Search results for: future outlook

Authors: Taiwo Frances Gbadegesin

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Children’s capacity to contribute to social and economic status of a nation has been given more recognition than ever. Global policy priority aimed at ensuring sustainable development has been extended to the developing nations of the world. However, many developing countries have continued to puzzle out the extent and possibilities of exploring sustainability within their socio-economic environment. This paper considers ways in which the theoretical framework of Dahlberg, Moss and Pence (1999; 2007) and Moss (2007; 2012) that embraces meaning-making, social construction of childhood experiences and democratic perspectives can be used to understand children’s capacity for building a sustainable future. This paper presents data collected through interviews and observations from ECCE teachers and children in Lagos, Nigeria. A distinct finding is that children’s participation in building sustainable future is a consequence of the knowledge of the workings of their social, economic and cultural nuances and not a matter of economic wealth per se. It further argues that sustainability is situated within a complex network of local and global contexts. It thus challenges the present neo-liberal approach and advocates a democratic approach to preparing children for a sustainable society. It concludes that sustainability cannot be built on what may be seen as decontextualized responses by relevant stakeholders to the needs and experiences of the “whole child”.

Keywords: children, ECCE, sustainable development, Nigeria

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Authors: Prachi Desai, Ankita Gandhi, Mitali Acharya

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Rainfall forecast is mainly used for predictions of rainfall in a specified area and determining their future rainfall conditions. Rainfall is always a global issue as it affects all major aspects of one's life. Agricultural, fisheries, forestry, tourism industry and other industries are widely affected by these conditions. The studies have resulted in insufficient availability of water resources and an increase in water demand in the near future. We already have a new forecast system that uses the deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to forecast monthly rainfall and climate changes. We have also compared CNN against Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). Machine Learning techniques that are used in rainfall predictions include ARIMA Model, ANN, LR, SVM etc. The dataset on which we are experimenting is gathered online over the year 1901 to 20118. Test results have suggested more realistic improvements than conventional rainfall forecasts.

Keywords: ANN, CNN, supervised learning, machine learning, deep learning

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Authors: Robin C. Ladwig

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The future of work becomes less predictable, which requires increasing the adaptability of organizations to social and work changes. Society is transforming regarding gender identity in the sense that more people come forward to identify as trans and gender diverse (TGD). Organizations are ill-equipped to provide a safe and encouraging work environment by lacking inclusive organizational structures. The qualitative multi-method research about TGD inclusivity in the workplace explores the enablers and barriers for TGD individuals to satisfactory engage in the work environment and organizational culture. Furthermore, these TGD insights are analyzed about their organizational implications and awareness from a leadership and management perspective. The semi-structured online interviews with TGD individuals and the photo-elicit open-ended questionnaire addressed to leadership and management in diversity, career development, and human resources have been analyzed with a critical grounded theory approach. Findings demonstrated the significance of TGD voices, the support of leadership and management, as well as the synergy between voices and leadership. Hence, it indicates practical implications such as the revision of exclusive language used in policies, data collection, or communication and reconsideration of organizational decision-making by leaders to include TGD voices.

Keywords: future of work, occupational identity, organisational decision-making, trans and gender diverse identity

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Authors: Yajing Jiang, Jing Wu

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Residential area construction links many problems such as population resources, ecology, social values, public services and transportation in the city. After Chinese housing reform, a large number of residential area development accompanied by the loss of agricultural and ecological land. To explore the future of Chinese urban residential area, this article concentrates on how the 'Compact Settlement' behaves in improving the living environment and saving the resources. Through the research of residential area in Hangzhou, there are some determines that increasing the development intensity of the area can indeed bring some improvement in the overall environment. In conclusion, possible design alternatives are discussed for leading Chinese urban development towards a more sustainable path.

Keywords: compact city development, environmental sustainability, residential area, Hangzhou

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Authors: Waleed Alanzi

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The purpose of this qualitative study was to add to the existing literature and provide a more detailed understanding of the individual experiences and perceptions of 15 Deans at the University of Kuwait regarding their first year of planning, developing, and implementing crisis distance education (CDE) in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. An interpretative phenomenological approach was applied, using the thematic analysis of interview transcripts to describe the challenging journeys taken by each of the Deans from the first-person point of view. There was objective evidence, manifested by four primary themes (“Obstacles to the implementation of CDE”; “Planning for CDE”; “Training for CDE,” and “Future Directions”) to conclude that the faculty members, technical staff, administrative staff, and students generally helped each other to overcome the obstacles associated with planning and implementing CDE. The idea that CDE may turn homes into schools and parents into teachers was supported. The planning and implementation of CDE were inevitably associated with a certain amount of confusion, as well as disruptions in the daily routines of staff and students, as well as significant changes in their responsibilities. There were contradictory ideas about the future directions of distance education after the pandemic. Previous qualitative research on the implementation of CDE at higher education institutions in the Arab world has focused mainly on the experiences and perceptions of students; however, little is known about the experiences and perceptions of the students at the University of Kuwait during the COVID19 pandemic, providing a rationale and direction for future research.

