Search results for: comparative analysis

Authors: Nerissa Gloria Balboa, Aire Yukdawan, Venice Gordula, Rhea Jannagen Curva

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This research examined the lived experiences and compared their similarities and differences of former Catholics turned Muslim converts in and out of prison. Qualitative comparative study with an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach was used to explore the lives of Muslim converts. Interviews were conducted at Islamic Studies, Call and Guidance of the Philippines (ISCAG) and Tarbiyyah Islamic Female Institute for Muslim converts out of prison, New Bilibid Prison (NBP) and Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) for Muslim converts in prison. Results of the study show that first, for Muslim converts out of prison, exploration begins through (1) experiences of Catholicism as a norm in the family and eventual realization of its emptiness in practice, (2) experiences of Islam as a norm in the environment and discovery of meaningfulness of Islam (3) experiences of gradual holistic transformation of being a Muslim; and (4) experiences of extension of oneself towards family and society. Secondly, for Muslim converts in prison, exploration begins through (1) experiences of Apathy towards Catholicism and eventual deviation from moral standards, (2) experiences of prison condition as an environment of reflection on spirituality; and (3) experiences of positive effects of being a Muslim inside Prison. Comparisons show that there exists similarities and differences across the two settings in terms of (1) experiences of Catholicism and the degree of its internalization and actualization, (2) experiences of Islamic encounters and the process of conversion; and (3) experience of Islamic devotion and Islamic construct for the self. Theoretical bases of religious conversion found in unique contexts are discussed, initiating a paradigm shift of thinking that is needed to address the deeply rooted prejudices within Catholic and Islamic circles.

Keywords: Catholicism, Islamic conversion, social psychology, religion

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Authors: Kalangi Rodrigo

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The term Neuroecology elucidates the study of customizable variation in cognition and the brain. Subject marked the birth since 1980s, when researches began to apply methods of comparative evolutionary biology to cognitive processes and the underlying neural mechanisms of cognition. In Archaeology and Anthropology, we observe behaviors such as social learning skills, innovative feeding and foraging, tool use and social manipulation to determine the cognitive processes of ancient mankind. Depending on the brainstem size was used as a control variable, and phylogeny was controlled using independent contrasts. Both disciplines need to enriched with comparative literature and neurological experimental, behavioral studies among tribal peoples as well as primate groups which will lead the research to a potential end. Neuroecology examines the relations between ecological selection pressure and mankind or sex differences in cognition and the brain. The goal of neuroecology is to understand how natural law acts on perception and its neural apparatus. Furthermore, neuroecology will eventually lead both principal disciplines to Ethology, where human behaviors and social management studies from a biological perspective. It can be either ethnoarchaeological or prehistoric. Archaeology should adopt general approach of neuroecology, phylogenetic comparative methods can be used in the field, and new findings on the cognitive mechanisms and brain structures involved mating systems, social organization, communication and foraging. The contribution of neuroecology to archaeology and anthropology is the information it provides on the selective pressures that have influenced the evolution of cognition and brain structure of the mankind. It will shed a new light to the path of evolutionary studies including behavioral ecology, primate archaeology and cognitive archaeology.

Keywords: Neuroecology, Archaeology, Brain Evolution, Cognitive Archaeology

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Authors: Zeinab Papi

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This study was aimed at analyzing the copyright laws of Iran, Australia, the U.S., and library portals, thereby providing a proposed framework for the copyright of library resources for the NLAI and other Iranian libraries while considering the current situation and the internal Iranian laws. This is an applied study falling in the category of qualitative approach research. Documentary analysis method and comparative method were used to resolve the problem and answer the questions of the research. The two National Library of Australia (NLA) and Library of Congress (LC), together with the NLAI formed the research community. In addition, the Iranian Law for the Protection of Authors, Composers and Artists Rights (1970); the Australian Copyright Act (1968), and the U.S. Copyright Law (1976) were purposefully selected as three main resources among other documents and resources. Findings revealed that the dimensions of fair and non-profit use, duration of copyright, license, and agreement, copyright policy, moral rights, economic rights, and infringement of copyright were the main dimensions that, along with 49 main components, formed the proposed framework for the copyright of information resources for the NLAI and other Iranian libraries. It should be acknowledged that there are some differences in different copyright fields between countries' laws, and each country takes into account its internal conditions to compile and revise the laws. By following the laws of other countries, it is possible to effectively improve and develop copyright laws. The researcher hopes that this research can have its effects in creating awareness and ability among librarians, formulating a copyright policy in Iranian libraries, and helping legislators in revising copyright laws regarding library exceptions and exemptions.

