Search results for: microbial activities

Authors: Jagbir Singh Kadyan

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This research paper critically analyse the performance of those Indian Automobile Companies which are listed and traded on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India and which are also included in the NSE nifty auto Index. In India, CSR–Corporate Social Responsibility is mandatory for certain qualifying companies under the Indian Companies Act 2013, which replaces the erstwhile Companies Act 1956. There has been a significant shift in the focus and approaches of the Indian Corporates towards their CSR obligations with the insertion of section 135, revision of section 198 and introduction of schedule VII of the Indian Companies Act 2013. Every such qualifying companies are required to mandatorily spend at least 2% of their annual average net profit of the immediately preceding three financial years on such CSR activities as specified under schedule VII of the Companies act 2013. This research paper analyzes the CSR performance of such Indian companies. This research work is originally based on the secondary data. The annual reports of the selected Indian automobile companies have been extensively used and considered for this research work.

Keywords: board of directors, corporate social responsibility, CSR committees, Indian automobile companies, Indian companies act 2013, national stock exchange

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Authors: Mohsin Talib Mohammed, Zahid A. Khan, Arshad N. Siddiquee

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The wide use of titanium (Ti) materials in medicine gives impetus to a search for development new techniques with elevated properties such as strength, corrosion resistance and Young's modulus close to that of bone tissue. This article presents the most recent state of the art on the use of equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) technique in evolving mechanical characteristics of the ultrafine-grained bio-grade Ti materials. Over past few decades, research activities in this area have grown enormously and have produced interesting results, including achieving the combination of conflicting properties that are desirable for biomedical applications by severe plastic deformation (SPD) processing. A comprehensive review of the most recent work in this area is systematically presented. The challenges in processing ultrafine-grained Ti materials are identified and discussed. An overview of the biomedical Ti alloys processed with ECAP technique is given in this review, along with a summary of their effect on the important mechanical properties that can be achieved by SPD processing. The paper also offers insights in the mechanisms underlying SPD.

Keywords: mechanical properties, ECAP, titanium, biomedical applications

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Authors: Deepak Mohan, Sushma Sharma

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Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) are a group of widely used drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid diseases and to relieve pain and inflammation due to their analgesic anti-pyretic and anti-inflammatory properties. The therapeutic and many of the toxic effects of NSAIDs result from reversible inhibition of enzymes in the cyclooxygenase (COX) group. In the present investigation the effect of the drug on the concentration of lipids, and on the activity of the enzymes i.e. acid and alkaline phosphatase, GOT, GPT and lipid peroxidase were studied. There was a significant enhancement in the activities of both acid and alkaline phosphatase after 21 days of treatment. Proportionate increase in the MDA contents was observed after different days of diclofenac treatment. Cellular damage in the liver resulted in decrease in the activity of both GOT (Glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase) and GPT (Glutamate pyruvate transaminase) in both low and high dose groups. Significant decrease in the liver contents was also observed in both dose groups.

Keywords: anti-inflammatory, cyclooxygenase, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, malondialdehyde

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Authors: Marcela Capcarova, Adriana Kolesarova, Marina Medvedova, Peter Petruska, Alexander V. Sirotkin

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The aim of this study was to determine the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), total antioxidant status (TAS) and accumulation of Hsp70 in porcine ovarian granulosa cells after deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) exposure in vitro. Porcine ovarian granulosa cells were incubated with DON/ZEA administrations as follows: group A (10/10 ng/mL), group B (100/100 ng/mL), group C (1000/1000 ng/mL), and the control group without any additions for 24h. In this study mycotoxins developed stress reaction of porcine ovarian granulosa cells and increased accumulation of Hsp70 what resulted in increasing activities of SOD and GPx in groups with lower doses of mycotoxins. High dose of DON and ZEA had opposite effect on GPx activity than the lower doses. Slight increase in TAS of porcine granulosa cells was observed after mycotoxins exposure. These results contribute towards the understanding of cellular stress and its response.

