Search results for: global culture museums

Authors: Bahram Fathi, Mahdi Khodaparast Mashhadi, Masuod Homayounifar

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Global awareness on energy security and climate change has created much interest in assessing energy efficiency performance. A number of previous studies have contributed to evaluate energy efficiency performance using different analytical techniques among which data envelopment analysis (DEA) has recently received increasing attention. Most of DEA-related energy efficiency studies do not consider undesirable outputs such as CO2 emissions in their modeling framework, which may lead to biased energy efficiency values. Within a joint production frame work of desirable and undesirable outputs, in this paper we construct energy efficiency performance index for measuring energy efficiency performance by using environmental DEA model with CO2 emissions. We finally apply the index proposed to assess the energy efficiency performance in OPEC over time.

Keywords: energy efficiency, environmental, OPEC, data envelopment analysis

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Authors: Ilango Thiagalingam, Erwann Yvin, Gabriel Crehan, Roch El Khoury

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An experimental investigation is carried out in order to evaluate the relevance of a customization approach of the passive thermal mannikin. The promise of this approach consists in the following assumption: physiological differences lead to distinct thermo-physiological responses that explain a part of the thermal appraisal differences between people. Categorizing people and developing an appropriate thermal mannikin for each group would help to reduce the actual dispersion on the subjective thermal comfort perception. The present investigation indicates that popular passive physiological diversity drivers such as sex, age and BMI are not the correct parameters to consider. Indeed, very little or no discriminated global thermo-physiological responses arise from the physiological classification of the population using these parameters.

Keywords: thermal comfort, thermo-physiology, customization, thermal mannikin

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Authors: Martin Bloomfield

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This paper examines frictions that lie at the heart of any pragmatist conception of religion and moral progress. I take moral progress to require the ability to correctly analyse social problems, provide workable solutions to these problems, and then rationally justify the analyses and solutions used. I take religion here to involve, as a minimal requirement, belief in the existence of God, a god, or gods, such that they are recognisable to most informed observers within the Western tradition. I take pragmatism to belong to, and borrow from, the philosophical traditions of non-absolutism, anti-realism, historicism, and voluntarism. For clarity, the relevant brands of each of these traditions will be examined during the paper. The friction identified in the title may be summed up as follows: those who, like Cornel West (and, when he was alive, Hilary Putnam), are theistic pragmatists with an interest in realising moral progress, have all been aware of a problem inherent in their positions. Assuming it can be argued that religion and moral progress are compatible, a non-absolutist, anti-realist, historicist position nevertheless raises problems that, as Leon Wieseltier pointed out, the pragmatist still believes in a God who isn’t real, and that the truth of any religious statement (including “God exists”) is relative not to any objective reality but to communities of engaged interlocutors; and that, where there are no absolute standards of right and wrong, any analysis of (and solution to) social problems can only be rationally justified relative to one or another community or moral and epistemic framework. Attempts made to universalise these frameworks, notably by Dewey, Gadamer, and Bernstein, through democracy and hermeneutics, fall into either a vicious and infinite regress, or (taking inspiration from Habermas) the problem of moral truths being decided through structures of power. The paper removes this friction by highlighting the work of Christian pragmatist Cornel West through the lens of the philosopher of religion Eleanore Stump. While West recognises that for the pragmatist, the correctness of any propositions about God or moral progress is impossible to rationally justify to any outside the religious, moral or epistemic framework of the speakers themselves without, as he calls it, a ‘locus of truth’ (which is itself free from the difficulties Dewey, Gadamer and Bernstein fall victim to), Stump identifies routes to knowledge which provide such a locus while avoiding the problems of relativism, power dynamics, and regress. She describes “Dominican” and “Franciscan” knowledge (roughly characterised as “propositional” and “non-propositional”), and uses this distinction to identify something Bernstein saw as missing from Gadamer: culture-independent norms, upon which universal agreement can be built. The “Franciscan knowledge” Stump identifies as key is second-personal knowledge of Christ. For West, this allows the knower to access vital culture-independent norms. If correct, instead of the classical view (religion is incompatible with pragmatism), Christianity becomes key to pragmatist knowledge and moral-knowledge claims. Rather than being undermined by pragmatism, Christianity enables pragmatists to make moral and epistemic claims, free from troubling power dynamics and cultural relativism.

Keywords: Cornel West, Cultural Relativism, Gadamer, Philosophy of Religion, Pragmatism

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Authors: Wenting Pan, Fang Chen

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The aim is to increase understanding of the potential effects of religion and economy development in East and Southeast Asia. Religion developed in the east, and southeast Asia is connected with community intensively, especially the activities by women. It could facilitate spiritual awakening in the community and economic empowerment. The theories were assessed by using survey information for Wenzhou which is the legendary city of Chinese economic development, measuring attendance at formal religious services, religious beliefs, and self-identification as religious. Wenzhou’s chamber of commerce is all over the world. Apart from large and small processing factories, Wenzhou is dotted with temples and Taoist temples. In the survey four of the control variables (size of temples, profitability, multiple densities, type of industry and so on) were significant issues to find a relationship between local people and the culture of local religion. What’s more, women should be taken into account seriously. This study has social economy implications for Wenzhou as well as a number of other countries in the East and Southeast Asia.

