Search results for: public discours

Authors: Alireza Derambakhsh

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The reason for this study was to inspect undergraduate interior design student state of mind toward destitution, vagrancy, and group administration. An auxiliary intention was to figure out whether introduction to plan ventures for the individuals who have encountered hardship would change student convictions. All first year recruits (n = 18), sophomore (n = 26), junior (n = 17), and senior (n = 25) interior design undergraduate students at a public university completed a questionnaire in light of a few current scales. Amid the semester, the sophomores dealt with assignments that were intended to provide exposure to different socio-economic groups. Students finished three projects. Initially, the outline of a makeshift destitute asylum. Second, a re-model of a childcare focus office and gathering region that gives administrations to low-salary families, and third, the outline of a low-wage, private home. In these ventures, students were obliged to direct broad data assembling so they could better comprehend the issues connected with destitution. Toward the end of the semester, the sophomores finished the survey again and were asked extra inquiries in regards to the class and projects. Students’ sentiments towards the poor were more individualistic when contrasted with the white collar class, yet when the working class correlation was uprooted, some of their mentality gave a more unpredictable comprehension of destitution and vagrancy. The semester-long intercession fundamentally moved students' understanding that underscored auxiliary and multifaceted reason.

Keywords: interior design, destitution, vagrancy, group administration

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Authors: Nora Gavira Duron, Cinthya Moreda Gonzalez-Ortega, Reyna Susana Garcia Ruiz

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This paper objective is to analyze the mathematics performance in the Learning Evaluation National Plan (PLANEA for its Spanish initials: Plan Nacional para la Evaluación de los Aprendizajes), applied to Mexican students who are enrolled in the last elementary-school year over the 2017-2018 academic year. Such test was conducted nationwide in 3,573 schools, using a sample of 108,083 students, whose average in mathematics, on a scale of 0 to 100, was 45.6 points. 75% of the sample analyzed did not reach the sufficiency level (60 points). It should be noted that only 2% got a 90 or higher score result. The performance is analyzed while considering whether there are differences in gender, marginalization level, public or private school enrollment, parents’ academic background, and living-with-parents situation. Likewise, this variable impact (among other variables) on school performance by gender is evaluated, considering multivariate logistic (Logit) regression analysis. The results show there are no significant differences in mathematics performance regarding gender in elementary school; nevertheless, the impact exerted by mothers who studied at least high school is of great relevance for students, particularly for girls. Other determining variables are students’ resilience, their parents’ economic status, and the fact they attend private schools, strengthened by the mother's education.

Keywords: multivariate regression analysis, academic performance, learning evaluation, mathematics result per gender

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Authors: Ali Shirazi, Robert A. Taylor, Stephen D. White, Graham L. Morrison

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In this paper, a detailed simulation model of a solar-powered triple-effect LiBr–H₂O absorption chiller is developed to supply both cooling and heating demand of a large-scale building, aiming to reduce the fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in building sector. TRNSYS 17 is used to simulate the performance of the system over a typical year. A combined energetic-economic-environmental analysis is conducted to determine the system annual primary energy consumption and the total cost, which are considered as two conflicting objectives. A multi-objective optimization of the system is performed using a genetic algorithm to minimize these objectives simultaneously. The optimization results show that the final optimal design of the proposed plant has a solar fraction of 72% and leads to an annual primary energy saving of 0.69 GWh and annual CO₂ emissions reduction of ~166 tonnes, as compared to a conventional HVAC system. The economics of this design, however, is not appealing without public funding, which is often the case for many renewable energy systems. The results show that a good funding policy is required in order for these technologies to achieve satisfactory payback periods within the lifetime of the plant.

Keywords: economic, environmental, multi-objective optimization, solar air-conditioning, triple-effect absorption chiller

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Authors: Abimbola Motunrayo Folami, Ibironke Titilayo Enitan, Feroz Mohomed Swalaha

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Water is a vital resource that is important in ensuring the growth and development of any country. To sustain the basic human needs and the demands for agriculture, industry, conservational and ecosystem, enough quality and quantity water is needed. Contamination of water resources is now a global and public health concern. Hence, this study assessed the water quality of Ndawuse River by measuring the physicochemical parameters and heavy metals concentrations of the river using standard methods. In total, 16 surface water samples were obtained from five locations along the river, from upstream to downstream as well as samples from the dumpsite. The results obtained were compared with the standard limits set by both the World Health Organization and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency for domestic purposes. The results of the measured parameters indicated that biological oxygen demand (85.88 mg/L), turbidity (44.51 NTU), Iron (0.014 - 3.511 mg /L) and chromium (0.078 - 0.14 mg /L) were all above the standard limits. The results further showed that the quality of surface water is being significantly affected by human activities around the Ndawuse River which could pose an adverse health risk to several communities that rely on this river as their primary source of water. Therefore, there is a need for strict enforcement of environmental laws to protect the aquatic ecosystem and to avoid long term cumulative exposure risk that heavy metals may pose on human health.

