Search results for: inclusive business models

Authors: Heba M. Jahin, Ali F. Bakr, Zeyad T. Elsayad

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As smart spaces can be defined as any working environment which integrates embedded computers, information appliances and multi-modal sensors to remain focused on the interaction between the users, their activity, and their behavior in the space; hence, smart space must be aware of their contexts and automatically adapt to their changing context-awareness, by interacting with their physical environment through natural and multimodal interfaces. Also, by serving the information used proactively. This paper suggests a dynamic framework through the architectural design process of the space based on the principles of computational methods and context-awareness principles to help in creating a field of changes and modifications. It generates possibilities, concerns about the physical, structural and user contexts. This framework is concerned with five main processes: gathering and analyzing data to generate smart design scenarios, parameters, and attributes; which will be transformed by coding into four types of models. Furthmore, connecting those models together in the interaction model which will represent the context-awareness system. Then, transforming that model into a virtual and ambient environment which represents the physical and real environments, to act as a linkage phase between the users and their activities taking place in that smart space . Finally, the feedback phase from users of that environment to be sure that the design of that smart space fulfill their needs. Therefore, the generated design process will help in designing smarts spaces that can be adapted and controlled to answer the users’ defined goals, needs, and activity.

Keywords: computational methods, context-awareness, design process, smart spaces

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Authors: Laila Niklasson

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The aim of the study is to critically discuss how partner schools are engaged during Initial teacher education, ITE. The background is an experiment in Sweden where the practicum organization is reorganized due to a need to enhance quality during practicum. It is a national initiative from the government, supported by the National Agency of Education and lasts 2014-2019. The main features are concentration of students to school with a certain amount of mentors, mentors who have a mentor education and teachers with relevant subject areas and where there could be a mentor team with a leader at the school. An expected outcome is for example that the student teachers should be engaged in peer-learning. The schools should be supported by extra lectures from university teachers during practicum and also extra research projects where the schools should be engaged. A case study of one university based ITE was carried out to explore the consequences for the schools not selected. The result showed that from engaging x schools in a region, x was engaged. The schools are both in urban and rural areas, mainly in the latter. There is also a tendency that private schools are not engaged. On a unit level recruitment is perceived as harder for schools not engaged. In addition they cannot market themselves as ´selected school´ which can affect parent´s selection of school for their children. Also, on unit level, but with consequences for professional development, they are not selected for research project and thereby are not fully supported during school development. The conclusion is that from an earlier inclusive approach concerning professions where all teachers were perceived as possible mentors, there is a change to an exclusive approach where selected schools and selected teachers should be engaged. The change could be perceived as a change in governance mentality, but also in how professions are perceived, and development work is pursued.

Keywords: initial teacher education, practicum schools, profession, quality development

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Authors: Kherbache Mehdi

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Within the framework of the validation of the Master in business administration marketing and sales in INSIM institute international in management Blida, we get the opportunity to do a professional internship in Sonelgaz Enterprise and a thesis. The thesis deals with the integration of social networking in the communication strategy of a company. The problematic is: How communicate with social network can be a solution for companies? The challenges stressed by this thesis were to suggest limits and recommendations to Sonelgaz Enterprise concerning social networks. The whole social networks represent more than a billion people as a potential target for the companies. Thanks to research and a qualitative approach, we have identified tree valid hypothesis. The first hypothesis allows confirming that using social networks cannot be ignored by any company in its communication strategy. However, the second hypothesis demonstrates that it’s necessary to prepare a strategy that integrates social networks in the communication plan of the company. The risk of this strategy is very limited because failure on social networks is not a restraint for the enterprise, social networking is not expensive and, a bad image which could result from it is not as important in the long-term. Furthermore, the return on investment is difficult to evaluate. Finally, the last hypothesis shows that firms establish a new relation between consumers and brands thanks to the proximity allowed by social networks. After the validation of the hypothesis, we suggested some recommendations to Sonelgaz Enterprise regarding the communication through social networks. Firstly, the company must use the interactivity of social network in order to have fruitful exchanges with the community. We also recommended having a strategy to treat negative comments. The company must also suggest delivering resources to the community thanks to a community manager, in order to have a good relation with the community. Furthermore, we advised using social networks to do business intelligence. Sonelgaz Enterprise can have some creative and interactive contents with some amazing applications on Facebook for example. Finally, we recommended to the company to be not intrusive with “fans” or “followers” and to be open to all the platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In for example.

Keywords: social network, buzz, communication, consumer, return on investment, internet users, web 2.0, Facebook, Twitter, interaction

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Authors: Imran Altaf Wasil, Dinesh Ganvir

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Due to a scarcity of virgin aggregates, the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) as a substitute for natural aggregates has gained popularity. Despite the fact that RAP is recycled in asphalt pavement, there is still excess RAP, and its use in concrete pavements has expanded in recent years. According to a survey, 98 percent of India's pavements are flexible. As a result, the maintenance and reconstruction of such pavements generate RAP, which can be reused in concrete pavements as well as surface course, base course, and sub-base of flexible pavements. Various studies on the properties of reclaimed asphalt pavement and its optimal requirements for usage in concrete has been conducted throughout the years. In this study a total of four different mixes were prepared by partially replacing natural aggregates by RAP in different proportions. It was found that with the increase in the replacement level of Natural aggregates by RAP the mechanical and durability properties got reduced. In order to increase the mechanical strength of mixes 40% Glass Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) was used and it was found that with replacement of cement by 40% of GGBS, there was an enhancement in the mechanical and durability properties of RAP inclusive PQC mixes. The reason behind the improvement in the properties is due to the processing technique used in order to remove the contaminant layers present in the coarse RAP aggregates. The replacement level of Natural aggregate with RAP was done in proportions of 20%, 40% and 60% along with the partial replacement of cement by 40% GGBS. It was found that all the mixes surpassed the design target value of 40 MPa in compression and 4.5 MPa in flexure making it much more economical and feasible.

