Search results for: preference list

Authors: Joe Kallas

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It is now widely accepted that the preservation of cultural heritage must go beyond simple restoration and renovation actions. While some historic monuments have been preserved for millennia, many of them, less important or simply neglected because of lack of money, have disappeared. As a result, the adaptation of monuments and archaeological sites to new functions allow them to 'survive'. Temporary activities or 'ephemeral' re-use, are increasingly recognized as a means of vitalization of deprived areas and enhancement of historic sites that became obsolete. They have the potential to increase economic and cultural value while making the best use of existing resources. However, there are often conservation and preservation issues related to the implementation of this type of re-use, which can also threaten the integrity and authenticity of archaeological sites and monuments if they have not been properly managed. This paper aims to get a better knowledge of the ephemeral re-use of heritage, and more specifically the subject of the incorporation of the festival phenomenon within the monuments and archaeological sites in Lebanon, a topic that is not yet studied enough. This paper tried to determine the elements that compose it, in order to analyze this phenomenon and to trace its good practices, by comparing international study cases to important national cases: the International Festival of Baalbek, the International Festival of Byblos and the International Festival of Beiteddine. Various factors have been studied and analyzed in order to best respond to the main problematic of this paper: 'How can we preserve the integrity of sites and monuments after the integration of an ephemeral function? And what are the preventive conservation measures to be taken when holding festivals in archaeological sites with fragile structures?' The impacts of the technical problems were first analyzed using various data and more particularly the effects of mass tourism, the integration of temporary installations, sound vibrations, the effects of unstudied lighting, until the mystification of heritage. Unfortunately, the DGA (General Direction of Antiquities in Lebanon) does not specify any frequency limit for the sound vibrations emitted by the speakers during musical festivals. In addition, there is no requirement from its part regarding the installations of the lighting systems in the historic monuments and no monitoring is done in situ, due to the lack of awareness of the impact that could be generated by such interventions, and due to the lack of materials and tools needed for the monitoring process. The study and analysis of the various data mentioned above led us to the elaboration of the main objective of this paper, which is the establishment of a list of recommendations. This list enables to define various preventive conservation measures to be taken during the holding of the festivals within the cultural heritage sites in Lebanon. We strongly hope that this paper will be an awareness document to start taking into consideration several factors previously neglected, in order to improve the conservation practices in the archaeological sites and monuments during the incorporation of the festival phenomenon.

Keywords: archaeology, authenticity, conservation, cultural heritage, festival, historic sites, integrity, monuments, tourism

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Authors: Osvaldo Collazo, Cristiano Valerio Dos Santos

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Early maternal separation has been shown to bring about many negative effects on behavior in rats. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of early maternal separation on risky choice in rats. One group of male and female Wistar rats was exposed to an early maternal separation protocol while a control group was left undisturbed. Then both groups were exposed to a series of behavioral tests, including a test of risky choice, where one alternative offered a constant reward while the other offered a variable reward. There was a difference between groups when they chose between a variable and a constant reward delay, but no other difference was significant. These results suggest that early maternal separation may be related to a greater preference for shorter delays, which is characteristic of more impulsive choices.

Keywords: early maternal separation, impulsivity, risky choice, variability

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Authors: A. Ortuzar, I. Escondrillas, F. Mijangos

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There is a need for new systems that can be attached to drinking water treatment plants and have the required treatment capacity as well as the selectivity regarding components derived from anthropogenic activities. In a context of high volumes of water and low concentration of contaminants, adsorption/interchange processes are appealing since they meet the required features. Iron oxides such as siderite and molysite, which are respectively based on FeCO₃ and FeCl₃, can be found in nature. In this work, their observed performance, raw or roasted at different temperatures, as adsorbents of some inorganic anions is discussed. Roasted 1:1 FeCO₃: FeCl₃ mixture was very selective for arsenic and allowed a 100% removal of As from a 10 mg L^-1 As solution. Besides, the 1:1 FeCO₃ and FeCl₃ mixture roasted at 500 ºC showed good selectivity for, in order of preference, arsenate, bromate, phosphate, fluoride and nitrate anions with distribution coefficients of, respectively, 4200, 2800, 2500 0.4 and 0.03 L g^-1.

