Search results for: research related activities

Authors: Mohammad Saber Eslamlou, Manouchehr Tabibian, Mahta Mirmoghtadaei

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The history of urban development and the increasing complexities of urban life have long been intertwined with different natural and man-made disasters. Sometimes, these unpleasant events have destroyed the cities forever. The growth of the urban population and the increase of social and economic resources in the cities increased the importance of developing a holistic approach to dealing with unknown urban disasters. As a result, the interest in resilience has increased in most of the scientific fields, and the urban planning literature has been enriched with the studies of the social, economic, infrastructural, and physical abilities of the cities. In this regard, different conceptual frameworks and patterns have been developed focusing on dimensions of resilience and different kinds of disasters. As the most frequent and likely natural disaster in Iran is flooding, the present study aims to develop a cause-effect model of urban resilience against flood in Karaj City. In this theoretical study, desk research and documentary studies were used to find the elements and dimensions of urban resilience. In this regard, 6 dimensions and 32 elements were found for urban resilience and a questionnaire was made by considering the requirements of TOPSIS techniques (pairwise comparison). The sample of the research consisted of 10 participants who were faculty members, academicians, board members of research centers, managers of the Ministry of Road and Urban Development, board members of New Towns Development Company, experts, and practitioners of consulting companies who had scientific and research backgrounds. The gathered data in this survey were analyzed using TOPSIS and Shannon Entropy techniques. The results show that Infrastructure/Physical, Social, Organizational/ Institutional, Structural/Physical, Economic, and Environmental dimensions are the most effective factors in urban resilience against floods in Karaj, respectively. Finally, a comprehensive model and a systematic framework of factors that affect the urban resilience of Karaj against floods was developed. This cause – effect model shows how different factors are related and influence each other, based on their connected structure and preferences.

Keywords: urban resilience, TOPSIS, Shannon entropy, cause-effect model of resilience, flood

Procedia PDF Downloads 43

Authors: H. V. H. De Soysa, N. D. Hiripitiya, H. S. U. Thrimavithana, B. R. Epitawala, K. A. D. D. Kuruppu, D. J. K. Lokupathirage

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This research was based on developing a mechanism in order to optimize the landing distance. Short distance braking and long distance braking may cause several issues for the aircraft including tyre wearing. The worst case occurs with short distance landing. The issues related to short distance landing were identified after conducting interviews with pilots, aeronautical engineers and technicians. A model was constructed in order to optimize the landing distance. The device started to function at the point where the main wheels of the aircraft touchdown the runway. It was found that implementing this device to the aircraft benefits to optimize the landing distance. This could lead to rectifying several issues occurred due to improper braking distances.

Keywords: aircraft, mechanism, optimize landing distance, runway

Procedia PDF Downloads 301

Authors: Sahriye Sonmez, Sedat Citak

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different organic manures on antioxidant activity, vitamin C and nitrate concentrations of broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var italica) plants. For this purpose, broccoli plants were grown on open field conditions in 2 successive years (2011-2013) including 4 different seasons [(Spring 1 (March-June, 2011), Autumn 1 (September 2011-January 2012), Spring 2 (March-June, 2012), Autumn 2 (September 2012-January 2013)]. Organic manures (Farm manure (FM), vermicompost (VC) and leonardite (L) and its mixture (50 % FM+50% L, 50 % VC+50% FM, 50% L+50% VC and 33% FM+33% VC+33% L), one chemical fertilizer and one control, collectively 9 applications was investigated. The results indicated that the vitamin C concentrations of broccoli plants ranged from 31.4-55.8 mg/100 g, 43-631 mg/kg in nitrate concentrations and 11.0-56.7 mg/ml as IC50 inhibition values in antioxidant activities of broccoli plants. Also, it was determined that the effective applications were at the 50 % VC+50% FM for vitamin C concentrations, at the chemical fertilizer for nitrate concentrations and at the 100 % FM for antioxidant activities.

Keywords: broccoli, chemical fertilizer, farm manure, leonardite, vermicompost

Procedia PDF Downloads 372

Authors: Mohammad Aljuhani, Yasamina Aljuhani

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The Mining Engineering Department at College of Engineering in NBU is under establishment. It is essential to establish such department in NBU. This is because, it is the only university in the region. Moreover, the mining industry is very active in the northern borders region. However, there is no mining engineering department in KSA except one in King Abdulziz University, which is 1400 km from the mining industry in the northern borders. As a result, department graduates from KAU find difficulties to get suitable jobs in their specialization in spite of their few numbers graduated per year and the presence of many jobs vacancies at the local mining sector. Therefore, the objectives of this research are to identify, measure and analyze the above mentioned problem from educational point of view. One more objective is to add a contribution towards solving such vital, society affecting problem. For achieving the first task of the research, that is problem size identification and analyses, a questionnaire was designed. The questionnaire was directed towards experienced engineers, in the mining and related industries, including the ministry of petroleum and minerals, Saudi Geological Survey, and Ma’aden Company as being prospective employers for the mining sector. The questionnaire target was to evaluate the Saudi mining engineers from an industrial point of view and to detect the main reasons behind their failure to find jobs. In addition, the study focuses in the demand of mining engineers in the northern borders region. Moreover, the study plan of the suggested department is designed based on the requirements of the mining industry. The feedback received from the industry reflected major educational shortcomings. In order to overcome the revealed defects, the second objective of the research was achieved where a suggested study plan “curriculum” has been prepared to take into consideration all the points of weakness so as to improve the graduates’ quality to fit the local mining work market.