Keywords: Abuja, contaminants, heavy metals, Ndawuse River, Nigeria, surface water

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Authors: Jutamas Wisansing, Thanakarn Vongvisitsin, Udom Hongchatikul

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Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA) is a public organization, dedicating to sustainable tourism development in 6 designated areas in Thailand. This paper provides rich reflections from a decade of DASTA, formulating an advanced model to deepen our understanding of 2 key intertwining issues; 1) what are the new landscapes of actors for community based tourism and 2) who are the benefactors and beneficiaries of tourism development within the community? An action research approach was used, enabling the process and evidence-based cases to be better captured. The aim is to build theoretical foundation through 13 communities/cases, which have engaged in community based tourism pilot projects. Drawing from emic and qualitative research, specific and contextual phenomenon provides succinct patterns of ‘Community Benefitting through Tourism (CbtT)’ model. The re-definition of the 2 key issues helps shape the interlinking of actors; practicalities of inclusive tourism and inter-sectoral framework and its value chain will also be set forth. In tourism sector, community members could be active primarily on the supply side as employees, entrepreneurs and local heritage experts. CbtT when well defined stimulates the entire value chain of local economy while promoting social innovation through positive dialogue with wider actors. Collaboration with a new set of actors who are from the tourism-related businesses and non-tourism related businesses create better impacts on mutual benefits.

Keywords: community based tourism, community benefitting through tourism -CbtT DASTA model, sustainable tourism in thailand, value chain and inclusive business

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Authors: Ons Slimene, Aroua Taamallah, Maha Khemaja

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In recent years, human activity recognition (HAR) has been a key area of research due to its diverse applications. It has garnered increasing attention in the field of computer vision. HAR plays an important role in people’s daily lives as it has the ability to learn advanced knowledge about human activities from data. In HAR, activities are usually represented by exploiting different types of sensors, such as embedded sensors or visual sensors. However, these sensors have limitations, such as local obstacles, image-related obstacles, sensor unreliability, and consumer concerns. Recently, several deep learning-based approaches have been proposed for HAR and these approaches are classified into two categories based on the type of data used: vision-based approaches and sensor-based approaches. This research paper highlights the importance of multimodal data fusion from skeleton data obtained from videos and data generated by embedded sensors using deep neural networks for achieving HAR. We propose a deep multimodal fusion network based on a twostream architecture. These two streams use the Convolutional Neural Network combined with the Bidirectional LSTM (CNN BILSTM) to process skeleton data and data generated by embedded sensors and the fusion at the feature level is considered. The proposed model was evaluated on a public OPPORTUNITY++ dataset and produced a accuracy of 96.77%.

Keywords: human activity recognition, action recognition, sensors, vision, human-centric sensing, deep learning, context-awareness

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Authors: Mariana Mangas, Yaroslava Martins, Ana Matos Pires

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Introduction: Stigmatization is a common problem to overcome for people suffering from chronic diseases. It usually follows mental disorders and complicates the course of illness and reduces quality of life for people with mental illness. Objective: unsystematic review concerning stigma and mental illness, its impact on psychiatric disease and strategies to eradicate stigma. Methods: A search was conducted on PubMed, using keywords 'stigma' and 'mental illness'. Results and Discussion: Stigma is a psychosocial process that identifies individuals by the negative label of their differences. Stigma often brings a loss of occupational success and social support, reduced functioning and lower quality of life. The sense of stigma is common in individuals with mental illness and has considerable negative repercussions: delays treatment achievement, promotes social isolation, stress and maladaptive coping behaviors and it is associated with higher symptom levels, placing these individuals at higher risk for a poorer outcome and prognoses. Conclusion: Given the interrelation between stigma, symptoms, treatment seeking and disease management, stigma is a key construct in mental illness upon which anti-stigma initiatives may have considerable therapeutic potential. It will take multidisciplinary interventions to overcome mental illness stigma, including changes in social policy, attitudes and practices among mental health professionals, liaison between general public and people with a mental illness under conditions of equity and parity, family support, and easy access to evidence-based treatments.

Keywords: discrimination, stigma, mental illness, quality of life

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Authors: Salako Emmanuel Adekunle

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Computer education is referred to as the knowledge and ability to use computers and related technology efficiently, with a range of skills covering levels from basic use to advance. Computer continues to make an ever-increasing impact on all aspect of human endeavours such as education. With numerous benefits of computer education, what are the insights of students on computer education? This study investigated the perception of senior secondary school students on computer education in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria. A sample of 7500 senior secondary schools students was involved in the study, one hundred (100) private and fifty (50) public schools within FCT. They were selected by using simple random sampling technique. A questionnaire [PSSSCEQ] was developed and validated through expert judgement and reliability co-efficient of 0.84 was obtained. It was used to gather relevant data on computer education. Findings confirmed that the students in the FCT had positive perception on computer education. Some factors were identified that affect students’ perception on computer education. The null hypotheses were tested using t-test and ANOVA statistical analyses at 0.05 level of significance. Based on these findings, some recommendations were made which include competent teachers should be employed into all secondary schools; this will help students to acquire relevant knowledge in computer education, technological supports should be provided to all secondary schools; this will help the users (students) to solve specific problems in computer education and financial supports should be provided to procure computer facilities that will enhance the teaching and the learning of computer education.