Keywords: drinking water, natural adsorbent materials, removal, selectivity

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Authors: Larissa Pliska, Isabel Neitzel, Michael Buschermöhle, Olga Kunina-Habenicht, Ute Ritterfeld

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Visual preferences that can be assessed via eye tracking technologies are considered one of the defining hallmarks of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Specifically, children with ASD show a decreased preference for social compared to geometric images compared to typically developed (TD) children. Such differences are already prevalent at a very early age and indicate the severity of the disorder: toddlers with ASD who preferred the geometric images when presented with social and geometric images also showed higher ASD symptom severity than toddlers with ASD who showed higher social attention. Furthermore, the complexity of social pictures (one child playing vs. two children playing together) as well as the mode of stimulus presentation (video or image), appear to have no influence on the hallmark. Although such visual preferences are also a hallmark of the diagnosis of ASD, studies have primarily been conducted with toddlers and preschool children. Since the age for diagnosis often falls into this age group – the average age of diagnosis for ASD in Germany is 6.5 years – we were investigating whether visual preferences (1) persist into this age range and (2) might be used for a technology-based screening. We examined the visual preferences of 16 boys aged 6 to 11 with ASD and normal cognition and TD children (1:1 matching) within an experimental setting. Matching criteria are the children's age and the parent's level of education. Different stimulus presentation formats (images vs. videos) and different levels of stimulus complexity are included. Children with and without ASD always receive pairs of social and non-social images and video stimuli on a screen. For images, the social stimuli show one or more children playing whereas the non-social show images of the universe. For videos, the social stimuli show a man or a woman making faces, and the non-social are dynamic geometric shapes. During stimulus presentation of approx. 10 s length by image and of approx. 18 s length by video, eye movements (i.e., eye position and gaze direction) are captured. Therefore, KIZMO GmbH developed a customized, native iOS app (KIZMO Face-Analyzer) for use on iPads. In addition, the preferences of the image stimuli are directly measured. Data collection is currently ongoing, with an expected sample size of 32 (16 children with ASD and 16 TD children). One expected finding is that children with ASD demonstrate lower attention (total fixation time) on social stimuli (images and video) compared to their TD peers, even at this elementary school age. We also expect that the stimulus presentation, including different complexity levels, will not affect social attention. The data for the group of children with ASD is already available, while the data for the control group will be collected in the coming months. Preliminary descriptive analyses for 16 children with ASD show that in 80 possible image comparisons 52 times the non-social one was selected, 8 times the social one and 20 are missing or cannot be correctly assigned. The results will be discussed concerning various clinical implications, e.g. implementation of an automated digital screening.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, visual preference, hallmark, eye movement

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Authors: Nice Vasconcelos Coimbra, Fábio dos Santos Gonçalves, Marisa Nascimento, Ellen Cristine Giese

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The development of chemical routes for the recovery and separation of rare earth elements (REE) is seen as a priority and strategic action by several countries demanding these elements. Among the possibilities of alternative routes, the biosorption process has been evaluated in our laboratory. In this theme, the present work attempts to assess and fit the solution equilibrium data in Langmuir, Freundlich and DKR isothermal models, based on the biosorption results of the lanthanum and samarium elements by Bacillus subtilis immobilized on calcium alginate gel. It was observed that the preference of adsorption of REE by the immobilized biomass followed the order Sm (III)> La (III). It can be concluded that among the studied isotherms models, the Langmuir model presented better mathematical results than the Freundlich and DKR models.

Keywords: rare earth elements, biosorption, Bacillus subtilis, adsorption isotherm models

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Authors: Carlos Henrique Rodrigues de Oliveira, Luis Carlos Costa Fonseca, Caio de Castro Torres, Daniel Gusmão Pereira, Luiz Ricardo Souza Ripardo, Magno Castro Moraes, Ana Paula Ferreira Costa, Luiz Carlos Chaves Lima Junior, Aurelianny Almeida da Cunha

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VoIP University is a communication solution based on the IP protocol. This solution was proposed to modernize and save on communication, which required the development of Android, iOS, and Windows applications and a web service server. This solution allows integration with management system databases to create and manage a list of user extensions. VoIP UEMA was the first deployed project of VoIP University. MOS subjective voice quality test was done, and the results indicated good quality. A financial analysis revealed that annual spending on telephone bills decreased by more than 97 %.

Keywords: VoIP eTec, VoIP UEMA, VoIP University, VoIP Valen

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Authors: Charalampos Saridakis, Stelios Tsafarakis

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

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

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Authors: Nivedita Roy, Aparajita Chattopadhyay

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Gender discrimination is already one of the major factors why India is still in the list of the 3rd World Countries, but, when it comes to gender inclusion in the environmental arena, this umbrella concept is quite unheard of by our countrymen. The main objective was to assess gender equality for the environment through calculating Environment and Gender Index on a country level, India, in this case. 22 states out of 29 were considered for calculation. Also, out of the 72 countries chosen by IUCN to calculate EGI, the lower middle income group of countries was chosen to assess the position of India, also a lower middle income group country, among them. Linear Regression is executed through SPSS and simple graphs and tables are prepared through MS-EXCEL for analysis. India portrays good governance, reporting activities well to the UN but in terms of basic livelihood and gender equality, the performance is comparatively weak.

