Search results for: world polity

Authors: Ashraf Fayz Bekhet Abaskron

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This research is done to create new compositions for designs, finding inspiration from watercolor artworks displayed in SuanSunandha Palace. The researcher made a study in the history of the landmark, its importance, the paintings in the Palace, the types and characteristics of the flowers painted, as well as the artistic elements and principles of designs that went into the paintings. The information obtained led to the creation of six totally new designs. The designs incorporated standard international designs and artistic principles and still kept to the original style of the watercolor paintings in SuanSunandha Palace. Following the paintings, the designs are divided into three categories: Orchids, Roses, and Flowers from literature. The researcher used the components of the flowers including rounded-petal flowers, wavy-edged petals, flowers with pointed petals, leaves, vines, and branches. All of them are represented in the original paintings. Upon the original, the researcher switched these elements and their proportions around to create a more modern design. The original forms are used as references since they contain the characteristics of each flower species. The work created achieved an updated trait and simultaneously reflects the charms and timeless beauty of the watercolor paintings displayed in SuanSunandha Palace, which still exists in today’s world.

Keywords: art, craft, design, Oman, weaving watercolor, painting, flower, Suan Sunandhagolden ratio, Fibonacci numbers, textile design, designs

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Authors: S. Taghvamanesh

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Modern landfills are highly engineered containment systems that are designed to reduce the environmental and human health impacts of solid waste (trash). In modern landfills, waste is contained by a liner system. The primary goal of the liner system is to isolate the landfill contents from the environment, thereby protecting the soil and groundwater from pollution caused by the leachate of a landfill. Landfill leachate is the most serious threat to groundwater. Therefore, it is necessary to design a system that prevents the penetration of this dangerous substance into the environment. These layers are made up of two basic elements: clay and geosynthetics. Hydraulic conductivity and flexibility are two desirable properties of these materials. There are three different types of liner systems that will be discussed in this paper. According to available data, the current article analyzed materials and methods for constructing liner layers made of distinct leachates, including various harmful components and heavy metals from all around the world. Also, this study attempted to gather data on leachates for each of the sites discussed. In conclusion, every landfill requires a specific type of liner, which depends on the type of leachate that it produces daily. It should also be emphasized that, based on available data, this article focused on the number of landfills that each country or continent possesses.

Keywords: landfill, liner layer, impervious layer, barrier layer

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: Chisakan Papapankiad

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The purposes of this research were 1) to study the competency of condominium managers, 2) to create the training curriculum via electronic media for condominium managers, and 3) to evaluate the training curriculum for condominium managers. The research methods included document analysis, interview, questionnaire, and a try-out. A total of 20 experts were selected to collect data by using Delphi technique. The designed curriculum was tried out with 30 condominium managers. The important steps of conducting this research included analyzing and synthesizing, creating interview questions, conducting factor analysis and developing the training curriculum, editing by experts, and trying out with sample groups. The findings revealed that there were five core competencies: leadership, human resources management, management, communication, and self-development. The training curriculum was designed and all the learning materials were put into a CD. The evaluation of the training curriculum was performed by five experts and the training curriculum was found to be cohesive and suitable for use in the real world. Moreover, the findings also revealed three important issues: 1) the competencies of the respondents after the experiment were higher than before the experiment and this had a level of significance of 0.01, 2) the competencies remained with the respondents at least 12 weeks and this also had a level of significance of 0.01, and 3) the overall level of satisfaction from the respondents were 'the highest level'.

Keywords: competency training curriculum, condominium managers, electronic media

Procedia PDF Downloads 286

Authors: Mohamed Abduelmula, Martin Birkett, Chris Connor

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Lean Manufacturing has developed from being a set of tools and methods to becoming a management philosophy which can be used to remove or reduce waste in manufacturing processes and so enhance the operational productivity of an enterprise. Several enterprises around the world have applied the lean manufacturing system and gained great improvements. This paper investigates the barriers and obstacles that face Libyan manufacturing companies to implement lean manufacturing. A mixed-method approach is suggested, starting with conducting a questionnaire to get quantitative data then using this to develop semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data. The findings of the questionnaire results and how these can be used further develop the semi-structured interviews are then discussed. The survey was distributed to 65 manufacturing companies in Libya, and a response rate of 64.6% was obtained. The results showed that these are five main barriers to implementing lean in Libya, namely organizational culture, skills and expertise, and training program, financial capability, top management, and communication. These barriers were also identified from the literature as being significant obstacles to implementing Lean in other countries industries. Having an understanding of the difficulties that face the implementation of lean manufacturing systems, as a new and modern system and using this to develop a suitable framework will help to improve the manufacturing sector in Libya.

