Search results for: heavy elements

Authors: Ifeanyi Adigwe, Thomas Van der Walt

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Digital media has been integrated into the social and entertainment life of young children, and as such, the impact of digital media appears to affect young people of all ages and it is believed that this will continue to shape the world of young children. Since, technological advancement of digital media presents adolescents with diverse contexts, platforms and avenues to engage with digital media outside the home environment and from parents' supervision, a wide range of new challenges has further complicated the already difficult tasks for parents and altered the landscape of parenting. Despite the fact that adolescents now have access to a wide range of digital media technologies both at home and in the learning environment, parenting practices such as active, restrictive, co-use, participatory and technical mediations are important in mitigating of online risks adolescents may encounter as a result of digital media use. However, these mediation practices only focus on the home environment including digital media present in the home and may not necessarily transcend outside the home and other learning environments where adolescents use digital media for school work and other activities. This poses the question of who mediates adolescent's digital media use outside the home environment. The learning environment could be a ''loose platform'' where an adolescent can maximise digital media use considering the fact that there is no restriction in terms of content and time allotted to using digital media during school hours. That is to say that an adolescent can play the ''bad boy'' online in school because there is little or no restriction of digital media use and be exposed to online risks and play the ''good boy'' at home because of ''heavy'' parental mediation. This is the reason why parent mediation practices have been ineffective because a parent may not be able to track adolescents digital media use considering the diversity of contexts, platforms and avenues adolescents use digital media. This study argues that due to the diverse nature of digital media technology, parents may not be able to monitor the 'whereabouts' of their children in the digital space. This is because adolescent digital media usage may not only be confined to the home environment but other learning environments like schools. This calls for urgent attention on the part of teachers to understand the intricacies of how digital media continue to shape the world in which young children are developing and learning. It is, therefore, imperative for parents to liaise with the schools of their children to mediate digital media use during school hours. The implication of parents- teachers mediation practices are discussed. The article concludes by suggesting that third party mediation by teachers in schools and other learning environments should be encouraged and future research needs to consider the emergent strategy of teacher-children mediation approach and the implication for policy for both the home and learning environments.

Keywords: digital media, digital age, parent mediation, third party mediation

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: J. B. Frisch, D. Evandiloff, P. Martin, N. Ouizille, F. Pires

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Smart Beta strategies intend to be an asset management revolution with reference to classical cap-weighted indices. Indeed, these strategies allow a better control on portfolios risk factors and an optimized asset allocation by taking into account specific risks or wishes to generate alpha by outperforming indices called 'Beta'. Among many strategies independently used, this paper focuses on four of them: Minimum Variance Portfolio, Equal Risk Contribution Portfolio, Maximum Diversification Portfolio, and Equal-Weighted Portfolio. Their efficiency has been proven under constraints like momentum or market phenomenon, suggesting a reconsideration of cap-weighting.
 To further increase strategy return efficiency, it is proposed here to compare their strengths and weaknesses inside time intervals corresponding to specific identifiable market phases, in order to define adapted strategies depending on pre-specified situations. 
Results are presented as performance curves from different combinations compared to a benchmark. If a combination outperforms the applicable benchmark in well-defined actual market conditions, it will be preferred. It is mainly shown that such investment 'rules', based on both historical data and evolution of Smart Beta strategies, and implemented according to available specific market data, are providing very interesting optimal results with higher return performance and lower risk.
 Such combinations have not been fully exploited yet and justify present approach aimed at identifying relevant elements characterizing them.

Keywords: smart beta, minimum variance portfolio, equal risk contribution portfolio, maximum diversification portfolio, equal weighted portfolio, combinations

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Authors: Yanping Liao, Congcong He, Ruigang Zhao

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The application of magnetocardiography signals to detect cardiac electrical function is a new technology developed in recent years. The magnetocardiography signal is detected with Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUID) and has considerable advantages over electrocardiography (ECG). It is difficult to extract Magnetocardiography (MCG) signal which is buried in the noise, which is a critical issue to be resolved in cardiac monitoring system and MCG applications. In order to remove the severe background noise, the Total Variation (TV) regularization method is proposed to denoise MCG signal. The approach transforms the denoising problem into a minimization optimization problem and the Majorization-minimization algorithm is applied to iteratively solve the minimization problem. However, traditional TV regularization method tends to cause step effect and lacks constraint adaptability. In this paper, an improved TV regularization method for denoising MCG signal is proposed to improve the denoising precision. The improvement of this method is mainly divided into three parts. First, high-order TV is applied to reduce the step effect, and the corresponding second derivative matrix is used to substitute the first order. Then, the positions of the non-zero elements in the second order derivative matrix are determined based on the peak positions that are detected by the detection window. Finally, adaptive constraint parameters are defined to eliminate noises and preserve signal peak characteristics. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that this algorithm can effectively improve the output signal-to-noise ratio and has superior performance.

Keywords: constraint parameters, derivative matrix, magnetocardiography, regular term, total variation

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Authors: Eija Raatikainen

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The aim of the study is to examine psychological safety in the context of change in working life and continuous learning in social- and educational organizations. The participants in the study are social workers and vocational teachers working as employees and supervisors in the capital region of Finland (public and private sectors). Research data has been collected during 2022-2023 using the qualitative method called empathy-based stories (MEBS). Research participants were asked to write short stories about situations related to their work and work community. As researchers, we created and varied the framework narratives (MEBS) in line with the aim of the study and theoretical background. The data were analyzed with content analysis. According to the results, the barriers and prerequisites for psychological safety at work could be located in four different working culture dimensions. The work culture dimensions were named as follows: 1) a work culture focusing on interaction and emotional culture between colleagues, 2) communal work culture, 3) a work culture that enables learning, and 4) a work culture focused on structures and operating models. All these have detailed elements of barriers and prerequisites of psychological safety at work. The results derived from the enlivening methods can be utilized when working with the work community and have discussed psychological safety at work. Also, the method itself (MEBS) can prevent open discussion and reflection on psychological safety at work because of the sensitivity of the topic. Method aloud to imagine, not just talk and share your experiences directly. Additionally, the results of the study can offer one tool or framework while developing phycological safety at work.