Keywords: reclaimed asphalt pavement, pavement quality concrete, glass granulated blast furnace slag, mechanical and durability properties

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Authors: Jovana Vukcevic, Sanja Pekovic, Djurdjica Perovic, Tatjana Stanovcic

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This paper presents a critical inquiry into the role of uncomfortable heritage in nation branding with the particular focus on the specificities of the politics of memory, forgetting and revisionism in the post-communist post-Yugoslavia. It addresses legacies of unwanted, ambivalent or unacknowledged past and different strategies employed by the former-Yugoslav states and private actors in “rebranding” their heritage, ensuring its preservation, but re-contextualizing the narrative of the past through contemporary tourism practices. It questions the interplay between nostalgia, heritage and market, and the role of heritage in polishing the history of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes in the Balkans. It argues that in post-socialist Yugoslavia, the necessity to limit correlations with former ideology and the use of the commercial brush in shaping a marketable version of the past instigated the emergence of the profit-oriented heritage practices. Building on that argument, the paper addresses these issues as “commodification” and “disneyfication” of Balkans’ ambivalent heritage, contributing to the analysis of changing forms of memorialisation and heritagization practices in Europe. It questions the process of ‘coming to terms with the past’ through marketable forms of heritage tourism, fetching the boundary between market-driven nostalgia and state-imposed heritage policies. In order to analyse plurality of ways of dealing with controversial, ambivalent and unwanted heritage of dictatorships in the Balkans, the paper considers two prominent examples of heritage commodification in Serbia and Montenegro, and the re-appropriations of those narratives for the nation branding purposes. The first one is the story of the Tito’s Blue Train, the landmark of the socialist past and the symbol of Yugoslavia which has nowadays being used for birthday parties and marriage celebrations, while the second emphasises the unusual business arrangement turning the fortress Mamula, former concentration camp through the Second World War, into a luxurious Mediterranean resort. Questioning how the ‘uneasy’ past was acknowledged and embedded into the official heritage institutions and tourism practices, study examines the changing relation towards the legacies of dictatorships, inviting us to rethink the economic models of the things past. Analysis of these processes should contribute to better understanding of the new mnemonics strategies and (converging?) ways of ‘doing’ past in Europe.

Keywords: commodification, heritage tourism, totalitarianism, Serbia, Montenegro

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Authors: Wanchalerm Patanacharoenwong, Panaya Sudta, Prachya Bumrungkun

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The paper focuses on the development of a system that combines Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and deep learning algorithms for anomaly detection in residential Electric Vehicle (EV) charging in smart cities. With the increasing number of EVs, ensuring efficient and reliable charging systems has become crucial. The aim of this research is to develop an integrated IoT and deep learning system for detecting anomalies in residential EV charging and enhancing EV load profiling and event detection in smart cities. This approach utilizes IoT devices equipped with infrared cameras to collect thermal images and household EV charging profiles from the database of Thailand utility, subsequently transmitting this data to a cloud database for comprehensive analysis. The methodology includes the use of advanced deep learning techniques such as Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) algorithms. IoT devices equipped with infrared cameras are used to collect thermal images and EV charging profiles. The data is transmitted to a cloud database for comprehensive analysis. The researchers also utilize feature-based Gaussian mixture models for EV load profiling and event detection. Moreover, the research findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed system in detecting anomalies and critical profiles in EV charging behavior. The system provides timely alarms to users regarding potential issues and categorizes the severity of detected problems based on a health index for each charging device. The system also outperforms existing models in event detection accuracy. This research contributes to the field by showcasing the potential of integrating IoT and deep learning techniques in managing residential EV charging in smart cities. The system ensures operational safety and efficiency while also promoting sustainable energy management. The data is collected using IoT devices equipped with infrared cameras and is stored in a cloud database for analysis. The collected data is then analyzed using RNN, LSTM, and feature-based Gaussian mixture models. The approach includes both EV load profiling and event detection, utilizing a feature-based Gaussian mixture model. This comprehensive method aids in identifying unique power consumption patterns among EV owners and outperforms existing models in event detection accuracy. In summary, the research concludes that integrating IoT and deep learning techniques can effectively detect anomalies in residential EV charging and enhance EV load profiling and event detection accuracy. The developed system ensures operational safety and efficiency, contributing to sustainable energy management in smart cities.

Keywords: cloud computing framework, recurrent neural networks, long short-term memory, Iot, EV charging, smart grids

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Authors: Rani Danavath, V. B. Narsimha

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Cloud computing is emerging as a new paradigm of large scale distributed computing. Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., three service models, and four deployment networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics models. Load balancing is one of the main challenges in cloud computing, which is required to distribute the dynamic workload across multiple nodes, to ensure that no single node is overloaded. It helps in optimal utilization of resources, enhancing the performance of the system. The goal of the load balancing is to minimize the resource consumption and carbon emission rate, that is the direct need of cloud computing. This determined the need of new metrics energy consumption and carbon emission for energy-efficiency load balancing techniques in cloud computing. Existing load balancing techniques mainly focuses on reducing overhead, services, response time and improving performance etc. In this paper we introduced a Technique for energy-efficiency, but none of the techniques have considered the energy consumption and carbon emission. Therefore, our proposed work will go towards energy – efficiency. So this energy-efficiency load balancing technique can be used to improve the performance of cloud computing by balancing the workload across all the nodes in the cloud with the minimum resource utilization, in turn, reducing energy consumption, and carbon emission to an extent, which will help to achieve green computing.

Keywords: cloud computing, distributed computing, energy efficiency, green computing, load balancing, energy consumption, carbon emission

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Authors: M. O. Adeniyi, R. T. Akinnubi

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The parameterization of turbulent heat fluxes is needed for modeling land-atmosphere interactions in Global Climate Models (GCMs). However, current GCMs still have difficulties with producing reliable turbulent heat fluxes for humid tropical regions, which may be due to inadequate parameterization of the roughness lengths for momentum (z0m) and heat (z0h) transfer. These roughness lengths are usually expressed in term of excess resistance factor (κB^(-1)), and this factor is used to account for different resistances for momentum and heat transfers. In this paper, a more appropriate excess resistance factor (〖 κB〗^(-1)) suitable for low wind speed condition was developed and incorporated into the aerodynamic resistance approach (ARA) in the GCMs. Also, the performance of various standard GCMs κB^(-1) schemes developed for high wind speed conditions were assessed. Based on the in-situ surface heat fluxes and profile measurements of wind speed and temperature from Nigeria Micrometeorological Experimental site (NIMEX), new κB^(-1) was derived through application of the Monin–Obukhov similarity theory and Brutsaert theoretical model for heat transfer. Turbulent flux parameterizations with this new formula provides better estimates of heat fluxes when compared with others estimated using existing GCMs κB^(-1) schemes. The derived κB^(-1) MBE and RMSE in the parameterized QH ranged from -1.15 to – 5.10 Wm-2 and 10.01 to 23.47 Wm-2, while that of QE ranged from - 8.02 to 6.11 Wm-2 and 14.01 to 18.11 Wm-2 respectively. The derived 〖 κB〗^(-1) gave better estimates of QH than QE during daytime. The derived 〖 κB〗^(-1)=6.66〖 Re〗_*^0.02-5.47, where Re_* is the Reynolds number. The derived κB^(-1) scheme which corrects a well documented large overestimation of turbulent heat fluxes is therefore, recommended for most regional models within the tropic where low wind speed is prevalent.

