Search results for: time series data mining

Authors: M. S. Ashraf, Raja Rizwan Hussain, A. M. Alhozaimy, A. I. Al-Negheimish

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The effect of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) with concrete pore solution on the protective properties of the oxide films that form on reinforcing steel bars has been experimentally investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Tafel Scan. The tests were conducted on oxide films grown in saturated calcium hydroxide solutions that included different representative amounts of NaOH and KOH which are the compounds commonly observed in ordinary portland cement concrete pore solution. In addition to that, commonly used mineral admixtures (silica fume, natural pozzolan and fly ash) were also added to the simulated concrete pore solution. The results of electrochemical tests show that supplementary cementitious materials do have an effect on the protective properties of the passive oxide film. In particular, silica fume has been shown to have a negative influence on the film quality though it has positive effect on the concrete properties. Fly ash and natural pozzolan increase the protective qualities of the passive film. The research data in this area is very limited in the past and needed further investigation.

Keywords: supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), passive film, EIS, Tafel scan, rebar, concrete, simulated concrete pore solution (SPS)

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Authors: Dekie Rawung, Abdul L. Abadi, Toto Himawan, Siegfried Berhimpon

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A case study on consumer' knowledge, attitude, and behavior on food safety issue related to pesticide residues in cabbage was conducted in the area of Manado and Tomohon city, North Sulawesi. A sample of 150 consumers were selected randomly on location (open market and supermarket) while they were purchasing vegetables. The data on consumers’ perception, knowledge, attitude and behavior on food safety issue regarding pesticide residues were collected using a 5-point, two-section Likert-Scale questionnaire, and the relationship of knowledge, attitude, and behavior on food safety issues were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). It was found that, among many food safety issues, the illegal, non-food chemical preservatives were considered the most important one (by more than 35% respondents), followed by high cholesterol content and textile coloring chemical (> 27% respondents). The pesticide residues issue was only in the 4th place. The same results were seen on the issue of quality factors that determine the product selection during purchasing. The pesticide-free and organic products labels were considered much less important quality factors as compared with freshness and nutrition value which were considered the most and the second most important quality factors (almost 65% of respondents). SEM analysis showed that only knowledge and attitude on food safety that had the significant relation (coefficient value of 0.38), whereas those with behaviors were not significant.

Keywords: cabbage, consumer, food safety, pesticide residues

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Authors: Francois Brambati, Daniele Ruscio, Federica Biassoni, Rebecca Hueting, Alessandra Tedeschi

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This research, in the frame of social acceptance of renewable energies and community-based production and consumption models, aims at (1) supporting a data-driven approachable to dealing with climate change and (2) identifying & quantifying the psycho-sociological dimensions and factors that could support the transition from a technology-driven approach to a consumer-driven approach throughout the emerging “prosumer business models.” In addition to the existing Social Acceptance dimensions, this research tries to identify a purely individual psychological fourth dimension to understand processes and factors underling individual acceptance and adoption of renewable energy business models, realizing a Prosumer Acceptance Index. Questionnaire data collection has been performed throughout an online survey platform, combining standardized and ad-hoc questions adapted for the research purposes. To identify the main factors (individual/social) influencing the relation with renewable energy technology (RET) adoption, a Factorial Analysis has been conducted to identify the latent variables that are related to each other, revealing 5 latent psychological factors: Factor 1. Concern about environmental issues: global environmental issues awareness, strong beliefs and pro-environmental attitudes rising concern on environmental issues. Factor 2. Interest in energy sharing: attentiveness to solutions for local community’s collective consumption, to reduce individual environmental impact, sustainably improve the local community, and sell extra energy to the general electricity grid. Factor 3. Concern on climate change: environmental issues consequences on climate change awareness, especially on a global scale level, developing pro-environmental attitudes on global climate change course and sensitivity about behaviours aimed at mitigating such human impact. Factor 4. Social influence: social support seeking from peers. With RET, advice from significant others is looked for internalizing common perceived social norms of the national/geographical region. Factor 5. Impact on bill cost: inclination to adopt a RET when economic incentives from the behaviour perception affect the decision-making process could result in less expensive or unvaried bills. Linear regression has been conducted to identify and quantify the factors that could better predict behavioural intention to become a prosumer. An overall scale measuring “acceptance of a renewable energy solution” was used as the dependent variable, allowing us to quantify the five factors that contribute to measuring: awareness of environmental issues and climate change; environmental attitudes; social influence; and environmental risk perception. Three variables can significantly measure and predict the scores of the “Acceptance in becoming a prosumer” ad hoc scale. Variable 1. Attitude: the agreement to specific environmental issues and global climate change issues of concerns and evaluations towards a behavioural intention. Variable 2. Economic incentive: the perceived behavioural control and its related environmental risk perception, in terms of perceived short-term benefits and long-term costs, both part of the decision-making process as expected outcomes of the behaviour itself. Variable 3. Age: despite fewer economic possibilities, younger adults seem to be more sensitive to environmental dimensions and issues as opposed to older adults. This research can facilitate policymakers and relevant stakeholders to better understand which relevant psycho-sociological factors are intervening in these processes and what and how specifically target when proposing change towards sustainable energy production and consumption.