Keywords: East and Southeast Asia, economy development, Religion, Wenzhou

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Authors: Jo-Ann Müller

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The integration-responsiveness (IR) framework presents four distinct internationalization strategies which differ depending on the extent of pressure the company faces for local responsiveness and global integration. This study applies the framework to standards by examining differences in the relative importance of three types of standards depending on the role the subsidiary plays within the corporate group. Hypotheses are tested empirically in a two-stage procedure. First, the subsidiaries are grouped performing cluster analysis. In the second step, the relationship between cluster affiliation and subsidiary strategy is tested using multinomial Probit estimation. While the level of local responsiveness of a firm relates to the relative importance of national and international formal standards, the degree of vertical integration is associated with the application of internal company.

Keywords: FDI, firm-level data, standards, subsidiary strategy

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Authors: B. Sellami, M. Belloufi

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Conjugate gradient methods are an important class of methods for unconstrained optimization, especially for large-scale problems. Recently, they have been much studied. In this paper, we propose a new two-parameter family of conjugate gradient methods for unconstrained optimization. The two-parameter family of methods not only includes the already existing three practical nonlinear conjugate gradient methods, but also has other family of conjugate gradient methods as subfamily. The two-parameter family of methods with the Wolfe line search is shown to ensure the descent property of each search direction. Some general convergence results are also established for the two-parameter family of methods. The numerical results show that this method is efficient for the given test problems. In addition, the methods related to this family are uniformly discussed.

Keywords: unconstrained optimization, conjugate gradient method, line search, global convergence

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Authors: Z. Liu, K. Cao

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Strategic spatial planning, which is taken as an effective and competitive way for the governors of the city to improve the development and management level of a city, has been blooming in recent years all over the world. In the context of globalization and informatization, strategic spatial planning must transfer its focus on three different levels: global, regional and urban. Internal and external changes in environmental conditions lead to new advances in strategic planning both theoretically and practically. However, such advances or changes respond differently to cities on account of different dynamic mechanisms. This article aims at two cities of Tianjin in China and Melbourne in Australia, through a comparative study on strategic planning, to explore the differentiation of mechanisms in urban planning making. By comparison and exploration, the purpose of this article is to exhibit two different planning worlds between western and Chinese in a new way nowadays.

Keywords: differentiation, Tianjin China, Melbourne Australia, strategic planning

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Authors: Sankha Chakrabortty, Biswajit Ruj, Parimal Pal

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Methanol is one of the most important chemical products and intermediates. It can be used as a solvent, intermediate or raw material for a number of higher valued products, fuels or additives. From the last one decay, the total global demand of methanol has increased drastically which forces the scientists to produce a large amount of methanol from a renewable source to meet the global demand with a sustainable way. Different types of non-renewable based raw materials have been used for the synthesis of methanol on a large scale which makes the process unsustainable. In this circumstances, photocatalytic conversion of CO₂ into methanol under solar/UV excitation becomes a viable approach to give a sustainable production approach which not only meets the environmental crisis by recycling CO₂ to fuels but also reduces CO₂ amount from the atmosphere. Development of such sustainable production approach for CO₂ conversion into methanol still remains a major challenge in the current research comparing with conventional energy expensive processes. In this backdrop, the development of environmentally friendly materials, like photocatalyst has taken a great perspective for methanol synthesis. Scientists in this field are always concerned about finding an improved photocatalyst to enhance the photocatalytic performance. Graphene-based hybrid and composite materials with improved properties could be a better nanomaterial for the selective conversion of CO₂ to methanol under visible light (solar energy) or UV light. The present invention relates to synthesis an improved heterogeneous graphene-based photocatalyst with improved catalytic activity and surface area. Graphene with enhanced surface area is used as coupled material of copper-loaded titanium oxide to improve the electron capture and transport properties which substantially increase the photoinduced charge transfer and extend the lifetime of photogenerated charge carriers. A fast reduction method through H₂ purging has been adopted to synthesis improved graphene whereas ultrasonication based sol-gel method has been applied for the preparation of graphene coupled copper loaded titanium oxide with some enhanced properties. Prepared photocatalysts were exhaustively characterized using different characterization techniques. Effects of catalyst dose, CO₂ flow rate, reaction temperature and stirring time on the efficacy of the system in terms of methanol yield and productivity have been studied in the present study. The study shown that the newly synthesized photocatalyst with an enhanced surface resulting in a sustained productivity and yield of methanol 0.14 g/Lh, and 0.04 g/gcat respectively, after 3 h of illumination under UV (250W) at an optimum catalyst dosage of 10 g/L having 1:2:3 (Graphene: TiO₂: Cu) weight ratio.

