Search results for: survey methodology

Authors: Feguens Pierre

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For a long time, Latin American countries have been introduced to numerous programs and public policies focused on improving the agricultural sector in terms of sustainability, as well as in terms of the relationship between producers and consumers, aimed at improve farmers' income and allow consumers to have access to quality products, encouraging alternative agriculture. Therefore, in Brazil, among the programs, that is, the public policies that have encompassed alternative agriculture, in other words organic, we have the Community that Supports Agriculture (CSA) which ensures a relationship between producers and consumers focused on a solidarity economy, also protecting the environment. This work aims to understand the importance of the Community Supporting Agriculture (CSA), as well as the challenges it has faced over time. Particularly in the case of Brazil. A bibliographic methodology was used to theoretically analyze through several books and articles the performance of (CSA) in Brazil.

Keywords: community supporting agriculture, importance, challenges, producer, consumer

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Authors: Benjamin Anderson-Sackaney, Amr Abdel-Dayem

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This paper presents a comprehensive survey of recent source camera identification (SCI) systems. Then, the performance of various sensor pattern noise (SPN) estimators was experimentally assessed, under common photo response non-uniformity (PRNU) frameworks. The experiments used 1350 natural and 900 flat-field images, captured by 18 individual cameras. 12 different experiments, grouped into three sets, were conducted. The results were analyzed using the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves. The experimental results demonstrated that combining the basic SPN estimator with a wavelet-based filtering scheme provides promising results. However, the phase SPN estimator fits better with both patch-based (BM3D) and anisotropic diffusion (AD) filtering schemes.

Keywords: sensor pattern noise, source camera identification, photo response non-uniformity, anisotropic diffusion, peak to correlation energy ratio

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Authors: Ayantika Biswas

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Hypertension still remains one of the most important preventable contributors to adult mortality and morbidity and a major public health challenge worldwide. Studying regional and rural-urban differences in prevalence and assessment of the contributions of different indicators is essential in determining the drivers of this condition. The 2015-16 National Family Health Survey data has been used for the study. Bivariate analysis, multinomial regression analysis, concentration indices and decomposition of concentration indices assessing contribution of factors has been undertaken in the present study. An overall concentration index of 0.003 has been found for hypertensive population, which shows its concentration among the richer wealth quintiles. The contribution of factors like age 45 to 49 years, years of schooling between 5 to 9 years are factors that are important contributors to inequality in hypertension occurrence. Studies should be conducted to find approaches to prevent or delay the onset of the condition.

Keywords: hypertension, decomposition, inequalities, India

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Authors: O. Alaa, D. Ahmed, R. Baher, K. Matjaz

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This paper provides a study of the factors influencing the purchasing of low emission vehicles. In order to achieve the objectives of the paper, and in the light of the pool of literature and availability of data, the authors relied on qualitative methods to offers a comparison between Egypt as a developing country and Slovenia as a developed country, through analysing a survey that involves an Egyptian sample and Slovenian samples, it also studies the effect of different push and pull methods on different buyers in order to help the governments as well as the manufacturers to understand the most significant factors that affect the purchasing behaviour of LEV in the future. The results of this paper show the important vehicle performance factors, financial considerations, and environmental considerations along with the gender and age of the consumer show that consumers are more interested in the total price of the car than in different taxes.

Keywords: low emission vehicles, purchasing behavior, developed countries, developing countries

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Authors: Gasto Lyakurwa, Glory Bakari, Edwin Sabuhoro