Keywords: deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, antioxidants, Hsp70, granulosa cells

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Authors: Giovane Gurgel, Cristina S. Rodrigues, Filipa D. Vieira

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IFRN – Mossoró is a Brazilian technical education institute that develops several activities to encourage entrepreneurship, such as a curricular discipline about enterprise management and the existence of a business incubator. Despite efforts, the business incubator does not produce the expected effects. Therefore, what predisposes students to start their own business? If literature review explores determinant factors like the family and personal characteristics, it can be sustained that entrepreneurship skills can be taught since primary level, until university level. This paper presents the results of research project “Empreende IFRN” to understand the entrepreneurial predisposition and intention of the students from technical level courses. Data from 365 students from technical level courses reveal an increased entrepreneurial intention of students during time (from a 2 years period to someday in the future). The entrepreneurial behaviour of parents affects students’ perception about starting their own business. Students also present a cautions behaviour, preferring bank deposit and investment fund instead starting a business.

Keywords: Brazil, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurship, secondary technical students

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Authors: Janet Tolulope Olaseni

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Emotional well-being in adolescents is an important psychological factor that can enhance positive living, but if it is not well groomed, it can have adverse impacts on their development. Therefore, the present study examined the efficacy of psycho-education on the emotional well-being of adolescents who are visually impaired in Nigeria. A total of twenty-eight (28) participants, which comprisednineteen (19) males and nine (9) females (M=15.82, SD=2.23) from a Nigerian School for the Blind, participated in the quasi-experimental study. Randomized clinical trial designwas used to assigned the participants into three (Complete Psycho-education, Incomplete Psycho-education, and No Psycho-education) groups. Standardized scales were used to gather data from the respondents. The formulated hypotheses were tested using Dependent T-Test and Analysis of Co-Variance. The results showed that there was a significant effect of Psycho-education on the emotional well-being of the Visually Impaired Adolescents. Those who received complete Psycho-educationhad the highest level of emotional well-being compared to those in the other groups. In order to enhance the emotional well-being of the Visually Impaired Adolescents, the study recommended that complete Psycho-education programme should be incorporated into the school activities of the Visually Impaired Adolescents.

Keywords: emotional well-being, psycho-education, visually impaired adolescents, Nigeria

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Authors: Gordon Newlove Asamoah, Wendy Ama Oti

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This study focused on evaluating access to finance for local oil field companies in Ghana. The study adopted a census survey design in evaluating access to finance for local oil field companies in Ghana. The respondents of this study were 30 management members of three oil field companies in Ghana. The data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) to generate tables and graphs for interpretation. The results show that most companies use equity financing in combination with other forms of financing to finance their business activities. This research has shown the various challenges bordering on the financing of local oil and gas projects, with emphasis on the challenges of raising funds by indigenous oil companies. Financing of the projects by indigenous oil field companies in Ghana is preferably achieved through equity finance mainly because it is the easiest to get compared to all the other forms of financing available. Other sources of financing available are debt financing, joint venture, and retained earnings from the profits generated from their operations. The study made recommendations to local oil field companies as to how they can make good use of the capital market to raise financing.

Keywords: access, financing, oil fields, Ghana

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Authors: Nuray Güy, Mahmut Özacar

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Semiconductor nanoparticles such as TiO₂ and ZnO as photocatalysts are very efficient catalysts for wastewater treatment by the chemical utilization of light energy, which is capable of converting the toxic and nonbiodegradable organic compounds into carbon dioxide and mineral acids. ZnO semiconductor has a wide bandgap energy of 3.37 eV and a relatively large exciton binding Energy (60 meV), thus can absorb only UV light with the wavelength equal to or less than 385 nm. It exhibits low efficiency under visible light illumination due to its wide band gap energy. In order to improve photocatalytic activity of ZnO under visible light, band gap of ZnO may be narrowed by doping such as N, C, S nonmetal ions and coupled two separate semiconductors possessing different energy levels for their corresponding conduction and valence bands. ZnS has a wider band gap (Eg=3.7 eV) than ZnO and generates electron–hole pairs by photoexcitation rapidly. In the present work, N doped ZnO/ZnS nano photocatalysts with visible-light response were synthesized by microwave-hydrothermal method using thiourea as N source. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and UV–visible (UV–vis). The photocatalytic activities samples and undoped ZnO have been studied for the degradation of dye, and have also been compared with together.

