together with respective village head and volunteers have the central role, while university has the lowest contribution.     Keywords: risk reduction, flood, vulnerability, stakeholders, SME

Development Model of Creative Industries: An Application of MACTOR

This study aims to identify the role of stakeholders in the development of creative industries in Sukoharjo district and formulate models of creative industry development through the patterns of stakeholder relationships involved. This research uses descriptive method. The analytical method uses MACTOR analysis to explain the relationship and role of stakeholders in developing creative industry. The results show that stakeholders representing the main players of creative economic development in Sukoharjo are the Department of Planning, Regional Research and Development, the Department of SME, the Department of Trade, the Department of Industry and Manpower and, the University, FEDEP, the Craft Association, and Entrepreneur. Stakeholders with the highest influence are SMIEs, so that they can be central figures in the development of creative industries. While the objectives consisting of Advantages, profit, network, main duty, and Local Income (PAD) received a positive response from all actors, meaning that all actors agreed with the objectives, and convergence was divided into two groups according to the interests of each stakeholder with the interests of each stakeholder. The problem of developing creative industries Sukoharjo is a complex problem that cannot be seen partially because it involves not only economic but also social, cultural and political issues. Not all stakeholders are actively involved in the development of creative economy and every stakeholder has different interests optimizing the development of creative industries is required model of coordination framework among stakeholders in the development of creative industries in Sukoharjo District.     Keywords: creative industry, handicraft, interest, influence, interdependence, stakeholders

Control Radiation Pattern for Half Width Microstrip Leaky Wave Antenna by Using PIN Diodes

In this paper, a novel design for single-layer half width microstrip leakywave antenna (HW-MLWA) is demonstrated. This model can be digitally control its radiation pattern at operation frequency and uses only two values of the bias voltage, with better impedance matching and insignificant gain variation. The scanning and controlling the radiation pattern of leaky-wave antennas (LWA) in steps at an operation frequency, by using switches PIN diodes, is investigated and a novel HW-MLWA is introduced. A control cell reconfigurable, that can be switched between two states, is the basic element of the antenna. The periodic LWA is molded by identical control cells where as a control radiation pattern is developed by combining numerous reconfigurable control cells. A gap capacitor is independently connected or disconnected in every unit cell by using a PIN diode switch to achieve fixedfrequency control radiation pattern scanning. The profile reactance at the free edge of (HW-MLWA) and thus the main lobe direction is altered by changing the states of the control cell. The antenna presented in this paper, can scan main beam between 18o to 44o at fixed frequency of 4.2 GHz with measured peak gain of 12.29 dBi

Blood pressure and heart rate adjustment following acute Frenkel’s ambulatory exercise in chronic hemiparetics stroke survivors: a comparative study

Background: Frenkel’s ambulatory activity has been routinely employed by physiotherapists for rehabilitation of gait coordination, however, its immediate influence on blood pressure and heart rate has not been investigated.Objective: To investigate the acute effect of Frenkel’s ambulatory activity on blood pressure and heart rate of chronic hemiparetic stroke survivors.Method: Using a comparative study design, 60 chronic hemiparetic stroke survivors of varying onset of stroke, ≤6, >6-11 and ≥12 months were subjected to a 2-minute Frenkel’s ambulatory activity on marked footsteps (from standard adult described footsteps). Participants were assessed for both blood pressure and heart rate before and after the Frenkel’s ambulatory activity.Results: Blood pressure and heart rate significantly increased (p<0.05) following Frenkel’s ambulatory activity in all the 3 categories of stroke onset above baseline. However, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) across the onsets in both blood pressure and heart rate responses.Conclusion: The outcome of this study indicated that Frenkel’s ambulatory activity has the propensity to increase blood pressure and heart rate of hemiparetic stroke survivors irrespective of the onset of stroke. We recommend a pre, within and post-activity monitoring of stroke survivors while subjecting them to Frenkel’s ambulatory activity.Keys words: cardiovascular, ambulatory activity, strok

A multiscale approach to the adsorption of core-shell nanoparticles at fluid interfaces