Keywords: mining engineering, labor market, qualifications, curriculum, mining industry, mining engineers

Procedia PDF Downloads 258

Authors: Mahesh M. Patil, K. A. Anu-Appaiah

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Overweight and obesity is a serious medical problem, increasing in prevalence, and affecting millions worldwide. Investigators have been trying from decades to articulate the burden of obesity and related risk factors. To answer this problem, we suggest a new therapeutic anti-obesity compounds from Garcinia xanthochymus fruit. However, there is little published scientific information on non-hydroxycitric acid Garcinia species. Our findings include biochemical characterization of the fruit; in vivo toxicity and bio-efficacy study of G. xanthochymus in high fat diet wistar rat model. We observed that Garcinia pericarp is a rich source of organic acids, polyphenols, mono- (40.63%) and poly-unsaturated fatty acids (16.45%; omega-3: 10.02%). Toxicological studies have showed that Garcinia is safe and had no observed adverse effect level up to 400 mg/kg/day. Body weight and food intake was significantly (P<0.05) reduced in oral gavage treated rats (sonicated Garcinia powder) in 13 weeks. Subcutaneous fat was significantly (P<0.05) reduced in Garcinia treated rats. Hepatocytes significantly (p<0.05) overexpressed sterol regulatory element binding protein 2, liver X receptor- α, liver X receptor- β, lipoprotein lipase and monoacylglycerol lipase. Fatty acid binding protein 1 and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor- α were down regulated as assessed by real time qPCR. Currently our research is focused on the adipocyte obesity related gene expressions, effect of Garcinia on 3T3-adipocyte cell lines and high fat diet induced mice model. This in vivo pre-clinical data suggests that G. xanthochymus may have clinical utility for the treatment of obesity. However, further studies are required to establish its potency.

Keywords: Garcinia xanthochymus, anti-obesity, high fat diet, real time qPCR

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: M. Pourshirazi, M. Esmaelifar, A. Aliahmadi, F. Yazdian, A. S. Hatamian Zarami, S. J. Ashrafi

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Medicinal fungi are the new potential source of drugs to improve the treatment of diseases with association to oxidative agents such as cancers. Monascus purpureus contains functional components potentially effective in improving human health. In the present work, ethanolic extract of Monascus purpureus (EEM) was evaluated for health improving potential mainly focusing on antioxidant and anticancer activities. Ferric ion reducing power (FRAP), scavenging of DPPH radicals and determining viability of breast carcinoma MCF-7 and cervical carcinoma HeLa cells with MTT assay were evaluated. Our data showed a significant antioxidant activity of EEM with 142.45 µg/ml inhibition concentration of 50% DPPH radicals and 2112.33 µg eq.Fe2+/mg extract of FRAP assay. These results might be caused by antioxidant components such as pigments and phenolic compounds. Further, the results demonstrated that EEM caused significant reduction in the viability of MCF-7 with IC50 of 7 µg/ml but not have good effect against viability of HeLa cells. Accordingly, Monascus purpureus is presented as a strong potential of breast cancer treatment. In further study, the mechanistic studies are needed to determine the mechanisms of anticancer activity of EEM.

Keywords: Monascus purpureus, antioxidant, cancer, ethanolic extract

Procedia PDF Downloads 400

Authors: Judith Partouche-Sebban, Saeedeh Rezaee Vessal

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Because of the rising number of new cases of cancer, especially among women, it is more than essential to better understand how women experience cancer in order to bring them adapted to support and care and enhance their well-being and patient experience. Cancer stands for a traumatic experience in which the diagnosis, its medical treatments, and the related side effects lead to deep physical and psychological changes that may arouse considerable stress and anxiety. In order to reduce these negative emotions, women tend to use various defense mechanisms, among which denial has been defined as the most frequent mechanism used by breast cancer patients. This study aims to better understand the consequences of the experience of cancer and their link with the adoption of a denial strategy. The empirical research was done among female cancer survivors in France. Since the topic of this study is relatively unexplored, a qualitative methodology and open-ended interviews were employed. In total, 25 semi-directive interviews were conducted with a female with different cancers, different stages of treatment, and different ages. A systematic inductive method was performed to analyze data. The content analysis enabled to highlight three different denial-related behaviors among women with cancer, which serve a self-protective function. First, women who expressed high levels of anxiety confessed they tended to completely deny the existence of their cancer immediately after the diagnosis of their illness. These women mainly exhibit many fears and a deep distrust toward the medical context and professionals. This coping mechanism is defined by the patient as being unconscious. Second, other women deliberately decided to deny partial information about their cancer, whether this information is related to the stages of the illness, the emotional consequences, or the behavioral consequences of the illness. These women use this strategy as a way to avoid the reality of the illness and its impact on the different aspects of their life as if cancer does not exist. Third, some women tend to reinterpret and give meaning to their cancer as a way to reduce its impact on their life. To this end, they may use magical thinking or positive reframing, or reinterpretation. Because denial may lead to delays in medical treatments, this topic deserves a deep investigation, especially in the context of oncology. As denial is defined as a specific defense mechanism, this study contributes to the existing literature in service marketing which focuses on emotions and emotional regulation in healthcare services which is a crucial issue. Moreover, this study has several managerial implications for healthcare professionals who interact with patients in order to implement better care and support for the patients.

Keywords: cancer, coping mechanisms, denial, healthcare services

Procedia PDF Downloads 73

Authors: Endalew Fufa Kufi

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Every married person aspires to be a parent regardless of the situation in which s/he lives. Such aspiration meets with reality when the destined parent is able to give adequate supports and services to his/her children, whether the latter are got by birth or through adoption. The adequacy of services parents provide their children is both enriched and tempted by the work on which they involve. On the one hand, parents need to work and earn a living in order to support their family. On the other hand, they must spend most of their time outside home to do the work, which shortens the time and might they spare to care for their children. Where the sufficiency of services parents owe their children could be ascertained by in terms of life skills, physical care and related provisions, the role of working fathers and mothers in providing such supports could be diverse across cultures and work traditions. Hence, this research deals with the investigation of working mothers’ parental practices, challenges they face in providing parental services and the implication for the future progress of the parents and their children. Target of the study will be Arsi University in Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia. Descriptive survey design in holding the research, and data for the research will be collected in the form of experiential self-report from 150 working mothers selected from the entire working women population of Colleges of Agriculture and Environmental Studies and College of Health Sciences through stratified random-sampling. Instruments of data collection will be closed and open-ended questionnaire. Complementary data will also be collected from purposively selected samples through semi-structured interview. Data for the research will be collected through questionnaire first and then through interview. Data analysis will also follow the same procedure. The collected data will systematically be organized and statistically and thematically analyzed in order to come up with indicative findings. The overarching thesis is that, working mothers in the study area bear a lot of responsibilities both at home and at work place which leave them very little time for parenting services. Unless due attention is given to the way they can spare time for their children, they are more likely to be tense between work-life and family care services, which tempt them in different directions.