Keywords: photocatalyst, synthesis, visible light, ZnO/ZnS

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Authors: Piedad Garrido, Fernando Repulles, Andy Bloor, Julio A. Sanguesa, Jesus Gallardo, Vicente Torres, Jesus Tramullas

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With the emergence and development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), Higher Education is experiencing rapid changes, not only in its teaching strategies but also in student’s learning skills. However, we have noticed that students often have difficulty when seeking innovative, useful, and interesting learning resources for their work. This is due to the lack of supervision in the selection of good query tools. This paper presents AINA, an Information Retrieval (IR) computer system aimed at providing motivating and stimulating content to both students and teachers working on different areas and at different educational levels. In particular, our proposal consists of an open virtual resource environment oriented to the vast universe of Disney comics and cartoons. Our test suite includes Disney’s long and shorts films, and we have performed some activities based on the Just In Time Teaching (JiTT) methodology. More specifically, it has been tested by groups of university and secondary school students.

Keywords: information retrieval, animation, educational resources, JiTT

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Authors: Rania Abdulkareem Aboubakr Mahdaly Ammar

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The aortic valve (AV) is a complex mechanical environment that includes flexure, tension, pressure and shear stress forces to blood flow during cardiac cycle. This mechanical environment regulates AV tissue structure by constantly renewing and remodeling the phenotype. In vitro, ex vivo and in vivo studies have explained that pathological states such as hypertension and congenital defects like bicuspid AV ( BAV ) can potentially alter the AV’s mechanical environment, triggering a cascade of remodeling, inflammation and calcification activities in AV tissue. Changes in mechanical environments are first sent by the endothelium that induces changes in the extracellular matrix, and triggers cell differentiation and activation. However, the molecular mechanism of this process is not very well understood. Understanding these mechanisms is critical for the development of effective medical based therapies. Recently, there have been some interesting studies on characterizing the hemodynamics associated with AV, especially in pathologies like BAV, using different experimental and numerical methods. Here, we review the current knowledge of the local AV mechanical environment and its effect on valve biology, focusing on in vitro and ex vivo approaches.

Keywords: aortic valve mechanobiology, bicuspid calcification, pressure stretch, shear stress

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Authors: Wartika Memed Purawinata, Kridanto Surendro, Husni Sastramiharja, Iping Supriana S.

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The information system is one of the contributors to environmental degradation and pollution are known to be released, such as the increasing of use of IT equipment and energy consumption , life cycles of IT equipment are getting shorter, IT equipment waste disposal and so on, therefore the information system should have a role in related environmental issues. Organization need to develop the ability of green to minimize negative impacts on the environment. Although the green information system is an important topic, many organizations fail to manage the environment in a way that is adequate because they ignore aspect of strategy. Alignment strategy is very important to ensure that all people do the activities of the organization headed in the same direction. Alignment strategy helps organization, determine which is more important for organization, and then make road mad to achieve the organization goal. Therefore, this paper discusses the review of the alignment, information systems strategy, and IS green strategy. With this discussion is expected there is an understanding about the alignment of information systems strategy and strategy of green IS, and its relationship with the achievement of business goals that have commitment to reduce the negative impact of information systems on the environment.

Keywords: alignment, strategy, information system, green

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Authors: Norfiza Ibrahim, Norshuhada Shiratuddin, Siti Mahfuzah Sarif

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Decision-making system is used to facilitate people in making the right choice for their important daily activities. For the youth, proper guidance in making important decisions is needed. Their skills in decision-making aid decisions will indirectly affect their future. For that reason, this study focuses on the intelligent aspects in the development of intelligent decision support application. The aid apparently integrates Personality Traits (PT) and Multiple Intelligence (MI) data in development of a computerized personal decision aid for youth named as Youth Personal Decision Aid (Youth PDA). This study is concerned with the aid’s helpfulness based on the hybrid intelligent process. There are four main items involved which are reliability, decision making effort, confidence, as well as decision process awareness. Survey method was applied to the actual user of this system, namely the school and the Institute of Higher Education (IPT)’s students. An establish instrument was used to evaluate the study. The results of the analysis and findings in the assessment indicates a high mean value of the four dimensions in helping Youth PDA to be accepted as a useful tool for the youth in decision-making.