Keywords: humid, tropic, excess resistance factor, overestimation, turbulent heat fluxes

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Authors: Emma Serwaa Obobisaa, Haibo Chen

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International trade and outward foreign direct investment are important factors which are generally recognized in the economic growth and development. Though several scholars have struggled to reveal the influence of trade and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth, most studies utilized common econometric models such as vector autoregression and aggregated the variables, which for the most part prompts, however, contradictory and mixed results. Thus, there is an exigent need for the precise study of the trade and FDI effect of economic growth while applying strong econometric models and disaggregating the variables into its separate individual variables to explicate their respective effects on economic growth. This will guarantee the provision of policies and strategies that are geared towards individual variables to ensure sustainable development and growth. This study, therefore, seeks to examine the causal effect of China-Africa trade and Outward Foreign Direct Investment on the economic growth of Africa using a robust and recent econometric approach such as system dynamics model. Our study impanels and tests an ensemble of a group of vital variables predominant in recent studies on trade-FDI-economic growth causality: Foreign direct ınvestment, international trade and economic growth. Our results showed that the system dynamics method provides accurate statistical inference regarding the direction of the causality among the variables than the conventional method such as OLS and Granger Causality predominantly used in the literature as it is more robust and provides accurate, critical values.

Keywords: economic growth, outward foreign direct investment, system dynamics model, international trade

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Authors: Maulita Sari Hani, Abraham B. Sianipar, Jamaluddin Jompa, Natsir Nessa, Alan T. White

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Manta ray is an icon for tourism in Raja Ampat. The tourist volume has been increased for the past ten years which up to approximately 23,000 tourists in 2017. Since 2013, Conservation International Indonesia deployed satellite and acoustic tags on manta ray in Dampier strait to track the species and identify the aggregation areas. These findings encourage the government and the local community to boost conservation through the management of marine protected areas for tourism purposes. Community in Dampier strait including the village of Arborek, Kurkapa, Kapisawar, and Sawingray involved in variety of small scale tourism business including homestay, dive shop, tour operator, and crafts. Working groups of related local businesses were established to support the local community and to ensure the sustainability of the economic viability and environmental sustainability. In order to analyze the economic benefits of manta ray tourism, this study was conducted to identify the number of local business in Dampier Strait and the economic impacts in terms of local finance security, social, humanity, individual, and physical assets. The results of this study identify 30 homestays, 2 dive shops, 10 tour operators, 30 women involved in crafts, and about 50 villagers worked for dive resorts. In addition to community assets, we confirmed the welfare of community has been improved in terms of food security, households, education for children, savings, and health insurance.

Keywords: marine wildlife tourism, elasmobranch, conservation, ecotourism, co-management, economic viability, environmental sustainability

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Authors: Adrian Kong, William Chang, Rolando Valdes, Alec Rodriguez, Roberto Miki

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The Pneumask consists of a custom snorkel-specific adapter that attaches a snorkel-port of the mask to a 3D-printed filter. This full-face snorkel mask was designed for use as personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic when there was a widespread shortage of PPE for medical personnel. Various clinical validation tests have been conducted, including the sealing capability of the mask, filter performance, CO2 buildup, and clinical usability. However, data regarding the filter efficiencies of Pneumask and multiple filter types have not been determined. Using an experimental system, we evaluated the filtration efficiency across various masks and filters during inhalation. Eighteen combinations of respirator models (5 P100 FFRs, 4 Dolfino Masks) and filters (2091, 7093, 7093CN, BB50T) were evaluated for their exposure to airborne particles sized 0.3 - 10.0 microns using an electronic airborne particle counter. All respirator model combinations provided similar performance levels for 1.0-micron, 3.0-micron, 5.0-micron, 10.0-microns, with the greatest differences in the 0.3-micron and 0.5-micron range. All models provided expected performances against all particle sizes, with Class P100 respirators providing the highest performance levels across all particle size ranges. In conclusion, the modified snorkel mask has the potential to protect providers who care for patients with COVID-19 from increased airborne particle exposure.

Keywords: COVID-19, PPE, mask, filtration, efficiency

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Authors: Scott M. Black, Craig Maclean, Pauline Hall Barrientos, Konstantinos Ritos, Asimina Kazakidi

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Aortic aneurysms and dissections are leading causes of death in cardiovascular disease. Both inevitably lead to hemodynamic instability without surgical intervention in the form of vascular stent-graft deployment. An accurate description of the aortic geometry and blood flow in patient-specific cases is vital for treatment planning and long-term success of such grafts, as they must generate physiological branch perfusion and in-stent hemodynamics. The aim of this study was to create patient-specific computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models through a multi-modality, multi-dimensional approach with boundary condition optimization to predict branch flow rates and in-stent hemodynamics in custom stent-graft configurations. Three-dimensional (3D) thoracoabdominal aortae were reconstructed from four-dimensional flow-magnetic resonance imaging (4D Flow-MRI) and computed tomography (CT) medical images. The former employed a novel approach to generate and enhance vessel lumen contrast via through-plane velocity at discrete, user defined cardiac time steps post-hoc. To produce patient-specific boundary conditions (BCs), the aortic geometry was reduced to a one-dimensional (1D) model. Thereafter, a zero-dimensional (0D) 3-Element Windkessel model (3EWM) was coupled to each terminal branch to represent the distal vasculature. In this coupled 0D-1D model, the 3EWM parameters were optimized to yield branch flow waveforms which are representative of the 4D Flow-MRI-derived in-vivo data. Thereafter, a 0D-3D CFD model was created, utilizing the optimized 3EWM BCs and a 4D Flow-MRI-obtained inlet velocity profile. A sensitivity analysis on the effects of stent-graft configuration and BC parameters was then undertaken using multiple stent-graft configurations and a range of distal vasculature conditions. 4D Flow-MRI granted unparalleled visualization of blood flow throughout the cardiac cycle in both the pre- and postsurgical states. Segmentation and reconstruction of healthy and stented regions from retrospective 4D Flow-MRI images also generated 3D models with geometries which were successfully validated against their CT-derived counterparts. 0D-1D coupling efficiently captured branch flow and pressure waveforms, while 0D-3D models also enabled 3D flow visualization and quantification of clinically relevant hemodynamic parameters for in-stent thrombosis and graft limb occlusion. It was apparent that changes in 3EWM BC parameters had a pronounced effect on perfusion distribution and near-wall hemodynamics. Results show that the 3EWM parameters could be iteratively changed to simulate a range of graft limb diameters and distal vasculature conditions for a given stent-graft to determine the optimal configuration prior to surgery. To conclude, this study outlined a methodology to aid in the prediction post-surgical branch perfusion and in-stent hemodynamics in patient specific cases for the implementation of custom stent-grafts.