Keywords: environment, gender, livelihood, rights, participation, development, conservation

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Authors: Celal Dudak, Aslı Utku, Burak Yağlioğlu

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Uninterrupted and continuous satellite communication through the whole orbit time is becoming more indispensable every day. Data relay systems are developed and built for various high/low data rate information exchanges like TDRSS of USA and EDRSS of Europe. In these missions, a couple of task-dedicated communication satellites exist. In this regard, for Turkey a data relay system is attempted to be defined exchanging low data rate information (i.e. TTC) for Earth-observing LEO satellites appointing commercial GEO communication satellites all over the world. First, justification of this attempt is given, demonstrating duration enhancements in the link. Discussion of preference of RF communication is, also, given instead of laser communication. Then, preferred communication GEOs – including TURKSAT4A already belonging to Turkey- are given, together with the coverage enhancements through STK simulations and the corresponding link budget. Also, a block diagram of the communication system is given on the LEO satellite.

Keywords: communication, GEO satellite, data relay system, coverage

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Authors: Amirhossein Karamoozian, Desheng Wu, Behzad Abbasnejad

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Building information modelling (BIM) is a new technology to enhance the efficiency of project management in the construction industry. In addition to the potential benefits of this useful technology, there are various risks and obstacles to applying it in construction projects. In this study, a decision making approach is presented for risk assessment in BIM adoption in construction projects. Various risk factors of exerting BIM during different phases of the project lifecycle are identified with the help of Delphi method, experts’ opinions and related literature. Afterward, Shannon’s entropy and Fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Situation) are applied to derive priorities of the identified risk factors. Results indicated that lack of knowledge between professional engineers about workflows in BIM and conflict of opinions between different stakeholders are the risk factors with the highest priority.

Keywords: risk, BIM, fuzzy TOPSIS, construction projects

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Authors: Alana C. M. Santana, Mary L. G. S. Senna

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T Sustainable development is very important for the existence of life on the planet. The use of any space without planning can cause impacts on the environment, which depending on the proportion may be irreversible. Buritis beach is very frequented by visitors, but it has no information on use and does not have enough infrastructure to collaborate with the preservation of the environment. Therefore, the objective of this study was to adopt a simple control list of environmental impacts in river beaches, in order to identify the environmental impacts generated in the post-holiday seasons of Buritis beach and to characterize the beach in terms of infrastructure. The holidays that carried out the analyzes were the nationals of the second half of 2017, as well as the universal fraternization holiday of 2018. The results show that the beach needs investments in its infrastructure and educational campaigns to minimize environmental impacts caused by anthropic action.

Keywords: environmental impacts, sustainable development, Buritis Beach, Brazil.

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Authors: M. Benghersallah, G. List, G. Sutter

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The present work is an experimental study on the dry high speed turning of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy. The objective of this study is to see for high cutting speeds, how wear occurs on the face of insert and how to evolve cutting forces and chip formation. Cutting speeds tested is 600, 800, 1000, and 1200 m/min in orthogonal turning with a carbide insert tool H13A uncoated on a cylindrical titanium alloy part. Investigation on the wear inserts with 3D scanning microscope revered the crater formation is instantaneous and a chip adhesion (welded chip) causes detachment of carbide particles. Cutting forces increase and stabilize before removing the tool. The chip reaches a very high temperature.

Keywords: titanium alloy, dry hjgh speed turning, wear insert, MQL technique

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Authors: Parham Bakhtiari

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George Crumb's Makrokosmos Volumes are considered significant pieces in twentieth-century piano music and showcase the extensive use of different tones and extended techniques on the piano. Crumb's works are known for making references, particularly to music from previous eras which the visual, aural, and numerical characteristics are symbolic in nature. Crumb created a list of symbols and shortened letters to clarify his unique directions to those who performed his compositions. The pianists who prepare to play Makrokosmos must dedicate time to study and analyze Crumb's markings diligently to accurately capture the composer's wishes. The aim of this paper is to provide a collection for pianists looking to perform George Crumb's compositions known as Makrokosmos Volumes. The research traits of unconventional playing techniques and discussions on the music explored by the composer are being described.