Keywords: copyright, library resources, National Library and Archives of the I.R. of Iran, National Library of Australia, Library of Congress, copyright law

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Authors: Marzena Półka, Bożena Kukfisz

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This paper presents an analysis of dust explosion hazards in the process industries. It includes selected testing method of dust explosibility and presentation two of them according to experimental standards used by Department of Combustion and Fire Theory in The Main School of Fire Service in Warsaw. In the article are presented values of maximum acceptable surface temperature (MAST) of machines operating in the presence of dust cloud and chosen dust layer with thickness of 5 and 12,5mm. The comparative analysis, points to the conclusion that the value of the minimum ignition temperature of the layer (MITL) and the minimum ignition temperature of dust cloud (MTCD) depends on the granularity of the substance. Increasing the thickness of the dust layer reduces minimum ignition temperature of dust layer. Increasing the thickness of dust at the same time extends the flameless combustion and delays the ignition.

Keywords: fire safety engineering, industrial hazards, minimum ignition temperature, wood dust

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Authors: Devendra Kr Tayal, Vrinda Gupta, Aastha Bansal, Khushi Singh, Sristi Sharma, Hunny Gaur

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In today's world, suicide is a serious problem. In order to save lives, early suicide attempt detection and prevention should be addressed. A good number of at-risk people utilize social media platforms to talk about their issues or find knowledge on related chores. Twitter and Reddit are two of the most common platforms that are used for expressing oneself. Extensive research has already been done in this field. Through supervised classification techniques like Nave Bayes, Bernoulli Nave Bayes, and Multiple Layer Perceptron on a Reddit dataset, we demonstrate the early recognition of suicidal ideation. We also performed comparative analysis on these approaches and used accuracy, recall score, F1 score, and precision score for analysis.

Keywords: machine learning, suicide ideation detection, supervised classification, natural language processing

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Authors: Lesley Clack, Rachel Ellison, Elizabeth Chambers

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A belief exists that there are huge gender and racial disparities among hospital CEO’s in the United States, and historically, male, Caucasian healthcare executives have made significantly larger salaries than females and other races. With a recent focus on reducing barriers and disparities in healthcare, it remains to be seen whether there have been changes in these disparities over time. The purpose of this study was to explore disparities among salaries of hospital executives in the United States. Analysis of salary data was conducted utilizing online hospital salary databases. Statistical analysis was conducted to examine the significance of the differences. Results indicated that there had been improvements in disparities among some ethnicities. Gender disparities remain the largest gap. The implications of this study are significant for the field of healthcare management as disparities can affect both social dynamics and organizational culture. Understanding where disparities lie is the first step towards bridging the gap and reducing barriers for cultural diversity within healthcare management.

Keywords: health care, disparities, management, executives

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Authors: Migena Mana, Ahmed Khalid Syed, Abdul Malik, Nikhil Cherian

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In recent years, advancements in deep learning enabled researchers to tackle the problem of self-driving cars. Car companies use huge datasets to train their deep learning models to make autonomous cars a reality. However, this approach has certain drawbacks in that the state space of possible actions for a car is so huge that there cannot be a dataset for every possible road scenario. To overcome this problem, the concept of reinforcement learning (RL) is being investigated in this research. Since the problem of autonomous driving can be modeled in a simulation, it lends itself naturally to the domain of reinforcement learning. The advantage of this approach is that we can model different and complex road scenarios in a simulation without having to deploy in the real world. The autonomous agent can learn to drive by finding the optimal policy. This learned model can then be easily deployed in a real-world setting. In this project, we focus on three RL algorithms: Q-learning, Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG), and Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO). To model the environment, we have used TORCS (The Open Racing Car Simulator), which provides us with a strong foundation to test our model. The inputs to the algorithms are the sensor data provided by the simulator such as velocity, distance from side pavement, etc. The outcome of this research project is a comparative analysis of these algorithms. Based on the comparison, the PPO algorithm gives the best results. When using PPO algorithm, the reward is greater, and the acceleration, steering angle and braking are more stable compared to the other algorithms, which means that the agent learns to drive in a better and more efficient way in this case. Additionally, we have come up with a dataset taken from the training of the agent with DDPG and PPO algorithms. It contains all the steps of the agent during one full training in the form: (all input values, acceleration, steering angle, break, loss, reward). This study can serve as a base for further complex road scenarios. Furthermore, it can be enlarged in the field of computer vision, using the images to find the best policy.

