Search results for: critical analysis of discourse

Authors: Schröde C., Rodriguez D., Sánchez A., Abdul Malak, Churchill J., Boksmati T., Alharbi, Alsulmi H., Maghrabi S., Mowalad, Mutwalli R., Abualnaja Y.

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Formulating a strategy for sustainable development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s coastal and marine environment is at the core of the “Marine and Coastal Protection Assessment Study for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Coastline (MCEP)”; that was set up in the context of the Vision 2030 by the Saudi Arabian government and aimed at providing a first comprehensive ‘Status Quo Assessment’ of the Kingdom’s marine environment to inform a sustainable development strategy and serve as a baseline assessment for future monitoring activities. This baseline assessment relied on scientific evidence of the drivers, pressures and their impact on the environments of the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf. A key element of the assessment was the cumulative pressure hotspot analysis developed for both national waters of the Kingdom following the principles of the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework and using the cumulative pressure and impact assessment methodology. The ultimate goals of the analysis were to map and assess the main hotspots of environmental pressures, and identify priority areas for further field surveillance and for urgent management actions. The study identified maritime transport, fisheries, aquaculture, oil, gas, energy, coastal industry, coastal and maritime tourism, and urban development as the main drivers of pollution in the Saudi Arabian marine waters. For each of these drivers, pressure indicators were defined to spatially assess the potential influence of the drivers on the coastal and marine environment. A list of hotspots of 90 locations could be identified based on the assessment. Spatially grouped the list could be reduced to come up with of 10 hotspot areas, two in the Arabian Gulf, 8 in the Red Sea. The hotspot mapping revealed clear spatial patterns of drivers, pressures and hotspots within the marine environment of waters under KSA’s maritime jurisdiction in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf. The cascading assessment approach based on the DPSIR framework ensured that the root causes of the hotspot patterns, i.e. the human activities and other drivers, can be identified. The adapted CPIA methodology allowed for the combination of the available data to spatially assess the cumulative pressure in a consistent manner, and to identify the most critical hotspots by determining the overlap of cumulative pressure with areas of sensitive biodiversity. Further improvements are expected by enhancing the data sources of drivers and pressure indicators, fine-tuning the decay factors and distances of the pressure indicators, as well as including trans-boundary pressures across the regional seas.

Keywords: Arabian Gulf, DPSIR, hotspot, red sea

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Authors: Li̇zan Mahmood Khorsheed Zangana

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Experimental and numerical investigations have been carried out to study the mechanism of separation energy and flow phenomena in the counter-flow vortex tube. This manuscript presents a complete comparison between the experimental investigation and CFD analysis. The experimental model tested under different inlet pressures. Three-dimensional numerical modelling using the k-ε model. The results show any increase in both cold mass fraction and inlet pressure caused to increase ΔTc, and the maximum ΔTc value occurs at P = 6 bar. The coefficient of performance (COP) of two important factors in the vortex tube have been evaluated, which ranged from 0.25 to 0.74. The maximum axial velocity is 93, where it occurs at the tube axis close the inlet exit (Z/L=0.2). The results showed a good agreement for experimental and numerical analysis.

Keywords: counter flow, vortex tube, computational fluid dynamics analysis, energy separation, experimental study

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Authors: Zuzana Durajova, Natasa Diatkova, Shreya Bhardwaj

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This paper introduces the project START, its activities, goals, evaluation and final results. Over the past few decades, the legal discourse surrounding mental health has resulted in improvement in patient rights (in Netherlands, etc.), the appointment of Ombudspersons for psychiatric patients (in Austria, Sweden) and facilitating the participation of patients in decision-making processes. Czech legislation already recognizes the position of “patient’s advocate” as a person of trust. However, this instrument is not very widely known and rarely used in practice. In the pilot study of the project, legal training for patient advocacy is provided to persons with experience with mental health problems/psychiatric hospitalization chosen from a Czech-based NGO. These persons (patient advocates) visit patients in involuntary hospitalization in one closed ward in the chosen psychiatric institution. During visits, the patient advocates inform patients about their legal standing, their procedural rights and also offer them individual support in contacting their counsel, family members etc. To understand the effect of the intervention, qualitative interviews and participant observations are conducted with the patients, advocates, the hospital management and staff and other identifiable stakeholders, such as government officials responsible for mental health care reform. The interviews are held before, during and after the intervention (support from patient advocates in hospitals). Given the ethical quandaries arising from using psychiatric wards as a field setting, we assume a participatory approach to ensure respect for patient boundaries and dignity. Through this project, we seek to establish a profession of patient advocates based on professional standards.

