Search results for: wealth indices

Authors: Aabha Chaubey, Bani Bhattacharya

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Evaluation of the quality of teaching in engineering education in India needs to be conducted on a continuous basis to achieve the best teaching quality in technical education. Quality teaching is an influential factor in technical education which impacts largely on learning outcomes of the students. Present study is not exclusively theory-driven, but it draws on various specific concepts and constructs in the domain of technical education. These include teaching and learning in higher education, teacher effectiveness, and teacher evaluation and performance management in higher education. Student Evaluation of Education Quality (SEEQ) was proposed as one of the evaluation instruments of the quality teaching in engineering education. SEEQ is one of the popular and standard instrument widely utilized all over the world and bears the validity and reliability in educational world. The present study was designed to evaluate the teaching quality through SEEQ in the context of technical education in India, including its validity and reliability based on the collected data. The multiple dimensionality of SEEQ that is present in every teaching and learning process made it quite suitable to collect the feedback of students regarding the quality of instructions and instructor. The SEEQ comprises of 9 original constructs i.e.; learning value, teacher enthusiasm, organization, group interaction, and individual rapport, breadth of coverage, assessment, assignments and overall rating of particular course and instructor with total of 33 items. In the present study, a total of 350 samples comprising first year undergraduate students from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT, Kharagpur, India) were included for the evaluation of the importance of SEEQ. They belonged to four different courses of different streams of engineering studies. The above studies depicted the validity and reliability of SEEQ was based upon the collected data. This further needs Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Analysis of Moment structure (AMOS) for various scaled instrument like SEEQ Cronbach’s alpha which are associated with SPSS for the examination of the internal consistency. The evaluation of the effectiveness of SEEQ in CFA is implemented on the basis of fit indices such as CMIN/df, CFI, GFI, AGFI and RMSEA readings. The major findings of this study showed the fitness indices such as ChiSq = 993.664,df = 390,ChiSq/df = 2.548,GFI = 0.782,AGFI = 0.736,CFI = 0.848,RMSEA = 0.062,TLI = 0.945,RMR = 0.029,PCLOSE = 0.006. The final analysis of the fit indices presented positive construct validity and stability, on the other hand a higher reliability was also depicted which indicated towards internal consistency. Thus, the study suggests the effectivity of SEEQ as the indicator of the quality evaluation instrument in teaching-learning process in engineering education in India. Therefore, it is expected that with the continuation of this research in engineering education there remains a possibility towards the betterment of the quality of the technical education in India. It is also expected that this study will provide an empirical and theoretical logic towards locating a construct or factor related to teaching, which has the greatest impact on teaching and learning process in a particular course or stream in engineering education.

Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis, engineering education, SEEQ, teaching and learning process

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma, Murat Aydin, Muhammet Demirkol, Burcin Nalbantoglu, Aysin Nalbantoglu, Birol Topcu

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Childhood obesity is an ever increasing global health problem, affecting both developed and developing countries. Accurate evaluation of obesity in children requires difficult and detailed investigation. In our study, obesity in children was evaluated using new body fat ratios and indices. Assessment of anthropometric measurements, as well as some ratios, is important because of the evaluation of gender differences particularly during the late periods of obesity. A total of 239 children; 168 morbid obese (MO) (81 girls and 87 boys) and 71 normal weight (NW) (40 girls and 31 boys) children, participated in the study. Informed consent forms signed by the parents were obtained. Ethics Committee approved the study protocol. Mean ages (years)±SD calculated for MO group were 10.8±2.9 years in girls and 10.1±2.4 years in boys. The corresponding values for NW group were 9.0±2.0 years in girls and 9.2±2.1 years in boys. Mean body mass index (BMI)±SD values for MO group were 29.1±5.4 kg/m² and 27.2±3.9 kg/m² in girls and boys, respectively. These values for NW group were calculated as 15.5±1.0 kg/m² in girls and 15.9±1.1 kg/m² in boys. Groups were constituted based upon BMI percentiles for age-and-sex values recommended by WHO. Children with percentiles >99 were grouped as MO and children with percentiles between 85 and 15 were considered NW. The anthropometric measurements were recorded and evaluated along with the new ratios such as trunk-to-appendicular fat ratio, as well as indices such as Index-I and Index-II. The body fat percent values were obtained by bio-electrical impedance analysis. Data were entered into a database for analysis using SPSS/PASW 18 Statistics for Windows statistical software. Increased waist-to-hip circumference (C) ratios, decreased head-to-neck C, height ‘to’ ‘two’-‘to’-waist C and height ‘to’ ‘two’-‘to’-hip C ratios were observed in parallel with the development of obesity (p≤0.001). Reference value for height ‘to’ ‘two’-‘to’-hip ratio was detected as approximately 1.0. Index-II, based upon total body fat mass, showed much more significant differences between the groups than Index-I based upon weight. There was not any difference between trunk-to-appendicular fat ratios of NW girls and NW boys (p≥0.05). However, significantly increased values for MO girls in comparison with MO boys were observed (p≤0.05). This parameter showed no difference between NW and MO states in boys (p≥0.05). However, statistically significant increase was noted in MO girls compared to their NW states (p≤0.001). Trunk-to-appendicular fat ratio was the only fat-based parameter, which showed gender difference between NW and MO groups. This study has revealed that body ratios and formula based upon body fat tissue are more valuable parameters than those based on weight and height values for the evaluation of morbid obesity in children.

Keywords: anthropometry, childhood obesity, gender, morbid obesity

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Authors: Marian Emmanuel Okon

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Introduction: The Niger Delta region of Nigeria has a vast reserve of oil and gas, which has globally positioned the nation as the sixth largest exporter of crude oil. Production rapidly rose following oil discovery. In most oil producing nations of the world, the wealth generated from oil production and export has propelled economic advancement, enabling the development of industries and other relevant infrastructures. Therefore, it can be assumed that majority of the oil resource such as Nigeria’s, has the potential to improve the health of the population via job creation and derived revenues. However, the health benefits of this economic development might be offset by the environmental consequences of oil exploitation and production. Objective: This research aims to evaluate the balance between the health benefits of oil-led economic development and harmful environmental consequences of crude oil exploitation in Nigeria. Study Design: A pathway has been designed to guide data search and this study. The model created will assess the relationship between oil-led economic development and population health development via job creation, improvement of education, development of infrastructure and other forms of development as well as through harmful environmental consequences from oil activities. Data/Emerging Findings: Diverse potentially suitable datasets which are at different geographical scales have been identified, obtained or applied for and the dataset from the World Bank has been the most thoroughly explored. This large dataset contains information that would enable the longitudinal assessment of both the health benefits and harms from oil exploitation in Nigeria as well as identify the disparities that exist between the communities, states and regions. However, these data do not extend far back enough in time to capture the start of crude oil production. Thus, it is possible that the maximum economic benefits and health harms could be missed. To deal with this shortcoming, the potential for a comparative study with countries like United Kingdom, Morocco and Cote D’ivoire has also been taken into consideration, so as to evaluate the differences between these countries as well as identify the areas of improvement in Nigeria’s environmental and health policies. Notwithstanding, these data have shown some differences in each country’s economic, environmental and health state over time as well as a corresponding summary statistics. Conclusion: In theory, the beneficial effects of oil exploitation to the health of the population may be substantial as large swaths of the ‘wider determinants’ of population heath are influenced by the wealth of a nation. However, if uncontrolled, the consequences from environmental pollution and degradation may outweigh these benefits. Thus, there is a need to address this, in order to improve environmental and population health in Nigeria.