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Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) are established to promote and act as a remedy to the protection of wildlife resources outside the core protected area. WMAs aim to address issues of poverty, ensure sustainable use of wildlife resources, and share benefits from wildlife with the member villages. Successfully managed WMA in Tanzania improves local livelihood and conserves local biodiversity through tourism revenues and the protection of wildlife, respectively. Benefits accrued at household levels as a result of conservation activities in WMA can positively influence attitudes towards wildlife conservation. This research intends to assess the positive socio-economic impacts of WMA benefits on households in Burunge WMA in Tanzania. A questionnaire survey was conducted among four randomly selected villages in the ten villages forming the Burunge WMA to explore the household-level benefits of conservation activities. An example of a question item was whether household heads feel that they are benefiting from WMA and if they could remember some of the benefits. Interviews with leaders from WMA and member villages combined the survey to capture aspects of benefit distribution to households. A total of 80 households were used as samples of the recruited study sites. Moreover, the four WMA leaders and the eight village leaders of the respective study villages were interviewed. The study findings revealed that the shared benefit has mostly reached the community level and is less likely to reach the household level. Economic activities such as agriculture and livestock keeping were found to be more important for households than conservation-related economic activities. Conservation-related economic activities generate marginal direct benefits from WMA benefits to households, with ecotourism accounting for only 19.5%. The study also indicates that a direct share of financial benefits from WMA to households is lacking. Wildlife conservation benefits are less likely to reach household levels in WMAs, with the implication of reducing people's conservation attitudes and impeding community conservation success. WMA can utilize the finances from tourism fees and concessions to establish a Community Considerations Bank, which can lend money to some individuals at no or low interest rates. Considering the importance of education and health to households, WMA stands in a good position to provide health insurance premiums and student scholarships to motivate household participation in conservation activities. Community-based organizations and governments responsible for wildlife conservation should create mechanisms to channel conservation benefits to households in order to ensure the achievement of wildlife conservation objectives through WMA. These findings are expected to contribute to forming more WMAs with enhanced mechanisms for sharing conservation benefits to benefit the conservation of natural resources outside of the core protected areas. Motivated households are expected to respect wildlife and are less likely to engage in illegal activities such as poaching and harvesting conserved natural resources while coexisting with wildlife.

Keywords: social economic benefits, individuals, wildlife management areas, biodiversity, community

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Authors: Cedric Herring, Loren Henderson, Hayward Derrick Horton, Melvin Thomas

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This paper asks whether business startups benefit from having racially diverse founding ownership teams. Using nationally representative data from the Kauffman Firm Survey, the analysis examines the relationship between the racial diversity of the founding ownership teams of business startups and their net worth, revenue, debt, and profits. The analysis shows that, net of firm characteristics and human capital characteristics, startups with racially diverse founding teams have higher net worth, lower debt, and greater profits than their non-diverse counterparts. The racial diversity of ownership teams is not, however, related to startup firms’ revenues, net of other factors. The implications of these findings are explored.

Keywords: racial diversity, business startups, founding ownership teams, diversity and business performance

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Authors: Gabriela-Andreea Despescu, Mădălina Mavrodin, Gheorghe Lăzăroiu, S. Nacu, R. Băstinaş

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The Monitoring of Surface Water Bodies (Rivers) from Tisa Catchment Area - Maramureş County in 2014. This study is focused on the monitoring and evaluation of river’s water bodies from Maramureş County, using the methodology associated with the EU Water Framework Directive 60/2000. Thus, in the first part are defined the theoretical terms of monitoring activities related to the water bodies’ quality and the specific features of those we can find in the studied area. There are presented the water bodies’ features, quality indicators and the monitoring frequencies for the rivers situated in the Tisa catchment area. The results have shown the actual ecological and chemical state of those water bodies, in relation with the standard values mentioned through the Water Framework Directive.

Keywords: monitoring, surveillance, water bodies, quality

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Authors: Thanawit Buafai, Siyathorn Khunon

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This paper aims to explore the satisfaction levels of tourism product components on the island of Samui by studying the cultural dimension relationships of Hofsted’s classic theory. Both the six Hofsted cultural dimensions and tourism production satisfaction measures have been of interest worldwide. Therefore, the challenge of this study is to re-confirm previous research results in the ever-changing current contexts of the modern globalized business era. Self-rated questionnaires were employed to collect data from six nationalities of tourists in Samui, totaling 386 samples. The reliability of this research methodology was 0.967. Correlation was applied to analyze the relationships. The results indicate that Masculinity is significantly related to tourism destination satisfaction for every factor, while the other five cultural dimensions are related to some factors of tourism satisfaction. Surprisingly, tourist satisfaction toward the bar/restaurant factor is significantly correlated with all six cultural dimensions.