Keywords: patient advocacy, involuntary hospitalization, Czech Republic, patient Rights, professionalization

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Authors: Nuhu Bitrus Mailabari

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Nigeria is a highly multifarious nation trapped between affluence and affliction. On one hand, the state has vast territorial size, economic strength, relative internal cohesion, and good external linkages. On the other, it is bedeviled with enormous challenges. It is common knowledge that the North-East geo-political zone has suffered colossal destruction for the most part of the last ten years due to the activities of the insurgent group Boko Haram. Several factors (political, economic, religious, socio-cultural) have been credited with the heightened insecurity in the region. Without a doubt, the security crisis in the region has rekindled several discussions critical to Nigeria’s security architecture. However, the debate on finding an enduring solution to the devastation in the North East continually neglects the nexus between cross border migration and national security. Using content analysis, this paper debates two main issues that continue to affect security in the North East. One, the cumulative impact of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol on the free movement of people and goods. Two, the porous nature of Nigeria’s borders. Theoretically, the paper will rely on the systems theory because of its broad focus on structure, linkage, and process. The work concludes in twofold. First, that cross border migration and poor border management processes further worsened the political and socio-economic conditions of a region that is already in a bad state. Secondly, in addition to the existing strategies, Nigeria must develop a holistic approach including new methods of handling cross border movements in solving the security issues.

Keywords: border, cross border, migration, Nigeria, northeast region, security

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Authors: Mobil Kazimov, Guseyn İbragimov

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InAs-CrAs systems are synthesized by the vertical Bridgman–Stockbarger method. XRD analysis and microstructural study of InAs-CrAs composites show that CrAs metallic inclusions are uniformly distributed in the InAs matrices.

Keywords: XRD, eutectic alloy, SEM, EDX

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Authors: Filip Dodigovic, Kreso Ivandic, Damir Stuhec, S. Strelec

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The general difference analysis between the former and new design concepts in geotechnical engineering is carried out. The application of new regulations results in the need for real adaptation of the computation principles of limit states, i.e. by providing a uniform way of analyzing engineering tasks. Generally, it is not possible to unambiguously match the limit state verification procedure with those in the construction engineering. The reasons are the inability to fully consistency of the common probabilistic basis of the analysis, and the fundamental effect of material properties on the value of actions and the influence of actions on resistance. Consequently, it is not possible to apply separate factorization with partial coefficients, as in construction engineering. For the slope stability analysis design procedures problems in the light of the use of limit states in relation to the concept of allowable stresses is detailed in. The quantifications of the safety margins in the slope stability analysis for both approaches is done. When analyzing the stability of the slope, by the strict application of the adopted forms from the new regulations for significant external temporary and/or seismic actions, the equivalent margin of safety is increased. The consequence is the emergence of more conservative solutions.

Keywords: allowable pressure, Eurocode 7, limit states, slope stability

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Authors: Shruti Chopra, Vikas Rao Vadi

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In the era of the digital world, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been receiving significant attention. Its ubiquitous connectivity between humans, machines to machines (M2M) and machines to humans provides it a potential to transform the society and establish an ecosystem to serve new dimensions to the economy of the country. Thereby, this study has attempted to identify the challenges that seem prevalent in IoT adoption in India through the literature survey. Further, the data has been collected by taking the opinions of experts to conduct the foresight analysis and it has been analyzed with the help of scenario planning process – Micmac, Mactor, Multipol, and Smic-Prob. As a methodology, the study has identified the relationship between variables through variable analysis using Micmac and actor analysis using Mactor, this paper has attempted to generate the entire field of possibilities in terms of hypotheses and construct various scenarios through Multipol. And lastly, the findings of the study include final scenarios that are selected using Smic-Prob by assigning the probability to all the scenarios (including the conditional probability). This study may help the practitioners and policymakers to remove the obstacles to successfully implement the IoT in India.

