Search results for: law and environment

Authors: Farah El Mohtadi, Richard d'Arcy, Nicola Tirelli

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Since 40 years, poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) has been the gold standard in biomaterials and drug delivery, because of its combination of chemical and biological inertness. However, the possibility of its breakdown under oxidative conditions and the demonstrated development of anti-PEG antibodies highlight the necessity to develop carriers based on materials with increased stability in a challenging biological environment. Here, we describe the synthesis of polysulfide via anionic ring-opening polymerization. In vitro, the synthesized polymer was characterized by low toxicity and a level of complement activation (in human plasma) and macrophage uptake slightly lower than PEG and poly (2‐methyl-2‐oxazoline) (PMOX), of a similar size. Importantly, and differently from PEG, on activated macrophages, the synthesized polymer showed a strong and dose-dependent ROS scavenging activity, which resulted in the corresponding reduction of cytokine production. Therefore, the results from these studies show that polysulfide is highly biocompatible and are potential candidates to be used as an alternative to PEG for various applications in nanomedicine.

Keywords: PEG, low toxicity, ROS scavenging, biocompatible

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Authors: L. Benseghir, H. Kadi-Hanifi

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Vegetation of the high steppic plains of southern Algiers region has ever been used by human occupation. The harsh climatic context characterized by long periods of drought and an ovine livestock in constant growth lead us to devote a particular attention to the biodiversity of those living environment. The diachronic study made in Tadmit (50 km south of the district of Djelfa) about the specific recording led us to notice that: The floristic recording of Tadmit is not reduced in time but fluctuate, depending on the pasture intensity, the annual rainfall and especially by the protection area of the following two years from January 2004. The forming specific recording of the station undergo significant changes from a period to another. Those changes in floristic list concern nearly 50% of the initial flora that could disappear or be replaced by new species. Finally, the alfa steppe is in a marked decline and is substituted by new facies that were privileged by the overgrazing, stranding or clearance.

Keywords: overgrazing, diachronic study, protection area, climate, desertification

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: Saad M. Darwish

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Recently, software quality issues have come to be seen as important subject as we see an enormous growth of agencies involved in software industries. However, these agencies cannot guarantee the quality of their products, thus leaving users in uncertainties. Software certification is the extension of quality by means that quality needs to be measured prior to certification granting process. This research participates in solving the problem of software assessment by proposing a model for assessment and certification of software product that uses a fuzzy inference engine to integrate both of process–driven and application-driven quality assurance strategies. The key idea of the on hand model is to improve the compactness and the interpretability of the model’s fuzzy rules via employing an ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO), which tries to find good rules description by dint of compound rules initially expressed with traditional single rules. The model has been tested by case study and the results have demonstrated feasibility and practicability of the model in a real environment.

Keywords: software quality, quality assurance, software certification model, software assessment

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Authors: Sajad Shokohuyar, Mahsa Zomorrodi Anbaji, Saghar Pouyan Shad

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According to fast technology growth, modern banking tries to decrease going to banks’ branches and increase customers’ consent. One of the problems which banks face is securing customer’s password. The banks’ solution is one time password creation system. In this research by adapting from acceptance of technology model theory, assesses factors that are effective on banking in Iran especially in using one time password machine by one of the private banks of Iran customers. The statistical population is all of this bank’s customers who use electronic banking service and one time password technology and the questionnaires were distributed among members of statistical population in 5 selected groups of north, south, center, east and west of Tehran. Findings show that confidential preservation, education, ease of utilization and advertising and informing has positive relations and distinct hardware and age has negative relations.

Keywords: security, electronic banking, one time password, information technology

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Authors: Zhan Chen, Yaping Huang, Xiao Shen, Yichun Li

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New urbanization is a strategic fulcrum of China's future development, regional urbanization is a hot research field, different from the contiguous urbanization patterns of the eastern coastal plains and the node type urbanization patterns of the southwest mountainous areas, central inland areas has the realistic conditions of complex terrain conditions and kinds of phases, the dominant power of urbanization development, organizational power, coordination of the urbanization development and the natural environment, will be the core issue in the process of urbanization. This article starts from the characteristics of the typical urbanization development in such areas of Hubei Province, analyzing the current outstanding and typical problems in the process of urbanization in Hubei Province, and propose targeted to promote the basic ideas and implementation paths of the development of new urbanization, in order to provide experience and learn from similar cities of the development of urbanization.