Keywords: lean manufacturing, barriers, questionnaire, Libyan manufacturing companies

Procedia PDF Downloads 247

Authors: Kunle Oparinde, Ernestina Maleshoane Rapeane-Mathonsi, Gift Mheta

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Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA), the research seeks to deconstruct politically-motivated discourse as observed from Nigerian politics. This is intended to be achieved by analysing linguistic (mis)representation and manipulation in Nigerian political settings, drawing from instances of language use as observed from different political campaigns. Since language in itself is generally meaningless without context, it is therefore paramount to analyse the (mis)representation and manipulation in Nigerian political sceneries within their contextual basis. The study focuses on political language used by Nigerian politicians emanating from printed and social media forms such as posters, pamphlets, speeches, billboards, and internet sources purposely selected across Nigeria. The research further aims at investigating the discursive strategies used by politicians to gain more audience, and, as a result, shape opinions that result in votes. The study employs a qualitative approach. Two parties are intentionally selected because they have been essentially strong at the national level namely: All Progressive Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The study finds out that politicians in Nigeria, as in many parts of the world, use language to manipulate the electorate. Comprehensive discussion of these instances of political manipulation remains the thrust of this paper.

Keywords: communication, discourse, manipulation, misrepresentation

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Authors: Mahera Abdulrahman

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Objective: Healthcare transformation from traditional to modern in the country recently prompted the need to address career choices, accreditation perception and satisfaction among medical residents. However, a concerted nationwide study to understand and address burnout in the medical residency program has not been conducted in the UAE and the region. Methods: A nationwide, multicenter, cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate professional burnout and depression among medical residents in order to address the gap. Results: Our results indicate that 75.5% (216/286) of UAE medical residents had moderate to high emotional exhaustion, 84% (249/298) had high depersonalization, and 74% (216/291) had a low sense of personal accomplishment. In aggregate, 70% (212/302) of medical residents were considered to be experiencing at least one symptom of burnout based on a high emotional exhaustion score or a high depersonalization score. Depression ranging from 6-22%, depending on the specialty was also striking given the fact the Arab culture lays high emphasis on family bonding. Interestingly 83% (40/48) of medical residents who had high scores for depression also reported burnout. Conclusion: Our data indicate that burnout and depression among medical residents is epidemic. There is an immediate need to address burnout through effective interventions at both the individual and institutional levels. It is imperative to reconfigure the approach to medical training for the well-being of the next generation of physicians in the Arab world.

Keywords: mental health, Gulf, Arab, residency training, burnout, depression

Procedia PDF Downloads 294

Authors: Fu-Chi Chuang, Yu-Liang, Chang, Wen-Der Wang

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Our environment has been contaminated by many artificial chemicals, such as plastics, pesticides. Many of them have hormone-like activity and are classified as 'environmental hormone (also named endocrine disruptors)'. These chemicals interfere with or mimic hormones have adverse effects that persist into adulthood. Environmental education is an important way to teach students to become engaged in real-world issues that transcend classroom walls. Elementary education is the first stage to perform environmental education and it is an important component to help students develop adequate environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. However, elementary teachers' knowledge plays a critical role in this mission. Therefore, we use a questionnaire to survey the knowledge of environmental hormone of elementary school teachers and their learning motivation of the environmental hormone-regarding knowledge. We collected 218 questionnaires from Taiwanese elementary teachers and the results indicate around 73% of elementary teachers do not have enough knowledge about environmental hormones. Our results also reveal the in-service elementary teachers’ learning motivation of environmental hormones knowledge is positively enhanced once they realized their insufficient cognitive ability of environmental hormones. We believe our study will provide the powerful reference for Ministry of Education to set up the policy of environmental education to enrich all citizens sufficient knowledge of the effects of the environmental hormone on organisms, and further to enhance our correct environmental behaviors.

Keywords: elementary teacher, environmental hormones, learning motivation, questionnaire

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Authors: Abraham Motlhabane

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This research analysed the written views of science education students regarding the teaching of laboratory work using the online mode. The research adopted the qualitative methodology. The qualitative research was aimed at investigating small and distinct groups normally regarded as a single-site study. Qualitative research was used to describe and analyze the phenomena from the student’s perspective. This means the research began with assumptions of the world view that use theoretical lenses of research problems inquiring into the meaning of individual students. The research was conducted with three groups of students studying for Postgraduate Certificate in Education, Bachelor of Education and honors Bachelor of Education respectively. In each of the study programmes, the science education module is compulsory. Five science education students from each study programme were purposively selected to participate in this research. Therefore, 15 students participated in the research. In order to analysis the data, the data were first printed and hard copies were used in the analysis. The data was read several times and key concepts and ideas were highlighted. Themes and patterns were identified to describe the data. Coding as a process of organising and sorting data was used. The findings of the study are very diverse; some students are in favour of online laboratory whereas other students argue that science can only be learnt through hands-on experimentation.