Keywords: behavioural intention, environmental risk perception, prosumer, renewable energy technology, social acceptance

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Authors: M. A. Akhavan-Behabadi, M. Najafi, A. Abbasi

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An empirical investigation was performed in order to study the heat transfer characteristics of R600a flow boiling inside horizontal flattened tubes and the simultaneous effect of nanoparticles on boiling heat transfer in flattened channel. Round copper tubes of 8.7 mm I.D. were deformed into flattened shapes with different inside heights of 6.9, 5.5, and 3.4 mm as test areas. The effect of different parameters such as mass flux, vapor quality and inside height on heat transfer coefficient was studied. Flattening the tube caused a significant enhancement in heat transfer performance, so that the maximum augmentation ratio of 163% was obtained in flattened channel with lowest internal height. A new correlation was developed based on the present experimental data to predict the heat transfer coefficient in flattened tubes. This correlation estimated 90% of the entire database within ±20%. The best flat channel with the point of view of heat transfer performance was selected to study the effect of nanoparticle on heat transfer enhancement. Four homogenized mixtures containing 1% weight fraction of R600a/oil with different CuO nanoparticles concentration including 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% mass fraction of R600a/oil/CuO were studied. Observations show that heat transfer was improved by adding nanoparticles, which lead to maximum enhancement of 79% compare to the pure refrigerant at the same test condition.

Keywords: nano fluids, heat transfer, flattend tube, transport phenomena

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Authors: Muhammad Farooq

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The present article explores the woman's consent as a paramount element in contracting a Muslim marriage. Also, whether permission of the wali (guardian) is a condition per se for a valid nikah (marriage deed) in the eye of law and Sharia. The researcher attempts to treat it through the related issues, inter alia; the marriage guardian, the women's legal capacity to give consent whether she is a virgin or nonvirgin and how that consent is to be given or may be understood. Does her laugh, tears or salience needs a legal interpretation as well as other female manifestations of emotion explained by the Muslim jurists? The silence of Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961 (hereafter; MFLO 1961) in this regard and the likely reasons behind such silence is also inquired in brief. Germane to the theme, the various cases in which the true notion of woman's consent is interpreted by courts in Pakistan are also examined. In order to address the issue in hand, it is proposed to provide a brief overview of a few contemporary writers' opinions in which the real place of woman's consent in Muslim marriage is highlighted. Key to the idea of young Muslim woman's marriage, the doctrine of kafa'a (equality or suitability) between the man and woman is argued here to be grounded in the patriarchal and social norms. It is, therefore, concluded that such concept was the result of analogical reasoning and has less importance in the present time. As such it is not a valid factor in current scenarios to validate or invalidate marital bonds. A standard qualitative convention is used for this research. Among primary and secondary sources; for examples, Qur'an, Sunnah, Books, Scholarly articles, texts of law and case law is used to point out the researcher's view. In summation, the article is concluded with a bold statement that a young woman being a party to the contract, is absolutely entitled to 'full and free' consent for the Muslim marriage contract. It is the woman, an indispensable partaker and her consent (not the guardian' permission) that does validate or invalidate the said agreement in the eye of contemporary personal law and in Sharia.

Keywords: consent of woman, ejab (declaration), Nikah (marriage agreement), qabol (acceptance), sui juris (of age; independent), wali (guardian), wilayah (guardianship)

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Authors: Maryam Maimota Shehu

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Words are the basic building blocks of a language. In everyday usage of a language, words are used, and new words are formed and reformed in order to contain and accommodate all entities, phenomena, qualities and every aspect of the entire life. Despite the fact that many studies have been conducted on morphological processes in Hausa language. Most of the works concentrated on borrowing, affixation, reduplication and derivation, but clipping has been neglected to the extent that only a few scholars sited some examples in the language. Therefore, the current study investigates and examines clipping as one of the word formation processes fully found in the language. The study focuses its main attention on clipping as a word-formation process and how this process is used adequately in the formation of words and their occurrence in Hausa sentences. In order to achieve the aims, the research answered these questions: 1) is clipping used as process of word formation in Hausa? 2) What are the words formed using this process? This study utilizes the Natural Morphology Theory proposed by Dressler, (1985) which was adopted by belly (2007). The data of this study have been collected from newspaper articles, novels, and written literature of Hausa language. Based on the findings, this study found out that, there exist many kinds of words formed in Hausa language using clipping in sentence and discuss, which previous findings did not either reveals, or explain in detail. Other part of the finding shows that clipping in Hausa language occurs on nouns, verbs, adjectives, reduplicated words and compounds while retains their meanings and grammatical classes.

Keywords: clipping, Hausa language, morphology, word formation processes

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Authors: Amenaghawon Clement Osemwinyen

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The Activity, Student-centred, Experiment, Improvisation - Plan, Do, See, Improve (ASEI-PDSI) method championed by the Strengthening Mathematics And Science Education (SMASE) - Nigeria Project is an attempt to improve the quality of mathematics, which has consistently declined over the years in both public primary and secondary schools across the country. The study thus assessed the ASEI-PDSI method on students’ attitudes and achievement in junior secondary schools (JSS) mathematics in FCT-Abuja. A survey research design was adopted, and 100 mathematics teachers using a stratified random sampling method were used for the study. The data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings showed that the ASEI-PDSI method had significantly improved the attitudes of students toward mathematics. The study also revealed that the ASEI-PDSI method significantly influenced junior secondary school (JSS) students’ mathematics achievement. Amongst the recommendations were that teachers should be encouraged to adopt the ASEI-PDSI method in teaching and learning mathematics in order to create a mathematically stimulating classroom environment which could advertently influence junior secondary school (JSS) students’ attitude and academic performance in mathematics. Also, regular in-service training programs should be organized by stakeholders (government and other interest groups) so as to improve the teaching strategies of teachers, mostly as they affect the ASEI-PDSI method.

