Search results for: obstacles

Authors: Urvashi Kaushal

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With the entry of multinationals in India, engineering students of Indian universities have opportunity to work with the best and the most innovative industries in the world, but in order to compete in the global job market, they require an added competence of communication skills in English. With work places turning global, competence in English can provide the Indian student the added advantage to begin his/her career in the international market. The present method of teaching English in any engineering college across Gujarat mostly concentrates on developing writing, and reading skills. Developing speech becomes a secondary topic owing to the old trend of lecturing in the class room and the huge strength of the class. This paper aims to highlight the importance of improving speaking skills of engineering students. It also insists that presentations can be used as a viable method to enhance the communication skills of these students. Presentations force students to plan, prepare, practice and perfect their communication skills which will enable them to get a foothold in the industry. The paper also discusses one such experiment carried out at the author’s institute and the response it received. Further, such experimental language learning approach is bound to have some limitations and obstacles. The paper suggests ways to overcome such limitations and strives to develop an interesting means of developing communication skills of the engineering students.

Keywords: engineering, English, presentation, communication skills

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Authors: Raana Babadi Fathipour

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Ice cream is a nutritious dairy product that, given its constituent materials and high nutritional value, is a suitable growth medium for the growth of various food microorganisms. The contamination of this product with pathogenic microorganisms may cause food poisoning and infections, and so could be harmful to human health. The foremost critical pathogenic microscopic organisms of ice cream incorporate Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms, Listeria monocytogenes and Enterococcus. Biosensor technology, albeit a recent addition to the dairy industry, has proven its worth in other fields, such as medical devices. Through numerous studies, the advantages of employing biosensors have consistently emerged. These incredible tools present expeditious and straightforward means while specifically targeting analytes. Thus, they bring forth unparalleled solutions that bolster ongoing advancements within dairy products and processes. This review delves into the latest developments in the realm of biosensors and evaluates the diverse techniques of bio-recognition and transduction in terms of their benefits, drawbacks, and relevance to traditional ice cream. Furthermore, the obstacles that impede the progress of these approaches in meeting the growing need for swift and real-time quality control of milk products, particularly ice cream, are also expounded upon.

Keywords: traditional ice cream, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, biosensors

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Authors: Ghada Shahrour, Nusiebeh Ananbh, Heyam Dalky, Mohammad Rababa, Fatmeh Alzoubi

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Positive teacher-student relationship has been found to affect students’ attitudes towards bullying and, in turn, their engagement in bullying behavior. However, no investigation has been conducted to explore whether teacher-student relationship affects teachers’ attitudes towards bullying. The aim of this study was to examine the role of teacher-student relationship on teachers’ attitudes towards bullying in terms of bullying seriousness, empathic responding, and likelihood to intervene in bullying situation. A cross-sectional, descriptive design was employed among a convenience sample of 173 school teachers (50.9% female) of 12 to 17-year-old students. The teachers were recruited from secondary public schools of three governorates in the Northern district of Jordan. Each group of students has multiple teachers for different subjects. Results showed that teacher-student relationship is partially related to teachers’ attitudes towards bullying. More specifically, having a close teacher-student relationship significantly increased teachers’ perception of bullying seriousness and empathy but not the likelihood to intervene. Research is needed to examine teachers’ obstacles for not providing bullying interventions, as the barriers may be culturally contextualized. Meanwhile, interventions that promote quality teacher-student relationship are necessary to increase teachers’ perception of bullying seriousness and empathy. Students have been found to adopt the values of their teachers, and this may deter them from engaging in bullying behavior.

Keywords: school bullying, teachers’ attitudes, teacher-student relationship, adolescent students

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Authors: R. N. Nataria, A. D. Paryuni, R. Wasito

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Layer farms in Indonesia have still obstacles to increasing their productivity, especially due to poultry diseases. The red onion (Allium ascalonicum L.) is a plant that contains flavonoid and saponin. Flavonoid is useful as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant while saponin is useful as antivirus, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and immunomodulator. This study aimed to know and determine the effect of onion extracts to pulmonary histopathological lesions in layer chickens which raised in the battery cage. This study used eighteen layer chickens at seventeen days old. The eighteen layer chickens were divided into three groups of six each, namely without administration of red onion extract (Group I), with administration red onion extract through drinking water (Group II) and with administration red onion extract peroral (Group III). Every ten days, six chickens were necropsied and then the lungs were processed for histopathological preparations and stained with routine hematoxylin and eosin. The results showed that the lungs of the Group I had severe congestion and diffuse hemorrhages. In Group II, lungs had moderate congestion and hemorrhages. In group III, lungs had mild congestion and hemorrhages. It is concluded, that red onion extract apparently has reduced the lungs lesions in layer chickens.