Keywords: 4D flow-MRI, computational fluid dynamics, vascular stent-grafts, windkessel

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Authors: Mohd Bahroddin Badri, Ridzuan Masri

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Despite the existence of large volume of waqf assets, it is argued that the potential of these assets not fully unleashed. There are many waqf assets especially in the form of land waqf that are idle and undeveloped mainly because of the insufficient fund and lack of investment expertise. This paper attempts to explore few cases on the innovation of waqf development in Malaysia and some countries that demonstrate synergistic collaboration between stakeholders, e.g., the government, nazir, Islamic religious councils, corporate entities and Islamic financial institutions for waqf development. This paper shows that cash waqf, corporate waqf, Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and Sukuk are found to be contemporary mechanisms within Islamic finance ecosystem that drive and rejuvenate the development of waqf to the next level. It further highlights few samples of waqf Sukuk that were successfully issued in selected countries. This paper also demonstrates that the benefit of waqf is beyond religious matters, which may also include education, healthcare, social care, infrastructure and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. This research is qualitative in nature, whereby the researcher employs descriptive method on the collected data. The researcher applies case study and library research method to collect and analyse data from journal articles, research papers, conference paper and annual reports. In a nutshell, the potential of contemporary models as demonstrated in this paper is very promising, in which the practical application of those instruments should be expanded for the rejuvenation of waqf asset.

Keywords: cash waqf, corporate waqf, Sukuk waqf, build-operate-transfer

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Authors: Otu Otu Akanu

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The nexus between migration, national security, and human rights has become increasingly complex, particularly within Nigeria's geopolitical landscape. This study explores how Nigeria navigates the balance between safeguarding national security and upholding human rights amidst escalating regional crises, such as conflicts in the Lake Chad Basin and the Sahel. Through a comprehensive analysis of policy frameworks, security measures, and human rights protocols, this paper critically examines the challenges and opportunities in Nigeria's approach. The study employed a multidisciplinary methodology, integrating perspectives from International Relations, Human Security Studies, and Migration Law to provide a holistic understanding of the issue. Drawing on primary data from government reports, policy documents, and interviews with key stakeholders, alongside secondary literature, the study reveals a persistent tension between security imperatives and human rights obligations. While Nigeria has made strides in enhancing its security architecture, the findings highlight significant gaps in the protection of migrants' rights, often exacerbated by external pressures and domestic political dynamics. The paper argues that a recalibration of Nigeria's security and human rights policies is imperative for achieving sustainable peace and security in the region. By offering policy recommendations rooted in international best practices, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse on migration and security in West Africa and provides a framework for other nations grappling with similar challenges. This research underscores the need for an integrated approach that transcends traditional security paradigms, advocating a more inclusive and human-centered strategy in addressing the complexities of migration and national security.

Keywords: migration, national security, human rights, Nigeria, West Africa

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Authors: Estela Díaz

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This article aims to make three contributions. First, build on the literature on ethical decision-making literature by exploring factors that influence the intention of adopting veganism. Second, study the superiority of extended models of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) for understanding the process involved in forming the intention of adopting veganism. Third, analyze the moderating effect of gender on TPB given that attitudes and behavior towards animals are gender-sensitive. No study, to our knowledge, has examined these questions. Veganism is not a diet but a political and moral stand that exclude, for moral reasons, the use of animals. Although there is a growing interest in studying veganism, it continues being overlooked in empirical research, especially within the domain of social psychology. TPB has been widely used to study a broad range of human behaviors, including moral issues. Nonetheless, TPB has rarely been applied to examine ethical decisions about animals and, even less, to veganism. Hence, the validity of TPB in predicting the intention of adopting veganism remains unanswered. A total of 476 non-vegan Spanish university students (55.6% female; the mean age was 23.26 years, SD= 6.1) responded to online and pencil-and-paper self-reported questionnaire based on previous studies. TPB extended models incorporated two background factors: ‘general attitudes towards humanlike-attributes ascribed to animals’ (AHA) (capacity for reason/emotions/suffer, moral consideration, and affect-towards-animals); and ‘general attitudes towards 11 uses of animals’ (AUA). SPSS 22 and SmartPLS 3.0 were used for statistical analyses. This study constructed a second-order reflective-formative model and took the multi-group analysis (MGA) approach to study gender effects. Six models of TPB (the standard and five competing) were tested. No a priori hypotheses were formulated. The results gave partial support to TPB. Attitudes (ATTV) (β = .207, p < .001), subjective norms (SNV) (β = .323, p < .001), and perceived control behavior (PCB) (β = .149, p < .001) had a significant direct effect on intentions (INTV). This model accounted for 27,9% of the variance in intention (R2Adj = .275) and had a small predictive relevance (Q2 = .261). However, findings from this study reveal that contrary to what TPB generally proposes, the effect of the background factors on intentions was not fully mediated by the proximal constructs of intentions. For instance, in the final model (Model#6), both factors had significant multiple indirect effect on INTV (β = .074, 95% C = .030, .126 [AHA:INTV]; β = .101, 95% C = .055, .155 [AUA:INTV]) and significant direct effect on INTV (β = .175, p < .001 [AHA:INTV]; β = .100, p = .003 [AUA:INTV]). Furthermore, the addition of direct paths from background factors to intentions improved the explained variance in intention (R2 = .324; R2Adj = .317) and the predictive relevance (Q2 = .300) over the base-model. This supports existing literature on the superiority of enhanced TPB models to predict ethical issues; which suggests that moral behavior may add additional complexity to decision-making. Regarding gender effect, MGA showed that gender only moderated the influence of AHA on ATTV (e.g., βWomen−βMen = .296, p < .001 [Model #6]). However, other observed gender differences (e.g. the explained variance of the model for intentions were always higher for men that for women, for instance, R2Women = .298; R2Men = .394 [Model #6]) deserve further considerations, especially for developing more effective communication strategies.

Keywords: veganism, Theory of Planned Behavior, background factors, gender moderation

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Authors: Lam Hong Lan

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The textile industry is said to be the second-largest polluter, responsible for 92 million tonnes of waste annually. There is an urgent need to practice the circular economy to increase the use and reuse around the world. By its nature, the pre-owned fashion business is considered part of the circular economy as it helps to eliminate waste and circulate products. Second-hand clothes and accessories used to be associated with a ‘cheap image’ that carried ‘old energy’ in Vietnam. This perception has been shifted, especially amongst the younger generation. Vietnamese consumer is spending more on products and services that increase self-esteem. The same consumer is moving away from a collectivist social identity towards a ‘me, not we’ outlook as they look for a way to express their individual identity. And pre-owned fashion is one of their solutions as it values money, can create a unique personal style for the wearer and links with sustainability. The design of this study is based on the second-hand shopping motivation theory. A semi-structured online survey with 100 consumers from one pre-owned clothing community and one pre-owned e-commerce site in Vietnam. The findings show that in contrast with Vietnamese older consumers (55+yo) who, in the previous study, generally associated pre-owned fashion with ‘low-cost’, ‘cheap image’ that carried ‘old energy’, young customers (20-30 yo) were actively promoted their pre-owned fashion items to the public via outlet’s social platforms and their social media. This cultural shift comes from the impact of global and local discourse around sustainable fashion and the growth of digital platforms in the pre-owned fashion business in the last five years, which has generally supported wider interest in pre-owned fashion in Vietnam. It can be summarised in three areas: (1) global and local celebrity influencers. A number of celebrities have been photographed wearing vintage items in music videos, photoshoots or at red carpet events. (2) E-commerce and intermediaries. International e-commerce sites – e.g., Vinted, TheRealReal – and/or local apps – e.g., Re.Loved – can influence attitudes and behaviors towards pre-owned consumption. (3) Eco-awareness. The increased online coverage of climate change and environmental pollution has encouraged customers to adopt a more eco-friendly approach to their wardrobes. While sustainable biomaterials and designs are still navigating their way into sustainability, sustainable consumerism via pre-owned fashion seems to be an immediate solution to lengthen the clothes lifecycle. This study has found that young consumers are primarily seeking value for money and/or a unique personal style from pre-owned/vintage fashion while using these purchases to promote their own “eco-awareness” via their social media networks. This is a good indication for fashion designers to keep in mind in their design process and for fashion enterprises in their business model’s choice to not overproduce fashion items.