Keywords: cultural dimensions, tourism products, Samui, Thailand

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Authors: Rafeqah Raslan, Mastura AbdManaf, Junaidah Jai, Istikamah Subuki, Ana Najwa Mustapa

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The volatile citronella essential oil was encapsulated by simple coacervation and complex coacervation using gum Arabic and gelatin as wall material. Glutaraldehyde was used in the methodology as crosslinking agent. The citronella standard calibration graph was developed with R2 equal to 0.9523 for the accurate determination of encapsulation efficiency and release study. The release kinetic was analyzed based on Fick’s law of diffusion for polymeric system and linear graph of log fraction release over log time was constructed to determine the release rate constant, k and diffusion coefficient, n. Both coacervation methods in the present study produce encapsulation efficiency around 94%. The capsules morphology analysis supported the release kinetic mechanisms of produced capsules for both coacervation process.

Keywords: simple coacervation, complex coacervation, encapsulation efficiency, release kinetic study

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Authors: Hyeon-Seung Kim, Young-Hwan Kim, Sang-Mi Park, Min-Seo Kim, Jong-Myeung Shin, Leen-Seok Kang

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The project budget at the planned stage might be changed by the insufficient government budget or the design change. There are many cases more especially in the case of a project performed for a long period of time. If the actual construction budget is insufficient comparing with the planned budget, the construction schedule should also be changed to match the changed budget. In that case, most project managers change the planned construction schedule by a heuristic approach without a reasonable consideration on the work priority. This study suggests an optimized methodology to modify the construction schedule according to the changed budget. The genetic algorithm was used to optimize the modified construction schedule within the changed budget. And a simulation system of construction cost histogram in accordance with the construction schedule was developed in the BIM (Building Information Modeling) environment.

Keywords: 5D, BIM, GA, cost optimization

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Authors: Umer Mukhtar

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Supply Chain Competitiveness is the capability of a supply chain to deliver value to the customer for the sake of competitive advantage. Service Performance and Quality intervene between supply chain actors including functions inside the firm in a significant way for the supply chain to achieve a competitive position in the market to gain competitive advantage. Supply Chain competitiveness is the current issue of interest because of supply chains’ competition for competitive advantage rather than firms’. A proposed theoretical model is developed by extracting and integrating different theories to pursue further inquiry based on case studies and survey design. It is also intended to develop a scale of service performance for functions of the focal firm that is a revolving center for a whole supply chain.

Keywords: supply chain competitiveness, service performance in supply chain, service quality in supply chain, competitive advantage by supply chain, networks and supply chain, customer value, value supply chain, value chain

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Authors: Matineh Sadat Hosseini Gheidari, Vahid Reza Yazdanpanah

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In this paper, we used the empirical tight-binding method (ETBM) with sp3s* approximation and considering the first nearest neighbor with spin-orbit interactions in order to model superlattice structure (SLS) of (AlₓGa₁₋ₓAs)ₘ/(GaAs)ₙ grown on GaAs (100) substrate at 300K. In the next step, we investigated the behavior of the energy gap and wavelength of this superlattice in terms of different thicknesses of core materials and Al mole fractions. As a result of this survey, we found out that as the Al composition increases, the energy gap of this superlattice has an upward trend and ranges from 1.42-1.63 eV. Also, according to the wavelength range that we gained from this superlattice in different Al mole fractions and various thicknesses, we can find a suitable semiconductor for a special light-emitting diode (LED) application.

Keywords: energy gap, empirical tight-binding method, light-emitting diode, superlattice, wavelength

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Authors: Majd Megheirkouni

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The aim of this study is to identify empirical studies that explore and investigate ethical leadership in order to assess and synthesize its impacts and outcomes. This study seeks to provide an evidence-informed answer to a set of questions on ethical leadership definition in the field of tourism and hospitality, its investigation, and examination, and its outcome. A systematic literature review, using medical science-based methodology, was conducted to synthesize research by reliable means. Four themes were identified from the analysis. These themes are: Ethical leaders’ characteristics, healthy work environment, ethical leadership effectiveness, and the application of ethical leadership across cultures. This study provides the potential to move hospitality and tourism leadership forward and encourage researchers to investigate new research topics. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first systematic review focusing on ethical leadership in tourism and hospitality settings.