Keywords: histopathological lesions, layers, lungs, poultry diseases, red onion extract

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Authors: Muhammad Suradi, Sugiarto, Abdullah Latip

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Many roadside slope failures occur during the rainy season, particularly in the period of extreme rainfall along Connecting National Road of Salubatu-Mambi, West Sulawesi, Indonesia. These occurrences cause traffic obstacles and endanger people along and around the road. Research collaboration between P2JN (National Road Construction Board) West Sulawesi Province, who authorize to supervise the road condition, and Ujung Pandang State Polytechnic (Applied University) was established to cope with the landslide problem. This research aims to determine factors triggering roadside slope failures and their optimum stabilizing solution. To achieve this objective, site observation and soil investigation were carried out to obtain parameters for analyses of rainfall-induced slope instability and reinforcement design using the SV Flux and SV Slope software. The result of this analysis will be taken into account for the next analysis to get an optimum design of the slope reinforcement. The result indicates some factors such as steep slopes, sandy soils, and unvegetated slope surface mainly contribute to the slope failures during intense rainfall. With respect to the contributing factors as well as construction material and technology, cantilever/butressing retaining wall becomes the optimum solution for the roadside slope reinforcement.

Keywords: roadside slope, failure, rainfall, slope reinforcement, optimum solution

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Authors: Petr Konvalina, Jan Moudry

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As organic farmers are searching foregoing crops for horticultural crops, there is possible to choice neglected wheat species and also have a new market and sale opportunities. Concerning wheat, there are landraces so called hulled wheat species (einkorn, emmer wheat, spelt) comprising parts of collections of the world gene banks. The advantage of this wheat species are small demands on growing conditions and also droughtiness in conditions of changing climate. Our paper aims at presenting the results of the study and the assessment of spring wheat forms, four einkorn cultivars, eight emmer wheat cultivars, seven spelt wheat cultivars in particular, as compared to modern bread wheat variety. Small-plot trials were established at two different localities within the Czech Republic and Austria in 2009 and 2012. The results of the trials show that some varieties were inclined to lodging. On the other hand, they were resistant to common wheat diseases (mildew, brown rust). Hulls served as barriers and obstacles against the DON grain contamination. The yield rate was lower. The grains were characterized by a high proportion of protein in grain (up to 18.1 %). However, they may be difficult to use for common baking. Moreover, new food products demonstrating a different technological quality of the hulled wheat species have to be launched on the market. They will be suitable for regional marketing.

Keywords: organic farming, hulled wheat species, einkorn, emmer, spelt

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Authors: F. Ahmed, Y. Dawood

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One of the vehement debates nowadays is about the effect of taxation and economic growth. From one side, taxes are an essential factor to absorb the unemployment, improve the stander of living and achieve a high level of economic growth. On the other hand, they consider it as the main reason to lose the growth ground. The primary goal of the present study is to provide a cross-country evidence of the relationship between taxes and entrepreneurship. There are several important areas where this study makes an original contribution to Entrepreneurship literature. Our paper will use a combination of macro and micro data to present more accurate evidence of the relation. Our study considers large cross sections of countries for the period from 2008 to 2014 for 59 countries. In addition to that and most importantly, our study examines the effect of corruption on the relation between taxes and Entrepreneurship as the corruption is a very important dimension that can explain international entrepreneurship. The importance of this study can be seen from several perspectives: By investigating the taxes effect on entrepreneurship motivation, it is important for the policy makers as well as scholars. Governments and regulators who consider changing in the entrepreneurship sector as an important determinant of economic growth can benefit also from this research. Also, countries who are considering improving their growth level. Scholars also can get insights from this research to gain insights regarding the validity of the Environmental Determinism the institutional theory in the entrepreneurship contest. In addition, it also highlights the obstacles of corruption in developing countries.

Keywords: taxes, corruption, entrepreneurship, across countries

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Authors: Destha Titi Raharjana

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The finding of this research results from three action researches conducted in three rurals, namely Bokoharjo, Sambirejo, and Tirtomartani. Those rurals are close to Prambanan, a well-known cultural heritage site located in Sleman Regency, Indonesia. This action research is conducted using participative method through observation, interview, and focus group discussion with local residents as the subjects. This research aims to (a) present identifications of potencies, obstacles, and opportunities existed in development process, which is able to give more encouragement, involvement and empowerment for local residents in maintaining the cultural heritage area, (b) present participatory empowerment programs which adjust the needs of local residents and human resources, and (c) identify potential stakeholders that can support empowerment programs. Through action research method, this research is able to present (a) potential mapping; difficulties and opportunities in the development process in each rural, (b) empowerment program planning needed by local residents as a follow-up of this action research. Moreover, this research also presents identifications of potential stakeholders who are able to do an empowerment program follow-up. It is expected that, at the end of the programs, the local residents are able to maintain Prambanan, as one of cultural heritage sites that needs to be protected, in a more sustainable way.