Keywords: online learning, laboratory work, views, perceptions

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Authors: Adebayo Adewumi

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Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae the second largest bird in the world started its domestication in the United States in the early 1980's and the present trend in the production of emu in the U.S can be compared with cattle industry. As the population of many wildlife species in Nigeria declined due to unsustainable harvest of bush meat, animals like snails, antelopes,Ostrich, Emu and rodents have been domesticated. Although this improved livestock production in Nigeria, the basic physiological parameters of these mini- livestock are not known. Especially the intra-erythrocyte trace elements of domesticated emu, For this study, emu blood was obtained from Ajanla farms, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. There, 16 emus at age of 20 months were bled through jugular vein in a semi-intensive system for a period of 12 months. The intra-erythrocyte trace elements Cu, Zn, and Mg in healthy Emu were measured. The influences of sex and age on these parameters were investigated. No age or sex differences were observed in intra-erythrocytic Cu levels. Intra-erythrocytic Zn and Mg levels were significantly higher (P<0.05) in young Emu than in adults while males used significantly (P<0.05) higher intra erythrocytic Mg than females. intra-erythrocyte trace elements Cu, Zn and Mg is a good pointer to haemoglobin concentration which determines the state of wellness of an animal. The information from this work has provided a baseline data for further understanding of erythrocyte biochemistry of Emu in Nigeria.

Keywords: intra erythrocyte, trace elements, Emu, biochemistry

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Authors: J. Janicki, M. Rom, C. Slusarczyk, J. Fabia, M. Siika-aho, K. Marjamaa, K. Kruus, K. Langfelder, C. Steel, M. Paloheimo, T. Puranen, S. Mäkinen, D. Wawro

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The cellulose is one of the most abundant polymers in the world, however, its application in the high-end value products such as films or fibres, it triggered by the cellulose properties. The noticeable presence of hydrogen bonding reflected with partially crystalline structure makes the cellulose insoluble in common solvents and not meltable. The existing technologies, such as viscose process, suffer from environmental and economical problems, because of the risk of harmful chemicals liberation during the spinning process. The enzymatic modification of cellulose with endoglucanase makes it directly alkali soluble in NaOH solution, giving the opportunities for film and fibers formation. As the effect of enzymatic treatment, there are observed changes in crystalline structure and accompanying changes of the affinity of cellulose to water, demonstrated by water retention value. The objective of the project ELMO - Novel carbohydrate modifying enzymes for fibre modification is is to develop new enzyme products for modification of dissolving grade pulps. The aim is to increase the reactivity of dissolving grade pulps and remove residual hemicellulose. The scientific aim of this paper is to present the effect of enzymatic treatment on the crystallinity and affinity to water of cellulose pulps modified with enzymes.

Keywords: cellulose, crystallinity, WAXS, enzyme

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Vedi Goenka

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Inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on any particular trait. It arises from differences in socially constructed roles. Women are usually characterized as inferior and weak, who are dependent on their male counterparts. Even though it is claimed that both the genders have been given equal rights, inequality has always been prevalent in the Indian society, from personal to the professional front. There are different types of inequality that persist in the corporate world such as age inequality, gender inequality, tenure inequality and so on. Consequently, wage inequality occurs when employees are equally qualified and perform the same task but, one group of employees is paid more than the other. The hospitality sector is one of the emerging sectors in Gujarat which also experiences a lot of organizational dynamics. The proposed paper focuses on the concept of equal pay which states that pay should be based on the kind and quality of work done and not according to any other aspects. An exploratory attempt to understand the existence of inequality in the Hospitality sector on the basis of income is made in this research. The myth that wage discrimination has always favored men over similarly qualified women is analyzed in this research paper. A structured survey of a sample, representative of the employees of the Hospitality sector is being carried out in this study. An attempt to keep the effects of the environmental factors to a minimum level is made.

Keywords: equal pay, human resources, hospitality sector, inequality, perspective, wage structure