Keywords: autonomous driving, DDPG (deep deterministic policy gradient), PPO (proximal policy optimization), reinforcement learning

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Authors: Barbara Covarrubias Venegas, Sabine Groblschegg, Bernhard Klaus, Julia Domnanovich

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Research Objectives: The roles and activities of human resource management (HRM) have changed a lot in the past years. Driven by a changing environment and therefore, new business requirements, the scope of human resource (HR) activities has widened. The extent to which these activities should focus on strategic issues to support the long-term success of a company has been discussed in science for many years. As many economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) experienced a phase of transition after the socialist era and are now recovering from the 2008 global crisis it is needed to examine the current state of HR positioning. Furthermore, a trend in HR work developing from rather administrative units to being strategic partners of management can be noticed. This leads to the question of better understanding the underlying competencies which are necessary to support organisations. This topic was addressed by the international study “HR Competencies in international comparison”. The quantitative survey was conducted by the Institute for Human Resources & Organisation of FHWien University of Applied Science of WKW (A) in cooperation with partner universities in the countries Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. Methodology: Using the questionnaire developed by Dave Ulrich we tested whether the HR Competency model can be used for Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. After performing confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis for the whole data set containing all five countries we could clearly distinguish between four competencies. In a further step, our analysis focused on median and average comparisons between the HR competency dimensions. Conclusion: Our literature review, in alignment with other studies, shows a relatively rapid pace of development of HR Roles and HR Competencies in BCSS in the past decades. Comparing data from BCSS and Austria we still can notice that regards strategic orientation there is a lack in BCSS countries, thus competencies are not as developed as in Austria. This leads us to the tentative conclusion that HR has undergone a rapid change but is still in a State of Transition from being a rather administrative unit to performing the role of a strategic partner.

Keywords: comparative study, HR competencies, HRM, HR roles

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Authors: Siti Khadijah Che Osmi, Mohammed Ahmad Syed

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Underground structures are crucial components which required detailed analysis and design. Tunnels, for instance, are massively constructed as transportation infrastructures and utilities network especially in urban environments. Considering their prime importance to the economy and public safety that cannot be compromised, thus any instability to these tunnels will be highly detrimental to their performance. Recent experience suggests that tunnels become vulnerable during earthquakes and blast scenarios. However, a very limited amount of studies has been carried out to study and understanding the dynamic response and performance of underground tunnels under those unpredictable extreme hazards. In view of the importance of enhancing the resilience of these structures, the overall aims of the study are to evaluate probabilistic future performance of shallow tunnels subjected to seismic and blast loads by developing detailed fragility analysis. Critical non-linear time history numerical analyses using sophisticated finite element software Midas GTS NX have been presented about the current methods of analysis, taking into consideration of structural typology, ground motion and explosive characteristics, effect of soil conditions and other associated uncertainties on the tunnel integrity which may ultimately lead to the catastrophic failure of the structures. The proposed fragility curves for both extreme loadings are discussed and compared which provide significant information the performance of the tunnel under extreme hazards which may beneficial for future risk assessment and loss estimation.

Keywords: fragility analysis, seismic loads, shallow tunnels, blast loads

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Authors: Nazlı Üstünes Demirhan

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International norms are subject to pressures of change through contestation during the course of their lifetimes. The nature of the contestation is one of the factors that are likely to have a determinative role in the direction of this change towards a stronger or weaker norm. This paper aims to understand the relation between the legality of contestation and the direction of change in norm strength. Based on a multidimensional norm strength conceptualization, it is hypothesized that use of legal logic and rhetoric of argumentation would have a positive influence for norm strength, whereas non-legal nature of contestation would lack this and weaken the norm. In order to show this, the evolution of the human protection norm between 1999 and 2018 will be examined with reference to two major contestation periods; Kosovo intervention of 1999, which led to the development of R2P doctrine, and Libya intervention of 2011, which is followed by the demise of the norm. The comparative analysis will be conducted through process tracing method with a document analysis on the Security Council meeting minutes, resolutions, and press releases. This study aims to contribute to the norm contestation literature with the introduction of legal process analysis. It also relates to further questions in IR/IL nexus, relating to the value added of norm legality as well as the politics of legalization.

Keywords: humanitarian intervention, legality, norm contestation, norm dynamics, norm strength, responsibility to protect

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Authors: Cristina Vatamanu, Doina Cosovan, Dragos Gavrilut, Henri Luchian

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In the past few years, the amount of malicious software increased exponentially and, therefore, machine learning algorithms became instrumental in identifying clean and malware files through semi-automated classification. When working with very large datasets, the major challenge is to reach both a very high malware detection rate and a very low false positive rate. Another challenge is to minimize the time needed for the machine learning algorithm to do so. This paper presents a comparative study between different machine learning techniques such as linear classifiers, ensembles, decision trees or various hybrids thereof. The training dataset consists of approximately 2 million clean files and 200.000 infected files, which is a realistic quantitative mixture. The paper investigates the above mentioned methods with respect to both their performance (detection rate and false positive rate) and their practicability.