Keywords: environmental pollution, health benefits, oil-led economic development, petroleum exploitation

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Authors: Jaharlal Debbarma

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The ecological crisis has become a threat to earth’s well-being. Man’s ambitious desire of wealth, pleasure, fame, longevity and happiness has extracted natural resources so vastly that it is unable to sustain a healthy life. Man’s greed for wealth and power has caused the setting up of vast factories which further created the problem of air, water and noise pollution, which have adversely affected both fauna and flora.It is no secret that man uses his inherent powers of reason, intelligence and creativity to change his environment for his advantage. But man is not aware that the moral force he himself creates brings about corresponding changes in his environment to his weal or woe whether he likes it or not. As we are facing the global warming and the nature’s gift such as air and water has been so drastically polluted with disastrous consequences that man seek for a ways and means to overcome all this pollution problem as his health and life sustainability has been threaten and that is where man try to question about the moral ethics and value.It is where Buddhist philosophy has been emphasized deeply which gives us hope for overcoming this entire problem as Buddha himself emphasized in eradicating human suffering and Buddhism is the strongest form of humanism we have. It helps us to learn to live with responsibility, compassion, and loving kindness.It teaches us to be mindful in our action and thought as the environment unites every human being. If we fail to save it we will perish. If we can rise to meet the need to all which ecology binds us - humans, other species, other everything will survive together.My paper will look into the theory of Dependent Origination (Pratītyasamutpāda), Buddhist understanding of suffering (collective suffering), and Non-violence (Ahimsa) and an effort will be made to provide a new vision to Buddhist ecological perspective. The above Buddhist philosophy will be applied to ethical values and belief systems of modern society. The challenge will be substantially to transform the modern individualistic and consumeristic values. The stress will be made on the interconnectedness of the nature and the relation between human and planetary sustainability. In a way environmental crisis will be referred to “spiritual crisis” as A. Gore (1992) has pointed out. The paper will also give important to global consciousness, as well as to self-actualization and self-fulfillment. In the words of Melvin McLeod “Only when we combine environmentalism with spiritual practice, will we find the tools to make the profound personal transformations needed to address the planetary crisis?”

Keywords: dependent arising, collective ecological suffering, remediation, Buddhist approach

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Authors: Oluwatobi Emmanuel Olaniyi, Babafemi George Ogunjemite

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The high rate of infrastructural development in Ikogosi warm spring towards harnessing her great ecotourism potentials calls for a serious concern, as more forest areas are been opened up for public access and the landscape is modified. On this note, we investigated the implication of ecotourism development on the floristic composition and forest structure in Ikogosi. The study aimed at identifying the past and present status of infrastructural development, assessing and comparing the floristic composition and structure of the built- up/ recreational areas and undisturbed forested areas, to infer on the impact of ecotourism development on the study site. We conducted stakeholder interview and field observation to identify the past and present status of infrastructural development respectively. A total of ten quadrants were employed in the vegetation assessment to characterize the woody tree species composition, diameter at breast height and height, to obtain mean indices characterizing each part of the site. These indices were compared using T – test analysis. A total of 49 different woody tree species distributed in 21 families were identified in the built-in/ recreational areas while 67 different woody tree species belonging to 25 families were recorded in the undeveloped forested areas. Although, the latter has a higher mean diameter at breast height of woody trees, it was not significantly different from the former (T-test = -0.74, p = 0.46). On the contrary, the built-up area had a higher mean trees height than the undeveloped areas, but the difference was not statistically significant (T-test= 1.04, p = 0.30). Despite these, the slight reduction in richness and diversity of the woody tree species in the built- up/ recreational areas implies mitigating the negative effects of infrastructural development on the warm spring's vegetation.

Keywords: ecosystem services, forest structure, vegetation assessment, warm-spring

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Authors: Ahmad Alsheikh Kaddour

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Herbal medicine has been a long-standing phenomenon in Arab countries since ancient times because of its breadth and moderate temperament. Therefore, it possesses a vast natural and economic wealth of medicinal and aromatic herbs. This prompted ancient Egyptians and Arabs to discover and exploit them. The economic importance of the plant is not only from medicinal uses; it is a plant of high economic value for its various uses, especially in food, cosmetic and aromatic industries. It is also an ornamental plant and soil stabilization. The main objective of this research is to study the chemical changes that occur in the plant during the growth period, as well as the production of plant buds, which were previously considered unwanted plants. The research was carried out in the period 2021-2022 in the valley of Al-Shaflah (common caper), located in Qumhana village, 7 km north of Hama Governorate, Syria. The results of the research showed a change in the percentage of chemical components in the plant parts. The ratio of protein content and the percentage of fatty substances in fruits and the ratio of oil in the seeds until the period of harvesting of these plant parts improved, but the percentage of essential oils decreased with the progress of the plant growth, while the Glycosides content where improved with the plant aging. The production of buds is small, with dimensions as 0.5×0.5 cm, which is preferred for commercial markets, harvested every 2-3 days in quantities ranging from 0.4 to 0.5 kg in one cut/shrubs with 3 years’ age as average for the years 2021-2022. The monthly production of a shrub is between 4-5 kg per month. The productive period is 4 months approximately. This means that the seasonal production of one plant is 16-20 kg and the production of 16-20 tons per year with a plant density of 1,000 shrubs per hectare, which is the optimum rate of cultivation in the unit of mass, given the price of a kg of these buds is equivalent to 1 US $; however, this means that the annual output value of the locally produced hectare ranges from 16,000 US $ to 20,000 US $ for farmers. The results showed that it is possible to transform the cultivation of this plant from traditional random to typical areas cultivation, with a plant density of 1,000-1,100 plants per hectare according to the type of soil to obtain production of medicinal and nutritious buds, as well as, the need to pay attention to this national wealth and invest in the optimal manner, which leads to the acquisition of hard currency through export to support the national income.

