Search results for: national electricity plan

Authors: N. G. Teik Hiang, Fathyah Hashim

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This is a case of how strategic management techniques can be used to help resolving problems faced by an ageing Small and Medium Enterprise (SME). Strategic way of resolving problems had been proven to be possible in this case despite general thought that strategic management is useful mostly for large corporations. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can also use strategic management in managing their business and determining their future cause of action and strategies in order to survive in this ever competent world. Strategic orientation is the key to survival and development of small and medium enterprises. In order to adapt to the fierce market competition, ageing SMEs should improve competitiveness and operational efficiency. They must therefore establish a sense of strategic management to improve the strategic management skills, combined with its own unique characteristics, and work out practical strategies to develop core competitiveness of enterprises in the fierce market competition in order to be sustainable. In this case, internal strengths and weaknesses of an SME had been identified. Strategic internal factors and external factors had been classified and further utilized to formulate potential strategies to encounter various problems faced by the SME. These strategies had been further match to take advantages of the opportunities and to overcome the weaknesses and minimize the threats it is facing. Tan, a consultant who was given the opportunity to formulate a plan for the business started with the environmental scanning (internal and external environmental analysis), assessing strengths and weaknesses for the company, strategies generation, analysis and evaluation. He had numerous discussions with the owner of the business and the senior management in order to match the key internal and external factors to formulate alternative strategies for solving the problems that the company facing. Some of the recommendations or solutions are generated from the inspiration of the owner of the business who is a very enterprising and experience businessman.

Keywords: strategic orientation, strategic management, SME, core competitiveness, sustainable

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Authors: Barbara Pittau, Piergiorgio Palla, Antonio Mastino

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Communication is fundamental to health education. The proper use of medicinal products is a crucial aspect of the health of citizens that affects both safety and health care spending. Therefore, encouraging/promoting communication, concerning the importance of proper use of pharmaceuticals, has substantial implications in terms of individual health, health care, and health care system sustainability. In view of these considerations, in the context of two projects, one of which is still in progress, a relational database-backed web application named COLLABORAFARMACISOLA has been designed and developed as a tool to analyze and visualize how people approach the use of medicinal products, with the aim of improving and enhancing communication efficacy. The software application is being used to collect information (anonymously and voluntarily) from the citizens of Sardinia, an Italian region, regarding their knowledge, experiences, and opinions towards pharmaceuticals. This study that was conducted to date on thousand of interviewed people, has focused on different aspects such as: the treatment interruption and the "self-prescription” without medical consultation, the attention paid to reading the leaflets, the awareness of the economic value of the pharmaceuticals, the importance of avoiding the waste of medicinal products and the attitudes towards the use of generics. To this purpose, our software application provides a set of ad hoc parsing routines, to store information into the structure of a relational database and to process and visualize it through a set of interactive tools aimed to emphasize the findings and the insights obtained. The results of our preliminary analysis show the efficacy of the awareness plan and, at the same time, the criticality and the needs of the territory under examination. The ultimate goal of our study is to provide a contribution to the community by improving communication that can result in a benefit for public health in a context strictly connected to the reality of the territory.

Keywords: communication, pharmaceuticals, public health, relational database, tool, web application

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Authors: M. Abuqebitah, H. Tanyildizi, N. Yeyin, I. Cavdar, M. Demir, L. Kabasakal

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Aim: Targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) is an increasingly used treatment modality for wide range of cancers. Presently dosimetry is highly required either to plan treatment or to ascertain the absorbed dose delivered to critical organs during treatment. Methods and Materials: The study comprised 7 patients suffered from prostate cancer with progressive disease and candidate to undergo Lu-177-DOTA-617 therapy following to PSMA- PET/CT imaging for all patients. (5.2±0.3 mCi) was intravenously injected. To evaluate bone marrow absorbed dose 2 cc blood samples were withdrawn in short variable times (3, 15, 30, 60, 180 minutes) after injection. Furthermore, whole body scans were performed using scintillation gama camera in 4, 24, 48, and 120 hours after injection and in order to quantify the activity taken up in the body, kidneys , liver, right parotid, and left parotid the geometric mean of anterior and posterior counts were determined through ROI analysis, after that background subtraction and attenuation correction were applied using patients PSMA- PET/CT images taking in a consideration: organ thickness, body thickness, and Hounsfield unites from CT scan. OLINDA/EXM dosimetry program was used for curve fitting, residence time calculation, and absorbed dose calculations. Findings: Absorbed doses of bone marrow, left kidney, right kidney, liver, left parotid, right parotid, total body were 1.28±0.52, 32.36±16.36, 32.7±13.68, 10.35±3.45, 38.67±21.29, 37.55±19.77, 2.25±0.95 (mGy/mCi), respectively. Conclusion: Our first results clarify that Lu-177-DOTA-617 is safe and reliable therapy as there were no complications seen. In the other hand, the observable variation in the absorbed dose of the critical organs among the patients necessitate patient-specific dosimetry approach to save body organs and particularly highly exposed kidneys and parotid gland.

