Search results for: archaeological heritage resources

Authors: Shaza Melies, Abeer Refky, Nihad Mansoor

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Multimodality involves the communication between verbal and visual components in various discourses. A painting represents a form of communication between the artist and the viewer in terms of colors, shades, objects, and the title. This paper aims to present how multimodality can be used to decode the verbal and visual dimensions a painting holds. For that purpose, this study uses Kress and van Leeuwen’s theoretical framework of visual grammar for the analysis of the multimodal semiotic resources of selected paintings of Salvador Dali. This study investigates the visual decoding of the selected paintings of Salvador Dali and analyzing their social and political meanings using Kress and van Leeuwen’s framework of visual grammar. The paper attempts to answer the following questions: 1. How far can multimodality decode the verbal and non-verbal meanings of surrealistic art? 2. How can Kress and van Leeuwen’s theoretical framework of visual grammar be applied to analyze Dali’s paintings? 3. To what extent is Kress and van Leeuwen’s theoretical framework of visual grammar apt to deliver political and social messages of Dali? The paper reached the following findings: the framework’s descriptive tools (representational, interactive, and compositional meanings) can be used to analyze the paintings’ title and their visual elements. Social and political messages were delivered by appropriate usage of color, gesture, vectors, modality, and the way social actors were represented.

Keywords: multimodal analysis, painting analysis, Salvador Dali, visual grammar

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Authors: G. Erkomaishvili, M. Kobalava, T. Lazariashvili, N. Damenia

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Current state of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Georgia is analyzed and evaluated in the paper, the existing legislative background for regulating investments and stimulating policies to attract investments are shown. It is noted that in developing countries encouragement of investment activity, support and implementation are of the most important tasks, implying a consistent investment policy, investor-friendly tax regime and the legal system, reducing administrative barriers and restrictions, fare competitive conditions and business development infrastructure. The work deals with the determining factor of FDIs and the main directions of stimulation, as well as prospective industries where new investments are needed. Contributing and hindering factors and stimulating measures are analyzed. As a result of the research, the direct and indirect factors attracting FDI have been identified. Facilitating factors to FDI inflow are as follows: simplicity of starting business, geopolitical location, low taxes, access to credit, ease of ownership registration, natural resources, low burden of regulations, low level of corruption and low crime rates. Hindering factors to FDI inflow are as follows: small market, lack of policy for attracting investments, low qualification of the workforce (despite the large number of unemployed people it is difficult to find workers with necessary special skills and qualifications), high interest rates, instability of national currency exchange rate, presence of conflict zones within the country and so forth.

Keywords: foreign direct investment, investor, investment attracting marketing policies, reinvestment

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Authors: Mohd Iqbal Malik

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Ethical philosophy of Quran pinnacled virtue and economics as the part and parcel of human life. Human beings are to be imagined by the sign of morals. Soul and morality are both among the essences of human personality. Islam lays the foundation of ethics by installation of making a momentous variance between virtue and vice. It suggests for the distribution of wealth in-order to terminate accumulation of economic resources. Quran claims for the ambiguous pavement to attain virtue by saying, ‘Never will you attain the good (reward) until you spend (in the way of Allah) from that which you love. And whatever you spend indeed, Allah knows of it.’ The essence of Quran is to eliminate all the deep-seated approaches through which the wealth of nations is being accumulated within few hands. The paper will study the Quranic Philosophy Of Islamic Economic System. In recent times, to get out of the human resource development mystery of Muslims, Ismail Al-Raji Faruqi led the way in the so-called ‘Islamization’ of knowledge. Rahman and Faruqi formed opposite opinions on this project. Al-Faruqi thought of the Islamization of knowledge in terms of introducing Western learning into received Islamic values and vice versa. This proved to be a mere peripheral treatment of Islamic values in relation to Western knowledge. It is true that out of the programme of Islamization of knowledge arose Islamic universities in many Muslim countries. Yet the academic programmes of these universities were not founded upon a substantive understanding and application of the tawhidi epistemology.

Keywords: ethical philosophy, modern Islamic finance, knowledge of finance, Islamic banking

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Authors: Faten Hatem

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This paper promotes the importance of focusing on spatial aspects and affective factors that impact smart urbanism. This helps to better inform city governance, spatial planning, and policymaking to focus on what Smart does and what it can achieve for cities in terms of performance rather than on using the notion for prestige in a worldwide trend towards becoming a smart city. By illustrating how this style of practice compromises the social aspects and related elements of space making through an interdisciplinary comparative approach, the paper clarifies the impact of this compromise on the overall smart city performance. In response, this paper recognizes the importance of establishing a new meaning for urban progress by moving beyond improving basic services of the city to enhance the actual human experience which is essential for the development of authentic smart cities. The topic is presented under five overlooked areas that discuss the relation between smart cities’ potential and efficiency paradox, the social aspect, connectedness with nature, the human factor, and untapped resources. However, these themes are not meant to be discussed in silos, instead, they are presented to collectively examine smart cities in performance, arguing there is more to the practical life of smart cities than software and hardware inventions. The study is based on a case study approach, presenting Milton Keynes as a living example to learn from while engaging with various methods for data collection including multi-disciplinary semi-structured interviews, field observations, and data mining.