Keywords: challenges, mothers, practices, university, working

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Awais Ahmad, Mudssar Ali

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Berseem is the major fodder crop grown in Pakistan and is highly preferred by cattle farmers due to its multicut nature and nutritious value. The quality seed production in berseem is largely dependent upon the activities of insect pollinators, particularly bees. In order to determine the effectiveness of native bee species in quality seed production of berseem, an experiment was conducted in the research field of MNS-University of Agriculture, Multan, Pakistan. The pollinator community of berseem was composed of four bees, three syrphid fly, and two butterfly species. Pesudapis sp. was the most abundant insect visitor, followed by Apis mellifera and A. dorsata. The visitation rate of A. mellifera was found highest, followed by Pesudapis sp. and A. dorsata. Moreover, single-visit efficacy in terms of seed per head and 1000 seed weight proved A. mellifera and Pesudapis sp as the most effective pollinators. Conserving these bee species may lead to sustainable berseem seed production in Pakistan.

Keywords: honey bees, syrphid fly, visitation rate, single visit

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Hahido Samaras

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In many cases, especially with the pandemic playing a major role in fast-tracking the growth of the digital industry, online learning has become a necessity or even a standard educational model nowadays, reliably overcoming barriers such as location, time and cost and frequently combined with a face-to-face format (e.g., in blended learning). This being the case, it is evident that students in many parts of the world, as well as their parents, will increasingly need to become aware of the pros and cons of online versus traditional courses. This fast-growing mode of learning, accelerated during the years of the pandemic, presents an abundance of exciting options especially matched for a large number of secondary school students in remote places of the world where access to stimulating educational settings and opportunities for a variety of learning alternatives are scarce, adding advantages such as flexibility, affordability, engagement, flow and personalization of the learning experience. However, online learning can also present several challenges, such as a lack of student motivation and social interactions in natural settings, digital literacy, and technical issues, to name a few. Therefore, educational researchers will need to conduct further studies focusing on the benefits and weaknesses of online learning vs. traditional learning, while instructional designers propose ways of enhancing student motivation and engagement in virtual environments. Similarly, teachers will be required to become more and more technology-capable, at the same time developing their knowledge about their students’ particular characteristics and needs so as to match them with the affordances the technology offers. And, of course, schools, education programs, and policymakers will have to invest in powerful tools and advanced courses for online instruction. By developing digital courses that incorporate intentional opportunities for community-building and interaction in the learning environment, as well as taking care to include built-in design principles and strategies that align learning outcomes with learning assignments, activities, and assessment practices, rewarding academic experiences can derive for all students. This paper raises various issues regarding the effectiveness of online learning on students by reviewing a large number of research studies related to the usefulness and impact of online learning following the COVID-19-induced digital education shift. It also discusses what students, teachers, decision-makers, and parents have reported about this mode of learning to date. Best practices are proposed for parties involved in the development of online learning materials, particularly for secondary school students, as there is a need for educators and developers to be increasingly concerned about the impact of virtual learning environments on student learning and wellbeing.

Keywords: blended learning, online learning, secondary schools, virtual environments

Procedia PDF Downloads 86

Authors: Xu Feifei

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The prevalence of COVID-19 currently is the biggest challenge to improving people's quality of life. Its impact on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is highly uncertain and has not been summarized so far. The aim of the present systematic review was to assess and provide an up-to-date analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the HRQoL of participants who have been infected, have not been infected but isolated, frontline, with different diseases, and the general population. Therefore, an electronic search of the literature in PubMed databases was performed from 2019 to July 2022 (without date restriction). PRISMA guideline methodology was employed, and data regarding the HRQoL were extracted from eligible studies. Articles were included if they met the following inclusion criteria: (a) reports on the data collection of the health state utility values (HSUVs) related to COVID-19 from 2019 to 2021; (b) English language and peer-reviewed journals; and (c) original HSUV data; (d) using EQ-5D tool to quantify the HRQoL. To identify studies that reported the effects on COVID-19, data on the proportion of overall HSUVs of participants who had the outcome were collected and analyzed using a one-group meta-analysis. As a result, thirty-two studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and, therefore, were included in the systematic review. A total of 45295 participants and provided 219 means of HSUVs during COVID-19 were included in this systematic review. The range of utility is from 0.224 to 1. The study included participants from Europe (n=16), North America (n=4), Asia (n=10), South America (n=1), and Africa (n=1). Twelve articles showed that the HRQoL of the participants who have been infected with COVID-19 (range of overall HSUVs from 0.6125 to 0.863). Two studies reported the population of frontline workers (the range of overall HSUVs from 0.82 to 0.93). Seven of the articles researched the participants who had not been infected with COVID-19 but suffered from morbidities during the pandemic (range of overall HSUVs from 0.5 to 0.96). Thirteen studies showed that the HRQoL of the respondents who have not been infected with COVID-19 and without any morbidities (range of overall HSUVs from 0.64 to 0.964). Moreover, eighteen articles reported the outcomes of overall HSUVs during the COVID-19 pandemic in different population groups. The estimate of overall HSUVs of direct COVID-19 experience population (n=1333) was 0.751 (95% CI 0.670 - 0.832, I2 = 98.64%); the estimate of frontline population (n=610) was 0.906 ((95% CI 0.854 – 0.957, I2 = 98.61%); participants with different disease (n=132) were 0.768 (95% CI 0.515 - 1.021, I2= 99.26%); general population without infection history (n=29,892) was 0.825 (95% CI 0.766 - 0.885, I2 =99.69%). Conclusively, taking into account these results, this systematic review might confirm that COVID-19 has a negative impact on the HRQoL of the infected population and illness population. It provides practical value for cost-effectiveness model analysis of health states related to COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19, health-related quality of life, meta-analysis, systematic review, utility value