Keywords: ensembles, false positives, feature selection, one side class algorithm

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Authors: Srushti R. Joshi, Ujjwal Rakesh, Spoorthi Sripad

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The rapid advancement of remote sensing technologies has revolutionized plant health monitoring, offering valuable insights for precision agriculture and environmental management. This paper presents a comprehensive comparative analysis between the widely employed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and state-of-the-art hyperspectral sensors in the context of plant health assessment. The study aims to elucidate the weigh ups of spectral resolution. Employing a diverse range of vegetative environments, the research utilizes simulated datasets to evaluate the performance of NDVI and hyperspectral sensors in detecting subtle variations indicative of plant stress, disease, and overall vitality. Through meticulous data analysis and statistical validation, this study highlights the superior performance of hyperspectral sensors across the parameters used.

Keywords: normalized difference vegetation index, hyperspectral sensor, spectral resolution, infrared

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Authors: Sadeq Al Yaari, Ayman Al Yaari, Adham Al Yaari, Montaha Al Yaari, Aayah Al Yaari, Sajedah Al Yaari

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Background: Validation of communication activities of daily living-second edition (CADL-2) and assessment of language-related functional activities (ALFA) tests is a critical investment decision, and activities related to language impairments often are underestimated. Literature indicates that age factors, and gender differences may affect the performance of the aphasics. Thus, understanding these influential factors is highly important to neuropsycholinguists and speech language pathologists (SLPs). Purpose: The goal of this study is twofold: (1) to in/validate CADL-2 and ALFA tests, and (2) to investigate whether or not the two assessment tests are reliable. Design: A comparative study is made between the results obtained from the analyses of the Arabic versions of CADL-2 and ALFA tests. Participants: The communication activities of daily-living and language-related functional activities were assessed from the obtained results of 100 adult aphasics (50 males, 50 females; ages 16 to 65). Procedures: Firstly, the two translated and standardized Arabic versions of CADL-2 and ALFA tests were introduced to the Arab aphasics under investigation. Armed with the new two versions of the tests, one of the researchers assessed the language-related functional communication and activities. Outcomes drawn from the obtained analysis of the comparative studies were then qualitatively and statistically analyzed. Main outcomes and Results: Regarding the validity of CADL-2 and ALFA, it is found that …. Is more valid in both pre-and posttests. Concerning the reliability of the two tests, it is found that ….is more reliable in both pre-and-posttests which undoubtedly means that …..is more trustable. Nor must we forget to indicate here that the relationship between age and gender was very weak due to that no remarkable gender differences between the two in both CADL-2 and ALFA pre-and-posttests. Conclusions & Implications: CADL-2 and ALFA tests were found to be valid and reliable tests. In contrast to previous studies, age and gender were not significantly associated with the results of validity and reliability of the two assessment tests. In clearer terms, age and gender patterns do not affect the validation of these two tests. Future studies might focus on complex questions including the use of CADL-2 and ALFA functionally; how gender and puberty influence the results in case the sample is large; the effects of each type of aphasia on the final outcomes, and measurements’ results of imaging techniques.

Keywords: CADL-2, ALFA, comparison, language test, arab aphasics, validity, reliability, neuropsycholinguistics, comparison

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Authors: B. Falah, N. E. Abakouy

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Due to its high computational cost, mutation testing has been neglected by researchers. Recently, many cost and mutants’ reduction techniques have been developed, improved, and experimented, but few of them has relied the possibility of reducing the cost of mutation testing on the program type of the application under test. This paper is a comparative study between four operators’ selection techniques (mutants sampling, class level operators, method level operators, and all operators’ selection) based on the program code type of each application under test. It aims at finding an alternative approach to reveal the effect of code type on mutation testing score. The result of our experiment shows that the program code type can affect the mutation score and that the programs using polymorphism are best suited to be tested with mutation testing.

Keywords: equivalent mutant, killed mutant, mutation score, mutation testing, program code type, software testing

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Authors: Nadeen Eltoukhy, Sahar S. Sheta, Walaa Elnaggar, Karim Bakr