Keywords: music, piano, Crumb, Makrokosmos, performance

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Authors: Armana Sabiha Huq, Tahmina Rahman Chowdhury

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In this paper, based on the stated preference experiment, the service quality of Bangladesh Railway has been assessed, and particular importance has been given to investigate if there exists a relationship between service quality and safety. For investigation purposes, environmental and organizational factors were assumed to determine the safety performance of the railway. Data collected from the survey has been analyzed by importance-performance analysis (IPA). In this paper, a modification of the well-known importance-performance analysis (IPA) has been done by adopting the importance of the weights determined through a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach and by plotting the gap between importance and performance on a visual graph. It has been found that there exists a relationship between safety and serviceability to some extent. Limited resources are an important factor to improve the safety and serviceability condition of the BD railway. Moreover, it is observed that the limited resources available to monitor and improve the safety performance of railway.

Keywords: importance-performance analysis, GAP-IPA, SEM, serviceability, safety, factor analysis

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Authors: Haytham Yassine

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This article mainly aims to detect and understand how money laundering activities are executed by transport of cash, identifying the underlying factors and separating legitimate from illegitimate usage of cash and how it is being used. This research provides academics with additional literature and provides bank supervisors and practitioners with a better understanding of sources and uses of cash in criminal activities and how cash is used in the laundering mechanism. Data are gathered through survey in the Middle East and North Africa region and review of the available research. The results of the analysis will help distinguish the factors affecting preference for cash rather other payment instruments in the region, identify what causes the tendency to launder illegal proceeds through cash transportation and how illegal cash is being laundered and moved. On the other hand, this paper sheds the light on major cash generating criminal activities, its sources and main destinations.

Keywords: illegitimate activities, cash, money laundering, terrorism financing

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Authors: Rutusha Bhutada, Gaurav Chavan, Sarvesh Kasat, Varsha Mujumdar

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This software system will be an Augmented Reality application designed to maximize the doctor’s productivity by providing tools to assist in automating the patient recognition and updating patient’s records using face and voice recognition features, which would otherwise have to be performed manually. By maximizing the doctor’s work efficiency and production, the application will meet the doctor’s needs while remaining easy to understand and use. More specifically, this application is designed to allow a doctor to manage his productive time in handling the patient without losing eye-contact with him and communicate with a group of other doctors for consultation, for in-place treatments through video streaming, as a video study. The system also contains a relational database containing a list of doctor, patient and display techniques.

Keywords: augmented reality, hand-held devices, head-mounted devices, marker based systems, speech recognition, face detection

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Authors: Zayd Khayi

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This paper deals with the construction and analysis of the Tamazight text corpus. The grammatical structure of the Tamazight remains poorly understood, and a lack of comparative grammar leads to linguistic issues. In order to fill this gap, even though it is small, by constructed the diachronic corpus of the Tamazight language, and elaborated the program tool. In addition, this work is devoted to constructing that tool to analyze the different aspects of the Tamazight, with its different dialects used in the north of Africa, specifically in Morocco. It also focused on three Moroccan dialects: Tamazight, Tarifiyt, and Tachlhit. The Latin version was good choice because of the many sources it has. The corpus is based on the grammatical parameters and features of that language. The text collection contains more than 500 texts that cover a long historical period. It is free, and it will be useful for further investigations. The texts were transformed into an XML-format standardization goal. The corpus counts more than 200,000 words. Based on the linguistic rules and statistical methods, the original user interface and software prototype were developed by combining the technologies of web design and Python. The corpus presents more details and features about how this corpus provides users with the ability to distinguish easily between feminine/masculine nouns and verbs. The interface used has three languages: TMZ, FR, and EN. Selected texts were not initially categorized. This work was done in a manual way. Within corpus linguistics, there is currently no commonly accepted approach to the classification of texts. Texts are distinguished into ten categories. To describe and represent the texts in the corpus, we elaborated the XML structure according to the TEI recommendations. Using the search function may provide us with the types of words we would search for, like feminine/masculine nouns and verbs. Nouns are divided into two parts. The gender in the corpus has two forms. The neutral form of the word corresponds to masculine, while feminine is indicated by a double t-t affix (the prefix t- and the suffix -t), ex: Tarbat (girl), Tamtut (woman), Taxamt (tent), and Tislit (bride). However, there are some words whose feminine form contains only the prefix t- and the suffix –a, ex: Tasa (liver), tawja (family), and tarwa (progenitors). Generally, Tamazight masculine words have prefixes that distinguish them from other words. For instance, 'a', 'u', 'i', ex: Asklu (tree), udi (cheese), ighef (head). Verbs in the corpus are for the first person singular and plural that have suffixes 'agh','ex', 'egh', ex: 'ghrex' (I study), 'fegh' (I go out), 'nadagh' (I call). The program tool permits the following characteristics of this corpus: list of all tokens; list of unique words; lexical diversity; realize different grammatical requests. To conclude, this corpus has only focused on a small group of parts of speech in Tamazight language verbs, nouns. Work is still on the adjectives, prounouns, adverbs and others.