Keywords: distance learning, qualitative research, COVID-19 epidemic, Kuwait university

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Authors: Satyajit Kalita

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Assam from an early period has gone through various religious transformations and has witnessed its impact in different period. One of such epoch is the epoch of Srimanta Shankardeva. Srimanta Shankareva is regarded, as the greatest religious preacher and social reformer in the history of Assam. It was Shankardeva, who brought the faith of vaisnavite movement that prevailed in other parts of India. Before and during his time, the people of Assam were followers of Sakta worship, the worshipping of different gods and goddesses. People worshiped idols and offered sacrifices. Srimanta Shankardeva under the faith neo-vaishnavism and propagated the Eka-Saran-Naam-Dharm, through which spread the splendor of one and only Lord Vishnu or Krishna and abolished offering sacrifices. With the help of Eka-Saran-Naam-Dharma, Srimanta Shankardeva tries to vanish the superstitious beliefs and irrational practices of Assamese society. The NeoVaishnavite faith developed a democratic outlook which permeates the entire teachings and practices in Assamese people. His contributions not only made the foundations of Assamese literature, culture, and social structure but also established the super structures the upon. It is understood that all contributions of Srimanta Shankardeva bear his marks distinctively. Religion is said to be biggest and the most influential aspect in bringing about change in the society. In Assam, with the essence of neo-vaishnavism by Shankardeva and the emergence of the Eka-Saran-Naam-Dharma came into a huge Change to the region. The movement of religion brought about a social mobility to all sections of society. This paper is a mere initiative to look into the organizational structure of Srimanta Shankardeva Sangha and its maintenance of the ideology and principles without failure. It is aimed to examine the assimilation of different groups and communities of people under the fold of Srimanta Shankardeva Sangha.

Keywords: Neo-Vaishnavism, Srimanta Shankardeva, Srimanta Shankardeva Shangha, Eka-Saran-Naam-Dharma

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Authors: Sara Bouzekri, Said Madani

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In many Mediterranean cities such as Algiers, the human activity, the strong mobility the urban sprawl, the air pollution, the problems of waste management, the wasting of the resources and the degradation of the environment weaken in an unquestionable way the farming. The question of sustainable action vis-a-vis these threats arises then in order to maintain a level of desired local development. The methodology is based on a multi-criteria method based on the AFOM diagnosis, which classifies agricultural strength indicators and those of threat, according to an analytical approach. In a sustainable development perspective, it will be appropriate to link the threat factors of the case study with the factors of climate change to see their impact on the future of agriculture. This will be accompanied by a SWOT analysis, which crosses the most significant criteria to arrive at the necessary recommendations based on future projects for urban agriculture.

Keywords: Algiers, environment, urban agriculture, threat factors

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Authors: Danilo López, Johana Hernández, Edwin Rivas

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The use of the Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks (MLPNN) technique is presented to estimate the future state of use of a licensed channel by primary users (PUs); this will be useful at the spectral decision stage in cognitive radio networks (CRN) to determine approximately in which time instants of future may secondary users (SUs) opportunistically use the spectral bandwidth to send data through the primary wireless network. To validate the results, sequences of occupancy data of channel were generated by simulation. The results show that the prediction percentage is greater than 60% in some of the tests carried out.