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Purpose: The aim of this study is to compare the clinical efficacy and side effects of oral versus intralesional propranolol treatment of infantile capillary hemangiomas in infants. Methods: The study enrolled 40 infants diagnosed with infantile capillary hemangiomas. Patients were divided into 2 groups: Group A (Non-invasive group) included 20 infants who received oral propranolol hydrochloride starting at a dose of 1 mg/kg/day BID, then increased to a max of 2 mg/kg/day BID gradually over 2 weeks for 3 months. Group B (Invasive group) included 20 infants who received intralesional propranolol injection at a dose of 1 mg/mL; the volume of the injected drug depended on the size of the lesion (0.2 mL injected per cm of lesion diameter), with a maximum volume of 1 mL for a lesion of 5 cm diameter under complete aseptic conditions in the operating theater. Results: At three months after initiating treatment, the circumferential size of the hemangioma showed a statistically significant decrease in both groups; in Group A from 3.66±2.89 cm to 1.56±1.26 cm with p-value <0.05 and in Group B from 2.99±2.73 cm to 1.32±1.18 cm with p-value <0.05. There is no statistically significant comparative difference between the two groups (p-value = 0.538 = insignificant). Regarding the complications of oral propranolol, one patient (5%) had bradycardia, and one patient (5%) had diarrhea. In the injection group, 20 patients (100%) had local edema, and one patient (5%) had a local infection. Conclusions: Both oral non-invasive and intralesional invasive propranolol are safely used to successfully treat and decrease the size of infantile hemangioma while showing no statistically comparative difference between both treatment techniques.

Keywords: hemangioma, oral beta blocker, intralesional beta blocker, infants

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Authors: Michael K.O. Ayomoh, Khaled A. Abou-El-Hossein., Sameh F.M. Ghobashy

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This paper proposes a numerical modelling scheme for surface roughness prediction. The approach is premised on the use of 3D difference analysis method enhanced with the use of feedback control loop where a set of adaptive weights are generated. The surface roughness values utilized in this paper were adapted from [1]. Their experiments were carried out using S55C high carbon steel. A comparison was further carried out between the proposed technique and those utilized in [1]. The experimental design has three cutting parameters namely: depth of cut, feed rate and cutting speed with twenty-seven experimental sample-space. The simulation trials conducted using Matlab software is of two sub-classes namely: prediction of the surface roughness readings for the non-boundary cutting combinations (NBCC) with the aid of the known surface roughness readings of the boundary cutting combinations (BCC). The following simulation involved the use of the predicted outputs from the NBCC to recover the surface roughness readings for the boundary cutting combinations (BCC). The simulation trial for the NBCC attained a state of total stability in the 7th iteration i.e. a point where the actual and desired roughness readings are equal such that error is minimized to zero by using a set of dynamic weights generated in every following simulation trial. A comparative study among the three methods showed that the proposed difference analysis technique with adaptive weight from feedback control, produced a much accurate output as against the abductive and regression analysis techniques presented in this.

Keywords: Difference Analysis, Surface Roughness; Mesh- Analysis, Feedback control, Adaptive weight, Boundary Element

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Authors: H. Aksas, H. Babaci, K. Louhab

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In this paper, a comparative study of the adsorption of Chromium and dyes, onto mixture biosorbents, olive stones and date pits at different percentage was investigated in aqueous solution. The study of various parameters: Effect of contact time, pH, temperature and initial concentration shows that these materials possess a high affinity for the adsorption of chromium for the adsorption of dye bezaktiv yellow HE-4G. To deepen the comparative study of the adsorption of chromium and dye with the use of different blends of olive stones and date pits, the following models are studied: Langmuir, Freundlich isotherms and Dubinin- Radushkvich (D-R) were used as the adsorption equilibrium data model. Langmuir isotherm model was the most suitable for the adsorption of the dye bezaktiv HE-4G and the D-R model is most suitable for adsorption Chrome. The pseudo-first-order model, pseudo-second order and intraparticle diffusion were used to describe the adsorption kinetics. The apparent activation energy was found to be less than 8KJ/mol, which is characteristic of a controlled chemical reaction for the adsorption of two materials. t was noticed that adsorption of chromium and dye BEZAKTIV HE-YELLOW 4G follows the kinetics of the pseudo second order. The study of the effect of temperature was quantified by calculating various thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy, enthalpy and entropy changes. The resulting thermodynamic parameters indicate the endothermic nature of the adsorption of Cr (VI) ions and the dye Bezaktiv HE-4G. But these materials are very good adsorbents, as they represent a low cost. in addition, it has been noticed that the greater the quantity of olive stone in the mixture increases, the adsorption ability of the dye or chromium increases.

Keywords: chromium ions, anions dye, sorption, mixed adsorbents, olive stone, date pits

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Authors: Rahul Malhotra, Anurag Sharma

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Fiber based access networks can deliver performance that can support the increasing demands for high speed connections. One of the new technologies that have emerged in recent years is Passive Optical Networks. This paper is targeted to show the simultaneous delivery of triple play service (data, voice, and video). The comparative investigation and suitability of various data rates is presented. It is demonstrated that as we increase the data rate, number of users to be accommodated decreases due to increase in bit error rate.