Keywords: Lu-177-PSMA, prostate cancer, radionuclide therapy

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Authors: Yaw Akoto

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The education of people with disabilities remains one of the major concern of policymakers, advocacy groups and researchers. In Ghana, as in many other countries, there is a policy commitment for the educational inclusion of people with disabilities, including in the context of higher education. This qualitative research investigates how students with disabilities experience equity and accessibility in a Ghanaian university. The study also investigates factors that influence equity and accessibility in a Ghanaian university. The study draws on the views of students with disabilities, on lecturer insight and organisational and national policy documents. The findings specifies that the quality of students with disabilities lived experiences are affected by the physical environment, infrastructure facilities and lack of academic and non-academic information. The study highlights the need for the university to ensure equity in making the university accessible for all students in order to ensure retention and participation of students with disabilities; failure to make the university accessible for students with disabilities compromises the ability of this group of students to realise their academic potentials.

Keywords: accessibility, educational inclusion, equity, students with disabilities

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Authors: Merih Welay Welesilassie

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This research investigated the factors influencing digital inclusion for young students with disabilities in Ethiopian schools. In this context, socio-economic, infrastructural, and cultural challenges amplify educational disparities. In the era of digital technology's pivotal role in education, it is crucial to ensure equitable access for students with disabilities. Nevertheless, obstacles like inadequate infrastructure, insufficient teacher training, and economic constraints impede the incorporation of digital tools in educational environments, especially for marginalised groups. This study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach involving data collection through a survey administered to 300 students. Subsequently, in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 participants to provide comprehensive insights into their experiences. The quantitative analysis uncovered that students with disabilities have limited support for digital readiness, find digital technologies less accessible, and perceive digital tools as less easy to use. The study revealed that economic barriers, such as the high cost of devices and limited internet access, prevent students from fully utilising digital resources. Furthermore, infrastructural challenges, such as unreliable electricity and poor internet connectivity, exacerbate the issue. The qualitative data provided a more profound understanding by emphasising social and attitudinal obstacles, including a lack of empathy from both peers and educators, exclusion from participatory digital tasks, and enduring negative stereotypes regarding disabilities. The research highlights the importance of implementing interventions to enhance digital accessibility for students with disabilities. Essential suggestions encompass refining teacher training programs to effectively facilitate inclusive education, improving digital infrastructure, and offering financial assistance to procure digital tools. Furthermore, implementing policy reforms and public awareness campaigns is crucial to cultivate a cultural shift and nurture a more inclusive societal atmosphere. This study yields valuable perspectives on the digital inclusion scenario in Ethiopia, laying the groundwork for prospective research endeavours to narrow the digital gap for students with disabilities.

Keywords: digital inclussion, students with disabilities, ethiopian education, barries and access

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Authors: Muhammad Saleem

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The research paper entitled above would be a comprehensive and critical study of translations of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an. The discussion will deal with the targets & purposes of Urdu (National Language of Pakistan) translators of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an. There are more than 400 translations of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an in the Urdu Language. Muslims, non-Muslims and some organizations have made translations of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an to meet various targets. It is observed that all Urdu translators have not translated the Qur’an with a single objective and motivation; rather, some are biased and strive to discredit the Qur’an. Thus, they have made unauthentic and fabricated translations of the Qur’an. Some optimistically believe that they intend to do a service, whereas others pessimistically hold that they treacherously seek to further their rule. Some of them have been observed to be against Islam, starting their activities with spite, but after perceiving the truths of Islam and the miracle and greatness of the Holy Qur’an, they submitted to Islam, embracing it with pure hearts. Some translators made their translations of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an to serve Allah, and some of them have done their translations to earn only. All these translations vary from one to another due to style, trend, type, method and style. Some Urdu translations have been made to fulfill the lingual requirements. Some translations have been made by Muslim scholars to reduce the influence of Urdu translations of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an by Non-Muslims. The article deals with the various purposes of the translators of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an.

Keywords: Qur'an, translation, urdu, language

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Authors: Erkihun Zelalem

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Ethiopian’s sheep population, estimated to be 25.5 million heads, is found widely distributed across the diverse agro-ecological zones of the country. In the past, there were many projects that done to improve production of meat, milk and productivity of sheep breed. However, no significance research has been done so far on production of wool fiber in Ethiopia which could be taken as a potential fiber next to cotton. The measurement of the sheep wool fiber physical properties is critically important, technical, commercial and certification point of view. A total of 24 sheep from different breeds (Menz, Tikur, Farta and Washera) were used in this study. Samples of fiber were analyzed using standard measurements for wool fiber length (WFL), mean fiber diameter (MFD), coefficient of variation of wool fiber diameter (FDCV), breaking strength, elongation, crimp, cleanness and moisture content. Based on the result all parameters shows that there is a great potential of getting of wool fiber from the skin of sheep and according to the standards of its property and grading system based on wool fiber fineness is medium to course. These types of fibers can be making carpets, blankets, rugs, coverings and other products.