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Authors: Benjamin Arazi

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Blockchain is the technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. It revolutionizes the meaning of trust in the sense of offering total reliability without relying on any central entity that controls or supervises the system. The Wall Street Journal states: “Blockchain Marks the Next Step in the Internet’s Evolution”. Blockchain was listed as #1 in Linkedin – The Learning Blog “most in-demand hard skills needed in 2020”. As stated there: “Blockchain’s novel way to store, validate, authorize, and move data across the internet has evolved to securely store and send any digital asset”. GSMA, a leading Telco organization of mobile communications operators, declared that “Blockchain has the potential to be for value what the Internet has been for information”. Motivated by these seminal observations, this paper presents the foundations of a Blockchain-based “Internet of Assets” academic program that joins under one roof leading application areas that are characterized by the transfer of assets over communication lines. Two such areas, which are pillars of our economy, are Fintech – Financial Technology and mobile communications services. The next application in line is Healthcare. These challenges are met based on available extensive professional literature. Blockchain-based assets communication is based on extending the principle of Bitcoin, starting with the basic question: If digital money that travels across the universe can ‘prove its own validity’, can this principle be applied to digital content. A groundbreaking positive answer here led to the concept of “smart contract” and consequently to DLT - Distributed Ledger Technology, where the word ‘distributed’ relates to the non-existence of reliable central entities or trusted third parties. The terms Blockchain and DLT are frequently used interchangeably in various application areas. The World Bank Group compiled comprehensive reports, analyzing the contribution of DLT/Blockchain to Fintech. The European Central Bank and Bank of Japan are engaged in Project Stella, “Balancing confidentiality and auditability in a distributed ledger environment”. 130 DLT/Blockchain focused Fintech startups are now operating in Switzerland. Blockchain impact on mobile communications services is treated in detail by leading organizations. The TM Forum is a global industry association in the telecom industry, with over 850 member companies, mainly mobile operators, that generate US$2 trillion in revenue and serve five billion customers across 180 countries. From their perspective: “Blockchain is considered one of the digital economy’s most disruptive technologies”. Samples of Blockchain contributions to Fintech (taken from a World Bank document): Decentralization and disintermediation; Greater transparency and easier auditability; Automation & programmability; Immutability & verifiability; Gains in speed and efficiency; Cost reductions; Enhanced cyber security resilience. Samples of Blockchain contributions to the Telco industry. Establishing identity verification; Record of transactions for easy cost settlement; Automatic triggering of roaming contract which enables near-instantaneous charging and reduction in roaming fraud; Decentralized roaming agreements; Settling accounts per costs incurred in accordance with agreement tariffs. This clearly demonstrates an academic education structure where fundamental technologies are studied in classes together with these two application areas. Advanced courses, treating specific implementations then follow separately. All are under the roof of “Internet of Assets”.

Keywords: blockchain, education, financial technology, mobile telecommunications services

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Claire Williams

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Randomised controlled Trials (RCTs) of efficacy are still perceived as the gold standard for the generation of evidence, and whilst advances in data collection methods are well developed, this progress has not been matched for the reporting of adverse events (AEs). Assessment and reporting of AEs in clinical trials are fraught with human error and inefficiency and are extremely time and resource intensive. Recent research conducted into the quality of reporting of AEs during clinical trials concluded it is substandard and reporting is inconsistent. Investigators commonly send reports to sponsors who are incorrectly categorised and lacking in critical information, which can complicate the detection of valid safety signals. In our presentation, we will describe an electronic data capture system, which has been designed to support clinical trial processes by reducing the resource burden on investigators, improving overall trial efficiencies, and making trials safer for patients. This proprietary technology was developed using expertise proven in the delivery of the world’s first prospective, phase 3b real-world trial, ‘The Salford Lung Study, ’ which enabled robust safety monitoring and reporting processes to be accomplished by the remote monitoring of patients’ EHRs. This technology enables safety alerts that are pre-defined by the protocol to be detected from the data extracted directly from the patients EHR. Based on study-specific criteria, which are created from the standard definition of a serious adverse event (SAE) and the safety profile of the medicinal product, the system alerts the investigator or study team to the safety alert. Each safety alert will require a clinical review by the investigator or delegate; examples of the types of alerts include hospital admission, death, hepatotoxicity, neutropenia, and acute renal failure. This is achieved in near real-time; safety alerts can be reviewed along with any additional information available to determine whether they meet the protocol-defined criteria for reporting or withdrawal. This active surveillance technology helps reduce the resource burden of the more traditional methods of AE detection for the investigators and study teams and can help eliminate reporting bias. Integration of multiple healthcare data sources enables much more complete and accurate safety data to be collected as part of a trial and can also provide an opportunity to evaluate a drug’s safety profile long-term, in post-trial follow-up. By utilising this robust and proven method for safety monitoring and reporting, a much higher risk of patient cohorts can be enrolled into trials, thus promoting inclusivity and diversity. Broadening eligibility criteria and adopting more inclusive recruitment practices in the later stages of drug development will increase the ability to understand the medicinal products risk-benefit profile across the patient population that is likely to use the product in clinical practice. Furthermore, this ground-breaking approach to AE detection not only provides sponsors with better-quality safety data for their products, but it reduces the resource burden on the investigator and study teams. With the data taken directly from the source, trial costs are reduced, with minimal data validation required and near real-time reporting enables safety concerns and signals to be detected more quickly than in a traditional RCT.

Keywords: more comprehensive and accurate safety data, near real-time safety alerts, reduced resource burden, safer trials

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Authors: Salaam Mujeeb, Adeola Segun, Abdullahi Olasunkanmi

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Dementia is becoming a major concern as the world population is increasing and elderly populations are being neglected. Liver and kidney Diseases have been implicated as risk factors in the etiology of Dementia. This study, therefore, evaluates the plasma Gamma Glutamyl Transferase (GGT) activity and plasma Electrolytes in other to find an association between the biomarkers and Dementia. The subjects (38) were age and sex-matched with their corresponding controls and structured questionnaires were used to obtain medical information. Using spectrophotometric and ion selective Electrode techniques respectively, we found and elevated GGT activity in the Dementia Subjects. Remarkably, no association was found between the plasma Electrolytes level and Dementia subjects. It was also observed that severity of Dementia worsens with age. Moreover, the condition of the dementia subjects worsens with reducing weight. Furthermore, the presence of Comorbidity e.g. Hypertension, Obesity, Diabetes and Habits like Smoking, Drugs and Alcohol consumption interferes with Electrolyte balance. Weight loss monitoring and IBM check are advised in Elderly individuals particularly females as they may be inductive of early or future cognitive impairments. Therefore, it might be useful as an early detection tool. Government and society should invest more on the Geriatric population by establishing Old people's home and providing social care services.

