Search results for: goal orientation

Authors: B. Orser, A. Riding, Y. Li

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To inform government about how gender gaps in SME ( small and medium-sized enterprise) contracting might be redressed, the research question was: What are the key obstacles to, and response strategies for, increasing the engagement of women business owners among SME suppliers to the government of Canada? Thirty-five interviews with senior policymakers, supplier diversity organization executives, and expert witnesses to the Canadian House of Commons, Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. Qualitative data were conducted and analysed using N’Vivo 11 software. High order response categories included: (a) SME risk mitigation strategies, (b) SME procurement program design, and (c) performance measures. Primary obstacles cited were government red tape and long and complicated requests for proposals (RFPs). The majority of 'common' complaints occur when SMEs have questions about the federal procurement process. Witness responses included use of outcome-based rather than prescriptive procurement practices, more agile procurement, simplified RFPs, making payment within 30 days a procurement priority. Risk mitigation strategies included provision of procurement officers to assess risks and opportunities for businesses and development of more agile procurement procedures and processes. Recommendations to enhance program design included: improved definitional consistency of qualifiers and selection criteria, better co-ordination across agencies; clarification about how SME suppliers benefit from federal contracting; goal setting; specification of categories that are most suitable for women-owned businesses; and, increasing primary contractor awareness about the importance of subcontract relationships. Recommendations also included third-party certification of eligible firms and the need to enhance SMEs’ financial literacy to reduce financial errors. Finally, there remains the need for clear and consistent pre-program statistics to establish baselines (by sector, issuing department) performance measures, targets based on percentage of contracts granted, value of contract, percentage of target employee (women, indigenous), and community benefits including hiring local employees. The study advances strategies to enhance federal procurement programs to facilitate socio-economic policy objectives.

Keywords: procurement, small business, policy, women

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Authors: Nazia Muhsin, Tofael Ahamed, Ryozo Noguchi, Tomohiro Takigawa

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One of the most challenging issues to achieve sustainable development on food security is land use changes. The crisis of lands for agricultural production mainly arises from the unplanned transformation of agricultural lands to infrastructure development i.e. urbanization and industrialization. Land use without sustainability assessment could have impact on the food security and environmental protections. Bangladesh, as the densely populated country with limited arable lands is now facing challenges to meet sustainable food security. Agricultural lands are using for economic growth by establishing industries. The industries are spreading from urban areas to the suburban areas and using the agricultural lands. To minimize the agricultural land losses for unplanned industrialization, compact economic zones should be find out in a scientific approach. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to find out suitable sites for industrial growth by land suitability analysis (LSA) by using Geographical Information System (GIS) and multi-criteria analysis (MCA). The goal of the study was to emphases both agricultural lands and industries for sustainable development in land use. The study also attempted to analysis the agricultural land use changes in a suburban area by statistical data of agricultural lands and primary data of the existing industries of the study place. The criteria were selected as proximity to major roads, and proximity to local roads, distant to rivers, waterbodies, settlements, flood-flow zones, agricultural lands for the LSA. The spatial dataset for the criteria were collected from the respective departments of Bangladesh. In addition, the elevation spatial dataset were used from the SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) data source. The criteria were further analyzed with factors and constraints in ArcGIS®. Expert’s opinion were applied for weighting the criteria according to the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), a multi-criteria technique. The decision rule was set by using ‘weighted overlay’ tool to aggregate the factors and constraints with the weights of the criteria. The LSA found only 5% of land was most suitable for industrial sites and few compact lands for industrial zones. The developed LSA are expected to help policy makers of land use and urban developers to ensure the sustainability of land uses and agricultural production.

Keywords: AHP (analytical hierarchy process), GIS (geographic information system), LSA (land suitability analysis), MCA (multi-criteria analysis)

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Authors: Nirmal Kundu, Chandan Bhar, Visveswaran Pandurangan

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Technology is the most valued possession for a country or an organization. The economic development depends not on stock of technology but on the capabilities how the technology is being exploited. The technology transfer is the best way how the developing countries have an access to state-of- the-art technology. Traditional technology transfer is a unidirectional phenomenon where technology is transferred from developed to developing countries. But now there is a change of wind. There is a general agreement that global shift of economic power is under way from west to east. As China and India are making the transition from users to producers, and producers to innovators, this has increasing important implications on economy, technology and policy of global trade. As a result, Reverse technology transfer has become a phenomenon and field of study in technology management. The term “Reverse Technology Transfer” is not well defined. Initially the concept of Reverse technology transfer was associated with the phenomenon of “Brain drain” from developing to developed countries. In the second phase, Reverse Technology Transfer was associated with the transfer of knowledge and technology from subsidiaries to multinationals. Finally, time has come now to extend the concept of reverse technology transfer to two different organizations or countries related or unrelated by traditional technology transfer but the transfer or has essentially received the technology through traditional mode of technology transfer. The objective of this paper is to study; 1) the present status of Reverse technology transfer, 2) the factors which are the enablers and barriers of Reverse technology transfer and 3) how the reverse technology transfer strategy can be integrated in the technology policy of a country which will give the countries an economic boost. The research methodology used in this study is a combination of literature review, case studies and key informant interviews. The literature review includes both published as well as unpublished sources of literature. In case study, attempt has been made to study the records of reverse technology transfer that have been occurred in developing countries. In case of key informant interviews, informal telephonic discussions have been carried out with the key executives of the organizations (industry, university and research institutions) who are actively engaged in the process of technology transfer- traditional as well as reverse. Reverse technology transfer is possible only by creating technological capabilities. Following four important enablers coupled with government active and aggressive action can help to build technology base to reach to the goal of Reverse technology transfer 1) Imitation to innovation, 2) Reverse engineering, 3) Collaborative R & D approach, and 4) Preventing reverse brain drain. The barriers that come in the way are the mindset of over dependence, over subordination and parent–child attitude (not adult attitude). Exploitation of these enablers and overcoming the barriers of reverse technology transfer, the developing countries like India and China can prove that going “reverse” is the best way to move forward and again establish themselves as leader of the future world.

Keywords: barriers of reverse technology transfer, enablers of reverse technology transfer, knowledge transfer, reverse technology transfer, technology transfer

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Authors: Friman Hen, Banner Ifaa, Shalom-Tuchin Bosmat, Einav Yulia

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The action learning course is an academic course which involves academic learning and social activities. The courses deal with processes and social challenges, reveal different ideologies, and develop critical thinking and pragmatic ideas. Students receive course credits and a grade for being part of such courses. Participating students enroll in courses that involve action and activities to engage in the experiential learning process, thereby creating a dialogue and cross-fertilization between being taught in the classroom and experiencing the reality in the real world. A learning experience includes meeting with social organizations, institutions, and state authorities and carrying out practical work with diverse populations. Through experience, students strengthen their academic skills, formulate ethical attitudes toward reality, develop professional and civilian perspectives, and realize how they can influence their surrounding in the present and the hereafter. Under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Hen Friman, H.I.T. has built an innovative course that combines action and activities to increase the awareness and accessibility of the community in an experiential way. The end goal is to create Green Ambassadors—children with a high level of environmental awareness. This course is divided into two parts. The first part, focused on frontal teaching, delivers knowledge from extensive environmental fields to students. These areas include introduction to ecology, the process of electricity generation, air pollution, renewable energy, water economy, waste and recycling, and energy efficiency (first stage). In addition to the professional content in the environment field, students learn the method of effective and experiential teaching to younger learners (4 to 8 years old). With the attainment of knowledge, students are divided into operating groups. The second part of the course shows how the theory becomes practical and concrete. At this stage, students are asked to introduce to the first- and second-graders of ‘Revivim’ School in Holon a lesson of 90 minutes focused on presenting the issues and their importance during the course (second stage). This course is the beginning of a paradigm shift regarding energy usage in the modern society in Israel. The objective of the course is to expand worldwide and train the first and second-graders, and even pre-schoolers, in a wide scope to increase population awareness rate, both in Israel and all over the world, for a green future.