Keywords: Fiber, Fineness, Carpet, Fleece, Raw Wool

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Authors: Yen-Po Wang, Ming-Chih Huang, Ming-Lian Chang

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A scheme integrated with deterministic–stochastic subspace system identification and the method of damage localization vector is proposed in this study for damage detection of structures based on seismic response data. A series of shaking table tests using a five-storey steel frame has been conducted in National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE), Taiwan. Damage condition is simulated by reducing the cross-sectional area of some of the columns at the bottom. Both single and combinations of multiple damage conditions at various locations have been considered. In the system identification analysis, either full or partial observation conditions have been taken into account. It has been shown that the damaged stories can be identified from global responses of the structure to earthquakes if sufficiently observed. In addition to detecting damage(s) with respect to the intact structure, identification of new or extended damages of the as-damaged (ill-conditioned) counterpart has also been studied. The proposed scheme proves to be effective.

Keywords: damage locating vectors, deterministic-stochastic subspace system, shaking table tests, system identification

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Authors: Yu-Mei Hsueh, Wei-Jen Chen, Yung-Kai Huang, Cheng-Shiuan Tsai, Kuo-Cheng Yeh

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Prostate cancer occurs in men over the age of 50, and rank sixth of the top ten cancers in Taiwan, and the incidence increased gradually over the past decade in Taiwan. Arsenic is confirmed as a carcinogen by International Agency for Research on (IARC). Arsenic induces oxidative stress may be a risk factor for prostate cancer, but the mechanism is not clear. Selenium is an important antioxidant element. Whether the association between plasma selenium levels and risk of prostate cancer are modified by different genotype of selenoprotein is still unknown. Glutathione peroxidase, selenoprotein P (SEPP1) and 15 kDa selenoprotein (SEP 15) are selenoprotein and regulates selenium transport and the oxidation and reduction reaction. However, the association between gene polymorphisms of selenoprotein and prostate cancer is not yet clear. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between plasma selenium, polymorphism of selenoprotein, urinary total arsenic concentration and prostate cancer. This study is a hospital-based case-control study. Three hundred twenty-two cases of prostate cancer and age (±5 years) 1:1 matched 322 control group were recruited from National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei Medical University Hospital, and Wan Fang Hospital. Well-trained personnel carried out standardized personal interviews based on a structured questionnaire. Information collected included demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, lifestyle and disease history. Blood and urine samples were also collected at the same time. The Research Ethics Committee of National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, approved the study. All patients provided informed consent forms before sample and data collection. Buffy coat was to extract DNA, and the polymerase chain reaction - restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to measure the genotypes of SEPP1 rs3797310, SEP15 rs5859, GPX1 rs1050450, GPX2 rs4902346, GPX3 rs4958872, and GPX4 rs2075710. Plasma concentrations of selenium were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).Urinary arsenic species concentrations were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography links hydride generator and atomic absorption spectrometer (HPLC-HG-AAS). Subject with high education level compared to those with low educational level had a lower prostate cancer odds ratio (OR) Mainland Chinese and aboriginal people had a lower OR of prostate cancer compared to Fukien Taiwanese. After adjustment for age, educational level, subjects with GPX1 rs1050450 CT and TT genotype compared to the CC genotype have lower, OR of prostate cancer, the OR and 95% confidence interval (Cl) was 0.53 (0.31-0.90). SEPP1 rs3797310 CT+TT genotype compared to those with CC genotype had a marginally significantly lower OR of PC. The low levels of plasma selenium and the high urinary total arsenic concentrations had the high OR of prostate cancer in a significant dose-response manner, and SEPP1 rs3797310 genotype modified this joint association.

Keywords: prostate cancer, plasma selenium concentration, urinary total arsenic concentrations, glutathione peroxidase, selenoprotein P, selenoprotein 15, gene polymorphism

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Authors: Awad Khireldin, Colin Law

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Runways are the major infrastructure of airports around the world. Efficient operations of runways are key to ensure that airports are running smoothly with minimal delays. There are many factors that affect the efficiency of runway operations, such as the aircraft wake separation, runways system configuration, the fleet mix, and the runways separation distance. This paper aims to address how to maximize runway operations using a Discrete Event Simulation model. A case study of Cairo International Airport (CIA) is developed to maximize the utilizing of three parallel runways using a simulation model. Different scenarios have been designed where every runway could be assigned for arrival, departure, or mixed operations. A benchmarking study was also included to compare the actual to the proposed results to spot the potential improvements. The simulation model shows that there is a significant difference in utilization and delays between the actual and the proposed ones, there are several recommendations that can be provided to airport management, in the short and long term, to increase the efficiency and to reduce the delays. By including the recommendation with different operations scenarios, such as upgrading the airport slot Coordination from Level 1 to Level 2 in the short term. In the long run, discuss the possibilities to increase the International Air Transport association (IATA) slot coordination to Level 3 as more flights are expected to be handled by the airport. Technological advancements such as radar in the approach full airside simulation model could improve the airport performance where the airport is recommended to review the standard operations procedures with the appropriate authorities. Also, the airport can adopt a future operational plan to accommodate the forecasted additional traffic density in case of adding a fourth terminal building to increase the airport capacity.