Keywords: achievement, ASEI-PDSI method, attitude, mathematics, SMASE

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Authors: Khalid M. Kheiralla, Georgios Boutsis, Mohammed Y. Abdelgalil, Mohammed A. Ali, Nuha E. Mohamed

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The present study focus on integrated geoelectrical surveys carried out in the mineralization zone in Erkowit region, Eastern Sudan to determine the extensions of the potential ore deposits on the topographically high hilly area and under the cover of alluvium along the nearby wadi and to locate other occurrences if any. The magnetic method (MAG) and the electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) were employed for the survey. Eleven traverses were aligned approximately at right angles to the general strike of the rock formations. The disseminated sulfides are located on the alteration shear zone which is composed of granitic and dioritic highly ferruginated rock occupying the southwestern and central parts of the area, this was confirmed using thin and polished sections mineralogical analysis. The magnetic data indicates low magnetic values for wadi sedimentary deposits in its southern part of the area, and high anomalies which are suspected as gossans due to magnetite formed during wall rock alteration consequent to mineralization. The significant ERT images define low resistivity zone as traced as sheared zones which may associated with the main loci of ore deposition. By itself, no geophysical anomaly can simply be correlated with lithology, instead, magnetic and ERT anomalies raised due to variations in some specific physical properties of rocks which were extremely useful in mineral exploration.

Keywords: ERT, magnetic, mineralization, Red Sea, Sudan

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Authors: Amir Salamatzade, Marhamet HematPour

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Due to the increasing importance of psychological factors in the incidence and exacerbation of chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis, the aim of this study was to determine the difference between emotional regulation strategies and psychological symptoms in patients with multiple sclerosis and normal people. The research method was causal-comparative (post-event). The statistical population of this research included all patients with multiple sclerosis referred to the MS Association of Rasht in the first quarter of 2021, approximately 350 people. The study sample also included 120 people (60 patients with multiple sclerosis and 60 normal people) who were selected by the available sampling method and completed the emotional regulation and anxiety, depression, and stress Lavibund and Lavibund (1995) questionnaires. Data were analyzed using an independent t-test and multivariate variance analysis. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the mean of emotional regulation strategies and the components of emotional reassessment and emotional inhibition between the two groups of patients with multiple sclerosis and normal individuals (p < 0.01). There is a significant difference between the mean of psychological symptoms and the components of depression, anxiety, and stress in the two groups of patients with multiple sclerosis and normal individuals. (p < 0.01). Based on this, it can be concluded that patients with multiple sclerosis have lower levels of emotional regulation strategies and higher levels of psychological symptoms than normal individuals.

Keywords: emotional regulation strategies, psychological symptoms, multiple sclerosis, normal Individuals

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Authors: Claire Xu, Welton Wang, Manasvi Pinnaka, Anqi Pan, Michael Han

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Hospitalizations account for one-third of the total health care spending in the US. Early risk detection and intervention can reduce this high cost and increase the satisfaction of both patients and physicians. Due to the lack of awareness of the potential arising risks in home environment, the opportunities for patients to seek early actions of clinical visits are dramatically reduced. This research aims to offer a highly personalized remote patients monitoring and risk assessment AI framework to identify the potentially preventable hospitalization for both acute as well as chronic diseases. A hybrid-AI framework is trained with data from clinical setting, patients surveys, as well as online databases. 20+ risk factors are analyzed ranging from activities, biometric info, demographic info, socio-economic info, hospitalization history, medication info, lifestyle info, etc. The AI model yields high performance of 87% accuracy and 88 sensitivity with 20+ features. This hybrid-AI framework is proven to be effective in identifying the potentially preventable hospitalization. Further, the high indicative features are identified by the models which guide us to a healthy lifestyle and early intervention suggestions.

Keywords: hospitalization prevention, machine learning, remote patient monitoring, risk prediction

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Authors: Srikantan L. Jayasri, James Gan

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The changes in Singapore’s land use, natural preference of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to live in forest edges and their adaptability has led to interface between humans and macaques. Studies have shown that two-third of human-macaque interactions in Singapore were related to human food. We aimed to assess differences among macaques groups in their dependence on human food and interaction with humans as indicators of the level of interface. Field observations using instantaneous scan sampling and all occurrence ad-lib sampling were carried out for 23 macaque groups over 28 days recording 71.5 hours of observations. Data on macaque behaviour, demography, frequency, and nature of human-macaque interactions were collected. None of the groups were found to completely rely on human food source. Of the 23 groups, 40% of them were directly or indirectly provisioned by humans. One-third of the groups observed engaged in some form of interactions with the humans. Three groups that were directly fed by humans contributed to 83% of the total human-macaque interactions observed during the study. Our study indicated that interactions between humans and macaques exist in specific groups and in those fed by humans regularly. Although feeding monkeys is illegal in Singapore, such incidents seem to persist in specific locations. We emphasize the importance of group and location-specific assessment of the existing human-wildlife interactions. Conflict management strategies developed should be location specific to address the cause of interactions.