Keywords: clinical characteristics, dementia, electrolytes, gamma glutamyl transpeptidase, GGT

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: Rachel-Kate Bowdler

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Wartime efforts, news, and heroic stories are important to the public in understanding the political climate, yet hard to digest. However, graphic novels are able to portray intense sociopolitical themes and reinvent the account for the public. Modern comics centered around war introduces the historical context to new audiences, thus keeping history relevant and remembered. This is a trend in graphic novels that is popular for expressing wartime and political stories. Graphic novels make historical accounts and stories easier to understand and more enjoyable to read through creative expression and stylistic choices like color, design, and personified depictions of characters. This results in the need to analyze intense wartime themes in terms of artistic style and elements contributing to the portrayal of the story. Whether directly or indirectly, comics became an outlet for discussing and portraying wars, especially following World War II. It may also be relevant that comics are influential in attitudes towards war efforts. in conducting in analysis on comic books relating to war time stories and a literature review, this paper will seek to analyze the role that comics play in the dissemination of information and feelings surrounding war efforts and attitudes.

Keywords: artistic style, comics, historical, war, art and culture, journalism and media

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Authors: Riam Abu-Much, Muhamad Hugerat

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Nanoscience has become one of the main science fields in the world; its importance is reflected in both society and industry; therefore, it is very important to intensify educational programs among teachers and students that aim to introduce "Nano Concepts" to them. Two different lab activities were developed for demonstrating the importance of nanoscale materials using unique points of view. In the first, electrical conductive films made of silver nanoparticles were fabricated. The silver nanoparticles were protected against aggregation using electrical conductive polypyrrole, which acts also as conductive bridge between them. The experiments show a simpler way for fabricating conductive thin film than the much more complicated and costly conventional method. In the second part, the participants could produce emulsions of liposome structures using Phosphatidylcholine as a surfactant, and following by minimizing the size of it from micro-scale to nanometer scale (400 nm), using simple apparatus called Mini-Extruder, in that way the participants could realize the change in solution transparency, and the effect of Tyndall when the size of the liposomes is reduced. Freshmen students from the Academic Arab College for Education in Haifa, Israel, who are studying to become science teachers, participated in this lab activity as part of the course "Chemistry in the Lab". These experiments are appropriate for teachers, high school and college students.

Keywords: case study, colloid, emulsion, liposome, surfactant

Procedia PDF Downloads 202

Authors: Ashraf Aly

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The aim of this study is to examine the impact of 5G communication technology radiation on human health and airport safety. The term 5G refers to the fifth generation of wireless mobile technology. The 5G wireless technology will increase the number of high-frequency-powered base stations and other devices and browsing and download speeds, as well as improve the network connectivity and play a big part in improving the performance of integrated applications, such as self-driving cars, medical devices, and robotics. 4G was the latest embedded version of mobile networking technology called 4G, and 5G is the new version of wireless technology. 5G networks have more features than 4G networks, such as lower latency, higher capacity, and increased bandwidth compared to 4G. 5G network improvements over 4G will have big impacts on how people live, business, and work all over the world. But neither 4G nor 5G have been tested for safety and show harmful effects from this wireless radiation. This paper presents biological factors on the effects of 5G radiation on human health. 5G services use C-band radio frequencies; these frequencies are close to those used by radio altimeters, which represent important equipment for airport and aircraft safety. The aviation industry, telecommunications companies, and their regulators have been discussing and weighing these interference concerns for years.

Keywords: wireless communication, radiofrequency, Electromagnetic field, environmental issues

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Authors: Hideki Kitamura

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Since Islamic banking has broadly started in the late 1970s, Islamic economy has been paid much attention by both academia and the business world. However, despite abundant studies, descriptive exploration of practices of Islamic economy from a sociological/anthropological perspective is underrepresented, and most are basically designed for evaluating current practice or proposing ideal types of Islamic economy in accordance with their religious conviction. Overall, their interest is not paid to actors of Islamic economy such as practitioner’s decision-making and thought, while sociological/anthropological studies on Muslim’s religious life can be observed well. Herein, the paper aims to look into the possibilities of sociology/anthropology for exploration of the role of actors of Islamic economy, by revisiting the benefit of sociological/anthropological studies on the religion of Islam and its adaptability to the research on Islamic economy. The paper suggests that practices of Islamic economy can be assumed as results of practitioner’s dilemma between Islamic ideals and market realities in each society, by applying the perspective of social constructivism. The paper then proposes focusing on the human agency of practitioners in translating Islamic principles into economic behavior, thereby enabling a more descriptive inquiry into how Islamic economy is produced and operated.