Keywords: FTTH, quad play, play service, access networks, data rate

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Authors: Rihab Hamdi, Amel Hadri Hamida, Fatiha Khelili, Sakina Zerouali, Ouafae Bennis

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This paper features a comparative study performance of sliding mode controller (SMC) for closed-loop voltage control of direct current to direct current (DC-DC) three-cells buck converter connected in parallel, operating in continuous conduction mode (CCM), based on pulse-width modulation (PWM) with SMC based on hysteresis modulation (HM) where an adaptive feedforward technique is adopted. On one hand, for the PWM-based SM, the approach is to incorporate a fixed-frequency PWM scheme which is effectively a variant of SM control. On the other hand, for the HM-based SM, oncoming an adaptive feedforward control that makes the hysteresis band variable in the hysteresis modulator of the SM controller in the aim to restrict the switching frequency variation in the case of any change of the line input voltage or output load variation are introduced. The results obtained under load change, input change and reference change clearly demonstrates a similar dynamic response of both proposed techniques, their effectiveness is fast and smooth tracking of the desired output voltage. The PWM-based SM technique has greatly improved the dynamic behavior with a bit advantageous compared to the HM-based SM technique, as well as provide stability in any operating conditions. Simulation studies in MATLAB/Simulink environment have been performed to verify the concept.

Keywords: DC-DC converter, hysteresis modulation, parallel multi-cells converter, pulse-width modulation, robustness, sliding mode control

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Authors: Mansour Abdi, Hadi Molaei Yasavoli

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The purpose of this research is to comparison of self- efficacy and life satisfaction in normal users and users with internet addiction. The present study was descriptive and causal-comparative. Therefore, 304 students were selected random sampling method from students of Semnan University and completed questionnaires of internet addiction (young), Self-Efficacy Questionnaire and Life Satisfaction (SWIS). For data analysis was used the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). The results showed that internet addiction users have lower levels of self-efficacy and life satisfaction in comparison with normal users and the difference in p=0/0005 significantly. The findings showed that 78 percent of the variance in the dependent variables of self-efficacy and life satisfaction by grouping variables (internet addiction users and normal) is determined. Finally, considering that the rate of self-efficacy and life satisfaction is effective in the incidence of Internet addiction, it is proposed required measures are taken to enhance self-efficacy and life satisfaction in Internet users.

Keywords: self-efficacy, life satisfaction, users, internet addiction, normal users

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Authors: Sumit Rahangdale

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This research paper is a comparative study of two BRTS cities of Madhya Pradesh (INDIA), Bhopal and Indore. Indore is the largest and most populous city of Madhya Pradesh, with heavy traffic, while Bhopal though being the capital of Madhya Pradesh is comparatively less developed and shows less traffic The cities show similarity in case of peri-urban nature, but variation is observed in transportation fare, where Indore has been able to reduce it but Bhopal couldn’t, one of the reason for it is the para-transit services. Indore can be considered as a successful model due to the low fares and can be implemented in other parts of the city. The research paper tries to identify relation of para-transit services with the peri-urban connectivity and provide a solution for the Bhopal case study.

Keywords: demand-supply-fare relationship, mobility and accessibility, paratransit, peri-urban connectivity

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Authors: Fábio A. S. Mota, Mauro A. S. S. Ravagnani, E. P. Carvalho

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In the present paper the design of plate heat exchangers is formulated as an optimization problem considering two mathematical modeling. The number of plates is the objective function to be minimized, considering implicitly some parameters configuration. Screening is the optimization method used to solve the problem. Thermal and hydraulic constraints are verified, not viable solutions are discarded and the method searches for the convergence to the optimum, case it exists. A case study is presented to test the applicability of the developed algorithm. Results show coherency with the literature.

Keywords: plate heat exchanger, optimization, modeling, simulation

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Authors: Tahseen Bibi

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Language is a source of communicating the ideas, emotions and feelings to others. Languages are different from one another on the basis of symbols and articulation. Regional languages play a role of unification in any country. National language of any country gives strength to its masses as it evaporates the mutual indifferences. There are various regional languages in Pakistan like Sindhi, Pushto, Hindko and Balochi. Hindko language dates back to the ancient times and the Hindko speakers can also easily understand and speak Urdu language. Urdu language is an amalgam of various languages. These languages are interconnected. Thus we can draw an analogy between the two languages under discussion on the basis of the pronunciation. The research will show that there are so many words in both the languages which have the similar pronunciation. It will further tell that the roots of Urdu language lie in Hindko. The reason behind this resemblance is that Urdu has got extracted from Hindko and other languages. Hindko language has played a prominent role in the development of Urdu language. Thus the role of Hindko language in the emergence and development of Urdu cannot be denied. This article will use the qualitative and comparative study as methodology. The research will highlight that there is close resemblance in both the languages on the basis of pronunciation, signifying that Urdu language has been extracted from Hindkon language.