Keywords: renewable energy, CO₂ capture, photocatalytic conversion, methanol

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Authors: K. E. Ch. Vidyasagar, M. Moghavvemi, T. S. S. T. Prabhat

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Epilepsy is a global problem, and with seizures eluding even the smartest of diagnoses a requirement for automatic detection of the same using electroencephalogram (EEG) would have a huge impact in diagnosis of the disorder. Among a multitude of methods for automatic epilepsy detection, one should find the best method out, based on accuracy, for classification. This paper reasons out, and rationalizes, the best methods for classification. Accuracy is based on the classifier, and thus this paper discusses classifiers like quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA), classification and regression tree (CART), support vector machine (SVM), naive Bayes classifier (NBC), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and artificial neural networks (ANN). Results show that ANN is the most accurate of all the above stated classifiers with 97.7% accuracy, 97.25% specificity and 98.28% sensitivity in its merit. This is followed closely by SVM with 1% variation in result. These results would certainly help researchers choose the best classifier for detection of epilepsy.

Keywords: classification, seizure, KNN, SVM, LDA, ANN, epilepsy

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Authors: Tarnai Tena, Strinić Dean

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Chronic non-communicable diseases are today the leading cause of mortality, morbidity and mortality disability at the world level and in Croatia. Among them are the most represented precisely cardiovascular diseases (CVD), so today we are talking about their global card epidemic. From 2018 to 2021, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death for both women and men in the Dubrovnik- Neretva County. With regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has taken over, without forgetting how much these patients are additionally affected, we are still talking about the primary cause of sickness and death in the population of this county and region. In this record, we present collected data processed according to gender and disease classification. We also bring a kind of overview because, for years, we have been following how the population of one of the origins of the Mediterranean diet has been struggling with cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease, burden, COVID-19, epidemiology, ishemic heart disease, cardiovascular medicine

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Authors: M. Mehani, N. Salhi, T. Valeria, S. Ladjel

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Red River Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) is a tree of the genus Eucalyptus widely distributed in Algeria and in the world. The value of its aromatic secondary metabolites offers new perspectives in the pharmaceutical industry. This strategy can contribute to the sustainable development of our country. Preliminary tests performed on the essential oil of Eucalyptus camendulensis showed that this oil has antibacterial activity vis-à-vis the bacterial strains (Enterococcus feacalis, Enterobacter cloaceai, Proteus microsilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and antifungic (Fusarium sporotrichioide and Fusarium graminearum). The culture medium used was nutrient broth Muller Hinton. The interaction between the bacteria and the essential oil is expressed by a zone of inhibition with diameters of MIC indirectly expression of. And we used the PDA medium to determine the fungal activity. The extraction of the aromatic fraction (essentially oil- hydrolat) of the fresh aerian part of the Eucalyptus camendulensis was performed by hydrodistillation. The average essential oil yield is 0.99%. The antimicrobial and fungal study of the essential oil and hydrosol showed a high inhibitory effect on the growth of pathogens.

Keywords: essential oil, Eucalyptus camendulensis, bacteria and fungi, red river gum

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Authors: M. Meenasaranya, S. Saravanan

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Nonlinear stability analysis is carried out to determine the effect of surface temperature modulation in an infinite horizontal porous layer heated from below. The layer is saturated by an electrically conducting, viscous, incompressible and Newtonian fluid. The Brinkman model is used for momentum equation, and the Boussinesq approximation is invoked. The system is assumed to be bounded by rigid boundaries. The energy theory is implemented to find the global exponential stability region of the considered system. The results are analysed for arbitrary values of modulation frequency and amplitude. The existence of subcritical instability region is confirmed by comparing the obtained result with the known linear result. The vertical magnetic field is found to stabilize the system.

Keywords: Brinkman model, energy method, magnetic field, surface temperature modulation

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Authors: Ali Aldakhil

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This paper explores the many faces of the barriers and exclusionary attitudes and practices that disabled teachers and students experience in a school where they teach or attend. Critical disability studies and inclusive education theory were used to conceptualise this inquiry and ground it in the literature. These theories were used because they magnify and expose the problems of disability/disablism as within-society instead of within-individual. Similarly, disability-first language was used in this study because it seeks to expose the social oppression and discrimination of disabled. Data were generated through conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with six disabled teachers who teach disabled children in a Saudi mainstream school. Thematic analysis of data concludes that the school is fettered by disabling barriers, attitudes, and practices, which reflect the dominant culture of disablism that disabled people encounter in the Saudi society on a daily basis. This leads to the conclusion that overall deconstruction and reformation of Saudi mainstream schools are needed, including non-disabled people’s attitudes, policy, spaces, and overall arrangements of teaching and learning.