Keywords: decision support, multiple intelligent, personality traits, youth personal decision aid

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Authors: Tanit Pruktara

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The research aimed to study the students’ learning achievement and awareness level on electrical energy consumption and conservation and also to investigate the students’ attitude on the developed multimedia supplemented instructional unit for learning household electrical energy consumption and conservation in grade 10 Thailand student. This study used a quantitative method using MCQ for pre and post-achievement tests and Likert scales for awareness and attitude survey questionnaires. The results from this were employed to improve the multimedia to be appropriate for the classroom and with real life situations in the second phase, the main study. The experimental results showed that the developed learning unit significantly improved the students’ learning achievement as well as their awareness of electric energy conservation. Additional we found the student will enjoy participating in class activities when the lessons are taught using multimedia and helps them to develop the relevance between the course and real world situations.

Keywords: lesson plan, media and animations, training course, vocational school in Thailand

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Authors: Damian Gordon, Paul Doyle, Anna Becevel, Júlia Vilafranca Molero, Cinta Gascon, Arianna Vitiello, Tina Baloh

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It has long been recognized that the creation of any teaching content can be enhanced if the development process follows a pre-defined approach, which is often referred to as an instructional design methodology. These methodologies typically define a number of stages, or phases, that an educator should undertake to help ensure the quality of the final teaching content that is developed. In this paper, we present an instructional design methodology that is focused specifically on the introduction of blended resources into a heretofore bricks-and-mortar course. To achieve this, research was undertaken concerning a range of models of instructional design, as well as literature covering some of the key challenges and “pain points” of blending. Following this, our model, the BL-5D model, is presented, which incorporates some key questions at each stage of this five-stage methodology to guide the development process. Finally, a discussion of some of the key themes and issues that have been uncovered in this work is presented, as well as a template for a blended learning case study that emerged from this approach.

Keywords: blended learning, challenges of blended learning, design methodologies, instructional design

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Authors: Cesar Maximo Oliva González, Javier Acevedo Cortez, Boris Kharisov, Thelma Serrano Quezada

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The importance of the crude oil refining process is due to the demand for petroleum products such as gasoline, kerosene, asphalt, etc., which are used in daily activities and have a high impact on the global economy. In the processes of oil obtaining and refining, it is common to find problems such as spills on seabed and high energy consumption in processing. In order to quickly and efficiently attack these problems, the use of adsorbents has taken on great importance due to its ease of implementation, as well as the possibility of their regeneration to be reused. In this work, the use of two types of adsorbents is proposed: the first is a natural adsorbent such as aloe vera or nopal, which were lyophilized and hydrophobized to achieve a selectivity in oil adsorption in oil / water mixtures. The second is a mixed iron/nickel oxide, which is specially designed to adsorb the asphaltenes in the heavy fractions of the oil; in addition, this type of adsorbents presents catalytic properties that manage to decompose the heavier fractions of the petroleum in light hydrocarbons, descending thus the energy required for the oil refining process.

Keywords: nanomaterials, oil spills, remediation, natural adsorbents, mixed oxides

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Authors: Chattrarat Hotrawaisaya

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This research aims to formulate the logistics collaborative model which is the management tool for orchid flower exporter. The researchers study logistics activities in orchid supply chain that stakeholders can collaborate and develop, including demand forecasting, inventory management, warehouse and storage, order-processing, and transportation management. The research also explores logistics collaboration implementation into orchid’s stakeholders. The researcher collected data before implementation and after model implementation. Consequently, the costs and efficiency were calculated and compared between pre and post period of implementation. The research found that the results of applying the logistics collaborative model to orchid exporter reduces inventory cost and transport cost. The model also improves forecasting accuracy, and synchronizes supply chain of exporter. This research paper contributes the uniqueness logistics collaborative model which value to orchid industry in Thailand. The orchid exporters may use this model as their management tool which aims in competitive advantage.

Keywords: logistics, orchid, supply chain, collaboration

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Authors: Rim Bouhaouel, Naoufel Kraïem, Zuhoor Al Khanjari

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Unified Modeling Language (UML) is considered as one of the widespread modeling language standardized by the Object Management Group (OMG). Therefore, the model driving engineering (MDE) community attempts to provide reuse of UML diagrams, and do not construct it from scratch. The UML model appears according to a specific software development process. The existing method generation models focused on the different techniques of transformation without considering the development process. Our work aims to construct an UML component from fragments of UML diagram basing on an agile method. We define UML fragment as a portion of a UML diagram, which express a business target. To guide the generation of fragments of UML models using an agile process, we need a flexible approach, which adapts to the agile changes and covers all its activities. We use the software product line (SPL) to derive a fragment of process agile method. This paper explains our approach, named RECUP, to generate UML fragments following an agile process, and overviews the different aspects. In this paper, we present the approach and we define the different phases and artifacts.