Keywords: Internet of Thing (IoT), foresight analysis, scenario planning, challenges, policymaking

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Authors: Rodoula Stavroula Gkarnara, Nikolaos Andreadakis

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between quality and quality assurance in education. It constitutes a critical review of the bibliography regarding quality and its delimitation in the field of education, as well as the quality assurance in education and the approaches identified for its extensive study. The two prevailing and opposite views on the correlation of the two concepts are that on the one hand there is an inherent distance between these concepts as they are two separate terms and on the other hand they are interrelated and interdependent concepts that contribute to the improvement of quality in education. Finally, the last part of the paper, adopting the second view, refers to the contribution of quality assurance to quality, where it is pointed out that the first concept leads to the improvement of the latter by quality assurance being the means of feedback for the quality achieved.

Keywords: education, quality, quality assurance, quality improvement

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Authors: Maria Torres

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After the acknowledgment of contrastive analysis, Pit Coder’s establishment of error analysis revolutionized the way instructors analyze and examine students’ writing errors. One question that relates to error analysis with speakers of a first language, in this case, Spanish, who are learning a second language (English), is the type of errors that these learners make along with the causes of these errors. Many studies have looked at the way the native tongue influences second language acquisition, but this method does not take into account other possible sources of students’ errors. This paper examines writing samples from an advanced ESL class whose first language is Spanish at non-profit organization, Learning Quest Stanislaus Literacy Center. Through error analysis, errors in the students’ writing were identified, described, and classified. The purpose of this paper was to discover the type and origin of their errors which generated appropriate treatments. The results in this paper show that the most frequent errors in the advanced ESL students’ writing pertain to interlanguage and a small percentage from an intralanguage source. Lastly, the least type of errors were ones that originate from negative transfer. The results further solidify the idea that there are other errors and sources of errors to account for rather than solely focusing on the difference between the students’ mother and target language. This presentation will bring to light some strategies and techniques that address the issues found in this research. Taking into account the amount of error pertaining to interlanguage, an ESL teacher should provide metalinguistic awareness of the students’ errors.

Keywords: error analysis, ESL, interlanguage, intralangauge

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Authors: Vimal Jasoliya, Purnank Bhatt, Mit Shah

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The Injection Moulding is one of the principle methods of conversions of plastics into various end products using a very wide range of plastics materials from commodity plastics to specialty engineering plastics. Injection Moulding Machines are rated as per the tonnage force applied. The work present includes Design & Finite Element Analysis of a structure component of injection moulding machine i.e. clamp cylinder. The work of the project is to upgrade the 1300T clamp cylinder to 1500T clamp cylinder for injection moulding machine. The design of existing clamp cylinder of 1300T is checked. Finite Element analysis is carried out for 1300T clamp cylinder in ANSYS Workbench, and the stress values are compared with acceptance criteria and theoretical calculation. The relation between the clamp cylinder diameter and the tonnage capacity has been derived and verified for 1300T clamp cylinder. The same correlation is used to find out the thickness for 1500T clamp cylinder. The detailed design of 1500T cylinder is carried out based on calculated thickness.

Keywords: clamp cylinder, fatigue analysis, finite element analysis, injection moulding machines

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Authors: Rupali Verma, Maitreyee Dutta, Renu Vig

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Encryption and decryption in RSA are done by modular exponentiation which is achieved by repeated modular multiplication. Hence, efficiency of modular multiplication directly determines the efficiency of RSA cryptosystem. This paper designs a Modified Montgomery Modular multiplication in which addition of operands is computed by 4:2 compressor. The basic logic operations in addition are partitioned over two iterations such that parallel computations are performed. This reduces the critical path delay of proposed Montgomery design. The proposed design and RSA are implemented on Virtex 2 and Virtex 5 FPGAs. The two factors partitioning and parallelism have improved the frequency and throughput of proposed design.

Keywords: RSA, montgomery modular multiplication, 4:2 compressor, FPGA

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Authors: Abbas Al-Refaie, Nour Bata

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A distributor of Apple products' experiences numerous difficulties in developing marketing strategies for new and existing mobile product entries that maximize customer satisfaction and the firm's profitability. This research, therefore, integrates market segmentation in platform-based product family design and conjoint analysis to identify iSystem combinations that increase customer satisfaction and business profits. First, the enhanced market segmentation grid is created. Then, the estimated demand model is formulated. Finally, the profit models are constructed then used to determine the ideal product family design that maximizes profit. Conjoint analysis is used to explore customer preferences with their satisfaction levels. A total of 200 surveys are collected about customer preferences. Then, simulation is used to determine the importance values for each attribute. Finally, sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine the product family design that maximizes both objectives. In conclusion, the results of this research shall provide great support to Apple distributors in determining the best marketing strategies that enhance their market share.