Keywords: action research, local resident, empowerment, cultural heritage area, Prambanan, Sleman, Indonesia

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Authors: Yun Hang Stanley Cheung

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In recent years, many educators and entrepreneurs have often suggested that students’ and workers’ ability of the adversity response is very important, it would affect problem-solving strategies and ultimate success in their career or life. The meaning of resilience is discussed as the process of bouncing back and the ability to adapt well in adversity’s response, being resilient does not mean to live without any stress and difficulty, but to grow and thrive under pressure. The purpose of this study is to describe the process of resilience and adversity’s response. The use of the narrative inquiry aims for understanding the experiential process of adversity response, and the problem-solving strategies (such as emotion control, motivation, decisions making process), as well as making the experience become life story, which may be evaluated by its teller and its listeners. The narrative study describes the researcher’s self-experience of adversity’s response to the recovery of the seriously burnt injury from a hill fire at his 12 years old, as well as the adversities and obstacles related to the tragedy after the physical recovery. Sense-Making Theory and McCormack’s Lenses were used for constructive perspective and data analyzing. To conclude, this study has described the life story of fighting the adversities, also, those narratives come out some suggestions, which point out positive thinking is necessary to build up resilience and the ability of immediate adversity response. Also, some problem-solving strategies toward adversities are discussed, which are helpful for resilience education for youth and young adult.

Keywords: adversity response, life story, narrative inquiry, resilience

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Authors: Khaled Ali Soltan

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Iran can be considered a triangle that is affected by 3 forces: the government, the elite, and the people. Over the last 100 years, these three forces have been at odds with each other. This lack of coordination and sometimes antagonism among these three forces has led to lawlessness in Iran (both the government and the people have entered the cycle of lawlessness) and the spread of destructive processes in the country and the destruction of resources, both natural and human resources. The direct and negative impact of this issue on people's lives as well as the environment highlights the importance of this article. This article descriptively deals with the issue and suggests solutions and examines possible problems and obstacles. There seems to be a way to establish a connection’ closeness and coordination among these three forces and put them on the path of development. ELITE RAIN is a scientific-popular process that can create coordination and cooperation between these forces, prevent destructive processes in the country and put it on the path of sustainable development and a better life. This solution is a more advanced model of brainstorming technique introduced by Alex Osborn in 1953. Given that people have tried different types of protests to improve the status quo, such as the change of government in 1979 which led to the establishment of the theocracy, participating in elections that resulted in more frustration and corruption due to the lack of real parties, and sporadic street protests that resulted in nothing more than repression, it seems that this solution can be successful.

Keywords: corruption, destruction of resources, elite rain, Iran, legal complaints, sustainable development, the elite

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Authors: Zixian Zhang, Shanliang Yao, Zile Huang, Zhaodong Wu, Xiaohui Zhu, Yong Yue, Jieming Ma

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Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) are valuable due to their ability to perform dangerous and time-consuming tasks on the water. Object detection tasks are significant in these applications. However, inherent challenges, such as the complex distribution of obstacles, reflections from shore structures, water surface fog, etc., hinder the performance of object detection of USVs. To address these problems, this paper provides a fusion method for USVs to effectively detect objects in the inland surface environment, utilizing vision sensors and 3+1D Millimeter-wave radar. MMW radar is complementary to vision sensors, providing robust environmental information. The radar 3D point cloud is transferred to 2D radar pseudo image to unify radar and vision information format by utilizing the point transformer. We propose a multi-source object detection network (RV-YOLOX )based on radar-vision fusion for inland waterways environment. The performance is evaluated on our self-recording waterways dataset. Compared with the YOLOX network, our fusion network significantly improves detection accuracy, especially for objects with bad light conditions.