Keywords: ethical leadership, approach, outcome, tourism, hospitality, systematic review

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Authors: Rafael Dias Silva

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The school is a social institution that should promote learning situations that remain throughout life. Based on this, the teaching activities promoted in museum spaces can represent an educational strategy that contributes to the learning process in a more meaningful way. This article systematizes a series of elements that guide the use of these spaces for the scientific literacy of deaf students and as experiences of this nature are favorable for the school development through the concept of the circularity. The methodology for the didactic use of these spaces of non-formal education is one of the reflections developed in this study and how such environments can contribute to the learning in the classroom. To develop in the student the idea of ​​association making him create connections with the curricular proposal and notice how the proposed activity is articulated. It is in our interest that the experience lived in the museum be shared collaborating for the construction of a scientific literacy and cultural identity through the research.

Keywords: accessibility in museums, Brazilian sign language, deaf students, teacher training

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Authors: Amin Mojiri, Lou Ziyang

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Constructed wetland (CW) is a reasonable method to treat waste water. Current study was carried out to co-treat landfill leachate and domestic waste water using a CW system. Typha domingensis was transplanted to CW, which encloses two substrate layers of adsorbents named ZELIAC and zeolite. Response surface methodology and central composite design were employed to evaluate experimental data. Contact time (h) and leachate to waste water mixing ratio (%; v/v) were selected as independent factors. Phenols and manganese removal were selected as dependent responses. At optimum contact time (48.7 h) and leachate to waste water mixing ratio (20.0%), removal efficiencies of phenols and manganese removal efficiencies were 90.5%, and 89.4%, respectively.

Keywords: constructed wetland, Manganese, phenols, Thypha domingensis

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Authors: Michele Gattullo, Vito M. Manghisi, Alessandro Evangelista, Enricoandrea Laviola

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In this work, we explored the use of Augmented Reality (AR) to support students in laboratory lectures in Distance Learning (DL), designing an application that proved to be ready for use next semester. AR could help students in the understanding of complex concepts as well as increase their motivation in the learning process. However, despite many prototypes in the literature, it is still less used in schools and universities. This is mainly due to the perceived limited advantages to the investment costs, especially regarding changes needed in the teaching modalities. However, with the spread of epidemiological emergency due to SARS-CoV-2, schools and universities were forced to a very rapid redefinition of consolidated processes towards forms of Distance Learning. Despite its many advantages, it suffers from the impossibility to carry out practical activities that are of crucial importance in STEM ("Science, Technology, Engineering e Math") didactics. In this context, AR perceived advantages increased a lot since teachers are more prepared for new teaching modalities, exploiting AR that allows students to carry on practical activities on their own instead of being physically present in laboratories. In this work, we designed an AR application for the support of engineering students in the understanding of assembly drawings of complex machines. Traditionally, this skill is acquired in the first years of the bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, through laboratory activities where the teacher shows the corresponding components (e.g., bearings, screws, shafts) in a real machine and their representation in the assembly drawing. This research aims to explore the effectiveness of AR to allow students to acquire this skill on their own without physically being in the laboratory. In a preliminary phase, we interviewed students to understand the main issues in the learning of this subject. This survey revealed that students had difficulty identifying machine components in an assembly drawing, matching between the 2D representation of a component and its real shape, and understanding the functionality of a component within the machine. We developed a mobile application using Unity3D, aiming to solve the mentioned issues. We designed the application in collaboration with the course professors. Natural feature tracking was used to associate the 2D printed assembly drawing with the corresponding 3D virtual model. The application can be displayed on students’ tablets or smartphones. Users could interact with selecting a component from a part list on the device. Then, 3D representations of components appear on the printed drawing, coupled with 3D virtual labels for their location and identification. Users could also interact with watching a 3D animation to learn how components are assembled. Students evaluated the application through a questionnaire based on the System Usability Scale (SUS). The survey was provided to 15 students selected among those we participated in the preliminary interview. The mean SUS score was 83 (SD 12.9) over a maximum of 100, allowing teachers to use the AR application in their courses. Another important finding is that almost all the students revealed that this application would provide significant power for comprehension on their own.