Keywords: primates, Southeast Asia, wildlife management, Singapore

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Authors: Antonio Montes, Antonio Cozar, Clara Pereyra, Diego Valor, Enrique Martinez de la Ossa

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Tissues and organs can be damaged because of traumatism, congenital illnesses, or cancer and the traditional therapeutic alternatives, such as surgery, cannot usually completely repair the damaged tissues. Tissue engineering allows regeneration of the patient's tissues, reducing the problems caused by the traditional methods. Scaffolds, polymeric structures with interconnected porosity, can be promoted the proliferation and adhesion of the patient’s cells in the damaged area. Furthermore, by means of impregnation of the scaffold with beneficial active substances, tissue regeneration can be induced through a drug delivery process. The objective of the work is the fabrication of a PVA scaffold coated with Gallic Acid and polypyrrole through a one-step foaming and impregnation process using the SSI technique (Supercritical Solvent Impregnation). In this technique, supercritical CO₂ penetrates into the polymer chains producing the plasticization of the polymer. In the depressurization step a CO₂ cellular nucleation and growing to take place to an interconnected porous structure of the polymer. The foaming process using supercritical CO₂ as solvent and expansion agent presents advantages compared to the traditional scaffolds’ fabrication methods, such as the polymer’s high solubility in the solvent or the possibility of carrying out the process at a low temperature, avoiding the inactivation of the active substance. In this sense, the supercritical CO₂ avoids the use of organic solvents and reduces the solvent residues in the final product. Moreover, this process does not require long processing time that could cause the stratification of substance inside the scaffold reducing the therapeutic efficiency of the formulation. An experimental design has been carried out to optimize the SSI technique operating conditions, as well as a study of the morphological characteristics of the scaffold for its use in tissue engineerings, such as porosity, conductivity or the release profiles of the active substance. It has been proved that the obtained scaffolds are partially porous, conductors of electricity and are able to release Gallic Acid in the long term.

Keywords: scaffold, foaming, supercritical, PVA, polypyrrole, gallic acid

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Authors: Camila Freire Barrios, Gonzalo Rivera Talavera

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The importance of public spaces has been shown for many years, and in different disciplines, with one example being their ability for developing a sustainable social environment, especially in mega cities like Lima. The aim of this study was to explore the process of space appropriation that occurs in the Peripheral Library of the district El Agustino in Lima, Peru. Space appropriation is a process by which people develop a link with a place within a specific sociocultural context. This process has been related to positive outcomes, such as: participation and in the development of compassionate behaviors with these places. To achieve the purpose of the research, a qualitative design was selected because this will allowed exploring in deep the process in an specific context. The study interviewed six adults, all of whom were deliberately chosen to have the longest residence time in the district and also utilized the library the most. In a complementary manner, two children and one adolescent were interviewed. Likewise, two observations were made on a weekday and weekend, and public documentation information was collected. As a result, five categories linked to this process were identified. It was found that the process of space appropriation begins with the needs of the people who arrive at the library, which provides benefits to these people by fulfilling them. Next in the process, through the construction of meanings, the library is then valued as a pleasant, productive, safe and regulated place; as a result, people become identified with the library. The identification generated is subsequently reflected in the level of participation that the person has in the library, which may go in a continuum from no participating at all to a more direct involvement in the library activities, as well as voluntary and altruistic work. Finally, this process leads to the library becoming part of the neighborhood. This study allows having a better understanding of how sociospatial processes work in a Latinamerican context and in cities like Lima, where the third of the country’s population lives. Also, Lima has grown in the past 50 years in a excessively way and with lack of planification. Therefore, these results brings new research questions and highlights the importance of learning how to design public spaces in order to promote these processes to develop.

Keywords: bond with the place, place identity, public spaces, space appropriation

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Authors: Ching-Yuan Chen, Lung-Kwang Pan

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Objective: Back pain is a major health problem costing billions of health budgets annually in Taiwan. Thousands of back pain surgeries are performed annually with up to 40% of patients complaining of back pain at time of post-surgery causing failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), although diagnosis in these patients may be complex. The aim of study is to assess the feasibility of using bone SPECT-CT imaging to localize the active lesions causing persistent, recurrent or new backache after spine surgery. Materials and Methods: Bone SPECT-CT imaging was performed after the intravenous injection of 20 mCi of 99mTc-MDP for all the patients with diagnosis of FBSS. Patients were evaluated using status of subjectively pain relief, functional improvement and degree of satisfaction by reviewing the medical records and questionnaires in a 2 more years’ follow-up. Results: We enrolled a total of 16 patients were surveyed in our hospital from Jan. 2015 to Dec. 2016. Four people on SPEC/CT imaging ensured significant lesions were undergone a revised surgery (surgical treatment group). The mean visual analogue scale (VAS) decreased 5.3 points and mean Oswestry disability index (ODI) improved 38 points in the surgical group. The remaining 12 on SPECT/CT imaging were diagnosed as no significant lesions then received drug treatment (medical treatment group). The mean VAS only decreased 2 .1 point and mean ODI improved 12.6 points in the medical treatment group. In the posttherapeutic evaluation, the pain of the surgical treatment group showed a satisfactory improvement. In the medical treatment group, 10 of the 12 were also satisfied with the symptom relief while the other 2 did not improve significantly. Conclusions: Findings on SPECT-CT imaging appears to be easily explained the patients' pain. We recommended that SPECT/CT imaging was a feasible and useful clinical tool to improve diagnostic confidence or specificity when evaluating patients with FBSS.