Keywords: Tamazight (Berber) language, corpus linguistic, grammar rules, statistical methods

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Authors: Abdul Ghani Rajput

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Although monitoring and evaluation concept adopted by Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) organization to track the progress over the continuous interval of time based on planned interventions and subsequently, evaluating it for the impact, quality assurance and sustainability. In digital world, TVET providers are giving preference to have real time information to do monitoring of training activities. Identifying the benefits and challenges of digitized monitoring & evaluation real time information system has not been sufficiently tackled in this date. This research paper looks at the impact of digitized M&E in TVET sector by analyzing two case studies and describe the benefits and challenges of using digitized M&E system. Finally, digitized M&E have been identified as carriers for high potential of TVET sector.

Keywords: digitized M&E, innovation, quality assurance, TVET

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Authors: Yuan-Jye Tseng, Jia-Shu Li

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To design a product with the given product requirement and design objective, there can be alternative ways to propose the detailed design specifications of the product. In the design modeling stage, alternative design cases with detailed specifications can be modeled to fulfill the product requirement and design objective. Therefore, in the design evaluation stage, it is required to perform an evaluation of the alternative design cases for deciding the final design. The purpose of this research is to develop a product evaluation model for evaluating the alternative design cases by integrated evaluating the criteria of functional design, Kansei design, and design for supply chain. The criteria in the functional design group include primary function, expansion function, improved function, and new function. The criteria in the Kansei group include geometric shape, dimension, surface finish, and layout. The criteria in the design for supply chain group include material, manufacturing process, assembly, and supply chain operation. From the point of view of value and cost, the criteria in the functional design group and Kansei design group represent the design value of the product. The criteria in the design for supply chain group represent the supply chain and manufacturing cost of the product. It is required to evaluate the design value and the supply chain cost to determine the final design. For the purpose of evaluating the criteria in the three criteria groups, a fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) method is presented to evaluate a weighted index by calculating the total relational values among the three groups. A method using the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) is used to compare and rank the design alternative cases according to the weighted index using the total relational values of the criteria. The final decision of a design case can be determined by using the ordered ranking. For example, the design case with the top ranking can be selected as the final design case. Based on the criteria in the evaluation, the design objective can be achieved with a combined and weighted effect of the design value and manufacturing cost. An example product is demonstrated and illustrated in the presentation. It shows that the design evaluation model is useful for integrated evaluation of functional design, Kansei design, and design for supply chain to determine the best design case and achieve the design objective.

Keywords: design for supply chain, design evaluation, functional design, Kansei design, fuzzy analytic network process, technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution

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Authors: Ali Alqarni

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This study aims to explore the impact of microlearning on the development of the programming skills as well as on the motivation for learning of first-year high schoolers in Jeddah. The sample consists of 78 students, distributed as 40 students in the control group, and 38 students in the treatment group. The quasi-experimental method, which is a type of quantitative method, was used in this study. In addition to the technological tools used to create and deliver the digital content, the study utilized two tools to collect the data: first, an observation card containing a list of programming skills, and second, a tool to measure the student's motivation for learning. The findings indicate that microlearning positively impacts programming skills and learning motivation for students. The study, then, recommends implementing and expanding the use of microlearning in educational contexts both in the general education level and the higher education level.

Keywords: educational technology, teaching strategies, online learning, microlearning