Keywords: Islamic economy, economic sociology/anthropology, human agency, social constructivism

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Authors: Anna Crivellari, Valerio Cozzani

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Even though most of the electricity produced in the entire world still comes from fossil fuels, new policies are being implemented in order to promote a more sustainable use of energy sources. Offshore renewable resources have become increasingly attractive thanks to the huge entity of power potentially obtained. However, the intermittent nature of renewables often limits the capacity of the systems and creates mismatches between supply and demand. Hydrogen is foreseen to be a promising vector to store and transport large amounts of excess renewable power by using existing oil and gas infrastructure. In this work, an offshore hybrid energy system integrating wind energy conversion with hydrogen production was conceptually defined and applied to offshore gas platforms. A techno-economic analysis was performed by considering two different locations for the installation of the innovative power system, i.e., the North Sea and the Adriatic Sea. The water depth, the distance of the platform from the onshore gas grid, the hydrogen selling price and the green financial incentive were some of the main factors taken into account in the comparison. The results indicated that the use of well-defined indicators allows to capture specifically different cost and revenue features of the analyzed systems, as well as to evaluate their competitiveness in the actual and future energy market.

Keywords: cost analysis, energy efficiency assessment, hydrogen production, offshore wind energy

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Authors: Khalaf Khatatneh, Nabeel Al-Milli, Amjad Hudaib, Monther Ali Tarawneh

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Software fault prediction identify potential faults in software modules during the development process. In this paper, we present a novel approach for software fault prediction by combining a feedforward neural network with particle swarm optimization (PSO). The PSO algorithm is employed as a feature selection technique to identify the most relevant metrics as inputs to the neural network. Which enhances the quality of feature selection and subsequently improves the performance of the neural network model. Through comprehensive experiments on software fault prediction datasets, the proposed hybrid approach achieves better results, outperforming traditional classification methods. The integration of PSO-based feature selection with the neural network enables the identification of critical metrics that provide more accurate fault prediction. Results shows the effectiveness of the proposed approach and its potential for reducing development costs and effort by detecting faults early in the software development lifecycle. Further research and validation on diverse datasets will help solidify the practical applicability of the new approach in real-world software engineering scenarios.

Keywords: feature selection, neural network, particle swarm optimization, software fault prediction

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Authors: Asif Jamal, Asad Ali, Muhammad Ishtiaq Ali

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The agriculture productivity losses due to microbial pathogens have been a serious issue in Pakistan and rest of the world. Present work was designed to isolate soil borne microorganisms having the antagonistic ability against notorious phytopathogens. From the initial collection of 23 bacterial isolates, two potent strains of Bacillus were screened on the basis of their comparative efficacy against devastating fungal pathogens. The strains AK-1 and AK-5 showed excellent inhibitory indexes against the majority of tested fungal strains. It was noted that both strains of Bacillus showed significant biocontrolling activity against Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium moniliforme, Colletotricum falcatum, Botrytis cinerea, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Phythopthora capsici and Rhizopus oryzae. The strain AK-1 was efficient to suppress Aspergillus species and Rhizopus oryzae while AK-5 expressed significant antagonistic activity against Fusarium, Botrytis, and Colletotricum species. On the basis of in vitro assay, it can be postulated that the Bacillus strains AK-1 and AK-5 can be used as a bio-protective agent against various plant diseases. In addition, their applications as natural pesticides could be very helpful to prevent the adverse effects of chemical pesticides.

Keywords: biological control, Bacillus spp, fungal pathogens, agriculture

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Authors: Omer Abdalla Ishag, Magdi Baker Amien

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Physicians used the stethoscope for listening patient heart sounds in order to make a diagnosis. However, the determination of heart conditions by acoustic stethoscope is a difficult task so it requires special training of medical staff. This study developed an accurate model for analyzing the phonocardiograph signal based on PC and DSP processor. The system has been realized into two phases; offline and real time phase. In offline phase, 30 cases of heart sounds files were collected from medical students and doctor's world website. For experimental phase (real time), an electronic stethoscope has been designed, implemented and recorded signals from 30 volunteers, 17 were normal cases and 13 were various pathologies cases, these acquired 30 signals were preprocessed using an adaptive filter to remove lung sounds. The background noise has been removed from both offline and real data, using wavelet transform, then graphical and statistics features vector elements were extracted, finally a look-up table was used for classification heart sounds cases. The obtained results of the implemented system showed accuracy of 90%, 80% and sensitivity of 87.5%, 82.4% for offline data, and real data respectively. The whole system has been designed on TMS320VC5509a DSP Platform.