Keywords: common caper, medicinal plants, propagation, medical, economic importance

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Authors: Tolulope A. Olukunle

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Plastic waste management has emerged as one of the greatest challenges facing developing countries. This paper describes the design of various components of a plastic shredder. This machine is widely used in industries and recycling plants. The introduction of plastic shredder machine will promote reduction of post-consumer plastic waste accumulation and serves as a system for wealth creation and empowerment through conversion of waste into economically viable products. In this design research, a 10 kW electric motor with a rotational speed of 500 rpm was chosen to drive the shredder. A pulley size of 400 mm is mounted on the electric motor at a distance of 1000 mm away from the shredder pulley. The shredder rotational speed is 300 rpm.

Keywords: design, machine, plastic waste, recycling

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Authors: Anthony Khawaja, Jacques Prioux, Ghassan Maalouf, Rawad El Hage

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The regular practice of physical activities characterized by significant mechanical stresses stimulates bone formation and improves bone mineral density (BMD) in the most solicited sites. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between maximum power and bone variables in a group of young adult men. Identification of new determinants of BMD, bone mineral content (BMC) and hip geometric indices in young adult men, would allow screening and early management of future cases of osteopenia and osteoporosis. Fifty-three young adult men (18 – 35yr) voluntarily participated in this study. Weight and height were measured, and body mass index was calculated. Body composition, BMC and BMD were determined for each individual by Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA; GE Healthcare, Madison, WI) at whole body (WB), lumbar spine (L1-L4), total hip (TH), and femoral neck (FN). FN cross-sectional area (CSA), strength index (SI), buckling ratio (BR), FN section modulus (Z), cross-sectional moment of inertia (CSMI) and L1-L4 TBS were also evaluated by DXA. The vertical jump was evaluated using a field test (sargent test). Two main parameters were retained: vertical jump performance (cm) and power (w). The subjects performed three jumps with 2 minutes of recovery between jumps. The highest vertical jump was selected. Maximum power (P max, in watts) was calculated. Maximum power was positively correlated to WB BMD (r = 0.41; p < 0.01), WB BMC (r = 0.65; p < 0.001), L1-L4 BMC (r = 0.54; p < 0.001), FN BMC (r = 0.35; p < 0.01), TH BMC (r = 0.50; p < 0.001), CSMI (r = 0.50; p < 0.001), CSA (r = 0.33; p < 0.05). Vertical jump was positively correlated to WB BMC (r = 0.31; p < 0.05), L1-L4 BMC (r = 0.40; p < 0.01), CSMI (r = 0.29; p < 0.05). The current study suggests that maximum power is a positive determinant of BMD, BMC and hip geometric indices in young adult men. In addition, it shows also that maximum power is a stronger positive determinant of bone variables than vertical jump in this population. Implementing strategies to increase maximum power in young adult men may be useful for preventing osteoporotic fractures later in life.

Keywords: bone variables, maximum power, osteopenia, osteoporosis, vertical jump, young adult men

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Authors: Chakrit Chotamonsak

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This study was analyzed changes in temperature and precipitation extremes in northern Thailand for the period 1981-2011.The study includes an analysis of the average and trends of changes in temperature and precipitation using 22 climate indices, related to the intensity, frequency and duration of extreme climate events. The results showed that the averaged trend of maximum, minimum and mean temperature is likely to increase over the study area in rate of 0.5, 0.9 and 0.7 °C in last 30 years. Changes in temperature at nighttime, then rising at a rate higher daytime is resulting to decline of diurnal temperature range throughout the area. Trend of changes in average precipitation during the year 1981-2011 is expected to increase at an average rate of 21%. The intensity of extreme temperature events is increasing almost all station. In particular, the changes of the night were unusually hot has intensified throughout the region. In some provinces such as Chiang Mai and Lampang are likely be faced with the severity of hot days and hot nights in increasing rate. Frequency of extreme temperature events are likely to increase each station, especially hot days, and hot nights are increasing at a rate of 2.38 and 3.58 days per decade. Changes in the cold days and cold nights are declining at a rate of 0.82 and 3.03 days per decade. The duration of extreme temperature events is expected to increase the events hot in every station. An average of 17.8 days per decade for the number of consecutive cold winter nights likely shortens the rate of 2.90 days per decade. The analysis of the precipitation indices reveals the intensity of extreme precipitation is increasing almost across the region. The intensify expressed the heavy rain in one day (Rx1day) and very heavy rain accumulated in 5 days (RX5day) which is likely to increase, and very heavy rainfall is likely to increase in intensity. Frequency of extreme precipitation events is likely to increase over the station. The average frequency of heavy precipitation events increased xxx days per decade. The duration of extreme precipitation events, such as the consecutive dry days are likely to reduce the numbers almost all station while the consecutive wet days tends to increase and decrease at different numbers in different areas.

Keywords: climate extreme, temperature extreme, precipitation extreme, Northern Thailand

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Authors: Godwin E. Egbung, Item J. Atangwho, Diana O. Odey, Eyong U. Eyong

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Background of the study: The frequent abuse of acetaminophen by field workers in Calabar metropolis necessitated the present study on the hypolipidemic and anti-nephrotoxic potentials of Vernonia calvoana (VC) extract in acetaminophen (paracetamol) treated male albino Wistar rats Methods:. Thirty-five (35) male albino Wistar rats weighing 100-150 g were divided into five (5) groups of seven rats each. Group 1 served as normal control, group 2 received normal saline after treatment with Acetaminophen (PCM), group 3 was treated with VC extracts (200 mg/kg body weight), group 4 received VC extracts ( 400 mg/kg body weight) and group 5 was administered 100 mg/kg body weight of Vitamin E. At the end of the 21 days treatment period, the animals were sacrificed using chloroform vapours, and blood was collected via cardiac puncture and used for analyses of haematological as well as biochemical indices. Results: Results indicated significant decreases (p < 0.001) in LDL-c, TC and TG levels in groups 3,4 and 5 relative to both the control as well as group 2, the atherogenic index showed a significant decrease at p < 0.001) in all treated groups compared with control and PCM- treated group. However, both extracts treated groups and vitamin E treated group showed significant (p < 0.001) increase in HDL-c relative to the control and PCM treated group. Serum potassium concentration was significantly (p < 0.05 and 0.001) reduced across all the treated groups compared with control and PCM- treated groups. Group 4 showed significant (p < 0.001) increase in RBC count, Hb, and PCV compared with PCM- treated group. Conclusions: We therefore conclude that ethanolic leaf extract of VC possesses probable anti-anemic, hypolipidemic potentials, and also ameliorates serum electrolyte imbalance in paracetamol- induced toxicity.