Keywords: smart design, the human in the city, human needs and urban planning, sustainability, smart cities, smart

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Authors: Wilson Handoko, Farshid Pahlevani, Isha Singla, Himanish Kumar, Veena Sahajwalla

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Aluminium bronze alloys are well known for their superior abrasion, tensile strength and non-magnetic properties, due to the co-presence of iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al) as alloying elements and have been commonly used in many industrial applications. However, continuous exposure to the marine environment will accelerate the risk of a tendency to Al bronze alloys parts failures. Although a higher level of corrosion resistance properties can be achieved by modifying its elemental composition, it will come at a price through the complex manufacturing process and increases the risk of reducing the ductility of Al bronze alloy. In this research, the use of ironmaking slag and waste plastic as the input source for surface modification of Al bronze alloy was implemented. Microstructural analysis conducted using polarised light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that is equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). An electrochemical corrosion test was carried out through Tafel polarisation method and calculation of protection efficiency against the base-material was determined. Results have indicated that uniform modified surface which is as the result of selective diffusion process, has enhanced corrosion resistance properties up to 12.67%. This approach has opened a new opportunity to access various industrial utilisations in commercial scale through minimising the dependency on natural resources by transforming waste sources into the protective coating in environmentally friendly and cost-effective ways.

Keywords: aluminium bronze, waste-based surface modification, tafel polarisation, corrosion resistance

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Authors: Aleksandra Ristic

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The world changes and becomes a global village. Globalization of the last decade has caused changes and developments in the economy and technology, which also affected communication resources and brought diversities of cultural differences, values, relationships, religions, sexual identities, economic backgrounds, mindsets, perspectives, talents, and much more. Diversity without inclusion is marginalization and exclusion. Diversity gives a competitive advantage, enriches, and gives choice and power for decision-making and solutions. On a daily basis, in the role of special educators, we facilitate children’s observations of the world by improving diversity and inclusion in the school system. The subject of the research is children with special needs, expressing and noticing the differences and similarities in the world, while this is the key to their development. The subject of the research is also six pictures, which are similar and unique and represent scenes from everyone’s life. In the methodology, we conducted a theoretical review of the importance of difference, values, equality, inclusion, and exclusion and the quantitative research approach to analyze various factors by children with special needs. We used tools such as self /peer–reflection for them to think and to speak up through their own experiences of the words: difference, values, equality, inclusion, and exclusion. After that, children with special needs observed the photos and attributed those terms to them. By interpreting the results, we deepened our understanding of the power of the child's understanding of individual differences and elements of inclusion, which is based on the experiences at home, in the school environment, and in life. The children, as individuals or establishing networking groups, define those terms and, with the solutions, contribute to making the world more included and accepted.

Keywords: diversity, equality, exclusion, inclusion, special needs, values

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Authors: Van Chung Nguyen

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The purpose of this study is to study the current status of the value chain for fish distribution at Quang Binh Fishing Port with 360 research samples in which the research subjects are fishermen, traders, retailers, and businesses. The research uses the approach of applying the value chain theoretical framework of Kaplinsky and Morris to quantify and describe market channels and actors participating in the value chain and analyze the value-added process of these companies according to market channels. The analysis results show that fishermen directly catch fish with high economic efficiency, but processing enterprises and, especially retailers, are the agents to obtain higher added value. Processing enterprises play a role that is not really clear due to outdated processing technology; in contrast, retailers have the highest added value. This shows that the added value of the fish supply chain at Quang Binh fishing port is still limited, leading to low output quality. Therefore, the selling price of fish to the market is still high compared to the abundant fish resources, leading to low consumption and limiting exports due to the quality of processing enterprises. This reduces demand and fishing capacity, and productivity is lower than potential. To improve the fish value chain at fishing ports, it is necessary to focus on improving product quality, strengthening linkages between actors, building brands and product consumption markets at the same time, improving the capacity of export processing enterprises.

Keywords: Quang Binh fishing port, value chain, market, distributions channel

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Authors: Haruna Maama

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Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting is gaining considerable attention despite being voluntary. Meanwhile, it consumes resources to provide ESG reporting, raising a question of its value relevance. The study examined the impact of ESG reporting on the market value of listed firms in SSA. The annual and integrated reports of 276 listed sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) firms. The integrated reporting scores of the firm were analysed using a content analysis method. A multiple regression estimation technique using a GMM approach was employed for the analysis. The results revealed that ESG has a positive relationship with firms’ market value, suggesting that investors are interested in the ESG information disclosure of firms in SSA. This suggests that extensive ESG disclosures are attempts by firms to obtain the approval of powerful social, political and environmental stakeholders, especially institutional investors. Furthermore, the market value analysis evidence is consistent with signalling theory, which postulates that firms provide integrated reports as a signal to influence the behaviour of stakeholders. This finding reflects the value placed on investors' social, environmental and governance disclosures, which affirms the views that conventional investors would care about the social, environmental and governance issues of their potential or existing investee firms. Overall, the evidence is consistent with the prediction of signalling theory. In the context of this theory, integrated reporting is seen as part of firms' overall competitive strategy to influence investors' behaviour. The findings of this study make unique contributions to knowledge and practice in corporate reporting.