Keywords: cognitive radio, neural network, prediction, primary user

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Authors: Aida Lamaj

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Death is an inevitable phenomenon in our life, in the same way, are also the ritual of death accompanied by the dirge and the keening performed by men. Keening is a phenomenon common among all peoples, the instances in which the ritual of death and keening coincide, as a special phenomenon of its, are numerous given the fact that keening is an outcome of an extremely special emotional state. However, even during the ritual of death, every people try to display through words its qualities, a multitude of characteristics preserved and transmitted with fanaticism from one generation to the other. The ritual of death constitutes an important element of our tradition and at the same time a material always interesting to be studied in minute details. In this study, we have tried to limit ourselves to the feminine speech, since keening, in general in Albania has been carried out by women. Differences and similarities among keening on the national scale, from the diachronic and synchronic point of view, can be seen clearly if we compare the Albanian creations in different regions. The similarities and differences within the Albanian culture serve as a typical paradigm to study how the ancient elements of outlook that the Albanians have had on death, history, and the social organization in these regions have been preserved and transmitted and above all, in what way these feelings have been clothed from the linguistic point of view, the typologies of keening and of all of the ritual of death, which clearly shows archaic forms as well as new developments. These data have been gathered not only by conducting various surveys but also by observing closely the linguistic behavior of women in Albania during the ritual of death. The study has encompassed the popular lyric poetry as well as new entries, whereas from the geographic point of view we focus mainly in the Southern regions, although examples from other regions where Albanian speaking people live are also present. The main results of the study show that women use much more than men dialect form, peripheral language elements and descriptive elements during their speech in the ritual of death.

Keywords: feminine speech in Albania, linguistic characteristics of the dirge, ritual of death, the typologies of keening

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Authors: Cristian Crespo

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Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have been targeted towards the poor. Thus, their targeting assessments check whether these schemes have been allocated to low-income households or individuals. However, CCTs have more than one goal and target group. An additional goal of CCTs is to increase school enrolment. Hence, students at risk of dropping out of school also are a target group. This paper analyses whether one of the most common targeting mechanisms of CCTs, a proxy means test (PMT), is suitable to identify the poor and future school dropouts. The PMT is compared with alternative approaches that use the outputs of a predictive model of school dropout. This model was built using machine learning algorithms and rich administrative datasets from Chile. The paper shows that using machine learning outputs in conjunction with the PMT increases targeting effectiveness by identifying more students who are either poor or future dropouts. This joint targeting approach increases effectiveness in different scenarios except when the social valuation of the two target groups largely differs. In these cases, the most likely optimal approach is to solely adopt the targeting mechanism designed to find the highly valued group.

Keywords: conditional cash transfers, machine learning, poverty, proxy means tests, school dropout prediction, targeting

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Authors: Nicholas Burica, Nina Selak

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The ADHCAT (Automated Distribution Hosting Capacity Assessment Tool) was designed to run Hosting Capacity Analysis on the ComEd system via a stochastic DER (Distributed Energy Resource) placement on multiple power flow simulations against a set of violation criteria. The violation criteria in the initial version of the tool captured a limited amount of issues that individual departments design against for DER interconnections. Enhancements were made to the tool to further align with individual department violation and operation criteria, as well as the addition of new modules for use for future load profile analysis. A reporting engine was created for future analytical use based on the simulations and observations in the tool.

Keywords: distributed energy resources, hosting capacity, interconnect, voltage optimization

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Authors: Muhammad Naveed

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In this paper, flood issues in Gujranwala and Rawalpindi divisions are discussed as a primary importance as these zones are affected continuously from flooding in recent years, provincial variability of the issue, introduce status of the continuous administration measures, their adequacy and future needs in flood administration are secured. Flood issues in these zones are exhibited by Chenab River Basin, Jhelum Rivers Basin. Some unique problems, related to floods in these divisions is lack of major dams on Chenab and Jhelum rivers and also mismanagement of rivers and canal water like dam break stream, and water signing in Tal zones, are additionally mentioned. There are major Nalaas in these regions like Nalaa Lai of Rawalpindi and Nalaa Daik, Nalaa Palkhu, Nalaa Aik of Gujranwala are major cause of floods in these regions other than rivers. Proper management of these Nalaas and moving of nearby population well in time could reduce impacts from flood in these regions. Progress of different flood administration measures, both auxiliary and non-basic, are discussed. Likewise, future needs to accomplish proficient and fruitful flood management measures in Pakistan are additionally brought up. In this paper, we describe different hard and soft engineering techniques to overcome flood situations in these zones as these zones are more vulnerable due to lack of management in canal and river water. Effective management and use of hard and soft techniques are need of time in coming future for controlling greater flooding in flood risk zones to overcome or minimize people’s death as well as agricultural and financial resources as flood and other natural disasters are a major drawback in the economic prosperity of the country.