Keywords: varied terrain, inland area, path explore, Hubei Province

Procedia PDF Downloads 339

Authors: Pi Hsia Liang

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The rise of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks significantly changes in interconnections between people, enhancing the process of information dissemination and amplify the influence of that information. Therefore, to develop informational efficiency or signaling equilibrium type of information environment among social networks, without adverse selection effects, becomes an important issue. Thus, someone may post a piece of intentional information in relation to personal interest for trying to create marginal influence. Therefore, economists are seeking to establish theories of informational efficiency under social network environment in order to resolve adverse selection issues. Reputation could be one of the important factors in the process of creating informational efficiency. Additionally, investors how to process green information, or information of corporate social responsibility is a very important study. This study essentially employs experimental study for examining how investors use stock relevant green information in Facebook and various Taiwan local networks. Facebook, and blogs of Money DJ, Technews and cnYES, respectively, are the primary sites for this examination that also allow to differentiate effects between Facebook and other local social networks. Questionnaire is developed for such an experimental testing. Note that questionnaire allows this study to group, for example, decision frequency and length of time duration focusing on social networks that are used for discriminating investor type and competence of informed investor. This study selects 500 investors that can be separated into two respective 250 samples as the control group and 250 samples in such an experimental. The quantity of sample investor sufficiently results in statistic significance of this experimental study. The empirical results of this study can be used for explaining how financial information in relation to corporate social responsibility would be disseminated in social websites. Therefore, we can lead to better interpretation of price/earnings relationship type of study and empirical studies of green information usefulness or informational efficiency Note that the above mentioned empirical studies did not exist any social network and annual report of corporate social responsibility. This study expects to find the results that both network degree and network cluster significantly affected green information dissemination frequency. In other words, investors with more connections and with high clustered connections might exert a greater influence on their green information dissemination process. The preferred users of financial social networks could make better stock decision that could amplify effects of green information. In addition, Facebook would be more influential than other local Taiwan financial social networks, although Facebook is not a specialized financial social network. In other words, the popularity and reputation effects of Facebook significantly contribute to usefulness of green information and influence of green information. Third, it has a better chance to find rumor or cheating information in local Taiwan financial social networks than Facebook. In other words, Facebook possesses reputation effect, or a better informational efficiency. Or, even though Taiwan local financial social networks have marginal informational effects on stock price, because of shortage of informational efficiency or monitoring system, information could be a tool for those whom owning superior information.

Keywords: network effect on financial services, informational efficiency theory, social networks, social websites

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Authors: Monica Sharma, Harjit Pal Singh, Jasbinder Singh, Manju Bala

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In Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, the speech signal is degraded when passed through the network layers. The speech signal is processed through the best effort policy based IP network, which leads to the network degradations including delay, packet loss and jitter. The packet loss is the major issue of the degradation in the VoIP signal quality; even a single lost packet may generate audible distortion in the decoded speech signal. In addition to these network degradations, the quality of the speech signal is also affected by the environmental noises and coder distortions. The signal quality of the VoIP system is improved through the interleaving technique. The performance of the system is evaluated for various types of noises at different network conditions. The performance of the enhanced VoIP signal is evaluated using perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ) measurement for narrow band signal.

Keywords: VoIP, interleaving, packet loss, packet size, background noise

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Authors: Anna Veres

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People’s ability to adapt to a constantly changing environment is essential. Career adaptability is central to Career Construction Theory, where proper adaptation to new situations, changing environments, and jobs require adequate career development. Based on current career theories and the possibilities offered by digital technology, the primary goal of this study is to develop career adaptability through an online tool. Its secondary goal is to apply for an online career intervention program and explore its developmental possibilities. A total of 132 university students from the bachelor program took part in the study, from which 65 students received a four-week online career intervention, while 67 participants formed the control group. Based on the results, it can state that career adaptability can be developed, and there is a great demand and interest from university students to use career-related programs on online platforms. Career interventions should be performed online as well if there is suitable software and a well-constructed program. Limitations and further implications are discussed.

Keywords: career adaptability, career development, online career intervention, university students

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Authors: Abdoullah Namdar, Fadzil Mat Yahaya

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The waste agriculture materials cause environment pollution, recycle of these materials help sustainable development. This study focused on the impact of used oil palm shell ash on the compressive and flexural strengths of cement mortar. Two different cement mortar mixes have been designed to investigate the impact of oil palm shell ash on strengths of cement mortar. Quantity of 4% oil palm shell ash has been replaced in cement mortar. The main objective of this paper is, to modify mechanical properties of cement mortar by replacement of oil palm ash in it at early age of seven days. The results have been revealed optimum quantity of oil palm ash for replacement in cement mortar. The deflection, load to failure, time to failure of compressive strength and flexural strength of all specimens have significantly been improved. The stress-strain behavior has been indicated ability of modified cement mortar in control stress path and strain. The micro property of cement paste has not been investigated.