Keywords: environmental accounting, ESG accounting, signalling theory, sustainability reporting, sub-saharan Africa

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Authors: Moustafa Osman Mohammed

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This paper is mapping air quality model to engineering the industrial system that ultimately utilized in extensive range of energy systems, distribution resources, and end-user technologies. The model is determining long-range transport patterns contribution as area source can either traced from 48 hrs backward trajectory model or remotely described from background measurements data in those days. The trajectory model will be run within stable conditions and quite constant parameters of the atmospheric pressure at the most time of the year. Air parcel trajectory is necessary for estimating the long-range transport of pollutants and other chemical species. It provides a better understanding of airflow patterns. Since a large amount of meteorological data and a great number of calculations are required to drive trajectory, it will be very useful to apply HYPSLIT model to locate areas and boundaries influence air quality at regional location of Windsor. 2–days backward trajectories model at high and low concentration measurements below and upward the benchmark which was areas influence air quality measurement levels. The benchmark level will be considered as 30 (μg/m3) as the moderate level for Ontario region. Thereby, air quality model is incorporating a midpoint concept between biotic and abiotic components to broaden the scope of quantification impact. The later outcomes’ theories of environmental obligation suggest either a recommendation or a decision of what is a legislative should be achieved in mitigation measures of air emission impact ultimately.

Keywords: air quality, management systems, environmental impact assessment, industrial ecology, climate change

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Authors: J. P. Panda, K. Sasmal, H. V. Warrior

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Eddy viscosity models in turbulence modeling can be mainly classified as linear and nonlinear models. Linear formulations are simple and require less computational resources but have the disadvantage that they cannot predict actual flow pattern in complex geophysical flows where streamline curvature and swirling motion are predominant. A constitutive equation of Reynolds stress anisotropy is adopted for the formulation of eddy viscosity including all the possible higher order terms quadratic in the mean velocity gradients, and a simplified model is developed for actual oceanic flows where only the vertical velocity gradients are important. The new model is incorporated into the one dimensional General Ocean Turbulence Model (GOTM). Two realistic oceanic test cases (OWS Papa and FLEX' 76) have been investigated. The new model predictions match well with the observational data and are better in comparison to the predictions of the two equation k-epsilon model. The proposed model can be easily incorporated in the three dimensional Princeton Ocean Model (POM) to simulate a wide range of oceanic processes. Practically, this model can be implemented in the coastal regions where trasverse shear induces higher vorticity, and for prediction of flow in estuaries and lakes, where depth is comparatively less. The model predictions of marine turbulence and other related data (e.g. Sea surface temperature, Surface heat flux and vertical temperature profile) can be utilized in short term ocean and climate forecasting and warning systems.

Keywords: Eddy viscosity, turbulence modeling, GOTM, CFD

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Authors: Stanley Yap, Chong Wei Ying, Leow Hon Wei

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Purpose: In Malaysia, an effective financial planning is vital to accumulate wealth and financial independence. However, retirees are required to resume working due to insufficient pension fund. This study examines how the financial decision in retirement planning is being made based on the net worth from the household. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses financial data from a married working couple with children to evaluate their composition of financial position. Numerous financial methods are made pertaining to net worth analysis, insurance needs analysis, investment portfolio rebalancing, estate planning, education planning and retirement planning to enhance the financial decision. Findings: Our results show, firstly, financial planning is essential to achieve financial independence; secondly, insurance needs, education and retirement funding are the most significant for household. Thirdly, current resources are critical to maintain family lifestyle after retirement, emergency funds for critical illness, and the long term children education funding. Practical implications: Refer to the findings, sufficient net worth is priority in financial planning. Different suggestions for household include reduction of unnecessary expenses, re-allocate of cash flow, adequate insurance coverage and re-balancing of investment portfolios to accumulate wealth. It is a challenge to obtain financial independence, hence, there is a need to increase the literature on financial planning. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this is the important paper that uses financial information from household to provide solutions to enhance the efficiency of financial planning industry.