Keywords: flood management, rivers, major dams, agricultural and financial loss, future management and control

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Authors: Gertrude I. Hewapathirana, Loi A. Nguyen, Mohammed M. Mostafa

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Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and tools are swiftly integrating into many functions of all organizations as a competitive drive to enhance innovations, productivity, efficiency, faster and precise decision making to keep up with rapid changes in the global business arena. Despite increasing research on AI technologies in production, manufacturing, and information management, AI in human resource disciplines is still lagging. Though a few research studies on HR informatics, recruitment, and HRM in general, how to integrate AI in other HR functional disciplines (e.g., compensation, training, mentoring and coaching, employee motivation) is rarely researched. Many inconsistencies of research hinder developing up-to-date knowledge on AI in HR disciplines. Therefore, exploring eight research questions, using bibliometric network analysis combined with a meta-analysis of published research literature. The authors attempt to generate knowledge on the role of AI in improving the efficiency of HR functional disciplines. To advance the knowledge for the benefit of researchers, academics, policymakers, and practitioners, the study highlights the types of AI innovations and outcomes, trends, gaps, themes and topics, fast-moving disciplines, key players, and future directions.AI in HR informatics in high tech firms is the dominant theme in many research publications. While there is increasing attention from researchers and practitioners, there are many gaps between the promise, potential, and real AI applications in HR disciplines. A higher knowledge gap raised many unanswered questions regarding legal, ethical, and morale aspects of AI in HR disciplines as well as the potential contributions of AI in HR disciplines that may guide future research directions. Though the study provides the most current knowledge, it is limited to peer-reviewed empirical, theoretical, and conceptual research publications stored in the WoS database. The implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, human resources, bibliometric analysis, research directions

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Authors: Aparna Bhat, Rajeshwari Hegde

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Renewable energy sources also called non-conventional energy sources that are continuously replenished by natural processes. For example, solar energy, wind energy, bio-energy- bio-fuels grown sustain ably), hydropower etc., are some of the examples of renewable energy sources. A renewable energy system converts the energy found in sunlight, wind, falling-water, sea-waves, geothermal heat, or biomass into a form, we can use such as heat or electricity. Most of the renewable energy comes either directly or indirectly from sun and wind and can never be exhausted, and therefore they are called renewable. This paper presents a review about conventional and renewable energy scenario of India. The paper also presents current status, major achievements and future aspects of renewable energy in India and implementing renewable for the future is also been presented.

Keywords: solar energy, renewabe energy, wind energy, bio-diesel, biomass, feedin

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Authors: Imran Ali

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General chemotherapy for cancer treatment has many side and toxic effects. A new approach of targeting nano anti-cancer drug is under development stage and only few drugs are available in the market today. The unique features of these drugs are targeted action on cancer cells only without any side effect. Sometimes, these are called magic drugs. The important molecules used for nano anti-cancer drugs are cisplatin, carboplatin, bleomycin, 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, dactinomycin, 6-mercaptopurine, paclitaxel, topotecan, vinblastin and etoposide etc. The most commonly used materials for preparing nano particles carriers are dendrimers, polymeric, liposomal, micelles inorganic, organic etc. The proposed lecture will comprise the-of-art of nano drugs in cancer chemo-therapy including preparation, types of drugs, mechanism, future perspectives etc.

Keywords: cancer, nano-anti-cancer drugs, chemo-therapy, mechanism of action, future perspectives

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Authors: Mohammed Dabboor

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Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems are active remote sensing systems independent of weather and sun illumination, two factors which usually inhibit the use of optical satellite imagery. A SAR system could acquire single, dual, compact or fully polarized SAR imagery. Each SAR imagery type has its advantages and disadvantages. The sensitivity of SAR images is a function of the: 1) band, polarization, and incidence angle of the transmitted electromagnetic signal, and 2) geometric and dielectric properties of the radar target. The RADARSAT-1 (launched on November 4, 1995), RADARSAT-2 ((launched on December 14, 2007) and RADARSAT Constellation Mission (to be launched in July 2018) are three past, current, and future Canadian SAR space missions. Canada is developing the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) using small satellites to further maximize the capability to carry out round-the-clock surveillance from space. The Canadian Space Agency, in collaboration with other government-of-Canada departments, is leading the design, development and operation of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission to help addressing key priorities. The purpose of our presentation is to give an overview of the future Canadian RCM SAR mission with its satellites. Also, the RCM SAR imaging modes along with the expected SAR products will be described. An emphasis will be given to the mission unique capabilities and characteristics, such as the new compact polarimetry SAR configuration. In this presentation, we will summarize the RCM advancement from previous RADARSAT satellite missions. Furthermore, the potential of the RCM mission for different Earth observation applications will be outlined.