Keywords: minerals, additive, flexural strength, compressive strength, modulus of elasticity

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Authors: Yassir AbdelRazig

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Evolutionary optimization methods such as genetic algorithms have been used extensively for the construction site layout problem. More recently, ant colony optimization algorithms, which are evolutionary methods based on the foraging behavior of ants, have been successfully applied to benchmark combinatorial optimization problems. This paper proposes a formulation of the site layout problem in terms of a sequencing problem that is suitable for solution using an ant colony optimization algorithm. In the construction industry, site layout is a very important planning problem. The objective of site layout is to position temporary facilities both geographically and at the correct time such that the construction work can be performed satisfactorily with minimal costs and improved safety and working environment. During the last decade, evolutionary methods such as genetic algorithms have been used extensively for the construction site layout problem. This paper proposes an ant colony optimization model for construction site layout. A simple case study for a highway project is utilized to illustrate the application of the model.

Keywords: ant colony, construction site layout, optimization, genetic algorithms

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Authors: S. K. Al-Musharafi, I. Y. Mahmoud, S. N. Al-Bahry

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At Ras Al-Hadd Reserve, Eggs from green turtles and Chelonia mydas were randomly collected immediately after Oviposition. Eggshells taken from fresh eggs and sand collected from the body chamber were analyzed for eight heavy metals (Al, Br, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, S, and Zn) using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP). Heavy metal concentrations varied significantly (P<0.05) between nest sand and eggshells. Zn values were significantly higher than the other heavy metals. A total of 60 heterotrophic bacteria belong to eight genera were isolated from fresh egg contents (albumen and yolk). Resistance of the isolates to Amikacin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, gentamycine, minocylin, nalidixicacid, neomycin, streptomycin, tetracycline, tobramycin, and Trimethoprim was tested. More than 40 % of the isolates were multiple resistant to 2-7 antibiotics. Most of the resistant strains were also resistant to Zn. The value of these findings may indicate that the origin of pollution is of human contaminated effluents.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance, bacteria, environment, heavy metals, sea turtles

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Authors: Khenfer-Koummich Fatma, Hendel Fatiha, Mesbahi Larbi

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this paper presents an approach based on Hidden Markov Models (HMM: Hidden Markov Model) using HTK tools. The goal is to create a man-machine interface with a voice recognition system that allows the operator to tele-operate a mentor robot to execute specific tasks as rotate, raise, close, etc. This system should take into account different levels of environmental noise. This approach has been applied to isolated words representing the robot commands spoken in two languages: French and Arabic. The recognition rate obtained is the same in both speeches, Arabic and French in the neutral words. However, there is a slight difference in favor of the Arabic speech when Gaussian white noise is added with a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) equal to 30 db, the Arabic speech recognition rate is 69% and 80% for French speech recognition rate. This can be explained by the ability of phonetic context of each speech when the noise is added.

Keywords: voice command, HMM, TIMIT, noise, HTK, Arabic, speech recognition

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Authors: Jamel Boukhatem, Semia Rachid, Marmar Nasr

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Considering the differences between oil- and non-oil-producing countries, this paper aims to evaluate the impact of financial development (FD) and institutional quality (IQ) on CO2 emissions in 15 MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries over the period 1996-2018 using the Panel ARDL approach. We found evidence to support an unconditional long run effect of FD on environmental conditions (EC), with quite significant differences between the two groups of countries. While FD leads to environmental degradation (ED) in non-oil-producing countries, it helps protect the environment in oil-producing ones. Regarding the effects of IQ on EC, they are not significant in both short- and long run for non-oil-producing countries, but they are significant for oil-producing ones only in the long run. In the short run, IQ indicators haven’t significant effects on EC for the two groups of countries.

Keywords: financial development, institutional quality, environmental conditions, Panel ARDL

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Authors: Bin Wang, Yong Xu, Honggang Qu, Rongmei Liu, Zhenji Gao

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Today's mining industry is advancing gradually toward digital and visual direction. The three dimensional visualization geological modeling of mine is the digital characterization of mineral deposit, and is one of the key technology of digital mine. The three-dimensional geological modeling is a technology that combines the geological spatial information management, geological interpretation, geological spatial analysis and prediction, geostatistical analysis, entity content analysis and graphic visualization in three-dimensional environment with computer technology, and is used in geological analysis. In this paper, the three-dimensional geological modeling of an iron mine through the use of Surpac is constructed, and the weight difference of the estimation methods between distance power inverse ratio method and ordinary kriging is studied, and the ore body volume and reserves are simulated and calculated by using these two methods. Compared with the actual mine reserves, its result is relatively accurate, so it provided scientific bases for mine resource assessment, reserve calculation, mining design and so on.

Keywords: three-dimensional geological modeling, geological database, geostatistics, block model

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Authors: Tanmay Bisen, Aastha Shayla, Susham Biswas

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Oil spills from tankers can cause significant harm to the environment and local communities, as well as have economic consequences. Early predictions of oil spills can help to minimize these impacts. Our proposed system uses machine learning and neural networks to predict potential oil spills by monitoring data from ship Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). The model analyzes ship movements, speeds, and changes in direction to identify patterns that deviate from the norm and could indicate a potential spill. Our approach not only identifies anomalies but also predicts spills before they occur, providing early detection and mitigation measures. This can prevent or minimize damage to the reputation of the company responsible and the country where the spill takes place. The model's performance on the MV Wakashio oil spill provides insight into its ability to detect and respond to real-world oil spills, highlighting areas for improvement and further research.