Keywords: air pollution, green ambassador, recycling, renewable energy

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Authors: Inga Žukovaitė

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This paper aims to present postdoc research on remote criminal proceedings in court. In this period, when most countries have introduced the possibility of remote criminal proceedings in their procedural laws, it is not only possible to identify the weaknesses and strengths of the legal regulation but also assess the effectiveness of the instrument used and to develop an approach to the process. The example of some countries (for example, Italy) shows, on the one hand, that criminal procedure, based on orality and immediacy, does not lend itself to easy modifications that pose even a slight threat of devaluation of these principles in a society with well-established traditions of this procedure. On the other hand, such strong opposition and criticism make us ask whether we are facing the possibility of rethinking the traditional ways to understand the safeguards in order to preserve their essence without devaluing their traditional package but looking for new components to replace or compensate for the so-called “loss” of safeguards. The reflection on technological progress in the field of criminal procedural law indicates the need to rethink, on the basis of fundamental procedural principles, the safeguards that can replace or compensate for those that are in crisis as a result of the intervention of technological progress. Discussions in academic doctrine on the impact of technological interventions on the proceedings as such or on the limits of such interventions refer to the principles of criminal procedure as to a point of reference. In the context of the inferiority of technology, scholarly debate still addresses the issue of whether the court will not gradually become a mere site for the exercise of penal power with the resultant consequences – the deformation of the procedure itself as a physical ritual. In this context, this work seeks to illustrate the relationship between remote criminal proceedings in court and the principle of immediacy, the concept of which is based on the application of different models of criminal procedure (inquisitorial and adversarial), the aim is to assess the challenges posed for legal regulation by the interaction of technological progress with the principles of criminal procedure. The main hypothesis to be tested is that the adoption of remote proceedings is directly linked to the prevailing model of criminal procedure, arguing that the more principles of the inquisitorial model are applied to the criminal process, the more remote criminal trial is acceptable, and conversely, the more the criminal process is based on an adversarial model, more the remote criminal process is seen as incompatible with the principle of immediacy. In order to achieve this goal, the following tasks are set: to identify whether there is a difference in assessing remote proceedings with the immediacy principle between the adversarial model and the inquisitorial model, to analyse the main aspects of the regulation of remote criminal proceedings based on the examples of different countries (for example Lithuania, Italy, etc.).

Keywords: remote criminal proceedings, principle of orality, principle of immediacy, adversarial model inquisitorial model

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Authors: Hesam Gholami

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Elevated suspended sediment loads in riverine systems resulting from accelerated erosion due to human activities are a serious threat to the sustainable management of watersheds and ecosystem services therein worldwide. Therefore, mitigation of deleterious sediment effects as a distributed or non-point pollution source in the catchments requires reliable provenance information. Sediment tracing or sediment fingerprinting, as a combined process consisting of sampling, laboratory measurements, different statistical tests, and the application of mixing or unmixing models, is a useful technique for discriminating the sources of sediments. From 1996 to the present, different aspects of this technique, such as grouping the sources (spatial and individual sources), discriminating the potential sources by different statistical techniques, and modification of mixing and unmixing models, have been introduced and modified by many researchers worldwide, and have been applied to identify the provenance of fine materials in agricultural, rural, mountainous, and coastal catchments, and in large catchments with numerous lakes and reservoirs. In the last two decades, efforts exploring the uncertainties associated with sediment fingerprinting results have attracted increasing attention. The frameworks used to quantify the uncertainty associated with fingerprinting estimates can be divided into three groups comprising Monte Carlo simulation, Bayesian approaches and generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE). Given the above background, the primary goal of this study was to apply geochemical fingerprinting within the GLUE framework in the estimation of sub-basin spatial sediment source contributions in the arid Mehran River catchment in southern Iran, which drains into the Persian Gulf. The accuracy of GLUE predictions generated using four different sets of statistical tests for discriminating three sub-basin spatial sources was evaluated using 10 virtual sediments (VS) samples with known source contributions using the root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE). Based on the results, the contributions modeled by GLUE for the western, central and eastern sub-basins are 1-42% (overall mean 20%), 0.5-30% (overall mean 12%) and 55-84% (overall mean 68%), respectively. According to the mean absolute fit (MAF; ≥ 95% for all target sediment samples) and goodness-of-fit (GOF; ≥ 99% for all samples), our suggested modeling approach is an accurate technique to quantify the source of sediments in the catchments. Overall, the estimated source proportions can help watershed engineers plan the targeting of conservation programs for soil and water resources.

Keywords: sediment source tracing, generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation, virtual sediment mixtures, Iran

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Authors: Viviana Ventre, Giacomo Di Tollo, Roberta Martino

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The portfolio selection problem includes the evaluation of many criteria that are difficult to compare directly and is characterized by uncertain elements. The portfolio selection problem can be modeled as a group decision problem in which several experts are invited to present their assessment. In this context, it is important to study and analyze the process of reaching a consensus among group members. Indeed, due to the various diversities among experts, reaching consensus is not necessarily always simple and easily achievable. Moreover, the concept of consensus is accompanied by the concept of false consensus, which is particularly interesting in the dynamics of group decision-making processes. False consensus can alter the evaluation and selection phase of the alternative and is the consequence of the decision maker's inability to recognize that his preferences are conditioned by subjective structures. The present work aims to investigate the dynamics of consensus attainment in a group decision problem in which equivalent portfolios are proposed. In particular, the study aims to analyze the impact of the subjective structure of the decision-maker during the evaluation and selection phase of the alternatives. Therefore, the experimental framework is divided into three phases. In the first phase, experts are sent to evaluate the characteristics of all portfolios individually, without peer comparison, arriving independently at the selection of the preferred portfolio. The experts' evaluations are used to obtain individual Analytical Hierarchical Processes that define the weight that each expert gives to all criteria with respect to the proposed alternatives. This step provides insight into how the decision maker's decision process develops, step by step, from goal analysis to alternative selection. The second phase includes the description of the decision maker's state through Markov chains. In fact, the individual weights obtained in the first phase can be reviewed and described as transition weights from one state to another. Thus, with the construction of the individual transition matrices, the possible next state of the expert is determined from the individual weights at the end of the first phase. Finally, the experts meet, and the process of reaching consensus is analyzed by considering the single individual state obtained at the previous stage and the false consensus bias. The work contributes to the study of the impact of subjective structures, quantified through the Analytical Hierarchical Process, and how they combine with the false consensus bias in group decision-making dynamics and the consensus reaching process in problems involving the selection of equivalent portfolios.

Keywords: analytical hierarchical process, consensus building, false consensus effect, markov chains, portfolio selection problem

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Authors: Michelann Parr

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Family-school-community engagement enhances family-school-community well-being, collective confidence, and school climate. While it is often referred to as a positive thing in the literature for families, schools, and communities, it does not come without its struggles. While there are numerous things families, schools, and communities do each and every day to enhance engagement, it is often difficult to find our way to true belonging and engagement. Working our way surface level barriers is easy; we can provide childcare, transportation, resources, and refreshments. We can even change the environment so that families will feel welcome, valued, and respected. But there are often mindsets and perpsectives buried deep below the surface, most often grounded in societal, familial, and political norms, expectations, pressures, and narratives. This work requires ongoing energy, commitment, and engagement of all stakeholders, including families, schools, and communities. Each and every day, we need to take a reflective and introspective stance at what is said and done and how it supports the overall goal of family-school-community engagement. And whatever we must occur within a paradigm of care in additional to one of critical thinking and social justice. Families, and those working with families, must not simply accept all that is given, but should instead ask these types of questions: a) How, and by whom, are the current philosophies and practices of family-school engagement interrogated? b) How might digging below surface level meanings support understanding of what is being said and done? c) How can we move toward meaningful and authentic engagement that balances knowledge and power between family, school, district, community (local and global), and government? This type of work requires conscious attention and intentional decision-making at all levels bringing us one step closer to authentic and meaningful partnerships. Strategies useful to building a growth mindset include: a) interrogating and exploring consistencies and inconsistencies by looking at what is done and what is not done through multiple perspectives; b) recognizing that enhancing family-engagement and changing mindsets take place at the micro-level (e.g., family and school), but also require active engagement and awareness at the macro-level (e.g., community agencies, district school boards, government); c) taking action as an advocate or activist. Negative narratives about families, schools, and communities should not be maintained, but instead critical and courageous conversations in and out of school should be initiated and sustained; and d) maintaining consistency, simplicity, and steady progress. All involved in engagement need to be aware of the struggles, but keep them in check with the many successes. Change may not be observed on a day-to-day basis or even immediately, but stepping back and looking from the outside in, might change the view. Working toward a growth mindset will produce better results than a fixed mindset, and this takes time.