Keywords: acetaminophen, haematological indices, hypolipidemic potentials, serum lipid profile, vernonia calvoana, wistar rats

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Authors: Mitra Saberi, Saeideh Fakhari, Amir Karam, Ali Ahmadabadi

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Geomorphology is the scientific study of the characteristics of form and shape of the Earth's surface. The existence of types of landforms and their variation is mainly controlled by changes in the shape and position of land and topography. In fact, the interest and application of fractal issues in geomorphology is due to the fact that many geomorphic landforms have fractal structures and their formation and transformation can be explained by mathematical relations. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the fractal behavior of landforms of macro geomorphologic regions of Iran, as well as studying and analyzing topographic and landform characteristics based on fractal relationships. In this study, using the Iranian digital elevation model in the form of slopes, coefficients of deposition and alluvial fan, the fractal dimensions of the curves were calculated through the box counting method. The morphometric characteristics of the landforms and their fractal dimension were then calculated for 4criteria (height, slope, profile curvature and planimetric curvature) and indices (maximum, Average, standard deviation) using ArcMap software separately. After investigating their correlation with fractal dimension, two-way regression analysis was performed and the relationship between fractal dimension and morphometric characteristics of landforms was investigated. The results show that the fractal dimension in different pixels size of 30, 90 and 200m, topographic curves of different landform units of Iran including mountain, hill, plateau, plain of Iran, from1.06in alluvial fans to1.17in The mountains are different. Generally, for all pixels of different sizes, the fractal dimension is reduced from mountain to plain. The fractal dimension with the slope criterion and the standard deviation index has the highest correlation coefficient, with the curvature of the profile and the mean index has the lowest correlation coefficient, and as the pixels become larger, the correlation coefficient between the indices and the fractal dimension decreases.

Keywords: box counting method, fractal dimension, geomorphology, Iran, landform

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Authors: Adebola Adedugbe

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Agriculture is the mainstay of most countries in Africa. It employs up to 90 percent of the rural workforce, who are mostly youth and women. Engaging youths in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in agriculture is critical to economic and agricultural development of the African continent. The objective of this paper is to identify and mobilize the potentials of young Africans in agriculture through ICT and recognize their role as the dominant driver for sustainable agricultural development in Africa. This paper identifies the role of ICT as a tool for attracting youths to agriculture. The development of ICT is important in stimulating youths in SME’s to compete favorably and effectively as a way to fight poverty through job and wealth creation. It is one of the strategies for promoting entrepreneurship by increasing the availability and diversity of online information.

Keywords: Africa, agriculture, ICT, tool, youth

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Authors: Ozan Kahraman, Hao Feng

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Several models such as Weibull, Modified Gompertz, Biphasic linear, and Log-logistic models have been proposed in order to describe non-linear inactivation kinetics and used to fit non-linear inactivation data of several microorganisms for inactivation by heat, high pressure processing or pulsed electric field. First-order kinetic parameters (D-values and z-values) have often been used in order to identify microbial inactivation by non-thermal processing methods such as ultrasound. Most ultrasonic inactivation studies employed first-order kinetic parameters (D-values and z-values) in order to describe the reduction on microbial survival count. This study was conducted to analyze the E. coli O157:H7 inactivation data by using five microbial survival models (First-order, Weibull, Modified Gompertz, Biphasic linear and Log-logistic). First-order, Weibull, Modified Gompertz, Biphasic linear and Log-logistic kinetic models were used for fitting inactivation curves of Escherichia coli O157:H7. The residual sum of squares and the total sum of squares criteria were used to evaluate the models. The statistical indices of the kinetic models were used to fit inactivation data for E. coli O157:H7 by MTS at three temperatures (40, 50, and 60 0C) and three pressures (100, 200, and 300 kPa). Based on the statistical indices and visual observations, the Weibull and Biphasic models were best fitting of the data for MTS treatment as shown by high R2 values. The non-linear kinetic models, including the Modified Gompertz, First-order, and Log-logistic models did not provide any better fit to data from MTS compared the Weibull and Biphasic models. It was observed that the data found in this study did not follow the first-order kinetics. It is possibly because of the cells which are sensitive to ultrasound treatment were inactivated first, resulting in a fast inactivation period, while those resistant to ultrasound were killed slowly. The Weibull and biphasic models were found as more flexible in order to determine the survival curves of E. coli O157:H7 treated by MTS on apple-carrot juice.

Keywords: Weibull, Biphasic, MTS, kinetic models, E.coli O157:H7

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Authors: Hillary Onyeka Abugu, Valentine Chinakwugwo Ezea, Janefrances Ngozi Ihedioha, Nwachukwu Romanus Ekere

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The study assessed the spring water quality in Igbo-Etiti, Nigeria, for drinking and irrigation application using Physico-chemical parameters, water quality index, mineral and trace elements, pollution indices and risk assessment. Standard methods were used to determine the physicochemical properties of the spring water in rainy and dry seasons. Trace metals such as Pb, Cd, Zn and Cu were determined with atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The results showed that most of the physicochemical properties studied were within the guideline values set by Nigeria Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ), WHO and US EPA for drinking water purposes. However, pH of all the spring water (4.27- 4.73; and 4.95- 5.73), lead (Pb) (0.01-1.08 mg/L) and cadmium (Cd) (0.01-0.15 mg/L) concentrations were above the guideline values in both seasons. This could be attributed to the lithography of the study area, which is the Nsukka formation. Leaching of lead and sulphides from the embedded coal deposits could have led to the increased lead levels and made the water acidic. Two-way ANOVA showed significant differences in most of the parameters studied in dry and rainy seasons. Pearson correlation analysis and cluster analysis showed strong significant positive and negative correlations in some of the parameters studied in both seasons. The water quality index showed that none of the spring water had excellent water status. However, one spring (Iyi Ase) had poor water status in dry season and is considered unsafe for drinking. Iyi Ase was also considered not suitable for irrigation application as predicted by most of the pollution indices, while others were generally considered suitable for irrigation application. Probable cancer and non-cancer risk assessment revealed a probable risk associated with the consumption of the spring in the Igbo-Ettiti area, Nigeria.