Keywords: disablism, disability studies, mainstream schools, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Hestiasari Rante, Leonardo De Araújo, Heidi Schelhowe

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Usability testing with children is similar in many aspects to usability testing with adults. However, there are a few differences that one needs to be aware of in order to get the most out of the sessions, and to ensure that children are comfortable and enjoying the process. This paper presents the need to acquire methodological knowledge for involving children as test users in usability testing, with consideration on Piaget’s theory of cognitive growth. As a case study, we use BatiKids, an application developed to evoke children’s enthusiasm to be involved in culture heritage preservation. The usability test was applied to 24 children from 9 to 10 years old. The children were divided into two groups; one interacted with the application through a graphic tablet with pen, and the other through touch screen. Both of the groups had to accomplish the same amount of tasks. In the end, children were asked to give feedback. The results suggested that children who interacted using the graphic tablet with pen had more difficulties rather than children who interacted through touch screen. However, the difficulty brought by the graphic tablet with pen is an important learning objective in order to understand the difficulties of using canting, which is an important part of batik.

Keywords: batikids, children, child-computer interaction, usability test

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Authors: Laura Lee Prather

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A functioning democracy is defined by various characteristics, including freedom of speech, equality, human rights, rule of law and many more. Lawsuits brought to intimidate speakers, drain the resources of community members, and silence journalists and others who speak out in support of matters of public concern are an abuse of the legal system and an encroachment of human rights. The impact can have a broad chilling effect, deterring others from speaking out against abuse. This article aims to suggest ways to address this form of judicial harassment. In 1988, University of Denver professors George Pring and Penelope Canan coined the term “SLAPP” when they brought to light a troubling trend of people getting sued for speaking out about matters of public concern. Their research demonstrated that thousands of people engaging in public debate and citizen involvement in government have been and will be the targets of multi-million-dollar lawsuits for the purpose of silencing them and dissuading others from speaking out in the future. SLAPP actions chill information and harm the public at large. Professors Pring and Canan catalogued a tsunami of SLAPP suits filed by public officials, real estate developers and businessmen against environmentalists, consumers, women’s rights advocates and more. SLAPPs are now seen in every region of the world as a means to intimidate people into silence and are viewed as a global affront to human rights. Anti-SLAPP laws are the antidote to SLAPP suits and while commonplace in the United States are only recently being considered in the EU and the UK. This researcher studied more than thirty years of Anti-SLAPP legislative policy in the U.S., the call for evidence and resultant EU Commission’s Anti-SLAPP Directive and Member States Recommendations, the call for evidence by the UK Ministry of Justice, response and Model Anti-SLAPP law presented to UK Parliament, as well as, conducted dozens of interviews with NGO’s throughout the EU, UK, and US to identify varying approaches to SLAPP lawsuits, public policy, and support for SLAPP victims. This paper identifies best practices taken from the US, EU and UK that can be implemented globally to help combat SLAPPs by: (1) raising awareness about SLAPPs, how to identify them, and recognizing habitual abusers of the court system; (2) engaging governments in the policy discussion in combatting SLAPPs and supporting SLAPP victims; (3) educating judges in recognizing SLAPPs an general training on encroachment of human rights; (4) and holding lawyers accountable for ravaging the rule of law.

Keywords: Anti-SLAPP Laws and Policy, Comparative media law and policy, EU Anti-SLAPP Directive and Member Recommendations, International Human Rights of Freedom of Expression

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Authors: Yi H. Wong, Li L. Chan, Chee O. Leong, Stephen Ambu, Joon W. Mak, Priyadashi S. Sahu