Keywords: compact polarimetry, RADARSAT, SAR mission, SAR applications

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Authors: Said Moqeem Sadat, Saito Takahiro, Inuzuka Norikazu, Sugiyama Ikuo

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Kabul city is the capital of Afghanistan with a population of about 4.0 million in 2009 and 6.5 million in 2025. It is geographically located in a narrow plain valley along the Kabul River and is surrounded by high mountains. Due to its sharp geological condition, the city has been suffering from floods caused by storm water and snow melting water in the rainy season. Meanwhile, potable water resources are becoming a critical issue as the underground water table is decreasing falling rapidly due to domestic usage, industrial and agricultural activities usage especially in the dry season. This paper focuses on flood water management in Kabul including suburban agricultural area considering not only for flood protection but also: 1. To reserve the quality underground water for the future population growth. 2. To irrigate farming area in dry season using storm water ponds in rainy season. 3. To discharge city contaminated flood water to the downstream safely using existing channels/new pipes. Cost and benefit is considered in this study to find out a suitable flood protection method both in rural area and city center from a view point of 1 to 3 mentioned above. In this analysis, cost mainly consists of lost opportunity to develop lands due to flood ponds in addition to construction and maintenance one including connecting channels for water collecting/discharging. Benefit mainly consists of damage reduction of flood loss due to counter measures (this is corresponding cost) in addition to the contribution to agricultural crops. As far as reservation of the ground water for the future city growth is concerned, future demand and supply are compared in case that the pumping amount is limited by this irrigation system.

Keywords: cost-benefit, hydrological modeling, water management, water quality

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Authors: Orkan Ozcan, Nebiye Musaoglu, Murat Turkes

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Climate change is largely recognized as one of the real, pressing and significant global problems. The concept of ‘climate change vulnerability’ helps us to better comprehend the cause/effect relationships behind climate change and its impact on human societies, socioeconomic sectors, physiographical and ecological systems. In this study, multifactorial spatial modeling was applied to evaluate the vulnerability of a Mediterranean forest ecosystem to climate change. As a result, the geographical distribution of the final Environmental Vulnerability Areas (EVAs) of the forest ecosystem is based on the estimated final Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI) values. This revealed that at current levels of environmental degradation, physical, geographical, policy enforcement and socioeconomic conditions, the area with a ‘very low’ vulnerability degree covered mainly the town, its surrounding settlements and the agricultural lands found mainly over the low and flat travertine plateau and the plains at the east and southeast of the district. The spatial magnitude of the EVAs over the forest ecosystem under the current environmental degradation was also determined. This revealed that the EVAs classed as ‘very low’ account for 21% of the total area of the forest ecosystem, those classed as ‘low’ account for 36%, those classed as ‘medium’ account for 20%, and those classed as ‘high’ account for 24%. Based on regionally averaged future climate assessments and projected future climate indicators, both the study site and the western Mediterranean sub-region of Turkey will probably become associated with a drier, hotter, more continental and more water-deficient climate. This analysis holds true for all future scenarios, with the exception of RCP4.5 for the period from 2015 to 2030. However, the present dry-sub humid climate dominating this sub-region and the study area shows a potential for change towards more dry climatology and for it to become a semiarid climate in the period between 2031 and 2050 according to the RCP8.5 high emission scenario. All the observed and estimated results and assessments summarized in the study show clearly that the densest forest ecosystem in the southern part of the study site, which is characterized by mainly Mediterranean coniferous and some mixed forest and the maquis vegetation, will very likely be influenced by medium and high degrees of vulnerability to future environmental degradation, climate change and variability.

Keywords: forest ecosystem, Mediterranean climate, RCP scenarios, vulnerability analysis

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Authors: Davies Obaromi, Qin Yongsong, James Ndege

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To interpolate scattered or regularly distributed data, there are imprecise or exact methods. However, there are some of these methods that could be used for interpolating data in a regular grid and others in an irregular grid. In spatial epidemiology, it is important to examine how a disease prevalence rates are distributed in space, and how they relate with each other within a defined distance and direction. In this study, for the geographic and graphic representation of the disease prevalence, linear and biharmonic spline methods were implemented in MATLAB, and used to identify, localize and compare for smoothing in the distribution patterns of tuberculosis (TB) in Eastern Cape Province. The aim of this study is to produce a more “smooth” graphical disease map for TB prevalence patterns by a 3-D curve fitting techniques, especially the biharmonic splines that can suppress noise easily, by seeking a least-squares fit rather than exact interpolation. The datasets are represented generally as a 3D or XYZ triplets, where X and Y are the spatial coordinates and Z is the variable of interest and in this case, TB counts in the province. This smoothing spline is a method of fitting a smooth curve to a set of noisy observations using a spline function, and it has also become the conventional method for its high precision, simplicity and flexibility. Surface and contour plots are produced for the TB prevalence at the provincial level for 2012 – 2015. From the results, the general outlook of all the fittings showed a systematic pattern in the distribution of TB cases in the province and this is consistent with some spatial statistical analyses carried out in the province. This new method is rarely used in disease mapping applications, but it has a superior advantage to be assessed at subjective locations rather than only on a rectangular grid as seen in most traditional GIS methods of geospatial analyses.