Keywords: water quality, pollution index, risk assessment, physico-chemical parameters

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Authors: J. Wicks

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Aim: To develop a simple methodology to allow collected heart rate (HR) data from inexpensive wearable devices to be expressed in a suitable format (METs) to quantitate occupational (and recreational) activity. Introduction: Assessment of occupational activity is commonly done by utilizing questionnaires in combination with prescribed MET levels of a vast range of previously measured activities. However for any individual the intensity of performing a specific activity can vary significantly. Ideally objective measurement of individual activity is preferred. Though there are a wide range of HR recording devices there is a distinct lack methodology to allow processing of collected data to quantitate energy expenditure (EE). The HR index equation expresses METs in relation to relative HR i.e. the ratio of activity HR to resting HR. The use of this equation provides a simple utility for objective measurement of EE. Methods: During a typical occupational work period of approximately 8 hours HR data was recorded using a Polar RS 400 wrist monitor. Recorded data was downloaded to a Windows PC and non HR data was stripped from the ASCII file using ‘Notepad’. The HR data was exported to a spread sheet program and sorted by HR range into a histogram format. Three HRs were determined, namely a resting HR (the HR delimiting the lowest 30 minutes of recorded data), a mean HR and a peak HR (the HR delimiting the highest 30 minutes of recorded data). HR indices were calculated (mean index equals mean HR/rest HR and peak index equals peak HR/rest HR) with mean and peak indices being converted to METs using the HR index equation. Conclusion: Inexpensive HR recording devices can be utilized to make reasonable estimates of occupational (or recreational) EE suitable for large scale demographic screening by utilizing the HR index equation. The intrinsic value of the HR index equation is that it is independent of factors that influence absolute HR, namely fitness, smoking and beta-blockade.

Keywords: energy expenditure, heart rate histograms, heart rate index, occupational activity

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Authors: Ashkan Asgari, Korous Khoshbakht, Saeid Soufizadeh

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Various factors including land lots can affect biodiversity indices in Agricultural systems. Field study conducted to evaluate factors affecting crop diversity in Sarpolzahab in 2012. Required data were collected through direct observation of farms and filling questionnaires. Total numbers of 140 questionnaires were filled, SAS Software was used to analyse data and Ecological Methodology Program was applied to calculate Shannon-Winner index, subsequently. Results of study indicated that average number of land lots for each farmer was 2.78 and various from 2.2 in Rikhak Olia Village to 4.31 in Golam Kaboud Olia Village which shows small size of land lots due to separating larger lots by children of deceased farmers. The correlation between number of land lots and species biodiversity (0.308**) was significant and Shannon-Winner index was (0.262**). Therefore, according to the mentioned results one can assume that increase in number of land lots results in improving of the target index. Multiple land lots allow farmers to cultivate various crops which results in increasing biodiversity of crops in agro ecosystem. Subsequently, this increase will facilitate economic sustainability of the farmers and distribution of work force in the region throughout the year. The correlation of seasonal workers with biodiversity of crop species (0.256**) and Shannon-Winner (0.286**) was statistically significant and increasing number of seasonal work forces had resulted in improving crop biodiversity and decreasing dominant species or single crop farming systems. Vegetable farms which have a significant diversity, require a significant number of work forces which describes correlation between number of workers and diversity of species.

Keywords: agricultural systems, biodiversity indices, Shannon-Winner index, sustainability, rural

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Authors: M. Sirhan, S. Bekhor, A. Sidess

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In-service pavements deteriorate with time due to traffic wheel loads, environment, and climate conditions. Pavement deterioration leads to a reduction in their serviceability and structural behavior. Consequently, proper maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) are necessary actions to keep the in-service pavement network at the desired level of serviceability. Due to resource and financial constraints, the pavement management system (PMS) prioritizes roads most in need of maintenance and rehabilitation action. It recommends a suitable action for each pavement based on the performance and surface condition of each road in the network. The pavement performance and condition are usually quantified and evaluated by different types of roughness-based and stress-based indices. Examples of such indices are Pavement Serviceability Index (PSI), Pavement Serviceability Ratio (PSR), Mean Panel Rating (MPR), Pavement Condition Rating (PCR), Ride Number (RN), Profile Index (PI), International Roughness Index (IRI), and Pavement Condition Index (PCI). PCI is commonly used in PMS as an indicator of the extent of the distresses on the pavement surface. PCI values range between 0 and 100; where 0 and 100 represent a highly deteriorated pavement and a newly constructed pavement, respectively. The PCI value is a function of distress type, severity, and density (measured as a percentage of the total pavement area). PCI is usually calculated iteratively using the 'Paver' program developed by the US Army Corps. The use of soft computing techniques, especially Artificial Neural Network (ANN), has become increasingly popular in the modeling of engineering problems. ANN techniques have successfully modeled the performance of the in-service pavements, due to its efficiency in predicting and solving non-linear relationships and dealing with an uncertain large amount of data. Typical regression models, which require a pre-defined relationship, can be replaced by ANN, which was found to be an appropriate tool for predicting the different pavement performance indices versus different factors as well. Subsequently, the objective of the presented study is to develop and train an ANN model that predicts the PCI values. The model’s input consists of percentage areas of 11 different damage types; alligator cracking, swelling, rutting, block cracking, longitudinal/transverse cracking, edge cracking, shoving, raveling, potholes, patching, and lane drop off, at three severity levels (low, medium, high) for each. The developed model was trained using 536,000 samples and tested on 134,000 samples. The samples were collected and prepared by The National Transport Infrastructure Company. The predicted results yielded satisfactory compliance with field measurements. The proposed model predicted PCI values with relatively low standard deviations, suggesting that it could be incorporated into the PMS for PCI determination. It is worth mentioning that the most influencing variables for PCI prediction are damages related to alligator cracking, swelling, rutting, and potholes.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, computer programming, pavement condition index, pavement management, performance prediction

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Authors: Halit Turan, Mehmet Ozturk, Serdal Akyuz

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General Framework Agreement for Peace (Dayton Peace Agreement) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (GFAP), is one of the most challenging issues in the contemporary peace studies scholarship. It is clear that this agreement has created an exceptional state structure which Bosnia and Herzegovina has still executed for 20 years. The agreement, signed reluctantly by warring sides to end war, has carried out reaching the present day. Demonstrations held by unemployed people in the early of 2014 can be seen as a symptom of discontent about low economic wealth level which is a clear consequence of agreement. This paper lays out the influences of problems stemmed from the agreement to the future of country especially in terms of economic issues.

Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina, dayton peace agreement, economic problems, social discontent

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Authors: Lidija R. Jevrić, Sanja O. Podunavac-Kuzmanović, Strahinja Z. Kovačević

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Quantitative structure-retention relationship (QSRR) analysis was used to predict the chromatographic behavior of s-triazine derivatives by using theoretical descriptors computed from the chemical structure. Fundamental basis of the reported investigation is to relate molecular topological descriptors with chromatographic behavior of s-triazine derivatives obtained by reversed-phase (RP) thin layer chromatography (TLC) on silica gel impregnated with paraffin oil and applied ethanol-water (φ = 0.5-0.8; v/v). Retention parameter (RM0) of 14 investigated s-triazine derivatives was used as dependent variable while simple connectivity index different orders were used as independent variables. The best QSRR model for predicting RM0 value was obtained with simple third order connectivity index (3χ) in the second-degree polynomial equation. Numerical values of the correlation coefficient (r=0.915), Fisher's value (F=28.34) and root mean square error (RMSE = 0.36) indicate that model is statistically significant. In order to test the predictive power of the QSRR model leave-one-out cross-validation technique has been applied. The parameters of the internal cross-validation analysis (r2CV=0.79, r2adj=0.81, PRESS=1.89) reflect the high predictive ability of the generated model and it confirms that can be used to predict RM0 value. Multivariate classification technique, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), has been applied in order to group molecules according to their molecular connectivity indices. HCA is a descriptive statistical method and it is the most frequently used for important area of data processing such is classification. The HCA performed on simple molecular connectivity indices obtained from the 2D structure of investigated s-triazine compounds resulted in two main clusters in which compounds molecules were grouped according to the number of atoms in the molecule. This is in agreement with the fact that these descriptors were calculated on the basis of the number of atoms in the molecule of the investigated s-triazine derivatives.

Keywords: s-triazines, QSRR, chemometrics, chromatography, molecular descriptors

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Authors: Ali Musbah Mohamed Elwahishi

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Democracy is demand for the majority of people in the whole world, Specifically in the regions that are still outside the democratic life such as Libya and other Arab countries. Although democracy has spread across the world through three waves of democratization, Libya is still outside the democratic process, even recently its regime has changed. The challenges of democracy in Libya are not new, they represent accumulations over time that impeded to achieve this goal. This paper concludes that the absence of democracy in Libya because of set of factors that include: colonial legacy, oil wealth, the lack of institutions, the lack of political parties, tribal factor and recently the spread of the armed groups. These factors prevented Libya to be democratic state whether during King Idris’, Qaddafi’s or even after Qaddafi rule.

Keywords: the failure of democracy, political transition, the lack of institutions, Libya, Arab countries

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Authors: Samir Ali-arous, Mohamed Beddane, Khaled Djelouah

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This study investigated the insect diversity of olive (Olea europaea Linnaeus (Oleaceae)) groves grown in an arid climate in Algeria. In this context, several sampling methods were used within two orchards differently managed. Fifty arthropod species belonging to diverse orders and families were recorded. Hymenopteran species were quantitatively the most abundant, followed by species associated with Heteroptera, Aranea, Coleoptera and Homoptera orders. Regarding functional feeding groups, phytophagous species were dominant in the weeded and the unweeded orchard; however, higher abundance was recorded in the weeded site. Predators were ranked second, and pollinators were more frequent in the unweeded olive orchard. Two-factor Anova with repeated measures had revealed high significant effect of the weed management system, measures repetition and interaction with measurement repetition on arthropod’s abundances (P < 0.05). Likewise, generalized linear models showed that N/S ratio varied significantly between the two weed management approaches, in contrast, the remaining diversity indices including the Shannon index H’ had no significant correlation. Moreover, diversity parameters of arthropod’s communities in each agro-system highlighted multiples significant correlations (P <0.05). Rarefaction and extrapolation (R/E) sampling curves, evidenced that the survey and monitoring carried out in both sites had a optimum coverage of entomofauna present including scarce and transient species. Overall, calculated diversity and similarity indices were greater in the unweeded orchard than in the weeded orchard, demonstrating spontaneous flora's key role in entomofaunal diversity. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has defined correlations between arthropod’s abundances and naturally occurring plants in olive orchards, including beneficials.

Keywords: Algeria, olive, insects, diversity, wild plants

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Authors: E Tambo, O. O. Olalubi, E. C. Ugwu, J. Y. Ngogang

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Despite the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of international health emergency concern, the status quo of responses and efforts to stem the worst-recorded Ebola epidemic Ebola outbreak is still precariously inadequate in most of the affected in West. Mining natural resources have been shown to play a key role in both motivating and fuelling ethnic, civil and armed conflicts that have plagued a number of African countries over the last decade. Revenues from the exploitation of natural resources are not only used in sustaining the national economy but also armies, personal enrichment and building political support. Little is documented on the mining and ecological impact on the emergence and geographical distribution of Ebola in Africa over time and space. We aimed to provide a better understanding of the interconnectedness among issues of mining natural, resource management, mining conflict and post-conflict on Ebola outbreak and how wealth generated from abundant natural resources could be better managed in promoting research and development towards strengthening environmental, socioeconomic and health systems sustainability on Ebola outbreak and other emerging diseases surveillance and responses systems prevention and control, early warning alert, durable peace and sustainable development rather than to fuel conflicts, resurgence and emerging diseases epidemics in the perspective of community and national/regional approach. Our results showed the first assessment of systematic impact of all major minerals conflict events diffusion over space and time and mining activities on nine Ebola genesis and geo-distribution in affected countries across Africa. We demonstrate how, where and when mining activities in Africa increase ecological degradation, conflicts at the local level and then spreads violence across territory and time by enhancing the financial capacities of fighting groups/ethnics and diseases onset. In addition, led process of developing minimum standards for natural resource governance; improving governmental and civil society capacity for natural resource management, including the strengthening of monitoring and enforcement mechanisms; understanding the post-mining and conflicts community or national reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes in strengthening or developing community health systems and regulatory mechanisms. In addition the quest for the control over these resources and illegal mining across the landscape forest incursion provided increase environmental and ecological instability and displacement and disequilibrium, therefore affecting the intensity and duration of mining and conflict/wars and episode of Ebola outbreaks over time and space. We highlight the key findings and lessons learnt in promoting country or community-led process in transforming natural resource wealth from a peace liability to a peace asset. The imperative necessity for advocacy and through facilitating intergovernmental deliberations on critical issues and challenges affecting Africa community transforming exploitation of natural resources from a peace liability to outbreak prevention and control. The vital role of mining in increasing government revenues and expenditures, equitable distribution of wealth and health to all stakeholders, in particular local communities requires coordination, cooperative leadership and partnership in fostering sustainable developmental initiatives from mining context to outbreak and other infectious diseases surveillance responses systems in prevention and control, and judicious resource management.