Keywords: Anomaly Detection, Oil Spill Prediction, Machine Learning, Image Processing, Graph Neural Network (GNN)

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Authors: Dina Salem

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A variety of definitions and interpretations for sustainable development has been offered since the widely known definition of the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987, the perspectives have ranged from deep ecology to better life quality for people. Sustainable landscape is widely understood as a key contributor to urban sustainability for the fact that all landscapes has a social, economic, cultural and ecological function for the community’s well-being and urban development, that was evident even before the emergence of sustainability concept. In this paper, the concepts of landscape planning and sustainable development are briefly reviewed; visions for landscape sustainability are demonstrated and classified. Challenges facing sustainable landscape planning are discussed. Finally, the paper investigates how our future urban open space could be sustainable and how does this contribute to urban sustainability, by creating urban landscapes that takes into account the social and cultural values of users of urban open space besides the ecological balance of urban open spaces as an integrated network.

Keywords: urban landscape, urban sustainability, resilience, open spaces

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Authors: Naveed Ahmed Khan

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The ever increasing importance of food industry cannot be denied and especially in the wake of escalating population and prices both in developing and developed nations. Thus, this issue demands the attention of researchers especially in the area of supply chain to identify cost diminution waste eliminating supply chain practices in the said industry. For such purpose the 'Dairy Division' of Engro Foods Limited, one of the biggest food companies in Pakistan was taken into consideration in a case study manner. Based on the literature review and interviews following variables were obtained: energy, losses, maintenance, taxes, and logistics. Having studied the said variables, it was concluded that management of relevant industries operating in a comparable environment need to efficiently manage two major areas: energy and taxes. On the other hand, similar kind of other organizations could be benefited by adopting the proficient supply chain practices being observed at dairy division of Engro foods limited.

Keywords: cost diminution, supply chain, dairy industry, Engro Foods Limited

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Authors: Suneet Jagdev, Hrishabh Amrodia, Siddharth Menon, Abhishek Singh, Mansi Shivhare

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Delhi, the National Capital, has undergone a surge in development rate, consequently engendering an unprecedented increase in population. Over the years the city has transformed into a car-centric infrastructure with high-speed corridors, flyovers and fast lanes. A considerable section of the population is hankering to rehabilitate to the good old cycling days, in order to contribute towards a green environment as well as to maintain their physical well-being. Furthermore, an extant section of Delhi’s population relies on cycles as their primary means of commuting in the city. Delhi has the highest number of cyclists and second highest number of pedestrians in the country. However, the tumultuous problems of unregulated traffic, inadequate space on roads, adverse weather conditions stifle them to opt for cycling. Lately, the city has been facing a conglomeration of problems such as haphazard traffic movement, clogged roads, congestion, pollution, accidents, safety issues, etc. In 1957, Delhi’s cyclists accounted for 36 per cent of trips which dropped down to a mere 4 per cent in 2008. The declining rate is due to unsafe roads and lack of proper cycle lanes. Now as the 10 percent of the city has cycle tracks. There is also a lack of public recreational activities in the city. These conundrums incite the need of a covered elevated cycling bridge track to facilitate the safe and smooth cycle commutation in the city which would also serve the purpose of an alternate urban public space over the cycle bridge reducing the cost as well as the space requirement for the same, developing a user–friendly transportation and public interaction system for urban areas in the city. Based on the archival research methodologies, the following research draws information and extracts records from the data accounts of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. as well as the Centre for Science and Environment, India. This research will predominantly focus on developing a prototype design for high speed elevated bicycle lanes based on different road typologies, which can be replicated with minor variations in similar situations, all across the major cities of our country including the proposed smart cities. Furthermore, how these cycling lanes could be utilized for the place making process accommodating cycle parking and renting spaces, public recreational spaces, food courts as well as convenient shopping facilities with appropriate optimization. How to preserve and increase the share of smooth and safe cycling commute cycling for the routine transportation of the urban community of the polluted capital which has been on a steady decline over the past few decades.