Keywords: psychological safety, empathy, empathy-based stories, working life

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Authors: Rajendra Singh, Krishna Mondal, Chandranath Chatterjee

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The water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus describes the interconnectedness of these three essential elements of human life. Each of these three sectors depends on the others. India's expanding population, urbanization, and industrialization make WEF nexus management difficult. Coupling and coordination degrees can be used as indicators of a complex system's level of sustainable development. Thus, coupling and coordination of WEF sectors in India are essential for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2 (zero hunger), 6 (clean water and sanitation), and 7 (affordable and clean energy). This study used a newly developed WEF nexus model and the concept of coupling coordination degree model to examine the coupling and coordination degrees of the WEF nexus at India's sub-national scale (States/Union Territories (UTs)) for the years 2011 and 2021. Results indicate that the WEF nexus coupling degree was reasonably stable among the Indian States/UTs in both years, with all having a coupling degree above 0.90, indicating high-quality coupling. However, the degree of coordination varied spatially and temporally from ‘primary development’ to ‘quality development’ for the Indian States/UTs. In 2021, it went from 53% to 14% intermediate development and 44% to 83% good development compared to 2011. Most Indian States/UTs developed SDG2 more than SDG6 and SDG7. This study also suggests that most States/UTs must implement WEF-related policies and programmes effectively to achieve quality coordinated WEF nexus development. This study may help administrators and policymakers identify States/UTs that need more attention to implement existing or new policies for achieving SDGs 2, 6, and 7.

Keywords: WEF nexus model, Pardee-RAND WEF nexus, sustainable development, policy

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Authors: Vaibhav Barve

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Reversible information hiding has drawn a lot of interest as of late. Being reversible, we can restore unique computerized data totally. It is a plan where mystery data is put away in digital media like image, video, audio to maintain a strategic distance from unapproved access and security reason. By and large JPEG bit stream is utilized to store this key data, first JPEG bit stream is encrypted into all around sorted out structure and then this secret information or key data is implanted into this encrypted region by marginally changing the JPEG bit stream. Valuable pixels suitable for information implanting are computed and as indicated by this key subtle elements are implanted. In our proposed framework we are utilizing RC4 algorithm for encrypting JPEG bit stream. Encryption key is acknowledged by framework user which, likewise, will be used at the time of decryption. We are executing enhanced least significant bit supplanting steganography by utilizing genetic algorithm. At first, the quantity of bits that must be installed in a guaranteed coefficient is versatile. By utilizing proper parameters, we can get high capacity while ensuring high security. We are utilizing logistic map for shuffling of bits and utilization GA (Genetic Algorithm) to find right parameters for the logistic map. Information embedding key is utilized at the time of information embedding. By utilizing precise picture encryption and information embedding key, the beneficiary can, without much of a stretch, concentrate the incorporated secure data and totally recoup the first picture and also the original secret information. At the point when the embedding key is truant, the first picture can be recouped pretty nearly with sufficient quality without getting the embedding key of interest.

Keywords: data embedding, decryption, encryption, reversible data hiding, steganography

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: 李佳翰, CHIA-HAN LEE

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Without energy, the economy would grind to a halt. Germany's prosperity and security depend on a reliable and affordable energy supply. In recent years, Germany's energy policy has undergone major changes. Due to the sharp turn in energy, Germany cannot extend the service of nuclear power plants and can only find a rapid transition energy source: natural gas for a limited time. This study attempts to use processes of decision entrapment behavior and document analysis to explain research questions. Through primary and secondary information such as official reports, parliamentary minutes, media interview records, and speech records, the author sorted out the important events experienced by the three coalition governments (Gerhard Schröder, Angela Merkel, and Olaf Scholz) and the relationship between Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 with primary and secondary sources. Also, compare it with the processes of decision entrapment behavior, which designed in this study, and divide it into four stages to explore its key elements one by one. In this regard, the following conclusions are drawn: First, from the perspective of processes of decision entrapment behavior, Merkel’s government firmly believes that she can overcome difficulties because of her past experience in crisis management capabilities. However, the outbreak of war between Ukraine and Russia was beyond Merkel's planning. Second, in the face of the crisis, the Scholz’s government increased the import of natural gas from other countries and began to import liquefied natural gas to make up for the energy gap of Russian natural gas.

Keywords: german research, nord stream gas pipeline, energy policy, processes of decision entrapment behavior

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Authors: Alia Alghosoun, Ashraf Osman, Mohammed Seaid

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A coupled two-layer finite volume/finite element method was proposed for solving dam-break flow problem over deformable beds. The governing equations consist of the well-balanced two-layer shallow water equations for the water flow and a linear elastic model for the bed deformations. Deformations in the topography can be caused by a brutal localized force or simply by a class of sliding displacements on the bathymetry. This deformation in the bed is a source of perturbations, on the water surface generating water waves which propagate with different amplitudes and frequencies. Coupling conditions at the interface are also investigated in the current study and two mesh procedure is proposed for the transfer of information through the interface. In the present work a new procedure is implemented at the soil-water interface using the finite element and two-layer finite volume meshes with a conservative distribution of the forces at their intersections. The finite element method employs quadratic elements in an unstructured triangular mesh and the finite volume method uses the Rusanove to reconstruct the numerical fluxes. The numerical coupled method is highly efficient, accurate, well balanced, and it can handle complex geometries as well as rapidly varying flows. Numerical results are presented for several test examples of dam-break flows over deformable beds. Mesh convergence study is performed for both methods, the overall model provides new insight into the problems at minimal computational cost.