Keywords: code composer studio, heart sounds, phonocardiograph, wavelet transform

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Authors: Gautam Sharda

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The concept of right speech is the third stage of the noble eightfold path as prescribed by the Buddha and followed by millions of practicing Buddhists. The Buddha lays a lot of importance on the notion of right speech (Samma Vacca). In the Angutara Nikaya, the Buddha mentioned what constitutes right speech, which is basically four kinds of abstentions; namely abstaining from false speech, abstaining from slanderous speech, abstaining from harsh or hateful speech and abstaining from idle chatter. The Buddha gives reasons in support of his view as to why abstaining from these four kinds of speeches is favourable not only for maintaining the peace and equanimity within an individual but also within a society. It is a known fact that when we say something harsh or slanderous to others, it eventually affects our individual peace of mind too. We also know about the many examples of hate speeches which have led to senseless cases of violence and which are well documented within our country and the world. Also, indulging in false speech is not a healthy sign for individuals within a group as this kind of a social group which is based on falsities and lies cannot really survive for long and will eventually lead to chaos. Buddha also told us to refrain from idle chatter or gossip as generally we have seen that idle chatter or gossip does more harm than any good to the individual and the society. Hence, if most of us actually inculcate this third stage (namely, right speech) of the noble eightfold path of the Buddha in our daily life, it would be highly beneficial both for the individual and for the harmony of the society.

Keywords: Buddhism, speech, individual, society

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Authors: Chi-Ying Yu

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Fashion design is, in fact, an aesthetic inquiry of fabric, style and human body. In recent years, close cooperation between the artistic circles and the fashion world has even brought fashion into the arena of contemporary art. This study offers a case study on the avant-garde fashion designer Alexander McQueen, investigating how he and his brand translate fashion into contemporary art at various levels. Firstly, in terms of his designs themselves, McQueen demonstrates through fashions his declarations on political and gender issues, demonstrating his unique barbarian aesthetics and creating an enchanting sublimity. Secondly, McQueen extends his fashion aesthetics into a cross-disciplinary performing method, and raises catwalk shows to the level of complete artistic experience. Finally, and also most importantly, the brand has been producing fashion movies for its seasonal design series. By means of an abstract, non-narrative visual language, these films essentially transform people’s experience of clothing – from the senses to the pure visual. This is not simply a cross-media artistic practice, but much more fundamentally a discourse on contemporary perceptual experience. From the case of Alexander McQueen, it can be argued that avant-garde fashion has broken through the boundary between design and art, issuing its own art manifesto through the field of art or non-art.

Keywords: Alexander McQueen, avant-garde fashion, contemporary art, fashion film

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Authors: Hulya Tuba Kiyan, Nilgun Ozturk

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Gentiana, a member of Gentianaceae, is represented by approximately 400 species in the world and 12 species in Turkey. Flavonoids, iridoids, triterpenoids and also xanthones are the major compounds of this genus, have been previously reported to have antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, hypotensive, hypoglycaemic, DNA repair and immunomodulatory properties. The methanolic extract of the aerial parts of Gentiana brachyphylla Vill. from Turkey was evaluated for its biological activities and its total phenolic content in the present study. According to the antioxidant activity results, G. brachyphylla methanolic extract showed very strong anti-DNA damage antioxidant activity with an inhibition of 81.82%. It showed weak ferric-reducing power with a EC50 value of 0.65 when compared to BHT (EC50 = 0.2). Also, at 0.5 mg/ml concentration, the methanolic extract inhibited ABTS radical cation activity with an inhibition of 20.13% when compared to Trolox (79.01%). Chelating ability of G. brachyphylla was 44.71% whereas EDTA showed 78.87% chelating activity at 0.2 mg/ml. Also G. brachyphylla showed weak 27.21% AChE, 20.23% BChE, strong 67.86% MAO-A and moderate 50.06% MAO-B, weak 19.14% COX-1, 29.11% COX-2 inhibitory activities at 0.25 mg/ml. The total phenolic content of G. brachyphylla was 156.23 ± 2.73 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g extract.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, cholinesterase inhibitory activity, Gentiana brachyphylla Vill., total phenolic content

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Authors: Shreya Borthakur, Aastha Vartak

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This Electroencephalogram (EEG) project on Rapid Visual Serial Processing (RSVP) paradigm explores the temporal dynamics of visual attention processing in response to rapidly presented visual stimuli. The study builds upon previous research that used real-world images in RSVP tasks to understand the emergence of object representations in the human brain. The objectives of the research include investigating the differences in accuracy and reaction times between 5 Hz and 20 Hz presentation rates, as well as examining the prominent brain waves, particularly alpha and beta waves, associated with the attention task. The pre-processing and data analysis involves filtering EEG data, creating epochs for target stimuli, and conducting statistical tests using MATLAB, EEGLAB, Chronux toolboxes, and R. The results support the hypotheses, revealing higher accuracy at a slower presentation rate, faster reaction times for less complex targets, and the involvement of alpha and beta waves in attention and cognitive processing. This research sheds light on how short-term memory and cognitive control affect visual processing and could have practical implications in fields like education.