Keywords: family engagment, family-school-community engagement, parent engagement, parent involvment

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Authors: Andrea S. Badillo-Perez, Alexis D. Mitchell, Sara M. Levens

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Overeating, and obesity have been associated with addictive behavior, primarily due to behaviors like reward-based eating, the tendency to overeat due to factors such as lack of control, preoccupation over food, and lack of satiation. Temporal discounting (TD), the ability to select future rewards over short term gains, and mindfulness, the process of maintaining present moment awareness, have been suggested to have significant, differential impacts on health-related behaviors. An individual’s health locus of control, the degree to which they feel that they have control over their health is also known to have an impact on health outcomes. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between health locus of control and reward-based eating, as well as the relation between TD and mindfulness in a sample (N = 126) of overweight or obese participants from larger health-focused study. Through the use of questionnaires (including the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Reward-Based Eating Drive (RED), and Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLOC)), anthropometric measurements, and a computerized TD task, a series of regressions tested the association between subscales of these measures. Results revealed differences in how the mindfulness subscales are associated with TD measures. Specifically the ‘Observing’ (beta =-.203) and ‘Describing’ (beta =.26) subscales were associated with lower TD rates and a longer subjective devaluation time-frame respectively. In contrast, the ‘Acting with Awareness’ subscale was associated with a shorter subjective devaluation timeframe (beta =-.23). These findings suggest that the reflective perspective initiated through the observing and describing components of mindfulness may facilitate delay of gratification, whereas the acting with awareness component of mindfulness, which focuses on the present moment, may make delay of gratification more challenging. Results also indicated that a higher degree of reward-based eating was associated with a higher degree of an external health locus of control based on the power of chance (beta =.10). However, an external locus of control based on the power of others had no significant association with reward-based eating. This finding implies that the belief that health is due to chance is associated with greater reward-based eating behavior, suggesting that interventions that focus on locus of control may be helpful. Overall, findings demonstrate that weight loss interventions may benefit from health locus of control and mindfulness exercises, but caution should be taken as the components of mindfulness appear to have different effects on increasing or decreasing delay of gratification.

Keywords: health locus of control, mindfulness, obesity, reward-based eating, temporal discounting

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Authors: Farhana Alam Bhuiyan, Saad Khan, Tanveer Hassan, Jhalok Ranjon Talukder, Syeda Farjana Ahmed, Rahil Roodsaz, Els Rommes, Sabina Faiz Rashid

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Breaking the shame’ is a 3 year (2015-2018) qualitative implementation research project which investigates several aspects of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) issues for adolescents living in Bangladesh. Scope of learning SRHR issues for adolescents is limited here due to cultural and religious taboos. This study adds to the ongoing discussions around adolescent’s SRHR needs and aims to, 1) understand the overall SRHR needs of urban and rural unmarried female and male adolescents and the challenges they face, 2) explore existing gaps in the content of SRHR curriculum and 3) finally, addresses some critical knowledge gaps by developing and implementing innovative SRHR educational materials. 18 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and 10 focus-group discussions (FGDs) with boys and 21 IDIs and 14 FGDs with girls of ages 13-19, from both urban and rural setting took place. Curriculum materials from two leading organizations, Unite for Body Rights (UBR) Alliance Bangladesh and BRAC Adolescent Development Program (ADP) were also reviewed, with discussions with 12 key program staff. This paper critically analyses the relevance of some of the SRHR topics that are covered, the challenges with existing pedagogic approaches and key sexuality issues that are not covered in the content, but are important for adolescents. Adolescents asked for content and guidance on a number of topics which remain missing from the core curriculum, such as emotional coping mechanisms particularly in relationships, bullying, impact of exposure to porn, and sexual performance anxiety. Other core areas of concern were effects of masturbation, condom use, sexual desire and orientation, which are mentioned in the content, but never discussed properly, resulting in confusion. Due to lack of open discussion around sexuality, porn becomes a source of information for the adolescents. For these reasons, several myths and misconceptions regarding SRHR issues like body, sexuality, agency, and gender roles still persist. The pedagogical approach is very didactic, and teachers felt uncomfortable to have discussions on certain SRHR topics due to cultural taboos or shame and stigma. Certain topics are favored- such as family planning, menstruation- and presented with an emphasis on biology and risk. Rigid formal teaching style, hierarchical power relations between students and most teachers discourage questions and frank conversations. Pedagogy approaches within classrooms play a critical role in the sharing of knowledge. The paper also describes the pilot approaches to implementing new content in SRHR curriculum. After a review of findings, three areas were selected as critically important, 1) myths and misconceptions 2) emotional management challenges, and 3) how to use condom, that have come up from adolescents. Technology centric educational materials such as web page based information platform and you tube videos are opted for which allow adolescents to bypass gatekeepers and learn facts and information from a legitimate educational site. In the era of social media, when information is always a click away, adolescents need sources that are reliable and not overwhelming. The research aims to ensure that adolescents learn and apply knowledge effectively, through creating the new materials and making it accessible to adolescents.

Keywords: adolescents, Bangladesh, media, sexuality education, unmet needs

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Authors: Mahmood Naghizadeh, Maryam Memarian, Hourshad Irvash

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Following the rise in the world population and the upward growth of urbanization, the design, planning, and management of the site scenery for the purpose of presentation and expansion of sustainable site scenery has turned to be the greatest concern to experts. Since the fundamental principles of the site scenery change more and less haphazardly over time, sustainable site scenery can be viewed as an ideal goal because both sustainability and dynamism come into view in urban site scenery and it wouldn’t be designed according to a set of pre-determined principles. Sustainable site scenery, as the ongoing interaction between idealism and pragmatism with sustainability factors, is a dynamic phenomenon created by bringing cultural, historical, social and natural scenery together. Such an interaction is not to subdue other factors but to reinforce the aforementioned factors. The sustainable site scenery is a persistently occurring event not only has attenuated over time but has gained strength. The sustainability of a site scenery or an event over time depends on its site identity which grows out of its continuous association with the past. The sustainability of a site scene or an event in a time frame intertwined with the identity of the place from past to present. This past history supports the present and future of the scene. The result of such a supportive role is the sustainability of site scenery. Isfahan Naqsh-e-Jahan Square is one of the most outstanding squares in the world and the best embodiment of Iranian site scenery architecture. This square is an arena that brings people together and a dynamic city center comprising various urban and religious complexes, spaces and facilities and is considered as one of the most favorable traditional urban space of Iran. Such a place can illustrate many factors related to sustainable site scenery. One the other hand, there are still no specific principles concerning sustainability in the architecture of site scenery. Meanwhile, sustainability is recognized as a rather modern view in architecture. The purpose of this research is to identify factors involved in sustainability in general and to examine their effects on site scenery architecture in particular. Finally, these factors will be studied with taking Naqsh-e-Jahan Square into account. This research adopts an analytic-descriptive approach that has benefited from the review of literature available in library studies and the documents related to sustainability and site scenery architecture. The statistical population used for the purpose of this research includes square constructed during the Safavid dynasty and Naqsh-e-Jahan Square was picked out as the case study. The purpose of this paper is to come up with a rough definition of sustainable site scenery and demonstrate this concept by analyzing it and recognizing the social, economic and ecological aspects of this project.