Procedia PDF Downloads 70

Authors: Eisa Younes Alblooshi

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Counterterrorism strategies, to be effective and efficient, require a sound understanding of the dynamics, the interlinked organizational elements of the terrorist outfits being combated, with a view to having cognizance of their strong points to be guarded against, as well as the vulnerable zones that can be targeted for optimal results in a timely fashion by counterterrorism agencies. A unique model regarding the organizational imperatives was evolved in this research through likening the terrorist organizations with the traditional commercial ones, with a view to understanding in detail the dynamics of interconnectivity and dependencies, and the related compulsions facing the leaderships of such outfits that provide counterterrorism agencies with opportunities for forging better strategies. It involved assessing the evolving organizational dynamics and imperatives of different types of terrorist organizations, to enable the researcher to construct a prototype model that defines the progression and linkages of the related organizational elements of such organizations. It required detailed analysis of how the various elements are connected, with sequencing identified, as any outfit positions itself with respect to its external environment and internal dynamics. A case study focusing on a transnational radical religious state-sponsored terrorist organization was conducted to validate the research findings and to further strengthen the specific counterterrorism strategies. Six different variants of the business model of terrorist organizations were identified, categorized based on their outreach, mission, and status of any state sponsorship. The variants represent vast majority of the range of terrorist organizations acting locally or globally. The model shows the progression and dynamics of these organizations through various dimensions including mission, leadership, outreach, state sponsorship status, resulting in the organizational structure, state of autonomy, preference divergence in its fold, recruitment core, propagation avenues, down to their capacity to adapt, resulting critically in their own life cycles. A major advantage of the model is the utility of mapping terrorist organizations according to their fits to the sundry identified variants, allowing for flexibility and differences within, enabling the researchers and counterterrorism agencies to observe a neat blueprint of the organization’s footprint, along with highlighting the areas to be evaluated for focused target zone selection and timing of counterterrorism interventions. Special consideration is given to the dimension of financing, keeping in context the latest developments regarding cryptocurrencies, hawala, and global anti-money laundering initiatives. Specific counterterrorism strategies and intervention points have been identified for each of the respective model variants, with a view to efficient and effective deployment of resources.

Keywords: terrorism, counterterrorism, model, strategy

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Kyung Bae Park, Sung Ho Ha

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Online user-generated contents (UGC) significantly change the way customers behave (e.g., shop, travel), and a pressing need to handle the overwhelmingly plethora amount of various UGC is one of the paramount issues for management. However, a current approach (e.g., sentiment analysis) is often ineffective for leveraging textual information to detect the problems or issues that a certain management suffers from. In this paper, we employ text mining of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) on a popular online review site dedicated to complaint from users. We find that the employed LDA efficiently detects customer complaints, and a further inspection with the visualization technique is effective to categorize the problems or issues. As such, management can identify the issues at stake and prioritize them accordingly in a timely manner given the limited amount of resources. The findings provide managerial insights into how analytics on social media can help maintain and improve their reputation management. Our interdisciplinary approach also highlights several insights by applying machine learning techniques in marketing research domain. On a broader technical note, this paper illustrates the details of how to implement LDA in R program from a beginning (data collection in R) to an end (LDA analysis in R) since the instruction is still largely undocumented. In this regard, it will help lower the boundary for interdisciplinary researcher to conduct related research.

Keywords: latent dirichlet allocation, R program, text mining, topic model, user generated contents, visualization

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Aldilla Damayanti Purnama Ratri, Hendri Subakti, Buldan Muslim

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Ionosphere’s anomalies as an effect of earthquake activity is a phenomenon that is now being studied in seismo-ionospheric coupling. Generally, variation in the ionosphere caused by earthquake activity is weaker than the interference generated by different source, such as geomagnetic storms. However, disturbances of geomagnetic storms show a more global behavior, while the seismo-ionospheric anomalies occur only locally in the area which is largely determined by magnitude of the earthquake. It show that the earthquake activity is unique and because of its uniqueness it has been much research done thus expected to give clues as early warning before earthquake. One of the research that has been developed at this time is the approach of seismo-ionospheric-coupling. This study related the state in the lithosphere-atmosphere and ionosphere before and when earthquake occur. This paper choose the total electron content in a vertical (VTEC) in the ionosphere as a parameter. Total Electron Content (TEC) is defined as the amount of electron in vertical column (cylinder) with cross-section of 1m2 along GPS signal trajectory in ionosphere at around 350 km of height. Based on the analysis of data obtained from the LAPAN agency to identify abnormal signals by statistical methods, obtained that there are an anomaly in the ionosphere is characterized by decreasing of electron content of the ionosphere at 1 TECU before the earthquake occurred. Decreasing of VTEC is not associated with magnetic storm that is indicated as an earthquake precursor. This is supported by the Dst index showed no magnetic interference.