Keywords: UML, component, fragment, agile, SPL

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Authors: Nicole Merkle, Stefan Zander

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Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) describes a technological and methodological stack of (e.g. formal model-theoretic semantics, rule-based reasoning and machine learning), different aspects regarding the behavior, activities and characteristics of humans. Hence, a semantic representation of the user environment and its relevant elements are required in order to allow assistive agents to recognize situations and deduce appropriate actions. Furthermore, the user and his/her characteristics (e.g. physical, cognitive, preferences) need to be represented with a high degree of expressiveness in order to allow software agents a precise evaluation of the users’ context models. The correct interpretation of these context models highly depends on temporal, spatial circumstances as well as individual user preferences. In most AAL approaches, model representations of real world situations represent the current state of a universe of discourse at a given point in time by neglecting transitions between a set of states. However, the AAL domain currently lacks sufficient approaches that contemplate on the dynamic adaptions of context-related representations. Semantic representations of relevant real-world excerpts (e.g. user activities) help cognitive, rule-based agents to reason and make decisions in order to help users in appropriate tasks and situations. Furthermore, rules and reasoning on semantic models are not sufficient for handling uncertainty and fuzzy situations. A certain situation can require different (re-)actions in order to achieve the best results with respect to the user and his/her needs. But what is the best result? To answer this question, we need to consider that every smart agent requires to achieve an objective, but this objective is mostly defined by domain experts who can also fail in their estimation of what is desired by the user and what not. Hence, a smart agent has to be able to learn from context history data and estimate or predict what is most likely in certain contexts. Furthermore, different agents with contrary objectives can cause collisions as their actions influence the user’s context and constituting conditions in unintended or uncontrolled ways. We present an approach for dynamically updating a semantic model with respect to the current user context that allows flexibility of the software agents and enhances their conformance in order to improve the user experience. The presented approach adapts rules by learning sensor evidence and user actions using probabilistic reasoning approaches, based on given expert knowledge. The semantic domain model consists basically of device-, service- and user profile representations. In this paper, we present how this semantic domain model can be used in order to compute the probability of matching rules and actions. We apply this probability estimation to compare the current domain model representation with the computed one in order to adapt the formal semantic representation. Our approach aims at minimizing the likelihood of unintended interferences in order to eliminate conflicts and unpredictable side-effects by updating pre-defined expert knowledge according to the most probable context representation. This enables agents to adapt to dynamic changes in the environment which enhances the provision of adequate assistance and affects positively the user satisfaction.

Keywords: ambient intelligence, machine learning, semantic web, software agents

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Authors: Rekia. Cherbi, Mokhtar. Saidi, Mohamed. Yousfi, Zhor. Rahmani

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Lawsonia alba (Henna) is widely used in folkloric medicinal for a treatment of various skin diseases such as Eczema (atopic dermatitis), boils and sores. The aim of the present study is to determine the antioxidant activity, total phenolics, flavonoids, and condensed tannins content of extracts from the seeds of Lawsonia. alba grown in Algeria and selected from three different regions (Adrar, Biskra, and Ouargla). Total phenolics content ranged from 68,42 ± 0,54 to 88,31 ± 0,78mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g dry weight, the flavonoids content varied from 1,13 ± 0,0035 to 1,367 ± 0,002mg quercetin equivalents (Q)/ g dry weight and condensed tannins (14,47 ± 0,138 to 25,50 ± 0,076 mg catechin equivalents (CE)/g dry weight). The antioxidant activities of the extracts were evaluated by DPPH assay. The results showed that all extracts from the seeds of Lawsonia. alba seem to be good trappers of radicals, the IC50 values of the extracts ranged between 0,00826 and 0,01 g/l.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, Lawsonia. alba, phenolic compounds, seeds