Keywords: bicycle track, prototype, road safety, urban spaces

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Authors: Sutapa Mondal Roy, Suban K. Sahoo

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The primary aim of this work is to synthesis silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) through environmentally benign routes to avoid any chemical toxicity related undesired side effects. The nanoparticles were stabilized with drug ciprofloxacin (Cp) and were studied for their effectiveness as drug delivery agent. Targeted drug delivery improves the therapeutic potential of drugs at the diseased site as well as lowers the overall dose and undesired side effects. The small size of nanoparticles greatly facilitates the transport of active agents (drugs) across biological membranes and allows them to pass through the smallest capillaries in the body that are 5-6 μm in diameter, and can minimize possible undesired side effects. AgNPs are non-toxic, inert, stable, and has a high binding capacity and thus can be considered as biomaterials. AgNPs were synthesized from the nutrient broth supernatant after the culture of environment-friendly bacteria Bacillus subtilis. The AgNPs were found to show the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band at 425 nm. The Cp capped Ag nanoparticles formation was complete within 30 minutes, which was confirmed from absorbance spectroscopy. Physico-chemical nature of the AgNPs-Cp system was confirmed by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) etc. The AgNPs-Cp system size was found to be in the range of 30-40 nm. To monitor the kinetics of drug release from the surface of nanoparticles, the release of Cp was carried out by careful dialysis keeping AgNPs-Cp system inside the dialysis bag at pH 7.4 over time. The drug release was almost complete after 30 hrs. During the drug delivery process, to understand the AgNPs-Cp system in a better way, the sincere theoretical investigation is been performed employing Density Functional Theory. Electronic charge transfer, electron density, binding energy as well as thermodynamic properties like enthalpy, entropy, Gibbs free energy etc. has been predicted. The electronic and thermodynamic properties, governed by the AgNPs-Cp interactions, indicate that the formation of AgNPs-Cp system is exothermic i.e. thermodynamically favorable process. The binding energy and charge transfer analysis implies the optimum stability of the AgNPs-Cp system. Thus, the synthesized Cp-Ag nanoparticles can be effectively used for biological purposes due to its environmentally benign routes of synthesis procedures, which is clean, biocompatible, non-toxic, safe, cost-effective, sustainable and eco-friendly. The Cp-AgNPs as biomaterials can be successfully used for drug delivery procedures due to slow release of drug from nanoparticles over a considerable period of time. The kinetics of the drug release show that this drug-nanoparticle assembly can be effectively used as potential tools for therapeutic applications. The ease of synthetic procedure, lack of possible chemical toxicity and their biological activity along with excellent application as drug delivery agent will open up vista of using nanoparticles as effective and successful drug delivery agent to be used in modern days.

Keywords: silver nanoparticles, ciprofloxacin, density functional theory, drug delivery

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Authors: Sumedha Weerasekara, Morgan Miles, Mark Morrison, Branka Krivokapic-Skoko

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This paper is aimed at exploring the interrelationships among entrepreneurial ecosystem factors and entrepreneurial cognition in regional and metropolitan ecosystems. Entrepreneurial ecosystem factors examined include: culture, infrastructure, access to finance, informal networks, support services, access to universities, and the depth and breadth of the talent pool. Using a multivariate approach we explore the impact of these ecosystem factors or elements on entrepreneurial cognition. In doing so, the existing body of knowledge from the literature on entrepreneurial ecosystem and cognition have been blended to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial ecosystem factors and cognition in a way not hitherto investigated. The concept of the entrepreneurial ecosystem has received increased attention as governments, universities and communities have started to recognize the potential of integrated policies, structures, programs and processes that foster entrepreneurship activities by supporting innovation, productivity and employment growth. The notion of entrepreneurial ecosystems has evolved and grown with the advancement of theoretical research and empirical studies. Importance of incorporating external factors like culture, political environment, and the economic environment within a single framework will enhance the capacity of examining the whole systems functionality to better understand the interaction of the entrepreneurial actors and factors within a single framework. The literature on clusters underplays the role of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial management in creating and co-creating organizations, markets, and supporting ecosystems. Entrepreneurs are only one actor following a limited set of roles and dependent upon many other factors to thrive. As a consequence, entrepreneurs and relevant authorities should be aware of the other actors and factors with which they engage and rely, and make strategic choices to achieve both self and also collective objectives. The study uses stratified random sampling method to collect survey data from 12 different regions in regional and metropolitan regions of NSW, Australia. A questionnaire was administered online among 512 Small and medium enterprise owners operating their business in selected 12 regions in NSW, Australia. Data were analyzed using descriptive analyzing techniques and partial least squares - structural equation modeling. The findings show that even though there is a significant relationship between each and every entrepreneurial ecosystem factors, there is a weak relationship between most entrepreneurial ecosystem factors and entrepreneurial cognition. In the metropolitan context, the availability of finance and informal networks have the largest impact on entrepreneurial cognition while culture, infrastructure, and support services having the smallest impact and the talent pool and universities having a moderate impact on entrepreneurial cognition. Interestingly, in a regional context, culture, availability of finance, and the talent pool have the highest impact on entrepreneurial cognition, while informal networks having the smallest impact and the remaining factors – infrastructure, universities, and support services have a moderate impact on entrepreneurial cognition. These findings suggest the need for a location-specific strategy for supporting the development of entrepreneurial cognition.