Keywords: dam-break flows, deformable beds, finite element method, finite volume method, hybrid techniques, linear elasticity, shallow water equations

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Authors: Minbale Aschale, Bitew K. Dessie, Endaweke Assegide, Yosef Abebe, Tena Alamirew, Claire L. Walsh, Gete Zeleke

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The upper Awash Basin faces pollution challenges due to urbanization, population growth, and expanding industries. It receives various pollutants from its catchments. The study aimed to assess the impact of wastewater irrigation on vegetables and inform stakeholders about pollution challenges and consequences. Eighty-two composite samples of matured vegetables were randomly collected from twenty-one agricultural farm sites. These samples were analyzed for potentially toxic elements, including Cd, Pb, Cr, Hg, As, Ni, Sr, B, Co, Cu, Mn, Fe, Zn, and Se. The results indicated significant variations in concentrations across different sites, with localized contributions from various contaminants. Cr, Cd, and Pb concentrations in most vegetables exceeded recommended levels. Pollution levels varied with metals and vegetable types. Different vegetables contribute differently to health risks. The relative contributions of Ethiopian kale, cabbage, red beet, lettuce, Swiss chard, Gurage cabbage, tomato, zucchini, carrot, onion, watermelon, and potato to the aggregated risk were 12.69%, 12.25%, 11.83%, 11.20%, 10.21%, 9.91%, 8.49%, 5.66%, 3.96%, 3.35%, 3.10%, and 2.72%, respectively. Comparison with permissible standards revealed inadequate environmental management by relevant regulatory bodies and industries. Despite good laws and standards at the federal and regional levels, they are ineffectively implemented or enforced to prevent environmental pollution. Mitigation measures are urgently recommended to address the potential health implications of toxic substances.

Keywords: pollution, upper Awash Basin, health risk, Ethiopia

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Authors: Troy A. Tyre

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Organizational behavior and organizational change are elements of the ever-changing global business environment. Leadership and organizational behavior are 21st century disciplines. Network marketing organizations need to understand the ever-changing nature of global business and be ready and willing to adapt to the environment. Network marketing organizations have a challenge keeping up with a rapid escalation in global growth. Network marketing growth has been steady and global. Network marketing organizations have been slow to develop a 21st century global strategy to manage the rapid escalation of growth degrading organizational behavior, job satisfaction, increasing attrition, and degrading customer service. Development of an organizational behavior and leadership theory for the 21st century to help network marketing develops a global business strategy to manage the rapid escalation in growth that affects organizational behavior. Managing growth means organizational leadership must develop and adapt to the organizational environment. Growth comes with an open mind and one’s departure from the comfort zone. Leadership growth operates in the tacit dimension. Systems thinking and adaptation of mental models can help shift organizational behavior. Shifting the organizational behavior requires organizational learning. Organizational learning occurs through single-loop, double-loop, and triple-loop learning. Triple-loop learning is the most difficult, but the most rewarding. Tools such as theory U can aid in developing a landscape for organizational behavioral development. Additionally, awareness to espoused and portrayed actions is imperatives. Theories of motivation, cross-cultural diversity, and communications are instrumental in founding an organizational behavior suited for the 21st century.

Keywords: global, leadership, network marketing, organizational behavior

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Authors: Tais Basaco, Stefanie Pektor, Josue A. Moreno, Matthias Miederer, Andreas Türler

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Radiopharmaceuticals based in monoclonal anti-body (mAb) via chemical linkers have become a potential tool in nuclear medicine because of their specificity and the large variability and availability of therapeutic radiometals. It is important to identify the conjugation sites and number of attached chelator to mAb to obtain radioimmunoconjugates with required immunoreactivity and radiostability. Girentuximab antibody (G250) is a potential candidate for radioimmunotherapy of clear cell carcinomas (RCCs) because it is reactive with CAIX antigen, a transmembrane glycoprotein overexpressed on the cell surface of most ( > 90%) (RCCs). G250 was conjugated with the bifunctional chelating agent DOTA (1,4,7,10-Tetraazacyclododecane-N,N’,N’’,N’’’-tetraacetic acid) via a benzyl-thiocyano group as a linker (p-SCN-Bn-DOTA). DOTA-G250 conjugates were analyzed by size exclusion chromatography (SE-HPLC) and by electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The potential site-specific conjugation was identified by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) and the number of linkers per molecule of mAb was calculated using the molecular weight (MW) measured by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The average number obtained in the conjugates in non-reduced conditions was between 8-10 molecules of DOTA per molecule of mAb. The average number obtained in the conjugates in reduced conditions was between 1-2 and 3-4 molecules of DOTA per molecule of mAb in the light chain (LC) and heavy chain (HC) respectively. Potential DOTA modification sites of the chelator were identified in lysine residues. The biological activity of the conjugates was evaluated by flow cytometry (FACS) using CAIX negative (SKRC-18) and CAIX positive (SKRC-52). The DOTA-G250 conjugates were labelled with 177Lu with a radiochemical yield > 95% reaching specific activities of 12 MBq/µg. The stability in vitro of different types of radioconstructs was analyzed in human serum albumin (HSA). The radiostability of 177Lu-DOTA-G250 at high specific activity was increased by addition of sodium ascorbate after the labelling. The immunoreactivity was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Binding to CAIX positive cells (SK-RC-52) at different specific activities was higher for conjugates with less DOTA content. Protein dose was optimized in mice with subcutaneously growing SK-RC-52 tumors using different amounts of 177Lu- DOTA-G250.