Keywords: mining, mining conflicts, mines, ecological, Ebola, outbreak, mining companies, miners, impact

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Authors: G. O. Avwiri, E. O. Agbalagba, C. P. Ononugbo

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Activity concentrations of natural radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th and 40K) in the soil, sediment and water of oil producing communities in Delta and Rivers States were determined using γ-ray spectrometry. The mean soil/sediment activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in onshore west in Delta state is 40.2±5.1Bqkg-1, 29.9±4.2Bqkg-1 and 361.5±20.0Bqkg-1 respectively, the corresponding values obtained in onshore east1 of Rivers state is 20.9±2.8Bqkg-1, 19.4±2.5Bqkg-1and 260.0±14.1Bqkg-1 respectively. While the mean activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in onshore east2 of Rivers state is 29.3±3.5Bqkg-1, 21.6±2.6Bqkg-1 and 262.1±14.6Bqkg-1 respectively. These values obtained show enhanced NORMs but are well within the world range. All the radiation hazard indices examined in soil have mean values lower than their maximum permissible limits. In drinking water, the obtained average values of226Ra, 228Ra and 40K is 8.4±0.9, 7.3±0.7 and 29.9±2.2Bql-1 respectively for well water, 4.5±0.6, 5.1±0.4 and 20.9±2.0Bql-1 respectively for borehole water and 11.3±1.2, 8.5±0.7 and 32.4±3.7Bql-1 respectively for river water in onshore west. For onshore east1, average activity concentration of 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K is 8.3±1.0, 8.6±1.1 and 39.6±3.3Bql-1 respectively for well water, 3.8±0.8, 4.9±0.6 and 35.7±4.1Bql-1 respectively for borehole water and 5.5±0.8, 5.4±0.7 and 36.9±3.8Bql-1 respectively for river water. While in onshore east2 average value of 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K is 10.1±1.1, 8.3±1.0 and 50.0±3.9Bql-1 respectively for well water, 4.7±0.9, 4.0±0.4 and 28.8±3.0Bql-1 respectively for borehole water and 7.7±0.9, 6.1±0.8 and 27.1±2.9Bql-1 respectively for river water and the average activity concentrations in the produced water226Ra, 228Ra and 40K is 5.182.14Bql-1, 6.042.48Bql-1 and 48.7813.67Bql-1 respectively. These values obtained are well above world average values of 1.0, 0.1 and 10Bql-1 for 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K respectively, those of the control site values and most reported values around the world. Though the hazard indices (Raeq, Hex, Hin) examined in water is still within the tolerable level, the committed effective dose estimated are above ICPR 0.1 mSvy-1 permissible limits. The overall results show that soil and sediment in the area are safe radiologically, but the result indicates some level of water pollution in the studied area.

Keywords: radioactivity, soil, sediment and water, Niger Delta, gamma detector

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Authors: Mai Ali

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The abstract underscores the critical importance of junior paediatricians acquiring expertise in handling paediatric emergencies, with a particular focus on Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). Existing literature reveals a wealth of research on healthcare professionals' knowledge regarding DKA, encompassing diverse cultural backgrounds and medical specialties. Consistently, challenges such as the absence of standardized protocols and inadequacies in training emerge as common issues across healthcare centres. This research proposal seeks to conduct a thematic analysis of the proficiency of paediatric trainees in the United Kingdom in managing DKA within various clinical contexts. The primary objective is to assess their level of competence and propose effective strategies to enhance DKA training comprehensively.

Keywords: DKA, knowledge, Junior paediatricians, local protocols

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Authors: Ebru Cubukcu, Gozde Eksioglu Cetintahra, Burcin Hepguzel Hatip, Mert Cubukcu

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Obesity and overweight cause serious health problems. Public and private organizations aim to encourage walking in various ways in order to cope with the problem of obesity and overweight. This study aims to understand how the spatial characteristics of urban street pattern, connectivity and complexity influence young people’s choice to walk or not. 185 public university students in Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey, participated in the study. Each participant had worn an accelerometer and a global positioning (GPS) device for a week. The accelerometer device records data on the intensity of the participant’s activity at a specified time interval, and the GPS device on the activities’ locations. Combining the two datasets, activity maps are derived. These maps are then used to differentiate the participants’ walk trips and motor vehicle trips. Given that, the frequency of walk and motor vehicle trips are calculated at the street segment level, and the street segments are then categorized into two as ‘preferred by pedestrians’ and ‘preferred by motor vehicles’. Graph Theory-based accessibility indices are calculated to quantify the spatial characteristics of the streets in the sample. Six different indices are used: (I) edge density, (II) edge sinuosity, (III) eta index, (IV) node density, (V) order of a node, and (VI) beta index. T-tests show that the index values for the ‘preferred by pedestrians’ and ‘preferred by motor vehicles’ are significantly different. The findings indicate that the spatial characteristics of the street network have a measurable effect on young people’s choice to walk or not. Policy implications are discussed. This study is funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, Project No: 116K358.

Keywords: graph theory, walkability, accessibility, street network

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Authors: Hyery Kang, Dong-Yeun Koh, Yun-Ho Ahn, Huen Lee

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Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) was used to observe the THF clathrate hydrate system with dosage of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with three different average molecular weights (10,000 g/mol, 40,000 g/mol, 360,000 g/mol). Distinct footprints of phase transition in the THz region (0.4 - 2.2 THz) were analyzed and absorption coefficients and complex refractive indices are obtained and compared in the temperature range of 253 K to 288 K. Along with the optical properties, ring breathing and stretching modes for different molecular weights of PVP in THF hydrate are analyzed by Raman spectroscopy.