Keywords: computer education, perception, secondary school, students

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Authors: Gaofetoge Lenetha, Malerato Moloi, Ntsoaki Malebo

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Microbial contamination of ready-to-eat foods and beverages sold by street vendors has become an important public health issue. In developing countries including South Africa, health risks related to such kinds of foods are thought to be common. Thus, this study assessed knowledge, attitude and practices of street food vendors. Street vendors in the city of Mangaung Metro were investigated in order to assess their knowledge, attitudes and handling practices. A semi-structured questionnaire and checklist were used in interviews to determine the status of the vending sites and associa. ted food-handling practices. Data was collected by means of a face-to-face interview. The majority of respondents were black females. Hundred percent (100%) of the participants did not have any food safety training. However, street vendors showed a positive attitude towards food safety. Despite the positive attitude, vendors showed some non-compliance when it comes to handling food. During the survey, it was also observed that the vending stalls lack basic infrastructures like toilets and potable water that is currently a major problem. This study indicates a need for improvements in the environmental conditions at these sites to prevent foodborne diseases. Moreover, based on the results observed food safety and food hygiene training or workshops for street vendors are highly recommended.

Keywords: food hygiene, foodborne illnesses, food safety, Street foods

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Authors: Laila Habiballah, Ahmad Tubaishat

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Background: with the development of information and communication technology, using the internet as a source to obtain health information is increasing. Nursing students as future health care providers should have the skills of locating, evaluating and using online health information. This will enable them to help their patients and families to make informed decisions. Aim: this study has a two-fold aim. The first is to assess the eHealth literacy among nursing students in Jordan. The second aim is to explore the factors that have an effect on the eHealth literacy. Methods: this is a descriptive cross-sectional survey that conducted in two universities in Jordan; public and private one. A number of 541 students from both universities were completed the eHEALS scale, which is an instrument designed to measure the eHealth literacy. Some additional personal and demographical variable were collected to explore its effect on eHealth literacy. Results: Students have a high perceived level of e-Health literacy (M=3.62, SD=0.58). They are aware of the available online health resources, know how to search, locate, and use these resources. But, they do not have the skills to evaluate these resources and cannot differentiate between the high and low-quality resources. The results showed as well that type of university, type of students' admission, academic level, students' skills of using the internet, and the perception of usefulness and importance of internet have an effect on the eHealth literacy. While the age, gender, GPA, and the frequency of using the internet was no significant factors. Conclusion: This study represents a baseline reference for the eHealth literacy in Jordan. Students have some skills of eHealth literacy and other skills need to be improved. Nursing educators and administrators should integrate and incorporate the skills of eHealth literacy in the curriculum.

Keywords: eHealth, literacy, nursing, students, Jordan

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Authors: Okanta Andrew, Richmond Kweku Frempong

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As mobile networks are upgraded with technologies like WAP, GPRS and UMTS to deliver next-generation multimedia services, so are the banks and other financial institutions also getting ready to unleash the financial products on the mobile platform to meet growing demand for mobile based application services. Hence, the onset of Unstructured Supplementary Services (USSD) Banking which would make banking services available at anywhere, anytime through a string of interactive SMS sessions between a mobile device and an application server of a service provider. The aim of this studies was to find out whether the public will accept the sim banking service when it is implemented. Our target group includes: Working class. E. g. Businessmen/women, office workers, fishermen, market women, teachers etc. Nonworking class. E. g. Students (Tertiary, Senior High School), housewives. etc. The survey was in the form of a questionnaire and a verbal interview (video) which was to investigate their idea about the current banking system and the yet to be introduced sim banking concept. Meanwhile, some challenges accompanied the progression of data gathering because some populace showed reluctance in freeing their information. One other suggestion was that government should put measures against foremost challenges obstructing sim banking in Ghana counter to computers hackers. Government and individual have a key role to undertake to give suitable support to facelift the sim banking industry in the country. It was also suggested that Government put strong regulations on the use of sim banking products and services to streamline all the activities and also create awareness of the need for sim banking and emphasize its relevance in the aspect of national GDP.

Keywords: banking, mobile banking, SIM banking, mobile banking in Ghana

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Authors: Aljabryn Dalal Hamad