Keywords: augmented reality, distance learning, STEM didactics, technology in education

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Authors: Charalampos Saridakis, Stelios Tsafarakis

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Although environmental concern is on the rise across Europe, current market data indicate that adoption rates of environmentally friendly vehicles remain extremely low. Against this background, the aim of this paper is to a) assess preferences of European consumers for clean-fuel cars and their characteristics and b) design car lines that optimize the combination of fuel types among models in the line-up. In this direction, the authors introduce a new evolutionary mechanism and implement it to stated-preference data derived from a large-scale choice-based conjoint experiment that measures consumer preferences for various factors affecting clean-fuel vehicle (CFV) adoption. The proposed two-step methodology provides interesting insights into how new and existing fuel-types can be combined in a car line that maximizes customer satisfaction.

Keywords: clean-fuel vehicles, product line design, conjoint analysis, choice experiment, differential evolution

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Authors: Michael Tilahun Mulugeta

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Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users as they are more exposed to the risk of collusion. Pedestrian safety at road intersections still remains the most vital and yet unsolved issue in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. One of the critical points in pedestrian safety is the occurrence of conflict between turning vehicle and pedestrians at un-signalized intersection. However, a better understanding of the factors that affect the likelihood of the conflicts would help provide direction for countermeasures aimed at reducing the number of crashes. This paper has sorted to explore a model to describe the relation between traffic conflicts and influencing factors using Multiple Linear regression methodology. In this research the main focus is to study the interaction of turning (left & right) vehicle with pedestrian at unsignalized intersections. The specific objectives also to determine factors that affect the number of potential conflicts and develop a model of potential conflict.

Keywords: potential, regression analysis, pedestrian, conflicts

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Authors: Shishir Lamichhane

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Nepal neither is a party to any international refugee instruments nor does it have a national legislation to govern the refugee concerns legislated in the international legal instruments. In the absence of both of these, Nepal has adopted a rather ad hoc approach to dealing with refugees. Whereas Nepali state’s ad hocism seems to be paying off well with prominent (and mainstream) refugee populations of Bhutanese and Tibetans, urban refugees like Pakistani Ahmadiyya refugees have been left mostly at the odds. This paper is an attempt to reflect how the ad hoc approach taken by the host country (Nepal) is resulting in the further persecution of the Pakistani Ahmadiyya refugees and is lined up with arguments about how the basic rights of these refugees are being violated in the absence of a proper law. Relevant information regarding urban refugees residing in Kathmandu has been gathered by applying Empirical Research Methodology, while the paper also reviews pertinent literature already available on the case of Ahmadiya community.

Keywords: Pakistan, Ahmadiya community, Nepal, urban refugees

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Authors: R. Praveen, B. R. Chandan Ravi, M. Harikrishna

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Squeak and rattle noises are the most annoying transient vehicle noises produced due to different terrain conditions. Interpretation and prohibition of squeak and rattle noises are the dominant aspects of a vehicle refinement. This paper describes the computer-aided engineering (CAE) approach to evaluating the full vehicle squeak and rattle performance with the measured road surface profile as enforced excitation at the tire patch points. The E-Line methodology has been used to predict the relative displacement at the interface points and the risk areas were identified. Squeak and rattle performance has been evaluated at different speeds and at different road conditions to understand the vehicle characteristics. The competence of the process in predicting the risk and root cause of the problems showcased us a pleasing conformity between the physical testing and CAE simulation results.