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Background: Acanthamoeba is a free-living opportunistic protist which is ubiquitously distributed in the environment. Virulent Acanthamoeba can cause fatal encephalitis in immunocompromised patients and potential blinding keratitis in immunocompetent contact lens wearers. Approximately 24 species have been identified but only the A. castellanii, A. polyphaga and A. culbertsoni are commonly associated with human infections. Until to date, the precise molecular basis for Acanthamoeba pathogenesis remains unclear. Previous studies reported that Acanthamoeba virulence can be diminished through prolonged axenic culture but revived through serial mouse passages. As no clear explanation on this reversible pathogenesis is established, hereby, we postulate that the epigenetic regulators, DNA-methyltransferases (DNMT) and histone-deacetylases (HDAC), could possibly be involved in granting the virulence plasticity of Acanthamoeba spp. Methods: Four rounds of mouse passages were conducted to revive the virulence potential of the virulence-attenuated Acanthamoeba castellanii strain (ATCC 50492). Briefly, each mouse (n=6/group) was inoculated intraperitoneally with Acanthamoebae cells (2x 105 trophozoites/mouse) and incubated for 2 months. Acanthamoebae cells were isolated from infected mouse organs by culture method and subjected to subsequent mouse passage. In vitro cytopathic, encystment and gelatinolytic assays were conducted to evaluate the virulence characteristics of Acanthamoebae isolates for each passage. PCR primers which targeted on the 2 members (DNMT1 and DNMT2) and 5 members (HDAC1 to 5) of the DNMT and HDAC gene families respectively were custom designed. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) was performed to detect and quantify the relative expression of the two gene families in each Acanthamoeba isolates. Beta-tubulin of A. castellanii (Genbank accession no: XP_004353728) was included as housekeeping gene for data normalisation. PCR mixtures were also analyzed by electrophoresis for amplicons detection. All statistical analyses were performed using the paired one-tailed Student’s t test. Results: Our pathogenicity tests showed that the virulence-reactivated Acanthamoeba had a higher degree of cytopathic effect on vero cells, a better resistance to encystment challenge and a higher gelatinolytic activity which was catalysed by serine protease. qPCR assay showed that DNMT1 expression was significantly higher in the virulence-reactivated compared to the virulence-attenuated Acanthamoeba strain (p ≤ 0.01). The specificity of primers which targeted on DNMT1 was confirmed by sequence analysis of PCR amplicons, which showed a 97% similarity to the published DNA-methyltransferase gene of A. castellanii (GenBank accession no: XM_004332804.1). Out of the five primer pairs which targeted on the HDAC family genes, only HDAC4 expression was significantly difference between the two variant strains. In contrast to DNMT1, HDAC4 expression was much higher in the virulence-attenuated Acanthamoeba strain. Conclusion: Our mouse passages had successfully restored the virulence of the attenuated strain. Our findings suggested that DNA-methyltransferase (DNMT1) and histone deacetylase (HDAC4) expressions are associated with virulence potential of Acanthamoeba spp.

Keywords: acanthamoeba, DNA-methyltransferase, histone deacetylase, virulence-associated proteins

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Authors: Sharifa Alshahrani

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Comics is a multimodal text wherein meaning is created by taking in all modes of expression at once. It uses two different semiotic modes, the verbal and the visual modes, together to make meaning and these different semiotic modes can be socially and culturally shaped to give meaning. Therefore, comics translation cannot treat comics as a monomodal text by translating only the verbal mode inside or outside the speech balloons as the cultural differences are encoded in the visual mode as well. Due to the development of the internet and editing software, comics translation is not anymore confined to the publishing houses and official translation as scanlation, or the fan translation took the initiative in translating comics for being emotionally attracted to the culture and genre. Scanlation is carried out by volunteering fans who translate out of passion. However, quality is one of the debatable issues relating to scanlation and fan translation. This study will investigate how the dynamic multimodal relationship in comics is exploited and interpreted in the translation by exploring the translation strategies and procedures adopted by the publishing houses and scanlation in interpreting comics into Arabic using three analytical frameworks; cultural references model, multimodal relation model and translation strategies and procedures models.

Keywords: comics, multimodality, translation, scanlation

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Authors: Ahcene Habbi, Yassine Boudouaoui

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This paper deals with the problem of automatic rule generation for fuzzy systems design. The proposed approach is based on hybrid artificial bee colony (ABC) optimization and weighted least squares (LS) method and aims to find the structure and parameters of fuzzy systems simultaneously. More precisely, two ABC based fuzzy modeling strategies are presented and compared. The first strategy uses global optimization to learn fuzzy models, the second one hybridizes ABC and weighted least squares estimate method. The performances of the proposed ABC and ABC-LS fuzzy modeling strategies are evaluated on complex modeling problems and compared to other advanced modeling methods.

Keywords: automatic design, learning, fuzzy rules, hybrid, swarm optimization

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Authors: Aziez Ouahiba, Remini Boualem, Habi Mohamed

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The growth and the development of a pay are strongly related to the existence or the absence of water in this area, the sedentary lifestyle of the population makes that water demand is increasing and the different brandishing (dams, tablecloths or other) are increasingly solicited. In normal time rain and snow of the winter period reloads the slicks and the wadis that fill dams. Over these two decades, Global warming fact that temperature is increasingly high and rainfall is increasingly low, which induces a charge less and less important tablecloths, add to that the strong demand in irrigation. Our study will focus on the variation of rainfall and irrigation, Their effects on the degree of pollution of the groundwater in this area based on statistical analyses by the Xlstat (ACP, correlation...) software for a better explanation of these results and determine the hydrochemistry of different groups or polluted areas pou be able to offer adequate solutions for each area.