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Authors: Zongping Wang, Chengjun Cui, Jiacun Wang

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The concept of intelligence has been widely used to access an individual's cognitive abilities to learn, form concepts, understand, apply logic, and reason. According to the multiple intelligence theory, there are eight distinguished types of intelligence. One of them is the bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence that links to the capacity of an individual controlling his body and working with objects. Motor intelligence, on the other hand, reflects the capacity to understand, perceive and solve functional problems by motor behavior. Both bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence and motor intelligence refer directly or indirectly to bodily capacity. Inspired by these two intelligence concepts, this paper introduces motional intelligence (MI). MI is two-fold. (1) Body strength, which is the capacity of various organ functions manifested by muscle activity under the control of the central nervous system during physical exercises. It can be measured by the magnitude of muscle contraction force, the frequency of repeating a movement, the time to finish a movement of body position, the duration to maintain muscles in a working status, etc. Body strength reflects the objective of MI. (2) Level of psychiatric willingness to physical events. It is a subjective thing and determined by an individual’s self-consciousness to physical events and resistance to fatigue. As such, we call it subjective MI. Subjective MI can be improved through education and proper social events. The improvement of subjective MI can lead to that of objective MI. A quantitative score of an individual’s MI is motional quotient (MQ). MQ is affected by several factors, including genetics, physical training, diet and lifestyle, family and social environment, and personal awareness of the importance of physical exercise. Genes determine one’s body strength potential. Physical training, in general, makes people stronger, faster and swifter. Diet and lifestyle have a direct impact on health. Family and social environment largely affect one’s passion for physical activities, so does personal awareness of the importance of physical exercise. The key to the success of the MQ study is developing an acceptable and efficient system that can be used to assess MQ objectively and quantitatively. We should apply different accessing systems to different groups of people according to their ages and genders. Field test, laboratory test and questionnaire are among essential components of MQ assessment. A scientific interpretation of MQ score is part of an MQ assessment system as it will help an individual to improve his MQ. IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient) and their test have been studied intensively. We argue that IQ and EQ study alone is not sufficient for an individual’s all round development. The significance of MQ study is that it offsets IQ and EQ study. MQ reflects an individual’s mental level as well as bodily level of intelligence in physical activities. It is well-known that the American Springfield College seal includes the Luther Gulick triangle with the words “spirit,” “mind,” and “body” written within it. MQ, together with IQ and EQ, echoes this education philosophy. Since its inception in 2012, the MQ research has spread rapidly in China. By now, six prestigious universities in China have established research centers on MQ and its assessment.

Keywords: motional Intelligence, motional quotient, multiple intelligence, motor intelligence, all round development

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Authors: Virgil Florescu, Lucian Capitanu

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The studies performed by the author and presented here focus mainly on the FE simulation of some relevant phenomena related to stability of orthopedic implants, especially those components of Total Hip Prostheses. The objectives are to study the mechanisms of achieving stability of acetabular prosthetic components and the influence of some characteristic parameters, to evaluate the effect of femoral stem fixation modality on the stability of prosthetic component and to predict long-term behavior, to analyze a critical phenomena which influence the loading transfer mechanism through artificial joints and could lead to aseptic loosening – the wear of joint frictional surfaces. After a theoretical background an application is made considering only three activities: normal walking, stair ascending and stair descending. For each activity, this function is maximized in a different locations: if for normal walking the maxima is in the superior-posterior part of the acetabular cup, for stair descending this maxim value could be located rather in the superior-anterior part, for stair ascending being even closer to the central area of the cup.

Keywords: THA, acetabular stability, FEM simulation, stresses and displacements, wear tests, wear simulation

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Authors: Niyi Adegoke, Saanumi Jimmy Omolou

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The prevalence rate of youth involving in cybercrime is alarming, which calls for concern among the government, parents, NGO and religious bodies, hence this paper aims at examining youth involvement in cybercrime in Nigeria. Achievement motivation theory was used to explain the activities of cyber-criminals in Nigerian society. A descriptive survey method was adopted for the study. The sample for the study was one hundred and fifty (150) respondents randomly selected from the population of the study. A questionnaire was used to gather information and data from the respondents. Data collected through the questionnaire were analyzed using percentage tool for the respondents’ bio-data while chi-square was employed to test the hypotheses. Findings from the study have revealed that parental negligence, unemployment, peer influence, and quest for materialism were responsible for cyber-crimes in Nigeria. The study concludes with the following recommendations among which are: creating employment opportunities for the youths and ensure good governance and accountability among other things will go a long way to solve the problem of cybercrime in our society.