Keywords: market segmentation, conjoint analysis, market strategies, optimization

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Authors: Izuru Nomura, Tatsuya Takino, Yuji Kageyama, Shin Nagata, Hiroyuki Kamata

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We propose a method of crater detection from the image of the lunar surface captured by the small space probe. We use the principal component analysis (PCA) to detect craters. Nevertheless, considering　severe environment of the space, it is impossible to use generic computer in practice. Accordingly, we have to implement the method in FPGA. This paper compares FPGA and generic computer by the processing time of a method of crater detection using principal component analysis.

Keywords: crater, PCA, eigenvector, strength value, FPGA, processing time

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Authors: Sataroopa Mishra, Mona Basker, Sneha Varkki, Ram Kumar Pandian, Grace Rebekah

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Background: Sleep deprivation is a matter of public health importance among adolescents. We used adolescent sleep wake scale and adolescent sleep hygiene scale to determine the sleep quality and sleep hygiene respectively of school going adolescents in Vellore city of India. The objective of the study was to do factorial analysis of the scales and validate it for use in local population. Methods: Observational questionnaire based cross sectional study. Setting: Community based school survey in a semi-urban setting in three schools in Vellore city. Data collection: Non probability sample was collected form students studying in standard 9 and 11. Students filled Adolescent Sleep Wake scale (ASWS) and Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale (ASHS) translated into vernacular language. Data Analysis: Exploratory Factorial Analysis was used to see the factor loading of various components of the two scales. Confirmatory factorial analysis is subsequently planned for assessing the internal validity of the scales.Results: 557 adolescents were included in the study of 12 – 17 years old. Exploratory factorial analysis of adolescent sleep hygiene scale indicated significant factor loading for 18 items from 28 items originally devised by the authors and has been reconstructed to four domains instead of 9 domains in the original scale namely sleep stability, cognitive – emotional, Physiological - bed time routine - behavioural arousal factor (activites before bedtime and during bed time), Sleep environment (lighting and bed sharing). Factorial analysis of Adolescent sleep wake scale showed factor loading of 18 items out of 28 items in original scale reconstructed into 5 aspects of sleep quality. Conclusions: The factorial analysis gives a reconstructed scale useful for the local population. Further a confirmatory factorial analysis has been subsequently planned to determine the internal consistency of the scale for local population.

Keywords: factorial analysis, sleep hygiene, sleep quality, adolescent sleep scale

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Authors: Ananth Malali, Rohan Prasad, Ananth Revankar, Chiranth Hulgur

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This paper aims to show evidence that value creation by sustainable methods is achieved when a relation is shared with a sustainability attribute between two or more companies in every stage of the supply chain. The pillars of this paper, the value creation factors, attributes of sustainability and various relations that exist between firms in a horizontally integrated supply chain are defined. Further, a relational analysis was done using a simple analysis tool built based on research. Couple of case studies from the German manufacturing and Australian retail sectors were considered for the intra industry analysis and comparison. Taking the analysis ahead, for inter-industry comparison, the same cases were scrutinised in order to understand how the sustainability attributes change across each industry. Concluding, this paper gives an overview of how companies can plan their strategies to attain sustainability through horizontal integration.

Keywords: horizontal integration, value creation, sustainable supply chain

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Authors: Adel H. Hejaaji

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The need for organisations to be flexible to meet the rapidly changing requirements of their customers is now well appreciated and can be witnessed within companies with their use of techniques such as single-minute exchange of die (SMED) for machine change-over or Kanban as the visual production and inventory control for Just-in-time manufacture and delivery. What is not so well appreciated by companies is the need for agility. Put simply it is the need to be alert for a new and unexpected opportunity and quick to respond with the changes necessary in order to profit from it. This paper aims to study the literature of agility in manufacturing to understand the concept of agility and how it is important and critical for the small and medium size manufacturing organisations (SMEs), and to defined the specific benefits of moving towards agility, and thus what benefit it can bring to an organisation.