Keywords: inland waterways, YOLO, sensor fusion, self-attention

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Authors: Summer Jackson

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September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks exposed weaknesses in federal law enforcement’s ability to proactively counter threats to American homeland security. Following the attacks, legislative reforms and policy changes cleared both bureaucratic and legal obstacles to anti-terrorism efforts. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) transformed into a domestic intelligence agency responsible for preventing future terrorist attacks. Likewise, the passage of the 2001 USA Patriot Act gave federal agents new discretionary powers to more easily collect intelligence on those suspected of supporting terrorism. Despite these changes, there has been only limited scholarly attention paid to terrorism responses by the federal criminal justice system. This study sought to examine the investigative and prosecutorial changes made in the Post-9/11 era. The methodology employed bivariate and multivariate statistics using data from the American Terrorism Study (ATS). This analysis examined how policy changes are reflected in the nature of terrorism investigations, the handling of terrorist defendants by federal prosecutors, and the outcomes of terrorism cases since 2001. The findings indicate significant investigative and prosecutorial changes in the Post-9/11 era. Specifically, this study found terrorism cases involved younger defendants, fewer indictees per case, less use of human intelligence, less complicated attacks, less serious charges, and more plea bargains. Overall, this study highlights the important shifts in responses to terrorism following the 9/11 attacks.

Keywords: terrorism, law enforcement, post-9/11, federal policy

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Authors: Fazilet Alachaher

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Within the constructivist perspective of teaching, which views skilled teaching as knowing what to do in uncertain and unpredictable situations, this research essay explores the topic of reflective teaching by investigating the following questions: (1) What is reflective teaching and why is it important? (2) Why should teachers be trained to be reflective and how can they be prepared to be reflective? (3) What is the role of the teaching context in teachers’ attempts to be reflective? This paper suggests that reflective teaching is important because of the various potential benefits to teaching. Through reflection, teachers can maintain their voices and creativeness thus have authority to affect students, curriculum and school policies. The discussions also highlight the need to prepare student teachers and their professional counterparts to be reflective, so they can develop the characteristics of reflective teaching and gain the potential benefits of reflection. This can be achieved by adopting models and techniques that are based on constructivist pedagogical approaches. The paper also suggests that maintaining teachers’ attempts to be reflective in a workplace context and aligning practice with pre-service teacher education programs require the administrators or the policy makers to provide the following: sufficient time for teachers to reflect and work collaboratively to discuss challenges encountered in teaching, fewer non-classroom duties, regular in-service opportunities, more facilities and freedom in choosing suitable ways of evaluating their students’ progress and needs.

Keywords: creative teaching, reflective teaching, constructivist pedagogical approaches, teaching context, teacher’s role, curriculum and school policies, teaching context effect

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Authors: Martin Doran, Roy Sterritt, George Wilkie

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NASA, ESA, and NSSC space agencies have plans to put planetary rovers on Mars in 2020. For these future planetary rovers to succeed, they will heavily depend on sensors to detect obstacles. This will also become of vital importance in the future, if rovers become less dependent on commands received from earth-based control and more dependent on self-configuration and self-decision making. These planetary rovers will face harsh environments and the possibility of hardware failure is high, as seen in missions from the past. In this paper, we focus on using Autonomic principles where self-healing, self-optimization, and self-adaption are explored using the MAPE-K model and expanding this model to encapsulate the attributes such as Awareness, Analysis, and Adjustment (AAA-3). In the experimentation, a Pioneer P3-DX research robot is used to simulate a planetary rover. The sonar sensors on the P3-DX robot are used to simulate the sensors on a planetary rover (even though in reality, sonar sensors cannot operate in a vacuum). Experiments using the P3-DX robot focus on how our software system can be adapted with the loss of sonar sensor functionality. The autonomic manager system is responsible for the decision making on how to make use of remaining ‘enabled’ sonars sensors to compensate for those sonar sensors that are ‘disabled’. The key to this research is that the robot can still detect objects even with reduced sonar sensor capability.

Keywords: autonomic, self-adaption, self-healing, self-optimization

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Authors: Carlos Gordon, Patricio Encalada, Henry Lema, Diego Leon, Dennis Chicaiza

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The following work presents a proposal of autonomous navigation of mobile robots implemented in an omnidirectional robot Kuka Youbot. We have been able to perform the integration of robotic operative system (ROS) and machine learning algorithms. ROS mainly provides two distributions; ROS hydro and ROS Kinect. ROS hydro allows managing the nodes of odometry, kinematics, and path planning with statistical and probabilistic, global and local algorithms based on Adaptive Monte Carlo Localization (AMCL) and Dijkstra. Meanwhile, ROS Kinect is responsible for the detection block of dynamic objects which can be in the points of the planned trajectory obstructing the path of Kuka Youbot. The detection is managed by artificial vision module under a trained neural network based on the single shot multibox detector system (SSD), where the main dynamic objects for detection are human beings and domestic animals among other objects. When the objects are detected, the system modifies the trajectory or wait for the decision of the dynamic obstacle. Finally, the obstacles are skipped from the planned trajectory, and the Kuka Youbot can reach its goal thanks to the machine learning algorithms.