Keywords: cybercrime, youth, Nigeria, unemployment, information communication technology

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Authors: Muhammad Saleem

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The research paper entitled above would be a comprehensive and critical study of translations of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an. The discussion will deal with the targets & purposes of Urdu (National Language of Pakistan) translators of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an. There are more than 400 translations of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an in the Urdu Language. Muslims, non-Muslims and some organizations have made translations of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an to meet various targets. It is observed that all Urdu translators have not translated the Qur’an with a single objective and motivation; rather, some are biased and strive to discredit the Qur’an. Thus, they have made unauthentic and fabricated translations of the Qur’an. Some optimistically believe that they intend to do a service, whereas others pessimistically hold that they treacherously seek to further their rule. Some of them have been observed to be against Islam, starting their activities with spite, but after perceiving the truths of Islam and the miracle and greatness of the Holy Qur’an, they submitted to Islam, embracing it with pure hearts. Some translators made their translations of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an to serve Allah, and some of them have done their translations to earn only. All these translations vary from one to another due to style, trend, type, method and style. Some Urdu translations have been made to fulfill the lingual requirements. Some translations have been made by Muslim scholars to reduce the influence of Urdu translations of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an by Non-Muslims. The article deals with the various purposes of the translators of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an.

Keywords: Qur'an, translation, urdu, language

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Authors: L. Cesari, D. Alonso, F. Mutelet

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The interest in cold production has been on the increase in absorption chillers for many years. In fact, the absorption cycles replace the compressor and thus reduce electrical consumption. The devices also allow waste heat generated through industrial activities to be recovered and cooled to a moderate temperature in accordance with regulatory guidelines. Many working fluids were investigated but could not compete with the commonly used {H2O + LiBr} and {H2O + NH3} to author’s best knowledge. Yet, the corrosion, toxicity and crystallization phenomena of these mixtures prevent the development of the absorption technology. This work investigates the possible use of a glyceline deep eutectic solvent (DES) and CO2 as working fluid in an absorption chiller. To do so, good knowledge of the mixtures is required. Experimental measurements (vapor-liquid equilibria, density, and heat capacity) were performed to complete the data lacking in the literature. The performance of the mixtures was quantified by the calculation of the coefficient of performance (COP). The results show that working fluids containing DES + CO2 are an interesting alternative and lead to different trails of working mixtures for absorption and chiller.

Keywords: absorption devices, deep eutectic solvent, energy valorization, experimental data, simulation

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Authors: Pairah Bte Satariman

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This study is carried out to evaluate Malay Language Curriculum for secondary schools in Singapore. The evaluation focuses on the implementation of Spoken Interaction Skill which was recommended by the Curriculum Review Committee in 2010. The study found that the students face difficulty in communicating interactively with others in their daily activities. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the results (products) on the implementation of this skill since 2011. The research used a qualitative method which includes oral test and interview with students and teachers teaching the subject. Preliminary findings show that generally, the students are not able to communicate interactively and fluently in the oral test unless they are given enough prompts. The teachers feel that the implementation of the skill is timely as students are more keen to use English in their daily communication even in Malay Language Classes. Teachers also mentioned the challenges in the implementation such as insufficient curriculum time and teaching materials.

Keywords: evaluation, Malay language curriculum, spoken interaction skills, communication, implementation

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Authors: Triano Nurhikmat

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Along with the progress of science and technology, the development of the industrialized world in Indonesia took place very rapidly. This leads to a process of industrialization of society Indonesia faster with the establishment of the company and the workplace are diverse. Development of the industry relates to the activity of the worker. Where in these work activities do not cover the possibility of an impending crash on either the workers or on a construction project. The cause of the occurrence of industrial accidents was the fault of electrical damage, work procedures, and error technique. The method of an association rule is one of the main techniques in data mining and is the most common form used in finding the patterns of data collection. In this research would like to know how relations of the association between the incidence of any industrial accidents. Therefore, by using methods of analysis association rule patterns associated with combination obtained two iterations item set (2 large item set) when every factor of industrial accidents with a West Jakarta so industrial accidents caused by the occurrence of an electrical value damage = 0.2 support and confidence value = 1, and the reverse pattern with value = 0.2 support and confidence = 0.75.