Keywords: SMEs, agile manufacturing, manufacturing, industrial engineering

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Authors: Atiya Mahmood, Mubasharah Hanif, Ghazala Butt, Mehwish Zahoor Ahmed

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Acne vulgaris affects millions of adults.Despite extensive research, its food related etiology remains elusive. Objective:To assess the correlation between dietary intake and acne through a case-control survey of 300,15-25 year old respondents living in Pakistan. 50 acne patients and 150 age-and ethnicity-matched controls completed a questionnaire.Cases and controls were separated using SPSS-22 and univariate analysis was performed using the chi-square test. p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. We used adjusted odds ratios to assess the strength of associations with 95% confidence intervals. Most of the respondents were females(91.3%).Most(48.7%)acne patients were 20-25 yearsold.Acne severity was mild in 50%,moderate in 34%,severe in14%and very severe in 2%.Frequent low-fat foods(p<0.001)(OR=3.22),fat intake(p=0.03)(OR = 1.629),sweet snacks i.e. biscuits and candies etc. (p=0.013) (OR=1.9254), soft drinks(p= 0.045)(OR= 1.9091),butter(p<0.001) (OR= 1.8185),dairy products(p=0.043)(OR=0.624),salty foods(p= 0.011)(OR=1.961),chocolate (p=0.028)(OR=1.669), were associated with increased acne risk.No association was found with consumption of fried foods, desserts, fruit juices, raw fruit, fast food, vegetables, cheese, soy products, salt, and corn. Increased butter and chocolate consumption were linked to more severe forms of acne(p=0.049 and p=0.005 respectively).Most respondents (n=218) considered themselves to have healthy eating habits, indicating they were not educated about the nutritional aspects of acne treatment.Certain food item intake was significantly higher in acne patients to give an association between the two. Further studies must be conducted to develop a causative relationship. Nutrition aawareness is critical to reduce acne.

Keywords: correlation between dietary components and acne, dietary components, acne, nutrition

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Authors: M. Chavleishvili

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The paper presents the analysis of the current situation of agricultural development in Georgia. The investment environment that supports development of the agricultural sector is evaluated and the key priorities are identified. The analysis of the projects already implemented with state and EU support, as well as those that are being currently implemented is presented. The policy and the programs supporting development of agricultural sector are analyzed. Based on an analysis of the evaluations of experts and the primary accounting documents, the outcomes of investment programs, their advantages and disadvantages, are studied. Through identifying investment programs in the agricultural sector of Georgia, corresponding conclusions are made, based on which some recommendations are developed.

Keywords: agriculture, investments, investment programs, projects

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Authors: Ana Nemsadze

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Contemporary era and society are called postindustrial era and postindustrial society and/or informational era and informational society. Today science intends to define concept of information and comprehend informations role and function in contemporary society. Organization of social environment and governance of public processes on the base of information and tools of communication are main characteristics of informational era. This was defined by technological changes which were accomplished in culture in the second half of twentieth century. Today Georgia as an independent state needs to create an informational discourse of the country and therefore it is very important to study political and social cases which accomplished in the country after collapse of the Soviet Union because they start to define the present and the future of the country. The purpose of this study is to analyze political cases of the latest history of Georgia in terms of culture and information, concretely to elucidate which political cases transformed social life of post Soviet Georgia most of all who accomplished these political cases which visual and verbal messages was each political case spread with. The research is conducted on the base of interview. Participants of the interview are people of various specializations. Their professional activity is related to reflections on culture and theme of visual communication. They are philosophers sociologists a journalist media researcher a politologist a painter. The participants of the interview enumerated political cases and characterized them separately. Every expert thinks that declaration of independence of Georgia is the most important fact among all facts which were implemented in Georgia after collapse of the Soviet Union. The research revealed important social and political cases. Most of the cases are related to independence and territorial integrity of the state. Presidents of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia Eduard Shevardnadze Mikheil Saakashvili Catholocos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta Tbilisi and Metropolitan bishop of Bichvinta and Tskhum Abkhazia Ilia II, businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili assumed dominating roles in cases. Verbal narrative of the cases accomplished during Zviad Gamsakhurdia presidential term expresses national freedom and visual part of cases of the same period expresses ruin of social-political structure. Verbal narrative of the cases accomplished during Eduard Sevardnadze presidential term expresses Free State and stability and reestablishment of Georgias political function in international relations and visual part of cases of the same period describes the most important moment of his presidential term and Eduard Shevardnadzes face appears too. Verbal narrative of the cases accomplished during Mikheil Saakashvilis presidential term expresses social renewal and visual part of cases of the same period describes August war and Mikheil Saakashvilis face appears too. The results of the study also reveal other details of visual verbal narrative of political and social cases of post Soviet Georgia. This gives a chance to start further reflection.