Keywords: mass spectrometry, monoclonal antibody, radiopharmaceuticals, radioimmunotheray, renal cancer

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Authors: Sai AKhila Budaraju

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Heritage sites are an integral part of cities and carry a sense of identity to the cities/ towns, but the process of urbanization is a carrying potential threat for the loss of these heritage sites/monuments. Both Central and State Governments listed the historic Golconda fort as National Important Monument and the Heritage precinct with eight heritage-listed buildings and two historical sites respectively, for conservation and preservation, due to the presence of IT Corridor 6kms away accommodating more people in the precinct is under constant pressure. The heritage precinct possesses high property values, being a prime location connecting the IT corridor and CBD (central business district )areas. The primary objective of the study was to assess and identify the factors that are affecting the heritage precinct through Mapping and documentation, Identifying and assessing the factors through empirical analysis, Ordinal regression analysis and Hedonic Pricing Model. Ordinal regression analysis was used to identify the factors that contribute to the changes in the precinct due to urbanization. Hedonic Pricing Model was used to understand and establish a relation whether the presence of historical monuments is also a contributing factor to the property value and to what extent this influence can contribute. The above methods and field visit indicates the Physical, socio-economic factors and the neighborhood characteristics of the precinct contributing to the property values. The outturns and the potential elements derived from the analysis of the Development Control Rules were derived as recommendations to Integrate both Old and newly built environments.

Keywords: heritage planning, heritage conservation, hedonic pricing model, ordinal regression analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Jakub Czyżycki, Paweł Twardowski

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Thin-walled components made of aluminum alloys are increasingly found in many fields of industry, and they dominate the aerospace industry. The machining of thinwalled structures encounters many difficulties related to the high susceptibility of the workpiece, which causes vibrations including the most unfavorable ones called chatter. The effect of these phenomena is the difficulty in obtaining the required geometric dimensions and surface quality. The purpose of this study is to analyze vibrations arising during machining of thin-walled workpieces made of aluminum alloy EN AW-7075. Samples representing actual thin-walled workpieces were examined in a different range of dimensions characterizing thin-walled workpieces. The tests were carried out in HSM high-speed machining (cutting speed vc = 1400 m/min) using a monolithic solid carbide endmill. Measurement of vibration was realized using a singlecomponent piezoelectric accelerometer 4508C from Brüel&Kjær which was mounted directly on the sample before machining, the measurement was made in the normal feed direction AfN. In addition, the natural frequency of the tested thin-walled components was investigated using a laser vibrometer for an broader analysis of the tested samples. The effect of vibrations on machining accuracy was presented in the form of surface images taken with an optical measuring device from Alicona. A classification of the vibrations produced during the test was carried out, and were analyzed in both the time and frequency domains. Observed significant influence of the thickness of the thin-walled component on the course of vibrations during machining.

Keywords: high-speed machining, thin-walled elements, thin-walled components, milling, vibrations

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Authors: Mary Rose Everan, Michael McCann, Gary Cullen

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International travel journeys, by their nature, incorporate elements provided by multiple service providers such as airlines, rail carriers, airports, and ground handlers. Data needs to be stored by and exchanged between these parties in the process of managing the journey. The fragmented nature of this shared management of mutual clients is a limiting factor in the development of a seamless, hassle-free, end-to-end travel experience. Traditional interlining agreements attempt to facilitate many separate aspects of co-operation between service providers, typically between airlines and, to some extent, intermodal travel operators, including schedules, fares, ticketing, through check-in, and baggage handling. These arrangements rely on pre-agreement. The development of Virtual Interlining - that is, interlining facilitated by a third party (often but not always an airport) without formal pre-agreement by the airlines or rail carriers - demonstrates an underlying demand for a better quality end-to-end travel experience. Blockchain solutions are being explored in a number of industries and offer, at first sight, an immutable, single source of truth for this data, avoiding data conflicts and misinterpretation. Combined with Smart Contracts, they seemingly offer a more robust and dynamic platform for multi-stakeholder ventures, and even perhaps the ability to join and leave consortia dynamically. Applying blockchain to the intermodal interlining space – termed Blocklining in this paper - is complex and multi-faceted because of the many aspects of cooperation outlined above. To explore its potential, this paper concentrates on one particular dimension, that of through baggage interlining.

Keywords: aviation, baggage, blocklining, intermodal, interlining

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Authors: Hassan Gholibeigian, Kazem Gholibeigian

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In this paper, our goal is determination of loading versus time in crust. For this goal, we present a computational procedure to propose a cumulative strain energy time profile which can be used to predict the approximate location and time of the next major earthquake (M > 4.5) along a specific fault, which we believe, is more accurate than many of the methods presently in use. In the coming pages, after a short review of the research works presently going on in the area of earthquake analysis and prediction, earthquake mechanisms in both the jerk and sequence earthquake direction is discussed, then our computational procedure is presented using differential equations of equilibrium which govern the nonlinear dynamic response of a system of finite elements, modified with an extra term to account for the jerk produced during the quake. We then employ Von Mises developed model for the stress strain relationship in our calculations, modified with the addition of an extra term to account for thermal effects. For calculation of the strain energy the idea of Pulsating Mantle Hypothesis (PMH) is used. This hypothesis, in brief, states that the mantle is under diurnal cyclic pulsating loads due to unbalanced gravitational attraction of the sun and the moon. A brief discussion is done on the Denali fault as a case study. The cumulative strain energy is then graphically represented versus time. At the end, based on some hypothetic earthquake data, the final results are verified.

Keywords: pulsating mantle hypothesis, inner core’s dislocation, outer core’s bulge, constitutive model, transient hydro-magneto-thermo-mechanical load, diurnal stress, jerk, fault behaviour