Keywords: failed back surgery syndrome, oswestry disability index, SPECT-CT imaging, 99mTc-MDP, visual analogue scale

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Authors: Muhammad Afzal Malik

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Traditional Learning & Distance based learning are the two systems prevailing in Pakistan. These systems affect the level of education standard. The purpose of this study was to compare the traditional classroom learning and distance learning in Pakistan: (a) To explore the effectiveness of the traditional to Distance learning in Pakistan; (b) To identify the factors that affect traditional and distance learning. This review found that, on average, students in traditional classroom conditions performed better than those receiving education in and distance learning. The difference between student outcomes for traditional Classroom and distance learning classes —measured as the difference between treatment and control means, divided by the pooled standard deviation— was larger in those studies contrasting conditions that blended elements of online and face-to-face instruction with conditions taught entirely face-to-face. This research was conducted to highlight the impact of distance learning education system on education standard. The education standards were institutional support, course development, learning process, student support, faculty support, evaluation and assessment. A well developed questionnaire was administered and distributed among 26 faculty members of GCET, H-9 and Virtual University of Pakistan from each. Data was analyzed through correlation and regression analysis. Results confirmed that there is a significant relationship and impact of DLE system on education standards. This will also provide baseline for future research. It will add value to the existing body of knowledge.

Keywords: distance learning education, higher education, education standards, student performance

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Authors: Pranjal Srivastava, Piyali Sengupta

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The performance of marine drilling risers is crucial in the offshore oil and gas industry to ensure safe drilling operation with minimum downtime. Experimental investigations on marine drilling risers are limited in the literature owing to the expensive and exhaustive test setup required to replicate the realistic riser model and ocean environment in the laboratory. Therefore, this study presents an analytical model of marine drilling riser for determining its fragility under ocean environmental loading. In this study, the marine drilling riser is idealized as a continuous beam having a concentric circular cross-section. Hydrodynamic loading acting on the marine drilling riser is determined by Morison’s equations. By considering the equilibrium of forces on the marine drilling riser for the connected and normal drilling conditions, the governing partial differential equations in terms of independent variables z (depth) and t (time) are derived. Subsequently, the Runge Kutta method and Finite Difference Method are employed for solving the partial differential equations arising from the analytical model. The proposed analytical approach is successfully validated with respect to the experimental results from the literature. From the dynamic analysis results of the proposed analytical approach, the critical design parameters peak displacements, upper and lower flex joint rotations and von Mises stresses of marine drilling risers are determined. An extensive parametric study is conducted to explore the effects of top tension, drilling depth, ocean current speed and platform drift on the critical design parameters of the marine drilling riser. Thereafter, incremental dynamic analysis is performed to derive the fragility functions of shallow water and deep-water marine drilling risers under ocean environmental loading. The proposed methodology can also be adopted for downtime estimation of marine drilling risers incorporating the ranges of uncertainties associated with the ocean environment, especially at deep and ultra-deepwater.

Keywords: drilling riser, marine, analytical model, fragility

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Authors: Anna Pudlo

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The EU law encompasses many supranational legal systems (EU law, ECHR, international public law and constitutional traditions common to the Member States) which guarantee the protection of fundamental rights, with partly overlapping scopes of applicability, various principles of interpretation of legal norms and a different hierarchy. In EU law, the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation originates from both the primary and secondary EU legislation. At present, the prohibition is considered to be a fundamental right in pursuance of Article 21 of the Charter, but the Court has not yet determined whether it is a right or a principle within the meaning of the Charter. Similarly, the Court has not deemed this criterion to be a general principle of EU law. The personal and materials scope of the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation based on Article 21 of the Charter requires each time to be specified in another legal act of the EU in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter. The effect of the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation understood as above will be two-fold, for the States and for the Union. On the one hand, one may refer to the legal instruments of review of EU law enforcement by a Member State laid down in the Treaties. On the other hand, EU law does not provide for the right to individual petition. Therefore, it is the duty of the domestic courts to protect the right of a person not to be discriminated on grounds of sexual orientation in line with the national procedural rules, within the limits and in accordance with the principles set out in EU law, in particular in Directive 2000/78. The development of the principle of non-discrimination in the Court’s case-law gives rise to certain doubts as to its applicability, namely whether the principle as the general principle of EU law may be granted an autonomous character, with respect to the applicability to matters not included in the personal or material scope of the Directives, although within the EU’s competence. Moreover, both the doctrine and the opinions of the Advocates-General have called for the general competence of CJEU with regard to fundamental rights which, however, might lead to a violation of the principle of separation of competence. The aim of this paper is to answer the question what is the nature of the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in EU law (a general principle in EU law, or a principle or right under the Charter’s terminology). Therefore, the paper focuses on the nature of Article 21 of the Charter (a right or a principle) and the scope (personal and material) of the prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation in EU law as well as its effect (vertical or horizontal). The study has included the provisions of EU law together with the relevant CJEU case-law.

Keywords: EU law, EU principles, non-discrimination in EU law, Charter of the Fundamental Rights

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Authors: Melanie Adrian, Elspeth McCulloch, Emily-Jean Gallant

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Resources -financial, physical, and human- are increasingly constrained in higher education. University classes are getting bigger, and the concomitant grading burden on faculty is growing rapidly. Multiple-choice exams are seen by some as one solution to these changes. How much students retain, however, and what their testing experience is, continues to be debated. Are multiple-choice exams serving students well, or are they bearing the burden of these developments? Is there a way to address both the resource constraints and make these types of exams more meaningful? In short, how do we engender evaluation methods for large-scale classes that provide opportunities for heightened student learning and enrichment? The following article lays out a testing approach we have employed in four iterations of the same third-year law class. We base our comments in this paper on our initial observations as well as data gathered from an ethics-approved study looking at student experiences. This testing approach provides students with multiple opportunities for revision (thus increasing chances for long term retention), is both individually and collaboratively driven (thus reflecting the individual effort and group effort) and is automatically graded (thus draining limited institutional resources). We found that overall students appreciated the approach and found it more ‘humane’, that it notably reduced pre-exam and intra-exam stress levels, increased ease, and lowered nervousness.