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The present explanatory study concerns with the relation between Diabetes Mellitus and Food Balance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during 2005-2010, using published data. Results illustrated that Saudi citizen daily protein consumption (DPC) during 2005-2007 (g/capita/day) is higher than the average global consumption level of protein with 15.27%, daily fat consumption (DFC) with 24.56% and daily energy consumption (DEC) with 16.93% and increases than recommended level by International Nutrition Organizations (INO) with 56% for protein, 60.49% for fat and 27.37% for energy. On the other hand, DPC per capita in Saudi Arabia decreased during the period 2008-2010 from 88.3 to 82.36 gram/ day. Moreover, DFC per capita in Saudi Arabia decreased during the period 2008-2010 from 3247.90 to 3176.43 Cal/capita/ day, and daily energy consumption (DEC) of Saudi citizen increases than world consumption with 16.93%, while increases with 27.37% than INO. Despite this, DPC, DFC and DEC per capita in Saudi Arabia still higher than world mean. On the other side, results illustrated that the number of diabetic patients in Saudi Arabia during the same period (2005-2010). The curve of diabetic patient’s number in Saudi Arabia during 2005-2010 is regular ascending with increasing level ranged between 7.10% in 2005 and 12.44% in 2010. It is essential to devise Saudi National programs to educate the public about the relation of food balances and diabetes so it could be avoided, and provide citizens with healthy dietary balances tables.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, food balance, energy, fat, protein, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Mushtaq H. Khan, Antonio Andreoni, Pallavi Roy

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Developing countries are characterized by political settlements where formal rules are generally weakly enforced and widely violated. Conventional anti-corruption strategies that focus on improving the general enforcement of a rule of law and raising the costs of corruption facing individual public officials have typically delivered poor results in these contexts. Our alternative approach is to identify anti-corruption strategies that have a high impact and that are feasible to implement in these contexts. Our alternative approach identifies anti-corruption strategies from the bottom up. This involves identifying the characteristics of the corruption constraining particular development outcomes. By drawing on theories of rents and rent seeking, and theories of political settlements, we can assess the developmental impact of particular anti-corruption strategies and the feasibility of implementing these strategies. We argue that feasible anti-corruption in these contexts cannot be solely based on conventional anti-corruption strategies. In societies that have widespread rule violations, high-impact anti-corruption is only likely to be feasible if the overall strategy succeeds in aligning the interests and capabilities of powerful organizations at the sectoral level to support the enforcement of particular sets of rules. We examine four related strategies for changing these incentives and capabilities of critical stakeholders at the local or sectoral level, and we argue that this can provide a framework for organizing research on the impact and feasibility of anti-corruption activities in different priority areas in particular countries.

Keywords: anti-corruption, development, political settlements analysis, rule of law

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Authors: Barrere Sarah

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The area of liberty, security, and justice within the European Union is still a work in progress. No one can deny that the EU struggles between a monistic and a dualist approach. The aim of our essay is to first review how the European law is perceived by the rest of the international scene. It will then discuss two main mechanisms at play: the interpretation of larger international treaties and the penal mechanisms of European law. Finally, it will help us understand the role of a penal Europe on the international scene with concrete examples. Special attention will be paid to cases that deal with fundamental rights as they represent an interesting case study in Europe and in the rest of the World. It could illustrate the aforementioned duality currently present in the Union’s interpretation of international public law. On the other hand, it will explore some specific European penal mechanism through mutual recognition and the European arrest warrant in the transnational criminality frame. Concerning the interpretation of the treaties, it will first, underline the ambiguity and the general nature of some treaties that leave the EU exposed to tension and misunderstanding then it will review the validity of an EU act (whether or not it is compatible with the rules of International law). Finally, it will focus on the most complete manifestation of liberty, security and justice through the principle of mutual recognition. Used initially in commercial matters, it has become “the cornerstone” of European construction. It will see how it is applied in judicial decisions (its main event and achieving success is via the European arrest warrant) and how European member states have managed to develop this cooperation.

Keywords: European penal law, international scene, liberty security and justice area, mutual recognition

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Authors: Chako G. Chako

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This study reports on an ongoing research that explores pre-school mathematics. Participants in the study includes three pre-school teachers and their pre-school learners from one school in Gaborone. The school was purposefully selected based on its performance in Botswana’s 2019 national examinations. Specifically, the study is interested on teachers’ explanations of mathematics concepts embedded in pre-school mathematics tasks. The interest on explanations was informed by the view that suggests that, the mathematics learners get to learn, resides in teachers’ explanations. Recently, Botswana’s basic education has integrated pre-school education into the mainstream public primary school education. This move is part of the government’s drive to elevate Botswana to a knowledge-based-economy. It is believed that provision of pre-school education to all Batswana children will contribute immensely towards a knowledge-based-economy. Since pre-school is now a new phenomenon in our education, there is limited research at this level of education in Botswana. In particular, there is limited knowledge about what and how the teaching is conducted in Pre-Schools in Botswana. Hence, the study seeks to gain insight into what constitutes mathematics in tasks that learners are given, and how concepts are made accessible to Pre-school learners. The research question of interest for this study is stated as: What is the nature Pre-school teachers’ explanations of mathematics concepts embedded in tasks given to learners. Casting some light into what and how pre-school mathematics tasks are enacted is critical for policy and Pre-school teacher professional development. The sociocultural perspective framed the research. Adler and Rhonda’s (2014) notion of exemplification and explanatory communication are used to analyze tasks given to learners and teachers’ explanations respectively.