Keywords: airport performance, runway, discrete event simulation, capacity, airside

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Authors: Mergleda Hodo

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All national governments aim to achieve economic equilibrium to build sustainable welfare, political stability, and economic equilibrium. There are various instruments to stimulate economic development and growth and achieve macroeconomic objectives. After the collapse of the political and economic system in the 1990s, some countries faced the complex challenge of economic development. This study aims to determine, based on empirical research, whether and to what extent tax revenue has an impact on the economic development of Albania. Furthermore, it gives an overview of the ways in which high tax burdens on the western Balkan countries have negatively affected foreign investment and reduced economic growth. This analysis is important for these selected countries, as the financial system has changed significantly over the years and has been affected significantly by a period of economic transition. The analysis is performed based on secondary data possessed by the World Bank and the central bank of each participating country between 2005 and 2018. The research findings indicate that tax policy affects, to a significant extent, the economic development of Albania. An efficient tax system is when individuals are willing to pay tax liability which will help in improving the economic well-being of a country.

Keywords: tax, development, economic growth, tax revenue

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Authors: Samuele Abagnato, Lucia Rigamonti

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Life-Cycle-Assessment (LCA) is an effective tool to quantify the environmental impacts of reuse models and recycling technologies for textiles. In this work, publications in the last ten years about LCA on textile waste are classified according to location, goal and scope, functional unit, waste composition, impact assessment method, impact categories, and sensitivity analysis. Twenty papers have been selected: 50% are focused only on recycling, 30% only on reuse, the 15% on both, while only one paper considers only the final disposal of the waste. It is found that reuse is generally the best way to decrease the environmental impacts of textiles waste management because of the avoided impacts of manufacturing a new item. In the comparison between a product made with recycled yarns and a product from virgin materials, in general, the first option is less impact, especially for the categories of climate change, water depletion, and land occupation, while for other categories, such as eutrophication or ecotoxicity, under certain conditions the impacts of the recycled fibres can be higher. Cultivation seems to have quite high impacts when natural fibres are involved, especially in the land use and water depletion categories, while manufacturing requires a remarkable amount of electricity, with its associated impact on climate change. In the analysis of the reuse processes, relevant importance is covered by the laundry phase, with water consumption and impacts related to the use of detergents. About the sensitivity analysis, it can be stated that one of the main variables that influence the LCA results and that needs to be further investigated in the modeling of the LCA system about this topic is the substitution rate between recycled and virgin fibres, that is the amount of recycled material that can be used in place of virgin one. Related to this, also the yield of the recycling processes has a strong influence on the results of the impact. The substitution rate is also important in the modeling of the reuse processes because it represents the number of avoided new items bought in place of the reused ones. Another aspect that appears to have a large influence on the impacts is consumer behaviour during the use phase (for example, the number of uses between two laundry cycles). In conclusion, to have a deeper knowledge of the impacts of a life-cycle approach of textile waste, further data and research are needed in the modeling of the substitution rate and of the use phase habits of the consumers.

Keywords: environmental impacts, life-cycle-assessment, textiles recycling, textiles reuse, textiles waste management

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Authors: Warda Fatima, Hasnain Javed

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The emerging trend of Drug resistance in childhood Tuberculosis is increasing worldwide and now becoming a priority challenge for National TB Control Programs of the world. Childhood TB accounts for 10-15% of total TB burden across the globe and same proportion is quantified in case of drug resistant TB. One third population suffering from MDR TB dies annually because of non-diagnosis and unavailability of appropriate treatment. However, true Childhood MDR TB cannot be estimated due to non-confirmation. Diagnosis of Pediatric TB by sputum Smear Microscopy and Culture inoculation are limited due to paucibacillary nature and difficulties in obtaining adequate sputum specimens. Diagnosis becomes more difficult when it comes to HIV infected child. New molecular advancements for early case detection of TB and MDR TB in adults have not been endorsed in children. Multi centered trials are needed to design better diagnostic approaches and efficient and safer treatments for DR TB in high burden countries. The aim of the present study is to sketch out the current situation of the childhood Drug resistant TB especially in the developing world and to highlight the classic and novel methods that are to be implemented in high-burden resource-limited locations.

Keywords: drug resistant TB, childhood, diagnosis, novel methods

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Authors: Freyedon Ahmadi

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Corporate citizenship is considered as one of the most discussed topics in the developed countries, in which a citizen considers a Corporate just like a usual citizen with every civil right as respectful for corporate as for actual citizens, and in return citizens expect that corporate would pay a reciprocal respect to them. The current study’s purpose is to identify the impact of the current state of corporate citizenship along effective factors on its condition on industrial producing units, in order to find an accession plane for corporate citizenship development. In this study corporate citizenship is studied in four dimensions like legal corporate, economical corporate, ethical corporate and voluntary corporate. Moreover, effective factors’ impact on corporate citizenship is explored based on threefold dimensional model: behavioral, structural, and content factors, as well. In this study, 50 corporate of Food industry and of petrochemical industry, along with 200 selected individuals from directors’ board on Tehran province’s scale with stratified random sampling method, are chosen as actuarial sample. If based on functional goal and compilation methods, the present study is a description of correlation type; questionnaire is used for accumulation of initial Data. For Instrument Validity expert’s opinion is used and structural equations and its reliability is qualified by using Cronbach Alpha. The results of this study indicate that close to 70 percent of under survey corporate have not a good condition in corporate citizenship. And all of structural factors, behavioral factors, contextual factors, have a great deal of impression and impact on the advent corporate citizenship behavior in the producing Units. Among the behavioral factors, social responsibility; among structural factors, organic structure and human centered orientation, medium size, high organizational capacity; and among the contextual factors, the clientele’s positive viewpoints toward corporate had the utmost importance in impression on under survey Producing units.