Keywords: culture, narrative, post soviet, visual communication

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Authors: Milca F. Coelho, K. Bousson, Kawser Ahmed

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To accurately track an aerospace vehicle in a time-critical situation and in a highly nonlinear environment, is one of the strongest interests within the aerospace community. The tracking is achieved by estimating accurately the state of a moving target, which is composed of a set of variables that can provide a complete status of the system at a given time. One of the main ingredients for a good estimation performance is the use of efficient estimation algorithms. A well-known framework is the Kalman filtering methods, designed for prediction and estimation problems. The success of the Kalman Filter (KF) in engineering applications is mostly due to the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), which is based on local linearization. Besides its popularity, the EKF presents several limitations. To address these limitations and as a possible solution to tracking problems, this paper proposes the use of the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF). Although the EnKF is being extensively used in the context of weather forecasting and it is being recognized for producing accurate and computationally effective estimation on systems with a very high dimension, it is almost unknown by the tracking community. The EnKF was initially proposed as an attempt to improve the error covariance calculation, which on the classic Kalman Filter is difficult to implement. Also, in the EnKF method the prediction and analysis error covariances have ensemble representations. These ensembles have sizes which limit the number of degrees of freedom, in a way that the filter error covariance calculations are a lot more practical for modest ensemble sizes. In this paper, a realistic simulation of a radar tracking was performed, where the EnKF was applied and compared with the Extended Kalman Filter. The results suggested that the EnKF is a promising tool for tracking applications, offering more advantages in terms of performance.

Keywords: Kalman filter, nonlinear state estimation, optimal tracking, stochastic environment

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Authors: Omar Abdillah, Mirna Adriani

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In this work, we perform new approach for analyzing public sentiment towards the presidential candidate in the 2014 Indonesian election that expressed in Twitter. In this study we propose such procedure for analyzing sentiment over Indonesian political message by understanding the behavior of Indonesian society in sending message on Twitter. We took different approach from previous works by utilizing punctuation mark and Indonesian sentiment lexicon that completed with the new procedure in determining sentiment towards the candidates. Our experiment shows the performance that yields up to 83.31% of average precision. In brief, this work makes two contributions: first, this work is the preliminary study of sentiment analysis in the domain of political message that has not been addressed yet before. Second, we propose such method to conduct sentiment analysis by creating decision making procedure in which it is in line with the characteristic of Indonesian message on Twitter.

Keywords: unsupervised sentiment analysis, political message, lexicon based, user behavior understanding

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Authors: Hasan Çiçekli, Ahmet Gökçen, Uğur Çam

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In this paper, a comparative performance analysis of mostly used four nonlinearity cancellation techniques used to realize the passive resistor by MOS transistors is presented. The comparison is done by using an integrator circuit which is employing sequentially Op-amp, OTRA and ICCII as active element. All of the circuits are implemented by MOS-C realization and simulated by PSPICE program using 0.35 µm process TSMC MOSIS model parameters. With MOS-C realization, the circuits became electronically tunable and fully integrable which is very important in IC design. The output waveforms, frequency responses, THD analysis results and features of the nonlinearity cancellation techniques are also given.

Keywords: integrator circuits, MOS-C realization, nonlinearity cancellation, tuneable resistors

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Authors: Dorit Alt, Nirit Raichel