Keywords: water in the basement, legislation, over exploitation, pollution, water prices

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Authors: Aziz Soubai

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The primary issue is that English as foreign language learners don’t use English outside the classroom. The only little exposure is inside the classroom, and that’s not enough to make them good language learners! Edmodo, like the other Learning Management Systems, can be used to encourage students to collaborate with each other and with global classrooms on projects where English is used- Some examples of collaboration with different schools will be mentioned and how the Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR) model and its stages can be applied in the activities, especially for teachers who are hesitant to introduce technology or don’t have a lot of technical knowledge. There will also be some focus on Edmodo groups and on how flipped and blended learning can be used as an extension for classroom time and to help the teacher address language problems and improve students’ language skills, especially writing, reading and communication. It is also equally important to use Edmodo badges and certificates for motivating and engaging learners and gamifying the lesson.

Keywords: EFL learners, language classroom-learning management system, edmodo, SAMR, language skills

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Authors: Kathia Melbouci, Sylvie Naudet Collette, Vincent Gay-Bellile, Omar Ait-Aider, Michel Dhome

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In this paper, we handle the problem of real time localization and mapping in indoor environment assisted by a partial prior 3D model, using an RGBD sensor. The proposed solution relies on a feature-based RGBD SLAM algorithm to localize the camera and update the 3D map of the scene. To improve the accuracy and the robustness of the localization, we propose to combine in a local bundle adjustment process, geometric information provided by a prior coarse 3D model of the scene (e.g. generated from the 2D floor plan of the building) along with RGBD data from a Kinect camera. The proposed approach is evaluated on a public benchmark dataset as well as on real scene acquired by a Kinect sensor.

Keywords: SLAM, global localization, 3D sensor, bundle adjustment, 3D model

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Authors: Fatemah Al-Baroud, Sudharani Shreenivas Kshatriya

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Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is one of the companies for gas & oil production in Kuwait. The oil and gas industry is truly global; with operations conducted in every corner of the globe, the global community will rely heavily on oil and gas supplies. KOC has made many commitments to protect all due to KOC’s operations and operational releases. As per KOC’s strategy, the substantial increase in production activities will bring many challenges in managing various environmental hazards and stresses in the company. In order to handle those environmental challenges, the need of implementing effectively the health, safety, and environmental management system (HSEMS) is significant. And by implementing the HSEMS system properly, the environmental aspects of the activities, products, and services were identified, evaluated, and controlled in order to (i) Comply with local regulatory and other obligatory requirements; (ii) Comply with company policy and business requirements; and (iii) Reduce adverse environmental impact, including adverse impact to company reputation. Assessments for the Jurassic Production Facilities are being carried out as a part of the KOC HSEMS procedural requirement and monitoring the implementation of the relevant HSEMS procedures in the facilities. The assessments have been done by conducting series of theme audits using KOC’s audit protocol at JPFs. The objectives of the audits are to evaluate the compliance of the facilities towards the implementation of environmental procedures and the status of the KEPA requirement at all JPFs. The list of the facilities that were covered during the theme audit program are the following: (1) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – Sabriya (2) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – East Raudhatian (3) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – West Raudhatian (4)Early Production Facility (EPF 50). The auditing process comprehensively focuses on the application of KOC HSE MS procedures at JPFs and their ability to reduce the resultant negative impacts on the environment from the operations. Number of findings and observations were noted and highlighted in the audit reports and sent to all concerned controlling teams. The results of these audits indicated that the facilities, in general view, were in line with KOC HSE Procedures, and there were commitments in documenting all the HSE issues in the right records and plans. Further, implemented several control measures at JPFs that minimized/reduced the environmental impact, such as SRU were installed for sulphur recovery. Future scope and monitoring audit after a sufficient period of time will be carried out in conjunction with the controlling teams in order to verify the current status of the recommendations and evaluate the contractors' performance towards the required actions in preserving the environment.

Keywords: assessment of the environmental compliance, environmental and social impact assessment, kuwait environment public authority regulations, health, safety and environment management procedures, jurassic production facilities

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Authors: Widayat Widayat

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Nowday, in the modern investment era, household behavior on investment is a topic that is quite warm. The development of the modern investment, indicated by the emergence of a variety of investment instruments, such as stocks, bonds and various forms of derivatives, affected on the complexity of choosing an investment, especially for traditional societies. Various studies show that there is more than one factor acting as a behavioral antesenden decide to choose an investment instrument. One of the factors, which contribute in determining the investment option is ethnic. Society with a particular sub-culture tend to prefer investing their particular instrument. This is because they have the values, norms and different social environmental. This article is designed to test the impact of sub-cultures between Osing-Java as moderator, in investing. The study was conducted in Banyuwangi, East Java Province of Indonesia. Data were collected using questionnaires, which is given to the head of the household respondents were selected as samples. Sample of households selected by multistage sampling method. The data have been collected processed using SmartPLS software and testing moderating effects using grouped sample test. The result showed that sub-ethnic and has a significant role in determining the investment.