Keywords: net worth, financial planning, wealth and financial independence, retirement planning

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Authors: Amir Ahmadi, Hossein Ahmadi, Alireza Ahmadi

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Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been defined as the ability to empathize, persevere, control impulses, communicate clearly, make thoughtful decisions, solve problems, and work with others in a way that earns friends and success. These abilities allow an individual to recognize and regulate emotion, develop self-control, set goals, develop empathy, resolve conflicts, and develop skills needed for leadership and effective group participation. Due to the increasing complexity of organizations and different ways of thinking, attitudes and beliefs of individuals, Conflict as an important part of organizational life has been examined frequently. The main point is that the conflict is not necessarily in organization, unnecessary; But it can be more creative (increase creativity), to promote innovation, or may avoid wasting energy and resources of the organization. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between principals emotional intelligence as one of the factors affecting conflict management among teachers. This relation was analyzed through cluster sampling with a sample size consisting of 120 individuals. The results of the study showed that, at the 95% level of confidence, the two secondary hypotheses (i.e. relation between emotional intelligence of principals and use of competition and cooperation strategies of conflict management among teachers)were confirmed, but the other three secondary hypotheses (i.e. the relation between emotional intelligence of managers and use of avoidance, adaptation and adaptability strategies of conflict management among teachers) were rejected. The primary hypothesis (i.e. relation between emotional intelligence of principals with conflict management among teachers) is supported.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, conflict, conflict management, strategies of conflict management

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Authors: Kiranmay Sarma

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Recent decades have witnessed rapid increase in urbanization, for which, rural-urban migration is stated to be the principal reason. Urban growth throughout the world has already outstripped the capacities of most of the cities to provide basic amenities to the citizens, including clean drinking water and consequently, they are struggling to get fresh and clean water to meet water demands. Delhi, the capital of India, is one of the rapid fast growing metropolitan cities of the country. As a result, there has been large influx of population during the last few decades and pressure exerted to the limited available water resources, mainly on groundwater. Considering this important aspect, the present research has been designed to study the effects of urbanization on the green cover and groundwater and their relationships of Delhi. For the purpose, four different land uses of the study area have been considered, viz., protected forest area, trees outside forest, maintained park and settlement area. Samples for groundwater and vegetation were collected seasonally in post-monsoon (October), winter (February) and summer (June) at each study site for two years during 2012 and 2014. The results were integrated into GIS platform. The spatial distribution of groundwater showed that the concentration of most of the ions is decreasing from northern to southern parts of Delhi, thus groundwater shows an improving trend from north to south. The depth was found to be improving from south to north Delhi, i.e., opposite to the water quality. The study concludes the groundwater properties in Delhi vary spatially with depending on the types of land cover.

Keywords: groundwater, urbanization, GIS, green cover, Delhi

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Authors: Eugenio Ferrer Santiago

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The growing complexities of the modern world on high-end gadgets, software applications, scams, identity theft, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) make the “uninformed” the weak and vulnerable to be victims of cybercrimes. Artificial Intelligence is not a new thing in our daily lives; the principles of database management, logical programming, and garbage in and garbage out are all connected to AI. The Philippines had in place legal safeguards against the abuse of cyberspace, but self-regulation of key industry players and self-protection by individuals are primordial to attain the success of these initiatives. Data protection, Data Privacy, and Research Ethics must work hand in hand during the policy process in the course of urban planning practice in different environments. This paper focuses on the interconnection of data protection, data privacy, and research ethics in coming up with clear-cut policies against perpetrators in the urban planning professional practice relevant in sustainable communities and smart cities. This paper shall use expository methodology under qualitative research using secondary data from related literature, interviews/blogs, and the World Wide Web resources. The claims and recommendations of this paper will help policymakers and implementers in the policy cycle. This paper shall contribute to the body of knowledge as a simple treatise and communication channel to the reading community and future researchers to validate the claims and start an intellectual discourse for better knowledge generation for the good of all in the near future.

Keywords: data privacy, data protection, urban planning, research ethics

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Authors: Marcelo Sifuentes López

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Strategic performance definition and follow-up processes have to be clear in order to provide value in today’s competitive world. Customer expectations must be linked to internal organization strategic objectives leading to profitability and supported by visibility and flexibility among others.By taking a whole picture of the supply chain, the executive, and its team will define the current supply chain situation and an insight into potential opportunities to improve processes and provide value to main stakeholders. A systematic performance evaluation process based on operational and financial indicators defined by customer requirements needs to be implemented and periodically reviewed in order to mitigate costs and risks on time.Supplier long term relationship and collaboration plays a key role using resources available, real-time communication, innovation and new ways to capitalize global opportunities like emerging markets; efforts have to focus on the reduction of uncertainties in supply and demand. Leadership has to promote consistency of communication and execution involving suppliers, customers, and the entire organization through the support of a strategic sourcing methodology that assure the targeted competitive strategy and sustainable growth. As customer requirements and expectations are met, results could be captured in a casual picture like a “selfie”; where outcomes could be perceived from any desired angle by them; or like most “selfies”, can be taken with a camera held at arm's length by a third party company rather than using a self-timer.