Keywords: cultural shift, pre-owned fashion, sustainable consumption, sustainable fashion.

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Authors: Diana Mitova, Krassimir Mitrev

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To prepare the current generation for the future, education systems need to change. It implies a way of learning that meets the demands of the times and the environment in which we live. Productive interaction in the educational process implies an interactive learning environment and the possibility of personal development of learners based on communication and mutual dialogue, cooperation and good partnership in decision-making. Students need not only theoretical knowledge, but transferable skills that will help them to become inventors and entrepreneurs, to implement ideas. STEM education , is now a real necessity for the modern school. Through learning in a "learning company", students master examples from classroom practice, simulate real life situations, group activities and apply basic interactive learning strategies and techniques. The learning company is the subject of this study, reduced to entrepreneurship training in STEM - technologies that encourage students to think outside the traditional box. STEM learning focuses the teacher's efforts on modeling entrepreneurial thinking and behavior in students and helping them solve problems in the world of business and entrepreneurship. Learning based on the implementation of various STEM projects in extracurricular activities, experiential learning, and an interdisciplinary approach are means by which educators better connect the local community and private businesses. Learners learn to be creative, experiment and take risks and work in teams - the leading characteristics of any innovator and future entrepreneur. This article presents some European policies on STEM and entrepreneurship education. It also shares best practices for training company training , with the integration of STEM in the learning company training environment. The main results boil down to identifying some advantages and problems in STEM entrepreneurship education. The benefits of using integrative approaches to teach STEM within a training company are identified, as well as the positive effects of project-based learning in a training company using STEM. Best practices for teaching entrepreneurship through extracurricular activities using STEM within a training company are shared. The following research methods are applied in this research paper: Theoretical and comparative analysis of principles and policies of European Union countries and Bulgaria in the field of entrepreneurship education through a training company. Experiences in entrepreneurship education through extracurricular activities with STEM application within a training company are shared. A questionnaire survey to investigate the motivation of secondary vocational school students to learn entrepreneurship through a training company and their readiness to start their own business after completing their education. Within the framework of learning through a "learning company" with the integration of STEM, the activity of the teacher-facilitator includes the methods: counseling, supervising and advising students during work. The expectation is that students acquire the key competence "initiative and entrepreneurship" and that the cooperation between the vocational education system and the business in Bulgaria is more effective.

Keywords: STEM, entrepreneurship, training company, extracurricular activities

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Authors: Etim, Victoria Enefiok, Dada, Oluseyi Akintunde, Bassey Okon

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Phonological disorder is a serious and disturbing issue to many parents and teachers. Efforts towards resolving the problem have been undermined by other specific disabilities which were hidden to many regular and special education teachers. It is against this background that this study was motivated to provide data on the prevalence of phonological disorders in children with specific language impairment (CWSLI) as the first step towards critical intervention. The study was a survey of 15 CWSLI from St. Louise Inclusive schools, Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. Phonological Processes Diagnostic Scale (PPDS) with 17 short sentences, which cut across the five phonological processes that were examined, were validated by experts in test measurement, phonology and special education. The respondents were made to read the sentences with emphasis on the targeted sounds. Their utterances were recorded and analyzed in the language laboratory using Praat Software. Data were also collected through friendly interactions at different times from the clients. The theory of generative phonology was adopted for the descriptive analysis of the phonological processes. Data collected were analyzed using simple percentage and composite bar chart for better understanding of the result. The study found out that CWSLI exhibited the five phonological processes under investigation. It was revealed that 66.7%, 80%, 73.3%, 80%, and 86.7% of the respondents have severe deficit in fricative stopping, velar fronting, liquid gliding, final consonant deletion and cluster reduction, respectively. It was therefore recommended that a nationwide survey should be carried out to have national statistics of CWSLI with phonological deficits and develop intervention strategies for effective therapy to remediate the disorder.

Keywords: language disorders, phonology, phonological processes, specific language impairment

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Authors: Yan Huang

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Event-related potentials (ERPs) technique helps researchers to make continuous measures on the whole process of language comprehension, with an excellent temporal resolution at the level of milliseconds. The research on sentence processing has developed from the behavioral level to the neuropsychological level, which brings about a variety of sentence processing theories and models. However, the applicability of these models to L2 learners is still under debate. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying English subjunctive mood processing by Chinese ESL learners. To this end, English subject clauses with subjunctive moods are used as the stimuli, all of which follow the same syntactic structure, “It is + adjective + that … + (should) do + …” Besides, in order to examine the role that language proficiency plays on L2 processing, this research deals with two groups of Chinese ESL learners (18 males and 22 females, mean age=21.68), namely, high proficiency group (Group H) and low proficiency group (Group L). Finally, the behavioral and neurophysiological data analysis reveals the following findings: 1) Syntax and semantics interact with each other on the SECOND phase (300-500ms) of sentence processing, which is partially in line with the Three-phase Sentence Model; 2) Language proficiency does affect L2 processing. Specifically, for Group H, it is the syntactic processing that plays the dominant role in sentence processing while for Group L, semantic processing also affects the syntactic parsing during the THIRD phase of sentence processing (500-700ms). Besides, Group H, compared to Group L, demonstrates a richer native-like ERPs pattern, which further demonstrates the role of language proficiency in L2 processing. Based on the research findings, this paper also provides some enlightenment for the L2 pedagogy as well as the L2 proficiency assessment.