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Authors: Á. L. Bendes

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By the end of the second decade of the 21st century, artificial intelligence (AI) has become an unavoidable part of everyday life and has necessarily aroused the interest of researchers in almost every field of science. This is no different in the case of jurisprudence, whose main task is not only to create its own theoretical paradigm related to AI. Perhaps the biggest impact on digital crime is artificial intelligence. In addition, the need to create legal frameworks suitable for the future application of the law has a similar importance. The prognosis according to which AI can reshape the practical application of law and, ultimately, the entire legal life is also of considerable importance. In the past, criminal law was basically created to sanction the criminal acts of a person, so the application of its concepts with original content to AI-related violations is not expected to be sufficient in the future. Taking this into account, it is necessary to rethink the basic elements of criminal law, such as the act and factuality, but also, in connection with criminality barriers and criminal sanctions, several new aspects have appeared that challenge both the criminal law researcher and the legislator. It is recommended to continuously monitor technological changes in the field of criminal law as well since it will be timely to re-create both the legal and scientific frameworks to correctly assess the events related to them, which may require a criminal law response. Artificial intelligence has completely reformed the world of digital crime. New crimes have appeared, which the legal systems of many countries do not or do not adequately regulate. It is considered important to investigate and sanction these digital crimes. The primary goal is prevention, for which we need a comprehensive picture of the intertwining of artificial intelligence and digital crimes. The goal is to explore these problems, present them, and create comprehensive proposals that support legal certainty.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, chat forums, defamation, international criminal cooperation, social networking, virtual sites

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Authors: Sohail Ahmed, Ke Xing

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This research theoretically explored the evolution mechanism of enterprise technological innovation capability system (ETICS) from the perspective of complex adaptive systems (CAS). This research proposed an analytical framework for ETICS, its concepts, and theory by integrating CAS methodology into the management of the technological innovation capability of enterprises and discusses how to use the principles of complexity to analyze the composition, evolution, and realization of the technological innovation capabilities in complex dynamic environments. This paper introduces the concept and interaction of multi-agent, the theoretical background of CAS, and summarizes the sources of technological innovation, the elements of each subject, and the main clusters of adaptive interactions and innovation activities. The concept of multi-agents is applied through the linkages of enterprises, research institutions, and government agencies with the leading enterprises in industrial settings. The study was exploratory and based on CAS theory. Theoretical model is built by considering technological and innovation literature from foundational to state of the art projects of technological enterprises. On this basis, the theoretical model is developed to measure the evolution mechanism of the enterprise's technological innovation capability system. This paper concludes that the main characteristics for evolution in technological systems are based on the enterprise’s research and development personnel, investments in technological processes, and innovation resources are responsible for the evolution of enterprise technological innovation performance. The research specifically enriched the application process of technological innovation in institutional networks related to enterprises.

Keywords: complex adaptive system, echo model, enterprise technological innovation capability system, research institutions, multi-agents

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Authors: Sheba Akhtar

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The profound importance that Islam places on knowledge has directly influenced the architectural development of the mosque throughout the Muslim world. The masjid is the most important religious building type in Islamic society because, as a place of worship and social interaction, it is the center of both spiritual knowledge and secular guidance. The Quran begins with the emphatic injunction, “Iqra”, establishing the central importance of the pursuit of the sacred ilm that is offered to man by Allah. Similarly, numerous hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad emphasize the profound importance of the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge, both spiritual and temporal. The Muslim worshipper must enter the sacred space of the masjid to receive spiritual knowledge, but the transition from the profane realm outside the mosque to that of spirituality within is not merely physical; it is also deeply psychological and emotional. To this end, the architecture of the masjid, from the plan and geometry to the design elements and intricate ornamental details, plays a vital role in creating the environment within which the ritual acts of wudu and salat are enacted to foster the transformative journey, from the mundane reality of this world to the realm of spirituality beyond, in the heart, mind, and soul of the worshipper. It is expected that the paper will provide a better understanding of the ways in which sacred Islamic knowledge has influenced the architectural design of the mosque. The research will draw upon Islamic epistemology, Islamic architecture history, and compositional analysis to demonstrate this philosophical, historical, and formal relationship. In this way, the paper will provide a meaningful bridge between the existing knowledge related to mosque design and the expanding academic discourse about the religious architecture of Islam.

Keywords: Islamic architecture, mosque architecture, religious architecture, sacred architecture

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Authors: Esmat Kamel

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This paper aims to shed light on the extent to which the Agadir Association agreement has fostered inter regional trade between the E.U_26 and the Agadir_4 countries; once that we control for the evolution of Agadir agreement’s exports to the rest of the world. The next valid question will be regarding any remarkable variation in the spatial/sectoral structure of exports, and to what extent has it been induced by the Agadir agreement itself and precisely after the adoption of rules of origin and the PANEURO diagonal cumulative scheme? The paper’s empirical dataset covering a timeframe from [2000 -2009] was designed to account for sector specific export and intermediate flows and the bilateral structured gravity model was custom tailored to capture sector and regime specific rules of origin and the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood Estimator was used to calculate the gravity equation. The methodological approach of this work is considered to be a threefold one which starts first by conducting a ‘Hierarchal Cluster Analysis’ to classify final export flows showing a certain degree of linkage between each other. The analysis resulted in three main sectoral clusters of exports between Agadir_4 and E.U_26: cluster 1 for Petrochemical related sectors, cluster 2 durable goods and finally cluster 3 for heavy duty machinery and spare parts sectors. Second step continues by taking export flows resulting from the 3 clusters to be subject to treatment with diagonal Rules of origin through ‘The Double Differences Approach’, versus an equally comparable untreated control group. Third step is to verify results through a robustness check applied by ‘Propensity Score Matching’ to validate that the same sectoral final export and intermediate flows increased when rules of origin were relaxed. Through all the previous analysis, a remarkable and partial significance of the interaction term combining both treatment effects and time for the coefficients of 13 out of the 17 covered sectors turned out to be partially significant and it further asserted that treatment with diagonal rules of origin contributed in increasing Agadir’s_4 final and intermediate exports to the E.U._26 on average by 335% and in changing Agadir_4 exports structure and composition to the E.U._26 countries.