Keywords: e-line, enforced excitation, full vehicle, squeak and rattle, road excitation

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Authors: Tahmina Huq

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This paper presents the findings of an action research study that aimed to investigate the efficacy of a visual dialogue strategy in assisting autistic students with intellectual disabilities in managing their immediate emotions and improving their academic achievements. The research sought to explore the effectiveness of teaching self-regulation techniques as an alternative to traditional approaches involving segregation. The study identified visual dialogue as a valuable tool for promoting self-regulation in this specific student population. Action research was chosen as the methodology due to its suitability for immediate implementation of the findings in the classroom. Autistic students with intellectual disabilities often face challenges in controlling their emotions, which can disrupt their learning and academic progress. Conventional methods of intervention, such as isolation and psychologist-assisted approaches, may result in missed classes and hindered academic development. This study introduces the utilization of visual dialogue between students and teachers as an effective self-regulation strategy, addressing the limitations of traditional approaches. Action research was employed as the methodology for this study, allowing for the direct application of the findings in the classroom. The study observed two 15-year-old autistic students with intellectual disabilities who exhibited difficulties in emotional regulation and displayed aggressive behaviors. The research question focused on the effectiveness of visual dialogue in managing the emotions of these students and its impact on their learning outcomes. Data collection methods included personal observations, log sheets, personal reflections, and visual documentation. The study revealed that the implementation of visual dialogue as a self-regulation strategy enabled the students to regulate their emotions within a short timeframe (10 to 30 minutes). Through visual dialogue, they were able to express their feelings and needs in socially appropriate ways. This finding underscores the significance of visual dialogue as a tool for promoting emotional regulation and facilitating active participation in classroom activities. As a result, the students' learning outcomes and social interactions were positively impacted. The findings of this study hold significant implications for educators working with autistic students with intellectual disabilities. The use of visual dialogue as a self-regulation strategy can enhance emotional regulation skills and improve overall academic progress. The action research approach outlined in this paper provides practical guidance for educators in effectively implementing self-regulation strategies within classroom settings. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that visual dialogue is an effective strategy for enhancing emotional regulation in autistic students with intellectual disabilities. By employing visual communication, students can successfully regulate their emotions and actively engage in classroom activities, leading to improved learning outcomes and social interactions. This paper underscores the importance of implementing self-regulation strategies in educational settings to cater to the unique needs of autistic students.

Keywords: action research, self-regulation, autism, visual communication

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Authors: A. Oliveira-Brochado, R. Silva, C. Paulino

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The aim of this paper is to use an experiential view of wine tourism to develop a battery of items that can potentially capture the overall Douro Valley experience from the tourist’s perspective. The Douro Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage region located in Portugal, was the target of this study. The research took a mixed approach using both qualitative and quantitative designs. Firstly, we combine the literature review on service quality scales with a content analysis of five in-depth interviews with winery managers and a focus group with wine tourists to identify the main dimensions of the overall tourism experience and to develop a battery of items for each dimension. Eight dimensions of the overall wine tourism experience came out, as follows: winery service and staff, winery facilities, winery service, wine product, wine region environment, wine region accessibilities, wine region´s offerings, and the wine region and winery reputation.

Keywords: wine tourism, Douro region, survey, wineries, experience

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Authors: Roberto M. G. Velásquez, Jonas R. Gazoli, Nelson Ponce Jr, Valério L. Borges, Alessandro Sete, Fernanda M. C. Tomé, Julian D. Hunt, Heitor C. Lira, Cristiano L. de Souza, Fabio T. Bindemann, Wilmar Wounnsoscky

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Nowadays, society is working toward reducing energy losses and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as seeking clean energy sources, as a result of the constant increase in energy demand and emissions. Energy loss occurs in the gas pressure reduction stations at the delivery points in natural gas distribution systems (city gates). Installing pressure reduction turbines (PRT) parallel to the static reduction valves at the city gates enhances the energy efficiency of the system by recovering the enthalpy of the pressurized natural gas, obtaining in the pressure-lowering process shaft work and generating electrical power. Currently, the Brazilian natural gas transportation network has 9,409 km in extension, while the system has 16 national and 3 international natural gas processing plants, including more than 143 delivery points to final consumers. Thus, the potential of installing PRT in Brazil is 66 MW of power, which could yearly avoid the emission of 235,800 tons of CO2 and generate 333 GWh/year of electricity. On the other hand, an economic viability analysis of these energy efficiency projects is commonly carried out based on estimates of the project's cash flow obtained from several variables forecast. Usually, the cash flow analysis is performed using representative values of these variables, obtaining a deterministic set of financial indicators associated with the project. However, in most cases, these variables cannot be predicted with sufficient accuracy, resulting in the need to consider, to a greater or lesser degree, the risk associated with the calculated financial return. This paper presents an approach applied to the technical-economic viability analysis of PRTs projects that explicitly considers the uncertainties associated with the input parameters for the financial model, such as gas pressure at the delivery point, amount of energy generated by TRP, the future price of energy, among others, using sensitivity analysis techniques, scenario analysis, and Monte Carlo methods. In the latter case, estimates of several financial risk indicators, as well as their empirical probability distributions, can be obtained. This is a methodology for the financial risk analysis of PRT projects. The results of this paper allow a more accurate assessment of the potential PRT project's financial feasibility in Brazil. This methodology will be tested at the Cuiabá thermoelectric plant, located in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, and can be applied to study the potential in other countries.