Keywords: investment behaviour, household, moderating, sub ethnic

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Authors: Jacquelyn Irene Eidson

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Women who leave the workforce due to motherhood and wish to return are a valuable, untapped resource for organizations. Levinson’s theory of adult development defines life as a sequence of transitions requiring difficult decisions that prompt humans to question their identity and their self-efficacy. The experience of being a working mother and the experience of workplace mentorship have received extensive research attention. Merging the two experiences and focusing on feelings of identity and self-efficacy provides a unique and focused opportunity for learning. Through one-on-one interviews and focus group discussion with working mothers that had previously left the workforce for an extended leave due to child-rearing, a meaningful description of their experiences will be obtained. Data is currently being collected via a collaboration with state banking associations in the United States. Results from the study will enable organizations worldwide to more effectively provide mentorship opportunities built around a culture of understanding while more effectively recruiting, supporting, developing, and retaining this valuable talent pool.

Keywords: identity, mentorship, self-efficacy, working mother

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Authors: Mahla Azimi

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Introduction: Post-bladder catheter infection is a common and significant healthcare-associated infection that affects individuals with indwelling urinary catheters. These infections can lead to various complications, including urinary tract infections (UTIs), bacteremia, sepsis, and increased morbidity and mortality rates. This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of post-bladder catheter infections, including their causes, risk factors, clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment options, and preventive measures. Causes and Risk Factors: Post-bladder catheter infections primarily occur due to the colonization of microorganisms on the surface of the urinary catheter. The most common pathogens involved are Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterococcus species. Several risk factors contribute to the development of these infections, such as prolonged catheterization duration, improper insertion technique, poor hygiene practices during catheter care, compromised immune system function in patients with underlying conditions or immunosuppressive therapy. Clinical Presentation: Patients with post-bladder catheter infections may present with symptoms such as fever, chills, malaise, suprapubic pain or tenderness, and cloudy or foul-smelling urine. In severe cases or when left untreated for an extended period of time, patients may develop more severe symptoms like hematuria or signs of systemic infection. Diagnosis: The diagnosis of post-bladder catheter infection involves a combination of clinical evaluation and laboratory investigations. Urinalysis is crucial in identifying pyuria (presence of white blood cells) and bacteriuria (presence of bacteria). A urine culture is performed to identify the causative organism(s) and determine its antibiotic susceptibility profile. Treatment Options: Prompt initiation of appropriate antibiotic therapy is essential in managing post-bladder catheter infections. Empirical treatment should cover common pathogens until culture results are available. The choice of antibiotics should be guided by local antibiogram data to ensure optimal therapy. In some cases, catheter removal may be necessary, especially if the infection is recurrent or associated with severe complications. Preventive Measures: Prevention plays a vital role in reducing the incidence of post-bladder catheter infections. Strategies include proper hand hygiene, aseptic technique during catheter insertion and care, regular catheter maintenance, and timely removal of unnecessary catheters. Healthcare professionals should also promote patient education regarding self-care practices and signs of infection. Conclusion: Post-bladder catheter infections are a significant healthcare concern that can lead to severe complications and increased healthcare costs. Early recognition, appropriate diagnosis, and prompt treatment are crucial in managing these infections effectively. Implementing preventive measures can significantly reduce the incidence of post-bladder catheter infections and improve patient outcomes. Further research is needed to explore novel strategies for prevention and management in this field.

Keywords: post-bladder catheter infection, urinary tract infection, bacteriuria, indwelling urinary catheters, prevention

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Authors: O. Hassoon, M. Tarfoui, A. El Malk

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Fiber Bragg optic sensor embedded in composite material to detect and monitor the damage which is occur in composite structure. In this paper we deal with the mode-Ι delamination to determine the resistance of material to crack propagation, and use the coupling mode theory and T-matrix method to simulating the FBGs spectrum for both uniform and non-uniform strain distribution. The double cantilever beam test which is modeling in FEM to determine the Longitudinal strain, there are two models which are used, the first is the global half model, and the second the sub-model to represent the FBGs with refine mesh. This method can simulate the damage in the composite structure and converting the strain to wavelength shifting of the FBG spectrum.