Keywords: Chinese ESL learners, English subjunctive mood, ERPs, L2 processing

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Authors: Jatziri Y. Moreno-Martínez, Arturo Galván, Israel Enrique Herrera Díaz, José Ramón Gasca Tirado

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In recent years, for the elevated viaducts in Mexico City, a construction system based on precast/pre-stressed concrete elements has been used, in which the bridge girders are divided in two parts by imposing a hinged support in sections where the bending moments that are originated by the gravity loads in a continuous beam are minimal. Precast concrete girders with dapped ends are a representative sample of a behavior that has complex configurations of stresses that make them more vulnerable to cracking due to flexure–shear interaction. The design procedures for ends of the dapped girders are well established and are based primarily on experimental tests performed for different configurations of reinforcement. The critical failure modes that can govern the design have been identified, and for each of them, the methods for computing the reinforcing steel that is needed to achieve adequate safety against failure have been proposed. Nevertheless, the design recommendations do not include procedures for controlling diagonal cracking at the entrant corner under service loading. These cracks could cause water penetration and degradation because of the corrosion of the steel reinforcement. The lack of visual access to the area makes it difficult to detect this damage and take timely corrective actions. Three-dimensional non-linear numerical models based on Finite Element Method to study the cracking at the entrant corner of dapped-end beams were performed using the software package ANSYS v. 11.0. The cracking was numerically simulated by using the smeared crack approach. The concrete structure was modeled using three-dimensional solid elements SOLID65 capable of cracking in tension and crushing in compression. Drucker-Prager yield surface was used to include the plastic deformations. The longitudinal post-tension was modeled using LINK8 elements with multilinear isotropic hardening behavior using von Misses plasticity. The reinforcement was introduced with smeared approach. The numerical models were calibrated using experimental tests carried out in “Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México”. In these numerical models the characteristics of the specimens were considered: typical solution based on vertical stirrups (hangers) and on vertical and horizontal hoops with a post-tensioned steel which contributed to a 74% of the flexural resistance. The post-tension is given by four steel wires with a 5/8’’ (16 mm) diameter. Each wire was tensioned to 147 kN and induced an average compressive stress of 4.90 MPa on the concrete section of the dapped end. The loading protocol consisted on applying symmetrical loading to reach the service load (180 kN). Due to the good correlation between experimental and numerical models some additional numerical models were proposed by considering different percentages of post-tension in order to find out how much it influences in the appearance of the cracking in the reentrant corner of the dapped-end beams. It was concluded that the increasing of percentage of post-tension decreases the displacements and the cracking in the reentrant corner takes longer to appear. The authors acknowledge at “Universidad de Guanajuato, Campus Celaya-Salvatierra” and the financial support of PRODEP-SEP (UGTO-PTC-460) of the Mexican government. The first author acknowledges at “Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México”.

Keywords: concrete dapped-end beams, cracking control, finite element analysis, postension

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Authors: Thomas J. Bell III

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This paper explores the value of assimilating certification training within a traditional course curriculum. This innovative approach is believed to increase stakeholder value within the Computer Information System program at Texas Wesleyan University. Stakeholder value is obtained from increased job marketability and critical thinking skills that create employment-ready graduates. This paper views value as first developing the capability to earn an industry-recognized certification, which provides the student with more job placement compatibility while allowing the use of critical thinking skills in a liberal arts business program. Graduates with industry-based credentials are often given preference in the hiring process, particularly in the information technology sector. And without a pioneering curriculum that better prepares students for an ever-changing employment market, its educational value is dubiously questioned. Since certifications are trending in the hiring process, academic programs should explore the viability of incorporating certification training into teaching pedagogy and courses curriculum. This study will examine the use of the balanced scorecard across four performance dimensions (financial, customer, internal process, and innovation) to measure the stakeholder value of certification training within a traditional course curriculum. The balanced scorecard as a strategic management tool may provide insight for leveraging resource prioritization and decisions needed to achieve various curriculum objectives and long-term value while meeting multiple stakeholders' needs, such as students, universities, faculty, and administrators. The research methodology will consist of quantitative analysis that includes (1) surveying over one-hundred students in the CIS program to learn what factor(s) contributed to their certification exam success or failure, (2) interviewing representatives from the Texas Workforce Commission to identify the employment needs and trends in the North Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth) area, (3) reviewing notable Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act publications on training trends across several local business sectors, and (4) analyzing control variables to identify specific correlations between industry alignment and job placement to determine if a correlation exists. These findings may provide helpful insight into impactful pedagogical teaching techniques and curriculum that positively contribute to certification credentialing success. And should these industry-certified students land industry-related jobs that correlate with their certification credential value, arguably, stakeholder value has been realized.

Keywords: certification exam teaching pedagogy, exam preparation, testing techniques, exam study tips, passing certification exams, embedding industry certification and curriculum alignment, balanced scorecard performance evaluation

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Authors: Yash Jain

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The US Center for Disease Control has recommended wearing masks to slow the spread of the virus. The research uses a video feed from a camera to conduct real-time classifications of whether or not a human is correctly wearing a mask, incorrectly wearing a mask, or not wearing a mask at all. Utilizing two distinct datasets from the open-source website Kaggle, a mask detection network had been trained. The first dataset that was used to train the model was titled 'Face Mask Detection' on Kaggle, where the dataset was retrieved from and the second dataset was titled 'Face Mask Dataset, which provided the data in a (YOLO Format)' so that the TinyYoloV3 model could be trained. Based on the data from Kaggle, two machine learning models were implemented and trained: a Tiny YoloV3 Real-time model and a two-stage neural network classifier. The two-stage neural network classifier had a first step of identifying distinct faces within the image, and the second step was a classifier to detect the state of the mask on the face and whether it was worn correctly, incorrectly, or no mask at all. The TinyYoloV3 was used for the live feed as well as for a comparison standpoint against the previous two-stage classifier and was trained using the darknet neural network framework. The two-stage classifier attained a mean average precision (MAP) of 80%, while the model trained using TinyYoloV3 real-time detection had a mean average precision (MAP) of 59%. Overall, both models were able to correctly classify stages/scenarios of no mask, mask, and incorrectly worn masks.

Keywords: datasets, classifier, mask-detection, real-time, TinyYoloV3, two-stage neural network classifier

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Authors: Hamid Ahmadi, Amirreza Ghaffari

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Fatigue life of tubular joints in offshore structures is not only dependent on the value of hot-spot stress, but is also significantly influenced by the through-the-thickness stress distribution characterized by the degree of bending (DoB). The DoB exhibits considerable scatter calling for greater emphasis in accurate determination of its governing probability distribution which is a key input for the fatigue reliability analysis of a tubular joint. Although the tubular X-joints are commonly found in offshore jacket structures, as far as the authors are aware, no comprehensive research has been carried out on the probability distribution of the DoB in tubular X-joints. What has been used so far as the probability distribution of the DoB in reliability analyses is mainly based on assumptions and limited observations, especially in terms of distribution parameters. In the present paper, results of parametric equations available for the calculation of the DoB have been used to develop probability distribution models for the DoB in the chord member of tubular X-joints subjected to four types of bending loads. Based on a parametric study, a set of samples was prepared and density histograms were generated for these samples using Freedman-Diaconis method. Twelve different probability density functions (PDFs) were fitted to these histograms. The maximum likelihood method was utilized to determine the parameters of fitted distributions. In each case, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to evaluate the goodness of fit. Finally, after substituting the values of estimated parameters for each distribution, a set of fully defined PDFs have been proposed for the DoB in tubular X-joints subjected to bending loads.