Keywords: agadir association agreement, structured gravity model, hierarchal cluster analysis, double differences estimation, propensity score matching, diagonal and relaxed rules of origin

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Authors: Zsuzsa Szakaly

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Several constitutions have explicit or implicit eternity clauses in the European Union, their classic roles were analyzed so far, albeit there are new possibilities emerging in relation to the identity of the constitutions of the Member States. The aim of the study is to look at the practice of the Constitutional Courts of the Member States in detail regarding eternity clauses where limiting constitutional amendment has practical bearing, and to examine the influence of such practice on Europeanization. There are some states that apply explicit eternity clauses embedded in the text of the constitution, e.g., Italy, Germany, and Romania. In other states, the Constitutional Court 'unearthed' the implicit eternity clauses from the text of the basic law, e.g., Slovakia and Croatia. By using comparative analysis to examine the explicit or implicit clauses of the concerned constitutions, taking into consideration the new trends of the judicial opinions of the Member States and the fresh scientific studies, the main questions are: How to wield the double-edged sword of eternity clauses? To support European Integration or to support the sovereignty of the Member State? To help Europeanization or to act against it? Eternity clauses can easily find themselves between a rock and a hard place, the law of the European Union and the law of a Member State, with more possible interpretations. As more and more Constitutional Courts started to declare elements of their Member States’ constitutional identities, these began to interfere with the eternity clauses. Will this trend eventually work against Europeanization? As a result of the research, it can be stated that a lowest common denominator exists in the practice of European Constitutional Courts regarding eternity clauses. The chance of a European model and the possibility of this model influencing the status quo between the European Union and the Member States will be examined by looking at the answers these courts have found so far.

Keywords: constitutional court, constitutional identity, eternity clause, European Integration

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Authors: S. Raja Mohamed, M. H Shwehdi, D. Devaraj

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This paper is to present and discuss the new planned 380 kV transmission line performance under steady and transient states. Dynamic modeling and analysis of such inter-tie, which is, proposed to transfer energy from west to south and vice versa will be demonstrated and discussed. The west-central-south inter-tie links Al-Aula-Zaba-Tabuk-Tubajal-Jawf-Hail. It is essential to investigate the transient over-voltage to assure steady and stable transmission over such inter-tie. Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has been improving its grid to make the whole country as an interconnected system. Already east, central and west were interconnected, yet mostly each is fed with its local generation. The SEC is planning to establish many inter-ties to strengthen the transient stability of its grid. The paper studies one of the important links of 380 kV, 220 km between Tabouk and Tubarjal, which is a step towards connecting the West with the South region. Modeling and analysis using some softwares will be utilized under different scenarios. Adoption of methods to stabilize and increase its power transmission are also discussed. Improvement of power system transients has been controlled by FACTS elements such the Static Var Compensators (SVC) receiving a wide interest since many technical studies have proven their effects on damping system oscillations and stability enhancement. Illustrations of the transient at each main generating or load bus will be checked in all inter-tie links. A brief review of possible means to solve the transient over-voltage problem using different FACTS element modeling will be discussed.

Keywords: transient stability, static var compensator, central-west interconnected system, damping controller, Saudi Electricity Company

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Authors: Mohammad Mehdi Mohebi, Nima Kazempour, Mohammad Naeim Kazempour

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Strategic thinking enables managers to find out what factors are effective in achieving the desired goals and how these factors create value for the customer. Strategic thinking can be interpreted as a form of mental and inner strength in the manager, who by utilizing it, while considering the conditions of the environment and unstable global environment changes, takes decisions, and plans actions, and designs the strategy of his organization in today's changing and unsustainable business environment. Strategic thinking is very important in today’s business world, because without this thinking, the organization's efforts to achieve developed strategies will not be effective. In this study, through a detailed study of the challenges and barriers to strategic thinking that is carried out by various scholars and experts theoretically and experimentally, 7 major factors were identified. Then, based on these main factors of challenges and related elements, a tool in the form of a questionnaire was developed in order to determine their importance and priority from the perspective of strategic management experts. Using statistical tests the reliability and validity of this instrument, including its structural validity, has been examined and approved using factor analysis. These factors are weighted and prioritized using AHP techniques and the opinions of scholars and experts. Prioritization of barriers to strategic thinking include: lack of participatory management, lack of a systematic approach, difficulty in aligning the organization members, lack of incentive organizational culture, behavioural and internal barriers of managers, lack of key managers and lack of access to timely and accurate information.

Keywords: strategic thinking, challenges and barriers to strategic thinking, EN bank, AHP method

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Authors: N. Khursheed, M. Fatima, S. Jamal, A. Raza, S. Rattani, Q. Ahsan, A. Rasheed, M. Jawed

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Introduction: Antibiotics are among the commonly prescribed medicines to treat bacterial infections. Their misuse intensifies resistance, and overuse incurs heavy losses to the healthcare system in terms of increased treatment costs and enhanced disease burden. Studies show that 40% of empirically used antibiotics are irrationally utilized. The objective of this study was to evaluate prescribing pattern of antibiotics at six public sector tertiary care hospitals across Pakistan. Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional point prevalence survey (PPS) was conducted in selected wards of six public sector tertiary care hospitals in Pakistan as part of the Clinical Engagement program by Fleming Fund Country Grant Pakistan in collaboration with Indus Hospital & Health Network (IHHN) from February to March 2021, these included Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center and Dr. Ruth K. M. Pfau Civil Hospital from Karachi, Sheikh Zayed Hospital Lahore, Nishtar Medical University Hospital Multan, Medical Teaching Institute Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar, and Provincial Headquarters Hospital Gilgit. WHO PPS methodology was used for data collection (Hospital, ward, and patient level data was collected). Data was entered into the open-source Kobo Collect application and was analyzed using SPSS (version 22.0). Findings: Medical records of 837 in-patients were surveyed, of which the prevalence of antibiotics use was 78.5%. The most commonly prescribed antimicrobial was Ceftriaxone (21.7%) which is categorized in the Watch group of WHO AWaRe Classification, followed by Metronidazole (17.3%), Cefoperazone/Sulbactam (8.4%), Co-Amoxiclav (6.3%) and Piperacillin/Tazobactam (5.9%). The antibiotics were prescribed largely for surgical prophylaxis (36.7%), followed by community-acquired infections (24.7%). One antibiotic was prescribed to 46.7%, two to 39.9%, and three or more to 12.5 %. Two of six (30%) hospitals had functional drug and therapeutic committees, three (50%) had infection prevention and control committees, and one facility had an antibiotic formulary. Conclusion: Findings demonstrate high consumption of broad-spectrum antimicrobials and emphasizes the importance of expanding the antimicrobial stewardship program. Mentoring clinical teams will help to rationalize antimicrobial use.