Keywords: classroom, explanation, mathematics, pre-school, tasks

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Authors: Muhammad Sohail Sajid, Qurat-ul-Ain, Zafar Iqbal, Muhammad Nisar Khan, Asma Kausar, Adil Ejaz

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Rickettsiosis, caused by a Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiae (SFGR), is considered as an emerging infectious disease from public and veterinary perspective. The present study reports distribution of SFGR in the host (buffalo and cattle) and vector (ticks) population determined through gene specific amplification through PCR targeting outer membrane protein (ompA). Tick and blood samples were collected using standard protocols through convenient sampling from district Faisalabad. Ticks were dissected to extract salivary glands (SG). Blood and tick SG pools were subjected to DNA extraction and amplification of ompA using PCR. Overall prevalence of SFGR was reported as 21.5% and 33.6 % from blood and ticks, respectively. Hyalomma anatolicum was more prevalent tick associated with SFGR as compared to Rhipicephalus sp. Higher prevalence of SFGR was reported in cattle (25%) population as compared to that of buffalo (17.07%). On seasonal basis, high SFGR prevalence was recorded during spring season (48.1%, 26.32%, 17.76%) as compared to winter (27.9%, 21.43%, 15.38%) in vector and host (cattle and buffalo respectively) population. Sequencing analysis indicated that rickettsial endo-symbionts were associated with ticks of the study area. These results provided baseline information about the prevalence of SFGR in vector and host population.

Keywords: Rickettsia, livestock, polymerase chain reaction, sequencing, ticks, vectors

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Authors: Feng Zisu

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Community is the basic unit of the city, community pedestrian space is also an important part of the urban public space, and its quality improvement is also closely related to the residents' happiness and sense of belonging. Domestic and international research perspectives on community pedestrian space have gradually changed to inclusive design for the whole population, paying more attention to the equitable accessibility of urban space and the multiple composite enhancement of spatial connotation. In order to realize the inclusive and sustainable development of pedestrian space in old communities, this article selects Cao Yang New Village in Shanghai as a practice case, and based on the connotation of inclusiveness, the four dimensions of space, traffic, function and emotion are selected as the layers of inclusive connotation of pedestrian space in old communities. This article identifies the objective social needs, dynamic activity characteristics and subjective feelings of multiple subjects, and reconstructs the structural hierarchy of “spatial perception - behavioral characteristics - subjective feelings” of walking. It also proposes a governance strategy of “reconfiguring the pedestrian network, optimizing street quality, integrating ecological space and reshaping the community scene” from the aspects of quality of physical environment and quality of behavioral perception, aiming to provide new ideas for promoting the inclusive and sustainable development of pedestrian space in old communities.

Keywords: inclusivity, old community, pedestrian space, spatial quality, sustainable renovation

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Authors: Abdel-Tawab H. Mossa

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Synthetic pesticides are widely used in large-scale worldwide for control pests in agriculture and public health sectors in both developed and developing countries. Although the positive role of pesticides, they have many adverse toxic effects on humans, animals, and the ecosystem. Therefore, in the last few years, scientists have been searching for new active compounds from natural resources as an alternative to synthetic pesticides. Currently, many commercial natural pesticides are available commercially worldwide. These products are recommended for uses in organic farmers and considered as safe pesticides. This paper focuses on the adverse effects of natural pesticides on mammals. Available commercial pesticides in the market contain essential oils (e.g. pepper, cinnamon, and garlic), plant extracts, microorganism (e.g. bacteria, fungi or their toxin), mineral oils and some active compounds from natural recourses e.g. spinosad, neem, pyrethrum, rotenone, abamectin and other active compounds from essential oils (EOs). Some EOs components, e.g., thujone, pulegone, and thymol have high acute toxicity (LD50) is 87.5, 150 and 980 mg/kg. B.wt on mice, respectively. Natural pesticides such as spinosad, pyrethrum, neem, abamectin, and others have toxicological effects to mammals and ecosystem. These compounds were found to cause hematotoxicity, hepato-renal toxicity, biochemical alteration, reproductive toxicity, genotoxicity, and mutagenicity. It caused adverse effects on the ecosystem. Therefore, natural pesticides in general not safe and have high acute toxicity and can induce adverse effects at long-term exposure.

Keywords: natural pesticides, toxicity, safety, genotoxicity, ecosystem, biochemical

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Authors: Stelios A. Mitilineos, Nicolas-Alexander Tatlas, Georgia Korompili, Lampros Kokkalas, Stelios M. Potirakis

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Obstructive Sleep Apnea Hypopnea Syndrome (OSAHS) is a widespread chronic disease that mostly remains undetected, mainly due to the fact that it is diagnosed via polysomnography which is a time and resource-intensive procedure. Screening the disease’s symptoms at home could be used as an alternative approach in order to alert individuals that potentially suffer from OSAHS without compromising their everyday routine. Since snoring is usually linked to OSAHS, developing a snore detector is appealing as an enabling technology for screening OSAHS at home using ubiquitous equipment like commodity microphones (included in, e.g., smartphones). In this context, this study developed a snore detection tool and herein present the approach and selection of specific sound features that discriminate snoring vs. environmental sounds, as well as the performance of the proposed tool. Furthermore, a Real-Time Snore Detector (RTSD) is built upon the snore detection tool and employed in whole-night sleep sound recordings resulting to a large dataset of snoring sound excerpts that are made freely available to the public. The RTSD may be used either as a stand-alone tool that offers insight to an individual’s sleep quality or as an independent component of OSAHS screening applications in future developments.

Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome, apnea screening, snoring detection, machine learning, neural networks

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Authors: Ji-Seok Koo, Hee‑Yong Kwon, Hui-Young Yun, Kyung-Hui Wang, Youn-Seo Koo

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This paper presents a forecasting system for PM2.5 levels in Seoul, South Korea, leveraging a combination of chemical transport modeling and ConvLSTM-DNN machine learning technology. Exposure to PM2.5 has known detrimental impacts on public health, making its prediction crucial for establishing preventive measures. Existing forecasting models, like the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) and Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), are hindered by their reliance on uncertain input data, such as anthropogenic emissions and meteorological patterns, as well as certain intrinsic model limitations. The system we've developed specifically addresses these issues by integrating machine learning and using carefully selected input features that account for local and distant sources of PM2.5. In South Korea, the PM2.5 concentration is greatly influenced by both local emissions and long-range transport from China, and our model effectively captures these spatial and temporal dynamics. Our PM2.5 prediction system combines the strengths of advanced hybrid machine learning algorithms, convLSTM and DNN, to improve upon the limitations of the traditional CMAQ model. Data used in the system include forecasted information from CMAQ and WRF models, along with actual PM2.5 concentration and weather variable data from monitoring stations in China and South Korea. The system was implemented specifically for Seoul's PM2.5 forecasting.

Keywords: PM2.5 forecast, machine learning, convLSTM, DNN

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Authors: Majeed Mohammed Midhin, Clare Finburgh

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To maintain a healthy balanced loyalty between art and politics posits a debatable issue. The artist is always on the look out for the potential tension between those two realms. Therefore, one of the most painful dilemmas the artist finds is how to function in a society without sacrificing the aesthetic values of his/her work. In other words, the life-long awareness of failure which derives from the concept of the artist as caught between unflattering social realities and the need to invent genuine art forms becomes a fertilizing soil for the artists to dig deep into its origin. Thus, within the framework of this dilemma, the question of the responsibility of the artist and the relationship of the art to politics will be illuminating. The present paper tackles the idea of the amorality of the artist in selected plays by Tom Stoppard. However, Stoppard’s awareness of his situation as a refugee has led him to keep at a distance from politics. He tried hard to avoid any intervention into the realms of political debate, especially in his earliest work. On the one hand, it is not meant that he did not interest in politics as such, but rather he preferred to question it than to create a fixed ideological position. On the other hand, Stoppard’s refusal to intervene in politics is ascribed to his feeling of gratitude to Britain where he settled. As a result, Stoppard has frequently been criticized for a lack of political engagement and also for not leaning too much for the left when he does engage. His reaction to these public criticisms finds expression in his self-conscious statements which defensively stressed the artifice of his work. He, like Oscar Wilde thinks that the responsibility of the artist is devoted to the realm of his/her art. Consequently, his consciousness for the role of the artist is truly reflected in his two plays, Artist Descending a Staircase(1972) and Travesties(1974).

Keywords: amorality, dilemma, aesthetic, responsibility of the artist, political theatre

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Authors: Sanam Mujahid, Aliza Ahmad

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Women education and empowerment has fundamental importance in the development of a civilized society however, in a developing country like Pakistan, there are serious challenges in this regard. Herein, we summarize the findings of 2012 study which revealed the key problems associated with women education and their proposed solutions. A survey tool was used to question female students and female faculty members in 20 different public sector universities of all four provinces of Pakistan. In this study, 1755 female students and 410 female faculty members responded. In addition to survey, semi-structured interview were also conducted with 25 female students and 10 female faculty members. Respondents of the survey emphasize the lack of adequate educational institutions in nearby vicinity, social exclusion including gender discrimination, shortage of female teachers, lack of resources and inefficient government policies are the major factors that influence female education. To solve these problems, the main recommendations by respondents include safe and secure learning environment for females in educational institutions, community and parental support, well qualified and sufficient number of female teachers. One of the most important proposals was the participation of females at policy level. Current study will provide a general layout to design the future educational strategies for promoting women education in all regions of Pakistan thus, developing towards modern educated society.