Keywords: earthquake, DST Index, ionosphere, seismoionospheric coupling, VTEC

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Authors: Mercy Chepkirui, Paul Orina, Robin Abell, Leonard Akwany, Tonny Orina, Mercy Matuma, Rasowo Joseph

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Lake jipe, a shared water resource between Kenya and Tanzania located at the East African Coast, is under multiple pressures. The lake has receded from 30Km2 to 27.32Km2 due to prolonged dry spells and intensified water abstraction for irrigation and re-route to Mungu ya Nyumba Dam in Tanzania. Agricultural activities have significantly (90%) contributed to the lake levels decline and further affected the lakes’ aquatic biodiversity. Among the most affected are the commercially important endemic fish species of the lake, of which Oreochromis jipe has experienced the greatest decline. Overfishing, use of illegal unreported and unregulated fishing gears, intensified fishing along protected fish breeding areas as well as poor management and uncoordinated conservation efforts have significantly contributed to the decline of fish catches from 348 kg of O. jipe in 2016 to 90 kg daily catches in 2022. Therefore, the lake is on the verge of extinction if no action is taken. This calls for awareness of the significance of the L. Jipe ecosystems and its immediate and long-term benefits. Further, there is a need to revive alternative economic activities, including aquaculture and sustainable agriculture, to offer alternative livelihood to local communities.

Keywords: biodiversity, ecosystem, conservation, fisheries

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Serena Salvi

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Ageistic stereotypes and practices have become a normal and therefore pervasive phenomenon in various aspects of everyday life. Over the past years, renewed awareness towards self-directed age stereotyping in older adults has given rise to a line of research focused on the potential role of attitudes towards ageing on seniors’ health and functioning. This set of studies has showed how a negative internalisation of ageistic stereotypes would discourage older adults in seeking medical advice, in addition to be associated to negative subjective health evaluation. An important dimension of mental health that is often affected in older adults is represented by sleep quality. Self-reported sleep quality among older adults has shown to be often unreliable when compared to their objective sleep measures. Investigations focused on self-reported sleep quality among older adults have suggested how this portion of the population would tend to accept disrupted sleep if believed to be up to standard for their age. On the other hand, unrealistic expectations, and dysfunctional beliefs towards sleep in ageing, might prompt older adults to report sleep disruption even in the absence of objective disrupted sleep. Objective of this study is to examine an association between personal attitudes towards ageing in adults aged 60+ and dysfunctional sleep related cognition. More in detail, this study aims to investigate a potential association between personal attitudes towards ageing, sleep locus of control and dysfunctional beliefs towards sleep among this portion of the population. Data in this study were statistically analysed in SPSS software. Participants were recruited through the online participants recruitment system Prolific. Inclusion of attention check questions throughout the questionnaire and consistency of responses were looked at. Prior to the commencement of this study, Ethical Approval was granted (ref. 39396). Descriptive statistics were used to determine the frequency, mean, and SDs of the variables. Pearson coefficient was used for interval variables, independent T-test for comparing means between two independent groups, analysis of variance (ANOVA) test for comparing the means in several independent groups, and hierarchical linear regression models for predicting criterion variables based on predictor variables. In this study self-perceptions of ageing were assessed using APQ-B’s subscales, while dysfunctional sleep related cognition was operationalised using the SLOC and the DBAS16 scales. Of the final subscales taken in consideration in the brief version of the APQ questionnaire, Emotional Representations (ER), Control Positive (PC) and Control and Consequences Negative (NC) have shown to be of particularly relevance for the remits of this study. Regression analysis show how an increase in the APQ-B subscale Emotional Representations (ER) predicts an increase in dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes towards sleep in this sample, after controlling for subjective sleep quality, level of depression and chronological age. A second regression analysis showed that APQ-B subscales Control Positive (PC) and Control and Consequences Negative (NC) were significant predictors in the change of variance of SLOC, after controlling for subjective sleep quality, level of depression and dysfunctional beliefs about sleep.

Keywords: sleep-related cognition, perceptions of aging, older adults, sleep quality

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Authors: Aysegul Evren Yapicioglu

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The social roles and responsibilities expected from citizens are increasing due to changing global living conditions. Science education is expected to prepare conscious and sensitive students. Because today’s students are the adults of future. Precondition of this task is Teacher Education. In the past decade, one of the most important research field is socioscientific issues. This study deals with advantages and disadvantages of socioscientific issue based instruction in science classroom according to pre-service science teachers’ views. A case study approach that is one of the qualitative research design was used to explore their views. Fourteen pre-service science teachers participated to instruction process. Dolphinariums, Kyoto Protocol, genetically modified organisms, recyclable black bags’ benefits and damages, genetic tests, alternative energy sources and organ donation are examples of socioscientific issues, which were taught through activities in a special teaching course. Diaries and focus group interview were used as data collection tools. As a result of the study, the advantages of socioscientific issue based instruction in science classroom comprise of six sub-categories which are multi-skilling, social awareness development of thinking, meaningful learning, character and professional development, contribution of scientific literacy whereas disadvantages of this instruction process are challenges teachers and students, limitations of teaching and learning process in pre-service science teachers’ perspectives. Finally, this study contributes to science teachers and researchers to overcome disadvantages and benefit from the advantage of socioscientific issue based instruction in science classroom.

Keywords: science education, socioscientific issues, socioscientific issue based instruction, pre-service science teacher

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Authors: A. Aguezzoul

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The Logistics Services Providers (LSPs) selection and performance is a strategic decision that affects the overall performance of any company as well as its supply chain. It is a complex process, which takes into account various conflicting quantitative and qualitative factors, as well as outsourced logistics activities. This article focuses on the evolution of the weights associated to these factors over the last years in order to better understand the change in the importance that logistics professionals place on them criteria when choosing their LSPs. For that, an analysis of 17 main studies published during 2014-2017 period was carried out and the results are compared to those of a previous literature review on this subject. Our analysis allowed us to deduce the following observations: 1) the LSPs selection is a multi-criteria process; 2) the empirical character of the majority of studies, conducted particularly in Asian countries; 3) the criteria importance has undergone significant changes following the emergence of information technologies that have favored the work in close collaboration and in partnership between the LSPs and their customers, even on a worldwide scale; 4) the cost criterion is relatively less important than in the past; and finally 5) with the development of sustainable supply chains, the factors associated with the logistic activities of return and waste processing (reverse logistics) are becoming increasingly important in this multi-criteria process of selection and evaluation of LSPs performance.