Self-assembly of colloidal particles at liquid–liquid interfaces is a process with great potential for the creation of controlled structures, due to the trapping of the particles in the plane of the interface combined with their lateral mobility. Here we present a multiscale characterisation of the adsorption and interfacial behaviour of core–shell iron oxide–poly(ethylene glycol) nanoparticles at a water–n-decane interface using three complementary, in situ, methods, which span many different length scales. First, dynamic interfacial measurements are taken to follow the adsorption of particles from the bulk aqueous phase to the interface. The mechanical properties of the interface are then probed using micron-sized tracers in probe-particle tracking and nano-tracers in fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. The results show that the rate of particle adsorption to the interface scales with the square of bulk concentration, as predicted by a recent model. In addition, we show that despite full monolayers of nanoparticles forming, the interface remains unexpectedly fluid, with only a slowing of tracer particle mobility but no evidence of interface jamming as seen for hard nanoparticles. Our results illustrate that nanoparticles stabilised by soft, extended polymeric shells, display distinct features at fluid interfaces that can be harnessed for the fabrication of functional materials.ISSN:1744-683XISSN:1744-684

Knowledge of poultry diseases, biosecurity and husbandry practices among stakeholders in poultry production in Kogi State, Nigeria

Commercial poultry production is low in Kogi State even before the advent of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI H5N1) outbreak in Nigeria. The low level of poultry production has persisted long after the socio -economic impacts of HPAI had improved. A study was conducted among 94 poultry stakeholders in the state with the use of questionnaire to assess their knowledge of poultry diseases, biosecurity and poultry husbandry practices in six Local Government Areas of Kogi State. The findings showed that 60.0% of poultry production was rural while the rest were backyard (semi commercial) poultry. About 64.7% of poultry kept were under extensive management with the commonest diseases seen under this management system being Newcastle disease (62.9%), Coccidiosis (52.3%), Fowl pox (46.9%), Gumboro disease (39.1%) and Fowl typhoid (36.1%). Biosecurity was poor as 92.9% of respondents did not have footbath or hand wash disinfection; 70% would throw away poultry litter in the refuse dump; 12% would use the poultry litter as manure while 11% would sell out the litter. In addition, 64.7% of the poultry farmers obtained their rearing stock from the live bird market and other unknown sources while only 35.3% obtained theirs from the hatchery. The findings of this study showed that the low level of commercial poultry production in Kogi State might be due to the impacts of diseases and poor husbandry practices undertaken by the farmers. It is recommended that government should train poultry farmers on biosecurity, disease prevention and the adoption of modern husbandry practices suitable for the traditional poultry production system

Wall slip and flow of concentrated hard-sphere colloidal suspensions

We present a comprehensive study of the slip and flow of concentrated colloidal suspensions using cone-plate rheometry and simultaneous confocal imaging. In the colloidal glass regime, for smooth, non-stick walls, the solid nature of the suspension causes a transition in the rheology from Herschel-Bulkley (HB) bulk flow behavior at large stress to a Bingham-like slip behavior at low stress, which is suppressed for sufficient colloid-wall attraction or colloid-scale wall roughness. Visualization shows how the slip-shear transition depends on gap size and the boundary conditions at both walls and that partial slip persist well above the yield stress. A phenomenological model, incorporating the Bingham slip law and HB bulk flow, fully accounts for the behavior. Microscopically, the Bingham law is related to a thin (sub-colloidal) lubrication layer at the wall, giving rise to a characteristic dependence of slip parameters on particle size and concentration. We relate this to the suspension's osmotic pressure and yield stress and also analyze the influence of van der Waals interaction. For the largest concentrations, we observe non-uniform flow around the yield stress, in line with recent work on bulk shear-banding of concentrated pastes. We also describe residual slip in concentrated liquid suspensions, where the vanishing yield stress causes coexistence of (weak) slip and bulk shear flow for all measured rates

AC ionic conductivity and DC polarization method of lithium ion transport in PMMA–LiBF4 gel polymer electrolytes

AbstractPolymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)-based gel polymer electrolytes comprising ethylene carbonate–propylene carbonate (EC/PC) mixed solvent plasticizer and various concentrations of lithium tetrafluoroborate (LiBF4) salt are prepared using a solvent casting technique. Electrical conductivity and transference number measurements were carried out to investigate conductivity and charge transport in the gel polymer electrolytes. The conductivity results show that the ionic conductivity of the samples increases when the amount of salt is increased, however decreases after reaching the optimum value. This result is consistent with the transference number measurements. The conductivity–frequency dependence plots show two distinct regions; i.e. at lower frequencies the conductivity increases with increasing frequency and the frequency independent plateau region at higher frequencies. The temperature-dependence conductivity of the films seems to obey the Arrhenius rule