Keywords: tubular X-joint, degree of bending (DoB), probability density function (PDF), Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness-of-fit test

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Authors: Kldiashvili Ekaterina, Burduli Archil, Ghortlishvili Gocha

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Introduction – Medical information system (MIS) is at the heart of information technology (IT) implementation policies in healthcare systems around the world. Different architecture and application models of MIS are developed. Despite of obvious advantages and benefits, application of MIS in everyday practice is slow. Objective - On the background of analysis of the existing models of MIS in Georgia has been created a multi-user web-based approach. This presentation will present the architecture of the system and its application for image based second opinion consultations. Methods – The MIS has been created with .Net technology and SQL database architecture. It realizes local (intranet) and remote (internet) access to the system and management of databases. The MIS is fully operational approach, which is successfully used for medical data registration and management as well as for creation, editing and maintenance of the electronic medical records (EMR). Five hundred Georgian language electronic medical records from the cervical screening activity illustrated by images were selected for second opinion consultations. Results – The primary goal of the MIS is patient management. However, the system can be successfully applied for image based second opinion consultations. Discussion – The ideal of healthcare in the information age must be to create a situation where healthcare professionals spend more time creating knowledge from medical information and less time managing medical information. The application of easily available and adaptable technology and improvement of the infrastructure conditions is the basis for eHealth applications. Conclusion - The MIS is perspective and actual technology solution. It can be successfully and effectively used for image based second opinion consultations.

Keywords: digital images, medical information system, second opinion consultations, electronic medical record

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Authors: Soyhan Egitim

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This case study aims to investigate leadership practices in diversity management in the liberal arts department of a Japanese university. In 2013, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) revealed their English education reform plan in response to rapid globalization. Based on the new reform plan, Japanese universities would expand their international faculty in order to promote globalization through an increased number of intercultural communication and content-based language classes in English. The study employed a two-phased qualitative approach to gain a deeper understanding of the management strategies employed in diversity management, and the leadership practices influenced those management strategies. In the first phase, a closed-ended qualitative survey was conducted with ten adjunct faculty members from the liberal arts department. The results indicate that syllabus design, grading scheme, textbook choices, and class management policies are strictly regulated by the tenured Japanese faculty. In the second phase, semi-structured interviews were held with international faculty members to understand their personal experiences. Their responses revealed that top-down management approaches are counter-effective in the department’s efforts to promote diversity and thus, a new organizational culture needs to be nurtured to emphasize inclusion alongside diversity. In this regard, the study proposes collaborative leadership as an inclusive leadership practice to minimize power differences in the hierarchy and increase opportunities for inclusion in the rapidly diversifying workforce.

Keywords: collaborative leadership, diversity, inclusion, international faculty, top-down

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Authors: Lian Kösters, Wendy Smits, Raymond Montizaan

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The number of solo self-employed in the Netherlands has been increasing for years. The relative increase is among the largest in the EU. To explain this increase, most studies have focused on the supply side, workers who offer themselves as solo self-employed. The number of studies that focus on the demand side, the employer who hires the solo self-employed, is still scarce. Studies into employer behaviour conducted until now show that employers mainly choose self-employed workers when they have a temporary need for specialist knowledge, but also during projects or production peaks. These studies do not provide insight into the employers’ considerations for different contract types. In this study, interviews with employers were conducted, and available literature was consulted to provide an overview of the several factors employers use to compare different contract types. That input was used to set up a vignette study. This was carried out at the end of 2021 among almost 1000 business owners, HR managers, and business leaders of Dutch companies. Each respondent was given two sets of five fictitious candidates for two possible positions in their organization. They were asked to rank these candidates. The positions varied with regard to the type of tasks (core tasks or support tasks) and the time it took to train new people for the position. The respondents were asked additional questions about the positions, such as the required level of education, the duration, and the degree of predictability of tasks. The fictitious candidates varied, among other things, in the type of contract on which they would come to work for the organization. The results were analyzed using a rank-ordered logit analysis. This vignette setup makes it possible to see which factors are most important for employers when choosing to hire a solo self-employed person compared to other contracts. The results show that there are no indications that employers would want to hire solo self-employed workers en masse. They prefer regular employee contracts. The probability of being chosen with a solo self-employed contract over someone who comes to work as a temporary employee is 32 percent. This probability is even lower than for on-call and temporary agency workers. For a permanent contract, this probability is 46 percent. The results provide indications that employers consider knowledge and skills more important than the solo self-employed contract and that this can compensate. A solo self-employed candidate with 10 years of work experience has a 63 percent probability of being found attractive by an employer compared to a temporary employee without work experience. This suggests that employers are willing to give someone a less attractive contract for the employer if the worker so wishes. The results also show that the probability that a solo self-employed person is preferred over a candidate with a temporary employee contract is somewhat higher in business economics, administrative and technical professions. No significant results were found for factors where it was expected that solo self-employed workers are preferred more often, such as for unpredictable or temporary work.

Keywords: employer behaviour, rank-ordered logit analysis, solo self-employment, temporary contract, vignette study

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Authors: Maryam Fallahpoor, Biswajeet Pradhan

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Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) serves as a valuable tool in mitigating the scarcity of human resources required for the evaluation and categorization of vast quantities of medical imaging data. When AI operates with optimal precision, it minimizes the demand for human interpretations and, thereby, reduces the burden on radiologists. Among various AI approaches, deep learning (DL) stands out as it obviates the need for feature extraction, a process that can impede classification, especially with intricate datasets. The advent of DL models has ushered in a new era in medical imaging, particularly in the context of COVID-19 detection. Traditional 2D imaging techniques exhibit limitations when applied to volumetric data, such as Computed Tomography (CT) scans. Medical images predominantly exist in one of two formats: neuroimaging informatics technology initiative (NIfTI) and digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM). Purpose: This study aims to employ DL for the classification of COVID-19-infected pulmonary patients and normal cases based on 3D CT scans while investigating the impact of image format. Material and Methods: The dataset used for model training and testing consisted of 1245 patients from IranMehr Hospital. All scans shared a matrix size of 512 × 512, although they exhibited varying slice numbers. Consequently, after loading the DICOM CT scans, image resampling and interpolation were performed to standardize the slice count. All images underwent cropping and resampling, resulting in uniform dimensions of 128 × 128 × 60. Resolution uniformity was achieved through resampling to 1 mm × 1 mm × 1 mm, and image intensities were confined to the range of (−1000, 400) Hounsfield units (HU). For classification purposes, positive pulmonary COVID-19 involvement was designated as 1, while normal images were assigned a value of 0. Subsequently, a U-net-based lung segmentation module was applied to obtain 3D segmented lung regions. The pre-processing stage included normalization, zero-centering, and shuffling. Four distinct 3D CNN models (ResNet152, ResNet50, DensNet169, and DensNet201) were employed in this study. Results: The findings revealed that the segmentation technique yielded superior results for DICOM images, which could be attributed to the potential loss of information during the conversion of original DICOM images to NIFTI format. Notably, ResNet152 and ResNet50 exhibited the highest accuracy at 90.0%, and the same models achieved the best F1 score at 87%. ResNet152 also secured the highest Area under the Curve (AUC) at 0.932. Regarding sensitivity and specificity, DensNet201 achieved the highest values at 93% and 96%, respectively. Conclusion: This study underscores the capacity of deep learning to classify COVID-19 pulmonary involvement using real 3D hospital data. The results underscore the significance of employing DICOM format 3D CT images alongside appropriate pre-processing techniques when training DL models for COVID-19 detection. This approach enhances the accuracy and reliability of diagnostic systems for COVID-19 detection.