Keywords: logistics outsourcing, logistics providers, multi-criteria decision making, performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Tebogo Sethibe, Jabulile Mabuza

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The COVID-19 pandemic has been commonly referred to as a ‘black swan event’; it has changed the world, from how people live, learn, work and socialise. It is believed that the pandemic has fast-tracked the adoption of technology in many organisations to ensure business continuity and business sustainability; broadly said, the pandemic has fast-tracked digital transformation (DT) in different organisations. This paper aims to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on DT in organisations in South Africa by focusing on the changes in IT capabilities in the DT framework. The research design is qualitative. The data collection was through semi-structured interviews with information communication technology (ICT) leaders representing different organisations in South Africa. The data were analysed using the thematic analysis process. The results from the study show that, in terms of ICT in the organisation, the pandemic had a direct and positive impact on ICT strategy and ICT operations. In terms of IT capability transformation, the pandemic resulted in the optimisation and expansion of existing IT capabilities in the organisation and the building of new IT capabilities to meet emerging business needs. In terms of the focus of activities during the pandemic, there seems to be a split in organisations between the primary focus being on ‘digital IT’ or ‘traditional IT’. Overall, the findings of the study show that the pandemic had a positive and significant impact on DT in organisations. However, a definitive conclusion on this would require expanding the scope of the research to all the components of a comprehensive DT framework. This study is significant because it is one of the first studies to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on organisations, on ICT in the organisation, on IT capability transformation and, to a greater extent, DT. The findings from the study show that in response to the pandemic, there is a need for: (i) agility in organisations; (ii) organisations to execute on their existing strategy; (iii) the future-proofing of IT capabilities; (iv) the adoption of a hybrid working model; and for (v) organisations to take risks and embrace new ideas.

Keywords: digital transformation, COVID-19, bimodal-IT, digital transformation framework

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Authors: M. Mutemwa

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A Cybersecurity Operation Centre (SOC) is a centralized hub for network event monitoring and incident response. SOCs are critical when determining an organization’s cybersecurity posture because they can be used to detect, analyze and report on various malicious activities. For most organizations, a SOC is not part of the initial design and implementation of the Information Technology (IT) environment but rather an afterthought. As a result, it is not natively a plug and play component; therefore, there are integration challenges when a SOC is introduced into an organization. A SOC is an independent hub that needs to be integrated with existing procedures, policies and IT systems of an organization such as the service desk, ticket logging system, reporting, etc. This paper discussed the challenges of integrating a newly developed SOC to an organization’s existing IT environment. Firstly, the paper begins by looking at what data sources should be incorporated into the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) such as which host machines, servers, network end points, software, applications, web servers, etc. for security posture monitoring. That is which systems need to be monitored first and the order by which the rest of the systems follow. Secondly, the paper also describes how to integrate the organization’s ticket logging system with the SOC SIEM. That is how the cybersecurity related incidents should be logged by both analysts and non-technical employees of an organization. Also the priority matrix for incident types and notifications of incidents. Thirdly, the paper looks at how to communicate awareness campaigns from the SOC and also how to report on incidents that are found inside the SOC. Lastly, the paper looks at how to show value for the large investments that are poured into designing, building and running a SOC.

Keywords: cybersecurity operation centre, incident response, priority matrix, procedures and policies

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Authors: Kimberley K. Whyte-Jones

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Public participation may improve the quality of environmental management decisions. However, the quality of such a decision is strongly dependent on the quality of the process that leads to it. In order to ensure an effective and efficient process, key features of best practice in participation should be carefully observed; this would also combat disillusionment of citizens, decision-makers and practitioners. The overarching aim of this study is to determine what constitutes an effective public participation process relevant to the Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada context, and to discover whether the public participation process that led to the 2014-2024 Provincial Sustainable Forest Management Strategy (PSFMS) met best practices criteria. The research design uses an exploratory case study strategy to consider a specific participatory process in environmental decision-making in Newfoundland and Labrador. Data collection methods include formal semi-structured interviews and the review of secondary data sources. The results of this study will determine the validity of a specific public participation best practice framework. The findings will be useful for informing citizen participation processes in general and will deduce best practices in public participation in environmental management in the province. The study is, therefore, meaningful for guiding future policies and practices in the management of forest resources in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and will help in filling a noticeable gap in research compiling best practices for environmentally related public participation processes.

Keywords: best practices, environmental decision-making, forest management, public participation

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Authors: Rudzani Manafe, Ezekiel Green

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Brucella, has many different virulence factors that act as a causative agent of brucellosis, depending on the environment and other factors, some factors may play a role more than others during infection and as a result, play a role in becoming a causative agent for pathogenesis. Brucella melitensis and Brucella abortus are considered to be pathogenic to humans. The genetic regularity of nine potential causes of virulence of two Brucella species in Eastern Cape livestock have been examined. A hundred and twenty isolates obtained from Molecular Pathogenesis and Molecular Epidemiology Research Group (MPMERG) were used for this study. All isolates were grown on Brucella agar medium. Nine primer pairs were used for the detection of virB2, virB5, vceC, btpA, btpB, prpA, betB, bpe275, and bspB virulence factors using Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Approximately 100% was observed for genes BecC and BetB from B. arbotus. While the lowest gene observed was PrpA at 4.6% from B. arbotus. BetB was detected in 34.7%, while virB2 and prpA (0%) were not detected in B. melitensis. The results from this research suggest that most isolates of Brucella have virulence-related genes associated with disease pathogenesis. Finally, our findings showed that Brucella strains in the Eastern Cape Province are extremely virulent as virulence characteristics exist in most strains investigated.