Keywords: autonomous navigation, machine learning, path planning, robotic operative system, open source computer vision library

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Authors: Stephen D. Caldes

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Teaching media and digital literacy to “digital natives” presents a unique set of pedagogical obstacles, especially when critique is involved, as these early-adopters tend to deify most technological and/or digital advancements and inventions. Knowing no other way of being, these natives are often reluctant to hear criticisms of the way they receive information, educate themselves, communicate with others, and even become enculturated because critique often connotes generational gaps and/or clandestine efforts to produce neo-Luddites. To digital natives, techno-criticism is more the result of an antiquated, out-of-touch agenda rather than a constructive, progressive praxis. However, the need to cultivate a techno-critical perspective among technology’s premier users has, perhaps, never been more pressing. In an effort to sidestep reluctance and encourage critical thought about where we are in terms of digital technology and where exactly it may be taking us, this essay outlines a new model for teaching techno-criticism to digital natives. Specifically, it recasts the techniques of participatory journalism—helping writers and readers understand subjects outside of their specific historical context—as progressive, interdisciplinary pedagogy. The model arises out of a review of relevant literature and data gathered via literary analysis and participant observation. Given the tenuous relationships between novel digital advancements, individual identity, collective engagement, and, indeed, Truth/fact, shepherding digital natives toward routine practice of “techno-realism” seems of utter importance.

Keywords: digital natives, journalism education, media literacy, techno-criticism

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Authors: Sarah Elmammeri

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This paper will represent the postcolonial every day in the journey of asylum seekers through the asylum process in the UK. It represents everyday borders, which are defined as everyday barriers, and obstacles facing asylum seekers and refugees in the host country. These everyday barriers can be legal, financial, social and educational under the umbrella of the racialized administrative border creating a package. The arguments build on a set of 21 semi-structured interviews in English and Arabic. The interviews were conducted in the UK, online via zoom lasting between 25 minutes and 2 hours with asylum seekers, refugees, Non-governmental organisations workers and volunteers. The interviews focus on the meaning of borders both physical and metaphorical and ways to challenge the ongoing postcolonial everyday border practices. The findings conclude that these barriers are there deliberately and intentionally to target asylum seekers and limit their legal right to claim asylum in a form of policy and regulations. People in the asylum process, NGO workers, and refugees relate to this aspect of the everyday borders. Second, these barriers come intertwined together creating a structure that interferes with the daily life of an asylum seeker and later affects people with refugee status creating racialised barriers starting with the structural and official form of it: the asylum process. These structural barriers will be linked forming a multi-level barrier enhancing the racialisation of people who are categorised and selected.

Keywords: everyday borders, asylum policies, inclusion and exclusion, refugees and asylum seekers

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Authors: Deni Stincer Gomez, Zuraya Monroy Nasr, Luis Pérez Alvarez

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The preparation of academic documents such as thesis, articles and research projects is one of the requirements of the higher educational level. These documents demand the implementation of logical argumentative thinking which is experienced and executed with difficulty. To mitigate the effect of these difficulties this study designed a thesis seminar, with which the authors have seven years of experience. It is taught in a graduate program in Psychology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In this study the authors use the Toulmin model as a mental heuristic and for the application of a set of psychodidactic strategies that facilitate the elaboration of the plot and culmination of the thesis. The efficiency in obtaining the degree in the groups exposed to the seminar has increased by 94% compared to the 10% that existed in the generations that were not exposed to the seminar. In this article the authors will emphasize the psychodidactic strategies used. The Toulmin model alone does not guarantee the success achieved. A set of actions of a psychological nature (almost psychotherapeutic) and didactics of the teacher also seem to contribute. These are actions that derive from an understanding of the psychological, epistemological and ontogenetic obstacles and the most frequent errors in which thought tends to fall when it is demanded a logical course. The authors have grouped the strategies into three groups: 1) strategies to facilitate logical thinking, 2) strategies to strengthen the scientific self and 3) strategies to facilitate the act of writing the text. In this work the authors delve into each of them.

Keywords: psychodidactic strategies, logical thinking, academic documents, Toulmin model

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Authors: Ruwan Gunawardane

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This paper attempts to emphasize the benefits of conducting an intensive course in English for university entrants. In the Sri Lankan university context, an intensive course in English is usually conducted amidst various obstacles. In the 1970s and 1980s, undergraduates had intensive programmes in English for two to three months. Towards the end of the 1990s, a programme called General English Language Training (GELT) was conducted for the new students, and it was done outside universities before they entered their respective universities. Later it was not conducted, and that also resulted in students’ poor performance in English at university. However, having understood its importance, an eight week long intensive course in English was conducted for the new intake of the Faculty of Science, University of Ruhuna. As the findings show, the students heavily benefited from the programme. More importantly, they had the opportunity to refresh their knowledge of English gained at school and private institutions while gaining new knowledge. Another advantage was that they had plenty of time to enjoy learning English since the learners had adequate opportunities to carry out communicative tasks and the course was not exam-oriented, which reduced their fear of making mistakes in English considerably. The data was collected through an open-ended questionnaire given to 60 students, and their oral feedback was also taken into consideration. In addition, a focus group interview with 6 teachers was also conducted to get an idea about their experience and perception. The data were qualitatively analyzed. The findings suggest that an intensive programme in English undoubtedly lays a good foundation for the students’ academic career at university.