Keywords: exam, higher education, multiple-choice, law

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Authors: Matthew Buns

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Training specificity is imperative for successful performance of the elite athlete. Virtual reality (VR) has been successfully applied to a broad range of training domains. However, to date there is little research investigating the use of VR for sport training. The purpose of this study was to address the question of whether virtual reality (VR) training can improve real world hockey shooting performance. Twenty four volunteers were recruited and randomly selected to complete the virtual training intervention or enter a control group with no training. Four primary types of data were collected: 1) participant’s experience with video games and hockey, 2) participant’s motivation toward video game use, 3) participants technical performance on real-world hockey, and 4) participant’s technical performance in virtual hockey. One-way multivariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that that the intervention group demonstrated significantly more real-world hockey accuracy [F(1,24) =15.43, p <.01, E.S. = 0.56] while shooting on goal than their control group counterparts [intervention M accuracy = 54.17%, SD=12.38, control M accuracy = 46.76%, SD=13.45]. One-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) repeated measures indicated significantly higher outcome scores on real-world accuracy (35.42% versus 54.17%; ES = 1.52) and velocity (51.10 mph versus 65.50 mph; ES=0.86) of hockey shooting on goal. This research supports the idea that virtual training is an effective tool for increasing real-world hockey skill.

Keywords: virtual training, hockey skills, video game, esports

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Authors: F. A. Hassona, M. M. Abu-Heleika, M. A. Hassan, A. E. Sidhom

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Application of electrical measurements to evaluate engineering properties of soils has gained a wide, promising field of research in recent years. So, understanding of the relation between in-situ electrical resistivity of clay soil, and their mechanical and physical properties consider a promising field of research. This would assist in introducing a new technique for the determination of soil properties based on electrical resistivity. In this work soil physical and mechanical properties of clayey soil have been determined by experimental tests and correlated with the in-situ electrical resistivity. The research program was conducted through measuring fifteen vertical electrical sounding stations along with fifteen selected boreholes. These samples were analyzed and subjected to experimental tests such as physical tests namely bulk density, water content, specific gravity, and grain size distribution, and Attereberg limits tests. Mechanical test was also conducted such as direct shear test. The electrical resistivity data were interpreted and correlated with each one of the measured experimental parameters. Based on this study mathematical relations were extracted and discussed. These results exhibit an excellent match with the results reported in the literature. This study demonstrates the utility of the developed methodology for determining the mechanical properties of soils easily and rapidly depending on their electrical resistivity measurements.

Keywords: electrical resistivity, clayey soil, physical properties, shear properties

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Authors: Dyana Zainudin, Atta Ur-Rahman, Thaier Hamed

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This paper explains about human nature concept as to understand the significance of information security in employees’ mentality including leaders in an organisation. By studying on a theory concept of the latest Von Solms fourth waves, information security governance basically refers to the concept of a set of methods, techniques and tools that responsible for protecting resources of a computer system to ensure service availability, confidentiality and integrity of information. However, today’s information security dilemma relates to the acceptance of employees mentality. The major causes are a lack of communication and commitment. These types of management in an organisation are labelled as immoral/amoral management which effects on information security compliance. A recovery action is taken based on ‘learn a lesson from incident events’ rather than prevention. Therefore, the paper critically analysed the Von Solms fourth waves’ theory with current human events and its correlation by studying secondary data and also from qualitative analysis among employees in public sectors. ‘Three-dimensions to failure’ of information security dilemma are explained as deny, don’t know and don’t care. These three-dimensions are the most common vulnerable behaviour owned by employees. Therefore, by avoiding the three-dimensions to failure may improve the vulnerable behaviour of employees which is often related to immoral/amoral management.

Keywords: information security management system, information security behaviour, information security governance, information security culture

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Authors: Bolajoko I. Malomo, Maryam O. Yusuf

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Lagos urban mini-bus drivers play a critical role in the transportation sector. The current major mode of transportation within Lagos metropolis remains road transportation and this confirms the relevance of urban mini-bus drivers in transporting the populace to their various destinations. Other modes of transportation such as the train and waterways are currently inadequate. Various threats to the well-being of urban bus drivers include congested traffic typical of modern day lifestyles, dwindling financial returns due to long hours in traffic, fewer hours of sleep, inadequate diet, time pressure, and assaults related to fare disputes. Several health-related problems have been documented to be associated with urban bus driving. For instance, greater rates of hypertension, obesity and cholesterol level has been reported. Research studies are yet to identify the influence of age and marital status on the well-being of urban mini-bus drivers in Lagos metropolis. A study of this nature is necessary as it is culturally perceived in Nigeria that older and married people are especially influenced by family affiliation and would behave in ways that would project positive outcomes. The study sample consisted of 150 urban mini-bus drivers who were conveniently sampled from six (6) different terminuses where their journey begins and terminates. The well-being questionnaire was administered to participants. The criteria for inclusion in the study included the ability to read in English language and the confirmation that interested participants were on duty and suited to be driving mini-buses. Due to the nature of the job of bus driving, the researcher administered the questionnaires on participants who were free and willing to respond to the survey. All participants were males of various age groups and of different marital statuses. Results of analyses conducted revealed no significant influence of age and marital status on the well-being of urban mini-bus drivers. This indicates that the well-being of urban mini-bus drivers is not influenced by age nor marital status. The findings of this study have cultural implications. It negates the popularly held belief that older and married people care more about their well-being than younger and single people. It brings to fore the need to also identify and consider other factors when certifying people for the job of urban bus driving.