Keywords: putative virulence genes, brucella, polymerase chain reaction, milk

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Authors: Jay Patel

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This Research is about investigating the ‘image’ of the city, and asks whether this ‘image’ holds any significance that can be changed. Kevin Lynch in the book ‘The image of the city’ develops a framework that breaks down the city’s image into five physical elements. These elements (Paths, Edge, Nodes, Districts, and Landmarks), according to Lynch assess the legibility of the urbanscapes, that emerged from his perception-based study in 3 different cities (New Jersey, Los Angeles, and Boston) in the USA. The aim of this research is to investigate whether Lynch’s framework can be applied within an Indian context or not. If so, what are the possibilities and whether the imageability of Indian cities can be depicted through the Lynch’s physical elements or it demands an extension to the framework by either adding or subtracting a physical attribute. For this research project, the walled city of Jaipur was selected, as it is considered one of the futuristic designed cities of all time in India. The other significant reason for choosing Jaipur was that it is a historically planned city with solid historical, touristic and local importance; allowing an opportunity to understand the application of Lynch's elements to the city's image. In other words, it provides an opportunity to examine how the disadvantages of a city's implicit programme (its relics of bygone eras) can be converted into assets by improving the imageability of the city. To obtain data, a structured semi-open ended interview method was chosen. The reason for selecting this method explicitly was to gain qualitative data from the users rather than collecting quantitative data from closed-ended questions. This allowed in-depth understanding and applicability of Kevin Lynch’s framework while assessing what needs to be added. The interviews were conducted in Jaipur that yielded varied inferences that were different from the expected learning outcomes, highlighting the need for extension on Lynch’s physical elements to achieve city’s image. Whilst analyzing the data, there were few attributes found that defined the image of Jaipur. These were categorized into two: a Physical aspect (streets and arcade entities, natural features, temples and temporary/ informal activities) and Associational aspects (History, Culture and Tradition, Medium of help in wayfinding, and intangible aspects).

Keywords: imageability, Kevin Lynch, people’s perception, assessment, associational aspects, physical aspects

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Authors: Yuan-Jye Tseng, Yi-Shiuan Chen

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The paper presented a sustainable design model for integrated evaluation of the design and supply chain of a product for the sustainable objectives. To design a product, there can be alternative ways to assign the detailed specifications to fulfill the same design objectives. In the design alternative cases, different material and manufacturing processes with various supply chain activities may be required for the production. Therefore, it is required to evaluate the different design cases based on the sustainable objectives. In this research, a closed-loop design model is developed by integrating the forward design model and reverse design model. From the supply chain point of view, the decisions in the forward design model are connected with the forward supply chain. The decisions in the reverse design model are connected with the reverse supply chain considering the sustainable objectives. The purpose of this research is to develop a mathematical model for analyzing the design cases by integrated evaluating the criteria in the closed-loop design and the closed-loop supply chain. The decision variables are built to represent the design cases of the forward design and reverse design. The cost parameters in a forward design include the costs of material and manufacturing processes. The cost parameters in a reverse design include the costs of recycling, disassembly, reusing, remanufacturing, and disposing. The mathematical model is formulated to minimize the total cost under the design constraints. In practical applications, the decisions of the mathematical model can be used for selecting a design case for the purpose of sustainable design of a product. An example product is demonstrated in the paper. The test result shows that the sustainable design model is useful for integrated evaluation of the design and the supply chain to achieve the sustainable objectives.

Keywords: closed-loop design, closed-loop supply chain, design evaluation, supply chain management, sustainable design model

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Authors: Zainurrasyid Abdullah, Mohamed Fadzlee Sulaiman, Muhammad Fadzlan Zainal, M. Zabri Adil Talib, Aswami Fadillah M. Ariffin

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The Onion Router (Tor) browser is a well-known tool and widely used by people who seeking for web anonymity when browsing the internet. Criminals are taking this advantage to be anonymous over the internet. Accessing the dark web could be the significant reason for the criminal in order for them to perform illegal activities while maintaining their anonymity. For a digital forensic analyst, it is crucial to extract the trail of evidence in proving that the criminal’s computer has used Tor browser to conduct such illegal activities. By applying the digital forensic methodology, several techniques could be performed including application analysis, memory analysis, and registry analysis. Since Windows 10 is the latest operating system released by Microsoft Corporation, this study will use Windows 10 as the operating system platform that running Tor browser. From the analysis, significant artifacts left by Tor browser were discovered such as the execution date, application installation date and browsing history that can be used as an evidence. Although Tor browser was designed to achieved anonymity, there is still some trail of evidence can be found in Windows 10 platform that can be useful for investigation.

Keywords: artifacts analysis, digital forensics, forensic analysis, memory analysis, registry analysis, tor browser, Windows 10

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Authors: Samipraj Mishra

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Despite the successful implementation of community forestry program, a number of pros and cons have been raised on Terai community forestry in the case of lowland locally called Terai region of Nepal, which is climatically belongs to tropical humid and possessed high quality forests in terms of ecology and economy. The study aims to investigate the local pricing strategy of forest products and its impacts on equitable forest benefit sharing, collection of community fund and carrying out livelihood improvement activities. The study was carried out on six community forests revealed that local people have substantially benefited from the community forests. However, being the region is heterogeneous by socio-economic conditions and forest resources have higher economical potential, the decision of low pricing strategy made by the local people have created inequality problems while sharing the forest benefits, and poorly contributed to community fund collection and consequently carrying out limited activities of livelihood improvement. The paper argued that the decision of low pricing strategy of forest products is counter-productive to promote the equitable benefit sharing in the areas of heterogeneous socio-economic conditions with high value forests. The low pricing strategy has been increasing accessibility of better off households at higher rate than poor; as such households always have higher affording capacity. It is also defective to increase the community fund and carry out activities of livelihood improvement effectively. The study concluded that unilateral decentralized forest policy and decision-making autonomy to the local people seems questionable unless their decision-making capacities are enriched sufficiently. Therefore, it is recommended that empowerment of decision-making capacity of local people and their respective institutions together with policy and program formulation are prerequisite for efficient and equitable community forest management and its long-term sustainability.