Keywords: Naqsh-e-Jahan Square, site scenery architecture, sustainability, sustainable site scenery

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Authors: Julie Ramain, Christine Mohr, Ahmad Abu-Akel

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Divergent thinking—a cognitive component of creativity—and particularly the ability to generate unique and novel ideas, has been linked to both autistic and schizotypal traits. However, to our knowledge, the concurrent effect of these trait dimensions on divergent thinking has not been investigated. Moreover, it has been suggested that creativity is associated with different types of attention and cognitive control, and consequently how information is processed in a given context. Intriguingly, consistent with the diametric model, autistic and schizotypal traits have been associated with contrasting attentional and cognitive control styles. Positive schizotypal traits have been associated with reactive cognitive control and attentional flexibility, while autistic traits have been associated with proactive cognitive control and the increased focus of attention. The current study investigated the relationship between divergent thinking, autistic and schizotypal traits and cognitive control in a non-clinical sample of 83 individuals (Males = 42%; Mean age = 22.37, SD = 2.93), sufficient to detect a medium effect size. Divergent thinking was evaluated in an adapted version of-of the Figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. Crucially, since we were interested in testing divergent thinking productivity across contexts, participants were asked to generate items from basic shapes in four different contexts. The variance of the proportion of unique to total responses across contexts represented a measure of context adaptability, with lower variance indicating increased context adaptability. Cognitive control was estimated with the Behavioral Proactive Index of the AX-CPT task, with higher scores representing the ability to actively maintain goal-relevant information in a sustained/anticipatory manner. Autistic and schizotypal traits were assessed with the Autism Quotient (AQ) and the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE-42). Generalized linear models revealed a 3-way interaction of autistic and positive schizotypal traits, and proactive cognitive control, associated with increased context adaptability. Specifically, the concurrent effect of autistic and positive schizotypal traits on increased context adaptability was moderated by the level of proactive control and was only significant when proactive cognitive control was high. Our study reveals that autistic and positive schizotypal traits interactively facilitate the capacity to generate unique ideas across various contexts. However, this effect depends on cognitive control mechanisms indicative of the ability to proactively maintain attention when needed. The current results point to a unique profile of divergent thinkers who have the ability to respectively tap both systematic and flexible processing modes within and across contexts. This is particularly intriguing as such combination of phenotypes has been proposed to explain the genius of Beethoven, Nash, and Newton.

Keywords: autism, schizotypy, creativity, cognitive control

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Authors: Ivan Ashif Ardhana, Intan Mahanani

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Chemistry education tends to change from triplet representation among macroscopic, microscopic, and symbolic to tetrahedron shape. This change set the aspect of human element on the top of learning. Meaning that students are expected to solve the problems involving the ethic, morality, and humanity through the class. Ability to solve the problems connecting either theories or applications is called scientific literacy which have been implemented in curriculum 2013 implicitly. Scientific literacy has an aspect of nature science and critical thinking. Both can be integrated to learning using scientific approach and scientific inquiry. Unfortunately, students’ ability of scientific literacy in Indonesia is far from expectation. A survey from PISA had proven it. Scientific literacy of Indonesian students is always at bottom five position from 2002 till 2012. Improving a scientific literacy needs many efforts against them. Developing an instructional material based on scientific approach is one kind of that efforts. Instructional material contains both aspect of nature of science and critical thinking which is instructed explicitly to improve the students’ understanding about science. Developing goal is to produce a prototype and an instructional material using scientific approach whose chapter is chemical bonding and intermolecular forces for high school students grade ten. As usual, the material is subjected to get either quantitative mark or suggestion through validation process using validation sheet instrument. Development model is adapted from 4D model containing four steps. They are define, design, develop, and disseminate. Nevertheless, development of instructional material had only done until third step. The final step wasn’t done because of time, cost, and energy limitations. Developed instructional material had been validated by four validators. They are coming from chemistry lecture and high school’s teacher which two at each. The result of this development research shown the average of quantitative mark of students’ book is 92.75% with very proper in criteria. Given at same validation process, teacher’s guiding book got the average mark by 96.98%, similar criteria with students’ book. Qualitative mark including both comments and suggestions resulted from validation process were used as consideration for the revision. The result concluded us how the instructional materials using scientific approach to explicit nature of science and critical thinking on the topic of chemical bonding and intermolecular forces are very proper if they are used at learning activity.

Keywords: critical thinking, instructional material, nature of science, scientific literacy

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Authors: Selvaprakash Ramalingam, Rabi N. Sahoo, Dharmendra Saraswat, A. Kumar, Rajeev Ranjan, Joydeep Mukerjee, Viswanathan Chinnasamy, K. K. Chaturvedi, Sanjeev Kumar

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Rice is one of the most important staple food crops in the world. Among the various diseases that affect rice crops, rice blast is particularly significant, causing crop yield and economic losses. While the plant has defense mechanisms in place, such as chemical indicators (proteins, salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, ethylene, and azelaic acid) and resistance genes in certain varieties that can protect against diseases, susceptible varieties remain vulnerable to these fungal diseases. Early prediction of rice blast (RB) disease is crucial, but conventional techniques for early prediction are time-consuming and labor-intensive. Hyperspectral remote sensing techniques hold the potential to predict RB disease at its asymptomatic stage. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate the prediction of RB disease at the asymptomatic stage using non-imaging hyperspectral ASD spectroradiometer under controlled laboratory conditions. We applied statistical spectral discrimination theory to identify unknown spectra of M. Oryzae, the fungus responsible for rice blast disease. The infrared (IR) region was found to be significantly affected by RB disease. These changes may result in alterations in the absorption, reflection, or emission of infrared radiation by the affected plant tissues. Our research revealed that the protein spectrum in the IR region is impacted by RB disease. In our study, we identified strong correlations in the region (Amide group - I) around X 1064 nm and Y 1300 nm with the Lambda / Lambda derived spectra methods for protein detection. During the stages when the disease is developing, typically from day 3 to day 5, the plant's defense mechanisms are not as effective. This is especially true for the PB-1 variety of rice, which is highly susceptible to rice blast disease. Consequently, the proteins in the plant are adversely affected during this critical time. The spectral contour plot reveals the highly correlated spectral regions 1064 nm and Y 1300 nm associated with RB disease infection. Based on these spectral sensitivities, we developed new spectral disease indices for predicting different stages of disease emergence. The goal of this research is to lay the foundation for future UAV and satellite-based studies aimed at long-term monitoring of RB disease.

Keywords: rice blast, asymptomatic stage, spectral sensitivity, IR

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Authors: Erni Agustin, Zendy Prameswari

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The Law Number 1 Year 1974 on Marriage was issued by Indonesian Government to replace the old marriage law stipulated in Burgerlijk Wetboek inherited from the Dutch colonial. The Law defines marriage as both physical and mental bond between a man and a woman as husband and wife with the purpose to form a harmonious family based on deity. Marriage shall be conducted when determined requirements are met based on the Law. Article 7 of the Law Number 1 Year 1974 stipulates the minimum age requirement to enter into marriage, which is 19 years for men and 16 years for women. This stipulation is made to make the marriage achieve the true goal to form a happy, eternal and prosperous family. It is expected at that age, each party has a mature soul and physic. However, it is possible for those who have not reached the age to enter into marriage if there is a dispensation granted by the courts or other official designated by the parents of each party in the marriage. As many other countries in the world, Indonesia has serious problems linked with the child or underage marriage. Indonesia is one of the countries with the highest absolute numbers of child marriage. In 2012, a judicial review was filed to the Constitutional Court against the provisions of the minimum age limit in the Law Number 1 Year 1974 on Marriage. The appeal was filed in order to raise the limit of minimum age for women from 16 years to be 18 years. However, the Constitutional Court considered that the provisions on the minimum age in the Law Number 1 Year 1974 on Marriage is constitutional. At the international level, Indonesia has participated in the formulation of variety of international human rights instrument which have an impact on children, and is a party to a number of them. Indonesia ratified the CRC through Presidential Decree of the Republic of Indonesia Number 36 Year 1990 on 5 September 1990. This paper attempts to analyze three main issues. Firstly, it will scrutinize the ratio legis of the stipulation on minimum age requirement to enter into marriage in the Law Number 1 Year 1974 on Marriage. Secondly, it will discuss the conformity of Indonesian marriage law to the principles and provisions on the CRC. Last, this paper will elaborate the legal measures shall be taken to strengthen the legal protection for children against child marriage. This paper is a doctrinal research using statute, conceptual and historical approaches. This study argues that The Law-making of Indonesian marriage law influenced by religious values that live in Indonesia. With regard to the conformity of Indonesian marriage law with the CRC, Indonesia is facing the issue of the compatibility of its respective national law with the CRC. Therefore, the legal measures that have to be taken are to review and amend the Indonesian Marriage Law to provide better protection for the children against underage marriage.

