Developing a Greenometer for green manufacturing assessment

In this paper a toolbox (Greenometer) to assess the greenness level of manufacturing companies is proposed. The assessment approach is based on capturing the relative greenness position of any company among other industries from different sectors as well as within the same sector. The assessment was based on selected greenness attributes and their composing indicators at each of the two levels of the developed Greenometer. Geometric Mean Method (GMM) was adopted to be the generic assessment technique for cross industries greenness evaluation, while Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was employed to assess the greenness level of intra-industries layer. Three different industrial applications were used to demonstrate the applicability of the developed Greenometer. Results highlighted how the proposed tool can be a useful for manufacturing managers not only in understanding their green performance position at various levels, but also aiding them in their green transformation/improvement efforts. Specifically, the Greenometer assessment scores will help in setting plans through highlighting prioritized areas of required improvement as well as offering quantitative targets and tracking metrics along the transformation journey

STR-941: NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BARRIERS SUBJECTED TO BLAST LOADING

People’s lives are threatened by explosions; the tragic terrorist attacks have forced the governments to consider the importance of dealing with these attacks. With the rising threat of terrorism, protecting critical civil infrastructure such as embassies, governmental buildings, and airports against bomb attacks has become a critical issue. In the current research, reinforced concrete barriers subjected to blast loading are numerically investigated using Applied Element Method “AEM”. The blast loads adopts the ASCE guidance for design of blast-resistant buildings in petrochemical facilities. Fully nonlinear dynamic analysis was considered where the barriers thickness and reinforcement, end connections were parametrically investigated. It was found that the thickness and reinforcement of the barriers affect the barriers’ response, where the most significant parameter was the wall thickness

An integrated kinetic model for downdraft gasifier based on a novel approach that optimises the reduction zone of gasifier

A kinetic model was built to estimate the optimum working parameters of a downdraft gasifier, in which a set of chemical kinetics at each zone of the gasifier was described. The model deals with a wide range of biomass types with elemental composition ranges of (38 ≤ C ≤ 52) %, (5.5 ≤ H ≤ 7) %, and (36 ≤ O ≤ 45) %. This model is able to predict gas composition, tar content, temperature and height of each zone, as well as temperature, velocity and pressure distribution at reduction zone with heating value of product gas. The model also gives full design dimensions of a downdraft gasifier. The final results, which proved to be in a good agreement with experimental works under different working conditions of biomass type, moisture content, and air-to-fuel ratio, are based on a new approach that includes calculation of the optimum height of the reduction zone. Calculation based on the optimum height ensures that all the char produced is consumed in the reduction zone, thus leading to the production of the maximum amount of gases. Results conclude that biomass with a moisture content less than 10% and equivalence ratio of 0.3–0.35 leads to the production of higher yield of syngas with low tar content. In particular, woody biomass materials are found to give the higher heating value for producer gas with a reasonable amount of tar

REVISITING SAUDI UNIVERSITY EFL LEARNERS’ ENGAGEMENT TO TEACHERS WRITTEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK FROM A SOCIO-COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

The empirical studies addressing learners’ engagement to teachers’ corrective feedback on their writing tasks in the Saudi EFL context as well as its impact on the students’ improvement of writing skill are still a few.   Therefore, the proposed research project aims to empirically address the Saudi EFL learners’ responses to teachers’ written corrective feedback on their writing tasks. Addressing the EFL learners’ engagement in the teachers’ written feedback is a key issue in improving learners’ writing skills. As a result, the proposed project attempts to measure Saudi learners’ engagement with their learners’ feedback from a multi-dimension perspective; learners’ uptake, affective engagement, cognitive engagement, and meta-cognitive engagement, and behavioral engagement. Investigating the learners’ responses to their teacher’s feedback, the proposed project uses a socio-cognitive method that contributes to realizing the differences in EFL responses toward their teacher’s corrective feedback. The proposed study relies on different sources of data that include students’ writing assignments, semi-structured questionnaires. The sample of the study consists of  90 elementary level students belonging to the applied college at PSAU, 30 pre-intermediate students belonging to Business administration College, and 30 intermediate level students belonging to the college of humanities and sciences. The collected data reflect to what extent learners are engaged with the corrective feedback of their teachers, which can be  partly accounted for their ideas and experiences about the written corrective feedback  and second language writing and the learning context in which the feedback was received and processed. The findings of the research projects proposes that the EFL instructors should have a deeper understanding of the students’ cognitive and behavioral, engagement, feedback processing. This deeper understanding of students’ responses to written correct feedback would largely contribute to improving learners’ writing skills

Dexamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory morbidity before elective cesarean section at term

Background: Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is the principal cause of early neonatal morbidity and mortality. Objective: The current study aims to evaluate the effect of dexamethasone administration 48 hours before elective cesarean section (CS) at term on neonatal respiratory morbidity. Methods: The current study was a case-control study conducted between June 2015 and November 2015. Women who attended the labor ward in Sohag University Hospital, Egypt, after 37 weeks of gestation for elective CS were approached for participation. The patients received 2 intramuscular doses of 12 mg dexamethasone 12 hours apart in the 48 hours before CS (N=246). The control group included women who did not receive dexamethasone before CS during the same period of the study (N=275). Results: No significant differences were detected between the study and control groups with regard to age, parity or gestational age at delivery. There was a significantly higher number of neonates with RDS and transient tachypnea in the control group compared to the study group (p=0.001). The rate of neonatal admission to the neonatal care unit (NICU) was significantly lower in the study group (p=0.001). Conclusions: Prophylactic dexamethasone administration before elective CS at term significantly reduces neonatal respiratory morbidity and admission to NICU

Forensic dissection of lip print as an investigative tool in a mixed Egyptian population

Background: Identification is a major problem facing forensic practitioners, DNA and finger prints are highly useful but sometimes aren’t easily collected from the crime scene. Lip print could be useful in this field being unique to each individual.Aim: The current study aimed at detecting the frequency and gender relation of lip print pattern in an Egyptian sample.Methodology: Samples were collected on white copy paper, divided into four quadrants then examined with magnifying lens for pattern distribution.Results: The study showed that pattern IV was the most frequently represented pattern in the study sample, pattern I & II were more prevalent in males and females respectively. Prevalent pattern in Cairo and Lower Egypt was I while it was IV in Upper Egypt.Conclusion: The lip print pattern can differ due to gender and geographical origin in Egyptian subjects.Keywords: Lip print, Egypt, Gender, Geographical distribution, Identification, Anthropology. Gender differenc

Dexamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory morbidity before elective cesarean section at term

Background: Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is the principal cause of early neonatal morbidity and mortality. Objective: The current study aims to evaluate the effect of dexamethasone administration 48 hours before elective cesarean section (CS) at term on neonatal respiratory morbidity. Methods: The current study was a case-control study conducted between June 2015 and November 2015. Women who attended the labor ward in Sohag University Hospital, Egypt, after 37 weeks of gestation for elective CS were approached for participation. The patients received 2 intramuscular doses of 12 mg dexamethasone 12 hours apart in the 48 hours before CS (N=246). The control group included women who did not receive dexamethasone before CS during the same period of the study (N=275). Results: No significant differences were detected between the study and control groups with regard to age, parity or gestational age at delivery. There was a significantly higher number of neonates with RDS and transient tachypnea in the control group compared to the study group (p=0.001). The rate of neonatal admission to the neonatal care unit (NICU) was significantly lower in the study group (p=0.001). Conclusions: Prophylactic dexamethasone administration before elective CS at term significantly reduces neonatal respiratory morbidity and admission to NICU

Investigating the Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass in a Downdraft Gasifier With a Volatile Break-Up Approach

An affordable, reliable and clean energy supply is the major challenge facing by the modern world. Biomass energy is playing a promising role to that, but gasification technology able to convert biomass efficiently to valuable gases for power and heat generation is a vital need. The aim of this study is to develop a robust computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to better understand the gasification thermochemical processes of a selected biomass (rubber wood) in a 20 kW downdraft gasifier, which includes all the four zones, drying, pyrolysis, oxidation and reduction. A step-by-step approach is proposed to evaluate the composition of different species as a result of volatile break-up during gasification. Effect of the equivalence ratio on the synthesis gas composition is studied with results validated against a kinetic model

A case of uterine gangrene after termination of second trimester pregnancy complicated by chorioamnionitis

Uterine gangrene is a rare event during pregnancy. Here, we report the case of a 22-year-old patient pregnant in her second trimester presenting with premature rupture of membranes and a low-lying placenta. Hysterotomy was done to evacuate the pregnancy. The procedure was complicated by hemorrhage so bilateral uterine arteries and the left internal iliac artery were ligated to control the bleeding. She continued to run a fever in spite of antibiotics and on the 11th postoperative day, the patient developed signs of septicemia. Abdominal re-exploration was done revealing a gangrenous uterus with signs of peritonitis. Subtotal hysterectomy was done. The patient was discharged from the hospital in good health on the 10th post repeat laparotomy day