Keywords: corporate citizenship, structural factors, behavioral factors, contextual factors, producing units

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Authors: Piyapat Chitpirom, Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, Chintida Vichitsophaphan

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The Foundation of Virtuous Youth was established and supported by the Crown Property Bureau, with the intention to instill goodness in Thai youth. The Centre for Educational Psychology is one of the three units under the foundation. We aim to develop programmes that can be used to improve the quality of education in schools. Translation of the King’s message in keeping with the modern research from various sources, our team create 6 programmes: (1) Teacher-Student Relationship (2) Growth Mindset (3) Socratic Teaching (4) Peer Tutoring (5) Parental Involvement (6) Inclusion. After nine months of implementing the programmes in the schools, we found that there were more cooperation between student-student, teacher-student, teacher-parent, and student-parent and the school regained trust from the community. Our ideas were accepted well by the government as our director was promoted to be the Vice Minister of Education in order to implement our programmes into national education system. We consider that the key of our success is that we do practical things. We are still continuing, improving, and learning from our work with hope that the quality of Thai education will improve in near future.

Keywords: education reform, educational psychology, effective teaching, teacher-student relationship

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Authors: G. Sava, I. Popa, T. Sava, A. Ion, M. Ilie, C. Manailescu, A. Robu

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At the RoAMS laboratory in Bucharest we have looked for a head-to-head meeting between AMS radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology dating, aiming to point out and explain any differences or similarities that might appear between their output results. As a subject of this investigation, we have fixed our attention on a sequence of tree rings spanning on a period of 700 years, starting with 1000 AD. The samples were collected from the northern Romanian territory within Moldavia region, and were provided by the ‘Marin Dracea - National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry’. All the 23 single ring wood samples were radiocarbon dated using alpha-cellulose extraction, followed by graphitization in an AGE3 installation. A wiggle matching procedure was applied to reduce the radiocarbon uncertainties for the calibrated ages. The results showed a good agreement on 3 out of 4 wood cores, the age-shifting of one of the wood cores being interpreted as an uncertain dendrochronology matching, which was further corrected.

Keywords: wiggle matching, tree-ring radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology, AMS radiocarbon dating, radiocarbon dating in Romania

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Authors: Marilyn U. Balagtas, Maria Ruth M. Regalado, Carmelina E. Barrera, Ramer V. Oxiño, Rosarito T. Suatengco, Josephine E. Tondo

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This study presents the perceptions of the students and teachers from kindergarten to tertiary level of the image of the 21st century teacher to provide basis in designing teacher development programs in Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) in the Philippines. The highlights of the report are the personal, psychosocial, and professional images of the 21st century teacher in basic education and the teacher educators based on a survey done to 612 internal stakeholders of nine member institutions of the National Network of Normal Schools (3NS). Data were obtained through the use of a validated researcher-made instrument which allowed generation of both quantitative and qualitative descriptions of the teacher image. Through the use of descriptive statistics, the common images of the teacher were drawn, which were validated and enriched by the information drawn from the qualitative data. The study recommends a repertoire of teacher development programs to create the good image of the 21st century teachers for a better Philippines.

Keywords: teacher image, 21st century teacher, teacher education, development program

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Authors: Pratibha Srivastava, Ayyamperumal Jeyaprakash, Gary Steck

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Exotic, invasive tephritid fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are a major concern to fruit and vegetable production in the USA. Timely detection and identification of these agricultural pests facilitate the possibility of eradication from newly invaded areas. They spread primarily as larvae in infested fruits carried in commerce or personal baggage. Identification of larval stages to species level is difficult but necessary to determine pest loads and their pathways into the USA. The main focus of this study is the New World genus, Anastrepha. Many of its constituent taxa are pests of major economic importance. This study is significant for national quarantine use, as morphological diagnostics to separate larvae of the various members remain poorly developed. Elongation factor 1 alpha sequences were amplified from Anastrepha fraterculus specimens collected from South America (Ecuador and Peru). Phylogenetic analysis was performed to characterize the Anastrepha fraterculus complex at a molecular level.