Keywords: pressure reduction turbine, natural gas pressure drop station, energy efficiency, electricity generation, monte carlo methods

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Authors: Iman E. Bouthahab, Badea B. Geador

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Aim of this paper is to explore the prospect of a new approach of mobile phone banking in Libya. This study evaluates customer knowledge on commercial mobile banking in Libya. To examine the relationship between age, occupation and intention for using mobile banking for commercial purpose, a survey was conducted to gather information from one hundred Libyan bank clients. The results indicate that Libyan customers have accepted the new technology and they are ready to use it. There is no significant joint relationship between age and occupation found in intention to use mobile banking in Libya. On the other hand, the customers’ knowledge about mobile banking has a greater relationship with the intention. This study has implications for demographic researches and consumer behaviour disciplines. It also has profitable implications for banks and managers in Libya, as it will assist in better understanding of the Libyan consumers and their activities, when they develop their market strategies and new service.

Keywords: mobile banking, intention, customer knowledge, banks in Libya

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Authors: Denis Özdemir, Max Senges

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There are many examples of AI-supported apps for better health and wellbeing. Generally, these applications help people to achieve their goals based on scientific research and input data. Still, they do not always explain how those three are related, e.g. by making implicit assumptions about goals that hold for many but not for all. We present a seven-step method for designing health and wellbeing AIs considering goal setting, measurable results, real-time indicators, analytics, visual representations, communication, and feedback. It can help engineers as guidance in developing apps, recommendation algorithms, and interfaces that support humans in their decision-making without patronization. To illustrate the method, we create a recommender AI for tiny wellbeing habits and run a small case study, including a survey. From the results, we infer how people perceive the relationship between them and the AI and to what extent it helps them to achieve their goals. We review our seven-step engineering method and suggest modifications for the next iteration.

Keywords: recommender systems, natural language processing, health apps, engineering methods

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Authors: Zhao Pengcheng, Yin Siyuan

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Fintech is the new hot topic of the 21st century, a discipline that combines financial theory with computer modelling. It can provide both digital analysis methods for investment banks and investment decisions for users. Given the variety of services available, it is necessary to provide a superior method of requirements elicitation to ensure that users' needs are addressed in the software development process. The accuracy of traditional software requirements elicitation methods is not sufficient, so this study attempts to use a multi-perspective based requirements heuristic framework. Methods such as interview and questionnaire combination, card sorting, and model driven are proposed. The collection results from PCA show that the new methods can better help with requirements elicitation. However, the method has some limitations and, there are some efficiency issues. However, the research in this paper provides a good theoretical extension that can provide researchers with some new research methods and perspectives viewpoints.

Keywords: requirement elicitation, FinTech, mobile application, survey, interview, model-driven

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Authors: Salam Abukhadrah

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This research advocates for the use of feminist evaluation (FE) as a tool of great potential in policy and program assessment in relation to women’s empowerment. This research explores the journey of women’s place into the evaluation and international development. Moreover, this research presents a case example of the use of FE on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), in Ganaparthi village in rural India, in Andhra Pradesh state (AP). This evaluation is formed on the basis of women’s empowerment framework that seeks to examine empowerment as a process and an end in itself rather than as just simplified quantifiable outcomes. This framework is used to conduct in-depth semi-structured interviews that are later cross-validated by a focus group discussion. In addition, this evaluation draws on secondary data from the MGNREGA website and on extracted data from the National Family Health Survey of AP.