Keywords: antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial stewardship, point prevalence survey, antibiotics

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Authors: Danzhao Cheng, Eugene Ch'ng

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Virtual Reality technologies can reconstruct cultural heritage objects and sites to a level of realism. Concentrating mostly on documenting authentic data and accurate representations of tangible contents, current virtual heritage is limited to accumulating visually presented objects. Such constructions, however, are fragmentary and may not convey the inherent significance of heritage in a meaningful way. In order to contextualise fragmentary historical contents where history can be told, a strategy is to create a guided narrative via role-playing. Such an approach can strengthen the logical connections of cultural elements and facilitate creative synthesis within the virtual world. This project successfully reconstructed the Ningbo Sanjiangkou VR site in Yuan Dynasty combining VR technology and role-play game approach. The results with 80 pairs of participants suggest that VR role-playing can be beneficial in a number of ways. Firstly, it creates thematic interactivity which encourages users to explore the virtual heritage in a more entertaining way with task-oriented goals. Secondly, the experience becomes highly engaging since users can interpret a historical context through the perspective of specific roles that exist in past societies. Thirdly, personalisation allows open-ended sequences of the expedition, reinforcing user’s acquisition of procedural knowledge relative to the cultural domain. To sum up, role-playing in VR poses great potential for experiential learning as it allows users to interpret a historical context in a more entertaining way.

Keywords: experiential learning, maritime silk road, role-playing, virtual heritage, virtual reality

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Authors: Chukwuka Justus Iwegbu

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Background: A major concern facing the world is providing senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups with high-quality care. This issue is more serious in Nigeria's North Eastern area, where the burden of disease and disability is heavy, and access to care is constrained. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the roles, challenges and support needs of caregivers, care home management, funding and administration in challenged communities in North Eastern Nigeria. The study will also provide a comprehensive understanding of the current situation and identify opportunities for improving the quality of care and support for caregivers and care recipients in these communities. Methods: A mixed-methods design, including both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, will be used, and it will be guided by the stress process model of caregiving. The qualitative stage approach will comprise a survey, In-depth interviews, observations, and focus group discussion and the quantitative analysis will be used in order to comprehend the variations between caregiver's roles and care home management. A review of relevant documents, such as care home policies and funding reports, would be used to gather quantitative data on the administrative and financial aspects of care. The data collected will be analyzed using both descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. A sample size of around 200-300 participants, including caregivers, care recipients, care home managers and administrators, policymakers and health care providers, would be recruited. Findings: The study revealed that caregivers in challenged communities in North Eastern Nigeria face significant challenges, including lack of training and support, limited access to funding and resources, and high levels of burnout. Care home management and administration were also found to be inadequate, with a lack of clear policies and procedures and limited oversight and accountability. Conclusion: There is a need for increased investment in training and support for caregivers, as well as a need for improved care home management and administration in challenged communities in North Eastern Nigeria. It also highlights the importance of involving community members in decision-making and planning processes related to care homes and services. The study would contribute to the existing body of knowledge by providing a detailed understanding of the challenges faced by caregivers, care home managers and administrators.

Keywords: caregivers, care home management, funding, administration, challenge communities, North Eastern Nigeria

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Authors: Sohail Ahmed, Ke Xing

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This research theoretically explored the evolution mechanism of enterprise technological innovation capability system (ETICS) from the perspective of complex adaptive systems (CAS). Starting from CAS theory, this study proposed an analytical framework for ETICS, its concepts and theory by integrating CAS methodology into the management of technological innovation capability of enterprises and discusses how to use the principles of complexity to analyze the composition, evolution and realization of the technological innovation capabilities in complex dynamic environment. This paper introduces the concept and interaction of multi-agent, the theoretical background of CAS and summarizes the sources of technological innovation, the elements of each subject and the main clusters of adaptive interactions and innovation activities. The concept of multi-agents is applied through the linkages of enterprises, research institutions and government agencies with the leading enterprises in industrial settings. The study was exploratory based on CAS theory. Theoretical model is built by considering technological and innovation literature from foundational to state of the art projects of technological enterprises. On this basis, the theoretical model is developed to measure the evolution mechanism of enterprise technological innovation capability system. This paper concludes that the main characteristics for evolution in technological systems are based on enterprise’s research and development personal, investments in technological processes and innovation resources are responsible for the evolution of enterprise technological innovation performance. The research specifically enriched the application process of technological innovation in institutional networks related to enterprises.

Keywords: complex adaptive system, echo model, enterprise knowledge system, research institutions, multi-agents.

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Authors: Ana Paula Esteves, Diego S. Caetano, Louise L. B. Lomardo

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This paper presents an approach to the performance of the natural lighting, when the use of appropriated solar lighting systems on the roof is applied in cultural buildings such as museums and foundations. The roofs, as a part of contact between the building and the external environment, require special attention in projects that aim at energy efficiency, being an important element for the capture of natural light in greater quantity, but also for being the most important point of generation of photovoltaic solar energy, even semitransparent, allowing the partial passage of light. Transparent elements in roofs, as well as superior protection of the building, can also play other roles, such as: meeting the needs of natural light for the accomplishment of the internal tasks, attending to the visual comfort; to bring benefits to the human perception and about the interior experience in a building. When these resources are well dimensioned, they also contribute to the energy efficiency and consequent character of sustainability of the building. Therefore, when properly designed and executed, a roof light system can bring higher quality natural light to the interior of the building, which is related to the human health and well-being dimension. Furthermore, it can meet the technologic, economic and environmental yearnings, making possible the more efficient use of that primordial resource, which is the light of the Sun. The article presents the analysis of buildings that used zenith light systems in search of better lighting performance in museums and foundations: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in the United States, the Iberê Camargo Foundation in Brazil, the Museum of Fine Arts in Castellón in Spain and the Pinacoteca of São Paulo.