Keywords: age, Lagos metropolis, marital status, well-being of urban mini bus drivers

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Authors: Souad Mouzaoui, Bahia Djerdjouri

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Oxidative stress is one of the main factors involved in the onset and chronicity of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In this study, we investigated the beneficial effects of a potent natural antioxidant, curcumin (Cur) on colitis and mitochondrial dysfunction in trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis in mice. Rectal instillation of the chemical irritant TNBS (30 mg kg-1) induced the disruption of distal colonic architecture and a massive inflammatory cells influx to the mucosa and submucosa layers. Under these conditions, daily administration of Cur (25 mg kg-1) efficiently decreased colitis scores in the inflamed distal colon by reducing leukocyte infiltrate as attested by reduced myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity. Moreover, the levels of nitrite, an end product of inducible NO synthase activity (iNOS) and malonyl dialdehyde (MDA), a marker of lipid peroxidation increased in a time depending manner in response to TNBS challenge. Conversely, the markers of the antioxidant pool, reduced glutathione (GSH) and catalase activity (CAT) were drastically reduced. Cur attenuated oxidative stress markers and partially restored CAT and GSH levels. Moreover, our results expanded the effect of Cur on TNBS-induced colonic mitochondrial dysfunction. In fact, TNBS induced mitochondrial swelling and lipids peroxidation. These events reflected in the opening of mitochondrial transition pore and could be an initial indication in the cascade process leading to cell death. TNBS inhibited also mitochondrial respiratory activity, caused overproduction of mitochondrial superoxide anion (O2-.) and reduced level of mitochondrial GSH. Nevertheless, Cur reduced the extent of mitochondrial oxidative stress induced by TNBS and restored colonic mitochondrial function. In conclusion, our results showed the critical role of oxidative stress in TNBS-induced colitis. They highlight the role of colonic mitochondrial dysfunction induced by TNBS, as a potential source of oxidative damages. Due to its potent antioxidant properties, Cur opens a promising therapeutic approach against oxidative inflammation in IBD.

Keywords: colitis, curcumin, mitochondria, oxidative stress, TNBS

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Authors: Endeshaw Assefa Derso, Maria Gabriella Campolo, Angela Alibrandi

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Objectives:Early childhood malnutrition can have long-term and irreversible effects on a child's health and development. This study uses the Bayesian method with spatial variation to investigate the flexible trends of metrical covariates and to identify communities at high risk of injury. Methods: Cross-sectional data on underweight are collected from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). The Bayesian geo-additive model is performed. Appropriate prior distributions were provided for scall parameters in the models, and the inference is entirely Bayesian, using Monte Carlo Markov chain (MCMC) stimulation. Results: The results show that metrical covariates like child age, maternal body mass index (BMI), and maternal age affect a child's underweight non-linearly. Lower and higher maternal BMI seem to have a significant impact on the child’s high underweight. There was also a significant spatial heterogeneity, and based on IDW interpolation of predictive values, the western, central, and eastern parts of the country are hotspot areas. Conclusion: Socio-demographic and community- based programs development should be considered compressively in Ethiopian policy to combat childhood underweight malnutrition.

Keywords: bayesX, Ethiopia, malnutrition, MCMC, semi-parametric bayesian analysis, spatial distribution, P- splines

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Authors: B. Z. Abubakar, J. P. Voh, B. F. Umar, S. Khalid, A. A. Barau, J. Aigbe

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The study was conducted to identify and assess the various community development programmes designed and executed by Sokoto Agricultural and Community Development Project (SACDP) with the assistance of International Funds for Agricultural Development (IFAD) among women beneficiaries in Kwacciyar-lalle and Mogonho communities of Sokoto state. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select 20 project beneficiaries in each of the selected communities, making a total of 40 beneficiaries. Structured questionnaire, descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages and also participatory methodologies such as focus group discussion and pair wise ranking were used to analyze the data. Results showed that majority of the beneficiaries (75%) were married and undertook animal rearing as their major occupation. Results further showed that (85%) of the beneficiaries were involved in decision making, which enhanced their participation. Pair-wise ranking showed dug well as the most preferred activity, followed by construction of Islamic school in Kwacciyar-lalle while well construction followed by provision of improved animal species were most preferred in Mogonho. Recommendations made in the light of achieving people’s participation include provision of more infrastructural facilities and working materials.

Keywords: community development, focus group, pair-wise ranking, infrastructure

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Authors: Fengxia Li, Lufeng Zhang, Haibo Wang

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The tight sandstone gas reservoir in the Xujiahe Formation of the Sichuan Basin has huge reserves, but its utilization rate is low. Fracturing and stimulation are indispensable technologies to unlock their potential and achieve commercial exploitation. Slickwater is the most widely used fracturing fluid system in the fracturing and renovation of tight reservoirs. However, its viscosity is low, its sand-carrying performance is poor, and the risk of sand blockage is high. Increasing the sand carrying capacity by increasing the displacement will increase the frictional resistance of the pipe string, affecting the resistance reduction performance. The variable viscosity slickwater can flexibly switch between different viscosities in real-time online, effectively overcoming problems such as sand carrying and resistance reduction. Based on a self-developed indoor loop friction testing system, a visualization device for proppant transport, and a HAAKE MARS III rheometer, a comprehensive evaluation was conducted on the performance of variable viscosity slickwater, including resistance reduction, rheology, and sand carrying. The indoor experimental results show that: 1. by changing the concentration of drag-reducing agents, the viscosity of the slippery water can be changed between 2~30mPa. s; 2. the drag reduction rate of the variable viscosity slickwater is above 80%, and the shear rate will not reduce the drag reduction rate of the liquid; under indoor experimental conditions, 15mPa. s of variable viscosity and slickwater can basically achieve effective carrying and uniform placement of proppant. The layered fracturing effect of the JiangX well in the dense sandstone of the Xujiahe Formation shows that the drag reduction rate of the variable viscosity slickwater is 80.42%, and the daily production of the single layer after fracturing is over 50000 cubic meters. This study provides theoretical support and on-site experience for promoting the application of variable viscosity slickwater in tight sandstone gas reservoirs.