Keywords: feminist evaluation, MGNREGA, women’s empowerment, case example, India

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Authors: Danilo López, Edwin Rivas, Fernando Pedraza

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Currently, one of the major challenges in wireless networks is the optimal use of radio spectrum, which is managed inefficiently. One of the solutions to existing problem converges in the use of Cognitive Radio (CR), as an essential parameter so that the use of the available licensed spectrum is possible (by secondary users), well above the usage values that are currently detected; thus allowing the opportunistic use of the channel in the absence of primary users (PU). This article presents the results found when estimating or predicting the future use of a spectral transmission band (from the perspective of the PU) for a chaotic type channel arrival behavior. The time series prediction method (which the PU represents) used is ANFIS (Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System). The results obtained were compared to those delivered by the RNA (Artificial Neural Network) algorithm. The results show better performance in the characterization (modeling and prediction) with the ANFIS methodology.

Keywords: ANFIS, cognitive radio, prediction primary user, RNA

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Authors: Ibtissem Hosni, Lilia Bennaceur Farah, Saber Mohamed Naceur

Abstract:

In order to assess the water availability in the soil, it is crucial to have information about soil distributed moisture content; this parameter helps to understand the effect of humidity on the exchange between soil, plant cover and atmosphere in addition to fully understanding the surface processes and the hydrological cycle. On the other hand, aerodynamic roughness length is a surface parameter that scales the vertical profile of the horizontal component of the wind speed and characterizes the surface ability to absorb the momentum of the airflow. In numerous applications of the surface hydrology and meteorology, aerodynamic roughness length is an important parameter for estimating momentum, heat and mass exchange between the soil surface and atmosphere. It is important on this side, to consider the atmosphere factors impact in general, and the natural erosion in particular, in the process of soil evolution and its characterization and prediction of its physical parameters. The study of the induced movements by the wind over soil vegetated surface, either spaced plants or plant cover, is motivated by significant research efforts in agronomy and biology. The known major problem in this side concerns crop damage by wind, which presents a booming field of research. Obviously, most models of soil surface require information about the aerodynamic roughness length and its temporal and spatial variability. We have used a bi-dimensional multi-scale (2D MLS) roughness description where the surface is considered as a superposition of a finite number of one-dimensional Gaussian processes each one having a spatial scale using the wavelet transform and the Mallat algorithm to describe natural surface roughness. We have introduced multi-layer aspect of the humidity of the soil surface, to take into account a volume component in the problem of backscattering radar signal. As humidity increases, the dielectric constant of the soil-water mixture increases and this change is detected by microwave sensors. Nevertheless, many existing models in the field of radar imagery, cannot be applied directly on areas covered with vegetation due to the vegetation backscattering. Thus, the radar response corresponds to the combined signature of the vegetation layer and the layer of soil surface. Therefore, the key issue of the numerical estimation of soil moisture is to separate the two contributions and calculate both scattering behaviors of the two layers by defining the scattering of the vegetation and the soil blow. This paper presents a synergistic methodology, and it is for estimating roughness and soil moisture from C-band radar measurements. The methodology adequately represents a microwave/optical model which has been used to calculate the scattering behavior of the aerodynamic vegetation-covered area by defining the scattering of the vegetation and the soil below.

Keywords: aerodynamic, bi-dimensional, vegetation, synergistic

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Sook Ching Yee, Angela Siew Hoong Lee

Abstract:

Big data technologies have become a trend to exploit business opportunities and provide valuable business insights through the analysis of big data. However, there are still many organizations that have yet to adopt big data technologies especially small and medium organizations (SME). This study uses the technology acceptance model (TAM) to look into several constructs in the TAM and other additional constructs which are positive affect, negative affect, organizational factor and motivational factor. The conceptual model proposed in the study will be tested on the relationship and influence of positive affect, negative affect, organizational factor and motivational factor towards the intention to use big data technologies to produce an outcome. Empirical research is used in this study by conducting a survey to collect data.

Keywords: big data technologies, motivational factor, negative affect, organizational factor, positive affect, technology acceptance model (TAM)

Procedia PDF Downloads 362