Keywords: linear, biharmonic splines, tuberculosis, South Africa

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Authors: Mustapha Babatunde, Bassam Tawabini, Ole John Nielson

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Air dispersion (AD) models such as AERMOD are important tools for estimating the environmental impacts of air pollutant emissions into the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources. The outcome of these models is significantly linked to the climate condition like air temperature, which is expected to differ in the future due to the global warming phenomenon. With projections from scientific sources of impending changes to the future climate of Saudi Arabia, especially anticipated temperature rise, there is a potential direct impact on the dispersion patterns of air pollutants results from AD models. To our knowledge, no similar studies were carried out in Saudi Arabia to investigate such impact. Therefore, this research investigates the effects of climate temperature change on air quality in the Dammam Metropolitan area, Saudi Arabia, using AERMOD coupled with Station data using Sulphur dioxide (SO₂) – as a model air pollutant. The research uses AERMOD model to predict the SO₂ dispersion trends in the surrounding area. Emissions from five (5) industrial stacks on twenty-eight (28) receptors in the study area were considered for the climate period (2010-2019) and future period of mid-century (2040-2060) under different scenarios of elevated temperature profiles (+1ᵒC, + 3ᵒC and + 5ᵒC) across averaging time periods of 1hr, 4hr and 8hr. Results showed that levels of SO₂ at the receiving sites under current and simulated future climactic condition fall within the allowable limit of WHO and KSA air quality standards. Results also revealed that the projected rise in temperature would only have mild increment on the SO₂ concentration levels. The average increase of SO₂ levels was 0.04%, 0.14%, and 0.23% due to the temperature increase of 1, 3, and 5 degrees, respectively. In conclusion, the outcome of this work elucidates the degree of the effects of global warming and climate changes phenomena on air quality and can help the policymakers in their decision-making, given the significant health challenges associated with ambient air pollution in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: air quality, sulfur dioxide, dispersion models, global warming, KSA

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Authors: M. Abou-Amouna, A. Radwan, L. Al-kuwari, A. Hammuda, K. Al-Khalifa

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There is growing concern over increasing incidences of road accidents and consequent loss of human life in Qatar. In light to the future planned event in Qatar, World Cup 2022; Qatar should put into consideration the future deaths caused by road accidents, and past trends should be considered to give a reasonable picture of what may happen in the future. Qatar roads should be arranged and paved in a way that accommodate high capacity of the population in that time, since then there will be a huge number of visitors from the world. Qatar should also consider the risk issues of road accidents raised in that period, and plan to maintain high level to safety strategies. According to the increase in the number of road accidents in Qatar from 1995 until 2012, an analysis of elements affecting and causing road accidents will be effectively studied. This paper aims to identify and criticize the factors that have high effect on causing road accidents in the state of Qatar, and predict the total number of road accidents in Qatar 2022. Alternative methods are discussed and the most applicable ones according to the previous researches are selected for further studies. The methods that satisfy the existing case in Qatar were the multiple linear regression model (MLR) and artificial neutral network (ANN). Those methods are analyzed and their findings are compared. We conclude that by using MLR the number of accidents in 2022 will become 355,226 accidents, and by using ANN 216,264 accidents. We conclude that MLR gave better results than ANN because the artificial neutral network doesn’t fit data with large range varieties.