Keywords: anastrepha, diptera, elongation factor, fruit fly

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Authors: Abderrahim El Maslouhi

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The paper aims to analyze an often-overlooked dimension of global constitutionalism, which is the rise of the regulatory state and its impact on parliamentary dynamics in transition regimes. In contrast to Majone’s technocratic vision of convergence towards a single regulatory system based on competence and efficiency, national transpositions of regulatory governance and, in general, the relationship to global standards primarily depend upon a number of distinctive parameters. These include policy formation process, speed of change, depth of parliamentary tradition and greater or lesser vulnerability to the normative conditionality of donors, interstate groupings and transnational regulatory bodies. Based on a comparison between three post-Arab Spring countries -Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt, whose constitutions have undergone substantive review in the period 2011-2014- and some European Union state members, the paper intends, first, to assess the degree of permeability to global constitutionalism in different contexts. A noteworthy divide emerges from this comparison. Whereas European constitutions still seem impervious to the lexicon of global constitutionalism, the influence of the latter is obvious in the recently drafted constitutions in Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt. This is evidenced by their reference to notions such as ‘governance’, ‘regulators’, ‘accountability’, ‘transparency’, ‘civil society’, and ‘participatory democracy’. Second, the study will provide a contextual account of internal and external rationales underlying the constitutionalization of regulatory governance in the cases examined. Unlike European constitutionalism, where parliamentarism and the tradition of representative government function as a structural mechanism that moderates the de-parliamentarization effect induced by global constitutionalism, Arab constitutional transitions have led to a paradoxical situation; contrary to the public demands for further parliamentarization, the 2011 constitution-makers have opted for a de-parliamentarization pattern. This is particularly reflected in the procedures established by constitutions and regular legislation, to handle the interaction between lawmakers and regulatory bodies. Once the ‘constitutional’ and ‘independent’ nature of these agencies is formally endorsed, the birth of these ‘fourth power’ entities, which are neither elected nor directly responsible to elected officials, will raise the question of their accountability. Third, the paper shows that, even in the three selected countries, the de-parliamentarization intensity is significantly variable. By contrast to the radical stance of the Moroccan and Egyptian constituents who have shown greater concern to shield regulatory bodies from legislatures’ scrutiny, the Tunisian case indicates a certain tendency to provide lawmakers with some essential control instruments (e. g. exclusive appointment power, adversarial discussion of regulators’ annual reports, dismissal power, later held unconstitutional). In sum, the comparison reveals that the transposition of the regulatory state model and, more generally, sensitivity to the legal implications of global conditionality essentially relies on the evolution of real-world power relations at both national and international levels.

Keywords: Arab legislatures, de-parliamentarization, global constitutionalism, normative conditionality, regulatory state

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Authors: Jiri F. Urbanek, Jiri Barta, Oldrich Svoboda, Jiri J. Urbanek

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The organizations of European and Czech critical infrastructure have specific position, mission, characteristics and behaviour in European Union and Czech state/ business environments, regarding specific requirements for regional and global security environments. They must respect policy of national security and global rules, requirements and standards in all their inherent and outer processes of supply-customer chains and networks. A controlling is generalized capability to have control over situational policy. This paper aims and purposes are to introduce the controlling as quite new necessary process attribute providing for critical infrastructure is environment the capability and profit to achieve its commitment regarding to the effectiveness of the quality management system in meeting customer/ user requirements and also the continual improvement of critical infrastructure organization’s processes overall performance and efficiency, as well as its societal security via continual planning improvement via DYVELOP modelling.

Keywords: added value, DYVELOP, controlling, environments, process approach

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Authors: GüLcan Keskin

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In a globalizing world, it is more difficult for developing counties to gain a competitive advantage compared to developed countries. Entrepreneurship is an important factor for economic growth in developing countries. Entrepreneurship is not only in the success of an entrepreneur’s own businesses, but also plays an important role in regional and national development. Entrepreneurship is the factor that triggers change for the country to accelerate the creation, dissemination, and implementation of new thoughts, leading to the emergence of industries that supports economic growth and development as it increases productivity by creating a competitive advantage. Therefore, it is an important factor for countries to develop economically and socially in a global world. As the know-how of the local products belongs to the region, it is a value that should not be lost. Having know-how provides a competitive advantage to the region. On the other hand, traditional products can be tailored to today’s trade understanding to appeal to more audiences. The primary aim of the study is to examine the interaction mechanism between traditional products and innovation in the context of related literature. The second aim of the study is to show the effect the traditional products to competitive advantage.

Keywords: e-commerce, economic growth, entrepreneurship, traditional products

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Authors: María José López Rey, Mar Chaves Carrillo, Manuela Caballero Guisado

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The data presented here are part of a broader investigation on active population aging. The work was carried out in November 2020 in Extremadura, a region of southern Spain. This R + D + I project, called "Active aging scenarios in Extremadura: intervention proposals," was carried out by a team of professors, researchers from the University of Extremadura. The project has been financed by the European Regional Development Funds and the Government of Extremadura. Here, we focus on aspects that have to do with the experience of health, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how this has affected the population related to the main sociodemographic variables. In an exercise of methodological triangulation, thus providing robustness to the analysis, primary data, obtained from the survey designed ad hoc, are combined with other secondary data from various sources and studies carried out in Spain (Sociological Research Centre, and National Institute of Statistics). The survey was carried out on a representative sample of the population over 55 years old, coming from Extremadura. Among the findings, we must highlight the practical invariability of perceptions based on the main sociodemographic variables, as well as some differences indicated by the variables sex and age.