Keywords: slickwater, hydraulic fracturing, dynamic sand laying, drag reduction rate, rheological properties

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Authors: Mahmoud Mohamed Emam, Yasser Fathy Hendawy Al-Mahdy

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Higher education institutions (HEIs) in Arab countries have witnessed large scope transformations as a result of embracing globalised practices. The introduction of program academic accreditation in HEIs in the Arab context has been regarded as a change enterprise that has proponents and opponents. In essence, introducing new systems or practices trigger changes that may shatter employees at a given organization. Therefore, it is argued that the interaction between organizational, contextual, and individual-related variables are likely to determine how the organization succeeds in facing resistance to change. This study investigated a mediated-effects model of organizational support and citizenship behavior. The model proposes organizational support as an antecedent of citizenship behavior and commitment to change as a mediator in the organizational support–citizenship behavior relationship. Survey data were collected and analyzed from university faculty (n=221) using structural equation modeling. Findings showed that organizational support significantly contributes to increasedcitizenshipbehaviour and the commitment of university faculty to program accreditation as a change enterprise, which has a significant and direct impact on their citizenship behaviour. We conclude that university-level organizational support shapes faculty’s commitment to change both directly and indirectly. The findings have significant practical implications for HEIs in Arab countries when they introduce new practices that aim at improving institutional effectiveness.

Keywords: organizational support, accreditation, commitment, citizenship behaviour

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Authors: Kevin Wongleedee

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The purposes of this research were to study the image of a flight attendant career from the perspective of high school students in Bangkok and to study the level of interest to pursue a flight attendant career. A probability random sampling of 400 students was utilized. Half the sample group came from private high schools and the other half came from public high schools. A questionnaire was used to collect the data and small in-depth interviews were also used to get their opinions about the image and their level of interest in the flight attendant career. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents had a medium level of interest in the flight attendant career. High school students who majored in Math-English were more interested in a flight attendant career than high school students who majored in Science-Math with a 0.05 level of significance. The image of flight attendant career was rated as a good career with a chance to travel to many countries. The image of flight attendance career can be ranked as follows: a career with a chance to travel, a career with ability to speak English, a career that requires punctuality, a career with a good service mind, and a career with an understanding of details. The findings from the in-depth interviews revealed that the major obstacles that prevented high school students from choosing a flight attendant as a career were their ability to speak English, their body proportions, and lack of information.

Keywords: flight attendant, high school students, image, media engineering

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Authors: Mehmet Tahir Dursun, Hilmi Rafet Yüncü

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In social life growing fast, not only people, but also, companies and regions are located in a struggle to provide continuity of life cycles. This struggle brings together an important competitiveness when considering environmental conditions. By emphasizing this point, being able to competitiveness notion comes out as a determiner of the struggle to exist. With the development of technology in tourism industry so as in all branches, it is seen that the companies and regions in different districts are in competitiveness and competitiveness ability is affected in assessing of marketing shares. A condition of competitiveness is to provide sustainability of all structured forms. In addition, environment and sensitiveness of environment are notions affecting directly the competitiveness ability of tourism destinations. It is claimed that providing the sustainability of environment gives competitiveness to tourism destinations. In this study, competitiveness and performances of tourism in Mediterranean countries are going to be compared by examining a variety of indexes related to the sensitiveness of environment. Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (T&TCI) (Environmental Sustainability and Natural Resources), Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Ecological Foot Print, Human Development Index (HDI), Climate Risk Index (CRI) will be used in this study. These Index data will be compared with international tourist arrivals, international tourism receives and expenses of per tourist of countries.

Keywords: ecological foot print, environmental performance index, human development index, sustainability, travel and tourism competitiveness index

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Authors: Kuangyou B. Cheng

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Tennis is among the most popular sports worldwide. During ball-racket impact, substantial vibration transmitted to the hand/arm may be the cause of “tennis elbow”. Although it is common for athletes to attach a “vibration damper” to the spring-bed, the effect remains unclear. To avoid subjective factors and errors in data recording, the effect of damper attachment on racket handle end vibration was investigated with computer simulation. The tennis racket was modeled as a beam with free-free ends (similar to loosely holding the racket). Finite difference method with 40 segments was used to simulate ball-racket impact response. The effect of attaching a damper was modeled as having a segment with increased mass. It was found that the damper has the largest effect when installed at the spring-bed center. However, this is not a practical location due to interference with ball-racket impact. Vibration amplitude changed very slightly when the damper was near the top or bottom of the spring-bed. The damper works only slightly better at the bottom than at the top of the spring-bed. In addition, heavier dampers work better than lighter ones. These simulation results were comparable with experimental recordings in which the selection of damper locations was restricted by ball impact locations. It was concluded that mathematical model simulations were able to objectively investigate the effect of damper attachment on racket vibration. In addition, with very slight difference in grip end vibration amplitude when the damper was attached at the top or bottom of the spring-bed, whether the effect can really be felt by athletes is questionable.

Keywords: finite difference, impact, modeling, vibration amplitude

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