Keywords: clathrate hydrate, terahertz, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), THz-TDS, inhibitor

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Authors: Athanasios Raftopoulos

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In this paper, an attempt is made to explain the evolution or development of human’s representational arsenal from its humble beginnings to its modern abstract symbols. Representations are physical entities that represent something else. To represent a thing (in a general sense of “thing”) means to use in the mind or in an external medium a sign that stands for it. The sign can be used as a proxy of the represented thing when the thing is absent. Representations come in many varieties, from signs that perceptually resemble their representative to abstract symbols that are related to their representata through conventions. Relying the distinction among indices, icons, and symbols, it is explained how symbolic representations gradually emerged from indices and icons. To understand the development or evolution of our representational arsenal, the development of the cognitive capacities that enabled the gradual emergence of representations of increasing complexity and expressive capability should be examined. The examination of these factors should rely on a careful assessment of the available empirical neuroscientific and paleo-anthropological evidence. These pieces of evidence should be synthesized to produce arguments whose conclusions provide clues concerning the developmental process of our representational capabilities. The analysis of the empirical findings in this paper shows that Homo Erectus was able to use both icons and symbols. Icons were used as external representations, while symbols were used in language. The first step in the emergence of representations is that a sensory-motor purely causal schema involved in indices is decoupled from its normal causal sensory-motor functions and serves as a representation of the object that initially called it into play. Sensory-motor schemes are tied to specific contexts of the organism-environment interactions and are activated only within these contexts. For a representation of an object to be possible, this scheme must be de-contextualized so that the same object can be represented in different contexts; a decoupled schema loses its direct ties to reality and becomes mental content. The analysis suggests that symbols emerged due to selection pressures of the social environment. The need to establish and maintain social relationships in ever-enlarging groups that would benefit the group was a sufficient environmental pressure to lead to the appearance of the symbolic capacity. Symbols could serve this need because they can express abstract relationships, such as marriage or monogamy. Icons, by being firmly attached to what can be observed, could not go beyond surface properties to express abstract relations. The cognitive capacities that are required for having iconic and then symbolic representations were present in Homo Erectus, which had a language that started without syntactic rules but was structured so as to mirror the structure of the world. This language became increasingly complex, and grammatical rules started to appear to allow for the construction of more complex expressions required to keep up with the increasing complexity of social niches. This created evolutionary pressures that eventually led to increasing cranial size and restructuring of the brain that allowed more complex representational systems to emerge.

Keywords: mental representations, iconic representations, symbols, human evolution

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Authors: Dyah Adi Sriwahyuni

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Institutional work has become a prominent and contemporary institutional theory perspective in organization studies. A wealth of studies in organizations have explored actor activities in creating, maintaining, and disrupting institutions at the field level. However, the exploration of the work of actors in creating new management practices at the organizational level has been somewhat limited. The current institutional work literature mostly describes the work of actors at the field level and ignores organizational actors who work to realize management practices. Organizational actors here are defined as actors in organizations who work to institutionalize a particular management practice within the organizations. The extant literature has also generalized the types of management practices, which meant overlooking the unique characteristics of each management fashion as well as a management practice. To fill these gaps, this study aims to provide empirical evidence so as to contribute theoretically to institutional work through a comparative case study on organizational actors’ creation of knowledge management (KM) practice in two public sector organizations in Indonesia. KM is a contemporary management practice employed to manage individual and organizational knowledge in order to improve organizational performance. This practice presents a suitable practical setting with which to provide a rich understanding of the organizational actors’ institutional work and their connection with technology. Drawing on and extending the work of Perkmann and Spicer (2008), this study explores the forms of institutional work performed by organizational actors, including their motivation, skills, challenges, and opportunities. The primary data collection is semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable actors and document analysis for validity and triangulation. Following Eisenhardt's cross-case patterns, the researcher analyzed the collected data focusing on within-group similarities and intergroup differences. The researcher coded interview data using NVivo and used documents to corroborate the findings. The study’s findings add to the wealth of institutional theory literature in organization studies, particularly institutional work related to management practices. This study builds a theory about the work of organizational actors in creating knowledge management practices. Using the perspective of institutional work, research can show the roles of the various actors involved, their practices, and their relationship to technology (materiality), not only focusing on actors with a power which has been the theorizing of institutional entrepreneurship. The development of knowledge management practices in the Indonesian public sector is also a significant additional contribution, given that the current KM literature is dominated by conceptualizing the KM framework and the impact of KM on organizations. The public sector, which is the research setting, also provides important lessons on how actors in a highly institutionalized context are creating an institution, in this case, a knowledge management practice.

Keywords: institutional work, knowledge management, case study, public sector organizations

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Authors: M. Khouil, N. Saber, M. Mestari

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This study aimed to propose, a different architecture of a Path Planning using the NECMOP. where several nonlinear objective functions must be optimized in a conflicting situation. The ability to detect and avoid collision is very important for mobile intelligent machines. However, many artificial vision systems are not yet able to quickly and cheaply extract the wealth information. This network, which has been particularly reviewed, has enabled us to solve with a new approach the problem of collision detection between two convex polyhedra in a fixed time (O (1) time). We used two types of neurons linear and threshold logic, which simplified the actual implementation of all the networks proposed. This article represents a comprehensive algorithm that determine through the AMAXNET network a measure (a mini-maximum point) in a fixed time, which allows us to detect the presence of a potential collision.

Keywords: path planning, collision detection, convex polyhedron, neural network

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Authors: Eun-Jeong Jang

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Inequality has been considered as a core issue in public policy. Korea is categorized into one of the countries in the high level of inequality, which matters to not only current but also future generations. The relationship between individuals' origin and destination has an implication of intergenerational inequality. The previous work on this was mostly conducted at macro level using panel data to our knowledge. However, in this level, there is no room to track down what happened during the time between origin and destination. Individuals' origin is represented by their parents' socio-economic status, and in the same way, destination is translated into their own socio-economic status. The first research question is that how origin is related to the destination. Certainly, destination is highly affected by origin. In this view, people's destination is already set to be more or less than a reproduction of previous generations. However, educational achievement is widely believed as an independent factor from the origin. From this point of view, there is a possibility to change the path given by parents by educational attainment. Hence, the second research question would be that how education is related to destination and also, which factor is more influential to destination between origin and education. Also, the focus lies in the mediation of education between origin and destination, which would be the third research question. Socio-economic status in this study is referring to class as a sociological term, as well as wealth including labor and capital income, as an economic term. The combination of class and wealth would be expected to give more accurate picture about the hierarchy in a society. In some cases of non-manual and professional occupations, even though they are categorized into relatively high class, their income is much lower than those who in the same class. Moreover, it is one way to overcome the limitation of the retrospective view during survey. Education is measured as an absolute term, the years of schooling, and also as a relative term, the rank of school. Moreover, all respondents were asked the effort scaled by time intensity, self-motivation, before and during the course of their college based on a standard questionnaire academic achieved model provides. This research is based on a survey at an individual level. The target for sampling is an individual who has a job, regardless of gender, including income-earners and self-employed people and aged between thirties and forties because this age group is considered to reach the stage of job stability. In most cases, the researcher met respondents person to person visiting their work place or home and had a chance to interview some of them. One hundred forty individual data collected from May to August in 2017. It will be analyzed by multiple regression (Q1, Q2) and structural equation modeling (Q3).

Keywords: class, destination, educational achievement, effort, income, origin, socio-economic status, South Korea

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