Keywords: supply chain management, competitive advantage, value creation, collaboration and innovation, global marketplace

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Authors: H. E. Ferrari, R. Farengo, C. F. Clauser

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Tungsten (W) will be used in ITER as one of the plasma facing components (PFCs). The W could migrate to the plasma center. This could have a potentially deleterious effect on plasma confinement. Electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) can be used to prevent W accumulation. We simulated a series of H mode discharges in ASDEX U with PFC containing W, where central ECRH was used to prevent W accumulation in the plasma center. The experiments showed that the W density profiles were flat after a sawtooth crash, and become hollow in between sawtooth crashes when ECRH has been applied. It was also observed that a saturated kink mode was active in these conditions. We studied the effect of saturated kink like instabilities on the redistribution of W impurities. The kink was modeled as the sum of a simple analytical equilibrium (large aspect ratio, circular cross section) plus the perturbation produced by the kink. A numerical code that follows the exact trajectories of the impurity ions in the total fields and includes collisions was employed. The code is written in Cuda C and runs in Graphical Processing Units (GPUs), allowing simulations with a large number of particles with modest resources. Our simulations show that when the W ions have a thermal velocity distribution, the kink has no effect on the W density. When we consider the plasma rotation, the kink can affect the W density. When the average passing frequency of the W particles is similar to the frequency of the kink mode, the expulsion of W ions from the plasma core is maximum, and the W density shows a hollow structure. This could have implications for the mitigation of W accumulation.

Keywords: impurity transport, kink instability, tungsten accumulation, tungsten dynamics

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Authors: S. K. Ashiquer Rahman

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A cutting-edge online knowledge mediation system called "ePLANETe" provides a framework for building knowledge, tools and methods for all education, research and sustainable practices and elsewhere, as well as the deliberative assessment support of sustainability, biodiversity, and stakeholder involvement issues of the territorial development sector, e.g., agriculture.The purpose is to present, as sectorial and institutional perception, the 'ePLANETe' concept and functionalities as an experimental online platform for contributing the sustainability assessment, biodiversity, and stakeholder involvement. In the upshot, the concept of 'ePLANETe'isan investigation of the challenges of "online things, technology and application". The new digital technologies are exploited to facilitate collaborative technology and application to territorial development issues, e.g., agriculture. In order to investigate the dealing capacity (Qualitative and Quantitative) of sustainability, biodiversity, and stakeholder involvement of the agriculture sector through the stakeholder-based integrated assessment "Deliberation Support Tools (DST) and INTEGRAAL method" of collective resources. Specifically, this paper focuses on integrating system methodologies with deliberation tools for collective assessment and decision-making in implementing regional plans of agriculture. The aim of this report is to identify effective knowledge and tools and to enable deliberation methodologies regarding practices on the sustainability of agriculture and biodiversity issues, societal responsibilities, and regional planning that will create the scope for qualitative and quantitative assessments of sustainability as a new landmark of the agriculture sector.

Keywords: sustainability, biodiversity, stakeholder, dst, integraal

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Authors: Mohsen Yaghmor, Sima Radmanesh

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Rapid environmental changes have been threatening the life of many organizations. Enabling and productivity of human resource should be considered as the most important issue in order to increase performance and ensure survival of the organizations. In this research, the effectiveness of management factory in productivity and inability of human resource have been identified and reviewed at glance. Afterwards, answers were sought to questions "What are the factors effecting productivity and enabling of human resource?" and "What are the priority order based on effective management of human resource in Fars Poultry Complex?". A specified questionnaire has been designed regarding the priorities and effectiveness of the identified factors. Six factors were specified consisting of: individual characteristics, teaching, motivation, partnership management, authority or power submission and job development that have most effect on organization. Then a questionnaire was specified for priority and effect measurement of specified factors that were reached after collecting information and using statistical tests of Keronchbakh alpha coefficient r = 0.792, so that we can say the questionnaire has sufficient reliability. After information analysis of specified six factors by Friedman test their effects were categorized. Measurement on organization respectively consists of individual characteristics, job development or enrichment, authority submission, partnership management, teaching and motivation. Lastly, approaches has been introduced to increase productivity of manpower.

Keywords: productivity, empowerment, enrichment, authority submission, partnership management, teaching, motivation

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Authors: Mohamed Lotfy, Ghada Soliman

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Recognizing Arabic dot-matrix digits is a challenging problem due to the unique characteristics of dot-matrix fonts, such as irregular dot spacing and varying dot sizes. This paper presents an approach for recognizing Arabic digits printed in dot matrix format. The proposed model is based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) that take the dot matrix as input and generate embeddings that are rounded to generate binary representations of the digits. The binary embeddings are then used to perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on the digit images. To overcome the challenge of the limited availability of dotted Arabic expiration date images, we developed a True Type Font (TTF) for generating synthetic images of Arabic dot-matrix characters. The model was trained on a synthetic dataset of 3287 images and 658 synthetic images for testing, representing realistic expiration dates from 2019 to 2027 in the format of yyyy/mm/dd. Our model achieved an accuracy of 98.94% on the expiry date recognition with Arabic dot matrix format using fewer parameters and less computational resources than traditional CNN-based models. By investigating and presenting our findings comprehensively, we aim to contribute substantially to the field of OCR and pave the way for advancements in Arabic dot-matrix character recognition. Our proposed approach is not limited to Arabic dot matrix digit recognition but can also be extended to text recognition tasks, such as text classification and sentiment analysis.