Keywords: intensive course, English, teachers, undergraduates, experience, perception

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Authors: Seyed Esmail Seyedi Bariran, Khairul Salleh Mohamed Sahari

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In robotics literature, the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is commonly associated with a priori-posteriori problem. The autonomous vehicle needs a neutral map to spontaneously track its local position, i.e., “localization” while at the same time a precise path estimation of the environment state is required for effective route planning and obstacle avoidance. On the other hand, the environmental noise factors can significantly intensify the inherent uncertainties in using odometry information and measurements obtained from the robot’s exteroceptive sensor which in return directly affect the overall performance of the corresponding SLAM. Therefore, the current work is primarily dedicated to provide a diagnostic analysis of six SLAM algorithms including FastSLAM, L-SLAM, GraphSLAM, Grid SLAM and DP-SLAM. A SLAM simulated environment consisting of two sets of landmark locations and robot waypoints was set based on modified EKF and UKF in MATLAB using two separate maps for indoor and outdoor route planning subject to natural and artificial obstacles. The simulation results are expected to provide an unbiased platform to compare the estimation performances of the five SLAM models as well as on the reliability of each SLAM model for indoor and outdoor applications.

Keywords: route planning, obstacle, estimation performance, FastSLAM, L-SLAM, GraphSLAM, Grid SLAM, DP-SLAM

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Authors: Chariya Laohavich

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At the current, the trends in the lung disease at a university hospital are the treat and diagnosis by bronchoscopy. Bronchoscopic cryotherapy is a long time procedure 1-4 hours. The cryo probe is sensitive and easy to be damaged and expensive. We have this study management for protection the cryo probe, user satisfaction and qualities work. This study conducted in 4 stages: stage 1 for a survey of problems and assessment of user’s needs; stage 2 for designing and developing the Rama-chest cryo arm for a bronchoscopy process; stage 3 for test-implementing the Rama-chest cryo arm in real situations, studying its problems and obstacles, and evaluating the user satisfaction; and stage 4 for an overall assessment and improvement. The sample used in this study consisted of a total of 15 Ramathipbodi Hospital’s Bronchoscopist and bronchoscopist’s nurse who had used the Rama-chest cryo arm for bronchoscopic cryotherapy from January to June 2016. Objective: To study efficacy and user satisfaction on the Rama-chest cryo arm innovation for bronchoscopic cryotherapy. Data were collected using a Rama-chest cryo arm satisfaction assessment form and analysed based on mean and standard deviation. Result is the Rama-chest cryo arm was an innovation that accommodated during bronchoscopic cryotherapy. The subjects rated this the cryo arm as being most satisfactory (M = 4.86 ± , SD 0.48. Therefore we have developed a cryo arm that uses local material, practical and economic. Our innovation is not only flexible and sustainable development but also lean and seamless. This produced device can be used as effectively as the imported one, and thus can be eventually substituted.

Keywords: efficacy, satisfaction, Rama-chest cryo arm, innovation, bronchoscopic cryotherapy

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Authors: Delies L. Alejo

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This study explores the psychosocial influences of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) on patients in the Philippine Orthopedic Center Hospital in the Philippines, examining their social functioning and proposing interventions for reintegration. Quantitative data were collected through surveys using a concurrent triangulation research design, while qualitative insights were obtained via interviews. Findings revealed significant psychosocial challenges among SCI patients, impacting relationships, family dynamics, work, friendships, parenting, education, and self-care. Demographic profiles indicated variations in psychosocial functioning. The study underscores the importance of tailored interventions for SCI patients based on age, marital status, gender, education, and occupation. Triangulation of data enhanced understanding, revealing four themes: ‘Resilient Navigation of Intimacy and Connection,’ ‘Family Dynamics and Care Challenges,’ ‘Occupational Hurdles and Work Engagement,’ and ‘Social and Community Integration Obstacles.’ The study proposes a holistic intervention plan, addressing emotional challenges, creating support networks, implementing vocational rehabilitation, promoting community engagement, and sustaining collaboration with healthcare professionals.