Keywords: child marriage, children’s rights, indonesian marriage law, underage marriage

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: Barbara Eschen Danielsen, Morten Niels Baxter, Per Sieverts Nielsen

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Europe is currently in an energy and climate crisis, which requires more sustainable solutions than what has been used to before. Europe uses 40% of its energy in buildings so there has come a significant focus on trying to find and commit to new initiatives to reduce energy consumption in buildings. The European Union has introduced a building standard in 2021 to be upheld by 2030. This new building standard requires a significant reduction of CO2 emissions from both privately and publicly owned buildings. The overall aim is to achieve a zero-emission building stock by 2050. EU is revising the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) as part of the “Fit for 55” package. It was adopted on March 14, 2023. The new directive’s main goal is to renovate the least energy-efficient homes in Europe. There will be a cost for the home owner with a renovation project, but there will also be an improvement in energy efficiency and, therefore, a cost reduction. After the implementation of the EU directive, many homeowners will have to focus their attention on how to make the most effective energy renovations of their homes. The new EU directive will affect almost one million Danish homes (30%), as they do not meet the newly implemented requirements for energy efficiency. The problem for this one mio homeowners is that it is not easy to decide which renovation project they should consider. The houses are build differently and there are many possible solutions. The main focus of this paper is to identify the most impactful solutions and evaluate their impact and evaluating them with a criteria based sustainability indicator framework. The result of the analysis give each homeowner an insight in the various renovation options, including both advantages and disadvantages with the aim of avoiding unnecessary costs and errors while minimizing their CO2 footprint. Given that the new EU directive impacts a significant number of home owners and their homes both in Denmark and the rest of the European Union it is crucial to clarify which renovations have the most environmental impact and most cost effective. We have evaluated the 10 most impactful solutions and evaluated their impact in an indicator framework which includes 9 indicators and covers economic, environmental as well as social factors. We have packaged the result of the analysis in three packages, the most cost effective (short term), the most cost effective (long-term) and the most sustainable. The results of the study secure transparency and thereby provides homeowners with a tool to help their decision-making. The analysis is based on mostly qualitative indicators, but it will be possible to evaluate most of the indicators quantitively in a future study.

Keywords: energy efficiency, building renovation, renovation solutions, building energy performance criteria

Procedia PDF Downloads 68

Authors: Marija Milašinović-Šeremešić, Valentina Semenčenko, Milica Radosavljević, Dušanka Terzić, Ljiljana Mojović, Ljubica Dokić

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Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereal crops, and as such, one of the most significant naturally renewable carbohydrate raw materials for the production of energy and multitude of different products. The main goal of the present study was to investigate a suitability of selected maize hybrids of different genetic background produced in Maize Research Institute ‘Zemun Polje’, Belgrade, Serbia, for starch, bioethanol and animal feed production. All the hybrids are commercial and their detailed characterization is important for the expansion of their different uses. The starches were isolated by using a 100-g laboratory maize wet-milling procedure. Hydrolysis experiments were done in two steps (liquefaction with Termamyl SC, and saccharification with SAN Extra L). Starch hydrolysates obtained by the two-step hydrolysis of the corn flour starch were subjected to fermentation by S. cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus under semi-anaerobic conditions. The digestibility based on enzymatic solubility was performed by the Aufréré method. All investigated ZP maize hybrids had very different physical characteristics and chemical composition which could allow various possibilities of their use. The amount of hard (vitreous) and soft (floury) endosperm in kernel is considered one of the most important parameters that can influence the starch and bioethanol yields. Hybrids with a lower test weight and density and a greater proportion of soft endosperm fraction had a higher yield, recovery and purity of starch. Among the chemical composition parameters only starch content significantly affected the starch yield. Starch yields of studied maize hybrids ranged from 58.8% in ZP 633 to 69.0% in ZP 808. The lowest bioethanol yield of 7.25% w/w was obtained for hybrid ZP 611k and the highest by hybrid ZP 434 (8.96% w/w). A very significant correlation was determined between kernel starch content and the bioethanol yield, as well as volumetric productivity (48h) (r=0.66). Obtained results showed that the NDF, ADF and ADL contents in the whole maize plant of the observed ZP maize hybrids varied from 40.0% to 60.1%, 18.6% to 32.1%, and 1.4% to 3.1%, respectively. The difference in the digestibility of the dry matter of the whole plant among hybrids (ZP 735 and ZP 560) amounted to 18.1%. Moreover, the differences in the contents of the lignocelluloses fraction affected the differences in dry matter digestibility. From the results it can be concluded that genetic background of the selected maize hybrids plays an important part in estimation of the technological value of maize hybrids for various purposes. Obtained results are of an exceptional importance for the breeding programs and selection of potentially most suitable maize hybrids for starch, bioethanol and animal feed production.

Keywords: bioethanol, biomass quality, maize, starch

Procedia PDF Downloads 205

Authors: Ghazala Anjum, Farooq Hussain Bhat, Ravi Kumar

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Multiferroic materials are vital for new application and memory devices, not only because of the presence of multiple types of domains but also as a result of cross correlation between coexisting forms of magnetic and electrical orders. In spite of wide studies done on multiferroic bulk ceramic materials their realization in thin film form is yet limited due to some crucial problems. During the last few years, special attention has been devoted to synthesis of thin films like of BiFeO₃. As they allow direct integration of the material into the device technology. Therefore owing to the process of exploration of new multiferroic thin films, preparation, and characterization of La₀.₈Bi₀.₂Fe₀.₇Mn₀.₃O₃ (LBFMO3) thin film on LaAlO₃ (LAO) substrate with LaNiO₃ (LNO) being the buffer layer has been done. The fact that all the electrical and magnetic properties are closely related to the electronic structure makes it inevitable to study the electronic structure of system under study. Without the knowledge of this, one may never be sure about the mechanism responsible for different properties exhibited by the thin film. Literature review reveals that studies on change in atomic and the hybridization state in multiferroic samples are still insufficient except few. The technique of x-ray absorption (XAS) has made great strides towards the goal of providing such information. It turns out to be a unique signature to a given material. In this milieu, it is time honoured to have the electronic structure study of the elements present in the LBFMO₃ multiferroic thin film on LAO substrate with buffer layer of LNO synthesized by RF sputtering technique. We report the electronic structure studies of well characterized LBFMO3 multiferroic thin film on LAO substrate with LNO as buffer layer using near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS). Present exploration has been performed to find out the valence state and crystal field symmetry of ions present in the system. NEXAFS data of O K- edge spectra reveals a slight shift in peak position along with growth in intensities of low energy feature. Studies of Mn L₃,₂- edge spectra indicates the presence of Mn³⁺/Mn⁴⁺ network apart from very small contribution from Mn²⁺ ions in the system that substantiates the magnetic properties exhibited by the thin film. Fe L₃,₂- edge spectra along with spectra of reference compound reveals that Fe ions are present in +3 state. Electronic structure and valence state are found to be in accordance with the magnetic properties exhibited by LBFMO/LNO/LAO thin film.