Keywords: computer vision, pattern recognition, optical character recognition, deep learning

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Authors: Shabeer Khan

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The main objective of Islamic Finance is to promote social justice thorough financial inclusion and redistribution of economic resources between rich and poor. The approach of Islamic finance is more comprehensive in nature and covers both formal and informal sectors of the economy, first, through reducing the gap between both sectors, and second by using specific Islamic values to reallocate the wealth between formal and informal sectors. Applying Generalized Method of Movements (GMM) to the annual data spanning from 1995-2015 for 141 countries, this study explores the determinants of informal business sector in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries and then compares with Non-OIC countries. Economic freedom and institutions variables as well as economic growth and money supply are found to reduce informal business sector in both OIC and Non-OIC nations while government expenditure are found to increase informal business sector in both group of nations. Informal Business sector remain the same in both types of countries but still the majority Muslim population in OIC economies create main difference between both groups of nations and justify the potential role of Islamic Finance in informal business sector in OIC nations. The study suggests that institutions quality should be improved and entrepreneurs’ friendly business environment must be provided. This study refines the main features of informal business sector and discuss their implications on policy designing and implementation, particularly in the context of Islamic finance fight against poverty, inequality and improving living standards of informal sector participants in OIC countries.

Keywords: Islamic finance, informal Business Sector, Generalized Method of Movements (GMM) and OIC

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Authors: Tinomuvonga Manenji Zhou, Eubert Mahofa, Tatenda Crispen Madzokere

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The nanostructured formulation can increase fertilizer efficacy and uptake ratio of the soil nutrients in agriculture production and save fertilizer resources. Controlled release modes have properties of both release rate and release pattern of nutrients, for fertilizers that are soluble in water might be correctly controlled. Nanoparticles can reduce the rate at which fertilizer nutrients are in the soil by leaching. A slow release NPK-hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer was synthesized using exfoliated bentonite as filler material. A simple, scalable method was used to synthesize the nitrogen-phosphorus hydroxyapatite nano fertilizer, where calcium hydroxide, phosphoric acid, and urea were used as precursor material, followed by the incorporation of potassium through a liquid grinding method. The product obtained was an NPK-hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer. A quantitative analysis was done to determine the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the hybrid fertilizer. AAS was used to determine the percentage of potassium in the fertilizer. An accelerated water test was conducted to compare the nutrient release behavior of nutrients between the synthesized NPK-hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer and commercial NPK fertilizer. The rate of release of Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium was significantly lower in the synthesized NPK hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer than in the convectional NPK fertilizer. The synthesized fertilizer was characterized using XRD. NPK hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer encapsulated in exfoliated bentonite thus prepared can be used as an environmentally friendly fertilizer formulation which could be extended to solve one of the major problems faced in the global fertilization of low nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium use efficiency in agriculture.

Keywords: NPK hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer, bentonite, encapsulation, low release

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Authors: Ande Nesmith

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There is an ongoing shortage of foster parents worldwide to take on a growing population of children in need of out-of-home care. Currently, resources are primarily aimed at recruitment rather than retention. Retention rates are extraordinarily low, especially in the first two years of fostering. Qualitative interviews with 19 foster parents averaging 20 years of service provided insight into the challenges they faced and how they overcame them. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts identified sources of stress and resiliency. Key stressors included lack of support and responsiveness from the children’s social workers, false maltreatment allegations, and secondary trauma from children’s destructive behaviors and emotional dysregulation. Resilient parents connected with other foster parents for support, engaged in creative problem-solving, recognized that positive feedback from children usually arrives years later, and through training, understood the neurobiological impact of trauma on child behavior. Recommendations include coordinating communication between the foster parent licensing agency social workers and the children’s social workers, creating foster parent support networks and mentoring, and continuous training on trauma including effective parenting strategies. Research is needed to determine whether these resilience indicators in fact lead to long-term retention. Policies should include a mechanism to develop a cohesive line of communication and connection between foster parents and the children’s social workers as well as their respective agencies.

Keywords: foster care stability, foster parent burnout, foster parent resiliency, foster parent retention, trauma-informed fostering

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Authors: N. R. Badurally Adam, S. R. Monebhurrun, M. Z. Dauhoo, A. Khoodaruth

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Transport energy demand is vital for the economic growth of any country. Globalisation and better standard of living plays an important role in transport energy demand. Recently, transport energy demand in Mauritius has increased significantly, thus leading to an abuse of natural resources and thereby contributing to global warming. Forecasting the transport energy demand is therefore important for controlling and managing the demand. In this paper, we develop a model to predict the transport energy demand. The model developed is based on a system of five stochastic differential equations (SDEs) consisting of five endogenous variables: fuel price, population, gross domestic product (GDP), number of vehicles and transport energy demand and three exogenous parameters: crude birth rate, crude death rate and labour force. An interval of seven years is used to avoid any falsification of result since Mauritius is a developing country. Data available for Mauritius from year 2003 up to 2009 are used to obtain the values of design variables by applying genetic algorithm. The model is verified and validated for 2010 to 2012 by substituting the values of coefficients obtained by GA in the model and using particle swarm optimisation (PSO) to predict the values of the exogenous parameters. This model will help to control the transport energy demand in Mauritius which will in turn foster Mauritius towards a pollution-free country and decrease our dependence on fossil fuels.