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Authors: Eniola Akande

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Introduction: English vocabulary and reading comprehension are core to academic achievement in many school subjects. Deficiency in both accounts for dismal performance in internal and external examinations among primary school pupils in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria. Previous studies largely focused on factors influencing pupils’ achievement in English vocabulary and reading comprehension. In spite of what literature has shown, the problem still persists, implying the need for other kinds of intervention. This study was therefore carried out to determine the effect of two transactional strategies Picture Walk (PW) and Know-Want to Learn-Learnt (KWL) on primary four pupils’ achievement in English vocabulary and reading comprehension in Ibadan Metropolis. The moderating effects of gender and learning style were also examined. Methodology: The study was anchored on Rosenblatt’s Transactional Reading and Piaget’s Cognitive Development theories; pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design with 3x2x3 factorial matrix was adopted. Six public primary schools were purposively selected based on the availability of qualified English language teachers in Primary Education Studies. Six intact classes (one per school) with a total of 101 primary four pupils (48 males and 53 females) participated. The intact classes were randomly assigned to PW (27), KWL (44) and conventional (30) groups. Instruments used were English Vocabulary (r=0.83), Reading Comprehension (r=0.84) achievement tests, Pupils’ Learning Style Preference Scale (r=0.93) and instructional guides. Treatment lasted six weeks. Data were analysed using the Descriptive statistics, Analysis of Covariance and Bonferroni post-hoc test at 0.05 level of significance. The mean age was 8.86±0.84 years. Result: Treatment had a significant main effect on pupils’ reading comprehension (F(2,82)=3.17), but not on English vocabulary. Participants in KWL obtained the highest post achievement means score in reading comprehension (8.93), followed by PW (8.06) and control (7.21) groups. Pupils’ learning style had a significant main effect on pupils’ achievement in reading comprehension (F(2,82)=4.41), but not on English vocabulary. Pupils with preference for tactile learning style had the highest post achievement mean score in reading comprehension (9.40), followed by the auditory (7.43) and the visual learning style (7.37) groups. Gender had no significant main effect on English vocabulary and reading comprehension. There was no significant two-way interaction effect of treatment and gender on pupils’ achievement in English vocabulary and reading comprehension. The two-way interaction effect of treatment and learning style on pupils’ achievement in reading comprehension was significant (F(4,82)=3.37), in favour of pupils with tactile learning style in PW group. There was no significant two-way interaction effect of gender and learning style on pupils’ achievement in English vocabulary and reading comprehension. The three-way interaction effects were not significant on English vocabulary and reading comprehension. Conclusion: Picture Walk and Know-Want to learn-Learnt instructional strategies were effective in enhancing pupils’ achievement in reading comprehension but not on English vocabulary. Learning style contributed considerably to achievement in reading comprehension but not to English vocabulary. Primary school, English language teachers, should put into consideration pupils’ learning style when adopting both strategies in teaching reading comprehension for improved achievement in the subject.

Keywords: comprehension-based intervention, know-want to learn-learnt, learning style, picture walk, primary school pupils

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Authors: Arwa Khannoussi, Alexandru-Liviu Olteanu, Pritesh Narayan, Catherine Dezan, Jean-Philippe Diguet, Patrick Meyer, Jacques Petit-Frere

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Due to the nature of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) missions, it is important that the decisions of a UAV stay consistent with the priorities of an operator, while at the same time allowing them to be easily audited and explained. We propose a multi-layer decision engine that integrates the operator (human) preferences by using the Multi-Criteria Decision Aiding (MCDA) methods. A software implementation of a UAV simulator and of the decision engine is presented to highlight the advantage of using such techniques on high-level decisions. We demonstrate that, with such a preference-based decision engine, the decisions of the UAV are compatible with the priorities of the operator, which in turn increases her/his confidence in its autonomous behavior.

Keywords: autonomous UAV, multi-criteria decision aiding, multi-layers decision engine, operator's preferences, traceable decisions, UAV simulation

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Authors: Samanta Kietytė

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The object of this study is the verbal derivatives stemming from the Lithuanian prefix per-. The prefix under examination can be classified as prepositional, having descended from the preposition per, thereby sharing the same prototypical meaning – denoting movement OVER. These frequently co-occur within sentences (1). The aim of this paper is to conduct a semantic analysis of the prefix per- and to propose a possible radial network of its meanings. In essence, the aim is to identify the interrelationships existing between its meanings. 1) Jis peršoko per tvorą/ 3SG.NOM.M jump.PST.3 over fence.ACC.SG. /ʻHe jumped over the fenceʼ. The foundation of this work lies in the methodological and theoretical framework of cognitive linguistics. The prototypical meaning of prefixes consistently embodies spatial dimensions that can be described through image schemas. This entails the identification of the trajectory, the landmark, and the relation between them in the situation described by the prefixed verb. The meanings of linguistic units are not perceived as arbitrary, but rather, they are interconnected through semantic motivation. According to this perspective, a singular meaning within linguistic units is considered as prototypical, while additional meanings are descended (not necessarily directly) from it. For example, one of the per- meanings TRANSFER (2) is derived from the prototypical meaning OVER. 2) Prašau persiųsti vadovo laišką man./ Ask.PRS.1 forward.INF manager.GEN.SG email.ACC.SG 1.SG.DAT/ ʻPlease forward the manager‘s email to meʼ. Certain semantic relations are explained by the conceptual metaphor and metonymy theory. For instances, when prefixed verb has a meaning WIN (3) it is related to the prototypical meaning. In this case, the prefixed verb describes situations of winning in various ways. In the prototypical meaning, the trajector moves higher than the landmark, and winning is metaphorically perceived as being higher. 3) Sūnus peraugo tėvą./ Son.NOM.SG outgrow.PST.3 father.ACC.SG/ ʻThe son has outgrown the fatherʼ. The data utilized for this study was collected from the 2014 grammatically annotated text "Lithuanian Web (LithuanianWaC v2)", consisting of 63,645,700 words. Given that the corpus is grammatically lemmatized, the list of the 793 items was obtained using the wordlist function and specifying that verbs starting with per were searched. The list included not only prefixed verbs but also other verbs whose roots have the same letter sequences as prefixes. Also, words with misspellings, without diacritical marks, and words listed for lemmatization errors were rejected, and a total of 475 derivatives were left for further analysis. The semantic analysis revealed that there are 12 distinct meanings of the prefix per-. The spatial meanings were extracted by determining what a trajector is, what a landmark is, and what the relation between them is. The connection between non-spatial meanings and spatial ones occurs through semantic motivation established by identifying elements that correspond to the trajector and landmark. The analysis reveals that there are no strict boundaries among these meanings, instead showing a continuum that encompasses a central core and a peripheral association with their internal structure, i.e., some derivatives are more prototypical of a particular meaning than others.