Keywords: aging, health, COVID-19, perceptions

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Authors: Shatha Khuzaee

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The study develops multimodal stylistic approach to analyse a number of BBC online news articles reporting some key events from the so called ‘Arab Uprisings’. Critical stylistics (CS) and visual grammar (VG) provide insightful arguments to the ways ideology is projected through different verbal and visual modes, yet they are mode specific because they examine how each mode projects its meaning separately and do not attempt to clarify what happens intersemiotically when the two modes co-occur. Therefore, it is the task undertaken in this research to propose multimodal stylistic approach that addresses the issue of ideology construction when the two modes co-occur. Informed by functional grammar and social semiotics, the analysis attempts to integrate three linguistic models developed in critical stylistics, namely, transitivity choices, prioritizing and hypothesizing along with their visual equivalents adopted from visual grammar to investigate the way ideology is constructed, in multimodal text, when text/image participate and interrelate in the process of meaning making on the textual level of analysis. The analysis provides comprehensive theoretical and analytical elaborations on the different points of integration between CS linguistic models and VG equivalents which operate on the textual level of analysis to better account for ideology construction in news as non-literary multimodal texts. It is argued that the analysis well thought out a plan that would remark the first step towards the integration between the well-established linguistic models of critical stylistics and that of visual analysis to analyse multimodal texts on the textual level. Both approaches are compatible to produce multimodal stylistic approach because they intend to analyse text and image depending on whatever textual evidence is available. This supports the analysis maintain the rigor and replicability needed for a stylistic analysis like the one undertaken in this study.

Keywords: multimodality, stylistics, visual grammar, social semiotics, functional grammar

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Authors: Rebecca Lynn

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The successful inclusion of students with disabilities depends upon many factors, including the collaboration between general and special education teachers for meeting student learning goals as outlined in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP). However, Individualized Education Plans do not provide sufficient information on accommodations and modifications for the variety of general education contexts and content areas in which a student may participate. In addition, general and special education teachers lack observation skills and tools for gathering essential information about the strengths and needs of students with disabilities in relation to general education instruction and classrooms. More research and tools are needed for planning adaptations that increase access to content in general education classrooms. This paper will discuss the outcomes of a qualitative field-based study of a structured observation instrument used for gathering information on student strengths and needs in relation to social, academic and regulatory expectations during instruction in general education classrooms. The study explores the following questions: To what extent does the observation structure and instrument increase collaborative planning of adaptations in general education classrooms for students with disabilities? To what extent does the observation structure and instrument change pedagogical practices and collaboration in general education classrooms for fostering successful inclusion? A hypothesis of this study was that use of the instrument in the context of lessons and in collaborative debriefing would increase awareness and use of meaningful adaptations, and lead to universal design in the planning of instruction. A finding of the study is a shift from viewing students with disabilities as passive participants to a more pedagogical inclusion as teachers developed skills in observation and created content/context-specific adaptations for students with disabilities in the general education classroom.

Keywords: adaptations, collaboration, inclusion, observations

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Authors: Klementina Puto, Ermelinda Nexhipi, Evi Llaka

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Dairy by-products are a fairly good environment for microorganisms due to their composition for their growth. Microbial populations have a significant impact in the production of cheese, butter, yogurt, etc. in terms of their organoleptic quality and at the same time some also cause their breakdown. In this paper, the microbiological contamination of soft cheese, butter and yogurt produced in the country (domestic) and imported is assessed, as an indicator of hygiene with impact on public health. The study was extended during September 2018-June 2019 and was divided into three periods, September-December, January-March, and April-June. During this study, a total of 120 samples were analyzed, of which 60 samples of cheese and butter locally produced, and 60 samples of imported soft cheese and butter productions. The microbial indicators analyzed are Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli. Analyzes have been conducted at the Food Safety Laboratory (FSIV) in Tirana in accordance with EU Regulation 2073/2005. Sampling was performed according to the specific international standards for these products (ISO 6887 and ISO 8261). Sampling and transport of samples were done under sterile conditions. Also, coding of samples was done to preserve the anonymity of subjects. After the analysis, the country's soft cheese products compared to imports were more contaminated with S. aureus and E. coli. Meanwhile, the imported butter samples that were analyzed, resulted within norms compared to domestic ones. Based on the results, it was concluded that the microbial quality of samples of cheese, butter and yogurt analyzed remains a real problem for hygiene in Albania. The study will also serve business operators in Albania to improve their work to ensure good hygiene on the basis of the HACCP plan and to provide a guarantee of consumer health.

