MOTIVATION AND BARRIERS OF UNEPLOYED PEOPLE REGARDING THEIR PARTICIPATION IN LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMS: A CASE STUDY IN A PREFECTURE OF GREECE

This article presents the results of a survey on the motivation and barriers of unemployed people regarding their participation in lifelong learning programs in a prefecture of Greece. As for the methodology followed, we selected the quantitative research, which was based on the collection of quantitative research data from 109 unemployed persons using a structured questionnaire during November and December 2019. The questionnaire used in this study was based on the PRB Questionnaire, which was slightly adjusted to fit the unemployed population. Specifically, most of the unemployed (62.4%) who participated in this survey stated that they did not participate in any seminar, training program or educational activity related to their profession. Even lower participation rates are found in general adult education programs, with only 22% saying they have attended some educational activity. Regarding the motivation of unemployed people to participate in a vocational training program, the research participants stated that finding a job was the most important motivation. They then set priorities to be more efficient in their jobs, to increase their financial returns and to maintain their future jobs. With regard to the barriers for unemployed people to participate in a vocational training program, the most important obstacle in all questions is the cost of participation. Next in the hierarchy are the lack of information, the difficulty of moving, the lack of time due to work obligations, the lack of time for occupations and the lack of time due to family obligations. Article visualizations

Computational fluid dynamic simulation of an electric arc furnace

Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο--Μεταπτυχιακή Εργασία. Διεπιστημονικό-Διατμηματικό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών (Δ.Π.Μ.Σ.) “Υπολογιστική Μηχανικ

Deciphering the molecular mechanism of water boiling at heterogeneous interfaces

Water boiling control evolution of natural geothermal systems is widely exploited in industrial processes due to the unique non-linear thermophysical behavior. Even though the properties of water both in the liquid and gas state have been extensively studied experimentally and by numerical simulations, there is still a fundamental knowledge gap in understanding the mechanism of the heterogeneous nucleate boiling controlling evaporation and condensation. In this study, the molecular mechanism of bubble nucleation at the hydrophilic and hydrophobic solid–water interface was determined by performing unbiased molecular dynamics simulations using the transition path sampling scheme. Analyzing the liquid to vapor transition path, the initiation of small void cavities (vapor bubbles nuclei) and their subsequent merging mechanism, leading to successively growing vacuum domains (vapor phase), has been elucidated. The molecular mechanism and the boiling nucleation sites’ location are strongly dependent on the solid surface hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity. Then simulations reveal the impact of the surface functionality on the adsorbed thin water molecules film structuring and the location of high probability nucleation sites. Our findings provide molecular-scale insights into the computational aided design of new novel materials for more efficient heat removal and rationalizing the damage mechanisms

Diffusion and Gas Flow Dynamics in Partially Saturated Smectites.

Clays and clay rocks are considered good natural and engineered barriers for deep geological disposal of nuclear waste worldwide. Metal corrosion and organic waste degradation in underground repositories generate significant amounts of gas that should be able to migrate through the multibarrier system to avoid potential pressure buildup, which could be compromising the integrity of the barriers and host rocks. The gas is expected to accumulate in larger pores and eventually form an interconnected network. Under such conditions, the migration of gas molecules takes place both in pore water films and gas-filled macropores. Therefore, mass fluxes depend on the distribution of gas molecules between the water-rich and gas-rich phases and their mobility in both compartments. Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were employed to investigate the mobilities of He, H2, CO2, Ar, and CH4 in a Na-montmorillonite mesopore as a function of the degree of saturation, as well as evaluate the hydrodynamic behavior of the pore fluid in partially saturated clays. The diffusivity of the gas molecules was determined by observing the asymptotic behavior of the mean square displacement in the gas-rich phase and at the gas-water interface. The partition coefficient and Gibbs free energy were analyzed to investigate the transfer of gas molecules between the gas-rich and water-rich phases by observing the molecular trajectories as they cross the vapor-liquid interface. The results revealed that the diffusion coefficient in the gas phase increased with increasing gas-filled pore width and converged asymptotically toward the diffusion coefficient in the bulk state. It could be shown that the diffusion coefficient of gas molecules dissolved in the water films remained constant as long as the interacting water surface was in the bulk-liquid-like phase. This behavior changes in very thin water films. It was observed that the partitioning coefficient of gas molecules at the solid-liquid interface is nearly the same as that in the bulk-liquid-like phase. Partitioning is observed to be strongly dependent on the temperature and gas molecular weights. In the second part of the study, nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations were performed to investigate the mobility of gases in pressure-driven decoupled gas-phase dynamics (DGPD) and coupled gas and water phase dynamics (CGWPD) in a partially saturated Na-montmorillonite slit mesopore. The dynamic viscosity of the gas phase was calculated from NEMD simulations and indicated that the viscosity of the gas phase was almost the same in both methods (DGPD and CGWPD). The average slip length for gas molecules at the gas-water interface was also calculated, revealing that the slip-free boundary condition assumed in continuum models is generally invalid for microfluidics and that a slip boundary condition exists at the microscale for specific surface interactions. Finally, a Bosanquet-type equation was developed to predict the diffusion coefficient and dynamic viscosity of gas as a function of the average pore width, gas mean-free path, geometric factor, and thickness of the adsorbed water film