Keywords: word-formation, cognitive semantics, metaphor, radial networks, prototype theory, prefix

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Authors: Henry Venter, Murali Thyloth, Alceu Casseb

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Historically, mental and substance use disorders were not a global health priority. Since the 1993 World Development Report, the importance of the contribution of mental health and substance abuse on the relative global burden associated with disease morbidity has been recognized with 300 million people worldwide suffering from depression alone. This led to an international effort to improve the mental health of populations around the world. Despite these efforts some countries remain at the top of the list of countries with the highest rate of mental illness. Important research questions were asked: Would there be commonalities regarding mental health between these countries; would there be common factors leading to the high prevalence of mental illness; and how prepared are these countries with mental health delivery? Findings from this research can aid organizations and institutions preparing mental health service providers to focus training and preparation to address specific needs revealed by the study. Methods: Researchers decided to compare three distinctly different countries at the top of the list of countries with the highest rate of mental illness, the USA, India and Brazil, situated on three different continents with different economies and lifestyles. Data were collected using archival research methodology, reviewing records and findings of international and national health and mental health studies to subtract and compare data and findings. Results: The findings indicated that India is the most depressed country in the world, followed by the USA (and China) with Brazil in Latin America with the greatest number of depressed individuals. By 2020 roughly 20% of India, acountry of over one billion citizens, will suffer from some form of mental illnees, yet there are less than 4,000 experts available. In the USA 164.8 million people were substance abusers and an estimate of 47.6 million adults, 18 or older, had any mental illness in 2018. That means that about one in five adults in the USA experiences some form of mental illness each year, but only 41% of those affected received mental health care or services in the past year. Brazil has the greatest number of depressed individuals, in Latin America. Adults living in Sao Paulo megacity has prevalence of mental disorders at greater levels than similar surveys conducted in other areas of the world with more than one million adults with serious impairment levels. Discussion: The results show that, despite the vast socioeconomic differences between the three countries, there are correlations regarding mental health prevalence and difficulty to provide adequate services including a lack of awareness of how serious mental illness is, stigma for seeking mental illness, with comorbidity a common phenomenon, and a lack of partnership between different levels of service providers, which weakens mental health service delivery. The findings also indicate that mental health training institutions have a monumental task to prepare personnel to address the future mental health needs in each of the countries compared, which will constitute the next phase of the research.

Keywords: mental health epidemiology, mental health disorder, mental health prevalence, mental health treatment

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Authors: Mohammad Shokoohi-Yekta, Hamid Mirebrahim

Abstract:

A body of research has been devoted to investigating the preferences of computer programmers. These researches used various questionnaires to find out what programming language is most popular among programmers. The problem with such research is that the programmers are usually familiar with only a few languages; therefore, disregarding a number of other languages which might have characteristics that match their preferences more closely. To overcome such a problem, we decided to investigate the preferences of programmers in regards to the characteristics of languages, which help us to discover the languages that include the most characteristics preferred by the users. We conducted a user study to measure the preferences of programmers on different characteristics of programming languages and then tried to compare existing languages in the areas of application, Web and system programming. Overall, the results of our study indicated that the Ruby programming language has the highest preference score in the two areas of application and Web, and C++ has the highest score in the system area. The results of our study can also help programming language designers know the characteristics they should consider when developing new programming languages in order to attract more programmers.