Keywords: Hindko, Urdu, regional languages, vocabulary

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Authors: S. Subrmanian, A. Siva, R. Raghul

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In modern construction industry, usage of cold form composite slab has its scope widely due to its light weight, high structural properties and economic factor. To enhance the structural integrity, mechanical interlocking or frictional interlocking was introduced. The role of mechanical interlocking or frictional interlocking is to increase the longitudinal shear between the profiled sheet and concrete. This paper deals with the experimental evaluation of three types of mechanical interlocking devices namely normal stud shear connector, J-Type shear connector, U-Type shear connector. An attempt was made to evolve the shear connector which can be suitable for the composite slab as an interlocking device. Totally six number of composite slabs have been experimented with three types of shear connectors and comparison study is made. The outcome was compared with numerical model was created by ABAQUS software and analyzed for comparative purpose. The result was U-Type shear connector provided better performance and resistance.

Keywords: composite slabs, shear connector, end slip, longitudinal shear

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Authors: Laura Josabeth Oros-Avilés, Josefina León-León

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In recent decades, the concern of the monetary authorities has increased because of the instability of the financial sector caused by the crash of speculative bubbles. In fact, the crash of "housing bubble" in U.S. (2007-2008) led the latest global crisis. The aim of paper is to analyze the features and causes of the financial and banking crisis from an historical view. In particular, in this research, a comparative study of some analytical approaches about economic and financial history is discussed. In addition, the role of monetary policy of central banks in managing financial crises, from its origins to today, is analyzed. According to the studied approaches, two types of factors that cause the financial instability were identified: subjective and objectives. In the research, these factors are deeply discussed, in order to noting the agreements and disagreement between the authors. Specially, it is worth noting that all of them recognized that the credit boom and the financial deregulation are the main causes of financial crises.

Keywords: asset prices, banking crises, financial bubble, financial instability, monetary policy

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Authors: S. Fantin

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This study is the result of the legal research on cybersecurity and data protection within the EUNITY (Cybersecurity and Privacy Dialogue between Europe and Japan) project, aimed at fostering the dialogue between the European Union and Japan. Based on the research undertaken therein, the author offers an outline of the main asymmetries in the laws governing such fields in the two regions. The research is a comparative analysis of the two legal frameworks, taking into account specific provisions, ratio legis and policy initiatives. Recent doctrine was taken into account, too, as well as empirical interviews with EU and Japanese stakeholders and project partners. With respect to the protection of personal data, the European Union has recently reformed its legal framework with a package which includes a regulation (General Data Protection Regulation), and a directive (Directive 680 on personal data processing in the law enforcement domain). In turn, the Japanese law under scrutiny for this study has been the Act on Protection of Personal Information. Based on a comparative analysis, some asymmetries arise. The main ones refer to the definition of personal information and the scope of the two frameworks. Furthermore, the rights of the data subjects are differently articulated in the two regions, while the nature of sanctions take two opposite approaches. Regarding the cybersecurity framework, the situation looks similarly misaligned. Japan’s main text of reference is the Basic Cybersecurity Act, while the European Union has a more fragmented legal structure (to name a few, Network and Information Security Directive, Critical Infrastructure Directive and Directive on the Attacks at Information Systems). On an relevant note, unlike a more industry-oriented European approach, the concept of cyber hygiene seems to be neatly embedded in the Japanese legal framework, with a number of provisions that alleviate operators’ liability by turning such a burden into a set of recommendations to be primarily observed by citizens. With respect to the reasons to fill such normative gaps, these are mostly grounded on three basis. Firstly, the cross-border nature of cybercrime brings to consider both magnitude of the issue and its regulatory stance globally. Secondly, empirical findings from the EUNITY project showed how recent data breaches and cyber-attacks had shared implications between Europe and Japan. Thirdly, the geopolitical context is currently going through the direction of bringing the two regions to significant agreements from a trade standpoint, but also from a data protection perspective (with an imminent signature by both parts of a so-called ‘Adequacy Decision’). The research conducted in this study reveals two asymmetric legal frameworks on cyber security and data protection. With a view to the future challenges presented by the strengthening of the collaboration between the two regions and the trans-national fashion of cybercrime, it is urged that solutions are found to fill in such gaps, in order to allow European Union and Japan to wisely increment their partnership.

Keywords: cybersecurity, data protection, European Union, Japan

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Authors: Cesar Hernández, Diego Giral, Ingrid Páez

Abstract:

This article proposes a hybrid algorithm for spectrum allocation in cognitive radio networks based on the algorithms Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to improve the performance of the spectrum mobility of secondary users in cognitive radio networks. To calculate the level of performance of the proposed algorithm a comparative analysis between the proposed AHP-TOPSIS, Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) and Multiplicative Exponent Weighting (MEW) algorithm is performed. Four evaluation metrics is used. These metrics are the accumulative average of failed handoffs, the accumulative average of handoffs performed, the accumulative average of transmission bandwidth, and the accumulative average of the transmission delay. The results of the comparison show that AHP-TOPSIS Algorithm provides 2.4 times better performance compared to a GRA Algorithm and, 1.5 times better than the MEW Algorithm.