GeoTriples: Transforming geospatial data into RDF graphs using R2RML and RML mappings

A lot of geospatial data has become available at no charge in many countries recently. Geospatial data that is currently made available by government agencies usually do not follow the linked data paradigm. In the few cases where government agencies do follow the linked data paradigm (e.g., Ordnance Survey in the United Kingdom), specialized scripts have been used for transforming geospatial data into RDF. In this paper we present the open source tool GeoTriples which generates and processes extended R2RML and RML mappings that transform geospatial data from many input formats into RDF. GeoTriples allows the transformation of geospatial data stored in raw files (shapefiles, CSV, KML, XML, GML and GeoJSON) and spatially-enabled RDBMS (PostGIS and MonetDB) into RDF graphs using well-known vocabularies like GeoSPARQL and stSPARQL, but without being tightly coupled to a specific vocabulary. GeoTriples has been developed in European projects LEO and Melodies and has been used to transform many geospatial data sources into linked data. We study the performance of GeoTriples experimentally using large publicly available geospatial datasets, and show that GeoTriples is very efficient and scalable especially when its mapping processor is implemented using Apache Hadoop

Optimizing Building Thermal Insulation: The Impact of Brick Geometry and Thermal Coefficient on Energy Efficiency and Comfort

The thermal insulation properties of building walls are critical to the overall energy efficiency and comfort of a building. One important factor that can affect these properties is the type of bricks used in construction. Bricks can vary in their geometry and thermal coefficient, which can impact their ability to transfer heat through the wall. The geometry of a brick can affect its thermal properties by altering the amount of air trapped within it and the surface area available for heat transfer. Hollow bricks or those with complex geometries may have lower thermal conductivity than regular solid bricks due to the air pockets trapped within them. Conversely, larger surface areas on the exterior of the brick can increase heat transfer. The thermal coefficient of clay, a common material used in brick production, is another important factor. Clay has relatively low thermal conductivity, meaning it is a poor conductor of heat. However, the quality of the clay, as well as the firing temperature and duration used in brick production, can impact its thermal coefficient. Higher firing temperatures and longer firing times can result in a more compact and dense clay brick, which can improve its thermal properties. In summary, the thermal insulation properties of building walls can be significantly affected by the type of bricks used in their construction. It is important to consider the geometry and thermal coefficient of the bricks when designing a building to achieve the desired level of thermal insulation. By selecting bricks with appropriate properties, designers can help to improve the energy efficiency and comfort of the building while reducing its environmental impact

Direct determination of amorphous number density from the reduced Pair Distribution Function

The inference of amorphous bulk density, while straightforward for nonporous, soluble materials, may present a formidable challenge in some of the most important classes of industrial applications, involving melts, porous solids, and non-soluble organic pharmaceuticals, with varied implications depending on the material’s level of technological interest. Within nanotechnology and the life sciences in particular, accurate determination of amorphous true density is a frequent requirement and a regular puzzle, when, e.g., neither the Archimedean principle nor gas pycnometry may be applied, the former being only applicable to insoluble compounds, while the latter yielding skeletal density – an overestimate of true density to the extent of blind pores – and its efficiency is affected by the choice of the gas medium. In these cases, it is feasible to infer amorphous density from diffraction experiments through the use of the reduced Pair Distribution Function (PDF). Although an estimate of crystalline density has been known to be possible via the PDF shape, here we outline a new method extending this facility to include the estimation of amorphous density

Assessment of Magnesia Refractories Corrosion by Iron-Rich Slags

High purity magnesia refractories have been tested for their resistance to iron-rich converter slags of ferronickel production. Laboratory tests were performed using crucibles made from magnesia refractories filled with slag at temperatures up to 1700 °C and contact times of 1, 2, 4, or 8 h. SEM observations and microanalyses performed on both refractories and slag indicated the progressive substitution of Mg in magnesia refractories by iron and production of magnesiowustite ((Mg, Fe)O), thus forming an affected intermediate zone with a depth depending on contact time and temperature. At the most aggressive conditions investigated, i.e., temperature 1700 °C and 8 h contact time, the maximum depth of the intermediate affected zone measured was 1.57 mm. Thermodynamic simulation of the system with FactSage 7.0 confirmed the formation of magnesiowustite with progressively higher rates of Mg substitution by Fe that decreases the melting point of (Mg, Fe)O, resulting in the progressive corrosion of the converters’ lining

Μελέτη πολτών προενυδατωμένης ιπτάμενης τέφρας Προλεμαΐδας και μιγμάτων αυτής με τσιμέντο τύπου Portland

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