Keywords: academic achievement, colour response card, feedback

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Authors: Christtestimony Oluwafemi Jesumoroti, AbdulLateef Ashola Olanrewaju, Khor Soo Cheen

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The worth of buildings is known by the quality of the maintenance imbibe in them. Maintenance management being carried out in the hospitals has a direct impact on the performance of the hospital buildings, environment, and sustainable infrastructure, and as such, there is a need to give it adequate attention. The media and reports on hospital buildings maintenance management in Malaysia were not favorable. Hospital buildings in Malaysia need to have proper structure for maintenance management and sustainability as this will enhance the good infrastructure for users and the entire nation. The paper reports the preliminary results of the determinants of maintenance in hospital buildings. To achieve the aim of this research, a survey questionnaire was administered to the users of the hospital buildings. The findings of the study revealed that there are lack of maintenance standard, use of poor quality components and materials, Improper response time, Poor complaint reporting system. Hence, the influent of rework, thorough responsibilities of quality performance of hospital buildings, and others are the results of the investigations.

Keywords: sustainable infrastructure, optimum performance, implementation, key performance indicators, maintenance policies

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Authors: Sohail Yasin, Massimo Curti, Nemeshwaree Behary, Giorgio Rovero

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It is well-known that the presence of discarded textile products in municipal landfills poses environmental problems due to leaching of chemical products from the textile to the environment. Incineration of such textiles is considered to be an efficient way to produce energy and reduce environmental impacts of textile materials at their end-of life stage. However, the presence of flame retardant products on textiles would decrease the energy yield and emit toxic gases during incineration stage. While some non-durable flame retardants can be removed by wet treatments (e.g. washing), these substances pollute water and pose concerns towards environmental health. Our study shows that infrared radiation can be used efficiently to degrade flame retardant products on the textiles. This method is finalized to minimize the decrease in energy yield during the incineration or gasification processes of flame retardant cotton fabrics.

Keywords: degradation, flame retardant, infrared radiation, cotton, incineration

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Authors: Zakirul Islam, Yugo Kumokawa, Quoc Thinh Tran, Motoki Kubo

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Clubroot is a disease of cruciferous plant caused by soil born pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae and can significantly limit the production through rapid spreading. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of cultivation practices (chemical and organic soils) on clubroot disease development in Brassica rapa. Disease index and root bacterial composition were investigated for both chemical and organic soils. The bacterial biomass and diversity in organic soil were higher than those in chemical soil. Disease severity was distinct for two different cultivation methods. The number of endophytic bacteria decreased in the infected root for both soils. The increased number of endophytic bacterial number led to reduce the proliferation of pathogen spore inside the root and thus reduced the disease severity in organic plants.

Keywords: clubroot disease, bacterial biomass, root infection, disease index, chemical cultivation, organic cultivation

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Authors: Zhongzhen Luo, Saeid Habibi, Martin v. Mohrenschildt

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Self-driving vehicle require a high level of situational awareness in order to maneuver safely when driving in real world condition. This paper presents a LiDAR based real time perception system that is able to process sensor raw data for multiple target detection and tracking in dynamic environment. The proposed algorithm is nonparametric and deterministic that is no assumptions and priori knowledge are needed from the input data and no initializations are required. Additionally, the proposed method is working on the three-dimensional data directly generated by LiDAR while not scarifying the rich information contained in the domain of 3D. Moreover, a fast and efficient for real time clustering algorithm is applied based on a radially bounded nearest neighbor (RBNN). Hungarian algorithm procedure and adaptive Kalman filtering are used for data association and tracking algorithm. The proposed algorithm is able to run in real time with average run time of 70ms per frame.