Keywords: object orientation, programming language design, programmers' preferences, characteristic

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Authors: Yixuan Wang, A. C. Y. Wong, J. M. Y. Chiu, S. G. Cheung

Abstract:

After being released into the ocean, microplastics (MPs) are quickly colonized by microbes. The biofilm that forms on MPs alters their characteristics and perplexes users, including filter-feeders, some of whom choose to eat MPs that have biofilm. It has been proposed that filter feeders like mussels and other bivalves could serve as bioindicators of MP pollution. Mussels are considered selective feeders with particle sorting capability. Two sizes (27-32 µm and 90-106 µm), shapes (microspheres and microfibers), and types (polyethylene, polystyrene and polyester) of MPs were available for the green mussel, Perna viridis, at three concentrations (100 P/ml, 1000 P/ml and 10,000 P/ml). These MPs were incubated in the sea for 0, 3 or 14 days for biofilm development. The presence of the biofilm significantly affected the ingestion of MPs, and the mussels preferred MPs with biofilm, with a higher preference observed for biofilm with a longer incubation period. Additionally, the ingestion rate varied with the interaction between the concentration, size and form of MPs. The findings are discussed in relation to the possibility that mussels serve as MP bioindicators.

Keywords: marine miroplastics, biofilm, bioindicator, green mussel perna viridis

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Authors: Chiu-Pin Wei

Abstract:

This research aims to explore the impact of music preferences on the emotional well-being of military academy students, recognizing the potential long-term implications for their high-stress careers post-graduation. Given the significance of positive emotion regulation in military personnel, this study focuses on understanding the types of music preferred by military cadets and analyzing how these preferences correlate with their emotional states. The study employs a quantitative approach, utilizing the Music Category Scale and Mood Scale to collect data. Statistical tools, such as Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS), are employed for inferential analysis, including t-tests for emotional responses to instrumental and vocal music, one-way variance analysis for different demographic factors (grades, genders, and music listening frequencies), and Pearson's correlation to examine the relationship between music preferences and moods of military students.

Keywords: music preference, emotional regulation, military academic students, SPASS

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Authors: Jekaterina Novikova, Leon Watts

Abstract:

In the emerging world of human-robot interaction, people and robots will interact socially in real-world situations. This paper presents the results of an experimental study probing the interaction between situational context and emotional body language in robots. 34 people rated video clips of robots performing expressive behaviours in different situational contexts both for emotional expressivity on Valence-Arousal-Dominance dimensions and by selecting a specific emotional term from a list of suggestions. Results showed that a contextual information enhanced a recognition of emotional body language of a robot, although it did not override emotional signals provided by robot expressions. Results are discussed in terms of design guidelines on how an emotional body language of a robot can be used by roboticists developing social robots.

Keywords: social robotics, non-verbal communication, situational context, artificial emotions, body language

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Authors: M. T. Artese, G. Ciocca, I. Gagliardi

Abstract:

Food is a social and cultural aspect of every individual. Food products, processing, and traditions have been identified as cultural objects carrying history and identity of social groups. Traditional recipes are passed down from one generation to the other, often to strengthen the link with the territory. The paper presents CookIT, a web portal developed to collect Italian traditional recipes related to regional cuisine, with the purpose to disseminate the knowledge of typical Italian recipes and the Mediterranean diet which is a significant part of Italian cuisine. The system designed is completed with multimodal means of browsing and data retrieval. Stored recipes can be retrieved integrating and combining a number of different methods and keys, while the results are displayed using classical styles, such as list and mosaic, and also using maps and graphs, with which users can play using available keys for interaction.

Keywords: collaborative portal, Italian cuisine, intangible cultural heritage, traditional recipes, searching and browsing

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Authors: Lien Fa Lin, Yung Ming Li, Hsin Chen Hsieh

Abstract:

The rise of smartphones brings new concept So-Lo-Mo (social-local-mobile) in mobile commerce area in recent years. However, current So-Lo-Mo services only focus on individual users but not a group of users, and the development of group commerce is not enough to satisfy the demand of real-time group buying and less to think about the social relationship between customers. In this research, we integrate mobile intelligence with group commerce and consider customers' preference, real-time context, and social influence as components in the mechanism. With the support of this mechanism, customers are able to gather near customers with the same potential purchase willingness through mobile devices when he/she wants to purchase products or services to have a real-time group-buying. By matching the demand and supply of mobile group-buying market, this research improves the business value of mobile commerce and group commerce further.

Keywords: group formation, group commerce, mobile commerce, So-Lo-Mo, social influence

Procedia PDF Downloads 395