Keywords: magnetic, multiferroic, NEXAFS, x-ray absorption fine structure, XMCD, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Bjorn Kierulf, Arun Chundru

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Over the past decade, collegiate rocketry teams have emerged across the country with various goals: space, liquid-fueled flight, etc. A critical piece of the development of knowledge within a club is the use of so-called "sounding rockets," whose goal is to take in-flight measurements that inform future rocket design. Common measurements include acceleration from inertial measurement units (IMU's), and altitude from barometers. With a properly tuned filter, these measurements can be used to find velocity, but are susceptible to noise, offset, and filter settings. Instead, velocity can be measured more directly and more instantaneously using a pitot tube, which operates by measuring the stagnation pressure. At supersonic speeds, an additional thermodynamic property is necessary to constrain the upstream state. One possibility is the stagnation temperature, measured by a thermocouple in the pitot tube. The routing of the pitot tube from the nosecone tip down to a pressure transducer is complicated by the nosecone's structure. Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) nosecones come with a removable metal tip (without a pitot tube). This provides the opportunity to make custom tips with integrated measurement systems without making the nosecone from scratch. The main design constraint is how the nosecone tip is held down onto the nosecone, using the tension in a threaded rod anchored to a bulkhead below. Because the threaded rod connects into a threaded hole in the center of the nosecone tip, the pitot tube follows a winding path, and the pressure fitting is off-center. Two designs will be presented in the paper, one with a curved pitot tube and a coaxial design that eliminates the need for the winding path by routing pressure through a structural tube. Additionally, three manufacturing methods will be presented for these designs: bound powder filament metal 3D printing, stereo-lithography (SLA) 3D printing, and traditional machining. These will employ three different materials, copper, steel, and proprietary resin. These manufacturing methods and materials are relatively low cost, thus accessible to student researchers. These designs and materials cover multiple use cases, based on how fast the sounding rocket is expected to travel and how important heating effects are - to measure and to avoid melting. This paper will include drawings showing key features and an overview of the design changes necessitated by the manufacture. It will also include a look at the successful use of these nosecone tips and the data they have gathered to date.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, machining, pitot tube, sounding rocketry

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Md. Fazlul Karim, Ashik Sharfaraz, Aysha Ferdoushi

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Background: Computational medicinal chemistry approaches are used for designing and identifying new drug-like molecules, predicting properties and pharmacological activities, and optimizing lead compounds in drug development. SIRT7, a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent deacylase which regulates aging, is an emerging target for cancer therapy with mounting evidence that SIRT7 downregulation plays important roles in reversing cancer phenotypes and suppressing tumor growth. Activation or altered expression of SIRT7 is associated with the progression and invasion of various cancers, including liver, breast, gastric, prostate, and non-small cell lung cancer. Objectives: The goal of this work was to identify potent and selective bioactive candidate inhibitors of SIRT7 by in silico screening of small molecule compounds obtained from Nigella sativa (N. sativa). Methods: SIRT7 structure was retrieved from The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB), and its active site was identified using CASTp and metaPocket. Molecular docking simulation was performed with PyRx 0.8 virtual screening software. Drug-likeness properties were tested using SwissADME and pkCSM. In silico toxicity was evaluated by Osiris Property Explorer. Bioactivity was predicted by Molinspiration software. Antitumor activity was screened for Prediction of Activity Spectra for Substances (PASS) using Way2Drug web server. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was carried out by Desmond v3.6 package. Results: A total of 159 bioactive compounds from the N. Sativa were screened against the SIRT7 enzyme. Five bioactive compounds: chrysin (CID:5281607), pinocembrin (CID:68071), nigellidine (CID:136828302), nigellicine (CID:11402337), and epicatechin (CID:72276) were identified as potent SIRT7 anti-cancer candidates after docking score evaluation and applying Lipinski's Rule of Five. Finally, MD simulation identified Chrysin as the top SIRT7 anti-cancer candidate molecule. Conclusion: Chrysin, which shows a potential inhibitory effect against SIRT7, can act as a possible anti-cancer drug candidate. This inhibitor warrants further evaluation to check its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics properties both in vitro and in vivo.

Keywords: SIRT7, antitumor, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 53

Authors: Umukoro Omonigho Simon, Ashaolu David ‘Diya, Aroyewun-Olaleye Temitope Folashade

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The VELMA Action to Reduce Cybercrime (ARC) is an initiative, the first of its kind in Nigeria, designed to identify, rehabilitate and empower repentant cybercrime offenders popularly known as ‘yahoo boys’ in Nigerian parlance. Velma ARC provides social inclusion boot camps with the goal of rehabilitating cybercriminals via psychotherapeutic interventions, improving their IT skills, and empowering them to make constructive contributions to society. This report highlights the psychological interventions provided for participants of the maiden edition of the Velma ARC boot camp and presents the outcomes of these interventions. The boot camp was set up in a hotel premises which was booked solely for the 1 month event. The participants were selected and invited via the Velma online recruitment portal based on an objective double-blind selection process from a pool of potential participants who signified interest via the registration portal. The participants were first taken through psychological profiling (personality, symptomology and psychopathology) before the individual and group sessions began. They were profiled using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory -2- Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF), the latest version of its series. Individual psychotherapy sessions were conducted for all participants based on what was interpreted on their profiles. Focus group discussion was held later to discuss a movie titled ‘catch me if you can’ directed by Steven Spielberg, featuring Leonardo De Caprio and Tom Hanks. The movie was based on the true life story of Frank Abagnale, who was a notorious scammer and con artist in his youthful years. Emergent themes from the movie were discussed as psycho-educative parameters for the participants. The overall evaluation of outcomes from the VELMA ARC rehabilitation boot camp stemmed from a disaggregated assessment of observed changes which are summarized in the final report of the clinical psychologist and was detailed enough to infer genuine repentance and positive change in attitude towards cybercrime among the participants. Follow up services were incorporated to validate initial observations. This gives credence to the potency of the psycho-educative intervention provided during the Velma ARC boot camp. It was recommended that support and collaborations from the government and other agencies/individuals would assist the VELMA foundation in expanding the scope and quality of the Velma ARC initiative as an additional requirement for cybercrime offenders following incarceration.

Keywords: Velma-ARC, cybercrime offenders, rehabilitation, Nigeria

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: N. Gelovani, D. Ismailov, S. Bochorishvili

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Religious minorities of Georgia include Muslims. Their composition is sufficiently miscellaneous, enclosing both ethnical viewpoint and belonging to the inner Islamic denomination. A majority of Muslims represent Azerbaijanis, who chiefly live in Kvemo Kartli (Bolnisi, Gardabani, Dmanisi, Tetri Tskaro, Marneuli and Tsalka). The catalyst for researchers of Islamic History is the geopolitical interests of Georgia, centuries-old contacts with the Islamic world, the not entirely trivial portion of Islam confessor population, the increasing influence of the Islamic factor in current religious-political processes in the world, the elevating procedure of Muslim religious self-consciousness in the Post-Soviet states, significant challenges of international terrorism, and perspectives of rapid globalization. The rise in the level of religious identity of Muslim citizens of Georgia (first of all of those who are not ethnic Georgians) is noticeable. New mosques have been constructed and, sometimes, even young people are being sent to the religious educational institutions of Muslim countries to gain a higher Islamic education. At a time when gender studies are substantive, the goal of which is to eliminate gender-based discrimination and violence in societies, it is essential in Georgia to conduct researches around the concrete problem – Islamic tradition, woman and education in Georgia. A woman’s right to education is an important indicator of women’s general status in a society. The appropriate resources, innovative analysis of Georgian ethnological materials, and surveying of the population (quantitative and qualitative research reports, working papers), condition the success of these researches. In the presented work, interrelation matters of Islam, gender and education in contemporary Georgia by the example of the Azerbaijani population in Kvemo Kartli during period 1992-2016 are studied. We researched the history of Muslim religious education centers in Tbilisi and Kvemo Kartli (Bolnisi, Gardabani, Dmanisi, Tetri Tskaro, Marneuli and Tsalka) in 1992-2016, on the one hand, and the results of sociological interrogation, on the other. As a result of our investigation, we found that Azeri women in the Kvemo Kartli (Georgia) region mostly receive their education in Georgia and Azerbaijan. Educational and Cultural Institutions are inaccessible for most Azeri women. The main reasons are the absence of educational and religious institutions at their places of residence and state policies towards Georgia’s Muslims. 