Keywords: spinal cord injury, psychosocial influences, social functioning, concurrent triangulation, intervention plan

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Authors: Anastassis Kozanitis

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The first year of college or university can be particularly challenging for students from minority groups, who often face unique obstacles related to their cultural background, socioeconomic status, or underrepresented identities. Recognizing the importance of fostering inclusivity and supporting the success of these students, educational institutions in Quebec, Canada, have implemented a range of initiatives tailored to address their specific needs. This presentation provides an overview of four key first-year experience measures for minority groups, focusing on mentorship programs, student-lead cultural centers, walk-in support offices, and diversity training, all aimed at promoting inclusion and enhancing the academic journey and overall well-being of these students. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with individuals working in connection with the measures of interest. A qualitative content analysis allowed for the characterization of facilitating factors of the support measures identified. Hence, all four measures have proven to be instrumental in supporting the transition and success of first-year students from minority groups. These initiatives provide safe spaces where students can connect with their cultural heritage, engage in dialogue, and celebrate diversity. In conclusion, first-year experience initiatives for minority groups in college and university play a pivotal role in fostering inclusivity and supporting the success of students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Keywords: diversity, first year, minority groups, inclusion, support measures, higher education

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Authors: Mukadder Baran, Mustafa Sözbilir

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the applicabillity of the Context- and Problem-Based Learning (CPBL) in general chemistry course to the subject of “Thermodynamics” but also the influence of CPBL on students’ achievement, retention of knowledge, their interest, attitudes, motivation and problem-solving skills. The study group included 13 freshman students who were selected with the sampling method appropriate to the purpose among those taking the course of General Chemistry within the Program of Medical Laboratory Techniques at Hakkari University. The application was carried out in the Spring Term of the academic year of 2012-2013. As the data collection tool, Lesson Observation form were used. In the light of the observations held, it was revealed that CPBL increased the students’ intragroup and intergroup communication skills as well as their self-confidence and developed their skills in time management, presentation, reporting, and technology use; and that they were able to relate chemistry to daily life. Depending on these findings, it could be suggested that the area of use of CPBL be widened; that seminars related to constructive methods be organized for teachers. In this way, it is believed that students will not be passive in the group any longer. In addition, it was concluded that in order to avoid the negative effects of the socio-cultural structure on the education system, research should be conducted in places where there is socio-cultural obstacles, and appropriate solutions should be suggested and put into practice.

Keywords: chemistry, education, science, context-based learning

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Authors: Michael Dreyfuss, Yahel Giat

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Limited battery range and long recharging times are the greatest obstacles to the successful adoption of electric cars. One of the suggestions to overcome these problems is that carmakers retain ownership of batteries and provide battery swapping service so that customers exchange their depleted batteries for recharged batteries. Motivated by this example, we consider the problem of optimal spares allocation in an exchangeable-item, multi-location repair system. We generalize the standard service measures of fill rate and average waiting time to reflect the fact that customers penalize the service provider only if they have to wait more than a ‘tolerable’ time window. These measures are denoted as the window fill rate and the truncated waiting time, respectively. We find that the truncated waiting time is convex and therefore a greedy algorithm solves the spares allocation problem efficiently. We show that the window fill rate is generally S-shaped and describe an efficient algorithm to find a near-optimal solution and detail a priori and a posteriori upper bounds to the distance from optimum. The theory is complemented with a large scale numerical example demonstrating the spare battery allocation in battery swapping stations.

Keywords: convex-concave optimization, exchangeable item, M/G/infinity, multiple location, repair system, spares allocation, window fill rate

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Authors: Kevin Wongleedee

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

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

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Authors: Mohammad Sohail Yunis, Hina Hashim, Alistair R. Anderson

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Entrepreneurship is gendered with masculine qualities, yet social enterprise epitomizes caring a feminine quality. However enterprising practices may have little to do with gender. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to examine practices using two very different explanatory theories, feminist and institutional theory, to establish the role played by gender. This study is situated in KP, the poor but traditional north of Pakistan. Utilising on an interpretive qualitative research approach, this research collected data through in-depth interviews with ten women social entrepreneurs of KP, Pakistan and analyzed using thematic analysis. Empirically, this paper identifies and describes on a number of interesting themes that relate to the women entrepreneurship such as 'women empowerment, patriarchal culture, role of culture and societal norms, religious extremism and terrorism, forced entrepreneurs, change creators, institutional corruption, and security issues'. In addition, female social enterprise in KP is set in a patriarchal, masculine culture, but the practices negotiate institutional obstacles to bring benefits to the disenfranchised. Finally, this research claims to present an original insight into female social entrepreneurship in a developing country context and provide fresh theoretical and empirical perspectives to advance knowledge and scholarship.