Keywords: genetic algorithm, modeling, particle swarm optimization, stochastic differential equations, transport energy demand

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Authors: Muhammad SAFDAR, Mehmet Ozaslan, Musarrat Abbas Khan

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Babesiosis is a haemoparasitic disease due to the multiplication of protozoan’s parasite, Babesia ovis in the red blood cells of the host, and contributes numerous economical losses, including sheep and goat ruminants. The early identification and successful treatment of Babesia Ovis spp. belong to the key steps of control and health management of livestock resources. The objective of this study was to construct a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based method for the detection of Babesia spp. in small ruminants and to determine the risk factors involved in the spreading of babesiosis infections. A total of 100 blood samples were collected from 50 sheep and 50 goats along with different areas of Muzaffargarh, Pakistan, from randomly selected herds. Data on the characteristics of sheep and goats were collected through questionnaires. Of 100 blood samples examined, 18 were positive for Babesia ovis upon microscopic studies, whereas 11 were positive for the presence of Babesia spp. by PCR assay. For the recognition of parasitic DNA, a set of 500bp oligonucleotide was designed by PCR amplification with sequence 18S rRNA gene for B. ovis. The prevalence of babesiosis in small ruminant’s sheep and goat detected by PCR was significantly higher in female animals (28%) than male herds (08%). PCR analysis of the reference samples showed that the detection limit of the PCR assay was 0.01%. Taken together, all data indicated that this PCR assay was a simple, fast, specific detection method for Babesia ovis species in small ruminants compared to other available methods.

Keywords: Babesia ovis, PCR amplification, 18S rRNA, sheep and goat

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Authors: María-Dolores Afonso-Suárez, Nayra Pumar-Carreras, Juan Ruiz-Alzola

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This research addresses the use of an e-Learning creation methodology for learning objects. Throughout the process, indicators are being gathered, to determine if it responds to the main objectives of an engineering discipline. These parameters will also indicate if it is necessary to review the creation cycle and readjust any phase. Within the project developed for this study, apart from the use of structured methods, there has been a central objective: the establishment of a learning atmosphere. A place where all the professionals involved are able to collaborate, plan, solve problems and determine guides to follow in order to develop creative and innovative solutions. It has been outlined as a blended learning program with an assessment plan that proposes face to face lessons, coaching, collaboration, multimedia and web based learning objects as well as support resources. The project has been drawn as a long term task, the pilot teaching actions designed provide the preliminary results object of study. This methodology is been used in the creation of learning content for the African countries of Senegal, Mauritania and Cape Verde. It has been developed within the framework of the MACbioIDi, an Interreg European project for the International cooperation and development. The educational area of this project is focused in the training and advice of professionals of the medicine as well as engineers in the use of applications of medical imaging technology, specifically the 3DSlicer application and the Open Anatomy Browser.

Keywords: teaching contents engineering, e-learning, blended learning, international cooperation, 3dslicer, open anatomy browser

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Authors: Mohamed Razi Nalim, Shahrzad Ghadiri

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With current concerns regarding global warming, demand for a society with greater environmental awareness significantly increases. With gradual development in hybrid and electric vehicles and the availability of renewable energy resources, increasing efficiency in fossil fuel and combustion engines seems a faster solution toward sustainability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of recent progress in wave rotor combustor, one of the combustion concepts with considerable potential to improve power output and emission standards. A wave rotor is an oscillatory flow device that uses the unsteady gas dynamic concept to transfer energy by generating pressure waves. From a thermodynamic point of view, unlike conventional positive-displacement piston engines which follow the Brayton cycle, wave rotors offer higher cycle efficiency due to pressure gain during the combustion process based on the Humphrey cycle. First, the paper covers all recent and ongoing computational and experimental studies around the world with a quick look at the milestones in the history of wave rotor development. Second, the main similarity and differences in the ignition system of the wave rotor with piston engines are considered. Also, the comparison is made with another pressure gain device, rotating detonation engines. Next, the main challenges and research needs for wave rotor combustor commercialization are discussed.

Keywords: wave rotor combustor, unsteady gas dynamic, pre-chamber jet ignition, pressure gain combustion, constant-volume combustion

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Authors: Mariem Saadi, Sabri Kanzari, Adel Zghibi

Abstract:

In semi-arid areas like the Kairouan region, the constant irrigation with saline water and the overuse of groundwater resources, soils and aquifers salinization has become an increasing concern. In this study, a methodology has been developed to evaluate the groundwater contamination risk based on the unsaturated zone hydraulic properties. Two soil profiles with different ranges of salinity, one located in the north of the plain and another one in the south of plain (each 30 m deep) and both characterized by direct recharge of the aquifer were chosen. Simulations were conducted with Hydrus-1D code using measured precipitation data for the period 1998-2003 and calculated evapotranspiration for both chosen profiles. Four combinations of initial conditions of water content and salt concentration were used for the simulation process in order to find the best match between simulated and measured values. The success of the calibration of Hydrus-1D allowed the investigation of some scenarios in order to assess the contamination risk under different natural conditions. The aquifer risk contamination is related to the natural conditions where it increased while facing climate change and temperature increase and decreased in the presence of a clay layer in the unsaturated zone. Hydrus-1D was a useful tool to predict the groundwater level and quality in the case of a direct recharge and in the absence of any information related to the soil layers except for the texture.