Keywords: Islam, gender, Georgia, education

Procedia PDF Downloads 212

Authors: Peter Egri, Tamas Kis

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Scheduling problems have been studied by the algorithmic mechanism design research from the beginning. This paper is focusing on a practically important, but theoretically rather neglected field: the project scheduling problem where the jobs connected by precedence constraints compete for various nonrenewable resources, such as materials. Although the centralized problem can be solved in polynomial-time by applying the algorithm of Carlier and Rinnooy Kan from the Eighties, obtaining materials in a decentralized environment is usually far from optimal. It can be observed in practical production scheduling situations that project managers tend to cache the required materials as soon as possible in order to avoid later delays due to material shortages. This greedy practice usually leads both to excess stocks for some projects and materials, and simultaneously, to shortages for others. The aim of this study is to develop a model for the material allocation problem of a production plant, where a central decision maker—the inventory—should assign the resources arriving at different points in time to the jobs. Since the actual due dates are not known by the inventory, the mechanism design approach is applied with the projects as the self-interested agents. The goal of the mechanism is to elicit the required information and allocate the available materials such that it minimizes the maximal tardiness among the projects. It is assumed that except the due dates, the inventory is familiar with every other parameters of the problem. A further requirement is that due to practical considerations monetary transfer is not allowed. Therefore a mechanism without money is sought which excludes some widely applied solutions such as the Vickrey–Clarke–Groves scheme. In this work, a type of Serial Dictatorship Mechanism (SDM) is presented for the studied problem, including a polynomial-time algorithm for computing the material allocation. The resulted mechanism is both truthful and Pareto optimal. Thus the randomization over the possible priority orderings of the projects results in a universally truthful and Pareto optimal randomized mechanism. However, it is shown that in contrast to problems like the many-to-many matching market, not every Pareto optimal solution can be generated with an SDM. In addition, no performance guarantee can be given compared to the optimal solution, therefore this approximation characteristic is investigated with experimental study. All in all, the current work studies a practically relevant scheduling problem and presents a novel truthful material allocation mechanism which eliminates the potential benefit of the greedy behavior that negatively influences the outcome. The resulted allocation is also shown to be Pareto optimal, which is the most widely used criteria describing a necessary condition for a reasonable solution.

Keywords: material allocation, mechanism without money, polynomial-time mechanism, project scheduling

Procedia PDF Downloads 315

Authors: Nino Damenia

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E-commerce opens a new horizon for business development, which is why the presence of e-commerce is a necessary condition for the formation, growth, and development of the country's economy. Worldwide, e-commerce turnover is growing at a high rate every year, as the electronic environment provides great opportunities for product promotion. E-commerce in Georgia is developing at a fast pace, but it is still a relatively young direction in the country's economy. Movement restrictions and other public health measures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced economic activity in most economic sectors and countries, significantly affecting production, distribution, and consumption. The pandemic has accelerated digital transformation. Digital solutions enable people and businesses to continue part of their economic and social activities remotely. This has also led to the growth of e-commerce. According to the data of the National Statistics Service of Georgia, the share of online trade is higher in cities (27.4%) than in rural areas (9.1%). The COVID-19 pandemic has forced local businesses to expand their digital offerings. The size of the local market increased 3.2 times in 2020 to 138 million GEL. And in 2018-2020, the share of local e-commerce increased from 11% to 23%. In Georgia, the state is actively engaged in the promotion of activities based on information technologies. Many measures have been taken for this purpose, but compared to other countries, this process is slow in Georgia. The purpose of the study is to determine development prospects for the economy of Georgia based on the analysis of electronic commerce. Research was conducted around the issues using Georgian and foreign scientists' articles, works, reports of international organizations, collections of scientific conferences, and scientific electronic databases. The empirical base of the research is the data and annual reports of the National Statistical Service of Georgia, internet resources of world statistical materials, and others. While working on the article, a questionnaire was developed, based on which an electronic survey of certain types of respondents was conducted. The conducted research was related to determining how intensively Georgian citizens use online shopping, including which age category uses electronic commerce, for what purposes, and how satisfied they are. Various theoretical and methodological research tools, as well as analysis, synthesis, comparison, and other types of methods, are used to achieve the set goal in the research process. The research results and recommendations will contribute to the development of e-commerce in Georgia and economic growth based on it.

Keywords: e-commerce, information technology, pandemic, digital transformation

Procedia PDF Downloads 58

Authors: Rubisha Adhikari, Rajani Shah

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Introduction: Aging is a natural, global and inevitable phenomenon every single person has to go through, and nobody can escape the process. One of the emerging challenges to public health is to improve the quality of later years of life as life expectancy continues to increase. Quality of life (QoL) has grown to be a key goal for many public health initiatives. Population aging has become a global phenomenon as they are growing more quickly in emerging nations than they are in industrialized nations, leaving minimal opportunities to regulate the consequences of the demographic shift. Methods: A community-based descriptive analytical approach was used to examine the quality of life and associated factors among elderly people. A mixed method was chosen for the study. For the quantitative data collection, a household survey was conducted using the WHOQOL-OLD tool. In-depth interviews were conducted among twenty participants for qualitative data collection. Data generated through in-depth interviews were transcribed verbatim. In-depth interviews lasted about an hour and were audio recorded. The in-depth interview guide had been developed by the research team and pilot-tested before actual interviews. Results: This study result showed the association between quality of life and socio-demographic variables. Among all the variables under socio-demographic variable of this study, age (ꭓ2=14.445, p=0.001), gender (ꭓ2=14.323, p=<0.001), marital status (ꭓ2=10.816, p=0.001), education status (ꭓ2=23.948, p=<0.001), household income (ꭓ2=13.493, p=0.001), personal income (ꭓ2=14.129, p=0.001), source of personal income (ꭓ2=28.332,p=<0.001), social security allowance (ꭓ2=18.005,p=<0.001), alcohol consumption (ꭓ2=9.397,p=0.002) are significantly associated with quality of life of elderly. In addition, affordability (ꭓ2=12.088, p=0.001), physical activity (ꭓ2=9.314, p=0.002), emotional support (ꭓ2=9.122, p=0.003), and economic support (ꭓ2=8.104, p=0.004) are associated with quality of life of elderly people. Conclusion: In conclusion, this mixed method study provides insight into the attributes of the quality of life of elderly people in Nepal and similar settings. As the geriatric population is growing in full swing, maintaining a high quality of life has become a major challenge. This study showed that determinants such as age, gender, marital status, education status, household income, personal income, source of personal income, social security allowance and alcohol consumption, economic support, emotional support, affordability and physical activity have an association with quality of life of the elderly.

Keywords: ageing, chitwan, elderly, health status, quality of life

Procedia PDF Downloads 46

Authors: Zarina Chokparova, Ighor Uzhinsky

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Carbon dioxide emissions resulting from burning of the fossil fuels on large scales, such as oil industry or power plants, leads to a plenty of severe implications including global temperature raise, air pollution and other adverse impacts on the environment. Besides some precarious and costly ways for the alleviation of CO₂ emissions detriment in industrial scales (such as liquefaction of CO₂ and its deep-water treatment, application of adsorbents and membranes, which require careful consideration of drawback effects and their mitigation), one physically and commercially available technology for its capture and disposal is supersonic system for inertial extraction of CO₂ in after-combustion streams. Due to the flue gas with a carbon dioxide concentration of 10-15 volume percent being emitted from the combustion system, the waste stream represents a rather diluted condition at low pressure. The supersonic system induces a flue gas mixture stream to expand using a converge-and-diverge operating nozzle; the flow velocity increases to the supersonic ranges resulting in rapid drop of temperature and pressure. Thus, conversion of potential energy into the kinetic power causes a desublimation of CO₂. Solidified carbon dioxide can be sent to the separate vessel for further disposal. The major advantages of the current solution are its economic efficiency, physical stability, and compactness of the system, as well as needlessness of addition any chemical media. However, there are several challenges yet to be regarded to optimize the system: the way for increasing the size of separated CO₂ particles (as they are represented on a micrometers scale of effective diameter), reduction of the concomitant gas separated together with carbon dioxide and provision of CO₂ downstream flow purity. Moreover, determination of thermodynamic conditions of the vapor-solid mixture including specification of the valid and accurate equation of state remains to be an essential goal. Due to high speeds and temperatures reached during the process, the influence of the emitted heat should be considered, and the applicable solution model for the compressible flow need to be determined. In this report, a brief overview of the current technology status will be presented and a program for further evaluation of this approach is going to be proposed.