Keywords: female social entrepreneurship, institutional theory, feminist theory, developing countries

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Authors: Hyojin Lim, Cuong Nguyen Khac, Yeongyu Choi, Ho-Youl Jung

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In this paper, we propose a simple moving object detection, which is based on motion vectors obtained from pyramidal Lucas-Kanade optical flow. The proposed method detects moving objects such as pedestrians, the other vehicles and some obstacles at the front-side of the host vehicle, and it can provide the warning to the driver. Motion vectors are obtained by using pyramidal Lucas-Kanade optical flow, and some outliers are eliminated by comparing the amplitude of each vector with the pre-defined threshold value. The background model is obtained by calculating the mean and the variance of the amplitude of recent motion vectors in the rectangular shaped local region called the cell. The model is applied as the reference to classify motion vectors of moving objects and those of background. Motion vectors are clustered to rectangular regions by using the unsupervised clustering K-means algorithm. Labeling method is applied to label groups which is close to each other, using by distance between each center points of rectangular. Through the simulations tested on four kinds of scenarios such as approaching motorbike, vehicle, and pedestrians to host vehicle, we prove that the proposed is simple but efficient for moving object detection in parking lots.

Keywords: moving object detection, dynamic scene, optical flow, pyramidal optical flow

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Authors: Thaiurie Govender, Shannon Verne

Abstract:

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has ushered in an era where technology significantly impacts various aspects of life, including higher education. Blended learning, which combines synchronous and asynchronous learning, has gained popularity as a pedagogical approach. However, its effective implementation is a challenge, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and technological obstacles faced in South Africa. This study focused on lecturers' teaching and learning practices to implement blended learning, aiming to understand the teaching and learning strategies used with the integration of digital tools to facilitate the blended learning approach within a private higher educational institution in South Africa. Using heutagogy and constructivism theoretical frameworks, the study aimed to uncover insights into the lecturer’s teaching and learning practices to overcome challenges in designing and facilitating blended learning modules. Through a qualitative analysis, the themes of student engagement, teaching and learning strategies, digital tools, and feedback emerged, highlighting the complexities and opportunities in a blended learning classroom. The findings emphasize the importance of tailoring methods to students' needs and subject matter, aligning with constructivist principles. Recommendations include promoting professional development opportunities, addressing infrastructure issues, and fostering a supportive learning environment.

Keywords: blended learning, digital tools, higher education, teaching strategies

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Authors: Jeong Woo Kang, MiYoung Baek, Ki-Suk Kim, Kwang-Jick Lee, ByungJae So

Abstract:

Introduction: A fast, easy and sensitive detection method was developed and validated by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of marbofloxacin in pig plasma which was further applied to study the pharmacokinetics of marbofloxacin. Materials and Methods: The plasma sample (500 μL) was mixed with 1.5 ml of 0.1% formic acid in MeCN to precipitate plasma proteins. After shaking for 20 min, The mixture was centrifuged at 5,000 × g for 30 min. It was dried under a nitrogen flow at 50℃. 500 μL aliquot of the sample was injected into the LC-MS/MS system. Chromatographic analysis was carried out mobile phase gradient consisting 0.1% formic acid in D.W. (A) and 0.1% formic acid in MeCN (B) with C18 reverse phase column. Mass spectrometry was performed using the positive ion mode and the selected ion monitoring (MRM). Results and Conclusions: The method validation was performed in the sample matrix. Good linearities (R2>0.999) were observed and the quantified average recoveries of marbofloxacin were 87 - 92% at level of 10 ng g-1 -100 ng g-1. The percent of coefficient of variation (CV) for the described method was less than 10 % over the range of concentrations studied. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 2 and 5 ng g-1, respectively. This method has also been applied successfully to pharmacokinetic analysis of marbofloxacin after intravenous (IV), intramuscular (IM) and oral administration (PO). The mean peak plasma concentration (Cmax) was 2,597 ng g-1at 0.25 h, 2,587 ng g-1at 0.44 h and 2,355 ng g-1at 1.58 h for IV, IM and PO, respectively. The area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC0–t) was 24.8, 29.0 and 25.2 h μg/mL for IV, IM and PO, respectively. The elimination half-life (T1/2) was 8.6, 13.1 and 9.5 for IV, IM and PO, respectively. Bioavailability (F) of the marbofloxacin in pig was 117 and 101 % for IM and PO, respectively. Based on these result, marbofloxacin does not have any obstacles as therapeutics to develop the oral formulations such as tablets and capsules.

Keywords: marbofloxacin, LC-MS/MS, pharmacokinetics, chromatographic

Procedia PDF Downloads 525