Keywords: road safety, prediction, accident, model, Qatar

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Authors: Tuji Jemal Ahmed

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This paper is to provides a comprehensive review of current research works on foodborne illness and food safety, including the risks associated with foodborne illnesses, the latest research on food safety, and the mitigation strategies used to prevent and control foodborne illnesses. Foodborne illness is a major public health concern that affects millions of people every year. As foodborne illnesses have grown more common and dangerous in recent years, it is vital that we research and build upon methods to ensure food remains safe throughout consumption. Additionally, this paper will discuss future directions for food safety research, including emerging technologies, changes in regulations and standards, and collaborative efforts to improve food safety. The first section of the paper provides an overview of the risks of foodborne illness, including a definition of foodborne illness, the causes of foodborne illness, the types of foodborne illnesses, and high-risk foods for foodborne illness, Health Consequences of Foodborne Illness. The second section of the paper focuses on current research on food safety, including the role of regulatory agencies in food safety, food safety standards and guidelines, emerging food safety concerns, and advances in food safety technology. The third section of the paper explores mitigation strategies for foodborne illness, including preventative measures, hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), good manufacturing practices (GMPs), and training and education. Finally, this paper examines future directions for food safety research, including hurdle technologies and their impact on food safety, changes in food safety regulations and standards, collaborative efforts to improve food safety, and research gaps and areas for further exploration. In general, this work provides a comprehensive review of current research and future directions in food safety and understanding the risks associated with foodborne illness. The implications of the assessment for food safety and public health are discussed, as well as recommended for research scholars.

Keywords: food safety, foodborne illness, technologies, mitigation

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Authors: Sumit Sen, Sohan Khedekar, Umang Shinde, Shivam Bhargava

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This study has been undertaken to investigate whether the deep learning models are able to predict the future stock prices by training the model with the historical stock price data. Since this work required time series analysis, various models are present today to perform time series analysis such as Recurrent Neural Network LSTM, ARIMA and Facebook Prophet. Applying these models the movement of stock price of stocks are predicted and also tried to provide the future prediction of the stock price of a stock. Final product will be a stock price prediction web application that is developed for providing the user the ease of analysis of the stocks and will also provide the predicted stock price for the next seven days.

Keywords: Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average, Deep Learning, Long Short Term Memory, Time-series

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Authors: S. Shakibaei, P. Alpkokin

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The railway network is one of the major components of a transportation system in a country which may be an indicator of the country’s level of economic improvement. Since 2000s on, revival of national railways and development of High Speed Rail (HSR) lines are one of the most remarkable policies of Turkish government in railway sector. Within this trend, the railway age is to be revived and coming decades will be a golden opportunity. Indubitably, major infrastructures such as road and railway networks require sizeable investment capital, precise maintenance and reparation. Traditionally, governments are held responsible for funding, operating and maintaining these infrastructures. However, lack or shortage of financial resources, risk responsibilities (particularly cost and time overrun), and in some cases inefficacy in constructional, operational and management phases persuade governments to find alternative options. Financial power, efficient experiences and background of private sector are the factors convincing the governments to make a collaboration with private parties to develop infrastructures. Public-Private Partnerships (PPP or 3P or P3) and related regulatory issues are born considering these collaborations. In Turkey, PPP approaches have attracted attention particularly during last decade and these types of investments have been accelerated by government to overcome budget limitations and cope with inefficacy of public sector in improving transportation network and its operation. This study mainly tends to present a comprehensive overview of PPP concept, evaluate the regulatory procedure in Europe and propose a general framework for Turkish State Railways (TCDD) as an outlook on privatization, liberalization and deregulation of railway network.

Keywords: deregulation, high-speed railway, liberalization, privatization, public-private partnership

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Authors: Sneha Bhatnagar, Sachin Bhatnagar

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Denim presently is the most widely accepted textile product and shows its hold even in future with its growing popularity. Denim today is no longer restricted to only a pair of jeans but has diversified in all different product categories. Although denim is considered as an expression of youth and demonstrates durability and comfort, denim raises issues of sustainability. Through an exploratory research, the researcher aims at addressing the possibilities of denim fashion promoting environmental sustainability by means of creativity, awareness, recycle and artisan appreciation. It also touches on how eco conscious fashion brands involve in development in terms of ideation and modification of denim as a fabric or product into diversified sustainable fashion. In conclusion, it is shown that blue denim fashion continues to evolve and shows eventual transformation in becoming green denim in future, nurturing values of both quality and sustainability.

Keywords: arts, craft, creativity, denim, fashion, recycle, sustainability

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Authors: Mustapha Babatunde, Bassam Tawabini, Ole John Nielson

Abstract:

Air dispersion (AD) models such as AERMOD are important tools for estimating the environmental impacts of air pollutant emissions into the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources. The outcome of these models is significantly linked to the climate condition like air temperature, which is expected to differ in the future due to the global warming phenomenon. With projections from scientific sources of impending changes to the future climate of Saudi Arabia, especially anticipated temperature rise, there is a potential direct impact on the dispersion patterns of air pollutants results from AD models. To our knowledge, no similar studies were carried out in Saudi Arabia to investigate such impact. Therefore, this research investigates the effects of climate temperature change on air quality in the Dammam Metropolitan area, Saudi Arabia, using AERMOD coupled with Station data using Sulphur dioxide (SO2) – as a model air pollutant. The research uses AERMOD model to predict the SO2 dispersion trends on the surrounding area. Emissions from five (5) industrial stacks, on twenty-eight (28) receptors in the study area were considered for the climate period (2010-2019) and future period of mid-century (2040-2060) under different scenarios of elevated temperature profiles (+1oC, + 3oC and + 5oC) across averaging time periods of 1hr, 4hr and 8hr. Results showed that levels of SO2 at the receiving sites under current and simulated future climactic condition fall within the allowable limit of WHO and KSA air quality standards. Results also revealed that the projected rise in temperature would only have mild increment on the SO2 concentration levels. The average increase of SO2 levels were 0.04%, 0.14%, and 0.23% due to the temperature increase of 1, 3, and 5 degrees respectively. In conclusion, the outcome of this work elucidates the degree of the effects of global warming and climate changes phenomena on air quality and can help the policymakers in their decision-making, given the significant health challenges associated with ambient air pollution in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: air quality, sulphur dioxide, global warming, air dispersion model

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Authors: Xiaojiao Duan, Zhaoxia Yi, Maria Assumpta Komugabe, Munirpallam A. Venkataramanan

Abstract:

This study explores stakeholders' perceptions and use of AI in university admissions using a conceptual model. The model suggests that AI expertise mediates the relationship between various factors (positions, experience, perceived benefits, concerns) and the desire to adopt AI. By reviewing existing research, the study identifies variables, correlations, and research gaps. The findings highlight the influence of institutional positions, AI expertise, knowledge, perceived advantages, and concerns on attitudes and intentions toward AI implementation. The review provides a framework for future research, emphasizes ethical AI use, and offers practical insights for admissions stakeholders.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, college admissions, ethical considerations, technology adoption, perceptions of AI

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Authors: Pratik Pankaj Pawar

Abstract:

Lightweight structures - structures with reduced weight, which otherwise retain the qualities necessary for the building performance, ensuring proper durability and strength, safety, indoor environmental quality, and energy efficiency; structures that strive for the optimization of structural systems - are in tune with current trends and socio-economic, environmental, and technological factors. The growing interest in lightweight structures design makes them an ever more significant field of research. This article focuses on the architectural aspects of lightweight structures and on their contemporary and future applications. The selected advanced building technologies - i.e., Ultra-High-Performance Concrete, fabrics, and flexible photovoltaics.

Keywords: light weight building, carbyne, aerographite, geopolymer reinforced wood particles aggregate

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Authors: Ghaleb Y. Abbasi, Israa Abu Rumman

Abstract:

This paper modeled sales history archived from 2012 to 2015 bulked in monthly bins for five products for a medical supply company in Jordan. The sales forecasts and extracted consistent patterns in the sales demand history from the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system were used to predict future forecasting and generate sales demand forecasting using time series analysis statistical technique called Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA). This was used to model and estimate realistic sales demand patterns and predict future forecasting to decide the best models for five products. Analysis revealed that the current replenishment system indicated inventory overstocking.

Keywords: ARIMA models, sales demand forecasting, time series, R code

Procedia PDF Downloads 385

Authors: Raana Babadi Fathipour

Abstract:

Food packaging plays a crucial role in protecting food from unwanted external factors. Antibacterial edible films are a promising option for food packaging due to their biodegradability, environmental friendliness, and safety. This paper reviews recent research progress on antimicrobial edible films, focusing on those made from polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids. Polysaccharides and proteins are the primary components of antimicrobial edible films, while lipids primarily serve as plasticizers and carriers for active substances in composite films. For instance, second-generation liposomes have shown great potential as carriers for antimicrobial substances and other bioactive compounds due to their exceptional stability. Furthermore, this paper analyzes recent advancements and future trends in antimicrobial edible films. One promising direction is the integration of antimicrobial edible film materials with delivery systems, such as nanoemulsion and microencapsulation technologies, to ensure stable loading of bioactive substances. Another emerging area of interest is the development of smart and active packaging that allows consumers to assess the freshness of food products without opening the package. pH-sensitive films and smart fluorescent "on-off" sensors for humidity are currently being explored as materials for smart and active packaging to monitor food product freshness, with further exploration anticipated in the future.

Keywords: antimicrobial edible film, biopolymer, antimicrobial agent, encapsulation, antimicrobial assay

Procedia PDF Downloads 58