Keywords: women education, education strategies, developing countries, Pakistan

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Authors: Olumuyiwa I. Ojo, Kola Amao, Josiah A. Adeyemo, Fred A. O. Otieno

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A study was carried out to assess the environmental impact of Kampe (Omi) irrigation scheme with respect to public health hazards, the rising water table, salinity and alkalinity problems on the project site. A structured questionnaire was used as the main tool to gather information on the effect of the irrigation project on the various communities around the project site. The different sections of the questionnaire enabled the gathering of information ranging from general to more specific information. The results obtained from the study showed that the two effects are obvious: the 'positive effects' which include increasing the socioeconomic development of the entire communities, resulting in an increase in employment opportunities and better lifestyle and the 'negative effects' in which malaria (100% occurrence) and schistosomiasis (66.7%) were found to be active diseases caused by irrigation activities. Increase in height of water table and salinity is eminent in the irrigation site unless adequate drainage is provided. The collection and experimental analyses of representation soil and water samples from each scheme were used to assess the current status of each receptor. Results obtained indicate the absence of soil with sodium adsorption ration (SAR) values ranging from 3.0 to 3.89, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) ranged from 3.8% to 5.5% while pH values ranged from 6.60 to 7.00. Drainage facilities of the project site are inadequate, therefore making it difficult to leach the soil and flood history is occasional.

Keywords: irrigation, impact, soil analysis, Nigeria

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Authors: Radek Richtr, Petr Paus

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The connection to the primal environment, living and growing nature is disappearing for most of the residents in urban core areas nowadays. Most of the residents perceive scattered green mass like more technical objects than sentient living organisms. The Arboretum is a type of application from the 'serious games' genre -it is a research experiment masked as a gaming environment. In used virtual and augmented reality environments, every city district is represented by central objects; Pillars created as a result of resident’s consensus. Every player can furthermore plant and grow virtual organic seeds everywhere he wants. Seeds sprout, and their form is determined by both players’ choice and nearest pillar. Every house, private rooms, and even workspace get their new living virtual avatar-connected 'residents' growing from player-planted seeds. Every room or workspace is transformed into (calming) nature scene, reflecting in some way both players and community spirit and together create a vicinity environment. The conceptual design phase of the project is crucial and allows for the identification of the fundamental problems through abstraction. The project that centers on wide community usage needs a clear and accessible interface. Simultaneously the conceptual design allows early sharing of project ideas and creating public concern. The paper discusses the current conceptual model of an Arboretum project (which is part of a whole widespread project) and its validation.

Keywords: augmented reality, conceptual design, mixed reality, social engineering

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Authors: Seyedeh-Fariba Jahanbin, Hasan Yusefzadeh, Bahram Nabilou, Cyrus Alinia, Cyrus Alinia

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Background: Due to the lack of a constant Willingness to Pay per one additional Quality Adjusted Life Years gained based on the preferences of Iran’s general public, the cost-efectiveness of health system interventions is unclear and making it challenging to apply economic evaluation to health resources priority setting. Methods: We have measured this cost-efectiveness threshold with the participation of 2854 individuals from fve provinces, each representing an income quintile, using a modifed Time Trade-Of-based Chained-Approach. In this online-based empirical survey, to extract the health utility value, participants were randomly assigned to one of two green (21121) and yellow (22222) health scenarios designed based on the earlier validated EQ-5D-3L questionnaire. Results: Across the two health state versions, mean values for one QALY gain (rounded) ranged from $6740-$7400 and $6480-$7120, respectively, for aggregate and trimmed models, which are equivalent to 1.35-1.18 times of the GDP per capita. Log-linear Multivariate OLS regression analysis confrmed that respondents were more likely to pay if their income, disutility, and education level were higher than their counterparts. Conclusions: In the health system of Iran, any intervention that is with the incremental cost-efectiveness ratio, equal to and less than 7402.12 USD, will be considered cost-efective.

Keywords: willingness to Pay, QALY, chained-approach, cost-efectiveness threshold, Iran

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Authors: William Mahony, L. Jacqueline Hirth, Richard Rupp, Sandra Gonzalez, Roger Zoorob

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Background: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physicians has been considered by many researchers, but less is known about non-physician healthcare workers. The aim of this study is to examine the association of COVID-19 safety training and communication with stress. Methods: A 91-item online survey was distributed, starting January 2, 2021, to non-physician healthcare workers, including physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and medical assistants (MAs) in the United States through email and social media. A $1 donation was made to the Red Cross for each completed survey. The survey consisted of demographics, occupational questions, and perceived stress (perceived stress scale, PSS). Items on the PSS were combined for an overall score and categorized according to the severity of perceived stress. Chi-square tests were performed for bivariate analyses of categorical variables. Results: Of the 284 participants consenting to complete the survey, 197 participants completed the full survey. MAs made up most of the sample at 79%. Among all respondents, 47% had moderate PSS scores (scored between 14 and 26), and 51% had severe PSS scores (scored between 27 and 40). Unvaccinated participants reported statistically significantly lower levels of perceived stress (p = 0.002). Performing tasks outside of typical job responsibilities was not associated with PSS scores (p = .667). Discussion: Non-physician healthcare workers demonstrated a high level of perceived stress overall. The association between vaccination status and perceived stress should be examined in order to evaluate whether vaccination levels could be improved with further education about the virus and associated risks.