Keywords: cognitive radio, decision making, hybrid algorithm, spectrum handoff, wireless networks

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Authors: Kwaku Damoah

Abstract:

The agricultural sector is characterized by continuous transformation, driven by factors such as demographic shifts, evolving consumer preferences, climate change, and migration trends. This dynamic environment presents complex challenges for key stakeholders including farmers, governments, and investors, who must navigate these changes to achieve optimal investment returns. To effectively predict market trends and uncover promising investment opportunities, a systematic, data-driven approach is essential. This paper introduces the Structural Evolution Index (SEI), a machine learning-based methodology. SEI is specifically designed to analyse long-term trends and forecast the potential of emerging agricultural products for investment. Versatile in application, it evaluates various agricultural metrics such as production, yield, trade, land use, and consumption, providing a comprehensive view of the evolution within agricultural markets. By harnessing data from the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAOSTAT), this study demonstrates the SEI's capabilities through Comparative Exploratory Analysis and evaluation of international trade in agricultural products, focusing on Malaysia and Singapore. The SEI methodology reveals intricate patterns and transitions within the agricultural sector, enabling stakeholders to strategically identify and capitalize on emerging markets. This predictive framework is a powerful tool for decision-makers, offering crucial insights that help anticipate market shifts and align investments with anticipated returns.

Keywords: agricultural investment, algorithm, comparative exploratory analytics, machine learning, market trends, predictive analytics, structural evolution index

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Authors: Sheikh Shams Azam, Manoj Raju, Venkatesh Pagidimarri, Vamsi Kasivajjala

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Over the past decade, there has been a steep rise in the data-driven analysis in major areas of medicine, such as clinical decision support system, survival analysis, patient similarity analysis, image analytics etc. Most of the data in the field are well-structured and available in numerical or categorical formats which can be used for experiments directly. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, there exists a wide expanse of data that is intractable for direct analysis owing to its unstructured nature which can be found in the form of discharge summaries, clinical notes, procedural notes which are in human written narrative format and neither have any relational model nor any standard grammatical structure. An important step in the utilization of these texts for such studies is to transform and process the data to retrieve structured information from the haystack of irrelevant data using information retrieval and data mining techniques. To address this problem, the authors present Q-Map in this paper, which is a simple yet robust system that can sift through massive datasets with unregulated formats to retrieve structured information aggressively and efficiently. It is backed by an effective mining technique which is based on a string matching algorithm that is indexed on curated knowledge sources, that is both fast and configurable. The authors also briefly examine its comparative performance with MetaMap, one of the most reputed tools for medical concepts retrieval and present the advantages the former displays over the latter.

Keywords: information retrieval, unified medical language system, syntax based analysis, natural language processing, medical informatics

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Authors: Christina Wainikka, Besrat Tesfaye

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Several of the countries in the Baltic Sea region are ranked high in international innovations rankings, such as the Global Innovation Index and European Innovation Scoreboard. There are however some concerns in the performance of different countries. For example, there is a widely spread notion about “The Swedish Paradox”. Sweden is ranked high due to investments in R&D and patent activity, but the outcome is not as high as could be expected. SMEs in Sweden are also below EU average when it comes to registering intellectual property rights such as patents and trademarks. This study is concentrating on the protection of utility model. This intellectual property right does not exist in Sweden, but in for example Finland and Germany. The utility model protection is sometimes referred to as a “patent light” since it is easier to obtain than the patent protection but at the same time does cover technical solutions. In examining statistics on patent activities and activities in registering utility models it is clear that utility model protection is scarcely used in the countries that have the protection. In Germany 10 577 applications were made in 2021. In Finland there were 259 applications made in 2021. This can be compared with patent applications that were 58 568 in Germany in 2021 and 1 662 in Finland in 2021. In Sweden there has never been a protection for utility models. The only protection for technical solutions is patents and business secrets. The threshold for obtaining a patent is high, due to the legal requirements and the costs. The patent protection is there for often not chosen by SMEs in Sweden. This study examines whether the protection of utility models in other countries in the Baltic region provide SMEs in these countries with better options to protect their innovations. The legal methodology is comparative law. In order to study the effects of the legal differences statistics are examined and interviews done with SMEs from different industries.

Keywords: baltic sea region, comparative law, SME, utility model

Procedia PDF Downloads 105