Keywords: community forest, livelihood, socio-economy, pricing system, Nepal

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Authors: Aisha Maroof

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Introduction: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading rapidly around the world with devastating consequences on patients, health care workers and health systems. Severe 2019 novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) with pneumonia is associated with high rates of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and they are at high risk to obtain the hospital acquire bloodstream infection (HAIs) such as central line associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI), catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) and laboratory confirm bloodstream infection (LCBSI). The chances of infection transmission increase when healthcare worker’s (HCWs) practice is inappropriate. Risk related to hand hygiene (HH) and personal protective equipment (PPE) as regards multidrug-resistant organism transmission: use of multiple gloving instead of HH and incorrect use of PPE can lead to a significant increase of device-related infections. As it reaches low- and middle-income countries, its effects could be even more, because it will be difficult for them to react aggressively to the pandemic. HAIs are one of the biggest medical concerns, resulting in increased mortality rates. Objective: To assess the effect of intervention on compliance of hand hygiene and PPE among HCWs reduce the rate of HAI in COVID-19 patients. Method: An interventional study was done between July to December, 2020. CLABSI, CAUTI and LCBSI data were collected from the medical record and direct observation. There were total of 50 Nurses, 18 doctors and all patients with laboratory-confirmed severe COVID-19 admitted to the hospital were included in this research study. Respiratory tract specimens were obtained after the first 48 h of ICU admission. Practices were observed after and before intervention. Education was provided based on WHO guidelines. Results: During the six months of study July to December, the rate of CLABSI, CAUTI and LCBSI pre and post intervention was reported. CLABSI rate decreasedd from 22.7 to 0, CAUTI rate was decreased from 1.6 to 0, LCBSI declined from 3.3 to 0 after implementation of intervention. Conclusion: HAIs are an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Most of the device related infections occurs due to lack of correct use of PPE and hand hygiene compliance. Hand hygiene and PPE is the most important measure to protect patients, through education it can be improved the correct use of PPE and hand hygiene compliance and can reduce the bacterial infection in COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: hospital acquire infection, healthcare workers, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment

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Authors: Abdul Rofiq Badril Rizal M. Z.

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Reading becomes one of the most important skills in teaching and learning English. The purpose of this research was to improve the students' active participation, and reading comprehension achievement by using Know, Want to Know, Learned (KWL) strategy. The research design was Classroom Action Research. The area and participants of this research were chosen by using purposive method. The data were collected by observation, a reading comprehension test, interview, and documentation. The results showed that there was significant improvement in Cycle 1 to Cycle 2 of the research. In cycle 1, the students’ active participation increased 49.77% from 28% to 77.77. In addition, in cycle 2, the students’ active participation also increased by 14.17% from 77.77% to 81.94%. The students’ reading comprehension achievement also increased by 52.14% from 25% to 77.14% in Cycle 1 and increased by 5.71% from 77.14% to 82.85% in cycle 2. It indicated that using Know, Want to Know, Learned (KWL) strategy could enhance the Seventh C grade students’ descriptive text reading comprehension achievement, and active participation.

Keywords: active participation, reading comprehension, classroom action research, Indonesian folktales

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Authors: Sufia Khowaja, Nishat Fatima

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Social networking sites are significant for visually impaired to overcome the unique challenges they face and access the resources they need to succeed in their education and beyond which might be difficult to obtain through traditional means. It provides them an opportunity to build relationships, stay connected with their support network as well as to develop social skills which give them emotional support to fell less isolated. In this connection the study is conducted with the aim to determine the use of social networking sites, purpose of using and activities performed by visually impaired at Delhi University, Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi. The study followed survey technique in which structured interview is followed to collect data from 137 visually impaired students and analysed using ‘SPSS ver23’. The findings of the study revealed that mostly used social networking sites are whatsapp by 89.23% students of DU, 95.12% of JNU, 87.09% of JMI, followed by e-mail by 78.46% of DU, 78.04% of JNU, 64.51%; youtube by 73.84% DU, 90.24% JNU, 80.64% JMI. Purpose for using these sites is for academics mentioned by 96.92% DU, 100% JNU, 93.54% JMI. Activities performed on sites are sending and receiving messaging 96.92% DU, 92.68% JNU, 93.55% JMI, communicating with friends and family as well as getting academic information. Findings of the study will be helpful for libraries to disseminate their services and resources as well as latest updates to their visually impaired users with the help of most used tools.

Keywords: social networking sites, visually impaired, Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Milia Islamia

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Authors: Eko Budi Santoso

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There is a growing interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues in developing countries such as Indonesia. Firms disclose their CSR activities, and some provide assurance to gain recognition as socially responsible firms. However, several of those socially responsible firms involve in tax scandals and raise a question of whether CSR disclosure is used to disguise firm misconduct or as a reflection of socially responsible firms. Specifically, whether firms engage in CSR disclosure and its assurance also responsible for their tax matters. This study examines the association between CSR disclosure and tax aggressiveness and the role of sustainability reporting assurance to the association. This research develops a modified index according to global reporting initiatives to measure CSR disclosure and various measurement for tax aggressiveness. Using a sample of Indonesian go public companies issued CSR disclosure, the empirical result shows that there is an association between CSR disclosure and tax aggressiveness. In addition, results also indicate sustainability reporting assurance moderate those association. The findings suggest that stakeholder in developing countries should examine carefully firms with active CSR disclosure before label it as socially responsible firms. JEL Classification: M14

Keywords: CSR disclosure, tax aggressiveness, assurance, business ethics

Procedia PDF Downloads 126