Keywords: natural lighting, roof lighting systems, natural lighting in museums, comfort lighting

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Authors: Taekyong Lee, Joon-Young Kim, Jae-Min Cha

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Piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) is an essential design drawing describing the interconnection of process equipment and the instrumentation installed to control the process. P&IDs are modified and managed throughout a whole life cycle of a process plant. For the ease of data transfer, P&IDs are generally handed over from a design company to an engineering company as portable document format (PDF) which is hard to be modified. Therefore, engineering companies have to deploy a great deal of time and human resources only for manually converting P&ID images into a computer aided design (CAD) file format. To reduce the inefficiency of the P&ID conversion, various symbols and texts in P&ID images should be automatically recognized. However, recognizing information in P&ID images is not an easy task. A P&ID image usually contains hundreds of symbol and text objects. Most objects are pretty small compared to the size of a whole image and are densely packed together. Traditional recognition methods based on geometrical features are not capable enough to recognize every elements of a P&ID image. To overcome these difficulties, state-of-the-art deep learning models, RetinaNet and connectionist text proposal network (CTPN) were used to build a system for recognizing symbols and texts in a P&ID image. Using the RetinaNet and the CTPN model carefully modified and tuned for P&ID image dataset, the developed system recognizes texts, equipment symbols, piping symbols and instrumentation symbols from an input P&ID image and save the recognition results as the pre-defined extensible markup language format. In the test using a commercial P&ID image, the P&ID information recognition system correctly recognized 97% of the symbols and 81.4% of the texts.

Keywords: object recognition system, P&ID, symbol recognition, text recognition

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Authors: E. O. Clarke, O. J. Aderinola, O. A. Adeboyejo, M. A. Anetekhai

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Aims: The study is aimed at establishing the influence of some physical and chemical parameters on the abundance, distribution pattern and seasonal variations of the planktonic crustacean populations. Place and Duration of Study: A premier investigation into the dynamics of planktonic crustacean populations in Ologe lagoon was carried out from January 2011 to December 2012. Study Design: The study covered identification, temporal abundance, spatial distribution and diversity of the planktonic crustacea. Methodology: Standard techniques were used to collect samples from eleven stations covering five proximal satellite towns (Idoluwo, Oto, Ibiye, Obele, and Gbanko) bordering the lagoon. Data obtained were statistically analyzed using linear regression and hierarchical clustering. Results:Thirteen (13) planktonic crustacean populations were identified. Total percentage abundance was highest for Bosmina species (20%) and lowest for Polyphemus species (0.8%). The Pearson’s correlation coefficient (“r” values) between total planktonic crustacean population and some physical and chemical parameters showed that positive correlations having low level of significance occurred with salinity (r = 0.042) (sig = 0.184) and with surface water dissolved oxygen (r = 0.299) (sig = 0.155). Linear regression plots indicated that, the total population of planktonic crustacea were mainly influenced and only increased with an increase in value of surface water temperature (Rsq = 0.791) and conductivity (Rsq = 0.589). The total population of planktonic crustacea had a near neutral (zero correlation) with the surface water dissolved oxygen and thus, does not significantly change with the level of the surface water dissolved oxygen. The correlations were positive with NO3-N (midstream) at Ibiye (Rsq =0.022) and (downstream) Gbanko (Rsq =0.013), PO4-P at Ibiye (Rsq =0.258), K at Idoluwo (Rsq =0.295) and SO4-S at Oto (Rsq = 0.094) and Gbanko (Rsq = 0.457). The Berger-Parker Dominance Index (BPDI) showed that the most dominant species was Bosmina species (BPDI = 1.000), followed by Calanus species (BPDI = 1.254). Clusters by squared Euclidan distances using average linkage between groups showed proximities, transcending the borders of genera. Conclusion: The results revealed that planktonic crustacean population in Ologe lagoon undergo seasonal perturbations, were highly influenced by nutrient, metal and organic matter inputs from river Owoh, Agbara industrial estate and surrounding farmlands and were patchy in spatial distribution.

Keywords: diversity, dominance, perturbations, richness, crustacea, lagoon

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Authors: Rutebuka Evariste, Zhang Lixiao

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Mobile phone sales and stocks showed an exponential growth in the past years globally and the number of mobile phones produced each year was surpassing one billion in 2007, this soaring growth of related e-waste deserves sufficient attentions paid to it regionally and globally as long as 40% of its total weight is made from metallic which 12 elements are identified to be highly hazardous and 12 are less harmful. Different research and methods have been used to estimate the obsolete mobile phones but none has developed a dynamic model and handle the discrepancy resulting from improper approach and error in the input data. The study aim was to develop a comprehensive dynamic system model for simulating the dynamism of e-waste production from mobile phone regardless the country or region and prevail over the previous errors. The logistic model method combined with STELLA program has been used to carry out this study. Then the simulation for Rwanda has been conducted and compared with others countries’ results as model testing and validation. Rwanda is about 1.5 million obsoletes mobile phone with 125 tons of waste in 2014 with e-waste production peak in 2017. It is expected to be 4.17 million obsoletes with 351.97 tons by 2020 along with environmental impact intensity of 21times to 2005. Thus, it is concluded through the model testing and validation that the present dynamic model is competent and able deal with mobile phone e-waste production the fact that it has responded to the previous studies questions from Czech Republic, Iran, and China.

Keywords: carrying capacity, dematerialization, logistic model, mobile phone, obsolescence, similarity, Stella, system dynamics

Procedia PDF Downloads 340