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-Cov-2, nursing, public health

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Authors: Panagiotis Karadimos, Leonidas Anthopoulos

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Predicting the actual cost and duration in construction projects concern a continuous and existing problem for the construction sector. This paper addresses this problem with modern methods and data available from past public construction projects. 39 bridge projects, constructed in Greece, with a similar type of available data were examined. Considering each project’s attributes with the actual cost and the actual duration, correlation analysis is performed and the most appropriate predictive project variables are defined. Additionally, the most efficient subgroup of variables is selected with the use of the WEKA application, through its attribute selection function. The selected variables are used as input neurons for neural network models through correlation analysis. For constructing neural network models, the application FANN Tool is used. The optimum neural network model, for predicting the actual cost, produced a mean squared error with a value of 3.84886e-05 and it was based on the budgeted cost and the quantity of deck concrete. The optimum neural network model, for predicting the actual duration, produced a mean squared error with a value of 5.89463e-05 and it also was based on the budgeted cost and the amount of deck concrete.

Keywords: actual cost and duration, attribute selection, bridge construction, neural networks, predicting models, FANN TOOL, WEKA

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Authors: ZeinolAbedin Rahmani, Marzieh Evazi Borazjani, Nooshin Salehi

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Organizations are increasingly facing changes and developments scientific, technological, social, cultural changes among these organizations those ones are reckoned successful and effective that in addition to coordinating the development of modern society can forecast future changes and be able to accommodate these changes in order to create favorable developments to build a better future. But we can change that with the changes that occur in the organization of the program it will distinguish. Today's organizations need leaders that change and grow them have to survive. In fact, without transformational managers and leaders, it is certainly difficult to create changes in organizations. Both private and public organizations need to increase knowledge and awareness of the cause widespread changes in the structure, culture and practice for the viability and sustainability of life and growth and development. By now, different signs have determined different causes for a suitable function of employees. However, the important thing is that the commitment of the employees to their organization has always been very important. Since the decrease of organization commitment causes the high rate of absenteeism, turnover intentions, and even to reduce the impact of health staff. and these factors prevent organizations from achieving its goals. If organizations want to retain staff, the organization must find a way to be happy and continue their work with commitment, motivation, and willingness. So here is the need for strong leaders, analysts, creative and transformational upper ranks more than ever is felt. The aim of this study is to revise history, the leadership style of managers shipbuilding company by using the MLQ model.

Keywords: leadership style, managers, organizational, manufacturing company, sustainability of life

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Authors: Berit Johannessen

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Introduction: Depression and dementia are the two most common psychiatric disorders of older people. The use of antidepressants does not always have the desired effect and serious side effects are common. Aroma therapists claim that the essential oil of Bergamot has an antidepressant effect. Aromatherapy is defined as holistic or complementary medicine and is rarely used in the Norwegian public health service, but in recent years, there has been an increasing interest in, and use of complementary and alternative therapies (CAM) in the Norwegian population, and aromatherapy is one of the most widely used. Focus for this study: How do nurses experience the use of Bergamot essential oil for patients suffering from dementia and depression? Method: Action research study including 12 patients and 8 nurses. The patients were strategically selected by the nurses and were given Bergamot in a fan diffuser every day for 12 weeks. The patients' mood and behavior patterns were reported daily and the nurse`s experiences were reported weekly. Individual interviews with the nurses were conducted at the end of the project. Results: The nurses reported that bergamot had positive impact on patients mood and wellbeing, and was considered as an effective method for six patients, four had uncertain effect and two had no effect. They also reported less use of medication and that the fan diffusers were easy and pleasant to administer. They found the use of natural remedies as Bergamot inspiring and wanted to learn more about aromatherapy and its use in nursing. Some were disturbed by the smell and some had to deal with critical and negative colleagues. Conclusion: Nurses experienced aromatherapy using bergamot oil in fan diffusers as a simple and useful procedure for patients suffering from dementia and depression. The effects were varying. Further research is needed.

Keywords: aromatherapy, bergamot, dementia, depression

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Authors: Kelvin Tang

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As the world is approaching global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, more atrocious consequences of climate change are projected to occur in the future. Consequently, it is today’s adolescents who will encounter the grand consequences of climate change. Therefore, nurturing adolescents that are well-informed, emotionally engaged, and motivated to take actions for combating climate change may be pivotal. Climate change education has a role in not only raising awareness, but also promoting behaviour change for climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, what kind of climate change education is suitable for whom? Requiring a learner-centred approach, tailoring climate change education requires a comprehensive understanding of the audience and their preconditions. In Japan, where climate change education has yet to be recognised as a field of environmental education, understanding climate change conceptions possessed by early adolescents is critical for a better design and more impactful implementation of climate change education. This exploratory study aims to investigate climate change conceptions among Japanese early adolescents from the perspective of cognition, affective, and conative dimensions. Questionnaire surveys were conducted targeting 423 students aged 12–14 in three public junior high schools located in Kashiwa City and Oita City. Findings suggest that the majority of Japanese early adolescents belong to groups that exhibit lower levels of cognition, affect, and conation in relation to climate change. The relationships among those dimensions were found to be positive and bidirectional. Moreover, several misconceptions about climate change and the effectiveness of its solutions were identified among the sample.

Keywords: climate change conceptions, climate change education, environmental education, adolescents, three learning dimensions, Japan

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