Keywords: association rule, data mining, industrial accidents, rules

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Authors: Alma M. Corpuz

Abstract:

This study evaluated the supplemental feeding program for 59 undernourished pupils in an elementary school located in one of the depressed communities in Tarlac City, Philippines in SY 2013-2014. Pupils were fed for one month with heavy breakfast and afternoon snacks. They were also given vitamins daily. Findings revealed that most of the pupils regained normal Body Mass Indices (BMIs) during a routine weighing in the school opening. In addition, results revealed that the academic performance of the pupils in the 4th Quarter, after the feeding program, was higher compared to the 3rd Quarter period. The researchers recommended that school extension programs should prioritize activities to address malnutrition among pupils to help them perform well in academics. In addition, feeding programs must include heavy meal plans like what was implemented in this project. The feeding program must also include giving of milk and vitamins to ensure significant improvement in their nutrition. It is also important that feacalysis and deworming be performed before the feeding program and proper handwashing be integrated into the feeding activity.

Keywords: wasted, severely wasted, body mass index, supplemental feeding

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Authors: Valentine Seymour

Abstract:

Environmental volunteering organisations use questionnaires to explore the relationship between environmental volunteers and their health. To the author’s best knowledge, no one has explored volunteers’ health perception, which could be considered when designing a health impact measurement tool used to increase effective communication. This paper examines environmental volunteers' perceptions of health, knowledge which can be used to design a health impact measurement tool. This study uses focus group interviews, content analysis, and a general inductive approach to explore the health perceptions of volunteers who engage in environmental volunteering activities from the perspective of UK charity The Conservation Volunteers. Findings showed that volunteer groups presented were relatively similar in how they defined the term health, with their overall conceptual model closely resembling that of the World Health Organization 1948 definition. This suggests that future health impact measurement tools in the environmental volunteering sector could base their design around the World Health Organization’s definition.

Keywords: health perception, impact measurement, mental models, tool development

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Sovit Pujari

Abstract:

In the developing countries like Nepal, the community-based forest management approach has often been glorified as one of the best forest management alternatives to maximize the forest benefits. Though the approach has succeeded to construct a local level institution and conserve the forest biodiversity, how the local communities perceived about the forest benefits, the question always remains silent among the researchers and policy makers. The paper aims to explore the understanding of forest benefits from the perspective of local communities who used the forests in terms of institutional stability, equity and livelihood opportunity, and ecological stability. The paper revealed that the local communities have mixed understanding over the forest benefits. The institutional and ecological activities carried out by the local communities indicated that they have a better understanding over the forest benefits. However, inequality while sharing the forest benefits, low pricing strategy and its negative consequences in the valuation of forest products and limited livelihood opportunities indicating the poor understanding.

Keywords: community based forest management, low pricing strategy, forest benefits, livelihood opportunities, Nepal

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Authors: R. Testoni, R. Levizzari, M. De Salve

Abstract:

Radioactive waste management is fundamental to safeguard population and environment by radiological risks. Environmental assessment of a site, where nuclear activities are located, allows understanding the hydro geological system and the radionuclides transport in groundwater and subsoil. Use of dedicated software is the basis of transport phenomena investigation and for dynamic scenarios prediction; this permits to understand the evolution of accidental contamination events, but at the same time the potentiality of the software itself can be verified. The aim of this paper is to perform a numerical analysis by means of HYDRUS 1D code, so as to evaluate radionuclides transport in a nuclear site in Piedmont region (Italy). In particular, the behaviour in vadose zone was investigated. An iterative assessment process was performed for risk assessment of radioactive contamination. The analysis therein developed considers the following aspects: i) hydro geological site characterization; ii) individuation of the main intrinsic and external site factors influencing water flow and radionuclides transport phenomena; iii) software potential for radionuclides leakage simulation purposes.

Keywords: HYDRUS 1D, radionuclides transport phenomena, site characterization, radiation protection

Procedia PDF Downloads 397