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Educational practice is continually subjected to renewal needs, due mainly to the growing proportion of information communication technology, globalization of education, and the pursuit of quality. These types of renewal needs require developing updated instructional and assessment practices that put a premium on adaptability to the emerging requirements of present society. However, university instruction is criticized for not coping with these new challenges while continuing to exemplify the traditional instruction. In order to overcome this critical inadequacy between current educational goals and instructional methods, the LLAF consortium (including 16 members from 8 countries) is collaborating to create a curricular reform for lifelong learning (LLL) in teachers' education, health care and other applied fields. This project aims to achieve its objectives by developing, and piloting models for training students in LLL and promoting meaningful learning activities that could integrate knowledge with the personal transferable skills. LLAF has created a practical guide for teachers containing updated pedagogical strategies and assessment tools based on the constructivist approach for learning. This presentation will be limited to teachers' education only and to the contribution of a pre-pilot research aimed at providing a scale designed to measure constructivist activities in higher education learning environments. A mix-method approach was implemented in two phases to construct the scale: The first phase included a qualitative content analysis involving both deductive and inductive category applications of students' observations. The results foregrounded eight categories: knowledge construction, authenticity, multiple perspectives, prior knowledge, in-depth learning, teacher- student interaction, social interaction and cooperative dialogue. The students' descriptions of their classes were formulated as 36 items. The second phase employed structural equation modeling (SEM). The scale was submitted to 597 undergraduate students. The goodness of fit of the data to the structural model yielded sufficient fit results. This research elaborates the body of literature by adding a category of in-depth learning which emerged from the content analysis. Moreover, the theoretical category of social activity has been extended to include two distinctive factors: cooperative dialogue and social interaction. Implications of these findings for the LLAF project are discussed.

Keywords: constructivist learning, higher education, mix-methodology, lifelong learning

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Authors: Farzad Hosseini Hossein Abadi, Cristina Prieto Sierra, Cesar Álvarez Díaz

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Predicting streamflow accurately in flashy catchments prone to floods is a major research and operational challenge in hydrological modeling. Recent advancements in deep learning, particularly Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, have shown to be promising in achieving accurate hydrological predictions at daily and hourly time scales. In this work, a multi-timescale LSTM (MTS-LSTM) network was applied to the context of regional hydrological predictions at an hourly time scale in flashy catchments. The case study includes 40 catchments allocated in the Basque Country, north of Spain. We explore the impact of hyperparameters on the performance of streamflow predictions given by regional deep learning models through systematic hyperparameter tuning - where optimal regional values for different catchments are identified. The results show that predictions are highly accurate, with Nash-Sutcliffe (NSE) and Kling-Gupta (KGE) metrics values as high as 0.98 and 0.97, respectively. A principal component analysis reveals that a hyperparameter related to the length of the input sequence contributes most significantly to the prediction performance. The findings suggest that input sequence lengths have a crucial impact on the model prediction performance. Moreover, employing catchment-scale analysis reveals distinct sequence lengths for individual basins, highlighting the necessity of customizing this hyperparameter based on each catchment’s characteristics. This aligns with well known “uniqueness of the place” paradigm. In prior research, tuning the length of the input sequence of LSTMs has received limited focus in the field of streamflow prediction. Initially it was set to 365 days to capture a full annual water cycle. Later, performing limited systematic hyper-tuning using grid search, revealed a modification to 270 days. However, despite the significance of this hyperparameter in hydrological predictions, usually studies have overlooked its tuning and fixed it to 365 days. This study, employing a simultaneous systematic hyperparameter tuning approach, emphasizes the critical role of input sequence length as an influential hyperparameter in configuring LSTMs for regional streamflow prediction. Proper tuning of this hyperparameter is essential for achieving accurate hourly predictions using deep learning models.

Keywords: LSTMs, streamflow, hyperparameters, hydrology

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Authors: Mohammad Ali Oghabian, Reza Reiazi, Esmaeel Parsai, Mehdi Aghili, Ramin Jaberi

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In this project a new procedure has been introduced for utilizing digitally reconstructed radiograph from MRI images in Brachytherapy treatment planning. This procedure enables us to localize the tumor volume and delineate the extent of critical structures in vicinity of tumor volume. The aim of this project was to improve the accuracy of dose delivered to targets of interest in 2D treatment planning system.

Keywords: brachytherapy, cervix, digitally reconstructed radiographs, lymph node

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Authors: B. Arend, P. Sunnen, P. Caire

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In a single case study, we show how a conversation analysis (CA) approach can shed light onto the sequential unfolding of human-robot interaction. Relying on video data, we are able to show that CA allows us to investigate the respective turn-taking systems of humans and a NAO robot in their dialogical dynamics, thus pointing out relevant differences. Our fine grained video analysis points out occurring breakdowns and their overcoming, when humans and a NAO-robot engage in a multimodally uttered multi-party communication during a sports guessing game. Our findings suggest that interdisciplinary work opens up the opportunity to gain new insights into the challenging issues of human robot communication in order to provide resources for developing mechanisms that enable complex human-robot interaction (HRI).