Keywords: lidar, segmentation, clustering, tracking

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Authors: Nuno Biga

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Continuous processes’ improvement is a permanent challenge for managers of any organization. Lean management means that efficiency gains can be obtained through a systematic framework able to explore synergies between processes, eliminate waste of time, and other resources. Leaderships in organizations determine the efficiency of the teams through their influence on collaborators, their motivation, and consolidation of ownership (group) feeling. The “organization health” depends on the leadership style, which is directly influenced by the intrinsic characteristics of each personality and leadership ability (leadership competencies). Therefore, it’s important that managers can correct in advance any deviation from expected leadership exercises. Top management teams must assume themselves as regulatory agents of leadership within the organization, ensuring monitoring of actions and the alignment of managers in accordance with the humanist standards anchored in a visible Code of Ethics and Conduct. This article is built around an innovative model of “Business Interactive Games” (BI GAMES) that simulates a real-life management environment. It shows that the strategic management of operations depends on a complex set of endogenous and exogenous variables to the intervening agents that require specific skills and a set of critical processes to monitor. BI GAMES are designed for each management reality and have already been applied successfully in several contexts over the last five years comprising the educational and enterprise ones. Results from these experiences are used to demonstrate how serious games in working living labs contributed to improve the organizational environment by focusing on the evaluation of players’ (agents’) skills, empower its capabilities, and the critical factors that create value in each context. The implementation of the BI GAMES simulator highlights that leadership skills are decisive for the performance of teams, regardless of the sector of activity and the specificities of each organization whose operation is intended to simulate. The players in the BI GAMES can be managers or employees of different roles in the organization or students in the learning context. They interact with each other and are asked to decide/make choices in the presence of several options for the follow-up operation, for example, when the costs and benefits are not fully known but depend on the actions of external parties (e.g., subcontracted enterprises and actions of regulatory bodies). Each team must evaluate resources used/needed in each operation, identify bottlenecks in the system of operations, assess the performance of the system through a set of key performance indicators, and set a coherent strategy to improve efficiency. Through the gamification and the serious games approach, organizational managers will be able to confront the scientific approach in strategic decision-making versus their real-life approach based on experiences undertaken. Considering that each BI GAME’s team has a leader (chosen by draw), the performance of this player has a direct impact on the results obtained. Leadership skills are thus put to the test during the simulation of the functioning of each organization, allowing conclusions to be drawn at the end of the simulation, including its discussion amongst participants.

Keywords: business interactive games, gamification, management empowerment skills, simulation living labs

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Authors: Zhandos Tauanov, Dhawal Shah, Grigorios Itskos, Vasileios Inglezakis

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Removal of mercury (II) from aqueous phase is of utmost importance, as it is highly toxic and hazardous to the environment and human health. One way of removal of mercury (II) ions from aqueous solutions is by using adsorbents derived from coal fly ash (CFA), such as synthetic zeolites. In this work, we present the hydrothermal production of synthetic zeolites from CFA with conversion rate of 75%. In order to produce silver containing nanocomposites, synthetic zeolites are subsequently impregnated with various amounts of silver nanoparticles, from 0.2 to 2wt.%. All produced zeolites and parent materials are characterized by XRD, XRF, BET, SEM, and TEM to obtain morphological and microstructural data. Moreover, mercury (II) ions removal from aqueous solutions with initial concentration of 10 ppm is studied. According to results, zeolites and Ag-nanocomposites demonstrate much higher removal than parent CFA (up to 98%). In addition to this, we could observe a distinct adsorption behavior depending on the loading of Ag NPs in nanocomposites. A possible reaction mechanism for both zeolites and Ag-nanocomposites is discussed.

Keywords: coal fly ash, mercury (II) removal, nanocomposites, silver nanoparticles, synthetic zeolite

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Authors: Thiwanka Weerakkody, Lakmali Handagiripathira, Poshitha Dabare, Thisari Guruge

Abstract:

The determination of gross alpha and beta activity in water is important in a wide array of environmental studies and these parameters are considered in international legislations on the quality of water. This technique is commonly applied as screening method in radioecology, environmental monitoring, industrial applications, etc. Measuring of Gross Alpha and Beta emitters by using iSolo alpha beta counting system is an adequate nuclear technique to assess radioactivity levels in natural and waste water samples due to its simplicity and low cost compared with the other methods. Twelve water samples (Six samples of commercially available bottled drinking water and six samples of industrial waste water) were measured by standard method EPA 900.0 consisting of the gas-less, firm wear based, single sample, manual iSolo alpha beta counter (Model: SOLO300G) with solid state silicon PIPS detector. Am-241 and Sr90/ Y90 calibration standards were used to calibrate the detector. The minimum detectable activities are 2.32mBq/L and 406mBq/L, for alpha and beta activity, respectively. Each of the 2L water samples was evaporated (at low heat) to a small volume and transferred into 50mm stainless steel counting planchet evenly (for homogenization) and heated by IR lamp and the constant weighted residue was obtained. Then the samples were counted for gross alpha and beta. Sample density on the planchet area was maintained below 5mg/cm. Large quantities of solid wastes sludges and waste water are generated every year due to various industries. This water can be reused for different applications. Therefore implementation of water treatment plants and measuring water quality parameters in industrial waste water discharge is very important before releasing them into the environment. This waste may contain different types of pollutants, including radioactive substances. All these measured waste water samples having gross alpha and beta activities, lower than the maximum tolerance limits for industrial waste water discharge of industrial waste in to inland surface water, that is 10-9µCi/mL and 10-8µCi/mL for gross alpha and beta respectively (National Environmental Act, No. 47 of 1980). This is according to extraordinary gazette of the democratic socialist republic of Sri Lanka in February 2008. The measured water samples were below the recommended radioactivity levels and do not pose any radiological hazard when releasing the environment. Drinking water is an essential requirement of life. All the drinking water samples were below the permissible levels of 0.5Bq/L for gross alpha activity and 1Bq/L for gross beta activity. The values have been proposed by World Health Organization in 2011; therefore the water is acceptable for consumption of humans without any further clarification with respect to their radioactivity. As these screening levels are very low, the individual dose criterion (IDC) would usually not be exceeded (0.1mSv y⁻¹). IDC is a criterion for evaluating health risks from long term exposure to radionuclides in drinking water. Recommended level of 0.1mSv/y expressed a very low level of health risk. This monitoring work will be continued further for environmental protection purposes.