Keywords: consumer, health, dairy, by-products, microbial

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Authors: Shaira Karishma Sheriff, Zarinah Hamid

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The Arab Spring, which commenced during the end of 2010 and accelerated during 2011, was caused primarily due to poverty, unemployment and a general recession in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. The core motivation of this revolution could be said to be the need for political, economic and social reforms that the region desires to experience. Though GDP growth has been significant in the region, the income distribution mechanism in MENA countries has been ineffective. This results in low levels of education, substandard health care facilities, unemployment, and poverty. This paper argues that MENA countries have great potential for experiencing socioeconomic development by being less dependent on oil exports and enhancing their services sector through better education which would eventually lead to job creation. Furthermore, the region can encourage better trade and political integration by forming transparent and accountable governments. The notion of Nation-State needs to be addressed and the countries in the region need to look for ways to develop effective supra-national institutions for better political and economic integration that goes beyond geographical borders.

Keywords: political reforms, social reforms, economic development, nation-state, economic integration

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Authors: Deniz Ünal Özpalamutcu, Burcu Altman

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Actuaria uses mathematics, statistic and financial information when analyzing the financial impacts of uncertainties, risks, insurance and pension related issues. In other words, it deals with the likelihood of potential risks, their financial impacts and especially the financial measures. Handling these measures require some long-term payment and investments. So, it is obvious it is inevitable to plan the periodic payments with equal time intervals considering also the changing value of money over time. These series of payment made specific intervals of time is called annuity or rant. In literature, rants are classified based on start and end dates, start times, payments times, payments amount or frequency. Classification of rants based on payment amounts changes based on the constant, descending or ascending payment methods. The literature about handling the annuity is very limited. Yet in a daily life, especially in today’s world where the economic issues gained a prominence, it is very crucial to use the variable annuity method in line with the demands of the customers. In this study, the types of annuities with flexible payment are discussed. In other words, we focus on calculating payment amount of a period by adding a certain percentage of previous period payment was studied. While studying this problem, formulas were created considering both start and end period payments for cash value and accumulated. Also increase of each period payment by r interest rate each period payments calculated with previous periods increases. And the problem of annuities (rants) of which each period payment increased with previous periods’ increase by r interest rate has been analyzed. Cash value and accumulated value calculation of this problem were studied separately based on the period start/end and their relations were expressed by formulas.

Keywords: actuaria, annuity, flexible payment, rant

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Authors: Kherbache Mehdi

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

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

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Authors: C. Puangsawat, C. Limotai, P. Srikhachin

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Bio-psycho-social caring was required for promoting the quality of life of the patients with epilepsy (PWE), despite controlled seizures. Multifaceted issues emerge at the epilepsy clinic. Unpredicted seizures, antiepileptic drug compliance problems/adverse effects, psychiatric, and social problems are all needed to be explored and managed. The Nursing Service System (NSS) at the tertiary epilepsy clinic (TEC) was consequently developed for improving the clinical care for PWE. Case manager concept was integrated as the framework guiding the processes and strategies used for developing the NSS as well as the roles of the multidisciplinary team at the clinic. This study aimed to report the outcomes of the developed NSS integrated case manager concept. The processes of our developed NSS program included 1) screening for patient’s problems using questionnaire prior to seeing epileptologists i.e., assessing the patient’s risk to develop acute seizures at the clinic, issues related to medication use, and uncovered psychiatric and social problems; and 2) assigning the patients at risk to be evaluated and managed by appropriate team. Nurses specializing in epilepsy in coordination with the multidisciplinary team implemented the NSS to promote coordinated work among the team which consists of epileptologists, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, and social workers. Determination of the role of each person and their responsibilities along with joint care plan were clearly established. One year after implementation, the rate of acute seizure occurrence at the clinic was decreased, and satisfactory feedback from the patients was received. In order to achieve an optimal goal to promote self-management behaviors in PWE, continuing the NSS and systematic assessment of its effectiveness is required.

Keywords: case manager concept, nursing service system, patients with epilepsy, quality of life

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Authors: Fikre Belay Tekulu

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This thesis presents the socio-economic and environmental impacts of urban sprawl in the case of Adigrat city, Tigray Region, Ethiopia. The main objective of this research is to assess major causes, trends and socio-economic and environmental impacts of the urban sprawl of Adigrat city. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods as questionnaires, interviews and observation used for data collection. Simple random sampling has been used to select the participants. The land use and land cover change for agricultural land and forest and grassland resource analysis is done with the aid of GIS. Urban sprawl is mainly caused by the rapid population growth, increase in the living and property cost in the core of the city, land demand and land speculation and the growth of transport and an increase in income of people and demand of more living space. The study indicates 15726.24 hectares (515.49 per cent) of new land added to the city jurisdiction from its adjacent Gantafeshum Wereda between 1986 and 2018. The population of Adigrat city increased by 9.045 per cent per year, while the city expanded 16.01 per cent per annum and the LCR was 0.0233 hectares per person between 1986 and 2018.Built-up area increased by 35.27 per cent per annum, while agricultural land, forests and grassland cover decreased by 1.68 per cent and 1.26 per cent per annum respectively in the last thirty three years. This rapid growth of urban sprawl brought social-economic and environmental change in the city that has been observed by the city residents. Therefore, the city administration should need strong, integrated, effective and efficient work, with its neighbor rural area and also done timely preparation, implementation, supervision, and evaluation of the structural plan of the city to bring out sustainable development of the city.

Keywords: cause, , trends, urban sprawl, land use land cover, GIS

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