Keywords: RSVP, attention, visual processing, attentional blink, EEG

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Authors: B. Khorsandi Talab, M. Kordi

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It is highly deplorable that every year, theft behavior among employees of the insurance industry is growing throughout the world. A very significant source of contraction (despite many costly technological and widespread security measures) needs to be addressed and prevented. Employee and agent theft cannot be ignored as it causes significant losses to employers. This study investigates the workplace factors that affect the insurance employee and agent theft behavior. Although identifying theft is difficult, this study will help employers to further understand employees’ theft behavior. This study was conducted in two service small and medium organizations (two branches of insurance companies) in ALBORZ’s capital city, KARAJ. Data has been collected via questionnaire from 30 employees and agents consisting employees and supervisors of branches and agencies. According to the results, it must be acknowledged that compensation, organizational justice, internal control systems, penalties and personal characteristics were associated with employees' theft behavior, it is despite the fact that, no effect could be assumed for organizational ethics and requirement in this case. Nevertheless, poor financial status cannot be considered as the driving factor in pushing employees to steal property as well as increasing their theft behavior. As mentioned earlier, the purpose of this study was to determine the factors contributing to employees’ theft (insurance employees and agencies) behavior in insurance organizations in Karaj.

Keywords: service theft, employee theft behavior, work theft, insurance agency, SMEs

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Authors: Kushal Kumar Chode

Abstract:

Increase in demand for fuel saving and demand for faster vehicles with decent fuel economy, researchers around the world started investigating in various passive flow control devices to improve the fuel efficiency of vehicles. In this paper, A roof fairing was investigated for reducing the aerodynamic drag of a bluff body. The bluff body considered for this work is Ahmed model with a rake angle of 25deg was and subjected to flow with a velocity of 40m/s having Reynolds number of 2.68million was analysed using a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) code Star CCM+. It was evident that pressure drag is the main source of drag on an Ahmed body from the initial study. Adding a roof fairing has delayed the flow separation and resulted in delaying wake formation, thus improving the pressure in near weak and reducing the wake region. Adding a roof fairing of height and length equal to 1/7H and 1/3L respectively has shown a drag reduction by 9%. However, an optimised fairing, which was obtained by changing height, length and width by 5% increase, recorded a drag reduction close 12%.

Keywords: Ahmed model, aerodynamic drag, passive flow control, roof fairing, wake formation

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Authors: Mia Wimala, Emma Akmalah, Ira Irawati, M. Rangga Sururi

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One way that has been aggressively implemented in creating a sustainable environment nowadays is through the implementation of green building concept. In order to ensure the success of its implementation, the support and initiation from educational institutions, especially higher education institutions are indispensable. This research was conducted to figure out the obstacles restraining the success of green campus implementation in Indonesia, as well as to propose strategies to overcome those obstacles. The data presented in this paper are mainly derived from interview and questionnaire distributed randomly to the staffs and students in 10 (ten) major institutions around Jakarta and West Java area. The data were further analyzed using ANOVA and SWOT analysis. According to 182 respondents, it is found that resistance to change, inadequate knowledge, information and understanding, no penalty for any environmental violation, lack of reward for green campus practices, lack of stringent regulations/laws, lack of management commitment, insufficient funds are the obstacles to the green campus movement in Indonesia. In addition, out of 6 criteria considered in UI GreenMetric World Ranking, education was the only criteria that had no significant difference between public and private universities in generating the green campus performance. The work concludes with recommendation of strategies to improve the implementation of green campus in the future.

Keywords: green campus, obstacles, sustainable, higher education institutions

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Authors: Nurdan Yildirim, Arif Hepbasli

Abstract:

Heating, cooling and lighting appliances in buildings account for more than one third of the world’s primary energy demand. Therefore, main components of the building heating systems play an essential role in terms of energy consumption. In this context, efficient energy and exergy utilization in HVAC-R systems has been very essential, especially in developing energy policies towards increasing efficiencies. The main objective of the present study is to assess the performance of a family house with a volume of 326.7 m3 and a net floor area of 121 m2, located in the city of Izmir, Turkey in terms of energetic, exergetic and sustainability aspects. The indoor and exterior air temperatures are taken as 20°C and 1°C, respectively. In the analysis and assessment, various metrics (indices or indicators) such as exergetic efficiency, exergy flexibility ratio and sustainability index are utilized. Two heating options (Case 1: condensing boiler and Case 2: air heat pump) are considered for comparison purposes. The total heat loss rate of the family house is determined to be 3770.72 W. The overall energy efficiencies of the studied cases are calculated to be 49.4% for Case 1 and 54.7% for Case 2. The overall exergy efficiencies, the flexibility factor and the sustainability index of Cases 1 and 2 are computed to be around 3.3%, 0.17 and 1.034, respectively.

Keywords: buildings, exergy, low exergy, sustainability, efficiency, heating, renewable energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 342