Keywords: human robot interaction, conversation analysis, dialogism, breakdown, museum

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Authors: Joel F. Campbell, Bing Lin, Michael Obland, Susan Kooi, Tai-Fang Fan, Byron Meadows, Edward Browell, Wayne Erxleben, Doug McGregor, Jeremy Dobler, Sandip Pal, Christopher O'Dell, Ken Davis

Abstract:

The Active Sensing of CO₂ Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) CarbonHawk Experiment Simulator (ACES) is a NASA Langley Research Center instrument funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate that seeks to advance technologies critical to measuring atmospheric column carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) mixing ratios in support of the NASA ASCENDS mission. The ACES instrument, an Intensity-Modulated Continuous-Wave (IM-CW) lidar, was designed for high-altitude aircraft operations and can be directly applied to space instrumentation to meet the ASCENDS mission requirements. The ACES design demonstrates advanced technologies critical for developing an airborne simulator and spaceborne instrument with lower platform consumption of size, mass, and power, and with improved performance. The Atmospheric Carbon and Transport – America (ACT-America) is an Earth Venture Suborbital -2 (EVS-2) mission sponsored by the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. A major objective is to enhance knowledge of the sources/sinks and transport of atmospheric CO₂ through the application of remote and in situ airborne measurements of CO₂ and other atmospheric properties on spatial and temporal scales. ACT-America consists of five campaigns to measure regional carbon and evaluate transport under various meteorological conditions in three regional areas of the Continental United States. Regional CO₂ distributions of the lower atmosphere were observed from the C-130 aircraft by the Harris Corp. Multi-Frequency Fiber Laser Lidar (MFLL) and the ACES lidar. The airborne lidars provide unique data that complement the more traditional in situ sensors. This presentation shows the applications of CO₂ lidars in support of these science needs.

Keywords: CO₂ measurement, IMCW, CW lidar, laser spectroscopy

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Ita Noh Nkwain

Abstract:

Journalism plays a critical role in today's society by providing accurate and reliable information to the public. Through various mediums such as print, television, and online news outlets, journalists inform and educate the public on important issues and events happening around the world. Additionally, journalism serves as a watchdog by holding those in power accountable for their actions and decisions. However, with the rise of social media and the decline of traditional news sources, the future of journalism is uncertain. Despite these challenges, the importance of quality journalism cannot be overstated in a world where information is readily available but not always trustworthy.

Keywords: journalism, accountability, education, television, public

Procedia PDF Downloads 35

Authors: Ita Noh Nkwain

Abstract:

Journalism plays a critical role in today's society by providing accurate and reliable information to the public. Through various mediums such as print, television, and online news outlets, journalists inform and educate the public on important issues and events happening around the world. Additionally, journalism serves as a watchdog by holding those in power accountable for their actions and decisions. However, with the rise of social media and the decline of traditional news sources, the future of journalism is uncertain. Despite these challenges, the importance of quality journalism cannot be overstated in a world where information is readily available but not always trustworthy.

Keywords: Journalism, accountability, education, television, public

Procedia PDF Downloads 31

Authors: Silipa Halofaki, Devi R. Seenivasagam, Prashant Bijay, Kritin Singh, Rajeshkannan Ananthanarayanan

Abstract:

This comprehensive literature review delves into the effects and applications of work system design on the performance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The review process involved three independent reviewers who screened 514 articles through a four-step procedure: removing duplicates, assessing keyword relevance, evaluating abstract content, and thoroughly reviewing full-text articles. Various criteria, such as relevance to the research topic, publication type, study type, language, publication date, and methodological quality, were employed to exclude certain publications. A portion of articles that met the predefined inclusion criteria were included as a result of this systematic literature review. These selected publications underwent data extraction and analysis to compile insights regarding the influence of work system design on SME performance. Additionally, the quality of the included studies was assessed, and the level of confidence in the body of evidence was established. The findings of this review shed light on how work system design impacts SME performance, emphasizing important implications and applications. Furthermore, the review offers suggestions for further research in this critical area and summarizes the current state of knowledge in the field. Understanding the intricate connections between work system design and SME success can enhance operational efficiency, employee engagement, and overall competitiveness for SMEs. This comprehensive examination of the literature contributes significantly to both academic research and practical decision-making for SMEs.

Keywords: literature review, productivity, small and medium sized enterprises-SMEs, work system design

Procedia PDF Downloads 85