Keywords: fiber bragg grating, delamination detection, DCB, FBG spectrum, structure health monitoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 350

Authors: C. Fúnez Guerra, B. Nieto Calderón, M. Jaén Caparrós, L. Reyes-Bozo, A. Godoy-Faúndez, E. Vyhmeister

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The global energy system is experiencing a change of scenery. Unstable energy markets, an increasing focus on climate change and its sustainable development is forcing businesses to pursue new solutions in order to ensure future economic growth. This has led to the interest in using hydrogen as an energy carrier in transportation and industrial applications. As an energy carrier, hydrogen is accessible and holds a high gravimetric energy density. Abundant in hydrocarbons, hydrogen can play an important role in the shift towards low-emission fossil value chains. By combining hydrogen production by natural gas reforming with carbon capture and storage, the overall CO2 emissions are significantly reduced. In addition, the flexibility of hydrogen as an energy storage makes it applicable as a stabilizer in the renewable energy mix. The recent development in hydrogen fuel cells is also raising the expectations for a hydrogen powered transportation sector. Hydrogen value chains exist to a large extent in the industry today. The global hydrogen consumption was approximately 50 million tonnes (7.2 EJ) in 2013, where refineries, ammonia, methanol production and metal processing were main consumers. Natural gas reforming produced 48% of this hydrogen, but without carbon capture and storage (CCS). The total emissions from the production reached 500 million tonnes of CO2, hence alternative production methods with lower emissions will be necessary in future value chains. Hydrogen from electrolysis is used for a wide range of industrial chemical reactions for many years. Possibly, the earliest use was for the production of ammonia-based fertilisers by Norsk Hydro, with a test reactor set up in Notodden, Norway, in 1927. This application also claims one of the world’s largest electrolyser installations, at Sable Chemicals in Zimbabwe. Its array of 28 electrolysers consumes 80 MW per hour, producing around 21,000 Nm3/h of hydrogen. These electrolysers can compete if cheap sources of electricity are available and natural gas for steam reforming is relatively expensive. Because electrolysis of water produces oxygen as a by-product, a system of Autothermal Reforming (ATR) utilizing this oxygen has been analyzed. Replacing the air separation unit with electrolysers produces the required amount of oxygen to the ATR as well as additional hydrogen. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the technical and economic potential of large-scale production of hydrogen for oil refining industry. Sensitivity analysis of parameters such as investment costs, plant operating hours, electricity price and sale price of hydrogen and oxygen are performed.

Keywords: autothermal reforming, electrolyser, hydrogen, natural gas, steam methane reforming

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Authors: Pouriya Angosht Baft, Farzan Safari Sabet

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Globalization should be considered as a process that has affected all areas of human activity, including the foreign policy of countries. The phenomenon of globalization has created tremendous changes in the economic, political and cultural fields. Obviously, no country can keep itself away from the new global consequences and globalization process. Dealing with the world requires formulating a realistic and intelligent foreign policy. By examining the phenomenon of globalization and its impact on foreign policy, this article aims to provide solutions for formulating a more active and effective foreign policy. The conclusion of this research is that Iran's foreign policy has gradually moved towards more realism and maintaining and strengthening national interests in the changing world has been the focus of foreign policy makers and decision makers. Strengthening the course of more realism in the future should be at the center of formulating Iran's foreign policy.

Keywords: globalization, foreign policy, international relations, realism, iran

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Authors: Shah Muhammad Butt

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The study aimed to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of e-governance in Pakistan's public universities and how that adoption has affected organizational performance. An online Likert scale survey was utilized to gather information from 350 participants from different public universities in Pakistan. The data were examined using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The findings suggest that organizational culture, infrastructure, and leadership support are among the elements impacting the adoption of e-governance at Pakistan's public sector universities. A further finding of the study was that e-governance adoption benefited organizational performance, including effectiveness, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. The study emphasizes the significance of e-governance adoption at public sector universities and the demand for successful policies and strategies to support its implementation. To increase organisational performance and raise the standard of higher education in Pakistan, policymakers and university administrators should use the study's findings to develop and practice e-governance policies and initiatives.

Keywords: e-governance, adoption, public sector universities, Pakistan, organizational performance, higher education, technology, ICT, factors, comparative analysis

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Authors: Nabhan H. N. Al-Harrasi

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Action Research (AR) plays an important role in improving the problematical situation. It is a process that enhances thinking and practise and bridges the gap between abstract and concrete thinking. Nowadays, AR as a methodology is wildly used to implement projects based on understanding the needs of owners, considering the organizational culture, meeting the requirements, encouraging partnership, representing different viewpoints, and building the project. This research describes the whole processes of digitizing Post-graduate theses and all articles published in 6 Journals at Sultan Qaboos University. AR implemented to respond to the university needs to enhance accessibilities to its information resources and make them available through the national repository. In order to prepare the action plan, the library administration met to discuss several points related to the proposed project, the most important of which are: • Providing digitalization devices. • Locating a specific part of the Library as a Digitization Unit. • Choosing a team. • Defining tasks. • Implementing the proposed project and evaluating the whole processes.

Keywords: action research, digitization, Theses, Journal articles, open access, Oman

Procedia PDF Downloads 168