Keywords: Hydrus-1D, Kairouan, salinization, semi-arid region, solute transport, unsaturated zone

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Souhir Chelly, Asma Ben Cheikh, Hela Ghali, Salwa Khefacha, Lamine Dhidah, Mohamed Ben Rejeb, Houyem Said Latiri

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The hospital risk management department is firstly involved in the methodological analysis of grade zero sterilization incidents. The system is based on a subsequent analysis process in compliance with the ongoing requirements of the Haute Autorité de santé (HAS) for a reactive approach to risk, allowing to identify failures and start the appropriate preventive and corrective measures. The use of the association of litigation and risk management (ALARM) method makes easier the grade zero analysis and brings to light the team or institutional, organizational, temporal, individual factors representative of undesirable effects. Two main factors come out again from this analysis, pre-disinfection step of the emergency block unsupervised instrumentalist intern was poorly done since she did not remove the battery from micro air motor. At the sterilization unit, the worker who was not supervised by the nurse did the conditioning of the motor without having checked it if it still contained the battery. The main cause is that the management of human resources was inadequate at both levels, the instrumental trainee in the block who was not supervised by his supervisor and the worker of the sterilization unit who was not supervised by the responsible nurse. There is a lack of research help, advice, and collaboration. The difficulties encountered during this type of analysis are multiple. The first is based on its necessary acceptance by the various actors of care involved, which should not perceive it as a tool leading to individual punishment, but rather as a means to improve their practices.

Keywords: ALARM (Association of Litigation and Risk Management Method), incident, risk management, sterilization

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Authors: Taknaz Banihashemi, Jiangang Fei, Peggy Shu-Ling Chen

Abstract:

Reverse logistics (RL) is a part of the logistics of companies and its aim is to reclaim value from the returned products in an environmentally friendly manner. In recent years, RL has attracted significant attention among both practitioners and academics due to environmental directives and governmental legislation, consumer concerns and social responsibilities for environment, awareness of the limits of natural resources and economic potential. Sustainability development is considered as a critical goal for organisations due to its impact on competitive advantage. With growing environmental concerns and legal regulations related to green and sustainability issues, product disposition through RL can be considered as an environmental, economic and social sound way to achieve sustainable development. When employed properly, RL can help firms to improve their sustainability performance. The aim of this paper is to investigate the sustainability issues in the context of RL in the perspective of the triple-bottom-line approach. Content analysis was used to collect the information. The findings show that there is a research gap to investigate the relationship between RL and sustainability performance. Most of the studies have focused on performance evaluation of RL by considering the factors related to economic and environmental performance. RL can have significant effects on social issues along with economic and environmental issues. The inclusion of the social aspect in the sustainability performance will provide a complete and holistic picture of how RL may impact on the sustainability performance of firms. Generally, there is a lack of research on investigating the relationship between RL and sustainability by integrating the three pillars of triple-bottom-line sustainability performance. This paper provides academics and researchers a broad view of the correlations between RL and sustainability performance.

Keywords: verse Logistics, review, sustainability, sustainability performance

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Authors: Eleni Stefania Kalapoda

Abstract:

The current fossil-fuel based urbanization pattern and the estimated human population growth are increasing the environmental footprint on our planet’s precious resources. To mitigate the estimated skyrocketing in greenhouse gas emissions associated with the construction of new cities and infrastructure over the next 50 years, we need a radical rethink in our approach to construction to deliver a net zero built environment. This paper assesses the carbon footprint of a mass-timber, a steel, and a concrete structural alternative for peri-urban densification in the Hudson Valley's urban fringe, along with examining the updated policy and the building code adjustments that support synergies between timber construction in city making and sustainable management of timber forests. By quantifying the carbon footprint of a structural prototype for four different material assemblies—a concrete (post-tensioned), a mass timber, a steel (composite), and a hybrid (timber/steel/concrete) assembly applicable to the three updated building typologies of the IBC 2021 (Type IV-A, Type IV-B, Type IV-C) that range between a nine to eighteen-story structure alternative—and scaling-up that structural prototype to the size of a neighborhood district, the paper presents a quantitative and a qualitative approach for a forest-based construction economy as well as a resilient and a more just supply chain framework that ensures the wellbeing of both the forest and its inhabitants.

Keywords: mass-timber innovation, concrete structure, carbon footprint, densification

Procedia PDF Downloads 88