Keywords: deep learning, COVID-19 detection, NIFTI format, DICOM format

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Authors: Antonis Skouloudis, Konstantinos Evangelinos, Walter Leal-Filho, Panagiotis Vouros, Ioannis Nikolaou

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Organizational resilience capacity to extreme weather events (EWEs) has sparked a growth in scholarly attention over the past decade as an essential aspect in business continuity management, with supporting evidence for this claim to suggest that it retains a key role in successful responses to adverse situations, crises and shocks. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are more vulnerable to face floods compared to their larger counterparts, so they are disproportionately affected by such extreme weather events. The limited resources at their disposal, the lack of time and skills all conduce to inadequate preparedness to challenges posed by floods. SMEs tend to plan in the short-term, reacting to circumstances as they arise and focussing on their very survival. Likewise, they share less formalised structures and codified policies while they are most usually owner-managed, resulting in a command-and-control management culture. Such characteristics result in them having limited opportunities to recover from flooding and quickly turnaround their operation from a loss making to a profit making one. Scholars frame the capacity of business entities to be resilient upon an EWE disturbance (such as flash floods) as the rate of recovery and restoration of organizational performance to pre-disturbance conditions, the amount of disturbance (i.e. threshold level) a business can absorb before losing structural and/or functional components that will alter or cease operation, as well as the extent to which the organization maintains its function (i.e. impact resistance) before performance levels are driven to zero. Nevertheless, while it seems to be accepted as an essential trait of firms effectively transcending uncertain conditions, research deconstructing the enabling conditions and/or inhibitory factors of SMEs resilience capacity to natural hazards is still sparse, fragmentary and mostly fuelled by anecdotal evidence or normative assumptions. Focusing on the individual level of analysis, i.e. the individual enterprise and its endeavours to succeed, the emergent picture from this relatively new research strand delineates the specification of variables, conceptual relationships or dynamic boundaries of resilience capacity components in an attempt to provide prescriptions for policy-making as well as business management. This study will present the development of a flood resilience capacity index (FRCI) and its application to Greek SMEs. The proposed composite indicator pertains to cognitive, behavioral/managerial and contextual factors that influence an enterprise’s ability to shape effective responses to meet flood challenges. Through the proposed indicator-based approach, an analytical framework is set forth that will help standardize such assessments with the overarching aim of reducing the vulnerability of SMEs to flooding. This will be achieved by identifying major internal and external attributes explaining resilience capacity which is particularly important given the limited resources these enterprises have and that they tend to be primary sources of vulnerabilities in supply chain networks, generating Single Points of Failure (SPOF).

Keywords: Floods, Small & Medium-Sized enterprises, organizational resilience capacity, index development

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Authors: Jun-Ki Choi

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The usage of valuable resources and the potential for waste generation at the end of the life cycle of photovoltaic (PV) technologies necessitate a proactive planning for a PV recycling infrastructure. To ensure the sustainability of PV in large scales of deployment, it is vital to develop and institute low-cost recycling technologies and infrastructure for the emerging PV industry in parallel with the rapid commercialization of these new technologies. There are various issues involved in the economics of PV recycling and this research examine those at macro and micro levels, developing a holistic interpretation of the economic viability of the PV recycling systems. This study developed mathematical models to analyze the profitability of recycling technologies and to guide tactical decisions for allocating optimal location of PV take-back centers (PVTBC), necessary for the collection of end of life products. The economic decision is usually based on the level of the marginal capital cost of each PVTBC, cost of reverse logistics, distance traveled, and the amount of PV waste collected from various locations. Results illustrated that the reverse logistics costs comprise a major portion of the cost of PVTBC; PV recycling centers can be constructed in the optimally selected locations to minimize the total reverse logistics cost for transporting the PV wastes from various collection facilities to the recycling center. In the micro- process level, automated recycling processes should be developed to handle the large amount of growing PV wastes economically. The market price of the reclaimed materials are important factors for deciding the profitability of the recycling process and this illustrates the importance of the recovering the glass and expensive metals from PV modules.

Keywords: photovoltaic, recycling, mathematical models, sustainability

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Authors: Redouane Krini, Lutz Nuhn, Hicham El Mard Cheol Woo Ha, Yoondeok Han, Kwang-Sup Lee, Dong-Yol Yang, Jinsoo Joo, Rudolf Zentel

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To use Quantum Dots (QDs) in the two photon initiated polymerization technique (TPIP) for 3D patternings, QDs were modified on the surface with photosensitive end groups which are able to undergo a photopolymerization. We were able to fabricate fluorescent 3D lattice structures using photopatternable QDs by TPIP for photonic devices such as photonic crystals and metamaterials. The QDs in different diameter have different emission colors and through mixing of RGB QDs white light fluorescent from the polymeric structures has been created. Metamaterials are capable for unique interaction with the electrical and magnetic components of the electromagnetic radiation and for manipulating light it is crucial to have a negative refractive index. In combination with QDs via TPIP technique polymeric structures can be designed with properties which cannot be found in nature. This makes these artificial materials gaining a huge importance for real-life applications in photonic and optoelectronic. Understanding of interactions between nanoparticles and biological systems is of a huge interest in the biomedical research field. We developed a synthetic strategy of polymer functionalized nanoparticles for biomedical studies to obtain hybrid systems of QDs and copolymers with a strong binding network in an inner shell and which can be modified in the end through their poly(ethylene glycol) functionalized outer shell. These hybrid systems can be used as models for investigation of cell penetration and drug delivery by using measurements combination between CryoTEM and fluorescence studies.

Keywords: biomedical study models, lithography, photo induced polymerization, quantum dots

Procedia PDF Downloads 526