Keywords: CO₂ sequestration, converging diverging nozzle, fossil fuel power plant emissions, inertial CO₂ extraction, supersonic post-combustion carbon dioxide capture

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Razaq A. Olaitan, Ayansina Ayanlade

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Understanding aerosol properties is the main goal of global research in order to lower the uncertainty associated with climate change in the trends and magnitude of aerosol particles. In order to identify aerosol particle types, optical properties, and the relationship between aerosol properties and particle concentration between 2019 and 2021, a study conducted in Ilorin, Nigeria, examined the aerosol robotic network's ground-based sun/sky scanning radiometer. The AERONET algorithm version 2 was utilized to retrieve monthly data on aerosol optical depth and angstrom exponent. The version 3 algorithm, which is an almucantar level 2 inversion, was employed to retrieve daily data on single scattering albedo and aerosol size distribution. Excel 2016 was used to analyze the data's monthly, seasonal, and annual mean averages. The distribution of different types of aerosols was analyzed using scatterplots, and the optical properties of the aerosol were investigated using pertinent mathematical theorems. To comprehend the relationships between particle concentration and properties, correlation statistics were employed. Based on the premise that aerosol characteristics must remain constant in both magnitude and trend across time and space, the study's findings indicate that the types of aerosols identified between 2019 and 2021 are as follows: 29.22% urban industrial (UI) aerosol type, 37.08% desert (D) aerosol type, 10.67% biomass burning (BB), and 23.03% urban mix (Um) aerosol type. Convective wind systems, which frequently carry particles as they blow over long distances in the atmosphere, have been responsible for the peak-of-the-columnar aerosol loadings, which were observed during August of the study period. The study has shown that while coarse mode particles dominate, fine particles are increasing in seasonal and annual trends. Burning biomass and human activities in the city are linked to these trends. The study found that the majority of particles are highly absorbing black carbon, with the fine mode having a volume median radius of 0.08 to 0.12 meters. The investigation also revealed that there is a positive coefficient of correlation (r = 0.57) between changes in aerosol particle concentration and changes in aerosol properties. Human activity is rapidly increasing in Ilorin, causing changes in aerosol properties, indicating potential health risks from climate change and human influence on geological and environmental systems.

Keywords: aerosol loading, aerosol types, health risks, optical properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 36

Authors: Liliana Villavicencio, Yohn Garcia, Pallavi Singh, Luis Fernando Cruz, Wilfrido Moreno

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Psychophysiological adaptive automation is a concept that combines human physiological data and computer algorithms to create personalized interfaces and experiences for users. This approach aims to enhance human learning by adapting to individual needs and preferences and optimizing the interaction between humans and machines. According to neurosciences, the working memory demand during the student learning process is modified when the student is learning a new subject or topic, managing and/or fulfilling a specific task goal. A sudden increase in working memory demand modifies the level of students’ attention, engagement, and cognitive load. The proposed psychophysiological adaptive automation system will adapt the task requirements to optimize cognitive load, the process output variable, by monitoring the student's brain activity. Cognitive load changes according to the student’s previous knowledge, the type of task, the difficulty level of the task, and the overall psychophysiological state of the student. Scaling the measured cognitive load as low, medium, or high; the system will assign a task difficulty level to the next task according to the ratio between the previous-task difficulty level and student stress. For instance, if a student becomes stressed or overwhelmed during a particular task, the system detects this through signal measurements such as brain waves, heart rate variability, or any other psychophysiological variables analyzed to adjust the task difficulty level. The control of engagement and stress are considered internal variables for the hypermedia system which selects between three different types of instructional material. This work assesses the feasibility of a fuzzy controller to track a student's physiological responses and adjust the learning content and pace accordingly. Using an industrial automation approach, the proposed fuzzy logic controller is based on linguistic rules that complement the instrumentation of the system to monitor and control the delivery of instructional material to the students. From the test results, it can be proved that the implemented fuzzy controller can satisfactorily regulate the delivery of academic content based on the working memory demand without compromising students’ health. This work has a potential application in the instructional design of virtual reality environments for training and education.

Keywords: fuzzy logic controller, hypermedia control system, personalized education, psychophysiological adaptive automation

Procedia PDF Downloads 61

Authors: Barbara Peric

Abstract:

The study of acquiring a third and additional language has garnered significant focus within second language acquisition (SLA) research. Initially, it was commonly viewed as merely an extension of second language acquisition (SLA). However, in the last two decades, numerous researchers have emphasized the need to recognize the unique characteristics of third language acquisition (TLA). This recognition is crucial for understanding the intricate cognitive processes that arise from the interaction of more than two linguistic systems in the learner's mind. This study investigates cross-linguistic influences in the acquisition of Spanish as a fourth language by students who have Croatian as a first language (L1). English as a second language (L2), and Italian as a third language (L3). Observational data suggests that influence or transfer of linguistic elements can arise not only from one's native language (L1) but also from non-native languages. This implies that, for individuals proficient in multiple languages, the native language doesn't consistently hold a superior position. Instead, it should be examined alongside other potential sources of linguistic transfer. Earlier studies have demonstrated that high proficiency in a second language can significantly impact cross-linguistic influences when acquiring a third and additional language. Among the extensively examined factors, the typological relationship stands out as one of the most scrutinized variables. The goal of the present study was to explore whether language typology and formal similarity or proficiency in the second language had a more significant impact on L4 acquisition. Participants in this study were third-year undergraduate students at Rochester Institute of Technology’s subsidiary in Croatia (RIT Croatia). All the participants had exclusively Croatian as L1, English as L2, Italian as L3 and were learning Spanish as L4 at the time of the study. All the participants had a high level of proficiency in English and low level of proficiency in Italian. Based on the error analysis the findings indicate that for some types of lexical errors such as coinage, language typology had a more significant impact and Italian language was the preferred source of transfer despite the law proficiency in that language. For some other types of lexical errors, such as calques, second language proficiency had a more significant impact, and English language was the preferred source of transfer. On the other hand, Croatian, Italian, and Spanish are more similar in the area of morphology due to higher degree of inflection compared to English and the strongest influence of the Croatian language was precisely in the area of morphology. The results emphasize the need to consider linguistic resemblances between the native language (L1) and the third and additional language as well as the learners' proficiency in the second language when developing successful teaching strategies for acquiring the third and additional language. These conclusions add to the expanding knowledge in the realm of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and offer practical insights for language educators aiming to enhance the effectiveness of learning experiences in acquiring a third and additional language.

Keywords: third and additional language acquisition, cross-linguistic influences, language proficiency, language typology

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Authors: Abeer M. Orabi

Abstract:

Midwives are being seen as a key factor in returning birth care to a normal physiologic process that is woman-centered. On the other hand, more needs to be done to increase access for every woman to professional midwifery care. Because of the nature of the midwifery specialty, the magnitude of the effect that can result from a lack of knowledge if midwives make a mistake in their care has the potential to affect a large number of the birthing population. So, the development, running, and management of midwifery educational programs should follow international standards and come after a thorough community needs assessment. At the same time, the number of accredited midwifery educational programs needs to be increased so that larger numbers of midwives will be educated and qualified, as well as access to skilled midwifery care will be increased. Indeed, the selection of promising midwives is important for the successful completion of an educational program, achievement of the program goals, and retention of graduates in the field. Further, the number of schooled midwives in midwifery education programs, their background, and their experience constitute some concerns in the higher education industry. Basically, preceptors and clinical sites are major contributors to the midwifery education process, as educational programs rely on them to provide clinical practice opportunities. In this regard, the selection of clinical training sites should be based on certain criteria to ensure their readiness for the intended training experiences. After that, communication, collaboration, and liaison between teaching faculty and field staff should be maintained. However, the shortage of clinical preceptors and the massive reduction in the number of practicing midwives, in addition to unmanageable workloads, act as significant barriers to midwifery education. Moreover, the medicalized approach inherent in the hospital setting makes it difficult to practice the midwifery model of care, such as watchful waiting, non-interference in normal processes, and judicious use of interventions. Furthermore, creating a motivating study environment is crucial for avoiding unnecessary withdrawal and retention in any educational program. It is well understood that research is an essential component of any profession for achieving its optimal goal and providing a foundation and evidence for its practices, and midwifery is no exception. Midwives have been playing an important role in generating their own research. However, the selection of novel, researchable, and sustainable topics considering community health needs is also a challenge. In conclusion, ongoing education and research are the lifeblood of the midwifery profession to offer a highly competent and qualified workforce. However, many challenges are being faced, and barriers are hindering their improvement.

Keywords: barriers, challenges, midwifery education, educational programs

Procedia PDF Downloads 99