Keywords: drinking water, gross alpha, gross beta, waste water

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Authors: T. Penkova, A. Korobko, V. Nicheporchuk, L. Nozhenkova, A. Metus

Abstract:

This paper presents an approach of on-line control of the state of technosphere and environment objects based on the integration of Data Warehouse, OLAP and Expert systems technologies. It looks at the structure and content of data warehouse that provides consolidation and storage of monitoring data. There is a description of OLAP-models that provide a multidimensional analysis of monitoring data and dynamic analysis of principal parameters of controlled objects. The authors suggest some criteria of emergency risk assessment using expert knowledge about danger levels. It is demonstrated now some of the proposed solutions could be adopted in territorial decision making support systems. Operational control allows authorities to detect threat, prevent natural and anthropogenic emergencies and ensure a comprehensive safety of territory.

Keywords: decision making support systems, emergency risk assessment, natural and anthropogenic safety, on-line control, territory

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Authors: Rina Yadav, Lih-Yau Song

Abstract:

The claim for elderly care center has increased enormously with the world demographic revolution as the number of senior citizens increased in the 21st century. As per the world progress into contemporaneousness, a large number of people are engaged in daily routine to bring about the senior citizens to lose the care that they in fact need. New design suggestions have been made on the basis of available guidelines and two case studies in Taiwan. Interior design can provide positive and sensory stimulation through memory stimulation, and by creating a friendly and comfortable environment for demented older people, which can reduce patient anxiety and reduce stress on caregivers. This report pursues to reveal the better design of an elderly care center with a new tactic in a direction to offer better service for demented elderly people which could upraise their living standard.

Keywords: daycare center, dementia patients, interior designing, older adults

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Authors: S. B. Q. Tran

Abstract:

Drop condensation is the phenomenon that the tiny drops form when the oversaturated vapour present in the environment condenses on a substrate and makes the droplet growth. Recently, this subject has received much attention due to its applications in many fields such as thin film growth, heat transfer, recovery of atmospheric water and polymer templating. In literature, many papers investigated theoretically and experimentally in macro droplet growth with the size of millimeter scale of radius. However few papers about nanodroplet condensation are found in the literature especially theoretical work. In order to understand the droplet growth in nanoscale, we perform the numerical simulation work to study nanodroplet growth. We investigate and discuss the role of the droplet shape and monomer diffusion on drop growth and their effect on growth law. The effect of droplet shape is studied by doing parametric studies of contact angle and disjoining pressure magnitude. Besides, the effect of pinning and de-pinning behaviours is also studied. We investigate the axisymmetric homogeneous growth of 10–100 nm single water nanodroplet on a substrate surface. The main mechanism of droplet growth is attributed to the accumulation of laterally diffusing water monomers, formed by the absorption of water vapour in the environment onto the substrate. Under assumptions of quasi-steady thermodynamic equilibrium, the nanodroplet evolves according to the augmented Young–Laplace equation. Using continuum theory, we model the dynamics of nanodroplet growth including the coupled effects of disjoining pressure, contact angle and monomer diffusion with the assumption of constant flux of water monomers at the far field. The simulation result is validated by comparing with the published experimental result. For the case of nanodroplet growth with constant contact angle, our numerical results show that the initial droplet growth is transient by monomer diffusion. When the flux at the far field is small, at the beginning, the droplet grows by the diffusion of initially available water monomers on the substrate and after that by the flux at the far field. In the steady late growth rate of droplet radius and droplet height follow a power law of 1/3, which is unaffected by the substrate disjoining pressure and contact angle. However, it is found that the droplet grows faster in radial direction than high direction when disjoining pressure and contact angle increase. The simulation also shows the information of computational domain effect in the transient growth period. When the computational domain size is larger, the mass coming in the free substrate domain is higher. So the mass coming in the droplet is also higher. The droplet grows and reaches the steady state faster. For the case of pinning and de-pinning droplet growth, the simulation shows that the disjoining pressure does not affect the droplet radius growth law 1/3 in steady state. However the disjoining pressure modifies the growth rate of the droplet height, which then follows a power law of 1/4. We demonstrate how spatial depletion of monomers could lead to a growth arrest of the nanodroplet, as observed experimentally.

Keywords: augmented young-laplace equation, contact angle, disjoining pressure, nanodroplet growth

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